Sword Art Online - Episode 1 Discussion / Poll

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

... And I see that Xacual addressed that. Since that's apparently a spoiler I'll wait until it's made official in the anime itself before I share my thoughts on it.

Spoiler for Novel Comparison for Kayaba's Speech, it's not really a spoiler but well I'll be safe:

I don't know if it will come up, Kayaba mentions it in the novel during that speech he gave to the players as a sign of reassurance that their real life bodies will be fine. I'm actually bothered that it wasn't in the anime especially since a lot of people are making a big deal about it.

‘Players, there is no need to worry about the bodies that you have
left on the other side. As of this moment, all TV, radio, and internet
media are all repeatedly reporting this situation, including the fact
that there have been numerous deaths. The danger of having your
Nerve Gears taken off has already all but disappeared. In a moment,
using the two hours I have given, all of you will be transported to
hospitals or similar institutes and be given the best treatment. So you
can relax…and concentrate on beating the game.’

It was right in the middle of his speech.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Deltaray

Problem is no one will know if the battery has ran out, and because this story is in the future, was it 2022 or so, batteries probably last for kinda long.

Yeah, there's that, too. I doubt anyone would try to wait it out as, 1) the outcome is unknown and could very well result in death, and 2) even if they were successful in getting the helmet off, how would they inform the others who're still stuck in the game?

[Yusei Fudo]

I lol'ed at the part where that "couple" turned out to be gays XD

[MartianMage]

Excellent first episode. Animation and direction are both top notch. I hope it stays that way for the rest of the series.

I like that Klein dude already I just have a feeling that he will bite the dust sooner or later.

And whoa sub forum at first episode? That hype!

[orion]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Every single industrialized nation in the world should want this man captured, preferably alive but dead if necessary. The public outcry for his head would be absolutely massive.

Maybe not. Accel World is the successor to SAO iirc. That means that this eventually blows over and the technology behind this is adopted into society.

[Funkatron]

Originally Posted by Haruyasha

That's 10,000 (Japanese) players.. No gaijin allowed.. Or have you not noticed the tendency of Japan region blocking all of their mmorpgs?

The only industrialized nation who would care enough is Japan.





But... but.... PSO2 isn't region blocked!

- Not for long. Lets just say that it's up in the air due to complaints.

I'm pretty sure the UN would want to have a word with that creator. Also any of the NerveGear exported to other countries would become banned and go for mad money on the black market.

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by orion

Maybe not. Accel World is the successor to SAO iirc. That means that this eventually blows over and the technology behind this is adopted into society.

There's a big difference between wanting the head of a terrorist and banning the development of the tool that contributes to the terror act.

It's like if someone found a way to use Google or Facebook to hold 10,000 people hostage. Google & Facebook may not survive as a company following such an incident, but humanity isn't going to abandon search engines or social networks just because it's possible to commit crime with them (that's pretty much true today anyway, just not at the scale of SAO).

That's a pretty lame analogy, but you get my drift.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by orion

Maybe not. Accel World is the successor to SAO iirc. That means that this eventually blows over and the technology behind this is adopted into society.

Successor, yes, but according to the author, there is no clear connection between AW and SAO. That, of course, could be his way of hiding that the two are connected for a future plot point (I doubt it). Or, they simply aren't connected at all. I can't say anymore because of spoilers. x:

[orion]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Successor, yes, but according to the author, there is no clear connection between AW and SAO. That, of course, could be his way of hiding that the two are connected for a future plot point (I doubt it). Or, they simply aren't connected at all. I can't say anymore because of spoilers. x:

Well the technology is acting pretty similar imo.

Originally Posted by Nightengale

There's a big difference between wanting the head of a terrorist and banning the development of the tool that contributes to the terror act.

It's like if someone found a way to use Google or Facebook to hold 10,000 people hostage. Google & Facebook may not survive as a company following such an incident, but humanity isn't going to abandon search engines or social networks just because it's possible to commit crime with them (that's pretty much true today anyway, just not at the scale of SAO).

That's a pretty lame analogy, but you get my drift.

It goes past one person. He just didn't fund this on his own. He's prob not maintaining this on his own either. If he is popping in and out, then there are others doing the same to maintain the game.

.hack had similar problems and the game just got reversioned and continued. The creator is more public in this one but he just needs go to a friendly country and hide.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by orion

Well the technology is acting pretty similar imo.

I can't say I disagree. SAO was the author's inspiration for AW, after all.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Calca

And you just dismissed the reality of the world in this anime. They are in a game world. I can tell you don't play very many RPGs. Your PoV may be very good in a situation where someone is thrown into a game that is an FPS but not an RPG.

This isn't just an RPG. It's the world's first virtual reality MMORPG. The only people with any experience are the thousand beta testers like Kirito, and they've only been in the game a couple months.

On top of that, even the best RPG players get into situations where things go wrong and suddenly they're down to 30% health. In a regular game you don't panic because the consequence of dying isn't that great; when it means you're over halfway dead for real, it's something else entirely.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

They're probably looking, yes. But it wouldn't be that weird for them not to find him.

I don't think it'd be all that interesting to see government minions interrogating old colleagues of Kayaba, only to see them all deny knowing anything.

In my mind, the "Real World" side of this would be way more interesting than just interrogations alone.

The reason I compared it to Death Note is because if Kayaba is still alive, it could be really fun and intense to watch him play a cat and mouse game with the authorities that are trying to catch him. Have someone play L to his Light, and you'd have one thrilling "Real World" narrative to compliment the main narrative going on in SOA itself, of course.

Then there's the crisis management nightmare that I'd expect Japan to now be facing based on what Xacual revealed a couple pages or so back. There wouldn't be a frenzied panic in SOA alone, there'd be one in real world Japan to.

