It's the year 2017 in "The World R:2"

[Belldandu]

What does this signify for .hack? Could japan be getting an "R:2" version of fragment in 2017 for PC, PS3, PS4 or even the rumored PS5?!
Would you play it if there was going to be one? If there won't be one would you join a petition/donation/fund drive for one to be made?

Your thoughts, opinions, feedback is welcome here.

The image that inspired this thread:

[Xu Yuan]

What does this signify for .hack? Could japan be getting an "R:2" version of fragment in 2017 for PC, PS3, PS4 or even the rumored PS5?!
Would you play it if there was going to be one? If there won't be one would you join a petition/donation/fund drive for one to be made?

Your thoughts, opinions, feedback is welcome here.

The image that inspired this thread:

Unfortunately that seems a bit unlikely. //Fragment came out in 2005, which chronologically was the year of Pluto's Kiss, rather than the release of //Fragment which was chronologically in 2007. Technically if that trend were to continue we would see a new .hack game this year rather than in 2017 and we know that CCCorp is busy with other projects (more Naruto...) I have a feeling if we did see a new game it would be based more on The World R:X rather than R:2 since that is where the timeline is currently set and they've done a pretty good job of expressing this version visually in //Quantum and //Beyond The World.

I think a lot of their trepidation comes from wariness. .hack//Link had a Great story, but some rather poor gameplay (going to the same ten areas without hardly a change was an extremely bad idea, at least the original dot hack games had dungeons filled with monsters and winding paths making it feel like an adventure and G.U.'s areas were similarly paced. In addition the main combat system was neat, but they boiled it down to the same system and it took away anything real unique after the umpteenth time of it.)

They need to make sure that they don't make another //Link. I think that's what's holding them back. They now have many more years of experience in making other (very successful!) games series whether it be the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Series or the breakout hit Asura's Wrath which was actually published outside Bandai-Namco's borders. In the past Hiroshi Matsuyama had spoken in annoyance about Bandai-Namco's policies especially in regards to .hack// but we'll see what the future holds. As it stands now it's up to us, the fans, to keep the series alive and well here in the West (apparently it's still quite popular in Japan from what Kuukai has said) while we wait for .hack// to wake from its hibernation.

[SSJScygoku]

With any luck we might see more .hack in Tokyo Game Show or slightly later when Virtual Reality technlogy has upgraded further,that way they would have exisiting tech to suits the game settings ^_^

[Lindz]

I think a lot of their trepidation comes from wariness. .hack//Link had a Great story, but some rather poor gameplay (going to the same ten areas without hardly a change was an extremely bad idea, at least the original dot hack games had dungeons filled with monsters and winding paths making it feel like an adventure and G.U.'s areas were similarly paced. In addition the main combat system was neat, but they boiled it down to the same system and it took away anything real unique after the umpteenth time of it.)

Having just finished replaying G.U. I waaaay disagree with that part lol

Anyways Links areas were very PSO-ish which I kinda liked, plus they each "evolved" as ya moved through the eras which was pretty cool. IMOQ's are still the best by a longshot of course!

What they don't need to take from G.U. is how slow an padded out the games are. And the slowdown my gawd... @_@ By Vol.3 the battles have so much going on in 'em at a time that the framerate just completely tanks! Not saying IMOQ & Link were completely without slowdown but they are much zippier games all around!

[Xu Yuan]

I think a lot of their trepidation comes from wariness. .hack//Link had a Great story, but some rather poor gameplay (going to the same ten areas without hardly a change was an extremely bad idea, at least the original dot hack games had dungeons filled with monsters and winding paths making it feel like an adventure and G.U.'s areas were similarly paced. In addition the main combat system was neat, but they boiled it down to the same system and it took away anything real unique after the umpteenth time of it.)

Having just finished replaying G.U. I waaaay disagree with that part lol

Anyways Links areas were very PSO-ish which I kinda liked, plus they each "evolved" as ya moved through the eras which was pretty cool. IMOQ's are still the best by a longshot of course!

