Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II

Key Takeaways

• Smart strategy and fast-paced action make the gameplay more exciting.
• The LPFM team's bold and unexpected moves create an exciting episode.
• Decent pacing and cliffhangers keep viewers engaged in GGO II.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online (GGO) was created to provide viewers with a fun viewing experience. From the simplicity of the story to the relatability of the characters, everything was designed with the words ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’ in mind. The same was true for the first season, and based on what we saw in the first episode, the same will be true for this second season.

Episode 1 started off with a bang. One episode succeeded in reintroducing the characters, laying out the main conflict, and drawing viewers into the next episode while still taking the time to remind viewers of some of the big events that happened in Season 1. Great first episode. Will the second episode be able to maintain the same fun and exciting energy as the first? The answer is absolutely yes.

brains and brawn

As gamers, it's fun to watch our favorite players run, jump, and slide while trying to avoid a rain of bullets. What's more interesting is when players build smart strategies on top of the excellent gunplay. It takes both brains and brawn to make the gameplay interesting. Episode 2 is the perfect showcase for both.

The Method Behind the Madness

One of the reasons Llenn and her teammates became so popular was the bold and unexpected behavior they displayed in previous Squad Jam tournaments. And once again, we see LPFM pull off another amazing move that no other team has done. Not only is it extremely bold, but it is also a smart play that makes the most of each member's strengths. As a result, they slaughtered six teams in a matter of minutes.

As mentioned in the previous section, we gamers love to see high-level play that combines bold attacks backed by sound strategy. What we see on screen may seem crazy, but there has to be a method behind the madness. And that's exactly what happens in this episode.

“The island where the 3rd squad jam is set will automatically begin to sink. As time passes, the speed increases and eventually the mountain peak in the center will disappear into the sea.”

—Host of Squad Jam 3, Episode 2

level design

In the world of video games, level design is the art of creating an interesting, engaging, and challenging playground for players. Good level design encourages players to explore and create strategies that utilize their surroundings.

In this episode, the playground is a small island with everything from a dense forest to an abandoned apartment complex, an abandoned train station, and a rocky beach. As if that wasn't exciting enough, players must race against time as the tide continues to rise until there is no more ground left to stand on. Interesting, fascinating and challenging. A symbol of great level design. If it were a Call of Duty map, we'd gladly spend hours on it.

Move fast and then leave it alone

From a storytelling perspective, two things immediately stand out after watching this episode: pacing and cliffhangers. Both are important storytelling elements, especially for action-focused series such as Gun Gale Online. Thankfully, GGO gets both things right.

appropriate speed

In most cases, action is determined by speed. In general, a fast pace equals action and a slow pace equals drama. Of course, you will always find outliers that defy this basic rule of thumb. Lupine the Third: Jigen's Tombstone But this principle applies to most storytelling mediums.

Episode 2 spent most of its runtime moving at full speed. From dodging a hail of bullets to successive artillery fire, it leaves viewers breathless from beginning to end. These high-intensity action sequences make the time it takes to stop and strategize much more effective. Showrunners know when to speed up and slow down to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. That's why this episode is like a high-speed roller coaster ride.

appropriate cliffhanger

Pacing is important to keep viewers engaged throughout an episode, but it's the cliffhanger that gets them excited for the next episode. Any anime with more than two episodes needs a cliffhanger to entice viewers to watch the new episode next week. In some ways, cliffhangers are the art of finding the right moment to pause the story to resolve the current conflict while teasing the viewer about a larger challenge that is yet to be completed.

In this episode, Team LPFM largely solves the problem of numerous enemies working together to take them down. That said, there is still the issue of high tide covering a significant amount of the stadium. By ending the episode after the heroes solve their first problem but before finding a solution to their next predicament, it creates both a sense of closure and a cliffhanger. This is a great way to satisfy your audience but still leave them hungry for more.

The need for challenge

Episode 2 is undoubtedly a great episode. This perfectly embodies what GGO is trying to convey to its viewers. That said, it's a fun viewing experience with plenty of action and a little bit of comedy sprinkled in. There is one minor concern that needs to be mentioned, though, and that is that our heroes need a tough challenge.

avoid formula

It's fun to watch our favorite characters defeat their enemies and dominate the competition. But the most interesting part of the story is seeing the characters overcome difficult obstacles. Watching them grow to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles is key to character development.

It's cool to see Team LPFM win against all opponents without breaking a sweat, but after a while it can become formulaic, or worse, boring to watch. So let's hope the showrunners have some tough challenges ahead for Pink Devil and the rest of the LPFM team.

It's hard to keep things fun

As mentioned before, the essence of GGO is fun action with a touch of comedy here and there. But keeping things fun can be pretty tricky. Eventually, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, what started out as fun will turn into routine and boring work.

So the main challenge for the showrunners going forward is how to keep GGO fresh and exciting while keeping the fun factor intact. It's not an easy task, but if anyone knows how to create an entertaining series that will keep viewers entertained all season long, it's the guys who put in the work. Gun Gale Online. I look forward to the next episode.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II You can stream it on Crunchyroll.