An MMO Built for One - Dot Hack G.U. Volume 1: Rebirth Retrospective 

So I made this video because I decided I didn't have enough fans of 20 year old RPG's about the cyberworld pissed at me for covering their game wrong with Battle Network, so let's throw the .hack fanbase in there for good measure! Again, please keep in mind that there are mechanics or details I avoided talking about so that I can still have things to mention in future parts.

It's always funny to me that they made a character who design wise was very similar to Sasuke, then wrote him like Sasuke and THEN ask Yuri to also voice him

As a player of FFXIV I can confirm that this is about as dramatic as an actual static raid group.

So… about Endrance. It can be assumed that, if you’ve played the first tetralogy of .hack games, that Endrance is an aged up version of the character of Elk. Elk was friends with a cat girl by the name of Mia, who turned out to be an evil fragment of The World’s AI that was trying to keep a separate AI hidden in the game from activating. Mia had slowly started deteriorating in health and attitude as the games went on, especially in Outbreak, she had it rough there. In Quarantine, however, Mia was finally revealed as one of the four major bosses, Macha. (I’ve always pronounced it as “Ma-ha” but whatever works for you) Macha was-shock, horror-a charm and spell casting focused fighter, while Mia was a sword fighter. After Kite took out Mia, Elk was a bit peeved, to the point where, if I’m remembering correctly, he sabotages one of their attempts to take down one of the remaining bosses. With all the being said, it can be assumed that when The World R:1 burned down, Elk believed he would never be reunited with Mia. So, when R:2 rolled up, he modeled his new character after his lost friend, and then that AIDA decided to manipulate him further, disguising itself with the virus like actions that Mia would demonstrate. TL:DR-Endrance went from middle school soft boy to high school pretty boy, and it hit him like a FREIGHT TRAIN.

The adept rogue is like an MMO class because it's unnecessarily complicated with a million menus attached to it that very slowly make the class better

Yuri's performance is always a 10/10.

I'm always happy to see people talk about this game, especially when they notice the differences in the PS2 and Modern versions of the games. As someone who speedruns this game - multiple times mind you, I always get a heartfelt sensation when I can actually see the snippets of the cutscenes that I'm forced to skip over. Honestly I'm gonna keep my eyes out for the other parts of this series - so I can see your opinions as a whole on the 3 main games, and the -ahem- epilog chapter. Please keep it going and spreading the good word!

Skeith’s awakening is still one of the top scenes for me in jrpgs especially when right before he tells Haseo…”I have found you!”

Dot Hack will never get the recognition it deserves, one of the greatest experiences I've ever had the pleasure to play and still my favorite franchise since I was kid.

I still find it so cool that Kite's story starts by finding Skeith, watching him hand the protag squad their asses, then beating the tar out of him in the ending of Game 1. Then, IMMEDIATELY afterwards, Haseo's story starts with finding *Kite,* watching him hand the protag squad their asses, then beating the tar out of him with *SKEITH,* in Game 1. It's great parallels, truly. Cannot wait to discuss the over fantastic ones I've noticed over the years (Long ass comment about Endrance not withstanding, sorry, John. 😅)

It’s kind of cool how in the ending of the first volume you’re playing as Skeith, fighting against Kite, who is now the “evil” one. The opposite of the ending of Infection.

I find it funny how often Yuri lowenthal and Johnny yougn bosh were paired up as either rivals or bros in the 2000's.

.hack series is a nostalgia I hold dear. It was, and is still, wonderful and touching me to my core. Apparently, there was a rumor that the newcomer game Blue Protocol was designed to be a .hack lineup.

I literally can't thank you content creators enough for the amount of he'll y'all go thru to make these videos I literally watch from beginning to end because of your take on it and enjoy every minute because of it thankyou again

so fun story back in the summer of 2008 when i first got into this series over that summer I watched the Gurren Lagan dub, played volume 1 , and tales of the Abyss AND BOY THE YURI LOWENTHALL WHIPLASH THAT SUMMER GAVE ME! also thank you for the video was very fun and timed well as I meant to get back to my save file after a few years of not playing , lookign froward to the volume 2 video!

The needing to logout actually help me with my sleeping schedule when I was younger. It makes a good stopping point of playing the game for the day.

