Not sure. You might want to poke around at gamefaqs to check on what all you've missed or might get.

I'm gonna try and get some save files from either friends or the Internet, since I never finished the original .hack series. I must have really enjoyed the story in Infection to sit through the graphics. That or I was totally gar for Skeith.

OMG RAGE

I hit the 19 hour mark, fought a certain boss and was treated to a nice cliffhanger followed by fucking credits!

I was just really starting to enjoy the game only to be cut off wondering how long I'm going to have to wait for the next game IF it even ever gets localized.

What happened to the claimed length of .hack//gu where the first volume was to be nearly as long as the previous four games combined. What happened to the self contained stories which we were promised for these volumes?

Ug, it was such a good game too.....

Wow, you beat it that fast? I'd heard the same thing you mentioned regarding length. This is kind of good news for me, since I want to get back into both Devil Summoner and Valkyrie Profile 2.

Volume 2 should be on the way, hopefully sooner than expected. I heard December, but that seems reasonably unlikely. January would be nice.

Erk, some post game whining:

It doesn't bother me so much that each Volume isn't drastically different or particularly lengthy, but I'm a little shocked by how dependent each new installment is on data flags. There's a lot more that you're missing out on by starting the series up on the second or third Volume-- levels and equipment are obviously one thing you'd miss out on, but then there's also the very demanding Guild levelling and the quests from various Mac Anu NPCs. I wouldn't want to track down those damn hard-to-find members or all seven of those blacklisted PKers again. The game's a lot better than the original .hacks though, so I don't think I'll pass on Volume 2.

And what was wrong with Silabus? I liked Silabus.

So let me guess, the PK sidequest results in an item that is required to complete the first volumes item list, doesn't it?


Also, I don't mind the short length very much, however I went into the game thinking it was of decent length (30+ hours) so it was a bit of a shock. It still does bother me where they cut off the first volume but I guess that is how they get people to buy the next two volumes.

Now that I'm over the initial shock, I have to say this was a good game. They have improved production value of the game all around compared to the four original games. I absolutely love the change in graphic design and the stylization really sets this game apart from the rest. The music is also excellent and the Asian instruments used in a lot of the tracks really gives the game character. Another thing I couldn't help notice, and something that is normally overlooked is the sound effects in the game. There is a really unique use of sound effects in the game and again really helps to distinguish it over other games.

I'm rather impressed with the jump in character development as well. I found it pretty difficult to take a lot of the original games character development and plot seriously as even the game itself played off most things being they were just characters in a game themselves. Not only that, but in the original game, most of the characters were pretty shallow. GU is completely different where each character has a very recognizable personality. Haseo and his obvious character flaws also makes him FAR more interesting than Kite ever was. I also feel terrible for poor Atoli, and it usually takes a pretty high level of character development for me to feel sympathetic for a game character.

I don't dislike Silabus, I'm basically indifferent about his character. I just find Haseo, Atoli and their relationship far more interesting than other aspects of the game. My main driving point to keep playing was to find out how those two were going to interact each time they got together. I wouldn't be surprised if Atoli is hated by most, but her character really grew on me toward the end as I think she is FAR more complex than many people might realize. The cool aspect about .hack is there is actually a character behind the game characters and the writers of the series tend to exploit this fact pretty well.

This game came out pretty recently didn't it? Is nobody playing this, or is it because FFXII came out soon after?
I guess I only have to look at stupid amount of posts the FFXII thread has and I just answered my own question.

Is the game really that short? I guess i'll have to play it really slow then. =/

It's not really that short. I'm up to 39 hours on it, and I'm still finishing up some side stuff (hunting PKs, killing the doppleganger, etc.). I beat the main game in about 35 hours, and I consider that to be a pretty decent length. Sure, it's a bit low, but I had enough fun with the game to more than make up for that. I really hope we get an actual release date for vol. 2 soon.

Yeah, this and other games got shoved to the side once FFXII got released unfortunately.

