Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is an action RPG that takes place in a simulated MMORPG world. The game is not actually online, but replicates many of the feelings of the MMORPG genre, similar to the .hack series of games. The game is based on the Sword Art Online anime, although the game introduces some new mechanics.
General Gameplay
SAO: Hollow Fragment plays like a MMORPG, with you controlling Kirito the entire time. When you begin the game, you get thrown straight into a character creation screen that lets you customize your PC, although it will still be Kirito. The basic premise of the game is actually split into two separate stories, the Aincrad area and the Hollow Area.
Aincrad
Although the Aincrad portion of the game isn't immediately accessible, it does become playable shortly after the prologue. The main goal for this area is to go from floor to floor (you start on the 76th), defeat the boss of that particular floor and make it all the way to the 100th floor.
It isn't as simple as getting to the boss and fighting it, as you will be required to perform some tasks first. For example, to get to the boss of the 76th floor, you will need to perform three tasks, one of which is a quest you get in the main town, Arc Sophia. Once you finish those tasks, you will meet with the others and determine whether or not you're ready to face the floor's boss.
The Guild Screen on the game's menu will display Kirito's and his friends' current situation and objective. Here, you can see the current status of the Assault Team and its members, such as level distribution and power level. This is important because the survival rate will increase if the players work together. You can help them level up by helping them out when needed, which can increase their strength level.
Hollow Area
You initially begin the game in the Hollow Area, where you meet up and partner with Philia. Unlike Aincrad, which is divided into floors, Hollow Area is a series of interconnected maps. To progress the story in this area, you have to pair up with Philia. There is a central hub, of sorts, where you can teleport to other areas, although you will need to find stones in new areas to be able to teleport there.
On top of that, there is also ad-hoc multiplayer for the Hollow Area. You group with up to three others, who can each bring a NPC companion with them. It is also possible to play solo using the multiplayer function, allowing you to bring along three other NPCs from the game, although you can't interact with them like with your normal partner.
Battle System
The battle system in Hollow Fragment can be a bit confusing for new players, as the in-game tutorial doesn't offer a lot of explanation on every little detail. Enemies are seen on the map and there are three ways for a battle to start. You can press Triangle to make a cursor appear, then press it again to throw a stone that does very little damage.
The second way is to get close enough and press Circle to start attacking it. The third, and last, way involves the enemy coming after you if you get too close; note that not all enemies will come after you in this manner. When the battle does begin, Kirito will auto-attack the enemy, but this does very little damage on its own.
Burst, Skills, Risk and Switch
At the beginning of the game, the Circle button has Burst as its default skill. By pressing this, you will attack the enemy and after a few hits, you will perform a Burst Finisher. The regular Burst attacks will consume a gauge on the bottom of the screen, which is directly proportional to Risk (which will be covered shortly).
The Burst Finisher, though, will consume SP, as do other Skills performed in battle. Kirito can have up to 12 different Skills assigned at one time, with one set belonging to the face buttons, and the other two accessible by holding L or R, alongside pressing the face buttons. SP will recover on its own, inside and outside of combat, but there are other ways for it to recover (more on that under the Partners section).
As you engage in combat, you will notice another gauge filling up besides the Burst meter. This is the Risk meter and it has a few effects on battles. It ranges from 0 to 5 and it affects the recovery of your Burst gauge, as well as how many damage you receive from enemy attacks. At 5, the Burst gauge will refill at a very slow rate, and you will receive a lot of damage from attacks (vice versa when it's at 0).
While Risk will slowly deplete as you don't attack, there is another way to immediately set it to 0, which is by using Switch. This is one of the commands you can issue to your Partner, by pressing down on the D-pad (can also access it by holding R and pressing down on the D-pad). What this does is has your Partner take your position, reset Risk and keep it low for a few seconds, basically allowing you to use Burst without the meter emptying quickly.
Partners
Partners are the characters you can bring with you into battles and are on your Friends list, from the in-game menu. First, go to your Friends list and highlight the one you want to join your party (can only do one at a time). At the upper right, you'll see their name, Approval Rating and also their location. Find them at that spot (usually walking around), talk to them and choose to Form a Party.
Note that Philia can only be found in the Hollow Area, while everyone else can be found in Aincrad. Also, Yui and Argo cannot be brought into battle (the big patch allows Argo to be brought, with the patch available on September 23 in the English version). The character is completely controlled by AI in battle, although you can issue broad commands with them.
Battling With Partners
As already mentioned, the partner you bring into battle is completely controlled by the AI. However, there are certain commands you can issue to them during battle to nudge them to do something. By holding down the L or R buttons, there will be four commands each that are assigned to the directional pad.
- Use Skill - The partner will use a skill, according to their attacking style.
- Switch - The partner will switch with you in battle, lowering your Risk to 1. This command has a cooldown and you can also just press down while in battle, as well as press the bottom right corner of the touchscreen.
- Heal - The partner will heal themselves/the party.
- Good (Praise) - Do this after your partner does an action/skill in battle, praising them and gaining 50 SP from it. This will also help increase the Approval Rating with that partner. You can just press up to perform this, as well as touch the bottom left corner of the touchscreen.
- Target Please - The partner will target the enemy you're attacking.
- Wait Please - The partner will stop all actions, such as attacking.
- Guard - The partner will use defensive skills.
- Skill Stop - The partner will attempt to stop the enemy's skill.
Relationships
Besides bringing partners into battle, there is also some relationship mechanics in the game. When viewing your Friends list, you will see meter called Approval Rating, which can go up to level 5. The main point of doing this is for a few reasons, such as being able to give armor to that partner at level 4 and you also get a trophy for the main heroines at level 5.
How does one raise their Approval Rating? Having them as your Partner in battle and praising them will slowly increase it. The best way to increase it is by having conversations/chats with your Partners in town. You can trigger the chats by talking to the partner, then picking Chat, as well as looking out for when the partners initiate conversations with a colored speech bubble.
