The different areas are filled with enemies, which should appeal to fans of grinding. The mechanics basically alternate between powerful timed melee attacks and ranged attacks meant to whittle away at enemies. Their interactions often brought a smile to my face, so I was able to invest in them, even if the story itself was a different matter.Īdditionally, the real-time combat system is far more accessible than the one found in Hollow Fragment. I also simply enjoyed most of Kirito’s companions. Many familiar online gaming truths are the topic of discussions between characters, and while some miss the mark despire clearly gunning for humour, the majority resonated quite well with me. Thankfully lacklustre narrative is rescued by characters who often amused me with their playful banter. I am not saying that all JRPGs need to be heavy life and death affairs, but the tone of Lost Song is in such sharp contrast with Hollow Fragment that the story never really hooked me in. The crux of the story is a competition with a guild called Shamrock, and Kirito and his companions are racing against this other guild in an effort to see who can clear the game first. Instead of literally fighting for their lives (since in Hallow Fragment dying in the game meant dying in real life), there is this constant realisation that Lost Song is, at the end of the day, just a game. What works less effectively is the narrative weight. Instead of the MMO-like cooldown based combat found in Hallow Fragment, Lost Song is focused on a more action-based experience.
This adds a really entertaining vertical element that was lacking in Hallow Fragment. Now the characters are fairy-like creatures that can fly about the landscape. Basically, in the fiction of Sword Art, people are literally plugged into the games they play, meaning their avatars are them… and what happens to them in the game also happens to them in real life.Īs a way to explain all new mechanics, the new setting works and makes logical sense. And if that little summary doesn’t make sense to you, then the game won’t either, though of course it will make perfect sense to existing fans. Inexplicably they are now playing a new game that has a lot of similarities to the Sword Art Online world – this one called Alfheim Online. However, that is precisely what Kirito and his friends have done here. Now, as much as I love video games, if one had tried to eat my mind, I would be a lot less likely to sign up to do it all again. Kirito talks a bit the prior game’s events, how they were trapped in a game while their bodies atrophied due to inactivity. While there is some exposition here and there, usually told through Kirito’s internal monologue, Lost Song assumes that you are familiar with the setting and the structure of Sword Art Online. I can appreciate that this is a unique story that is not part of the actual Sword Art Online mythos as we follow the exploits of Kirito and his companions some time after the events of Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment. The characters are the greatest strength of this tale, but unfortunately the story itself fails to stand out. However, the target audience here is clearly fans of the source material, and others might not come away with as favourable of an opinion.
Sword Art Online: Last Song hits a lot of really comfortable notes along the way, making some improvements to gameplay over the original game that should make it more accessible to most players.
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