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[Lindsay]

Got some OP updates for the 2011 part of the timeline! And hey we've made it to a second page! See Scamco? People do care about this series lol.

//Another Birth Vol.4 ~ Chapter 7
Akira hasn't played "The World" in months but an e-mail from Kite got the new tennis team captain right back into the game. Kite & Elk heard about a cat character and received e-mail from Aura. Naturally BlackRose would join them! Right inside the dungeon entrance a cat character appeared that looked nothing like Mia which left BlackRose skeptical. They encountered Data Bug straight away which left the out of the loop BlackRose freaking out! Kite explained to her that he had received a new bracelet from Aura just days ago. "Weren't the bracelet and Cubia two sides of the same coin? Does this mean it came back to life, too?" "I don't think so. The bracelet... the first one got made when Aura was incomplete. I think that's why Cubia was born."

"Elk, you don't have to be in such a hurry. Just like you waited, I'm sure Mia's waiting for you." convincing him to stop running off from the group. "When we reached floor B5, the cat that had appeared at the dungeon entrance once again came into view." nope.jpg that happens on B7. They make it down to B15 an proceed to smash the Dawn Wanderer, which BlackRose had never seen anything like it before. I guess they never ran into The Guardian back during the Virus Core hunt? But it revived and transformed, fusing with the cat character. "Just as Cubia and Kite's bracelet were two sides of the same coin, the cat that had murmured Macha and that dumbbell-shaped monster must be related." she's on the right track since Macha had originally been Data Drained by such a monster.

Elk lost the will to fight what he thought to be Mia, while Kite & BlackRose couldn't bring themselves to crush what may be Mia infront of Elks eyes a second time. Instead they whittled it HP away with only normal attacks when suddenly "PhaRai Don!" Elks attack had finished off the monster. BlackRose asked if he was okay but he couldn't answer, not when he saw Mia's form floating down from the remains of the monster. Mia was back but her memory wasn't all there. Even so, Kite & BlackRose were both happy Mia & Elk had been reunited.

//Quarantine - Epilogue

The players Justice and Peace (the guys annoyed at Marlo for calling Kite out back in Mutation) posted on the board saying a cat player character had been spotted and to report to them any information about it. Who do they think they are, the Crimson Knights?! Incidentally, Aura sends an e-mail saying a new life is about to be born at &#937; Hidden Darkside Holy Ground, but something wishes to prevent it. Elk saw the post about the cat character and wants in. So Kite/BlackRose/Elk head out. And we got game over'd in the first room by a spawn of Armor General and two ˆu{G/&}< i=n. x.x

The first five or so floors were hell! Countless powerful Data Bugs spawned at times leaving us healing more than fighting. Kites infection meter was pretty much non-stop in the red even though he'd gotten the killing blow on every monster. The cat character reappeared at B7 and seemed to say "Macha" before vanishing again. From there strong, but regular, monsters would appear slightly more often to help keep Kite from overloading. Even so it was a grueling task getting all the way to the end of B15.

Waiting there was the Dawn Wanderer which wasn't hard to beat. It transformed by fusing with the cat character and became much stronger offensively, but was still easy to take down. Mia was released from it and reborn. Her memories from the point she met Kite were gone, but everyone was happy to just have her back. And I was happy to be done with a dungeon that took 2 hours to get through and which I coulda been game over'd either from monsters of high infection at the whim of the rng! ^_^;

Ressurection. To come back to life from death. Aura, Mia, and even "The World" itself had been reborn. Now begins the golden age with the Ultimate AI at the helm, millions of players, and CC Corp. all quite happy as they head to the new future.

 

[dokish]

I never played the series before. Where should I start?

 

[Lindsay]

I never played the series before. Where should I start?

Start by not reading the first page of the thread or the first post of this page since I went through spoiling most of the original saga x_x; As for where to start the head CyberConnect2 guy said each part of .hack can be enjoyed on its own but obviously the games are the most important! Given the age of some of these its apparently hard to find them at "good" prices.

.hack//Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, Quarantine were the first set of games so try Infection and if ya like it continue through the rest. A buncha people think the gameplay & graphics don't hold up anymore so that may be that problem. But if ya do like it then good! The anime .hack//SIGN is a good companion to the games if ya got the time an ability to watch it.

.hack//G.U. Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol.3 are a new series in the same universe 6~7 years after the events of the original saga. The cast is mostly new with references here & there to the old stuff. Graphics & gameplay are improved but some say the story is worse! The anime .hack//Roots is the direct prequel to it but many don't seem to hold it in as high regard as they did SIGN.

.hack//Link will never be localized save for a long awaited fanslation patch. It revists past series stories with some twists involving its own story which takes place a couple years after the end of G.U. Many think the gameplay sucks... but I liked it! Hope you can read japanese or know the series well enough to get the gist of things!

.hack//Versus is coming out in Japan at the end of next month with no word on a localization. Its a fighting game so the gameplay should be easy enough ta figure out. This takes place about 5 years after Link. Story on the other hand... Also its allegedly the series finale so starting here may not be the best idea if ya care about story! Watching the currently JP-only .hack//The Movie which'll be on the same disc as the game would be a good idea.

I always say start from the beginning but if ya try Infection and don't like it, ya prolly won't like the rest in its series. No harm in skipping that and giving G.U. a try. If the gameplay doesn't grab ya but the stories do, there's anime/manga/novels to give a shot which intertwine & extend the various game stories.

 

[dokish]

Thanks for the answer! I'll try Infection, than G.U. Pretty cheap on eStarland.

I play on an 40" Full HD, but I really don't care about graphics since I still play old PS2/Xbox games. I'm playing P4 with component and I think its look great (besides I have a bad sight, so I don't really see all the pixelation stuff).

This is a series I always wanted to try, just like Shadow Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, but never felt "that" thing to push me.

 

[Man God]

You could have the greatest tv in the world for the image the PS2 presents and you still couldn't make it look good. It doesn't look good on the fancy emulators either.

It does have interesting monster design in places but the graphics are mainly somewhere stuck between N64 and Dreamcast.

 

[Vicetrailia]

I really liked the first .hack game.

The reason why I didn't play the others was because, quite frankly, it would have been fucking expensive to play everything.

If I can get the games for cheap (under 9.99 each) i'd play them all.

 

[Psxphile]

The reason why I didn't play the others was because, quite frankly, it would have been fucking expensive to play everything.

Ha ha, yeah. Bandai (or was it all CC2's idea?) had some balls to charge full retail for each subsequent chapter in the saga, when all they really amounted to was new missions/cutscenes using the same graphics system and assets. As I understand it, a lot of the data from future volumes was already present on the first disc. If the PS2 had presented a viable online/mass data storage solution from the very beginning... perhaps we would have seen those last 3 volumes of the original dot.hack series as add-on DLC content.

Nowadays it's unlikely anyone could get away with something like that. Though I could be wrong...

 

[Man God]

A. They weren't full priced.

B. Each one is about 30 hours long on a single playthrough assuming you don't know how to speed run them and make assuming you make an effort to do most everything in the game.

 

[Lindsay]

Wait ya all didn't think it was over after the Quarantine epilogue did ya? The first season hasn't run its course yet! Aaaannnd... surprise #1! LotT anime! Its not canon but more people seem ta be familiar with it so lets see just when and where it goes wrong alongside the manga!

//Quarantine - ICE

42% of the way there! Am I doing well? Huh, huh?? Item/Key Items are all cleared but that of course is the easy stuff. Right now I'm focusing on Head armor & armor in general since I think there is less of those than Weapons? Still got a ways to fall~

//Unison

SIGN & .hack// - Integration: It all starts with a familiar red Twin Blade and two companions in a snowy field, looking down at a monster (which resembles the bonus dungeon boss of Mutation). In another area, Mistral is hurriedly leaving a dungeon with a Golden Grunty in hand when suddenly... "Your member address if you please." Mimiru & Subaru are chatting at a bar in Mac Anu when BT joins them and in the real world a girl with a Macha keychain on her cellphone logs in to the game. "Justice is found within the hearts of each individual." nice realization Silver Knight had. Outnumbered, Sora retreats! BlackRose shows up at the bar and Mimiru inspects her! "You're still playing that character? Enough already. You can stop copying me now." "Are you accusing me of copying? I'm the original here and you know it." Mimiru & BlackRose going at it already! Things calm down when Tsukasa shows up!

Back in the snowy field Balmung & Orca attack the monster to little effect. Kite speaks up: "Hey tough guy. Aren't you supposed to rest? Don't push it Yasuhiko." "I told you not to call me that here..." Elk & Mia arrive at the bar and Elks as shy as ever. "You. Can it be? Macha..." says Tsukasa after seeing Mia. "It's safe to assume all the Data Bugs are completely eradicated." "In which case Kite, you won't need your bracelet any more." Mia seems to think she's never met Tsukasa. Still, Tsukasa is overjoyed to meet her again and returns to her a certain kind of grass which brings tears to her eyes, though she doesn't know why.

"Until I know Aura's intentions, I must safeguard it. Could it be the purpose of the one entrusted with the bracelet is to protect it until it is passed on?" that's right Kite so don't go destroying it again! "I finally found a place I belong." good ending for Tsukasa. Everyones running late and so they zip over to Net Slum where Mimiru notes a difference in its appearance. "I decided to slightly alter the skin textures. After all this is our celebration together so I thought it should be bright." nice handiwork Helba, and suddenly fireworks! btw BT & Bear seem to be a couple now. Dancing time, even Silver Knight can boogie! Tsukasa spots Sora timidly lurking and crying in the shadows and invites him to join in. "We're all friends now. Okay?" Lios offers to turn Net Slum into a legitimate Root Town but Helba politely declines. "This shindig looks like the bomb-diggity." muses... Balmung?! Which surprises everyone! Watching quietly overhead is Aura as everyone parties the night away~

Obligatory:
dancing 1
dancing 2
dancing 3

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.1: Chapters 0 - 2

"I used to think that the dot hackers were just an urban legend. I mean, virtual heroes who helped save the real world? Sounds pretty far fetched to me." Rena calls Shugo jaded and an old man for not believing such tales. Watching them is Balmung and... Mistral?

"Those MMORPG whatsits are so tedious. There's so much to keep track of... I'd rather do homework!" Really Shugo?! They login and Shugo thinks his character looks like a nerd while Rena thinks hers is cute! "Is that really the same Rena that's sitting right next to me?" Some cute girls ask Shugo about his character design and he shows off like a fool which attracts a large crowd and forces 'em to run away! They head to a field and encounter a Little Doggie which Shugo is amped to fight... until it beats him! Rena scolds him for not knowing how to play the game and he dismisses RPGs as being a pain and threatens to quit until she guilts him back! A L40 Golem appears in this newbie area which kills Shugo as he takes the hit for Rena. Aura appears before the unconscious kid and revives him with a kiss...

"Do not forget. You are the heir to the dot hackers legend. You must continue the quest they began!" Aura bestows upon him a bracelet before disappearing, saying they'll meet again. The now conscious Shugo sees Rena in the arms of Balmung and gets jealous! He tells Shugo to use the bracelet, which he does and turns the Golem into a Kakasinger! "Just who was that guy? How did he know about my bracelet?" Suddenly the weak monster is taken out by... "I'm Mireille-chan! The rare-item hunter of love and bravery!" so cute! Shugo & Rena are taken aback by her chatiness and how she... sniffs and smells at the bracelet. She invites the two noobies to join her, which they agree to since having a spellcaster would be useful!

//Legend of the Twilight [Bonus #01]

ep.1: "Empty Springs of Myst, upside down palm trees, unheard of monters... how is this happening?!" the no-name player gets killed by the monsters and falls unconscious in real life. Shugo checks his e-mail and sees he won a special character contest which Rena entered for both of them! After chatting on the phone with each other they meet up in Mac Anu, and lurking in the shadows is a small Wavemaster! Sanjuro's seen fishing in thecanals and reels in a Crimson Knight helmet while another small Wavemaster asks to do business with him. S&R head off to &#916; Bursting Passed Over Aqua Field, not realizing they're being stalked!

"Stand back Rena. I'll protect my fair little sister!" said as he charges a Mad Grass and gets utterly beaten. Rena saves him instead! "You know what I think? You haven't read the manual." owned. The next monster is a L48 Armored Super Shogun... in a newbie area?! It effortlessly kills Shugo much to his dismay. In the real world his body stops responding! "You musn't die." a super cute Aura revives him with a kiss and gives him a bracelet with the power of Data Drain! Shugo falls over like a fool and loses a tooth and Balmung protects Rena from the bugged monster until Shugo is able to DD it. "The rare hunter of love and courage at your service. Mireille's here!" the stalker Wavemaster reveals herself and goes gaga over the bracelet! Deciding its time to eat, the two ditch her and leave >.<

Manga:
Shugo & Rena still live together
First enemy is Golem/Kakasinger
S&R team up with Mireille right then and there

Anime:
Shugo lives with their father and Rena with their mother
First enemy is Armored Super Shogun/Limp Knife
S&R ditch Mireille

A. They weren't full priced.

Didn't each of the original games launch at $50? That's what I paid for the most part. Each time a new one came out the price of previous ones dropped by $10. Also the Mutation instruction book came with $5 back mail-in rebates for people that had bought Infection & Outbreak. So if someone was late to the series they'd get into it abit cheaper. Also I agree about the monster designs, they're pretty neat and varied if ya get a close look at 'em (first person!).

 

[RPG Wizard]

"This shindig looks like the bomb-diggity." muses... Balmung?!

Thanks Crispin Freeman for a line that will NEVER die.

 

[Kincaido]

How's the .hack//Quantum anime? It's pretty much the only one I haven't seen.

 

[Lindsay]

Since we've been introduced to Rena, nows a good time ta check out her origin ya? btw I've passed the 100 hour mark in my current run of the .hack// games!

//AI buster Vol.2 ~ Story 4: Rumor
Brigit the Blademaster and Maho the Wavemaster are dead and their group leader a male Twin Blade is refusing to revive them which angers Brigit. "We're a party, so you need to take care of your comrades! The Wavemaster isn't just a tool for you to recover your hit points!" Unconvinced he leaves the party. The still dead girls discuss what to do next when Maho says she wants to quit "The World" because she's tired of it. Online games lack story, have no final end, and no way to really become a hero, she then logs out never to return again. Brigit, now playing solo finds herself about to be killed by a group of monsters when a young male Wavemaster saves her. She questions the point of playing when he asks "Do you know about the dot-hackers?" She says no and he passes along rumors of them before leaving. Fast forward about a year or so to Rena showing Mireille and Orcauka what her original character, Brigit looked like. Rena asks why they play "The World". "To fine rare items!" "To test my strength." ...and Rena's is to make Shugo a hero.

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.1: Chapters 3 - 4

"Aura's re-emergence is an ill omen. Do you not agree... System Administrator Balmung?" CC Corp are still jerks, but Balmung essentially tells them to screw off! Mireille, Shugo, and Rena discuss the special character avatars and strange events surrounding them. Shugo decides to become a hero in order to get babes lol. They find out about a Valentine's Day event and head straight for it, proceeding to dig up tons "try again" notes. After learning a pumpkin is the key, they dig one up but it turns into a Pumpkin Head monster! Shugo steps up to the plate and fires off a Data Drain which does nothing to the monster, curses him, redirects Mireille's spells, and makes Rena fall in love with the monster! He then defeats it with normal attacks and the rare items are theirs for the taking! The items a schoolgirl uniform and maid outift?! "A rare item's a rare item!" chirped Mireille deciding to take them if no one else would. And poor Balmung is left wondering why no one liked his event rewards!

Mireille tells Shugo & Rena about a flower viewing event! Shugo doesn't think much of the area until wind blows some girls skirts up! Rena berates him for not acting like a hero as they setup a blanket. A dog stops by their spot which Shugo loves, and after it butters her up, Rena too! Mireille had given Rena a dog collar which they put on the dog, it then gets Shugo to dig up some bones which it decides to chew at. But the skeleton is alive and demands its bone back! "Its common for skeletons to be buried under cherry trees." claims Balmung. S&R are outnumbered and surrounded by Skeletons when the doggie speaks up and transforms! Orcauka beats them so badly the scene had to be censored, after which she properly introduces herself... and comes on to Shugo. Rena says he'll never be a hero and to stay away from Ouka!

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.2: Balmung leads a team setting up an event while his lackey Reki says the logs said an Armored Super Shogun never appeared in the beginner area. S&R meetup in Mac Anu where Mireille is waiting, offering to be their guide but Rena uses a Speed Charm and runs away with Shugo. "You know I wouldn't mind going on an adventure with that rare hunter." "I wanna explore The World with you Shugo, not with her." They decide to participate in an event being held at Voluptous Cherry Maze. In need of a Wavemaster, Mireille is able to squeeze her way into the group! She tries lotsa skills to get the flowers to bloom but only ends up soaking Shugo & Rena! Shugo likes the look of his dripping wet sisters virtual body -.-;

Meanwhile Balmung's... enjoying virtual saki. S&R reminsce over how they went to see cherry blossoms when their family was whole when suddenly a dog starts playing with Shugo! "Beneath the cherry trees are buried corpses!!" says Mireille who's now digging for 'em! But what she unearths is a Fighting Bones! Shugo loses a tooth due to getting stepped all over. "I never intended for there to be monsters in this event." Shugo Data Drains the monster and everyone else! It freezes Balmung, makes Mireille unable to cast spells, and causes Rena to really err... love Shugo. The dog transforms into the player character, Divine Fist Ouka who beats the tar outta the monster! Shugo figures out how to make the flowers bloom and obtains the rare item a... dog collar. Ouka says its okay to put it on her then Rena drags Shugo away citing that its dinner time again.


Anime:
Skipped Valentine's Day event
Starts with them ditching Mireille instead of officially being with her
Claims monsters weren't part of Balmungs event plans
Incorporates the botched Data Drain into the flower viewing event
Doesn't show Rena giving love and attention to the "dog"
Still pulling the broken family thing
Rena is familiar with the name and character Balmung

Thanks Crispin Freeman for a line that will NEVER die.

Never ever: http://bombdiggity.ytmnd.com/
Ever.

How's the .hack//Quantum anime? It's pretty much the only one I haven't seen.

Short & sweet. Left me wishing it was longer and more expanded upon since its only 3 episodes. Thats ovas for ya though.

 

[Kincaido]

Short & sweet. Left me wishing it was longer and more expanded upon since its only 3 episodes. Thats ovas for ya though.

Awesome, I'll be sure to check it out soon then since I usually see it on sell for less than $20 on Amazon.

