Sword Art Online: Lost Song is an action role-playing game that is based on the Sword Art Online light novel series. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Playstation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows platforms. In Japan, it was released on March 26, 2015. It launched across PAL regions on November 13, and North America on November 17. It is developed by Japanese Studio Artdink, and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

PLOT

Sword Art Online: Lost Song has an alternate timeline when compared to the light novel source material. Following on from the events of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment, Kirito X wants to dive into ALfheim Online after hearing reports of Russian scientist and Idol known as Seven, and the work they have been completing in the online world.

Once in the world of ALO, Kirito begins to doubt the intensions of Seven and her research. When attending a concert he notices that the crowd seem to bend to the whims of everything that she expresses onstage. It is later revealed that Seven is researching a project known as Cloud Brain, a network that unites all players of ALO as a collective emotional concious. Kirito and his friend Rain are now in a race to be the first to comeplete the new expansion for ALO, Svart ALfheim.

When Kirito reaches the final room, he discovers that Seven has already defeated the final boss room alone. A final battle ensues with Seven becoming corrupted and eventually, defeated. As a result, Seven stops performing concerts in-game and her in-game guild Shamrock begins to lose members.

Finally it is revealed that Rain and Seven have a connection in a real world, and eventually after the fighting has come to an end, they both reconnect as Seven retrieves her lost memories.

Gameplay

Sword Art Online: Lost Song allows players to select from up to 19 playable characters. It is the first game in the series that allowed for any character other than Kirito to be directly controlled by the player. Two of the 19 available characters are only available via paid DLC. Additionally, an in-game character creator is available for those who wish to make their own avatar. Regardless of which character you are playing as, the story is always presented as if you are Kirito.

The battle system features a three character party system where the player can select two party members to assist them in battle. Combat is split between ground and aerial battles, however dungeons do not have aerial combat. The player assigns support spells to the other two members of their party which is based on their race and abilities.

Sword Art Online: Lost Song also has online multiplayer which includes player versus player (PvP) duels. There are also player versus environment (PvE) modes that allow up to four players to band together to tackle stronger versions of bosses found in the solo game.

DEVELOPMENT

Sword Art Online: Lost Song was announced at the Tokyo Game Show on September 19, 2014 under the working title of SAO III. The previous games in the series were developed by Japanese developer Aquaria, but this was the first time that ArtDink had worked on a Sword Art Online game.

During the Dengeki Game Festival in 2015 it was announced that Sword Art Online: Lost Song and God Eater 2, also a Bandai Namco Entertainment property, would have cross-over content. Special codes for God Eater 2 that unlocked Kirito and Sinon costumes were distributed in Dengeki PlayStation Magazines. Two weeks later they released codes or God Eater characters Julius and Alisa for Lost Song.

RECEPTION

The popular game review aggregator Metacritic gave Sword Art Online: Lost Song a "mixed or average" score. Destructoid stated that "unfortunately, Lost Song stumbles hardest when trying to engage players outside that sphere of pre-existing investment, and in some ways ends up an even less suitable jumping-off point for newbies who want to get in on enjoying the franchise. My advice to those folks would be to watch the anime or try out Hollow Fragment first. If they're still jonesing for some more of this motley crew of irredeemable MMO nerds when they're done, then Lost Song will be music to their ears."

SALES

During the first week of release in Japan, Sword Art Online: Lost Song sold a total of 194,388 copies across the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita releases. Producer Yousuke Futami revealed in a 2016 interview that the game had sold 100,000 copies in the North American region.

References

Destructoid Review
Lost Song - Sword Art Online Wikipedia