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Got enough Virus Cores? GAF reads/watches/PLAYS the .hack series! (10th Anniversary)

Ultratech

Member
I remember watching SIGNS and Legend of the Twilight.

Always wanted to play the games, but found it hard to find all 4 in one place. Same for finding all of G.U.

More often than not, one of the games was more expensive than the others by a good amount.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Hey guys here's something I just noticed. Perfect for the "mindblowing facts" thread I think?

Kite and BlackRose are *the* .hack// team. While they gain lotsa allies its them that witness the majority of the story. Mistral is the unofficial official third party member of their group for much of the games. So we have:

Kite
BlackRose
Mistral

KB/M which is short for keyboard/mouse o.o

I watched SIGN, ROOTS, Legend of the Twilight, the four game OVAs and played the first four games and all three G.U. titles. I never want to do that again.

Well if ya don't wanna re-do stuff there's plenty ya haven't touched yet! The Quantum ova series is short, sweet, an cheap!

Yet I still haven't covered all, or most, of the .Hack ground? The fuck? This is pretty much where I have to give up until a new game comes out.

Going by what ya listed you hit up all the major stuff. Don'tcha go feeling bad just cause ya missed out on some manga & novel series!

I bought them all, because at that time an episodic game seemed so novel and full of promise. Beat the first and played a few hours of the second before getting bored. The one thing I remember most is how ridiculously difficult the boss of the first game was. Everything up till then was pretty easy but I arrived at that fight (I thought) overleveled and still managed to burn through a full inventory of healing items to barely scrape by.

Cakewalks not what I'da called it. The Data Bugs in Infection were pretty tough to and even regular monsters around your level could put the pain in ya. This is still holding mostly true for Mutation to.

edit! the dungeon I'm in right now has monsters beating my butt. Good think I carry lotsa ressurects and healing potions o.x curse you Temple Knight!!

Your a true trooper, I'd play them all but the huntig for cores-_-
Man were the grundies cute:)

Aqua Grunty from Outbreak is my personal fave! The virus core "hunting" has affected me only once and thats cause I was lazy and forgetting to DD every now & then. Even so I only needed 2 of one kind and I think 1 of another. So far so good but I'm not letting my guard down!
 
...I think I own almost everything that came out over here...

Haven't finished Mutation though. I felt it was a lot less guided in terms of weaponry and the like than Infection, and just couldn't find the time to sit down and get through it.

Have a perfect Infection save though.

I wouldn't mind sitting down and playing through the series, but I don't have time at the moment. And I need to start the G.U. games.

Let's see...loved Sign, enjoyed AI Buster, Legend of the Twilight (manga), Another Birth, XXXX, G.U. (novels), and G.U.+. Will get around to Alcor, Cell, and Link eventually. *as he glances at his shelf*

Watched...most of Roots before I couldn't stand how friggen annoying Haseo is. Watched about half of Legend of the Twilight before I decided that it was far too silly.

Oh right, need to watch G.U. Trilogy and Quantum too when I get the chance. *le sigh* The USB Bracelet is kinda cool though.

Also still annoyed that we never got the Link game over here.


Also also! Did it annoy anyone else that the official DVD release of Sign shoved Evidence AFTER the series? Confused the hell out of anyone who wasn't already a big fan, and made no sense placement-wise.

I liked that recap episode too. Added a few things from Subaru's perspective.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Mutation
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Gotta meet a guy called Wiseman for info on the Epitaph of Twilight, but that don't come cheap. He wants us to find him a Spark Sword and by golly we will get one! As it was foretold, K/B/M head to the protected area Λ Blooming Promised Walkway. Full of tough monsters especially the Data Bugged dragon waiting for us (AB says: "It's fire-based!" Mistral called out from behind. - its electric element. only when DD'd does it become fire). At the expense of many healing items the Spark Sword was obtained. For this, Wiseman gives his member address, the sword, and a big chunk of info!

In the news is word of a Smoking Regulation Law which'd ban smoking pretty much everywhere besides homes... sounds good by me! Word on the board is that a strange character was seen in &#923; Scattering Fossil's Milestone so off we go! Deep inside we meet another Wavemaster full of holes in his character. "Do you know? I'm looking for something. Do you know where it is?" "What is it you are looking for?" "I don't know, that's why I'm looking... I don't know. What is I don't know?" strange guy. Lios comes along and deletes him since "its his job" even though that Vagrant AI wasn't hurting anyone >_<

To mourn the loss of the AI character I went to the cathedral but people were there! "You go on ahead." A Twin Blade and Long Arm and a Wavemaster, all male seemed to be fighting. They faded away like all the rest and left Kite with a second Silver Grunty. Anyways... to the Net Slum! To &#923; Pulsating Worst Core! "Go East North South West North and the gates to Paradise will open." that's what Wiseman said to us. No matter how many times BlackRose said those words nothing happened so she got upset and left it up to Kite!

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Finally they arrived at the Net Slum which is filled with strange... people? "The fake real and the real fake. Which is real?" asked one of the residents. I have no idea! Finally someone called Tartarga told us the Epitaph of Twilight is the tale of an end. Helba appeared and Lios shortly thereafter. "Quit your yapping, woman." geez he's is a jerk! As he was about to delete everyone Magus appeared. Its exploding leaves and powerful laser attack nearly game over'd me but it to fell in time. After Magus crumbled Net Slum seemed to be hit with an earthquake and back in Carmina Gadelica... "You're kidding me... right?" well lets just say there's been an outbreak.

"Maybe this was a turning point.
The relationship between me and the game, "The World," has gone beyond pure amusement.
And it was spreading beyond the network..."

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Game Cleared: 12:48:30 (37:19:41)
Game Cleared 100%: tbd

//Liminality
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Vol.2
: Nogezaka, Yokahama - Yuki heads out for a stroll while talking bad about her family. Tokuoka's still at Tokyo and needs 2 hours to make it to his meeting with her. "2 hours bites." not when you spend it at an offshore movie theatre... watching a creepy horror movie? Over in the Tokyo public municpal library Mai hears that A in C major sound again... At that same time the movie screen flickers out mid-scene just after the words "The World" appeared on it. "If they had known I'm sure even they wouldn't have sold something that potentially dangerous to an unknowing public." Tokuoka... you may be wrong about that.

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Everyone must evacuate the building not so calmly! Traffic jams, no phone service, fires, no power... shit is going down. Yuki follows a nice employee lady to find a way out of the building while Tokuoka decided to run the rest of the way to Yokohama, go old man go! "This is to much to deal with. I'm going mental here." lol @ Yuki what a slacker. The lady has to slap some sense into her before they escape from the carbon dioxide breakout down an elevator shaft! "Guess this is the end of the world. What could have caused so much chaos?" "Second coming of Pluto's Kiss. Because when computers abandon us then all hell breaks loose." In the end Tokuoka finally reaches her but he's over 6 hours late lol.

Also also! Did it annoy anyone else that the official DVD release of Sign shoved Evidence AFTER the series? Confused the hell out of anyone who wasn't already a big fan, and made no sense placement-wise.

I liked that recap episode too. Added a few things from Subaru's perspective.

They just did what japan did. Over there the final SIGN dvd contained the last 2 episodes plus Evidence & Intermezzo as extras. Technically Evidence doesn't even got an episode number I think? An no the episode really did add nothing. There was only seconds of new animation and zero new dialogue. So lazy. x_x
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//SIGN
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ep.16
: Drama right from the beginning as the coma patients breathing stops and vital signs all go dead. Sora "tests" BT by killing her. What happens to Tsukasas consciouness? Some seriously psychadelic stuff apparently! He wakes up in his secret room seemingly well enough. Meanwhile the knights are worried they might not be able to rely on Subaru forever which'll only drive her further away the fools! "Can you feel my heartbeat?" ooh Subaru wants to see Tsukasa in the real world but she can't put into words why ~_^? At the end he takes a nap with the sleepy girl.

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ep.17: Mimiru, Bear, Sora, Crim all snub BT. 'bout time she got some of the stuff coming to her yet she turns right around and be's a bitch to Subaru. >.< "You don't bring reality into a game." yupyup. She gets guilted into taking some "newbs" out to a dungeon who quickly turn on her, dirty PKers! But one look at Tsukasa who happened to be passing by sent 'em running! "What does the sensation feel like when you experience death in this world?" "You have to guess who. Its like someone comes from behind and suddenly covers your eyes. He doesn't even say guess who? And then suddenly takes your hands away. But there's, there's no one there. There's only you with a little less of yourself just standing there." chilling. In the end BT decides to not quit the game just yet, unfortunately ~_~ Strangely after watching this episode I thought I smelled someone making a BLT!

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ep.18: Silver Knight damaging his relationship with Subaru is a good way to start! "I'm useful you should stop turning me away." who wouldn't turn Sora away? Wait what. Player Killing is an illegal activity? And Subaru & the knights will report to CC Corp to have the PKer banned if they keep it up? Thats messed up. Outta all the fields there are Subaru "had a feeling" Tsukasa would be in one and he was. Thats some amazing intuition.

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Whats more amazing is how there never seems to be monsters in the fields everyone goes to! Silver Knight lost it... sending a mail to CC Corp asking to be allowed to view game logs in realtime to help "keep the peace" which gets denied of course! "Who do you think you are?" Subaru is pissed and so is SK. And so she disbands the Crimson Knights. Thank goodness!

