Shin ATproof
I BRZ I Shin ATproof
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- Sep 2, 2013
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Yes, in most of these stories the goodguy prevails in the end, the difference is in the struggle the hero has in succeeding. There's an element of "will they/won't they" which builds towards a climax in the conflict. There's none of that in Sword Art Online after the first half of SAO. Afterwards, we're supposed to suspend all belief in gamer logic and just accept that Kirito is just a wizard gamer that faces an obstacle and overcomes it by the power of bullshit lazy writing. That's the series. Once you accept that, it's not as annoying...at least for me anyway.
Look at No Game No Life. That was also a story about gamers with godlike ability to beat anyone they play against. You know Sora and Shiro are going to win in the end but they struggle learning to play a new game before they prevail. When they do, it's explained in a way that is plausible, they read player habits, learned an exploit as they played, they used strategy by tested out other theories before arriving to the correct one. The Yugioh before the Duel Monsters chapters was much the same in that the hero is backed into the corner before they turn things around. In Sword Art Online, Kirito just breaks the game no sweat like he has a Game Genie shoved up his ass all the time and when people ask him to explain there's always a convenient answer. The character has plot armor in the worst possible way.
Yes, there is the transference of skills from one game to another but the problem is him suddenly understanding the metagame in a new game nearly instantly and always better than people that have been playing the game far, far longer than him who are established to not be scrubs in said games. The GGO portion of SAO is a huge offender of this in that it's an eSports MMO and day one, Kirito is above and beyond better than his fellow competitors. He knows how to dodge all the bullets and beat the impossible game even after he gets to a part that nobody knew would happen at the end. He breaks down the aiming & dodging better than everyone. Nobody uses a sword but he can and does better than people that have been competing longer than him who are ranked high. He knows how to avoid radar by coincidence of by swimming using an exploit in the game that nobody else knew about. Like how mary-sue can one character be?
This is like someone in 2009 picking up MvC2 for the first time, goes to Evo uses Servbot/Roll/Dan, uses some technique nobody knows about with that team and winning the whole tournament. Or someone that went to Evo this year, played Skullgirls for the first time, enters with solo Squigly, knows how to PBGC & AbGuard, can Stancel and use all the center stage hitstop tech, etc, figures out some knew stuff nobody knows about and wins the tournament and the explanation is that he has some experience in a game that is somewhat similar to Skullgirls. So as someone that plays fighters competitively, I call bullshit to the whole thing.
You missed the point I was making on what they did with Asuna that pissed me off. It was a huge downgrade for a character they spent so much time building up and who was still central to the plot. There was already an established relationship between Kirito and Asuna. The addition of Suguha love triangle was shoehorned into the plot and added nothing to it. Her role in supporting Kirito during the ALO chapters could have been done without the love interest. It was put in there like most wincest tropes because it's marketable because Japan has a strange cultural thing regarding interpersonal male-to-female relationships that results in the sexual attraction of one's relatives trope in anime/manga/games but that's for a another discussion.
Well, you asked for someone to explain why they don't like Sword Art Online. I happened to come into this thread and read that question and I answered. Unlike a lot of people, I'm able to articulate why I don't like something. I imagine a lot of people don't like it because it's extremely popular. Even if it wasn't popular, I still find faults with the writing.
That said, if you like it, that's great! There are plenty of people out there that enjoy the show just as much as you do. Don't let that get to you though. As a big One Piece & Fairy Tail fan, I read shit all the time about how "bad" they are. Doesn't get to me. As much as I dislike the writing in SAO, I still check it occasionally and able to discuss about the series because it's popular and I like to discuss nerdy shit like this.
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