|
Yeah GU Elk is literally a hikkikomori. Yata says he plays the drat game for like 12 hours each day, logging off only to eat and sleep (his mom leaves him food outside his door). He's an ultragoon who is afraid of the outside and is afraid of girls. And he only gets worse as the series goes on 
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 12:31 |
|
|
I'm just gonna ignore GU then 
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 20:17
|
|
|
alcharagia posted:I'm just gonna ignore GU then I wouldn't. Ultimately G.U. is super fun play-wise (If ever devoted to revolving around the Arena) and is all about its characters moving on from their past. Heavy spoilers for a key moment in the last game, but ultimately sums up the entire point of the series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NRWtYw0lK0&t=3s Like how IMOQ is about the growing stages of the infection of the World until its saving, G.U. is about Haseo's (So, ultimately, Sora's) Rebirth, Reminiscence and Redemption. The first time we see him (after being a level 1 Newbie who gets PKed by a couple of trolls) he's basically a psychotic Player Killer Killer just hunting down other players with not much regard for what's going on besides his own "REVENGE!" then he gets utterly curb stomped and data-drained back to level 1. He's reborn because over the course of the first game, while he's still a massive rear end, he's clearly growing to care about the people who have become drawn to him. Reminiscence has him re-reach the power he had before he was data-drained, and 'Reminisice' on his past. He's also dealing with other problems though, such as Atoli's LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT ATOLI. And Redemption well... is ultimately him coming to terms with who he is now instead of what he was. Including a heart to heart talk with Skeith who... basically acts like Sora? A bit more in the japanese version. Also the soundtracks amazing and while you don't need to watch that video, you do need to watch this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtBW_liXkt4
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 02:15
|
|
|
alcharagia posted:I'm just gonna ignore GU then The gameplay in GU is better but it takes the utter idiocy of the story to new and stupid extremes. You can safely skip it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 02:27
|
|
|
The best thing is what G.U. Stands for. It really is the core part of that trilogy. Grow Up
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 02:41
|
|
|
kirbysuperstar posted:The gameplay in GU is better but it takes the utter idiocy of the story to new and stupid extremes. You can safely skip it. Like in IMOQ, it's the subtler details that are the most effective. Like Sakaki meeting Atoli on a suicide website or the thing with Endrance/Elk. The actual plot is considerably worse because it tries to be a direct sequel to ROOTS whereas IMOQ was more of its own stand-alone story. Not helping matters was that ROOTS got super dumb in places, namely about the antagonists TaN. The other issue was that CC2 decided to put in a lot of poo poo For Fans so the story had parts where it suddenly decided to, as Onmi said, focus on Atoli. My own personal annoyance about that second bit was that Ovan still ended up being portrayed as a ~mysterious, supacool~ dude and not as a gently caress up of cataclysmic proportions. Seriously, literally none of his plans work. Vol 1 is great, Vol 2 is alright, but man Vol 3 is a trainwreck from the word go. Senerio posted:The best thing is what G.U. Stands for. It really is the core part of that trilogy. The cool bit of this is that it's an ironic "gently caress you" to CC Corp. The project with Mia and the epitaphs was called "Project GU" and its various stages were all abbreviated into GU (Genesis of the Unknown, Geek's Utopia, Grand Uprising, etc). Then CC Corp made an actual GU team to basically unfuck the aftermath of Project GU. Which then became the team to unfuck the aftermath of the mind-rape virus that got hold of the aftermath of Project GU  .It became Grow Up because kids, through their own growths and journeys, ended up being more mature and took way more action than a company of adults. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Jun 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 03:04
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:Like in IMOQ, it's the subtler details that are the most effective. Like Sakaki meeting Atoli on a suicide website or the thing with Endrance/Elk. The actual plot is considerably worse because it tries to be a direct sequel to ROOTS whereas IMOQ was more of its own stand-alone story. Not helping matters was that ROOTS got super dumb in places, namely about the antagonists TaN. The other issue was that CC2 decided to put in a lot of poo poo For Fans so the story had parts where it suddenly decided to, as Onmi said, focus on Atoli. My own personal annoyance about that second bit was that Ovan still ended up being portrayed as a ~mysterious, supacool~ dude and not as a gently caress up of cataclysmic proportions. Volume 3 I think is pretty fine right up until the final battle with Ovan. Because while the scene with Haseo going over the events of the games and unlocking Xth form is really cool.... then the game sort of realizes it doesn't have a plot anymore because it just took out the main antagonist. So it just shrugs and goes "Cubia again!" Mind you I liked the multi-staged dungeon and leaving party members behind to fight the good fight as you advanced towards the final boss. It just didn't help that the games story was over and they had more plot left. I guess they were afraid of it going as quickly as Quarantine does.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 04:29
|
|
|
