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.hack// Franchise


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KuzuryuuTakumi



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 58
Location: In the land of Twilight, Under the moon
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:03 am Reply with quote
.hack// Franchise

This thread is for the general discussion of anything relating to to the .hack universe, be it the games, anime, manga or novels.

Main Discussion Thread for .hack//Roots (TV)

Post that describes general chronological order of the .hack// universe

Anime Specific TV Series/OAVs/Movies wrote:

.hack//SIGN (TV)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction
Themes: Online computer gaming, Virtual reality

Plot Summary: Amidst a popular online role playing game in the near future, characters try to play out the goals they set for entertainment and passing of time. The World as the RPG is called is one with a setting of monsters, player characters and dungeons. Tsukasa is a detached and introverted character that has a number of mysteries about his player character. Many weird happenings seem to suround Tsukasa and his involvement in a rare item called 'The Key Of The Twilight' sparks Tsukasa'a meeting with different online characters and the befriending of their real life counterparts; All without ever meeting face to face in reality. What is strange about Tsukasa is that he can't seem to log out of The World. Subaru and Silver Knight of The Crimson Knights continue to look for proof of why Tsukasa can not log out or the existance of The Key Of The Twilight. Meanwhile Bear, Mimiru, and BT as Tsukasa's friends try to help him understand who he really is and how he can return to the real world.

-------

.hack//Liminality (OAV), side story of .hack//Another Birth (light novel), sequel of .hack//SIGN (TV)

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
Themes: Online computer gaming

Plot Summary: In the year 2007, an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) known as 'The World' is released in the US and becomes insanely popular, spreading worldwide and reaching up to 20 million players. One day, a mysterious phenomenon occurs where all the monsters in the game become increasingly powerful and harbour otherwise unheard of abilities. Along with this, players are unable to make any progress with their characters. Naturally, these occurrences render The World rather unplayable, so a player who goes by the name of Kite decides to get to the bottom of it.

-------

.hack//GIFT (OAV)

Genres: Action, Comedy, Fantasy

Plot Summary: Helba has created the Twilight Hot Springs for our heroes from the .hack game series and the .hack//SIGN series. Now the characters race to see who finds it first, and to solve some mysterious player-killings.

-------

.hack//Intermezzo (OAV), sequel of .hack//SIGN (TV)

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Plot Summary: Bear joins Mimiru for an event held in the Dungeon of Nankoflak, a newly reopened dungeon known for giving rise to many a legend in the past. But Mimiru isn't there for the experience points or the treasure, but rather memories of one of her first experiences in The World, and the players she met there.

-------

.hack//Unison (OAV), sequel of .hack//Intermezzo (OAV)

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Plot Summary: A number of characters from .hack//SIGN and .hack video games come together for a big party in Cyber Slum. Taking place after the end of the .hack video games, "Unison" is more or less an epilogue to both the games and the TV series. Helba invites Tsukasa, Bear, BT, Mimiru, Subaru, Silver Knight, Sora, Crim, Kite, BlackRose, Mistral, Balmung, Orca, Elk and Mia to a huge party in Net Slum. Some characters reunite, some meet for the first time, and everybody gets their funk on.

-------

.hack//Legend Of The Twilight (TV), adapted from .hack//Legend of the Twilight (manga), sequel of .hack//SIGN (TV)

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Themes: Harem, Incest, Online computer gaming, Virtual reality

Plot Summary: Shugo and his twin sister Rena, two new players in The World, (a future online roleplaying game) are caught up in an unknown agenda. Unstopable monsters have started appearing and players that encounter these monsters fall into comas in the real world. Playing the limited edition characters, Kite and Black Rose, and the wielding the mysterious twilight bracelet, the two siblings must figure out what is going on and stop it before the damage escalates.

-------

.hack//Roots (TV)

Genres: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction
Themes: MMORPG, Unrequited love, Virtual reality

Plot Summary: In 2015, CC Corporation's datacenter caught on fire destroying "The World". By splicing in data from what would have been another project, CC Corp. was able to rebuild the game. In 2016, "The World R:2" was released. .hack//Roots covers the time Haseo spent with Shino and Ovan in the guild known as the Twilight Brigade, before the .hack//G.U. PS2 games.

-------

.hack//G.U. Trilogy (movie), sequel of .hack//Roots (TV)

Genres: Action
Themes: Virtual reality

Plot Summary: In his quest for revenge against Tri-Edge and to wake Shino from her coma Haseo searches accross The World as a killer of Player Killers. He comes accross a girl named Atolli who despite his callous and dismissive attitude twards her takes an interest in him and decides to help him. She brings up old wounds for him because of her characters' design and class. He forms new aliances and attempts to discover the mystery behind the comas that are plauging members and the entities known as AIDA.

