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.hack Series: Come on...I'm right here...
PunkBoy
Thank you! And thank you again!Registered User regular
Thank you! And thank you again!Registered User regular
A huge series by Namco Bandai that currently comprises of 7 games, several animes, and several books. The main plot revolves around The World, a fictional MMO where strange things happen. The first game released was Infection on the PS2, and was the first of four parts. Players were able to transfer save data from one part to the next, creating a continuity throughout the series. These four games revolved around a player named Kite, who gets involved with the strange happenings of The World after his friend falls into a coma while playing it.
After the fourth game, a new storyline is introduced. Called G.U., the three games in the series follow Haseo, a player in The World ver. 2. After getting PK'ed (Player Killed) on his very first login, he becomes a merciless PKK (Player Killer Killer) and earns the nickname "The Terror of Death." A strange PK'er named Tri-Edge sends his friend Shino into a coma, driving Haseo to to hunt him down. Oddly enough, Tri-Edge looks like a very eerie version of Kite, the protagonist in the first set of games. When he finally tracks down Tri-Edge, he tries to take him down, but fails, and is mysteriously sent back to level 1. Haseo now has to regain his former strength, and somehow figure out the mystery behind Tri-Edge and save his friend.
What makes the .hack games so unique is that the presentation and gameplay is like a MMO's. Players form parties and go on quests, or just go and grind to gain levels. Party members are determined on whether a member is online or not busy. Players can also trade items with other players in The World, and (at least in G.U.) set up a shop to sell items. G.U. even introduces Guilds, which players can become a part of, and participate in "PvP" combat in an arena. Outside of The World, there's a news site that show the current events in the real world, a community forum where players discuss about the game and post rumors, and in G.U. there's even a fanart board that lets players download desktop backgrounds. There is also the e-mail system, which lets players correspond with your party members, whether it is to find storyline information, or just to find out backstory. All in all, .hack really does a great job to create a fictional virtual world.
The series has had criticism, which was what originally put me off from the series. The first four games were apparently pretty short episodes, and not worth the full price. Also, there were complaints about the repetition and dullness of the gameplay, but that could just be the game being faithful to the genre
. However, many people say G.U. fixed most of those issues, so I decided to pick up G.U. volume 1 and see what the fuss was all about. I must say that I'm enjoying it a lot. I really like the message board and news concepts, but then again I'm a sucker for flavor text and small details. And yes, there are times where you can be a dick on the message board, so it's just like real life :P. The gameplay is fun, and the party member AI is pretty good overall. I'm kind of out of the loop with the storyline, since everything's apparently connected in the .hack world, but gaps are mostly filled in (that I know of) for those that are just starting the series. Also, you get a motorcycle which you can run into enemies for a surprise attack. That's pretty awesome.Also, there's a Let's Play of the series on the Something Awful forums, which I'm reading to try to get the story behind the first four games.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2868331
So, any other fans of the series? I must say that even though I'm just starting to game, I'm planning on getting Volume 2 and 3 after I beat Volume 1. Also, a couple of questions:
-When can Haseo equip different weapons other than Dual Blades?
-Is there a way to use magic/items besides going though the menu? I guess another complaint of mine is that it's kind of awkward having to enter the main menu in order to cast or use something.
EDIT: A couple of things that I forgot to mention. G.U. looks really gorgeous, especially for a PS2 game. And while the main story is somewhat dark, there's some pretty funny humor in it as well.
A big thanks to Owenashi for providing this timeline:
Well, I'll stick for now with what parts of the .hack media go where when it comes to the original plot. If you want more details and spoilers, you can just ask.-.hack's original story is in four parts, much like the original game. The first part, (which I consider as the prelude to the whole story) is .hack//AI BUSTER, a short novel revolving mainly around a Long Arm player named Albireo.
One day, he runs into a mysterious girl NPC, one who seems to go wherever he does in the game once he meets her whether she oughta be able to or not. Albireo soon finds himself teaming with a scantly-clad Wavemaster named Hokuto during his efforts to find out why the NPC is tagging along with him, resulting with the pair discovering the first hints of the World's problem. The novel also covers a very important event in the lives of two characters from the original game.
-The next major chapter is the anime, .hack//SIGN.
