Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment (PS Vita/PS4)

[Nerroth]

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment E3 2014 Trailer

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment was released in Japan earlier this year, where it's apparently sold close to 300,000 copies so far. The game is beign released (albeit in digital format only) for the PS Vita in North America and Europe later this month.

As it happens, a major update was made available for the Japanese edition last month, which reportedly adds up to 30 hours' worth of extra content. So far, it has not been confirmed when, or if, the Western release will recieve this update in turn:

PS Vita「ソードアート・オンライン ―ホロウ・フラグメント―」アップデート告知PV

[Nerroth]

That major update I noted above will be heading to North America on September 23rd.

[Nerroth]

The game is now available in North America:

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment - Launch Trailer

It should go live in Europe tomorrow.

[Nerroth]

A new free DLC adventure pack has gone up on the North American PSN, with added missions, items, and so forth.

Also, it seems that SCEA finally noticed how many votes the game has been getting on the US and Canadian storefronts (over 1800 so far), and have finally gotten around to adding a promotional thumbnail for the game!

Still, I'm looking forward to the September 23 update, not least if it still includes the improved Hollow Area map shown for the Japanese update - note the lines connecting the various locations, a detail the original map sadly overlooked...

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Also, I've cleared the Hollow Area, and am up to level 89 in Aincrad.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I wanted to finish that side of things and get Philia over to Arc Sophia before I moved further onward. I'm not sure if the designers had a particular level in mind, but she seems to fit in with the rest of the cast reasonably well.

Funnily enough, after ploughing through the Hollow Area storyline, I'm finding going back to Aincrad quite easy to run through in comparison. Maybe that will change once I get up into the 90s floor-wise.

[Nerroth]

SAO:HF was August 2014's top-selling PS Vita game on the PlayStation Store in both North America and Europe.

Hopefully this might encourage Bamco to bring more of their Japanese Vita games over to the West.

[lantzblades]

If I'm honest this game is terrible to play. I love grinding but this game makes it an honest to god pain. Everything is a grind, no exceptions. And the Avatar system is bloody pointless because you're stuck as Kirito. I love MMOs, I love RPGs, I love sim games and visual novels but this game is a VN, RPG, dating sim, MMO grind fest with even more superfluous harem crap, not to mention Leafa and Sinon are badly shoehorned into the story.

it's a great representation of SAO but someone forgot the game part of the game.

[saintsant]

Leafa and Sinon could've been better integrated, it's true, and the grinding is a bit of a pain. At this point I've played enough MMOs that I'm innoculated against it; just treat it as a fun tax and move on. I'm also not a huge fan of Strea, either. Her... everything just kind of grates on me, like a lawnmower on human flesh. PoH's voice actor, though, is just utterly amazing. High point of the game was the first time that smug fucker opened his mouth.

[lantzblades]

I play the disgaea series (as well as every other NIS RPG) grinding in an mmo is cake compared to that, this game however has a terribly designed curve and flow with regards to leveling. Good presentation for anime fans but it fails outright in the game play aspects.

[Nerroth]

As noted over on Gematsu, the SAO/Mahouka double-header event at TGS 2014 included confirmation of "Sword Art Online III" - the next step after Infinity Moment and Hollow Fragment.

More info (which will hopefully include what platform/s it will be on) should appear at the Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival, held on the 5th of October.

[Nerroth]

The North American v1.01 patch update is now available, clocking in at 646MB. According to the update log, it includes the following changes:

Version 1.01

Update Content

- New BOSS added.
- New maps (Garden/Snow Mountain/Volcano) are added.
- Level maximum is raised to 250.
- New Hollow Missions are added.
- Implement Element Research difficulty is adjusted.
- New Grand Quests are added.
- New weapons are added.
- Complete costumes of Philia and Strea are added.
- Retrieving the gift given away last time
- Regardless of weapons and non-stackable items, the storage limitation is raised to 99.
- Chest number and items allowed are adjusted.
- Heroine Quests are added, allowing you to participate in Hollow Missions with the heroines.
- Argo is allowed to join the fight.
- Concealed Area is extended to 125 floors.
- Purchase of the DLC School Swimsuit (Navy) in store is allowed.
- Items able to change on Option Screen are added.
- Display content, operation, combat system, and partial weapon performance are adjusted.
- Motion stability is improved.

No confirmation of PSTV compatibility just yet, however.

EDIT: Also, the Gun Gale Online DLC set is now on the North American storefront.

EDIT 2: The European release of the patch update has been delayed to the 8th of October.

[Nerroth]

Bamco Japan went back and put together a new trailer for SAO:HF, which seems to integrate the pre-patch and post-patch material:

PS Vita「ソードアート・オンライン ―ホロウ・フラグメント―」ホロウ•フラグメントへいらっしゃい！

Hopefully that Dengeki Bunko event this wekeend will have more info about the next game in the series.

[Nerroth]

It looks like the patch update should now be available in the EU.

EDIT: SAO:HF topped the Vita PSN sales charts for both North America and Europe in September 2014, making it the top-selling digital download on that platform on both sides of the Atlantic for the second month running.

[Nerroth]

Sales of SAO:HF have topped 400,000 worldwide:

PS Vita「ソードアート・オンライン ―ホロウ・フラグメント―」TVCM第5弾