#.hack//g.u. rebirth

[vgadvisor]

[bearpillowmonster]

.Hack GU: Vol 1 (Gameplay)

The complete experience is overhauled so that you're not exploring this big open area to find one little dungeon, instead it's set up so that you have "islands" and bridges to them so that you collect specific pieces to unlock the dungeon, bingo bongo, it's that simple. It may sound like a hassle but really, those ones are kind of the dungeon in themselves, you more or less just collect the treasure after that but then there are some regular dungeons that you just spawn in from the get-go, no key necessary (mainly the keywords that aren't main quests.)

The movement speed is much faster in comparison, it's almost like you have a speed charm on at all times, which for someone of my nature who gets dizzy easily, this is not in my favor but it becomes manageable and matches the size of the worlds. I do wish there were a few more movement options though-

Is that-

Unfortunately it doesn't control very well…

The combat has proper combos and specials, if you thought it needed more flash, there you go. It still feels similar in nature with the hack and slash but you don't really do everything from the menu anymore, you can leave your party members to their own and treat them as you would Donald and Goofy from KH. You don't hear their battle quotes as much but that's because you hear those same six ear grating grunts and groans from Haseo, it gets old very very quickly.

But like said, the combat at its core is still similar to Kite's because he's an Adept Rogue but you get an extension later on that allows you to play a bit differently (more like BlackRose would) which is a big shift with going from fast paced small attacks to slow paced big attacks but I also feel like should've been done for variety, it's a toss up.

There's a morale bar, where doing things right such as taking care of your party members, using special attacks and so on and so far will start to manifest the bar to fill up, once it does, you get a team attack, normally a stat boost like a rage factor. Doing stuff like that can net you more exp and prizes after battles so rather than every enemy dropping a chest, they just give the crap straight to you. At the end of a dungeon/your leave, you'll get a ranking which tells you how efficient you collected everything, the better you do, the better prize.

You can block now which I don't normally use but hey, it's better than running around like an idiot hoping you don't get hit with the way the hitboxes were in the past games. Hubs are pretty large, to the point where there are even warps so that's quite handy. Even the dungeons themselves have warps that you can use both to get out at certain points and a rest if you need it, recovering your HP and SP, saving all your items.

With the concept that you were once a PKK, there will be instances where you run into a big blue circle in the middle of a field. This is a player battle which you can choose to intervene in and help to take out the PK. Man, did that climb right up my alley.

Now, difficulty. I said about how underneath the new skin, it still feels like IMOQ but a lot of it is dependent on difficulty. A lot of things from IMOQ return such as scrolls, fairy's orbs, trading, buying equipment and stuff I found essential to .hack beforehand. Now I'm not one to say that it should be loyal to the .hack games before it but I didn't even find myself using these things, I didn't need to. With some of the items, that was only good for dungeons which past a certain point is no longer the main quest, it's the Arena which items can't be used in and many of the players don't have anything to trade anyway. With IMOQ, you didn't have that luxury of choosing a difficulty and it just started throwing curveballs, causing you to exhaust everything at your disposal, I beat the final boss by the skin of my teeth. But this time you have some lead way even having an easy "story" type mode where you just kick back and knowing the reputation, I picked Normal but I prepared for a battle like I had in Infection and I ended up being ahead of the curve, I'd actually almost compare it to Kingdom Hearts 3's normal mode. On one hand, I want an easier experience than I had with Infection but at the same time, I think the dedication I put into that game put me into a corner because I knew those things and I didn't need anything like that anymore and nothing replaced it so it felt a bit empty. And I didn't skimp, I did all the side missions and stuff which actually ended up being pretty good because some featured characters that don't appear as much in the main story.

This game isn't without annoyances though like Chickie Dadas (yeah, that's what they're called) but having the Hungry Grass to compare it to from IMOQ makes everything seem like it's not worth complaining about. What's weird is that with Infection, I spent about 18 hours getting to level 30 and this one I spent less time and got to level 40, how does that work?

I think someone technically could play this without IMOQ. As far as story, there's a recap in the options if you want it but as far as gameplay goes, it certainly helped to have already played it because I would've been so lost towards the beginning. It was more just figuring where stuff was moved to and how it was updated for me. There's a wealth of information at your fingertips, from lore to instructions to worldbuilding and additional story content to a greater extent than the previous series, it can be a lot to chew on which can be overwhelming at first. And I was already familiar with how .hack works. That and you get a whole lot more out of the game (as if it isn't already vast enough) seeing all the references and connections. I certainly recommend it but at the same time, I understand the novelty of playing it without prior knowledge (as well as much better accessibility).