 

[Lindsay]

Man God's monster design mention reminded of a little something which wasn't planned but has now squeezed its way into surprise #2's spot! Who likes trading card games? Not I! But that didn't stop me from picking up a couple starter decks of...

//ENEMY [Bonus #02]

"In .hack//ENEMY, two players unleash a horde of monsters from "The World" on their vulnerable opponents. When enough of one player's monsters successfully attack, that player wins. Some monsters can even safely hide in a portal, waiting for more and more monsters to join in a vicious attack.

As a last line of defense, each player also controls up to three PCs (player characters) to fight against the opponent's monsters. PCs use chosen weapons from six different classes. Each class has its own special weapons, actions, and abilities."

There were 6 different card types (Monsters, PCs, Items, Actions, Events, Fields) divided amongst 5 levels of rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Starter Deck Premium, X-tra Rare), across 1 base set and 4 expansions and 1 special limited edition "GIFT" set (only 8,000 made! which # did you get?), for a total of 566 cards! Gotta collect 'em all? With art & dialogue taken straight from the anime & games this was a very well co-ordinated and done TCG. Heck if I know how to play it though! Below is a few choice card pics for the nostalgias!

BlackRose 2.0 | Golden Grunty | Spin Figure | Terajima Ryoko | Armor Shogun | Midnight Axe

Lookout | Ectoplasm | Parasite Dragon | Sudden Reversal | Innis | Minnow | Temptress Lover

//Quarantine - ICE

62% complete now! I finally put some thought into my random running around and found equipping the Gemini Soul weakens Kite enough to be able to DD many low level monsters to get their goodies. All armor from Infection/Mutation has been registered along with a bunch from Outbreak/Quarantine. Getting closer... to having to purposely hunt for weapons x_x! Not feeling fatigue yet!

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.1: Chapters 5 - 6

Rena suggests they kill some time by leveling up instead of staring at girls. As if to prove her point when Hotaru shows up... "What a cute character! I wonder if she's a foreign player?" stupid Shugo! Hotaru's a newbie who wants save a dying Grunty she found abandoned on the street. "Prince of Imperia, defender of truth, knight of the rose. But you can just call me your majesty." Komiyan the III is here and making life annoying for everyone. "Sleaze ball!! Don't look at my sister like that!! You might be holding the controller in one hand, but who knows what your other hand's holding!!" LOL. A disguised Balmung sells Shugo & Hotaru information on where to find a Phoenix Down... except they run off without paying! A monster attacks and Shugo's set to fight it when Hotaru begs him not to! She's a total pacifist and tries begging the monsters to help them out. That's a no go so Shugo DD the Cereberus, earns the Phoenix Down, and the grunty is saved!

Balmung wishes to enjoy his own event so Reki's left in charge of it. Dressed in kimonos the gang makestheir wishes. Mireille wants the rarest item, Ouka wants worthy enemies, Hotaru wants world peace, and apparently Komiyan wants Rena's socks. Rena is chosen to be the princess and the crowd loves her, even suggesting she should become a net idol! The race is on and Shugo is determined to not let Balmung get to his sister first! Winning a date with Rena didn't interest Mireille, Ouka, or Hotaru so they sat it out until a shark monster appears which M&O jump in and attack! "Kunisaki, you miserable worm. Don't call me Komiyama. My name is Komiyan!" "Taste my bracelet dork-face!" the Data Drained Komiyan turns into a Minnow! Balmung inspires Shugo to try harder to become a hero. "I wish that I'll grow up to be strong and brave." "I wish that Shugo will become a hero!" will their wishes ever come true?

???

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.3: A random cute girl is asking a young Wavemaster to take care of her little grunty for three days! Thats a tall order... this seems familiar somehow. Mireille invited everyone to her secret room to talk about the bracelet. Determing that Shugo needs to level up to control it they drag him to a mid-level field... but the girls do all the fighting! Balmung & Reki are trying to figure out who opened the Character Campaign page. Shugo opens a trapped treasure chest which levels him back down to 1 which made him rage quit! In town Shugo meets the young Wavemaster who introduces herself as Hotaru. The grunty she was entrusted with has the flu! Shugo & Hotaru head off alone to get the item needed to save it. Shugo loses a tooth when he falls down some stairs. "What are you doing playing around with small fries like these, Kite?" Sanjuro got Hotaru's message and came to their rescue! With his help they get the Phoenix Feather and save the baby ^_^ The gruntys owner returns and lets it slip she left it for dead. "You're not even worthy of being called a gamer." ice cold burn from Mireille. The girls drag her away and... do something to her. Balmung asks Sanjuro to train Shugo cause "Twilight is drawing ever more near and that boy holds the key."

ep.4: It starts with Shugo running from goblins and Sanjuro telling him not to run away. Shugo loses a tooth when he tries to confront them and gets slammed in them. "I want to become stronger. So that I can protect you." finally Shugo's getting serious. They hear about a Tanabata Night event when suddenly a weirdo riding a grunty shows up and introduces himself as Komiyan the III, S&R's old classmate. "Even in a game Rena is tres bien!" that lil comment prompts Shugo to give him a good punch! "The other day an operator doing maintenance slipped into a coma." Reki can't believe this. Hotaru doesn't understand the event so Mireille explains: "The festival of the weaver maiden. You write down your wish and dangle it from the tree." Seeing the Komiyans wish is for Renas socks, Shugo says he'll delete him! Rena gets picked to be Orihime. The gathered players start trying to cross the river... until Mireille freezes it! Komiyan takes the lead and the event monster appears, it takes no damage and is clearly bugged. Shugo DDs it and Komiyan and wins the event along with a kiss from Re... or not as weird things continue to happen the event must close early. "I want to be with Rena." "I want our family to be together again." will their wishes ever come true?

Anime:
The meeting in the secret room came later so it includes Ouka
Grunty gal from SIGN returns and is where Hotaru got the Grunty from
An NPC(?) tells them how to cure the grunty instead of a disguised Balmung
Phoenix Feather/Down was in a treasure chest and not dropped by a Cereberus
Sanjuro saved the day instead of Shugo
Komiyan isn't currently in the same class as Shugo
Shugo doesn't wear a kimono
Mireille, Ouka & Hotaru all enter the race
The shark monsters bugged and the event has to end early with an evacuation

 

[RPG Wizard]

Didn't the Starter Decks come with instruction booklets?

It's not too complicated.

A turn consists of:
-Draw: Draw 1 card, and then reconcile your hand to 5 cards via additional draws or discards.
-Play: Follow instructions on a card's "To play" in order to play it. You may only play one card in a turn. If you can't play anything, you may play a card face down as "hidden". If it does not have a "To flip" text, it's just taking up a hidden card slot. Action cards often have "To flip" text though, and you can always bluff.
-Attack: If you played a monster or can have your stored monsters attack, they do. Opponent uses played PCs to defend. Numbers and effects are summed up, and then both players flip the top card of the deck and discard it, noting the "Destiny number" in the upper right corner. That's added as well. If the PC wins, monsters die. If the monsters draw or better, they win, and you get the "reward" effect for all monsters in that battle, and you choose ONE monster in the battle to be "scored".

And that's the turn. Play until someone scores 7 points or someone's deck runs out, in which case whoever has the most points wins.

I went and saved all of the card images onto my computer so I can look at them when I like. I'm amused that Decipher (Makers of ENEMY) were the ones who named Kaochin.

(There are more rules, but as a whole that's the basics of it. It was a lot of fun to play back when it was still alive as a game.)

 

[Lindsay]

Since Hotaru is here how about her (his!?) intro tale? And let's keep that game content flowing on with surprise #3! ...why was I playing this instead of collecting items?

//Infection - Demo [Bonus #03]

This demo was included in the limited edition package of .hack//SIGN Vol.1. First off you're presented with a choice. Play demo, or watch video. Since ya can't return to this selection screen once you've entered the demo, its best to watch the trailer first. It covers some of the backstory of the .hack universe like Pluto's Kiss and stuff. Plus some stuff from SIGN, Infection, Liminality 1 & 2, and the LotT manga.

Once inside the demo you're told you can't save or load data. Other than that this is from what I can tell exactly the same as the full game outside one thing: there are audio issues with sound effects not always playing. Anyways the first thing I did after losing Orca was run around trading with PCs for better gear! Yup just like the full game. You can even challenge the first Goblin Tag and take on Hero of Zeit challenge! With the amount of keywords you're given you can generate around 3,200 areas the highest of which I believe is L19.

So you can play to your hearts content! You can even get Ryu Books to add music & wallpaper to your desktop! But when you clear &#916; Expansive Haunted Sea of Sand the demo comes to an end. This is where not being able to save is a pretty big blunder on Bandai's part. Doing so and continuing in the full game would've been a nice hook. Maybe they'll get it right next time~

//AI buster Vol.2 ~ Story 5: Firefly
"My dad, in typical Bostonian fashion, was a red-haired, hard-drinking Irishman. My mom was born in Kyoto, Japan." this mismatched pair produced a child a devious enough child to skipped dinner and an opera to play an online game. This child felt at home with their irish roots but wanted to know about their japanese side, and what better way to do that then to setup an account on the japanese server of "The World"? Of course playing a text heavy game like that with minimal knowledge of the language didn't go well and when asking for help he got called a gaijin and ignored. "What is one thing there are not two of in The World?" an event fairy asked, but how would a total newb know the answer? Thankfully fellow american Sanjuro was around. He'd help Hotaru find the answer in his own way, and save him from PKs to boot!

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.2: Chapters 1 - 2

S/R/M are at a beach area planning to view virtual fireworks show later, when Ouka (now with her name not borked) shows up with info about an event! In the hopes of finding rare items Mireille drags them away to an area which resembles a haunted mansion. Rena gets upset they find out she's scared of ghosts and leaves them behind. She ends up in a torture chamber alone with a Lich Lord but not for long as S/M/O show up with Shugo taking charge big time directing everyone how to take down the monster! Seeing this, Rena likens him to the legendary Kite and asks him how he got so strong. "Well, lately I've been leveling up on my own. I checked out the newsgroups, and read a bunch of faqs, too. Can't be depending on this bracelet all the time, you know." They make is back in time for the fireworks but it starts raining instead. Reki asks if this is Balmungs doing and he denies it. Shugo spots a young robed girl singing... "Au-Aura?!

The small girl points at Shugo and calls him mommy then clings to him all the way back to Mireille's place! Rena tells her to get off of him and she says "That ganguro girl is scaring me..." and identifies herself as Zefie, someone with no member address and no class. From this Mireille deduces she must be a vagrant AI. Zefie pokes fun at everyone but Shugo and Mireille, and gives them afros to boot... even Hotaru's grunty got one! "This bracelet... it has my mom's scent." lil Zefie is searching for her mother, Aura and found a Shugo instead. Taking a liking to her, Shugo decides to help Zefie out! Though he's disappointed Aura is apparently married (I mean why else would someone have a child?). He asks her to apologize for messing with the girls earlier and she does by kissing him! "I'm Shugo Kunisaki, 14 years old, 9th grade... and I've been kissed by a mother and daughter team!" Meanwhile in an admin room, Balmung reads about a new root town opening soon, when Reki informs him the Cobalt Knights are interested in Shugo's new companion. In town Kamui belittles her lazy men as she scornfully deletes a vagrant AI...

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.5: Four players sit around a table discussing how their monsters could have been defeated and determine it must have been Kites doing and work on a trap to delete him. Meanwhile Shugo's enjoying the "sights" at a beach area in "The World" until Sanjuro shows up for a chat. Balmung put him up to persuading S&R to quit the game but they want to find the girl in white before taking time off. They spot three boys bullying a girl by taking her ball and rush to help her! Shugo loses a tooth when the ball is thrown in his face. It was a trick to get close to Shugo and obtain his member address, now Operation Delete the Dot Hackers can begin. Shugo gets a garbled e-mail from Aura telling him to go to "cursed woodland murder house." said Mireille in a cute creepy voice and the team sets off to that area. Balmung's fixing up an area when clueless Cerulean Knights show up and threaten him. Their leader Kamui explains Balmung is a system adminstrator and they stand down, but she disses his work before leaving. Rena storms off after everyone discovers she's easily spooked and ends up attacked by a Data Bug. Shugo defeats it with the bracelet but her character dies unnaturally and in the real world her controller and fmd are without their user...

ep.6: Everyone searches the mansion for Rena but turn up empty. "Shugo. Try to look at the bright side." "What bright side? She won't even pick up the phone in the real world." Mireille guess this must be an event and so they return to town to get info. Hotaru has a thought! Use little grunty to find her scent! "Go forth grunty! Now is your time to prove your usefulness to us!" declares Shugo! It goes to a bench and lays down for a nap ^_^ Recalling how Rena used to get lost in the real world, Shugo searches harder! The four players from before are still planning to delete Kite, taking advantage of the fact that he's lost BlackRose. A message from an unknown sender tells Shugo to go to Enraged Dragon Queen (or Raging Drag Queen as Hotaru misunderstands). There they find a hot spring, so everyone undresses and hops in for a soak! And who should approach but... Rena?! She gives him a big naked hug but he sees through the facade and the monster drops its guise and attacks! Shugo loses a tooth after falling flat on his face. After defeating it, Balmung shows up and tells them this is a serious incident not an event. Later Shugo gets a call from his mom informing him that Rena's in the hospital in a coma...


Anime:
They get led to the mansion by a mysterious e-mail instead of Ouka
Sanjuro & Hotaru accompany them
Shugo uses the bracelet to stop the monster after Rena instead of leadership and skill
No fireworks show mentioned
Cerulean Knights instead of Cobalt Knights. ok.
Rena falls into a coma

There were lotsa differences before this is pretty much where the anime parts ways with the manga.

Didn't the Starter Decks come with instruction booklets?

Probably but I was just happy trying ta collect 'em!

It's not too complicated.

*explanation that makes my head spin* Right on! @_@?

I'm amused that Decipher (Makers of ENEMY) were the ones who named Kaochin.

For reals? That's new to me! Info level up!

 

[Lindsay]

With Kamui's arrival its time ta finish AI buster. 2/1/4/5/3... is it me or did I read vol.2 way outta order?

Spoiler

Or perhaps in the best order!

And so we're done with novels for now. SIGN, AI buster, Liminality, Intermezzo, Unison. I've come so far yet it feels like I've finished so little.

//Quarantine - ICE

81%! Armor registration completed! After finishing up to Vol.3 armor and getting back to &#937; server I said ta heck with dungeon crawling and decided to obtain the rest of the needed armor (and quite a few weapons) through trading. This is why, at least in Quarantine, ya don't wanna trade with anyone until post game. Not only are people carrying quite a few unique/hard to find items, but it just plain makes life simpler! We're in the home stretch and so now is the time to finally start making use of the Springs of Myst since many weapons would be just plain hard ta find otherwise.

//AI buster Vol.2 ~ Story 3: Kamui
"It still felt surreal, taking over the office of my old boss, Kazushi Watari." Kamui, new captain of the Cobalt Knights logs in and head to an area where her men have a vagrant AI cornered and without mercy has it deleted. In the cathedral she recalls how Albireo was changed by the Lycoris ordeal, breaking down physically and mentally while talking more and more about god. The only other female of the team approaches her and admits to having played with a vagrant AI before joining CC Corp. No harm, no foul right? Kamui thought about Watari again, how after encountering the cat player character he was hospitalized for a long time. Then was blamed for the twilight incident and forced to resign. When she was asked to reform and lead the Cobalt Knights she accepted and would use what he'd taught her to protect "The World". Back in the present she's tracked down the AI the member of her team had mentioned and threatened to delete him when he shocks her with his knowledge of the false recreated spear of wotan and much more. "You're nothing but a collection of ones and zeroes." "You're nothing but a collection of atomic particles. Does that give you the right to end my existence?" he likened her to the Nazi's before accepting his fate. "I will continue to hunt for AIs. Nothing will stop me from my mission."

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.2: Chapters 3 - 5

Players everywhere are notified that for this summer only a new Root Town, City of Illusion Naval Monte has opened up! Where there are new things there are people and where there are people there is information! So the group goes there in the hopes of finding out more about the Zefie "event". They split up but not before Zefie gives Shugo a kiss and calls him onii-chan, making Rena mad jealous. Mireille enters a bar to meet Wiseman! "If one wants to know what's happening in The World... sometimes one must spend some time looking in the real world." like a boss he seems to know about Mireilles friends. At the same time, Kamui approaches Rena & Hotaru acting suspiciously nice. Wiseman gives a hint about 4 years ago while Kamui speaks about Net Slum and how vagrant AIs are bugs. Reki approaches Kamui and tells her to back off since he and Balmung are assigned to monitor Shugo's party. She says she will... for now.

Since Kamui reports directly to the top brass, Balmung asks for Wisemans help even their odds. Shugo's party regroups and goes over their new info... with a deformed Komiyan watching from the shadows, planning to punish Shugo for messing up his character. The four years ago clue reminds Rena of when they were in elementary school before they moved, they lived in the same neighborhood and were friends with some guy named Kazu and his sister... now would be the perfect time to get in touch with him again since he may know something about what happened back then. Most of the group logoff to get some sleep but two people stay up late into the night. Shugo bonding with Zefie some more, and Kamui who receives a report from a user calling Shugo a troublemaker...

Seeing Aura's reflection (or perhaps her own?) in Mac Anu's water Zefie jumps in! Shugo follows suit to bring her safely back to land. Meanwhile Balmungs getting a firm talking to from CC Corps head honchos. They see Aura and the bracelet as a threat to their interests and strip him of his sys admin role on the spot for taking the Shugo/Aura case lightly! Mireille explains what she learned about 4 years ago, the dot hackers and Zefie look-alike appeared, people fell into comas playing the game, the Yokohama disaster, and more. Kamui's team member Magi appears before Reki and informs him of Balmungs dismissal and that the Cobalt Knights will be taking over the Shugo case. Reki's determined to not let things end like this! Shortly afterwards Komiyan enters Mireille's hideout with the help of Kamui!? "Shugo. In accordance with the user agreement... your character model will be seized under suspicion of malicious cheating."

