Ruby Palace's Altered Timeline Predictions? · 11:45pm Oct 26th, 2023
If you haven't read/watched SAO, it's awesome to have you as a reader, but this discussion will likely contain spoilers. Even though I will be deviating, there are certain canon SAO surprises you may not spoiled. The question was asked a few days ago, so I decided to make a blog to see what all y'all predictions will be?
That ought to be enough space to prevent spoilers. If you read the Aincrad story, you saw my solution for inserting the girls while staying with canon. In canon SAO, things end on Floor 75, but we're going to Floor 100. And since it's an Alt-U, the girls will impact the timeline. Kirito still needs certain events to be Kirito, the same for Asuna. We have less info on the others, but it holds true.
The 5th floor boss, in canon, was fought by Kirito, Asuna, Argo, Nezha, with the Bro Squad - Agil, Wolfgang, Lowbacca and Naijan - plus Shivata and Hafner from the DKB and Liten and Okotan from the ALS. Kirito claims the LAB, keeping the flag out of everyone's hands. Obviously, the Wondercolts were a better option. Things are radically different from just that point.
I realize there is the (non-canon) game, Infinity Moment, and I know how the game makes it so you get to Floor 100, virus glitch in the server allows Kirito to win the final duel, clearing the game, but the same glitch prevents the logout sequence, reverting things back to the game being cleared against the 100th Floor Boss, which works for a game when you have no time to tell the story, but that is lazy for a written story. I have a better plan, one more logical because I have time to set it up.
Properly planning to the Skull Reaper fight has been my main goal. I have chapters I ditched in the Aincrad story (for time) that I'm able to use in Ruby Palace. If I kept the chapter, because certain things the girls will do the same because it's in their character to do so, it was heavily rewritten because a lot has changed between the stories. The similarities between Aincrad and Ruby Palace are growing smaller and smaller.
The bulk of the canon SAO story happens when the front is on the 74th and 75th floors, but there is stuff written or mentioned for in between. Plus, the last twenty five floors will require more time, throwing off the Fairy Dance Arc. So, be it getting to Floor 76 and higher, or something between where we are in the released story, or just long term stuff, what are y'all's predictions? Or hopes you want to see?
Yes, I will likely respond.
I’m guessing that it will go higher than floor 75. How much higher, I don’t know.
My most anticipated aspects of this new series is the conclusion of the Merlin Questline and see more of Sunset growing up as the main leader of the clearing party, how the Wondercolts expand and how prominent the guild may become.
I actually would love to see more of Kirito and Sunset unique relationship as their respect for one another grow.
(Something that I need to criticize the story though, is that the dialogue feel too exposition dump, it seems like the characters are explaining things to the audience and are lore-machines that have google in their brain, I think it would be better if you condense a little the exposition dump to a more manageable size, and put some of it in the normal narration instead of having the characters say it to another one)
Anyway, I predict that the Wondercolts will eventually receive the Guild Boost Banner later down the line by Kirito when they are at a difficult Boss encounter and they will remain with it because of the reputation that the Wondercolts would have built up throughout the story.
This is probably more wishful thinking, but I'd like to see the Moonlit Black Cats survive, and I could see it logically happening.
In canon, Kirito lied about his level and stayed with them for a few months. This led them to believe they were stronger then they actually were, and they entered the 27th floor dungeon before they were ready. They entered an anti teleport zone and all but the leader, who was looking for a guild house to buy, were slaughtered. Once he heard the news, the leader jumped off the edge of the map. This event is what drove and reinforced Kirito's decision to remain a solo player until he was forced to join one much later.
Within Ruby Palace, Kirito's relationship with the Wondercolts could alter his decision about joining that guild. It's also possible that Sunset could come across them, see their level difference, and talk him into either coming clean or just refusing to join for undisclosed reasons.
If nothing else, some sort of interaction between the Wondercolts and MBC would be interesting, considering they're both made up of friends that know each other IRL.
As someone who's been into SAO since 2019, and has read everything you've made to date, I'm excited to see what you have planned. And cause there is no current date for when SAO will return regarding the actual anime irl. I know that's off topic to this but I had to mention it as SAO is one of my top 5 favorite animes despite I'm not a big fan of it.
Anyway, can't wait for the next chapter, and hope to be surprised by whatever comes our way. 
I've only really seen the anime, so my suggestions are definitely gonna reflect that.
Laughing Coffin was an interesting concept that got glossed over pretty well in the anime. The idea that there's a depraved guild of murderers that have given up on clearing the game and dedicated themselves to killing everyone they possibly can opens a lot of interesting angles to be explored. But it mostly just existed in the show to say "hey guys, look how messed up this is. Wow this sure sucks."
I'm sure that the idea was pushed to the side to focus on other things, but I always wished that the Aincrad arc had been longer to accommodate some of the more interesting ideas. Also I'm sure the Wondercolts as a guild will have some strong opinions about Laughing Coffin, and might be involved in some tricky situations with them.