//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapter 1
Even in 2010 it takes hours upon hours to get news out of a crisis zone, but Akiras dad returned home unharmed. He must be kinda goofy cause the scene that stuck in his mind above all else was a man in a hawaiian shirt and a younger girl chatting with one another... Later on once "The World" was back in service and after having a fight with Kite, Akira went for a long hard jog to clear her head. Not my first choice of thinga ta do post-fight. "The church was as I remembered it. It was the second time I'd been there, and this time I dared to come alone" no its the 3rd time you've been there and 2nd time you went alone (see: AB Vol.2 ch.7)! She finally spilled her guts to Kite (while crying in real life!) and almost did the same with a friend in the real world, then suddenly an e-mail came in from Mistral saying they should hurry up and meet asap~

//Mutation - Overtime
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To start off: Grinding for elemental drinks to trade for stat+ books. Not nearly as time consuming as before since overall requirements were lowered but still finding a Thunder and Darkness dungeon with grindable rooms was annoying as ever! Goblin #10 went down with the help of a Beast's Bane and Magic Attack & Accuracy ups making her no problem at all! The three secret dungeons were more level appropriate than they were in Infection which made 'em feel abit more worthwhile. On to Flag Racing! Each "course" took alot of practice but in the end I walked away with 6 more Golden and Silver Gruntys! My 1st place &#920; time is 00:19:13 and for &#923; its 00:18:20!

Filling out the monster list took much less time than before since by the time I'd gotten to it I only needed 7 more, and 4 of them were easily found in the bonus dungeon. So... &#920; Bitter Fantasy Mirror World. A disappointment compared to the version of it seen in SIGN. No upside down man to be found but the boss monster was unique, strong, an even had a battle theme! Got a pair of cool rare items from it which is pretty satisfying! After two weeks I'm only around the halfway point for season one so I've got ta press on~

- Mutation
Game Cleared: 12:48:30 (37:19:41)
Game Overtime: 06:23:13
Game Cleared 100%: 19:11:43 (43:33:04)
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Triple postings pushing it but I won't quadruple post~ so if theres really no interest in this thread then it'll game over here! No one gotta be crazy like me an read/watch/play everything but still. If theres no more discussion at all to be that makes sense since the fanbase for the series is small an scattered! Anyways I got Infection and... surprise! AB pics up in my older posts! Now I gotta get shots for AB2 & Mutation x.x; In any case at this point in the series I feel its worth heading back to an earlier time. So I'm off to AI buster...

//AI buster Vol.1 ~ Chapters 1 - 3
Apparently there are many "sacred grounds" regular players can't access. Guess you could say these grounds are lost. "In reality, it would be easy to climb over the railing, but that wasn't allowed here" tell that to the cast of SIGN lol. "You're garbage! Bad code. Damaged data. The Cobalt Knights correct mistakes like you." I hate these guys already. "No matter what you tossed into the spring, he had to give you back something more powerful" if only that were true in the games themselves!

"Then I remembered. At least once every few months, a staged attack against a root town would occur." monsters in the town?! Not cool!! Orca was there trying to protect the town, nice ta see him get some face time in erm, the form of text. "Why was she so noisy? And bothersome? And blocking my doorway?!" if he hates that character type Albireo would really hate mine... then again I wouldn't blackmail someone into becoming their friend x.x; So now he's stuck with the Lycoris "event" and a Hokuto!

"Look at this idiot." said Hokuto who pointed to a stocky character with a giant muscular body and a tiny head who's carrying a heavy axe and is screaming. "They said it was a magic potion, but instead its just normal healing water that you can buy off any cleric for a gold piece!" ...I foresee many more tricks being played on this Heavy Axeman in the future. Captive Fallen Angel is the area where The One Sin can be found. Albireo had the chance to team up with Orca & Balmung to take it on but he turned them down. No glory for him I guess!

//SIGN
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ep.19
: "The number of fake Subaru's has increased." customization can only go so far but can't ya tell the real one by her name? Flashback to how Subaru and Crim met, back when Subaru wore a cute pink color! "You know you're not wrong right? You know what he was doing was wrong. When he chases you around and says things to you. No. You're not wrong at all." how many times in online games have we run into such a situation -_-;;? Some straight talk from Crim and the newbie Subaru goes from meek to the girl we all know and love! "She'll stay around to make sure things are set right." then where the heck is she in the .hack// era? A baby Grunty in a field is kinda strange. Kaochin appears and admits to stalking Subaru and... attacks but doesn't kill her which is more humiliating. And we finally get a glimpse of the real world Subaru.

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ep.20: The title always reminds me of the Lunar character! Sora called Silver Knight a loser and it made him rage. Pwned. Yet still wants to use him as a pawn, proving his craftyness. Tsukasa and Subaru have been spending alot of time together ^.^ And Bear wants to finish the search for the Key of the Twilight finally. Tsukasa takes Subaru to his secret place and... the sleepy girl is missing? "All men of great caliber have a kid somewhere in their heart." says the always cool Crim. "I love how stupid they are." Ugh. You really are scum." the banter between Sora and BT is as great as ever! The mysterious voice says she no longer needs Tsukasa and proceeds to Data Drain him? "I am not me?"

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ep.21: No ones heard from Tsukasa in some time leaving them to blindly search for him. "Silver Knight is jealous! Silver Knight is jealous!" Oh dear. Crim found a monster that cannot be defeated and Tsukasas not looking good at all, even Macha seems worried about him. "Monsters that are obviously unusual have begun to appear all over The World". The dead to the world Tsukasa gives Macha a piece of grass... "Tell me what you've heard. About the monster." Soras habit of asking people for info and PKing them is still in effect. Team Bears next move is to see the broken man again eh? "By any chance have either of you ever heard the name Harald Hoerwick?" cause he looks exactly like the broken man!

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ep.22: Helba told Team Bear about Harald and where to find another one of him so off they go! Meanwhile Sora is still toying with SKs emotions and Tsukasa is still broken. En route to the meeting place Team Bear is attacked by a monster that can't be beaten but Balmung shows up and bails 'em out! Harald created a being to awaken Aura but instead that being opposes and deletes him. Creepy. Crim talks some much needed sense into SK and we find out Tsukasa was being used as a tool to awaken a warped Aura. "We're going to take on the final boss!" no, not you guys Mimiru. Sora spots Macha in a field and as its about to warp away manages to get taken along for the ride...

//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapter 2
Akira and Mayumi meetup in Yokohama's Chinatown with a big surprise in store. "As you can see, I, Mayumi Kurokawa, am having a baby!" whaaaaaaat? She's 7 months in and will refrain from playing the game now that its become dangerous, for the sake of the baby. ;_; Later on a depressed Elk bumps into BlackRose who decides to help him look for the missing Mia but turn up nothing.

Due to not getting enough sleep Akira sprains her ankle yet stubbornly and painfully, rides her bike back home. She's so cool. "Could it be the fifth Phase?" no because only 3 have been beaten so far, talk about an error! Speaking of which her getting DD'd by Fidchell yet being able to restore her health and status is so bogus since she shoulda been paralyzed and asleep! Kite/BlackRose/Wiseman defeat Fidchell but are left with a very ominous message.
 
God, I remember when SIGN first aired on Cartoon Network.
"But how do you say the title?"
"I think it's just Hack."
"NO YOU GOTTA SAY EVERYTHING, EVEN THE SLASHES!"

I'm really bummed that I lost my memory card with my G.U. V. 1 and 2 data on it. Probably going to be a pain in the ass whenever I pick up the third volume.
I did just put on SIGN's ost. Aura is an awesome, awesome song.
 
Fired up the original .hacks the other day on pcsx2. Been playing through FFXII and I will say jeeez the outdoor environments look horrible. The dungeons aren't great but better. Character models are atleast decent and at the resolution look way better than ps2. Though when they try to talk the half done mouth opening and closing thing really got to me since I can really see it.

Kinda turned off by the battle system, but I am not far enough in to count the game out yet. I have all 4 of them and the first GU.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Hey everybody! Long time no update? A couple days off isn't to long! After some minor technical difficulties (finnicky capture card) and thinking on how to have as few gameplay-less updates as possible (this is the gaming forum after all) things is back on track!

//SIGN
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ep.23
: Begins with Bears real name and each of the main characters getting a mail from Helba! "Screaming Wind Sand's The Castle of Fate" that area name is much to long. Sub says: "Screaming Wind Sand's Fate Castle" which is more realistic. Everyone affirms their reasons for wanting to go which is standard fare for near end of stories. Subaru even leveled up a little to help out!

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Tsukasa finally comes out of hiding and his condition is that of a victim of heavy abuse. -_- Crim tells him about the real Subaru "The World was the only place she could walk around freely." ...she's been unable to walk four 4 years now. Helba works her hacker magic to make a "Helba Gate" appear in a field and the Liminality Vol.2 theme plays as everyone warps out!

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ep.24: Net Slum is full of data remnants of Tsukasa which is a disturbing sight. The Crim style straight-talk worked its magic again as Tsukasa himself joins up. Helbas program began picking up the remnants 6 months ago... so there's your timeframe for this series! "I think I'm a girl. Do you still want to see me?" "Yes, because. Because I was touched by your soul." so sweet! Sora pisses off the voice in the sky pretty good! It deletes the piece of grass Tsukasa had given Macha which makes it sad.

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Silver Knight and Mimiru break the ice and share a nice moment and hey he's only 23! "So Balmung isn't coming?" "He has no intention of dealing with hackers." sounds like him. Macha begrudgingly makes a different colored guardian attack everyone but Tsukasas one shows up and the two creatures Data Drain one another... "Log out. I wanna leave. I wanna go back." hearing those words, the voice is even more pissed.

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ep.25: BTs gotta stay behind to stock up on recovery items, finally some game-speak! Sora PKs BT in Mac Anu showing just how ruthless even Root Towns can be when PKing is enabled in them >_<; "The disturbance in The World may become much greater, but if it does then there will be others who start to realize that there is something wrong with the system. From there, others will take over our fight. If we can hand it off, then we've done our job." Crim on the cast of SIGNs role. "So old lady, who are you?" "I am The World." The reason Tsukasa was chosen is inside him huh? Bears offers to become Tsukasas foster parent~ he really does care.