For the job extension and why the mc forgot about it the anime is important. Its been a while since I last watched it but I recall the mc did some kind of event that allowed him skip to the 2nd or 3rd form. The one with the tail. So he never did it the proper way like he does in the game. And great video. There's another good review of these games I liked, but this was is better. It was a bit more informative as the guy knew all the lore and could spot the Easter eggs, but he also was obsessed about pointing out the revenge aspect. He praises this games take on it and kept comparing Haseo to Sasuke from Naruto. Kept hating on him and talked as if the two characters went through the same things.

A testament to Haseo's character development is how he slowly goes from "I want to bring Shino back" to "I have to bring everybody back", which alludes to him both accepting the responsibility that comes from being an Epitaph User and not thinking only of his personal gain.

This game series deserves more respect honestly, sucks that most people suck.

About the editing software story at the end: I'd bet that the software was treating the files with a "." in the front as hidden. That's how things work in Linux based OSs (and MacOS IIRC) so the different editors were probably coded the same way.

Man I grew up playing these games and this was such a great trip down memory lane. Can't wait for the next parts

I love the part when Haseo at the end of Vol. 1 says the iconic line "We're going to .hack them back. Every last one!". It really resonated with me. But seriously, thanks for making a video covering one of my favorite RPG series growing up! The .hack definitely needs some more love and I'm really glad someone like you is helping see that happen! Can't wait for your video on the rest of the volumes!

Okay, while I did get a laugh out of having the Sword Art Online opening at the beginning... When it was followed by Silly Go Round? Even though I wasnt the biggest fan of Roots. It still gave me goosebumps! You know, I totally get why you would want to stick for the most part with the R2 saga. This series is one HELL of a commitment. And I can totally see why going through the entire series is not worth the effort. ...Can I just say how Azure Kite/Tri-Edge's theme. "Everything In These Hands" is absolutely badass!? ...I have a lot of mixed feelings on Alkaid. And most of them because of Love Triangle shenanigans that in my opinion, are always a complete and utter waste of time.

I made alot of ppl watch me play the GU series who im aware are SAO fans. I made them realize how much better Haseo is written to the majority of the SAO cast. That aside, the growth you see the characters go through is well done. A majority of them are not likeable but over time, they win you over and that to me is the series biggest charm.

I really loved this retrospective. The series is one of my favorites and I can’t wait to see the rest of the other retrospectives.

Fantastic work sir. Loved your work on the Battle Network series. I understand you said early in the video you may keep information hidden for spoiler reasons, but one that isn't much as a spoiler but cool info is Azure Kites name. The character is named "Azure" after his companions in the original 4 titles, Balmung and Orca. Those companions as a duo, beat the games hardest "unbeatable" boss. A journalist who happened to be hiding nearby and witnessed their victory swiftly went to the forums and wrote an epic poem (akin to the Epitaph of Twilight which the game is based on) Giving them the titles "Balmung of the Azure Sky" and "Orca, of the Azure Sea" Thus, they started being called that by other players. Azure Kite in this is in reference to these titles but uses fire and flames instead of Sky or Sea. Another non-spoiler for the GU series of games is Haseo himself is already an established character from a previous entry into the series. He was the twin blade during the events of the anime series ".hack//sign" The character also is "killed" by the Epitaph Skeith, giving the connection between the two. Hilariously enough, both Haseos PKK name and Skeiths titles/nicknames were "The Terror of Death." Lastly, again this doesnt spoil anything for the GU series at all but just a connection to previous works. Endrance is extremely hinted (basically confirmed) to be the Player Character "Elk" from the original games. The character has a strong (obsessive) connection to another "Player" named "Mia." Elk was a bit of a wimp through the original titles and always followed the (Only) Cat player in the game around non-stop. Mia was eventually revealed to be the fourth Epitaph Macha. When she eventually dies Elk doesn't know what to do without her. So, as Endrance he got as strong as he could as an opposite to his cowardly self of the previous game. this explains why the Epitaph Macha chose his Player Character to inhabit. (Also why it looks like a cat) and Endrances general obsession with it.

