Sometimes we need to rewatch them as adults to understand more about these underrated series because it discussed serious topics like depression, isolation, and suicide. We really need to see more Dot Hack content like anime based on AI Buster, Epitaph of Twilight, Fragment, and Another Birth. If they're successful, hopefully we'll see remakes or remaster of the original IMOQ series or .hack//versus soon.
I’m a millennial that grew up seeing .Hack on TV but for the life of me could not understand it and did not find it very entertaining. At 30 years old, I find it a fascinating and more intellectual piece with important themes for the world we live in. Trying to understand .Hack is no easy feat and would love to see one, comprehensive and understandable, series that covers everything from beginning to finish.
Pay me enough and I will explain every second of every part of the series and how it relates specifically to your life in particular and on a day by day basis. dot hack was a prophecy and a lesson, more than it was entertainment.
There are a number of them, Sora (Haseo) was turned into Skaith by Morganna going comatose at the end of //sign. Sieg (Kuhn) was data drained by Skaith, going comatose. Elk (Endrance) had a connection to Mia, which was Mecha (also seen in //sign). Wiseman (Yata) and so on.
Funny I found this after finishing all GU games. I used to play Rebirth and Reminisce when I was a kid and just finished all three a few days ago. Now I'm gonna watch all the anime and play the other 4 PS2 games. Thanks for making this video
Valkneer if you have all 4 ps2 games of the original .Hack// quadrilogy, you're super lucky or were willing to dish out $100 < for the last game. If you don't have them already, I recommend viewing the prologue they spliced together in the last recode, it covers everything relevant to the first four games, even including cutscenes. If that doesn't satisfy you read the books, they're told from the perspective of Black Rose and even include some irl backstory.
All of the anime is pretty good, I didn't dislike any of them but I have to say that Hack//Sign is definitely the best of all of the animated shows. The story/plot, the characters, the background music, the everything from Hack//Sign is no doubt 'the best' of .Hack, in my opinion. I'm actually very disappointed that Hack//Sign never saw a video game release itself like we got with the events that take place after Hack//Sign (the events of the IMOQ video games for the PS2 where you play as Kite). Atleast we got the anime, I'd be bummed if it didn't exist (the anime of Sign, because it is so damn great!) but at the same time, it doesn't excuse the fact that they should make a video game of the events of //Sign. I'd like one similar to how Rahxephon was on the PS2, basically playing through the events of the anime series, maybe with a few possible endings or something. Or however they'd do it. It could be awesome, but who knows what 'the creators' will do. I think it'd be a great decision, and a money making one. But that is just me. xD
I wish there was a MMORPG of this but nope...although there IS going to be one for SAO out of all anime's. .dot Hack//Sign is such an underrated anime for sure although I find it funny how SAO fans tend to think .dot Hack//Sign is a so-called "rip off" to SAO. XD
ShadowBlazer3000 Same here I don't hate SAO but if they took out the perverted scenes like the ass shots it'd be better. There is a Korean MMORPG coming out called Peria Chronicles I'm pretty excited for it.
Toxic Phantom there was. It was called dot hack fragment. We just never saw it. It was back when the PS2 modem came out. So same time as final fantasy 11, but only released in Japan.
People who say that usually speak out of ignorance. Like they don't know that .Hack// is older. Or probably are dump they don't know how rip off works.
Other than that, I gotta say, Sign and Roots were two immensely good animes, full of subtle cues, refined atmosphere and realistic characters you could very much relate to. Especially if you're ever played an old-school 2D MMO like Ragnarok, Dofus or Wakfu.
@@AzureKite191 The unwashed masses can't handle this much quality, and the like. Also if it was made, it would most likely end up being pretty Sword Artsy, instead of carrying the introspective legacy of its prior works.
AHHHHHHHHHHH (FUDGE SAO!!!) SAO IS JUST A CRAPY KNOCK OFF. .HACK WILL FOR EVER BE MY CHILDHOOD. I remember sitting down and playing the games with my best friend. I'd give up whatever afterlife there is just to go back to one day to play these games with her again. I have never been more happy then when I was playing .HACK with her.
I've been following this series, from the first Anime to the light novels and games, since I was a kid. I hope Bandai Namco makes a new game and the series is revived with SAO's popularity. I loved everything about the .Hack universe.
You know as much of a fan of the series as I am, I'm not so sure I'd want it to continue. Even though I really liked Quantum I kind of could see an underlying problem the franchise was running into, having to rely on the same comatose plots over and over again. But hey if they could find a new way to innovate it and put a fresh take on it, then I'm all for it.
I like how Haseo can actually be really easily explained as "A blue covenant character" with modern gaming. The Extent to which the Souls games pivoted the concept of the best of games while having this loose online element really makes me feel like a modernized Dot Hack game would have to have Souls-like multiplayer.
I remember being like 12 and catching a random episode of .hack//sign and was INSTANTLY captivated! The music! The music!! But yeah...I tried looking into it online and was so fkn lost... I just....gave up... after watching this I would've REALLY gotten into it or would've been overwhelmed and give up. Wow crazy!
I first fell in love with .Hack as soon as the first game was released here in the US. I had never played an RPG so it was a slow start, but the game play was easy enough to follow. I had no idea how in depth and immersive the story would be. I have done my best to follow the story up to this point. I can't fault this guy, since this video was made about 3 years ago, but the latest from .hack is the re-release of .hack//G.U. also known as Last Recode. It is a remastered version of the 3 .Hack//G.U.games for the PS4. It also has a 4th part to the game series which loosely ties up the story for R:2. It also has a few other features such as a parody mode and a desktop that can really catch you up to speed on the whole story of .hack if you have the time to put into it.
I loved playing the games growing up and even got into some of the anime when I found it but couldn't understand the plotline for a long time. I enjoyed the video. Thanks.
I was a little confused by the anime plot myself at first, i think it took me a few watches to really get it. Liminality in particular I remember being really strange because I had no idea how it fit into the larger narrative.
@@ShadowBlazer3000 Exactly, and plus you had the other sources that had to be read and some or most weren't and still aren't available in the U.S. I'm glad there a still people who enjoy this series even today. It warms my childhood heart.
