Sword Art Online, the game that took virtual reality to a whole new level in, perhaps, the worst ways imaginable. Friends, relatives and siblings of many people alike have fallen pray to this death game disguised as an adventure, all for the sake of...
1. This story, its 2 oc main character will often, at times, point out various problems and things that annoyed me throughout the canon SAO. Therefore this won't be at all similar to the rest of SAO stories where the oc is best friends with Kirito. On top of that, I'll have the 2 characters solve a lot of situations that were usually not explained or explained poorly or in a nonsense way (ex: Kirito hacking to save Yui from within the game) in a more believable way. Of course, whether it's better or not than the canon way, it's up to personal taste. However note that I don't consider problems with SAO only things that were left out from the novel in the Anime. There are plot points from the novel that I personally find stupid, some especially during the war of underworld, so I will take the luxury of rewriting those things if I decide I'll tackle said arc to begin with.
2. This story will not be a harem story regarding the newly introduced characters. Therefore they won't be making attempts at disrupting the couple of Kirito and Asuna just because. Too many stories do this and I find it stupid. That being said, that also means things like where Kirito casually forgets to mention he has a girlfriend like to Sinon inside the cave or with Sinon giving him Excalibur will be called out. Having him not bring it up really takes away from the respect I could have for him beyond the one lost for they way he was written by Kawahara. (I love the guy, I just think his work doesn't live up to standard. Just like my relationship with Mashima and Fairy Tail).
On this note, I am thankful to Storyteller-Maverick for writing an SAO story where Asuna isn't leaving Kirito for the oc. I may have a different stance on his mc taking Kirito's place in Alicisation, but it is, by far, the best SAO story I've read so far on Wattpad. Without a doubt. Thanks for writing it. (But to be fair, most if not all SAO fics replace their oc with Kirito when it comes to Alicisation. Which drives me nuts.)
3. This story in particular will act a lot more like a rewrite than any other I've done so far, which also means I'll leave most of Kirito's op moments and feats untouched, except the ones that are bullshit, which are, most of the time, the ones where his eyes turn yellow. I KNOW it is explained in the novels why it happens and what it does, but I do NOT buy it. As someone who goes into computer science further with college and career, I expect believable concepts and explanations from a show like SAO that's not about the future, like Cyberpunk, but about what could be the present in a few years. (Maybe). No asspulls on such high levels.
4. I don't plan on making the new characters act like extras or new leaders for Kirito's usual group in ALO, therefore they won't be constantly glue to them or present wherever they are and vice versa. They'll have their own things going on inside each arc alongside Kirito's endeavors.
Something along the same lines is Kommando293 's story regarding Alfenheims Warlords. Another SAO story, of a different concept than Maverick's, that I personally loved and I hope he'll come back to it soon.
5. This will not be a long running story like The 4 Horsemen of Highschool as I don't plant to adapt every single bit of SAO's anime into the story. This is part of the reason why I'll write it in arcs, rather than chapters, as it'll allow me to jump over things that happen exactly like in the anime, therefore investing time in the actually new scenes and sparring you read recaps of the show. This will be most prevalent in Alicisation since, as I've mentioned, I don't plan on swapping Kirito out for one of my Ocs. And, in case I suddenly decide to stop with SAO, the last arc written can serve as a conclusive ending by itself.
6. Regarding other pieces of Media such as SAO games or spin offs and the Ordinal Scale movie. I know for a fact I'll bring in the GGO spin off since It's my favorite rendition of the SAO universe so far, with the mechanics of GGO explained a lot better. I don't think I'll bring up things regarding the games made about SAO since I didn't particularly enjoyed them that much. SAO Progressive won't be included for the sole reason it falls into the category of scenes that would remain the same as in canon, so I'll spare you the recap. As for Ordinal scale, it's 50/50, since I liked the start of the movie, but the way it ended was more fan service for Aincrad arc than an actually coherent conclusion. But in the case I decide to not go into Ascilisation and War of Underworld, I'll transform the movie into the conclusion of this story, again, in a proper way, regarding the 2 ocs.
7. There will be a lot of references to already existing games and therefore ranting about the game design of VRMMOs in universe. For anyone who actually played mmorpgs, you'd hate the the games inside SAO that don't have any form of Instancing, where every boss is a world boss. So based on that, expect mechanics to be changed or introduced to make the games more believable and actually playable. Otherwise I won't have reasons to have the characters even play those games and interact with the Kirito crew.
You don't have to share my opinion on the series, whether you hate it or love it. I simply write about something when I like the concept of it, and SAO is amongst those concepts I like. Any modification made is due to my own personal opinion on what would be better for the overall story of the fanfiction, not the canon. Lastly, I won't indulge in either bashing on SAO at every corner OR singing its praise every chance I get, be it through the OCs or in the comments with the rest of you. Keep things civil and have fun.
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