I just wanted to let people know of an upcoming game thats coming for PS4

The game was developed by CYBERCONNECT - the people behind the naruto games

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljiWOrULppk

This was the trailer announced earlier this month

Its called .HACK//G.U. Last Recode

 

.HACK//G.U. Last Recode will be a PS4 remake of the original PS2 trilogy ".HACK//G.U." except instead of having to buy 3 disks, you get all 3 games in one PLUS there is extra content that connects to the future of the series.

 

Please note that .HACK//G.U. is but only a chapter in the extensive 'DOT hack series' which spans multiple novels, CGI films and animes.

 

The Story of .HACK//GU while holing back spoilers:

Haseo (Offline player Ryou Misaki) is known as a 'PKK' or 'Player Killer Killer' (someone who kills Player Killers, kinda like an antihero) on the online game known as 'The World', he adopted this role in order to find and defeat the infamous Player Killer called 'Tri-Edge' in order to avenge his implied love interest 'Shino' who was sent into a coma in the real/offline life after being PK'd by Tri-Edge.

Tri-edge as an entity was surrounded in myth and mystery as internal gamelogs according to admin shows he never logs off, never talks to anybody and he is almost never seen in game except by a select few...and then there is the character 'Ovan' who serves as Haseo's fatherly figure.

 

The anime called '.HACK//ROOTs' is a prequel to the game while the anime OVA '.HACK//G.U. RETURNERS' serves as a sequel or 'secret ending' to the game.

 

My Thoughts on DOT HACK and why I love the series so much!

 

 

I feel that dot HACK was one of the earliest series to feature a story involving online gaming and a genuine dilemma that surrounds being unable to log out or having friends who fall into a coma playing the game; a series I felt that was not just 'harem' or overly cliche plotline as we see with many japanese animes and games. In fact .HACK//GU is filled with HEAPS of plot twists.

 

The idea of 'Online Gaming' as a genre and a plotline element to games would later be utilised again by infamous and highly popular 'Sword Art Online' (released 2009) along with many newer games and animes.

 

Some people like to compare SAO and .HACK// but truth is each series are unique with their own characters and charm. What I do want to set straight is that .HACK// predated SAO and I've had this debate with many hardcore SAO fans before.

 

I've been a long time DOT HACK fan since 2008, that's when I first played the original 4 DOT hack games (released 2002) followed by .HACK//G.U. (released 2007). Mind you I've only been a KH fan since 2003 to put things into perspective.

 

 

 

The .HACK//GU games were adapted into a single CGI film named '.HACK//G.U. TRILOGY' which is basically a very compact retelling of the events from the first 2 disks of the games. It cuts out a lot of content but otherwise for anyone who wants to watch something to kill time.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPecwAVHl8A

I don't have subs but they exist somewhere on Youtube

 

oh and uhh...DOT HACK Characters also Cameo'd on the 3DS game 'PROJECT X ZONE'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_LH7MadySA

ENJOY FOLKS!

Edited June 20, 20178 yr by catmaster0116

*points to my username* You sir, have just made my firetrucking day!  SO MUCH HYPE!!!!!  GU was my favorite of the .hack series, though tbh I only played the first of the original, wasn't too fond of the combat of it and ended up facing Skeith way too underleveled.  But I loved GU so much, I'm so happy they're bringing back this wonderful series to the PS4.  And that few second clip of Haseo's new PS4 look, I literally cried tears of epicness.

*points to my username* You sir, have just made my firetrucking day!  SO MUCH HYPE!!!!!  GU was my favorite of the .hack series, though tbh I only played the first of the original, wasn't too fond of the combat of it and ended up facing Skeith way too underleveled.  But I loved GU so much, I'm so happy they're bringing back this wonderful series to the PS4.  And that few second clip of Haseo's new PS4 look, I literally cried tears of epicness.

 

awwww yisssssssssss

 

check out my Keyblade

 

 

 

 

When I first heard of Last Recode I was like  "Wait, what?  Is....is this real?  The .Hack series is coming back?"  While I've never played any of the games I came to be entranced by the whole franchise.  The story of the games, the characters, animes, loved every one of them.  If I knew about the games when I was kid I probably would've played them all day long.  With Last Recode I'll finally have a chance to play a .Hack game.  And if it does well, I hope one day there will be a game related to .Hack//Link.  

