Is this game worth my time?

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dbecker
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Is this game worth my time?

Post by dbecker »

Back in the Day I was a huge dot hack fan. At the time I liked sign, and I really liked the PS2 games, though I never got past Mutation.

Then about 1-2 years ago, I got another PS2 so I could play the .hack games again. Then I tried out GU, and it was ok... but I really didn't care for it. They didn't really make a good transition from the pre-World of Warcraft MMO age to the current one, and I really didn't care for the characters that much, especially Gaspard. The feel of the game was completely different from the last games, and it felt like it wasn't even the same series. Also, I really couldn't understand the drama or some of the actions the characters made.

And then I hear about link. Sure, that poem they put on their website was cool and all... but then when I looked into the actual series... my god... it just looked and sounded so terrible, and the protagonist pretty much looked like new age shounen vomit.

Well that's what I was thinking until I saw some more footage recently, mostly of those interesting and funny cross rengeki bits.

So for those of you who have this game, is it worth getting in your opinion?
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Kuukai
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Kuukai »

WoW isn't popular in Japan. There's no "post-World of Warcraft" as far as the developers are concerned.

If you couldn't make it through either of the other series, Link might not be for you. You get more for your money than with the other games but it's still .hack, the plot and drama are more complicated than G.U. On the other hand, it's a finale that covers everything from SIGN to G.U.+, and I really liked it. I think it has the best ending of all the games, but for that it helps if you've actually played/seen a lot of earlier stuff.
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Aika
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Aika »

dbecker wrote:Back in the Day I was a huge dot hack fan. At the time I liked sign, and I really liked the PS2 games, though I never got past Mutation.

Then about 1-2 years ago, I got another PS2 so I could play the .hack games again. Then I tried out GU, and it was ok... but I really didn't care for it. They didn't really make a good transition from the pre-World of Warcraft MMO age to the current one, and I really didn't care for the characters that much, especially Gaspard. The feel of the game was completely different from the last games, and it felt like it wasn't even the same series. Also, I really couldn't understand the drama or some of the actions the characters made.

And then I hear about link. Sure, that poem they put on their website was cool and all... but then when I looked into the actual series... my god... it just looked and sounded so terrible, and the protagonist pretty much looked like new age shounen vomit.

Well that's what I was thinking until I saw some more footage recently, mostly of those interesting and funny cross rengeki bits.

So for those of you who have this game, is it worth getting in your opinion?
What does World of Warcraft have to do with .hack? >_>
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Gomorrah
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Gomorrah »

They're both considered to be RPG's.
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Keyaki
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Keyaki »

Gomorrah wrote:They're both considered to be RPG's.
Question re-iterated:
What does World of Warcraft have to do with .hack? >_>
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zaseo
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by zaseo »

Nothing. They do have a few obvious things in common that every rpg has. I think Link would be worth your time, but it failed in many areas.
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Kuukai
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Kuukai »

Like what? Aside from being a PSP game, and consequently having worse graphics and a simpler battle system so you can play on the train, there isn't really anything about it that "failed." Remember, Famitsu liked it more.
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zaseo
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by zaseo »

Well "many fail things" is a bit harsh. The story failed in some areas, but the other stuff is epic.
Sadivinedevil
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Sadivinedevil »

Interesting how when one person says something fails another follows. If anything Link should be better on your wallet than the other games. I spent $250 on the original series (I bought infection twice) and I've played them at least 8 times now, so I have rightfully made the games worth the money. In the case of G.U. I spent $90 on those games (Rebirth was the special edition, Reminisce got a few price cuts, and Redemption was a gift), so need I say I've made them worth the money in less than a quarter of the amount play throughs. If anything was a failure about this series in general it was the sequential releases. The first 4 games had the same graphics, engine, and could have all literally fit on one disc and something similar happened with G.U. also, G.U. could have been 2 discs instead of 3. I must say that Link shows some promise being on one UMD/DLC instead of 4 or 5. I'm impressed, and I'm happy that the maximum I would have to spend on it would be $45 excluding extra content.

Also WOW is a different type of MMO than what .hack simulates. Technically .hack is very unique because almost no MMO uses its setup, but unfortunately CC2 does not have plans to release an MMO beyond their borders. :(
Juno
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Juno »

I spent the money to pre-order the big box set with all the bonus stuff. It came out to almost $200.
The bonus stuff was WELL worth the money for me, especially as a collector of .hack...

But as for the game...

.hack//Link is all about the story. Once you've played it for a few hours, you've just about played it ALL.
That is, until you get to the portion of the game where you gain new abilities and become stronger and all that stuff.
But it's not too much different. You just have cooler melee moves. :/

Still, everyone's definition of "fun" and "satisfying" is different when it comes to games.
I was disappointed at the gameplay (and the root towns' conversion into menus), but the story was fantastic and made me continue playing the game, even after I beat the main story.
Still, if the .hack storyline doesn't really interest you all that much, I wouldn't consider buying it.

...Actually, I'm not sure if it's still available, but... there's a demo of the game on the Japanese website that will let you play a tutorial and three areas with either Kite (tutorial only), Tsukasa, or Haseo.
That will basically show you what the entire game's gameplay is, minus the other characters' fighting styles, which don't really matter much at all to Tokio's fighting style.

The disc is HUGE and holds a lot, but apparently, they put so much story content in, the gameplay was... nothing. >.>;;;
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Kuukai
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Re: Is this game worth my time?

Post by Kuukai »

Juno wrote:I spent the money to pre-order the big box set with all the bonus stuff. It came out to almost $200.
The bonus stuff was WELL worth the money for me, especially as a collector of .hack...

But as for the game...

.hack//Link is all about the story. Once you've played it for a few hours, you've just about played it ALL.
That is, until you get to the portion of the game where you gain new abilities and become stronger and all that stuff.
But it's not too much different. You just have cooler melee moves. :/

Still, everyone's definition of "fun" and "satisfying" is different when it comes to games.
I was disappointed at the gameplay (and the root towns' conversion into menus), but the story was fantastic and made me continue playing the game, even after I beat the main story.
Still, if the .hack storyline doesn't really interest you all that much, I wouldn't consider buying it.

...Actually, I'm not sure if it's still available, but... there's a demo of the game on the Japanese website that will let you play a tutorial and three areas with either Kite (tutorial only), Tsukasa, or Haseo.
That will basically show you what the entire game's gameplay is, minus the other characters' fighting styles, which don't really matter much at all to Tokio's fighting style.

The disc is HUGE and holds a lot, but apparently, they put so much story content in, the gameplay was... nothing. >.>;;;
Yeah, I pretty much agree with all of this. They do some things to spice up gameplay, such as interesting boss mechanics, PvP, PvP in waves, and "old friends" like the Dawn Wanderer and freaking Gabi-sama, but they just can't overcome the fact that this game is loooong. Which is also a plus, depending on how you look at it...
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