What they don't need to take from G.U. is how slow an padded out the games are. And the slowdown my gawd... @_@ By Vol.3 the battles have so much going on in 'em at a time that the framerate just completely tanks! Not saying IMOQ & Link were completely without slowdown but they are much zippier games all around!

Having played PSO for over 500 hours or so in total, I will have to disagree. The battles in //Link were not very long, nor was there much skill involved in it. The areas, while they changed slightly, they were still very small. I find it a shame that they used that system, but alas. I thought G.U. handled things pretty well personally. Don't want to fight? Use a smokescreen to escape. The issues with G.U. was enemy variety you would fight maybe 3-5 enemy types in a dungeon. In the original games you could fight up to 7 or so foes with the field and dungeon combined.

If you wish to discuss padding though //Infection is padded to the max. It's sort of telling when the synopsis jumps from the beginning of the game right to the end. As I've said before I love the chase and it builds up Skeith as a purposeful goal, but it was the entire game. i think you may want to play the original Quadrilogy again, that their areas were both "similarly paced" does not mean they were well paced. It would take anywhere from 10-20 minutes to get through a dungeon in G.U. (depending on the type of dungeon) and the same holds for the originals, granted if you weren't exploring the entire dungeon. What G.U. does lack though is the rewarding feeling and the separated rooms adding a more dungeon-like feel to the entire experience.

[Lindz]

Having played PSO for over 500 hours or so in total, I will have to disagree.

I've played it for thousands @_@; What I meant was how in PSO the levels were like always the same but with the start/end points switched around. Its pretty much the same way in Link.

The battles in //Link were not very long, nor was there much skill involved in it.

There's no skill involved in PSO, or IMOQ, or G.U., or Link, or... really they're action rpgs. Spam items, spam skills, move right along!

If you wish to discuss padding though //Infection is padded to the max. It's sort of telling when the synopsis jumps from the beginning of the game right to the end. As I've said before I love the chase and it builds up Skeith as a purposeful goal, but it was the entire game. i think you may want to play the original Quadrilogy again, that their areas were both "similarly paced" does not mean they were well paced. It would take anywhere from 10-20 minutes to get through a dungeon in G.U. (depending on the type of dungeon) and the same holds for the originals, granted if you weren't exploring the entire dungeon. What G.U. does lack though is the rewarding feeling and the separated rooms adding a more dungeon-like feel to the entire experience.

I replayed IMOQ last year, skipping all optional stuff an my time across 'em came out to 45:08:31. This years G.U. runs were also no optional stuff ones and total time was 50:36:00, 5 an a half hours more despite being short a game! More importantly... my Vol.1 and Vol.2 runs used new game+ (start at L35 & L70 respectively) so I could clear out areas and arena battles with ease and speed for half the game or more and yet they still took THAT long.

The padding I'm talking about isn't story but the game design itself. Equalish level battles in G.U. take alot longer ta finish then in IMOQ. Skill damage was nerfed so rengeki's could be emphasized and even at equal levels you may still need 2 to 3 rengeki's to beat a single enemy, n/m the whole group. Smoke screening is great in non-100% runs but otherwise the area ranking system they put in place sorta forces ya to run around doing everything in an area to get those juicy keyword rewards! Then there's Chim Sphere farming, redoing the exact same quest/campaigns, and the needlessly large towns/areas (which Haseo's default movement speed does no favors for, oh and there are no speed up items/skills in Vol.1!). Another big thing were the item caps. Down to 50 each from 99 isn't a huge deal unless you're like me and spamming speed charms all day everyday 'cause it means more time stopping by shops. Item hold/storage capacity being tied to Guild level however was just awful. Grind that guild or you'll be stuck with a fraction of the item space ya had in the original series! This means more time sorting items an trying ta decide what to keep and to not.

Infections padding came in the form of nearly every story related dungeon being the max 5 floors deep. This was greatly toned down in the follwing games thankfully! Otherwise IMOQ's padding is pretty much just not having a smoke screen type item. In fields you don't gotta fight every baddie that comes along but in dungeons ya do. The thing is most regular battles can be finished in a minute which is light years better than in G.U.!

