How come I must know... (.HACK)

While sorting my stack of ps2 titles I came across my .HACK games. As is usually the case unable to resist the temptation spent several hours replaying them giving me a good excuse to do a partial rewrite of earlier posts on this series.

A quick summery for those that by some freak chance have never heard of .HACK. It is a Japanese project spread over books, PS2 games, animated series, comics and a cellphone game. The main element is a MMORPG played in a near future. In this future there have been some really bad cases of cyber terrorism of sorts. A virus called plato's kiss. As a result the Internet as we know it was taken down.

After several years a partial limited network was reopened. Only available trough a single Operating System called Altimit. A single company more or less controls the games and software market. Their latest product is called The World. It is a game based on an older MMORPG from before the Incidents that led to the closing down of the net.

To get the most out of this game players are using visor type headsets that provides a more intense game experience. The World is an overnight hit, and sells like no game has done before. But all of a sudden weird things start happening.
 It really gets strange when people start falling into comas. Are these incidents related to the game? Doctors and CC Company the makers of The World say they aren't. But are they right? Do they have all the pieces? Are they hiding something?

This is where the story kicks in. In .hack//SIGNS you follow a group of players inside the game who are trying to unravel some of the mysteries. The .HACK games are set slightly after .hack//SIGNS and continue the story. Bundled with each game is a DVD containing an episode of the .HACK//LIMINALITY wich takes place at the same time as the events in the game. Showing a group of people trying to sort out the same things but in the 'real world". Finally there is .HACK//DUSK (a better translation of the Japanese subtitle is Legend Of The Twilight Bracelet.). This show is set a few years later again building on what has come before.
I'm not going to write any spoilers, because that would really ruin it. This is one of those stories you should properly follow in the right order to get the most out of the experience.




Now of special note is the music. Kajiura Yuki/See Saw are responsible for the soundtracks and they are nothing short of excellent. It's one of those few sets that really is worth the hassle of ordering overseas. Liminality's OP "Edge" is totally different from pieces such as "Broken Wings" or "Mai". A lot of different styles and genres but all music that is definitely worth a listen.

The games are pretty good simulated Online Role Playing Games. The gameplay is good although the camera system takes a bit of getting used to. Mind you I'm not a big fan of dual analog stick controls so that's pretty subjective. The story progresses nicely and there are a fair number of things you can do apart from the main story quests. The only thing I definitely advice anyone playing this is to unlock japanese voices as quickly as possible and switch to those. Around the second game there are some voices in the English version that are extremely annoying. Anyone that has played Grandia should know what I'm talking about. If you happen to understand Japanese and can run imports on your console get your hands on jap copies of the games. These have a bonus feature that is unlocked the same way you can unlock jap voices in the English versions. This is called parody mode. It is what it sounds like. Absurd comments and dialogues giving you another very good reason to replay the game just so you can hear all of it.:-)


Project .HACK hompage

Btw, there is a new game in the works, I haven't heard or seen much about it so for now being patient is all that can be done. ;-)