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.7: S&R's parents are at the hospital while Shugo's at his sisters computer wondering why her character can't be logged out. Everyone returns to the mansion including Balmung and Reki who Shugo mistakes for Rena "And now my second kiss was wasted in a videogame. And with a guy this time." Balmung says he's been searching for Rena and many other players who've fallen into comas while playing and fill them in about 4 years ago. Mireille asks why she's never heard that before (cause she wasn't born yet!) "CC Corp erased all of the logs. There are no records left from that time in the game." self-serving jerks. Rena awakens within the game and a super cute Aura explains to her why she cannot logout and her condition in the real world. Shugo plans to weaken and catch one of the enemies monsters... but Komiyan gates in right infront of his attack and gets DD'd into a frog! Just as he's set to fire another one off a crapton of Cerulean Knights show up led by Kamui who delete the monster. Shugo loses a tooth when Kamui
bitchslaps him away. Kamui's brought Reki over to her side and the knights are now in charge of the current case.

ep.8: "Come on. Everyone modifies items. Gotta have a little edge, right?" Kamui rounds up three cheaters and deletes & bans them in a public show of authority. Lurking in the shadow is a pair of glowing red eyes... At the hideout Sanjuro says its only a matter of time until they target Shugo. Shugo loses a tooth when Sanjuro, not knowing he was there, slams the door open on his face. He goes off searching for Rena on his own, as does Balmung after getting a talking to from the company execs. The four bad players discover Rena is active within the game and go to check on her. Kamui's interogating Frogiyan the III thinking he cheated to modify his looks and he spills the beans on Shugo. As he returns from a field, the knights confront and say they're taking him into custody. "I returned to The World after all this time and I find the streets ruled by a pack of gangsters calling themselves knights." Silver Knight shows up and gives Shugo a chance to escape, but he himself is captured. He lectures Kamui about justice but she callously ignores him. And so the long time player Silver Knight is deleted & banned. Balmung then has his sys admin status revoked when Reki sells him out. With the help of Aura, Rena sends a message to Shugo which should allow him to track her down.

 

[Stage On]

Man the CC Corp sure is dumb at times. After everything that happened in the games you'd think they'd be a bit more tolerant towards vagrent ai

 

[Lindsay]

Whyyyyyys it so difficult to find Spring of Mysts that only give +1 & -1?? The weapon registration portion of the ICE suuuuuucks! I brought it on myself saying I'd beat it again at the start of the thread but I'm not commiting to 100%'ing the G.U. games again!! ...Right? Anyhow let's get unsurprise #4 out (well if its in the timeline I have to try and cover it)! Who loves audio dramas?

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.2: Chapter 6

The group gets one look at Komiyans face and have a good laugh, but not for long. Kamui declares that Rena, much to Komiyans dismay, will be deleted along with Shugo & Zefie. Zefie says something strange... "are you going to delete me again? as they're led away. While awaiting his own judgement Balmung remarks that CC Corp hasn't changed and that the players must protect the game themselves. In the Cobalt Knights jail the verdict is for S&R's accounts to be suspended. Mireille/Ouka/Hotaru are threatened with the same punishment but will be let off if they behave.

???

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.3: Chapters 1 - 2

Rena's big time depressed, wishing she hadn't entered the contest and saying she's giving up and'll quit the game. Balmung however is optimistic, leaving everything in Reki's hands as he returns to being a regular player. Zefie knocks some sense into Rena with her "loving boomerang hook"! Proud of Shugo being her hero, she's determined to do as BlackRose once did and support her Kite! Zefie then effortlessly unlocks the jail cell, showing just how easily they could've escaped had they just asked!

Kamui and Magi find their prisoners have escaped but aren't worried, knowing they'll head to the net slums, giving the knights an excuse to "clean up" that place. While on the run they encounter and make up with Komiyan. Zefie even fixes his characters face... with a punch! Balmung meets up with Wiseman in Net Slum to mobilize the dot hackers! Mistral and Kazu show up right away! Shugo & Rena tell Komiyan to not get involved with them since they're in trouble and on the run, but deep down he's a good guy and joins the party!

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.9: Rena's mail gets through to Shugo! But the Cerulean Knights are out of control deleting people for even the smallest offenses. Mireille & Shugo are sneaking around in rare bunny & frog outfits when the knights corner 'em. "Hey! Its an illegal flying peach pudding!" strange Mireille, strange. Back in the hideout they whine about the knights and suddenly Reki enters! One of the four bad players thinks he's baiting normal players when instead the CK's find and track him instead. "Hey trust me or not its your choice. But do you have any other options?" Reki's given them alot of useful info but he's surely up to something. To get to the Chaos Gate and hack it they trick Komiyan into being decoy! Shugo's team, the CK's, and the bad players are all gathered in one area to battle it out! Kamui stubbornly fights with Shugo preventing him from getting rid of the modified monsters which are crushing the knights -.-; "Everyone will die." a wandering AI in white shows up and starts deleting the area, the bad players - her supposed allies, and the knights including Magi which shocks emotion into Kamui! Just as they're able to escape they see Rena but its to late to stop and grab her! In the real world three of the bad players have fallen into comas...

ep.10: Balmung & Kamui's failures have led to Reki being given complete authority within "The World" hm... he doesn't seem too enthusiastic about it. "There are no second chances anymore. Don't forget, there are lives at stake here." everyones given a much needed straight talk from Sanjuro. After a day of thinking things through everyones decided to stick with Shugo! Balmungs playing Shogi with himself when Reki shows up and persuades him to fight alongside Shugo, whose party arrives in the offline unopened Root Town of Naval Monte. "That's impossible! A monster appearing in the Root Town!?" said Sanjuro right after saying common sense no longer applies lol. Rena struggles to stay strong and not break down, constantly searching for a way out of her prison when the wandering AI shows up "In order for me to transcend death it is important for me to understand it." weird. Balmung arrives and directs the team in such a way that they're able to defeat the modified monster. "I am know by the name of Morti." declares umm, Morti as she confronts the heroes...

//The End of "The World" - To my little sister

file.01: Jun Bansyoya introduces himself as a programmer and A.I. psychologist at CC Corp. Struck by guilt, he's created this journal based on his own experience and data logs he stole. After explaining the basics of the game he gets right to business. The second network crisis aka The Morganna Incident. First things first, introducing Kite and his first adventure with Orca. "I know it sounds like some cheap sci-fi movie, but the player actually fell into a coma because of this online game." Jun suggests CC Corp. used their influence to keep the story of players falling into comas from getting out. He mentions the player of Tsukasa had already awoken from her coma prior to this incident and that Sora & Sieg would later become involved in Project G.U. He resumes recapping the events of Infection and states that the events of 2010 were a direct result of what he was researching for Project G.U., the existence of a god in "The World".

Graceless Unison: It became a story of human foolishness and a paradise abandoned by god.

file.02: Now onto Mutation. Jun explains that Kite's victory over Skeith didn't save Orca and instead gave birth to Cubia, and how he escaped deletion from Lios and defeated Innis. "Skeith... Innis... yes. This was exactly the Morganna Factor that we were researching at Project G.U." He praised Kite for being able to do alone what the Project G.U. members could not despite countless manhours and money involved.

Geek's Utopia: Hackers paradise. It was there that Kite reunited with Helba.

Man the CC Corp sure is dumb at times. After everything that happened in the games you'd think they'd be a bit more tolerant towards vagrent ai

Yup they're a bunch of pigheads who only care about maintaining their cash cow and power! Of course it was an AI within their very game which caused Pluto Again so its hard to outright disagree with 'em. Still they're certainly not a bunch of geniuses thats for sure!

 

[oxrock]

I played through like the first 7 games. I would catch the show sporadically whenever it aired on cartoon network. I honestly didn't care about playing the game, I just wanted more story. Would be cool to catch the shows again.

 

[Lindsay]

Two more things come to a close! The original .hack// games saga is completed along with the non-canon LotT anime. Feels like someting bigs right around the corner huh? I can feel it. I'm... I'm right here!! ...but let's not get ahead of ourselves! Oh an as a bonus we get Mireille's real name added to the OP. LotT's sure not shy about giving those out!

//Quarantine - Overtime x ICE

Its to much for me!! The fatigue from searching for the correct Spring of Mysts I need, and going in and out of those 5 dungeons with unique weapons in their Gott Statues is making me nuts! So lets just go back ta regular overtime. Maxing the remaining ryu books came along with the turf of item hunting so that was no problem. Getting everyones affection to 1000 each took some doing but I did it an completed all e-mail chains. Orca is such a kidder saying Kite is famous and that maybe one day they'll come out with a limited edition character models called .hackers. It'll never happen. Guess that's it for Quarantine! Now on to...

Hey hold up! Look, look! I changed my mind! 100% complete! The rewards were Image 56, BGM 51, Movies 90-96, and getting those obnoxious NPCs away from the Chaos Gates, but not before being told I've spent too much time playing this game! Grrr... stupid CC Corp!

- Quarantine
Game Cleared: 14:17:38 (78:02:06)
Game Overtime: 59:23:42
Game Cleared 100%: 73:41:20 (137:25:48)

^_^

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.3: Chapters 3 - 6

The threat of sticking with Shugo and being deleted or abandoning him has Mireille down in the dumps. Her mother comes to give her a hug and some advice, then asks if she can play with her old character for abit. "It seems that even a housewife like me can still make a difference." !! Mireille contacts Shugo via cellphone and tells them to meet up in the hidden and forbidden area and the party is reunited! Mireille, Ouka and Hotaru recognize Komiyan as the guy who threw out the grunty and ratted on Shugo so they deal him alil payback! Kazu shows up and reunites with his old neighbors, and gives them a Helba Key! Unfortunately Kamui shows up and freezes Komiyans account for trying to defend Shugo & Rena.

While the others run, Kaz and Ouka stay behind fighting off the Cobalt Knights. Kamui is baffled as to why she cannot delete them. "Shugo and his party members are protected. All further information is classified." management basically tells Kamui tough shit, do your job anyway. Magi gets Kamui an opportunity to go after Shugo and after some fighting Hotaru comes between them and spills her heart out, begging Kamui to stop! Zefie steps in and feeds Hotaru's grunty so much food it grows up into a giant Longhorn Grunty! Angered that she cannot protect the world Watari entrusted her with, Kamui attacks Zefie straight on but her Spear of Wotan replica ends up totally shattered...

Kamui breaks down recalling the day 4 years ago Watari left the company, how even CC Corp can't touch certain things and people within "The World". Shugo and Zefie sit down to have a heart to heart talk with her, stating why he's here and asking why she is. Something she's questioning herself. Zefie gives her a kick to snap outta it then tells her everyone in the world is blessed, even Kamui.

//Legend of the Twilight

ep.11: Morti darkens the sky and twists the appearance of the empty city. Wasting no time Shugo jumps in to attack! Her defense is to warp Komiyan into the area right infront of her which takes Shugo's attack! Morti controls NPCs like puppets and has them attack Shugo's party. Kamui states to Reki her findings, that the bad players were very interested in death. "I wish to know what the nature of true death is." its no wonder Morti was allied with them. It turns out Aura created the dot hacker character campaign to combat Morti! Meanwhile Morti is using Rena to try and delete everyone who's come in contact with her, including Aura. Aura shows up and staves off Morti's virus, but without their weapons gone how will they fight?

ep.12: Shugo comes across Komiyan who's not been infected with the virus and figures out that Komiyan wasn't affected because he'd been Data Drained which somehow made him immune! So Shugo... will Data Drain himself! But his friends ask to stick by his side and be DD'd as well! It has some pretty odd effects, Ouka turns into a puppy, Hotaru's grunty grows up and sprouts wings, Sanjuro's hair turns white making him look old, Balmung gets knocked out... oh and their weapons return! "The fools. Why are they bullying Morti? We just wanted to know about the nature of death." Shugo fires off a DD at just the right time and frees Rena from the monster! Then he attacks Morti but the female bad player jumps in to defend her, only Morti ends up shielding the girl!

Morti's defeated and the area begins crumbling, as one final trap is set off. It creates an unlimted amount of data which'll cause "The World" to collapse. The hacker kiddie girl explains her story and Shugo & Rena try to console her. S&R's combined power of uh... love? powers up the bracelet and they fly off into the virus stream... Sometime later... Mireille has acquired three sets of rare costumes! Everyones waiting for Shugo & Rena to show up for a new event of Balmungs! "The World is a place where we can always be together no matter what seperates us in the real world!"

 

[Psxphile]

Hot damn. Now there's a screen I never got to see. I just didn't have the patience to collect and store every single piece of equipment and items in the game. And it wasn't enough that you had collected them previously, you also had to have it in your possession during the campaign in order for it to count, correct? Pretty sure I (accidentally?) traded away one of those rare one-of-a-kind weapons sometime in one of the previous volumes, so there was no way I'd ever complete the campaign without starting my game over anyway.

 

[Lindsay]

Hot damn. Now there's a screen I never got to see. I just didn't have the patience to collect and store every single piece of equipment and items in the game. And it wasn't enough that you had collected them previously, you also had to have it in your possession during the campaign in order for it to count, correct? Pretty sure I (accidentally?) traded away one of those rare one-of-a-kind weapons sometime in one of the previous volumes, so there was no way I'd ever complete the campaign without starting my game over anyway.

Patience? It only took 50-some hours over the past 12 days... and some more chunks of my sanity e_e G.U. definetely was more kind with the item collection stuff since it counted stuff your party members had and was an ongoing thing from practically day 1! If what I've learned from going through this again holds up, I don't think there are any 1 time only items that count towards the collection. Every item you need ta register can be gotten in Quarantine's post-game.

Since equipment/weapons with the rare label aren't included what ya did or didn't have leftover from previous games dun matter. The highest level stuff can be got through trading and if you'd done that and gotten rid of the stuff before registering 'em in the event there are areas with Gott Statues set aside that have 'em (though it may take a few trips!). For everything else you can use the Spring of Myst to upgrade & downgrade as needed, bought at shops, traded for, found in treasure boxes, and other Gott Statues, and DD'd from monsters. Even if you don't got a single lowly Virus Core A and are Level 99 it is still possible to obtain one by equipping a weapon that nerfs your attack to newbie levels allowing ya to protect break even the weakest monsters. Overall its a very fair system even if dealing with the Springs can be a headache!

 

[Laughing Banana]

O yea, Lindsay: the scene involving Blackrose, Kite, and the character on your avatar (what's her name? I forget hahaha) on the game was definitely one of the scenes I enjoyed the most in .hack games. That level was real funny to play.

Man, Kite was a real pimp. Haseo's not bad, but he was not Kite, unfortunately.

 

[Lindsay]

This is it. The end of the LotT manga. That it ends on such an upbeat note is sad considering what happens next, and what is already going on behind the scenes~ I guess we all know whats coming next. So let's first take a look at a certain someone's "first time" playing a netgame!

//Legend of the Twilight Vol.3: Chapters 7 - 11

After pleading to Kamui and saying they'll accept deletion once Zefie is returned to Aura, Kamui laughs at their hopeless optimism... and decides to turn her back for now, since she's lost her weapon. The heroes fly away on Mr. Grunty, just as Balmung shows up to poke a little fun at Kamui and cool her down. The battle between Magi & Knights, Ouka & Kazu continues however as Magi wants to have a good pvp fight and Ouka sees her as a worthy opponent!

Shugo, Rena, Zefie, Mireille, and Hotaru arrive in the Net Slum! Whereupon Mr. Grunty turns right back into a normal lil baby grunty! They encounter a young girl AI looking for the end, and Zefie helps her out with that... kinda? Another AI girl, who looks very much like Lycoris, hopes their end will be a good one (unlike hers ;. before she to fades away to rest in peace. Balmung greets them and Rena goes gaga over him! Shugo loses a tooth um... out of sheer jealousy/protectiveness maybe? He challenges Shugo to strike him just once and he'll tell them how to meet Aura. Can Shugo pull it off against such a skilled veteran player?!

...apparently not. His levels just way to low. Recalling advice from training with Ouka he lowers Balmungs attack and accuracy! Then boosts his own speed and paralyzes him! Even so he still fails to land a blow. Balmung says it's good Shugo's using his brains but it is time to end this! "A hero is someone who will risk everything to protect what he loves! And that's why you're a fine hero onii-chan!" Rena had already considered him a hero... this fires Shugo up enough to knock 1 hp off of Balmung, while losing pretty much all of his own! Satisfied, Balmung gives Shugo Virus Cores to warp to the area Aura's at. However only three people can go! Mireille and Hotaru voluntarily stay behind wishing them luck. "A lot has happened during the past eight months... Let's go and make this into the best ending ever."

4 years ago... Shugo snuck onto Kazu's computer to see what all the fuss about "The World" was about. Upon logging in he encountered a much younger Aura and not knowing any better asked her to play with him to which she agreed. In the present they arrive in Aura's room (the one with the bed and teddy bear!) and Zefie and Aura are super ^_^ to be reunited!

4 years ago Shugo wanted to be a hero but other kids thought it was lame. He gave up gaming and now only cared to just get passing grades in school. But now Shugo has become the hero he'd originally set out to be so many years ago. Yes, he remembers now, and has quite a story to tell Aura... "That's why The World doesn't need an ending."

???

//The End of "The World"

file.03: Jun theorizes about Harald's intentions with "The World". "I believe Harald's true goal was to use the game to acquire data on the behavior of millions of online players. And by doing so, to create the ultimate A.I." Thanks to BlackRose, Kite was able to lift himself up from being down in the dumps over everything getting worse and he decides on a course of action. "Wiseman knew a lot more than we at Project G.U." Jun likens his own mental state to Kites, someone acting heroically to set the course of "The World" back on the correct path. Because of this they were able to achieve one of the most important things to Project G.U. - freeing Sora from Skeith. "Skeith had done it. Skeith, one of the Eight Phases, had merged with the spirit of the player who played as Sora." Meanwhile Kites battles continued even as CC Corp. worked to cover everything up and after defeating the 5th Phase, the source of the Cursed Wave was discovered.

Guilty Universe: Harald Hoerwick's world of corrupted love and dreams.

file.04: "It's unclear why the 6th Phase was the only one to take the form of an NPC. This was yet another important sample case for Project G.U. to consider. Was it possible to establish a character with the Morganna Factor and put the power of the Eight Phases of the Epitaph under a player's control?" With CC Corp. set on destroying the servers he notes that Kites true enemy may well have been greedy humans. "If the epic poem had in fact been referring to dawn, instead of dusk... then that must mean that Aura would bring light to The World." (but what if Kite was wrong and the poem really was refering to dusk?...) The final battle came to and end in an unexpected way as Aura sacrificed herself, the final act needed for Aura to become the ultimate AI.

Genesis of Ultima: That's what it began to be called on the net. The battle by Kite's ".hackers" that led to the birth of the ultimate A.I., Aura.

//First Login

We begin with Haseo creating his character, choosing a job and a name. "Now to try logging in, I guess, I'm kinda nervous." The scene then changes to a waterfall with Ovan talking to himself! "It seems you're here. The time has come, the situation is ripe." Shino gates into the area and is surprised Ovan isn't just on time, but had arrived ahead of her! "This is rare. You never get here before me." He asks her how it went as she'd just met Tabby. "She's a good kid. She's cheery but obedient. Though she can have a little too much energy at times, too." She then asks how he's doing and he mentions he was just about to go speak with "him". They discuss the revival of the Twlight Brigade and hope "he" will join them. Meanwhile in the real work IYOTEN & Asta's players chat on the phone. "What did you think of that email?" "The case of the black multiweapon, my lord?" the two decide to meet up at the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu to check this person out for themselves, but not before IYOTEN notices a news report about outdoor recluses....