Please tell me the remaster will have a release in Europe, the UK.

Please tell me the remaster will have a release in Europe, the UK.

 

It will. Best of all, there's physical versions too.

 

I personally cannot wait to try out the .hack// franchise. Project X Zone 2 introduced me to it and I've been intrigued by it ever since.

I believe it's also coming to Steam. This will be great for people like me as I never got to play the originals.

Holy cow! I love the .hack// franchise!

 

It's been a LONG time since the .hack//Beyond The World movie and I still wonder what happened after the ending of the Thanatos Report. I hope this ramake can make it possible for the series to continue forwards!

Oh, .Hack, huh? You know, I've always seen or read about these games or passed them by, but I've never actually played them! And believe me, I've seen these games at Gamestop for years, and I never played any of them! I've heard tell it's a pretty big franchise, and as you've written here Catmaster, it's expanded into all form of media!

 

Hmm, so the trilogy is coming to PS4, eh? Okay, so my question is this. If I want to get into this franchise, are these the games to start with? Are they canonically the first? Because I've seen that there's a buttload of anime and stuff, and I wanna know just what I have to do to be immersed in the franchise as, say, the way I am with Kingdom Hearts! 

 

Not saying I'll play these games any time soon, but when I do eventually get to play them, I want to know! And if the anime series connect with the games, I wanna know that too!

 

Also, I didn't know that SAO was a fanfic of .Hack! Huh, the more you know!

These are not the first games, there is a quadralogy that comes first, which are only on PS2, however, you don't need to play those games to get into GU, however there was a possibility for the PS2 versions to transfer data from the first series into the second series, but all that did was change the name of the final boss of the first GU game, since he's based off of the player character of the first series.  However, you don't need to have played the first series to get into the second.  Honestly, I didn't like the combat style of the first series, so I only played the first game (.hack// Infection), played through the game, and found myself way underlevelled at the final boss of the first game.  I avoided most battles because I didn't like how they handled combat in the first series, so I stopped playing without beating the first game, and just started GU, which I enjoyed way more.  So if you want to get into the series, I recommend GU, either get the PS2 games, or wait for this remake to come out.  If you really want to know the story of the first series, you can look up cutscenes on youtube, or you can get all four games of the first series and play through them, I personally didn't enjoy the first game.

It's also on the PC, that makes things even better for me. 

Haseo's scream and rengeki glory  in HD ,  cant wait.

Edited June 21, 20178 yr by Revolart

Oh, .Hack, huh? You know, I've always seen or read about these games or passed them by, but I've never actually played them! And believe me, I've seen these games at Gamestop for years, and I never played any of them! I've heard tell it's a pretty big franchise, and as you've written here Catmaster, it's expanded into all form of media!

 

Hmm, so the trilogy is coming to PS4, eh? Okay, so my question is this. If I want to get into this franchise, are these the games to start with? Are they canonically the first? Because I've seen that there's a buttload of anime and stuff, and I wanna know just what I have to do to be immersed in the franchise as, say, the way I am with Kingdom Hearts!

 

Actually each entry into the franchise is somewhat disconnected to one another so you can play them without having to know the others although knowing the others might give you more back story to the series. Its kinda like the relationship between Birth By Sleep and KH1. You can play KH1 without playing BBS but BBS adds more to the story.

 

What connects all the games together is the lore behind the story which involves an ultimate AI or 'the Goddess' known as 'Aura'. Other than that there are some recurring locations that have the same name but look differently. One of these places is called 'Hulle Granz Cathedral' which has appeared in EVERY game to date and can also be visited in Project X Zone.

 

To answer your other question of what order you should play the games or watch the media:

 

1) .HACK//Sign (Anime that serves as an indirect prequel to the original 4 games for the PS2) - 'Aura' is Born as the ultimate AI but is quite immature

2) .HACK//Infection (The first of the original 4 games for the PS2) - 'Aura is a little girl and is learning by observing interactions between online users of the net'

3) .HACK//Mutation (The Second of the original 4 games for the PS2)

4) .HACK//Outbreak (The third of the original 4 games for the PS2)

5) .HACK//Quarantine (The last of the original 4 games for the PS2)

 

gameplay of the original PS2 games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVjqZx0gjk

 