From an overall standpoint, it improves on almost everything from hack but I still feel it has more potential and will improve. What an ending though, ho boy! Everything leading up to it was meh but the ending got me hype for the next one. For now I'm going to give it a 2.5 out of 5 because of how average it felt for most of it but it definitely had it's moments and I said "for now" because I'd like to look at the bigger picture once I finish the final volume and anime, this was just an appetizer.

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[mx-pokirby]

Today's little victories

Wrote new major entries on our to-do list

Took the door off of a shelf that's been bothering us so now we can just access them directly

Organized our figurine shelf, set it up a lot nicer and prettier, tho still not complete

Finally picked up .hack//G.U. again after months of a forced hiatus, and beat Volume 1: Rebirth

[the-stray-liger]

Where do you recommend someone start out with the .hack franchise? 'cuz there's a lot of stuff and it's kinda intimidating to get into

RUBS MY GAY HANDS TOGETHER a friend just asked me this on discord lol

OKAY so there's a ton of games and a lot of anime and manga to read and I'm kinda trying to remember it as I go because it's been years

ok so the first wave of games that you should check out in chronological order is infection, mutation, outbreak, and quarantine. Along with those came 4 episodes of the Liminality anime which goes along the game but happens outside of the game in real life. Liminality is very worth checking out if you play the games in that order.

Then you can give a spin to .hack//SIGN which happens in the same version of The World as the first games, it's super interesting and emotional and I highly reccomend it. It includes a parody episode called GIFT that actually used to put me on my ass as a kid.

I didn't like legend of the twilight, it's an anime that even to me in my peak anime cringe moment was very anime cringe, but I guess you can check that out too.

Then we have G.U. which happens in a different version of The World for reasons that I won't spoil, and revolves around a different character. These were my fav games: Rebirth, Reminiscence and Redemption, the third one being my fav out of the whole saga because it made me cry a lot.

There is an anime prequel to G.U. called .hack//ROOTS. I believe there's also a cd drama that I had my abusive exboyfriend rip for me back when we were together and he used gifts to demand physical affection for me but I have no idea what it is about so if you don't speak japanese you can skip that. Roots is very interesting too, I feel like it gives you a lot of context for Haseo (the MC of G.U.). But I did watch the anime after playing the games so I dont feel like you need to do that in chronological order.

There's also the G.U.+ manga which is like a G.U. alternate spinoff and honestly I really really really loved it and I think it's worth checking out

This is where it gets complicated for me because I stopped paying attention to .hack// for a few decades following a really bad breakup in 2010-11. I think .hack//Link came out next but I didn't keep up and I'm not sure of what comes next.

G.U. Last Recode came out in 2017 I believe, I own the game but haven't played it; I think it's like a remake/summary of the G.U. saga with a few things added in and others taken out. Liek I said I haven't played it yet so I can't speak for it.

But that's all of the .hack// knowledge I can provide at the top of my head. Hope that is helpful! And I really hope you can give the .hack// franchise a chance, it has some really beautifully thought out lore and some characters that even 13 years after playing it for the last time still live rent free in my head!!!

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 139:

LieN - Gentle Hands (.hack//G.U. Vol. 1//Rebirth [2006])

I know I won’t be able to play this game for a good few months at least, but hearing this song after originally hearing its shorter version in Project X Zone 2 impressed me even more than Stairs of Time from 19 days ago, which had just about the same personal history of discovery too!

Since I’m planning to play G.U. after the original saga, wanting to take in its story and other aspects, I don’t want to waste your time with an incomplete description that’d do the music a disservice. Instead, you should simply know that this is one of the most emotional themes I’ve ever heard in a video game, and I look forward to finding the respective context on my own!

(Length: 4+ minutes)

[braveryhearted]

Takes a deep breath. Uh oh. Here he comes.

"AIDA, short for Artificially Intelligent Data Anomaly, is a term used by the CyberConnect Corporation to refer to the anomalous "black spots" appearing throughout The World R:2 and to the creatures that emerge from them. Little is known about the AIDA, but according to my good friend and rival Yata, the AIDA are primarily interested in humans. It is for this reason that they stay within The World R:2, and do not spread outwards into the rest of the Internet. It is because of this that Yata believes that The World R:2 must remain open to its entire userbase, and not shut off to only administrators".

Waits for Borna to have the gears going in her head before continuing.

"The AIDA are "natural" AIs, formed from the errors in the Internet caused by the disappearance of Aura. Unlike Aura, who was created by a system, the AIDA evolved much like normal life. The AIDA were originally harmless, but after several thousand of them were produced, a mutant appeared. This AIDA, Tri-Edge who resides inside of me in my arm that is usually covered, had aggressive tendencies, and attacked a player, as one might guessed it, me. Since the AIDA are all connected, this aggression soon spread to the rest of them.

