What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

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Smiling kindly
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What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Smiling kindly »

I guess it would be rude to ask before saying myself. When I was nine years old my older brother introduced me to .Hack G.U. I had never seen or heard anything about the game before so I went in as blind as could be. I can actually look back on it now and remember, I actually though a lot like Haseo did when he was first introduced; I look back now and remember thinking a lot of stuff that was very rude and mean. I liked all the characters about as much as Haseo did when I first met them, I though Gaspard and Silibus were useless, Pi was a freak, Atoli and Kuhn were probably the only ones I liked more than Haseo did right off the bat. Over time though, I did start to think better of them, both because of how Haseo was changing and how I was changing. By the end of the third game I liked everyone, probably more than Haseo, or at least more than he was willing to admit in public. I finally understood how good of people they were and learned how important that was.

They say there are a lot of meanings to G.U., But the one that has the most meaning is also the one that applied most to my experience with the game. Growing up. The reason that .Hack is important to me, especially G.U. Is because I grew up with it, I feel like I grew up with Haseo. I can look back at the games and understand all the deeper meaning that was sitting in front of me the whole time when I was a kid. I go back to the games now and I still see something new I never understood when I was a kid, ether it was a part of the story or something else in the game I had looked at countless times but never understood until now. I am 17 years old now, ironically the same age as Haseo and I feel like I can look at the games and see an old friend and I can look at myself 8 years ago and I can say that I really grew up. I didn't even notice until I went back to play Vol 1 again, and I took a long look at everything and saw all the little details I never knew before and that is when it hit me that I had grown up.

That is my .hack story, now I want to hear yours. Is .hack just a series of different media for you or is it something more important? If it is only a game/manga/anime to you then what is it about the series that made you want to come here in the first place? If it is more important to you then just being an interesting series to you then why? How did you come to know of the series in the first place? I want to know why you love .hack the way you do.
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Dasha
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Dasha »

I don't know how to explain it really, but .hack has always been and will forever be my favorite video games series. The story is amazing and I'm loving most of its characters. The G.U games were amazing for their time and I cannot wait to see what they'll be able to do with a .hack game on PS4 (yes, it'll happen one day!).

I did know about the series on a French video games show on TV called Gamezone IIRC (I'm French myself), there was a .hack//SIGN episode with Tsukasa being sassy towards Mimiru and I immediately liked it. Then at the end of the episode, there was a publicity for .hack//Infection, I had the game in my hands a few days later. Ah, nostalgia~ :'3

(Loved mah Natsume (I prefer her in IMOQ rather than G.U) because she looked like A-20 with different colors. Annnd I love A-20... And I'm probably her only fan in the world, lol).
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Kaori »

I watched Sign, LOTB, Roots, and bought the LOTB manga, its part of my childhood, but I'm not that attached to it, I'm mostly a mecha person, the online games stories don't really interest me, I was into SAO for a while, but I lost interest, then there was Log Horizon, which I also lost interest in, so far, my latest interest is in GATE and Danmachi.
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

.hack//Infection was my first introduction to the series back in 2004, I was interested in anime and with no local shops having much (required a trip to Glasgow at the time) there was no way I'd turn down a game that said "Free Anime DVD Inside". Really enjoyed the premise and since there was a wait for Mutation then the only other option was .hack//SIGN (other media advertised via the instruction manual) which prompted my first internet order ^-^

From there I've been following the series aswell as watching series with similar concepts including SAO,Log Horizon and Overlord @.@ still need to watch Accel World.
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Avatar_Crim
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Avatar_Crim »

I can easily say I came about it from watching .Hack//Sign what seems like ages ago. I loved the story and ideas behind it, including the characters and even as far the voice actors they have. But really, I can't really say what it means me really, other than it has sort of impacted games I play or how I play them. The games are fun(even if i haven't beaten them all), but .hack isn't my favorite series, I am more of an Air Gear and One Piece guy, with a good side of Detective conan haha.
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ReiMehari
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by ReiMehari »

I found out about .hack through an ad in a gaming magazine. Looked interesting, but I thought nothing of it... until I was at a Best Buy and the game was staring me in the face.

I wasn't a huge RPG fan to begin with (i disliked turn-based play), but decided to give this a shot anyway. What I found was so much better than I hoped.