Haseo has now logged in for the first time and seems to be amazed by the games graphics. "I always thought games were stupid, but this is..." I&A approach Haseo and ask if he's a newbie. "Umm... yea. I just finished installing." the duo then invite him with them to teach him about the game. "Can I ask you guys something else? So, of course, you kill enemies and level up. And then go defeat a demon lord or something, right?" Since Haseo is a total noob that doesn't even know the game basics yet he agrees. "Nice to meet you, Haseo." "Nice to meet you my lord~" "Thanks, really, nice to meet you guys." Meanwhile in the Twilight Brigade @HOME Sakisaka is complaining about being bored when Shino comes by to chat with him. He probably won't be bored for much longer! And in another area, Ender receives a message from Naobi about Ovan being on the move.

(Dialogue translated by Kuukai, long ago in some posts here!)

O yea, Lindsay: the scene involving Blackrose, Kite, and the character on your avatar (what's her name? I forget hahaha) on the game was definitely one of the scenes I enjoyed the most in .hack games. That level was real funny to play.

Man, Kite was a real pimp. Haseo's not bad, but he was not Kite, unfortunately.

Terajima Ryoko! Her scenes are great cause she's the best! And hey, Haseo has a personality unlike the near-silent protaganist Kite! j/k! Kite is great but his job is done... for now...

 

[Stage On]

You know those ??? pictures you posted.... I always thought those where sort of foreshadowing for GU.

You know one thing really always confused me about Haseo... Considering that it's not really his first time logging in why does he act like a noob?

When exactly did he lose his memories of his first life in "the world"? He still seemed to have them in the Sign ova unless that just an AI echo of him like you get on your team in the post game of the first series.

 

[RPG Wizard]

You know those ??? pictures you posted.... I always thought those where sort of foreshadowing for GU.

You know one thing really always confused me about Haseo... Considering that it's not really his first time logging in why does he act like a noob?

When exactly did he lose his memories of his first life in "the world"? He still seemed to have them in the Sign ova unless that just an AI echo of him like you get on your team in the post game of the first series.

Nah, it was the real him. However, I'd say that he hadn't played in quite a few years, and The World R:2 is considerably different as far as games and UIs go.

(Alternatively, he's a teenager. Teenagers don't do anything right, even when they could as a child.)

 

[Psxphile]

You guys are jumping ahead. At this point we're not supposed to know that

Spoiler

Sora's player suffered from amnesia after the Morganna Incident and later came back to The World R:2 and created the Haseo PC

. The G.U. Terminal Disc hints at it, but it's never really gone into detail in-game.

Anyway, pretty sure the existence of .hack Conglomerate induced a bit of retcon here and there in order for it to be fit into continuity. Seems to have rendered .hack//SIGN's Unison episode and playable Sora in the original .hack games non-canon.

Explaining it away as a vagrant A.I. doesn't sit right with me.

 

[RPG Wizard]

Playable Sora was an AI though, if I recall correctly. Along with the other three member addresses that you got.

 

[Lindsay]

Before we get going I wanna apologize for a great deception. At the start of the thread I mentioned the .hack series was first unleashed upon the public with SIGN. In reality began in January of 2002 with the monthly serialization of Legend of the Twilight! I'd already known this but pushed ahead anyway. Oh no, this whole thread has been a lie! @_@ But it is for the best. I hope that more peoples can appreciate this lil manga that much more with this knowledge now in mind!


Now I'm not to sure if I'm up for this but what the heck, lets keep on rolling along! I was gonna do a season 1 wrap-up but I doubt anyones interested in that. Let's start with a couple loose ends which includes getting Reki's real name on the way! And while everyone things of G.U. as a trilogy, Roots being its direct prequel kinda makes it a quadrilogy in my book! I've heard so many times that people don't care for Roots an I'm not trying to change anyones mind but I enjoy it!


//Rare Hunter: Here comes Mireille-chan!

"When I hear something is rare I get so excited!! Everyone calls me... a Rare Hunter!" Mireille's happily skipping through town after obtaining a Golden Grunty when she smells a super rare item nearby! She attaches herself to a male Wavemaster named Luke who has wings that only players who cleared The One Sin event could have! He takes a liking to Mireille and gives her the ultra rare wings! She offers the Golden Grunty in return but he shrugs it off. "I can make pretty much anything I want!" thats right, this guy makes cheat items and Mireille instantly returns them, citing that true rare hunters earn things. Upset that she would snub such "rare" things Luke follows her into a dungeon trying to understand why she'd spend so much time and put herself in danger to collect items the hard way. Through near death and tough trials they make it to the end of the dungeon and Mireille acquires a rare item from the chest! "The way Mireille plays is so exhausting. But... it's really a lot of fun." lesson learned! Luke deletes all but his novice items and plans to start anew as a true rare hunter.

//Reflections in the Azure Sky

Reki's just joined CC Corp and has been assigned to work under Balmung, whom he finds to be pretty weird right from the start. So much so that he considered quitting! A few years pass and Reki is still there proving you can get used to anything. He checks up on Balmung who's fallen asleep at the wheel again. "He often takes on more then he can handle. And, I'm the one who has to clean up after his mess." Reki loves history, but that degree didn't work out well when it came to getting a job. He admires Balmung for not giving up on his dream... and helps him along by roughly waking him up! There is work ta be done, like creating and implimenting Balmungs strange new event ideas! "I guess this job fits me after all!" *sees a mountain of paperwork* "I take it back, I wanna quit..." poor Reki!

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth - Do you know "Tri-Edge"?

Once the monotonous tutorial about menus has passed and you're told to activate the Chaos Gate - STOP. There are three other PCs in the room with very familiar names if you've paid attention to the PCs in the previous games (Wing, NOVA, Borscht). This is the only time in the series they show up, so why not chat 'em up? Anyway Haseo, IYOTEN & Asta are off to &#916; Courageous Engaging Daydream for more tutorials.

Haseo was feeling lazy so he used party commands to get I&A to kill the monsters. To repay their kindness he gifts his recovery items to them. They weren't impressed with the lack of rarity but its the thought that counts! Once inside the Beast Temple they allow Haseo to collect the "rare" treasure then turn on him. "You're our reward." Those jerks! A mysterious guy shows up and shoots 'em down. Wait. Guns in my .hack?! Anyways the guy goes to Haseo and welcomes him to "The World". And then...

//Roots

ep.01: Haseo's been PK'd and mocked for being a noob. Ovan then revives and leads him back outside. "You have to be stronger. You have a gift Haseo." Meanwhile Shino & Tabby are adventuring and becoming friendly. "A guild wow is that kinda like a club?" yes Tabby. Naobi, Ender and Tawaraya of TaN meetup to discuss Ovan & Haseo. In town Haseo have alil chat with someone named Phyllo about Ovan and the game. "Read the manual!" "...I'll read it later." "Tell me. Why are you playing this game Phyllo?" "I'm just killing time!" Sakisaka comes running into the TB @HOME and gives Ovan's grunty a swift kick lol. Shino asks he if regrets joining the guild "Actually I'm perplexed I joined in the first place and I'm surprised I'm still around." classic. Adventuring solo, Haseo makes it to Lv.3 when Ender corners him for info. He doesn't know Ovan and only started playing cause a friend mentioned it was fun. Deciding he's not worth PKing she lets him go. Later in another area he's grumbling over the days events when he's attacked again. Luckily Shino comes by and shoo's them away. "I know its hard. But don't quit. We need you. Welcome Haseo. Welcome to The World."

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

8 months later... a much stronger Haseo butts into team of PKers and mops the floor with 'em. He asks their leader if she knows little Tsukasa... er, Tri-Edge. A legendary PK wrapped in blue flames. If you're PK'd by him you can't return to the game! She mocks him for believing silly message board tales, so Haseo kills her too. Upon returning to town a couple of goodie two shoes named Sakaki and Atoli pester him about how PKing is bad and PKKing is no different. Haseo's not interested in the preaching and when a message from Ovan comes heads off to meet him at... &#916; Hidden Forbidden Waterfall.

"What have you been doing the past six months?" Ovan replies saying he was growing seeds or something. Great reason to abandon your guild! He knows about Shino and tells Haseo that Tri-Edge will return to the scene of the crime. Stubborn headstrong Haseo charges off to &#916; Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground ahead of wise, collected Ovan who's going to make preparations (prolly picking up recovery items in town) for the battle with Tri-Edge. At the cathedral, Haseo reminisces about a time he and Shino were in the Hulle Granz Cathedral when Kite shows up! Wait... did Haseo call him Tri-Edge? This Tri-Edge guy seems to take no damage and has a green luminescent glow around him much like Data Bugs did. In any case the two fight and Haseo easily loses. Tri-Edge Data Drains him and Haseo passes out...

You know those ??? pictures you posted.... I always thought those where sort of foreshadowing for GU.

You know one thing really always confused me about Haseo... Considering that it's not really his first time logging in why does he act like a noob?

When exactly did he lose his memories of his first life in "the world"? He still seemed to have them in the Sign ova unless that just an AI echo of him like you get on your team in the post game of the first series.

All of the .hack manga (save for Alcor) have lil preview/hints like that. As for Haseo he is a newbie. Being hit with Data Drain without being under the grace of the bracelet has always results in various lengths of memory loss. Tsukasa, Silver Knight, Albireo, BlackRose, and so on all had it happen to 'em. Sora's was the worst since he lost all memory of ever playing the game and was in a coma longer than anyone else and his spirit merged with Skeith creating a psuedo AI Sora (ZERO) and so on!

Nah, it was the real him. However, I'd say that he hadn't played in quite a few years, and The World R:2 is considerably different as far as games and UIs go.

No the Sora in Unison was the AI Sora from the end of the first games according to those who can read countless japanese info books.

Anyway, pretty sure the existence of .hack Conglomerate induced a bit of retcon here and there in order for it to be fit into continuity. Seems to have rendered .hack//SIGN's Unison episode and playable Sora in the original .hack games non-canon.

Explaining it away as a vagrant A.I. doesn't sit right with me.

From all sources I've read Unison is totally canon! Nothing wrong with vagrant AI explanation. There was a novel partially centered around one and ya get one at the end of Quarantine.

Playable Sora was an AI though, if I recall correctly. Along with the other three member addresses that you got.

Yup and its told straight up to ya that Tsukasa/Subaru/Sora given to you were AIs.

edit: To be fair about all of this its neat and works with G.U.'s theme of growing up, but Haseo never finds out about his past (at least not onscreen) so its kinda moot. Someone once said canon is what the fans make of it. So include/diss stuff at your own discretion!

 

[RPG Wizard]

No the Sora in Unison was the AI Sora from the end of the first games according to those who can read countless japanese info books.

From all sources I've read Unison is totally canon! Nothing wrong with vagrant AI explanation. There was a novel partially centered around one and ya get one at the end of Quarantine.

Nothing wrong with it except that it's a retcon. Meh. Having non-AI versions of EVERY CHARACTER show up in Unison except Sora is just stupid and really negates the value of it. I'd rather just decanonize Unison and have it with real Sora than use a rather inconsistent explanation with AI Sora.

 

[Lindsay]

Since I now got a save file for Rebirth a new files been unlocked on the Terminal Disc! This one right here tells ya which version of LotT is canonical! Sheesh~ the info dump of news/board posts took me over an hour to read. I didn't even get to R:2's backstory page @_@; Oh and a bunch more real places got added to the OP.


//The End of "The World"

file.10: Jyotaro Amagi and Project G.U.'s failure resulted in a loss of 80% of "The World's" data. Jun took responsibility and resigned from the company. CC Corp decided that instead of attempting to recover the old games data, they'd work with what they had towards building a new game. On the final day of "The World" Jun and countless other players gathered into Mac Anu. Alone in an alley he wondered where Aura had gone. "We humans has lost our God. We couldn't stop from wailing and weeping. Project G.U. had been designed to give us a new god, but it had collapsed in flames." As he was pondering this, barefooted girl with saffron-colored hair whispered to Jun about Aura. "She integrated into the world. Abandoned the individual and became a god." The girl then disappears herself... ;.;

Generation of Unity: It is what people have always wished for.

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Haseo awakens to his PC in the final stages of reformatting. He's lost everything, even his emails (how does that work?). He quickly logs back in to find everything he'd gained in the game set back to zilch. "Gone. It's all gone." Hearing Ovan was in town, Haseo tried to run to the nearest Platform to warp to the harbor to find him but then decided to just hoof it instead. Unable to locate him, Gaspard suddenly bumps into Haseo! These two guys Silabus and Gaspard say they run a new player support guild but at their levels (4 & 3) I think they're full of crap! Of course they think he's simply roleplaying when the Lv.1 Haseo claims to be the Terror of Death! In an effort to shut them up and level up he joins them and heads for &#916; Peaceful Leading Freedom.

Haseo's once again taught the basics of the game... but he knows it all and gets annoyed they still don't believe him. But one thing he doesn't know about is Awakenings (guess that was added to the game after he went solo). At the end of the dungeon Bordeaux and her flunkies show up to PK Haseo, saying she'd gotten an anonymous e-mail as to his whereabouts... just as IYOTEN & Asta had. Someones clearly out to get Haseo. As they're readying to strike he "feels" something "growing inside" his character... but an old hag shows up to chase the PKers off and warns Haseo that a dangerous power is inside of him. Back in town Silabus suggests Haseo go to Moon Tree for protection from the PKers. "I'd rather be PK-ed than be protected by all those lecturing loudmouths." bad timing on his part since Atoli happened to be in the room. She "enthusiastically" defended Moon Tree and gave Haseo her member address.

Also we get the first instance of Haseo's catchphrase/answer to all problems: I'll log out and check my e-mail or something.

- In the News
• the Citizen Numbering System bill has passed in Japan. It's said to make many things more convenient but people are upset at being defined by a 15 digit number, likening it to tags places on animals.
• Players dying from exhaustion while playing online games is increasing around the world
• A new supersonic plane launched which can get from Tokyo to New York in just 4 hours... for the small ticket price of $30,000
• 50% of Japanese parents are onboard with implanting a "Safety Chip" in their kids
• Rises in mobile tech have given birth to "outdoor introverts," people who play online games wherever they go. These people claim that since they're outside doing stuff it makes them healthier than normal introverts, but many people still find it weird
• "The World R:2" has reached 12 million copies solds which far exceeded analysts expectations for the title after the crap that went down with the original game

- On the Boards
• The Crimson VS cardgame service is still offline after 6 months. The server expansions and title updates sure are taking long and some say it is due to a virus since graphic distortions in the form of black spots were showing up just before it was taken down
• "The World" isn't the only game out there and some are looking for alternatives. Some mentioned are Riot Gun, Forbidden, The Negotiator, As You Like!, Outlaws of the Marsh Online, Double march!
• The new international space station needs a name and are looking for ideas from students. One poster suggests Unison while another suggests Village
• People talk about "Drama Queen" an incident in 2015 where some stupid parents caused Cinderella of all books to be pulled from a school because it supposedly promotes bullying and discrimination ~_~
• Players speak of the now disbanded guild TaN (apparently their leaders were cheats) and the Forest of Pain (character data can be lost there and people who lost data also ended up in comas) ...but these are just rumors
• Governor Tadashi is looking for more people to join the Medic Union! A guild which heals other players from monsters and PKers! He assigns people names by colors ex: Private Seisaku is Heal Red and Private Hideyo is Heal Blue

//Online Jack

phase.01: Today's Jack Target is Doll Syndrome! "Its the mystery illness spreading like wildfire among grade schoolers. It causes verbal and mental defects that lead victims non-responsive." Salvador heads to the apartment of associate professor Taiichiro Sugai to get his opinion on the matter... but gets the door slammed shut on his face. Salvador bangs and fusses but gets sent away. He then goes to the elementary school the professor had been studying and disrupts a class bigtime and gets quite excited over the teacher Michiru Taijima. "Get out of here you creep!" "Here we are in the teachers lounge. I haven't been here since the days I used to peep under girls skirts." lol. She tells him he needs permission to film but he's having none of that and decides to interview her next!

Nothing wrong with it except that it's a retcon. Meh. Having non-AI versions of EVERY CHARACTER show up in Unison except Sora is just stupid and really negates the value of it. I'd rather just decanonize Unison and have it with real Sora than use a rather inconsistent explanation with AI Sora.

Think of the way he was acting. Sora had already begun to change towards the end of SIGN. Then ZERO & .hack// happened would he still be harassing women? Playing the game business as usual? Same with his whole sobbing & wanting to be part of the group act. No way the real Sora would let down his guard & character like that... I think o.o? It dun matter. Count what works for you! Our real enemies are the crazies that think Link (the game!) is non-canon. Weirdos!

 

[Lindsay]

Now I remember why the G.U. games are longer than the originals aside from having more story. Its cause of the battle and area ranking system! Battles are slower (but more fun!) and theres more of 'em especially if ya wanna get good ranks to earn more keywords an stuff. I think I got things under control now. No more slowly trudging along!


//Roots

ep.02: Shino meet with Haseo again to ask if he'll join the guild "I'm gonna pass." At the TB @HOME Ovan comes strolling in with Tabby who'll be working with Sakisaka much to his dismay. "I'm a fresh new beginner!" they go out to train and Tabby's first Rengeki is a success! Though, since they attacked at the same time wouldn't it be more of a Cross Rengeki? Phyllo sets up a meeting between Haseo & former TB member Bset. "Thanks to Ovan and his KotT or whatever, I was sent to all kinds of strange, stupid places. I had to be on standby for hours on end." what a rough guild. Tawaraya takes a liking to Ender's fancy new weapon, perhaps he's a rare hunter too? Ender wants a one-of-a-kind weapon that only she can use. She may just get such a thing some day... Anyhow Haseo's been passed off to another former TB member, a PKer who's goal is to defeat Ovan! Meanwhile Naobi goes to Phyllo for information on Haseo~

ep.03: Ender & Tawaraya start off talking about rumors on the forums about a black Adept Rogue. "We've only now just planted the seed. Its still to early to harvest." whats Ovan on about? Haseo's soloing like its nothing when a trio of players approach and bow down, calling him legendary. Two more show up thinking he's a secret NPC and move to PK him when Tawaraya takes them out instead! He wants to know why Ovan's interested in Haseo and says the rumors were started by Ovan. "To give and take. Its the principle of business." but Haseo has no info so no business can be done. "What color flowers do you like Ovan?" "Black." Tabby greets Haseo in town but he just walks away! "You're getting on my nerves." Later on the graphics distort but only Haseo notices. He sees Ovan but just as things return to normal bumps into Tawaraya instead. "Am I annoying, Sakisaka?" "Well... I'm perplexed that I tolerate you and I'm surprised I still hang out with you." With a guest pass for the Twilight Brigade & TaN in hand Haseo ponders which to join. "There's definetely no doubt that Haseo's existence has become vitally important to Ovan." C'mon Ender vitally? Its just a game! In the end Haseo goes with the brigade...

