Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Shows How The Game Begins And More Dating. April 2, 2014 . 3:10am

At the 3:35 mark of the video, we get to see just that, when Kirito holds hands and even carries Klein in his arms, to which he reacts by saying “what the heck!? Is this some kind of joke?”

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Eir Aoi is a popular singer who was first discovered through NicoNico Douga, and has had her music featured in anime such as Kill la Kill and Sword Art Online. During a recent “Let’s Play” video with Dengeki, she logs into the upcoming Vita title, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, and shows a good amount of gameplay footage.

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The first video starts out with a look at the character creation screen, where we get to see a bunch of different hairstyles, eyes, and other customization options for your customized Kirito. Again, while the default name is Kirito, you’ll have an option to enter a new name of your choice as well.

It doesn’t look like you’ll be able to pick a female gender for Kirito, but you can give him feminine hairstyles like the Sachi hair Aoi chose for her own character, which she ended up calling “Eirun”.

After the first scene, the game starts out with a tutorial battle at around 5:40, explaining everything from the Burst meter to using skills. After the fight, Eirun and Philia are seen talking to one another, and actually getting along, so Philia will likely be a close ally early in the game.

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The second video shows Eirun exploring the fields with Philia following closely behind. After demonstrating some more combat, they show us a feature where you’ll be able to compliment your partners, which will provide some sort of benefit.

At 9:05, Eirun encounters some more villains, but this time we get to see the Philia be more involved in the fight, using a Provoke-like skill… while Eir Aoi runs around trying to open some treasure chests. (It’s okay, she gives her plenty of compliments afterwards for her hard work.)

Then, they go back to fight the monster, but it seems like they bit off more than they could chew, as the monster is able to send Eirun to the grave in two swift hits​

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Finally, the third video gives us a look at how you’ll go around town with heroine characters, starting with a stroll with Yui. Yui can’t participate in combat, but she’ll have plenty of other occasions to shine when you take her out.

Eir Aoi tries to hold hands with Yui, but isn’t able to because the mood wasn’t right, so that means you’ll need to meet certain conditions before you can hold hands and carry heroines in your arms.

Next, Kirito is seen with Klein, and this time, he plays his cards right. We previously reported that Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will have a little “bromance” in it, as you’ll be able to hold hands with male characters.


At the 3:35 mark of the video, we get to see just that, when Kirito holds hands and even carries Klein in his arms, to which he reacts by saying, “what the heck!? Is this some kind of joke?”


… and if you’re wondering about being able to go further than that, the above image says it all. You’ll be able to spend quality pillow-bro-talk with other male characters, as well. The talks between male characters will be about things like their goals and dreams, girls they like, and more.


Just don’t let Asuna catch you, as there are some dreams women will never understand.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released on April 24 for PlayStation Vita.​

source:Siliconera
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Gets A New Commercial. April 7, 2014 . 2:31pm
Bandai Namco have shared a new commercial for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, slated for release on PlayStation Vita later this month in Japan.

Bandai Namco have shared a new commercial for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment

, slated for release on PlayStation Vita later this month in Japan. The commercial shows off a number of animated cutscenes from the game and can be viewed below.​

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Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment

will be available in Japan on April 24th.​

source:Siliconer

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Takes Us Into The Heat Of Battle. April 9, 2014 . 11:58pm

Bandai Namco Games has a new trailer for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that shows Kirito in action.

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Bandai Namco Games has a new trailer for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that shows Kirito in action. No we’re not talking about hand holding while running around Aincrad this time (OK there’s a little of that), we’re talking about combat.

The PlayStation Vita game has the ten weapons from the PSP game and cooperative attacks you can pull off with your partner. Speaking of partners the "Absolute Sword" Yuuki Konno is confirmed to be in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment too.

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Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is slated for release on April 24.

source:Siliconera
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment’s Bonus Costumes If You Get It From PSN. April 11, 2014 . 12:43am

Bandai Namco Games will release Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment on April 24. If you reserve the PlayStation Vita title digitally you’ll get two bonus items.