-------

.hack//The Movie

Genres: Action, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Themes: Online computer gaming, Virtual reality

Plot Summary: Although all her high school friends are playing "The World", an online role playing game, Sora Yuki is reluctant due to her grandfather who seems to be avert to technology. Things change once she finds out that he secretly started playing this game. Now with no restrictions and with the help of her friends, she timidly enters the game and is thoroughly impressed by it. While still learning the basics of how to play, she witnesses an odd event: a mysterious girl being attacked by a smoke-like entity. The girl has no problem in avoiding its charges, but while doing it she approaches Sora and gives her a strange small cube that enters her online body. From then on, news start to appear that some players are losing consciousness while playing "The World".

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.hack//G.U. Returner (OAV)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Themes: Virtual reality

Plot Summary: The characters from previous .hack//G.U. Games and .hack//Roots receive an email from Ovan. He is requesting them to go to Hidden Forbidden Festival where is set up a mysterious summer festival. There they find an AIDA Chim Chim who wishes to peacefully co-exist with the other players of The World. It then transforms into the word "Returner", so they assume it to mean that Ovan will return to The World.

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.hack//Quantum (OAV)

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Themes: Online computer gaming

Plot Summary: Asumi Aida is a cheerful high school student who lives a parallel life inside an online fantasy role-playing game called The World R:X. There her username is Sakuya. While playing together with her classmates Iori Ikuta (username Tobias) and Eri Etou (username Mary) inside the game and having an ordinary treasure hunting adventure, they end up caught in an ominous situation. After an unfortunate encounter with an elite guild and a mysterious player named Hermit, Etou loses consciousness and for an unknown reason is unable to wake up.


----------------------------------

I'll start off with an example of how I hope future posts will be structured:

.hack//A.I Buster 1

I felt that .hack//A.I Buster 1 was a good, if somewhat brief, read and provides an interesting viewpoint of "The World". Seeing the World through the eyes of a system administrator gives a different feel than the usual newbie player and helps to straighten out some of the mechanics of the game itself (while destroying my image of the game being Matrix-esque).

However, I don't think it's really a neccesary part of the overall story, but because of this, it does well as a stand alone project.


.hack// Overall (all included)

I think it was CanSomebodySayMedic who referred to .hack as Bandai's cash cow... and that can be argued with how many different mediums are being used to sell the overall story, but I think the story itself is well worth the effort of trying to watch/read/play all of it.

To CanSomebodySayMedic, I hope this thread satisfies what you wanted from the start Very Happy

Updated thread to include links to all anime tv series, OAVs, and movies. --willag 10Jan15
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11301
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:07 am Reply with quote
THANK you, at least someone around here knows how to do things right. To avoid clutter, I'm not going to sticky this, but I will add it to the "All Discussions" thread under the .hack//Roots tab.

I actually got a PM from him (Medic) saying he was scared I would ban his account if he didn't do it right, and I guess he left Shocked. I just meant he wouldn't be allowed to make another .hack thread, that's all...

But yeah, have at it.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar


Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16935
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:23 pm Reply with quote
Considering your avatar Tony I can see it now. Little Black Rose and Bear threads running around. You chasing after them with a giant forum locking machine gun. Heh. Running them down and saying "Say Hello to My Little Friend." After each thread that gets locked "Another One Bites The Dust" will start playing. Pure gold. Hey, Nagisa can be your partner. He's been kinda subdued lately so I think a good smitting might be right up his alley. He can be that new chcik from Nuu (is that right? the new game) with the ghetto booty hanging out of those shorts. He did say he'd use feminine wiles in another thread....

Anywho, since this is a .hack thread how about some .hack questions. Here's one. Can someone tell me the bloody order!!!!!!!!!!! I have spent so much time trying to keep all the games and series and ovas in order that my mind hurts. I actually enjoyed .hack//sign. I thought the games (original 4)were more fun and had better story lines to them but it was enjoyable. Loved the sound track to the series. The games were simple, nothing fancy in terms of an rpg for me but they were fun. That's what made them easier to comprehend I think. Then I started hearing about all these other forms of .hack and I can't keep them straight. Someone educate me and just let me know the proper order at least so I can play/watch them in the right order.
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KuzuryuuTakumi



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 58
Location: In the land of Twilight, Under the moon
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:39 pm Reply with quote
psycho 101 wrote:
Anywho, since this is a .hack thread how about some .hack questions. Here's one. Can someone tell me the bloody order!!!!!!!!!!! I have spent so much time trying to keep all the games and series and ovas in order that my mind hurts. I actually enjoyed .hack//sign. I thought the games (original 4)were more fun and had better story lines to them but it was enjoyable. Loved the sound track to the series. The games were simple, nothing fancy in terms of an rpg for me but they were fun. That's what made them easier to comprehend I think. Then I started hearing about all these other forms of .hack and I can't keep them straight. Someone educate me and just let me know the proper order at least so I can play/watch them in the right order.