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Silabus & Gaspard invite Haseo on the Crown Quest which was a relaxing change of pace from tutorials, plus getting an easy 50 Chim Sphere's always nice and it opened up the games first campaign. "If you think you're bothering me, don't send me an e-mail in the first place." Atoli invited Haseo to &#916; Submissive Tragedy's 1000 Oaks to chat but he barely lets her get a word in. At the Beast Statue Atoli hears a strange sound and outside at the back of the temple was a SIGN which sucks 'em into the Lost Ground of Indieglut Lugh. There, a blue-haired guy with a cat was playing with black spots before leaving. The black spots then rose up to attack! Atoli faints and Kuhn steps in to fight the spots. He calls upon Magus and uses its power to data drain and defeat it. Since Haseo is able to see Kuhn's "avatar" he gets invited to speak with some CC Corp. system adminstrators. Kuhn explains Guilds, but Haseo already knows this crap!

"What's a Yata? A person?" lol good one Haseo! He meets with the man himself and mouths off bigtime. Yata says he's been watching Haseo for a long time and talks about bugs within the game called AIDA, Chosen Ones, Epitaph Users, all that good stuff. Haseo joins under the condition he takes orders from no one. Balls of steel. After leaving he gets roped into gathering items for Canard's shop, and after Gaspard gets lost in town (how?!) he must run their guild shop! With a smile on his face he greets a cute lil boy customer named Bo and gives him a discount since its his and his twin sisters birthday! Kuhn wanders by with two ladys in tow and plenty of cheesey pickup lines which grabs the attention of everybody and ire of Haseo. Kuhn flees and somehow Haseo gets talked into becoming Canard's new guild master! "How does a bunch of binary data get changed by a players feelings an will?" good question. At &#916; Great Cursed In-laws Kuhn & Pi try to help Haseo awaken his Avatar by fighting countless battles, which he'd been doing for the past 6 months and which didn't awaken from even fighting Tri-Edge! Haseo calls rightfully calls them out for this and they disband for the day, but not before Pi says Haseo is alot like her. ...huh?

 

[Stage On]

Man I love the style of the cut scenes in Gu, the shading they used really makes them so vivid

Online jack also feels much more integrated into the story then luminality was due to being on the same disk.

And can you blame people for not thinking Link is cannon when most of the english fanbase can't play it since it was never localized

 

[Lindsay]

Holy crap! I forgot how heavy Cell starts off (and is in general)! Was gonna start that today but I'll need alil more time trying ta summarize its first chapter @_@; Also I love the allusions it makes to that one .hack//G.U. trailer "when it was born, the first thing it saw was a PK" which is essentially how Cell starts off. Oh and blaaaahh! Cause I miss all the upgrades Vol.2 & 3 brought to the game. Speaking of upgrades!


//v1.01: Changes implimented post-Infection [Bonus #04]
- What They Tell You
• Flag Racing has been added
• Grunty Search feature now available
• Now compatibile with Neuro Gloves (lol)
• The Item Completion Event has returned

- What They Don't
• The login screen now shows Ver.2.90 with an image of Dun Loireag
• The login screen now shows Ver.3.02 with an image of Carmina Gadelica
• The login screen now shows Ver.3.65 with an image of Fort Ouph
• You can now switch in and out of first person view while riding a grunty
• You're now able to select which Grunty you want to call in a field instead of it being randomly chosen for you
• People waiting at the Chaos Gate can now be talked/traded/gifted with instead of saying the same line over and over
• The player count for Ryu Book III has been upped to 76 giving away how many more party members there will be and that there will be 6 more players running around towns at some point. As a result of this, every player from Wing onward has had their number adjusted
• This applies to Ryu Book V as well. Though you cannot scroll downward, there is clearly more than one extra spot for new party members unlike in Infection
• Field & Dungeon layouts have changed. For an example, I checked the area &#916; Closed Solitary Messenger in each game:
-> Infection: Spring of Myst is in the southeast, Gott Statue in the east
-> Mutation: Spring of Myst is in the west, Gott Statue in the south
-> Outbreak: Field map remains the same as Mutation, dungeon reverts to Infection's map
-> Quarantine: Field map remains the same though a chest is no longer located in the room directly south of the dungeon entrance, dungeon map remains the same as Infection/Outbreak


FACT ovansmirk.jpg is one of the greatest aspects of the whole G.U. saga FACT

Here's a fun trivia brought to you in part, but sadly not entirely, by Bamco US. Ever notice this about the second era of .hack?

Roots
Rebirth
Reminisce
Redemption
Returner


//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Before Haseo can become a guildmaster he's gotta clear the Grunty event! A simple fetch quest and item sale later (thanks Bo!) and Haseo's deemed worthy to be... a servant of Death Grunty. Haseo struggles to not get angry at the NPC! He's got a Steam Bike now and after taking it out to a spin logs out to find an e-mail from CC Corp stating that Lumina Cross is re-opened. From the &#916; server to the &#937; server in just one game! There, Silabus & Gaspard talk to Haseo about the arena and bring him along to see the emporer defend his title. This Endrance fellow does just that by using his Avatar. "Just go away. To me, you're nothing but ugly dolls." He bumps into Saku, "Master En's" #1 fangirl who basically tells Haseo to stay away from Endrance. Upset at Endrance's abuse of power Haseo challenges him and is determined to climb the arena ranks, but he'll need a team. Silabus is on board but says they'll need one more, preferably a Harvest Cleric, which can only mean... Perfect timing. Atoli's invited Haseo to the area &#916; Blurry Obsessive Slacker.

She goes on about "The World's" backstory such as the Crest Gun, how she loves birds, and that the area was used for a time attack event when Atoli first started the game. She came in last and got laughed at, made fun of and gave up on competitive things. He humors her (while insulting her internally) but by the time he gets to asking her about the arena his patience gives out. "What are you, an idiot?" he goes on about how the only thing real in "The World" is the players, then tells Atoli not to show her face around him again. Although Haseo failed to find a third member, Silabus isn't giving up. He posts on the board with a very liberal interperation of Haseo's words. "I'd rather die than use emoticons like that!" Someone named Sakura responds and asks Haseo to go to the area &#916; Gallant Season's Drunkard alone to talk about joining. Atoli calls out to him just as he warps, to little to late. Bordeaux and her group are waiting for him saying they were hired to take him out. Sakaki and his hot-headed associate Matsu talk 'em down, but Bordeaux says she'll see Haseo in the arena. Turns out Saku hired them. Bo found out and told Atoli who told Sakaki. Despite Haseo acting like as ass towards 'em Atoli decides to join his arena team to better understand him and to get a taste of victory for the first time in her life.


- In the News
• People seem to be making a living off of Real Money Trading
• Anti-allergen foods are becoming available which is good for families, but worrying to those who believe the lack of bacteria in our lives may come back to bite us
• Salvador Aihara's e-mail and cell phone number were exposed when he gave them to a lady while playing "The World".

- On the Boards
• Bo posts on the board thanking Haseo for the discount!
• People discuss the soon to start digging for methane hydrade and its dangers
• Butt-Rice asks for cooking advice lol
• A rumors posted about Doppelgangers occasionally taking the form of the real life player and pulling them into "The World" (something like that could never happen...)

Man I love the style of the cut scenes in Gu, the shading they used really makes them so vivid

Online jack also feels much more integrated into the story then luminality was due to being on the same disk.

And can you blame people for not thinking Link is cannon when most of the english fanbase can't play it since it was never localized

Agreed on all accounts except the last! If you're told somethings canon and its backed up by a ton of other stuff (like oh say all the other 3rd season things) then ya need to deal with it >.<; But yeah the games improved graphics not only look nice but make it much less of a pain to play in a puny 320x240 screen on my pc when compared to the originals!

btw I was looking back over my old .hack//G.U. OT an noticed that you & B.K. have been the only returners from back then so far~


And I never did get an answer to this!

http://mizuirochang.jp/kengaku.html
And last up, what does .hack//G.U. have to do with this odd looking DS game? The world may never know.

C'mon GAF Taiko no Tatsujin DS lovers! What was the collaboration here? From poking around I know these games tend to have music from other Bandai games/anime/etc, but I never could find anything linking .hack & either the 2007 or 2008 Taiko DS games aside from the G.U. site being linked on the site above >.<;


Oh and on the subject of OT's is anyone here planning on doing one for Versus? I did G.U.'s, Link never got one iirc, an who knows about the originals since that was forever ago!

 

[Psxphile]

Holy crap! I forgot how heavy Cell starts off (and is in general)! Was gonna start that today but I'll need alil more time trying ta summarize its first chapter @_@; Also I love the allusions it makes to that one .hack//G.U. trailer "when it was born, the first thing it saw was a PK" which is essentially how Cell starts off.

I've always wondered about that bit:
E3 teaser trailer.

The games didn't address it... I just assumed it was AIDA the "it" was referring to.

 

[Lindsay]

OMG I just noticed Haseo never got a e-mail from Hokuto or BlackRose! I'll have a perfect series playthrough someday... >.<; btw Did ya all know SIGN got a UMD Video release over in japan? 9 umds just as there were 9 dvds. Crazy stuff! Also I am crazy cause I got me a copy of .hack//frägment! Over $1800 spent on .hack stuff now. A shame I'll never get ta play it! Oh an weirdness is afoot in todays update! Haseo beats Midori? Hmm... and G.U. goes from a chapter named "Fault" to one called "He and I" and right back to "Fault"? Weiiiird~


//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 1
"It was within the dark depths of despair that she was born." This freshly born girl opened her eyes to see a patched together looking boy surrounded in blue flames and a bunch of freshly PK'd players. She could do nothing but watch as he took out the last remaining person, then disappeared. Sometime later a female Edge Punisher named Midori is playing out her professional victim role, allowing players to attack her for 60 seconds but none could even land a single blow. When her current challenger fails, Bordeaux shows up to PK the poor guy and give Midori a go herself, PKing the girls manager Adamas along the way! As Bordeaux incites a crowd of players to PK Midori, the lot of 'em fall as the Terror of Death Haseo takes them out. "Do you know Tri-Edge?" she thought about it but only a vague memory of a blue flame came to mind. "He might be like me. He expresses himself by dealing out death - I do the same by coming close to death.Why do I need to meet Tri-Edge?" Midori thought as Haseo played her little game and those thoughts may well be what caused her to lose this round...

//Roots

ep.04: "Well young Haseo, what's your role going to be?" ponders Phyllo. Ovan gives Haseo a special item. Apparently TaN is involved in making items, even rare ones. Darn cheaters. Mireille should give them a stern talking to! Sakisaka gets drug off by Tabby for more training while Shino takes Haseo for his first visit to the Hulle Granz Cathedral. "There used to be a statue of a girl here. But that was a very long time ago. Maybe she just lost interest in the end, lost hope for this world." Haseo gets a lesson on Lost Grounds, how they have no monsters and can't be deleted or touched by the admins. Then its level up time! With backup like Shino & Ovan he's sure got it easy. "Become stronger." In town, Ender pests Bset for info but ends up with nothing. Sakisaka's upset over Haseo getting special treatment. "Dude you know its just a game. Why don't you chill out?" Sakisaka doesn't like that answer and moves to deck Haseo when Shino runs in saying Tabby got PK'd~

ep.05: Ovan's hanging out in the Lost Ground Coite-Bodher when he notices his left arm acting up. Suddenly he has another of those special items! Tabby's sulking over being PK'd but bounces back fast! Turns out Gord was also PK'd and Sakisaka thinks the TB's being targetted. One of Tawaraya's men gives him one of those special items Ovan and Haseo now have and Naobi tells him to use it to shake up the brigade. He hands it over to Sakisaka while planting a seed of doubt about Ovan. "Thanks. Come again." Gord's still upset over being PK'd and takes it out on his info broker lol. Ovan asks the TB members to find Virus Cores, something which can only be found in Lost Grounds? So that's what those mystery items were! They search Coite-Bodher from top to bottom but only find a Tri-Edge Sign... and Ender. Who they run from! Due to all the rumors Tabby puts Haseo on the spot saying he has something to do with TaN & Ender. "Whatever." he up and leaves off to an area alone where Tawaraya just happens to spot him, and Shino & Tabby... so he slyly plays it off as if Haseo was working with him, putting him a very bad light!

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Hearing about a bugged treasure chest on the boards, Haseo/Silabus/Gaspard set out to &#916; Choosing Superior Offerings to see what all the hubbub is about. The thing explodes and some weirdo named Habuzi plants the Mark of Offering on Haseo in the name of his Lord Cernunnos. Haseo/Silabus/Atoli then head to the arena to fight their first battle an wouldn't ya know it they won, which really excited Atoli! Bordeaux mockingly congratulated them and asked that they quickly climb the ranks so that she can "love" him to death o.o; Seeing the Project G.U. leader call out Tri-Edge on the board, Haseo heads to &#916; Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, but instead of finding Yata he comes across... Piros the Third! Third? Wonder what happened to his second character... Anyhow, Piros tells Haseo a "hypothetical" story involving a graphic designer who was upset that his beautiful work was being sullied by Tri-Edge's triangles and how he wants revenge! He hands Haseo his member address and charges off to formulate his next plan!

Questmania! First up was the Steam Scientist's Invention, a quest where Haseo/Atoli/Piros assisted Dr. Kepel by retrieving the Memory Module from his berserk robot, oh and we we properly introduced to Mecha Grunty!! Next was Bikman's Art Supplies. Haseo/Atoli/Piros collected a Snow Stone for the fledgling artist. Last up was Animal Mania, a quest Gaspard told Haseo about. So Haseo/Gaspard/Atoli went and cleared all the monsters out of an area before kicking and tagging a black Sleipnir for Dr. Pao. Doing all of this opened up a trio of new campaigns! Gotta rescue Mecha Grunty 50 times, hand out fliers to other PCs, and kick all the Lucky Animals - truly daunting tasks. In any case it was time to build the teams levels and arena ranks, but one man stood in their way. Some old guy called Antares said Haseo still sucked at arena battles and double dared him to complete &#916; Lazy Advice's Exile.

It was a puzzling place but he finished it with the greatest of ease and some more time in the arena later, Team Haseo made it into the Top 16 and were invited by CC Corp to take part in the upcoming Demon Palace Tournament. That's great news, however Saku is right there dissing Haseo for being oblivious to peoples suffering. As it turns out Silabus & Gaspard have been getting bullied by Bordeaux and her group. Neither Kuhn nor Haseo will stand for this so they head to Kestrels HQ to speak with its guildmaster. Gabi is a silly yet serious guy who can get even Bordeaux to shutup! A deal is struck, if Team Haseo beats Team Bordeaux in the tournament they'll leave Canard alone. Even with that, Gaspard is still really depressed. Silabus is as well and says he won't be able to fight in the tournament after all, at least not right now. ;_; Kuhn mentions that G.U. will be in the tournament to get at Endrance and that Haseo should pull out... but of course that won't happen!

- In the News
• Court cases about property in online games are on the rise
• The USA Times is in danger of ending its print run due to a massive drop in subscribers in the past 17 years

- On the Boards
• People talk about Gaspard & Niu Wang the legendary champions of Crimson VS. ...Gaspard?!
• Gabi takes part in a Q&A and responds to each with just a few words!

I've always wondered about that bit:
E3 teaser trailer.

The games didn't address it... I just assumed it was AIDA the "it" was referring to.

Ya that's the one! Dat placeholder Ovan voice lol. Totally sure its about AIDA to but hey it works for Cell as well!


edit: speaking of trailers I think I'll throw that one into the next update~

 

[Stage On]

btw I was looking back over my old .hack//G.U. OT an noticed that you & B.K. have been the only returners from back then so far~

What can I say .hack is one of my all time favorite series. It's a shame that it might not ever get another proper game.

Man it's crazy that you brought Fragment considering it's unplayable now that the servers are shut down. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to "the world" in real life too which sucks since the potential is there for a really good mmo.

If one thing about Gu drives me crazy it's some of the important NPC characters you'd almost expect to get as party members but never recruit.

That and I wish it tied into the side stories like Cell a bit better. I mean it'd be nice if Midori at least made a cameo.

I really wonder what Piros the 2nd looked like.

 

[Lindsay]

Is it a surprise if I mention it in advance? Then lets call it Bonus #45 instead! btw I went back an made a better image for the first Online Jack episode. An incase ya haven't noticed yet, I been italic'ing seemingly relevant future stuff from the very start of the thread and still am so keep your eyes open! Oh and the moment we've all been waiting for is here! Skeeeeiiiiiittthhhh.wav!


//G.U. Prototype [Bonus #05]

What if G.U.'s graphics had only been a notch above .hack//'s instead of quite a few notches? You'd have alot more people saying they're milking the series for sure! And that statue of Aura would apparently still be around. Movement speed & camera'd prolly still suck. On the plus side it'd surely still have a ton of field/dungeon reskins to keep adventures fresh! But in the end it'd still be G.U. right? Right?? Anyways check out the trailer for yourself!

Oh an this trailer gives even more possilble meanings behind AIDA & G.U!
• Anti-Intrusion Device for "AURA"
• Agent of ID Dominational act
• Appear from Illusion and Dance in the Actuality
• Automatic Idea Damnating Affection
• AI which Decides as Attorney
• Abrupt Invisible Damnation Alastor

• Gale from Urd
• Gauche Unison
• Generation of Ubiquity
• Guardion of Ubiquity
• Goat of Upheaval
• Greater Unction
• Goat of Unconcern
• Generation of Unanimous
• Gather Up


//Roots

ep.06: The TB members are scattered, thinking things through when a beam of light smashes into an area leaving a large triangular symbol behind. Tabby meets up with Sakisaka and asks if he knows about the meteor shower "I live in a small bachelor aparment, I probably won't see anything." At the waterfall Shino tells Ovan the doctors say her recovery is going well but she's far from beating the illness. She asks Sakisaka & Tabby to see if they can find Virus Cores in ordinary fields. While searching Tabby gets distracted by looking outside in the real world and seeing the meteor shower, then in dunegon itself where some graphics look like a starry sky! Those "stars" start falling and deleting whatever they land on! Seeing this as an opening, Ender charges the two as Tabby sends out sos e-mails! Just as she's about to strike Sakisaka, Haseo appears to guard 'em! His PC gives off a red aura that expands through the area getting rid of the buggy stars. Ender regains the upper hand and calls Sakisaka a traitor. This upsets Tabby and he just sits there as Ender pounds on Haseo & Tabby until pronouncing that he can see the meteor shower! He and Haseo move to attack Ender, but who wins is left up in the air!

