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SAO Abridged

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Alan Kelson said:
Alright, then. This is why:
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Well then. As someone who really enjoyed his Bleach and UBW series (I'm just coming back from an episode, to boot!), that's a bitter pill to swallow. Up until now, I was lucky enough to not really care about the youtubers engulfed in a scandal, I guess it had to end sooner or later.

But wow, this is messed up.
 
I ran across a video by Just Write discussing the characterization and narrative structuring in Harmon Quest. I think it gives a good analogy for how the changes to Abridged Kirito's character improve the story -- by giving Kirito a rather substantial character flaw that stands in the way of what he really wants, they can given him a character arc where he has to grow past his flaw in order to reach his goal.

Delphisage said:
That's also exactly what Ford Prefect was arguing against, and putting a previous post's argument in slightly different words doesn't actually defend it.
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I have to admit that I'm more than a little confused here, because I took great pains to back up my positions with examples from the canon anime and the abridged series. Just out of curiosity, what more did I need to do to "defend" my position?

ZerbanDaGreat said:
Nope. I pretty harshly criticise it every time it does a dramatic moment for exactly what you say - the dramatic moments are lifted wholesale from the show and thus cringy as fuck. Abridged definitely hit its utter nadir when they played 'Kirito pulls Supah Hackeeng ingame with code he's never even seen before under a time limit just so he can try to keep his ingame daughter-trophy' completely seriously with no jokes about how Kirito could've been doing something more productive with his time like enabling the log-out function or cheating viciously or etc etc.
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So, funny fact -- your point here prompted me to rewatch the "What's in a Scene? - How SAO Became the Worst Anime Ever" video, and I noticed that this was the top comment:
Something Witty Entertainment said:
Oh god! We're working on that story arc for our abridged series right now, and we didn't fully realized just how stupid that programming scene is! We didn't think it was possible for the writing in this show to get WORSE! Thanks for pointing that out. We mostly thought this arc was shit because it did things like introduce a character only to immediately kill her off (as you said), but also because they spent a truly absurd amount of time on Yulier's exposition, despite the fact that NONE of it is ever mentioned again!

Sigh Alright, rant over. Great episode man! Always love your analyses :)
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I mean, I suppose that that they could do some kind of retcon to say that the real reason that Yui sought out Kirito was because she was looking for a way off SAO's servers and he was the only player who was both smart enough to be able to use admin access to copy her code but also dumb enough to fall for her "I wish I really was your daughter" routine.

On a more amusing, the page for SAO Abridged on the Abridged Series Wiki (seriously?) lists out the difference between the abridged series and the canon anime. Some of the points are useful to note, but a lot of others are pretty severe examples of Captain Obvious:
Abridged Series Wiki said:
  • Klein's username isn't "BallsDeep69 and his Avatar wasn't a joke one to use to get a handle on he game before creating his own.
    . . .
  • Kirito doesn't go into a long expositional ramble about "The Mithril Pebble of Pig Smiting" that lasts hours to the point where Klien wonders if he gets bullied in real life.
    . . .
  • Kayaba isn't shocked that most of the players are "fairly attractive twenty somethings" before stating his pride in them for "breaking down stereotypes".
    . . .
  • The players who come to the boss strategy meeting aren't unaware that two thousand people have died and/or unaware that the game has a hundred floors.
  • "Tiffany" doesn't call his avatar "Tiffany". Instead he goes by "Agil" which is an abbreviated version of his real name, "Andrew Gilbert Miles".
    . . .
  • There is never a cat that learns to play the game.
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Etc.
 
You know, has anyone else found it annoying how EVERYONE in the original SAO has an avatar name based on their IRL name?

Anyway, I think one of the reasons why SAOA seems to have better characters than the original is just consistency. They introduce Kirito as a solo player who is good at the game, and terrible at everything else and they keep that characterization consistent. Sure, they'll go into more depth and flesh him out, but they still keep the core character the same.
 
Iscariotpaladin said:
...when I saw a thread for SAOA this was the last thing I expected see, Christ almighty I feel sick at my stomach.
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Fortunately, anyone can be replaced in an Abridged series with a "sore throat" joke. Main characters and side alike are easily replaced. Sure it makes the epiosdes take longer (though this could outright kill it), but it's possible.
 
