This apparently came out recently. While I'm not really in the monetary, or free-time-ary position to get this anytime soon, I would like to know what you people who do have it think about it. So let's get crackin'! :love:
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This apparently came out recently. While I'm not really in the monetary, or free-time-ary position to get this anytime soon, I would like to know what you people who do have it think about it. So let's get crackin'! :love:
coming from me this means nothing.
BEST GAME EVER!
My opinion on this game probably doesn't mean that much. I loved the other 4 games and this one is not an exception. It is different from the other four but it will obviously end with a dreaded to be continued.
It is longer than the other ones if you blast through the story.
They of course have 2 trillion side quests and things to do in the game. Some of them seem like they will take me till Volume 2 comes out.
I got the special edition which came with this bonus disc and Haseo figure.
I am not disappointed but then again I am also putting off buying the greatest FF game ever(FFXII) because of this game. My opinion is pretty damn skewed on this one.
More specific questions on the game and I am there to answer them.
I watched ed play this over the weekend and I like it. Keep in mind that I have only played through volume one of the original series, though I am very familiar with what happened during the original The World story.
The graphics are a lot better, not that I am some grpahics whore or anything, but I think they add to whole atmosphere of the game. The cinematography is MUCH, MUCH better because what pissed me off about the last series is that most of the cut scenes involved Kite and someone else standing around and talking. When there was action, it was cool, but just not that exciting for me. GU changes all that. It's very fun and pretty to watch.
The gameplay seems to be improved as well. Sure, it will end up being repetative because you are playing a simulared MMORPG, but from what I saw it looks like I would enjoy it more than the other .Hacks if I ever get around to playing this one.
The music is ****ing awesome. End of story. No more droning music that bores you to death. There were cool tracks in the original series, but GU outshines the original series in terms of music.
I cant wait till this comes out in PAL. (IF it does)
I still have part 2 and 3 to beat, and part 4 to buy of the original games though
I beat the the first game last night...and I am so totally pumped for part 2 and eventually part 3.
Haseo, unlike Kite, is a total asshole to everyone. He tells them to shut up, makes fun of others and uses his powers however he want with complete disregard for everyone else.
The story is very interesting and totally builds upon the last games but you don't need to play the previous games. Having played them just gives you a better idea of how everything came to be how it is.
The big difference in the story between this game series and the previous one is that there are players plotting. They are manipulating others but to what purpose...is unknown.
I will answer any questions you have concerning gameplay but plot is off limits. You can always go look that up yourself if you want to be spoiled.
Sakubo confuses me like many other things in this game...
Get use to Sakubo. She isn't going to go any where and will probably seek out revenge next game.
(SPOILER)From the preview trailer when they announced this series Sakubo was there as one of the phases. She is an Epitaph user although who knows if Yata knows or not...he probably does.
barhgaaggaaa this game made me read that spoiler
T-T
I dont have this game, yet, but i want it, Ive seen Roots, though, the game and series arent entwined as much as Sign and the first 4 games were, but yea, I want it, and it looks good.
What are you talking about? The games and series are even more intwined this time around. Here is how it goes down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tasura
Vol. 1 opening
8 months later(the series which actually stars our hero and the events that drive him actually occur in this series)
Rest of Vol. 1
From what I have heard the events of the series start to tie in more with Vol. 2.
I meant that Sign and the first 4 happened at the same time, where as there is a time offset wiith Roots and G.U. I was told this by a certain person (SPOILER)Tsukasa a couple of months ago, so if what I said is wrong, it is his fault, not mine.Quote:
Originally Posted by edczxcvbnmWhat are you talking about? The games and series are even more intwined this time around. Here is how it goes down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tasura
Vol. 1 opening
8 months later(the series which actually stars our hero and the events that drive him actually occur in this series)
Rest of Vol. 1
From what I have heard the events of the series start to tie in more with Vol. 2.
now why would I say something Intelligent like that?
Sign and the first 4 games most certainly did not happen at the same time. No where near at the same time. The end of the anime has Aura finally awakening as well as Skeith awakening as the First Phase. The games start off with Aura being chased by Skeith. The games don't even start until sometime after(a few months???) the series ended.
.hack//Liminality took place at the same time as the games but in the real world and it was a short OVA bonus thing. One disc came with each game.
I typed up this long review/impressions over at Fools Gold...and now I am posting it here. Feel free to totally disagree and slam me or ask me to elaborate on some aspects of the game you might like to know about.
________________________________________________________________________________
Take my opinions on this knowing that I am a .hack nutcase and was going to love this game unless they pulled a monumental smurf up that is Xenosaga II...they did not.
This game smurfing rocks all sorts of stuff. The battle system is different and there are other things to do other than just pointless dungon crawling this time. The story has been pumped up big time and it is only going to be gaining momentum going foward in the next series.
This game stars Haseo. Haseo is a character class called an "Adept Rouge" and he can use multiple weapons but he has only one personality type...COMPLETE ASSHOLE! About time a video game had the main character be a total asshole to everyone and everything. The start of the game is when he logs in for the first time. You go through a tutorial dungon and at the end the people who were with you decide to PK your punk ass.
8 months later(during which time the anime series .hack//roots takes place and actually stars Haseo)
Haseo has become one big badass mother smurfer that takes out everyone in sight in his never ending quest to find a deadly PK that is called Tri-Edge. It is said that when tri-edge kills someone they go into a coma and they never wake up. Haseo find out where Tri-Edge will appear next and he goes to face off with him. It seems as though Tri-Edge is just too bad ass and obliterates you. He uses some bizzare technique and it kills your character. Haseo doesn't go into a coma though. Instead his whole character is reformatted. All e-mails, weapons, friends list and everything is gone and he has gone from level 133 all the way back down to level 1.
