.hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

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MizuTakishima
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by MizuTakishima »

It did? Oh wow. Well I guess that makes much more sense :) (I dunno where my sister keeps getting her information..sigh)

Oh, I don't particularly have a problem with Tokio; I'm sure the little guy will grow on me eventually~ though not sure what you meant by a "real" character moving around in the game (I was kinda confused by Tokio's and that girl's school uniform designs, actually. Like do they really dress like that in "The World"? Sorry for asking stupid questions, I've been out of the .hack// loop for sometime now ;~; )
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by iuliathe3rd »

No, the thing is, the way Saika and Tokio are depicted (like you said, in their uniforms) are in fact their real world clothes. Tokio literally gets transported into the game, school uniform and all, so... yeah, that's why he looks like that.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by MizuTakishima »

Oh I see! (Why does that sound like a kingdom hearts fic..?)

Still, 'bout time something like that happened in .hack//! :D Thanks for clearin' that up~
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by hidora »

MizuTakishima wrote:Still, 'bout time something like that happened in .hack//! :D
I think you're the first person I've seen who think this is a good thing '-'
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by MizuTakishima »

hidora wrote:
MizuTakishima wrote:Still, 'bout time something like that happened in .hack//! :D
I think you're the first person I've seen who think this is a good thing '-'
Well, it's not so much that I think it's good, it's more like...well I mean; why wasn't it thought of/done in dot hack earlier? I mean...why wait 'til now? Unless they honestly ran out of ideas @_@'

Bah, sorry if I sound contradictory. I usually try to think before I talk but then I fail at it in epic ways. OTL
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Advent_Winter »

MizuTakishima wrote:
hidora wrote:
MizuTakishima wrote:Still, 'bout time something like that happened in .hack//! :D
I think you're the first person I've seen who think this is a good thing '-'
Well, it's not so much that I think it's good, it's more like...well I mean; why wasn't it thought of/done in dot hack earlier? I mean...why wait 'til now? Unless they honestly ran out of ideas @_@'

Bah, sorry if I sound contradictory. I usually try to think before I talk but then I fail at it in epic ways. OTL
Actually, it kinda happened already earlier in the series. Tsukasa couldn't log out from the game, so he/she was basically trapped within the game, mind and all. Then it happened again in the introduction of Vol.2 in G.U. All players couldn't log out or in because of the AIDA server's influence, so they were basically trapped in the game as well. Tokio just had his ENTIRE self get projected into the game.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by MizuTakishima »

Advent_Winter wrote:Actually, it kinda happened already earlier in the series. Tsukasa couldn't log out from the game, so he/she was basically trapped within the game, mind and all. Then it happened again in the introduction of Vol.2 in G.U. All players couldn't log out or in because of the AIDA server's influence, so they were basically trapped in the game as well. Tokio just had his ENTIRE self get projected into the game.
Well, yeah, I knew all that. But like. Y'know. The ENTIRE self thing. I'm not sure if it counts as cliche/if they should have thought of it sooner or if they were "saving it" for this new game. Gah too many mixed feelings on my end;;;
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by AuraTwilight »

Tokio looks dorky but so do other offline characters like Tokuoka. He won our hearts so I don't see why Tokio can't.
I'm sorry, hold the phone. Did you just say Tokuoka looked dorky? GTFO.
Well, yeah, I knew all that. But like. Y'know. The ENTIRE self thing. I'm not sure if it counts as cliche/if they should have thought of it sooner or if they were "saving it" for this new game. Gah too many mixed feelings on my end;;;
It's a cliche, for one thing, and secondly, a good number of people think it breaks the suspension of disbelief in .hack. For most of the series, the metaphysics played with the location of the human mind, with the body just going inactive, and while it was clearly supernatural, it was subtle enough to not really break the whole "this could actually happen in a few years, maybe" vibe the series relied on.

Tokio magically teleporting bodily into the game is straight out of Tron and is totally unbelievable. It's a final straw on the camel's back that totally shatters the suspension of disbelief and takes away from .hack's unique sense of atmosphere.

