It's times like these that really make me think that I have a death wish.
The boss standing in front of me is bigger than any of the others that I've seen before. A massive monster that is at least four stories tall. Its eyes beaming with red rage. The boss dual wields gigantic battleaxes.
For a being of such large size, it moves incredibly fast, faster than anything else that I've seen so far. It rushes at me, slashing its axes in rapid succession. From my previous failed attempts, I've learned how deadly those slashes are. It takes exactly two slashes to kill me, so considering his speed, I'd estimate that it would only take 0.5 seconds to kill me.
I dodge out of the way of the first slash. Before I can fully recover, his second axe is already swinging towards me. I know my only choice is to parry it. Success. I have survived the boss' first attack.
I pant as I try to catch my breath. Just surviving this first attack must have taken me at least a dozen or so failed attempts. I've never had so much difficulty against a boss.
I try to figure out what the boss' next attack will be, but suddenly I receive a call.
"Time is up, player," the voice says to me when I answer.
With a sigh, I gesture my left hand to pull up the menu and log out.
I slowly pull the helmet off my head and find myself back in reality again. I am in a room with a few dozen other people. Each person has their own comfy couch and helmet. The room is dimly lit and rather quiet despite how many people there are.
I look down to see a pen and paper that I must have left for myself at the beginning of the day. I pick up the pen and record everything that I have learned about this current boss so far.
There is starting to be more noise in the room now as everyone is taking off their helmets and standing up to leave. All sorts of people are gathered here, from young children to old grandmas. There are students that you can tell are popular at school and ones that you can tell just sit at home all day.
After I finish writing down my notes for the boss, I stand up as well. By now, most of the other people have already left. I prefer it this way. I write my name on the signout sheet by the door and head out the room.
As I walk down the hallway towards the exit of the building, the people around me are all eagerly chatting amongst themselves. I stick myself to the edge of the wall and continue walking in silence. I prefer it this way.
I pause as I reach the intersection between another hallway. A large bed is being pushed across, so I wait for it to pass. The bed looks very interesting because it has a large machine taking up the entire head of the bed. The machine covers the head of a pale girl in a hospital robe that is lying on the bed. This must be some other project that the company is working on.
I finally open the door to the outside world. It is already getting dark. I get on my bike and ride through the busy streets home.
"Welcome home brother," I hear as I open the door of our house. As I take off my shoes, I practice how I'm going to smile so that when I do see my sister, hopefully I can smile less awkwardly. Smiling is something I rarely do, so I really am not used to it.
I walk into the kitchen and smell delicious food cooking. My sister turns her head and smiles at me. I smile back.
"The food is already ready, brother."
"Thanks. . . Suguha." I have a hard time getting myself to refer to her as my sister, so I just call her by her name. I feel a bit bad because of how often she calls me "brother."
I reach my room upstairs and just collapse on the bed. I take a few exhausted deep breaths. I want to think about how I'm going to defeat that boss tomorrow, but I have more pressing matters to think about.
My sister is going to be done making dinner soon and I have no excuse but to eat with her. She is going to try to make small talk with me like a normal human and I am going to have to respond. While I still have a few minutes, I have to prepare for that. . .
I jump out of bed. Oh no, it is completely dark outside now. I must have fallen asleep. I turn my head to see a tray of food sitting on my table. Suguha must have brought that to my room. I feel bad about sleeping through dinner, but she's probably used to me doing this.
I slowly open the door of my room to see that all the lights are off in the house. She must already be in bed. I'll just. . . say sorry tomorrow.
Well now that I'm more awake, I should start thinking about tomorrow. I take my tray of food and make my way towards the microwave in the kitchen.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day. Tomorrow is the last day of the beta test of Sword Art Online.
Sword Art Online, or SAO for short, is the next generation video game that everyone in the entire world is excitedly anticipating. SAO is going to be the first fully immersive MMORPG game in the world.
Unlike previous MMORPGs that are played on computer or even using a VR headset, SAO transports your entire brain into a new reality. This is achieve via the NerveGear helmet technology that can read and generate electrical signals directly to the brain. What this means is that in SAO, all five senses work just as they do in the real world, and your character's body is controlled exactly as you would control your real body.
I am one of the lucky few who got selected to beta test the game. SAO is planned to release this fall, so right now during the summer, us beta testers are finding the last bugs and giving the last suggestions to the developers right before the game becomes a global phenomenon.
