I fell in love with the original Dot Hack series of games (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak and Quarantine) and when I heard they were coming out with a new series, I was very happy!I went out and bought the game the day it came out, and I have to say, I'm greatly impressed.
First off, the graphics are good.They're not the best, as Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria and Final Fantasy 12 are slightly newer with better graphics, but they don't completely suck.
Sound is pretty good too, but it gets very repetetive after a few hours of gameplay.The combat sounds are exciting and "pop", but the background music gets on your nerves.Especially the background music when you're in the first town, "Mac Anu", gets stale so fast.
The controls are easy to pick up.The R1 button can now be assigned different skills so, unlike in the first games, you don't have to open several menus just to use an attack skill.Sadly enough, though, you cannot assign healing spells to the R1 button.The camera control is somewhat better than the last game, but I feel it still needs work.
The voice acting is decent at best.Most of the characters show little emotion, or over-react their emotion to the point of making it rediculous.Just wait till you meet Gaspard, and you'll know what I'm talking about... The main hero is also rediculously one sided, getting frustrated at each and every event trigger in the game, and often for stupid reasons.If its supposed to portray how gamers react in an MMORPG, its completely off the ball, at least as far as I've seen (been playing Guild Wars and World of Warcraft for about two years.)
There are TONS of stuff to do in this game too.You can become part of a number of guilds, which opens various options to you as a player, such as special shops that allow you to make creative items, access to a faster mode of transportation, etc.You can also do a number of fun and interesting, if not repetetive, quests.The designers definetely tried to capture the MMORPG feel, but I don't think they accurately got it.Close but no cigar.For example, the towns are bustling with people, but oftentimes you'll see one person, turn a corner, and they'll be there again when they were running the opposite direction a few minutes prior.The town recycles the inhabitants over and over, so no matter how far away you get from a "player", they'll be right there when you go to a different district in town.
The story is o.k. as far as I've been.A lot of it feels forced, like the hero has to do this because the programmers made it that way, not because the hero "wants" to.It started out that way, but quickly took a dive.
I'm not impressed with the grading system after you complete dungeons and fields.You get graded on how many things you kill, sneak up on, boxes or other destructable items you destroy, how many items you collect etc.There is almost no explanation of that system that I've encountered, and I feel its useless.All you can unlock is extra words to create new dungeons and fields and useless items. Literally, I've had 50 health drinks, which is like a potion in other RPGs, since the first couple hours of playtime.I never use them, cause I don't take that much damage ever.
Thats another thing.The game's battles are entirely too easy!No one battle provides any sort of challenge.If you go to an area three levels higher than you, it gets harder, but the difficulty is masked in more hitpoints and damage capability, not true improved AI or anything.
All in all, however, the game is a vast improvement over the previous games.There are tons of unlockable stuff, tons of places to go, and you'll be entertained for hours on end.I would definetely pick this game up if you get the chance!
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.hack: G.U., Vol. 1: RebirthProduct Description: .Hack G.U. Volume 1 delivers an epic, immersive RPG experience in the world of the hit sci-fi fantasy game and TV series. What if what you do as a player in a game impacted your real world? What is reality? .hack has pursued this innovative concept in the previous 4-part series where "The World" was ultimately destroyed. Years after the events of the first .hack series, "The World" was rebuilt. As a new player, you are saved on your first day in "The World" from several PKs (Player Killers) by a mysterious man. From this day on, you have dedicated your time to hunt down PKs. Word in "The World" is that the legendary PK you have been searching for has surfaced, and you must now set out to find "it". Your world is thrown into chaos when you finally encounter this PK, and are defeated by him!
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First let me say that this is not a "review" of how good or bad this game is,no no no this is a WARNING to anybody out there looking to buy this game for your PlayStation 2.It's important that you know that this game is NOT for an american PS2(ntsc-u/c)!!! This is Japan ONLY!!!(ntsc-J)I think it's pretty cappy that whoever is selling this did not state that in the description. It WILL NOT play in your American PS2 in fact it was NEVER released for the PS2 in America,Only Japan and Europe,however it DID release in North America on the XBOX so you might wanna check that out. having said that,This is one of the best games I've ever played in my life!!!
