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| .hack//G.U. | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 4 2005, 03:38 PM (626 Views) | |
| Justin | Sep 4 2005, 03:38 PM Post #1 |
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Teh RPG Master
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Just watched the tralier for this and wow am I excited about this game. In terms of quality the graphics look really nice. Big improvement over the last 4 and that Haseo guy is awesome. He pwns this whole group of other players with all these fancy weapons. One of them is a "chainsaw" sword XD. Must be some kind of PK or something, seems to be a bit nuts too. Then he goes to the Chruch at Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground and gets pwned by "Evil Kite" "Evil Kite" deflects all Haseo's attacks with NO effort and than Data Drains him. Such a good tralier. Wish there were more story details avaliable though. Either way I am so getting this when it comes out, I have to. My dothack fanboyism (the good kind of fanboyism) demands this of me XD |
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| Renegade | Sep 7 2005, 04:06 PM Post #2 |
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what
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Is this a MMORPG or what? Unless they can vastly improve the gameplay, I won't be looking forward to this. |
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| Justin | Sep 7 2005, 04:28 PM Post #3 |
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Teh RPG Master
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No it's not. That would be .hack//Fragment. Not sure what they're doing with Fragment but it's going to be a REAL online dothack. It's going to be similar to the games but, then at the same time it's going to be different. No idea if the gameplay for G.U is going to be any different than it was in the originals but, that trailer was really cool. I'm not saying you should get the game Ren, I just wanted to see who else was interested. That's all. |
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| Arche | Sep 7 2005, 06:19 PM Post #4 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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I hope that the gameplay gets a decent overhaul. While I didn't mind .hack's stuff too much, it really became annoying at a couple parts (cough*Menhirs*cough), and I think I'd like a bit more flexibility for Long Arms, Wavemasters, and Twin Blades. |
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| Justin | Oct 19 2006, 08:01 PM Post #5 |
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Teh RPG Master
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Yesh this topic is a year old now. Anyways I figured I'd bump it now seeing that the game is coming out next week and I'll be posting my impressions so the rest of you know what to make of it. That and it's easier to bump this than to make another topic I suppose. |
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| Justin | Oct 25 2006, 10:05 PM Post #6 |
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Teh RPG Master
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Alright, so I sat down with the game and played it for a good 2-3 hours this evening and I must say I am surprised. If you had a problem with the original 4 .hack games then you just might be interested in this one. The game still has the basic system from the first 4 games but, it's been overhauled drastically. Everything rotten and or nasty from the originals seems to have been done away with. Grunties and everything related to them has been axed, virus cores and the like have also been completely removed, the dungeon system has been completely overhauled as well along with the combat system and most importantly the party AI. And yes they got rid of Goblin Tag too. Thank god... First and foremost the graphics have recieved a much needed upgrade. The areas are a lot more alive then they were in the previous games and the character models are alot more detailed, though I won't vouch for character design this time around. In-game cutscenes seem to utilize a bit of cel-shading and the models are a lot more expressive and animated as well. And then of course spells and the like look nice too. As far as root towns are concerned they are much larger with a larger variety of players roaming around. Warp points have also been added to ease walking distance. Much of the shop stuff is still the same too, though the mystery springs have been replaced with something slightily better. BTW, you guys can be the judge on the game's OST. It's really better that way. Moving on the combat system has been completely redone. The menu shifting from the last game has been replaced with a upgraded version of the RTB system from the last games. Enemies no longer come out of chaos gates, rather they hang out in little groups in the center or sides of a room. You can either outright engage them or try to sneak up on them to get the first blow. Or if you prefer you can avoid the fight altogether. Once battle starts a force field prevents escape useless you use an item called "smoke screen". You of course still tap X to attack but, you can now perform a 4 hit combo followed by a 5th multi-hit slash attack to finish it off. You can now guard with the O button and you can also charge up your attack for one strong hit to knock the enemy away. The skills system now has shortcuts built into it via something called the "Skill Trigger". At anytime during battle as long as you don't have a pink wait bar above your