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Haseo bumps into Antares who reminds him about Job Extension and mentions he knows much about him. Just who is this guy anyway? But first a poster on the board mentioned hearing some strange voice in an area so Haseo/Atoli/Piros go check it out. An evil dude called Ankh tells Haseo there's no way to remove the Mark of Offering and that he should just give in to decay and die. Then it was time for the Pursuer of the Twilight job extension quest. Haseo had to take it on solo, but thanks to Smoke Screens and the dungeon having the same layout as the one Antares had goaded him into clearing it was no problem and Haseo was able to reclaim his characters second form! After that the Bounty Hunter Test caught his eyes so he along with Atoli & Piros quickly cleared it out.

The first round of the tournament is here! Bordeaux/Negimaru/Grein vs Haseo/Atoli. Team Haseo held 'em back for alil but Bordeaux's strength overpowered Haseo and it seemed he was about to lose. "If I lose here, then I-I won't be able to protect anyone." while recalling the people he cares to protect he caught a glimpse of Ovan in the audience and with that his Avatar awoke! Without hesistation he moved to attack Bordeaux. Somehow both Bo and Atoli saw this but their voices reached Haseo a little to late. Team Haseo had won and the crowd went wild! Gabi didn't even care his members had lost! But Kuhn was pissed and yelled at Haseo for using an Avatars power against regular players. Given a taste of power Haseo resumed being a dick saying he'd use what he wants, when he wants. He then returns to Canards @HOME where Silabus & Gaspard congratulate and apologize to Haseo for not helping.

- In the News
• Last night a junior high student briefly fell into a coma while playing "The World"
• The US introduced a new remote controlled robot soldier named TALOS equipped with automatic weapons, grenades, and tank treads
• A mother and son unknowingly fell in love with each other and were married in a ceremony in "The World" only to later find out who each one really was x_x

- On the Boards
• Players discuss how weak Adept Rogues are compared to other classes...
• A player named Renji ran into a bugged monster whose HP wouldn't decrease and was surrounded by black spots
• The player called Fei predicts that the next version of Crimson VS won't be a card game, but instead a one-on-one fighting game.....
• Rumor has it that real cards based on the ones from Crimson VS will be on the market soon

//Online Jack

phase.02: Looking for more info out of Michiru, Salvador places a ladder up against her residence and starts climbing! "Samba samba!" he gets distracted and nearly falls off upon seeing some of her clothing hanging out! He cries wolf and she steps out half-dressed "Truly a sight that could chill a 100 year passion!" "Why are you filming?!" she chucks something at him and sends Salvador crashing to the ground lol. He then follows her to the home of Osamu Kawaguchi, one of her 6 students with Doll Syndrome. No one answers the door so Salvador barges right in, regardless if it breaks some laws or not! They head up to Osamu's room and find the kid at his pc with abunch of other gadgets eating up electricity like no ones business. "Sa-Ka-Ki" is all the kid said when they approached, meanwhile his monitor is filled with the word AIDA...

What can I say .hack is one of my all time favorite series. It's a shame that it might not ever get another proper game.

Man it's crazy that you brought Fragment considering it's unplayable now that the servers are shut down. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to "the world" in real life too which sucks since the potential is there for a really good mmo.

Ya its sad that this may be the end for reals! One more, just one more real game please! Put that Naruto engine to use toward a .hack rpg alreaddddyyyy! As for frägment it is fully playable offline, but I dun got a modded or jp ps2 so I'm outta luck!

If one thing about Gu drives me crazy it's some of the important NPC characters you'd almost expect to get as party members but never recruit.

That and I wish it tied into the side stories like Cell a bit better. I mean it'd be nice if Midori at least made a cameo.

I really wonder what Piros the 2nd looked like.

Like what characters? It'd be weird carting around guys with statures like Taihaku & Gabi. Grein & Negimaru might've worked... and of course Midori! Would've liked Saburou from Roots to. I can already feel how less interconnected this second era is than the first. As for Piros' second character we'll get there someday provided the thread lives on and people wanna see me making a fool of myself summarizing a game in a language I don't know lol.

 

[Stage On]

Wow I had no idea Fragment wasn't a totally useless disk with the servers gone.

As for characters I thought it was a shame we never got Gabi in the party. He was very heavily hinted at and you'd have to admit his quirky personailty would make him fun to adventure with.

Just about anyone who's in the Gu height chart should have been a party memeber, but we didn't get some of the arena champions or Moon tree squad leaders

And of course

Spoiler

Ovan

not being an unlockable party member sucks. Totally should have thrown that in after you beat the post game bonus dungeon at the end of the series.

If I had to pick a favorite party member for Gu it'd be Alkaid I always hated the fact they held her back so much too since you don't get her until the second game and she's unavailable for such a big stretch of the series.

 

[Lindsay]

Feels like I'm a teeny bit behind on Roots so today I'ma here to rectify that! Especially since we're well on our way to the end of Rebirth! Also I am super super happy Haseo now has his broadsword. Great weapon! But my timing seems to be off with it so far, need practice!!


//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 2
Highschooler Midori Shimomura's walking through a busy street with her friend Kaho Izumi. After some silly chatter, Kaho asks why her friend doesn't have a M2D. "I'm fine without one. What's so weird?" they walk and talk some more until Midori finds herself looking up at huge monitor on the side of a building promoting M2D's and "The World", and considers getting a pc to join Kaho in the game when suddenly Midori (S) loses her balance... and consciousness. Returning to Mac Anu from her battle with Haseo, Midori is feeling shaken up "Seems the Terror of Death isn't just a showy nickname." Silabus & Gaspard take notice of her and their unintentional comedy push back the anguish she'd been feeling. After exchanging member addresses Midori goes back to thinking about death and possibly hoping Tri-Edge will kill her (sheesh! haven't seen someone so obsessed with death since the LotT anime!). While searching for Adamas she finds him being taken to an area... by Bordeaux!

At the Arche Koeln waterfall Adamas's surrounded by PKs and is so freaked out he wants to logout or even smash his computer, but lacks the courage to do either. He's a total sap who shuts his eyes when to stuff he doesn't like an just follows those with power. He came to "The World" to change that but in a situation where he's being threatened to summon Haseo or have the PKs go after Midori... he's at a complete loss. Watching from afar with worry is Silabus & Gaspard. Silabus sends Midori a message and she hurries right over! She wanted to jump right into the battle even knowing she couldn't beat them all when S&G suggested calling in Moon Tree. Unable to call Haseo and unwilling to sell out Midori, Adamas announced Haseo wasn't coming. "The next instant, Adamas' severed head flew into the air. His face was utterly peaceful."

//Roots

ep.07: Tri-Edge makes his first appearance in the anime at the start along with some black spots. Sakisaka returns the Virus Core to Tawaraya stating he doesn't want anything to do with him. "Remember, RCDC. Report. Communicate. Discuss. And Check." nice acronym there Shino! Gord's off PKing people training to defeat Ovan while Bset gives Haseo alil common sense advice. Shino asks about the poor situation they're in with TaN stalking them "You're acquainted with Naobi, can't you talk to him about?" but Ovan is like dealwithit.gif. Gord confronts Phyllo to steal a Virus Core from him... so Phyllo beats down the PKer like he was nothing! "I've heard there are as many Virus Cores as there are Lost Grounds." so only 6? Thats a drastic decrease! As Haseo was investigating Coite-Bodher a black spot appeared and was about to attack but got wiped out by a blue light... Over at TaN's @HOME Naobi & Ender discuss catching Ovan and getting rid of Tawaraya of all people! Those jerks! After finding jack squat at the Arche Koeln waterall, Haseo/Sakisaka/Tabby go to search Coite-Bodher. "You're dead if you even think of betraying us." damn Sakisaka, still untrusting of Haseo after the dirty stuff YOU did?? Tabby & Haseo find another of Tri-Edge's marks and find it suspicious... suddenly it glows and the three of them vanish!

ep.08: The vanishing act didn't last long as the three of them are suddenly back in Arche Koeln! "Did we get transported?" They shrug it off and head to Hulle Granz. While searching, Tabby vanishes! Then Sakisaka! Gord shakes down some Kestrel members having heard they have a Virus Core, but apparently it is Bordeaux who has it! Ender & Tawaraya discuss the scars in the Lost Grounds and Tawaraya's like "I was thinking I should name them pretty soon. TaN is on the leading edge of any trend, we've got to live up to our reputation!" gotta love him. Apparently the missing Sakisaka & Tabby are alright. Just got hit by a bug and had to restart their computers! "I guess sometimes it's okay to become a player killer killer." said Bordeaux as she and her flunkies charge Gord! But it is he who quite easily defeats the three of them and takes the VC! In a moment of clarity Haseo comes to the conclusion the different colored VC's match the colored lights of the pillars in Coite-Bodher and so that is where they must use 'em! Searching alone once again, one of those scars transport Haseo to a weird area as it did the others earlier, there he sees a VC floating around and snags it! "What I want is Ovan's character data." why would a normal player like Naobi want that? His trap is now set, whatever it is. An Ovan declares to the brigade that the time is now.

ep.09: A blue light descends upon Coite-Bodher and from within it comes Tri-Edge, glancing down at the scar on the ground. "Ovan's going to regret ever meeting me." says Gord to Bset, ignoring her plea to not go through with it. Naobi says there's evidence of their illegal activities but that its fine and to just concentrate on trapping Ovan. Meanwhile the Twilight Brigade is just waiting around in Coite-Bodher for the two remaining Virus Cores to come to them. Sakisaka finally cracks and says he'll go get the one from Tawaraya much to everyones surprise. Ender warps in along with a ton of TaN ninjas, but Haseo is ready to take a crack at 'em! "Become stronger, Haseo."

Back in town Phyllo encourages Bset to go help the TB, and in a field Sakisaka challenges Tawaraya to a battle. As the TB & TaN battle it out, Gord jumps in to defeat a ninja then turns on Haseo! While Sakisaka is getting thoroughly thrashed, Bset jumps in to help the TB. "I can't stand it when people get melodramatic." so Tawaraya shows the poor guy some pity and just hands over the VC. Seeing the TB struggling so desperately Gord finally decides to give 'em a hand for now but TaN suddenly backs off. Everyone with a Virus Core holds them out to their respective pillar and get warped up to the Lost Ground Megin Fi, with TaN right behind them...

ep.10: Ovan moves on ahead while the rest stay back fighting. A door opens before Ovan and he steps inside. "Shino it's time. I must go now, take care of the rest." the message seema ta worry her. Naobi confronts Ovan who talks about things Naobi had taught him, like how at one time the Key of the Twilight took the form of a bracelet and another time as the ultimate AI. "That is The World. In it there is an entity that is trying to steer our universe towards a better future." is it better? Naobi may not know as much as he thinks. "I'll focus all my energy into finding it." "Why?" "Let's just say its personal." Back in the battle Shino decides Haseo should go check on Ovan. "But why do I have to go?" "Because Haseo, you are Ovan's future." huh?? Naobi restrains Ovan, citing the data in his PC is larger than that of an area and he intends to find out why!

Ender declares her mission complete and leaves. Haseo reaches the top of the area to find a whole lot of nothing. Awhile later back at the TB's @HOME Sakisaka is annoyed that Ovan disappeared and Shino says they just need to be patient. Later on at Arche Koeln Haseo confronts Shino asking if she's contacted Ovan in real life, and she says in a depressed tone she hasn't been able to. Even later on Tawaraya's up to his neck in complaints when Shino requests a meeting with him. "I'm asking you please give Ovan back." "Hmm, I'm pretty sure I don't have that kind of merchandise." lol. Ovan left Shino with info on all of TaN's activities and gives him 12 hours to release Ovan or she'll leak it. Tawaraya is pissed and tells his men to find Naobi! Over in the Serpent of Lore is... Naobi and Ender?! They talk about how its fine if TaN is disbanded and how they weren't attached to their current characters anyway...

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Yata calls Haseo to Ravens @HOME to ask him to investigate and get a sample of AIDA's data. In return he shows him a recent video where Tri-Edge attacks and puts a normal player into a coma, refering to such victims as Lost Ones. After that Piros invites Haseo & Gaspard on the Defeat Gurugon quest. Haseo asks how Gaspard & Piros know one another and the answer was... weird. Piros once came to shop Acorn and Gaspard was moved at the sight of such an awesome looking character lol. In the field Piros goes on about the games graphics, practically giving away, but never admitting that he works for CC Corp! They meet a highschooler who loves to draw but whose parents want him to get a regular job in some office. Piros inspires the boy to follow his dreams by helping to take down the fields boss! Afterwards Haseo meets up with Antares at Lumina Cloth and goes with him to the Icolo @HOME. They're a guild you can only join by being an arena champion and it was founded by Antares himself! Haseo meets Sirius, thinks he's seen Taihaku somewhere before, and gets into a rivalry with Alkaid!

Haseo & Pi head to &#916; Delicious Past's Weed Eater alone to gather AIDA data and train Haseo to use his Avatar. After all 4 AIDA were taken out Yata messages Pi saying AIDA signals are on the rise in the area. Pi says she'll take this last one by herself, but it proves to not be that simple. Two other players were nearby and the AIDA targeted them! Pi jumped in to take the hit for them and became infected. Her Avatar Tarvos was released! She asked Haseo to mail Kuhn to get him there to Data Drain her but Haseo decided it'd be quicker to do it himself. Skeith vs Tarvos! Haseo took a beating but won with around half his health left. Pi was left unconscious and in a moment of caring Haseo begged for her to wake, even calling Pi by her name for once! When she came to he was relieved and the players said they would properly thank the two another time. Haseo logs out to check his mail and sees one from Atoli saying he's in trouble so he logs right back in to find out why!

Atoli wants to know what Haseo did wrong! She says Haseo isn't honest, has a mean mouth, a bad attitude, oh and his eyes look kinda mean! He didn't take those words very well! It seems Pi was summoned as well, so the three head over to Moon Tree's HQ. There they meet the players they saved the other day. It turns out Zelkova is Moon Tree's guild master and Kaede is his second in command! They thank Haseo & Pi properly (by forking over a Text of Power!) and introduce the guilds other captains, Sakaki, Matsu, Nala, Hiiragi, and Sophora, though the latter three weren't there. Sakaki makes some backhanded comments about Zelkova and Pi private chats with Haseo saying how there's a divide in the guild with many people following Sakaki. The three then leave but not before Haseo & Matsu piss one another off and find out that Matsu is his next opponent in the arena! So~ it's time to train! By getting a game over to the blacklisted PKer Greedy Cervantes >_<; Oh and in the process of training, Haseo raised Canard's guild rank to 2!

- In the News
• The soon-to-be-completed space station name has been picked. It'll be called "Village"!

- On the Boards
• Players discuss the possibilty of a hidden quest within "The World" called Abyss
• Player Gurame visited Canard and took an immediate liking to Death Grunty @_@

Wow I had no idea Fragment wasn't a totally useless disk with the servers gone.

From what I've read you can basically play through the whole .hack// game storyline but in place of Kite is your created character! You also get other SIGN characters as party members and even Shugo & Rena! Its much harder though since its going for the whole "mmo" thing, ya get drastically less exp than in the normal games.

As for characters I thought it was a shame we never got Gabi in the party. He was very heavily hinted at and you'd have to admit his quirky personailty would make him fun to adventure with.

Just about anyone who's in the Gu height chart should have been a party memeber, but we didn't get some of the arena champions or Moon tree squad leaders

And of course

Spoiler

Ovan

not being an unlockable party member sucks. Totally should have thrown that in after you beat the post game bonus dungeon at the end of the series.

If I had to pick a favorite party member for Gu it'd be Alkaid I always hated the fact they held her back so much too since you don't get her until the second game and she's unavailable for such a big stretch of the series.

The game would prolly break if someone as awesome as Gabi was in your party! I dun think any of the Moon Tree peeps ya don't get would be very compatible with Haseo. Though it'd be nice to get Nanase~ or Raid from GnU! Ya know, some more regular peeps.

Spoiler

Ovan & Aina

woulda been nice. And that totally does suck about Alkaid! >.<

 

[Stage On]

So who's your favorite Gu character?

I wish Link had gotten an anime adaption or something because at least that would have come over.

Or failing that the manga hadn't gone on hiatus never to be finished.

Still as a fan I can forgive not getting some of the books or the magazine but not having such an important part of the series just pisses me off so much.

I'll wait until you get to Volume 2 of Gu to talk about Crimson vs

 

[Lindsay]

Wanted ta get this update out yesterday but with E3 madness an all~ the quietness of night shall have to suffice! Still dunno if anyone else is planning to do a Versus |OT| so just incase it comes down to me, here's a few thread title ideas I've been kicking around (more like just thought up x.x).

.hack//Versus |OT| "The tale... of an end?"
.hack//Versus |OT| "And I will finish this once and for all!"
.hack//Versus |OT| "A hero moves with everyone toward the future."
.hack//Versus |OT| 9 games. 1 mysterious character.
.hack//Versus |OT| mama is calling.
.hack//Versus |OT| Online multiplayer has arrived!


//Did Ya Notice? (.hack// Edition) [Bonus #06]
- Each server has a designated color.
• Delta: Red
• Theta: Blue
• Lambda: Green
• Sigma: Yellow
• Omega: Light Blue
- All Grunties have horns. Just look at their shadows!
- When you make it into the Top 5 of the Hero of Zeit ranking, the "Hero of Zeit Ranking" post on the board updates to include you and your time! This might go unnoticed by many because the "new" isn't displayed on the board after this change takes place (cause its a post edit instead of a new post I guess).
- The banner ad in the web news changes with each game.
• Infection: Tail Concerto
• Mutation: Tail Concerto 2
• Outbreak: Silent Bomber
• Quarantine: Silent Bomber (different image)
- Lia Fail is a palindrome!