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Bandai Namco Games will release Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment on April 24. If you reserve the PlayStation Vita title digitally you’ll get two bonus items, a Y shirt and the wedding dress as a bonus. The wedding dress is a first print bonus for the retail version.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan is also hold a raffle and 17 people who purchase Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment digitally will get prizes. The PlayCommunity post has a list of figures and posters you could win, but you have to be in Japan to claim the items.
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[zenith16]

And further more on the game



Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Details On Quests And Loot. April 11, 2014 . 2:32pm

A closer look at missions and what other things you’ll be doing in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment.

We previously got a glimpse of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment’s multiplayer mode and some of the areas you’ll be checking out in the reborn Aincrad. Now, we have a closer look at missions and what other things you’ll be doing in the upcoming PlayStation Vita game.

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As previously reported, the “Hollow Mission” are quests you’ll be taking on to acquire special skills, weapons, and more upon completion.

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Before heading out to take on a Hollow Mission, you’ll be able to group up with your buddies and prepare for the quest. While doing this in the offline mode, you’ll be advancing through the story as you complete missions. In online mode, upon clearing the Hollow Mission, you’ll be sent back to the base.

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The Material Gathering system is another special feature that you can take advantage of in the Hollow Area. By meeting certain conditions for various objectives, the game will grant you Hollow Points, which can then be used to acquire special skills and equipment.

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This system will be of great help to the players, by providing powerful and useful items. There will also be some other special unlocks you can get by completing various lists.


While Aincrad does indeed have 100 floors, in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, you’ll be starting out from a town on the 76th floor, as you clear fields, dungeons, and bosses to work your way to the top.

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However, there will be many powerful bosses that will require the proper preparations before taking on. You’ll be able to check out all kinds of information on the bosses before taking them on, so studying these monsters and their habits will be just as crucial as keeping your gear up to scratch.

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Similar to the show and novel, there will also be a “Last Attack” feature. There will be certain weapons that can only be obtained by getting in the last hit on bosses, so you might also want to watch out for that, before a pesky NPC ends up stealing the glory!

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released on April 24, 2014 in Japan for the PlayStation Vita.
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source:Siliconera
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Shows Off Alternate Heroine Costumes. April 15, 2014 . 3:12am

One of your main focuses in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be to build relationships with heroines and other characters

In Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, one of your main focuses will be to build relationships with heroines and other characters. Not only for dating purposes, but they’ll also help out more in combat when your bond is tighter. Dengeki shows us some other bonuses that come from good relationships.

While going on dates will boost your relationship with the heroines on a personal level, you can also bond with them in the battlefield. Each character will have their own unique AI that determines their fighting style.


To the bottom-left of the screen, there are three sections that are divided into attack, defense, and buffs. This graph displays the character’s AI preference and their efficiency in different parts of each respective group, like covering and hate management in defense, recovery and stun under buffs.

The AI will change and progress as you fight alongside your partners. Even if they excel at one thing, but you’d rather have them be better at another, you’ll be able to do just that by having them participate in combat and play the way you want them to.

As a bonus, you’ll be able to unlock special costumes for heroine characters by communicating with them and having them and meeting certain conditions.

While they’ve yet to reveal exactly how you can unlock these costumes, here’s a look at some of their alternate looks:

Asuna:

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[zenith16]

and further on this

Silica:

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Lisbeth:

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Source: Siliconera

way more in the article it's self
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Video Shows The Gang Taking On A Boss. April 21, 2014 . 12:29pm

The video starts out with Asuna rallying the troops, which consists of a player-made Kirito, Leafa, and others, before the entrance of the Ghastlygaze fight.

In Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, you’ll be exploring a rebuilt version of Aincrad as you work your way up to the 100th floor, while taking on various dungeons and boss fights. The game’s latest video shows Kirito and his buddies fight one of the first bosses of the game—the Ghastlygaze.

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The video starts out with Asuna rallying the troops, which consists of a player-made Kirito, Leafa, and others, before the entrance of the Ghastlygaze fight. Once the fight starts, the characters start out with what appears to be some buffs, followed by a barrage of skills.

It doesn’t take long for Kirito and his partner Leafa to perform a Switch Skill ability, but judging by the health bar located on the top-right of the screen, you’ll be needing to do a lot more of those to take it down.

As the group continues fighting the boss and dodging it’s cone-shaped attacks and circular area-of-effect hits, they’re finally able to take it down, and get their reward. Kirito also manages to get a “Last Attack” in, meaning he might also get some extra loot from the fight.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released on April 24, 2014 for PlayStation Vita.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Video Is A Tour Through The Hollow Area. April 22, 2014 . 12:32am

Before Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment comes out this week, here’s one more look at the Hollow Area and the notorious monster, the Wood Squeezer.