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Crim vs Sora final round! Macha reminsices of its times with Tsukasa and the sleepy girl which shows it has a heart after all? Another oddly colored guardian appears in the cathedral! "Oh I am kind. But not a pushover." someones rubbed off on BT! Tsukasa decides to stand and fight! Er, heal. Team SIGN defeats the monster!! Crim defeats Sora!! But its not over. Not yet... Macha sacrifices itself so Tsukasa and the others can escape...

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ep.26: Despite warping together Tsukasa, Mimiru, and Subaru are all split up in the same field. "Those three are standing right next to the final boss." And now mind-games are being played. Dirty rotten cheating AI. Despite it all the trio did not turn on one another! "Aura. Can you hear me? Do you know the sound of my voice?" "There is no longer a role for you to fulfill. There's no role left to play." so about the first episodes title... "No matter what, we're not afraid of you. You're the one that seems to be afraid." yes yes yes payback! Aura awakens!! So cute! Tsukasas a good god mother ^.^!

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"C'mon what do you say Tsukasa? Let's be friends." Sora... "You'll learn that I don't take betrayal lightly Sora. I will now teach you that there is something far worse than death." said as Sora floats upwards with a red wand appearing behind him, which uses Data Drain. In the real world, someone with a 4th Grade class schedule falls unconscious while playing the game... Skeith heads for Net Slum with Aura as its target. Helba abandons the area getting everyone off the hook in the process. In the real world a young girl exits a hospital...


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Return. To go back. Tsukasa has awakened and returned to reality. I guess one could call hi... her, a returner.

Phew! Well now. That's one series complete! ^_^

//Outbreak
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Right from the start we got Helba being blamed for the comas and a version update to 3.02 which introduces Grunty search. In Carmina Gadelica Kite meets Mia who's acting awfully outta it. Worried about her, I head to the alley in Mac Anu where she was first met and spot a barely visible figure of a player. When I talked to her she came into full view and said "Is it possible for someone to be unable to log out?" before vanishing. ...seems familiar somehow. Got a new wallpaper and a Healing Elixer from the encounter with this data remnant.

The boards are filled with chatter about unkillable monsters, virus cores, and even a post about a red wand being spotted at &#923; Stalking Betrayed Nothingness. But first Mistral wants to chat over at Mac Anu. "Um... uh... I've been meaning to say this for a while, but I couldn't... I'm a house wife, and I'm going to have a baby soon!" and so we must say farewell to Mistral. Later on Kite is doubting himself which pisses off BlackRose! No matter who I try to party up with no one is online. So Kite must visit &#931; Chatting Snaring Twins solo.

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"Thus maternity has two sides: life and death. So was her manifestation a necessity? Morganna Mode Gone - She rejects my intervention." Deep inside the dungeon Balmung was getting pounded on by a data bug. I tried to help but ended up with a game over x_x; The next time around I took a more cautious approach and while the battle lasted long the monster went down. Balmung and Kite come to see eye to eye and join forces at long last! After this I get a flood of e-mails from friends with excuses as to why they haven't been online... In Piros' case, he didn't pay his fee so he couldn't access the game LOL. Kite & BlackRose, who claims she's not crying, make up and its finally time to start playing the game for reals.


God, I remember when SIGN first aired on Cartoon Network.
"But how do you say the title?"
"I think it's just Hack."
"NO YOU GOTTA SAY EVERYTHING, EVEN THE SLASHES!"

I'm really bummed that I lost my memory card with my G.U. V. 1 and 2 data on it. Probably going to be a pain in the ass whenever I pick up the third volume.
I did just put on SIGN's ost. Aura is an awesome, awesome song.

Ya I totally thought I needed to include the slashes in its name back then to! It was really awkward! Thankfully that train of thought didn't last long~

btw which version is the awesomest?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ-0XASP1-I (Aura)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTzeez6w1U0 (Aura Evil Ver.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmc2dx-mGiU (Aura Awakening Ver.)

Kinda turned off by the battle system, but I am not far enough in to count the game out yet. I have all 4 of them and the first GU.

The combat in the originals is really I guess, old-school do or die stuff? Not stellar but not unfun either. G.U.'s system is more fun but it loses some of that struggle to stay alive feel.
 

Stage On

Member
Hey Lindsay you changed your avatar to Terajima Ryoko! She was my favorite new edition to the cast from Outbreak. Well that and finally being able to use Balmung in your party after being teased about it for two games straight.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//AI buster Vol.1 ~ Chapter 4
Watari was with CC Corp from the year they were established and before moving up in rank was an errand boy to Tokuoka! He describes Tokuoka as someone who has the same dinner each day (burger/fry/soda), always wore hawaiin shirts, and smoked in the building even though it wasn't permitted! Anyway he's made aware of a post on the boards by W.B. Yeats who was also a beta tester in frägment as he and Balmung were. This post is the same stuff in the intro to Infection so I'll just leave this here~

Yet to return, the shadowed one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark,
has raised finally her army.
Apeiron, King of Light beckons.
At the base of the rainbow do they meet
Against the abominable Wave,
together they fight.
Alba's lake boils.
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power- now all to droplets turned
in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing,
this world of shadowless ones.
Never to return, the shadowed one,
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon.

//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapter 3
All through the night after the fall of Fidchell, Akira couldn't sleep! ...and small, in comparison to Minato Mirai, network disturbances disrupted among other things traffic controls. After hearing about Mia & Elk from Kite, BlackRose puts on her big sister face and goes to give Elk some company. As he opens up to her alil it becomes clear he joined "The World" to escape reality since he's not very good with people. He says Aromatic Grass isn't useless at all and instead is an item for making friends!

Back at school the cultural festival is here and Akira has to be the ghost of Nopperabo and has to stay overnight to help build the haunted house x.x She gets all hot & bothered when her wannabe boyfriend is on the run from his fans, how lame! Back in the game her, NOVA and Chimney go to &#920; Soft Solitary Tri-Pansy and meet Gardenia for the first time... good thing I never teamed up with the two at the same time in the games up to this point! They help her elude the ever persistant fan club before parting ways.

//Outbreak
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So much ta do but first things first. Raising my favoritest Grunty ever, the Aqua Grunty, glubglub! Friend requests came in from Nuke (seeking inspiration), Marlo (revenge on a monster), Sanjuro (can't figure out simple answers), and Gardenia (just wanted to spend time with Kite?). These were all exercises in pain and served to show that Outbreaks monsters are no pushovers and that you should be carrying Knight/Beast Banes cause physical & magical tolerance is out in full force!

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The most important mission of all was to locate and assist the cutest, most polite, total newbie there is! Terajima Ryoko is finally by Kites side ^_^! How a Level 1 player got to the bottom of a &#931; server dungeon I'll never know. Over in Net Slum, Tartarga relays a message from Helba and asks Kite to get rid of a Data Bug that's been hanging around. Helba wanted Kite to solo an area with an extremely strong Data Bug at the end of it which kinda pissed me off cause the regular version of that monster (Comad Goo) had been kicking the butts of whole parties >_<

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Kite/BlackRose/Wiseman head to &#931; Turbulent Distrusting Ice Wall to fight Fidchell. This Phase actually spoke! It laid out some bad sounding prophecies and taking it down took a good long while, with many recovery items being used up due to its powerful elemental attack. btw Wiseman did indeed get the final blow. Afterwards phone lines, stock exchange, even a railway all had outages. In unrelated world news, a professor revealed his theory about predicting future disasters utilizing quantum physics. Mia and Elk reunited and Elk gave her lotsa Aromatic Grass but she's not feeling well and even said "So, who are you?" to Kite. -.-;

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What do you mean one series complete? Episode 28 is waiting for you to finish the games and Liminality!

That doesn't count and neither does Intermezzo! Not that I won't get to either in due time but I think its safe to say I'm through SIGN >.<;

Hey Lindsay you changed your avatar to Terajima Ryoko! She was my favorite new edition to the cast from Outbreak. Well that and finally being able to use Balmung in your party after being teased about it for two games straight.

Of course! She's pretty much my fave character from the first season of .hack! Her clothing and design are great and the way she struggles to hold her weapon is cute! Many other people think the same since she was voted 3rd most favorite character in 2010! Wallpaper very related.

 

Stage On

Member
Lindsay where you a member of Altimite corp? Man I wish the community hadn't been gutted when they finished promoting the gu games. Doing that really scattered the fan base :(

Somehow I'm not surprised that Haseo was number 1 but hopefully the fact she was number 3 means that Ryoko will be in vs

I really love this series and it still burns me for the parts we haven't gotten in English like the Zero book or Link.

Thought I'm not sure it'd better that we got stuff like the link manga which basically ended on a cliff hanger with no real resolution.

Of course with Toykopop gone we aren't even getting the manga tie ins anymore which really sucks since apparently .hack was one of their hottest properties. Thank god they at least finished the GU books before folding even if it means you basically have to import the 4th one.

You know I never did finish the Another birth books since I got side tracked around the time the fourth one came out by losing my job at the time and then collage and stuff. This thread is really making me want to go back and start the set from scratch.

It's too bad the rumor about them doing a movie of the original games trilogy style never came true. Yes trilogy is a bit too fast paced for it's own good but it's so amazing looking that can forgive it. If only we got a proper .hack with that level of graphics instead of a stupid fighting spin off.
 

pantsmith

Member
What kind of genre would you refer to the .hack series as? Cyber Noire? Cyberpunk? Such a fascinating style!

The music and atmosphere of the game, coupled with the bizarre sense of post-modern self referential game-ness of the series is awesome. I can't think of another series that even feels quite the same, especially the feeling of exploring random, empty zones and their dungeons. I'm sure part of it is nostalgia, but even just thinking about the games gives me a trippy, weird feeling.

