Sword Art Online II - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[dark998]

Loved how Sinon was very relaxed and smiling, very different of what was shown of her so far. Wonder how she is going to react once she discovers the truth about Kirito's gender...

And talking about Kirito, he performed nicely clearing that challenge to earn a ton of money and acquiring his weapons in preparation for the upcoming BoB. He already excels at sword skill so he needs to improve his gun skill a bit in order to pull off the combo nicely.

[Wandering Soul]

Good episode that explained how mechanics of the games. Sinon will not be happy when she realizes Kirito is not a girl.

[Death Usagi]

Yaoi trap doujinshi of GGO Kirito, here we come... =w=

[pampz21]

I can see Kirito doing bunny hop to close in like CS~!

its cs 1.5 all over again~!

[Death Usagi]

This episode was hilarious and epic at the same time

But seriously, Trap Kirito is so feminine O_O

I can see a lot of fans going for it XD

[AC-Phoenix]

'The bullet will hit randomly within that circle'

- Kirito dares to disagree.

First hing I'd do if I was anyone playing GGO is turning that targeting assist crap off and exchange it for a crosshair lol.
As for a secondary weapon a physical sword might have been nice.

Every Energy weapon seems to have some kind of counterpart so its fair to assume the sword will also have one.

only other thing:

Oh my did I see a Steyr Assault Rifle 77 there? Really in a PvP game like GGO a weapon with that much recoil is nothing to recommend...

[Kafriel]

Awesome episode, Kirito's nooby side is so cute I'm kinda surprised he is completely clueless when it comes to guns though, a hardcore gamer usually has had his hand at everything.

"I'm gonna blast you from here to the moon!" - Best line ever. I really liked Untouchable, it's a good way to train your reflexes and make it big....like, REALLY big! What if Kirito was a casual player and won all that money, then converted it to rl cash and bailed out?

As for the pot, I assume it refills with a daily/weekly amount back to a minimum that players can try to get (50k or something, considering the entry fee is less than 1.5k?).

So, weapons!!! If I was a total newbie, I'd pick a dual range - machine pistol + assault rifle or pistol + shotgun and switch to SMG/sniper after I got the hand of the game...but of course, Kirito needs a sword :P

I found the kouken a very strange weapon of choice...it's expensive as hell, has the SERIOUS drawback of point-blank range, is (probably?) an energy weapon and if you really drop your gear when you die, it's the worst thing a newbie can purchase ._.

Anyway, this episode has set the hype up and now I'm looking forward to the BoB preliminaries ^_^ It's a shame we didn't see Kirito in an actual fight though.

[LystAP]

My favorite part was when Kirito embraced his feminine nature to get Sinon to help him; it would have been a great time to clarify the misunderstanding that he was pretty sure Sinon was having, but he chose to exploit it regardless.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

'The bullet will hit randomly within that circle'

- Kirito dares to disagree.

First hing I'd do if I was anyone playing GGO is turning that targeting assist crap off and exchange it for a crosshair lol.

Actually, the mechanic mentioned is pretty much standard fare among modern FPS games. In terms of weapon stats, what we call "accuracy" in shooters is in fact just the measure of bullet spread within a particular area, in many cases a circle. For example, you can point a machinegun a target with pinpoint accuracy, but the moment your gun fires the bullets fire in a random spread, and that's not including stuff like the weapon's recoil and other factors. Many modern shooters have mechanisms to improve said accuracy, like crouching, stabilizing the weapon (most often using the Shift key), mods, attachments, abilities etc, while other mechanisms make it worse like shooting while running, firing from the hip etc. Whether the deviation is represented by a crosshair or a circle or an X, the underlying mechanic remains the same.

In GGO's case, they're just being honest with how their gun mechanics work, and letting people see the deviation in aim that their weapon has. There are real games that do use similar mechanics (even if they're less "twitchy") like Valkyria Chronicles and the first Mass Effect.

[Jerseykid]

All Kirito needs now is for someone to buy him a mount or give him "purple" loot and he will have totally crossed over.

[Krono]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

First hing I'd do if I was anyone playing GGO is turning that targeting assist crap off and exchange it for a crosshair lol.

And your accuracy would drop like a rock. The "targeting assist" circle is pretty much just the game saying "based on all factors affecting bullet trajectory, your shot will hit somewhere in this area when you pull the trigger."

You still have a crosshairs, you can see it when the view is through Sinon's scope in episode 2. You can also see the crosshairs are centered up and to the left of where the green targeting circle is. That's because the circle is compensating for gravity and wind, while the crosshairs aren't.

The whole "hits randomly within this area" is pretty much just another way of saying "this is the margin of variance expected to be caused by you actually pulling the trigger, based on your current stats."