I found this video (and your channel) a few days after you uploaded this. It, no joke, inspired me to go back to Last Recode after I had only played Rebirth two years ago, and I'm so glad I did it. Now that I have, I gotta say; damn, are these tournament fights an emotional roller coaster. Especially against Alkaid. You can *hear* the desperation in Haseo's voice. Being told over and over how weak he is, especially when the fight with Tri-Edge made it blatantly clear how far he has to go, even after all his trials up to that point. It's no wonder he went off the deep end.

Best series ever !!! The lore, the characters, the mechanics, the end game content, everything about this game is perfect.

Dot-Hack being split across multiple media is literally the entire franchises' thing. in the original series the story was split between like 4 different mediums and you couldn't actually follow what was going on at all by JUST playing the games or JUST watching the anime or any of the other stuff. You had to do them all, in a specific order.

I appreciate you cutting the cut scenes up so they don't take as long as they actually do lol

Skeith's new design always got me excited especially with the soundtrack kicking in when he transformed.

This was an enjoyable trip through memory lane gave me some flashbacks Gaspard- "Waaaaaah they won't let us sell things in this shop! I don't want to live in this world anymore!!!" Me - " GASPARD, WE WEREN'T SELLING ANYTHING!" Fun memories also not sure if you know or not but Endrerence is Elk from the old.hack games

The cutscene b4 Trai Edge in part1 still gives me chills man haseo pulling out the blades and the sound effects 😢

I’m so happy to stumble across this video. These games have a special place in my heart. This video was amazing, can’t wait to see the rest!

This video was a good time. I couldn't make myself continue playing after finishing volume 1 a few years ago but this video kind of made me want to go back and continue it. I watched about 10 hours worth of megaman videos instead, many thanks KNIJohn.

I loved your commentary. Your ruthless honesty, and the use of expletives had me rolling the entire time.

This guy who made the video is a genius. I had a lot of laughs. I'm a big fan of the HACK games, anime and manga series to this day

I LOVED this series, thanks so much for giving this some spotlight! Haseo is SUCH a butt and the editing made me laugh a lot more than I thought I would. VERY much tuning in for next time!

Hey, KNIJohn, thanks for covering one of my favorite series of games. Your videos are always a joy to watch. There's something special about games that cover cyberspace that's magical in their own way. Kudos again for the new video.

You know. I really think the dot hack series has aged incredibly well all things considered. It's funny but the story for this game series is actually more relevant now than when Dot Hack initially came out. Back then online gaming was extremely niche and very very few people would be able to relate with the story of this game series. I know I struggled with it when I played it back then I still loved it. But in the modern era so many people play online games... not just MMOs but batttle royales fighting games first person shooters, loot shooters , minecraft.... etc etc. I think the story of this series would 100% resonate more with modern gamers than the gamers of the time of this games release. It's amazing when you really think about it.

This series was one of my favorite as a kid... I had to set aside Last Recode recently before finishing the 3rd chapter again or playing the new chapter. It's still on my list to finish when I find the time!

i literally paused four minutes into the video, played the whole game, and came back

When I was young, I found a picture of this game in a magazine and then went to the local FYE. I didn't find the game I was looking for (the second game...I know) but found the first one instead. My younger brother was so excited but he wasn't old enough to play it so I played it instead and we were instantly hooked. Years later and it had its anniversary and got released on Steam/Switch and I almost cried. I know the game can be campy and cheesy, sure MMO and anime bullshit goodness but it held such a soft spot in my heart. I found your third video earlier on my recommended (again I find them out of order lol) and was instantly hooked. I'm SO glad you're covering it because your videos are so fun to watch, great editing, and I'm glad you don't just dunk on the series but actually play and enjoy it.

This brings back so many memories I love that some ones is talking about this!

This is genuinely a great source for people who, like myself, are not even slightly familiar with the series and are curious about it... but have no clue where to start with what you pretty aptly describe as a "multimedia conglomerate". Most videos like this either are incredibly bare-bones reviews of the game disconnected from the world it tries to build (which, to be honest, is one of if not _the_ most interesting things about this series) or are ten times as long due to attempting to cover EVERYTHING all at once. Your observation that the rerelease only includes the sequel trilogy is also important, since if anyone picks up that rerelease then this is exactly how they'll experience the series: starting from this game, without any of the anime or books to provide context. You have definitely earned a subscription from me.