Ive only played the first three games, always meant to finish the fourth (a friend and I alternated buying the games in high school, which I guess threw things off) though my younger brother owns the manga and subsequent series (GU). This'll make for a good excuse to back and tackle the series.

Is there any word on an actual sequel (ie: not a fighting game), or should I just not get my hopes up?
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapter 4
Akira deletes Lios' "request" for help and instead goes with Mia and Elk go to &#931; Outpouring Vengeful Sipping Bug where Mia says some odd stuff an even more oddly defeats a Data Bug! Worried over Mia's words, Akira gathers them and many other notes up to give to a real world friend to study since she can't quite figure it out herself. Later on her, Kite and Balmung head to &#923; Merciless Grieving Furnace to meet Aura only to end up in an exhaustingly long fight with a powered up Cubia. Not looking forward to that!

Kite decides they need Lios' help and BlackRose declares she can bring him and Helba together utilizing a trick that had been played on her by her friends at school. It works and he agrees to join forces but only if they can get a virus core from &#931; Sorrowful Sweltering Arena without using Data Drain. Kite/BlackRose/Balmung manage to do so and finally Lios is begrudgingly on their side!

//Outbreak
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Lios called Kite, BlackRose and Balmung to check out an infected area but BlackRose didn't show. Although &#931; Rising Impacable Sipping Bug is a protected area, Lios somehow goes on ahead. What. I thought he needed Kite because he can't enter protected areas? "There is a possibility that "The World" itself will become a virus..." and that shutting down the servers may be the only way to prevent it from spreading? Not a good idea. Right as we get back to town, Piros is waiting for Kite at the Chaos Gate and decides to drag him along to a dungeon even though Kite doesn't seem like he wants to!

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&#931; Dying Windmill's Neigh was filled with pretty tough monsters and super creepy stuff in the sky! At the dungeons last room he yelled some strange words and Kite got a set of items which Piros begged him for and received. Upon equipping them he was hit with a ton of negative effects which surprisingly didn't bother him. After that the team went to &#923; Merciless Grieving Furnace to meet Aura but Cubia cock-blocked Kite again >_> The battle was surprisingly not that difficult or long.

Lindsay where you a member of Altimite corp? Man I wish the community hadn't been gutted when they finished promoting the gu games. Doing that really scattered the fan base :(

Hmm I was aware of that but never joined up. Its sad about the fanbase. Theres only really 2 big english .hack fansite and neither are super active.

Somehow I'm not surprised that Haseo was number 1 but hopefully the fact she was number 3 means that Ryoko will be in vs

She'd better be and not just as a support character!!

I really love this series and it still burns me for the parts we haven't gotten in English like the Zero book or Link.

Thought I'm not sure it'd better that we got stuff like the link manga which basically ended on a cliff hanger with no real resolution.

Of course with Toykopop gone we aren't even getting the manga tie ins anymore which really sucks since apparently .hack was one of their hottest properties. Thank god they at least finished the GU books before folding even if it means you basically have to import the 4th one.

Zero never got finished either (in book form anyway...)! Still I'd rather have 'em all then not. Quantum manga, novel, Movie manga, LotT Complete... why hasn't anyone picked up where Tokyopop left off yet? >.<; As for G.U. Vol.4 I got that from rightstuf and it didn't say anything about being an import item or nothing?

You know I never did finish the Another birth books since I got side tracked around the time the fourth one came out by losing my job at the time and then collage and stuff. This thread is really making me want to go back and start the set from scratch.

This is only my second time reading 'em, the first time was standalone. I've found while doing so while playing through the games kinda improves both experiences.

It's too bad the rumor about them doing a movie of the original games trilogy style never came true. Yes trilogy is a bit too fast paced for it's own good but it's so amazing looking that can forgive it. If only we got a proper .hack with that level of graphics instead of a stupid fighting spin off.

Was that really a rumor? I think on the making of Trilogy thing they said they were thinking about doing it. The original games could be more easily condensed but it'd still take two movies and that'd prolly never happen. So its for the best they never made one I guess.

Terrijima Ryoko's dad is probably a mobster and she is a bit crazy.

I'm okay with both of those things! I dun think she's crazy but even if she is its nowhere near as bad as Natsume! I noticed in Outbreak when opening a chest with Natsume in your party she now says "My goal is Kite!" o.o

The music and atmosphere of the game, coupled with the bizarre sense of post-modern self referential game-ness of the series is awesome. I can't think of another series that even feels quite the same, especially the feeling of exploring random, empty zones and their dungeons. I'm sure part of it is nostalgia, but even just thinking about the games gives me a trippy, weird feeling.

I dunno what the style should be called but like ya said it all works together well. Running around fields and dungeons in the original games just has such a "right" feel to it. And its great that they let you move around in first person to take in all the details.

Ive only played the first three games, always meant to finish the fourth (a friend and I alternated buying the games in high school, which I guess threw things off) though my younger brother owns the manga and subsequent series (GU). This'll make for a good excuse to back and tackle the series.

Is there any word on an actual sequel (ie: not a fighting game), or should I just not get my hopes up?

You're another person that stopped so close to the end? That stinks! Tackle away! An no, don't get your hopes up. Versus is looking to be the end of the end of the end of the .hack storyline. Maybe someday they'll reboot the series or do a .hack MMO like everyone seems ta clamor for (right after Nintendo announces a PKMN MMO no doubt)~
 

Stage On

Member
Ah it's too bad, I figured we probably knew each other through Altimite corp :( I'm surprised a fan as big as you are never joined up. Moontree forever!

It's too bad so many people never finished the series. Tracking down copies of the last game must be really tough. One thing Gu got right was being a little shorter at only 3 games thought I have to admit the long gap between Rebirth and Reminisce had me paranoid as hell that Namco wasn't going to finish the set.

The North American branch of Toykopop only printed a couple copies of Gu 4 that they sold off at their garage sale. I thought it would be impossible to get one for myself but luckily their German brach remained open and they do english translations sometimes as well and published the final book more widely.

Sadly Toykopop was about the only one to really do light novels so I doubt we'd get more of those at this point but I'm really surprised someone like Viz hasn't at least picked up the manga license all things considered but maybe their are legal issues tying it up or something.

Speaking of .hack stuff we haven't gotten I'm still pissed over not getting the Returner Ova
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Ah it's too bad, I figured we probably knew each other through Altimite corp :( I'm surprised a fan as big as you are never joined up. Moontree forever!

Wasn't that like some viral place? I don't join many places, heck I don't have a board account at dothackers and only recently did I make a non-anonymous account for editing the wiki!

It's too bad so many people never finished the series. Tracking down copies of the last game must be really tough. One thing Gu got right was being a little shorter at only 3 games thought I have to admit the long gap between Rebirth and Reminisce had me paranoid as hell that Namco wasn't going to finish the set.

It may have just been a rumor but wasn't Quarantine not sold at walmart and possibly other places because of the nudity in Gift? Could explain why there are fewer copies of it to go around. Man, Bandai was so cool back then to actually bring something like that over, even if it was sub-only. Meanwhile Namco was censoring Xenosaga to hell... and then they merged and it was all downhill from there.

Speaking of .hack stuff we haven't gotten I'm still pissed over not getting the Returner Ova

This totally shoulda been an extra on the Trilogy disc. And Trilogy shoulda been dubbed. But that's a different matter entirely!



Hmm how about some timeline discussion? Because I is confused and there is no .hack general over at that place... and cause random .hack discussion from any era is fine here too! Anyways:

#1: AI buster, SIGN, ZERO, AB, .hack//, Liminality originally took place in 2010! That's way to much for one year! So later on it was decided that AI buster & SIGN now take place entirely in 2009, while ZERO starts in 2009 an ends in some time in 2010. Does this seem better or wrong? Keep in mind SIGN covers a 6 month period and real life Tsukasa/Subaru weren't exactly bundled up for the winter in that final episode, and that AB, .hack//, and Liminality span about 3-4 months ending December 24th.

#2: AB clearly stated the Minato Mirai incident took place after the fall of Magus. Is this a retcon? Cause in Outbreak after pounding on Cubia does a news report show up regarding the incident saying it took place the previous day (could be a mistranslation?), likely when said pounding was going on. It makes sense for bad stuff to start happening in the real world after Fidchells prophecy but then theres Kites final line from Mutation: "And it was spreading beyond the network..." So when the heck does Liminality 2 really take place o.o?
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//AI buster Vol.1 ~ Chapter 5
"This was too much. An NPC in voice-chat mode who could give an apparently unprogrammed response?!" yet he still thinks she's an event npc character. Some top-rate debugger he is! Him, Lycoris, and Hokuto go to &#911; Captive Fallen Angel to watch Orca & Balmung take on The One Sin. "Obviously, water defeats fire, fire defeats wood" NO. Especially wrong & dumb cause just a few lines back the monster responded to the water attack with a fire one ~_~; The One Sin went down and Orca & Balmung would become legends. Lycoris also got her eyes back which is good to!

//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapters 5 - 6
After finally confiding with a real world friend about what she's been up to, BlackRose heads off with Kite & Terajima Ryoko to &#931; Generous Bemused Virgin! BlackRose thinks "my lady" is the perfect phrase for Ryoko but also thinks something is off about her. Jealous much? "Everyone likes her? Is he including me in that?" Jealous much. "Maybe he did have his own motivation for inviting me along, but all I could feel was anger. And knowing that made me feel incredibly pathetic." at least she knows she's wrong. She logs out and goes to meet with her friend only to find the wannabe boyfriend there to. But he proves useful in putting together this epitaph stuff and explains lots about Emma (parents died young, uncle was after her inheritance, worked herself ragged) and how she met Harald while they were both studying Anthroposophy.

