can he see the avatars

[The Demon Of White Fire]

I was playing vol. 2 again and I spoted this
I am sorry that is a bad pic but it was my cell
I think it was after the battle with Bordeaux
what can y'all tell me about this

[Mellow Grunty]

No, only Epitaph Users/AIDA infected pplz can see the Avatars. (On Yatta's videos doesn't count)
I don't think it was ever stated what normal players see instead, but I'd assume some kind of flash of light (which explains the "Was there some kind of transformation?") and then a sudden huge increase in power/speed/EVERYTHING from the user's side.

[TheSorrow]

It's very hinted through posts and some comments that all they see is the character being covered in some shiny pweety light and then doing an attack of instant KO (like Endrance's Bewitching Wind skill but way deadlier), maybe some increase in stats too or even glitched-up stuff.
But, this happens after the whole battle with Bordeaux and Oswald? If so, then maybe they're not referring to Skeith/avatars, but to either Bordeaux's handrape attack, or even Oswald coming out of Bordeaux. Going a little too far, maybe the word originally used in japanese meant some change of battle or the characters getting too strong that they seemed nothing like before, but not an actual physical transformation :/ I'm leaning that they referred to Oswald though.

[The Demon Of White Fire]

it may have been after the fight with Sirius
but thank you 2 for the insight

[Ganheim]

I haven't seen an answer for this: what about the players caught in the "Avatar effect"? I know that players outside only see a sparkle (so is recounted on the forums in Vol 1 and 2, regarding Endrance and Haseo). However, in the tournament in Vol 1: Bordeux seemed to know that she'd been drawn out of the normal game (though since she never makes eye contact with Skeith I doubt she could see it). Her stopping and going "Hey, what are you doing?" seemed pretty clear to me. I think Alkaid looked surprised in that brief instant between Skeith popping out of Haseo and her going down, but I may be wrong on that one. Are they at least aware that they're in some manner drawn out of the normal game?

Later in Vol2 and more particularly in Vol3, things get more tricky: the dialog seems to indicate to me that some of the players (maybe they've been infected by AIDA) can perceive the Avatars, if not fully. Is this a connection with AIDA, or misinterpretation? I'm re-playing through the trilogy, so I'll come back with more when I get back to that point.

[Advent_Winter]

Good question. I'm guessing Bordeaux and Alkaid "could" see Skeith because they were in close proximity of Haseo when he summoned him. Therefore, they were in Avatar Space with him. Then again, the scene where Haseo awakens was quite confusing. Bordeaux does say, "H-Hey?! What are you doing?!" but looks around in different directions, never directly looking at Skeith before getting owned by the scythe slash. Perhaps she was just mesmorized by the Avatar Space that took place of the original background of the arena. Who knows? :/. Alkaid seems like she sees him, but just stares at him blantly. Then after waking up from the attack, she just states that Haseo cheated, never clearly indicating some type of monster weilding some scythe. But in Vol.3, the dialoge was briefly changed with her crying out "No!" before getting slashed, so again, who knows? Sakaki's also a question mark. Clearly, he wasn't "infected" yet when Atoli awakened Innis, but he could easily see Innis and Skeith clashing all over the place. Again, this could be possible probably because he was within a close range prior to the awakening.

[AuraTwilight]

No one attacked with an Avatar actually sees the Avatars, or else Alkaid would've figured out how Endrance is "cheating" a long ass time ago. They see weird special effects and lights they don't recognize, and then get insta-killed with an attack they don't understand, which is why they react the way they do.

People infected with AIDA can see Avatars and the like, but only while they are infected. They don't seem to retain this ability once they're purified.

As for the Sakaki example, you need to remember that he saw the Innis/Skeith fight while in an AIDA Server, which is outside of the normal game world. In these special areas, the Avatar Space doesn't have to be hidden by the normal game areas, so they're perfectly visible to everyone in these types of places.

[_Tri-edge_]

Which in summary, leaves it at this:

If you are: AIDA Infected, have an avatar, or located within an AIDA server or any other place beyond the normal game's enviorment, you qualify to see the avatars.

