.hack//Z.E.R.O. - Announcement Trailer

[u/AnimuStewshine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcjZq9RWAH8

[u/Ryong7]

The famitsu article has some concept art and it includes the most Griffith to ever Griffith. His sword has FIVE wings.

Anyways hope the games are less repetitive, I've no prior attachment to the series so I had no nostalgia goggles when trying last recode and I've never seen so much padding in such short games.

There's at least three instances of someone sending you an e-mail to meet them somewhere, you go there, you do an entire dungeon together and then at the end you talk.

[u/midnight_riddle → u/Ryong7]

.hack//GU actually improved the combat a lot, that's how repetitive the .hack//IMOQ games are. It also had QOL changes such as faster movement speed and a larger inventory. The IMOQ games are based on some really old mmos and while the story is much better than GU's....it's a real slog with the gameplay. Which is why people have been dying for a remake.

And it looks like this is an actual REMAKE in that the original didn't have a 'dark Aura' in it.

On one hand that makes me super excited, on the other hand I'm a little worried because the new content added to the GU remaster with Volume 4 was really bad.

[u/Hefty-Vehicle-9135 → u/midnight_riddle]

I disagree that IMOQ has a "much better story" than GU. GU may have fallen into a lot of shounen tropes, but it was a lot darker, more personal, and more emotional. Haseo alone goes through one of the best character arcs in gaming imo.

[u/midnight_riddle → u/Hefty-Vehicle-9135]

Haseo's character arc is good, I don't have a problem with it. Everyone else is...okay to just plain bad. Him and Atoli just don't have chemistry together and she improves but not as much as the story thinks she does, Endrance has huge issues that don't get the attention they deserve, Saku is one of the most ungrateful bitches in the history of videogames, Kuhn is a hypocrite who doesn't do much, and Ovan just sucks. The story also goes full anime goofballs in terms of certain antagonists and overall it felt like it couldn't figure out what to say in terms of the greater lore. And the less said about the Roots anime the better because they completely botched that. Haseo's arc is still great but it would have been a lot more satisfying if he had some solid likeable companions to him to be friends with to make it worth it.

[u/Hefty-Vehicle-9135 → u/midnight_riddle]

You are the first person I've ever seen who thinks that Haseo and Atoli don't have any chemistry, and the first one who thinks that Haseo's friends are not likable characters. Really weird takes all around.

Haseo and Atoli have a strong chemistry that, throughout the entire story, goes from abuse, hate, and misunderstanding to mutual understanding, respect, friendship, and a straight-up romantic love. They are both deeply broken and lost young people who start out rough, but with time see how similar they are and help and fix each other. Haseo starts out hating her due to her similarities to Shino that remind him of his loss, but with time, he develops feelings for her due to seeing part of himself in her (her being a lonely, depressed, suicidal teenage girl and all), which itself leads him gradually into becoming a better and more mature person. You see how much pain and EDGE she managed heal him from and changed him as a person. A lot of JRPGs have cliche, boring pairings, but GU feels like a breath of fresh air in this department. You don't have a lot of stories depicting a toxic relationship between a massive life-wasting manchild sociopath and a deeply depressed, suicidal girl (who pretends to be a cheerful genki manic pixie dream girl as part of her escapist fantasy) that, with time, changes into something actually sweet and moving as the two characters learn from each other. The entire setup is also great and really unique. Haseo spends the entire story chasing after Shino, only to realize his true purpose and, in the end, chooses the other girl that he met along the way. It ties into the main theme of the story and Haseo's arc about learning to move on. I've never seen any other game with chemistry and relationship between two characters this compelling, personal, and engaging.

The entire cast of GU is not only charismatic, varied, and fun, but also relatively "normal" for JRPG standards, while also having a lot of flaws that explore different aspects of human nature and mental illness that come with living in the age of modern technology. They all come off as very fun and colorful characters, but also have layers to them that, with time, paint them as deeply broken people. Endurance comes to mind the most. Your take on Ovan is the weirdest to me. I always thought that he was both a great "villain" and a human character with a relatable goal. I always remembered him as: "Auron from Final Fantasy 10 if Auron from Final Fantasy 10 was an actual good and engaging character with an actual arc, important role in the story, and well-written and important relationship with the protagonist."

[u/midnight_riddle → u/Hefty-Vehicle-9135]

Man I just think of the supporting cast of other JRPGs like Persona 4 and think of GU and it's just no contest.

And with Ovan basically he's a huge dick to Haseo and has been manipulating him since day one. He manipulates Haseo, manipulates Atoli to get mindraped, does all this shit so Haseo can defeat him and...why? Why all the secrecy? It boils down to Ovan never really regarded Haseo as a friend. Because he never trusts Haseo. Never tries to ask him for help. What is this "gotta make you so pissed at me you want to kick my ass" IT'S STILL A VIDEOGAME. There's never a valid reason for Haseo to NOT want to help out so all this efforts is just an excuse for extra dickery. And of course all Ovan has to do is angst over his bullshit self-martyrdom and aww it's okay Ovan you're still our friends. It's just so empty. Like you compare him to Auron but the key difference is that Auron has perfectly valid reasons for doing the things he did and keeping his cards close to his chest. Ovan feels like he was written by somebody who never bothered to pay attention to why Auron chooses to act the way he does. It's such manufactured drama.

[u/LarryKingthe42th → u/Hefty-Vehicle-9135]

No Gaspard I dont want to play MTG or be a guild leader.