6) .HACK//ROOTs (Anime that comes after the original 4 games, this anime is a prequel to the .HACK//G.U. PS2 games)

7) .HACK//G.U. Rebirth (The first of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC)

8) .HACK//G.U. Redemption (The Second of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC)

9) .HACK//G.U. Reminisce (The Last of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC) - 'Aura has grown into a young girl and is by now revered as the legendary goddess of the network'

 

Gameplay of .HACK//GU for the PS2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RUBZMPGgM

 

10) .HACK//LINK (PSP, was never released in English) - 'Something happens to Aura in this entry that causes her to disappear' Also in .HACK//LINK many major characters from previous games become party members including Haseo from .HACK//G.U.

 

Gameplay of .HACK//LINK with Haseo as a tag team party member

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZPIzmRj6gE

 

11) .HACK//Sekai no Mukou Ni (A fully animated CGI Film that takes place many years after .HACK//G.U.) - 'Aura....goes missing....worldwide network Crisis'

 

Gameplay of .HACK//Versus which was bundled with orders of the HACK CGI film for bluray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86WmDe4B3L0

 

By the way, I haven't even included the novels, mangs or the other side-animes. A full list of .HACK media can be found here.

 

Also, I didn't know that SAO was a fanfic of .Hack! Huh, the more you know!

 

SAO is not a fanfic of .HACK lol

 

 

 

From experience most Fans of SAO do not see eye to eye with dot HACK fans due to many similarities between both series. Not sure if it happened during your childhood, but a while back I remember there was a time when people compared 'Pokemon' with 'Digimon' or compared 'Naruto' with 'Bleach'.  These 'hardcore' Pokemon fans or Naruto-fans would passionately hate on Digimon or Bleach respectively and fans of the other series would would also take on the opposite roles. Sadly that sort of relationship kinda exists between SAO and .HACK// too.

 

On some forums you'll see people post that .HACK// is a rip off of SAO. But the truth is that .HACK// came before SAO and therefore deductive reasoning states .HACK// cannot be a rip off of SAO. And half the time people making those false claims are usually younger and have not done their research, it is also fact that fans of .HACK are usually slightly older due to the temporal relationship.

 

In fact both series are quite unique and the only thing that makes them similar is the plotline involvement of 'online gaming' and a crisis affecting players such as 'falling into a coma while playing the game'. To accentuate this fact, Yuki Kajiura who composed music for the .HACK// Anime also composed music for the SAO anime series.

 

The origins of .HACK// series start as a set of 4 PS2 games along with an anime called .HACK//Sign which is a prequel to the 4 original games. .HACK//G.U. comes after the original 4 games. The .HACK// games began development sometime after 1996 and the games were released in Japan mid 2002. The first anime for .HACK// called 'SIGN' was released late 2002 and early 2003. The .HACK//G.U. series would be released during 2006.

 

On the other hand SAO had its roots as an online web novel which was then published as a novel and then adapted into multiple video games and anime. The first webnovel/Prototype for SAO surfaced online during late 2002 and it wasn't until 2009 that the novels received official publications. Sword Art Online's first anime series was released mid 2012.

 

SO it comes to no surprise that SAO is more popular among the younger otakus of today since it is a much more recent series compared to .HACK//.

 

 

Edited June 21, 20178 yr by catmaster0116

Hmm, so the trilogy is coming to PS4, eh? Okay, so my question is this. If I want to get into this franchise, are these the games to start with? Are they canonically the first? Because I've seen that there's a buttload of anime and stuff, and I wanna know just what I have to do to be immersed in the franchise as, say, the way I am with Kingdom Hearts!

 

The original .hack// series and .hack.G.U.// are as standalone as Persona 4 and Persona 5. There are character that connect from the original to G.U. but it's minimal at best. You're good enough in getting .hack//G.U. Last Recode without having to invest into further things.

Actually each entry into the franchise is somewhat disconnected to one another so you can play them without having to know the others although knowing the others might give you more back story to the series. Its kinda like the relationship between Birth By Sleep and KH1. You can play KH1 without playing BBS but BBS adds more to the story.

 

What connects all the games together is the lore behind the story which involves an ultimate AI or 'the Goddess' known as 'Aura'. Other than that there are some recurring locations that have the same name but look differently. One of these places is called 'Hulle Granz Cathedral' which has appeared in EVERY game to date and can also be visited in Project X Zone.