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Before Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment comes out this week, here’s one more look at the Hollow Area and the notorious monster, the Wood Squeezer. Kirito is paired with Philia, a new character with an orange rep only in the PlayStation Vita game. The tree hits hard, but the duo was able to complete the mission using a team attack to finish the NM off.

Kirito and Philia take on Chaos Dead in the next video. When Kirito uses his Burst Gauge he can rapidly attack, but the downside is this ups his risk level. Using Switch resets risk at the cost of some SP. Kirito’s partner will periodically ask Kirito to take specific actions like Switch or using skills. If you can follow her you can do a combo attack and raise your relationship level.
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Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is slated for release on April 24 in Japan.​

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source:Siliconera
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Coming To North America This Summer. April 22, at 2014 . 7:01am

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is coming to North America as a downloadable title on PlayStation Vita, Bandai Namco games have announced.

Bandai Namco revealed to the press at their Global Gamer’s Days event that Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is coming to North America as a downloadable title on PlayStation Vita. Now, we’re allowed to let everyone else know.

While Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment features Kirito as your default avatar, you actually have the ability to customize both his looks and his name. You’ll begin your adventure in a town on the 76th floor of Aincrad and begin working your way to the top, fighting bosses and clearing dungeons.

There’s also a dating element in the game, and dates will sometimes end with pillow talk. Single-player aside, though, Hollow Fragment also has a multiplayer mode, where you can have a party of four players with one AI partner each, making for a team of eight.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be available in North America this Summer. More details will be shared at a later date, but in the meantime, you can check out English screenshots of the game out below.

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Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2014/04/2...ing-north-america-summer/#oOiPGjli5EtyHEJF.99

source:Siliconera
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment To Receive Major Update In July

By Sato . April 23, 2014 . 1:58pmThis update will raise the level cap to 250, and will also add a new feature called “Grand Quests,” along with a new events, fields, and maps.

Those of you looking forward to Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (and yes, that now includes you guys in North America) will also have an update to look forward to. The game will be getting a major update in Japan this July. [Thanks, Game Jouhou.]

According to Game Jouhou’s report, a major update is scheduled for Hollow Fragment in July. This update will raise the level cap to 250, and will also add a new feature called “Grand Quests,” along with a new events, fields, and maps.

Since the level cap is being increased, the development team will also be adding new dungeons and bosses to go with it. The update will also add higher level monsters.

On the partner and relationship side of things, more dating event features with Sachi will be added, and Argo the information seller can now join your party as an ally. The difficulty and various system functions will also be adjusted.

Additionally, starting in May there will be weekly downloadable content, which will start out with items for lower level characters and a Kirito avatar from the Fairy Dance arc of Sword Art Online. This wave of DLC will carry on into the month of June, and will all be free.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released on April 24 in Japan and this summer in North America for PlayStation Vita.​

source:siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Sold To Junior High Students And Above. May 5, 2014 . 11:01am

According to retailers, the vast majority of people that purchased Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment were junior high school students and above.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment made its debut in Japan on April 24th, and the game sold 145,029 copies in its first week on store shelves. Japanese sales tracker Media Create reports that the game sold through 82.58% of its shipment.

In comparison, Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment on PSP sold sold 138,180 copies in its first week, with a sell-through of 92.96%, so Hollow Fragment has debuted slightly higher than its predecessor.

According to retailers, the vast majority of people that purchased Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment were junior high school students and above. This audience overlaps with the main purchasers of the PlayStation Vita this past year.

Media Create say one can surmise that people that bought Infinity Moment have steadily switched to Hollow Fragment.​

source:Siliconera

Ok be a while before I post again .
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[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Gets A New English Trailer. June 10, 2014 . 10:30pm

Bandai Namco recently revealed a look at their latest trailer in English for the upcoming game Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment.

Bandai Namco recently revealed a look at their latest trailer in English for the upcoming game Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, where we get another look at Kirito and the gang in the reborn world of Aincrad.

