Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Review: Just Watch The Anime

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris takes one of the best seasons of the anime and turns it into a sluggish, clunky, and mediocre JRPG.

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Sword Art Online is one of the most divisive anime franchises of the 21st century. However, when it comes to the show’s recently completed third season, Sword Art Online: Alicization, many fans’ opinions are significantly more positive when compared to earlier arcs. So how well did SAO’s best season translate into a video game? With such a great foundation to start from, Alicization’s video game adaptation must be pretty good – right?

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris takes one of the best seasons of the anime and turns it into a sluggish, clunky, and mediocre JRPG that feels like a significantly inferior version your favorite already-existing video games.

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Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris begins by retelling the canon story of the Alicization arc from Sword Art Online’s third anime season (as well as the same plot points from the “Alicization Begining” to “Alicization Uniting” novel arcs). It follows protagonist Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya who wakes up in the middle of the virtual world of the Underworld, with no idea how he ended up there, but with all his memories from the real world intact. He soon befriends a local villager named Eugeo, who discloses to him that he’s hoping to save his friend Alice who was taken by Integrity Knights to the Underworld’s Central Cathedral when they were kids.

The two team up together to save Alice and attempt to find a way to connect Kirito back with the real world. The game then branches off into a brand new story that brings all of Kirito’s friends together, introduces a brand new character named Medina Orithanos, and follows the gang as they attempt to bring down the villainous Administrator of the Underworld.

Alicization Lycoris is a JRPG that allows players to take on the role of Kirito as he explores the vast open world of the Underworld, fights monsters in real-time combat, and forges relationships and bonds with the various characters in the game. Though the main story is a single-player game, there is also an online multiplayer mode that allows more players to join in on the action.

An Alternate (And Happier) Ending

Alicization Lycoris follows the canon plot of Sword Art Online pretty closely, though one major part regarding the ending of the “Alicization Uniting” arc (aka, the last few episodes of season three of the anime) has been significantly changed for the game. No spoilers, but essentially, a very devastating scene that occurs in the last episode of the season/chapters of the novel has been completely removed, meaning that Kirito can continue his adventures with all of his friends in the world of the game.

That’s easily the best part of Alicization Lycoris – it gives fans of the show and its characters a chance for all their favorites to come together and work towards defeating a common enemy. It offers a much happier alternate ending to the story, one that might patch the hole in your heart if you’re still not over Season 3, Episode 24.

There’s also a cool and kinda random aspect of the game that allows you to build relationships with all of Kirito’s close friends (re: not just the girls) which means you can get some pretty funny and amazing moments like this:

Additionally, Alicization Lycoris has created an expansive open-world landscape full of plenty of unique and cool areas to explore. There’s always plenty for players to do, whether they want to stick to the main plot, take up some side quests, grind by hunting animals, or build up their relationships with other characters. The gameplay is very reminiscent of titles like Xenoblade Chronicles, which I found cool.

Finally, Alicization Lycoris introduces one major game-exclusive character named Medina, an Underworld noble from a disgraced family. She’s introduced pretty early in the game and is interwoven throughout Kiroto and Eugeo’s initial adventures; though she’s a solid addition to the cast, with a headstrong yet sensitive characterization that fits seamlessly into the story.

A Horrible Start

Unfortunately, that’s about it regarding the game’s good qualities.

The worst, and probably most glaring, issue of the entire game is its sluggish first chapter that tells the entire story that took one whole anime season/four whole novel arcs to explain. Even without attempting sidequests, it’ll take an average player about 10-15 hours to complete. (Though personally, as someone who was trying to complete side quests, it took me an arduous 30 hours to get through Chapter 1.)

For some reason, the chapter predominantly relies on long cutscenes filled with text-heavy monologues to convey the information from the story. It also adds unnecessary filler battles and quests solely to remind the player they’re utilizing an interactive medium (and not just watching a far inferior version of the anime). The result it hours upon hours of reading (or skipping through) text, which is a snoozefest even for those who aren’t familiar with the story.

If that wasn’t enough, many of the game’s cool features – including multiplayer, relationship building, etc. – are only unlocked after completing Chapter 1. Sure, those aspects are fun. But is it really worth the 30-hour slog? (In my opinion, it’s not.)

A Less-Than-Mediocre Execution

Even some of the pros outlined above in the game are the game’s weakest points – simply because there are so many other games that execute them better. Take the open world of the Underworld and the ease of available monsters and creatures to battle to level-grind. Earlier I mentioned the game reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles, which is far superior in its execution of both of these features. And I haven’t even mentioned the game’s convoluted battle system, unnecessarily complicated menu, and all the framerate issues and glitches that continuously popped up during my playthrough…

There’s also one part of the game I haven’t mentioned yet – Sword Art Online’s continually awful portrayal of female characters and fanservice. Without going too much into the first part, all I’ll say is that SAO’s trend of triggering moments has continued in Alicization Lycoris, with another scene that puts Medina at the center. Combined with the obvious fanservice-y aspects of the game’s relationship building, it comes across as gross, completely unnecessary, and tone-deaf.

Truthfully, the only kind of person I can recommend this game to is a diehard Sword Art Online superfan who has never played a JRPG (or honestly, any other video game) in their life and therefore has no basis to compare the trainwreck that is Alicization Lycoris to anything else that has substance. Otherwise, just watch the anime. Or play a different game.

A PlayStation 4 copy of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris was provided to TheGamer for this review. Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.

Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/sword-art-online-alicization-lycoris-review/