Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-71.82.164.213-20150409225706/@comment-6697950-20150410100424

For starters, I hope you don't mind, but I've edited your quotes to make it easier to read the wall of text. You need to use WRITE TEXT HERE for quotes here.

As for that anime line, just to be clear, the original text (in both the novel and the anime) is:

「女の子だから手加減したとかじゃないって. もう、超マジでした. ほんと. ……少なくとも途中からは」 "I didn't go easy on her or anything because she was a girl. I was super serious. Really...... At least until/from the midway point."

The only thing that can be doubted is the から at the end, since it technically should mean "from", so I personally think that he is saying that he actually got serious midway, not stopped being serious (i.e. he noticed that she was too strong to take lightly and had to put in more effort to keep up). But otherwise, the punctuation used implies that he didn't go easy on her, then he claims that he was serious, but only during a certain interval of the fight. The "girl" part isn't linked with the "at least midway" part.

71.82.164.213 wrote: I acknowledge that I posted this as a speculated fact and therefore it merits discussion. I think that this is something that is potentially open for interpretation, unless you can specifically reference the material noted in your assessment (also, when you say side, are you referencing non-canon material then?). In any case, I still think my original speculation is correct based on other evidence provided in the show thus far. For one, Yuuki has been playing the game long enough to have failed beating a floor's boss & being ready to face the next one. Considering the length of time it has taken for them to go through each floor, I would suggest this means she's been playing for at least a little while. They call her "completely new" when referencing her battles under the tree, but that would completely contradict their later story, so it's more likely once again that the characters are simply wrong about how long she's been in the world. Considering she's in there 24/7, basically only sleeping as a distraction, she has probably put as many hours in a month or so of playing as Kirito had in several months. This is, of course, speculation, but I think it's generall fair. Yuuki, to me, seems surprised at his speed, not on his ability to break in-game mechanics (especially when his gf is on the line).

One last point, even if she was faster, speed is only a single attribute. There's no way to know for sure, but I would suggest Kirito is stronger and his weapons are better (Excalibur). Whether or not you believe she's got a faster reaction time (the only thing that determined who got the dual-wielding in SAO or not), it does not definitively state which of them is a better sword-fighter, although it is an interesting conversation. TUSF is referencing Material Edition 1 where Kirito and Asuna duel to decide how to fight a boss. He had to use a feint (by faking that he drawing a second sword) to get an opening to defeat her, as her speed was too fast for him. And faking because he didn't really want to reveal his secret about an actual Dual Blades skill to the public.

And Yuuki has probably only spent two or so weeks in the game. At least, that's about how long she was known before Asuna dueled her. The 24-27th floors were cleared within days according to various facts. So, even if she played 24/7, she probably wouldn't have been able to spend as much time in ALO as Kirito spent in a year. Most of her gaming experience probably just comes from other games, since ALO is more about the person's own abilities and reaction speed, which can be developed in any other game before converting. And The Seed conversion allows you to bring your stats (though adjusted for balance) to the new game. Stats don't mean much in ALO though, but they do give you a slight bonus.

71.82.164.213 wrote: I've stated Yuuki would improve in more dire circumstances as well, but would she be able to defy an entire system's programming logic just through sheer willpower? Maybe, but without that specific feat you could only guess at that. We've seen Kirito actually do it.

I'm going to have to also point out that he 100% went "easy" on Sinon, he literally was going to let her shoot him. If that's not going easy on someone I don't know what is. We've seen him time and time again show very little pride in proving his dominance over other characters. So, take scenario 1 (Sinon really wants to win a game for reasons unknown) and scenario 2 (this girl is terminally ill), which one of those two sound like they would induce more "you know what, this isn't as important to me as it is to you" feelings?

Just as a last thing for Musketeer X, that was in a life-or-death situation with Sinon, but I do get your point. Is breaking a game really a sign of how good you are as a fighter? I thought you said "legitimate fight"? Breaking the game is technically cheating.

The free shot wasn't because Sinon was a girl, but because Kirito had no motivation to fight anymore since he had already reached his goal. So, this doesn't prove that Kirito is gender-biased. Of course, when Sinon gave him a piece of his mind, he did realise that he was being disrespectful and gave her an actual duel. You can argue that he went easy on her at the end, since he refused to cut her, but he had technically already won, as he disarmed her and had her at his mercy. He didn't see the need to finish the job. Take that as you wish.

71.82.164.213 wrote: I'll leave this with a final thought, I think based on the evidence provided that we actually CAN know who was better by a significant margin. Sure, could there have been an extra line that said Yuuki actually was the God of Blades & could grow to be 100 feet tall and kill every player in ALO with a single swipe? Why not? Being realistic though, you can indeed infer who was better without needing 100s of fights to come to a conclusion. Based on the evidence provided, they are even with 1 sword a piece. As she hasn't shown the ability to use two swords, that means Kirito would gain a massive advantage by having a second sword. Finally you add in his acknowledgment (and your... acknowledgment of his acknowledgment) that he took it especially easy on her, you've got a fairly solid case that she wasn't on his level going all out.

In a discussion regarding two fighting entities, you take their feats, the evidence provided by the show, and their particular encounters and you come to a conclusion. Sometimes that conclusion is that they're both too even to tell, but this is not the case here. It would be like Batman vs. Superman and saying Batman would win because they fought once when Superman didn't use any of his powers at all and Batman won.

I'll leave you with a counter-thought. Just how advantageous would it be for Yuuki to wield two swords? She has a speed-build. Meaning that any unnecessary weight would cripple her. For Kirito, he has a balanced-build, though he prefers strength. To Kirito, two swords do give him an advantage, but to Yuuki - it would only slow her down. If their fighting style was the exact same, then you could probably infer the difference in their level from just a couple of fights if you had enough knowledge about their capabilities. However, when the fighting style differs, how much would the two swords really give him an advantage? Every advantage has its disadvantages. Controlling two swords is much harder than one and it greatly limits the user's speed. So, would two swords really give him that much of an advantage to make up for the demerits? If there was a fight with him using two swords against Yuuki, then we could argue about this, but as it is right now, it would only be speculation. And speculation is not a fact. Point is, there's no evidence that two swords would give him an over-the-top advantage, so you can't say for sure whether he would be far better than Yuuki with two swords than one by basing your opinion on their duel with one sword.

71.82.164.213 wrote: Yuuki has no feats to show she could keep up with Kirito if both were fighting in a bloodlust battle, in my opinion. Nor do you have evidence that she would do less well in a bloodlust battle. Lack of supporting evidence isn't the same as evidence that contradicts a statement. She could even be more powerful in a life-or-death battle for all we know. Just because there hasn't been any spotlight on her feats doesn't mean that she doesn't have one. On the other hand, Kirito was shown to make absurdly stupid mistakes in a life-or-death battle. He knew full well that using Sword Skills against the guy who made them in the first place was the most stupid thing to do, but he did end up using one anyway. And that would have resulted in him dying, if Asuna hadn't taken the blow for him.