-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
.Hack//Gu has nice disc labels
- Thread starter Bebpo
- Start date
Finished Volume #2 at around 26 hours and that's without messing with the card game at all. If you get into that I could see it being a full 30 hours for many people. Pretty bad game, but I liked it. I'll give it a few days to sink in and then figure out where I stand on it as whole. A couple of quick interesting things to note though:
--Unlike vol.1 which felt about the same length as one of the old games (but with more and slower leveling), vol.2 really does feel like 2 complete games content-wise (old hack games that is, not 2 normal rpgs).
--Vol.2 basically does what they said they were going to do at the start, which was make each game like a full rpg with a beginning, middle, end. Vol.1 basically played out like the old games, but Vol.2 actually has an end and wraps up a lot. If they wanted to they could've probably finished it all in vol.2 but of course the $$$ is tempting so stuff is left for vol.3
--3rd form was really useless. The Scythe is terrible.
--Avatar battles are probably the best part of the game. They are extremely easy and the game always pops up the same tutorial messages each time (WHY CANT YOU TURN THE HELP HINTS OFF!?!?), but they're actually fun and a nice diversion from the kinda bad everything else.
--Lots of Lost Ground areas (non-battle areas that look nice and have unique awesome music) in this one.
--Basically no optional characters or optional character development. Unlike the old series where you had a few non-major characters in your party, you only get 1 person in vol.1 and no one in vol.2 that's not a main story person.
--Vol.2 has several main ties to the anime. Not having seen the anime I could still figure it out but should make those people who stuck through with Roots happy when they play it.
--Unlike vol.1 which felt about the same length as one of the old games (but with more and slower leveling), vol.2 really does feel like 2 complete games content-wise (old hack games that is, not 2 normal rpgs).
--Vol.2 basically does what they said they were going to do at the start, which was make each game like a full rpg with a beginning, middle, end. Vol.1 basically played out like the old games, but Vol.2 actually has an end and wraps up a lot. If they wanted to they could've probably finished it all in vol.2 but of course the $$$ is tempting so stuff is left for vol.3
--3rd form was really useless. The Scythe is terrible.
--Avatar battles are probably the best part of the game. They are extremely easy and the game always pops up the same tutorial messages each time (WHY CANT YOU TURN THE HELP HINTS OFF!?!?), but they're actually fun and a nice diversion from the kinda bad everything else.
--Lots of Lost Ground areas (non-battle areas that look nice and have unique awesome music) in this one.
--Basically no optional characters or optional character development. Unlike the old series where you had a few non-major characters in your party, you only get 1 person in vol.1 and no one in vol.2 that's not a main story person.
--Vol.2 has several main ties to the anime. Not having seen the anime I could still figure it out but should make those people who stuck through with Roots happy when they play it.
Bebpo said:
Lame! I mean really super lame! Maybe Vol.3 will barrage us with all the cool extra ones they've got? Being able to change up my party so much helped alot in keeping the fun alive the times I've replayed the old games. -_-
January 18th is a short ways off. Are ya dreading or anticipating the last one? I just want the first one already! ;_; (Who's gonna make the official US release thread? You? Me? Ferricide?)
Lindsay said:
I'm looking forward to vol.3 as I seem to enjoy the games despite not particularly liking them ^^; But I'm glad it's still a few months away. One of the biggest problems with vol.2 was that it was actually the size of two games and two games straight of .hack gameplay is sorta too much at once. I think .hack works when it's spread out over a few months every 15-20 hours since the actual gameplay is so repetitive.
And you can make the US thread, I don't really have much interest in localized versions. When's vol.1 out?
Watched the interim stuff on the bonus disc (disc 3 unlocks through file 11 of 12 [I'm guessing 12 unlocks after you beat GU]) and I've gotten really interested in GU again and thinking that GU might end up having a great story like the original series as long as you look past the pacing of the actual games. Now I'm not only curious about the main plot, but I have a good idea of what's actually going on in GU beyond just what's happening on-screen. Potential is there definitely.
