.hack nostalgia moment
Okay, so I'm on a random .hack kick, which is what I've been looking up while I'm in recovery mode today. I think it's technically a less popular series (all of them) overall, and I have no clue how many of you will bother, so under a cut this goes!
I guess it really has been that long. @_@
I don't think I'll be making a lot of sense, so be warned for mostly rambling.
.hack//SIGN
I really need to rewatch this series someday. It still seemed like the one .hack TV series that was handled the best while having the best music.
Favorite characters? Sora mainly, yup. I liked Tsukasa when he wasn't angsting as badly. I still feel bad about Sora's ending, but it makes sense later.
~6 months later on the timeline~
.hack original games
It's somewhat amusing when I can summarize (poorly) each game with the following:
.hack//Infection = Kite gets powers to fight anomalous programming in the online game he's playing
.hack//Mutation = things are going wrong!
.hack//Outbreak = new friends are made, everyone is actually forming an attack plan!
.hack//Quarantine = we're all doomed but we're doing what we can to fight this thing
I've got a varied selection of favorites for these four games.
Favorite overall game: .hack//Infection
Favorite story: .hack//Quarantine
Favorite Liminality opening: .hack//Outbreak
Favorite characters: Balmung, Elk, Mia
.hack//Infection left the best lasting impression with me, mainly since we only get to see one scary as heck final boss before we get told that there are seven more just like that to go. D: Playing that final battle after 2am creeped me out big time, hahaha. I look back on it now and am not scared, but it was the way things were at the time. I seriously thought something went wrong with the game at the time.
I found the whole game within a game thing to be refreshing, although it was handled better in the next main game installment.
.hack//SIGN - Unison
This was the OVA single episode that takes place a couple months after the original games took place. It was a feel-good session and we get to learn little bits of what happened to most of the players when everything finally calmed down.
~7 years later on the timeline~
.hack//Roots
Don't get me started on this. :( I hardly consider Roots to be canon because they screwed up various important story segments that happen in the G.U. games as well as handled things mainly annoyingly. If you thought there were a lot of sequences involving a lone shot of a character or two sitting/standing together with the wind blowing, there were even more scenes like that in Roots, but more annoying because most of the music didn't seem to fit anything.
In short, no matter how much I wanted to enjoy Roots, I ultimately couldn't.
~8 months later on the timeline~
.hack//G.U.
I actually love the G.U. games a great deal more than the original four games. The music, main cast, addition of the Avatars, battle options, graphics, interactivity (including what makes things more personalized to each player), and even the main antagonists was more enjoyable and improved upon what we've dealt with the first time around. Although some of the story twists were fairly obvious from the start, I still enjoyed the overall story and how it was handled.
Favorite characters: Haseo, Endrance, Ovan, Kuhn
Favorite Avatars: Skeith (1st, 3rd, then 2nd), Magus, Macha
.hack//Link
It's funny how the main stuff happened during the first two "generations" of .hack storytelling. The third generation involves .hack//Link and whatever counterparts it got. Personally, I'm still not sure what to think about Link because it felt mostly like a game that basically only retells the main events of the other .hack series out there. It came across as a downgrade from the G.U. games to me, but I honestly haven't played as far as I should have by now.
However, I really liked Flugel. Extremely cool dude. <3
.hack//Quantum
There is an upcoming fourth generation of .hack storytelling starting next year. While I'm excited in some ways, my initial impressions are that the team behind the new stuff still seems trapped in keeping up references to previous .hack stuff. The new three protagonists in .hack//Quantum look like Kite (girly girl version now), BlackRose (now with long ponytail), and Balmung (apparently without wings?). Even the side characters look like slightly different versions of older characters as well.
I'm all for new stuff with slight references, but this is making me sad because I've kind of had my fill of character lookalikes when there's no longer any reason for that. This is precisely why the G.U. games excelled in this. There were some references to older stuff, but it never was in your face to this degree.
However pessimistic I might sound, I'm actually rather excited for .hack//Quantum because this OVA series might turn the .hack current standing around and make it return to its roots without being ridiculous. Still, who knows. It's kind of hard to forgive and forget after the mess known as .hack//G.U. Trilogy.
