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Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:05 am
by d5t
Loved the first episode; I hope the second and third OVAs get their episode time bumped up to around 45 mins. Hermit outdoes Macha and cute Grunties for me already! Sophia hopefully has an interesting background story

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:36 am
by Airon
d5t wrote:Loved the first episode; I hope the second and third OVAs get their episode time bumped up to around 45 mins.
Indeed, it bugs me that it's only 30 minutes long and I'm expected to buy it whereas the Liminality OVA was free with the games for just as long (if not longer) and they were 4 in total. Quantum looks so great, it really makes me wish it was longer just to stare at all the pretty details.

Another great aspect of Quantum is just how far they've taken the MMO setting. Talking about boss fights and strategies, in game economy, server maintenance, meeting up with IRL friends. Admittedly, The World always did feel like too idealistic for a real MMO, but Quantum has gone beyond what SIGN and ROOTS did to establish the game world. All the while, Quantum is still dynamic enough to avoid being too realistic (which would be boring, especially for an OVA since it wouldn't have the time to establish as much the way a proper series would).

Question for those who've played Link, is there anything that I should know that happens in link that would clarify what's going on in Quantum? Particularly about Sophia, and maybe Hermit? Or are we supposed to know nothing about Sophia or Hermit yet?

On a sadder note, watching Quantum and realizing there won't be much more .Hack soon makes me a sad Hermit.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:32 am
by Kuukai
seithecs wrote:Indeed, it bugs me that it's only 30 minutes long and I'm expected to buy it whereas the Liminality OVA was free with the games for just as long (if not longer) and they were 4 in total.
The first episode of Liminality was extra-long but coincidentally the game it came with was extra-short. The rest were regular length iirc.
seithecs wrote:Question for those who've played Link, is there anything that I should know that happens in link that would clarify what's going on in Quantum? Particularly about Sophia, and maybe Hermit? Or are we supposed to know nothing about Sophia or Hermit yet?
Sophia is explained somewhat in Epitaph of The New Testament, which comes with the special edition of .hack//Link. The two biggest pieces of information are:
 -Sophia is an "antivirus" program created by ALTIMIT.
-The founders of ALTIMIT are members of a larger organization that doesn't believe humanity's expanding population is sustainable and wants to find some way to digitize us all.


Note Sophia is also mentioned in the 2024 trailer and is probably the "Skeith" of this season.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:13 pm
by Airon
Ah, I see Seems ALTIMIT has taken the mantle of Corporate Antagonist from CC corp. Interesting, Id written ALTIMIT off as just more background ideas to give the ingame world more realism

As long as that's all the info, then it doesn't seem like there's anything you really need to know to understand Quantum, which is good. It seems like Quantum will go in more detail on what Sophia is anyway, so the Epitaph of the New Testament doesn't really spoil much.

Thanks for sharing, as far as the Link season goes, I'm basically in the dark and watching Quantum thinking I was missing out on something was driving me mad. Especially with it's short run time, I started thinking that it was short because there was something pre-established to give Quantum more than just the OVA.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:30 pm
by Kuukai
Well ALTIMIT has always been sort of a parent company for CC, they're still supposedly connected...

That's not everything, there will probably be more connections to Link. There's a screenshot from a later episode of:
 Jyotaro Amagi

And New Testament has a lot more to spoil, it's just not clear how much of it involves Quantum. Link itself changes the setting Quantum takes place in in some major ways I'm not sure you really want spoiled (but if you do there's a whole thread about this). And there are also minor implied things, like after the events of Link and the epilogue it just makes sense to see Shamrock working for the NAB instead of CC...

