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Hello everyone, there’s only one week left until we reach the legendary Page 40! I’ve mentioned it before, but I never thought I’d ever reach this! But let’s try not to get caught up in that yet; I’ll leave the sappy comments for Page 50. That aside, we’ve finally reached the end of the .hack//G.U. series! I decided to review both Volumes 3 and 4 on this page as the latter is literally only 2 or 3 hours long, and it’s all spoilery story content so there wouldn’t really be enough unique stuff for me to talk about if I gave it its own part. Now then, it’s time for us to finally end our G.U. journey! At least until I talk about the movie, which is… certainly something.
| .hack//G.U. Vol 3 Redemption |
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Acting as the sequel to Volume 2 Reminisce, the game was originally released back in 2007 for PlayStation 2 in both Japan and North America, although unfortunately not in Europe, just as with the previous two volumes. The North American release also included extra content in the form of a disc containing the 6th episode of .hack//Roots, Conflict. The game was then later remastered in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Nintendo Switch, along with the rest of the G.U. series. Once again, I played the Steam version on my Steam Deck.
As might have been obvious from the fact that this is the third game in what was originally a trilogy, this title marks the conclusion to the G.U. series, allowing the protagonist, Haseo, to finally put an end to the terrible events happening in The World R:2, while at last revealing all of its deepest secrets. An even scarier enemy is going to make its appearance, and we’ll have to defeat it in order to save everyone! Sadly I can’t tell you anymore if I want to avoid spoilers.
While the core mechanics of the gameplay hasn’t changed between entries, we do still get our usual share of new additions, such as a new kind of weapon in the form of Double Guns; they make it easier to attack flying enemies, which used to be a fairly annoying thing to deal with in the previous entries, and they will also deal more damage the closer you are to the enemy. In addition, we can now use a new type of Awakening that will reward us with Virus Cores, to make the ultimate weapons we obtained in Volume 2 even more powerful, and in Data Anomalies (glitches in areas) we will find Cheat Codes, capable of powering up even the 5-star weapons (the rarest) through the newly added Cheat Alchemy. Lastly, just as in the previous game, a new server is added, the Sigma server, with its new city and areas; additionally, at some point in the story, we will gain the ability to visit a special hidden town, called Netslum Tartarga, which exists outside of the realm of the servers we know.
Outside of these new additions, which slightly improved how the game plays, this title also serves to finally put an end to the series’ long-dreaded foe; its pacing issues! Remember how in Volume 2 I complained about the amount of filler content and the low-leveled dungeons? Luckily, Volume 3 has heavily decreased the amount of filler (maybe it wanted to finally end the storyline 🙂), with it now only amounting to probably 25% of playtime, and as it’s all placed close to the beginning of the game, it leaves the path clear for the rollercoaster ride of breathtaking events that is the rest of the game! Plus, Redemption also slightly increased the level of the story dungeons, so that if you don’t grind on your own, you should be slightly below or on par with their level. You might need to grind a bit for a certain boss fight, but no more than 5 levels overall, or it will be too easy. These changes made the game feel way better to play, especially in its remastered version as in the original releases on PS2 you obtained less experience from battles.
But then what do you do when faced with a dungeon that’s too low level to really offer you any experience? Well, you can either just push through it, or you could be like me and be so desperate to see what happens next in the storyline that you finally decide to explore a method on how to make dungeons faster! This method is worth it if you have a lot of cash (so probably starting from Volume 2) and are in a dungeon that will give little experience, also you must remember that you will get almost no rewards from the area. So, let’s get started!
First of all, you will need to purchase Fairy’s Orbs, which will show the full map of the floor you are on, marking Stairs, Treasure Chests, and Chim Spheres Gathering Points; you will be using one per floor, so that’ll generally mean you’ll need around three per dungeon. Then, you need to purchase Smoke Screens, which make you invisible for a few seconds, allowing you to escape from battle; you could alternatively get both these items’ “key item” versions, which will never run out of use, but that will require you to delve into the giant extra “Forest of Pain” area, so it will ultimately cost you less time and money if you just use the normal versions (unless you’re planning to complete that dungeon anyway). Additionally, you could, if you wanted to, get an item to increase your movement speed, although it’s pricey and less effective than the other items I listed. Now, once you have everything ready, it’s time to begin; when you enter a dungeon, use the Fairy’s Orb to see where the stairs or final chest are, and start running towards it. If you encounter enemies and they see you, open the menu and use the Smoke Screen. It won’t last long, so make sure to run away fast. It may be annoying to use, but it’s faster than defeating enemies. You can also use it if you get thrown into a battle, so don’t worry if that happens. Using both these items will make every dungeon much faster to complete, and it will definitely help you a lot if you want to rush to continue the story, although just remember to make sure the enemies give little to no experience before using this method (basically, if Haseo is at least 1 or 2 levels higher than the area), as otherwise you’ll end up being underleveled and you’ll ultimately have to grind later.
Given that I don’t want to spoil the story for you all, and we’ve now covered the major gameplay changes compared to the previous game, I think it’s time for us to finally ask; was it a good closure for the series?
Story-wise, it undoubtedly was. It offered a satisfying end to both the series and Haseo’s growth; he started as an annoying edgy brat but became an edgy yet heroic young man as the story went on, learning to treasure others and not rely only on raw strength. I also loved Atoli’s character arc, as in the beginning she, in Haseo’s eyes, was little more than just Shino’s shadow (as they shared the same character model), whilst she herself was extremely insecure and would blindly follow what others advised, hating fights and always wanting to hide behind her hero Sakaki, the head of her guild. Because of this, it was immensely heartwarming to see her grow up to be an independent girl, fighting for what she cares for and learning to be herself to the fullest. Other characters had similar growth, yet these two are arguably the ones I enjoyed the most.