head you can tap R1 to bring up the Skill Trigger menu. From there you can tap any of the four face buttons to use the currently mapped skill. Or if you prefer you still use the menu, but why would you do that? A form of protect break still exists in the game but, this time around it's called Rengeki. If you beat on an enemy enough a pink and blue circle will surround them, if you use a skill via the Skill Trigger menu you'll do more damage than usual and you'll add morale to the morale gauge. You'll also get an EXP based on how many times you used Rengeki at the end of the fight. The morale gauge is basically a party limit attack. Once the gauge is full you can tap Sqaure to either have the entire party enter a heigtened state where they move really fast and do more dmg or you can go into a state where you spam X as fast as possible to fling spells at the enemy free of SP costs. Other actions called "favorite actions" can also fill the morale gauge. The party AI is much, much, much better this time around. They acutually think for themselves. You basically have 4 settings to choose from. Free Will, Heal, All out, or Conservative. Free Will lets the character do as they please, All Out shows no restraint on SP, Conservative focuses on regular combos and preserves SP, and Heal devotes a character FULLY to healing. The ability to issue commands with the menu is also still avaliable. The dungeon system has been overhauled as well. Depending on what keywords you pop in you might be required to hunt down symbol pieces to make your way to the chest, or like last game you just fight your way through enemies to get to the bottom. No matter what map you pick you're also ways going to have a slightily different objective that needs to be done to reach the treasure. What the others are I have no idea ATM since I haven't played long enough to know. That and while breakable objects are still around you won't run into gobs of them like you did in the other games. Trapped chests also require a little skill to open now too. Rather than use an item to disable the trap you have to do a quick "Tap these buttons in this much time!" puzzle. Oi, what else. Oh ya, you can now customize your equipment. Each weapon, armor, and accessory you have has slots into which you can place certain materials that will grant the item additional parameters, element advantages, or other skills. What's great about this is you can swap these materials around as much as you like, so nothing is permenant ^_^ An Arena has been added so you compete against other "players" for items and possibly other things. That and you can now undertake quests for rare items and EXP. Trading with players/allies is also still avaliable. Though depending on what kind of guild relations you have and how much affection your allies have for you will effect what kinds of deals you can get from them. Lastly the most shocking thing to have been done to the game is the simulated realism it now has. If you thought the first games felt semi-real wait until you see this. The desktop has been overhauled to feel more like a computer and so have the news, and message boards sections. The message boards are now broken into 5 categories and actaully look a lot more like message boards. Same goes for the language, though LOL and ROTFL might be slightily used out of context. As for the news section it too has been broken into categories and a lot of the news stories even have video clips now to go with them. O_o "The world R:2" itself has a full in-depth "official webpage" with information on lore, races, backstory, ETC. Just like a real MMO would have. Another interesting little tidbit is that to get wallpaper this time around you have to read the "artists" section of the msg boards and download them from the various posts. Though I'm sure the book of 1000 gives you stuff too. It really just boggles the mind at how hard they tried to make the simulated experience THAT much better, hell it almost feels like they overdid it. You'll see what I mean if any of you bother to play the game. Anyways to sum up this long ass post if you had a grudge against the original 4 games then you really should play this one. Just for the astronomical differences it has. The story thus far aint half bad either, nor is the voice acting. So come on guys give this series another shot, please? For me? ^_^; I don't how you get your hands on the game *hint hint* just give it a shot. Whew, ok that's that, I'm done. Comments, flames, ETC anyone? |
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| RiotGrrl | Oct 25 2006, 10:56 PM Post #7 |
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Errant Dreamer
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Hrm... just a quick question - is GU stand-alone, or...? |
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| Justin | Oct 25 2006, 11:27 PM Post #8 |
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Teh RPG Master
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G.U is a continuation of the original .hack games. It's story takes place a number of years later. Though I don't think that's what you're asking. The G.U series has 3 volumes in it. Though each is supposed to feel like it's own game this time around I've been told. Vol 1 alone is supposed to take 40 hours to finish. You don't really need prior knowledge of the first 4 games to play it though. I mean sure it's adds a bit to the games but, I wouldn't say it's required. |
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| Deleted User | Oct 26 2006, 02:01 AM Post #9 |
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Deleted User
