Thank you for participating in the CBT and for sending us your suggestions through the survey.
We would like to inform you about the items we plan to adjust based on your opinions.
Add a “Cancel” mechanic that allows to sidestep or block in the middle of an attack
→ We will add a “Cancel” mechanic to the normal attacks.
We received many requests for an option of dodging or blocking during attacks to perform a cancel. After discussing this with the Development Team, we have decided to add a cancelling mechanic for all the normal attacks (with the exception of some thrust attacks).
One of the reasons for excluding the thrust attacks is that simply stopping at any moment through these cancels would interfere with the action.
After conducting some tests inside the development environment, we found that performing thrust attacks and cancelling them repeatedly resulted in faster moving speeds than the normal dash, further reinforcing this decision.
Also, after considering the amount of dealt damage and the risks involved in cancelling the Advanced Skills, we have decided to discard this possibility.
The “Lock-On” mechanic is hard to use.
→ We will incorporate various improvements.
We received many comments and requests about the lock-on mechanic.
We will implement the following adjustments:
- Extend the lock-on distance.
- The lock-on target will be adjusted to consider not only the distance to the center of the screen, but also the distance between itself and the target.
- Adjust the controls to switch between targets when using the lock-on.
“Right stick up: Lock-on to bosses and other important enemies”
“Right stick down: Lock-on to the closest enemy”
We believe that this will make it easier to move the lock-on cursor to target the desired enemy. - Add a feature to “release the lock-on automatically” to prevent the camera from moving wildly when the targeted boss moves out of the screen at high speeds.
- Adjust the lock-on feature to only allow its release within the targeting range of the bosses, this is a countermeasure to avoid targeting issues when the character rotates around large enemies.
I can’t select my favorite character.
→ Matching system will be adjusted to be able to take account of the players set favorite character settings.
We have received your comments about not being able to select your favorite character.
We will implement the following countermeasures for this matter.
- Identify the player’s favorite character from the “Character” tab during matchmaking, making it harder to join the same party as other players who have the same character set as their favorite.
- Example: If 5 out of the 20 players have Kirito set as their favorite character during matchmaking, those 5 players will be distributed into 5 different parties.
The system of the character selection screen where all four players select their characters is scheduled to be modified, but the details of the modifications have not been finalized at this time and will be announced later.
The total number of characters will also be increased in the game’s final version, so the distribution should be better than on the CBT version.
The sound of stamp being spammed distracts from the game.
→ We will establish ５ second intervals between the use of stamps.
We received your comments mentioning that stamps are used too often, and that the voices used for the stamps are too loud.
To improve on this issue, we will put a 5 second interval in between every time a stamp is used. This has been already implemented successfully within the development environment.
There are too few Recovery Crystals.
→ We will implement measures to improve the replenishment and avoid the misuse of Recovery Crystals.
- We will place “Goddess Statues” as a gimmick that allows players to replenish all their Recovery Crystals at key locations within low-difficulty Co-Op quests, such as before boss encounters.
- The use of Recovery Crystals will also be modified so that they cannot be used when the character has full HP.
Adjustments to the “Revival” mechanic:
→ We will make it easier to use the “Revival” mechanic and add a reward for the players who use it.
The risks and benefits of using the revival mechanic are not well balanced, so we will implement the following adjustments:
- Add Super Armor to the players performing a revival, so that the process will not be interrupted if they receive an attack before the countdown reaches 0.
*Please note that the revival will not be interrupted when attacked, but the players will still receive damage. - A recovery item will be dropped after successfully completing a revival to reward the player who took the risk to revive a fellow team member.
- Having downed team members that could not be revived laying around when a mission is cleared can make it seem as if they lost, so all the downed teammates will now be revived automatically after completing a mission.
It’s hard to see the difference between the characters’ roles.
→ We will do some adjustments to make the variety of the roles stand out more.
- Fighter/Rogue: Increased power of the basic attacks
- Support：Increased recovery buffs & decreased power of the basic attack
- Tank：Enhanced blocking actions & increased hate generated by taunts.
We will do separate adjustments for each character, but our plan is to implement the above-mentioned adjustments evenly per roles.
CPU
→ Improvement of several character behaviors:
- Implement adjustments to prioritize the use of the revival mechanic.
- Improve upon the issue where the CPU characters do not confront the enemies when the player is attacking from a long distance.
Controller’s button configuration:
→ We will add control types.
We received some comments from players mentioning that they want the option to configure the controls freely. However, we will continue to evaluate this option.
Synchro Counters
→ We will extend the reaction range for this mechanic.
*Adjustments to the difficulty of the Synchro Counter itself:
We received mixed opinions about this mechanic, some players found it “easy to use”, while others considered it “hard to use”.
We believe that it will become easier for the players to use this mechanic successfully as they become used to it, so we decided to discard doing any adjustments for now.
However, this does not mean that we will not do any adjustments to it. We will do any necessary adjustments based on the feedback received after the game’s official release.
Other corrections & adjustments:
- Adjust the parameters for the special effects of the equipment
- Improvements to make it easier to equip/unequip accessories
- It’s hard to see the notifications when a team member is down (adjust the font and size of the text)
- Adjust the difficulty of the Tower Missions when playing with NPCs
- Correction of some effects that are hard to distinguish
Message from the Production Team
Thank you very much for your participation in the closed beta test and for your feedback in the survey.
As we received more applications than what we expected, we apologize to those who were unfortunately unable to take part in this Closed Beta.
We would like to provide an opportunity for many people to experience the game before it is released, including exhibition at future events, and we will keep you updated on our official channels.
Thank you for your continued support for SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream.
SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream is set to release in 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and STEAM.
For more information about SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream, check the latest news!