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 7:55 pm
by Shinsou Wotan
Adhemas wrote:I really want to know what this implanted chip is all about. They mentioned it merely in the background in episode 01 (the teacher), it seems to be unimportant at the moment. But I doubt the creators would invent and mention this thing at all if it wouldn't have some meaning for the story.
It's explained in some detail in the novelization, and yes, it's plot-relevant. It's exactly what it sounds like: an RFID-type chip implanted in the body. It serves as identification, a repository for medical information, and no doubt several other purposes. There are, of course, strict access controls so that personal information isn't available to unauthorized persons, but that works about as well as you'd expect in a .hack work.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:51 am
by Kuukai
Shinsou Wotan wrote:It's explained in some detail in the novelization, and yes, it's plot-relevant. It's exactly what it sounds like: an RFID-type chip implanted in the body. It serves as identification, a repository for medical information, and no doubt several other purposes. There are, of course, strict access controls so that personal information isn't available to unauthorized persons, but that works about as well as you'd expect in a .hack work.
Shinsou Wotan, welcome back! We missed you, especially when Link was out!

One thing I was unclear on: is this is widespread use or just at their school/in Aomori?

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:20 am
by hidora
Kuukai wrote:One thing I was unclear on: is this is widespread use or just at their school/in Aomori?
Back on G.U. they had some news and forums posts about chips on kids and stuff. I suppose that some years later that may have become widespread?

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:18 pm
by Shinsou Wotan
It's widespread, but the Tsugaru Information Management Special District (津軽情報処理特区) in Aomori leads Japan in adoption of the technology.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:34 am
by Airon
*rubs eyes*

Went back and looked through the threads to see what Thread it was that had all this info on Link. Surprisingly, it wasn't the thread titled .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack, but rather it was the one titled "Really stupid question... (SPOILERS)" The things said there should be quoted and placed on a thread specifically made for all this Link info, if posts can be quoted across threads that is. Seriously amazing things were said there

 Anyway, at one point in that second thread, Kuukai mentions Amagi discovered a frequency of light that transforms matter into light which could then transform mankind into data. At the end of Quantum we saw Eri appear in The World when Sophia attacked her, replacing her pc briefly. Following that we see a close up of Asumi's goggles and they were flashing a distinct pattern of light.

Could it be that Sophia, Being ALTIMIT's work, also be part of their digitize-people plan, hidden behind the guise of an anti-virus program?

Then again, in the preview we see Eri's body here, so perhaps it's incomplete.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:06 am
by Kuukai
Umm, there's also the thread "Massive Spoiler Thread":
http://dothackers.net/forums/viewtopic. ... &start=260

Yeah, I don't have all the OVAs but it looked like a more traditional coma. This might be something else...

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 4:15 pm
by Shinsou Wotan
seithecs wrote: Could it be that Sophia, Being ALTIMIT's work, also be part of their digitize-people plan, hidden behind the guise of an anti-virus program?
You're not too far from the truth here.
 This isn't a case of "Real Digitalize", the process that brings people bodily into The World. Shamrock calls it "Soul Digitalize", and it seems to be an artificial equivalent of the same process that created all earlier Lost Ones.

Sophia's origin and purpose were not even mentioned in the novelization. It was strongly implied that Shamrock knew more about her than she was willing to tell anyone else.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:11 am
by Kuukai
 Which is weird because New Testament makes it sound like Sophia is public knowledge, at least as antivirus software competing against a new wave of viruses... I guess that Sophia could always be like TSN from G.U., and completely unrelated to what you would think, but I doubt it...

But regardless, soul digitalize is probably more viable than real digitalize for achieving mama's goal, with less apparent side effects. I guess this could be a plan B, an alternative to the scheme to mass-produce Aura, rather than something directly related to that project (that is, if that plan isn't some sort of red herring). But then again if Sophia is mentioned in the trailer for the movie project then maybe it is related...


Actually, I have another question. Does Genius's businessman friend appear in Quantum or the novelization? I'm curious as to how much overlap there is, and I'm still wondering how they'd work him into a CG movie...

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:54 am
by (Phantom) Thief
 I heard that Mary becomes corrupted with the antivirus. That aside what are the differences between the ova, comic and novel? Also how would you translate the title?

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:38 pm
by Shinsou Wotan
Kuukai wrote: Which is weird because New Testament makes it sound like Sophia is public knowledge, at least as antivirus software competing against a new wave of viruses... I guess that Sophia could always be like TSN from G.U., and completely unrelated to what you would think, but I doubt it...