I also wanted to note that I watched some gameplay footage for Volume 2 on Youtube and it looks like the repetitive combat has evolved more than I thought. Brandish Haseo has a slew of different combos to use in combat. With the addition of real-time weapon change, Volume 2 should be a bit more fun than it's predecessor.

And yeah, the game was kind of shorter than I expected, but I thought it was a decent enough length. There's still a lot I haven't done yet (kill the PKs, take down the Doppleganger, etc.) but got Haseo, Pi, and Kuhn to the max level of 50. The only reason I stopped was because I'd unlocked all of the videos I wanted to, and from there I'm moving on to Devil Summoner (since time's short).

Quick question, Mr. Kuradosempaikunchanyanwan.
Did you get the email's from BlackRose?

From what I've read, the email from Blackrose is received if you convert data from any of the original 4 .Hack games. If you convert Quarantine data then you receive an email from Hokuto (AI Buster) to Rena (Legend of the Twilight's Bracelet). Those are the only bonuses as far as I know. Kinda sad. =/

I didn't beat all four previous .Hack//* games, so I never got the e-mails. I did, however, hear about some creepy e-mails Endrance sends you in Vol. 2.

Well, yeah, I had gotten those (they were pretty interesting...), and then I got one that said "Oops, I sent it to the wrong person, please ignore, etc..." and I was just wondering if anything else unlocked..

I really, really, really like G.U.

Yeah, BlackRose's email was especially interesting. I've looked at a couple of FAQs about the converting, and they all seem to think that those 3 emails are all you get. I say that it's kind of sad because I'd read an interview before the game was released where someone from Bandai made it sound like they were adding in something else special, but I guess that was just Hokuto's email since that came from converting .Hack//Fragment data in Japan.

I converted the Quarantine data, and got the Blackrose and Hokuto email. He later sends another email saying sorry for sending it to the wrong person.

Tell me something, I didn't get this terminal disc, but I am curious about what's on that disc. I heard it explains what happend between R:1 and R:2 is that true? Also any idea if someone uploaded them somewhere so I can watch them? Youtube only had 2 that I could see.

There's a thread on the forums over at www.dothackers.net about the Terminal Disc playing in Windows Media Player Classic because of how the files are saved. It's likely that you could find torrents for them, but that forum has a very strict policy of no discussion about any sort of piracy like that (even YouTube) so I can't say for sure.

As for content, I haven't watched the files that unlock after beating vol. 1 yet (files 6 and 10) but 1-4 were detailed summaries of the first four games. All I know about 6 and 10 is that they provide a bit of info about Ovan.

I wonder if they are going to offer the Terminal Disc with the second volume for people that missed out on it with the first volume. I kind of got screwed with the collectors edition for the first volume since none of the EBs even ordered a collectors edition in my area and I wasn't aware of the CE until after they stopped pre-orders for them online.

I think it's stupid too, i mean something significant like this should have been in every version, not in a special edition. Doesn't really make sense at all.

Yeah, and it didn't help that they waited to announce the way the Terminal Disc would be packaged. EB and Gamestop's sites only mentioned the action figure until a week or two before its release.

For those who are eagerly waiting for Volume 2 to come to the US as I am, the official site has been slightly updating giving us the official title for the Volume 2 US release. Still no release date, but this does settle the question of it ever coming to the US.

.Hack//Reminisce isn't a bad title, so I'm happy with it. I just wish we could get an actual release date. Since I've heard that the voice acting is almost completed, or possibly fully completed by now I'm hoping for a March release. It seems feasible, and it's not close enough to the end of the semester to interfere with exams.

Gah... I wonder how fast each of the games were released in Japan... -_-"
Can't...wait fer it (please let it be released in March)!!! ><

Volume 3 was already released in Japan (most of the cutscenes from the game are available on youtube). From what I saw, none seem quite as action-packed as the ones in Volume 2, but still cool nonetheless.

Well we are one step closer to an actual release date for Volume 2. Unfortunately it seems we will have to wait until this summer for the US release.

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3156781

Oh, dag nabbits!

Yeah, all volumes were already released in Japan... grr. I saw some screenshots of the Vol 3 ending.... it was just too funny! Atleast... I think it was some sort of ending...