.Hack was my first RPG love. And remains my favorite RPG series of all time.
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

ReiMehari wrote: until I was at a Best Buy and the game was staring me in the face.
:D Can't beat when a game surpasses your expectations~ Was it .hack//Infection you found there~
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ReiMehari
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by ReiMehari »

SSJScygoku wrote:
ReiMehari wrote: until I was at a Best Buy and the game was staring me in the face.
:D Can't beat when a game surpasses your expectations~ Was it .hack//Infection you found there~
Yup. It was when the game first came out.
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Gae Bolg
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Gae Bolg »

Back in 2012 there was this guy I met in a concert and he told me about SAO (I wasn't into anime at the time). Watched SAO, somewhat liked it, then read the light novel. It was fine, I didn't get too attached to it, but I really liked the concept of people trapped in a VR game. Then, a couple months later, talking about SAO with a friend of mine he told me about .hack//G.U. and showed me the opening movie. It piqued my interest so I decided to give it a try, and man, I instantly fell for it. Everything was great: gameplay, ambient, characters, music... I just loved it (and as I'm replaying it right now, I still do). It wasn't until last December that I got into the rest of the .hack media, though. My little brother started playing G.U., and I kinda wanted to play it too, and then I thought I had never completed IMOQ, and playing IMOQ I realized how little I understood about the whole story so I got into the manga and anime. Even though they aren't the best at everything (Haseo's face when he just transformed into his 3rd form from Roots comes to mind), I'm loving it so far.

As for what it means to me... well, it's kinda hard to explain. There's this feeling The World's players have, they really love the game, or rather they love that world. It's "just a game", it's a fake world, but it's their world. As someone who has been playing videogames since the age of 4, I can relate to that. For me, my favorite games aren't "just games", but pieces of art. Pieces of art that suck me into their world, like when you read a good book or listen to a good musical piece. And if that which I love, be it my world, my friends, my family or whatever, was threatened by something, of course I'd do everything in my power and then some to protect it. And now that I really got into .hack, there's a message they give that's really got to me, and that's to enjoy and have fun, be it the games I play or real life itself. There are times when I get obsessed over things, and it's cool to be reminded that I don't have to worry so much, that those things are there for me to enjoy.

...man, that took longer than I expected lol
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Vallen
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Vallen »

For me it's quite simple, .hack is a big part of my childhood - teenhood - transition into adult life.

First of all, I like the story, characters, themes, music, and overall message behind .hack//
It was a very original concept from back in the day with nice levels of maturity. In a way, the philosophies this series presented played a big role in my maturity. I was intrigued at the deeper meanings behind the lore and to this day consider it very interesting.

The second reason, .hack// was always with me growing up. When I think back about my childhood, .hack was one of the biggest things I enjoyed:

-When I was in elementary school, I played the PS2 games and watched //SIGN on Friday Nights on Bionix (Canadian Toonami, kinda)
-In middle school I had the //GU games and my obsession with Liminality during my rebellious phase, when I'd cut class or school entirely.
-In high school, I had the //LINK petitions , //Quantum and //VERSUS
-Plus other media sprinkled all over the place at different points of my life -- like the other anime, manga, light novels and so on.

It's a bit weird, but .hack died around the time I entered University. It coincided with my transition into the real world, so to speak. These days, the whole series feels like a distant memory that happened a really long time ago, and from time to time I like to reminisce about it. Those were the good days.
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

Vallen wrote: -In high school, I had the //LINK petitions , //Quantum and //VERSUS
^.^ that was quite awhile ago though it was fun seeing the .hack//LINK US Campain recieve mail/fanart/items~ xD Pretty sure I drew afew pictures for it lol
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Vallen
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Vallen »

SSJScygoku wrote:
Vallen wrote: -In high school, I had the //LINK petitions , //Quantum and //VERSUS
^.^ that was quite awhile ago though it was fun seeing the .hack//LINK US Campain recieve mail/fanart/items~ xD Pretty sure I drew afew pictures for it lol
We never actually got anything out of those petitions though lol
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

Vallen wrote:We never actually got anything out of those petitions though lol
Well we did get a reply from the recipient to say keep it up and we know atleast CC2's CEO still wants to do more .hack ^_^
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cmdrbentley
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by cmdrbentley »

I first got into .hack back in, say, 2009 when my cousin introduced it to me over summer break. I spent all summer getting though the first 3 //GAMES but since we didn't have Quarantine, we had to cut it there. My mom bought me Quarantine and the .hack//G.U. games for Christmas that year and I've been in love with it ever since, I've read all the manga and watched all the shows and ****. I haven't seen the movie or played .hack//Versus, nor have I played //Link but that's about it. ****'s hella tight man.
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mister
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by mister »

Man idk where to even begin with this series. I watched sign first. Actually I think it was legend of the twilight bracelet. Then sign. Then roots. I always wanted to play the game the world so last year I got the ps2 collection of the games. Except quarantine which is stupidly rare and expensive. I liked the games but thought they fell short of the real the world game. I'd say they come pretty close though. Short of being on some sort of virtual reality system. But yeah I've resorted to character modding in the wake of the the world game character creation experience. Can't wait for a fragment full English revival.
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Helbaworshipper
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by Helbaworshipper »

This is going to make me feel older than I want to feel...