Onmi posted:Volume 3 I think is pretty fine right up until the final battle with Ovan. Because while the scene with Haseo going over the events of the games and unlocking Xth form is really cool.... then the game sort of realizes it doesn't have a plot anymore because it just took out the main antagonist. So it just shrugs and goes "Cubia again!" Oh it got way worse for me before that. What was Ovan's major reason for all the poo poo that he did? A Then CC2 makes Sakaki, who was a major antagonist of GU, basically run the drat show in lieu of Yata/Wiseman. Sakaki, I should mention, is like 10 in the real world and corrupted by AIDA. I will admit that his comeuppance is legitimately satisfying, but holy poo poo. Aura's "appearance" in the game was also frustratingly useless, which is super weird to me because she of all people should realize what the World is, and what Morghanna's powers do to people. I get that she didn't want to be the goddess of the world (both virtual and real), but I would have liked for more dialogue on the matter, not some pithy insight from Endrance of all people. She felt more like fanservice than an actual part in the story. And yeah, Cubia 
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 04:57
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:Then CC2 makes Sakaki, who was a major antagonist of GU, basically run the drat show in lieu of Yata/Wiseman. Sakaki, I should mention, is like 10 in the real world and corrupted by AIDA This is approximately the point I stopped playing. Turning a psychopath 10 year old into head sysadmin for The World because he claims to know something about what's going on... well, I've always claimed that the GU story went to batshit town courtesy of the "what the gently caress" express, and this is the reason why. I don't want to claim that IMOQ was grounded in reality or anything, but look at the stupid story we went through in this thread and compare it to the bullshit in GU 3 we've been discussing. ETA: May as well say it now. All spoiler warnings are off henceforth. We've seen all the story, we've seen both endings. So from this point onward, this is a no black bars thread!
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 05:01
|
|
|
DoubleNegative posted:I don't want to claim that IMOQ was grounded in reality or anything, but look at the stupid story we went through in this thread and compare it to the bullshit in GU 3 we've been discussing. I've never seen or played G.U. or any other .hack stuff, but IMOQ's overall storyline actually did have some good tones of reality. Look past the overly mystical bullshit and the things technology shouldn't be able to do, and everything does sort of make sense in a real-world context. It's just a game developer dealing with one hell of a game-breaking bug, and turning to people in the community who know perhaps more than they really should in solving it. They don't necessarily come to the most reasonable conclusions and make the best choices, sure, but all of the choices are perfectly rational decisions that functioning brains would make.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 05:12
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:Oh it got way worse for me before that. What was Ovan's major reason for all the poo poo that he did? A oh no, this is actually exactly what aida is, it's why aida is drawn to epitaph users, why the get more numerous as users awaken, etc. it's the old morganna code still spitting out data but with no singular program (aura) to feed it into, if aura is a god, aida is an amoeba there's a post-game anime episode like the one sign does for imoq that shows aida continuing to be created none of that's spelled out though or seemingly matters to the plot, i don't think it's ever explained why an aida ever attacked ovan/his sister to begin with, or why they might not try something again i think they wave it away as 'that one aida was a bad seed/bad influence on the other aida'
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 05:35
|
|
|
AriadneThread posted:oh no, this is actually exactly what aida is, it's why aida is drawn to epitaph users, why the get more numerous as users awaken, etc. it's the old morganna code still spitting out data but with no singular program (aura) to feed it into, if aura is a god, aida is an amoeba this loving series Welp, I never knew that. So really, there's no guarantee that what happened with Ovan and Aina wouldn't happen again? Hahaha loving hell CC Corp.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 06:11
|
|
|
Kinda yes, kinda no. AIDA on its own was largely benevolent, its just one piece that went bad and infected all the other ones. And by the end of the series there is a thing in place to prevent it from bugging out like that again, and the bug was a rare and specific occurrence in the first place if I remember right. Posting from mobile, I'll explain better later.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 06:34
|
|
|
There's a lot of lore in the .Hack games that's actually really cool... be nice if more of it actually made it into the games, but then the question becomes "How does Haseo/Kite find out about this stuff"
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 09:03
|
|
|
Going to be gone most of today, so this is going up early. Click this for the update:  Monday's update will finish out the games, and the final update will go up on Wednesday.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 14:22
|
|
|
Kite is such an amazing rear end in a top hat sometimes, also him constantly trying to hit on AI Subaru was.... ridiculous in the failure emails. And I do find the Mia thing hilariously dark (like everything else attached to Elk and Mia) in that Mia's 'attraction' to Elk is mostly based on him using the same player model as Tsukasa, who Mia knew in her former life as Macha. Kite: Swooning the women by being kind of okay at emails I guess. Well at least Natsume will be fine  Oh right. Insane weapon hunter.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 14:59
|
|
|
quote: Holy poo poo I can't believe I missed out on this e-mail chain.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 18:46
|
|
|
It makes sense that the item completion event wouldn't feel rewarding. I mean, when the goal is to obtain literally everything, what else could it possibly give you as a reward?
