Board 8 > .Hack//G.U. Last Recode on sale for $5 on PSN (90% off)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've made topics for this game collection's sales before, and you can be damn sure I'm gonna keep doing so.

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0700-CUSA07559_00-HACKGURECODE0000/

Also $8 on PC.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/525480/hackGU_Last_Recode/


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I look forward to your topic in the future about the deep sale on the eShop (a Switch version was just rated by the ESRB).

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mnkboy907 posted...

I look forward to your topic in the future about the deep sale on the eShop (a Switch version was just rated by the ESRB).

I did see that. I expect even big sales for that version may sit at around $19.99 or so at best for quite a while, though. Super late Switch ports almost always still go for full retail at launch.

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Give me your sales pitch on the .Hack//G.U. games. Also, how long are they?

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Average regular playthrough for the main 3 games is probably 20 hours each if you do story only (totally viable), maybe 25 if you do some side stuff that you just stumble upon. There's a very extensive amount of extra content for completion isn't which could easily add another 15-20 hours, but there's no story locked behind that, just items. The new volume 4 is maybe 10-15 hours, I unfortunately have no idea how much additional content is in that one because I never went for it, just did the story.

In terms of just the general spoiler free pitch, its a very unique jRPG with a great story, some fantastic characters, and interesting setting. This is from a time long before the characters playing an MMO and things get real genre became stale overused crap thank to SAO, and it completely stands on its own. Unlike the older games in the series, GU is actually fun to play. The combat is hard to describe though, nothing I can think of to compare it to without caveats. Theres a demo if that helps.

As far as the two things that get asked a lot for those more in the know:

I didnt like the original quadrilogy, is this more of the same? No, these games may take place in the universe but they are very different. Those old games, honestly were pretty bad. They were certainly COOL and stood out as different than the rest of the market, but they were very repetitive and a very poor value proposition. Stuck way to rigidly to the fake MMO idea in places and suffered for it.

Do you need to play those older games for the story? Absolutely not. It definitely adds a lot of flavor to some of the plot beats, but is in no way required whatsoever. Its one of the things I like a lot about the GU story, it stands completely on its own while still having some very interesting tidbits for fans that arent just fansevice. The setting makes that a lot easier to pull off, honestly.


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Bizump

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Thanks for this!

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Dude...$5? It was one of the best JRPGs of the PS2, with a dub version rivaling Persona for how good it was. $5 is almost criminal. Everyone should get it.

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Is the gameplay turn based/atb? Or is it more like phantasy star online or monster hunter?

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If I had to pick something I guess it's more Star Ocean adjacent, but with a bigger emphasis on positioning.

This won't factor into the first game much, but eventually it's also got a heavy focus on active weapon switching mid combat, with customizable move sets and a huge difference in how each weapon handles.

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Strife2 posted...

Dude...$5? It was one of the best JRPGs of the PS2, with a dub version rivaling Persona for how good it was. $5 is almost criminal. Everyone should get it.

$5 is an absolute steal for just one of these games, much less all 3 plus the special volume 4 addition.

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Very quick action based combat. Easy to do attack combos and chaining stuff with party members. Status effects can make or break certain enemy types (charm/confusion/paralysis specifically wreck face)

The only real issue is mage AI is lackluster. They will spam their SP in short order if you aren't careful and set them to slow down.

Still, it is very easy to get into.

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Strife2 posted...

The only real issue is mage AI is lackluster. They will spam their SP in short order if you aren't careful.

PTSD man, you never even realize that SP is going down until it's gone.

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Once I realized three dagger users/Fists users can stunlock people against the wall, mages got even more bleh.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Average regular playthrough for the main 3 games is probably 20 hours each if you do story only (totally viable), maybe 25 if you do some side stuff that you just stumble upon. There's a very extensive amount of extra content for completion isn't which could easily add another 15-20 hours, but there's no story locked behind that, just items. The new volume 4 is maybe 10-15 hours, I unfortunately have no idea how much additional content is in that one because I never went for it, just did the story.

In terms of just the general spoiler free pitch, its a very unique jRPG with a great story, some fantastic characters, and interesting setting. This is from a time long before the characters playing an MMO and things get real genre became stale overused crap thank to SAO, and it completely stands on its own. Unlike the older games in the series, GU is actually fun to play. The combat is hard to describe though, nothing I can think of to compare it to without caveats. Theres a demo if that helps.

As far as the two things that get asked a lot for those more in the know:

I didnt like the original quadrilogy, is this more of the same? No, these games may take place in the universe but they are very different. Those old games, honestly were pretty bad. They were certainly COOL and stood out as different than the rest of the market, but they were very repetitive and a very poor value proposition. Stuck way to rigidly to the fake MMO idea in places and suffered for it.

Do you need to play those older games for the story? Absolutely not. It definitely adds a lot of flavor to some of the plot beats, but is in no way required whatsoever. Its one of the things I like a lot about the GU story, it stands completely on its own while still having some very interesting tidbits for fans that arent just fansevice. The setting makes that a lot easier to pull off, honestly.

Thanks for this. Saw the sale on Cheap Ass Gamer but was like... "Eh, I hated Infection back on PS2."

Will give this a shot.

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I feel like these game would have been a lot more popular if the original Quadrilogy had never been released.

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I played maybe an hour of Infection and couldn't believe how dull it was.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

I feel like these game would have been a lot more popular if the original Quadrilogy had never been released.

OK this is kinda a ridiculous statement

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Hey I started this this week(Switching between this and Vesperia) ! I'm at the literal beginning, but yeah the first thing I noticed was the cast, it has some big names in there.

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Waluigi1 posted...

OK this is kinda a ridiculous statement

Those games got a pretty awful reputation for being mediocre 12-15 hour jRPGs at full price.

Then a new series starts that's also set up as a multi full price game story from the get go.

It's the reason I didn't buy GU vol1 until like 5 years after the fact.

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Without them, these games wouldn't exist and if they did, they'd be even more niche than they already are.

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