Another piece of the puzzle that just kind of popped out of nowhere was Heathcliff. In the show he and his guild just become the de-facto clearers off screen due to time skip, and we don't really get the chance to learn anything about them, and then the arc ends.
I'm curious to see if Kirito undergoing a bit more personal growth earlier on would lead to him taking a more hands on role with other players, or even if it would affect Kayaba's decision to interfere with the game at all. Even later on in the anime, Kayaba is a pretty vague character, and I could definitely see him (as Heathcliff) and Sunset having some interesting conversations, getting some time to learn more about his motivations.
But those are just a couple of my initial thoughts, I'm sure you've got a lot planned already.
5752374
Oh, we will make it to the Ruby Palace!
5752385
Yeah, I need to less tell, more show. It's a long term issue I am working on. But yes, I look forward to the Glass Tower quest as well.
5752388
Honestly, that's an approach I had not thought of. I had not been able to figure out how to meet the MBCs. They are always on the front as Kibaou slaves drives everyone forward.
5752391
Still great to hear! If you've seen all of the anime, then you should recognize the next boss they face.
5752409
Good to know.
My prediction: Asuna and Kirito never join KoB. I'm not sure what Asuna's reason was for joining them, but with friends and support in the Wondercolts, it seems unproductive for her to join a different guild. On the other hand, she has a strong leadership trait, but I never got the guild leader vibe from her, more a second in command. So I can see her heading a secondary guild to the Wondercolts, like a sister guild.
But that is far in the future. At this point Asuna hasn't even shown herself.
5752403
Hearing your thoughts is why I posted this blog! It's awesome. There will be more, deeper interactions with the realities of Aincrad and Kayaba's goals. There will be some fun exchanges between the two guild leaders.
LC will be properly addressed, a few times. That is in the chapters I set aside for Aincrad.
Heathcliff and the KoB will have a much less jarring start. No more jarring than any of the other newly arrived guilds. That's a fun two chapters. We are not far from them: 34 - New Blood & 35 - King of the Oathbreakers.
We will get more growth out of Kirito. We have more time. There are great things in store for him, despite not being the hero of the story. At least not the hero this story focuses on. lol
5752408
At some point that slows down though, yeah? I'm not sure at what point WC will ease up on pushing the front lines, but the events of the 25th floor (Between February and March 2023 according to the wiki) would probably leave some players shaken, assuming it happens similar to canon. MBC died on June 22nd 2023, and Kirito claimed to have joined them for a few months, which would slot in well with everyone recovering from the shock of the 25th floor boss (assuming the event is similar to canon). The reduction in potential clearers would also ease up the pressure for WC to stay ahead of everyone else in order to retain their position in the boss raids.
There's no details about the 26th floor, far as I can tell, so that could be whatever you want, but it could lead to them meeting somehow. Maybe Ducker and Doombunny find some interest in both using daggers, while mulling over the differences between being a thief and an assassin.
Or maybe Sunset returns to the 11th floor, sees Kirito hanging out with them and grows suspicious. She could also be the one to find Sachi while she was hiding instead of Kirito. She voices her concerns to him and he either reveals his true level to them or just chooses to part ways without telling them why. If it's the former, they may be may kick him out, driving him back to being solo, or they might part on amicable terms, not wanting to hold him back any longer. In any case, that could be a point where they just fade into the background. Beyond that, it would just alter the events of Red Nosed Reindeer and Kirito's drive to fight Nicholas the Renegade on Christmas Eve.
Alternatively, maybe someone from WC was in the Taft tavern on June 22nd and struck up a conversation with Keita while he waits for his guild to arrive and celebrate, then somehow managed to talk him out of jumping.
Finally, there's a similarity between Kirito joining MBC and Kiefer/Soryuto/Reisenki joining WC. (Outsiders joining a group of IRL friends after saving/being saved by them, being welcoming and friendly, etc.). There could be a story in that somehow.
In any case, there are few potential ways that the tragedy could be averted.
First thing that pops into my head is that with more time to catch up, Silica might make it to the front lines before the game's cleared this time. It'd be interesting seeing where she'd fall into the clearer's dynamic. Maybe joining KoB since she knows Kirito. Depends on if KoB continues on after Kayaba's reveal, or if Kirito stays with them. Most likely he would considering Asuna would probably take over leadership. She might join the Wondercolts if she does end up befriending Fluttershy as well.
The next thing that strikes me isn't so much a plot point as a consequence of the extra time it'd take to clear the last 25 floors. Considering how much their pace slows as they climb the tower, it could take as long to clear the last 25 floors as the first 75 took. Safely, at least. I imagine it'd occur to someone (Twilight springs to mind, but it might come from someone that was in medicine in the outside world) that four years essentially in a coma would have an extreme impact on their health. It'd be interesting if a faction sprang up that tried to push the front lines faster out of fear for the impact on their bodies, and how/where the girls fell in the argument of clearing at a safe pace versus speeding up to lessen said impact.
