Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)With seven games to this series, and an inexhaustible supple of anime, film, toys, etc., the Dot Hack series has reached the heights of longevity shared by very few RPG's. Final Fantasy is the undeniable owner of the title, both in terms of number of episodes and sheer quality, but Dot Hack will always be a contender. And more to the point, a lot of fun as well. The premise of these games is that a multi-player online fantasy game can become larger than life and that threats within the game can endanger the real world. The first 4 games in this series were based on Kite, a young player who finds himself caught up in the game beneath the game. This set of games established the basic pattern - basically a dungeon game with a number of sidequests,
This second series - 'G.U.' - continues this pattern, this time centered on a new set of characters led by Haseo. Haseo, seeking vengeance for the loss of his girlfriend as become an avid killer of player killers whose nickname is 'The Terror of Death.' One of the things that make the three 'G.U.' an improvement over the original games is the strong element of character depth and development. Haseo starts out unlikable and, as the conflict with the viral AIDA develops, becomes more the responsible leader and hero and less the bitter killer. By the end of the game there are some twenty characters that Haseo can team with, oppose AIDA with, or even propose to.
Along with the quality of character the storyline has become more detailed and logical. And the character enemies have become more interesting as well. This last stanza carefully ties many of the threads together. The game uses the interactions in the game, in addition to resources in the computer interface such as emails and discussion groups, to drive the plot forward. In fact, one of the most noticeable flaws in the game is that faithfully reading your emails will drive the story forward faster than you want to go. Of course, this is one of the few games that will let you play all the sidequests after the main story completes but I found this a bit unsatisfactory. But there is a lot of gameplay here in any case.
The game offers a considerable number of sidequests and internal games to keep anyone happy. There's a fight card game where you can go on quests for special cards and challenge other players. There's motorcycle races and arena fights. All of this in addition to the find every one thing or another quests. There is a enough game time here to play until you are senseless. Since this is the last in a long series most of you know what to expect and I promise you that that is exactly what you will get. If you are new to the series I suggest you track down at least the previous two games if you want to understand the plot and the characters.
Now, what should I do until .hack starts up once again?
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