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+--- Thread: SAO: Hollow Realization Review (/thread-3690.html)
SAO: Hollow Realization Review - RepentantSky - 11-17-2016
Well, I just finally finished this game last night, and I thought I'd review it so that I can stop thinking about Pokemon too much. I'm at that point where it feels like today is just taking too long and I want midnight to happen. Anyways though, it's tine to talk about the third game in the SAO series, which is sadly, by no means the best.
SAO:HR does do a lot of things right, especially in the combat, but it also manages to fall a bit short and tells it's not so great story in the most annoying of ways, almost all through dialogue as still images of characters stand in front of you moving their lips in a way that doesn't look right. They also only have two stances they never use per character, which doesn't really really lend itself to a lot of originality. The few cutscenes that exist are also a reminder how Bandai Namco spared pretty much every expense they could to try and maximize profits for the game. It's a shame that they did to, because the constant having to press X to get the story routine of course meant accidentally hitting the button before finishing reading certain dialogue causing some of the story to be missed. At the same time, near the end of the game, there's a part in there that you want to skip because it's basically everyone having a picnic right before the final fight That in itself wouldn't be too bad, but they make it clear at the end that you have a time limit to get things done, and set up to be hyped for the final battle, only to slow everything down to do another character interaction scene that you've seen a thousand other times in this game series with no real alteration. The story itself is also the worst in the series so far, as it makes a point to kill off NPC's forever when they die, but only makes one of them worth it to you unless you do a lot of side-questing with shop owners. Also, the NPC you are supposed to care so much about, doesn't really start developing a good personality that makes them more than a near reactionless still image until the 3rd act, which is just too late.
What does save this game, is the battle system though. It's fast, allows for switches to be done like they were in the anime, and feels like those switches, and with all the weapons available this time some variety is there as well. Certain weapons are slower so they do more damage, causing foes with armor or who are larger to stagger easier and also makes it so they are more likely to take a bigger hit to a damage multiplier you'll want to take advantage of as quickly as possible to win in battle faster. However, even though combat has little in the way of flaws, there is a huge problem in the way of variety of enemies, I honestly think there are more weapons types than varying ones. There are suits of armor, bees, plants, boars, and a few other foes, but you see most of them in the first area, and from then on, stronger versions of the same enemies appear in the different areas, even where it doesn't make sense. How many bees and trents are you going to see in a dessert? The answer should be zero and they should be replaced with cacti or other dessert like foes to make the feeling really sink in. There are one or two enemies in each area that fit the type of place it is, but sadly, there isn't enough to make it feel worth it all the time.
Speaking of things that aren't worth it, there's almost nothing to explore. Lost Song had areas to explore that you could fly to get to or secret caves that led to special items that made exploring worth it. Hollow Realization, doesn't have that, it's all fields and small but open areas that have a bit too much of a load time on them. And then you get to the last area, and despite some winding paths, it's basically one huge cave that doesn't have a ceiling but is too linear to be interesting. The game is clearly lacking in areas as well, as it has one less than Lost Song, which is of course, an expansion to another game, instead of full fledged one. For this one, even to be in a closed Beta throughout the story, but still a full version of the areas in the base game to have less to do than a expansion of another game, is just sad. I'm sure some it's being put away for DLC which costs 30 real life dollars, or 25 if you bought a physical copy, or it's part of the 90 dollar digital deluxe edition, but that doesn't make it okay. The base game needed more. More foes, more areas to explore, more cutscenes, just more content. In the end, I did get nearly 60 hours of playtime, but I spent nearly twice that in Lost Song, and I had a lot of post game content to enjoy, like trying to reach the level cap of 1000, trying to beat all the online missions and finishing up all the events with characters like Asuna and Shinon. While the last of those things can be played in post, there's really not much else to do after beating it. The online is pretty nerfed as well, not having enemies to fight that are stronger than the main bosses or having to fight foes that fly. The lack of flying in this game is actually a solid reminder that they planned to have less content in this game compared to Lost Song, as everything feels more grounded and limited. The level cap is only 70 which is stupid easy to get to. I'm sure the cap goes up in the DLC, but I won't know because I can't support it. I spent 160 dollars on the game for the special edition and while the extra stuff is worth it as I am a fan of the series, the game itself is not, and I feel like a lot of content was cut from the game just to push the DLC out there.
There are a lot of other minor issues and some other good ones as well, but they do nothing to fix the overall rating for me for this game, which is 2/5. In terms of quality, it is better than the first game, but that's because the first game had to little in that it's impossible not to have more substance in it in any other game. Considering a lot of people who worked on this also worked on dot hack, I am hugely disappointed with the outcome. Don't buy it at full price, wait until it's cheaper from a price drop or a sale, it isn't worth 60 dollars.