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While the newest Sword Art Online game, Echoes of Aincrad, only allows gamers to play as the custom character that they create, they’ll still be able to travel along with and fight alongside their favorite characters from the first two Sword Art Online light novels and Sword Art Online Progressive. One of these partner characters is Asuna, the main heroine of the franchise. However, unlike characters like Argo who will be automatically unlocked as partners during the main story, the player will need to complete a specific side quest chain in order to unlock Asuna. If you want to unlock this wonderful woman as soon as possible, here’s a guide to point you toward the correct sidequests.
How to Unlock Asuna as a Partner in Echoes of Aincrad
Before you can unlock the sidequests to unlock Asuna as a partner, you’re first going to need to progress the game all the way to the second floor of Aincrad. Once you’ve reached the second floor of the game and complete the main story quest “The Black Swordsman I”, make your way to the inn where you’ll find Asuna with a quest marker over her head.
Speak to Asuna and listen to her plight about wanting to upgrade her weapons to begin the sidequest “Keepsake”. This quest will have you explore the western side of the second floor with Asuna in order to find monsters which drop the materials she needs to upgrade her rapier. Luckily for you, these aren’t random drops. Instead you’ll be looking for these energy cracks within the world in order to spawn the miniboss encounters that will drop the items you need as key items.
After fighting three minibosses with Asuna, you’ll clear the Keepsake quest and return to town. Now that Asunas rapier is upgraded, she’ll unlock two more side quests for you to clear “Friendship” and “Renown”. These quests are exactly the same as the first one, but will go much faster as you’ve now unlocked fast travel points right next to the enemies you’ll need to fight.
After clearing all three of Asuna’s side quests, she’ll permanently join your party and can be brought along for any future main story and side quests. Thanks to the weapon upgrading you just did, Asuna is easily one of the best offensive partners in the game. With her two attack skills, she can slice through the health bars of bosses within second.