[Haruyasha]

Originally Posted by Death Usagi

Yaoi trap doujinshi of GGO Kirito, here we come... =w=

Only 3 weeks left.

[Kakurin]

Don't know if that has been mentioned yet, but it kind of hit me seeing the OP for a fourth time now. The appearance of Death Gun reminds me of the Laughing Coffin dude in SAO. Both wear a skull-like mask and have a hood draped over their head. And of course both don't hesitate killing people for real. Although it could be a coincidence though.

[eiyuuou]

Changing to snipe mode at close range would be dangerous, wouldn't it?

[MonkeyDude]

The only good trap is a reverse trap. With that said, thus starts the hilarity of a sword-wielding hero curbstomping people with fully automatic weaponry. Watch as Kirito make Jedi Masters look like total noobs!

[Kafriel]

Originally Posted by MonkeyDude

The only good trap is a reverse trap. With that said, thus starts the hilarity of a sword-wielding hero curbstomping people with fully automatic weaponry. Watch as Kirito make Jedi Masters look like total noobs!

Let him face a minigun and then we'll talk :P There's so many weapons that just can't be approached, I'm kind of worried as to how Kirito will eat through the contest while making it seem like a reasonable difference in tactics and not just OP account level.

Don't know if that has been mentioned yet, but it kind of hit me seeing the OP for a fourth time now. The appearance of Death Gun reminds me of the Laughing Coffin dude in SAO. Both wear a skull-like mask and have a hood draped over their head. And of course both don't hesitate killing people for real. Although it could be a coincidence though.

Skull masks and hoodies are pretty common though...and laughing coffin was a guild abusing players in a VERY messed up world. Death Gun is a random, unknown quantity that kills people in a super-weird way...and since GGO hasn't had anything bad as a game so far (or any real reason to go out of your way and kill players), I'll bet Death Gun is some kind of virus/rogue A.I. designed to kill elite players so that the distributing company doesn't go in the red. Trading in-game cash for money can be very damaging in cases like today's, with a new player hitting the jackpot.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Skull masks and hoodies are pretty common though...and laughing coffin was a guild abusing players in a VERY messed up world. Death Gun is a random, unknown quantity that kills people in a super-weird way...

In theory yes. In practice we only got to see that Laughing Coffin dude running around in that get-up. It also would serve as a nice link-up with the original SAO arc. I don't think it is impossible that this guy survived SAO and migrated to GGO. The problem would be coming up with a motive. In SAO it was crazy to truly kill people in order to gain their money and items, but still in the realm of "logic". Right now if Death Gun is this same guy he would be just killing for the sake of killing. Although I wouldn't rule it out. Speaking of this, it is fairly noteworthy how in the last episode the focus was laid towards the friend of Sinon's, how he is among those who suffered from Zexceed's "advice". Now, many people do possess this motive, but for him it was really stretched long, how he can't participate in those events anymore etc. So a possibility would be for Sinon's friend to be Death Gun, but the question still remains how those guys were killed.

[Kafriel]

This episode covered a lot of things, but stat specs and weapon/level requirements were not among them. Having played a lot of games, I get that GGO just went through a patch that has STR builds as FOTM, but most of the time the advantage is nerfed down quite a bit in a later patch...anyway, things I'd like to know before I can say that someone is doomed in the game:

* Status points gained per level
* SP required to carry physical weaponry, since it's the most important aspect of PvP
* critical damage mechanics
* level cap

The latter is most important, because if someone's hit the cap and can't re-spec, they're left out of a big part of the game...and I'm not sure if you can make another account or transfer items etc.

Critical damage is also another factor here; if any kind of headshot is a certain kill (which it probably is), a good party formation can carry any player.

That's all to be taken into account for the "Death Gun is the blondie" scenario. It's still episode 4, I'd give it another event or two before trying to figure things out, we're too short on facts atm.

[Death Usagi]

Originally Posted by Haruyasha

Only 3 weeks left.

Inb4 it is either rape or the male is Klein =w=

Otherwise it is Shinon raping him 8D... o wait...

[Triple_R]

Excellent and hilarious episode.

Kirito is such a trap, in so many different ways. It really adds a lot of good comedy value to his character, and the narrative as a whole.

Kirito (with his trap look) and Sinon in this episode made me think a bit of Madoka Magica's Homura and Sayaka, only with their chosen weapons completely switched.

It was nice to see a more lighthearted and relaxed Sinon this episode. Her character has become extremely well-rounded.

Episode 4 also did a good job of fleshing out the game world, with a nice-looking gambling contest game, and an impressive gun selection. Speaking of that gun selection and Sinon, I haven't seen a character talk so eloquently and comprehensively about guns since I last read a Punisher comic.

In any event, very fun and entertaining episode! SAO II might actually be better than SAO Season 1 for me so far.