//Roots

ep.11: The Twilight Brigade's the talk of town due to breaking up TaN. Tawaraya's account is about to be suspended so he calls Haseo out for alil chat and a favor. He's decided on a name for the triangular scars and wants Haseo to pass it along to others. And so they shall come to be known as Signs. Sakisaka's real upset Ovan hasn't so much as contacted them since disappearing, however Tabby's all happy about the guilds fame but Bset pulls her aside and tells her to tone it down! Gord on the other hand is quitting the game since Ovan's been gone and believes he'll never return. Naobi whispers something to Phyllo which shocks the crap outta the old man, in a fearful way. He later spills the beans to Shino that Ovan's been captured and did not find the Key of the Twilight. Shino gathers the TB members and declares that there is no KotT and that Ovan won't be back anytime soon. This angers Sakisaka even more and he storms off. Tabby gives chase but he snaps at her and... "Why are you always so blindly and annoyingly cheerful?" "Don't think it's because I want to be!" ;_;

ep.12: Pi & Yata are at the Serpent of Lore continuing to examine Ovan's PC data "There isn't a box that can't be opened." Wait. Weren't Ender & Naobi examining him...? Haseo wonders whether he should continue playing with Ovan gone and Phyllo says he should stick around for the friends that are still there. Since there's no KotT there's no reason for the TB says Sakisaka. "I can take care of things now." Haseo stepping up to the role of guild master? Nah. He could never be one of those. But his words do please Shino. Bset decides to quit the game as well since she's no longer able to be around Ovan. Haseo suggests resuming the search for the key but Shino shoots the idea down. "Please stop it." Ovan's pleas for Yata to stop the scan fall on deaf ears. Tabby of all people is of soloing and awfully depressed no less. Sakisaka can't take the waiting and lack of communication and finally quits the guild. The seal on Ovan's left arm is broken by Yata's scan and... Haseo thinks he heard someone calling for him. We learn he doesn't live with his parents anymore. Tabby's fed up with Haseo never looking at her and decides to quit the guild and goes to hangout with Sakisaka "I'm perplexed that we both ended up leaving the brigade, and I'm surprised that we're still together." Haseo's called to Hulle Granz by Shino and is shocked to she her PC now wears black clothing! She's gonna disband the guild and wait for Ovan's return no matter how long it takes. Haseo says he'll be right there waiting with her.

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

Haseo got game over'd by Greedy Cervantes again -_-; Off to the arena! In the waiting room Haseo bitched about how Atoli listens to every last thing Sakaki tells her and doesn't think for herself, which made her cry. Silabus told him to knock it off and team morale was low going into the battle. The guest commentator was Zelkova and he did a better job then Gabi! Matsu and his crew weren't so tough and even after the former PKer brought out his broadsword he still went down. After the fight Sakaki is seen muttering to himself about moving the pawns into place, Atoli is still upset from earlier and runs off, and Matsu gets cheered up by Zelkova after first expecting he'd have to leave the guild. Haseo gets an e-mail from Piros the 3rd about a Tri-Edge Sign appearing at the Lost Ground Morrigu Barrow.

Ovan & Yata happen to be there discussing what may or may not be beyond the wall. Ovan says its a prison while Yata says nothing is there since graphics unseeable by players aren't rendered. Ovan scoots off before "the pursuer" arrives and Yata leaves to, both just before Piros & Haseo arrive. Piros hides in order to ambush Tri-Edge, saying his animal instincts tell him Tri-Edge'll return to the scene of the crime... someday? Haseo didn't feel like waiting around so he leaves Piros behind and logs out. He finds gets an "extremely urgent" e-mail from Antares telling him to come to Lumina Cloth. Once in town Antares points to Alkaid and tells Haseo to follow her! He finds her confronting Endrance, saying she knows he cheated and that she'll have a specialist monitor their rematch.

Once she leaves Haseo tells Endrance not to worry about Alkaid cause he'll defeat her - without even using his Avatar! Endrance says that'll be impossible for Haseo. Meanwhile Antares is sad that Alkaid & Haseo are just expecting victory to just come to them. Before the next match Silabus suggests Canard take on the Underground Exploration quest to strengthen the guilds spirit. In the dungeon they find Matsu and a couple of his guys on patrol. Matsu says he'll complete the quest before Haseo! He does get to the end first but only cause he missed some PKers! Since Haseo takes out Negimaru and his two yes-men Matsu lets him have the quest item. With that successfully completed its time to head to the arena to fight Alkaid but... Atoli's not online!

She barely makes it in time for the match, saying she fell asleep on the bus! Pi beats up Kuhn who's once again fooling around with girls lol. She says Haseo can't win without the avatar and asks what Kuhn will do when he does use it. The match begins and Alkaids team proves to be pretty good! Alkaid uses an awakening an wrecks Team Haseo's shit even more! He's not liking that and before he knows it he's taken out Alkaid with his Avatar. She calls him a cheater just like Endrance then storms off leaving him at a loss for words. Seeing this Kuhn now has his answer. He'll teach Haseo just how frightening Avatars truly are.

So who's your favorite Gu character?

Mecha Grunty, or Ganesha, or the arena announcer!... but those really don't count. Alkaid & Midori rank high and I got a soft spot for Gaspard & Bo. Matsu & Hiiragi are good as well. But I think for this particular day I'll go with Pi. She's like a femme Haseo! Has a hard time expressing herself at times and is quick to lash out at others. Difference being is that she's more caring about people from the start.

I wish Link had gotten an anime adaption or something because at least that would have come over.

Or failing that the manga hadn't gone on hiatus never to be finished.

It would came over subbed-dvd-only like Trilogy ~_~ Woulda liked the manga to be continued. Dunno why it wasn't resumed after the game was finished since the artist was freed up once again (I assume).

Still as a fan I can forgive not getting some of the books or the magazine but not having such an important part of the series just pisses me off so much.

The magazines sure but outside of them and music we're missing precious few important things. So to me it hurts more to have never gotten ZERO, EoT, and more recent stuff like the various Quantum & Movie manga. GnU was so short it didn't get a standalone release even in japan but it woulda been nice to have as like a bonus like tacked on at the end of say each G.U.+ volume over here. Buuuuut yes for reals. Not getting Link & potential anything else is rage worthy. Having played the game myself I can understand why they would not wanna localize it, but leaving the western fanbase hanging just makes Scamco suck even more! Guess we all shoulda saw it coming when Europe didn't get G.U. and the poor western handling of Roots/G.U. an all -_-

I'll wait until you get to Volume 2 of Gu to talk about Crimson vs

You dun gotta wait but you did remind me I need ta lookup a guide for it as always x.x

 

[Stage On]

The magazines sure but outside of them and music we're missing precious few important things. So to me it hurts more to have never gotten ZERO, EoT, and more recent stuff like the various Quantum & Movie manga. GnU was so short it didn't get a standalone release even in japan but it woulda been nice to have as like a bonus like tacked on at the end of say each G.U.+ volume over here. Buuuuut yes for reals. Not getting Link & potential anything else is rage worthy. Having played the game myself I can understand why they would not wanna localize it, but leaving the western fanbase hanging just makes Scamco suck even more! Guess we all shoulda saw it coming when Europe didn't get G.U. and the poor western handling of Roots/G.U. an all -_-

Well for the more recent books that has more to do with Toykopop going out of business then anything else. With out them who's going to translate written stuff?

I mean light novels almost never come over here so the fact we got so many in the first place was downright amazing.

Still according to Toykopop .hack was one of their best sellers so I'm surprised nobody else was interested in picking up the licensee.

 

[Lindsay]

Woohoo! I maxed out Atoli's weapon level in Rebirth for the first time! Henako & Corporal Yano drive hard bargains for their numerous weapon exp items but it was well worth the trouble! I got back into the swing of things with Haseo's broadsword to. Attack cancelling ftw!


//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 3
After dreaming about cell divison, nasty rotting flesh and other icky things Midori (S) wakes up in a hospital bed with a nurse taking a blood sample. It's been a week since she got checked into the hospital and whatever illness she's been afflicted with was still unknown. Since checking herself out of the place isn't an option she's taken to wandering the building for activity and learns that half the in-patients there play "The World". However Midori (S) totally couldn't see herself playing it and believed her stay in the hospital will be a short one.

Midori/Silabus/Gaspard watch as the PKers kill Adamas then ressurect him only to kill again. For his part Adamas didn't cry or complain, instead simply accepting it. Seeing this go on really ticked Midori off and she pulled out her broadsword, Dragonblossom, ready to attack. But Silabus' words held her back. "If he's letting himself get killed over and over like that, he must have thought of something." Tons of PCs warped in, at first watching then joining the lynching themselves. She couldn't stand this and with her two low level companions backing her up from the rear she charged into the fight! Midori quickly reached Bordeaux and took a swing... but Bordeaux used Negimaru as a shield! Intent on taking Bordeaux's head Midori fought through more PKers until one of them suddenly snapped. A Tribal Grappler went insane and outta control causing many people to flee. Many came to the conclusion that it must be a bug and fought him until he went down. It was only then that CC Corp chimed in and said they're closing the area for maintenance. They ressurected Adamas and all hurried out before the maintenance could begin... "However, after that day, Adamas disappeared from The World".

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

A post on the rumors board leads Haseo back to Morrigu Barrow thinking Tri-Edge may be there. Instead he just found a sleeping Piros the 3rd! Had he been staking out the place all this time?! Haseo can't wake him up and decides to head back to town when Sakaki & Atoli warp in, so he spies on them! They talk about Atoli hearing a sound on the other side of the wall and Sakaki looking for the main body of "this" ...and also how Atoli should continue keeping an eye on Haseo. With the final round of the tournament coming up can she really be trusted? And Silabus is apprehensive over the thought of fighting Kuhn! Regardless, when it came time to fight they stepped forward together to face Kuhn, Pi, and... Antares?!

It was a fairly even battle and the longer it drug on the more angry Haseo became until he lost it and brought out Skeith. Kuhn called forth Magus and the two continued fighting. "Idiot! You don't understand anything!" were Kuhn's last words before Haseo lost control and his Avatar went berserk, brutally beating on Magus even after it was apparent Haseo had won! This was to much even for Haseo and try as he might he couldn't stop his Avatar. Kuhn seemed set on sacrificing himself in order to set Haseo straight. "Do you understand now? Avatars amplifiy the dark side of our hearts. I'm sorry, but this was the only way I could think of." Skeith Data Drained him then finally left. Back in the arena Kuhn was... okay! Although risky and without guarantee of safety Magus's power of propagation had spared him! He forfeits the match and Team Haseo earns a bittersweet victory. Antares claims not to know anything about Avatars, saying he was just hired to do a job, and to teach his disciple a lesson. "It's no good anymore when the user becomes the used."

Another Mark of Offering post was made on the boards so Haseo/Pi/Kuhn went to check out the area &#916; Entwined Joyous Venom Fang. Things are getting serious as Krewhaha tells Haseo that all the life force he's lost up to now had been offered to Lord Cernunnos! After that Pi & Kuhn wanna hit up seperate quests to give Haseo a breather before the title match. So H/P/K take on Kuhn's choice: the Maze of the Bird Monster quest. The group runs into a newbie female player and save her multiple times, each time Kuhn hitting on her more and more... until he learns she's just a kid! Oops. She just wanted a rare item to show off to her friends in class. Kinda reminds me of A-20! Once the boss was defeated Kuhn talks her into taking the rare item. His nice guy act didn't get him far with his groupies though. They thought he was taking advantage of a kid and stormed off leaving him lonely and depressed lol.

Next was the Crab Monster Party quest which Pi had invited Haseo to, much to his surprise. Even more surprising was meeting Alkaid and her teammates at the dungeon entrance! She asked why a cheater like him would be doing a quest for and tells him to stay out of her way. Amazingly enough Pi stood up for Haseo, telling Alkaid that she's the clueless one and that Haseo had good reasons for doing what he did. In the end they help Alkaid defeat the boss monster and while she'll still never forgive Haseo, she doesn't want him to lose until to anyone until she can beat him first! Over in Lumina Cloth just before the title match Saku is seen chatting with Endrance. She's once again plotting to get Haseo but Endrance tells her to leave him alone, thinking she doubts he'll win. Saku's left kinda sad, thinking that if she can't help then Endrance will never recognize her and that if he doesn't she'll have no reason to play the game...

With tons of big names watching Team Haseo and the still solo Endrance enter the arena! The guest announcer was supposed to be Antares, but instead Ovan takes his place! He talks about how he and Haseo were once in the same guild, causing Haseo to remember those days (with an inconsistanly black-colored Shino, gg cc2!) and making Zelkova even more interested in Haseo! Anyways Endrance was no pushover. Hitting him often left Team Haseo charmed and attacking one another! Eventually he got bored and called "her" out. His Avatar, Macha. Throughout the battle Haseo & Endrance spoke with one another, Endrance speaking of how happy he was together with "her" in the past, how "she" was his only friend. All the rambling musta made him sloppy cause Haseo took him down pretty easily. Endrance called out to the cat before losing consciousness. "Mia..."

After the battle both Sakaki & Zelkova are both seen speaking as if they understood what all had been going on, but that's impossible isn't it? Kuhn was super excited Haseo won, and even Pi & Yata remarked how impressed they were. And Saku... boy was she upset. Haseo now has yet another girl who'll never forgive him! Now for the first time ever all the people on Haseo's member address list are online and available! But instead of calling them out to join his party, he logs out to find he'll need to participate in a real party - a crowning ceremony for the new Demon Palace Emperor!

- In the News
• Another blow is struck against "Information Impaired" people, not only have phone booths been eliminated but now so have ATMs.
• A graphic glitch showing black dots appeared during a title match in "The World" rendering many players displays temporarily useless.

- On the Boards
• Players are beginning to question whether or not CC Corp. is a reputable company

Still according to Toykopop .hack was one of their best sellers so I'm surprised nobody else was interested in picking up the licensee.

Maybe Tokyopop still holds the license? They do still exist to some degree even if it is overseas. Wish someone would do something! We're not missing hardly anything from the past eras but letting new stuff pile up isn't good!

 

[Stage On]

Drat I hadn't even considered Toykopop still might have the license.

One one hand the fact they still have an overseas office is the half the reason we even got the last Gu novel, but on the other hand we only really got it since the Us office translated it just before going bust so Nobody is translating new novels now

I'd settle for even just having to import the manga as long as it was in english. It wouldn't be the first time.

I really love the island they have for events in Gu. It's normally locked so it really feels special when you get to go to it.

 

[Lindsay]

Mega update! Got alil of everything this time save for Alcor which won't be started for awhile! So that's it for Rebirth! ...or is it? I gotta speed my way through to 100%! It took me about 3 1/2 hours longer ta clear the game this year than last still a pretty meaty start to the series! Just 3 weeks until Versus releases. Can I finish up this era before then?! No ways! An does anyone think Roots should got a new intro after this episode? Sakisaka, Shino, Naobi, Ender, Tawaraya, are all gone now and some new characters will & already have begun taking their places!


//The End of "The World"

file.06: "The World's" golden age lasted from 2011 'til 2014. When Aura's disappeared it became a dark age with faulty servers appearing in the game and all over the 'net. CC Corp wanted control of the network (something they'd wanted since 2005) so they'd try an recreate an Aura they could control. "The project's overall objective was to restore Aura." hence the name R.A. Plan. "Jyotaro Amagi. An elite mind who came to CC Corp. at age nineteen." Jun & Jyotaro weren't exactly friends but together they found the factor of Magus and successfully attached it to a player character, but none of their people could use the character cause anyone who tried got nausea, vertico and paralyzing headaches. Jyotaro theorized the Morganna Factor chose which player it'd work with so they set about searching for compatible people. The player of Sora was out cause his account had been cancelled. When they found the Macha factor attached to Mia again they took it by destroying her ;_; Eventually they were able to create all 8 characters. Now they just needed 8 players who could use 'em to activate Amagi's program to restore Aura (but was this his true plan?...).

Gateway to Utopia: We at Project G.U. had come so close. We had almost arrived at our utopia.

//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 4
In the dead of night Midori (S) lies in her hospital bed trembling from loneliness and disease. Her condition had gotten much worse yet was still unknown. "What if I never get better?" The gloominess of her situation decreased alil the next day when her friend Kaho visited... and slapped a M2D on Midori (S)'s head! "Boom!" Upon opening her eyes she saw Lumina Cloth and Kaho's own character a "cute" Harvest Cleric named... Kaho! "So, if I were to play, what class should I use?" "You seem like the type who'd like swinging a sword around, so what about an Edge Punisher?"

It'd been two weeks since Adamas stopped logging in and Midori was sad an looking for him by her lonesome. When he finally appeared he said he'd done lotsa thinking about games, reality, people, and "maybe sometime... you'd like to meet up." Now she didn't know a thing about the real him nor ever felt any need to but she okay'd the idea anyhow and decided to meet on saturday at 1 p.m. outside of CC Corps new hq. She arrived an hour early but nervousness was getting to her, so much that she felt as though she was floating. To pass the time she logged back into "The World" an went down to the harbor, looking out at Hy Brasail, noting the current champion there is Endrance. She got mail from Adamas saying he'd be there soon and to identify him he's the guy with a band-aid on his nose! But she ignored that and his many mails to follow. Darkness was rising in her heart and Midori felt she couldn't meet with him in such a conditon. After awhile he found her in the game and they chatted, no feelings harmed. The band-aid was proof he'd gotten alil stronger in real life since he'd stood up to some bullies. He wanted to be stronger in the game to one day have the chance to protect her! "Plus I don't want to get killed by you again." this comment made her head throb in pain as bad memories tried to free themselves. "When I first met Adamas..."

//Roots

ep.13: Haseo & Shino are out at Arche Koeln discussing how there's no more rumors about 'em and how Ovan's still missing "His cellphone isn't even working anymore." Fearing Shino may disappear to, Haseo asks for her cellphone number and she obliges. Tabby & Sakisaka are bored outta their minds so Tabby suggests making their own guild! Apparently Pi & Yata lost Ovan somewhere along the way, how'd they manage that?! Outside the @HOME of Sakisaka's guild he bumps into a real world friend who says he and a buncha others are quitting and moving to a new game. "My place is cramped. I live by myself." poor Shino. Ill, alone, and no room for plants! Sakisaka tells Tabby he's quitting "The World" and joining his friends in the game Riot Gun. He asks if she wants to come with but Tabby says she wants to stick around for Shino. "Well, take care."

Shino & Haseo share a tender moment that's interupted by a graphical glitch, and Tabby's sulking "Even in the game I'm all alone." ;.; Phyllo & Shino are chatting abit and Shino thinks she'll hear from Ovan soon "If something should ever happen to me, please take care of Haseo." "What are you trying to tell me, Shino? If you were to disappear he'd go nuts." Haseo's out soloing "I'm gonna get even stronger." when suddenly IYOTEN, Asta and three other PKers show up. Meanwhile Tri-Edge is in a weird area, unwarping some kinda twisted fence-like thing, at the same time Shino & Tabby notice another distortion with the graphics and Shino gets a message to go to Hulle Granz. Haseo skillfully defeats IYOTEN & Asta, and Tri-Edge enters Hulle Granz. Tabby sends Haseo a message about Shino and he rushes over to the cathedral... but he's to late. Repth does nothing and her PC begins dying in an unusual way in his arms. He tries her cellphone but receives no answer...

