One of the issues that players will come across in Hollow Fragment is a dodgy translation. It is unsure if the translation is based off of the Asian region release from a few months prior or if Bandai Namco had hired another team to help translate. Either way, much of the dialogue comes off as stiff and difficult to understand. Players will speak in half-sentences or sometimes about matters unrelated to the current conversation. When conversing with your partner, it can be quite difficult to understand what they’re saying and how to push the conversation positively. The translation is passable, but the lack of cohesive dialogue and abundance of spelling/grammar errors make Sword Art Online‘s story hard to follow.
Sword Art Online follows a pretty structured layout for each floor as far as questing goes, although each floor does have their own characteristics and unique events. Upon starting a new floor, it’s important to go talk to the quest giver on Floor 76 to get your three quests for that upcoming floor. Usually these involve killing a certain number of monsters, snatching up enemy drops or gathering materials, or taking out a particular notorious monster. Completing these quests will unlock boss data and help to figure out a boss’ weak points or blocking strategies. As mentioned above, answering those messages you get to help out an adventuring party are quite important to help out with keeping everyone’s levels high and preventing any unwanted deaths upon reaching a floor boss.
Combat in Sword Art Online feels like a PC MMO trapped within the confines of a handheld system. Kirito has more skills and actions at his disposal than the face buttons allow, so multiple skill palettes are available at his disposal. Both the L and R (or neither) buttons each bring up separate palettes once in combat, giving Kirito access to 24 buttons that include both his skills as well as AI actions. Pushing both L+R buttons simultaneously brings up his entire skill list, allowing changes on the fly or accessing a buff skill that you may only need to recast once every five minutes.
One unique aspect to Hollow Fragment’s combat is the use of an adaptive AI system. Kirito’s Up button is dedicated to a Good! cheer, usable any time your partner acts out in combat or uses a particular skill. Cheering your partner on consistently will change up their frequently used skills and tendencies in combat. A bonus effect of cheering is the instant recovery of 50 SP, a resource that’s used up frequently in combat in large chunks with combo enders or sword skills.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is actually the culmination of two Sword Art Online titles. The first was known as Infinity Moment when it was released for the PSP in Japan last year. This is the main game that the floors 76-100 and ultimately most of the story takes place in the Vita title. However, the second game Hollow Fragment exists as a sort of expanded version when SAO transitioned from the PSP onto the Vita system. Hollow Fragment includes an expanded Hollow area that’s accessible from the game’s start, although the enemies there typically start at around level 106. Kirito could certainly start his adventure there, but it’s an area that’s intended to be tackled at least midway through the main affair unless you’re seeking a stronger challenge.
Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is certainly a solid release for the PlayStation Vita and worthy of adding to one’s library. Many of today’s MMO conventions, especially in regards to grinding and repetitive tasks, are out in full force in Hollow Fragment. If you’re looking for a pocket-sized MMO, there’s easily a hundred plus hours of gameplay to look forward to and can easily help fill the void until a possible Western release of Phantasy Star Portable 2. A patch has been announced for Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that includes “30 hours of gameplay, new areas, costumes, and weapons”, however at the time of this review, has not been confirmed for North America.
[Editor’s Note: Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment was reviewed on the Playstation Vita. A code was supplied to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