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Thanks a ton for that detailed perspective, Justin. I actually have all four of the last .hack, but never finished Quarantine due to annoying virus cores. I'm thinking I'll get this game, but not any time soon- FFXII is coming Tuesday. |
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| Justin | Oct 27 2006, 10:22 AM Post #10 |
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Teh RPG Master
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I think I know the spot too. It's when you have to go to those 4 protected areas right? Hell just collecting cores in Vol 4 was a pain in the ass. Which is really too bad because the plot to the .hack games is actually rather good. Oh and before I forget the LV limit for each vol is as follows. Vol 1 50 Vol 2 100 Vol 3 150 That and if any of you get the game be sure to grab the SE version of it since it comes with the terminal disk. The TD is a disc that contains not only a summary of what happend in the first four games but, it information on Project G.U and what happend to CC corp before the new games begin. If you don't feel like shelling out the extra cash I suggest you at the very least hunt the videos down. They are really well done and informative. Ya Bandai picked a rotten time to release this game. 1 week before one of the biggest RPGs this year. I'm sure the game will do ok though. At least I hope it does ^_^; |
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| Arche | Oct 30 2006, 12:27 AM Post #11 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It's managed to knock the following things out of my playlist and onto the backburner after testing it out today. -Tales of the Abyss -Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army -Okami -Ruff Trigger: The Vanocore Conspiracy That's right. It managed to knock one of the better Tales games made, a SMT, freakin' Okami, and a disturbingly fun platformer filled with furries and with a canine main that can turn into a werewolf at will that is definitely not aimed at my age group, off of my radar until it's done. Not to mention my 80% completed game of Rondo of Blood. Yes, G.U. is that good that it can defy the powers of a 3D battling RPG*, the occult, magic wolves, furries with guns, and the insane killing machine that is Maria Renard, age 12. It's such an upgrade in everything that I'm amazed at how well it's put together. The only real problem I've seen with it so far is that cutscenes can really drag at times, but that's been a problem with most RPGs for the past couple generations, so it's not a big deal. It's a very awesome game, and I'm glad that I picked it up. I hope that the rest of the series turns out to be as awesome too. I want to know who did the music for it, though. It sounds quite reminiscent of some of Kajiura's work for the .hack//SIGN anime, but a little off, and far more polished and symphonic than the first game series' composer was. I guess I'll have to wait for the credits to find that one out. Whoever did it did an amazing job, though. *not that this is hard this generation. Oooh, Radiata Stories, Star Ocean 3, and Tales of Symphonia set the bar REAL high... -_- |
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| Deleted User | Oct 30 2006, 12:34 AM Post #12 |
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Deleted User
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Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I hate you guys. Why must you torture me when I can barely scrape up enough money for FFXII? |
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| Arche | Oct 30 2006, 03:51 PM Post #13 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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Personally, I'm happier purchasing G.U. now and waiting on FF XII. I mean, there's already such a huge backlog that I probably wouldn't get to FF XII until it went down in price anyways. And remember that I haven't even picked up VP2 either. |
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| Runeslash | Oct 30 2006, 05:04 PM Post #14 |
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109th Star of Destiny
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So lemme get this straight... - There's no stupid cores you need to collect this time just to progress the story... and nothing replaces them either? - There's no longer a "data drain" game mechanic or anything equivalent where you might die just from using it? - And how does saving work this time anyways? Do you still have to do entire dungeons in one go? As someone who hated the first .hack (enough to not bother with 2, 3, and 4), this really does sound like they cleared up some of the real problems with it. The reviews have been mixed, but leaning towards positive, so maybe... Either way, I won't be able to buy this or anything else for a while since I'm currently broke, but then this actually has a good chance of seeing a $19.99 in half a year or so. |
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| Arche | Oct 30 2006, 06:59 PM Post #15 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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-Correct -Correct -Save situation is still the same, but dungeons are shorter this time around, it seems. |
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| Runeslash | Oct 30 2006, 07:02 PM Post #16 |
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109th Star of Destiny