I like alot of the things G.U. did its just a shame they didn't do 'em well. Its battle system is fun when the framerate isn't crapping itself. For an "mmo" quests were rather obviously missing from IMOQ but the way G.U. handled 'em was kinda crappy. Guild stuff woulda been better if it felt like ya were running a guild and rewards for it were less about increasing storage and more about, idk maybe decorating the @home?

[Kuukai]

By Vol.3 the battles have so much going on in 'em at a time that the framerate just completely tanks!

I'm willing to accept that for interesting gameplay, and the PS4 still has a lot of room to work with. CC2 has said that they are targeting "high end games" so this is what I'd hope they'd do, sans the lag. All the games have pros and cons but I don't think people appreciate G.U. enough, luckily CC2 has said if they make a new one they'd want it to be like G.U.

Link's weakness was that it would be an okay 20 hour game, but they need to seriously revamp the gameplay if they want to make a game that long. Everything else is fine, but it should have had a system progression like the first series and G.U. and by the end Tokio should have been summoning monsters while shooting enemies with a bow and arrow while riding on the blue half of Gorre. It shouldn't have been the same as the beginning but with a repaint. Even the first series didn't do that.

All of the games are pretty padded, but G.U. gives you more story when it sends you on a wild goose chase, which I liked. Link only gives you story, and the original series was more filler. I think each attempt taught them something though, and even if it isn't .hack I have high hopes for their new RPG.

...as long as it isn't published by Capcom and 99% DLC.

[Erroneous]

...as long as it isn't published by Capcom and 99% DLC.

Included with the game, is this bland generic character that is non-canon. To acquire characters from the .hack series, you must pay $0.99 per character, or buy a character pack for $15.99 for each series!

[Lindz]

I'm willing to accept that for interesting gameplay, and the PS4 still has a lot of room to work with. CC2 has said that they are targeting "high end games" so this is what I'd hope they'd do, sans the lag. All the games have pros and cons but I don't think people appreciate G.U. enough, luckily CC2 has said if they make a new one they'd want it to be like G.U.

Sans the lag? I'm in! I loved my sword/scythe cancelling but that becomes problematic when all animations slow to a crawl and ya find it hard not only to see whats going on but to adjust your button pressing accordingly x.x! I totally appreciate G.U. for what it tried to add in terms of gameplay stuff and more even focus on characters, and Vol.2 & Vol.3 are fun games despite the shortcomings!

Link's weakness was that it would be an okay 20 hour game, but they need to seriously revamp the gameplay if they want to make a game that long. Everything else is fine, but it should have had a system progression like the first series and G.U. and by the end Tokio should have been summoning monsters while shooting enemies with a bow and arrow while riding on the blue half of Gorre. It shouldn't have been the same as the beginning but with a repaint. Even the first series didn't do that.

Aren't these the same types of complaints people usually throw at IMOQ/G.U. too? Being to repetitive and different name, same game? If Link had been released two/three/four game chunks it prolly would've gotten the same reception or worse! I liked that Tokio was more or less a "normal" player moreso than even Kite. No data drain, no gate hacking, no area hacking, no avatar, no overpoweredly broken Xth form weapon... sure he was special plotwise but nothing carried over to the gameplay side of things. For people who seriously want a .hack MMO but dun like playing Tokio well... maybe ya wouldn't want to play an MMO? Cause your character there would be normal too. Would ya say his Xth form upgrades (downgrades imo, looks cool but I prefer his normal attacking style) either came to late in the game or changed to little?

[Kuukai]

Link was the size of a full series with no evolution at all. No racing, nothing akin to group data drain. There was very little depth, which made it hard to play for so long. This was also true for the first .hack series, albeit less so. Even a "normal" player could have interesting gameplay. Make Tokio a baseball nut too. Baseball is also a game. Suddenly the volley system almost makes sense, and there's a subsystem where he hits and throws random objects to stun enemies or something. In Xth form this makes the gears useful. "Real" isn't antithetical to interesting. Tokio in Link moves more fluidly than any other .hack character. But they don't do anything with that, until Versus. There were any number of ways to broaden the gameplay, but instead they made a very monotonous game.

