Log Horizon 2

Adorable

Respawn!

Okay so this is an interesting bit. People don’t die if they are killed. You just get sent back to the town like in an actual game.

This is a pretty big thing. In SAO you died. In .hack there was the risk of ending in a coma. Here that isn't there. Dying is mundane, and because it’s mundane it is a pretty damn important.

They really are in a game is what I mean. Even if this is their new reality, the fact is that it is still ruled by a set of rules very unlike those of the real world. The reality of death is not there; so even if you think of it as your “new reality” the stakes are just not the same.

Bored now, gonna kill you

Existential Issues? Get Friends

That shows in how the players act. There is no death. There is no quest. Food sucks, but you can easily sustain yourself by killing monsters.

What do you do?

The usual moral objections to killing someone else are gone. In fact, you can gain stuff from it with minimum negative consequences. Even better, it’s at least a way to past time.

Even the main character is confused as to what he should be doing. What’s his place in this game?  What should he do?

Man, that’s just an elementary school problem. Tank Bro has it right. If someone is in danger you save them.

RPG Fights

Turn Around. Don't Turn Around. It's all the Same.

This was pretty neat. It added a bit to the unreality of the environment. Their games selves may be real now, but the ways the fights are going are still very much ruled by game logic.

Sure, the way to call out skills might have changed to something a little more realistic than having to use the Menu (why don’t we get vocal commands? That’d be great), but the basic strategies and skills that work in this world are very much intended for a game not an actual fight.

It’s interesting and kinda cool to be honest.