Welcome to the beginning of the story! Thank you for stopping by and reading. Before it begins, I'd like to take a moment to outline what exactly makes this rendition different from the world you may have come to expect and love, as well as what the intentions are with the development of the story itself.
Let's begin with the world of Aincrad. In the original source material, Kayaba Akihiko developed the floating castle of Aincrad with the purpose being to create a death game of 100 floors that the 10,000 trapped players must clear to win their freedom. However, in this new alternate universe these floors are significantly larger, taking much more time to fully clear and advance through. In step with this, instead of only 10,000 players being trapped, the number will be much larger. I was never a fan of how quickly the Aincrad arc was concluded. I always felt as though it could span multiple seasons and still remain interesting. As such, when progressing through this world the goal will be to flesh out the different floors beyond what we know of the original canon to tell a rich and fulfilling story without unnecessary time skips.
This does mean a few things though. As well as new additions I'll touch on in a minute, there will be new floor bosses, field bosses, quests, and characters that were not present in the original floors of Aincrad. This should hopefully keep the story fresh and interesting, giving a familiar yet new take on the world. This will include original characters as well as canon characters that were not present in the game. Because of this, points of view will vary from chapter to chapter to focus on the narrative as a whole rather than a specific character. If you just want a fic that follows exclusively your favorite character, this may not be for you.
This does mean that Kirito is not "the main character". He is still going to be plenty strong and retain his solo(ish) player status, he just won't be the god of everything gamer. There will be other characters, both new and returning, who are equally powerful in their own right. I don't do "self inserts", but there will be plenty of original characters that I use in the storylines. Some strong, some weak, some that exist to die because yay drama.
A small note of change. The time of the game release has been changed to January 1st of 2022. This is for the sole reason of - I'm lazy and it's easier to keep track of time when it's from the very start of the year - lol.
Skill changes
The next note of importance is the skills and design of the game itself. This reimagined world was created with new weapon types, skill systems, and progression paths. First and foremost, this means the introduction of magic with a specific mention on the addition of healing and support focused playstyles. This means that in this world, bosses can be much more demanding and unforgiving with their mechanics and difficulty because of the ability to have a dedicated healer. This will also make solo play harder but more rewarding. Further mechanics and limitations of this new magic system will be discussed and explored in the telling of the story itself.
Additionally, from what we've seen in canon, the selection of weapon styles is fairly limited. As such, the following weapon types and their respective proficiencies will exist in this world; 1&2h Blades, Axes, Maces, Spears. 1h Daggers, Wrist Weaponry, and Shields. 2h Staff and Scythes. Ranged weaponry such as Bows, Chakrams, and Throwing Knives. Finally, Unarmed Martial Arts. The variation in these types of weapons and their available skills is a surprise to be revealed during the story, but I'd like to get that out of the way so as to not confuse people when a character starts swinging a new weapon around. There may be more categories I decide to add later, but these are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Final note on weapons is the topic of unique skills. In this version of Aincrad, without spoiling too much, unique skills have been developed as one time quests that a player has to finish in order to unlock the associated skill. Once this quest is completed by a player, it is no longer obtainable or able to be finished by any other player. This should let me create some tension around new unique skills and the race to find/obtain them.
I will however be making dual wielding a widely available skillset (Looking at you guy that uses twin axes and is never seen again lol), but only for "light" weapons.
This all culminates hopefully, so that while a character like Kirito will in time get his signature style of dual wielding longswords, it won't be through pure "He's so awesome let's just give it to him". Instead, it will highlight the strengths that were supposed to be the reason the unique skills were given in the first place. Those now being tied into the mechanics of finishing such a quest. Something like Kirito's dual wielding should feel like an accomplishment, not something he woke up with and just went on his merry way.
Design changes
Now onto "Enhanced Realism". What does that mean in this new world? Well, it's always bothered me that a full dive game with the intent to trap thousands of players didn't have the forethought that something like actual pain and violence might spur on the natural fight or flight response of a human. Especially when the creator is a psychopath. In this version of Aincrad, things such as fatigue, the need to eat, pain, injury, and more will play a vital role in the survivors clearing floors and making it to freedom. This also leaves room to have longer lasting consequences to actions.
Finally, I intend to write what is hopefully a grand story that tells the struggles and adventure from floor 1 all the way to whatever floor we end at (No spoilers if we end at floor 75 or not). This includes romance, drama, friendships, conflict and more. Because of this, most characters given a POV focus will be aged up to AT LEAST 18, as I do not feel comfortable writing about certain topics involving minors such as explicit depictions of romance. This story is intended for mature audiences and as such will involve graphic depictions of violence, suicidal thoughts, actual suicide, language, and other topics you could consider to be mature or dark.
Any pairings I don't feel like are too much of a spoiler will be tagged, and I'll put it out there right now I have zero interest in writing harems. Kirito/Asuna is the only pairing my boy will be part of, even if it will take a little bit to develop. He doesn't need to seduce every single woman that plays a video game because he swings two swords. This doesn't mean there won't be relationship related drama, just that I'm not going to go down the path of "collect the waifus".
Still here?
If you've made it this far and are still interested, heck yeah I'm glad I didn't bore you to tears. I thank and welcome you to what will hopefully be a fun ride! The first chapter will be very similar to the opening episode of the Anime, given it establishes the story, but it will also cement some of the key differences in this new Aincrad. After that, well, you'll just have to read and find out what changes!