I played this trilogy more or less on launch, so seeing a nearly 2-hour long video of it is awesome. Wonderful video!

BRO DONT LEAVE ME HANGIN OK?!!! im gonna PATIENTLY wait for the 2nd part till my hair turns white.

Amazing storytelling as always. Looking forward to you telling your experiences with the story and combat of Volume 2 to 4.

Haseo didn’t know that Job Extensions existed. He got to the third form completely by accident when he did the Forest of Pain event.

As someone who's gone though a large portion of the .hack series, GU in particular always gets me with how simultaneous cool and cheesy GU is. I'm glad to see it getting some attention and hope this video series is popular. (i luv me some edgyboi Haseo) 1:46:30 I felt pain in my soul at this

i remember playing as a child .hack outbreak and loving it. I thought i was actually playing online with other people. It surprised me when i saw "evil kite" in videos of these other games and had no idea what was going on

Oh I remember the first Quadroligy. Jumping from one Disc to the next was like opening a new chapter, as "The World" around you got more and more corrupted, till you start up Disc 3 and find a complete Server in ruins. Its so eerie to look at.

It's funny to me to hear how the demon palace could be difficult for others. But when I played it it was entirely easy, except for the avatar battles. They were always annoying.

.Hack is literally A JRPG's JRPG. It's a cult classic for sure.

I recently got Last Recode because it was on sale on the PS Store for $5 and it's probably a game I would've paid full price for if I had known just how good it was going to be. I already beat the first game so now I'm watching videos on it but avoiding spoilers for Vol 2 onwards since I'm only 2 hours into Vol 2 at the moment. I highly recommend the collection, especially if you're a PS4/PS5 user since it's still on sale rn.

Omg amazing video, I didn’t realize it was almost two hours long when I started but I didn’t click away when I realized either. Big props, I was super excited to get more into this franchise, I’ve been playing the original anthology on ps2 because I’m a huge retro rpg buff, and fucking love playing old (kinda dated) rpgs. I’m definitely gonna have to snag the remaster of this trilogy on PlayStation! 😊

I find it funny how in the anime, Haseo is voiced by Andrew Francis, who voiced MegaMan.exe, but in Japanese, Haseo has the same VA as MegaMan X So Haseo has been voiced by a MegaMan in English AND Japanese.

Thanks for taking another look at the trilogy! I got every .hack game, and both animes, as a kid back when they were new, and they've stayed some of my favorites since. I always appreciate the format of narration you use, funny and informative while also giving time for the game to breathe and give its story. I feel it's one of the few franchises that understands what an MMO is: a social game, not just a power trip, and Haseo's a great example of someone who refuses to see that. A lot of people play for different reasons. Overall, Recode has a lot of QoL improvements I'd definitely recommend to people new to the series. Me personally, I still prefer the originals on PS2, mostly because of the difficulty. I remember how glad I was only needing to get some bosses down to half health because they were so brutal, and I was stuck on Azure Kite for a long time (probably because I was a dumb kid). The avatar battles are also easier overall, but seeing them in HD rather than 480p makes it worthwhile. One cool thing to note is that in each game, if you either stay in an area for too long without battling, or input certain area words (like Moonlight), you can meet the Doppelganger enemy, who follows you throughout the map if it spots you. It's like a super-powered version of Haseo, kind of like a secret boss, and you can get its equipment as well. Hope your coverage of it gives people some more notice of this underrated franchise! It's not perfect, but I think it has a lot to offer and is a unique experience you won't find anywhere else.

I own all 8 games on PS2 that I've emulated and bought this for 20 on steam sale. I loved this series as a boy. This anime is the OG SAO. Love this series and need to replay all of it on my PC.

Interesting fact for the Ps2 owners of the original dot hack games if you still had your save file of Kite you can bring it over to GU. So instead of fighting a computer generated Kite you can fight against the player's version instead which is pretty cool! It is sad that the original four games never got a PC port.