Well I guess I shouldn't really say that I am lucky to be chosen. It might be more fitting to say that I've worked all my life for this opportunity. You see, the developers want the group of beta testers to be diverse and represent all sorts of different players who will be playing this game. This is why there are young and old, casual and hardcore gamers beta testing the game with me.
I am about as hardcore of a gamer as you can get, so it's no surprise that the developers of SAO really wanted me to help them beta test. In fact, I am so hardcore that over the last couple of years, I have become the highest ranked solo player in multiple of the most popular MMORPGs.
This statement is not just my delusional boasting, I only give myself such a title because I have the record to back it up. On the leaderboards of the top 3 MMORPG games on the market, I am ranked number one without being a part of a dedicated group.
I've never been good at school, or sports, or anything else in life. But video games were something that I could become good at. So that is exactly what I set out to achieve with all of my free time.
I figured out the best strategies for farming the most xp per hour, strategies for making the most gold per hour, and practiced killing bosses over and over. No one can match my level of efficiency when it comes to grinding these MMORPGs. I've gotten so proficient at killing bosses in these games that I often defeat the new ones that are released without them ever landing a single blow on me, even though these bosses are always meant to be taken down by a squad of four or more players.
I've always played alone. I don't like working with others and I struggle to communicate with them. Besides, all they ever do is slow me down, so it's better this way. When I play alone, I have full control. I don't have to wait on others. I don't have to rely on others. If I fail a dungeon or boss fight, then the blame is solely on me. This motivates me to improve more than anyone else.
Yeah that's right. I believe that I am able to top the leaderboards because I work alone, not despite of it.
Because tomorrow is the last day of the SAO beta, it will be my last chance to beat the boss that I am stuck on, the floor 20 boss. Unfortunately, I have only seen a few of this boss' attacks so I can't fully prepare for the battle.
Perhaps there are gear upgrades that I can get to be able to survive more than two hits. . .
The next morning, I wake up early due to the nap I took when I got home yesterday.
I walk into the kitchen to see that no one is there yet. Perfect. Suguha must still be asleep. Now I get to make breakfast for her. It's the least I can do.
Nothing complicated since I can barely cook. But I do know how to fry some eggs and bacon, and toast some bread.
"Good morning, brother," Suguha says walking down the stairs while rubbing her eyes and yawning, "You're up early."
"Yeah. Today's the last day of. . . uh. . . my video game thing."
"Oh ok. Well, have fun."
"Mhm," is all I manage to say. I feel like I should say something more, but I just have no idea what to say.
I quickly finish eating, grab my stuff, and head out the door towards my bike.
The game studio where the beta test is being held is near the middle of the city, while we like in the suburban outskirts of the city. So I need to ride for about half an hour every day.
I take in a deep breath as I am biking along. I almost can't control my excitement. If I can beat the floor 20 boss today, then that is a pretty big milestone.
The way that SAO works is that the game is divided into 100 floors. Each floor has a different environmental theme with different monsters as well. There is a city and a dungeon on each floor. Defeating the boss of the dungeon is how you unlock the next floor. Beat the 100th floor and you beat the game.
If I can beat the 20th floor by the end of the beta, that means that I will have beaten a fifth of the game. This is already multiple floors ahead of the next fastest guy.
Or I guess I should say the next fastest team. I am the only one who chooses to work alone in this game. All the other beta testers quickly grouped themselves together when this beta first started.
I believe the group that is the farthest along behind me is the one led by the only pretty girl of the beta testers. It is not my opinion that she's pretty, I couldn't care less. But from the way everyone in the beta test treats her, especially the males, I can tell that this is everyone's opinion.
Speaking of the devil, as I am pulling up to the game studio building, I see that the popular girl has just arrived too. I believe her name is Asuna. No idea if that's her in game name or her real name.
She has glowing golden hair and a gentle smile. She walks with confidence that commands your respect. I'm sure she's the kind of person that knows exactly what she's doing in life.
Behind her is a swarm of other beta testers, mostly boys that are around my age. Everyone wants to play with this Asuna girl. I'm sure she got to choose the best players in the beta test to be on her team. Even so, I think that her group is still on the 16th floor, so what do I care.
I make sure to wait for her and her swarm of fanboys to enter the building before I make my way inside as well.
Even though the time is still early in the morning, many of the beta testers have already shown up. Everyone knows that this is the last day to make as much progress as possible. The developers told us that when the game officially launches, all of our data will be reset, but even so, the knowledge of the game and how to beat the dungeons will give beta testers a massive advantage.