Other than that, I'm wondering how bad the rate of attrition is going to get over the last 25 floors. The pool of players really pushing the front lines at the point they hit 75 was starting to look pretty grim already. They'd lost, iirc, about four thousand players at that point. Another four thousand never went higher than the tenth floor. With another fifteen hundred spread out between 30 and 65 or so, there were only around five hundred players that could be considered front liners even in the most generous estimation. With the losses they'd taken getting to that point, it's unsustainable if that rate continued. I'm definitely interested in seeing how the Wondercolts handle that as they mount the last 25 rungs of the death ladder. Scouting the 'middies'? Training camps? Emphasising survival at the cost of clearing speed?
I'm also looking forward to seeing how the character's relationships develop with more time stuck together. My secret hope for a Sunslein crackship has more time to develop!
5752416
Nice, definitely looking forward to it!
5752418
Having Sachi stay alive in Ruby Palace would be pretty nice. If MBC die like they do in canon, I hope that Sunset and the other Wondercolts help Kirito to heal one way or the other
5752418
You have laid out quite a few scenarios that are good. I'm afraid I won't get the time to insert them. I will be forced to jump a decent set of floors. Ultimately, that tragedy is a key moment in Kirito's character development. It would be nice to insert an exchange. I will have to see if I can, but comprehensive exam is nearly upon me and then a large term paper. I don't have time to be writing new material so close to its release.
5752421
Yes, I have plans for getting Silica to the front. You are right, they will slow down, badly. Just by the lack of their floors catching up to their levels. They can't outpace it like they could in the beginning. I don't have a full grip on that timing. Twilight is well aware of the effects of so much time in a hospital bed. I have a catalyst to keep them going. Two actually.
Bladeklein is an interesting proposition. Always has been. Klein's...temperament and personality is actually the biggest hurdle for that. Okay, not a hurdle, he makes it a very tall high jump. He already started off on the wrong foot with her on day one. I can't wait for the full meeting.
5752428
Can you give an example of what you mean by prediction timeline I'm kinda confused I've seen the show to a certain degree but that's about it
For most part I'm more than content to just wait and see what you'll do. Mostly.
I do want to see Wondercolts thoughts and interactions with LC and them (or at least some of them) participating in LC raid. Yeah I like seeing characters dealing with the trauma of war, I know I'm weird, I can't do anything about it.
Floor 75 resolution. A better part of me wants to see Kirito using his brains and making a decision to not fight Kayaba. Yeah freeing everybody early is great but the odds were stacked so highly against him he only overcame them through the power of
. Alternatively someone (potentially Sunset) somehow breaks from paralysis and joins Kirito which causes Kayaba to peace out since it's no longer a duel.
bullshitaahahah I mean determinationAnd then the following hardships of climbing the last 25 floors with dwindling number of frontliners.
And and overall just to see more coverage of SAO. That's basically the biggest problem of the original series. Such a huge world to explore and have adventures in reduced to a 12 episode anime.
And and and that improved dialogues that you mentioned in the last blog.
Some things that come to mind are what's supposed to happen after the Aincrad arc in canon. Does Mr. Creepy Dude try to marry Asuna while the death game is still going, or does he wait until it's concluded and the Alfheim arc just gets pushed back to a later date? Also, I think just the recovery period after they get out is going to need a lengthy arc on its own. Everyone is going to have PTSD and need intense physical and psychological therapy. It'll be like coming back from an active warzone... except they had none of the training professional soldiers get to acclimate to the stress.
5752443
Yes, so the SAO canon timeline has March 31st as the defeat of the 25th Floor Boss. That date, and many others, may change, or it may not, it would only be slight changes, nothing very important.
More importantly, since, in canon, the game is cleared early, on November 7th, and only on the 75th Floor, Ruby Palace will extend beyond November 7th. This matters because come the following January, the Fairy Dance arc begins, with Kirito diving into ALO to free Asuna and the other SAO players trapped in suspension in ALO. Delaying their exit throws everything past November 7th out of whack. Obviously, they are still in Aincrad, so certain events IRL cannot happen.
Predicting what the timeline will be for them to clear the last 25 floors is something I have not been able to fully deduce. Kirito ends at Level 97, Asuna is 94. Klein is 88 and Agil is 83. Their levels are not far above the floor count and gaining another level is becoming harder due to compounding XP requirements. Monsters might give more XP, but they also get tougher. The floors shrink, but not by too much. Not enough to counteract the lack of levels gained and safety margins lost. Between floors 50 and 75, they were clearing them in 10-14 days on average, with the average growing longer the closer they were to Floor 75. Floor 90 may require them to spend a month to fully clear it and be ready to face the boss.
5752468
I look forward to more of the LC. The raid was a ditched chapter for Aincrad. I'm not skipping it. The girls would logically be there. Well, some, not all of them. With appropriate levels of trauma and growth.
Thanks!