I liked Log Horizon more than SAO. Overlord is also pretty great, though with some unique spin that makes it different from all the other VR based anime.
Thank you so much .hack has always been really confusing but I think I get it now. I've only seen .hack//sign (26 episodes) and was wondering what to watch to complete the story. Now I know.
No fault to the guy who made this video, since it was made three years ago, but there has been a re-release of .Hack//G.U. for the the PS4 called Last Recode. It features all three G.U. games and a fourth installment that loosely ties up the story of R:2, and a few other features for the fans.There a few things that I have gripes with, but seeing as the story is pretty big, even some of die hard fans can get the facts wrong sometimes, but otherwise it was a good video.
@@animeguy10000000 so it makes two timelines originally after G.U we got the anime called Returners where it was some time after Haseo and co. saved the network from CUBIA and they meet up again in THE WORLD to celebrate their get-together party, skipping ahead Haseo and Atoli were walking together where they suddenly saw an AIDA that survived Ovan/Corbenix's Rebirth, this AIDA became AIKA in //Link In G.U Vol 4, the AIDA that was originally within Ovan became a rogue NPC called Kusabira and by the end of the game she merged again with Ovan's player data.
"and for newcomers it can be confusing" Played both the game series' ages ago and a lot of things still confuse me. Replaying them to see if I can figure this shit out lol. My biggest gripe right now is with the wiki and how limited it is.
Thanks for putting this together. I fell off as the G.U. games came out as they were NEVER released in the EU, so never got to play them. I didn't even know about LINK until I saw a random opening video in 'relevant videos' on youtube and hadn't heard of the CGI movie until I saw this video, blurgh, I'm so behind on this :'c
ShadowBlazer3000 I might one day just emulate it...or bother to buy a power converter, an NA console and the NA games, but yeah, I was surprised that they felt the original .Hack games didn't do well in the EU :'c
Kyle Parks Ah yeah thanks, was aware of the emulator, but really wanted to play it on actual console, I might end up getting a NA PS2 and buy the games one day.
I've just read .hack AI busters and it was very good, there isn't any important conflict but it works very well as a prequel to .hack franchise. I liked more the 2nd volume than 1st.
I read the Legend of the Twilight manga when I was a kid and occasionally watched Sign on YTV back on Friday nights when they showed a bunch of anime. Now I'm revisiting Sign and hoping to play all of the games one day.
One of the most underrated JRPG and Anime series ever. It's such a good series. Convoluted, I will admit, but that's where I feel it gets it's appeal from. It's such a large universe. The atmosphere from the games are amazing, and I think lends to the feel as though you are a part of the virtual world. I wish they would release with updated visuals. Maybe also the ability to customize your character from a class/skill stand point. I love the games, the animes, and the manga. If you are willing to go down the rabbit hole that is dot.hack, it's well worth it.
Its pretty simple really; there are three linear timelines: The World, IRL, and non-canon. Sign and IMOQ take place at the same-ish time, then roots, then Link. The second row is simultaneously occuring irl events. The novels and manga are all non-canon. They retell the stories of other media in different ways. Its not rocket surgery. Im preemptively posting this because 2025 is the year of dot hack, dot hack fans just dont know it yet.
I played infection and was like “wtf is happening” then I read .hack legend of the twilight and was like “YAaY!”Then I played GU 1. And was like “this is cool and edgy and emo” Then I was like that was fun. And then sword art came out years later and I was like “THIS IS JUST A RIP-OFF OF DOT HACK! 😤”
Love the manga. Love the games. Love the anime. Now if only someone hadn't stolen my copies of the original quartet of games and my box set of SIGN... Still so much rage.... Only one's I've managed to replace are Infection and Mutation....still looking for Outbreak and Quarantine...and its been 10 year since the theft....and I *still* haven't managed to replace the anime.... Grrrr.....
UPS recently lost my entire set. The only installment I was missing was Mutation and it's Liminality disc. My fiance's already buying me new copies of the games, but he can only afford to do one each month. And he's a stickler for perfect copies, which makes it that much harder and more expensive to collect.
Pretty good summation (you really should get a hold of the //Legend of the Twilight manga though, it has a more connective plot tone to it.) I am always glad to see a fan! Also //Epitaph of Twilight as you mentioned is early, Very early. It's about Lara Hoerwick, Harald's niece who stumbles upon his early beta of //Fragment. Unfortunately it's never been released in English. I can't help to mention that with G.U.//Rebirth there was something called the //Terminal Disk which came with it which recapped the first four games and explained why "The World" became the "The World R:2" Finally, there is one very important piece of media which was released after the movie. It's called .hack//Thanatos Report which follows after the events of the movie on the trail of the agents and has large implications for the series.
Haha, I've been following since .hack//SIGN on Cartoon Network so many years ago... There's nothing quite like it. Even though imitators have come and gone.
People forgets that Haseo's player is the player that played Sora from the original .hack//sign (and games). After coming up from the coma, he forgot the events of Sign. So yeah, G.U. has strong ties to the generation 1. Also, Endrance's player, is the one who played Elk in the .hack//games. So that is another link to Generation 1.
Oh, I forgot. There is also Natsume, who is a twin blade in the generation 1 games who also appears as a wanted PK in the GU (And you also have an ending with her). And Piros the third is the Piros from the original games. The point is that in the video I understood that you mention that GU has no connection to generation 1, but yes it does have connection as a direct sequel.
I have only seen the .Hack.Sign series. It was very interesting, if not a little strange. The ending to it was quite baffling to me. I found out not long after that there were heaps of other series and stories connected to it, some before and some after, some canon and some not, this helped me to understand what goes where. Many thanks. Quite the puzzle.
