Originally Posted by Icosagon

its a pretty realistic portrayal of trying out games

Originally Posted by Oracle

SAO just has the problem of going on too long with the same content. Same MC means the MC has to start acting denser than a black hole for any new problem to arise, cause you gotta be hella dumb to fall for the same shit 3 times. Same general plot gets stale, particularly when you use the highest stakes possible first.

It would have been much better if it stopped following Kirito when the title game was shut down, and any subsequent games follows a different MC for each. It enables a fresh take on characters and makes any problem that arises for the new MC feel appropriately scaled, since it's never plausible for them to say "oh ya, it sucks, but it's not as bad as that last time when losing means I die."

But fuck it, it prints money.

Originally Posted by NANI

I feel like SAO is too repetitive for me
"Hey look a new game"
"Oh cool, I bet we'll have tons of fun!!"
*Ah something NOT FUN*

Originally Posted by Charism

No need new MC in my opinion just bigger creativity.
I think the Virtual Reality idea is super awesome .
Its a new line of animes.The only one problem is just the same feeling.

Originally Posted by Oracle

The reason why I say new MC is because the MC can't reasonably change past a certain point without it feeling forced, or the problems he faces start appearing trivial. After Kirito survives SAO, what further development can he reasonably attain, or what further problems can he reasonably be confronted with, that live up to trapped in VR and playing to live? The stakes are maximized, and he's already fleshed out as a character by the end of SAO. He can't reliably grow except through other characters, which reeks of the Poochy problem, and all problems after that are trivial because they're reduced stakes.

It also lends to the problem of "MC is the savior of everyone", which is a terrible trope in itself. I can reliably believe that Kirito may be good at an RPG, but to say he's good at every game he plays to the point of becoming known in any he plays is ridiculous, considering his first game he becomes "known" in is because he had several hundred hours of play time heads start as an alpha participant in SAO.

There's nothing that can be done in the SAO storyline that can be anywhere near creative without ditching the baggage that a finished character brings. A new character doesn't have to be tied down except by the rules of the creative universe in which they reside, while an established character is tied down by the rules and their backstory. The longer the backstory, the more rules of their character that need to be followed, and thus less room for development.