This is all just the opening movie scene and the story takes off from there.
What is new in the game compared to the last one? Well online games have come a long way since the original .hack games and this one takes that into account. There are now guilds and you will eventually become a guild master. Too bad it isn't all that exciting. It is just a way for you to upgrade your weapons and sell your extra inventory to other players. Nothing else really.
They added quests...but these are really only unlocked from an e-mail that is sent to you by another player you know. That is okay considering there can only be so many quests in an offline game.
Online forums that people take part in are far better than the first one. The only real mistake they made in this aspect is that everyone has perfect grammer and no one is swearing at each other. Flaming isn't that bad. Some topics do get slightly derailed. People do make fun of each other but it is mainly uninteractive for you.
For those that have never played the previous .hack games, the online game 'The World'(yes that is what it is called) has what they call a root town. It is not some unquestionably huge land mass like most online rpgs. Instead the root town serves as an area that you log into and then to get to dungons you use a passcode type system to warp there. These dungons are all randomly generated...outside of story areas that is. The root town is no longer this super small area that all dungons dwarf. Now it is about the size of a dungon itself with far more many people running around and warp in and out of everything. Makes it seem more like a MMORPG.
There are 3 basic dungons you go through now. Gone is the field map with the dungon enterance. Now it is just dungon layouts. There is a field dungon, cave dungon and japanese castle/fort dungon. All the backgrounds and [img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img][img]/xxx.gif[/img] get repeative and the monsters as well. As you progress through the game monsters take on brawler syndrome...aka they get a palet swap.
Repeativeness aside, dungons now have a few possible objectives to them instead of the one single objective from the last game(get to the bottom!!1!). Now some dungons have an actual boss to beat. Some are still the 'get to the bottom thing'. Those are the only two real objectives but the quests help to keep this varied with their own special objectives.
Battles themselves are very different from the last title. Forget everything you knew. Now your weapon expertise have levels to gain and through this you unlock new abilities. You still mainly smash on the x-button till victory but now you can hold the x button to charge up power for a super hit. It is very simplistic and repeative(welcome to RPGs) but I found it fun. There are other aspects to the battle system but they are a bit more complicated to describe but are simple in themselves.
I am happy to report that levels now matter. In the other .hack games I had no fear going into a level 70 area if I was only level 45. That just meant faster level gaining. Try that in this game and you will be pwned in a half a hit :D The difference in the area level you go to and your level matters(every level takes 1000 exp but the amount of exp earned is based on your level vs your oppenent level). Go to an area that is 5 levels above you and you will but luck to make it out alive if you decide to fight every battle and some you will still be doomed no matter what if the enemy is a large one. This helps balance the game so you can't power level so easily. You also don't gain access to passcodes that allow you to go too high as well so you can't sit there for hours to get to level 45 for the first dungon.
To help keep things varied there are arena battles where you square off against another group of 3 players(this becomes a big aspect of the story). The battle here work the same but now your enemies fight the same way you would with all the different type of techniques you have that enemies don't have. You do gain exp here.
While there are shops in the game I don't see anyone really buying many items. Your weapons are found in dungons now and you can't equip a weapon that has a higher level than your own(more balancing). Weapons use a system similar to FFX in that they are all abilityless and you add abilities to them...but unlike FFX you can remove these abilities and transfer them to other weapons.
Avatar battles are yet another type of battle in this game. I will not go into detail on what an avatar is due to huge spoilers but it works like a rail shooter in a way. You are floating around and have a direct line to your enemy. You shoot at it to stun in then go in and lay down some power attacks. Avoid and deflect their attacks though. It is interesting and is not over used. The 5 different avatar battles in the game all act as badass boss battles so things never get over used and the attacks you face are different.
Voice acting is good and the voices all fit the characters. Music is light years ahead of the previous game series.
Graphics are cell shaded and are light years ahead of the previous game series and actually it is a very nice looking game with lots of bright vibrant colors.
The game is a lot better than the old ones but still suffers from some of the repeativeness problems. They kept things far more varied this time around. I suggest a renting and when you do...keep in mind that the first few dungons you go through represent just about every dungon you go through.
When you beat the game you can still play to get better levels, weapons and complete bonus stuff in the books of 1000. The books of 1000 just record your stats such as what monsters you have battles, how many trades with other players you have made and ect. Your save data carries over to the next game.
Now I can't wait for Volume 2 and Volume 3.
I had been thinking about this series a while ago. How many games long is it?
EDIT: More than one series, christ. How many games long is the first series, and should I buy them.
The first series is 4 games long.
This new series is 3 games long.
Should you buy them? They are not for everyone...no question about that. To get the full story you would need to watch .hack//Sign and play the four original .hack games. In addition to the games there is a 30-45 minute OVA...OAV...whatever! that comes with each game.
Also the history of the events before anything can be important. It is a series that requires a lot of interest. Check out Wikipedia.
http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/.hack//Wiki
Check out www.gamerankings.com for a multitude of reviews for all the games.
Thats awsome. I love super involving games.
I love amazon. I just ordered them all.
EDITl First series I mean.
Be prepared. They are some early gen PS2 games. I have slowly been going through them again.
For the record I tried to play the first one 3 times until I finally got into it.
Edit: You will be able to find game guides and help here
http://www.dothackers.net/
I doubt you will need it unless you plan on doing the insane amount of extra stuff they have thrown into the games...even more so if you go for it on part 4 in which the final quest is obtaining every weapon in the whole series(over 700 O_O )
The games are pretty straight forwrd and feel free to PM me any questions you may have.