Xero Key said:
Fortunately, anyone can be replaced in an Abridged series with a "sore throat" joke. Main characters and side alike are easily replaced. Sure it makes the epiosdes take longer (though this could outright kill it), but it's possible.
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I'm more cynical. Remember Channel Awesome? This kind of toxicity can end up getting covered up if people don't make raise the alarm and get it out into the public eye.
 
Fandom Lord said:
I'm more cynical. Remember Channel Awesome? This kind of toxicity can end up getting covered up if people don't make raise the alarm and get it out into the public eye.
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Note I did say this could kill it, right? Let's just be hopeful this can be a simple voice change with an announcement of Decryment, so we can all get on with having fun.
 
Xero Key said:
Fortunately, anyone can be replaced in an Abridged series with a "sore throat" joke. Main characters and side alike are easily replaced. Sure it makes the epiosdes take longer (though this could outright kill it), but it's possible.
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That would be the best solution, even if it takes longer to get the episodes.

Fandom Lord said:
I'm more cynical. Remember Channel Awesome? This kind of toxicity can end up getting covered up if people don't make raise the alarm and get it out into the public eye.
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Oh that reminds me, I need to unsubscribe from them.

Xero Key said:
Note I did say this could kill it, right? Let's just be hopeful this can be a simple voice change with an announcement of Decryment, so we can all get on with having fun.
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That's all I'd want, and nothing would make me happier.
 
Quadhelix said:
Snip
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Okay, I'm just gonna surrender everything I said in my last post. I didn't really know what I was talking about, and I was probably putting words in a moderator's mouth.

Though I will say that the Geoff Thew video on Yui and Episodes 11 and 12 you linked read to me like one of the biggest examples of "taking a personal slight too far and projecting it as a universal flaw of the work to a discomforting level" since watching Enter's videos, especially when he pulled the "I'm glad that the laziest scene ever had the laziest background ever" line.
 
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So... let's talk about happier things, like how Alfheim Online is going to be abridged. I personally hope Sachi sticks as a sore point for Kirito and that the moment Sugu's identity is revealed, any attraction he had plummets like meteor to the dinosaurs. Possibly followed by a re-used scene of Kazuto ripping off his NerveGear (if one exists) and a shot of closed door with the sound of echoed puking layered on it. Let that sit for about a minute, maybe two, interspaced with Sugu awkwardly listening. Throw in some freaked out, mumbled expletives and it will be complete.
 
Ridiculously Average Guy said:
a shot in the dark here:

Leafa thinks that Kirito is an NPC/Yui gives the quest to save Asuna AS a quest.
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I'd buy the second one more than the first. Even for the physical differences needed for Alfheim, Kazuto still made his avatar look as close to himself as possible. Personally I want Something Witty to have that recognized, with enough old SAO players having joined the currently only VR game that won't kill them, so Kirito and Asuna have a reputation. I want some of the dumber conflicts to end by people running away somehow, Kirito laughing like a madman.

Because really, even if he's underleveled in Alfheim, there's nothing anyone there can do to scare him:
" 'Oh no, whatever shall I do? I'm going to be forcibly ejected into my nice, safe, comfortable bed if I lose this fight, therefore allowing me to try again as many times as I want.' Come on man, really? I'm fucking Kirito, the hero of Aincrad, savior of Sword Art Online. I spent two years of my life in a constant battle of life and death, do you really think you scare me in a game that won't kill me?"
 
Xero Key said:
Note I did say this could kill it, right? Let's just be hopeful this can be a simple voice change with an announcement of Decryment, so we can all get on with having fun.
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That'll depend of if anyone's informed them of this yet. I'm considering heading to the abridged episodes he's done voices for and posting the link to his ex's account so others can read for themselves.
Actually, I haven't really asked her about this yet. I should probably do that before I do anything else.
 
I'm still looking forward to him just eating a dude, especially since, relatively speaking, he just came out of a death game where dying in the game meant dying in real life.

...

Though, as Abridged Kirito, he was still rather casual about killing people, so...