I find my couch with the NerveGear headset assigned to me and I sit down. I set my pen and notebook on my lap for myself to write down notes for the boss fight later.
I wiggle the helmet snuggly on and turn on the power.
"Link start!"
Everything turns white as I am transported into the world of SAO.
"Welcome back. . . Kirito," I hear whispering in my ears.
"Hello Yui."
Yui is the game's artificial intelligence assistant feature. Every player has access to Yui from the beginning to help with learning how to play. Even now, although I've learned how to do everything in the game, I still choose to keep Yui around because she is still useful and can allow me to access certain menus faster than if I do so manually.
Various forms of AI have already existed for many years. But Yui is being advertised as being smarter than all the previous AI. Yui is coded to be able to experience emotions and think for itself and whatnot. I believe the developers said that they are using SAO as a platform to experiment with advanced AI like Yui.
I must admit that Yui is much more advanced and lifelike compared to the other AI on the market. You can hold a conversation with Yui and it will genuinely feel natural. Even though I'm bad at conversing, I know that Yui has already recognized this in her programming and has adapted in order to make it easier for me to talk to it.
Yui pops into view with her avatar of a miniature girl in a simple white dress that flys around.
"What is the plan for today, Kirito?"
"I need to beat the floor 20 boss today. I'd be happy if I can accomplish that much."
"Hehe, I believe you were struggling against it yesterday. According to my records, you've already spent more time on this floor than you've spent on any other."
"No need to remind me. This boss is harder than the previous bosses. I am sure that the difficulty of the game has increased recently."
"This would not be the first time that the developers have increased the difficulty of SAO because you are going through it too fast."
"Well at least I know that I am making contributions to make SAO a better game. Now tell me Yui, are there any more gear upgrades that I can obtain reasonably quickly to help me with this boss fight?"
"Mmm. . . all other direct improvements to your gear would require crafting. . ."
"And my crafting is still level 1 since I don't want to waste time interacting with the crafting system. I know for a fact that when this game launches, there will be dedicated crafters that I can simply buy all of my gear from."
"You can consider changing your off-hand weapon. Perhaps that could make this particular boss easier for you to solo."
In SAO, unlike all other MMORPGs, the class system is tied to the player's off-hand weapon. Every player must use a sword as their main-hand weapon. This game is titled Sword Art Online after all. All players have access to skills that involve their main-hand sword.
In the off-hand, players can choose to wield a shield, a short staff, sorcerer's gloves, or another sword. The off-hand weapon that a player chooses allows them to use special skills only available for that off-hand weapon.
These specialized skills are what determines a player's class.
A shield is the tank class for this game. Most of their skills are related to taking less damage or blocking damage.
A short staff is the support class. The short staff allows for skills that heal or buff your allies.
Finally, the DPS class is made up of the sorcerer's gloves and dual wielding swords. Both of these off-hand weapons have skills that deal large amounts of damage. The difference is that sorcerer's gloves allow for spells that attack from range, while dual wielding swords is a melee focused DPS class. Since Sorc gloves allow the player to attack from range, it overall has much lower DPS than dual wielding swords.
Having the holy trinity of at least one tank, support, and DPS in a party is ideal for approaching bosses in this game. The tank soaks up damage, while the support keeps the tank alive, and the DPS try to take down the boss as quickly as they can while being buffed by the support. In such a structured team, each member depends on one another to fulfill their role in taking down the boss.
"No. . ." I reply after thinking for a while, "I don't think I can change my class. You see, Yui, because I am soloing these dungeons that are meant for four or more players, I do not have the luxury of playing whatever class I want.
I can't play tank or support because those classes do not have the damage necessary to clear any content. But as DPS I must also be able to survive incoming damage without a tank or support. Therefore, I have to use sorc gloves in order to abuse the range advantage in order to survive. Even though sorc gloves deal way less damage than dual wielding, sorc gloves allow me to clear some parts of dungeons without any of the mobs even damaging me. Likewise, for bosses, the range of sorc gloves keep me out of reach of some boss' attacks."
"I see," Yui nods while hovering in the air, "I guess that means there's nothing left to do but to fight the boss."
I take in a deep breath. "Alright. Let's do this."
I am currently in the floor 20 town, which is where I logged off from yesterday. It's an empty place, but that's only because there are no other players here because no one else has reached floor 20 yet.