In the game Balmung shows how thickheaded he is "Pick up on the mood!" "What mood?" "Girls' moods, okay? Look, even if something's happened, girls often do things like saying nothing's happened!" "Is that so?" lol he really is clueless. "It had already been over 3 months since Fumikazu fallen into his coma." BlackRose/Mia/Elk go hunting for Aromatic Grass again and when questioned why she likes it... "In my dreams, I'm called Macha. My dreamself known as Macha is given Aromatic Grass from a boy who looks like Elk. When I'm with him I feel at ease." o.o Right after returning to town she gets the message that is
basically time ta go fight another wave. At the end of &#931; Chatting Snaring Twins was Gorre. The fight went surprisingly easy despite not having a Wavemaster in the party. Balmung snags the kill with his powerful GiRue Slash and BlackRose feels one step closer to saving her brother, but worries how Kite will react to the next enemy...

//Outbreak
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While BlackRose is off working on her plan to bring out Lios and Helba, a couple friends want help. So its time ta help Rachel with her new courier service (which she quickly terminated afterwards) and Moonstone search for a Moon Knife (moon... moon...). The strength of regular monsters isn't letting up. Recovery Drinks get consumed at an alarming pace cause often right after a heal some or all members HP is knocked back in the red o.x; Heavy use of The Hanged Man & The Moon is recommended when possible.

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At Net Slum Lios says he'll join only if Kite gets a virus core without using DD... since Kites infection meter was nearly in the red from trying ta get Virus Cores, not using DD was completely fine by me! The mission was accomplished leaving players, hackers, and admins united! But alls not well. Helba informs everyone that CC Corp. is looking into trashing the servers to save their own butts. "They are planning on throwing this world in the dark, along with the lost ones.

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A post on the board talked about a cursed area but nothing seemed odd outside of a Data Bug. Next there's a post talking about a protected area which lead to another white room (AB Balmung says he "remembered" Orca had been searching there). Inside was a nice lil shack and another Haralds note. Kite/BlackRose/Terajima Ryoko then explore &#931; Generous Bemused Virgin (which was full of Data Bugs and love). Getting back into red infection area after having just gotten it back down sucked and was worrisome! That was one dungeon I didn't full clear!

//Liminality
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Vol.3
: Hida, Takayama - Tokuoka's taking a smoke break and chatting up Kyoko about the local culture and being chilly in the mid-winter weather. Suddenly Kyoko gets a text message from Helba soon enough Tokuoka gets a call from her retainer "Bith the Black"... seems Helba isn't just monitoring people and things going on inside "The World". They get led around town by strange clues much like an rpg and they put together alot of details about the EoT, Emma, and Harald. "Emma loved his talent, not him." "Mr. Tokuoka may not look like it, but he's rich. Make him buy you dinner." wonder how much Yuki got outta him after he made her wait so long lol. Finally they meet Bith and have lunch! Tokuoka has a burger, fries, and soda... yum! They have lotsa "deep" talk and decide to risk being identified as criminals to help the situation along cause doing nothing'll lead CC Corp. to destroying the servers. "Our next contact will be on Christmas Eve." thats umm really convenient to know.


btw I fangasm'd over getting Terajima Ryoko but just noticed I didn't do the same for Balmung! To make up for this I'll let Kite speak for me as we welcome him to the team!
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I watched all of SIGN and I have the first game. Hmm maybe I should start from the beginning of the timeline. Oh what's this? A novel? Japan only?

*cancels everything*
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
I remember I started a tabletop .hack rpg campaign in high school with some friends. I don't remember much about the story we crafted, but I know that the turns and combat phases moved super fast for a tabletop, which was one of the reasons why it was such fun the play.
 
The North American branch of Toykopop only printed a couple copies of Gu 4 that they sold off at their garage sale. I thought it would be impossible to get one for myself but luckily their German brach remained open and they do english translations sometimes as well and published the final book more widely.

...really? I got a copy at one of the local Comic book/hobby shops. (Forbidden Planet) It was their only copy. Didn't realize it was THAT rare.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Outbreak
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The group meeting in Net Slum was pretty short and after leaving, Kite bumped into Elk who was looking for Mia again. After checking my level and gear I decided it was once again Goblin smashing time! Three sets of 'em right in a row! Needed some serious strategy for these groups since they healed and fought back plus were super speedy! When that was all done with I bumped into another ghost-like character who said "It is not easy to act in the name of justice."

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Soon enough everyone was called back to Net Slum to begin the operation. As the bearer of the bracelet it was up to Kite to officially commence Operation Breakwater. The battle would take place in &#931; Chatting Snaring Twins, a place visited very early in the game but now its area level and monsters skyrocketed in level. It was a short trek to the bottom where Gorre would attack. This weird duo hit hard but didn't have anywhere near the lasting power of previous phases. The operation seemed to be a success, and yet...

"&#920; Server. Detecting fluctuation of massive data. Immensity... There's a possibility its the cursed wave itself. It's moving."

"It's running. This marks the beginning of the counterattack."

"Counterattack? No... We have just realized the true rule of the game Harald created."

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Game Cleared: 12:11:54 (55:44:58)
Game Cleared 100%: tbd

btw incase anyones been wondering here's the user name I've been using for this playthrough. Pime Taradox!

I watched all of SIGN and I have the first game. Hmm maybe I should start from the beginning of the timeline. Oh what's this? A novel? Japan only?

*cancels everything*

Well ta be fair EoT did come out 6 years after all that stuff. But still I woulda liked ta read it somewhat in order to >.<
 

Machine

Member
I played the entire quadrilogy and the first two games of G.U. The final game is still buried in my backlog. You're really making me want to finish it up.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//AI buster Vol.1 ~ Chapters 6 - 8
Albireo & Hokuto start to get along alil better and he obtains another Lycoris part~ but doesn't give it back to her just yet. Deciding its time to finish the "event" they all head to the cathedral. Several pages of translation chatter later, Albireo reveals he's not completely dumb after giving Lycoris back her memory then prepares to delete her >.<! Hokuto put up a fuss but he sent his spear through Lycoris anyway. At that moment the upsidedown man appeared and apologized to Lycoris saying she is a failure and couldn't become Aura.

Lycoris says she wasn't running from Albireo & the Knights but from Morganna, the "god" of "The World" who was going to delete her. God wanted to delete her~ upon hearing all of this Albireo felt some sympathy for her and was now hesitant to delete Lycoris... so instead she utilized his delete function and did it herself ;_; Back in his office Watari learns of a posting by W.B. Yeats which describes the conclusion of The One Sin event as if that player was there at the time...

"Even though no individual can ever grasp the system as a whole, it's still programmed for anyone to look at any of its pieces. The entire World exists in binary code and is stored in Akashic Records." This explains the SIGN flashbacks Kite sees, the Orca being deleted scene BlackRose witnessed, and more to come...

//Another Birth Vol.3 ~ Chapter 7
NOVA & Chimney aren't on friendly terms so its up to BlackRose to set things right! But first she must help Chimney with a foreign player. "Despite the fact that The World was played in every country on the globe, I had never met anyone from outside Japan." she met Sanjuro... but noted she doesn't ask people about themselves. It turns out that NOVA wants to avoid dangerous areas/monsters mentioned on the board while Chimney wants to seek them out. He and BlackRose eventually come across a Data Bug and she fails in persuading him to leave. NOVA comes along to help but its still hopeless until BlackRose lets it slip that the coma rumors are true. Chimney comes to his senses and they all run from the monster and safely escape back to town, friends once again!

//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 1
Worried over Mias dreams BlackRose wants to chat but can't contact her. Akira brings Mayumi up to speed, who hypothesizes that there may be some force behind the Phases. Kite/BlackRose/Balmung investigate &#937; Bigoted Snowflake's Capsule, a Lv.68 which is above their current levels (oops my playthrough broke canon!) where they squeak out a victory over the resident Data Bug. With nearly all medical equipment connected to the network it was only a matter of time before hospitals were effected. This worried Akiras mom enough to run off to the one Fumikazu is at, leaving Akira to watch her younger brother. This gave her no time to study for finals! After finding another white room with Kite, they return to town and find a depressed Elk. BlackRose invites him to help them and he agrees but she quickly comes to regret doing so.

//Outbreak - Overtime
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The good news? No elemental drink grinding needed! The "bad"? This is the most demanding post-game yet. The necessary number of Dungeon Clear, Gott Statues, and Springs of Myst are way up. Ya also need 240 monters logged... and theres only 244 in the series up to this point so basically ya gotta get 'em all. Then there are the secret dungeons. Instead of only being 3 floors deep they're now 4, there's 8 instead of 3, and are often filled with Data Bugs which'll quickly get your infection rate up high! I'd also like ta mention that Mia & Elk aren't available (will expand more on that later).

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So I started out by beating the last Goblin Tag. M-Atk/M-Acc Up, Beast's Bane, The Moon, strong magical attack skills. Don't have all of these? Well then you'll never beat the Martina T trio! Then came the 8 secret dungeons. Tough an filled with Data Bugs as they were I came out on top. The final secret dungeon I went to was &#931; Abrasive False Tragedy. Just inside the entrance was that A-20 person we met in the previous game. She's still looking for Golden Gruntys and gave Kite a Crystal Stone and a complete Grunty Food set! He must like her abit cause he actually had a conversation instead of "....." gasping lol. Near the end of the dungeon was Elk searching alone for Mia and when a monster attacked we saved his butt. Then in walks an "old guy" who chats for abit, gives Kite his sword, and notes that Elk reminds him of an old comrade.