Also played the first bit of vol.3 and the intro was good. Since .hack is a series where the story makes or breaks it, it'll be interesting to see if GU was a complete flop or if it was a memorable great story. It has a lot of stuff building up to this volume's conclusion since it's not only Gu vol.1/2, but the original 4 games and the in-between story that's been setting up the finale.
Also played the first bit of vol.3 and the intro was good. Since .hack is a series where the story makes or breaks it, it'll be interesting to see if GU was a complete flop or if it was a memorable great story. It has a lot of stuff building up to this volume's conclusion since it's not only Gu vol.1/2, but the original 4 games and the in-between story that's been setting up the finale.
RSLAEV
Member
Well this sucks, the .Hack GU series was #4 on my 'must complete last gen RPG list (alog with Radiata Stories, Shining Force Neo, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Romancing Saga. If the game's really that bad I'll probably skip it. I've tried watching all 3 anime series and Only made it through Legend of thetwilight for some reason. Oh well, less money I have to spend!
dark_preacher
Member
any news on when g.u. vol. 2 is coming stateside?
I'm really enjoying rebirth... so much that I'm going to take a more open look at some of the other action rpg's on the PS2. I really didn't think I'd like a game where in combat I only controlled one player, but I'm liking it. I'm enjoying the huge amt of dungeon crawling available too.
Can't wait to see the disc art!
As usual I'm not looking for spoilers! Just pondering! Isn't G.U. supposed to stand on its own? Also by in-between story do you mean the Legend of the Twilight manga? Hope so~it deserves more love. Zefie > Aura ^_^
My copy of the second G.U. OST shipped today btw! Would you say the newer music are as good as the ones from Vol.1? Or maybe better? Not worse, right?
Bebpo said:
As usual I'm not looking for spoilers! Just pondering! Isn't G.U. supposed to stand on its own? Also by in-between story do you mean the Legend of the Twilight manga? Hope so~it deserves more love. Zefie > Aura ^_^
My copy of the second G.U. OST shipped today btw! Would you say the newer music are as good as the ones from Vol.1? Or maybe better? Not worse, right?
Lindsay said:
Well I mean the story on the bonus disc from vol.1 that tells what happened after the original games until the start of R:2. It's actually quite a good plot IMO, and it brings all of GU's plot into perspective and in my case took my complaint that the game felt too much like a rehash of the original set story-wise and flipped it around so now I actually think what they are doing is fairly interesting.
The new music seems just as good as before. The OP song and intro song for vol.3 were both very good.
I played about 5 hours of the game so far and it's doing a lot of things to make it the best game of the group and actually pretty fun. One of my main complaints about GU from the start was how the speed charms from the old set were gone and so running through the dungeons felt really slow. But finally in volume 3 you can buy all-party speed charms (though they are the most expensive item in the shop @_@), all-party regen, all-party SP regen items. So since it's pretty easy to get money by this volume (selling things yeilds good cash and now you can sell items STRAIGHT FROM YOUR ITEM MENU at any time by hitting triangle), you can always be running around with fast speed + all regen. Also you can level up some specific weapons, which is nice since they are good weapons and you don't want to just buy new ones to replace them.
There's also just a ton of loot at this point in the game, and a decent amount of dungeons, good amount of characters in your party. So since it's been almost six months from the last game and I'm sorta feeling in the mood to dungeon-crawl, it's definitely fun right now building up character levels, weapon levels, weapons.
I'm actually really curious to see if they can pull the story off. The writing tends to be up and down still, with some good twists, plot devices, and some stupid anime cliches, so it's really up in the air. But if they can pull everything together into a good story by the very end I'll be pleased with GU as a whole.
PS. The new city is a total ripoff of FFXII.
