ALfheim Online

«ALfheim Online» (アルヴヘイム・オンライン, Aruvuheimu Onrain abbreviated as ALO) is a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) in the Sword Art Online: Annulment fanfiction series written by Yasuda Izumi that was released a year after the beginning of the «Sword Art Online» incident. It is compatible with any FullDive device. The game features nine races of fairies, whose goal is to reach the top of the giant World Tree, in order to meet the Fairy King Oberon. It was said that Oberon would turn the first starting race to reach the top of the World Tree into the legendary race of ALFs, with the ability to fly for an unlimited time, but this later proved to be a lie. After the defeat of Sugō Nobuyuki, Ymir gained ownership of it and removed the flight limiter (However, they added it back in when the floating continents of Svart Alfheim were implemented after an update).
It is the setting for the Fairy Dance Arc of the series as well as the setting for the Mother's Rosario and Twin Calibur side stories. Instead of the level system that Sword Art Online emphasized, ALfheim Online pursues skill development and encourages killing other players, since it does not end in actual player death. This kind of system attempts to eliminate the enormous gap between new and old players that exists in level-based games.
==Background==
SAO's creator, Akihiko Kayaba, worked on ALO after the official release of SAO. He had created a second Cardinal System to watch over ALO and he added extra skills that can be accessed by multiple people unlike in SAO. After glancing at the progress of the players trapped within SAO ten months after release, Professor Kayaba noted that they had cleared the 50th floor successfully. He decides to log in himself since he is the final boss but he also decides to disguise himself as a player until he was uncovered by Shiota's sharp eyes. Professor Kayaba died on November 27, 2024, after Shiota dueled him to the death and rose victorious on the 100th floor.
Professor Nobuyuki then managed to transfer a total of 285 players into ALO for his nefarious research but he was also stopped by Shiota who gruesomely killed him when she was captured then tortured. In the real world, Nobuyuki then attempted to actually murder Shioko but she managed to reverse the blade in his hand and let him impale himself.
==System==
The system makes the player choose one of nine races of fairies for their avatar, each with different abilities and affinities toward magic. Unlike Sword Art Online's system, the player has their game avatar created randomly and only have the freedom to choose their avatar name and select the race of the character. However, for an extra fee, players can reconstruct their characters to their liking. The gender of the player's avatar will match the player's gender in real life by default, and the player cannot change it by any means.
Skills are developed by the player's own abilities and by repeating them over and over, so a new player with good skills can match a veteran player almost evenly in battle.
The game is famous for being the first game to allow the player to fly for real. It uses a flight engine to enable the player to fly. The flight system also focuses on the player's own ability. It has a "controlled flight" mode, in which the players make use of a controller to fly, at the cost of being able to use only one hand to fight, but, with enough experience and ability, the player is able to learn «Voluntary Flight» and, with it, can use both hands while flying and gains more maneuverability and speed.
===Virtual Reality Experience===
As ALO was also created by Professor Kayaba as a complete virtual reality MMORPG, the ALO system is capable of rendering the entire ALfheim environment with incredible realism, extremely similar to the level of SAO. By stimulating nerves in the brain, it is possible to taste the food, feel the wind and weather, move one's body, and live in ALO as if it were an alternate reality. However, there are several major differences that set the ALO environment apart from the real-world experience.
First, no pain is actually felt in any situation due to a feature called «Pain Absorption». As a result, gamers can undergo severe injuries and still only feel a tingling sensation. Though certain stimulation, such as magical explosions, can result in negative feedback, like headaches and dizziness that last for several hours. Second, there is no blood; in its place are orange virtual gashes that are seen in the place of damage. Third, magic is implemented to produce a variety of effects, with the incantations being based on strings of words.
While playing ALfheim Online, gamers still feel fatigue and hunger (even if their real bodies are not hungry), yet they can also eat in-game to dispel hunger in the real world, which has developed into a form of dieting for some people as a result.