Lots of misinformation here. XXXX, GU+, Trilogy, and the novels, are all non-canon retellings in that their versions of GU or the games are based on earlier storyboards. They're not a substitute for playing the games. The Epitaph of Twilight novel with Lara takes place before The World was even The World, during Fragment. ZERO is a novel. The movie is technically not the final entry, since there's an OVA unlocked when you beat Versus, which is technically the last thing chronologically. You also missed Bullet, the web novel sequel to Link.
this was s great video, I learned a thing or 2 lol I've played all the games and seen there respective anime along with //dusk but I didn't know about the other stuff
I personally found the best experience was playing all the games first, and then investigate everything else from there. The games felt like the main root of the story, and, as we can see, most later installments, be it manga, anime or novels, always are either spin offs, or single stories with no relation to the games (albeit some of them portray the same PC of the original protagonists over and over). Which is nice, and adds certain depth to the franchise, but I still feel like the games are the most important, and everything else is more or less secondary or a little addition to the bigger plane. I know Roots is an exception to that, but its also nice to see it after playing G.U and tie everything in. It feels really natural too, after playing the first four games, you go to G.U, and the second you see the avatars and what they are, you're like "Ooooohhhhh". Just my humble opinion. Not to be misunderstood, I know you can watch and read everything BUT the games, and say the games are an addition to that, but I just feel most of the investment for the franchise went to the games.
I think that's a good point to make with the games being the primary focus of the story. Liminality was mostly conceived to take advantage of the PS2's DVD player and SIGN was kind of an afterthought to flesh things out some more.
Yeah, the franchise is still amazing though and I didn't mean to discourage anyone from reading or watching all the other available material, some of which are really good and interesting. I didn't mention it but the video is really good and it explains and shows most .hack media some people might not be able to come around by normal means and puts it together into the timeline, great job.
I think the video left out the fragment multiplayer game as well, that was before infection in the timeline. Though it was technically a alternate world. However i don't see them making anymore entries to the series anytime soon. CC2 pretty much abandoned the IP after Link bombed. They figured out they could make far more off rehashing the same fighter title over and over. I think the recode release was just to test the waters to see if sales were viable, which had kinda low numbers of like 300k copies sold on release month.
This a great list, very detailed! I would only add the OVA episode .Hack//Unison, in which the characters from the first set of games meet up with the characters from .Hack Sign. Also there was the bizarre OVA called .Hack//Gift, which similar to Unison has the characters from the first games and Sign interacting with one another, but it is very weirdly animated, and meant to be a comedy.
Right off the bat, there are a few entries left out. Up to you guys to determine if they're important. I would say yes, imo. 1) Fragment (PS2 game): The beta game on which The World is based on/would eventually become. Call it a game that 'broke' the fourth wall. It's the 'PC game' that the players in the game played before playing 'The World'. When this game came out, there were actual internet servers that hosted this game. Players could even customize their avatars to look like the .hackers or create original characters of their own! 2) Rena Special(a yellow mini manga): There was a Japanese-only figure of Rena-in-Blackrose-skin that came with a manga. In it there was some story in which Rena, after the events of LotT(Legend of the Twilight), interacts with Hokuto, the witch character from AI Buster. (I have it myself.) 3) .hack//ENEMY (Trading Card Game): Five series of card expansions. Includes characters from the first series of anime and games. Does not include anybody from LotT or Roots/G.U. 4) Guilty Dragon(s?)(Trading Card Game): I don't know if this is canon nor do I know the manufacturer, but I have seen .hack characters on some of the cards. Although I've just watched this video, I forgot if the criteria for these entries were that they included any bit of story to the franchise OR that they just needed to be .hack-related? If the former, sorry for bringing this up. As an aside, I had totally forgotten about Epitaph of Twilight. I need to hunt that down now.
I never understood the constant balking at the term "PKK" that CCs always have when reviewing this franchise. It's not that hard of a concept. Hell, Eve has Countermeasures, Counter-Countermeasures, Counter-Support, Counter-Countersupport, Anti-Counter-Countersupport, etc. Dark Souls has Blue Phantoms/Sentinels and Darkmoon, which are PKK and PK hunters for vengeance (more of an after the fact thing), respectively.
I just finished .hack//sign just wanting to watch an anime while occupying myself with other things and... had no idea what was going on for most of it lol. I might just be slow but I had more questions with each episode while the last 3 seemed to piece the story together a bit but in the end, ill never fully understand what I just saw. Like why introduce characters towards the end that are apparently involved with other parts of the series? I'm glad you all enjoyed this anime, but I think ill end my journey here because I probably would just be more confused watching the other installments.
i think you should've mentioned that the player for Sora in the original series would create Haseo in G.U. heh... that kid just cannot catch a break. at least he doesn't go comatose in G.U.
As I understand Epitath OF twilight takes place before AI Buster, do haven't read Epitath of Twilight as it had just released by the time I was reading dot hack and sadly don't think an English version was released
Just to add some context on why legend of twilight manga is considered by most to be the canon one, it's because the manga, spoiler alert though, included aura's daughter, zefie, in which she was supposedly mentioned in G.U. in the bbs or something, based on some forum answer about why aura didn't do anything after the original tetralogy game, mentioned that the last person to saw her was Pi's brother in the old the world server. Which you can read here anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3556/what-happened-to-aura-between-the-events-of-g-u-and-the-movie
Thanks for the video, I haven't touch the series since going part way through outbreak when it came out and watching Roots some time after. From what I can tell there isn't that much extra to see if I want to get back into it and get a "full" experience.
Well when I made this FF7 remake wasn't a thing. But you're right about Telltale. I suppose people are more receptive to fragmented releases than I figured.
Do you have any active links you can share? Thing is they don't appear to be publicly available. There is the Iridium-Based project for an The World MMORPG game but they never passed the demos being finished, and they also never made the demos fully available to the public, if they did they made it unavailable as of now from the looks of it. I found a copy very old 2D games of .Hack, but they won't run for some reason. So, I get that some exist but as far as finding a functional copy of one, or one that has a publicly available link, it seems very rare. If you can post some links to the ones you're referring to I'll definitely check them out, I'd love to. I've been researching this for a few weeks now, with little luck finding anything much except the project by Iridium Based that they gave up on, and also the two 2D Rpg maker type ones but the 2D ones I cannot even get to run, as mentioned. I will continue to try to get them to run in the future and post videos if I get results. I also found a mod for Minecraft, that is what it looked like, where it is basically 'The World' from . Hack but you play in Minecraft style graphics, blocky 2D stuff and such. It's cool. But that is a mod for Minecraft if I'm not mistaken. While I'm always open to romhacks of video games (that would be cool to see for the PS2 ones!) and mods, and such - I'd much rather see fan games. So if you mean you know of fan games of .Hack, not just mods of already existing games (like the fan created.Hack mod for Minecraft and such), I'm definitely interested. I just can't find much of anything in regard to fan games, so I'm open to see what links you can show if you know of any that exist.