Not a bad solution to Floor 75's final events, but there is another one my editor and I have thoroughly covered and subsequently chosen. It is much more logic for the long term to get them to the Ruby Palace.
We will see more of the floors and more of the hardships. I am trying to expand the floors as best as possible. I use a lot of Easter Eggs. There are so many references to so much
s*** from some of the most random places. Some I am quite proud of. Some are quite obvious. Some are less obvious, but y'all should pick up on them. It's not only fun, but its also key to helping me come up with material to expand the floors.
I'm serious. If you have a floor plan and ideas, I'll take them! lol. And give credit where it's due.
5752530
My solution to Mr. Creepy is that his move to "marry" her was twofold. 1: Kirito was right there. He wanted to push him away and also hurt him. He knew Kirito was a threat, but that threat didn't exist before Kirito cleared the game. 2: And more importantly, he wasn't going to push the marriage until he had captured Asuna and was certain she would not die in SAO. That is much more important for the overall timeline because the "marriage" won't happen with the pushed back timeline.
Yes, we will have a lot more time in hospital beds and rehab and possibly mental wards. Certainly professional help.
5752428
Will Silica get hidden dagger skill or will doombunny get the hidden dagger skill?
5752567
The Unique Skill Doombunny had has been reworked to becoming a quest locked Extra Skill.
Have been dragging my feet to start reading Ruby Palace, but I can think of a few things.
First one, Laughing Coffin. They make jack shit of sense, being pretty blunt. Wiki states they killed "hundreds" of players by August 2024. Thing is, by then what's the population of Aincrad, ~8000? 80 people make for 1% of the population. So we're talking about a single group committing the equivalent of genocide killing 5% of the total population, 400 people, isn't "ah, a player killing guild that people still do their stuff while trying to stay safe". That's "holy shit this is a war everyone lost someone they knew in, let's stop EVERYTHING and deal with this existential threat bigger than anything else." They're the equivalent of in the US, considering they have 30 members and said 8000 survivors, one point two million people banding together to murder some sixteen and a half million.
The treatment they get in the story is ridiculous and completely ignore the scale of Aincrad. We're talking about just ten thousand people. That's a small town of people that can travel easily to visit others in different floors, more easily than going by car nowadays. People talk to each other, everyone knows everyone else. Every death is felt deeply. Societies in such existential danger are close knit by necessity. Murders wouldn't be seen as another threat, they'd be seen as an utter perversion of the social contract. They'd be immediately hunted and put down like dogs.
If you want Laughing Coffin to make sense in a warzone where everyone knows everyone else and needs to stay united and loyal in order to survive you need to severely limit their activities and numbers. Like half a dozen people killing a grand total of 20 is already a 250 per 100,000 murder rate in that society. That's five times higher than the most violent county in the world as far as intentional homicides go. That crown goes for Jamaica with 52.1 per 100,000.
If you choose to go with the "hundreds" from the original story you get, oh, 5,000 per 100,000. That's "the entire civilization is collapsing" numbers, not "guild being dangerous" numbers.
Ok, wrote a lot, but tl;dr: original series author screwed up by not actually thinking about what he was writing. Look at the things that completely break the setting of you really think about them and do them better. We are your fans and we know you can do so. Be awesome!
5752647
Haha. That is a valid point. It will be a slower ramp up. Part of the issue is that 1: The Assault Team are the only players with the levels to take them on and they don't want to leave. 2: It doesn't effect them, so why take on the risk? 3: They don't realize how much damage LC has done. 4: They don't want to kill, even justly, most people don't want to. They are not soldiers or cops, well most of the players are not.
As soon as they realize, they eliminate the threat. I will put in a deeper catalyst.
5752667
The thing is, the only way they wouldn't realize the damage is if they're completely isolated from the Aincrad society. No friends, neighbors, love interests or acquaintances at all to talk about the biggest thing in the entire world for them, when they happen. In a society where people don't kill people a single murder is like Cain killing his brother.
Like, can you imagine the Wondercolts just grinding virtual monsters once they hear that there are murders happening? Not through the news, but "Sakashima, the girl who we brought bread that one time, the kinda brash one with the frekles? She was murdered." Then a couple days later "Yusuke, that rapier guy that we saw a couple times three floors back, hit on Doombunny? Was assassinated too."
Every death is personal like that they never become statistics, because people are just that close. Those players are their entire world.
For LC to grow as in the original LN/anime it requires near sociopathic levels of apathy and isolation from the clearers. They need to not care about the rest of Aincrad, not have connections. They need to be faceless, blank background cutouts that only truly exist while on screen, if even that. Because all those friends and connections? They'd be begging for help by the third murder, if that much. And the clearers, professed saviors of all, would have to turn to them and say no.
Like, I get you not wanting to change some events that seem crucial, but some of them were just bad wiring by Reki Kawahara in the way they happened. Don't let yourself be chained by his mistakes, we know and trust that you can do better.