Death or deletion in the game is visualized by fragmentation into thousands of polygon shards. All monsters and items go through such a process. However, players go through a different death scenario: they are engulfed in flames and then leave a Remain Light which lingers for a set amount of time, during which the player can still observe his or her surroundings and be revived with magic or special items.
ALfheim Online has a «Moral Code» feature similar to that of SAO, however, they are not exactly the same and ALO's cannot be disabled.
===Environment===
According to Yui, the environmental data is much like SAO in its code, but the only primary differences are the overlay of changing appearances of creatures, character data, and altered programming of AI's as navis (navigation pixies).
====Global Setting====
The original ALfheim Online was set in the continent of Alfheim, which was divided into territories, the main ones consisting of racial territories and the minor or smaller ones being controlled by neutral players. At the center of the land was the neutral city of Alne, which was at the base of the World Tree.
Upon the release of New ALO after the scandal generated by Professor Nobuyuki, a patch was later included to introduce New Aincrad, the floating castle, to ALfheim.
The original basis of ALO is that of a land of fairies, which seek an audience with the king, Oberon. The naming of the fairy king, Oberon, and his queen, Titania, suggests that it holds its roots in the Shakespearean play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Aside from that ALO seems to draw from a wide range of mythologies, including the Arthurian Excalibur, and the naming of the nine realms of Norse mythology like Jotunheimr. The influence of Norse mythology is more emphasized in the evil gods of Jötunheimr and the quest related to them. Yet the appearance of the deities, or Aesir, from the Norse forum is also present such as Thor, Urðr, Verdandi, and Skuld.
==Gameplay==
===Initiation and Character Creation===
Upon first signing in to ALO, a player must first select a race, each of which has special attributes and skills unique to their race; however, the appearance of the selected character is randomized. Customization of the visual aspects of the character are allowed later on, but every change requires an additional fee. After the race is selected, they will be spawned in the race's hometown.
===Races===
*: Skilled beast tamers with improved eyesight. They are recognizable through their cat ears and tails. There is a rare avatar that exists only when Shiota created her Cait Sith avatar. Instead of cat ears and tail, she has the features of a fox girl.
*: Largest fairy race and users of the earth. They are styled in brown.
*: Masters of night, great night vision. They are styled in purple.
*: Blacksmith race, their wings have a mechanical appearance.
*: Users of music which is used to confuse, attack, or support.
*: Considered the strongest race in terms of attack, they have superior fire spells and are styled in red.
*: Masters of illusion and treasure seeking. They are styled in black.
*: Considered the fastest race and users of wind, they are denoted by the color green regularly.
*: Healers and masters of water. They are styled in blue.
*: A non-playable race controlled by AI that players can obtain by paying additional fees, or winning a raffle.
*ALFs: The rumored legendary race with unlimited flight. It was believed that the first of the available starting races in ALfheim Online to reach the top of the World Tree and gain an audience with Fairy King Oberon would be elevated to ALFs and granted the joys of unlimited height and no time limit of flying. Many players were disappointed to find out that this race did not exist at all.
====Main Menu====
The main menu is more or less the same as Sword Art Online's original interface but with minor key differences, such as the status of the player no longer incorporating experience, but rather skill mastery instead. However, the main menu is called out using the left hand instead of how SAO's menu was opened with the right hand.
*Inventory/equipment: The icon for the category is a character icon. This is the default screen when opening the Menu interface. The left screen is an image of the body, with multiple points that allow the gamer to equip items or clothes. The right screen has three sub-menus:
**Equipment: Selecting this sub-menu will open another three sub-menus:
***Weapons: The icon for this category is a sword like the one used in Equipment.
***Equipped: The icon for this category is an armor.
***Accessory: The icon for this category is a necklace.
**Items: Selecting this sub-menu will open an additional scrolling screen on the left that lists all items. When an item is selected, it materializes in front of the player. The inventory turns red when a player has too many items..
*Friends/Guild: The icon for the category is two character icons together. The right screen has three sub-menus:
**Party: Selecting this sub-menu will open three additional options. The first is "Create", the second is "Invite", and the third is "Dissolve".
