'Sword Art Online: Integral Factor' Tips, Cheats and Hacks

Imagine getting trapped inside a video game and the merely way to go out is to beat information technology. Yeah, that would be pretty bad news considering all the stats that signal people don't generally finish the games they buy. But that conceit made the Sword Art Online light novel and anime series awfully popular, and it's front and center in the latest mobile game based on that franchise, Sword Art Online: Integral Factor (Free).

SAO has had games built around it before, only Bandai Namco has taken an interesting and logical arroyo with this one. Instead of playing as Kirito, Asuna or other well-known characters, you take on the office of one of the many anonymous players trapped inside the game within the game. Integral Cistron then retells the story many fans known from a different point of view, and since it is also an MMORPG in its own right, it'due south as close to putting yourself inside Sword Fine art Online as information technology'due south possible to get.

Well, until someone invents the NerveGear, that is.

Inside the game, you have access to NPCs and even cantankerous paths with Kirito and the others, but who'southward going to be your guide to the game? That would be us. Read on through the rest of our Sword Fine art Online: Integral Cistron tips and y'all just might make it to flooring 100 yourself someday.


Getting Effectually Aincrad: Controls and Other Basics

Integral Factor is played from a tertiary-person perspective and the bones controls are pretty simple. In the lesser-left corner of the screen is a virtual thumbstick to motility your grapheme. Anywhere else on the screen, you can hold and elevate to expect around, as well as compression to zoom in and out.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

Buttons in the bottom-correct corner of the screen are for combat, which nosotros'll go to in its ain section. The upper-correct corner features a mimi-map, which marks both your location and the direction you are currently facing. The next location you lot need to achieve to proceed on your electric current quest, if any, is marked by a crosshairs, and tapping on the mini-map expands information technology to a full-sized overlay.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

The upper-left corner of the screen has a hamburger icon which will produce a menu (and make your character look as if he or she is accessing the in-game carte du jour in truthful meta fashion). From there y'all'll discover tabs to cheque your grapheme status, equip items, view quest info, find your friends or party members and access the shop.

The bar at the bottom of the screen is for in-game advice. Along with emotes and stamps, you'll also find a chat bar with three selection: 'Say' is public chat to anyone around, 'Party' chats with anyone you are currently grouped with, and 'Tell' is like a whisper in other MMOs that sends a message to a particular player.


Fight for Your Right to Political party: An Intro to Combat

The combat organisation in Integral Factor is easy to learn but has surprising depth to it. The largest of the buttons in the bottom-right corner is for basic attacks. But walk up to an enemy — yous'll know them from the ruby crystals over their heads — and tap it to start attacking. You lot can too hold down the button to continuously attack.

Four buttons around the principal attack button are for sword skills. You offset the game with a unmarried skill but tin can accept up to four of them slotted at a fourth dimension per weapon you lot have equipped. These skills do more than damage than a normal attack, mostly effect an area indicated by a darkened area on the screen and can also have other effects on enemies. Merely tap the desired skill button to actuate it; y'all'll take to expect for its cooldown to complete before using it again.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

Above the skills is a push button marked 'Switch' that tin unleash an particularly powerful skill. That button also doubles every bit a meter that fills up with a lite blueish color as you impairment enemies. When it's available, the Switch button volition wink, and once used, the meter needs to be refilled for its next employ.

Hither's where things actually go fun. The button with the orangish weapon icons next to the Switch allows you to swap betwixt two weapons yous have equipped. This is useful because some enemies are vulnerable to unlike types of weapons — for case, stabbing instead of slashing — only also because swapping on the wing will allow you lot to use skills from the other weapon while the skills on the previous one are even so cooling down. While you won't need to utilize this strategy against the enemies you run into early, it's a cool and useful tactic for bosses and stronger foes you lot fight later on.

Last merely not to the lowest degree, the button that looks like a faceless Barry Allen in activity at the very bottom makes your character nuance. Withal, when engaged in combat, that dash is actually a backstep that can instantly aid you avoid incoming attacks.