*sigh* I'll try...

.hack//AI Buster 1
.hack//AI Buster 2
.hack//SIGN
.hack//Zero
.hack//Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, Quarantine (ps2)
.hack//Another Birth (alternate POV of ps2 games)
.hack//Liminality (coincides with ps2 series)
.hack//Legend of the Twilight (manga version)
.hack//AI Buster 2 (stories related to LOTT)
----------------------------------------------------------
.hack//Terminal disk
.hack//Roots
.hack//CELL (coincides with Roots)
.hack//G.U
.hack//Online Jack (coincides with G.U)
----------------------------------------------------------
These are considered non-canon

.hack//4koma
.hack//XXXX (pronounced X-force)
.hack//LOTT (anime)
.hack//G.U+
-----------------------------------------------------------
I have no idea where to fit the following in, so I'll leave them here for now Confused

.hack//Alcor
.hack//GnU

EDIT: Added a few bits here and there.


Last edited by KuzuryuuTakumi on Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:31 am; edited 4 times in total
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 4:44 pm Reply with quote
KuzuryuuTakumi wrote:
I've heard of more Anime smile + sweatdrop but I'm not sure if they're considered canon, or of their place in the timeline, so I've excluded them.
Actually, a question from me now, does anyone know anything about the .hack//Alcor manga?


Another item that should be added is probably .hack/Zero (A novel), which takes places sometime after the original four games and somewhere before GU. And contains information about Sora, and who the characters is. And also the terminal disc should be included, terminal disc is the special edition disc (duh) that came with pre-order of Volume one of GU. The disc has key information on the how CC corporation dealt with the end of the original world and the "World" version 2. There also some commentary on the GU games as well, but I haven't unlocked them yet.

As for .hack//Alcor manga all I know is from the hack wiki site, by the way is a great resource for people looking for information.

Delta

Edit: If you want an actual time line for the .hack universe here is that, it's an interesting read but there are some spoilers.
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Zalis116_v2



Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:10 am Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
THANK you, at least someone around here knows how to do things right. To avoid clutter, I'm not going to sticky this, but I will add it to the "All Discussions" thread under the .hack//Roots tab.
Sorry to not talk about .//hack for a post, but you gotta admit, CySM's idea of stickying the thread was a bit silly in the first place--there aren't any stickies for specific series currently on the site (and probably never will be) ; and if extremely popular series like Haruhi, Evangelion, and Death Note don't have stickies, why should .//hack get one?
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:09 am Reply with quote
Zalis116_v2 wrote:
Sorry to not talk about .//hack for a post, but you gotta admit, CySM's idea of stickying the thread was a bit silly in the first place--there aren't any stickies for specific series currently on the site (and probably never will be) ; and if extremely popular series like Haruhi, Evangelion, and Death Note don't have stickies, why should .//hack get one?


I agree with you Zalis (are you stuck with V2?) that we don't need a sticky thread for .hack but it would be nice to be able to grab this off the all discussion page when you want to find some information about .hack or any of it's mediums available to us.

Delta
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 2424
Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:09 pm Reply with quote
Finally! A decent general .hack topic. I would consider myself a pretty big fan.

(By the way, this is a very old username, but it's .hack anyway.)

KuzuryuuTakumi wrote:
I have no idea where to fit the following in, so I'll leave them here for now Confused

.hack//Another Birth


This is a novel. Basically BlackRose's version of the games.
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CrazyCanuck



Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 101
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:13 pm Reply with quote
KuzuryuuTakumi wrote:

These are considered non-canon

.hack//4koma
.hack//XXXX (pronounced X-force)
.hack//LOTT (anime)
.hack//G.U+


Out of curiousity, why is the LotT manga considered canon and the anime not? I've read/seen both and am curious how this distinction was made. Usually it would be the other way around with the later anime being in continuity with the earlier anime. Neither version was particularly enthralling in my opinion, but I'm surprised to see one labelled non-canon. Does something in Roots or G.U. directly contradict it?
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:57 pm Reply with quote
I think it has to do with how the anime differs from the manga and the information provided in the .hack/analysis book that never made it to the US. Although I can't confirm that directly, most of the information from Analysis is considered to be the golden rule of the .hack universe.
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KuzuryuuTakumi



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
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Location: In the land of Twilight, Under the moon
PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:28 am Reply with quote
The LOTT anime is considered non-canon because the character Zefie never appears in it, and she is briefly mentioned in the Terminal disk, although she isn't referred to by name.

