Sword Art Online / Accel World Connections & Comparisons

[Netto Azure]

Originally Posted by Tusjecht

Then that's karma

It's not like inter-series bashing ever stops anyway :/ just standing up for my favourite one.

You know what's the real enemy? The never ending blather of irrational hate.

[Tusjecht]

It's not like I as a fellow internet user can do anything about it <_< I just cannot quite stand for people making criticism based on incomplete information.

[Fluttershy]

During the Seiji arc, Haru did some research into "old" tech. One such piece of tech, was a fledgling tech full vr helmet, named the "Nerve Gear"

[Tusjecht]

...and so? That the technology appears doesn't make any more concrete a connection, than say, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva, and all the other entities consistently appearing in every FF game. (Save for FFVII and FFX.)

[belatkuro]

That was only the anime. The LN didn't even mention the words "Nerve Gear". The details that Haru researched just described it as a headgear-type VR machine.

Spoiler for vol4, ch8:

A VR device that wasn’t a Neuro Linker. They certainly existed. In the 2020s before Haruyuki was born, there should have been huge headgears that were equipped to the head. But, the machines of those days were only for Full Diving, and the Neuro Linker should have been the first device that had an AR (Augmented Reality) function which allowed for a virtual desktop to be operated while moving around in the real world……

Though the release month for that technology in AW coincidentally matches the release month of the Nerve Gear in SAO.

Spoiler for SAO vol1, ch2:

Half a year ago, this machine (which started selling in May, 2022) successfully created a «Virtual Reality». The electronics company which created the Nerve Gear called the actual act of linking to the virtual reality...

Spoiler for AW vol4, ch8:

The first headgear-type VR machine that implemented Full Dive technology was marketed in May 2022

Take that however you will I guess.
Still on the side that says they're not connected.

[AKAAkira]

Not sure if anyone brought this point up before, but the ability of a Neuro Linker to erase memories seems handy for making everyone forget

Spoiler for SAO Alicization:

the bottom-up AI reveal

that (to me, at least) seems to be the biggest obstacle between connecting SAO and AW. If the reception of the Underword really went south, Kirito might've had to do something drastic like that to save it.

Just food for thought.

[orpheus2]

Originally Posted by AKAAkira

Not sure if anyone brought this point up before, but the ability of a Neuro Linker to erase memories seems handy for making everyone forget

Spoiler for SAO Alicization:

the bottom-up AI reveal

that (to me, at least) seems to be the biggest obstacle between connecting SAO and AW. If the reception of the Underword really went south, Kirito might've had to do something drastic like that to save it.

Just food for thought.

True. The other option is that they created another Underworld and deleted that instead in front of the public to put the matter to rest. Essentially, it is to buy time for the real Underworld and to allow the public to gradually accept the prospect of FL's. After all in AW, vehicles are now controlled by A.I. In time, the public would be more receptive of FL's.

The question would be where is Yui? She's currently on the net looking for Kayaba's FL. Wouldn't she notice the BB program while in her search?

[AKAAkira]

Uh, I dunno if creating another Underworld would work -

Spoiler for Just in case:

if there are new AI in 'em it'd still constitute as murder in Kirito's books,

and besides, people might demand proof of the destruction via RATH handing over the servers. Memory erasure is the only way to prevent people from AW from even referencing it, anyway.

Yui doesn't have to intrude in BB. Oh, she might investigate it to see if there's a connection to Kayaba, and would definitely tell Kirito about it, but there's no need to reveal it to the world as long it's not going to be fatal to its participants. For all we know she's in BB herself, in the background...somewhere, doing...something.

[orpheus2]

Originally Posted by AKAAkira

Uh, I dunno if creating another Underworld would work -

Spoiler for Just in case:

if there are new AI in 'em it'd still constitute as murder in Kirito's books,

and besides, people might demand proof of the destruction via RATH handing over the servers. Memory erasure is the only way to prevent people from AW from even referencing it, anyway.

Yui doesn't have to intrude in BB. Oh, she might investigate it to see if there's a connection to Kayaba, and would definitely tell Kirito about it, but there's no need to reveal it to the world as long it's not going to be fatal to its participants. For all we know she's in BB herself, in the background...somewhere, doing...something.

Then transfer or copy the Underworld to a new server before handing it over. One of the properties of FL's is that they can be copied. Which brings some horror since both FL's and human are more or less equals.

Regarding Yui:

Spoiler for Crack Theory:

What if the final weapon of AW, the Fluctuating Light is actually Yui. The creator of BB caught her and converted her into a FL. However, she is still incomplete. There lies the purpose of BB's main server. It is sample the behavior of BB players in order to evolve Yui further into a FL. Azure Heir's role would be like a self-appointed guardian or he wanted to free her somehow.

[roxxylxox]

there was a crossover rite?

Kirito and Silver Crow (Haruyuki) fought in Sword Art Online : Versus
http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Versus

[orpheus2]

Well, yes. However, whether it is canon or not is still up in the air. It is a possibility but the author is being cryptic about it.

[LeBeakofJustice]

Kawahara claims the story is non-canonical, but he recycled so many ideas in Accel World that it's hard not to imagine AW as being SAO's future.

I think one example of this is the nerve gear.

In one of the Accel World episodes,

Spoiler for Context:

While Haru was researching old technology in order to find out how Noumi's name stayed hidden

Haru saw a picture of a helmet like the one Kazuto uses on a website that looks like Wikipedia.

[c933103]

Originally Posted by LeBeakofJustice

I think one example of this is the nerve gear.

In one of the Accel World episodes,

Spoiler for Context:

While Haru was researching old technology in order to find out how Noumi's name stayed hidden

Haru saw a picture of a helmet like the one Kazuto uses on a website that looks like Wikipedia.

That just mean they are of similar tech tree.

[l.kostas]

From Reki's episode 10 commentary:
SAO's VR space was completed with merely the brain and the full-dive machine.
If that could grant the power to repel bullets, it could rob one of the power to move one's avatar too.
I included the《Zero Fill Phenomenon》into "Accel World" when inspired by this scene later on, but that's a different story…

[orpheus2]

Here's some fuel for new theories on how SAO and AW are connected from AW's latest volume.

Spoiler for Enjoy:

Originally Posted by Kwikk

Raw is out

Spoiler for Vol.19:

Kirito and Alice?

Spoiler for Speculation:

AW occurs as an alternate end for Alicization. In essence, Kirito and co. decided to hide the existence of Fluctlights. However, RATH doesn't want to give up their research. Thus creating the accelerated worlds.