**Friend: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a list of a player's friends. Selecting a single friend will produce three additional options: "Message Box", "Position Check", and "Profile".
**Guild:
*Communications: The icon for this category is two chat box icons together. The icon flashes automatically whenever a player receives a message.
**Befriend: This option allows the player to send a friend request to another player. The other player is added to the Friend List if the request is accepted.
**Trade: This option opens a trade window with another player. Trading can be used just to show another player items, or complete a trade after both parties accept the offers put forth.
**Duel: This option allows the player to send a Duel request. The player being challenged has the privilege of selecting one of the available duel modes.
*Maps/Quest: The icon for the category is a balloon location icon. The right screen has three sub-menus:
**Field Map: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map showing the player's location on the field.
**Dungeon Map: Selecting this sub-menu will reveal a map of the dungeon that the player has explored.
**Quest: Selecting this sub-menu will open the player's quest window, displaying all the quests that the player has accepted and their description.
*Settings/Main-menu: The icon for the category is a gear. The right screen has three sub-menus:
**Option
**Help: Selecting "Help" will call a GM (Game Master) in the left screen.
**Logout: The logout button is available with a quick log-out in safe area and a 15-minute logout in a soulless state, in which the player can be attacked, if the player attempts to log out in the field.
===Combat===
Combat in ALO contains multiple elements and strategies. With the introduction of flight, it allows for duels to take place in both the air or the ground. Sword Skills were already implemented into ALO because of Professor Kayaba's thinking and duels were pretty much the same as in SAO. Shiota stated that it reminded her of a Total Loss duel she had with Yuurei on the 7th floor and her final battle against Heathcliff (Professor Kayaba) on the 100th floor.
In the newer version of ALfheim Online, the introduction of the Original Sword Skill system allowed for combat to diversify, and duels could be set to be either flying or ground duels. Duels, like in Sword Art Online, are of three types: First Blood, Half-Health and Total Loss.
When a player dies, they will become a Remain Light and lose some of their stat progress. The attacker will also receive some of the killed player's items and currency. If a player dies due to self-destruct magic, they will suffer a much greater death penalty than for normal deaths.
Battles with monsters were more or less the exact same as in SAO.
==Rankings==
Like SAO, ALO has a ranking system. However, unlike ALO, rankings are recorded in books called the Named Charts. Only the top 72 players are shown within the Named Charts. The top 12 players are known as Page Ones and are given rewards from the GMs (Game Masters aka moderators) for maintaining that rank. To make it easier, the GMs made 9 separate Named Charts for each of the nine races in ALO. There is a master Named Chart that shows the top 72 players in all of ALO, instead of the top 72 within each race. Page Ones who are strong enough to show up in both their race's Named Chart as well as the master Named Chart will receive more rewards from the GMs.
==Updates==
===Original Sword Skill System Implementation===
This update was implemented three months (January 1, 2025) after the SAO death game had been cleared. It allowed for players to create their own sword skills. They could either keep it for themselves or they could put the OSS into a scroll and give it to one other player. This update boosted the level cap from 300 to 400.
===The Singularities===
This update occurred two months (March 8, 2025) after the OSS system was implemented. It opened up a limited area that had to be cleared within the week. Upon entering the area, a Grand Quest is activated. This was based on the Grand Quests that Professor Kayaba had introduced into Aincrad's floors. The first Singularity introduced was Blackened Camelot and it is where Shiota obtained her Demonic Sword Excalibur Morgan and her unique skill Secretcalibur. It is also where Rain learned the Nebular Empress unique skill. Every other week (Singularity week, break, Singularity week, break, etc.), a new Singularity is unlocked and is given a one-week timeframe to clear all quests within it. This update boosted the level cap from 400 to 500.
===Svart Alfheim Update===
This update occurred just three weeks after the Singularities. It opened a new area, Svart Alfheim, which was consisted of floating islands. Woglinde, Wellgunde and Flosshilde were the three islands of Svart Alfheim. This update also boosted the max level cap from 500 to 1000.