Or, you know, at least use more realistic numbers. Half a dozen ish people committing 20ish murders is already extremely terrifying, much more realistic and actually has more impact than saying they killed hundreds. All you need is to make sure every single one of those it's a person, not a number. Say their names, tell a bit of the story, have the pov characters met them before they dirle, just enough for us to see them as people.
5752732
My numbers will be more realistic. With that said, the clearers and Assault Team certainly isolated themselves. You are forgetting one thing about LC though. They were not killing in safe zones. They were ambush hunters who killed for sport. No one lived through their ambushes. To anyone who knew the players, it usually looked like they died in the game. They had no way of knowing it was players who killed them. Monsters were just as likely. It's easy to burry your head in the sand when a more convenient answer is right there in front of you.
5752743
Fair point, thank you for the clarification!
5752732
Don't underestimate the power of apathy. Just think of your own hometown/district/suburb/etc. Unless you're living in a high density metro area, you're probably living in a community with under 10,000 people that you should somewhat know and care about. In the case you are in a metro area, you're likely in an apartment that has anywhere from a couple dozen to a few hundred people living in it. How involved are you with their lives, and they with yours?
To add on to that, people are still playing this like a game, even down to the solo/guild mentality. They're probably not at the point where they consider each other friends or neighbors. The Town of Beginnings will probably adapt that mentality early on, since it has a large portion of non clearing players just living their lives while waiting for clearers to finish the game.
5752426
Fair enough. It sounds like you have a decent buffer between what's written and published, so short term changes usually aren't viable.
A few random thoughts crossed my mind since my last post, so I'll add them here. First, the last we see of the Divine Stone of Returning Soul, the revival item Nicolas the Renegade drops, is that Kirito gives it to Klein. I'm going to guess that it'll be used to revive one of the Wondercolts at some point.
The other thought was <<The Seed>> that was given to Kirito at the end of Fairy Dance by a digital memory of Kayaba. This was used to expand and grow Fulldive VR worlds, despite the SAO Incident taking place. Without it, it's unlikely that Gun Gale Online would exist. That would mean Sinon would either have to confront her trauma a different way, or not at all. That's pretty far off though, and outside the range of this story.
As for The Seed itself, I could see Kayaba's original intention being to give it to whoever beat him on the 100th floor as the final Last Attack Bonus. Sort of like a Willy Wonka way of saying, "You've inherited everything." That's just speculation though. I haven't read the latest arc of the LN, but that may re-contextualize what the purpose of The Seed was for.
5753489
First off, that was a great framing. They are absolutely in an urban setting and a game mentality. The guilds are like small towns, the people you're close to and know. And, especially for the intermediate players, they can't always find a community they will fit into long term. Longer term with better perks than solo and partying up. Guilds, in canon, automatically tax members on their income. That's a huge detraction for many intermediate players who are not sure if they fit into the community. What I will comment about the Town of Beginnings is that we see it and Thinker & Yulier more. Quite a bit more, especially for such a small canon character.
Yep. I have a buffer. That way, everything goes through my editor and beta reader with enough time before releases. And, if the time/reason is right, I can do special releases outside Tuesdays or release chapters that are paired so there is no delay.
The Divine Stone of Returning Soul will make two appearances. The hardest thing is setting up the right moment to use it. It has such a short window to use, less that ten seconds. Ten is the max, but if the player's light is gone before use, then it can't be used. Not everyone responds the same way to dying and fatal hits. And the user has to be fast enough to recognize, pull out, and use it.
What does make it slightly easier is that, in canon, it is given to Klein, mostly because he is right there after the fight and Kirito, apathetic after finding out it can't do what he hoped, doesn't care. That does mean Klein has to be present and the girls are stronger than Klein and Fuurinkazan. Klein is more likely to die than they are just based on stats, with the exception of Fluttershy/Doombunny and Twilight/Knightstar. But it will be used. I won't say on who or when, but it's written into a first draft, AKA placed.
The Seed is something that I don't fully have figured out and may not have an answer to. Simply because it's given at the end of the Fairy Dance Arc, technically three months after SAO is cleared. It wasn't planned ahead of time. Kayaba didn't have it ready and, from what I can tell, didn't conceptualize the idea until after his death/ascension (for lack of a better term). It happens after because he observes the fate of VRMMORPGs. He doesn't like their failure. The stripped down version of Cardinal likely comes from ALO, not SAO, since SAO is shut down. Yes, it was copied, but that doesn't mean development by the Game Engine itself was the same after it was copied. They lived "separate lives."
To speculate on downstream of the effects:
As to the impact, yes, it would throw off the timing. By how much is determined by the exact amount of time required to clear the last twenty-five floors. It likely would only delay things like GGO and Project Alicization, they can still get developed, but at a later time. I don't believe they would get thrown off too badly, just delayed, especially for Project Alicization. That is only conceptualized after The Seed because they had no way to make A.L.I.C.E (Artificial Labile Intelligent Cybernated Existence), a bottom up AI.
