Technically, you HAVE to watch Roots to know what is happening, do they actually go back IN the game and explain it or do you have to watch Roots to get it?

.hack//sign, not as much because both are in the same timeline, but different range, though it does help.

I don't mind watching them, but for other who don't know or don't want to watch the series before playing the game, doesn't it seem that it's sort of driving away new players from the R2 series?

What do you think?

If you are a fan of all of .hack then you want to watch/read/play everything beforehand. If you are just an RPG fan and strictly only care about the RPG then you don't need to watch roots. Its just a back story. You don't need to play Crisis Core before FF7 (and of course couldn't for a very long time)

Most of the characters in G.U. establish themselves and their motives within the games. The rest is only really needed if you are a fan of the series as a whole, or just really want to know everything about the R2 universe, in which case you would WANT to watch it.


I mean look at SIGN. Characters had previously established relationships in SIGN that were only explained through their conversations.

But the whole thing with SHINO is the real problem., Do they have cut scenes to establish who she is and why she's important enough for Haseo to take Tri-Edge head on?

They don't need to. Yes, roots helps you see what they had. It definitely backs up the games, but there are tons of stories about people fighting for/because of loved ones and those loved ones are only brought up in quick flashbacks like Haseo did with Shino in the games. Besides, his love interest for the game is also established in the game. Shino is just Princess Peach at that point.

And actually, they do show certain cutscenes/flashbacks, and through dialogue and all, you get to learn that Haseo is on a "quest" for that legendary PK known as Tri-Edge, as both revenge for putting Shino in a coma, and finding a way to "save her".

But you don't need to watch Roots to be able to understand GU properly enough to play it, and you won't actually be lost at all if you play GU without watching Roots (i played Rebirth myself before watching it and it didn't drive me away or anything...though i was already into the .hack fandom). Sure, by watching Roots you'll understand some things far better, especially all the referrences to the Twilight Brigade...but, you won't learn much more about the Epitaph Users and AIDA, nor meet people like Atoli, Endrance, or Alkaid, which all function as key plots in the GU series. So, even though they're pretty much following the same timeline directly, the plot on each one develops very differently and gives importance to very different aspects as well...so, you won't really miss THAT much by only playing the games and not watching Roots, unless you actually want to see a full view of the story.

The only thing you really get by watching Roots is finding out more about the Twilight Brigade and the history of some of the laaaaategame characters in Redemption... other than that, there's little point. It's also boring as hell. :\

fyi, Haseo really didn't have much of a reason for being in love with Shino, he was just a teenage boy with a crush, pretty much. She saved him from getting PKed once and, well, you know the drill...

Ouch.

I played all the G.U. serie before saw roots and I can say that didn't make much diference, of course you didn't understand too well what's the twilight brigade and shino and the ovan history at the start but the game explain you the necessary to you understand the story, for example, you didn't know what exactly was the brigade but you can figure it out by watching the flashbacks and that is enough to you to see wahts going on.
About Shino, its very simple, a first sight love teen story is enough to you understand why is he after Tri-Edge.
I think the only diference that really makes is to you know who the hell is that cat woman that appear in FoP.

Anyway thats my point of view.

Princess Peach was aewsome!

Hugs = D

That scene was so epic I had to watch it five times straight just so I could get my fix.