It was back in the Toonami days (The GOOD ones during the afternoons....). I started watching a series called .hack//SIGN for about two episodes. Then, it was moved to the later night areas of Adult Swim. I had to set the VCR to tape at specific time, but I'd play it and play it until I was happy. During that time, I was exposed to the trailer on tv for the first of the four original games released out in the US.

I was addicted to those games. I played hours up on hours of them while still keeping track of .hack. During that time I also discovered dothackers. At the time, I think we might have just been transitioning or were still on the rather wonderful dial up from capital net. I joined in the final chapter of .hack//SHATTERED... and I was pretty connected with the media for awhile.

I didn't join the GU bandwagon right away. Eventually I got into it around volume three.

Either way, my collection is somewhat growing and my writing has grown well because of it. However, the old days of dothackers are just something I'll always miss...
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WorldEater21
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by WorldEater21 »

I first found out about .hack when I was surfing through youtube videos and came across a sort of "crossover AMV" between Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
Basically it was the best parts from advent children and G.U trilogy mixed together with some weird electric music. Anyway, after I saw that I searched through the comments to find out what franchise the second half belonged to and it was .hack! I started doing my research and I ended up watching SIGN a year or so after first seeing that video.
After that I was hooked!

As for what it means to me, .hack was the first anime that introduced to me the whole idea of being trapped inside a game, that and I loved all the characters, music and the overall story in general. I just love it, man. I only wish I got into it sooner.
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

WorldEater21 wrote: I started doing my research and I ended up watching SIGN a year or so after first seeing that video.
After that I was hooked!

As for what it means to me, .hack was the first anime that introduced to me the whole idea of being trapped inside a game, that and I loved all the characters, music and the overall story in general. I just love it, man. I only wish I got into it sooner.
xD Well that was a different way to stumble unto the series, usually people either catch an episode or see the manga/novels around. How much of .hack have you seen/watched/played if you don't mind my asking?

:D If you enjoy the premise there are other series like Log Horizon and Overlord, I'd recommend checking them out~
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WorldEater21
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by WorldEater21 »

SSJScygoku wrote:
WorldEater21 wrote: I started doing my research and I ended up watching SIGN a year or so after first seeing that video.
After that I was hooked!

As for what it means to me, .hack was the first anime that introduced to me the whole idea of being trapped inside a game, that and I loved all the characters, music and the overall story in general. I just love it, man. I only wish I got into it sooner.
xD Well that was a different way to stumble unto the series, usually people either catch an episode or see the manga/novels around. How much of .hack have you seen/watched/played if you don't mind my asking?

:D If you enjoy the premise there are other series like Log Horizon and Overlord, I'd recommend checking them out~
I've seen SIGN, Liminality, Roots, Legend of the twilight bracelet and G.U trilogy, Haven't seen Beyond the World yet. I also own the G.U PS2 games and infection and mutation....among other little bits and bods.
I love log horizon! I haven't seen much of overlord but I've heard it's pretty good :)
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SSJScygoku
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Re: What dose .hack mean to you and how did you come to know about it?

Post by SSJScygoku »

WorldEater21 wrote: I've seen SIGN, Liminality, Roots, Legend of the twilight bracelet and G.U trilogy, Haven't seen Beyond the World yet. I also own the G.U PS2 games and infection and mutation....among other little bits and bods.
I love log horizon! I haven't seen much of overlord but I've heard it's pretty good :)
^-^ So a fair amount of the anime~ Don't forget to check out .hack//Quantum aswell as the OVA Thanatos Report that appears at the end of .hack//Versus :D Hope you can find Outbreak and Quarantine for a good price to finish off the series~

^(^-^)^ Yay another Log Horizon fan! I just started reading the LN,hoping for a season 3 but they need content first unless they just get the info from the author. d(@.@) I'd definitely recommend watching Overlord,its not that long and I pray for more seasons,it has plenty of content to cover atleast 2 more seasons.
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