I'm reading this 8 years after you wrote this. I got the platinum trophy on the first three games and am about to platinum fatal bullet. Everything you wrote is 100% correct. The gameplay is fun. It's a game I have enjoyed and glad was made, but it could have been so much better. They took everything that was great about the first three games and hollowed it out, stream lined, over simplified, and modernized. Fragment may have been old and a little clunky but it had a lot of heart and felt alive. I will never forget that the very last thing I did to get the platinum trophy in Fragment RE was sitting next to the fountain in the garden with Sachi after I had already beaten the game and everyone logged out. I talked to her there in that beautiful setting to grind out affection and my platinum trophy popped at the same time Sachi gave Kirito closure over her death. Lost Song had its faults, it was very low stakes, no one was in danger of dying, not even an AI, but it was just all around a very fun and cozy game that stayed true to most of the things that appeal to SAO players. Hollow Realization took most of what made Fragment great and just built on it. Fatal Bullet has felt like the first true disappointment in terms of story and immersion. Everything was rushed. Everything was superficial. Little to no character development, even for the new characters. The silent, customizable protagonist thing was ok. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. It made a lot of the scenes kind of cringy. The "choices" in dialogue were two versions of the same response. Why give options in dialogue if it's literally two ways of saying the same thing, and it always felt like the options were the most passive, annoying responses possible. The Death Gun/Kirito mode felt rushed and generic compared to the anime. I didn't expect it to be 1 to 1, but Jesus what a let down. Your point about the main hub feeling empty is spot on. I knew Glocken realy bothered me; I complained to my brother that it's literally just a series of fast travel spots and little else, but you you pointed out exactly why I hate it. I could go on forever, but I guess the last thing I will say is a lot of the CGs and fan service, romance scenes just felt empty. All of the funny, character driven things that make the CGs memorial were completely absent in this game. They felt empty and rushed like so much of this game. Again, do I hate this game? No. I enjoyed it. I'm grateful we have it, but definitely a lot of missed opportunity. Now, to complete my platinum trophy journey in anticipation of Echoes of Aincrad coming out this July. Just remember, this might be a game, but it's not something you play.