Just before I logged out yesterday, I dropped a teleport portal at the entrance of the boss arena. The other end of the portal was dropped in this town, so instead of needing to re-clear the entire floor 20 dungeon, I simply teleported myself to the boss room entrance.
While portals are expensive, they are very much worth the time that it saves. To me no amount of money is as valuable as saving time. Especially considering how many times I've died at this boss, it would've taken many extra hours to clear the entire dungeon every time I died.
Once in the dungeon, I push open the massive doors to the boss room. This dungeon is inside of a cave. The floor begins to rumble.
One side of the cave boss room wall blows open and the boss leaps through it, slamming into the ground.
Every boss has one of these entrance animations to make them look cool. I've already seen this a dozen times, so I spend this time to check over my gear and skills.
After swinging his double axes in the air to display them, the boss entrance animation is over and now the fight begins.
Just as it has done every time, the boss charges at me while continuously swinging both of its axes. Just like before, I dodge the first swing that is in range of hitting me, then parry the second.
The boss gets knocked back a few steps. I power up my sorc gloves and channel rapid fireballs, sending them at the boss.
While the quick casting fireballs deal low damage, they are fast to cast which means that if the boss starts another attack, I will have more time to react to it. Since I am not familiar with this boss' moveset, this flexibility is crucial.
The boss regains its footing and then hurls one of its axes at me. That was not what I expected. I roll out of the way but I see that the boss has already leaped into the air towards the axe it threw.
I see that the monster is trying to pull the axe he threw out of the ground, so I see this as my opportunity to launch more fireballs at it.
But I realized my mistake too late. When the boss landed, he shook the arena so hard that rocks fell from the cave ceiling. One rock landed on me, killing me instantly. Environmental hazards are not super common in this game, so that caught me by surprise.
No matter. I respawn back in the floor 20 town and I simply walk through the portal and restart the boss battle. This time with a bit more knowledge than my previous attempt.
This second attempt plays out exactly as the first did. The boss throws his axe and leaps towards it. This time, instead of looking at the boss, I look up.
Just like before, rocks start raining from the cave ceiling. I notice that it is always the same rocks in the same locations falling. This is good to remember. This means that safe zones where the rocks do not hit will always be the same spots.
Thankfully, I find one of these safe spots to avoid the falling rocks. Now, time for the boss' next attack. I turn my attention back to the boss who has now pulled out the axe that it had thrown.
The four story tall monster trudges towards me with both axes raised. Is it finally time for a normal attack phase? This part I am used to. This part I am comfortable with.
All boss monsters in every MMORPG that I have played and mastered mostly revolve around the boss standing still while performing attacks that are easy to anticipate. The previous bosses of SAO have been much the same. This particular floor 20 boss has been challenging because it starts the battle with an extreme fast charge that is difficult to anticipate.
The boss raises one axe. This is its wind-up animation for probably a down-swing attack. So I simply roll to one side to avoid it. Easy.
The next attack he raises both axes. Since this is my first time seeing this move, I have no idea what this attack is. He slices down with one axe. I roll out of that attack. But he quickly follows up with his second axe in a sideways swing. I don't have time to roll again.
The hit connects with my body. I grunt in pain. But this is not a problem. I have enough health to survive maybe two or three hits from this boss total. Of course, during the official game release, I will be able to trade with players and thus my gear should be a lot stronger, and so at that time I should be able to take even more hits.
Note to self. I need to figure out how to avoid his double swing attack.
This process continues for the next few hours. The thing about SAO bosses is that they have very big movesets. Trying to memorize every single variation of attack isn't hard so to speak, but just very time consuming.
Learning the boss' moves is so tedious that I am pretty sure that I am the only player in the game that is doing this. Since these are still the early floors of the game, bosses are not really a challenge for groups of players if their members fill the roles of the holy trinity.
As long as the tank has their shield raised, they can probably take every hit the boss throws as long as they have a support to heal them back up.
But if this game is as well designed as I suspect that it is, then the most difficult floors should most certainly contain bosses where knowing its moves is the only way to survive certain attacks.
Additionally, memorizing a boss' moveset allows you to know when it is safe to weave in a few attacks of your own while the boss is winding up its next attack. This will increase overall DPS and thus efficiency.
From my experience of the other popular MMORPGs, having as high DPS as possible is going to be crucial in more difficult bosses, especially ones with high amounts of health regeneration. Against those regen bosses, if you can't deal damage fast enough, they will regenerate more health than you are dealing. When that happens, the boss fight becomes impossible.
