>>1180837 Fatal Bullet, because you get to make your own character instead of playing as a weird version of the MC.

>>1181058 if I don't really care about the MC or continuity? which game would have the best gameplay in that case?

Hollow Realization and Fatal Bullet

>>1180837 I like Hallow Fragment and Realization for how they try to feel like offline MMOs. Some of the later games just felt like regular action RPGs.

>>1180837 these

I liked Infinite Moment cuz it was like a diet Xenoblade. ANd I liked Xenoblade

>>1180837 Fatal Bullet is genuinely good. Bonus points for playing as your own character, not Kirito. Also the OST was surpisingly, I mean listen to this https://youtu.be/7_7l-D2WLDo

>>1180837 Avoid Hollow Fragment, Lost Song and Accel World. HF is boring as fuck and the two other ones have the worst flight combat I've ever experienced in a RPG. Hollow Realization and Fatal Bullet are pretty good, but HR's PC port has really shitty optimization. >>1181667 These games are set in a different continuity from the anime and LN, so you don't need to watch the anime.

>>1185402 >was surpisingly, I mean listen to this I meant surpisingly good* I played it close to release and I still remember it fondly, even when I never played the DLC. As another anon said, all the games are put into their own continuity separate from the VN/anime and technically continue from one another even though you can just pick and choose which you play first. So the first one, the PSP one that never came out outside of Japan but I played with my hacked PSP and a translation guide by my side, starts with the anime ending changing and Kirito needing to clear the rest of the 25 floors after the fight with Heathcliff goes wrong and characters from other games like Shino spawn inside SAO for... reasons. TLDR: Play Fatal Bullet, it's genuinely fun

>>1185445 what about any of the newer ones? any good? >>1185604 i'll try that then

>>1187593 As a big fan of the franchise, Alicization Lycoris is really good, despite the fact that it's a mess under the hood and rightfully derided for it. LR is only worth it if you played everything before that point and like the characters. Fractured Daydream is the best we've got since Fatal Bullet but Bamco or the devs are being suprememly retarded about the content it receives, it's a multiplayer game. Hollow Realization and FB encapsulate "what the games are about" the best from a community standpoint. I would recommend HF, it's my favourite, it has a learning curve and explorability but the port has issues and changes I never want to engage with. The Vita version is the best version of the game. Accel World had and may still have the game series' best story, I'd say it's worth it if you liked Accel World to begin with.