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth

To the Lost Ground Hy Brasail! The only way to reach this place is via the boat in Mac Anu's harbor. It set sail with just Haseo on board but countless people were there ahead of him including the always fired up announcer! Haseo's teammates joined him on the podium to accept a "rare" weapon and title of Emperor. With the formalities done it was time to chat! Silabus & Gaspard point out Kuhn and his "illness" as he gains more groupies with his smooth talk. Kaede congratulates Haseo and Zelkova hopes they can be friends. Matsu had fun fighting Haseo and said if they get the chance they should have another go at it. Antares was soaking in the scenery while getting drunk in real life! Alkaid offered no congratulations but Piros made up for it by offering a kiss in celebration of his victory lol.

Atoli's off alone an Ovan approaches asking what's wrong. She thinks Haseo hates her and he whispers her a suggestion. Haseo shows up annoyed at Ovan for always wandering off while Ovan fills Atoli in on their days in the Twilight Brigade and of Shino, a player Haseo had grown close to with a similar charater model as Atoli's. This revelation doesn't go over well with her. She worked hard to get him to praise her but feels like Haseo wasn't looking at her but at Shino instead! She runs off and the party slowly draws to a close. Upon returning to town Haseo gets an emergency summons from Yata. A scene at Morrigu Barrow fills us in on Atoli's whereabouts and just what Ovan had whispered to her. Haseo is looking for Tri-Edge and if she can locate him using her special hearing then surely Haseo would like her!

Yata reveals that Atoli's an Epitaph User candidate and her location. Haseo/Pi/Kuhn are to bring her back! After Haseo heads out Yata is seen speaking with Ovan. Apparently he gave the information on where Atoli is and the reason for this is for Haseo to grow up, something Ovan believes is the same goal Yata has. H/P/K arrive at Morrigu Barrow and find the Tri-Edge Sign glowing brightly! That means its ripe for using and use it they do! The trio end up in a white room with nothing more than a row of lockers and an Atoli trying to tug 'em open! She tells Haseo to back off, that she can do this herself so that he'll look at her!

The fussings shortlived cause Tri-Edge shows up and naturally Haseo charges into battle with him. Strangely enough his in-battle name is Kite... guess Tri-Edge was just a nickname! He's as tough as he was made out to be and nearly offs the whole team but they out damage race him and he falls back... to Data Drain the ground and completely restore himself. Well crap. The fight takes a strange turn when Tri-Edge unleashes an Avatar?! The final battle of Infection was Kite vs Skeith... alright! Round 2, ready - go! His spreadshot was hard ta avoid and the tiger claws weren't so easy to knock away! In the end he went down like they all do... though he fell to pieces & vanished. And not a single answer about how to revive the Lost Ones was given.

With Tri-Edge outta the way the lockers burst open and a buncha black arms shot out straight towards Atoli's... character. They pierce her good then retreat right back into the lockers while Atoli falls and the situation deteriorates~

- G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth
Game Cleared: 29:50:07
Game Cleared 100%: tbd

- In the News
• Methane Hydrate excavation began today. With more reserves than crude oil, this could shift the world's energy balance.
• A movie based on "The World" utilizing CG characters is in pre-production!

- On the Boards
• Word on the rumor block is that Crimson VS will resume service soon.
• The new M2D's are out and thanks to his parents, Silabus has one and gives it a rave review!

//Online Jack

phase.03: After one of Osamu's electrical devices went haywire the boy lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital. Salvador heads there to see what's up but gets alil distracted! "Oooo nurses! It's a party! Carnival! Samba samba!" Back on task, he and Michiru bump into one another as they both want to check on Osamu. "Don't you dare call me baby, you creep!" Associate professor Sugai pops up to let 'em know... "Well you see. Osamu Kawaguchi, has disappeared from his bed." They charge into his hospital room and Salvador discovers writing on the wall... in blood? "What are these words?! Skeith... Innis... Magus... and I can't make out the rest..."

I really love the island they have for events in Gu. It's normally locked so it really feels special when you get to go to it.

Ya its the only really inaccesible Lost Ground! Gotta make a save before going there next time to keep some form of access to it! Wish ya could go in the building and do more stuff there. Grr!

 

[Stage On]

Speaking of the end of volume one of Gu I think it has the best song in all of the games. The English version of Gentle hands is amazing!

I wish they had done an English version of the ending song from the last Gu game to go with it

 

[Lindsay]

This didn't take nearly as long as I was expecting! At first I dreaded 100%'ing this and thought of just not doing it but things turned out much better than last year (that took 60 hours!). Guess I'm alil more experienced now huh? That means less time to soak in the ending of this game! My ancient capture device is in real bad shape! The slightest nudge and I lose color, even more and video entirely! So delicate! Please hang in there until I'm done! Thank goodness cutscenes/chatty scenes are pauseable!!


//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 5
"Without the support of these machines, she would not exist." Midori (S)'s situation has deteriorated so badly she can't even leave her hospital bed anymore. Death seemed certain and the only sliver of hope she got was from saying to herself "I don't want to die." "Her consciousness was beginning to drift away. Yet she managed to barely - just barely - hold that off." She could tell that if she simply let herself pass out at this point there would be no going back and desperately reached for the nurse call button. Assistance would arrive just as she collapsed.

"I killed Adamas?!" Midori screamed & clawed at her PC body! People thought it was a bug and got the heck away from her. She watched her past self PK people like it was her duty, like a soulless NPC. "But what does that make me? I was controlling the PC called Midori." Trying to make sense of the situation Adamas recalled his own past. A month after starting in "The World" he caught a post on the board by Sakaki and joined up with a PK Supression Squad. Midori struck first and the squads plans fell to pieces as she overpowered 'em. Adamas felt bad seeing people gang up and try to bully her but his own weakness held him back from trying to help her. When it became clear they were losing Sakaki called for retreat and suddenly Adamas was alone with her.

"I'm Adamas. What's your name?" small talk got him nowhere and she instinctually PK'd him. "This was a video game. There wasn't anything like instinct in it to begin with. Then that makes me a..." After the first time she PK'd him Adamas would seek her out each day still trying to make small talk about himself, Online Jack, anything really and lil by lil these encounters normalized her. She swore never to use her weapon again and that she'd reduce PKing by becoming a professional victim. Back in the present Adamas tried to console her and said she oughta logoff and take it easy. "What was my goal when I joined The World?" but nothing came to mind. She couldn't recall her past before joining the game. "Who... am I?"

//G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth - Overtime

Hey hey! This games "overtime" was nearly as long as Infections story mode and longer than any of the other three original games stories. Let that sink in! So what all was there to do? I mentioned campaigns opening up so there was those. Ryu Book completion returned as did getting max affection. For the heck of it I went an got more WP than the highest ranking arena team had. There was the mysterious Doppelganger to. Plus Avatar refights! Collecting keywords to. And of course... the climax of the Mark of Offering sub-event!!

To the quest shop to finish things with the Lord of the Dead quest!! Piros was enthusiastic about it, Pi thought it cliché, and Haseo just wanted a shiny new armor. Differing attitudes didn't stop 'em from trekking through a long dungeon! The trip was made easier since it was largely devoid of monsters. Only a few groups were there, each composed of the three different monsters the three evil dudes threw at Haseo previously. At the end of the dungeon the team got warped to Indieglut Lugh where the evil ones were patting themselves on the back as their master Cernunnos rose out of the lake to attack! He was freaking huge and so powerful the fight felt like it was in slow motion! Strong as he was, his defense was lacking so he got taken out! The villianous trio started bickering and blaming each other, not noticing their master falling directly on their heads! And that marked the end of Habuzi, Ankh, and Krewhaha as they were presumably killed and drug to the underworld.

Let's talk campaigns! Since these coincide with just playing the games often times you'll +1 multiple objectives with each area ya visit. Defeat 50 PKers and all 7 blacklisted Chaotic PKers? Check! Rescue Mecha Grunty 50 times? Done. Kick 50 Lucky Animals and at least 1 of each kind? Got it! Haseo finally got to kick a Gold Bird which Atoli had previous denied him of! The one that stuck out was handing out fliers to other PCs, but that was super easily accomplished by just talking to everyone everywhere! Doing all this resulted in getting some pretty rare items which served to boost the Ryu Book for item collection! The most time consuming part of it all was gather key words. By the end of each previous .hack game you had all the keywords. Not so here. There are like 41 you have to get on your own by getting at least a B rank in areas with specific levels!

Along with stuff for your desktop, the Ryu Books in these games also enhance the gameplay by raising Canard's guild rank. The bonus for reaching Rank 3 is the extremely useful ability to check stuff in and out of storage in areas via platforms! Doppelganger is usually pretty tough but Haseo/Kuhn/Piros got the drop on it this time and beat it in one go, no help from Sleipnir needed! The Avatar battle refights went by quickly, Macha was alil tough cause I was in a hurry, and Tri-Edge was close to. That's a wrap for this game! Ohhh and btw I ended this volume with Beginner's Text x20 & Beginner's Book x30. I had ta stop myself from going back for more!! Thank you for your limitless supply and high trade value of dull stuff like Olm Shells, Henako & Corporal Yano!

- G.U. Vol.1: Rebirth
Game Cleared: 29:50:07
Game Overtime: 15:45:27
Game Cleared 100%: 45:35:34


- Next time on .hack//G.U.

Kuhn: "Are we in a really bad nightmare?"
Haseo: "The real me that should be looking at this Haseo that's on the screen is..."
Ovan: "...to observe the effect of AIDA's infection on the players."
Haseo: "What are we? Lab rats?"
Sirius: "It's because you try to take that away from me!"
Haseo: "What do you expect from me?"
Ovan: "Get stronger. Consume all happiness and sadness and use that as your stepping stone."
Ovan: "Don't you want to know what the truth is?"
Haseo: "The truth?"
Ovan: "Yes... The reason why Shino lost consciousness, the truth about Tri-Edge, the secret of the Epitaph..."
Haseo: "AIDA and the Epitaph?"
Ovan: "In front of one Epitaph... only a small AIDA, a small truth will appear."

"The real me" huh? Wonder if Haseo's facing a Midori-like situation... Anyhow that's it for the G.U. games! Unlike the first series Scamco hasn't announced a release schedule for G.U. outside of japan. So this may be the only one we get~

Speaking of the end of volume one of Gu I think it has the best song in all of the games. The English version of Gentle hands is amazing!

I wish they had done an English version of the ending song from the last Gu game to go with it

I can't make heads or tails of the lyrics for either version but it is a nice tune! Still in terms of G.U. ending themes I rank it last!

 

[Lindsay]

G.U. really is the great divide! Much fewer people posting since its started o.o Oh wells. New avatar get! I like Saburou an I can't help it! I also like Cell's afterword segment. Telling an author still a newbie to all things .hack to just write whatever he likes, that's bold and amusingly silly! And why after all this time am I bothering to use a spoiler tag? Crazyness! Oh an OP updated with a couple new places & the first two real namedrops of this era!


...Previously on GAF reads/watches/PLAYS the .hack series!

Unlike the first series Scamco hasn't announced a release schedule for G.U. outside of japan. So this may be the only one we get~

...7 months later......


//Cell Vol.1: The Ending World ~ Chapter 6
Losing the courage to face reality Midori (S) retreated into a dream-like state, something used as a buffer to stave off despair. She imagined herself and Kaho sitting in Mac Anu going over their previous conversation. The scene faded and although Midori (S) had experienced "The World" for only a few minutes she now understood why other patients immersed themselves in the game. She awoke staring at the white ceiling of her hospital room only able to move her eyes and fingers nowadays. The beeping of many machines connected to her body were the only proof she's still alive. "Can this even be called living?" Her ears managed to catch the voices of two nurses nearby discussing herself and another patient "Also Nanao - how is Miss Shino doing?" "Same as always, I guess. Still in a deep coma." Hearing of someone in a condition similar to her own gave Midori (S) courage but then one of the machines blurted out an alarm and as her consciousness faded she had one wish "When I wake up, I hope I..."

In the game Midori's struggling to remember anything about herself. Real name, age, citizen id number... nothing came to mind and since they'd never spoken about real life, Adamas had no idea either. She knew tons of stuff about "The World" and the real world, mostly from the News Capture service, but not about herself. Adamas thought it may be amnesia but she wasn't convinced. Tired, Midori reasoned that she should log off to return to reality - but when she tried to remove the M2D she was unable to, and not even certain she was wearing one, much less manipulating a controller. "The reality she'd believed in and never doubted was now crumbling audibly around her." She apparently logged out back to the desktop then quit out of the OS. In doing so everything faded to black including her consciousness.

She awoke in a sea of data. By touching the countless particles of light which passed by, data in transmission, she could access users desktops and many other things! She descended upon Mac Anu and caught a conversation between Adamas and a GM who was unable to give personal info out. Neither saw nor heard her. Annoyed by this she flew off to a field and saw Haseo tossing around a Lord Partizan. "Do you know Tri-Edge?" when the guy said no... well he lost his head. "Guess I should try seeing her again. Wouldn't mind a duel, either." Next she found Silabus & Gaspard in a Beast Temple unable to collect the treasure cause their inventory was full! Silabus suggested throwing something out but Gaspard was like no way! "I probably don't exist in the real world." if she was an AI being a PK made sense since she was an Edge Punisher, though why she was that class was unclear. Throughout her pain and anguish over these discoveries she heard a girls voice "I don't want to die." Midori collapsed on the ground "Her body crumbled, and with it, her mind. It scattered there in space, becoming pure data."

//Roots

ep.14: After hearing about Shino, Tabby changed her mind about quitting the game. Phyllo tells her "You're the only one that can be by his side now." okay Tabby its your duty to help Haseo! Who's currently alone at Arche Koeln being depressed & angry "OOOVAAANN! WHY DID YOU LEAVE US WHEN WE NEEDED YOU MOST??? WHERE ARE YOU?!?" Pi & Yata are busy spying on Haseo & Tabby an talking about how they've discovered some kind of anamolous entity in "The World".

Spoiler

"Furthermore we've confirmed the existence of this entity in Ovan's PC body."

and so their investigation of AIDA begins. btw Ovan's back!! He's in Shino's favorite field daydreaming(?), then warps out as Phyllo warps in! The sky goes dark as Tri-Edge appears and attacks Phyllo! The old man defends but not much else and the experience leaves him shaken. Tabby finds Haseo and asks about what happened but he gets a call and logs out. Pi meets up with an old member of TaN's ninja group who she's given a new PC to use. Phyllo takes Haseo off to that field again to speak about how he fought with Tri-Edge when Haseo mentions "The real Shino is... unconscious. She's in a hospital bed." He's beating himself up over not getting to her sooner and runs off in anguish when told the field they're in is the one Ovan & Shino first met in.

//G.U. Vol.2: Reminisce - Do you not wish to know the truth?

The game starts off with data conversion bonuses! Strange Coffee/Fairy Rain/Healing Storm x3, Healing Potion/Fairy Drop x10, and 5000 gp! Errr but as for the story it starts with a scene at Indieglut Lugh. Endrance is encased in some kind of crystal in the lake with Saku watching over him and talking to... herself? Thanks to Kuhn, Atoli regains consciousness in Raven's @HOME but her mic is busted cause no one hears her voice. Luckily the voice-to-text software still works! They suggest she reboots but "My controller... my desk... my M2D..." Atoli can't find any of those things and panic quickly spreads through the rest of the group as they realize they to cannot log out "But where did my real self go?!" Yata has Kuhn/Pi/Haseo go out to gather info while Atoli is supposed to stay back and rest. Instead she goes looking for Sakaki. In town Haseo finds everyone in a panic. A Gaspard without a Silabus, a developer doing a poor job of hiding the fact he's one, a hapless system adminstrator, and a member of the Medic Union apparently on a first name basis with the Terror of Death.

btw Totally hop on bike first chance you get. Its waaayyyy faster than it was before! Yata calls everyone back to report in and on the way Haseo encounted Atoli with Sakaki and he starts badmouthing Moon Tree saying they can't solve this situation. At the Serpent of Lore everyones informed that no one logged in can log out and no one currently logged out can log in! "At this point we're no different than the Lost Ones..." Also AIDA stole Atoli's Epitaph and created a mirror server of the game which they are all now on. Haseo's told about the Morganna factor stolen then told to head with Pi to Moon Tree to ask for their assistance just minutes after he dissed them. Humble pie time! On this visit all 7 captains are there. Nala seems old and wise, Hiiragi is defensive of Sakaki and a pansy according to Matsu, and Sophora is... just there. Must be the silent type. Oh and Sakaki knows about AIDA & G.U. thanks to his informant (dangit Atoli!).

AIDA signals were deteced at &#916; Galloping Subtle Desert so the team made there way to this new type of field and took out a ton of crazed Kestrel PKers along the way to finding the AIDA. Once Data Drained, Haseo obtained a Vir... uh, a Data Seed? Wha? Sure, lets go with that. Before they could leave, Nala sent a short mail asking them to come to the Beast Temple. He heard people talking inside so the group goes along with the old mans noseyness and find Gabi chatting with... Ovan?! "Ovan and I once pledged eternal brotherhood to each other! " "Like I care!!" lol. Ovan says Yata's playing them all for fools, that he knew how to get back to the normal server and thus the real world. Kuhn & Haseo were pissed. Pi said Yata just needed time to make then transfer program but they weren't buying it.

Anyways he sends them to hack the Sign at Morrigu Barrow but... nope.jpg. They don't have enough Virus C... Data Seeds!! Conveniently, AIDA signals popped up at &#916; According Floating Eradications. Once the seeds were obtained and the Sign hacked, Haseo/Kuhn/Pi made it to the Operations Folder, though not before defeating a newer, stronger kind of AIDA. Pi got the program up and running and soon everybody in "The World" was transfered back to safety... except for Haseo. An AIDA blocked his transfer but it was easily taken out by a pair of very familiar looking guys. And with them was a "coffin" containing a very much alive... Tri-Edge?! He's then finally transfered out. "They were attacking AIDA. Does this mean Tri-Edge isn't AIDA?" Afterwards Haseo learns that somehow the entire time on the AIDA server spanned only 3 minutes in the real world, and also that Atoli's hand is paralyzed in the real world, her doctor said its a symptom of Doll Syndrome...