[GyppyGirl2021]

Since no one seems to have answered the OP's question right, I'll point some things out.

On Silabus' comment: I believe he was referring to how Bordeaux's PC changed drastically in appearance after she was Data Drained by Haseo. Obviously he can't see Avatars, but everyone else was commenting on how weird Bordeaux looked at the start of the match, and how she changed after the match was over.

On Bordeaux in the Volume 1 tournament round: Haseo was floating in midair. I don't think normal people can do that. Plus he was probably glowing or summat from the Avatar transformation, which normal people can apparently see.

[-Raina-]

The normal players can see a brief flash of light, no?

[Master ZED]

The normal players can see a brief flash of light, no?

They apparently see it when an Avatar attack hits; I'd imagine Avatar battles must look like your typical DBZ slugfest to those who can't see ghosts.

...which would be pretty cool to watch interspersed with actual Avatar combat. I wonder why that didn't happen?

[Ranylyn]

Still doesn't explain why Zelkova can apparently see them

[GyppyGirl2021]

Zelkova is hax. He needs no explanation.

[AuraTwilight]

That, and he's implied to be an Artificial Intelligence.

And it's only fan speculation that he can, so it's a moot issue anyway. We have no concrete reason to believe he does.

[Master ZED]

And it's only fan speculation that he can, so it's a moot issue anyway. We have no concrete reason to believe he does.

On that subject, was it ever explained how the Serpent of Lore sees Avatars and such? If Zelkova can see them and AIDA's bodies (not just the dots), I'd suspect him of employing a similar method.

[GyppyGirl2021]

The only real evidence we have of Zelkova seeing Avatars anyway is him fixing Haseo's PC, which doesn't seem like a terribly legitimate reason anyhow...

Either way, though, it doesn't matter because ZELKOVA IS HAX and if he could see them, it wouldn't surprise ANY of us. XP

[AuraTwilight]

And it's only fan speculation that he can, so it's a moot issue anyway. We have no concrete reason to believe he does.

On that subject, was it ever explained how the Serpent of Lore sees Avatars and such? If Zelkova can see them and AIDA's bodies (not just the dots), I'd suspect him of employing a similar method.

Bear in mind the Serpent of Lore was created and maintained by Yata, who can already see them.

[Master ZED]

And it's only fan speculation that he can, so it's a moot issue anyway. We have no concrete reason to believe he does.

On that subject, was it ever explained how the Serpent of Lore sees Avatars and such? If Zelkova can see them and AIDA's bodies (not just the dots), I'd suspect him of employing a similar method.

Bear in mind the Serpent of Lore was created and maintained by Yata, who can already see them.

Yes, true, but Sakaki proved those images could be seen by anyone (well, maybe more like "proved," given...).

It may be for the best that I just go research this on my own. :\

[_Tri-edge_]

And it's only fan speculation that he can, so it's a moot issue anyway. We have no concrete reason to believe he does.

On that subject, was it ever explained how the Serpent of Lore sees Avatars and such? If Zelkova can see them and AIDA's bodies (not just the dots), I'd suspect him of employing a similar method.

Bear in mind the Serpent of Lore was created and maintained by Yata, who can already see them.

Yes, true, but Sakaki proved those images could be seen by anyone (well, maybe more like "proved," given...).

It may be for the best that I just go research this on my own. :\

Sakaki played that video feed in an AIDA server. Going back to AT's theory, the players in the arena were able to see Skeith in the video because of the server's influence. It Sakaki were to have played that video in a normal server, then to the players, all they would see is Bordeaux and Alkaid getting owned by light

[AuraTwilight]

Yea, okay, you morons totally misunderstood me.

I'm saying because Yata created the Serpent of Lore and already had the ability to see Avatars, and because seeing the Avatars is a mere trick of programming, he knew exactly what to program in order to capture the Avatars in a recording. It's not like they're spirits that can only be seen with ESP or something, they're basically just restricted to a certain filter layer.

And the tournament thing with Sakaki was not in an AIDA server.