I have played a few games in my time and one of the games that gives me that nostalgia run is definitely .Hack//G.U. games! Its like a nostalgia feels trip of sheer goodness.
(WARNING: This will contain some game spoilers that I can recall from playing the games from way back. So if you haven't played .Hack//G.U. series yet or you are currently playing it for the first time, I am sorry in advance! Also this is also going to be a long one. So yeah..)
It was first introduced to me by a friend of mine. When we visited her house we had nothing to do for a bit until she had this idea of popping in a game on her PS2. And of course, the game she puts in is .Hack//G.U. Redemption. At first I didn't know that was practically the 3rd installment of the game. The part she was on was the arena fight during the PK tournament that was set up by Sakaki when he took control of the G.U. I was pretty amazed at how the game was. And I also found the main character to be really awesome. I saw a few more of the game before we decided to try some Resident Evil 4. But before I left her house I asked to borrow the game for a day so I can try it out for a bit. When I started the game I was confused when it prompted that I can transfer previous game data from the previous games. So The funny thing is that I actually didn't get what it meant (since I didn't read the whole message which was something I shouldn't have done.) I though it meant I can carry on some of my items and other transferable stuff from a finished file of Redemption and it will require difficulty settings. Just like other games that makes you go up on difficulty just to get a 100% in the game. So this means that I ended up playing the entire G.U. games backwards and I didn't even notice it at all! I just laugh at how confused I got as i played the whole thing.
Well despite the confusion, I ended up getting so engrossed in the story and the game itself that I completely ignored the fact that some scenes doesn't make sense to me. Like how did Sakaki even get there and why were they so surprised to seeing him at the serpent of lore. I was also confused to see Haseo starting in Θ Hidden Forbidden Dragonbein(Briona Gwydion the Dragonbein Range) standing over the Tri-edge sign created by Ovan when he finally revealed to Haseo that he was the real Tri-edge. At first When Haseo had a monologue with himself at the lost ground I was confused on who Ovan was and why he was standing there. Of course I would only realized what happened there after I played the second game which took me quite a while to be able to play. That was the place were Sakaki fled to after losing control of Atoli and Moon Tree, which was converted in to an AIDA server, thanks to Haseo and the rest of the crew (Specific party members you are to use in that mission are Kuhn and Endrance. No I think you don't have a choice here. Or more like I never tried to deviate from that.) It was here that Sakaki finally infected himself with an AIDA seed before completely getting away from Haseo and Co. (That sneaky greeen headed pedophelic-pea-brain. Yep, He annoyed me so much enough to call him names. He annoyed me even more during his last attempt to foil my mission of saving the internet[or Haseo's] by initiating a PK tourney.) And of course from there Ovan appears and the whole reveal of being Tri-edge ensues with the PK of Atoli and Pi right in front of Haseo. (Oh... Ovan you sneaky badass.)
Since I ended up playing the entire series backwards I'll end up typing abut this backward but if I recall completely, I remember finishing the Anime (.Hack//Roots) before finishing the game since I had to return the copy of the game to my friend before I can finish it. So its more like I had a taste of the game before getting my own copy and finish it. So I was able to finally know who Ovan was via the anime and I also got an introduction to Shino as well and most of Haseo's history. But even watching the anime didn't answer some of the questions I had about the game which lead me to first buy Redemption since I'm still pretty oblivious about the first two games. So I went on an amazing journey to find the third game so I could finally finish it. It took me a while but a very generous friend of mine who moved to Thailand bought the game for me as a souvenir from the country whenever she visits back here to my country. The game was amazingly in english and I was able to play with no problems. (But if I only searched for the voice over options I would have chose that they had their japanese voices and then have english subtitles. I likes every ones voices in japanese as it fits more. Though i give credit to Haseo's and Ovan's english voice actors though. But anyway setting that aside I shall now go back to the game.
So now that I've talked about my G.U. trip of confusion now I can talk about my gaming trip as I played all three titles for the series. First was Rebirth. It gave some of the scenarios from the anime and a brief introduction to how the game works and to how Haseo became a famous PKK (Player Killer-Killer) known as the "Terror of Death." We all know that he became like that due to his revenge driven goal of defeating Tri-edge and saving Shino who was now stuck in a coma after being PK-ed by the said Tri-edge. In search for Tri-edge, he went on kiiling PKers adter PKers which caught the attention of people Like Bordeaux who he kills and Sakaki who confronts him along with Atoli. Haseo is shocked by the resemblance her PC (Player Character) has with Shino. He eventually met Ovan again after 6 months where he got mad at him for his sudden disappearance. He then told Haseo to meet up with him at Hule Granz Cathedral where one of the best things I remember in the game happens in the form of a cinematic where Haseo faces off with Azure Flame Kite. The fight scene was awesome but of course Haseo loses due to him being data drained by Azure Kite's own version of the Twilight Bracelet that ended up reseting Haseo's PC to level 1. From there on he has to start from scratch in his attempt to save Shino.