Examples in Videos
Warning for more obvious spoilers this time. D:
My favorite opening video from the original .hack games would be the one used in .hack//Outbreak, specifically from the Liminality OVA:
I also must note that I somehow always really liked the scene where Balmung officially joins Kite in his journey. Sword cling~!
In .hack//Quarantine, I was always saddened by Mia's fate:
She didn't want to be a major boss. :( Elk, who came to rely upon Mia, was seriously affected by this event. I mean, sure, Mia can be saved if you get through the hardest optional dungeon in the game, and the two get to party down in Unison, but anyone who knows what happened to the original Phases during the 7 years between the original games and the G.U. games knows that Mia got "recycled". She as an individual character died, but continued to exist as Avatar Macha.
This is all rather ironic since Elk's player, who was so heavily saddened by the loss of Mia, later created a new character known as Endrance, who held the Avatar Macha in his character data. Nice how it all goes full circle.
Speaking of full circle, Sora's player at the end of SIGN went into a coma for 6 months. Thanks to Kite in the original games, Sora's consciousness was freed from Skeith's wand and even being possessed by him. It wasn't until the end of .hack//Quarantine when Sora's player finally was allowed to regain consciousness. Apparently the kid (he was 10 years old at the time) had some memory loss from the whole experience and forgot he ever played The World. Fast forward 7 years, when the same player decided to take part in the new version of The World, creating the character Haseo. This is another full circle because Haseo is tied to Skeith, just in a less vicious, forced way like Sora was.
However, I have to note that from the time Skeith used Sora as a means to keep tabs on Aura, our resident awesome AI, Skeith apparently picked up a personality based somewhat on Sora's. It was more apparent in the Japanese version of this following clip, but you might still get some of the vibes:
Also, Kuhn is pretty darn awesome and dubbed by a certain awesome dude:
All in all, I still consider myself to be a somewhat dedicated .hack fan. I can only hope that the upcoming new series will be enjoyable and something to get excited about. We never know what the future will hold, but I'll try to remain optimistic. :)
If you made it all the way through to the end, then you get an instant cookie! I'll be amazed if anyone actually reads everything, hahaha.
I guess it really has been that long. @_@
I don't think I'll be making a lot of sense, so be warned for mostly rambling.
.hack//SIGN
I really need to rewatch this series someday. It still seemed like the one .hack TV series that was handled the best while having the best music.
Favorite characters? Sora mainly, yup. I liked Tsukasa when he wasn't angsting as badly. I still feel bad about Sora's ending, but it makes sense later.
~6 months later on the timeline~
.hack original games
It's somewhat amusing when I can summarize (poorly) each game with the following:
.hack//Infection = Kite gets powers to fight anomalous programming in the online game he's playing
.hack//Mutation = things are going wrong!
.hack//Outbreak = new friends are made, everyone is actually forming an attack plan!
.hack//Quarantine = we're all doomed but we're doing what we can to fight this thing
I've got a varied selection of favorites for these four games.
Favorite overall game: .hack//Infection
Favorite story: .hack//Quarantine
Favorite Liminality opening: .hack//Outbreak
Favorite characters: Balmung, Elk, Mia
.hack//Infection left the best lasting impression with me, mainly since we only get to see one scary as heck final boss before we get told that there are seven more just like that to go. D: Playing that final battle after 2am creeped me out big time, hahaha. I look back on it now and am not scared, but it was the way things were at the time. I seriously thought something went wrong with the game at the time.
I found the whole game within a game thing to be refreshing, although it was handled better in the next main game installment.
.hack//SIGN - Unison
This was the OVA single episode that takes place a couple months after the original games took place. It was a feel-good session and we get to learn little bits of what happened to most of the players when everything finally calmed down.
~7 years later on the timeline~
.hack//Roots
Don't get me started on this. :( I hardly consider Roots to be canon because they screwed up various important story segments that happen in the G.U. games as well as handled things mainly annoyingly. If you thought there were a lot of sequences involving a lone shot of a character or two sitting/standing together with the wind blowing, there were even more scenes like that in Roots, but more annoying because most of the music didn't seem to fit anything.
