Welcome to Good Golly Gosh Games; if you're wondering what happened to James Plays Games,
don't you worry — I'm still James, and I still play games.
I just felt this series needed a change, especially considering there are literally hundreds of
channels with that name, and the fact that nearly anyone I talked to about the series
assumed it was a let's play series, when it wasn't; at all.
In today's episode, we'll be taking a brief vacation back to the year 2006 — when the
West Virginia school system decided it'd be a good idea to implement Dance Dance Revolution
into their curriculum to fight childhood obesity, when the PlayStation 3 released at a totally
feasible price point of [599 U.S. Dollars], and when a game came out for the PlayStation 2
that would change the way I looked at the industry forever.
I remember being a broke kid, only spending what I needed out of my daily lunch money,
putting the rest aside until I had enough to buy the next entry in the series.
I remember playing with bated breath as the story unraveled and the characters had become
like long-lost friends from another world.
It always held a special place in my heart, even as it seemed to fade from the memory
of so many others.
I even remember the clerk I would buy the games from at my local GameCrazy poking fun
at me, saying I was one of like, five people who came in to buy them.
It's finally time to take a look at the series that defined my childhood; let's
get ready to log-in to "The World" and discuss .Hack//G.U.
Last Recode for the PlayStation 4.
I was around thirteen or fourteen when the .Hack//G.U. series first released.
I was familiar with the original series — that is, Infection, Mutation, Outbreak and Quarantine
— so when I heard the series would continue, albeit with new characters and concepts, I
was ready.
As someone who's never really been a huge fan of massively multiplayer online role-playing
games, this series delivered an offline experience that could rival any of the MMOs of its era.
I still remember playing through some of the more intense moments in the series while my
mother repeatedly informed me that it was past my bedtime, but I couldn't stop — the
intrigue, the characters and the music had me in a vice grip.
It'd be more than a decade without any further entries in the series — .Hack//Link would
release in Japan for the PlayStation Portable and .Hack//Versus was packaged together with
the CGI film .Hack//Beyond the World, also only in Japan.
Eventually, western fans received an OVA series called .Hack//Quantum, but beyond that, nothing.
I patiently waited for the developers of the series, CyberConnect2, to announce something,
ANYTHING, to satiate my cravings, but there was nothing but my nostalgia to remind me
of what we would never officially see.
I'd just about given up once E3 2017 came and went without any announcement from CC2;
it was getting difficult to keep up hope for a series that'd seemingly been forgotten
by its own creators.
It was then that a friend of mine informed me the next morning that a remastered version
of the .Hack//G.U. trilogy had been announced for the PlayStation 4 and PC.
I was unable to get my hands on the game for a few months due to personal finances, but
now that I've played through the trilogy plus the bonus fourth volume, what do I think?
I'd like to begin by discussing just what the .Hack// series is, at its core, and what
makes G.U. such a beautiful and memorable series.
.Hack// is a series that is wholly set within a fictional MMORPG called "The World,"
and follows the various players who seek answers to the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic,
seemingly autonomous world.
While the majority of your experience is set within "The World," a lot of time will
be spent on the desktop, where you can read emails from the various characters you meet,
immerse yourself in current events via a news app and read the latest rumors circulating
on the forums.
As soon as I spent the first few hours or so reading up on this world's CO2 crisis
and how parents were debating whether or not to microchip their children, I knew I was
back and it felt so good.
However, as soon as you're ready to begin the story proper, you can enter "The World,"
where you're put into the shoes of a new player named Haseo, who is targeted by a nasty
duo of player killers named IYOTEN and Asta.
It's not a great way to begin this new experience, but thankfully a player named Ovan manages
to save Haseo from the PKs, at which point we are taken eight months into the future
— the story we're missing is told in an anime called .Hack//Roots — where a lot
has changed.
Haseo is no longer the naive and weak newbie, but rather, a frightening player killer killer
known as the 'Terror of Death' who's hunting the infamous PK "Tri-Edge," who
he believes killed his friend Shino, sending her real life self into a coma.
Ovan tells Haseo he can find "Tri-Edge" at the location where Shino was PK'd, and
he takes off in a fury.
It's no use, as "Tri-Edge" makes quick work of Haseo, performing an ability that
reverts his character back to level one, erasing all the progress he's made since beginning
the game.
It's up to the player to then solve the mysteries surrounding "Tri-Edge," Ovan
and "The World," while building Haseo's character back up to its former strength.
