ALfheim Online

«ALfheim Online» (アルヴヘイム・オンライン),usually abbreviated as "ALO", is the VRMMORPG successor to «Sword Art Online». It is compatible with any version of the FullDive technology. The game features nine races of fairies, whose goal is to reach the top of the giant tree Yggdrasil, in order to meet the Fairy King Oberon. It was said that Oberon would turn the first starting race to reach the top of The World Tree into the legendary race of ALFs, with the ability to fly for unlimited time, but this later proved to be a lie. After ALO is acquired by Ymir, after the events of the Fairy Dance arc, unlimited flight is granted to all fairy races (though it is still impossible to fly in dungeons).

It is the setting for the Fairy Dance Arc of the series, which was covered in the Light Novel Volume 3, Volume 4. It is also the setting for Volume 7 (Mother's Rosario)  and Volume 8 Part 2(and its alternate ending, Caliber SS). Instead of the level system that Sword Art Online emphasized, ALfheim Online pursues skill development and encourages killing other players. This kind of system tries to eliminate the enormous gap that exists on a level-based games between new and old players.

System
The system makes the player choose one of nine races of fairies for their avatar, each one with different abilities and affinities toward magic. Unlike Sword Art Online's system, the player apparently will have their game avatar set up randomly, the player just needs to input their Avatar name and select the race of the character, however, for an extra fee, players can reconstruct their characters to their liking. The gender of the Avatar will be the same as the player in real life by default, and the player cannot change it no matter what.

The game is famous for being the first game to allow the player to fly for real. It uses a flight engine to enable the player to fly.

The skills are developed by the player's own abilities and by repeating them over and over, so a player with low level but good skills can match a veteran player almost evenly in battle.

The flight system also focuses on the player's own ability. It has a "controlled flight" mode, in which the players make use of a controller to fly, at the cost of being able to use only one hand to fight, but, with enough experience and ability, the player is able to learn "voluntary flight" and, with it, can use both hands while flying and gains more maneuverability and speed.

Races

 * Cait Sith (ケットシー) : Skilled beast tamers with improved eyesight. They are recognizable through their cat ears and tails.
 * Gnome (ノーム) : Largest fairy race and users of the earth. They are styled in brown.


 * Imp (インプ) : Masters of night, great night vision. They are styled in purple.


 * Leprechaun (レプラコーン) : Blacksmith race, their wings have a mechanical appearance.


 * Puca (プーカ) : Users of music which is used to confuse, attack, or support.


 * Salamander (サラマンダー) : Considered the strongest race in terms of attack, they have superior fire spells and are styled in red.


 * Spriggan (スプリガン) : Masters of illusion and treasure seeking. They are styled in black.


 * Sylph (シルフ) : C onsidered the fastest race and users of wind, they are denoted by the color green regularly.


 * Undine (ウンディーネ) : Healers and masters of water. They are styled in blue.


 * Navigation Pixie (ナビゲーション・ピクシー) : Although not a choice of race, users with a high level can obtain a navigation pixie to lead them from place to place.
 * ALFs: The rumored legendary race with unlimited flight. It is believed that the first of the available starting races in ALfheim Online to reach the top of the World Tree and gain an audience with Fairy King Oberon would be elevated to ALFs and granted the joys of unlimited height and no time limit of flying. Many players are disappointed to find out that this race doesn't exist at all.

Trivia
ALfheim Online
 * ALfheim Online is loosely based on Norse Mythology/Viking Mythology, for example, the  Yggdrasil, or rather, The World Tree, supported the entire cosmos in the actual myth. Another example is Jö tunheimr, actually Jö tunheim in the myth, is the icy home of the Frost Giants. And, of course, "ALfheim" is a reference to "Alfheim" in Norse Mythology, for the land of fairies/light elves. In the alternate ending of the Caliber story, Caliber SS, it is also speculated that, lore wise, the castle of Aincrad, which was implemented into ALO at the end of the Fairy Dance arc, is designated as Midgard, the world of humans in Norse mythology, by the NPCs of the game, as all characters in SAO were human.