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The trailer starts out with the Player Killing guild Laughing Coffin’s leader, PoH, having a little talk with Kirito. It also provides a look at some of the game’s heroines, followed by some of the games features in combat and partner characters.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is expected to see a major update to its Japanese version come July, which adds 30 hours of content to the original game. Hopefully, we see it the day the game is released in the West, or shortly afterwards.

You can also take a look at our earlier report for a bunch of heroine costumes for the game, or check out Kirito and the gang take on dungeons and a boss fight.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released this Summer for PlayStation Vita in North America and Europe.

source:Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Blacksmith Forges Kirito’s Elucidator From Sword Art Online. June 16, 2014 . 5:00pm

Man At Arms is back with another real life replica of an anime weapon.

Man At Arms is back with another real life replica of an anime weapon. This time its’ Kirito’s Elucidator from Sword Art Online, and you can see the process of how it was forged in the video below.

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source:Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Reaches Europe On August 20th. July 2, 2014 . 7:20am

New screenshots in English are available as well.

Bandai Namco have announced a European release date for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment. The game will be available as a download title on August 20th. You can view new screenshots of the game below.

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source: Siliconera

Two more in the article it's self

 

[zenith16]

Tales of Hearts R And Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Dated For America. July 2, 2014 . 10:02am

Tales of Hearts R will be released in North America on November 11th, Bandai Namco announced this morning.

Tales of Hearts R will be released in North America on November 11th, 2014, Bandai Namco announced this morning.

Meanwhile, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released on August 19th.

source: Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment’s Big Update Won’t Be Built Into The Western Release. July 7, 2014 . 3:14am

“The update won’t be built into the Western release of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment,” producer Yosuke Futami said in an interview with Siliconera. “We’re currently considering to bring the large scale update from Japan over.”

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is getting a large update with roughly 30 extra hours of playable content. The update has new areas, date event scenes with Sachi, and more monsters.

"The update won’t be built into the Western release of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment," producer Yosuke Futami said in an interview with Siliconera. "We’re currently considering to bring the large scale update from Japan over."

Futami explained since Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is a pseudo-MMORPG he wanted to release future updates for it similar to how other MMORPGs have regular updates. "Argo uses a dagger and how he plays is similar to Silica. Originally, Sachi wasn’t available to date. After the update, you will be able to hold her hand and carry her." Futami confirmed Sachi will have new event scenes, but couldn’t say what those are.

"There are three main bosses [in the update]. One type is a giant boss that is slow, but more powerful. The second one is a nimble boss that’s fast and smaller. The third one is a combination of the two. Players will have to come up with different strategies to defeat these bosses," Futami said about the new enemies.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment comes out on August 19 in North America and August 20 in Europe as a PlayStation Vita download.

source Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment Sequel Gets The Green Light July 8, 2014 . 6:35am

Producer Yosuke Futami comments on a sequel to Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment.

It’s been a few months since Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment was released in Japan, and it seems to have done quite well, as a sequel is already in the plans according to this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine. [Thanks, Game Jouhou].

During an interview with producer Yosuke Futami and Sword Art Online author Reki Kawahara, Famitsu mentioned that Futami previously stated that if Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment sells more than the previous game, Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment on PSP, a sequel for the Vita game would be possible.

Now that Hollow Fragment has already outsold the PSP game, Futami revealed “I’m thinking about setting up plans for the sequel.”

More details on a new Sword Art Online game should be revealed in the near future. Meanwhile, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will be released in North America on August 19, and Europe on August 20, 2014.

source Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment – How New Heroines And Dating Scenes Were Made. July 17, 2014 . 11:30am

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment producer Yosuke Futami talks to Siliconera about creating Strea and Philia, two original characters made for the video games plus explains how the team designed a pseudo-MMORPG battle system.

Bandai Namco Games will bring Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment to North America and Europe. In the vein of .hack, the PlayStation Vita game is a pseudo-MMORPG where you explore the world of Aincrad with a partner character.

Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment includes the content from the PSP game, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment. Within the game’s town, players will be able to choose missions from either the Infinity Moment storyline or the Hollow Fragment storyline. Producer Yosuke Futami said there were some changes to make Infinity Moment fit with Hollow Fragment. The graphics have been updated for PlayStation Vita and Infinity Moment uses the battle system from Hollow Fragment. Players will be able to see ending variations from both games. Bandai Namco also said they are cleaning up the English translation from the Asian version for the North American release.