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 20:28
|
|
|
Click this for the update:  With today I'm done with this game series. There's only one more update on Wednesday and it's kind of a post-script to the whole thing.
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2015 20:23
|
|
|
I want to say that you can get more rewards for beating your own times and placing in first more than once, but it's been ages. I remember racing a whole lot and messing with my times to get more rewards out of them, but it's hard to recall. That said, I can totally agree with your sentiment to never touch the games again.
|
|
#
?
Jun 8, 2015 22:55
|
|
|
IMOQ is a series that isn't fun to play but I agree that there's just something about it that draws me in. Even after playing games with better stories and gameplay I don't regret my time spent with IMOQ. If you took the gameplay from G.U. and the story of IMOQ there'd be an amazing game. Pity the .Hack series has been reduced to Guilty Dragon, essentially a tablet card game. Here's hoping a game gets made again. Hopefully it will be better than Link.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 01:07
|
|
|
You get a silver grunty for beating the 2nd place time, and a gold for first, the first three times you do it in each town. But you have to beat your previous times. If you do really well once or twice, it becomes very, very hard to get all the rewards. The racing mini-game is a lot less fun if you are trying to get all the rewards.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 03:21
|
|
|
Congratulations on being done. I really didn't think you would make it, when you abandoned the thread for the second time back then.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 08:01
|
|
|
If I remember correctly, Unison is responsible for one of the greatest dubbed lines in English-speaking history. And I can't loving wait.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 08:43
|
|
|
also should point out the other bad things going on in regards to IMOQ to GU is the case of Sieg. After all Mai went through she wound up dumping and he took the loss so hard he basically became a womanizer who couldn't actually form any real relationships. Also he's become the host of Magus. Least he managed to stay concious through out the trilogy. I really think Sakubo is the most bloody hilariously dark thing in the game though. Sakubo is presented to the player as twins playing a single character, Saku and Bo. This is not the case, it's only Bo. Because Sakura was stillborn and his mother was an abusive rear end in a top hat who told him she wished he died in the womb. You can actually help Bo overcome this mental split, but if you do, you lock yourself out of the final end-game content. So instead you have to convince the mentally traumatized child that his split personality is a good thing he needs. It's honestly hilariously at contrast with literally everything else in the game. Oh yeah, and Gorre's latched onto him to.  .Hack G.U. The one with the roses is Elk. EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtZkcklPa8 Saku does have some amazing moments though Onmi fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jun 9, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2015 09:06
|
|
|
An early update because I've been awake all night. Click this for the final update:  Anime.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 13:37
|
|
|
DoubleNegative posted:Anime. That's the best note to go out on. Anime.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 13:44
|
|
|
I like how you start getting hints that Balmungs kind of a ridiculous dork, and then 'Legend of the Twilight Bracelet' comes along and confirms that Balmung is a complete loon. Speaking of, that's a manga that could stand to not be a thing...