Post-Xth form Tokio didn't seem that "regular" to me though, he came into his own as an AIDA-enhanced supercharacter and should have abilities at least similar to Ovan's. Again, get creative, for a company that does so many seminars about game design, here they failed design 101. I forget the exact numbers, but Matsuyama once said a game should be 80% Mario, and 20% something else. What that means is that 80% of gameplay should be something proven that's been done before, and 20% should be something new like Data Drain. I feel like Link didn't make it to 20%. It's just a PSP RPG with a tension charge to break the monotony (i.e. every PSP RPG). The management subsystem was fun, but it doesn't make up for Tokio only having 2 (occasionally repainted) skills. In fact, part of the problem is they might not have reached the 80% either. It just didn't have enough gameplay to last 80 hours.

[Lindz]

Link was the size of a full series with no evolution at all. No racing, nothing akin to group data drain.

By group data drain are ya talking about Avatar Awakening? Cause that's really no different from XRengeki. Both are super moves requiring ya to fill up a bar to use to get virus cores. I do dislike the lack of extra stuff to do like raising or riding gruntys, bike stuff, hero of zeit-esque challenge, etc. Maybe they wrongly though Link Play was enough of an extra, this was an era in which devs/pubs decided every game ever needs multiplayer >.>

There was very little depth, which made it hard to play for so long. This was also true for the first .hack series, albeit less so. Even a "normal" player could have interesting gameplay. Make Tokio a baseball nut too. Baseball is also a game. Suddenly the volley system almost makes sense, and there's a subsystem where he hits and throws random objects to stun enemies or something. In Xth form this makes the gears useful. "Real" isn't antithetical to interesting. Tokio in Link moves more fluidly than any other .hack character. But they don't do anything with that, until Versus. There were any number of ways to broaden the gameplay, but instead they made a very monotonous game.

Ya I won't deny that its shallow and that even IMOQ had more involved battles but on one hand I was happy they moved away from G.U. style battles, an on the other as a DQ fan I appreciated how quickly you could get through battles. Plus as a "special" person who could play Project X Zone three times an never be bored, or can sit around for hours logging in an out of towns to check an jot down PC dialogue I'm rather immune to monotony and can find the most boring things fun lol. Doesn't excuse the final game we ended up with though!

Post-Xth form Tokio didn't seem that "regular" to me though, he came into his own as an AIDA-enhanced supercharacter and should have abilities at least similar to Ovan's.

Story-wise maybe? Gameplay-wise, it really doesn't show. Aside from the new moveset its just another rank upgrade. He doesn't feel excessively more powerful like Haseo Xth did with his high DPS and new dash movement. Heck it shows in the battle with shadow Kite or w/e that jerk was called, unless I really suck that thing was still a somewhat challenging fight.

In fact, part of the problem is they might not have reached the 80% either. It just didn't have enough gameplay to last 80 hours.

Probably not seeing as how the field PCs weren't unique aside from their names, towns being menus, no proper equipment just the dressup items, lack of cutscenes in the main scenario and zero for any of the sub ones! If Link was 3 or so years in the making (plus a near 5 month delay) theres not alot ta show for it outside of the OST, huge amount of dialogue, and the character portraits!

[Kuukai]

By group data drain are ya talking about Avatar Awakening?

I'm talking about how Data Drain evolved between volumes, which gave you at least one way to expand your gameplay. And there were entire new species of monsters, new effects and new easter egg skills. And other things to keep the game interesting. But sure, it applies to Awakenings too, as the series went on new battle options were introduced. In Link it's all the same except for a cutscene that changes.

Story-wise maybe? Gameplay-wise, it really doesn't show. Aside from the new moveset its just another rank upgrade. He doesn't feel excessively more powerful like Haseo Xth did with his high DPS and new dash movement.

I agree, that's my point, there should have been more gameplay development.

theres not alot ta show for it outside of the OST, huge amount of dialogue, and the character portraits!

That's Link right there. It was worth the money as an epic audio drama, but that's about it.

[Timinsk]

its 2017 and its been released AGAIN! its like this npc knew something

[Greyoutt]

Going off what the original post said, I would love to see a Fragment R:2.