.hack//Link is just some other game/anime/manga with the .hack name. It's basically Digimon.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Kuukai »

It's a term of endearment. We all love him, but the man wears pink shirts.

Actually it's interesting, because now that we have the facebook thing I don't think it's "a good number of people" at all, just sorta an inbred idea on this and related message boards. Looking at that, the average .hack fan seems pretty excited about Link. Not the most scientific way to check, but you don't have anything better.

As for suspension of disbelief, I find it just a ridiculous as before. I guess it helps that something like .hack//Epitaph of the Twilight exists, with a cooler-looking protagonist and the same going-into-the-game idea (also Cell, with an even zanier idea), but even before that I had friends who couldn't get into .hack just based on how ludicrous he premise was. My belief was completely suspended sometime around when Tsukasa woke up.

Anyway, that's AT opinion, and this is mine. MizuTakishima, feel free to make up your own mind. It was refreshing to see something different on here, though.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Tolby »

Most .hack fans (the ones from other sites, youtube, ect. The ones you were referring to) are stupid. They are fans that didn't like .hack when it first came out. They think SIGN is too confusing and IMOQ is too boring. They thought Rena and Shugo in the anime were super kawaii chibi oniichans. They take the good of G.U. and **** on it, while taking the bad of G.U. and worship it.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to LINK, but the fanbase is making me think I shouldn't. Not the side thats against it, I don't care about them. The side thats for it.

Not to mention any vocal, popular or intelligent .hack fan here has so much sway with other meek fans here that any insult they say is taken as God's given word and it used in every argument against link from then on out.

Suspension of belief. Yes, .hack isn't reality. It is science fiction. However once you have developed your own world like .hack has then it takes on its own identity. And certain things can't/shouldn't be done without causing suspension of belief for that world. For the rest of this argument.. see AT's post.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Kuukai »

Tolby wrote:Most .hack fans (the ones from other sites, youtube, ect. The ones you were referring to) are stupid. They are fans that didn't like .hack when it first came out. They think SIGN is too confusing and IMOQ is too boring. They thought Rena and Shugo in the anime were super kawaii chibi oniichans. They take the good of G.U. and **** on it, while taking the bad of G.U. and worship it.
And your source for this amazingly harsh generalization is...? Also, we're talking about people who frequently read this site, not people who randomly comment about .hack//SIGN on Youtube. I would think they'd be wildly different groups of people: people who actively follow the series and check our news every day vs. more casual fans who saw it on Cartoon Network and can't get over Tsukasa being a girl (which sounds more like what you're thinking of).
Tolby wrote:Suspension of belief. Yes, .hack isn't reality. It is science fiction. However once you have developed your own world like .hack has then it takes on its own identity. And certain things can't/shouldn't be done without causing suspension of belief for that world. For the rest of this argument.. see AT's post.
Minds crossing over, cells crossing over, AIDA forming brain tumors. The way I see it it was all just building up to something like this. Anyway, the argument is pointless, some people think it makes sense and some people don't. I was just trying to present the view of those that do.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Tolby »

Well, I meant anyone who wasn't y'all. The "inbred" part. These forums and related ones.

Source? Personal experience. Youtube, gamefaq, any board that isn't this place, sometimes this place, friends of mine who know I like .hack, pretty much everyone who doesn't know .hack like the back of their hand doesn't know .hack at all. I am not just talking about the cartoon network fans and youtubers. I am talking about people who know about this game, and the future releases. People who do watch the trailers and read the magazine scans. The ones that seem to know everything we do, but at the same time are somehow so terribly misinformed. They just don't seem to care on the same level. Now I'm not saying they have to. .hack isn't the meaning of life, it is a story, entertainment. I understand that, anyone has the right to enjoy any part of the series based on whatever they want.