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To take a breather from the dungeon crawling Aqua Grunty and I mastered the Fort Ouph Flag Race with a 1st place time of 00:16:46! Then it was off to &#923; Stalking Betrayed Nothingness, an area address picked up early in the game but since its a Lv.70 field it had to be held back until now! Even then Kite was one-shotted by the first monster he ran across x.x! Skeith's Wand appeared in the last room and along with it a Twin Blade character. He seemed to say "Thank You" to Kite then vanished, leaving Kite with his extremely broken weapon called Sora's Blades. As always to end things I headed to the games bonus dungeon which had a gooey exterior and interior! And a boss that could only be Protect Break'd from widdling down its HP with magic skills. And that is all for Outbreak! Things are far from finished so its time ta move forward to one thing apparently many people missed out on~

- Outbreak
Game Cleared: 12:11:54 (55:44:58)
Game Overtime: 07:59:30
Game Cleared 100 99.99%: 20:11:24 (63:44:28)


I played the entire quadrilogy and the first two games of G.U. The final game is still buried in my backlog. You're really making me want to finish it up.

!! The last G.U. game is great! Do it!
 

Stage On

Member
Oh yes Sora's Blades where like one of the most broken weapons in the entire series. I always kept them on hand even in quarantine because they are simply one of the most effective ways to protect break a Data bug.

Machine you owe it to yourself to finish Gu. Just being able to play as the Xth form alone makes it more then worth it
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Time to start the game so many have missed, which starts off with several bad moves! Oh and since Kite has met both Mimiru and Bear, I'd say nows a good a time as any for the SIGN ova!

//Intermezzo
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SIGN - Extend
: Mimiru & Bear meet up at the dungeon of a limited time event, one that last occured 2 years ago. Mimiru's goal however is to see if something is still inside. Flashback to 2 years ago when her original character and partner were saved by a powerful female Long Arm! Afterwards the pair head to the event dungeon and talk about how it has zero game balance due to having random monsters and item drops. Young Mimiru wants to leave but her pigheaded partner wants to go on so he disbands the party but the two fall into a trap...

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Which sent their characters literally falling through a pitfall down infront of the Long Arm who saves them again. She reveals that three people play her character! Young Mimiru reveals she is in 8th grade and her partner in college, what a mistmatched pair. Some monster battling and exposition later YM and the Long Arm show back up to save the guys butt. The Long Arm players use essentially a suicide attack to save them but something goes wrong and their character data can no longer be recovered. Back in the present Mimiru and Bear find the still crystalized remains of the Long Arm... ;.;

//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 2
It's winter and Akira is feeling down about Mias dream. She's also lost her starter position on the tennis team and did worse then her friends on the exams! After school she logs back in to level up solo. While doing so she briefly saw Mia in a field who said "I... can't see... Elk anymore. I must not." then gated out. Just as BlackRose was about to logout for the night Wiseman summoned everyone, meaning she's in for a long sleepless night. The Operation Orca battle party consisted of Kite/BlackRose/Elk who headed to the lowest level of &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars but were to late.

The wave had was now at &#931; Graceful Tempting Fallen Angel, so the team headed there. At the bottom was a very depressed Mia who Elk tried to comfort, but nothing could stop her change into Macha. As if to spare him, Macha knocked Elk out of the dungeon leaving Kite & BlackRose to fight her themselves. Being one party member short took its toll but the pair won. Elk made it back to the bottom in time to catch Mia's final words before she disappeared. Blaming Kite, Elk ran off in a fit but there was no time to stop him or even to rest because Lios chimed in saying the wave had returned to &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars!

//Quarantine
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With problems still occuring in the real world, the news and board are full of talk about a Second Network Crisis. "The World" has been updated to 3.65 and now includes support for Neuro Gloves and the Item Completion Event. Upon logging in, Kite is ambushed by a desperate Elk and makes him promise to tell him if he sees Mia! &#937; server Relic City Lia Fail is now open so let's go! We get some brief glimpses of the town before its instability forces Helba to warp everyone to her mirror server which looks like Net Slum. After some discussion K/B/B head off to check an area for Lios and when they get back, the slum inhabitant Spiritas asks 'em to check out &#931; Screaming Wind Sand's Fate Castle (sound familiar~).

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Annoyingly ya can't go right away because ya need a couple of J virus cores! Total jerk move. Once obtained, I explored the area but found no Helba Gate so all the way to the bottom of the dungeon we go! There was another white room, this one a scene of a woman waiting under a gingko tree. Back in town we see Elk and BlackRose asks him to join up, so at long last we have access to Elk again!


Oh yes Sora's Blades where like one of the most broken weapons in the entire series. I always kept them on hand even in quarantine because they are simply one of the most effective ways to protect break a Data bug.

I only keep 'em on me cause my storage is full >_< While the cheese is nice, using them makes it hard to protect break normal monsters. Which is bad cause while I made sure ta have enough virus cores from previous games needed in this game, I still need J/K/L's!
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Sora's Blades are without a doubt the best weapon in the first series. Yeah, if you need to DD something you might want to take them off, or if the boss is immune. Otherwise? Use and abuse that shit.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
The 3rd Season grows as enough info is out for me to assume .hack//Quantum I as canon! Another bit of goodness we're missing out on~ >.<;

//AI buster Vol.2 ~ Story 1: 2nd Character/Haruka Mizuhara's Situation
"My place stank to high heaven. Why? Well, because I slept next to the garbage dumpster again." thats a heck of a way to start a story! This person logs into "The World" using their second character a newbie named Hokuto who is so much younger than the player, so they use voice modulation software to sound the part. Hokuto spots Albireo's weapon decides she just has to know more about it so she weasels her way in with him! "Just because someone can read English, doesn't mean they can translate it well." As she follows him around through The One Sin & Lycoris events she develops a crush on him, despite being older than he, and decides on a new goal: to find out more about him and hopefully meet in the real world.

//Quarantine
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Moonstone found a good place for leveling but with an area level of 85 it'll have to wait. Instead let's help Piros who says his "friend" got ripped off. Deep in the dungeon the player JJ recognized Piros immediately and returns some GP to him. Piros then runs off not admitting to accidentally overpaying then thinking he was scammed x.x; A couple of grim news stories popped up. For 2 hours and 6 minutes no phone lines were usable anywhere in the world, same goes for medical equipment connected to the network. Not good. Shortly afterwards everyones summoned to start Operation Orca.

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Contrary to what AB said, Elk was unavailable to join so let's just pretend he was there while Kite & BlackRose did all of the work. &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars was pretty tough and more recovery items than usual were used up due to Elks slacking off. Things seemed off once I hit the bottom floor because there was a Gott Statue room and Phase dungeons never have those. Lios and Helba chimed in saying that we'd wasted our time cause the wave had moved to &#931; Graceful Tempting Fallen Angel -_-

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So they sped over to that dungoen and got to the last room as quickly as possible! Mia was there shaking uncontrollably and telling everyone to stay back and to not look at her. The lazy good for nothing Elk tried to console her but it did no good. And then... she changed and sent Elk packing. Macha had an array of powerful multi-hit magical skills which OHKO'd BlackRose countless times, and quickly taught me to keep Kite behind Macha while BlackRose stayed in the front. After all with only two people, both getting hit would likely mean Game Over.

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Her most vicious skill was Suspicious Seduction which charmed K & BR and made 'em fight to the death. It was super tense hoping it never ended in a double knockout and that BlackRose would revive Kite before getting killed! After what seemed like forever Protect Break appeared and she became stone and gave up the third segment of Aura. 6000 HP later she fell, and out of one of the stones came Mia who said thank you to Elk before fading away. Now its right back to the previous dungeon... (hopefully AB allows me to pick up an additional party member along the way!!!)
 
i loved Hack :// GU

un fortunatly i couldn't go back to the first saga mecanics after i played GU enough to go into a coma.
 
Damn really wish i had a ps2 stil. G.U was probably my favorite rpg of all time. Even more then final fantasy ten(which i still need to beat)

Well time to watch SIGN and ROOT, I think i have a twikight knights manga still lying around somewhere.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 3
"I wanted to follow him, to find him, to be with him in his time of need." BlackRose has really grown attached to Elk huh? Balmung joins K&BR as they head back to &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars. Communication with Lios is sketchy at best but he mentions suspending the operation and that his men had been "wiped out". The three enter the final room anyway and watch as Aura's last segment is returned to her... and as Cubia appears. While fighting it BlackRose points out the player model which looks just like Kites inside of Cubias core. Creepy.

"His report of 'My men were wiped out' weighed heavily on my heart." she never did want to get anyone else involved... ;_; Helba was able to wrangle up Kites friends (many of whom BlackRose noted she never met) to help... including Mistral! Balmung was promptly kicked from the party and replaced with her. Then for the third time that night, it was back to the bottom of &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars where finally a Phase awaited them. "Come on, you hammerheaded freak!" thats a pumped up way to get a battle started!

//Quarantine
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Picking up Balmung along the way its back to &#937; Cruel Vindictive Scars. Lios asks where Elk is and says that he's run off with the vaccine and that his men were wiped out. Aura was waiting below and said we can't fight Cubia. As if!... maybe she was kinda right. It did bring quite a beatdown and fighting its core and gomoras three freaking times took its toll. In the end it ran once again. "Cubia doesn't want me to meet Aura."

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There's no time to mourn for Lios's men. Helba arrived with backup and an improved vaccine. So despite feeling really down Lios agrees its time to resume the operation!