I would be great if they went round and made a comprehensive remake / rebundling of the entire franchise, in a canonical sense with all the divergents etc.
I was only exposed to two .hack entries and was confused because they were so different. Now I know that it was because one was .hack AI buster and the other was .hack Quantum. No wonder I was confused.
I'm not sure if you're aware of both .hack//bullet *light novel* and .hack//thanatos report *OVA* since none of these were shown in the timeline. Both of them refer to characters, events and terms in .hack//LINK, namely the Immortal Dusk incident that almost happened, the NAB (Network Analysis Bureau), the organization Mama, and Real Digitalization. Central characters include: Tokio (LINK, bullet, Versus), Ryuuji (LINK, bullet, Thanatos), David (Bullet, Thanatos), Tanaka (Thanatos, Beyond the World ->as Gondo) dothacktranslate.wordpress.com/projects/hackbullet/
Good video, but I have a problem with you stating that The first games and Sign are not directly related. True you can play the games without having seen the anime, at least until the end of the 4th game where there is a DIRECT tie in to Sign. But my point is that while the games are mostly independent for the duration the story itself is indeed a DIRECT branch off from Sign in terms of the creation of Skeith, the intentions of Morganna, the high importance of Aura as a pillar to the story all of which make the understanding of Herald and the epitaph much more easy to understand in the events of the last game. Then there is the final episode of Sign that was only on the DVD release AFTER the conclusion of the games because the story "concludes " with all the characters from Sign, Legend of Twilight and the games together, INCLUDING Sora, who we didn't get resolution on his character arc until the END of the 4th game. So to me the two are very much connected and not a simple "branch off". That being said still found the video well done over all and the fact that you had Cardcaptor Sakura in the thumbnail would have garnered a like from me regardless lol XD
After seeing this video I realise this series is way more difficult to understand than I thought as a kid watching //Signs on Adult Swim
Sometimes we need to rewatch them as adults to understand more about these underrated series because it discussed serious topics like depression, isolation, and suicide. We really need to see more Dot Hack content like anime based on AI Buster, Epitaph of Twilight, Fragment, and Another Birth. If they're successful, hopefully we'll see remakes or remaster of the original IMOQ series or .hack//versus soon.
They need .hack remaster on the oculus rift be so awesome
If there was anything to get me to buy Occulus Rift I'd think that'd be it
beware of getting data-drained.... you might fall into a coma :v
game will be modified the hell and back , said bandai
gonna be a good remaster , finally in PC
Honestly wouldn’t mind going into that coma
nekolita same
I’m a millennial that grew up seeing .Hack on TV but for the life of me could not understand it and did not find it very entertaining. At 30 years old, I find it a fascinating and more intellectual piece with important themes for the world we live in. Trying to understand .Hack is no easy feat and would love to see one, comprehensive and understandable, series that covers everything from beginning to finish.
Pay me enough and I will explain every second of every part of the series and how it relates specifically to your life in particular and on a day by day basis.
dot hack was a prophecy and a lesson, more than it was entertainment.
fun fact: Elk from the first games series is Endrance from G.U
and Sora from the first games (not the the female Sora) is Haseo at age 10
There are a number of them, Sora (Haseo) was turned into Skaith by Morganna going comatose at the end of //sign. Sieg (Kuhn) was data drained by Skaith, going comatose. Elk (Endrance) had a connection to Mia, which was Mecha (also seen in //sign). Wiseman (Yata) and so on.
Goosebumps whenever i hear the soundtrack
it's wonderful
Funny I found this after finishing all GU games. I used to play Rebirth and Reminisce when I was a kid and just finished all three a few days ago. Now I'm gonna watch all the anime and play the other 4 PS2 games. Thanks for making this video
is that canon? do you have source for this info?
Valkneer if you have all 4 ps2 games of the original .Hack// quadrilogy, you're super lucky or were willing to dish out $100 < for the last game. If you don't have them already, I recommend viewing the prologue they spliced together in the last recode, it covers everything relevant to the first four games, even including cutscenes. If that doesn't satisfy you read the books, they're told from the perspective of Black Rose and even include some irl backstory.
All of the anime is pretty good, I didn't dislike any of them but I have to say that Hack//Sign is definitely the best of all of the animated shows. The story/plot, the characters, the background music, the everything from Hack//Sign is no doubt 'the best' of .Hack, in my opinion. I'm actually very disappointed that Hack//Sign never saw a video game release itself like we got with the events that take place after Hack//Sign (the events of the IMOQ video games for the PS2 where you play as Kite). Atleast we got the anime, I'd be bummed if it didn't exist (the anime of Sign, because it is so damn great!) but at the same time, it doesn't excuse the fact that they should make a video game of the events of //Sign. I'd like one similar to how Rahxephon was on the PS2, basically playing through the events of the anime series, maybe with a few possible endings or something. Or however they'd do it. It could be awesome, but who knows what 'the creators' will do. I think it'd be a great decision, and a money making one. But that is just me. xD
.hack IS the definitive MMO series, and always will be.
I wish there was a MMORPG of this but nope...although there IS going to be one for SAO out of all anime's. .dot Hack//Sign is such an underrated anime for sure although I find it funny how SAO fans tend to think .dot Hack//Sign is a so-called "rip off" to SAO. XD
+Toxic Phantom Amazing people do think that, even when SAO was first coming out as an anime I didn't instantly write it off as a .hack clone
ShadowBlazer3000
Same here I don't hate SAO but if they took out the perverted scenes like the ass shots it'd be better. There is a Korean MMORPG coming out called Peria Chronicles I'm pretty excited for it.
