Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet further details character creation, customization, story, and original costumes

Following initial details last week, Bandai Namco has released further information and screenshots of the character creation and customization systems, story, and original costumes in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet.

Get the details below.

■ The Protagonist is the Player’s Avatar

For the first time in a Sword Art Online game, in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet you won’t play as Kirito, you will create a custom player avatar to enjoy a story where you are the protagonist. This story’s protagonist is not Kirito, it is “you” who fights alongside Kirito.

—Custom Male Avatar

—Custom Female Avatar

Develop Your Avatar to Your Heart’s Content

You can freely customize your avatar character’s gender, body, hair style, and more. Additionally, a level system has been implemented that indicates the avatar’s growth. As your level rises, you will acquire points, which can be partitioned out to six parameter: STR, VIT, INT, AGI, DEX, and LUK.

You can make a unique character based on character creation plans such as AGI type, VIT type, and more that appeared in the original work’s “Gun Gale Online.” You can take the character you create online in cooperative and competitive multiplayer with other players.

Status

By raising each status, you can improve various abilities.

• STR: Increases the max weight limit of the equipment you can carry. Increases close range attack strength. Some equipment requires a specific level of STR.
• VIT: Increases max HP. Increases the rate of damage reduction.
• INT: Increases the amount of time some skills and gadget effects last. Increases the effects of attacks that deal status ailments. Decreases the cool time for skills and gadgets.
• AGI: Increases movement speed. Increases the rate of damage reduction. Increases handling speed for reloading and such.
• DEX: Increases the effects of some gadgets. Increases critical hits and damage dealt during weak point attacks. Increases the accuracy of the Bullet Circle. Some equipment requires a specific level of DEX.
• LUK: Increases the item drop rate. Increases the rate of critical hits.

■ Story

The protagonist is “you.” While Kirito will also be involved, you will experience your own story. Will you walk a different path from Kirito…?

The keys to this story are the two heroines Kureha and Zeliskam. And then there’s the newly implemented elements of Gun Gale Online, the valuable “ArFA-sys” support AI and the “New Space Ship Area: SBC Fluegel.”

Story Summary

“You,” the protagonist, log in to a virtual reality massively multiplayer online game for the first time after being invited by your old friend Kureha. The game is “Gun Gale Online,” a world of guns and steel.

“You,” who unexpectedly obtain one of the few, valuable support AI known as “ArFA-sys,” attract attention in the world of Gun Gale Online, even though you are a newbie.

Just like you, there is a heroine named Zeliskam who is also accompanied by an ArFA-sys. In order to unravel the mysteries surrounding the space ship area “SBC Fluegel,” which is rumored to have been newly liberated, and of ArFA-sys itself, “you” will run about this vast world with guns in hand.

■ The Two Heroines

Kureha (voiced by Ayane Sakura)

A girl who invites the protagonist to Gun Gale Online, creating his chance to log in. She is the protagonist’s childhood friend, and a veteran Gun Gale Online player who has been playing since its early days. She is bright and cheerful, and has a meddlesome personality. She also considers the protagonist to be the object of her personal protection. She plays Gun Gale Online in order to realize her own strength, and spares no effort in order to discover that strength.

Zeliskam (voiced by Mamiko Noto)

A mysterious woman accompanied by an ArFA-sys that you meet during the story. She is calm-mannered, but is a talented solo player who has made a name for herself in Gun Gale Online. She tries to get a grasp of the protagonist, who obtained an ArFA-sys by luck. She will sometimes give you advice that is a sore to the ears. She dotes on her partner ArFA-sys, and enjoys wearing cute-looking clothes.

■ ArFA-sys

Its official name is the “Artificial Financial Adviser System.” Its short name is “ArFA-sys.” They were added to Gun Gale Online as a new feature in a major update rolled out by Zaskar, the company that operates the game.

ArFA-sys are support AI that learn, grown, and participate in battle with you. As its name of “Financial Adviser” implies, they can also manage in-game assets and items. They are reliable partners that assist the player in both battle and fortune.

ArFA-sys are divided into several types, and the one the protagonist obtained is the particularly high level and valuable Type-X. Its appearance and gender can also be customized by the player.

—Male ArFA-sys

—Female ArFA-sys

■ Game-Original Costumes

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet will feature game-original costume designs for Asuna and the others who did not log in to the world of Gun Gale Online in the anime or the “Phantom Bullet Arc” from the original work. Kirito and Sinon will also have original costumes.

Kotaro Yamada, the artist behind the Sword Art Online: Project Alicization manga serialized in Dengeki Bunko Magazine, is cooperating on the designs.

—Kirito

—Sinon

Asuna (voiced by Haruka Tomatsu)

A girl who, during the “Sword Art Online” period, was sub-leader of the game’s leading guild, “Knights of the Blood.” She is soft-mannered, but strong at her core. She met Kirito and decided to live with him. Her magnificent sword skills earned her the nickname “Flash” in Sword Art Online and “ALfheim Online.” In Gun Gale Online, she uses a thin assault rifle that resembles the small swords she is accustomed to using.

Leafa (voiced by Ayana Taketatsu)

In ALfheim Online, she is a swordswoman of the Sylph race, and in real life, she is Kirito’s younger sister. In Gun Gale Online, her main weapon is an assault rifle, but her sub-weapon is the Kouken Photon Sword, the same as Kirito’s. She utilized the experience she gained as a swordswoman in ALfheim Online during close range battles using the Photon Sword.

Silica (voiced by Rina Hidaka)

A survivor of Sword Art Online. She was saved by Kirito in Sword Art Online, and has since joined up with Kirito and his friends. She has brought her partner from Sword Art Online, a small dragon named Pina, into Gun Gale Online, but rather than rely on him in battle, fights with her own strength. Her main weapon is a sub machine gun, which is lightweight and easy to handle.

Lisbeth (voiced by Ayahi Takagaki)

A survivor of Sword Art Online. As a mood maker, she is a girl that can brighten up the situation. In Sword Art Online, she was a blacksmith who forged weapons and armor, and was commissioned by Kirito to create a sword. Carrying over her experience as a weapons artisan from Sword Art Online to Gun Gale Online, she also seems interested in customizing firearms. She switches between a shotgun and a sub machine gun to fight at mid and short ranges.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 8 in Japan, and in early 2018 in North America and Europe.

❮
❯