Is Versus 2.0 Possible?

[Lindz]

Assuming CC Corp still intends to release Versus: The World, going from a beta to a full fledged game would at least make some sense in-universe. Which would give CC2 some reason to do another one. They wouldn't even have to attach a story to it canon or otherwise an just have it be a true .hack fanservice game. Throw in some GD characters for good measure to! PS3/"Cross-gen" games'll be viable for at least the next year, if the budgets low enough who knows? afaik CC2 has exactly 0 games announced for 2014 release so...

If Guilty Dragon is only demi-canonical they could always explore an ending where  Twilight actually succeeds, but really all they need to do is mop up the various actors in a sufficiently epic manner, expose the thing to the world for the first real time, and they have a decent ending.

They'd better tie up at least one of the series many love triangles ^.^

[Sadivinedevil]

As for the movie, Im sure ppl know its high quality, its maybe the plot that is weaker. Also, THOR sucks!!

I agree that the movie when compared to other entries in .hack has a weaker plot, but that's kind of like comparing apples to oranges. Movies are short and don't allow for a lot of build up and development whereas books, tv shows, and games allow for more build up and character development. I think the standalone approach that the movie took is better suited for introducing newcomers to .hack. The movie focuses on Sora and her friends and an incident that stays in the movie. I'm sure if this movie had been in theaters in the west it would have sparked some interest in the series among a newer audience. Unfortunately, the theater release seems very unlikely at this moment a shame since this movie would have gotten more attention with a theatrical release in the west. I'm still crossing my fingers that Funimation will localize this movie, but the poor sales in Japan have been depressing to say the least.

[Kuukai]

The plot of the movie is actually comprehensible. Quantum crams about as much into a shorter timeframe and a lot of my friends liked it, but none of them can explain what actually happened. The movie is more accessible to non-fans and filled to the brim with new stuff, and a pretty unique cast considering .hack has been running for so long.

Also, THOR sucks!!

Not to spiral off topic, but Thor rocks. There's even a Lost Ground named after his wife.

[Sadivinedevil]

Vallen does have a point though. It is easy to argue that Quantum and the movie have weaker plots because they cram a lot in a short time. I believe Quantum had an interesting story, but because of time constraints it wasn't explored enough, not to mention all the jargon that it throws at you that just doesn't make that much sense even to a lot fans. I tend to just tone out the technical and lore aspect of Quantum and focus more on the characters. I honestly think Quantum would have been bad if it wasn't for Sakuya and Hermit.

The movie is much more accessible, but it plays it safe . Another Kite Clone, Data Bugs and CC corp being a source of most of the problems have worked from the start, but the series has had much deeper and more interesting stories. Again I like to focus on the characters, the love triangle is kind of dumb and silly but it does make me laugh. The only thing I don't like about the movie is all the blatant advertising, McDonalds, Adidas, Screw Cola WTF is Screw Cola.

[Bullet Biter]

Vallen does have a point though. It is easy to argue that Quantum and the movie have weaker plots because they cram a lot in a short time. I believe Quantum had an interesting story, but because of time constraints it wasn't explored enough, not to mention all the jargon that it throws at you that just doesn't make that much sense even to a lot fans. I tend to just tone out the technical and lore aspect of Quantum and focus more on the characters. I honestly think Quantum would have been bad if it wasn't for Sakuya and Hermit.

The movie is much more accessible, but it plays it safe . Another Kite Clone, Data Bugs and CC corp being a source of most of the problems have worked from the start, but the series has had much deeper and more interesting stories. Again I like to focus on the characters, the love triangle is kind of dumb and silly but it does make me laugh. The only thing I don't like about the movie is all the blatant advertising, McDonalds, Adidas, Screw Cola WTF is Screw Cola.

That's the bummer about more of the newer content. While it isn't explored in the initial material the supplemental material clears up some loose ends and makes it much easier to connect with the other media.

Also, product sponsors are a good thing, don't hate them. Personally I think they make the world feel a little bit more real.
Matsuyama also happens to run around in a lot of Adidas clothes whenever he does his staff talks or appearances so something tells me he sold his soul to them.

[Vallen]

^ I too find sponsors okay. If anything, I love just randomly noticing a reference~ I remember in Darker Than Black they really advertised Pizza Hut, like in every city screenshot, but in the anime it was called "Pizza Slice" (yet it had the pizza hut logo) haha. I love it, its fun to look for those little details!


But yeah, I personally cannot quite get into the movie plot too much. I loved all the .hack anime concepts up to now, including Quantum, but the movie felt just so "generic". Maybe its because Sora didn't know what she was doing, or maybe because there was very little action, idk it just didn't click with me. Furthermore, the kite, balmung and orca models are getting redundant :/ I think I would be okay with a Haseo clone at this point, just no moar kite!!

#femalehaseo anyone?

[Sadivinedevil]

The movie is "generic" for the series, but I have to admit if I didn't see any MMO based animes or experienced as much of .hack as I have I might consider it a pretty good plot. I'd also say that even if you didn't like the plot the movies visuals and presentation definitely rank higher than a lot of CGI movies out there, the blending of 2D and 3D in the real world segments are some of the most visually impressive scenes I have seen in a movie and the in game segments are on the same level as Pixar and Dreamworks.

Yeah the clones are getting redundant and I honestly just think they should introduce new characters with unique character models instead of reusing Kite's model again.

[Kuukai]

Lol all the product placement made it feel more like a real movie to me.

The movie introduced many new ideas for characters inside and outside of the world, had perhaps a more coherent theme than anything other than Link, and was relatively unique in some of the ways they resolved stuff ( airship battles, lagging the game--which formed a cute little bookend with the beginning of the movie). It was about as creative as .hack can really be at this point while still being .hack. Kite clones have always been part of .hack. It's a little known fact (that I've been trying to publicize) that the first chapter of Legend of the Twilight was actually the first .hack story ever released...

Kite is kind of like Aura's Green Lantern. Or something. It's become a symbol and a power that various people can pick up.

[Vallen]

Lol all the product placement made it feel more like a real movie to me.

The movie introduced many new ideas for characters inside and outside of the world, had perhaps a more coherent theme than anything other than Link, and was relatively unique in some of the ways they resolved stuff ( airship battles, lagging the game--which formed a cute little bookend with the beginning of the movie). It was about as creative as .hack can really be at this point while still being .hack. Kite clones have always been part of .hack. It's a little known fact (that I've been trying to publicize) that the first chapter of Legend of the Twilight was actually the first .hack story ever released...

Kite is kind of like Aura's Green Lantern. Or something. It's become a symbol and a power that various people can pick up.

True, I agree with you. However, in all my honest opinion, and ppl can call me "not a real fan" in that case, but I would still prefer if they take it easy with the kite look-alikes leads and added just a tiny bit of variety.

[Sadivinedevil]

( airship battles, lagging the game--which formed a cute little bookend with the beginning of the movie)

Those are some of the most impressive scenes in the movie, the whole last third of the movie is just pure awesome because of all these things. I have never seen anyone use lag as a plot device before good show CC2 good show.