Hey guys what is up welcome back to my blog I’m so thankful that you guys took the time out of your day to read my blog post. Hope you all are safe from the COVID-19. It’s time for a post on games most importantly the recently released Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris. I noticed that the game has been getting a lot of negative reviews so I am here to give my views on the game and take care that I have invested many hours into the game before writing the post. I also am a big Sword Art Online fan so that helped me in knowing what to expect and what not.
GRAPHICS & PERFORMANCE
The graphics are fire and I mean FIRE. They’re good even on the lowest settings. I couldn’t run the game on max settings but I ran it on high and it still looked good. There are different types of terrains that can be explored and they come with different enemy types. There are mountains, lush forests, sandy deserts, small villages and the bustling Capital. Most of the map is locked till Chapter 2 of the game. There were a few bugs at first that caused the Frame Rates to fluctuate quite a bit but then I found a mode that locked the Frames at 30 and the game ran smooth when I used it. The loading times were also very long at times but it wasn’t something unbearable. I just looked up tips on my phone while it loaded.
CHARACTERS
The first character you meet is obviously everyone’s favourite Eugeo and because the story follows the anime for the first chapter there are all the characters from the anime like Liena, Ronie, Tiese along with Alice and Bercouli. You unlock the characters from the outside world like Asuna, Leafa and the others girls after the first chapter. There’s a new character called Medina in the game who keeps the story of the first chapter fresh by giving us something new to see. She is also a VERY important charcter. The voice actors are really good and the character models are also really well done.
STORY
The story is the thing that makes Lycoris a good game and a bad game. The first chapter covers the first season of the Alicization anime and after you complete it the story goes off on its own route. The good stuff and most of the characters also get unlocked after Chapter 1. You could call Chapter 1 an hours long tutorial that teaches you all the mechanics of the game and then tells you to use it all to defeat the Administrator. Then there’s a different story that I won’t spoil here. The first chapter, I am really sorry to say is very poorly paced. There are moments like Medina’s story and the ending of Chapter 1 which contain just way too much dialogue and not enough action. It could be made better by including a few duels in between like at the end of Chapter 1 I would have loved to play a duel between Asuna and Alice when Asuna first meets Alice. There are also some moments like the tournament where they could have explained the duelling mechanism and pitted us against characters to win the tournament. Regardless the story is actually a lot of fun if you agree to let go of these few mistakes.
COMBAT
The combat is the main reason I got the game. I personally wanted to experience the dual wielding and when they let us have it just as the game started, I just was loved it. There’s a while after that when you get to fight again but every moment of combat is enjoyable. I faced level 15 enemies with a Level 10 Kirito, Eugeo and Liena and won because I understood the soul linkage mode early on. The soul linkage mode is basically a mode that allows you to give commands to your allies and mastering that is IMPORTANT. There’s passive skills and battle skills after that and then there’s the iconic sword skills too. All this makes the menu a little hectic and a lot to keep up with it at first but you grow into it after a little practice. There’s many sword skills and you can pick out your best 4 and switch them out at any time to suit your playstyle. You also need to keep assigning skills to your party characters. The grinding is also FUN because the combat is so fast paced and lovable. There’s also duel mode which is one on one combat and used mostly in boss fights. The thing that I was worried about was the Sacred Arts and they incorporated it pretty good in the game allowing you to generate all different kinds of elements and use them for different purposes. The combat is essentially a hit once you understand the system
CONCLUSION
Lycoris has a lot of potential and with the bug fixes it is truly a great game that gets a few things wrong. The other critics I believe were too hard on the game as to fully judge the game you should at least complete Chapter 1 and you must be willing to sit through a ton of dialogue and cut scenes. Watching the anime and being familiar with the story also helps as you can skip most of the cut scenes then. In my opinion Lycoris is a great game that did things a bit different and made a few mistakes but is definitely worth it if you’re a long standing fan of the series or if you just want some great swordplay. I’ll give the game a solid 9/10.
So that is it for this post guys hope you got some value from this. Thank you guys for reading to the end hit me up on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn with your thoughts and if you have any ideas which I should write about. Stay safe from the COVID-19. Thank you again and I’ll see you all next week.
Harshit's reviews 