GhoXen

This review is going to be a bit different. In short... this game is not everyone's cup of tea. Please select the most appropriate review based on how much of a SAO fan you are. TL;DR: Only SAO fans will enjoy this game, but the enjoyment is absolutely immense if you are a huge fan. 1. SAO Uberfan (10/10) If for whatever reason you are an uberfan of the SAO series. Watched all the anime multiple times, read all the LNs up to Aliciazation, read all the side stories, supporting materials, etc. and think of all the what-ifs. And on top of that if you always have fond memories of the Aincrad arc and can't wait for Progressive series to be animated? The short answer is simply that this game is an absolute must-play for you. You will end up having an absolute blast over hundreds of hours simply because this is more of that stuff you wanted to smoke. 2. SAO General Fan (8/10) If you watched the anime, or perhaps read a few LNs, and consider SAO one of the more enjoyable series out there, you should still be able to reap some fun from this game, especially considering its value. You will find Aincrad a fascinating place, and certainly appreciate all the opportunities to see how the good ol' Aincrad characters can develop in an alternative timeline. However, you may end up finding the grind and gameplay somewhat dreary, so don't expect the game to break any new grounds for your experience. 3. JRPG fan watched anime (6/10) If you enjoy JRPGs in general and have at least watched the original SAO anime series or read the first few LNs, then this game is still a fair option on PS4. Let's be frank, there aren't that many exclusives out there at the moment. There are some interesting gameplay mechanics, but SAO is probably what you'd expect in a fairly traditional JRPG with a fair bit of grind, somewhat typical storyline, and generic environments. Nothing will stand out to you at the start, but you may end up appreciating the series if you find the characters, setting or story interesting. 4. JRPG fan (4/10) If you are not familiar with the original series at all, this game will confuse the hell out of you. It will just be a bunch of random characters talking about random topics you don't understand, and the story itself may seem non-sensual to you. Coupled with the fact that the gameplay, graphics, performance, etc. are not stellar, it's highly unlikely that you will like this game. 5. Not a fan of JRPG (1/10) If you don't even like JRPG and also never heard of SAO, then this game is not for you. Even for an entry title into the JRPG genre this game is not your best bet. Perhaps you can still give it a try if someone gifts it to you. Maybe you'll start liking anime or something.

Playtime: around 170 hours Level: Veteran Rank 6 (10 ranks in total after level cap of 50) Experience: All previous TES games, numerous MMOs including WoW, LOTRO, SWTOR, GW2, FF14 (old & new), WildStar beta, etc. Playstyle: Story, group PvE, PvP, completionist. Compared to many recent entries in the MMO market, ESO certainly stands out with some brave novel designs. They've done a better job than SWTOR in terms of story, world and immersion, and the MMO certainly feels more like a TES game than any other MMO on the market with the introduction of first-person view. There is a crazy amount of details put into the making of the game, ranging from random NPCs, exploration to consequences of decisions during questing (some of which you will be reminded of even many zones and levels later). However, it's also suffering from a bland endgame, similar to many recent releases, but that's less of an issue than its problem with management. ZOS has been managing ESO extremely poorly. In a short span of two weeks, they have made more bad management decisions than Blizzard has made in years. The game is extremely buggy, and feels like an unfinished and untested product. The progression of many essential quests are still broken even weeks after launch, and the devs have been extremely slow at fixing the problems. For MMOs like this, you'd expect massive patches that quickly solve player issues at launch, but that is not the case with ESO. The patches are small, and tend to solve only a small number of issues. There are also many very poor designs that are now biting the devs in back. Whether it's unbalanced mechanics or poorly designed reward system that led to people camping bosses. Understandably, these issues appear to be of a lesser priority than game-breaking bugs, so don't expect them fixed anytime soon. Then there is ZOS's handling of exploits that are potentially fatal to the game. ZOS has failed to take care of exploits reported during the beta, and as a result an exploit nearly wiped the game world. Then the messy banwave banned lots of innocent players (whose accounts were eventually restored), and lots of exploiters are still unbanned. As I write this review, there are still at least 3 exploits of similar nature in the public domain, and ZOS's reaction is anything but swift. Some may say: surely these issues will be eventually fixed? While that may be true, what the recent events have shown is that ZOS has very poor management. As a result, they may not be equipped to deal with on-going problems a MMO may encounter, and I dread to think of the countless issues they'd run into when they release their first content patch, and when they eventually release some expansion pack. It's not about what's currently broken, instead it's about how poorly ZOS has been addressing them thus far, which indicates how poorly ZOS will address similar issues in the future with dreadful efficiency and messy effectiveness. The game has a lot of potential, but the current management of the game is very disappointing. As a player, I do not find ZOS trustworthy or capable. Rather than sinking investments of time and effort into this poorly managed game, I implore potential players to look elsewhere, at least for the time-being. Until ZOS manages to prove to the playerbase that they can improve their game management, ESO does not deserve your patience or tolerance. PS: Before anyone wonders why I've spent so much time with a this game like this, the reasons are simple - despite all its flaws I still enjoyed the story (once). Aside from that, I'm really just killing time until Dark Souls 2 releases on PC.

Blizzard: Online mode is fine. You'll still get to play. Reality: Error 37, Error 3006, Error 30008 at login. After getting in, 400-1000ms latency, disconnections with Error 3007 every 5-10 minutes. Unplayable. Blizzard: Connection issues are completely client-side. Our servers are fine. It just happens that tens of thousands of players happen to have bad ISPs when they started playing Diablo 3. Clearly those ISPs secretly improve their service when other games are being played. Reality: Excuse for one of the worst launches in history, and the most broken and unpolished title ever released by Blizzard.