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Well, 2/3 isn't bad, and those were the bigger problems IMHO. Also... is there any way to warp back to town at any time (i.e. a spell or item or anything else I'm not thinking of)? That'd make it even easier to overlook the save issue. |
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| Arche | Oct 30 2006, 07:49 PM Post #17 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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Yes, there are items that allow you to escape back to town at any time, as well as warp points throughout the areas that allow you to do the same. Convieniently, you can warp from the treasure room of an area through a warp point (since there's always one next to the chest). |
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| Runeslash | Oct 30 2006, 08:39 PM Post #18 |
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109th Star of Destiny
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Well, I'm sold then. It now officially sounds like a very solid action-RPG. Too bad I'm more or less broke. Maybe I'll add it to my Christmas list or something. |
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| Arche | Oct 30 2006, 08:59 PM Post #19 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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Oh, and one final point: Whenever you have to go to the treasure room of a dungeon for a quest, in G.U., you don't leave the dungeon immediately after the scene, so you can get your prize without a repeat trip through it all. The designers took a lot of the complaints from the first to heart and did a great job fixing them. |
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| Deleted User | Oct 30 2006, 09:46 PM Post #20 |
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Deleted User
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Ugh, I may not have enough money for either now. Stupid girls.
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| Darkstalker | Oct 31 2006, 02:45 AM Post #21 |
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~ The QUEEN ~
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^ Girls buy ME stuff.
Anyways, this game sounds awesome. And saying that you dropped SMT:DS for this makes me want to try it... |
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| Arche | Oct 31 2006, 12:39 PM Post #22 |
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Deliciously Demonish
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I'd also like to say that Justin is wrong, and that there are still Grunties in The World in G.U. HOWEVER, the G.U. Grunties are actually not annoying, since you only meet them a couple times, and Death Grunty manages to be one of the most awesome townspeople of all time. |
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| Justin | Oct 31 2006, 11:31 PM Post #23 |
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Teh RPG Master
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I meant that they axed the side thing of raising them. They are of course still in the game as a species. Along with their new cousins the Chims. I hope they expand on the Chim mechanic in the next 2 volumes. Twould be bad if they wasted the effort. Anyways I regret to inform you guys that I finished the game tonight. The main story varying on your skill is roughly 23-25 hours BUT, this does not include a slew of side stuff like the Ryu books, and the various data gathering and PK hunting stuff. By the looks of it the side stuff can easily tack on another 10-15 hours at most. So don't lose heart just yet. As far as the story goes the mystery that surrounds it has me really wanting to know WTF is going on. The game gives you plenty of questions but, no real answers, not yet anyways. Data Drain is in fact still in the game but, it's nothing like it was in the original games. It only serves a purpose in Avatar battles. What's an Avatar battle you ask? Think ZOE2 and dumb it down to the basics and yank out the ability to move up and down, guard, or throw. Trust me, the Avatar battles can be a lot of fun and it adds some much needed varitey to an already awesome action game. Whats even better is that for every enemy you beat you get their Genome data. What this allows you to do is fight that creature as many times as you want in a an Avatar battle simulator. Now that's a nice extra ^_^ Further more I failed to mention that the game has been balanced EQ wise. You're only allowed to equip weapons and the like that are the same level as you or a lower level than you. That and 6-7 levels makes a radicule difference in fighting and thus makes it very hard to power level like you could in the original games. Lastly your main charcter Haseo isn't just limited to Twin Blades like Kite was. He'll eventually gain back his other two weapon types for use. So in total he can use 3 weapon types. To make battles even more fun you swap weapons as you plesase ^_^. Oh and uh I failed to mention that attack skills, called arts in this game, are earned based on the skill level you have with a particular weapon. The customize option only lets you add effects, not skills. |
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| Deleted User | Dec 8 2006, 01:35 AM Post #24 |
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Deleted User
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I just found the GU prototype video made in 2k4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORSmuaIS5bk...related&search= Pretty interesting to see what changed and what didn't. I was surprised how much of the haseo vs kite fight was kept in the final production. |
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