 

To answer your other question of what order you should play the games or watch the media:

 

1) .HACK//Sign (Anime that serves as an indirect prequel to the original 4 games for the PS2) - 'Aura' is Born as the ultimate AI but is quite immature

2) .HACK//Infection (The first of the original 4 games for the PS2) - 'Aura is a little girl and is learning by observing interactions between online users of the net'

3) .HACK//Mutation (The Second of the original 4 games for the PS2)

4) .HACK//Outbreak (The third of the original 4 games for the PS2)

5) .HACK//Quarantine (The last of the original 4 games for the PS2)

 

gameplay of the original PS2 games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVjqZx0gjk

 

6) .HACK//ROOTs (Anime that comes after the original 4 games, this anime is a prequel to the .HACK//G.U. PS2 games)

7) .HACK//G.U. Rebirth (The first of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC)

8) .HACK//G.U. Redemption (The Second of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC)

9) .HACK//G.U. Reminisce (The Last of the G.U. games. Will be released as a remake in .HACK//G.U. LAST RECODE for the PS4 or PC) - 'Aura has grown into a young girl and is by now revered as the legendary goddess of the network'

 

Gameplay of .HACK//GU for the PS2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RUBZMPGgM

 

10) .HACK//LINK (PSP, was never released in English) - 'Something happens to Aura in this entry that causes her to disappear' Also in .HACK//LINK many major characters from previous games become party members including Haseo from .HACK//G.U.

 

Gameplay of .HACK//LINK with Haseo as a tag team party member

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZPIzmRj6gE

 

11) .HACK//Sekai no Mukou Ni (A fully animated CGI Film that takes place many years after .HACK//G.U.) - 'Aura....goes missing....worldwide network Crisis'

 

Gameplay of .HACK//Versus which was bundled with orders of the HACK CGI film for bluray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86WmDe4B3L0

 

By the way, I haven't even included the novels, mangs or the other side-animes. A full list of .HACK media can be found here.

 

 

SAO is not a fanfic of .HACK lol

 

 

 

From experience most Fans of SAO do not see eye to eye with dot HACK fans due to many similarities between both series. Not sure if it happened during your childhood, but a while back I remember there was a time when people compared 'Pokemon' with 'Digimon' or compared 'Naruto' with 'Bleach'.  These 'hardcore' Pokemon fans or Naruto-fans would passionately hate on Digimon or Bleach respectively and fans of the other series would would also take on the opposite roles. Sadly that sort of relationship kinda exists between SAO and .HACK// too.

 

On some forums you'll see people post that .HACK// is a rip off of SAO. But the truth is that .HACK// came before SAO and therefore deductive reasoning states .HACK// cannot be a rip off of SAO. And half the time people making those false claims are usually younger and have not done their research, it is also fact that fans of .HACK are usually slightly older due to the temporal relationship.

 

In fact both series are quite unique and the only thing that makes them similar is the plotline involvement of 'online gaming' and a crisis affecting players such as 'falling into a coma while playing the game'. To accentuate this fact, Yuki Kajiura who composed music for the .HACK// Anime also composed music for the SAO anime series.

 

The origins of .HACK// series start as a set of 4 PS2 games along with an anime called .HACK//Sign which is a prequel to the 4 original games. .HACK//G.U. comes after the original 4 games. The .HACK// games began development sometime after 1996 and the games were released in Japan mid 2002. The first anime for .HACK// called 'SIGN' was released late 2002 and early 2003. The .HACK//G.U. series would be released during 2006.

 

On the other hand SAO had its roots as an online web novel which was then published as a novel and then adapted into multiple video games and anime. The first webnovel/Prototype for SAO surfaced online during late 2002 and it wasn't until 2009 that the novels received official publications. Sword Art Online's first anime series was released mid 2012.

 

SO it comes to no surprise that SAO is more popular among the younger otakus of today since it is a much more recent series compared to .HACK//.

 

 

 

 

The original .hack// series and .hack.G.U.// are as standalone as Persona 4 and Persona 5. There are character that connect from the original to G.U. but it's minimal at best. You're good enough in getting .hack//G.U. Last Recode without having to invest into further things.

 

Alright, thanks to the both of you for informing me about this! In the near future, I may decide to try this series out!