Board 8 > .Hack//G.U. HD Collection is $7 on Steam right now.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not the literal name, but it gets the point across.

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/hackgu-last-recode-pc/

One of the best PS2 RPG series and irrefutably better than the original Quadrilogy.

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Is it really okay to play these direct sequels to 4 other JRPGs first?

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I feel like dot hack gets silly with its EU.

I always feared getting into them because then you'd have to watch the shows and read all of the extra shit too

And so on

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paperwarior posted...

Is it really okay to play these direct sequels to 4 other JRPGs first?

Absolutely, yes.

There's a reason there's no collection of the original series. It sucks and doesn't matter.

Like, yeah, there are references, but for comparison you'll be hard pressed to find someone who says "You have to play Zesteria in order to play Berseria".

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Right then. I've probably heard that answer before, but it seemed hard to believe.

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Oh and

Heroic Bigpun posted...

I feel like dot hack gets silly with its EU.

I always feared getting into them because then you'd have to watch the shows and read all of the extra shit too

And so on

You really don't.

Even the actual anime prequel to GU, ROOTS, can be ignored.

.Hack has an enormous EU but you don't actually have to absorb it all to appreciate the good stuff. You can just play GU and watch SIGN, that's about it.


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GU rules, it's soo good.

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it's kind of important but at the same time kind of dumb and it's probably bad to think too deeply about it anyway.

like, "this character is actually a character from a past game/series using a different avatar, even though their personalities are completely different!". and then you have things like the MC being attacked by an avatar that looks like the mc from IMOQ, as well as many other bossses/characters are tied to the Phases from IMOQ that you're supposed to be all "I understood that reference".

also Roots is dumb/kind of pointless and outright spoils GU so you shouldn't watch it before playing the games anyway.

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I just played Tales of Berseria and it has references to Zesteria, the one everyone says is not very good. These are explained by the walkthrough I read, and they don't matter too much because Zesteria takes place in the distant future. This sounds similar.

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The only other .Hack thing you should watch other than GU and SIGN themselves is Trilogy...which is not a Trilogy, just one movie. The GU movie in fact. It's not REQUIRED, I just like it.

Trust me, I have attempted to enjoy just about every .Hack product there is on the market, even the obviously garbage shit. Even back when I was playing the Quadrilogy, I straight up tried to convince myself that those were definitely great games because I really WANTED them to be, because I was so into the aesthetic. It was literally the series that started making me seek out fansubs and scanlations for anime and manga.

Unfortunately it's just not a good franchise.

GU specifically however is a fantastic set of games, and SIGN is a petty great show.

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paperwarior posted...

I just played Tales of Berseria and it has references to Zesteria, the one everyone says is not very good. These are explained by the walkthrough I read, and they don't matter too much because Zesteria takes place in the distant future. This sounds similar.

It's a very similar situation, the difference that the reasons for not playing the original games (other than availability) is more gameplay related than story related. Story is also a factor, the Quadrilogy is a bit of a mess, but not in a Zesteria way.

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I still need to play the HD Collection actually, I bought it a while ago. There's new content right?

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GANON1025 posted...

There's new content right?

Yeah. A "Vol 4" but it's probably more comparable to an epilogue. It's not nearly as long as the 3 original Volumes.

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More of a 3.5, but assuming they follow through it it pretty heavily implies more GU games in the future.

It's the primary reason I was so glad that they got taken off of the FF7 remake!

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Ooooh you know what, gonna install GU on my PS5 and see how those load times are. They weren't awful or anything, but they were there.

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the first two of the quadrilogy is all I remember playing back in the ps2 days. I remember the boss of the first one being kinda dumb, but I liked how the game played generally speaking. Really, the whole notion of crafting your own instance using word combinations was a pretty cool idea. Was also the first place I remember encountering the 'have you dropped a gold/silver axe' meme when you tossed an item into a pool of water.

I guess if the GU series is better, I might just have to check it out one day. How do the mechanics of world generation compare to the prior games?

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I really tried with Zestiria.

It's just bad. And clunky.

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SovietOmega posted...

the first two of the quadrilogy is all I remember playing back in the ps2 days. I remember the boss of the first one being kinda dumb, but I liked how the game played generally speaking. Really, the whole notion of crafting your own instance using word combinations was a pretty cool idea. Was also the first place I remember encountering the 'have you dropped a gold/silver axe' meme when you tossed an item into a pool of water.

I guess if the GU series is better, I might just have to check it out one day. How do the mechanics of world generation compare to the prior games?

It still has them, with a lot more variety and much more depth, but far more optional. You can engage with he system if you like for "random" generation, and there are a lot of great items and equipment behind that, but you can also safelt out it to the wayside.

The biggest difference is that the combat is....astronomically superior in the GU games. The presentation is also way higher, and the extended cast is much better.

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New day bump.

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i bought this even though i am 95% sure it is early 2000s edgelord vibes that takes itself too seriously (maybe to the point of being endearing?)

So assuming I buy these and want to watch the associated media, what is the proper order?

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Technically the first 4 games would come before, but as stated I would not bother with those. It would also require either an emulator or the VERY expensive out of print games (last I checked)

If you're talking direct, specific connections, the order of time would be:

Roots (Anime)
GU (Games)
GU Trilogy (Film)

However, Roots spoils tons of GU, so rather than watching it prior it would be better to watch it after and think of it as a prequel. It's not a terrible show, but it's not anything special.

In terms of Hack content to watch in general, I would recommend SIGNS. Not connected to GU, though.

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RikkuAlmighty posted...

i bought this even though i am 95% sure it is early 2000s edgelord vibes that takes itself too seriously (maybe to the point of being endearing?)

I mean it does have that for sure. But it also let's up when it needs to.

SLOW DOBERMAN

PIROS

THE THIRD

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

There's a reason there's no collection of the original series. It sucks and doesn't matter.

I actually started playing the original series for the first timeyesterday and Im having a great time so far. But I can understand if the gameplay is updated in G.U that it might make the originals feel dated.

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Booted up an endgame save and BOY did that not work out, lol. Lot going on in this game.

Zylothewolf posted...

I actually started playing the original series for the first timeyesterday and Im having a great time so far. But I can understand if the gameplay is updated in G.U that it might make the originals feel dated.

IIRC the biggest issue is how it handles as the games get harder, not to mention issues with progression in general as the games continue.

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One bump

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On sale for PS4 now, not sure how much because I already own it on PSN <_<

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA07559_00-HACKGURECODE0000

There's a demo as well.

EDIT: Oh duh I just had to log out. $9.99, still great!

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Wasn't .Hack Legend of the Twilight supposed to be quite good?
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The one where they're all kids? I don't remember hating it, but I definitely don't remember liking it either.

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it's definitely fine to just jump in wherever in .hack you feel like, and GU is pretty fantastic, so absolutely don't hesitate

UshiromiyaEva posted...

IIRC the biggest issue is how it handles as the games get harder, not to mention issues with progression in general as the games continue.

my issue with the games is that they got goddamn expensive and i could never find the later ones :(

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