GGO's delay would either mean that A: Asada Shino/Sinon misses that window, or B: just suffers longer before facing it. That's also assuming the timing of her life events stay the same. If I were to delay them by a year, including birth and the robbery, and the same Shinkawa Kyouji, then that is a simple solution. Possibly a bit lazy, but it's an alternative universe. There may be no other way. Of course, Kyouji's slide down really begins after his brother Shouichi/XaXa comes back from SAO (assuming he lives through it).
Actually, the most relevant timing moment in Asada Shino's life could get delayed without incidence: her decision and approval to move to Tokyo and live alone to go a new school and escape the locals who hold it over her head. Just delaying that until SAO is cleared, paired with Kyouji's slide down (until he drops out to do the self study path) because of his brother's return, that could work effectively.
Thanks! You made me think. I loved answering it!
Was writing on the phone, but changed because holy heck I write walls of text in there.
Edit: Yes, it was bigger. Yikes.
5753489
I live in a 4.5 million people urban area. I don't know about the lives of people in my vicinity because I need to take the car to go anywhere and barely see the same people often. But the ones I do see? I absolutely ask about when they're suddenly absent. The lady in Burger King who's actually agile and already knows my order? The chef in the local restaurant? Those I know. If I went to the Sunday's farmer market that happens a couple blocks away, every week? Yes, I'd know those people. Because I'd be seeing them often, I'd end up talking because that's a thing humans do.
In SAO they're not taking the car to go anywhere. They're not living in big apartment buildings where you go down to the garage, leave, go do what you had to, go back to your garage and then to your place. They're living in homes that are close together, walking out in the street where they see the same people every day, walking towards the teleport pad, going to another city where they walk the streets that they do every day seeing the same people every day, go out of said city and then go to the field to risk life and limb in a war for their continued existence. Then they go back home to sleep, walking down those streets every day again, meeting the same people, meeting their neighbors. Because they live in a fundamentally different transportation & organization paradigm than us. They know about each other because unless they're not living in the cities they can't avoid doing it.
And that takes me to the point that they're thousands of people living in an isolated country without contact with the rest of the world fighting to conquer space and safety against a seemingly unsurmountable foe. Like in Ukraine, but worse because monsters in Aincrad actually do get stronger, players don't get reinforcements nor superior military equipment or other forms of support.
Anyone who's on the frontlines that keeps the "I'm playing a game, let me go solo!" mentality for even a month is absolutely so psychologically broken that they take refuge in their illusion of a game, a sociopath without empathy or was already not mentally sound in the first place. We're talking about, if keeping to a "healthy" 8 hours a day of fighting life-or-death situations, 160~240 active combat hours. Of those we're looking at, if they manage to spend 1/4 of the time actually fighting monsters, 40 to 60 "I'm in the middle of a firefight" combat hours. In the first month alone. Anyone in an active military branch can tell you that's a horrifically high percentage, the kind you wouldn't see in the worst battlefronts and expect anyone to come out of it sane or fit for duty.
I know this isn't a drama about the horrors of war, I remembering having conversations about it in the comments of the previous story or blogs (sorry, can't remember which) with Mindrop, but there's a difference between making it T and making it irreal or even disrespectful to the reality of civilians stuck in a war situation. Civilians that see death on a constant basis, that every single one of them knew someone who died on this war. Every soldier that has gone through it will tell you that seeing a friend die changes you. The number of studies making paramount the need of rest time, time away from combat in order for your troops to remain combat able doesn't even need to be said. Making characters behave like in the Light Novel, in that aspect, is beyond irreal. They need rest, they need relaxation, they need to live to know what they're fighting for. Because no one that is still a sane and functional human would just keep acting like this is a game after going through loss and life or death situations for weeks to months at a time.
That being said, and in the spirit of the blog, a more realistic but tasteful approach to how this would affect people. On how they'd cope, on what arises from such trying times. Intimacy, vices, the desire to live. Nothing untoward, far from it, but the recognition that people in intense, constant life or death situations have human desires and needs. That in the lack of professional psychological help the would need to give this support in order to stop those people from descending in vices trying to forget the horrors they've seen. How people come together to help each other when they're not strangers in a metropolis, how community support would arise to those who battle to set them all free.
Because quite honestly? Sunset's behavior in the previous story was disturbing. How long did it go on, her spending over twelve hours every day grinding for levels? Weeks? After seeing death repeatedly, having almost died herself more than once? Without a lick of psychological help? What kind of friend lets that go on? That's suicidal behavior. That's a refusal to acknowledge her own right of living, a level of sacrifice that talks of severe ongoing trauma. It's hurtful and distressing. It is, once you really think about what is going on, "holy **** how is this not tagged Dark?".
Trauma is not a light thing. Showing a character that is going through depths of it without any support over multiple chapters and treating it as normal, as if getting near of this level of detachment is anywhere near normal without her dear friends doing anything but occasionally talking about it, with her showing an abandonment of human needs until being dragged to some semblance of need to some rest by Doombunny was... hell, there's a reason why I thought they'd be together. It hurt. And it being treated as "having a game mentaility"?