At least that's what I've been told Rolling Eyes
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KuzuryuuTakumi



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 58
Location: In the land of Twilight, Under the moon
PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:30 pm Reply with quote
*ahem* I'd appreciate it if this thread served it's purpose Evil or Very Mad
Frank, don't worry about your previous posting errors, think about the ones you may be making in the future - after all, your account is still active

I have a question for those of you who have .hack//G.U vol.1 - Rebirth
I've been looking forward to this game since the first trailer was released over two years ago but since I'm in merry old England where games and anime are released really late, I'd like to know if it's any good.
Specifically speaking, I'd like to know about the gameplay, the pacing, the story and basically an unbiased review of the game.
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Animefreak6969



Joined: 18 Aug 2006
Posts: 587
PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 5:08 pm Reply with quote
Here i go. first the Game is Great all-in-all

Gameplay: in the fights its action packed, easy to get in too, and smoothly moves into the special attacks. Outside of fighting kicking Chim-Chims is fun and you get to ride a Steam Bike, and theres a lot of cutscenes between running around doing erandsand stuff

Pacing: well....it moves through the game either fast in some places and slow on others depending what you do, like if you do all the side quests it kind of goes slow, but over all its fine.

Story: Well its .hack so its Great if not slightly confusing to anyone who doesnt know .hack. An EPIC tragedy of Romance and Jealousy over an online game
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Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:24 am Reply with quote
KuzuryuuTakumi wrote:
I have a question for those of you who have .hack//G.U vol.1 - Rebirth
I've been looking forward to this game since the first trailer was released over two years ago but since I'm in merry old England where games and anime are released really late, I'd like to know if it's any good.
Specifically speaking, I'd like to know about the gameplay, the pacing, the story and basically an unbiased review of the game.


Alright

Gameplay: Well first off the gameplay in this game is much more action in it compartively to the original four games. However gameplay feels like a game that is two years old. Battle aren't random, but it's basically the same as the old game whereas if you approach the gate enemies will appear. The difference is the enemy can be seen and you can avoid them, (much like the gates in the old game) one thing that is different is that you can surpurise attack the enemy by basically waiting for the monster to turn it's back.......or you can run your bike into an enemy for damage. As for battle part once you start a battle your trap in a battle area, and can't escape (except for using an item) and which point you'll run up to the enemy and hit x over and over. So in a sense your still pressing X over and over (like the old game) but you spent a lot less time in pause mode, since the art (SP moves in the original games) can be attach to hotkeys. Once you done a large enough combo you can perform a Ren geki (Spelling sorry) which is when you use a special move (know as art) to inflict more damage. By performing Ren Geki you get extra experience points at the end of the battle. Oh yeah you can perform your art at anytime during a battle but you want to wait for a ren geki, however once you use an art you have to wait a certain amount of time.....this helps from people using the same art over and over like in the old game. You can try to guard attacks as well, which becomes important as you take on other players in PK battles. One thing about the game is that you can level up fairly easy and lots of battle become more annoying then fun since you only get one experience point, (since your so strong) and I spent a lot of time avoiding fighting to just move to the next story point.

Pacing: I felt like in this first game I am actually geting more story as I play rather then getting all the story at the end of volume like in the first 4 games. There always some sort of adventure/quest to do it but some times I felt the cut scene were a little heavy and wanted to skip them. You'll noticed this when doing the subquest, after you finish a quest you have to read a bunch of text that you really don't care about (most of the time) and are trying to see what treasure your getting. Collecting virus core was a pain in the original four games right, well they got rid of those and added chim-sphere. Basically once you have entered a field, there might be a door blocking your path so you'll have to give in chim-spheres. To collect these you have to kick these stupid looking yellow/blue creature, but at least there isn't 9 different types of sphere like in the original game.

Story: If you had the chance to see Roots you probably hated certain characters.....well at least those characters are gone, are Hero Haseo isn't as much of a pain in the ass. The story has it's moments where you want to know more, and of course there are cliffhanger throughtout, and so far the characters aren't as flush out as you would want them to be....but be that what it may we know there are sequel on the way and hopefully there is more development of the characters.

By the way why didn't IGN review this? I mean isn't IGN suppose to be the site for videogames? Honestly .hack is one of the few (original) game still coming out for PS2. To be specific I felt that the game was a solid 7.5 worth the $40. although I bought the Special edition and terminal disc is worth it so get that if you can....however I didn't really care for the action figure of Haseo. So if your a fan you got to get the game, I wouldn't recommend this for non-hack fans.

Delta

P.S. Message me if you want any other info.
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Animefreak6969



Joined: 18 Aug 2006
Posts: 587
PostPosted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:34 am Reply with quote
*whistle* beats the crap out've my review, but i didn't want to use the names of attacks or give specific details about the battles and gameplay, but GO DELTA!!!
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