Futuristic Let's Do It Better: Sword Art Online

[Dark Souls]

Put something in front of me, and I could go on for days about how to improve it- This is my greatest talent, and even the Dark Souls games aren't perfect in my eye. Nothing is. As such, this is the first in what I hope will become a series of stories, co-operatively written with other roleplayers, which go off a premise which had potential, but fell flat in the end.



Sword Art Online is my first target. For those who aren't aware, (I'm sure there are very few) Sword Art Online was a light novel series which was adapted into anime form due to its popularity. It was actually one of the first anime series I watched, and I'll admit I enjoyed it. However, I mostly enjoyed it because I wasn't paying attention. I just let it run in the background while I mostly focused on something else. After that, I got more into anime, and after viewing other series and getting a better feel for my own tastes, I went back to see it again, since I genuinely could not remember what happened. It was then that I paid attention, and I did not understand why I enjoyed it before.

Sword Art Online, as an anime, is best suited as an action piece, with plenty of pandering to gamers. However, the action scenes leave plenty to be desired, and the majority of the series has a greater focus on not only romance, but poorly written romance. On top of that, there wasn't just the obligatory food episode, but there was also a fishing episode. Then there was this subplot about the most generic power-loli I can recall to date, and... Well, it doesn't get much better from there. The protagonist was overpowered for the sake of being overpowered, and not even in a way that made sense in lore, and the game the story was based around was poorly designed to begin with. Considering how in-depth plenty of critics have gone on the subject, I'm only scratching the surface. It does have a few redeeming qualities, like a decent soundtrack and nifty costume design, but considering what both of those traits are plastered to, it doesn't amount to much in the end.



TL ; DR, Sword Art Online had potential, but did not live up to it. I'm here to fix that. I'm going to, with the help of whatever player comes along and expresses interest, put together a story that does Sword Art Online better than Sword Art Online. What does that entail? Well, here are my personal rules, which I will be trying to abide by:

1. Retain as many characters as possible and keep their good traits intact.
2. If a plot point can be used well, use it.
3. Remove the harem aspect completely.
4. Redesign the game and the characters' interactions with it to be more reasonable.
5. Establish solid, consistent game mechanics as part of rule 4.

As the player coming into this, you have one crucial task, a single rule more important than any of mine and perhaps the most difficult part of this entire project:

1. Make Kirito a good character.

If you're interested in taking part in this project let me know. I look forward to doing this properly.​

 

[Noivian]

Did you mean: Log Horizon?

Haha I joke. If you want something along the same line as SAO but with a different cast and slightly different circumstances, I fully endorse Log Horizon. I prefer subbed, but if you can deal with dubbed, go for it. It does proper game mechanics and almost every fight scene is a group fight scene, meaning no OP main character 1 on 1 fights. There's still obligatory food episodes, but it actually adds to the plot, if you can believe it. If you have nothing better to do, there's only two seasons and you could easily burn through it in less than a week, depending on how much you binge watch.

Pardon me if you've already seen it. I always assume LH to be a kinda niche anime, in the shadow of the clusterfuck that is SAO. Hardly anyone that I've talked to on here has seen it.



As far as making Kirito better, I can try my best. Granted, it's gonna be probably entirely different, given how it's been like three? ish years since I watched SAO? I tend not to dwell on it too much, haha... Dark Souls

 

[Dark Souls]

I've heard a lot of good things about Log Horizon, and have considered viewing it many times. However, after so many anime of similar themes have been released (Re:Zero, KonoSuba, etc) that it's hard not to trip over one now, I've avoided the subgenre with a passion. I still respect Log Horizon for all the good people have said.

Don't worry about forgetting what Kirito was like. Pretty much his whole character is going to be tossed out anyway. Different is what we're going for from the start. Anything important you've lost, I can compensate for. My detestation for the series has kept it plenty vivid in memory, so I've got all the information we'll need.