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 13:45
|
|
|
thanks for lping this game congrats on making it through the whole loving thing
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 14:24
|
|
|
That was a good LP and congratulations are in order for slogging through with it and actually finishing after all this time. The .hack series are games I've been interested in seeing for some time, but I couldn't find it in myself to even get, all the while holding on to hope that you will come through, so I'm glad the trust was not misplaced 
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 15:27
|
|
|
By the way, it should be noted the Sora in Unison is likely not Ryou Misaki. It's mention that the Sora character data continued on without a player behind him, in fact Ryou's parents, in what was probably their smartest move given Ryou didn't remember a drat thing about The World, was to forbid him from playing it. He decided to get into The World: R2 after talking about it with a friend of his who'd played the original version. What I think is the case but may just be an old rumor floating around, is that person was Wiseman. Because you all probably realized it reading the E-mails, but Wiseman is played by a 10 year old as well. Making himself and Sora the youngest characters. Both ironically are running powerful characters in their own regards. Sora as a PK and Wiseman as an information broker. Wiseman in the G.U. games would go on to play Yata who is a C.C. Corp employee trying to combat the AIDA infecting the game, hilariously he's the one to drag Ryou back into this epitaph nonsense once more. The full list of transferred characters as I recall are Sora->Haseo (PK to PKK to Hero) Haseo's player, Ryou Misaki, is a sophomore student attending a famous private high school. He lives alone in Tokyo, and his dad owns a major company. He visits Shino, who is in a coma, at the hospital everyday. He decided to play The World R:2 after talking to a friend who used to play its previous version, The World. He was once the player behind Sora, but lost all memory of it and The World after being Data Drained by Skeith. Meanwhile his character data continued on as an AI and eventually reunited him as Skeith. Wiseman->Yata Takumi Hino is the same player behind Wiseman, Nala, and Naobi. He lives in a high-rise apartment in Tokyo. The name "Yata" is probably partially derived from his love of soccer (the mythical three-legged raven Yata no Karasu is the symbol of the Japan Football Association). Based on his experience as an information broker and one of the .hackers, and later as a hacker, he was hired by CC Corporation to investigate and exterminate the AIDA once they first appeared. Like Pi, he lives in Tokyo. Near the end of the G.U. Games, as Masato Indou was fleeing from the law, Yata appeared anonymously in a Conto TV interview denouncing CC Corp, revealing that the company was scapegoating Indou for its own wrongdoings. Due to his intervention, charges on his old friend were dropped. Elk->Endrance (In fullfiling his idolization of Mia, he plays a Blade Brandier, the class that replaced Blade Master) In the real world, Endrance is a computer addicted, reclusive 20-year-old named Kaoru Ichinose. He lives with his parents in Kanagawa Prefecture. According to Yata, he plays The World R:2 almost 24/7, logging out just enough to sleep. He doesn't appear to eat meat, as he says meat reminds him of blood and fish smells bad to him. He also states that girls scare him. He was also the player behind Elk seven years before. Sieg->Kuhn In real life, Kuhn is a 24-year-old man named Tomonari Kasumi. He works part time at an arcade in Kanazawa and part-time at CC Corp. Tomonari loves attending mixed parties and according to G.U.+, was hired by Yata. His flirtatious attitude online hides a trouble with forming relationships in the real world. He confesses to Haseo that the only serious girlfriend he ever had was in high school. He prides himself in having the private email addresses of 972 girls on his cell phone and plans to make Pi's his 1000th. Piros->Piros the 3rd In the real world, Piros the 3rd is a 39-year-old man named Hiroshi Matsuyama. As a graphical designer for CyberConnect Corporation, he helped design the graphics for The World and was promoted to the leader of the graphical team for The World R:2. A married man, he has a one-year old son. Natsume->Natsume In the real world, Natsume's player is a 22-year-old woman named Natsume Oguro. Natsume is a fan of foreign fantasy novels, but she has recently gotten into picture and pop-up books. While she is aware that it seems childish, she likes how they immerse the reader into another world and aims to make her own. She goes to the library every day to study art for that purpose. Natsume also enjoys Japanese confections such as urion (she likes the gummy texture), and on her way to the library she goes to a flower patch and occasionally picks one to make pressed flower bookmarks out of. Unconfirmed but speculated Helba->Zelkova The justification there is much like Helba, Zelkova has hacked maximum stats, and was able to repair and upgrade Haseo's character data after it was damaged basically beyond recovery. There's also the chance that Zelkova just isn't anyone. Now then, On to G.U. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-SYkGvB7RI Man when we first saw images of Azure Kite the community went nuts. G.U.'s story may be worse but I love it You know what? As an aside, the actual backstory of The World the game itself? is pretty cool http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/The_World_R:2_History You could have made a game in that and it would be pretty neat Onmi fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Jun 10, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 15:33
|
|
|
