Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-173.69.148.56-20140221235829/@comment-82.21.12.106-20141123112958

I never said she didn't have a physical form from the start what I said was the form changes when interacting with those that needed it a small child is not something that would help everyone feel at ease you need the ability to change forms, naturally this would have been before the death game started up. Assuming it wasn't a death game people would use VR games as a means to escape their problems like say the death of a loved one, Yui would/may use the appearance of said person to encourage them to seek proper help which is her job.

Still the images we see of her in that dark hole with monitors is a representation for us as viewers, she was at the time just a string of coding but sure a thing wouldn't allow us to feel sadness for her pain at being locked into only observing.

Thus when she did break free she took on a form that was both comforting and non threatening to Kirito and Asuna in a small girl one that does as the OP said some what resemble Sachi though with Asuna's long hair.