I just finished the story portion of Vol 1 last night... Azure God was an annoying battle because of some weird controller glitches I got caught a few times by that grab attack and it took me a bit before I finally noted the throwing blades patterns and what # of slashes to use to make sure I got them.. (1,2... then can 1,2,3 repeatedly for the next ones).
Lord I hope Vol's 2 and Vol's 3 make it here.
Quick question, are you able to generate higher area words than level 50? I couldn't find anything higher than 50(using the highest word I had in each grouping). And how do I know if there are weapons/items out there still going for? I guess that will determine if I keep levelling or if I move on to another game in my neverending list.
Lord I hope Vol's 2 and Vol's 3 make it here.
Quick question, are you able to generate higher area words than level 50? I couldn't find anything higher than 50(using the highest word I had in each grouping). And how do I know if there are weapons/items out there still going for? I guess that will determine if I keep levelling or if I move on to another game in my neverending list.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
vol 1 was really great... i wish 2 and 3 come over here soon
Bebpo said:
Oh... lotsa stuff happened after the first games but from what I can tell so far the bonus disc covers more the development side of things which is neat to.
Hurrah! I'm alil worried listening so early will spoil it for me but I'll prolly end up doing so anyway!
? Ya mean two of the same types of weapons such as swords can have different skills? Coolness!
Was there a lack of loot before o.o? Right now in Vol.1 I have over 400,000 GP and nothing to spend it on! Thanks for the impressions as usual! I've had lotsa fun with the first game and watching Roots is really adding to the story goodness to so I oughta love the next two!
DarienA said:
You can only go up to L50 in Vol.1 so no areas higher than that. There are tons of keywords to hunt for! And of course beefing you and your party up for the next game and finishing all the sidequests are reasons to keep playing!
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
sprocket said:
cause the point of the game is to simulate an MMO through a single player experience.
they already tried the actual MMO thing, i believe it was .hack//Fragment -- never released over here.
not to mention the type of gameplay it actually is wouldn't lend itself well to being a true MMO to begin with.
Lindsay said:
You mean there are more quests that will be issued at the quest shop? Or are there other quests that I'm not aware of?
Man since I'm already at lvl 50 with my characters, I hope that levelling isn't too slow... I'm sure after a bit of levels over 50 though it'll be come super tedious to level up further.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
what levels do you get to in the third volume? is there a limit or is it only lvl 99/100?
DarienA said:
Did you do all the quest shop quests including the final story based one? If so there's still non-quest shop "quests." Hunting down the blacklisted PK'ers, handing out flyers, rescuing Mecha Grunty 50(?) times and finding all the lucky animals. Oh and don't forget to take down your doppleganger!
davepoobond said:
Huh it isn't? Well.. maybe then a MORPG ala PSO/PSU. From what Bebpo is saying the gameplay sounds like it'd be more then varied enough for that at least!
Bebpo said:
Didn't Haseo start off the first game (after opening part of course) at L200 or over?
They better let make it possible to go that high and beyond! Just throw in tons of post story content!Lindsay said:
So I've been hearing about how hard Doppleganger is... so just a few min ago:
So I've got Haseo at 50, Pi at 49, and Kuhn at 49, and I just cleared a level 50 map and have my morale gauge full, thinking, ok this is going to be a hard fight, he's 8 levels higher than me, has kickass stats and regen, and set my party's strategy to Rage.
So I wait... at about the 7 min mark the f*cker appears just a few feet in front of me. I'm like ok... so I go in to the fight. Immediately activate my beast awakening, pound the shit out of him with Bone Crusher and, the awakening ends, I hit him once more... he's dead....
Guess I should have fought him earlier in the game, or without beast awakening... oh well, guess I'll go build my arena ranking...
Lindsay how do you find the blacklist pk'ers? Do they just randomly show up on maps you go to
Bebpo said:
Doh! Well there still shouldn't be a level cap. Just make it nearly impossible to level like the old days! :lol You haven't seen Roots yet, right? Its a real mindscrew seeing it after going through Vol.1..... and I'm saying that having seen up to episode 12 so far. @_@;
btw Did anything else come with Vol.3 or are there still two empty spots in your box?