SAO has, as any story, problems. But a huge one is it's a story of war, even if not about it, told by a citizen of one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Most Japanese are so disassociated from violence that they react better to someone showing them a gun and asking for their money or their life than to someone being rude to them. No, I'm not making this up, this is straight up what one of my Japanese Japanese teachers told me some fifteen years ago, and it stuck. It's something so alien that they rarely even consider it a thing that can happen, that it's part of reality. And when someone from that culture writes a story and doesn't think about the consequences, you get Kirito. A child soldier so broken by loss and death that he keeps throwing himself to increasing levels of suicidal behavior in order to deal with trauma that'll take years if not decades to go through once he's out of this hell... oh wait, nah, he just gets a girlfriend and everything is ok, he just goes on as if nothing happened afterwards. Or wake up in cold sweat over the fighting companions that violently lost their lives by his side while screaming and begging to stay alive, as the story shows.
To not continue beyond reason more than I already did: Please write people, not broken wrecks that make absolutely not a lick of sense. This changes some characters? Yes. Because they're completely unreal as they were first portrayed. I know you're an awesome author and can conciliate both. I'm absolutely sure you can make Kirito be both a loner but still have something that keeps him from being just an expy for shounen fans that don't think what it means to go to sleep every night alone. To wake up alone, to go to risk your life without any lick of support, a single person to talk to, for hours and hours. And then go back to a lonely bed, to sleep alone without anyone but you and the memories of the dead. And then wake up again and do it all over again. Again and again.
That's suicidal behavior. That's the idolized hero. Please don't make a hero of your story a critical case of suicide watch, no matter how he was written in the original.
Please don't let Sunset start to go down the same path. Her fall into isolationist, life abandoning behavior in the name of an illusion of self-aggrandizing sacrifice that she needed to be that strong alone, that she had to go further than anyone else no matter what, hurt enough the first time. If it wasn't for Doombunny she was on the path to become another Kirito... and that's a sobering thought.
5753533
Side note, this is an epic exchange happening and it is helpful to me. I don't want you to think I am making a defense of myself or taking what you say personally or as an offense. I'm just sharing and going back and forth, listening and learning.
For reference, 1: the web version of Sword Art Online was published first, then it was picked up and published as a light novel. Originally, it had 50,000 players trapped. Scaling it down may not have equally happened equally across the board. 2: I'm in a top 10 U.S. urban center too; Population over 2 million, but no density (1,620.4/sq mi (625.6/km2)). On my campus of 35k students, I see very few students, outside direct classmates and friends, on a routine basis. We are a heavy commuter university. 3: (tacking it here instead of the end) In Japan, they live in a very different society. It is true how they would react differently than Westerns to the same situations. The stick up vs rude is a very good way to frame that. I love it!
Yes, the life you described, most intermediate players live that way. The members of the Assault Team/clearers on the front do too. They see the same people as the come and go, and visit the same craftsmen to get stuff done. The top echelon of players stay mobile, pushing the front, so they have less patterns, but they do establish them. The notice when players cease coming, either by exhaustion or death. It happens when you are fighting like they are. The upper and middle echelon of players are stuck in the game mentality, but the close feeling and bonds people establish, they are less oriented at the other players, and centered around the guilds. The guilds are their networks in cities and towns.
The guilds reframe everything. And yes, in this case that is a negative reframing. Too much "game," not enough life.
I am trying to bring in more elements of the stress of that daily combat. Certainly Episodes 33 and 34 will show more of that. I will be doing much more life and daily stuff too, the staying sane (or not) part. I'm trying to roll it in. The early episodes, I have been intentionally setting the scene as adventure, with a sprinkling of realism and their struggle. Later, when their stress has been going on for much longer, I can start to step away from the adventure at times. That transition is literally about to happen. Episode 30 was Konpeito trying to reconcile everything going on, without diving into the depths of darkness that could be there, and her friends helping her.
I'm getting my MS in Sociology. I am well aware of the cost of war, combat, and stress, especially prolonged. I do try to slide elements in, while still keeping it an "Adventure" based story. The one saving grace to the death is the lack of a body. It is a pretty major one. It makes it much less real. Or easier to push off, not that it's a healthy thing to do. I'm trying not go too dark and turn it to a Mature rated story, while still treating it realistically. That's not easy, but it also means I have to work harder to make it better. Once you pass that "mature" line, everything is allowable making it much easier to overdo it and kill the story.
It's part of the reason why I slide Kirito in, but don't focus on him. I can't reconcile certain things without deconstructing too much, without a good substitution. The original story was written starting at the end, then slowly being worked from the ground up as Reki Kawahara matured as a writer. Kirito's suicidal behavior early on has it's flaws. I can fix some of those in the last half of Aincrad, floors 50+, especially after Floor 75.
