By: Ojogo

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Sword Fine art Online Memory Defrag is a free-to-play, action oriented, unit collecting game for the Android and iOS. The game retraces the whole SAO story through the eyes of Kirito as he remembers his experiences in Sword Art Online since the Aincrad incident which started off the whole SAO series.

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Gameplay

Memory Defrag uses the game elements found in the SAO universe as its primary gameplay arrangement. You will be juggling around the game's gacha-style unit of measurement collecting while building upwardly your party which is equanimous of a max of three units. The game also incorporates a cost system in your political party building. This puts a bit of mental stretching (but not so much since this is a mobile game) equally yous would need to properly manage each unit of measurement's cost every bit y'all put them in their designated teams.

You can too improve your character stats by giving them weapons, equipment and then upgrading your gear. Each character has his/her own preferred weapon of choice, and in that location will be versions of the same character that will not have the same weapon option. Say for case, Asuna is known for her Rapier in SAO, but there's a version of Asuna that does non allow her to equip swords or rapiers, but daggers instead. It's besides a nice bonus that you become to see the characters use the weapons y'all give them instead of the default weapons they have overlapping the equipped ones.

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Some other thing of note is the way you tin can unlock your abilities and increment stats in-game. Unlike the typical process of getting stats increased per level up. Memory Defrag uses a skill grid to increase the graphic symbol'due south stats and abilities. Each stat or power increment requires you to take a specific crystal available to pay the cost of the increase. These crystals can but be earned through quests.

Stages are set up in typical mobile game manner where each retention sequence is equanimous of a mix of flashback sequences (taken from the anime) and stages where you will accept to go through instanced encounters. While the flashbacks are faithful to the anime narrative, the instanced encounters take a little more liberty on the monsters you lot face up. Since the game brings in characters from not only SAO but besides Alfheim Online and Gun Gale Online, retrieve of the encounters as the vehicle to move the story frontward, and not role of the storytelling. While of grade there volition exist instances that y'all volition be forced to utilise key characters on central plot points, overall, you can just put whoever it is in the team yous think needs to level upwardly.

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Multiplayer in Memory Defrag is more often than not co-op rather than competitive. You can create or join parties and wait for two other active players to join in for those quests that you will find difficult to achieve on your own.

Once you lot're in quests, you can control your primary character by touch. Swiping then property the finger downwardly will permit your character to run, pressing your finger down on the screen will allow your graphic symbol block. Swiping up allows your character to jump and swiping backward or forward makes your character either swoop forrard or swoop astern. And yes, based on the game's controls, the game does feel like an action championship with the amount of things y'all can do on quests. Yous as well need to properly fourth dimension in your key inputs for stronger opponents. The game has a parry-counterattack arrangement that comes existent handy when you're facing stronger monsters. You can only attack and slash everything else without a 2d thought, especially partnering them with activatable skills if that'due south what you prefer, but I like that the game allows for a more than refined gaming experience.

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Similar to SAO

If there's i thing that Memory Defrag does non disappoint you with is that the game is true-blue to a lot of elements found in SAO. The interface, the fonts used and fifty-fifty logging into Memory Defrag feels like y'all're in SAO. Not only that, Retention Defrag also uses the switch system in SAO in Retentivity Defrag. In fact, it'southward faithful enough that y'all need to stagger your opponent before you lot tin switch betwixt your party members just like in the anime.

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Level of Difficulty

The difficulty curve for Memory Defrag is a bit steep, nigh peculiarly in the higher difficulty quests. Fifty-fifty with the game'southward parry-counterattack organisation, the monster scaling is significant. But the thing about that is, the higher difficulty monsters don't crave bang-up skill to attack and impairment. They simply have either significantly higher HP or defense. You are forced to bring together parties just to finish them, though that's not really a bad affair.

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Conclusion: Great

Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag is a game with fans kept in heed. The amount of faithfulness from the source material is uncanny to the signal that it does feel like you're in SAO just it's a stripped down, less VR version. The game is more of a fanservice mobile title where y'all can collect and utilise the various characters from the worlds the SAO anime has gone through. Especially with the lack of any competitive game features, you can simply play through the game and arctic, ganging up with friends or random strangers you meet in PUGs.

The game though was not made real easy which is a expert thing. The characters you acquire and develop require a fleck of investment because the game doesn't allow y'all to buy anything else except memory diamonds, which is only useable for the game's gacha of characters.

With that said, while I appreciate the way the game retraces Kirito's past, I never was a real fan of the series. So the kind of appeal the game has doesn't stick with me that much. Notwithstanding, if you're a fan of the serial, anime or manga, this is game that you should download. Not only does the game provide some extra SAO action that you lot may desire at this betoken, it'south a solid enough mobile title that was fabricated for fans of the series to savor immensely.