Bandai Namco published a battle system trailer forSword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. The trailer is narrated by Kirito, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. Only a Japanese version of the trailer is available, so here’s a summary of what Kirito says.
The battle system ofAlicization Lycorislets players switch to controlling any character at any time, but you can also give out orders to the whole party, and orders to one specific character. This system is called the Technical Recording System in Japanese, and Tactic Emulating AI System in English. It allows you to control the AI’s behavior in battle with various conditions.
There are many different orders you can set in the game’s menu. It works like a behavior tree, which each order depending on the previous one. Each order can be customized in great detail. For example, you can configure at which distance in meters to the enemy the character should place themselves, and from which position (front, left, right, behind) compared to the enemy the order should be executed from. Using this AI system alongside Skills and Sacred Arts allows you to coordinate with the other characters and do some pretty cool combos.
Alicization Lycorisalso has an online coop multiplayer mode, where four players + four AI-controlled NPCs partners can go on quests together. You can pick your partner NPC among the variousSAOcharacters in the game. You’ve got character creation too.
The trailer is right below. If you’ve read our previous coverage onSAO, mine in particular and my so-called Unneeded Opinions, you might have already heard howAlicizationis by far my least favorite arc in theSAOlight novel.Alicization Lycorislooks really interesting so far though and I’m looking forward to it. Our pal Azario Lopezmentioned in his preview the game is promising as well.
You can read more onSword Art Online: Alicization Lycoriswith our previous coverage: We’ve seen theAlice and Asuna first meeting cutscene, we’ve got theprevious trailer, someAsuna battle gameplay and the winning entries of the costume designing contest, astory trailer, moregameplay with new original character Medina, andmore on how the battle system works.SAOALalso keeps the traditional bed scenes of the previous games,and we’ve seen bits of one with Asuna and one with Alice.
Last but not least, Bandai Namco announcedSAOAL’s opening theme song will be revealed during aDengeki Online stream on February 12. The opening theme song of the second cour of theSAO Alicization War of Underworldanime, will be revealed too. We’ll be covering that so stay tuned.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycorisand its bed scenes will be available starting May 22, on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If you’re intoSAOand wish to support DualShockers,you’re able to preorderAlicization Lycorisvia Amazon.
Update:the English version of the trailer is now available, to give you an extensive look at the AI customization and online multiplayer.