DarienA said:
That's how I had to beat him as well! :lol Some people claim to have beaten him without BA and some solo! Sounds to impossible to believe though! Yup the PK'ers are I guess random. Dunno! I've ran into most of them so it probably isn't that hard to come upon those whackjobs.
Don't forget there is an official US G.U. thread!
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Lindsay said:
the reason why, really, is because the gameplay itself is very mediocre -- its technically possible...but the story is (or at least should be) the main draw to the game...
Lindsay said:
Still haven't watched Roots. If I'm happy with GU #3 after I finish it I'll watch it just for completitions sake to fill in story bits (though I think by this time in GU I can sort of fill in the whole plot of Roots already) since I've seen all the other .hack anime and played all the games.
Only 1 disc/box for vol.3 so I'm guessing the bonus OAV that you get for sending in proof of purchase on 1-3 will come in a full dvd case. I bought the old .hack series in the US so I never did get the bonus OAV on that (though I've seen it), but I think this time I'll make the effort to send the stuff in.
davepoobond said:
Yeah I agree, with the few small changes in vol.3 it's maybe 'barely' average at this point and I'm still just playing the game for the story and because looting dungeons for items to sell and equip is somewhat enjoyable.
But re: the MMO talk...wasn't Fragment an MMO? Or was that restricted to like 3 player online?
Bebpo said:
Yeah the final OVA was on a second disc only available with the SE version of .hack//SIGN disc.6 over here and hasn't been included in any of the subsequent boxsets either. That's prolly how we'll get the G.U. OVA here as well which make me doubt even further that we'll get a box for the games. >_<
Bebpo said:
Yup it was restricted to three peoples per party/dungeon. Basically a MO~ like PSO 'cept you could design your own dungeons and stuff.
About 20 hours in, past the major events.
Anyone who has followed GU to this point or anyone who has been there for the original series as well as GU will not be disappointed with the major events in vol.3. Very cool stuff. The last Avatar battle I did was pretty awesome too. It was really hard, and I died once on it. But all the patterns are dodgeable so once you figure them out you can do the fight with almost no damage taken. I wish more of the Avatar battles had been like that.
I'm guessing vol.3 will be a 30 hour, maybe 35 hour game. While I think vol.1 was too short, the director kept his word for vol.2/3 about making each game the length of a full-size rpg. While there's been plenty of generic anime-cliche filler in vol.2/3, both have had a decent amount of original stuff.
Looking foward to the rest of vol.3, especially with the new gameplay additions that have popped up.
Also I'm pretty darn sure vol.3 caps out at 150. 20 hours in I'm only 124 now and I started the volume at 100. Also ultimate final hidden weapons seem to be at about 134. So yeah, I expect the final dungeon to be 150 or maybe even 140/145.
Anyone who has followed GU to this point or anyone who has been there for the original series as well as GU will not be disappointed with the major events in vol.3. Very cool stuff. The last Avatar battle I did was pretty awesome too. It was really hard, and I died once on it. But all the patterns are dodgeable so once you figure them out you can do the fight with almost no damage taken. I wish more of the Avatar battles had been like that.
I'm guessing vol.3 will be a 30 hour, maybe 35 hour game. While I think vol.1 was too short, the director kept his word for vol.2/3 about making each game the length of a full-size rpg. While there's been plenty of generic anime-cliche filler in vol.2/3, both have had a decent amount of original stuff.
Looking foward to the rest of vol.3, especially with the new gameplay additions that have popped up.
Also I'm pretty darn sure vol.3 caps out at 150. 20 hours in I'm only 124 now and I started the volume at 100. Also ultimate final hidden weapons seem to be at about 134. So yeah, I expect the final dungeon to be 150 or maybe even 140/145.