Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25908228-20141222101442/@comment-25074378-20160514125950

This is both a difficult and easy topic to tackle. If you HAD to strip them down to their basic forms, Kirito has years of kendo training under his belt and he uses one handed broadswords, while Asuna uses a style close to fencing. Kirito's strikes are heavy and typically made to end a fight in one stroke, whereas Asuna's are quick but designed to counter-attack. The match would be a stare down, whoever moved first would lose; Asuna's attack would be overpowered by Kirito's and Kirito's would be turned aside and reversed. So it comes down to a numbers game, which is easy in theory, but becomes difficult as we don't know what those numbers are exactly. SAO is fairly easy, Kirito was a higher level than Asuna, so it stands to reason that his numbers would be better and he would win. Those levels DID carry over to ALO, but both of them reset their characters and releveled from the beginning, making that all irrelevant. Their current levels are likely to be equal since they leveled together, meaning that their numbers are likely to be at least approximately equal as well. In-game skills are a factor that should be considered, but that is hard to track. While we know a few names for what they use, their actual damage, cast speed, etc is unknown and basically impossible to compare. Made up skills, such as Kirito's Skill Link, falls into a category that the Mass Effect 3 forums would call "clever use of game mechanics" that anyone can pull off with enough practice, at least in theory. That's when gear comes into play. Since Asuna's character is a hybrid fighter/caster, her gear stats should be split between magic and physical combat, so she'll be passible doing either role but not excel in either one, while Kirito's gear is better all around for close combat, and considering that he has Excalibur, the highest ranked item in ALO, he's sure to win should he decide to use it. So if both of them put all cards on the table to decide it once and for all, Kirito's numbers are higher in the end, so he wins.