But regardless, soul digitalize is probably more viable than real digitalize for achieving mama's goal, with less apparent side effects. I guess this could be a plan B, an alternative to the scheme to mass-produce Aura, rather than something directly related to that project (that is, if that plan isn't some sort of red herring). But then again if Sophia is mentioned in the trailer for the movie project then maybe it is related...
I haven't read New Testament (is it available somewhere, preferably untranslated?), and very little of what you mention here sounds familiar from reading the Quantum novel.  Soul Digitalize is much better suited for the scheme revealed in Quantum than Real Digitalize would be. Soul Digitalize has the convenient side effect of leaving behind unoccupied human brains.
Actually, I have another question. Does Genius's businessman friend appear in Quantum or the novelization? I'm curious as to how much overlap there is, and I'm still wondering how they'd work him into a CG movie...
I have no idea who you're talking about.
(Phantom) Thief wrote: I heard that Mary becomes corrupted with the antivirus.
That depends on the definition of the word "corrupted".
That aside what are the differences between the ova, comic and novel?
I can't speak for the comic, since I haven't read it yet, but as of the first episode, the differences are mostly just little things, aside from the way the novel occasionally stops for a few paragraphs of infodump to explain aspects of the world or tell about backstory. I've been able to figure out where most of the shots in the preview of episode 2 fit into the story, so it looks like they'll continue to be fairly similar. I'm particularly looking forward to watching the Territorial War.
Also how would you translate the title?
I assume you're talking about the title of the novel, 心の双子. I'm undecided as to whether "twin of the heart" or "twin of the soul" fits better, though at the moment I'm leaning towards 'heart'.

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:28 pm
by Kuukai
Shinsou Wotan wrote:
Actually, I have another question. Does Genius's businessman friend appear in Quantum or the novelization? I'm curious as to how much overlap there is, and I'm still wondering how they'd work him into a CG movie...
I have no idea who you're talking about.
 This bonus event is provided at the end of Link, and this as-of-yet-unnamed character also appears in what's presumably the teaser for the CC2 movie project (New Testament helpfully asks "who is he?"). I'm assuming you know the general outcome of Link, otherwise this is pretty spoiler-intensive:

I myself am trying to avoid Quantum spoilers, while still asking questions for some reason... At any rate I'm fascinated with how this real-life character fits in, even moreso if he's not in Quantum. Your take on the woman's voice would also be appreciated, as I'm pretty sure she connects if nothing else.

I can scan the relevant parts for you this weekend when I get back home if someone hasn't already done so...

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:05 pm
by Airon
Question: Is the novel purely the novelization of the OVA or is it like an alternate story?

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:51 pm
by Kuukai
Saw the second OVA. In the novel was
 Amagi trying to save the world from racism?

Because this is not what happened in Link. I mean it might have been one of his reasons somewhere, but it was pretty low down the list (somewhere after hunger)...

EDIT: Here are the relevant scans, Shinsou Wotan. I tried to make them as legible as possible. I found it helpful to reread them myself. The Genius one is in there because it's interesting and because it sheds some additional light on the organization's plan:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6870/img0002fg.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6277/img0003zi.jpg
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1604/img0001rr.jpg

I'm still curious about the person from the trailer, another American? Maybe NAB?

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:25 am
by Resplendence
Nogarath wrote:
Resplendence wrote:The main character is a girl?...FINALLY!!!

what about tsukasa (the PC was a guy, but still a girl)? plus i consider the whole little japanese feminine anime boy when playing IMOQ (kites a little girl idgaf)
Oh...uh....I can't believe I forgot Tsukasa!!!...oops.Eheheheheh my bad >.<;;

Re: Just caught the 1st episode.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:38 pm
by Nexus
Just managed to see the first episode today and I am looking forward to it being licensed already. It seems to me to be quite a bit better than .hack//Roots from what I have seen. Just when I thought they were done with .hack they do something like this to pull me back in! :D