I don't know, I still think him just eating someone could be a source of interesting comedy.

(It's been a long time, this is the storyline where Kirito used that illusion magic to shapechange into an old SAO boss, right?)
 
Alan Kelson said:
That'll depend of if anyone's informed them of this yet. I'm considering heading to the abridged episodes he's done voices for and posting the link to his ex's account so others can read for themselves.
Actually, I haven't really asked her about this yet. I should probably do that before I do anything else.
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This isn't new information, I'm pretty sure that that was done months back by multiple people.

Although as this thread shows clearly some people missed it.
 
Xero Key said:
Because really, even if he's underleveled in Alfheim, there's nothing anyone there can do to scare him:
" 'Oh no, whatever shall I do? I'm going to be forcibly ejected into my nice, safe, comfortable bed if I lose this fight, therefore allowing me to try again as many times as I want.' Come on man, really? I'm fucking Kirito, the hero of Aincrad, savior of Sword Art Online. I spent two years of my life in a constant battle of life and death, do you really think you scare me in a game that won't kill me?"
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If I remember right, Kirito spends most of the Alfheim arc in the wild, without visiting any cities. Therefore, dying would've sent him really far back to the starting city, making death a legitimate problem, and Leafa's rush to get to Kirito's remains and revive him an important action.

Remember - in that arc, it wasn't Kirito's life on the line. It was Asuna's, even if he had no idea what was actually happening to her.
 
Krein said:
If I remember right, Kirito spends most of the Alfheim arc in the wild, without visiting any cities. Therefore, dying would've sent him really far back to the starting city, making death a legitimate problem, and Leafa's rush to get to Kirito's remains and revive him an important action.

Remember - in that arc, it wasn't Kirito's life on the line. It was Asuna's, even if he had no idea what was actually happening to her.
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I admit I barely was able to get through the Aincrad arc in canon, I couldn't get invested. But seriously, who freaking designs MMOs without respawn checkpoints across the map? Is every game designer for the NerveGear just that bad at game design, or does this one in particular think MMO Dark Souls was going to make money? The second because you can set up microtransactions to respawn anywhere, can't you?
 
Xero Key said:
I admit I barely was able to get through the Aincrad arc in canon, I couldn't get invested. But seriously, who freaking designs MMOs without respawn checkpoints across the map? Is every game designer for the NerveGear just that bad at game design, or does this one in particular think MMO Dark Souls was going to make money? The second because you can set up microtransactions to respawn anywhere, can't you?
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My headcannon is that there are respawn chechpoints but they are only in territory his choosen faction controls. I have always seen Alfheim online to be more similar to Planetside 2 than regular mmos. It is therefore important with faction to faction wars so you can access more territory and get access to better quests. It it is not a traditional mmo but I would not call it bad game design.
 
I might be remembering incorrectly, but wasn't the reason the fight on the bridge outside that cave-town was a big problem that respawn points were in the last friendly city you visited, so since they hadn't gotten in yet, they would be set back a long way?
 
It's times like this that I enjoy looking at how GGO alternate and SAOA had gamers react to Kawahara's horrible game design.

Take GGO for example. So you have this wondermetal capable of surviving a direct hit with a lightsaber well enough to have a proper sword fight despite being less than a cm thick. You do realize that someone's going to take a whole bunch of it, turn it into a sniper shield, and carry it on their back like a riot shield. And that's exactly what someone did in Squad Jam.
 
Xero Key said:
I admit I barely was able to get through the Aincrad arc in canon, I couldn't get invested. But seriously, who freaking designs MMOs without respawn checkpoints across the map? Is every game designer for the NerveGear just that bad at game design, or does this one in particular think MMO Dark Souls was going to make money? The second because you can set up microtransactions to respawn anywhere, can't you?
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ALO is a PvP centric game, so the developers needed to make concepts of unit numbers and reinforcements important. Otherwise, it'd just be people respawning and resuming the battle with nobody winning.

Jakobstj said:
I might be remembering incorrectly, but wasn't the reason the fight on the bridge outside that cave-town was a big problem that respawn points were in the last friendly city you visited, so since they hadn't gotten in yet, they would be set back a long way?
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Exactly!
 
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