As the AIDA learned more about the outside world, through online news and the memories of their victims, they attempted to recreate parts of it within R:2. The first such artifacts were coinlockers, modeled from the news article "Coinlocker Baby" that first made AIDA aware of humans.

Eventually, I used Corbenik's "Rebirth" ability in an attempt to destroy the AIDA. This, however, only destroyed the aggressive portion of the AIDA, that hadn't yet adapted to The World. The remainder peacefully coexists with the players of the game".

Of course, Ovan's going to have to explain more on why he was able to do so and why it was connected to him especially.

"Tri-edge or as they are also called, Kusabira, is/was the first AIDA to become hostile toward humans. Its first target was my sister Aina, but its attack was blocked by myself when I jumped in front to protect my little sibling so I was the one who became infected by it instead, getting transformed into the very first AIDA-PC. Unlike most other AIDA, is capable of speech by assuming control of my voice, using it to taunt me over my misdeeds, though due to the nature of their existence the difference between my actions and Tri Edge's are at times blended".

And now for fun facts. He's sure that Borna is either asleep or confused. Maybe both. But she asked for this.

"Most AIDA are named after the programming languages COBOL, ALGOL, Pascal, Prolog, Lisp, and Fortran. Oswald, Grunwald, and Victorian have some themed not named in this way, though Victorian's "Elegant Orb" is, either on purpose or by coincidence, named after the programming language Elegant. In .hack // G.U. Returner, it is revealed that AIDA is not really bad, but rather is a reflection of the nature of the players".

There it is done.

"So in conclusion miss Borna, no AIDA is not an opera piece". @veleluuu

[echoesofdusk]

With Steam summer sale kicking off, I want to make a post with my personal video game recommendations (totally not shilling)

Starting off with... the fairly obvious.

AI: The Somnium Files

This murder mystery VN full of dirty jokes, puns and references to other media as well as mentions of urban legends has changed my life for worse. Play it!

Digimon World Next Order

This is a vpet/RPG hybrid where you have to look after two Digimon partners while also exploring the Digital World and recruiting Digimon to rebuild a city. It's on the grindier side but once you get the hang of everything it gets rather addicting. The PC version features a run button and a beginner mode, something the PSVita and PS4 versions didn't have.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Complete Edition. This is a collection of PS2 esque traditional turnbased RPGs. Like Next Order, these are on the grindy side but the grinding is extremely satisfying and building the optimal Digimon team is a lot of fun. Also great to play while doing something like listening to podcasts.

.hack//G.U. Last Recode

A remastered HD collection of PS2 RPGs featuring a brand new and original fourth episode unique to this collection. These games are are actually set in an MMORPG and you play as the protag's player avatar, Haseo. Track down the mysterious Tri-Edge and unravel the mysteries of The World.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

A collection of two classic scrimblo 2D platformers remakes, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa: Lunatea's Veil. Cute visuals, simple yet engaging gameplay, catchy music and stories which may or may not make you cry.

NieR Automata

BECOME AS GODS

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

A really cool and fun action RPG with visuals that aged REALLY well. An all around classic with a fun protagonist.

BlazBlue Centralfiction

A really fun 2D anime fighter with lots and lots of characters and tons of mechanics, now also with rollback!

Super Kiwi 64

(I know this game is rather cheap when not on sale to begin with but I'm plugging it anyway shhh)

This is a cute and fun bite sized 3D platformer that harkens back to 90s platformers, particularly the Nintendo 64 ones. The movement is really tight and fun and the game takes around an hour or so to 100%. Highly recommended for quick breaks between huge games!

Snake Pass

An unconventional 3D platformer in which you don't jump and maneuver through the air with complicated movements but instead slide, crawl and climb as a snake. With beautiful visuals, cute and colorful characters, unconventional but fun gameplay as well as music by David Wise, you can't go wrong with this one!

[sol-goodgirl]

please make purchase of game

[vtuber-boostin]

🔴 WilliamTWisp : .hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth 🔴

[blisscast]