However, I'm not going to trust their opinion and let them tell me what is and what isn't .hack when they probably don't know themselves. I don't mean to insult, I just don't think the general fanbase, which have come in at various times in the series, and missed various parts of the series is the best way to gauge if this is a good .hack entry. Maybe if its a good game on it own, maybe if their favorite characters were represented correctly, but not as a series entry as a whole. Not when some much of .hack is being toss around together at the same time.

I mean, that is what people are upset about the most right? It not being ".hacky" as a whole. Yea, demo came out and once the game comes out there will be more grounded beefs like the volley system, but the initial hatred was for things like getting transport into the game, crazy hair, butchered character development or stories. Those are things people who just want to see their favorite character again, or Albireo in a game don't care about.
Minds crossing over, cells crossing over, AIDA forming brain tumors. The way I see it it was all just building up to something like this. Anyway, the argument is pointless, some people think it makes sense and some people don't. I was just trying to present the view of those that do.
If that is truly what you meant, that is fine, and I don't mean to argue. It just seemed to me that you were saying that since .hack broke one real world barrier that it had the right to break any barrier. Which I guess it does. We aren't the creators, but well.. basically what I said in my last post about its own world and identity.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by MizuTakishima »

AuraTwilight wrote:It's a cliche, for one thing, and secondly, a good number of people think it breaks the suspension of disbelief in .hack. For most of the series, the metaphysics played with the location of the human mind, with the body just going inactive, and while it was clearly supernatural, it was subtle enough to not really break the whole "this could actually happen in a few years, maybe" vibe the series relied on.
Hehe, reading that made me remember one of the main reasons why I love .hack// in the first place. So I guess I am kinda sad that Link breaks the suspension of disbelief...but, at the same time, I can't help but think what Kuukai said is also pretty true. This part really:
Kuukai wrote:Minds crossing over, cells crossing over, AIDA forming brain tumors. The way I see it it was all just building up to something like this.
He definitely has a point there. I mean. If not the entire body being sucked in, then wouldn't it be just another "my mind is trapped and I can't log out!" thing all over again? Granted I do think it would be fun to actually play as a character who can't log out/were in Tsukasa's shoes. (We wouldn't even be able to check e-mails or read forums; which means more surprises.)

Also thanks you guys for sharing your opinions, it's really helping me develop my own, since all of this is still pretty new to me xD And don't worry Tolby; I've been a fan of .hack// since the beginning, I just have...random chunks missing..and have been off this site for a few years ;_;

As for my own opinion, lets see..I will agree that Tokio is heavily cliche'd all over, and having his entire body trapped in the game is also cliched, but, at the same time, what if there's more to the story than what they're currently sharing? Or what if Tokio is so bland that it'd be kinda funny to see. I mean. He'll be surrounded by so many cool characters and .hack//-ness, it's kinda like watching Goku/Naruto/Luffy being trapped in a series that's better than their own XD

The short version of my opinion: Grudgingly look forward to it, then just experience it for myself when the time comes. Then decide how much/what I love or hate about it~
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Kuukai »

Glad to hear it. ^^
Tolby wrote:Well, I meant anyone who wasn't y'all. The "inbred" part. These forums and related ones.

Source? Personal experience. Youtube, gamefaq, any board that isn't this place, sometimes this place, friends of mine who know I like .hack, pretty much everyone who doesn't know .hack like the back of their hand doesn't know .hack at all. I am not just talking about the cartoon network fans and youtubers. I am talking about people who know about this game, and the future releases. People who do watch the trailers and read the magazine scans. The ones that seem to know everything we do, but at the same time are somehow so terribly misinformed. They just don't seem to care on the same level. Now I'm not saying they have to. .hack isn't the meaning of life, it is a story, entertainment. I understand that, anyone has the right to enjoy any part of the series based on whatever they want.