Sanjuro: It's gonna hurt if you get slashed!
Piros: May the stars shine upon you until the end of your journeys!
Moonstone: We'll win!
Gardenia: Iris. The flower language is: faith, hope, wisdom, and power!
Natsume: From today, I won't run away!
Marlo: Unleash the hounds of war... right?
Nuke Usagimaru: It's a great setup for a stage! Let's rumble!
Rachel: I'll make it cheap. You can pay me back later.
Terajima Ryoko: I hope all will go well today.
Mistral: Heh heh... I came. :) We can't... just let it be! I want him her to play a great game as well. :)

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The newly reunited team of Kite/BlackRose/Mistral went right back down (after showering Mistral with new equipment!) through that same area and dungeon once again. Not about to full clear that place for a third time I rushed through it not even bothering ta use fairy orbs! The really creepy Tarvos was there and its shifting between physical and magical tolerances wasn't to big of an issue thanks to Mistral. It had a one-hit kill attack but otherwise its unique skills weren't much ta write home about. Its use of PhAni Zot was the real killer of kites and roses. It was defeated with no problems at all. "One more left..." "No, there is still Cubia..."


i loved Hack :// GU

un fortunatly i couldn't go back to the first saga mecanics after i played GU enough to go into a coma.

I haven't played the original series in 6 years but got back into 'em no prob! No worries though, we'll be on to G.U. soon...er or later. Wonder if anyone'll play along with me then z_z

Damn really wish i had a ps2 stil. G.U was probably my favorite rpg of all time. Even more then final fantasy ten(which i still need to beat)

Thats pretty high praise o.o I couldn't call 'em my fave rpg ever because they're up there!
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
I wish they'd release a collection of the PS2 games. They were awful, but so much fun. It's the closest I've ever gotten to MMO gaming.
 

Arcticfox

Member
This thread has renewed my interest in the series. I remember loving .Hack//SIGN. It was also the first time I heard Yuki Kajiura music and I think I have purchased every OST she has made since. Anyone know of a good place to buy the DVDs? The series seems to be kind of hard to find for an affordable price these days.

Due to .hack//SIGN I purchased all four of the original games but I never got around to playing them. When I saw this thread pop up last month I finally started to play them. I just finished the first game and am about to start the second. While the gameplay can be a bit annoying at times, I have been enjoying myself and can't wait to finally finish them all.
 
Never finished any of the games, but I LOVED the franchise years ago. The idea of a game like that was just so cool...
I have the ltd soundtrack set and .hack//SIGN box... The soundtrack set is also autographed by Kajiura Yuki. I'll take a pic later.

Seeing Kite do his old data drain in the trailer for Project X Zone made me nostalgia HARD. I wish this series wasn't just a long string of personal disappointments for me, though.

My aim name has been blackrosechan since Infection came out. <3
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
I noticed while checking my Ryu Book V that I hadn't maxed Balmungs affection in Outbreak -_-;; Thats a 100% failure! My only courses of action are to go back and max it, then restart Quarantine or accept that this playthrough wasn't perfect like any of my past ones >_< It would take less then a minute to max it but hours to play through Quarantine up to where I am now again. I'd gotten all his e-mails so I thought I had done it. I don't wanna pull a Bear and abandon a world in peril...

//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 4
"I'd been staring at the computer for so long that I'd developed a mild headache." I know that feeling! Akira and friends concluded that Morganna was trying to stem Aura's birth cause it would mean she would cease functioning. "The only one Aura can depend on is Kite..." "I never realized before how truly alone Aura was, without even a mother's love." When she got home she found an e-mail from Kite inviting her to &#911; Raging Facing Mirrors Virgin which she was happy to do... until she learned Terajima was coming to!

They fought all the way to the dungeon and inside it. Each time Terajima wanted to go the opposite way of BlackRose, K&B ended up following after her until the last floor. Both girls got upset at Kite and each other and stormed off in opposite directions! BlackRose hit a dead end and Kite never showed up... so she warped out which is a canonical win for Terajima in my book! A short time later BlackRose wanted to clear the air so she found Terajima and discovered they were both annoyed by Kites indecisiveness and from there the two became much friendlier! Because of this that Akira was able to finally tell the guy who'd asked her out that she's not interested. On Christmas Eve. Ouch!

//Quarantine
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The Chaos Gate was surrounded by some of Net Slums AI inhabitants which left one after the other and shortly after posted four area words on the board. Kites email box was full as well so I went about gifting everyone then doing all their mail chains! Then a couple of X series Goblin Tags, where for the first time they let ya bring party members! Some people were posting on the boards reminiscing about the Crimson Knights and posted an area asking for Subaru to show up. "It may be none of my business, but if you're waiting for Subaru, it's a waste of your time. She doesn't..." Oh... well thanks anyway Crim.

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Marlo wanted Kite to come to a dungeon but wouldn't say why. I tried to go there but got game over'd by a Death Glare before even reaching the dungeon! It turns out the last room was full of rare items that Marlo wanted Kite to have. He's a hell of a guy! Rachel started a rescue service and enlisted Kite as a lackey. She got upset when the client instead used them as a courier service, but Kite cheered her up and they left satisfied!


I wish they'd release a collection of the PS2 games. They were awful, but so much fun. It's the closest I've ever gotten to MMO gaming.

Dunno why they didn't do collections years ago when all kinds of PS2 series were getting quickie collections. Prolly cause Scamco west had thrown the series aside by then.

Anyone know of a good place to buy the DVDs? The series seems to be kind of hard to find for an affordable price these days.

rightstuf has the boxset for $37.49 +shipping. I believe it lacks the SIGN x Game grand finale ep though.

I just finished the first game and am about to start the second. While the gameplay can be a bit annoying at times, I have been enjoying myself and can't wait to finally finish them all.

Cool! Being cheated out of dungeon clears/gott statues cause of "hey lets go back to town" is really annoying. Thankfully things get better after Infection. Less story/friend dungeons are 5 floors deep, and they are usually setup in a way that you can clear them out before you're forced to leave.

I have the ltd soundtrack set and .hack//SIGN box... The soundtrack set is also autographed by Kajiura Yuki. I'll take a pic later.

Ohhh which box did you get? Is it the big bracelet shaped one? If so I'll be so jealous. >_<
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 5
"Well... I don't have the Virus Cores to do it." novel Kite knows our pain! Mistrals playing on Christmas Eve cause her husbands on guard duty at the Tokyo Mega Float, so no partying for her! Her loss is K&B's gain since she accompanies them to each of the areas revealed by Net Slum inhabitants. Once the necessary Virus Cores were collected they took a dinner break. Akira had dinner in her bedroom with her littler brother since their parents were gone. Fumikazu's condition had changed which made BlackRose even more in a rush to get through &#916; Reincarnated Purgatorial Altar. She was annoyed to find out Harald was just a piece of rock! They then had to battle Cubia which was easy at first but by the end their stock of items was just about out. Kite decided to destroy the bracelet and threatened to do it himself if BlackRose wouldn't but she rose to the occasion and struck at it...

//Quarantine
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Contrary to what BlackRose would have you believe, she invited Kite to &#937; Raging Facing Mirrors Virgin just as much as Terajima did! The two girls battled and the boy was left all alone in the end. At least he was rewarded with a Subaru's Axe for following Terajimas path! And now that levels had been raised it was time to accompany Moonstone. At the entrance a female Long Arm named Aquamarine warned us of the powerful monsters inside. Further inside Moonstone mentions he had another objective which was discovered at the Gott Statue. He wanted the Marine Spear to trade with Aquamarine! She was very grateful and along with Moon Helm he got her member address in return ~.^

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Some of the Net Slum crew posted areas on the board and Tartarga e-mailed Kite one. Okay everyone this is what you've hopefully been saving up Virus Cores for! Four protected areas requiring various cores A through L, touching upon each game in the series. If you weren't prepared well this is what kinda kills people on this game. I however was prepared and dove right in! Within were barbell-like monsters along with very powerful ones, and even stronge data bugs at the end. Data Draining "The Guardian" turns it into "The Bracelet" ...which is overpowered and can quickly kill you with regular attacks and quickly cast high level summons of all elements, and even non-element! The reward for destroying the bracelet is massive exp and high level goodies ya got from using DD on its previous form. Speaking of destroying bracelets... n/m gotta stop here, need dinner!
 

Gameboy415

Member
I was a huge fan of the series when it started - I got all 4 games, the complete anime series (with the big hexagon box), the manga, and some other collectibles (wall scroll, figures, etc.).
The thing that originally attracted me to the series were the character designs - I'm a big fan of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's work (Evangelion, Nadia, etc.).

I plowed through the first 4 games back in college and, while I enjoyed the ride, I was pretty let down by the "ending" in part 4.
I've been meaning to check out the G.U. series, but I picked up parts 2 & 3 (found both on sale during trips home from Japan) long before I got part 1 and by the time I completed the trilogy I didn't really have time to play them. :S

I'll try to get around to them sometime soon though!
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Quarantine
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We come full circle with the final Gate Hacking taking place in Mac Anu. And so began the 10 floor deep dungeon of pain at &#916; Reincarnated Purgatorial Altar. With all the Data Bugs running around Kites infection meter was in the yellow by end of B2! This was Sora's Blades time to shine cause it protect broke Data Bugs like they were nothing! Keeping BlackRose & Mistral on Standby was necessary as well so that Kite could get in as many kills as possible. Even so he was in the red for most of the dungeon including the very end. Only a single magic portal didn't unleash monsters upon us. Went from L91 -> L89.
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Harald offered nothing in the way of advice of hope. "Traveler, take this to heart. It is darkest before the dawn." uh yeah ok? Aura was able to hang around and chat for once and explained about Kite's bracelet & Cubia. Speaking of which, that thing butted in again and destroyed the Harald-rock and the entire room! After some virtual skydiving it was time to fight the Cubia Core & Gomoras three times each and then Cubia itself! It launched some all new attacks but nothing could put K/B/M down.
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They fought and fought until its HP was gone... and then it revived itself. The only way ta end it was to take out the bracelet. For once Kite was decisive about something but BlackRose didn't seem pleased with the idea. He was about do it himself until she finally gave in and with that strike both the bracelet and Cubia fell apart and vanished. Without the grace of the bracelet how will they defeat the final phase? No longer protected from falling into comas, nor able to Data Drain. Still they decide to move forward with the final operation and meet up in Lia Fail.
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I was a huge fan of the series when it started - I got all 4 games, the complete anime series (with the big hexagon box), the manga, and some other collectibles (wall scroll, figures, etc.).

