Oh, let's hope some Hero can share that 0.32 update with us soon OxO
I also disagree on Nothing's take regarding Suguha being "inconsequential"...this is just if you see things as someone who thinks the only real "main plot" is the Asuna/Inoda one, but Fujino clearly didn't do that. In his previous games there was always just a fixed main plot and then "secondary stories" that were either unrelated or just tangentially related to the MC, but once again, for SAO he wanted to try something else, and Suguha was written more like a 'secondary heroine' than a sidestory like he says she is...we had several mini-sidestories back in Part 1, Suguha stood out differently: It didn't matter that she was not "real" NTR (Which I always have pointed out she wasn't), Fujino WROTE HER specifically to be "kinda NTR" towards Kirito, she rewrote her canon backstory and personality and even made sure all her scenes WERE specifically directly related to Kirito all the time they happened (Kirito always was either around, indirectly listening/watching without realizing, etc), and more, she was written from the get-go for, as far as this game was concerned, feel like someone else being "stolen" from Kirito without him realizing. While I do agree it would not be NTR under normal circumstances, Fujino wrote her and her story to specifically be the second most relevant thing in the game and still another "NTR" source of Kirito back in Part 1, when the game seemed as simple as "everyone around Kirito being stolen away" (Which was also what made her seemingly new development back in the Update before this latest one so unique and interesting as it was something you would never expect coming from how cliche-forced her story was back in Part 1 and seemed to still be until now).
If anyone could be considered 'inconsequential', it would be Alice, as she's the one whose plot was the most shoehorned in and Fujino clearly has struggled with developing her story the most, to the point she's now basically not even directly related to Kirito at all, she's being "NTR-ed" from Klein, who nobody really gives a shit about XD Liz 'saved' herself from this in the eyes of many because she was pushed to be part of the main plot, but that's all, if she hadn't been written to be involved in the Inoda plot most people would be thinking about her the same they're thinking of Alice, Sinon and even Suguha, despite Suguha being clearly established back in Part 1 as the second most relevant female in the whole game...the issue is that, as this update proves, nobody gives a shit, because everything most people wanted to see was Inoda fucking Asuna and her getting stolen from Kirito, nothing else. Fujino could have never gotten off in the tangent he tried to with part 2 and everyone would have loved it, the fact most people loved this update despite how clearly rushed and 'off' it felt proves that this is what most of his fans want plain and simple and nobody really cared much about he story's growth or for Fujino attempting new things with a slow-burn approach, sadly.
Now then, I myself have no issue with Inoda finally getting Asuna, it was about time honestly and Fujino sadly dragged out the plot in way too many directions trying to please everyone while also trying something new himself, but it doesn't change the fact it really felt rushed if you look at this from a whole-game-perspective rather than how much time people IRL has been waiting for this.
Even with that I still think that went well in general honestly, I'm just hoping that now that we have arrived here that particular aspect can just go on without issues and that the new approach of the Suguha story (As I don't really care much for the Alice one tbh) didn't get discarded for it. However, Fujino's health and motivation are at the end of the day the main thing to focus on, especially as it seems that despite what he says he has worked overtime to fix several bugs and issues with this latest update, so if he decides to just get things back as they were before, I will only wish him the best :O
Something extra to add there that many don't consider with the update as a whole, Part 2's "full reset" after the Rainy Night that so many people disliked was ALL Fujino. This wasn't affected by any polls or opinions or comments, this was something Fujino did entirely of his own, update 0.1 was like this without anyone else's input, so it's clear Fujino WANTED this, while a lot of people wished that what happened this update was exactly how Part 2 started. Fujino was the one who wanted to go the 'realistic' part by resetting things between Inoda and Asuna after the rainy night and complicating the plot, while further complications could be blamed on the polls or on him trying and failing to please everyone, but that particular approach that he's now having to rush? That was all him, nothing anyone else thinks or tries to speculate will change that :O He wanted to try something new and he displeased a lot of his "fans" by doing so, and that resulted mostly in the mess of going back and forth the past few updates were. Kirito, Inoda, Asuna, and even Suguha going back and forth with their personalities/awareness of things are also directly caused by that, he could have continued writing Kirito like in part 1 if he hadn't reset things at the start of Part 2 for the sake of new systems and trying the new approach he wanted, for example, and then everything probably slowed down a crawl because "slow burn" won that very first poll he published (Still think those public polls were a terrible idea, ESPECIALLY that he outright never limited them to one vote per google account as he should have), but the very first biggest shift most people disliked originally was something he did all on his own and had planned since before he even left China.Yeah, especially Kirito is really a damn chameleon of personalities.
