Can anyone tell us about the .hack games?

[noiseredux]

I've never looked into the series at all, but my understanding is that although the games are all connected by the same story, they actually range in completely different genres from game to game. If that's true, that's pretty interesting. Anyway, is there anyone who's really into them that can give us (or me) a primer?

[D.D.D.]

Dunno. But apparently there is one called .fuck http://kotaku.com/5833486/its-like-hack-but-with-sex

[noiseredux]

here's something odd considering the game-within-a-game thread I just started...

The series features a "game within a game", a fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World, without requiring the player to connect to the Internet. Players may transfer their characters and save data from one game in the series to the next. --wiki

...sounds interesting at any rate.

[gennss]

played it. Its not bad. Not as strong storyline wise as lets say final fantasy series, but it isn't bad. A lot of grinding. Its fun, though I wish it were a real MMO.

[noiseredux]

played it. Its not bad. Not as strong storyline wise as lets say final fantasy series, but it isn't bad. A lot of grinding. Its fun, though I wish it were a real MMO.

which one did you play? I guess there's like 7 on PS2.

[isiolia]

It was larger than just the games. .hack was a cross-media story/world that also had anime, manga, and novels.

I didn't personally play the games (roommates back in the day did), but I don't know that I'd list it as a game-within-a-game because -most- of what happens in .hack happens within (or at least through the lense of) The World.

IE, the first anime series had a main character who was "stuck" inside the game world and unable to log off. While you saw glimpses of the lives of other players, it was predominately set inside the game.
What I remember of the PS2 games is that the "MMO" is effectively the game itself. It's simply framed within the context of being a game, so you get messages/etc from other players who are in turn characters in The World.

[noiseredux]

It was larger than just the games. .hack was a cross-media story/world that also had anime, manga, and novels.

I didn't personally play the games (roommates back in the day did), but I don't know that I'd list it as a game-within-a-game because -most- of what happens in .hack happens within (or at least through the lense of) The World.

IE, the first anime series had a main character who was "stuck" inside the game world and unable to log off. While you saw glimpses of the lives of other players, it was predominately set inside the game.
What I remember of the PS2 games is that the "MMO" is effectively the game itself. It's simply framed within the context of being a game, so you get messages/etc from other players who are in turn characters in The World.

hmm. Maybe I'll take that off my game-within-a-game thread then.

[gennss]

played it. Its not bad. Not as strong storyline wise as lets say final fantasy series, but it isn't bad. A lot of grinding. Its fun, though I wish it were a real MMO.

which one did you play? I guess there's like 7 on PS2.

The first 4 is one part. The last 3 is .hack/GU occurs a significant amount of time past the first series.

[Hobie-wan]

The first anime series was pretty cool. My roommate at the time got the first game or two. He didn't bother getting all of the games either. I didn't actually try playing them, but they weren't all that interesting to watch him play. Granted I would only peek every now and then as I played stuff on my PC.

[noiseredux]

Granted I would only peek every now and then as I played stuff on my PC.