I say all of that, so I want to leave you with some excerpts - if you want them, hence why they are blocked with spoilers and some things are redacted - I've been playing with in between Comp Exam studying (for my sanity). It reminded me why I run more dialog and want the reader to learn from what is said, less stating the feelings, because I dive. I have too much life experiences to not go into utter darkness. I have to learn to find the grey. This story is one of those ways to find the grey.
5753551
Thank you for putting that note first, it really helps knowing that this is useful to you
I did read the spoilered text, interesting! Nice to see the impacts and a glimpse on how they'll deal with it. And thank you for sharing.
In no particular order:
I fully agree that keeping the story T is the best move. Your determination to do it justice and keep it in the "grey" as you said is laudable!
Interesting to know about your major too, I wish you the best of luck in the field! I'm in Electrical Engineering myself, I'm rather familiar with how much a drain college can be. You can do it!
My city is 6,988.18/km2, couldn't find data for the whole metropolitan area. Can't deny I find it hard to grok the idea of living in a small community, partly due to that, but I try.
The guilds being a reinforcer of the game aspect is a very good point, as is the lack of body making it much easier to deal with loss. I hadn't thought about those.
Why not keep the 50k in Ruby Palace? They might make it easier for the resulting society to accommodate the Canon events due to being more able to cushion losses by a greater replenishment pool and to also lessen the impact of such losses in the population as a whole, making it easier for people to deal with it. Also make it so that the floor cities being gradually occupied doesn't require the previous ones being rendered deserted for the numbers to match.
I have no idea how much work that'd be though, might be a few numbers, might be major plot points. So extra grain of salt in this one.
The rude x violence thing is really trippy, isn't it? I was very surprised when she told me that. The only similar things I know about their culture is how they can heavily separate moments of being serious from moments to play in a way that we can't. The, to us, ridiculous levels Japanese television can get in their comedy programs derives from that - they know that's not serious, so they can really turn off that part we can't.
Another is how morality is based on public perception and not religion. There's no inherent cultural idea of "god is watching", but it's been a long time since I last encountered that one to remember the ramifications. They're pervasive though, that I remember.
Can't remember other things I'd like to see beyond the completion of the Merlin quest. That one was frustrating to never know how it'd go in the story - I do remember your telling about in on a blog though? Years pass, can't remember, sorry.
5753587
You have a big city. Lol. I know engineers, great field to be in, but not something I could pull off. We need good electrical engineers. Fascinating stuff.
My focus of study is health, health system, social epidemiology and such, in order to bring better treatment plans to patients. I've been the patient for a long time - my last big thing has been battling an eating disorder (really long story) which required being locked up in a treatment facility for two months, which had to operate under a psych ward license (meds and people do try self harm under the stress, that was not my issue, thankfully)- now I'm called to take those experiences and help those who can't help themselves. There are a variety of techniques to do that with, some quite hard on the stata data with rigorous quantitative methodologies. Not everything needs to be burned down. Your well wishes are very appreciated by me.
Also, that's why, when I say I know how deep I can go, I've unintentionally/accidentally been there. I've been pulled back from the pit. I've fought my way out. None of my medical history is what I ever wanted, but I'll take it because of how God is using it to make a difference. Okay, sorry for the side detour, back to main points!
I figured you would value catching a sneak peek. I'm glad you enjoyed them.
Thanks for finding my determination to stay "T" so laudable. That is great encouragement.
I thought about bumping it back to 50k players, or numbers in between, but I ultimately decided it was not a good idea. The size of Aincrad never changed. 10K in the Town of Beginnings was already very dense. Unsustainable with the game mechanics, specifically economics. Especially when everyone starts on a pretty even playing field. It is the same reason why the starting number was downsized. It was just too much for the early floors.
10k was great launch number, and let the players expand it before the next wave was opened up, except the story doesn't go the normal MMORPG route. Too much stress on the game engine at the start would have been bad and crash. Crashing couldn't happen in SAO or it may very well cause the deaths of players. You are right about one thing, many floors do not keep a large number of occupants, especially once Algade on Floor 50 was unlocked. It was half the size of The Town of Beginnings.
Japan's culture is fascinating to study. For being to "Western", they are very much not. I didn't realize they could separate their time from normal to play like that, but it makes sense. Westerns seem throw themselves into either camp and stay there, which isn't healthy.
Shintoism is also fascinating to study and it has varying levels of involvement, depending on the person. Later, some key elements will be worked in. Two are written, with several interactions. I have another element I want to do and have been playing with a fourth. I'm hesitant to get too in depth because I want to do it justice, but don't believe I can. Still, it's fascinating and elements will be beautifully and meaningfully incorporated.
Yes, a lot of time passed. I can't wait to finish the Merlin/Glass Tower quest. It will be epic. You will enjoy it. Its finish is the second post-75 catalyst to keep the front progressing. Otherwise they would run out of energy and fall to apathy and the long deployment in a war zone.