[PS2] .Hack//GU

It still looks like Tri-Edge to me. His eye before firing off Data Drain looks the same as afterwards. The way I took it, Tri-Edge looks as though he was beaten by Haseo and his party, and Data Drains the surroundings to recover.

I could certainly be wrong, but it doesn't make any sense for Tri-Edge to be Kite, since he no longer played after the first series of games.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

G.U.'s battle system is leaps and bounds better than the original four game's battle systems.

Instead of just pressing X to attack, there are now variations to the combos that are done. For example, say Haseo has his Twin Blade weapons equipped, the first time you hit X could be regular slash, the second time another slash, and the third time you'd have to hit X repeatedly to do more damage. However, there are variations in weapon combos not only between different weapon types (Say, brandish weapons and Twin blade weapons), but also between weapons of the same type. So, while one Twin Blade may have the combo I listed above, a different one could have a completely different one.

There are also Rengeki attacks, which are essentially using special moves after something similar to a "Protect Break" in the original. Though it happens more frequently.

And you can also launch into a tension mode when the tension bar reaches maximum where you just get to pound on the enemies for more damage briefly. And that's in addition to regular special moves.

As well as Avatar battles, which while are interesting, they do become a little repetitive.

Of course, you can also guard in battle now, which adds a little more variety.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The Terminal Disc contains twelve files which explain the events surrounding the original games, and the events leading up to G.U.

With G.U. Volume 1, the first four files are available to you, each of which recap one of the four original .hack// games. In these four files, there really are not any new cutscenes, but instead shows most of the scenes from the original games. Keep in mind that you can't select which scenes to play, though, as they're integrated into the reports.

The other 8 files are meant to be unlocked with the next to Volumes, four for each game. However, they have been broken into already and there are English transcripts of them available. Definitely some key information in them.

As for the English release, keep in mind that, unlike the Japanese, you'll only get the Terminal Disc if you pick up the "Special Edition."

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