Even if you're well-versed in all things Sword Art Online, there are still a few things you'll need to know before you begin diving into Echoes of Aincrad. The goal is to progress through the floors of the dungeon and grow strong along the way, but the process isn't always cut and dry.

Between choosing the right gear and specs for your play style, deciding between the partners you accrue throughout the game, fighting leagues of monsters, crafting weapons or potions, and more, there's a lot to take in off the top when it comes to starting Echoes of Aincrad!

Make Unlocking The Area's Safe Area A Priority

As soon as you venture from the Town of Beginnings, the game directs you to your very first Safe Area, represented in the overworld by a tall beacon of blue light that's visible from most places in the immediate area. Your map is broken into sections, with a marker placed for the Safe Area within, so head over there as quickly as you can.

Though there's plenty of merit to free-roaming in games like Echoes of Aincrad, the game warns you that you'll want to consider going to the Safe Area first and foremost when you reach a new section of the map, since you'll notice that, while you can access the area without issue as long as its in bounds of the current quest, the map doesn't unlock until the Safe Area is active for that area.

When you get to a Safe Area, interact with the blue orb in the center to activate it. Thankfully, there are plenty of things you can do from these areas in addition to unlocking the map of your surroundings, including:

  • Teleporting between that orb and other Safe Areas you've already unlocked.
  • Resting after arduous sections of combat to restore your health between mission sections.
    • Just be aware that resting at a Safe Area in Echoes of Aincrad revives any monsters you've killed since your last rest, so backtracking through your current area is no longer as safe afterwards.
  • Finding respite from monsters that may be attacking you nearby, since the blue parameters around each Safe Zone block them from entering the platform itself, so you've got somewhere to run if you're in a fight you can't finish.

Even if you don't need to rest, unlocking the map is reason enough to find every Safe Area in Echoes of Aincrad!

The Map Is Labeled With Waypoints, But Finding A Path Is Up To You

As soon as you've unlocked the map of an area in Echoes of Aincrad, you'll see all kinds of waypoints and markers already placed for you by the game. These include but aren't limited to:

  • Treasure Chests that hold a variety of loot.
  • Arks, areas that feature elven relics guarded by difficult mini-boss fights.
  • Waypoints you can place if you think something looks interesting.
  • Side quest items you might need later on.

But as the game warns you in the tutorial, the path to waypoints isn't always straightforward and may prove more challenging than it appears on the map. You'll need to factor in a number of things, like the area's geography that might mean any mountains or chasms blocking your way, potential water hazards since you can't navigate through water deeper than your knees, any blocked paths that need to be cleared through Ark fights, and more.

Just because you can see it on the map doesn't mean you can reach it easily!

The Game Leaves A Temporary Breadcrumb Trail On The Map

Once you've unlocked the map for an area in Echoes of Aincrad, you've got quite a lot of exploring to do! You'll notice on your mini-map in the upper-right corner, though, that you'll leave footprints on the map as you walk through an area.

No matter the topography of an area or where you went to explore, you'll faithfully leave a trail of colored dots behind you on the map as you go. While the game does mark the main quest for you, as well as several important points along the way, knowing where you've been already can show you which areas' resources have been plucked and where enemies have been cleared out so you don't need to worry as you walk.

The pathing begins as white dots behind your immediate position, and the further you go, the dots fade to red as you gain distance from them, eventually clearing from the map entirely. This doesn't appear to be time-based, though - if you need to pause the game for any reason, you'll be able to do so safely without the trail clearing out behind you until you begin moving again.

Though it can help preventing any backtracking in the overworld on the main quest, you'll find this to be the most helpful in Random Dungeons, since dungeons aren't mapped the same as the overworld. With changing pathways and plenty of twists and turns, you'll all but need to know where you've been already so you know how best to progress without backtracking too much.

Only Craft Weapons To Use As Materials For Better Weapons

Unlike most adventure games that offer a weapon crafting mechanic, Echoes of Aincrad all but expects that you'll be out in the wilds slaying enemies and looting them, since crafted weapons are not the strongest gear you can get here.

Though the Smithy's work is well-done, and it's always good to have options available (especially in the early game when you've not yet ventured too far from the Town of Beginnings), the best way to get weapons that will best suit your individual play style is to open chests and grind fights between waypoints for main quests. Chests offer a chance to get the recipe for a weapon that you can bring back to the Smithy, but you'll often find good weapons on stronger enemies you encounter.

One of the best ways to get new weapons in Echoes of Aincrad is to seek out boss fights across the world. These optional battles not only grant you access to hidden passageways, but these tougher enemies will also typically drop a few weapons when they go down, even if they're not actually using a weapon in the fight. If the enemy itself doesn't drop anything, then there's typically treasure unlocked by clearing Ark fights that gives new weapons with stats concurrent to your active mission's recommended level.