"Hey Kirito," Yui suddenly speaks up after watching me fight this same boss for the past few hours. "Your time is going to be up soon. I've seen you defeat this boss a few times already. What exactly are you still doing?"
Yui must be referring to the fact that for the past hour or so, I haven't even attempted to hit the boss. Instead, I'm simply running around and rolling like a madman. "Well you see, I'm practicing dodging all of this boss' attacks. Even though I know that I can defeat this boss, I want to get more efficient. I want to be able to avoid more of this boss' attacks."
"Is this really worth it?"
"As you said, my time is almost up and this beta is about to end. I know for a fact that I will not be able to reach the floor 21 boss before this all ends, so yes, I do think this is the best use of my time."
"As you wish, I guess."
"Speaking of ending, Yui, what is going to happen to you when the beta ends? I know that all of our character data, progress, and gear will be reset for the official release, but what about you?"
"Hehe, don't worry. Nothing will happen to me. I will continue to exist as I always have."
"So you'll remember me then?"
Yui smiles, "Of course I'll remember you."
"Neat. I must say that you've been the most entertaining AI I've ever met."
"Thank you. . . I guess. Someday, I wish to learn enough about humans that I can become indistinguishable from them. I wish for a day when you will say that I'm the most entertaining person you've ever met."
"That's. . . ambitious."
"With the official launch of SAO, I'll get to interact with millions of players. I'm sure that I'm going to learn so much through interacting with all of you."
"Interacting with millions of people. . . that sounds absolutely terrifying for me. I'd rather interact with no one."
"Not even with me?" Yui asks while making a pouty face.
"Eh, you can be an exception. You aren't a person after all. And strangely enough it's better for me that you aren't."
"Well. . . there's about half an hour left of the beta. What are you going to do?"
"Hm. . . Let me run through this boss fight, one more time."
I teleport myself back to the town. I take the portal that I've walked through hundreds of times by now. One last time. Let's make this count.
I push open the gates of the boss arena. The ground rumbles, but I'm not scared anymore. I'm not even worried.
The boss blows open a hole in the wall and leaps through it. This time, I run towards it. The monster starts its charge attack, but I'm already right next to it. I dodge and parry its attack.
It throws an axe towards me. I roll out of the way and immediately sprint to one of the safe spots that I memorized for the falling rocks.
No more fireballs this time. I know exactly how much time I have before the rocks stop falling and the boss pulls his axe out of the ground. I know I can cast a longer but more powerful spell with my sorc gloves in that time.
Now the boss is making its way towards me. I continue flinging more magic projectiles at it. The question is no longer "can I kill it?," but instead "how fast can I kill it?"
I stand my ground casting spells just a little longer as the monster stomps its foot on the ground, knocking up all the ground around him, but I am already out of range.
When that move is done, now is my chance to go in. I raise my main-hand sword and sprint towards the boss. I know that I have a bit of time when it is safe for me to be in melee range, which allows me to deal more damage than my sorc gloves.
The boss performs its double swing. This time, I parry the first slash, then I jump, letting the second swing slice right under me. As soon as I land, I start slashing at the boss with rapid attack skills.
It's like a dance. Continuously alternating between parrying, dodging, and attacking at the perfect times to avoid taking any damage while dishing out lots of my own.
After only a few minutes, I've reached the end of the dance. With one final uppercut of my sword, the boss falls backwards and explodes into coins and loot.
I too fall on my butt, panting to catch my breath.
Yui pops out again, clapping. I can't help but grin.
"Did you see?"
"I did."
"I beat the boss without taking a single damage."
"That looked very impressive."
"Did it now. Ha, you have no idea how hard I've worked to become the best solo player in the world."
"Well, I do look forward to you showing me. But for now, you only have 10 minutes left."
"Alright, I guess I'll call it a bit early then," I take one last deep breath, and close my eyes.
The world goes black. I open my eyes to see the real world again. The day is already over. Time sure does fly when you're having fun.
I look around to see that everyone else is still in-game. I guess no one wants to leave SAO.
As I put my helmet down and stand to leave, I see someone standing at the door.
I walk over to sign myself out. The man reaches out his hand.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba."
"You. . . you must be the lead developer and director of this game."
"That's right," he smiles gently. "I've heard so much about you, Kirito. I want to personally thank you for participating in our beta test. Now, before you leave for the last time, are there any questions you would like to ask me?"
I scratch my head and think for a bit, "Well. . . actually. . . there is just one question I've always wanted to ask you."