Honestly, I'll be very tempted to write fanfiction for this if the "Real World" side isn't explored much.

[novalysis]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In my mind, the "Real World" side of this would be way more interesting than just interrogations alone.

The reason I compared it to Death Note is because if Kayaba is still alive, it could be really fun and intense to watch him play a cat and mouse game with the authorities that are trying to catch him. Have someone play L to his Light, and you'd have one thrilling "Real World" narrative to compliment the main narrative going on in SOA itself, of course.

Then there's the crisis management nightmare that I'd expect Japan to now be facing based on what Xacual revealed a couple pages or so back. There wouldn't be a frenzied panic in SOA alone, there'd be one in real world Japan to.

Honestly, I'll be very tempted to write fanfiction for this if the "Real World" side isn't explored much.

Please do! It'll be epic. And I think we might need a SAO Fanfiction thread.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by shakeofinfinity

so actually they just need to survive till the end of the battery life right, just afk and wait lol

No, the NervGear being disconnected from a power source for more than 10 minutes will also trigger the kill order.

[j4c06]

Originally Posted by kyp275

No, the NervGear being disconnected from a power source for more than 10 minutes will also trigger the kill order.

oh and what would be the power source for the powerful microwave burst then?

[king12354]

Originally Posted by j4c06

oh and what would be the power source for the powerful microwave burst then?

Apparently from the same mystical battery, it's not like it ran out of power.

Also, if bombs can be disarmed, why not the headset? Cut the right wires and ... no boom.

[maelstormCaT]

The headset will fry the brain the moment someone tampered with it, or attempting to shut it off, or running out of power. When any of those conditions are met, the headset will perform the kill order using the remaining power it got.
It could technically be removed without triggering the kill order, but then it will leave the brain without any conciousness as the mind is still left in the game. When the connection are lost, the mind unable to continue without the brain will die.
All these facts are given by the GM to the outside world, completely nullifying any rescue attempts from the outside real world. And thus, all they can do to players is secure them in a hospital or other similar facilities and take care of their body, as suggested by the GM.

(All of these are implied by the way)

Spoiler for Spoiler:

One more thing, the reason Kirito runs off by his own is actually very simple. Its him being selfish. Not wanting to be burdened by others, he went ahead to start levelling up alone. Sure it's very risky, but as a beta player, he knows how to fight most monsters on the first floor. And since he levelled up pretty damn fast with this method, survival I getting easier by the hours.
Kirito in the Light Novel admitted to this fact himself.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by j4c06

oh and what would be the power source for the powerful microwave burst then?

The reason why the kill timer for using battery is set at 10 minutes is more than likely done to guarantee that there will be enough power still in the battery to execute the kill order. When was the last time you used a portable electronic that runs out of battery in 10 minutes?

Originally Posted by king12354

Also, if bombs can be disarmed, why not the headset? Cut the right wires and ... no boom.

Because a bomb has nothing in common with a virtual reality neural interface helmet? the latter of which would more than likely have been designed to be tamper-proof since they were designed by Kayaba himself?

Also, please never work in EOD or any type of bomb disposal unit, your view is simply nothing more than Hollywood myths. There's only one "safe" way to disarm a bomb, mine or IED, and that is to blow it in place, any other way is playing with fire, very powerful fire.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Deltaray

As a random thought, npc's look just like players, as seen when Klein first sees Kirito running off. Guess we will have hard to tell NPC's and players apart.

If you look closely, you'll see that there are a limited number of NPC faces.

Originally Posted by SABER60069

Since Kirito said resources are limited I took his word literally for it and believe it means mobs don't respawn and that it was the reason why he rushed out immediately

We saw the boars respawn at the beginning.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

And as for the "Real World" being properly addressed, well, there's still some practical questions I have. For example, how are people not dying from simple thirst and hunger (with their real world bodies)?

... And I see that Xacual addressed that. Since that's apparently a spoiler I'll wait until it's made official in the anime itself before I share my thoughts on it.

Even without spoilers, wouldn't you assume the government's first priority would be locating the players and giving them proper medical attention? They shouldn't be too hard to find, even guys living alone like Klein -- contact every ISP and ask them for every customer connected to the SAO server.

[Hmm....]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

In my mind, the "Real World" side of this would be way more interesting than just interrogations alone.

The reason I compared it to Death Note is because if Kayaba is still alive, it could be really fun and intense to watch him play a cat and mouse game with the authorities that are trying to catch him. Have someone play L to his Light, and you'd have one thrilling "Real World" narrative to compliment the main narrative going on in SOA itself, of course.

Then there's the crisis management nightmare that I'd expect Japan to now be facing based on what Xacual revealed a couple pages or so back. There wouldn't be a frenzied panic in SOA alone, there'd be one in real world Japan to.

Honestly, I'll be very tempted to write fanfiction for this if the "Real World" side isn't explored much.

I agree that would make fine sidestory. Unfortunately, current SAO told story from SAO players POV, Kirito POV to be precise.
They will be information black out. Kayaba wouldn't announce to player how close the police get him. He want players to concentrate on clearing the game afterall.
So I doubt we'll see any real world related event here.

Actually, you opinion is the most logical one. I'm sure many SAO players will agree with you.
"There is no way he'll get away with this", "The government will do something", "Rescue will come sooner or later",
so why go to the field and risk dying, you just have to wait it out and help will come.

If they are right everything will be fine and dandy but we won't have a story then
but I doubt we'll get detailed explanation about how Kayaba avoid arrest. May be later after the game end but not now.

Originally Posted by king12354

Apparently from the same mystical battery, it's not like it ran out of power.

Also, if bombs can be disarmed, why not the headset? Cut the right wires and ... no boom.

because NerveGear is a newly invented machine that nobody ever familiar with ?