Partners Are People Too

As you progress through the game's story, you volition meet and befriend a graphic symbol who becomes your partner on all your adventures. Her default name is Koharu, though you can rename her as you like. Along with serving a narrative purpose, your partner aids you in combat, attacking whoever y'all are targeting and joining in when you use the Switch ability.

While you don't take to worry about decision-making or issuing commands to your partner, you practise want to remember to equip them with a weapon (or weapon and shield), armor and skills of their own. You tin can detect their stats and equipment by going to 'Partner' under the main menu.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

One final notation about partners: When you are in a party with other players, your partners won't be available since you have other people to watch your dorsum. Where do they get during their downtime? That's an excellent question.


Guild Up: How to Get More Sword Skills

Integral Factor doesn't make you chase characters to collect, so it needs another gacha-style chemical element. This is a gratis-to-play game, after all, and Bandai Namco needs to make money from information technology somehow. In this case, it's through Orders, which you lot can discover in the 'Shop' tab of the menu.

Orders allow you to purchase Skill Records that teach and permit you to equip new sword skills. They are based on different characters from the Sword Art Onlineand come up in dissimilar rarities. Some Skill Records too are specific to a certain form of weapon, of which there are six: sword, rapier, shield, lodge, axe and spear.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

To purchase Orders, you'll need the game's premium currency, which is chosen Arcana Gems. Y'all'll obtain these in a variety of ways, including equally login rewards, for completing achievements and for finishing sure quests. Y'all'll also receive Skill Records every bit rewards from time to time too.

Not to exist confused with sword skills, you tin can also obtain and equip up to four abilities, the slots for which you will discover in your character's armor tab. Abilities offer passive stat boosts, damage buffs and the like, including bonuses against certain kinds of enemies.


How to Improve Everything

Improving your character'southward base stats is pretty simple, as things similar HP and attack value go up every time yous level up. Just keep fighting enemies and completing quests and this simplest form of progression volition have care of itself.

Everything else you lot have, including your weapons, sword skills and abilities, can be improved using materials institute on your adventures and the common currency of the game, chosen col. To enhance your equipment or skills/abilities, you'll desire to visit an NPC Blacksmith in any town. Pretty uncomplicated menu options will bear witness you what stuff you have that can exist enhanced and any materials you lot accept that tin can exist used to that end.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

Selecting the materials and item to exist enhanced will so show you the exact effect of the enhancement and the toll in col. Then one tap and your stuff is instantly better.

If you lot accept an detail that is at its max level, you tin also perform a process called transforming to crash-land it upwardly to the next rarity tier, making information technology fifty-fifty more than powerful even so — unless information technology'southward maxed out in that location likewise, Skills and abilities will have empty stars if they tin can be transformed beyond the tier they are currently at. The procedure is much the same an enhancement merely requires different materials and a lot more col.


Party Up

Though we'll grant y'all that Kirito preferred solo play when he first stepped into Sword Fine art Online, it's non much fun to play solitary all the fourth dimension in an MMO. Integral Gene makes it easy to form parties and tackle quests with other players.

Sword Art Online: Integral Factor

From the main menu, merely tap the fourth icon down, which looks similar 2 people, to open the Party bill of fare. In that location you'll be able to use 'Party Search' to find parties looking for members, or employ 'Party Recruit' to start your ain party. When doing the latter, you lot have the ability to set the level range for prospective party members, the size of the party (upwardly to half-dozen players) and set a countersign if desired so that not just any rando can join.

Assuming you lot've stayed with us this far, yous now take a base of operations of knowledge much ameliorate than most of the poor souls in the Sword Art Online series when they offset learned they were stuck at that place. Good luck in reaching the 100th floor and defeating that last boss.

  • SwordArtOnline: IntegralFactor

    The newest Sword Art Online game! This time, the protagonist is...you! You appear in this online RPG as a member of an …