208 testers were allowed to briefly dive into the VR world of Sword Art Online. What did they experience? Check it out here.
Fighting Gleam Eyes as Kirito
On March 18th, it was finally time for some chosen ones. 208 testers could immerse themselves in Sword Art Online: The Beginning Project and experience the virtual world of Aincrad for 20 minutes.
Some videos have now been released to the public, showing what the testers experienced. Fans of the anime series will quickly recognize where this takes place, namely in the starting area of Aincrad, the town with the (not-so-creative) name “Town of Beginnings”. They are even accompanied by the A.I. Yui, who (if my hearing is correct) retained the original voice from the series and can be “tapped” just like in the anime to tease her a bit.
Later, it continued via teleportation directly to the 74th floor, where the players had to face the notorious boss Gleam Eyes. Although the moves and skills are not yet as impressive as Kirito’s, there is still some time until the year 2022…
During the “game,” it was possible to chat with various NPCs by controlling the hands, make purchases, move some objects, and of course perform simple sword skills and block during combat.
Mein-MMO says: Even though virtual reality with VR glasses still seems rather silly and strange, every SAO fan’s heart would leap (or drop) if they could stand in front of Gleam Eyes themselves.
The potential of VR can already be hinted at in the connection between anime and “real” games. A future that some can’t wait to begin soon enough.