However, I'm not going to trust their opinion and let them tell me what is and what isn't .hack when they probably don't know themselves. I don't mean to insult, I just don't think the general fanbase, which have come in at various times in the series, and missed various parts of the series is the best way to gauge if this is a good .hack entry. Maybe if its a good game on it own, maybe if their favorite characters were represented correctly, but not as a series entry as a whole. Not when some much of .hack is being toss around together at the same time.
I really think you're underestimating .hack's fanbase, or at least the people reading this site. We had a room full of live ones to experiment on at ACen and they're generally pretty knowledgeable about even the strange esoteric stuff like listing all the Lost Grounds (I think that ended up being a trivia question someone got). There are people like what you describe on Youtube and Gamfaqs for any series, I wouldn't say they're the same thing as the fans following it. These are places where people go after seeing a show on TV or buying a game, but usually before transitioning to a more rapid stage of fandom.
Tolby wrote:If that is truly what you meant, that is fine, and I don't mean to argue. It just seemed to me that you were saying that since .hack broke one real world barrier that it had the right to break any barrier. Which I guess it does. We aren't the creators, but well.. basically what I said in my last post about its own world and identity.
This has already been debated a lot. I don't like sticking with disproven ideas, if there was any rational, objective reason to change my stance I'd probably have done it by now. I was just trying to show the other way of thinking about it. You know, maybe help preserve independent thought on this board. When it comes to Link a lot of people here tend to leave about as much room for debate as a large stone wall.

That said, I do think they're the same barrier, and that the identity of the series is maintained. Your mind is part of your body, neither of them have any real business floating around in a videogame, but it's fun when they do.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Tolby »

Maybe I am underestimating the fanbase, I just personally haven't run into many people that knows much outside their area of expertise. In other words, they might know all the lost grounds, but they won't know Blackrose's real name. Or vice versa. Or they'll think Kite and Blackrose from the games are Rena and Shugo, even though they can recite the G.U. games by heart. Or maybe they have looked up the information, but they are looking at the events as simple information because they didn't experience it for themselves. Experiencing it is more valuable then just reading or hearing about it.
That said, I do think they're the same barrier, and that the identity of the series is maintained. Your mind is part of your body, neither of them have any real business floating around in a videogame, but it's fun when they do.
Like I said before, if thats truly what you meant then I'm fine with that. It just didn't seem that way from that single post. I haven't seen you discussing this before. And actually thats why I would say ignore people who haven't been with .hack the whole time. Not that they can't come up with their own opinions and discussion, its just that when fans with so much knowledge on the entire series are debating on rather or not something fits in the .hack world, and each side is making good and valid points, its hard to take the opinion of someone who has only be exposed to a fraction of .hack.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by d5t »

I'm also going to interject in here and say that there is a misrepresentation of how large the fanbase actually is (and very very hard to quantitatively measure, believe me I've tried, and it's been a huge part on my behind the scenes work on dothackers), because it is greatly segregated into three different industries and target audiences:

Gamers
Most definitely the biggest audience from my experience of data mining all the .hack-ness over the course of the whole project. It's the less niche of the 3 industries .hack encompasses. Targets RPG gamers and possibly with an Anime demographic over lap, as the original games tried to push for, and .hack//G.U. to a lesser extent. The games are standalone.

Anime fans
Second biggest audience for the .hack universe. .hack//SIGN has become a classic in many regards followed by the other anime media to a lesser extent. More niche than the gaming industry as a whole. The big three Anime series are standalone.

Manga readers/Novels
The smallest, but probably most dedicated of the .hack universe. Legend of the twilight Manga opened a lot of people's eyes to the franchise as a whole, who would otherwise have not known about the other .hack media.

You can choose to like one part of the .hack universe and then choose to ignore the rest. This is what makes it even more hard to quantitatively measure the fanbase. No, it isn't as big as Final Fantasy, but that's because .hack has spread itself thin over multiple, multiple media - which I've found to be very smart in a business sense. Final Fantasy has done this to a lesser extent, but their fanbase stems from the Gamer fandom and spreads downward to other media Squenix has dished out. .hack started as all of the above and that has created the three audiences mentioned above.

