[PS2] .Hack//GU

I'd guess it's the same length as the first two volumes, yeah. It could be a bit longer though, since apparently it introduces two new root towns rather than just one more, and there's a 100 level dungeon after you beat it. At least it won't have the same problem as the 15 floor epilogue dungeon from Quarantine, where it forced you to be close to max level or risk random game over from data drain infection with every fight.

Although it pains me to do so, I'll probably go pre-order this tomorrow. Gamestop only got in 2 copies of vol. 2 (I showed up as the delivery truck was leaving), and my Best Buy has been extremely incompetant with release dates lately. I don't want to get stuck waiting an extra week just because EB doesn't like to actually stock merchandise.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Same here. It was even more frustrating when I found out it was 15 floors and I'd made it to floor 13 on my first try. I finally went back to it last summer in preparation for GU vol. 1, grinded up to level 98-99, and did it fairly easily since your infection rate depended on your level compared to the area's.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Are the Ryu books harder to max out in vol. 3 for some reason? Hell, two of mine maxed out the first time I talked to Death Grunty.

I think I'm maybe about 1/3 of the way through the game now, and I love it as much as the others so far.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I beat the game last night, clocking in at around 30 hours. This game felt a bit shorter than previous installments, but mostly because I spent two days last week playing for about 8 hours. It also didn't spread the story out as much. Usually people are inviting you to various areas and such, but not this time around. I think I only had 2 lucky animals kicked when I finished the game.

Still plenty of stuff left to clean up in the epilogue though.

Spoiler:

I intend to finish all the Ryu Books as usual, go through the Forest of Pain, and recruit Natsume as soon as I can.

Overall a great conclusion to the series. I'll miss having a new volume to look forward to, but maybe in a few years we'll get another .Hack series. There's apparently an 80 minute OVA spanning GU's story in the works at the moment.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You wish. A lot of the new characters start at red with NO orbs. Raising affection isn't very difficult in the epilogue though.

Spoiler:

You'll receive the keyword "BBQ Plate" for areas with a God Chim. When you defeat a God Chim it raises the affection of both characters you've got with you.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah, which I thought was a little strange. I expected there to at least be one more color level, but I guess they decided to take it easy on you with so many new characters starting back on red.

FELIPE NO