In short, no matter how much I wanted to enjoy Roots, I ultimately couldn't.
~8 months later on the timeline~
.hack//G.U.
I actually love the G.U. games a great deal more than the original four games. The music, main cast, addition of the Avatars, battle options, graphics, interactivity (including what makes things more personalized to each player), and even the main antagonists was more enjoyable and improved upon what we've dealt with the first time around. Although some of the story twists were fairly obvious from the start, I still enjoyed the overall story and how it was handled.
Favorite characters: Haseo, Endrance, Ovan, Kuhn
Favorite Avatars: Skeith (1st, 3rd, then 2nd), Magus, Macha
.hack//Link
It's funny how the main stuff happened during the first two "generations" of .hack storytelling. The third generation involves .hack//Link and whatever counterparts it got. Personally, I'm still not sure what to think about Link because it felt mostly like a game that basically only retells the main events of the other .hack series out there. It came across as a downgrade from the G.U. games to me, but I honestly haven't played as far as I should have by now.
However, I really liked Flugel. Extremely cool dude. <3
.hack//Quantum
There is an upcoming fourth generation of .hack storytelling starting next year. While I'm excited in some ways, my initial impressions are that the team behind the new stuff still seems trapped in keeping up references to previous .hack stuff. The new three protagonists in .hack//Quantum look like Kite (girly girl version now), BlackRose (now with long ponytail), and Balmung (apparently without wings?). Even the side characters look like slightly different versions of older characters as well.
I'm all for new stuff with slight references, but this is making me sad because I've kind of had my fill of character lookalikes when there's no longer any reason for that. This is precisely why the G.U. games excelled in this. There were some references to older stuff, but it never was in your face to this degree.
However pessimistic I might sound, I'm actually rather excited for .hack//Quantum because this OVA series might turn the .hack current standing around and make it return to its roots without being ridiculous. Still, who knows. It's kind of hard to forgive and forget after the mess known as .hack//G.U. Trilogy.
Examples in Videos
Warning for more obvious spoilers this time. D:
My favorite opening video from the original .hack games would be the one used in .hack//Outbreak, specifically from the Liminality OVA:
Click to viewI also must note that I somehow always really liked the scene where Balmung officially joins Kite in his journey. Sword cling~!
In .hack//Quarantine, I was always saddened by Mia's fate:
She didn't want to be a major boss. :( Elk, who came to rely upon Mia, was seriously affected by this event. I mean, sure, Mia can be saved if you get through the hardest optional dungeon in the game, and the two get to party down in Unison, but anyone who knows what happened to the original Phases during the 7 years between the original games and the G.U. games knows that Mia got "recycled". She as an individual character died, but continued to exist as Avatar Macha.
This is all rather ironic since Elk's player, who was so heavily saddened by the loss of Mia, later created a new character known as Endrance, who held the Avatar Macha in his character data. Nice how it all goes full circle.
Speaking of full circle, Sora's player at the end of SIGN went into a coma for 6 months. Thanks to Kite in the original games, Sora's consciousness was freed from Skeith's wand and even being possessed by him. It wasn't until the end of .hack//Quarantine when Sora's player finally was allowed to regain consciousness. Apparently the kid (he was 10 years old at the time) had some memory loss from the whole experience and forgot he ever played The World. Fast forward 7 years, when the same player decided to take part in the new version of The World, creating the character Haseo. This is another full circle because Haseo is tied to Skeith, just in a less vicious, forced way like Sora was.
However, I have to note that from the time Skeith used Sora as a means to keep tabs on Aura, our resident awesome AI, Skeith apparently picked up a personality based somewhat on Sora's. It was more apparent in the Japanese version of this following clip, but you might still get some of the vibes:
Also, Kuhn is pretty darn awesome and dubbed by a certain awesome dude:
All in all, I still consider myself to be a somewhat dedicated .hack fan. I can only hope that the upcoming new series will be enjoyable and something to get excited about. We never know what the future will hold, but I'll try to remain optimistic. :)
If you made it all the way through to the end, then you get an instant cookie! I'll be amazed if anyone actually reads everything, hahaha.