I think, if I had to say what makes me love this franchise so much, it'd have to be
the sheer immersion brought on by the addition of the desktop and other apps.
It's through this bonus layer the developers are able to emphasize that these characters
are real, fleshed out humans who all have reasons for doing what they do, and it's
rarely as cut-and-dry as how it appears.
By sending and receiving emails with your party members, not only can you improve your
affection with them but you can also ask them about their real-world personalities, which
adds a multitude of depth to the facade they put on within "The World."
While it might sound like a bore to read news articles or forum posts, once you see how
similar, yet different this world is from our own, the amount of planning that went
into making the .Hack// universe so well versed and expansive is showcased.
So, immersion; I'm sure you're asking if that's the only thing about the series
I liked.
If it was, I would understand your skepticism.
No, there's so much more to it than just immersion.
As I said earlier, when you're caught up with the emails, news articles and forum posts,
you can jump even deeper into the rabbit hole and enter "The World," which is beautifully
rendered in 1080p compared to the PS2's severely underwhelming resolution.
If you were curious, .Hack//G.U. is, at its core, a third-person dungeon crawler / exploration
adventure much akin to the Persona series, but its through the battle mechanics where
it diverges.
Rather than utilize a turn-based system, all fights are real time, more reminiscent of
Kingdom Hearts.
Each area is more or less the same with a few exceptions — clear the field or dungeon
of monsters, then reach the rare item or weapon waiting for you at the end.
If this were it, I can imagine the gameplay would be repetitive, but then the story kicks
in, which offers the spices that were missing.
In some cases, this isn't the case, but I'll touch on that a little later.
I couldn't do a review of this series without touching on the music used, which is still
great even after all this time.
Composed by Chikayo Fukuda, one of the major tools in the soundtrack is the raw sound of
piano and other classical instruments, which give the series a rustic feel that's not
all too common in video games today.
In each of the three main games there's an incredible theme song that wouldn't be
nearly as epic without the vocals of Mitani Tomoyo, who delivers either a tense punch
or a tender kiss, depending on which song we're talking about.
I mean, just take a brief listen to the opening theme to the third volume, a track called
"Eightfold Illusion," now take a listen to the ending theme of the third volume — they
couldn't sound less alike, yet both of them work really well with the events of the series.
I'm sure you're wondering — James, what's so different about Last Recode compared to
the original releases?
Well, considering you'd be lucky to get your hands on a copy of the original releases
unless you bought them a decade ago, the PlayStation 4 version has complete 1080p cutscenes and
gameplay, a nifty retry function that prompts anytime you die in-battle, and a new 'cheat
mode' that starts you off with max stats for anyone who just wants to enjoy the story.
In the package, alongside the four games in the series is the Terminal Disc, which is
a series of narrative episodes that, if you're unfamiliar with the series, fill you in on
what's happened so far.
So, if you were wondering if you NEEDED to play the original four games before playing
Last Recode, you don't, though you still should play them at some point.
There's also a pretty funny Parody Mode that pokes fun at the series in a way only
CyberConnect2 can.
It's probably clear by now how much I adore .Hack//G.U., so I'd like to do something
a little bit different and comment on its flaws.
I believe it's impossible to truly love something without seeing it for all it is
— warts and all.
I'll admit, most of my comments concern the first volume, as most of my grievances
were more or less fixed in later entries, but I'm aware these issues may prevent someone
from playing past the first volume.
One of the major themes of this series is the idea of progression — of growing up,
of becoming stronger, of being a decent human being with the help of others — so it makes
sense Haseo would undergo some heavy changes as the series went on.
I just forgot how much of an unbearable asshole he could be in the first volume; granted,
there are good reasons for this, but because these reasons are less explicit and only hinted
at, it might not be immediately obvious to anyone who hasn't seen .Hack//Roots.
I'm positive it was intentional, but his sheer level of anger and ridicule was off
the charts and got old really quickly.
I know this was necessary to illustrate his growth as a person by the end of volume three,
but I just wish it were done in a more fluid way so players wouldn't get sick of his bullshit.
Atoli, who I insist is the most annoying piece of deredere trash in the first volume, does
eventually become my pick for best girl by the end of the series.
This is mostly because of her own development, which takes her from a pseudo-suicidal escapist
to a confident warrior who isn't afraid to chase after what she wants.
I'll admit, her voice does tend to grate on the ears in the first volume (no offense
to Bridget Hoffman, who is a wonderful actress with a wide cast of memorable characters),
but as the series goes on, this becomes less and less of a problem for reasons I've already stated.
