Well, such cheat codes cover all subsequent holes in the plot and questions about "why is that?" and "how is this possible?". Even if Inoda defeats Kirito with swords, even if Liz suddenly becomes Inoda's most loyal slave and is grateful to him for raping her, even if Suguha suddenly wants hot sex with some fat pimply bastard, all this can be explained with a bunch of cheat codes for Inoda, and there is no need to look for the causes and consequences of the events that occurred. Yui, bracelets, elixirs, a virtual game that suddenly changes the memory of a real person (this already sounds like nonsense. It would be better if Inoda took Asuna to some witch who was stuck in a hotel), succubus costumes.
Fujino leads the game towards the end, using as lazy a spelling as possible, but in too much of a hurry, it seems to me. In fact, because of the rush, Fujino drains his own story into the trash. Asuna's corruption has been replaced with brainwashing, and Liz's revenge plot is completely killing her with this ridiculous costume. Suguhi, Sinon, the Administrator is not in the update at all.
Yes, I also laughed at the memory change in the last update. You don't even have to do anything in reality - just go into the memory of any person in the game and start talking shit there. Well, ok. This person must be on your friends list with access. But we all laughed at this before, when Inoda moved Asuna's spawn point in the game before the scene in the hotel. There's no point in discussing it again...
I think there are at least 2 reasons why the game is starting to limp. Fujino is already tired of it. I can't really imagine how a person can write for 2-3 years about characters he doesn't care about (after all, these are not his anime idols, but characters who will simply bring in more money if their images and names appear in the game). I think that Asuna's sex scenes with Inoda don't just make him excited, but rather make him feel nauseous just from the thought that he needs to make another scene)))
The second reason is a new game. (I hardly follow the forum at the moment, so I don't know if he's decided on it yet). And for it, you need to make a whole bunch of initial "renders". Here, for Asuna, a new image comes out every 3 months and everyone is happy, and for a new game, you need to make about 20 of these images... Maps... In SAO, there are probably about 50 of them now. Go and draw at least 20-30 new maps too. So maybe he's already getting ready for the new game and is catastrophically short of time.
From this point of view, I have no complaints about the update. It just needed another month or month and a half to make it look good and last long enough. And to scold it for laziness... On the contrary, I was always amazed by its performance. It's just a pity that this very, very decent game is slowly slipping in terms of the plot. Yes, for me personally, there are many illogical/stupid moments that spoil only my impression of the game, but to be objective - the game is good, and the author is great!
And when I was talking about the author being accused of laziness, I didn't mean you specifically, it's just in general. There are just a lot of comments about the author being lazy and not wanting to make a normal game.