The anime is what I consider the first proper half of the original story. For those who haven't seen it yet, it focuses on a Wavemaster named Tsukasa who finds himself experiencing the World as if it were reality: no way to log out, no console by him or headset or controller felt on his body. He soon attracts the attention of a group of characters across the game's player-base, ranging from the casual to the hardcore-devoted. These players come together for various reasons but all centered on discovering what sort of situation Tsukasa is in, why he's able to suddenly do things not within the game's known programming and if it has anything to do with the Key Of The Twilight, a rumored game-breaking item that lets you do anything you want once you have it. More talk then action in this chapter of the story but it does set up things to come in the next.
-Said next chapter being the original game or games as most tend to think of it. I usually tend to think of .hack//INFECTION, MUTATION, OUTBREAK, and QUARANTINE to be four parts of one whole game however.
For those who never had a chance or didn't want to bother trying it, the game focuses on a Twin Blades player named Kite. Brought into the game by his well-known friend, Orca, Kite's introduction to the World's gameplay goes horribly wrong when a unknown and unkillable monster not only kills Orca's character. The truly bad part comes in when Kite discovers that Orca's player has actually fallen into a coma at the same time his character fell. Not long after, Kite soon finds his own character altered, giving him possibly the only chance he has to find out what happened to Orca and perhaps save him. With this being the first .hack game, it's somewhat understandable that the game had it's flaws. It tends to be unduly slammed in a lot of reviews however thanks to players who don't quite get the idea that it's one game chopped up into four parts and thus it shouldn't have major changes in each part, such as graphics-improvement. While it can get monotonous at times with it's gameplay, there's a good story in there waiting to be seen.
-It wouldn't be right to move on just yet without mentioning what could be called the 'Side-B' to .hack's second half of the story, .hack//LIMINALITY.
LIMINALITY is a four-part OVA made to supplement the game's story. Each part was packaged on a second disc with each of the game's parts, telling the story of a group of people in the real world who slowly come together due to the same problems that are afflicting the World. Mai Minase, Yuki Aihara, and Kyoko Tohno all know a World player named Sieg. After he drops into a coma in the same fashion as Orca, they end up being brought together by a man named Junichiro Tokuoka who knows a little more about what's going on then the general public. While each OVA-part occurs at some point of their corresponding game-part, it's a good idea to wait until completing said piece of the game first as the OVA has one or two spoilers on what occurs within The World. Especially the final part which ties in to the game's final battle.
-The final major piece of the story is a three-volume manga that soon became an anime. However, it's the manga's telling of .hack//LEGEND OF THE TWILIGHT that's canon.
The manga's main protagonists are Shugo and Rena Kunisaki, twin siblings who win a contest 4 years after the end of the game's events, a contest which reward them with more child-like versions of Kite and his partner, the Heavy Blade known as Blackrose. While they have fun and make friends within the game, Shugo soon finds himself outfitted completely like Kite as his character's given the same game-altering abilities as Kite had. This draws attention both good and bad from not just the World's owners but a mysterious little girl who insists that Shugo help her find her mother. Due to the general light-heartedness of the story as well as it's short length, I usually tend to view it as an epilogue for the entire original .hack story, wrapping up everything in one nice bow.
Besides what I mentioned here, there's also some other media that connects to the first .hack plotline.
-A sequel to AI BUSTER was released. However, AB2 was a collection of short-stories rather then one regular novel, the events taking place from AI BUSTER's point of time down to LOTT, filling in some holes here and there in the plot though nothing major at all.
-.hack//ZERO was another (abet untranslated to English) novel, taking place in the timespan between SIGN and the game. It involved a female Heavy Axeman named Carl who would find herself meeting a couple of characters from SIGN. The story tends to be mainly about what occurred to a few of the SIGN characters after the anime ended. ZERO would also end up having a connection to LIMINALITY.
-For those not into playing the game or up for a different take on it's events, there's the four-novel series known as .hack//ANOTHER BIRTH. While the game follows the events through Kite's eyes, AB does it through Blackrose's POV, including showing events in her real life as well as incidents in the World that happened while Kite wasn't around.