He got a brain upgrade at the start of part 2, then he was angsty about his dick size, flirting with Liz, then raped Asuna, but both shrugged it off like nothing. Now, he turned into a jerk, starting right in the morning by saying Inoda shouldn't waste his gift on Asuna, then insulting Inoda for no reason, and finally, just being an asshole during the quest. The day before, he was an ordinary nice dude.
The last part will probably be explained by NTR Logic. It was because of the debuffs, maybe even including what happened between Asuna and Inoda, but he was a jerk all day.
It seems like Fujino is trying way too hard to make Kirito look worse, so Inoda looks better, I presume, but things don't work that way. Just because someone murdered someone doesn't make other murderers better; it's just stupid logic^^
Or maybe he don't know what to do with him, to keep him relevant to the story aside from beeing there to be cheated on.
I mean, If you look from a medical perspecitve on thinks, the main cast is absulutely mental.
Inonda is an obsessive maniac.
Asuna cognitive dissonance.
Kirito has split personalities.
tbh, I have lowered my expectations for the further story to the minimum now, I look forward to new scenes, and if something original happens, I would be glad.
I also disagree on Nothing's take regarding Suguha being "inconsequential"...this is just if you see things as someone who thinks the only real "main plot" is the Asuna/Inoda one, but Fujino clearly didn't do that. In his previous games there was always just a fixed main plot and then "secondary stories" that were either unrelated or just tangentially related to the MC, but once again, for SAO he wanted to try something else, and Suguha was written more like a 'secondary heroine' than a sidestory like he says she is...we had several mini-sidestories back in Part 1, Suguha stood out differently: It didn't matter that she was not "real" NTR (Which I always have pointed out she wasn't), Fujino WROTE HER specifically to be "kinda NTR" towards Kirito, she rewrote her canon backstory and personality and even made sure all her scenes WERE specifically directly related to Kirito all the time they happened (Kirito always was either around, indirectly listening/watching without realizing, etc), and more, she was written from the get-go for, as far as this game was concerned, feel like someone else being "stolen" from Kirito without him realizing. While I do agree it would not be NTR under normal circumstances, Fujino wrote her and her story to specifically be the second most relevant thing in the game and still another "NTR" source of Kirito back in Part 1, when the game seemed as simple as "everyone around Kirito being stolen away" (Which was also what made her seemingly new development back in the Update before this latest one so unique and interesting as it was something you would never expect coming from how cliche-forced her story was back in Part 1 and seemed to still be until now).
If anyone could be considered 'inconsequential', it would be Alice, as she's the one whose plot was the most shoehorned in and Fujino clearly has struggled with developing her story the most, to the point she's now basically not even directly related to Kirito at all, she's being "NTR-ed" from Klein, who nobody really gives a shit about XD Liz 'saved' herself from this in the eyes of many because she was pushed to be part of the main plot, but that's all, if she hadn't been written to be involved in the Inoda plot most people would be thinking about her the same they're thinking of Alice, Sinon and even Suguha, despite Suguha being clearly established back in Part 1 as the second most relevant female in the whole game...the issue is that, as this update proves, nobody gives a shit, because everything most people wanted to see was Inoda fucking Asuna and her getting stolen from Kirito, nothing else. Fujino could have never gotten off in the tangent he tried to with part 2 and everyone would have loved it, the fact most people loved this update despite how clearly rushed and 'off' it felt proves that this is what most of his fans want plain and simple and nobody really cared much about he story's growth or for Fujino attempting new things with a slow-burn approach, sadly.
Now then, I myself have no issue with Inoda finally getting Asuna, it was about time honestly and Fujino sadly dragged out the plot in way too many directions trying to please everyone while also trying something new himself, but it doesn't change the fact it really felt rushed if you look at this from a whole-game-perspective rather than how much time people IRL has been waiting for this.
Even with that I still think that went well in general honestly, I'm just hoping that now that we have arrived here that particular aspect can just go on without issues and that the new approach of the Suguha story (As I don't really care much for the Alice one tbh) didn't get discarded for it. However, Fujino's health and motivation are at the end of the day the main thing to focus on, especially as it seems that despite what he says he has worked overtime to fix several bugs and issues with this latest update, so if he decides to just get things back as they were before, I will only wish him the best :O