[.hack//G.U. Vol 2//Reminisce ✅] More at my blog blisscast.wordpress.com, and www.vintagepeople.it, links in bio! 🆕 Journal Page 34 about .hack//G.U. Vol 2//Reminisce is out NOW! Link in bio. Disponibile anche in italiano 🇮🇹. . .hack//G.U. Vol 2//Reminisce is an MMORPG-like action game, and the direct sequel to the first Volume, Rebirth. Without spoiling anything from the first title, just after the ending of Volume 1, the plot takes an unexpected turn; the characters get suddenly stuck inside the MMO because of a certain group of hackers, and can’t log out in any way. And if being stuck inside a game that can put you into a coma wasn’t scary enough, more mysterious characters appear in The World R:2, and seem to have the same powers Tri-Edge has! Plus, known characters suddenly get infected by the same hackers who trapped the protagonists in the game, making them crazy and able to gain that extremely harmful ability as well! Not being able to trust anyone, poor Haseo, who had just learned how to make friends, will have to get to the roots of the problem, and maybe he’ll get closer to the truth about Tri-Edge… always if he doesn’t get killed first. 🙂 . I was having a look at Japan-related Instagram reels with my mum, and there was one about this Golden Gai district in Shinjuku, with many cafes and small restaurants where they set a famous tv series. I kept thinking "I know those streets, I know those streets!". So I googled the place, and it's exactly what I thought it was! See, I'm a huge Yakuza fan, and the city they're mostly set in, Kamurocho, is basically a reconstruction of the irl Kabukicho district in Shinjuku, and that Golden Gai is the Champion District ✨. I'd really love to go to Kabukicho one day, it would be so hilarious to just recognize places like that! . #dothack #dothackgu #dothackanime #dothacklink #dothacksign #dothackgulastrecode #cyberconnect2 #bandainamco #mmorpg #ps2 #playstation2 #jrpg #haseo #azurekite #gamergirl #gamergirls #llamasoft https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXoufZIqDo/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[bearpillowmonster]

.Hack GU: Vol 1 (Story)

With IMOQ, I did the gameplay and overall in one review and then split the story of all 4 into one post, this one, I'm just going to split it, this episode is going to be focusing on Volume 1, Rebirth. I know it's technically all one product now but a quick google search will tell you that the runtime can span around 50 hours, something that deserves to be split up.

And it is, in the menu at least.

Now, the other reason I even bothered coming back is because the concept is interesting. A PKK (Player Killer Killer) isn't a concept that hasn't been used before but certainly one worth exploring, I think. In fact, I had a dream of something similar but with aliens and all kinds of other junk that seemed really cool to me but something stood out in that dream. One of the guys names was "Haseo" aka the main character of this whole Hack GU saga. I see that as enough reason, I mean I revisited Kingdom Hearts because of a dream and you probably know how that sailed, so why not this one?

Well with the abundance of cutscenes comes with a lot of overexpositing and overexplaining, making the story kind of watered down. But I found it more manageable than the beginning because the cutscenes aren't nearly as long. I'll revisit the topic once I finish the series whether it's better than IMOQ but so far it's on par. I also have to mention how this game is longer.

One thing about the original series is that the characters were memorable enough for me to remember even a year later and their designs were great too. With this one, all the major characters have their own cards which have hand drawn art full body which I can really appreciate from someone who draws and likes to know exactly what they're drawing, I remember being hard pressed to find a full picture of BlackRose or Terajima Ryoko as reference because their in game models just didn't cut it when their drawings by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto were so beautiful. Even the lore gets similar treatment in the desktop sections having watercolor styled illustrations. But anyways, I'm not as big of a fan of the designs this time around but that's alright, I wasn't with Mass Effect initially either and look at how much that took me by storm.

Except players like Gaspard.

And THAT'S supposed to be one of the early introductions??

Atoli is kind of bittersweet because she has a similar player model to this 'Shino' that gets teased throughout the story and I really want to know who Shino is. Her character isn't bad, I mean she has a good arc with the whole showing Haseo how to look at The World through a different lense but she's way too happy-go-lucky for me. That's where Haseo comes in though because these types of characters might not bother you as a kid, in fact you might think "Why's he such a big old grump?" but as someone who's older you're like "I get it. He's out of line but he's right."

I-chi-go? I mean, Kuhn, they call him Kuhn. Wait, Yuri Lowenthal AND Jonny Yong Bosch? What is this? Code Geass? They basically have the same dynamic too, just reversed.

As far as a remaster goes, it makes everything clearer and not as grainy and adds more content (as I mentioned) but the graphics are still definitely PS2 but in terms of that, most of everything is leagues better than IMOQ.

[vgadvisor]

[reaperstruth-blog]

There’s a boy standing on the precipice of hell. He has two options handed to him without choice - to live on and bear the grief, or step further into what crushed him even at the price of his body, his mind. What option does he take? The boy so clouded in shadow yet carrying a star for a soul? A star that will not, cannot, go out? The path of truth lies before him, it is the only option, any others were mere lies, and he will face more of them. He will bear his demons, he will lose, he will win. He will overcome, and he will grow. And perhaps, without even realizing it -- he will lead. 

There’s a boy standing on the precipice of hell:

                          ---- He takes a step, and keeps on going. (x)

[omgtatercat]

.hack//G.U. Last Recode Vol. 1: Rebirth- Part 21: Tri-Edge (Final)

Okay, NOW the video is fixed. Sorry.

[adelha-mathilde]

// Decided to play my PS4 tonight.

Volume 1 Rebirth is now CLEAR!

Even finished the bonus event quest. //