Sword Art Online is the first ever VRMMORPG produced by Argus for the NerveGear, with Kayaba Akihiko as the development director. The game takes place on a hundred-floor floating castle called Aincrad.
The game operates similar to most MMORPGs with a level system and eventual skill mastery with some limits placed on it. The entire game is monitored and maintained by a system called «Cardinal» which self corrects any problems.
There is no «Magic» in SAO except for the different colored crystals that bring instant effects, instead players can fight using their «Sword Skills». Execution of Swords Skills are assisted by the system, and it can fall into any of the four properties: Thrust, Slash, Pierce and Blunt. Learning hand-to-hand combat requires the additional «Extra Skill» «Martial Arts».
Special Sword Skills
- Starburst Stream - A burst that counters the opponent's moves
Known Extra Skills
- Katana
- Requires «One-Handed Curved Sword» to unlock.
- Meditation
- Given as a quest reward by an NPC on the 6th floor. Increases HP regeneration and decreases the remaining time of negative statuses by entering a mental concentration pose.
- Martial Arts
- Given as a quest reward by an NPC on the 2nd floor. Allows attacking with bare hands. Cannot be removed.
Unique Skill
- Holy Sword
- Dual Blades
- Darkness Blade*
- Battoujutsu*
- Shurikenjutsu*
- Infinite Spear*
- *Some of the Uniques Skills that were set to be unlocked on the 90th floor of Aincrad.
Other Combat-Related Skills
- Detection
- Prevents ambushes. Greater mastery allows detection of monsters in «Hiding» status.
- Searching
- Hiding- allows for a person to disappear only works on targets that use visual tracking
- Weapon Guard
- Allows use of weapon to defend against attacks instead of a shield.
- Knife-Throwing
- Extended Weight Limit
- Medicine-Mixing
- Familiar Recovery
- Familiar Communication
- Sprint
- Acrobatics
- Night Vision
- X-Ray Vision
- Emergency Recovery
- Battle Healing
- Recover certain amount of HP every 10secs. It can be leveled up by constantly getting your HP into the red zone.
- Tracking
- Pursuit
- Requires «Tracking» to unlock. Raises effectiveness while hunting monsters. Can be used to pursue a player whose name is known by displaying their footprints from a certain time, which can be increased with greater mastery of the skill.
Various skills unrelated to combat can also be learned including smithery, leather working and sewing, and everyday skills such as fishing, cooking and playing music.
