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.hack ... or .crap?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As a longtime enthusiast of the .hack multimedia franchise, I feel bad doing this, but as a gamer I cannot allow the fact I happened to like .hack//SIGN interfere with my judgement.

I basically started playing this long and, looking back on it, overpriced series because I was driven by most desire to find a conclusion to the anime drama, .hack//SIGN (which, despite some flaws, is one of the best stories I've ever had the pleasure of immersing my consciosness in and has some of the best music I've ever heard in an animated series). The anime ended on an uncertain note and, having learned that the story would only be concluded if I got to the fourth game, I undertook the lengthy (and as I would soon find out, tedious) task of beating the game series.

Because all of the games are basically the same in terms of concept, all I have to say for them all at once is:

PLOT: Wow. Boring and predictable. Just the opposite of .hack//SIGN. I have a hard time linking the two together. The worse thing about this plot is that it is so simple that a twelve-year old won't have much trouble deciphering what happens next. There are a few cases of borderline deus ex machina where you won't see something coming but these are few, far between and, in any case, deus ex machina is one of the first signs of a weak plot.

DIALOG: Owch. Aside from the voice actors sounding (as the Game Informer people pointed out) like none of them have hit puberty, the lines themselves are pretty hokey (even in the most dramatic moments - no wait! Especially in the most dramatic moments). There is no tension or intrigue to be gained through character interaction.

CHARACTERS: By far the most tragic thing about this series in my opinion. None of my favorites from .hack//SIGN (with the exception of some lame side-quest cameo appearances) made it into the game. After getting over that, I managed to actually like what little character the agents of the story had. In truth, I actually like Kite, BlackRose, Balmung, Gardenia, etc but I have to say they are incredibly shallow and more or less one - maybe two, in some cases - dimensional. They have none of the complexity and moral difficulties of the original heroes from .hack//SIGN and this makes them rather boring to watch. The mark of a bad character is one that will do at the end exactly what they would have done at the beginning of the series (as it signifies they didn't develop or change toward the better at all) and that unfortunate effect proliferates among the cast of the .hack video games. Having as I already said ended up liking many of these characters, I feel bad that the scriptwriters couldn't have drew them out more. They, like the story, had a lot of unused potential.

MUSIC: Perhaps the one redeeming quality of the series. Not as good as the original .hack//SIGN but it can be okay most of the time and sometimes excellent.

GAMEPLAY: By far the most damning attribute the series posseses. I can finally understand why so many people who play 'The World' fall into comas. No, its not because of Morganna Mode Gone or anything like that. It's because the gameplay is so horribly repetitive their brains shut down in order to escape it. Really, I thought that was going to be my fate. I think found myself praying the game would be over soon sometime during .hack//MUTATION (that's the second game of four). It's basically a unexciting hack-and-slash masquerading as a sort of role-playing game. The gameplay of this series can be summed up as 'slash, slash, slash, heal, ressurect, slash, slash, slash, heal, ressurect, etc etc etc ...' the bosses are boring. Everything is dull. Nothing gets exciting.

I've heard that there is a manga adaption of this video game series called .hack//XXXX. On the off chance it ever gets translated into English, I would love to buy it. It would most likely hone in on the problems of plot and character and fix them right up in addition to delivering some decent manga-style artwork of some of some greatly improved characters (like Kite, BlackRose, Balmung, etc) from the game.

But as for this game - if you've come this far, well, I wouldn't expect you to stop now. If not, don't start. Just wander off and dream about how the story started in .hack//SIGN might end and pray that .hack//XXXX is (1) good and (2) translated into English.

The best RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is great when I play it! The story were awsome. I reccommend it for people who have play part 1 to 3. If you just get this game without playing the previous parts then it will not be that fun and become confusing. I love the game and every time I play it I felt like I really was online. Probably the best RPG games I play.

This is the way The World ends?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 22
Date: January 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

...not with a bang, but with a whimper. That's exactly how I felt after finishing this final chapter of .hack. A series that began full of promise has done little except disappoint me.
You all know about the series, so I'll forego the plot summary. A lot of people have played apologist for this series, answering the valid complaint of, "Why are ALL the games the same?" with a variety of sophistries, but the fact is, this game has little invention in it.
I was disappointed in part two because of the ridiculous length of the game (it took me about nine hours). Part three answered this problem, and also had some nice bonuses (such as searching for ghosts of the series characters and finding items for trading), and I was eagerly anticipating part four.
So what's the problem here? Not length; this game may be the longest of the bunch (although, it still only clocked in at about 23 hours; I like a little more meat on my RPG's). The gameplay is the same, but hey, that's what we've come to expect. No, the problem here is story, in that this game has little. Most of the questions you might have asked, most of the theories you might have postulated concerning The World won't be answered here. The end of the game (which, though I thought about it, I will not spoil here) is quite unsatisfactory (ho-hum is the best word I can use to describe it), and in the end, this whole series (which, if you purchased new, will run you around two hundred bucks) left me feeling like I was cheated out of one hundred and fifty dollars. Yeah, I confess; there is enough material here for one game, maybe one and a half, but Bandai has cheated us out of a lot of money, in my honest opinion. Still, I can look forward to Xenosaga 2.

One of the best games I have ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: July 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game with a great OVA with it and I like them both as much as the series .hack//SIGN. Enough said.

JUNK

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 17
Date: August 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is the most boring role-playing game I've experienced. The first 5 hours have a great plot, and then *nothing*. Just hack'n'slash and repetitive dungeons for the next 20 hours. I finished the game to see the story's end, but it WAS NOT WORTH THE TIME WASTED. Or the money wasted.

Excellent conclusion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

An excellent conclusion to a gripping series of games. I know some people can find them somewhat tedious and a little frustrating that they're spaced out so much, but they have so much endless playability that I really didn't care. Great games!

One of the best RPG's available

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 13
Date: January 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just got done with Infection, and I didn't know that this was a series of games! Has that ever happened before? I don't mean like the Final Fantasy series, this is like a continued movie game. I love the idea and I can't wait to get the other three. Graphics, realism, plot, all some of the greatest. I would suggest this for any RPG game player without hesitation.

ITS IN THE MIDDLE

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 24
Date: February 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

this game is goood and bad .it is bad because you have ta face imortal monster.they take a long time to beat unless yiu got good swords and magic.the good part is that you can log off anytime without losing any data and look at a email.oh did i mantioin email. you do missions and you can also read the news. not reall news. the team mebers are from hack part 3 i ont got this game but i know all the thuing s like data drain.they are GARDENIA BLACKROSE BALMUNG MOONSTONE TERIJIMA RYOKO PIROS MIA

dot hack is the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: January 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is absolutely one of the best I have played on the PS2. The whole series has been great and the replayability of this game is great. I have played it three times and gone back several times just to get new items etc. It is a lot of fun and you can play it hours on end and still want to get back into the game just after you have turned it off. Totally addictive!!

Why A toy company shouldn't make video games...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 35
Date: January 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I know I am now known for disliking thoes Cushy RPGs, such as Final Fantasy 10 and X-2, and Xenosaga, but now when Bandai, a well-known toy company, makes a really bad video game, someone's got to say something. All of the games from this series that was made were poor, as I have played all but the second one. The show, I'll admit, is okay, but the game is just...junk. Not wise to buy this game. The only thing I liked about the game was that the graphics, while nothing special, were okay, and the music wasn't too poor. The overall gameplay and storyline is messed up. I may suggest, if your an RPG fan: Suikoden 3, Sword of Mana, Fire Emblem, or either of the Golden Sun series.

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