With how many weapons you'll find with higher base stats and Ex-Mods that can be Synthesized and combined onto other weapons, you'll want to focus on finding and using weapons from the overworld. As you level them up to improve their base stats, you might need extra weapons for materials (especially at higher Cardinal Ranks), which is a good time to use those materials to have the Smithy craft you some weapons to use as fodder for those higher-level upgrades.

Expect To Fight For The Best Treasure Chests

Are you looking for the best gear in Echoes of Aincrad, like the most powerful weapons or the armor with the best stats? What about higher values of Col, or improved versions of the consumables you've purchased or made with the Item Trader in town? Then you'll want to spend some time during the main quests finding chests in the overworld as you go, since they've usually got great stuff.

Chests are among the items displayed on the map when you've unlocked the XX for each map area in Echoes of Aincrad, but just because you can see them on the map doesn't mean you can get to them too easily. You might be blocked by the topography of the area, with a chest high up on a mountain that requires a winding trail to reach or across a chasm that requires a Blink Talisman to cross. If something is well-hidden, then the chest might be the prize for an Ark battle nearby after you've unlocked their corresponding area.

In general, it's a good rule of thumb that harder chests to get to have better loot in them than the ones you can see from the road. We'll never say no to free Col as we go or a quick top-up on potions or talismans between jaunts back to town, but if you're looking for the best treasure in Echoes of Aincrad, be prepared for quite a journey and know you'll almost certainly need to fight for it!

Your Partners Do A Lot (But They Don't Pick Up Loot)

It's a relatively minor thing to need to note, but if you're out on a quest with a partner or group, then you've got a couple ways to change how your partners work in combat. Like you, they'll also be able to Focus to perform a bit better on the battlefield, and it's up to you to manage their Focus meter. There are two presets for your partners' methods in Echoes of Aincrad:

  • Free Mode allows your partners to operate largely on their own in combat, and they'll fight a different enemy than you're fighting to help clear out mobs quickly, or if you'd like them to attack first and begin your fight for you. If there's only one enemy, though, like when you're in a boss fight, they'll come back to you and work together once again.
    • Their Focus drains quickly in this mode, and they're less likely to dodge or guard against incoming attacks as a caveat. Put them into the other mode to restore it again.
  • Switch Mode, meanwhile, sees your partner working more closely with you to fight the same enemy in tandem. When you dodge, you'll take turns attacking this one enemy. This mode also prevents your partners from straying too far from you and triggering enemy battles while you're out in the wild.
    • Though their Focus depletes, it also regenerates automatically in Switch Mode.

If your partner is in Free Mode and you move away from them, they'll typically try to catch up to you as they fight, effectively bringing the enemy to you. There's not really much running from a fight once one's been started, so keep your partner in Switch Mode while you explore to prevent them from picking fights without you.

There's no one right way to use your partners in Echoes of Aincrad. You'll have plenty of ways to fight alongside your partner with this combination of Focus on the battlefield, leading to impressive ways to use their Support Skills and Combo Skills in battle to fight your way through to victory.

The only thing to really pay attention to, though, is that you'll need to manually collect your loot after battles, since your partners are keen to start fights in Free Mode, but they'll never collect the loot even if they finish them. Double back and be sure to grab everything you're looking to keep!

Choose Your Favorite Weapon Type Early

You'll begin playing Echoes of Aincrad with a Sword and Shield equipped, and it's how you'll get through the first dungeon with Iori, but you're able to change weapon types to suit your preferences when it comes to combat as soon as you get back to the Town of Beginnings for the first time. Once you've checked into the Inn, you'll be able to use your Chest to swap gear at any time, including but not limited to what kind of weapon you're using next time you venture out of town.

There are six types of weapons to choose from in Echoes of Aincrad: Swords as a balance of offense and defense, Rapiers for skilled and nimble movements, Daggers for speed over power, Maces for heavy one-handed power, Two-Handed Swords for slow attacks with a long reach, and Two-Handed Axes that mostly deal area of attack damage.

Try out each weapon type and see which is best for you, but it's wise to specialize as early as you can to get the most out of your combat skills in Echoes of Aincrad. First, when you swap out your gear, you'll see that weapons have an ACV attached to their stats that adds bonus power depending on how well you can use them according to your own attributes and allotted Growth Points. Figure out which type of weapon you like and allocate GP to the attribute that offers the highest ACV for that type of weapon in Echoes of Aincrad.

Additionally, you'll be learning Sword Skills for each weapon type as you level up in using them. These are the powerful combination moves you can use to drive home some heavy hits in combat after they've had some time to recharge, so the more you level up one weapon type, the more powerful you'll become with the Sword Skills associated with it.