!! /jealous

I've been meaning to check out the G.U. series, but I picked up parts 2 & 3 (found both on sale during trips home from Japan) long before I got part 1 and by the time I completed the trilogy I didn't really have time to play them. :S

I'll try to get around to them sometime soon though!

Good luck! Don't let G.U. Vol.1 put ya off. It has... issues which are thankfully fixed in 2 & 3.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
Are you going to start up GU once you beat //Quarantine?

Item Completion Event, Unison, AI buster Vol.2 Storys 3-5 & Legend of the Twilight manga say no! Its not ideal having a ton of updates lacking game-game stuff but thats okay. Lets just say I'll have some surprises in store!
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
GU overall plays better then the original and looks about twenty times better.

It is a tad on the easy side and the class variety of characters they give you leaves something to be desired. The story is also much worse.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 6
"It was still alive, but it seemed to be suffering in concert with Kite." BlackRose is suffering to from the shock of what she just did but Mistral and Helba help to console her. Balmung forced his way into the main party leaving Mistral as backup >.<; He did toss them some recovery items as the battle started which was cool. Apparently Corbeniks first form went down easily, but its second was much tougher. "We'll beat you however many times it takes!" BlackRose yelled as it took on its leaf form.

They did beat on it but its Supreme Defense shield prevented a killing blow. "It's impossible." BlackRose was shocked to hear a player of Balmungs caliber ready to give up. Aura showed up with orbs of light which became player characters. "BlackRose is you, right, Sis?" she was stunned and overcome with joy until Kazu turned back into light and shattered against Corbenik 2's shield. Seeing that made her snap and attack the monster alongside Balmung followed by Kite. "As if they had pierced my actual body, I felt horrible pain. My vision dimmed, and I felt my consciousness slip."

She awoke alongside everyone else shortly thereafter. The operation was deemed a success and it seemed everything was back in order. While talking to Kite she received a phone call asking her to get to the hospital because Fumikazu had awoken! "When I had seen Fumikazu turn into a ball of light and smash himself against Corbenik, I had thought it was too late to save him." thank goodness that wasn't the case! A few days later Lios had reserved a café for an offline meeting, at Wiseman suggestion. Akira met up with Mayumi along the way there, who mentioned her poor husband had been beaten up by some girls and a guy wearing a hawaiian shirt on Christmas Eve...

"I hadn't any interest in an offline meeting. Even so, Kite said he would go, so it was probably inevitable that I went, too. I wonder who I'll see first."

//Quarantine
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The meeting at Lia Fail lasted long enough to confirm everyone wanted in. Balmung wanted to first try their plan on a Data Bug, but there was no time for that. In a turn of events the heroes were the ones cornered as Corbenik descended upon them. ...and proceeded to grant me 2 game overs! Its PhaJuk Zot and bounce slam attacks were massively powerful and learning its pattern was key to surviving its first form. ...wait, first form?!
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The thing sprouted into a leaf and gained even more attacks, such as Cruel Exploitation. An attack which drains someone HP/SP and gives it back to Corbenik 2! Kite/BlackRose/Balmung pounded on it awhile longer and when it was close to death the darn thing encased itself in a shield. No damage could be done to it and hope was wavering until Aura arrived with some backup. Orca, Kazu, Seig, Lios's men, Sora (and assumedly Carl, Alph & other coma victims) cracked the shield and the heroes attacks brought it down. This forced Corbenik into its third form, that of a... giant eye o_O?
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It was a huge and slow target so a beatdown was brought! Its new attack and "Seeker" spawns were pretty much a joke. Just when victory seemed assured Helbas server crashed! But then, how are they still online and playing? Who knows... In any case Corbenik 3 used Data Drain on Kite (er, shouldn't that have put him into a coma?) just before going down. Or rather just before it said "f it all" and used Drain Heart on everybody. One by one Kite's crew fell. Elk even took one for the team by pushing Kite out of the way.
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An angry and desperate Kite charged Corbenik 3, set on driving his blades through its cracked body but they found a different target instead... Aura. Was she protecting it? Hard to say. But her death resulted in it falling as well. The old and recent coma victims were returned to the town just alil worse for wear (Nuke ended up under Rocker Grunty somehow!) and prolly wondering "WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOR"! Wiseman pondered "Apoptosis - it is one of the patterns of life and death." thinking Aura and Morganna had to die before they could truly be born.
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"Is it finally over?"
"No. It's just begun."

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- Quarantine
Game Cleared: 14:17:38 (78:02:06)
Game Cleared 100%: tbd


GU overall plays better then the original and looks about twenty times better.

It is a tad on the easy side and the class variety of characters they give you leaves something to be desired. The story is also much worse.

I wish I could make such decisive thoughts on the two series! They're both so very different that its hard for me to find it fair comparing 'em. You are totally right about G.U. being somewhat easier and lacking in party member class variety.
 

Psxphile

Member
Item Completion Event, Unison, AI buster Vol.2 Storys 3-5 & Legend of the Twilight manga say no! Its not ideal having a ton of updates lacking game-game stuff but thats okay. Lets just say I'll have some surprises in store!

Oh, so you won't be going over G.U.'s Terminal Disc contents? That's a shame, it's a well-put-together bridge between the original series and G.U. Or will you be unlocking them as you go through the three games, as a first-time player would? Maybe that would be best, as it kinda spoils a certain big reveal if you didn't.

Oh, and I'd just like to say thanks. I've been enjoying reading this thread every time it updates. Moreso because you're going over media like Another Birth, which I never got to experience for myself.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
//Liminality
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Vol.4
: Tokyo Bay, near Urayasu - Yuki complains the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas while they're stuck on a tiny boat heading towards the Tokyo Mega Float, and Mai is seasick! "We've got two high school girls, a middle aged man, and... Yuki. I guess that kind of makes us like a second rate Charlies Angels." Bith catches up on an even smaller boat which they switch over to. They soon reach and break into the Maritime Information Support Center. Kyoko's annoyed at Yuki for being so childish. Tokuoka has Yuki fetch him coffee while he works and questions Kyoko & Yuki's friendship. "If you want to stay good friends, just meet in cyberspace, not in person." "I don't think you can really be friends with someone you never met before. It's not the same."

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A security team shows up to check things out and were about to leave but data told them someone used a vending machine just minutes ago. "We need to buy time for mister Tokuoka to get that server online and functioning." When more guards start showing up its up to Bith, Kyoko, and Yuki to stall them. Meanwhile Mai is witnessing the Corbenik battle. "Tomonari is fighting inside of the game!" Helbas server is on the verge of crashing so they need to switch everyone playing to their new one, but if the timings off everyone would go into a coma! Luckily Mai's great hearing picks up on the sound and she enters the transfer command at just the right time!

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With their job done a desperate escape ensure. Bith remains behind to distract some guards by posing as a security analyst. The girls and remaining guy end up beating up some guards, and get away on the boat, save for Tokuoka who's caught and beatup! Luckily charges against him are swiftly dropped! Fireworks light up the Christmas night sky and before long the girls meet up with Tokuoka as he's being released and alls well that ends well!

//Quarantine - Overtime
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"A few months later...
Orca and I started on our journey again."

In the news we see the networks back to normal post-"Pluto Again," the FBI planning to investigate Altimit & CC Corp for anti-trust violations, and the current World Network Council getting dissolved. Aura wants Kite & Orca to come to &#916; Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field. Will she join Kites party?! No. But he does get a new bracelet, and his infection meter is still in the red >.> So anyways "The World" is back to normal! We can see for the first time a non-Corrupted Fort Ouph and &#937; server is back to nor... no its still Net Slum which is pretty much the final dick move -_-!! The Item Completion Event has been resumed and clearly I am off to a great start with that.

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Now that the story is over and done with its on to the usual post-game stuff. The last three remaining Goblin groups were the most annoying yet, well maybe the final one wasn't to bad. Flag Racing in Lia Fail went really well and my best time ended at 00:08:03! There are only 2 secret dungeons this time but as before they're full of Data Bugs and tough monsters. The first special item found was a Christmas Card which I traded for the Wavemaster weapon Silent Bomber, and the second was an item called Risky Coffee. Now really. What could possibly be risky about coffee...?

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By the way Helba seems to have run into some "strange players" and gives you their member addresses, and her own! Tsukasa, Subaru, Sora, Helba get! They all start at 0 affection and are kinda hard to please so its gonna be a long haul maxing out their affection. Plus there's still 7 monsters I've yet to find. Looks like this games overtime will go into overdrive! ...huh? What's this post on the board about a cat player character?


Oh, so you won't be going over G.U.'s Terminal Disc contents? That's a shame, it's a well-put-together bridge between the original series and G.U. Or will you be unlocking them as you go through the three games, as a first-time player would? Maybe that would be best, as it kinda spoils a certain big reveal if you didn't.

That was one of the surprises lol. I'm playing from a fresh new .hack dedicated memory card so it'll just be the first 4 for now, and the rest as they're unlocked!

Oh, and I'd just like to say thanks. I've been enjoying reading this thread every time it updates. Moreso because you're going over media like Another Birth, which I never got to experience for myself.

Thankies! I'm not sure if I'm doing any of this stuff justice but I try!
 

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GU overall plays better then the original and looks about twenty times better.

It is a tad on the easy side and the class variety of characters they give you leaves something to be desired. The story is also much worse.

Blasphemy! Haseo's story is awesome. Watching his growth as a person from the first game until the third is just amazing!
 
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