Toxic Phantom there was. It was called dot hack fragment. We just never saw it. It was back when the PS2 modem came out. So same time as final fantasy 11, but only released in Japan.
just play ff11 or ff14
People who say that usually speak out of ignorance. Like they don't know that .Hack// is older. Or probably are dump they don't know how rip off works.
.hack Another Birth is fantastic. One of the best book series I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Ground breaking for young adult readers
Other than that, I gotta say, Sign and Roots were two immensely good animes, full of subtle cues, refined atmosphere and realistic characters you could very much relate to. Especially if you're ever played an old-school 2D MMO like Ragnarok, Dofus or Wakfu.
Why did they stop making Dot hack anime ?
@@AzureKite191 The unwashed masses can't handle this much quality, and the like. Also if it was made, it would most likely end up being pretty Sword Artsy, instead of carrying the introspective legacy of its prior works.
dot Hack sign had always been my most favorite anime of all time. the series overall is phenomenal and one that really deserves a really birth :)
My first love .hack
Very underrated anime(s)....& shocked ppl forgot about it so fast.....
Thank you for introducing me to this franchise Project X Zone 2.
same here
richard peters I really want the Project X Zone Series to be popular so that obscure Sega, Capcom and Bandai Namco franchises can be appreciated.
thats more just a Easter egg then an actual continuation or at least thats how most of the community i've talked to sees it.
AHHHHHHHHHHH (FUDGE SAO!!!) SAO IS JUST A CRAPY KNOCK OFF. .HACK WILL FOR EVER BE MY CHILDHOOD. I remember sitting down and playing the games with my best friend. I'd give up whatever afterlife there is just to go back to one day to play these games with her again. I have never been more happy then when I was playing .HACK with her.
MinxTwo A knock off that made its way to the top which I still don’t understand apparently SAO is one of the most popular anime’s in history
I've been following this series, from the first Anime to the light novels and games, since I was a kid. I hope Bandai Namco makes a new game and the series is revived with SAO's popularity. I loved everything about the .Hack universe.
You know as much of a fan of the series as I am, I'm not so sure I'd want it to continue. Even though I really liked Quantum I kind of could see an underlying problem the franchise was running into, having to rely on the same comatose plots over and over again.
But hey if they could find a new way to innovate it and put a fresh take on it, then I'm all for it.
dot hack versus had an ova called the Thanatos Report, which follows the movie and let's just say... things get very serious for a certain protagonist
that music at 2:20 just gave me the chills. .hack//GU trilogy music has to be one of the most chilling OSTs I've listen to.
It's the original Aura theme from the first quadrilogy but I completely agree!
"One single story told across four games; it can never be done today....."
*stares in Trails of Cold Steel...*
i had a hard time getting into //sign back in the day, but dam that intro rocks.
The ending too
So good, they need to remake like a HD/remaster version were the anime/books come out outside Asia, for PS4/XB1
Well good for you .hack//GU is coming out November 3rd for PS4/PC & it's going to be great. .hack//GU Last Recode I can't wait
Haseo has the best character change.. the solo loner to helper redemption at the end
I like how Haseo can actually be really easily explained as "A blue covenant character" with modern gaming. The Extent to which the Souls games pivoted the concept of the best of games while having this loose online element really makes me feel like a modernized Dot Hack game would have to have Souls-like multiplayer.
Orca and balmung they were so cool, i loved hack infection, amazing game
So much nostalgia.
Thx for the explanation video ^_^ this Helped a lot since I have dot hack gu last recode
I remember when blockbuster had the game section in the store and I rented the game a couple of times
An underrated series that has had most of it's products only released in Japan...
Oh boy am I ever gonna be able to read Epitaph of Twilight
Morpho Knight they have an English version of everything except Frägment
@@Ficzup who does?
Morpho Knight the .hack company. Tokyopop.
4:16 Those eyes. Creepy as can be.
LOL I don't know I find Mireille is really cute
I remember being like 12 and catching a random episode of .hack//sign and was INSTANTLY captivated! The music! The music!!
But yeah...I tried looking into it online and was so fkn lost... I just....gave up... after watching this I would've REALLY gotten into it or would've been overwhelmed and give up.
Wow crazy!
I first fell in love with .Hack as soon as the first game was released here in the US. I had never played an RPG so it was a slow start, but the game play was easy enough to follow. I had no idea how in depth and immersive the story would be. I have done my best to follow the story up to this point. I can't fault this guy, since this video was made about 3 years ago, but the latest from .hack is the re-release of .hack//G.U. also known as Last Recode. It is a remastered version of the 3 .Hack//G.U.games for the PS4. It also has a 4th part to the game series which loosely ties up the story for R:2. It also has a few other features such as a parody mode and a desktop that can really catch you up to speed on the whole story of .hack if you have the time to put into it.
I loved playing the games growing up and even got into some of the anime when I found it but couldn't understand the plotline for a long time. I enjoyed the video. Thanks.
I was a little confused by the anime plot myself at first, i think it took me a few watches to really get it. Liminality in particular I remember being really strange because I had no idea how it fit into the larger narrative.
@@ShadowBlazer3000 Exactly, and plus you had the other sources that had to be read and some or most weren't and still aren't available in the U.S. I'm glad there a still people who enjoy this series even today. It warms my childhood heart.
@@ShadowBlazer3000 did the story finish? Do they wake up in the real world?
@@cosettapessa6417 Yes every story has a conclusion
@@ShadowBlazer3000 yeah but sometimes in Japan it takes 25 years 😁
I am amazed some one did this when SAO is so popular. Awesome Job.
I liked Log Horizon more than SAO. Overlord is also pretty great, though with some unique spin that makes it different from all the other VR based anime.
Don't know how I missed your comment but thanks! It's because I love the franchise I thought this be a fun video to make
Thank you so much .hack has always been really confusing but I think I get it now. I've only seen .hack//sign (26 episodes) and was wondering what to watch to complete the story. Now I know.
That was a good chronological overview of the .hack universe.