I'd like to comment on the pacing of the series, but specifically that of volume three,
when it feels as if the developers were really desperate to fill the game with content.
It's like, there's a story mission, which can be really fun to experience, then a character
emails you and asks to do a quest with you, at which point you can't progress the story
until you get through the mandatory filler mission.
I'm aware these missions contain information about your party members that might be interesting,
but because it's forced, it makes me want to complete the mission less.
It's also worth mentioning that there's a bonus dungeon at the end of volume three
known as "The Forest of Pain," which is one-hundred floors and is required to unlock
the secret ending.
I don't think I'd mind this so much if the floors had more variance; all of them
are nearly identical to each other.
It's here where I think the level designers might've taken a week off and left this
to the interns, but as I have no proof for that, I'll leave it there.
It's here where I'd like to put a warning, because I can't discuss the fourth volume
without revealing plot spoilers for the final two entries in the series.
If you'd like to avoid those, skip to the time you see on-screen right now.
To call Reconnection a volume unto itself is a bit generous — it only took me about
two hours to get through it, and that was because I only fought enough battles to appreciate
Haseo's new form.
It's basically a glorified epilogue; at several points in the story you're expected
to talk to every single one of your friends and catch up with them, or you're unable
to progress.
I didn't mind this so much, but it happened so frequently that I stopped caring after a while.
I want to mention while we're discussing these segments that it would seem as if they've
retconned the final moments of volume three's ending where Haseo chose Atoli over Shino,
because from the way she talks in the fourth volume, you're no closer to each other than you were.
I acknowledge the story reveals Haseo left "The World" after volume three's ending
to look for a way to find Ovan, so it makes sense he might not have had time for a romantic
relationship with Atoli, but I can't help but find this disappointing, as for ten years
I assumed that's what happened between them thanks to the mood set during that classic
scene at Hulle Granz Cathedral.
That said, volume four capitalizes Atoli's confidence, as she's able to stand toe-to-toe
with Alkaid in a particularly funny scene where they argue for Haseo's time and affection.
I was expecting the gameplay of Reconnection to look significantly different than the prior
volumes and more like that of .Hack//Versus, mostly because I was under the assumption
it was built from the ground up for the PlayStation 4, but it doesn't look any better or worse.
In fact, I questioned if the transition was supposed to be seamless, in which case there's
nothing wrong with that.
I love the new cutscene animation style — it's almost as if they were trying to make it anime-like,
and for the most part it was successful, except when it came to the frame rate, which was
choppy as hell.
I remember feeling so conflicted; I wanted to see these beautiful cutscenes in full 60fps
like I believe the others were, but for whatever reason this is how they did it.
I was told a potential reason for this choppiness was because of what I mentioned earlier about
the cutscenes looking almost like anime, and as such the frame rate was butchered, but
I don't know anything about that, so I'll drop it for now.
I can say, despite all of that, that Reconnection was actually a really good conclusion to the
series, and while I felt it could be a little hollow and emotionless compared to the originals,
there were several times I audibly squeed with certain scenes and plot decisions.
I'm glad it exists, but as I said, if I didn't openly acknowledge these flaws, can
I honestly say I enjoyed it?
I don't think so.
It was a wonderful experience revisiting "The World" and fighting back against AIDA once
again, especially considering I was able to apply the knowledge I've gained over the
past decade to critique some of the decisions CyberConnect2 made.
I would love to see more entries in the .Hack// series come to the west, whether it's .Hack//Link,
.Hack//Versus, or some new stories that haven't been told yet.
I was thinking, however; if this is all we get, if .Hack//G.U.
Last Recode turns out to be the last we see of the franchise, then I can learn to be okay with that.
I mean, we've already received what was thought to be impossible, it feels like we'd
be looking a gift horse in the mouth if we asked for even more.
Whatever happens, I want to thank CyberConnect2, Bandai Namco Games, and all of you dothackers
out there who screamed to the powers that be and made this mountain move.
I hope to someday be able to utter these oh so familiar words to you all once again — Welcome,
to the World.
I award .Hack//G.U. Last Recode a 9/10.
Thanks for watching Good Golly Gosh Games!
I hope you liked the episode; if you did, do you think you could do me a favor and consider
subscribing if you haven't already?
I would also appreciate it if you could give this video a like and share with your friends
who might also be fans of the .Hack// series.
Let me know what games you'd like to see me review in the comments below, and until
next time, this has been Pixcelation, reminding you to Stay Pixcelated.
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