Yeah, I'm still playing around in Sword Art Online's universe. It's not going to end anytime soon either, since even after stuff like this there's a new season of the anime that just started airing. (Incidentally, having read the light novels, I'm quite certain the new season will be awesome.)
I've never really cared that much about the various Sword Art Online games, admittedly (Fatal Bullet is not the first one they've created). A lot of single player games that attempt to mimic massively multiplayer games end up with a lot of useless "chat" or "friend list" features that serve no actual purpose, and force the player to deal with threats balanced for a 4 person party... with one actual person and three AI characters that range from stupid to horribly stupid. It would be more understandable if there actually was an option to play with friends, but there usually isn't anything like that.
Which does actually bring me to my first complaint, since Fatal Bullet has indeed lived down to my expectations in that regard. I would love to experiment with different builds more, and try to work with new people and come up with interesting party setups, but it mostly just feels kind of pointless when the only customization the rest of my party can manage is me selecting from a predefined list. The only good thing that can be said for this part is that I knew what I was getting myself into from the beginning, so it softened the blow a bit.
Luckily, it does turn out that there's a really good character customization system built into the game. It's not just a matter of setting height, weight, eye color, or even the more precise options for just about every physical trait imaginable - there's also a system for modifying (okay, mostly just recoloring, but still) a lot of the gear items as well. My character could look quite different from someone else's even if we had the exact same items equipped; that's always a nice option to have.
As for the gameplay itself... It's at least okay. A lot of the reviews I read compared it to Phantasy Star Online 2 (mostly in the context of "you should probably play this instead", to be fair) and I have to say the comparison is quite apt both in good and bad respects. On the negative side, there's a lot of time spent farming and grinding to find the exact gear you actually want to use, and the story doesn't feel especially elaborate or compelling (yet, at least). But, wandering through the wilderness shooting everything that moves does manage to be fun most of the time, and there's enough interest in exploring the various areas and finding secrets to keep me from dropping it. Also this game actually lets the player jump across gaps, unlike PSO.
In the end, I think I have to agree with the reviews that say it's probably not worth it unless one is either an SAO fan, or the game is on sale - ideally both. Anyone that liked PSO or PSO2 should like this as well, but the SAO brand probably doesn't add enough to make it worth playing this instead of those games.
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