So, just finished the Platinum on Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. So here is my plot spoiler-free review. (There will be mechanical spoilers though, so I can bitch about the grinds heh)
Time of completion, just over 148 hours. They did make a couple of the grinds less bad in patch 1.03 but I'm not sure if that would have saved that much time as the last grind i completed was buying 200 skills, which they didn't soften. Still, what with needing to Max out affection with a LOT of characters (all the usual suspects, 2 characters I won't name due to spoilers, and bloody Agil and Klein (just why?)) it might have pushed it out a bit. Probably with maximum efficiency you are looking at 100-120 hours for the Platinum I guess.
Anyway, it is back to the Hollow Fragment style rather than Lost Song, plot, gameplay and grindwise. The main game is comparable in size to the Hollow Area from Hollow Fragment, i'd guess, but the big new plus is the affection system tweaks, if you can excuse the grind. Basically when you praise someone now for an action it will have an atribute such as Fiery, Cool, Outlaw, Sexy, etc and as you raise these the AI skills/behaviour changes and new options open up (Like Tsundere can open up Sexy with enough praise... looking at you there Liz!) and if you make a characater right they can be pretty damn useful.
You can also party up with hundreds of NPCs and make them all your friends. (I reckon I added 15 or so hours to my time making sure every female character was at Friendly with me... yes I know i'm lame)
Plotwise main storyline held my interest and didn't seem out of place. The legacy characters all act in character so it's like seeing a bunch of old friends again. Best Girl will of course depend on your SAO preference, this game ain't going to change it, but I have a soft spot for Philia myself out of the newbies... there are plenty of subquests with each girl of course, as is par for the course.
Worst bit about the grind is the needing 200 skills for a trophy, that requires a LOT of skillpoints, more than you could possibly get playing the game normally. Second worst grind is a legendary weapon, because the drop rate is ass. They buffed it a bit in ptahc 1.03 but you are still looking at 10+ hours of mindless grinding dragons or bees. And then in the most mechanically stupid idea you take it to Liz, who has a 60% failure rate in combining the items. Save scumming ahoy! Seriously, who is going to fail that and grind 10+ hours again? If it was like Hollow Fragment and it saved when you used the blacksmith and Liz blew my Dragon Scales i would have chained her up and sold her off to cover the cost, and not to somewhere nice...
The affection grind can largely be done during the game if you switch heroines (and of course Klien and Agil, bleh) regularly, with maybe a bit of topup at the end. That leave stwo horrible hidden skills to unlock. Soaring slash and Righteous Cross. PROTIP Soaring slash requires 2200 sword chains to unlock (down from 4200 prepatch) but unlike hollow realization the mechanic is never explained or mentioned, so make sure you use combo chains from the start and you'll have no issue. It makes the game easier too. Righteous cross involves a lame grind that unless you use a shield a lot will suck though...
Overall game rating is a solid 7, but the grind ranking is a 9 (maybe even a 10 pre-patch).
It has an expansion coming out bringing back some characters from Lost Song, so i'll pop back to clear that. If anyone needs any help in Multiplayer though, let me know and I can help with some of the evil grinding!
