New World Vol. 1 - A CC2-developed RPG

[Lindz]

Wasn't Gabi supposed ta have more presence to? Seems like the "furry" characters got the short end of the stick. The only two you get for your team are Gaspard and Tabby which I always thought was weird. Of course none of the Epitaph Users were beasts either. Then in Link they're written out to being solely field NPCs.

[MizuTakishima]

Looks like I'm a little late to the party, (no pun intended) but lemme get some thoughts off my chest.

1) OMG SOMETHING POSSIBLY .HACK RELATED!! AND WE'RE ACTUALLY SEEING IT!! IS THIS REAL LIFE?? OOOH I AM EXCITED!

2) The Skeith girl looks...cool I guess? Whether I even want Skeith to be referenced in this new not-so-dot-hack-but-maybe project is something I'm undecided on, but I just...I really hate rectangle head dresses. Okay, "hate" is probably a strong word. But like. In the Lolita community, (the Japanese fashion) rectangle head dresses are often frowned upon for a few reasons. a) they're a dated trend that most people try to avoid, b) whenever an anime or video game tries to go for a "lolita aesthetic", the rectangle head dress is always the easiest part of the lolita outfit that they try to emulate while completely misrepresenting the rest of the fashion, and c) There's a story about a Guro Lolita (or bloody/nurse-like lolita) used a...maxi pad for a rectangle head dress...whether any fluids were real or not I'm not sure, but you guys get the idea. It looked unsanitary. So whenever I see a fictional character wearing one, I just think about that story, and I can't un-see it.

3) -sobs- I wish I had a job so I can get a smart phone!

4) a lot of the girls do look rather moe with their designs. I'm not one of those folks who viciously reject moe at every turn, but I too worry about the harem-ish aspects of it. We got a lot of that in G.U., and as much as I loved those games, I don't wanna deal with that aspect of it again, much less on an even moe-er scale.

5) I'm not feeling the GUI but I understand that things need to be bulkier and easier to see on mobile.

Basically I'm still sorta confused. Do I call this .hack? Do I just call it Project N.U.? Or just New?

[Kaori]

Pleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvitapleasecomeonvita........

[Falions]

BlackRose was the main character. Another Birth.

While it's nice and all, I just don't want it to turn into one of those harem fantasies, like in SAO

Not a danger. .hack installments typically have good writing.

G.U... doesn't do this. Atoli is a fine character, very well developed I find and fits with G.U.'s darker themes. Alkaid falls into too much of a stereotype persona I felt (though I did appreciate her favorite book series was Romance of the Three Kingdoms).

Alkaid wasn't meant to be a main character, it was a major change in plans that there was more to her than Sirius. Atoli actually has a strength that Haseo doesn't have, and vice versa. As the games progress, they rub off on each other and each become much more like the other, finding a happy medium. Power isn't all there is to someone, in fact that's what Haseo had to learn.

Yes, but what if they just end up recycling the same story? So far that's what it seems like. A mysterious girl, a bracelet with a forbidden power, the Phases... at the very least they aren't copying and pasting Kite, Orca, and Balmung's designs for the billionth time.

[Adhemas]

Yes, but what if they just end up recycling the same story? So far that's what it seems like. A mysterious girl, a bracelet with a forbidden power, the Phases... at the very least they aren't copying and pasting Kite, Orca, and Balmung's designs for the billionth time.

That's my fear as well. I think/hope this is just the phone game though. Maybe they want to reach a broader audience with this installation and provide some sort of intro for new players as well. If that's the case recycling and beautiful girls could make sense.

[Falions]

Yes, but what if they just end up recycling the same story? So far that's what it seems like. A mysterious girl, a bracelet with a forbidden power, the Phases... at the very least they aren't copying and pasting Kite, Orca, and Balmung's designs for the billionth time.

That's my fear as well. I think/hope this is just the phone game though. Maybe they want to reach a broader audience with this installation and provide some sort of intro for new players as well. If that's the case recycling and beautiful girls could make sense.

What I've been saying for years is that if CC2 wants .hack to be less intimidating they need to come out with a fresh installment, just titled ".hack" with or without a simple subtitle, and have it be entirely stand alone from the rest of the series but still have subtle references to older installments for long-time fans. Like, it's still The World and the same universe with the same history, but keep it disconnected from the events of past games.

But I agree, I hope New World is just the precursor to my pipe dream of seeing .hack on PS4.

[Vallen]

Disgusting. They degraded .hack to this mobile iOS and Android s***.. Worst news to come out of TGS period. I guess I can sit tight for another 5 years and hope that a remastered port of this comes to Vita eventually...maybe..

[Kuukai]

I'm not sure the thing the guy is doing is data drain or just a skill. It doesn't look very "hack-y," which is the definition of data drain. A "bracelet" that doesn't look like a bracelet at all, but a pile of glitches. There are exceptions, like in Quantum, but this looks more like magic.

Although I don't like the final artstyle as much as Kikuya's or Sadamoto's, I do think there are some really interesting costume/equipment/weapon ideas in there. If it looks cool, it looks cool, can't argue with that.

New World is part of Project N.U., which is part of the .hack franchise in the same way that Project G.U. was. I think the chances of this reaching PS4 are actually pretty good.

A character with a One Sin-themed armor, looks nice.

