Echoes of Aincrad Obstacle Guide - How to procure items that remove roadblocks

As you explore the overworld and dungeons of the Sword Art Online MMORPG in the offline game Echoes of Aincrad, you will notice that there are obstacles like rocks and brambles that either hinder your exploration progress or hide treasure boxes. As it turns out, the game also provides specific items you can use to remove the obstacles.

However, if you intend to go deeper into this game, you will also realize that you are not going to get enough items to clear all obstacles by default, and you will have to procure more on your own. This guide will help you identify, gather, and utilize the items needed to smoothen your journey in the virtual game.

How to destroy Stonework and Brambles in Echoes of Aincrad

One of the roadblocks you'll encounter in Aincrad will be the pile of Stonework​​​​​. The in-game guide notes that you can use either a Bomb Stone or a Mine to blow it away. The Bomb Stone will have to be thrown away in the direction of the obstacle.

Placing a mine could also be an alternative if you have run out of the former, although you will have to wait for a bit longer until it explodes on its own... unless you also happen to be fighting an enemy monster nearby, in which case you can trigger the mine's explosion by having the monster step right on it.

The other type of obstacle you'll see in this game will be this line of brambles. As the in-game guide suggests, these brambles are coated in oil, which makes them very susceptible to fire, so players can use items like Flame Stone and Flame Mine to get rid of them. These items work similarly to the above bomb versions.

How to craft obstacle removal items in Echoes of Aincrad

While you can simply buy the specific items at Item Sellers, they also offer a Craft option where you can procure the same items but with a much lower cost of Col funds, in exchange for requirements of material items. If you're like me who likes to gather forageable items in the wilds, you should have more than enough items to save your Col money for other purposes, such as upgrading weapons and reallocating stat growths.

Although the items may usually be provided via nearby treasure chests in the overworld (since you only need to remove the obstacles just once out there), if you are doing repeated dungeon runs, you will want to more regularly stock your inventory, since the content inside dungeons regenerates on each run.

The crafting recipes for the relevant Obstacle Removal items in this game are as follows:

• Bomb Stone - 20 Col + 1 Clay + 2 Emeralds
• Mine - 20 Col + 1 Blaststone + 2 Emeralds
• Flame Stone - 30 Col + 1 Clay + 2 Remora Butterflies
• Flame Mine - 30 Col + 1 Blaststone + 2 Remora Butterflies

If you are still playing the demo version of this game, take note that you are only able to craft the items that can destroy rocks (Bomb Stone and Mine). The Flame items will only be available to craft in the full game after you have reached the village of Horunka in the official launch phase of the Sword Art Online MMORPG.

How to set shortcuts for obstacle removal items in Echoes of Aincrad

The regular method to use items—including the obstacle removers—in Echoes of Aincrad would be to first access the player menu via the Options button and then select the item from the Pouch. While this procedure is fine enough for the obstacle removers, you will want to make sure there are no enemy monsters in the vicinity, as the game is not paused even if you are accessing the menus.

If you want an even more efficient way to remove obstacles in this game, you will want to consider registering them to the Directional pad shortcuts. You can hold the D-pad direction where you want to assign the item to (other than Down, since the latter is reserved for Healing Crystals), and then toggle with L1 and R1 (or LB and RB for Xbox layout) until you have found the item you want.

When you are assigning items to the shortcuts, it is also recommended to do so inside a town, as item usages are blocked there, so you can be prevented from accidentally using the shortcuts.