He did not learn to read longer emails, though XD
Despite this, the series did leave a few points unexplored; most of these can be experienced by watching the videos contained in the Terminal Disc, which used to be a separate disc but is now included in the remastered version. To keep it brief, the Terminal Disc contains a documentary called “The End of the World”, which explains what happened between the events that led to the termination of the first The World game (after the events of the first miniseries) and the creation of this The World R:2. They contain heavy spoilers, of course, and I recommend you watch them after finishing Volume 3. While the game can be enjoyed without them, things will make more sense if you take the time to watch them. In addition, an OVA anime episode was released to cover a final missing point, called .hack//G.U. Returner. However, as of 2017, an additional Volume was released to properly end the series, Vol 4//Reconnection, and the OVA has been retconned as a result (although it’s still really enjoyable to watch).
| .hack//G.U. Vol 4//Reconnection |
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Being the fourth entry in this trilogy, this new volume was made using the same engine as the others, although it chooses to make use of anime cutscenes instead. Following the events set on the last day of The World R:2, the MMO, ultimately riddled with bugs, will be shut down to let the creators hopefully make a more stable version of it. This would be fine, if not for the fact that Haseo still has some serious unfinished business to deal with in the game, and if the servers get shut down before he completes it, then it will be particularly problematic.
Due to the already-decided fate of the MMO, most of the functions we have grown to know and love have been removed or transferred to Chaos Gates or Platforms, such as item storage, alchemy, and all other guild functions. For some weird reason, Haseo can’t use his bike, and most buildings are inaccessible. It is also impossible to visit towns other than Mac Anu, the starting one, and the only explorable dungeons are the story ones. Long story short, what remains is only the fundamental core of the game, prompting us to just follow its brief storyline. Luckily, we also get new abilities; we can now use a more powerful form of Haseo, which has flashy and amazing-looking Skill Triggers inspired by the various important characters of the game, as well as a new weapon in the form of a sword that can extend to hit enemies that are further away. Sadly, as soon as we unlock it the game will force us to use that weapon exclusively, which admittedly makes me think that they were perhaps too lazy to program a way for this new form to use the rest of our arsenal, and most probably, the bike as well.
Editor’s Note: Whilst it could be laziness, there is also the possibility that these things weren’t included because this was meant to be a small extra for the fans, and thus it wasn’t given the full development time or budget that the other games would have gotten. Additionally, given how long it was between the releases of 3 and 4, they may have lost the source code or files required to easily add these functionalities to the new form, thus they’d have to remake it all which may have resulted in it being too much effort for such a small game. Basically, if something is missing in a game, whilst it’s easy to chalk it up to laziness, there can be many other possible explanations for it.
In addition, in this Volume we can now unlock three additional party members, but only if you play in Cheat Mode, for some obscure reason. In order to try them out, and considering the lack of content that needed my old save file to be there, I decided to play in Cheat Mode. If you don’t remember what that is; in Cheat Mode, the game grants you a save file with everything maxed and a collection of useful overpowered items. As the level cap remains the same in Volume 3, if you maxed out your level in that game and then transferred your save file over, you will get a similar experience, just without the three additional characters. I started at level 150, while the first dungeon was at lv 135 (which is about 5 levels more than the level I recommend for the final boss of Vol 3). Additionally, I was granted access to powerful-looking equipment, although it wasn’t anything I would classify as “cheat” worthy. On the flip side, the items were far more appropriate for that lofty title; in fact, I got the “key item” version of the objects I advised you to get for the “quick-dungeon” method earlier, as well as a surprisingly good amount of healing stuff. As you might have expected by now, everything could be killed in one or two shots, and even the final boss wasn’t much of a threat. Even if I was at max level, though, I can tell by the levels of the areas that they at least paced the game accordingly.
One of the new characters, who kept mistaking Atoli for Haseo 🙂
Despite the stripped-down gameplay, this title definitely served its purpose of fixing any loose end in the series. It must have been heartwarming to see the characters again after 10 years for whoever was an original player, and even as a new fan, I can feel the joy of meeting these characters one final time. I adored the atmosphere of the last day of The World R:2, filled with nostalgia for its glorious past, hope for its possible future, and the melancholic goodbyes of those who are going to end their MMO experience with this game. For me, at least, it actually almost had echoes of the beginning of the Overlord light novel, where the protagonist, Momonga, spends some time in his beloved MMO until its final shutdown time, saying goodbye to everything he has seen and loved, long after most of his fellow guildmembers have already left. He does get sucked into the game though, and it becomes his new reality (a bit like Log Horizon, but that wasn’t being shut down anytime soon). Apart from this last detail, it’s a setting that I recognized and immensely appreciated. It’s painful to leave a world you’ve lived in for years, and say goodbye to friends you might never encounter again, and even if your favorite MMO was your reality for so long, in the end, it was all a Dazzling Twilight Dream, and as such, it’s bound to end.
So was this series worth it? Considering all of its numerous pros and cons, absolutely. It may have had its rough edges, yet it was such a wonderful experience that it would be a waste to ignore it. If you haven’t finished it yet, play it through the end, you won’t be disappointed, and if you are still unsure about trying it or not, even after I’ve been trying to persuade you for three whole Journal Pages, please consider doing so, as you’ll thank me for it later. I had an incredible time playing through this series, and I will definitely miss it. Luckily there is still plenty of extra content for me to explore, and I still have to go back and experience the first series as well, so my time with the .hack franchise is far from over.
That said, I’ll hopefully see you again next week for the 40th Journal Page, where I will finally delve into the long-awaited topic that is… Persona 4 Golden!
Best item ever!
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