It's not so simple to just eyeball the fanbase as a whole, and I hope this opens some peoples eyes.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Nabisco »

I've been a lurker on this site for a long, long time now. I used to post a little, but I can't remember my original account name. Besides the point, I'm one of those old-timers who first got hooked while watching //SIGN as a kid. I've played (and still own) the entire series of //IMOQ and //G.U., read all the novels and manga that have made it to North America, and I've even played the card game a bit but had to give up due to severe lack of interest in the town I lived in at the time.

I can't wait for //Link if for no other reason than to see the finale. Personally I play games for their storyline and I've always adored the story of .hack. Whether //Link's time travel business (if that's how it's really going to go in the game) is going to be strange or not, I'm sure I'll enjoy it simply for the storyline. Anyways, just my $0.02 on the subject :)
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by TsukasaElkKite »

I got into .hack through watching a couple of episodes of .hack//SIGN dubbed on On Demand, and I was hooked. I then proceeded to get the .hack//SIGN DVDs and soundtracks and the first four games (plus Liminality and the soundtrack for it), then the //LOTT manga and anime, the A.I Buster and Another Birth novel series, then //ROOTS, //G.U, and the soundtracks for them, plus the manga (G.U+, Alcor, XXXX) and I plan on getting 4-Koma and Link when they are released later this year.
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by iuliathe3rd »

Frankly, I'm reserving my judgment until I actually get to play the game. We really know very little at this point, after all.

I mean, I was pretty negative about Link when I first heard the news, but I got over it. Most of my fan-raging came from my knowledge of the manga, but then I realized that comparing the Link game to the manga is about as accurate as comparing any of the past games to their manga counterparts.

So really, I'm looking forward to it. People can assume all they want, doesn't change the fact that no one knows anything at this point. (Not saying you can't have your opinion or first impressions, just that assuming anything beyond that is silly.)
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Re: .hack//LINK to be the "final installment" of .hack

Post by Kuukai »

Tolby wrote:Maybe I am underestimating the fanbase, I just personally haven't run into many people that knows much outside their area of expertise. In other words, they might know all the lost grounds, but they won't know Blackrose's real name. Or vice versa. Or they'll think Kite and Blackrose from the games are Rena and Shugo, even though they can recite the G.U. games by heart. Or maybe they have looked up the information, but they are looking at the events as simple information because they didn't experience it for themselves. Experiencing it is more valuable then just reading or hearing about it.
*GASP* You haven't read my dinosaur treatise?
http://www.dothackers.net/forums/viewto ... 61#p400561
I've done a lot of serious debate about it too, but this is probably the only one that's even remotely fun to read, and there's an element of truth to it. You have a point about understanding the series as a whole, but at the same time, when deciding whether or not Link is totally out there you could say that all you really need to know is .hack at its weirdest. Dinosaur. End of argument.
Tolby wrote:And actually thats why I would say ignore people who haven't been with .hack the whole time. Not that they can't come up with their own opinions and discussion, its just that when fans with so much knowledge on the entire series are debating on rather or not something fits in the .hack world, and each side is making good and valid points, its hard to take the opinion of someone who has only be exposed to a fraction of .hack.
But, couldn't you say no one here is qualified based on those criteria? Reading .hack//Epitaph of the Twilight is essential for understanding how teleportation fits in alongside long-established canon, but no one here has read it. I myself have only read the first few chapters but I wouldn't say that qualifies me for much. I really should get around to finishing it, I'm a shamefully lazy reader. But anyway, my point is this: aren't we all pretty handicapped in evaluating Link?

EDIT: Looking over d5t's FB thread about this, it still seems to me that most of the respondees have gone through most of the .hack media. Like I was trying to say before, I think the kind of person who would join our FB group is a more intense, reliable kind of fan than the "Lol why isn't Tsukasa a Night Elf Mohawk?" people on Youtube. I think their opinions about Link matter. Well, I guess we'll know more as we get more responses...
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