No fault to the guy who made this video, since it was made three years ago, but there has been a re-release of .Hack//G.U. for the the PS4 called Last Recode. It features all three G.U. games and a fourth installment that loosely ties up the story of R:2, and a few other features for the fans.There a few things that I have gripes with, but seeing as the story is pretty big, even some of die hard fans can get the facts wrong sometimes, but otherwise it was a good video.
but it does bring up the question on whether they'll keep LINK as canon or not because last recode pretty much nullifies Returners as well as LINK
@@FerrickAnimaHow does it nullify Returners and Link?
@@animeguy10000000 so it makes two timelines
originally after G.U we got the anime called Returners where it was some time after Haseo and co. saved the network from CUBIA and they meet up again in THE WORLD to celebrate their get-together party, skipping ahead Haseo and Atoli were walking together where they suddenly saw an AIDA that survived Ovan/Corbenix's Rebirth, this AIDA became AIKA in //Link
In G.U Vol 4, the AIDA that was originally within Ovan became a rogue NPC called Kusabira and by the end of the game she merged again with Ovan's player data.
@@FerrickAnima Ah. I never actually played Vol. 4. I'm working my through 1-3 first since I've only beaten them once back in the PS2 days.
@@animeguy10000000 oh fuck, sorry if I ended up spoiling too much of Vol 4
Now where's the .Hack VR MMO we all deserve?
"and for newcomers it can be confusing"
Played both the game series' ages ago and a lot of things still confuse me. Replaying them to see if I can figure this shit out lol.
My biggest gripe right now is with the wiki and how limited it is.
Thanks for putting this together. I fell off as the G.U. games came out as they were NEVER released in the EU, so never got to play them. I didn't even know about LINK until I saw a random opening video in 'relevant videos' on youtube and hadn't heard of the CGI movie until I saw this video, blurgh, I'm so behind on this :'c
+Hean franchises can get pragmatic like that especially when you miss on specific entries. That's a bummer no GU in the EU :(
ShadowBlazer3000
I might one day just emulate it...or bother to buy a power converter, an NA console and the NA games, but yeah, I was surprised that they felt the original .Hack games didn't do well in the EU :'c
www.emuparadise.me/
Everything you need
Kyle Parks
Ah yeah thanks, was aware of the emulator, but really wanted to play it on actual console, I might end up getting a NA PS2 and buy the games one day.
Hean howdy! I'm here to inform you a good news! .hack GU trilogy is coming for ps4 and pc HD remastered and with some cut content!
I've just read .hack AI busters and it was very good, there isn't any important conflict but it works very well as a prequel to .hack franchise. I liked more the 2nd volume than 1st.
I read the Legend of the Twilight manga when I was a kid and occasionally watched Sign on YTV back on Friday nights when they showed a bunch of anime. Now I'm revisiting Sign and hoping to play all of the games one day.
One of the most underrated JRPG and Anime series ever. It's such a good series. Convoluted, I will admit, but that's where I feel it gets it's appeal from. It's such a large universe. The atmosphere from the games are amazing, and I think lends to the feel as though you are a part of the virtual world. I wish they would release with updated visuals. Maybe also the ability to customize your character from a class/skill stand point. I love the games, the animes, and the manga. If you are willing to go down the rabbit hole that is dot.hack, it's well worth it.
Thank you for this. I've always wanted to get into the series.
wonderful, glad this video could be helpful.
Oh man figuring the mystery out was a treat. Man and its payoff in GU was fantastic.
Still WAY easier to grasp than anything Yoko Taro comes up with ....
this was the shit. damn I miss this anime. But screw sword art online. a rip off and shitly story
I miss it plenty too.
i love SAO but it doesnt even compare when it comes to story telling
yoko yokome They came out around the same time interestingly enough
Satan, no. The original .hacks came out way earlier than SAO.
SAO came first...
... as a hentai game.
Remaster hype \o/
I love .hack and cardcaptor sakura, that is why i love your video thumnail:3
Its pretty simple really; there are three linear timelines:
The World, IRL, and non-canon.
Sign and IMOQ take place at the same-ish time, then roots, then Link. The second row is simultaneously occuring irl events.
The novels and manga are all non-canon. They retell the stories of other media in different ways.
Its not rocket surgery.
Im preemptively posting this because 2025 is the year of dot hack, dot hack fans just dont know it yet.
I played infection and was like “wtf is happening” then I read .hack legend of the twilight and was like “YAaY!”Then I played GU 1. And was like “this is cool and edgy and emo” Then I was like that was fun.
And then sword art came out years later and I was like “THIS IS JUST A RIP-OFF OF DOT HACK! 😤”
I loved skaiths hidden backstory the children of the program that went rogue and their connection to the characters are awesome
Love the manga. Love the games. Love the anime. Now if only someone hadn't stolen my copies of the original quartet of games and my box set of SIGN... Still so much rage.... Only one's I've managed to replace are Infection and Mutation....still looking for Outbreak and Quarantine...and its been 10 year since the theft....and I *still* haven't managed to replace the anime.... Grrrr.....
Aww that's terrible! I hope one day you'll be able to get new copies.
ShadowBlazer3000 So do I...
UPS recently lost my entire set. The only installment I was missing was Mutation and it's Liminality disc. My fiance's already buying me new copies of the games, but he can only afford to do one each month. And he's a stickler for perfect copies, which makes it that much harder and more expensive to collect.
dam son were they on insurance?
Thank you so much. A remaster of .Hack//GU is coming out soon, so i appreciate this video helping understand the universe. :)
Now it's 2024
Thank you for this on a midnight rabbit hole
my pleasure.
Pretty good summation (you really should get a hold of the //Legend of the Twilight manga though, it has a more connective plot tone to it.) I am always glad to see a fan!
Also //Epitaph of Twilight as you mentioned is early, Very early. It's about Lara Hoerwick, Harald's niece who stumbles upon his early beta of //Fragment. Unfortunately it's never been released in English.
I can't help to mention that with G.U.//Rebirth there was something called the //Terminal Disk which came with it which recapped the first four games and explained why "The World" became the "The World R:2"
Finally, there is one very important piece of media which was released after the movie. It's called .hack//Thanatos Report which follows after the events of the movie on the trail of the agents and has large implications for the series.