-.hack//XXXX (or X-fourth as it's meant to be pronounced) is a manga version of the game's events. However, it tends to veer from the established plot and tell it's own way, much like how some stories tend to be different in their manga and anime telling. The biggest change is the addition of an unknown player who somehow manages to have the same hacking abilities as Kite does and perhaps even stronger as he actually destroys one of the game's main bosses by himself.
Animated
-While SIGN is considered a 26-episode anime, three half-hour specials were made that fall under it's banner.
-The first is Intermezzo. It takes place during the first days of the World for one of SIGN's characters, Mimiru. Visiting a dungeon in SIGN's timeline with another character from the series, she divulges to him the adventure she had with the first player-character she made in the World and how it and the dungeon brought her into contact with an slightly unusual Long Arm named Mimika.
-The second is Unison. Considered non-canon, it takes places a few months after the end of the game's events, showing off eventually a celebration that brings the cast of the game together with SIGN's. It's still worth a watch though you'll only find it officially in the US as part of a Limited Edition of the final SIGN DVD.
-The third one is known as .hack//GIFT, the name coming from the fact that it was offered in Japan to those who bought all four parts of the game and found here in the last LIMINALITY disc. The half-hour special is basically one big parody of the characters from the game and SIGN, with it's plot revolving around members from both casts trying to find a special hot-springs field set up just for them in the World with the mystery of who killed Orca used as an excuse to see who can reach it first.
I hope that was informative enough. Any questions?
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I also had a friend that was into anime buy and watch the series (which he enjoyed) and I watched the OVAs that were included with the game discs (the OVAs took place in the real world and dealt with what was happening during the first anime/game).
To your questions, if Haseo is a thief or whatever class Kite and Sora are/were then you're stuck with dual blades.
I think there is a way to shortcut certain things but it only reduces the number of menus you need to open, it doesn't outright remove the need to open them at all. However this was in .hack not .hack//GU
EDIT: DAMMIT.... I might have to get back into this... I has a lot of the bonus stuff too like the memory cores and Sora's blades for Kite (which was REALLY interesting to learn how they tied the anime to the first game)
In G.U. you end up being able to use giant swords....dual blades of course...giant scythe...guns...its awesome man.
EDIT: Oh, you can use other weapons. I guess I need to get farther into the game.
It's also kind of funny that your class is looked upon as the sucky class by a lot of players in The World.
Oh no, read above, you get like...4 weapons or 5 altogether, its sweet. I think 4 though....
It's four. Dual Blades and Two Handed Swords in Vol. 1, Scythes in Vol. 2 and Dual Guns in Vol. 3.
NNID: Glenn565
I always see copies of it in gamestop, whole bunches of em, all 4 of the series too, Im not sure about your local gamestop if you have one but yeah, mine always has a lot.
Cool. I may just have to pick up this series again. I loved the concept behind it. It's a really freaking original idea, I'd say, and the storyline did intrigue me after the first one. Does the story keep up throughout all 4, or does it die down a lot near the end like a lot of RPGs?
My biggest complaint is how fast GU ends. All things considered it wraps everything up so damn quick and there were a few events where I didn't even realize a major plot point had died until everyone else started talking about it.
I never asked for this!
I really wish they Bandai would either release an actual copy of The World or make a game where you can actually choose what class you want to be.
Yeah, the characters seem pretty cool. There's some really strange cognitive dissonance going in my mind. Like...the personalities for the characters in The World...are just the personalities of players in the "real world"...which is actually a made up video game world.
That's what turned kept me from player past the second part of the first series, though .hack is the best non-online-massively-multiplayer-simulation-action-rpg I've ever played. And I found one of the anime series pretty watchable (the one I saw had the kid everyone was chasing who would summon some big monster or something? I never really figured out the story but it was cool)
First series has a more interesting and compelling story but the gameplay really lacks.
Second series has fun gameplay but a much more boring story.
Welllll.......Basically the story is great, but ummm in the 4th one, heres the deal, not much of a spoiler but just in case ima put it in spoiler bar.
Actually the anime is interesting in that it leads into the first game this way
I also love the expressions the characters make. Looks like Haseo's really trying hard not kill Atoli.