Can you tell us about developing the original storylines for Hollow Fragment and Infinity Moment?

Yosuke Futami, Producer: I actually start out with what I want to make, not so much what fans are expecting. One theme I keep in mind is you’re playing as Kirito and I want him to look like a heroic and cool character. When creating the game, I thought about what I would do if I was in Sword Art Online.

That’s different from the Kirito in the series. He isn’t exactly suave.

Yeah, but in the game he’s cool. [laughs] In a lot of the other stories, he’s always trying to help someone. That’s still the goal in the game. If you look at the whole story, he has moments where he’s really heroic.

Strea (left) and Philia (right), two new characters made for the Sword Art Online games.​

Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment has Strea, an original character who Kirito meets in the game. Can you tell us how you created her?

Do you know Yui? The original inspiration came from the idea of Yui having another sister.

What about Philia who was added in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment?

When I was thinking of making a game, I wanted to have a heroine that’s a criminal. That’s how Philia was born and why she is [an] Orange [player]. A criminal heroine didn’t exist in the anime or the original story, which is why I wanted to create one.

How do you come up with the date events for the Sword Art Online games?

Hmm… I try to imagine what players would want to do with those characters. [laughs] The storyline for Sachi was pretty difficult to make. Philia is my favorite character to date. I always think about what characters do or should say that would make me feel happy and attracted to that character when designing date scenes.

Can you tell us why you added more date elements into Hollow Fragment like holding hands and carrying characters?

In Infinity Moment, even if you became friends with other characters you wouldn’t be able to directly interact with those characters. With Hollow Fragment we wanted to tighten the game and let players to get closer to the characters.



Are there any ideas for date scenes that you didn’t use?

There were a lot of ideas that we thought of that we didn’t use. Some of the more risqué ones we had to throw out.

Why did you add pillow talk into the game?

[Laughs] That was my preference.

If there is another Sword Art Online game what kind of dating elements would you add?

Hmm… [thinks for awhile] kissing, maybe?



Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment has a pseudo-MMORPG system. Can you tell us how you designed the AI partner characters so they are helpful in battle?

One of the the things we did when we were creating the AI was we took a lot of care in creating emotions. We made sure they were all original and cute so they feel realistic.

When you control your character, you don’t have to think about your partner. The partner will act as you AI and grow on its own. When the player starts thinking about how they want to raise their partner’s AI and how they want the AI to grow, the AI will grow around your actions. Having the partner change depending on how you act is something we wanted to do.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment has changes to the battle system too like adding the Burst system. Why did you add this in?

When we released Infinity Moment in Japan we did a lot of research and listened to what the fans said. There were a lot of people that said they wanted to directly attack, which is why we added the Burst system.



MMORPGs are a grindy genre, but I think playing with your friends doesn’t make it seem as lengthy. Even though Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is a pseudo-MMORPG it’s pretty grindy too. Was this purposeful to capture the feeling of a MMORPG?

We balanced Hollow Fragment so there is grinding, but there is less than a typical MMORPG because the social aspect of playing with your friends isn’t there. We wanted to put in grinding because it is set in a MMORPG environment. In the future, we still have to determine because this game is set inside a MMORPG grinding is there. Depending on the theme of the next game, if there is a next game, we may change it to match other game styles.

The level cap for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment will increase to 250 after the update. That’s a lot to work up to!

Leveling up with the patch will be a little bit easier. You won’t have to grind as much. Depending on your play style there are other ways to level up more efficiently.

How would you refine the battle system if you were to make another Sword Art Online game?

I would want to make it more interactive. Maybe add in jumps.

Read more stories about Interviews & PlayStation Vita & Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment on Siliconera.

source Siliconera

 

[zenith16]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment To Get A Free Update In September [Update]. August 12, 2014 . 9:00am

Bandai Namco will release a DLC pack for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that will remain free from launch until November 18th.

Bandai Namco will release a DLC pack for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that will remain free from launch until November 18th, the publisher said today.

The pack will include a wedding dress, dress shirt, nightie, and school swimsuit for all the game’s heroines.

Update: Bandai Namco have also announced that a major update for the game will be available on September 23rd, that will raise the level cap from 200 to 250 and add new quests, weapons and armour to the game.

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source Siliconera

 

[The Bruce]

This game is so amazing! Can't stop playing love grinding!