@zstrf03 Definitely is, a rusty talking sword, vs a rusty "talking" sword since it seems that his mind reading ability lets the sword talk.
If it keeps adding little things we've seen in various series, does that make it unique or a mashup?
Pallete swap Asuna + Edgy Kirito. Heck, the personality of the main girl is even similar to Asuna. Dunno wether the author really like SAO but he want's more edge or all this just to bait for more sales.
The execution seems okay, but wow, not even a novice GM who's sat a session or two would let anyone in the party have an obviously broken mechanic like that. On the other hand, there's loads of stories like these out there; tabletop gaming ≠ manga.