Yep, its quite good, they know what theyre doing, which begs the question, why the fuck dont they make an actual MMO of it man? Id play, its so damn addicting O.O
my thoughts exactly, I'm frankly shocked that that never happened, even if it was never to be localized
Well there was ONE online version of it, where you make your character and can join with up to two others online and play, it never left japan but it does exist. Not the greatest they couldve done but yeah, they tried.
Edit: by the way, Im not too sure if like...it actually came out, I know they tried, I just know if it did came out it didnt make it outside.
Oh they told it, but you were looking at only part of it. From the concept it was designed to be a multi format story with games, anime and manga all telling a portion of the story. The original Anime (//sign) is the origin while the game (and the OVA pack-in) is the second part of the story. The manga (which became the second anime) is about a couple years later after The World has been cleaned up a bit and after that, I have no clue.
Yeah the story is all over and you have to check out all the different .hack things there are to see it all.
Right there with you. Story in the first series was good enough to keep me playing, despite that it was the same dungeon crawl over and over with bullshit magic/physical-proof enemies and 'have the item sack ready' strategy. I had more fun playing the second series, but I have a harder time remembering the bullet points.
On the whole it's a series I want to love and recommend unconditionally, because it's a good spin on the same RPG song and dance and the extra stuff scratched my obsessive-compulsive itch pretty well. I'd pay $texas for some kind of side story or between-mission element where you step away from the desk and get to mill around 'offline', maybe even doing some hands-on detective work finding out what happened to your friend or digging up the company's dirt.
As-is, it was good enough for me to go through all the games and do (almost) all the ancillary stuff, but just good enough.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Yeah but sadly they left that up to the DVDs packaged in with every game
I figured that after three sets of cartoons, (//SIGN, //Liminality and //Legend of the Twilight) a comic, (//LoT again) a book (//AI Buster?), and four games, I should have an idea of what was going on.
Turns out nope.
However, even though the original games still look really uninteresting gameplay-wise (It looks like FFXII only more boring) all the folks raving about GU's gameplay convinced me to give it a shot. I just played through Vol. 1 of GU and I loved it. I'm definately going after the next two. The Rengeki system is just too damn fun. I'm just going to enjoy the original series vicariously through the LP.
Be careful after you do that quest, though. Those "Battle Areas" you see in the dungeons will contain stronger PKs, including the high-level Chaotic PKs.
Yeah but these games get so ridiculously easy you can be as strong as needed in the games within around like 5 hours and just rape through the whole thing lol. Not the original 4 but G.U.
Haha yes, its cool, I like what they put into the game, I really wish theyd make a true MMO of it.
Yeah, I think the arena is my favorite part of GU so far. I really like how they handeled the way the enemy parties work, with the leader having the same yellow flash and sound effect as Haseo when executing the Skill Trigger and his team mates having the same red flash your buddies and normal enemies have. It's a nice explanation as to why you have the flashy Skill execution - because Haseo's always the leader and only party leaders get it. (Although they kinda screwed this up with the PKs you fight in the Battle Areas in Fields and Dungeons)
Fun fact: I fought Endrance at Level 39. He's 46. I "beat" him by the skin of my teeth, with Haseo nearly dead and Silabus and Atoli very dead. That was the last time I tried low-leveling anything.
Though earlier I wasn't expecting the Adept Rouge from Moon Tree to be several levels higher than my party, either, and got creamed during my first try when
Speaking of rad but useless weapons, I was sad the chainsword I got after obtaining Haseo's second form was already too low-level for me. There's no high-level rapid attack broadswords. (Though it doesn't matter too much to me anyway since I just use the guard-cancel trick to swing the broadswords quickly. Do they fix this in Vol. 2? I want a reason to use Dual Blades again because Beast Awakenings with them are more fun.)
Kite was a pretty paperthin cliche of a character. Haseo was way more interesting on many levels. Especially once you sit down and think about his background.
And yet despite getting screwed over hundreds of times he is still a total bad ass.
More RPGs need a main character who is just a flat out bad ass like Haseo the no crap taking, ass kicking, fuck the girly emo stuff, awesome man of a main character.
I never asked for this!
Yep, Haseo is a complete badass, and thats why he makes a good main character, he just doesnt care about things, its awesome.