HighPriestFuneral very informative. I've followed this franchise a good while but still I learn new things about it!
Haha, I've been following since .hack//SIGN on Cartoon Network so many years ago... There's nothing quite like it. Even though imitators have come and gone.
HOLLY SHIT I GOT ALL THE ONES IVE SEEN RIGHT SO FAR! which is a major accomplishment for me because im not very smart lol
People forgets that Haseo's player is the player that played Sora from the original .hack//sign (and games). After coming up from the coma, he forgot the events of Sign. So yeah, G.U. has strong ties to the generation 1. Also, Endrance's player, is the one who played Elk in the .hack//games. So that is another link to Generation 1.
Oh, I forgot. There is also Natsume, who is a twin blade in the generation 1 games who also appears as a wanted PK in the GU (And you also have an ending with her). And Piros the third is the Piros from the original games. The point is that in the video I understood that you mention that GU has no connection to generation 1, but yes it does have connection as a direct sequel.
I have only seen the .Hack.Sign series. It was very interesting, if not a little strange. The ending to it was quite baffling to me. I found out not long after that there were heaps of other series and stories connected to it, some before and some after, some canon and some not, this helped me to understand what goes where. Many thanks. Quite the puzzle.
Nice thank for the explanation, I'm gone re watch the show been a min.
20 episodes into hack sign and my head hurts. Lord
it is tricky to follow at first, i took me a few watches to really understand it properly myself.
Lots of misinformation here. XXXX, GU+, Trilogy, and the novels, are all non-canon retellings in that their versions of GU or the games are based on earlier storyboards. They're not a substitute for playing the games. The Epitaph of Twilight novel with Lara takes place before The World was even The World, during Fragment. ZERO is a novel. The movie is technically not the final entry, since there's an OVA unlocked when you beat Versus, which is technically the last thing chronologically. You also missed Bullet, the web novel sequel to Link.
No the commenter did explain what's what.
I've been frustrated with this video for a year so I just made my own. Check it out on my channel.
this was s great video, I learned a thing or 2 lol
I've played all the games and seen there respective anime along with //dusk but I didn't know about the other stuff
Glad I could teach you something new!
I personally found the best experience was playing all the games first, and then investigate everything else from there. The games felt like the main root of the story, and, as we can see, most later installments, be it manga, anime or novels, always are either spin offs, or single stories with no relation to the games (albeit some of them portray the same PC of the original protagonists over and over). Which is nice, and adds certain depth to the franchise, but I still feel like the games are the most important, and everything else is more or less secondary or a little addition to the bigger plane. I know Roots is an exception to that, but its also nice to see it after playing G.U and tie everything in. It feels really natural too, after playing the first four games, you go to G.U, and the second you see the avatars and what they are, you're like "Ooooohhhhh". Just my humble opinion.
Not to be misunderstood, I know you can watch and read everything BUT the games, and say the games are an addition to that, but I just feel most of the investment for the franchise went to the games.
I think that's a good point to make with the games being the primary focus of the story. Liminality was mostly conceived to take advantage of the PS2's DVD player and SIGN was kind of an afterthought to flesh things out some more.
Yeah, the franchise is still amazing though and I didn't mean to discourage anyone from reading or watching all the other available material, some of which are really good and interesting. I didn't mention it but the video is really good and it explains and shows most .hack media some people might not be able to come around by normal means and puts it together into the timeline, great job.
.hack is at least 10 years older than SAO and STILL is better in every way
One question to all the fans of DotHack, Its Sora (from .Hack//sing) Haseo? (From .Hack//Roots)
Yes, Haseo is Sora
OMFG all these years I have lived a lie, but thans its good to know
Thanks. Saludos desde Ciudad de México
I think the video left out the fragment multiplayer game as well, that was before infection in the timeline. Though it was technically a alternate world. However i don't see them making anymore entries to the series anytime soon. CC2 pretty much abandoned the IP after Link bombed. They figured out they could make far more off rehashing the same fighter title over and over. I think the recode release was just to test the waters to see if sales were viable, which had kinda low numbers of like 300k copies sold on release month.
Epic neckbear voice my friend, very 4chin :^)
kek
This a great list, very detailed! I would only add the OVA episode .Hack//Unison, in which the characters from the first set of games meet up with the characters from .Hack Sign. Also there was the bizarre OVA called .Hack//Gift, which similar to Unison has the characters from the first games and Sign interacting with one another, but it is very weirdly animated, and meant to be a comedy.
Right, I always have the tendency to bundle them with SIGN so I tend to
forget about mentioning them (even though GIFT came with Quarantine)
Right off the bat, there are a few entries left out. Up to you guys to determine if they're important. I would say yes, imo.
1) Fragment (PS2 game): The beta game on which The World is based on/would eventually become. Call it a game that 'broke' the fourth wall. It's the 'PC game' that the players in the game played before playing 'The World'. When this game came out, there were actual internet servers that hosted this game. Players could even customize their avatars to look like the .hackers or create original characters of their own!
2) Rena Special(a yellow mini manga): There was a Japanese-only figure of Rena-in-Blackrose-skin that came with a manga. In it there was some story in which Rena, after the events of LotT(Legend of the Twilight), interacts with Hokuto, the witch character from AI Buster. (I have it myself.)
3) .hack//ENEMY (Trading Card Game): Five series of card expansions. Includes characters from the first series of anime and games. Does not include anybody from LotT or Roots/G.U.
4) Guilty Dragon(s?)(Trading Card Game): I don't know if this is canon nor do I know the manufacturer, but I have seen .hack characters on some of the cards.
Although I've just watched this video, I forgot if the criteria for these entries were that they included any bit of story to the franchise OR that they just needed to be .hack-related? If the former, sorry for bringing this up.
As an aside, I had totally forgotten about Epitaph of Twilight. I need to hunt that down now.
I still own the full first season of .Hack//sign on DVD
paved the way for SAO
I never understood the constant balking at the term "PKK" that CCs always have when reviewing this franchise. It's not that hard of a concept. Hell, Eve has Countermeasures, Counter-Countermeasures, Counter-Support, Counter-Countersupport, Anti-Counter-Countersupport, etc.