Just a quick note, that's and example from the "equipment design contest," and although it's awesome it's not necessarily in the game.

Really? Sirius was supposed to be more important than Alkaid? After he's defeated he more or less is out of the picture until about the end of the third game. I guess that actually explains why most of her scenes were in in-game cutscenes rather than FMV's. Was he originally meant to join the team instead of her or something?

Atoli influencing Haseo and vice-versa is a fair point to make and it's an angle I hadn't considered. Subtlety is sometimes just as important as proven deeds

She was supposed to be just another area boss, like Sirius or Taihaku. Her role got bigger in response to fan feedback from Vol.1, otherwise that would have been her main appearance. It isn't just subtlety that Atoli possessed, unless you mean that that thread of the story was somewhat subtle, which I would agree with - although it's pretty clear on the second playthrough. Roots/Vol.1 Haseo would never have been able to unite The World against Cubia. He never would have been able to reconcile with Skeith and recover from Rebirth. Without Atoli's influence everything would have ended in disaster. They each made the other better.

Wasn't Gabi supposed ta have more presence to? Seems like the "furry" characters got the short end of the stick. The only two you get for your team are Gaspard and Tabby which I always thought was weird. Of course none of the Epitaph Users were beasts either. Then in Link they're written out to being solely field NPCs.

Hey Gabi was a boss battle and it was awesome. I think we're analyzing this too much though. Aside from an obnoxiously strong Kite preference, I think the chips just fall where they may in terms of cast.

Yes, but what if they just end up recycling the same story? So far that's what it seems like. A mysterious girl, a bracelet with a forbidden power, the Phases... at the very least they aren't copying and pasting Kite, Orca, and Balmung's designs for the billionth time.

That's my fear as well. I think/hope this is just the phone game though. Maybe they want to reach a broader audience with this installation and provide some sort of intro for new players as well. If that's the case recycling and beautiful girls could make sense.

I'm hoping that too, as I mentioned this seems to have the story problems of Guilty Dragon (vagueness, non-importance, and repeating past .hack), and I feel like the graphics are about only a notch or two up (on account of the designs more than the execution). But this is just a short trailer, Link's trailer was like this and its story was the War and Peace of .hack. Hard to make any calls yet.

What I've been saying for years is that if CC2 wants .hack to be less intimidating they need to come out with a fresh installment, just titled ".hack" with or without a simple subtitle, and have it be entirely stand alone from the rest of the series but still have subtle references to older installments for long-time fans. Like, it's still The World and the same universe with the same history, but keep it disconnected from the events of past games.

Wasn't that the movie? Right down to the short name just being "dothack."

Disgusting. They degraded .hack to this mobile iOS and Android s***.. Worst news to come out of TGS period. I guess I can sit tight for another 5 years and hope that a remastered port of this comes to Vita eventually...maybe..

Except it's definitely confirmed that Project N.U. has other stuff. We have to ask why this is the first thing they're showing, that could definitely be a bad sign - but uninteresting mobile tie-ins wouldn't be anything new for .hack:

If this was the very first thing we saw from .hack we'd have the same concerns.

[Dasha]

I'm not scared. I'm sure we'll have one, if not more, game(s) on consoles for this new Project. I just hope they'll clarify something quickly.
- It is some sort of reboot?
- It is a continuity, many years after?

I also want to know who's the "main character" of the Project N.U. I assume it's the green haired girl, which seems to be the new Haseo. >_>

[Kuukai]

I wouldn't make assumptions yet, although the two characters with offline persona seem important to either the franchise or this game. For this online game though, it looks like main character is "you"?

[Dasha]

Oh...
It is like Guilty Dragon then? You create your own character?

[SSJScygoku]

Perhaps its a ploy to boost viewership of their panel at TGS, making sure people watch for any new .hack / other projects that may or may not get revealed @.@

[Dasha]

That's what I thought too, but nothing today from Bamco. Instead, a new Sword Boring Ass Online is in development, lol.

[Kuukai]

They already announced the presentation to be on the 19th, I wouldn't expect too much news until then.

Oh...
It is like Guilty Dragon then? You create your own character?

Wouldn't it need to be, to be online?

[Xu Yuan]

What is interesting to me about this whole lead up is that VR is finally hitting some stride. The Dynasty Warriors series has a VR test demo on the TGS floor. I am beginning to wonder if they held back on the original four games getting remastered until there was some actual sort of VR technology to use.

[Falions]

Is the conference just a Bamco conference? Or is it specific to CC2?
Also, what I worry about is that they're removing the whole real world aspect to .hack with New World, hence the more magic-y looking Data Drain.

[Kuukai]

They're keeping the real world aspect, there are clearly real-world characters on the site and in the trailer. The magic-looking thing is possibly magic and might not be data drain. It's .hack, magic circles happen.

The presentation for New World is one of many events at the Bandai Namco booth.

[Falions]

Oh, thank Aura for that. .hack just wouldn't be .hack without the real world drama.

[Dasha]

So we're getting more info on the game tomorrow I guess.
They'll probably reveal the main character. The thing I'm the most curious for, at the moment.

By the way guys, do you think they'll localize it...? #WishfulThinking.
If they do, I might buy an Android phone just for this game... l_l

[Adhemas]

That's actually my main problem with phone games. They don't get translated unless they're some big thing. I fear it will be the same as Guilty Dragon and people can only play it in Japanese.