From here on Haseo meets all of the people who would help him out in his journey. He met Silabus and Gaspard who mistakes him for a newbie in "The World" and invites him into a dungeon where they were confronted by Bordeaux and others who want to get revenge on Haseo for his PKK days. They were driven off by Pi by telling them people from Moon Tree were on their way. Haseo and Pi didn't really had a good first meeting with Haeo calling her an "Old Hag" which angers Pi and prompts her to leave but not before telling him that his his PC holds a dangerous power. From here on out we will be able to see how bad Haseo's personality started out to be thanks to the PK of Shino. I'll have to say I got annoyed at Haseo on how much of a jerk he can be. But then again since he was the lead character there has to be some hidden reason (which was no so hidden and would prolly soften up so I went on to play the first game.) I have this habit of getting annoyed at characters who I know will turn out well but first started out bad if I know that was going to happen. And since I played the last game first so I kinda had that moment where Haseo really got on my nerve.
In this volume he also got to have more interactions with Atoli as she invites him to fields. In one field he and Atoli were able to come across a Tri-edge symbol which led them to the lost ground: The Dead World of Indieglut Lugh where they met Endrance and as they were attacked by an AIDA they were saved by Kuhn using his Avatar Magus. More things begin to happen as he gets invited to be the guild master of Canard and him entering the Demon Palace arena tournament. Here he faces off against Endrance with his creepy little AIDA cat names Mia. Thanks to this I pretty much get the clue of how similar or how obviously connected Endrance was to the character Elk from the four previous .hack games which focused on the adventures of Kite and his companions who were later known as the .hackers. So yeah creepy obsession with a cat would and very possessive of it and not to mention you name it Mia. Yup definitely Elk. Screams Elk to me. But of course when I played the third game first I didn't get a single hint since there was no Mia AIDA cat around that would indicate the similarities for me. Moving on, I forgot that he also interacts with Sakubo for the first time here in this Volume. He has a good relation ship with Bo who was shopping at the Canard guild shop. Saku on the other hand was a crazed fangirl of Endrance and thats pretty much it about her aside from being Bo's older sister. They share the same PC. Only some slight changes to the PC that can be seen to indicate which sibling is using the character. Among the two siblings I like Bo the most. Saku doesn't really leave that much of an impression on me aside from being a really crazed fangirl.
Haseo Basically wins his fight against Endrance. He also had a match with Kuhn, Pi and Antares during the tournament where Kuhn and Haseo fought with their avatars. During this time Haseo's avatar went berserk because of misuse. This pretty much scared Haseo while pleading for his Avatar to stop as it mutilated Magus. Seeing what happened Haseo learned his lesson. Moving on from the tournament, for winning the match of course there would be a celebration at the lost ground: Hy Brasail, The Isle of Kings. During the event held here Atoli met Ovan and was told about Haseo's history with Shino and how similar their PC looked and prompted Atoli to act up on her own but not before confronting Haseo about it before leaving to a field all on her own. It was later revealed that Atoli was also an epitaph user and that she had also activated a Tri-edge sign that led her to a white room with lockers. Haseo, Kuhn and Pi went after her in the strange area and was then confronted by Azure Kite who Haseo believes to be Tri-edge. They first fought in PC form until Azure Kite transforms into an Avatar like being known as the Azure Flame God which Haseo faces off with using Skieth. After the battle Haseo and Atoli proceeds to reconcile with each other until the lockers at the back open revealing an AIDA inside to the players. It sends off a hypnotic wave to Atoli prompting her to walk towards it only to be snapped out of the trance by Haseo but he it didn't prevent Atoli from being attacked by the AIDA hands that entered her PC but soon left her. She then faints probably from the shock and as her PC falls down we could see Haseo and the others run towards her. The screen goes black and a Triedge sign appears cutting through the screen with Haseo screaming Atoli's name which prompts the end of the first game.
 |
| by 蝉.com |
 |
| Here is some Azure Kite creepin' on our lovable Haseo! |
0 comments:
Post a Comment