quote:Obsession Even if you didn't want to read the anime at least watch this. The Sign OP is probably the best thing about the show.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 15:44
|
|
|
quote:This shindig looks like the bomb-diggity. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 17:29
|
|
|
The best part is that Crispin Freeman ad-libbed this line.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 17:46
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure it's also stated that Taihaku, the sage palace emperor in G.U. was a dot hacker. It seems they never say which one, but one gamefaqs guide writer postulated it was Balmung. Onmi, the stuff you've written about the connections between the two game series is honestly more interesting than G.U.'s plot itself. I seriously had no idea Sora was Haseo. Actually, I didn't make any connections at all the first time I played through G.U., including the Endrance/Elk one, which is honestly just embarrassing. In my defense, I was like 14, I only played Infection and Mutation, and I thought it was just a subtle reference. Endrance does kind of irk me, though. I'll buy that Elk would grow up to be a hikikomori, but both a hikikomori and a stereotypical effeminate gay man that literally walks around with roses in his hair? I'm not buying it. After hearing about all this stuff, and going back and playing G.U. again, I really wish I could watch roots. But whenever I consider it, I remember the scene that made me give up on it the first time. It's Haseo. And Bordeaux. In a cave. Running at each other. Screaming. On a loop. For literally two uninterrupted minutes. I'm sorry, but I just don't have the patience. KapmK fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jun 10, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 21:38
|
|
|
It's okay, because Roots is complete garbage. You're not missing out on anything.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 22:03
|
|
|
DoubleNegative posted:Click this for the final update: Oh god damnit I can't hate you .hack. You stupid, dumb series.  Onmi posted:I really think Sakubo is the most bloody hilariously dark thing in the game though. Sakubo is presented to the player as twins playing a single character, Saku and Bo. This is not the case, it's only Bo. Because Sakura was stillborn and his mother was an abusive rear end in a top hat who told him she wished he died in the womb. You can actually help Bo overcome this mental split, but if you do, you lock yourself out of the final end-game content. So instead you have to convince the mentally traumatized child that his split personality is a good thing he needs. It's honestly hilariously at contrast with literally everything else in the game. I can hate GU though
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 22:08
|
|
|
Shinjobi posted:It's okay, because Roots is complete garbage. You're not missing out on anything. Then it's all the more aggravating that G.U. makes several direct references to events in roots without trying to explain them even a little bit. Man, the .hack franchise is so full of interesting ideas, but everything they produce is hamstrung by the lousy execution. I can't really say anything in the franchise is great (except maybe sign, which I don't remember much at all), but it's all (or at least mostly) interesting, and not in the train-wreck-you-can't-look-away-from way. Oh, and because I forgot to say it last time, congratulations on finishing the LP, DoubleNegative. I didn't join the bandwagon until near the end, but this is undoubtedly the best IMOQ LP in existence, and not just because you were the only person crazy enough to see it through to the end. I really respect the amount of effort you put into this, and your commentary was excellent.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
KapmK posted:Then it's all the more aggravating that G.U. makes several direct references to events in roots without trying to explain them even a little bit. it also directly contradicts roots multiple times. It's not like Sign where you can watch it and then play IMOQ and get a story. If you watch Roots you will be confused as to why events played out differently in G.U. KapmK posted:I'm pretty sure it's also stated that Taihaku, the sage palace emperor in G.U. was a dot hacker. It seems they never say which one, but one gamefaqs guide writer postulated it was Balmung. Onmi, the stuff you've written about the connections between the two game series is honestly more interesting than G.U.'s plot itself. I seriously had no idea Sora was Haseo. Actually, I didn't make any connections at all the first time I played through G.U., including the Endrance/Elk one, which is honestly just embarrassing. In my defense, I was like 14, I only played Infection and Mutation, and I thought it was just a subtle reference. The take away for Endrance to me was that he wasn't so much Gay as he just didn't judge based on gender. He loved the Aida that resembled Mia because it showed him affection and he's a horribly broken human being who is desperatly seeking affection. He then falls in love with Haseo because Haseo says he needs him. That being said, his design is super effeminete (I guess they wanted the fact that his avatar was The Temptress to stand out?)  He is also a marriage option though. And yeah my take away from .Hack has almost always been "Wow there's some really neat backstory stuff here, why is this not in the game?" of course then I wonder how it would actually get told to the player without 'Files'
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2015 00:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 6, 2024 12:31 |
|
|
Onmi posted:
This is absolutely magical.I'm also loving these connections between the first series and the second. They're really making me want to play through (and actually finish) the GU trilogy again.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2015 00:49
|
|