Magic 1/2 - Sword Art Online
This is page 1/2 of Sword Art Online Magic.
Summary
Magic is a complex voice command based system that first appeared in ALfheim Online and allows players to cast spells to achieve various goals such as healing allies or hurling fireballs at the hapless enemy.
Incantations
Any incantation in ALfheim Online consists of several Words of Power (力の言葉 chikara no kotoba). In-game, these words share phonetic similarities to old Norse and are displayed on the player's heads up display (HUD) as a script that resembles J.R.R. Tolkien's Elven writing system Tengwar. All Words of Power have meanings.
The Words of Power make use of the sounds that Japanese simply does not have (such as þ (thumb), ð (the), ö (work), æ (back), v, and more), but the Japanese players are allowed to approximate the pronunciations while casting their spells. Some examples are given below.
Every spell begins with an activation word that is used to determine the range of the spell.
|Word | Japanese Pronunciation | Japanese Meaning | English Meaning | Spell Range|
|-|-|
|Ek | ekku | 我は | "I" | The spellcaster only|
|þú | sū | 汝は | "thou" | One target player|
|þik | shikku | 我を | "me" | Close range|
|þeír | seā | 彼らは | "they" | Far range|
|Oss | ōsu | 我らを | "us" | All party members|
Activation
The spellcaster starts an incantation by raising or extending a hand before chanting the desired spell. That gesture enables the spherical HUD for Words of Power around the caster. The sphere has several lines with available Words of Power written on each, and every Word chanted highlights just that one and removes the rest from the line. The more difficult spells are lengthy sentences in the magical language, also featuring commas that make the sphere contents change dynamically, arranging the clauses into columns one by one. When the spell is complete, the visualized incantation follows a special effect wherein it is arranged along one circle, written behind the caster in two parts which then move in front of them, rejoin into a ready spell, and transition into the caster's fairy race symbol.
Attributes
Spells in ALO usually have an elemental attribute. Each race has an affinity to a certain element as follows:
|Sylph | Undine | Salamander | Gnome | Imp | Spriggan | Pooka | Cait Sith|
|-|-|
|Wind | Water | Fire | Earth | Darkness | Illusion | Sound | Beast Taming|
The other elements' spells are also available for any race, but the high-tier magic might not be available, and the effects will be weaker than if the same spell were cast by the race that has an affinity to it.
Types of Offensive Spells
| Spell | Type |
|---|---|
| Direct Fire | Projectile spells that launch along a straight line |
| Single Homing (単焦点追尾, lit. "Single-focus following") | Single-projectile spells that home in on the target |
| Multi Homing (多焦点追尾 lit. "multi-focus following") | Multi-projectile spells that home in on multiple targets |
| Area Ballistic (広範囲曲弾道) | Spells that create a single ballistic projectile that damages beings within the area of effect on impact |
| Weapon Charge | Spells that can be stored in a weapon as charges and later activated quickly |
List of Known Spells (Part 1)
Note: Not all spells have a Japanese name, and many that do are just katakana that transliterates the words as spoken in English. The spells that do not have such a name are unofficially titled.
|English Name | Japanese Name | Attribute | Description|
|-|-|
|Aqua Bind | 流水縛鎖 | Water | Restricts the movements of multiple opponents.|
|Aqua Stream | | Water | Creates a penetrating small-diameter high-pressure water stream.|
|Butterfly Shield | | | A high-level spell. Protects the target with a swarm of butterflies surrounding them. The shield is active indefinitely and decreases the caster's MP by a large amount for each attack absorbed.|
|Cold resistance spell | | | Protects from the sense of cold.|
|Dispel | | Fire | Dispels a magical effect with a red flash.|
|Concealment | | Wind | Creates a camouflaging surface over the caster and allies close to them, hiding them from the sight of monsters and other players.|
References
Magic - Fan Wiki