Dark Souls has Blue Phantoms/Sentinels and Darkmoon, which are PKK and PK hunters for vengeance (more of an after the fact thing), respectively.
I just finished .hack//sign just wanting to watch an anime while occupying myself with other things and... had no idea what was going on for most of it lol. I might just be slow but I had more questions with each episode while the last 3 seemed to piece the story together a bit but in the end, ill never fully understand what I just saw. Like why introduce characters towards the end that are apparently involved with other parts of the series? I'm glad you all enjoyed this anime, but I think ill end my journey here because I probably would just be more confused watching the other installments.
i think you should've mentioned that the player for Sora in the original series would create Haseo in G.U. heh... that kid just cannot catch a break. at least he doesn't go comatose in G.U.
Legend of the Twilight was the only anime that wasn't boring as hell!
As I understand Epitath OF twilight takes place before AI Buster, do haven't read Epitath of Twilight as it had just released by the time I was reading dot hack and sadly don't think an English version was released
Just to add some context on why legend of twilight manga is considered by most to be the canon one, it's because the manga, spoiler alert though,
included aura's daughter, zefie, in which she was supposedly mentioned in G.U. in the bbs or something, based on some forum answer about why aura didn't do anything after the original tetralogy game, mentioned that the last person to saw her was Pi's brother in the old the world server.
Which you can read here anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3556/what-happened-to-aura-between-the-events-of-g-u-and-the-movie
Thanks for the video, I haven't touch the series since going part way through outbreak when it came out and watching Roots some time after. From what I can tell there isn't that much extra to see if I want to get back into it and get a "full" experience.
hey bro! omg thanks for putting emerald green as your background song and silly go round👏🎥😎💪🔥🔥🔥
Still have all 3 of my GU games
That's awesome I have my original PS2 copies too
7:37 *downloads .Hack//Link with an English patch on modded PSP, in 2021*, watches video while waiting: "At least I'm on time!" xD
That sora from hack sign is become haseo.. and ironically before getting PKed, he is the PK itself and then become the PKK after..
one thing I would have added is that the Sora from generation one and haseo from GU are both the same person
Legend of the Twilight is amazing manga
sighs I miss this line ~ thanks for the explanation though, now I know the only things I missed were the games / manga + novels / Twilight >.>
I wish quantum had more episodes or more anime like it
Ff7 remake says hi on being released in parts. Also telltale games
Well when I made this FF7 remake wasn't a thing. But you're right about Telltale. I suppose people are more receptive to fragmented releases than I figured.
We need fan games of this!
Xbuster6 there are a couple
Do you have any active links you can share? Thing is they don't appear to be publicly available. There is the Iridium-Based project for an The World MMORPG game but they never passed the demos being finished, and they also never made the demos fully available to the public, if they did they made it unavailable as of now from the looks of it.
I found a copy very old 2D games of .Hack, but they won't run for some reason. So, I get that some exist but as far as finding a functional copy of one, or one that has a publicly available link, it seems very rare.
If you can post some links to the ones you're referring to I'll definitely check them out, I'd love to.
I've been researching this for a few weeks now, with little luck finding anything much except the project by Iridium Based that they gave up on, and also the two 2D Rpg maker type ones but the 2D ones I cannot even get to run, as mentioned. I will continue to try to get them to run in the future and post videos if I get results.
I also found a mod for Minecraft, that is what it looked like, where it is basically 'The World' from . Hack but you play in Minecraft style graphics, blocky 2D stuff and such. It's cool. But that is a mod for Minecraft if I'm not mistaken. While I'm always open to romhacks of video games (that would be cool to see for the PS2 ones!) and mods, and such - I'd much rather see fan games.
So if you mean you know of fan games of .Hack, not just mods of already existing games (like the fan created.Hack mod for Minecraft and such), I'm definitely interested.
I just can't find much of anything in regard to fan games, so I'm open to see what links you can show if you know of any that exist.
Xbuster6 My bad this Korean Game is called .hack//Sign(Skt). It is not Tsukasa’s point of view. You play as Mimiru.
I would be great if they went round and made a comprehensive remake / rebundling of the entire franchise, in a canonical sense with all the divergents etc.
Sure I will give it a watch the anime I mean I already bought several of the manga thanks for the order
Thanks for this
I was only exposed to two .hack entries and was confused because they were so different. Now I know that it was because one was .hack AI buster and the other was .hack Quantum. No wonder I was confused.
This was super helpful!
btw thank you for explaining the dot hack timeline ^.^
nice vid
thank you
I'm not sure if you're aware of both .hack//bullet *light novel* and .hack//thanatos report *OVA* since none of these were shown in the timeline. Both of them refer to characters, events and terms in .hack//LINK, namely the Immortal Dusk incident that almost happened, the NAB (Network Analysis Bureau), the organization Mama, and Real Digitalization.
Central characters include: Tokio (LINK, bullet, Versus), Ryuuji (LINK, bullet, Thanatos), David (Bullet, Thanatos), Tanaka (Thanatos, Beyond the World ->as Gondo)
dothacktranslate.wordpress.com/projects/hackbullet/
Good video, but I have a problem with you stating that The first games and Sign are not directly related. True you can play the games without having seen the anime, at least until the end of the 4th game where there is a DIRECT tie in to Sign. But my point is that while the games are mostly independent for the duration the story itself is indeed a DIRECT branch off from Sign in terms of the creation of Skeith, the intentions of Morganna, the high importance of Aura as a pillar to the story all of which make the understanding of Herald and the epitaph much more easy to understand in the events of the last game. Then there is the final episode of Sign that was only on the DVD release AFTER the conclusion of the games because the story "concludes " with all the characters from Sign, Legend of Twilight and the games together, INCLUDING Sora, who we didn't get resolution on his character arc until the END of the 4th game. So to me the two are very much connected and not a simple "branch off". That being said still found the video well done over all and the fact that you had Cardcaptor Sakura in the thumbnail would have garnered a like from me regardless lol XD
Damn dude, great job/video!