I'd like to point out that the music that starts when Kuhn is about to transform is the same (I think exactly the same) as the theme played when fighting Magus in .hack//Mutation. IIRC, he's the last boss of the second game and the theme evokes...mild PTSD for people who played that series.

man i fkin loved this series when i was a teen. played all the games from both series. also, I dont blame anyone for not covering IMOQ. I have tried to play that series again in my adult life and it is impenetrable to a modern audience.

adelie is basically a farming sim player. haseo is an angry 90s teen

Amazing video, it would be interesting to see more of the franchise

Also as someone whom never got to play ANY dotHack in its heyday, thanks so much for this! I'm coming off of a nearly 20 year dryspell from JPRGs, and stuff like this is up my alley right now. It's up next after I finish tales of arise; another great series, the tales of franchise, that I missed out on. Better late than never though 😅

I loved the story at the end with files it was incredibly funny and relatable. Great video so fun fact about the music the composer for .hack is Yuki Kajiura she also known for the soundtracks of Madoka Magica and Sword Art Online which means your SAO joke was on point.

Awesome video as always John. Man, i love this game so much, i played the original in the ps2 back in 2010 and up until this video, where you hide haseo's real name, i never look it up. Idk why. But searching for his name and backstory, man, it makes so much sense now why he acts like a toddler. You made me find a new deep meaning and another reason to love this trilogy even more. I hope you'll cover his backstory too. Please continue making videos like these.

Oh man, this brings back some memories. I loved this series and have so many good memories from this second set of games

The voice acting for this game series is so fucking legendary

I had been interested in the .hack Franchise in the past, but saw the overload of media one had to consume to get the full picture and I just... turned around and walked away from it. This video was exquisite in not only piquing my interest in the franchise, but the presentation done for said franchise. Amazing video, thoroughly enjoyed it while knowing literally nothing of the franchise

Damn that was a nostalgia trip, thanks for the video. I didn't even know there was a pc release and that it had an extra volume. Hope you'll make a vid about the other volumes too!

The way IYOTEN is giving orochimaru vibes is so on point it's ridiculous.

So fun fact, Haseo never actually took the job extension quests, he made it through the forest of pain, and was given an upgrade if you will, he was given so much power that it boosted his level to like in the 120's and it transformed his character into the 3rd transformation of his class. It was the world giving him literal cheat levels lol

Nice to see another video from you John, and what a nice coincidence since I bought the collection of the dot hack games for my PS4 like 3 days ago.

Also little fun fact for those who may not have noticed. The lockers in the end are a reference to an article on the news section of the computer talking about people abandoning things in lockers across Japan. Which I think was a real world issue at the time, but could be totally wrong on that. Aida sees this and uses it as reference with what it does to atoli. I have no idea why/how she has that weird brainwash moment though. Anybody else?

Say what you will about Haseo, but I love his edgy trash goblin phase. I think it's the perfect continuation of his character (yes I know what I said, but elaborating is spoilers) and his dickishness is just entertaining to me. Also fun fact about Avatars: they're all bosses from the first .hack series. There's a story reason for this, but again, spoilers.

I had this game over a decade and a half ago and this video series is giving me closure for the game I never finished and I can't wait for the other 2 games to be covered

Always loved the .hack series. Bought infection and this back in the day but always thought the games were too hard to finish it love the content explaining it all.

The Alkaid fight pissed me off because I was actually over leveled/geared but still had to canonically "lose" the fight.

Oh fuck that tech story at the end is the funniest thing. A file name starting with a dot marks it as a hidden file

Well just found this video, but it made me very excited for the rest of these.

Man, I fucking love these games. Thanks for doing these, and I look forward to the rest. Btw, I never found these particularly cutscene heavy in the way you are suggesting. The dungeons were long enough and I always did the sidequests when availible. Plus the story was engaging, so I nevet had a problem in any which regard.

the anime and manga have locations you can go to in the game for special items.

Something to bring up about Bordeaux getting PK'd at the start. The World is played with advanced vr headsets. So from her perspective she would have crapped bricks

This retrospective was so relatable. I’ve always wanted to try this series out but never knew where to begin as I was confused about the whole volume thing. I decided to pick up the rerelease for the PS4. It was on sale for $5. Sounds like I will easily get my $5 worth and then some

Actually that intro made me want to rewatch Sword Art because I love them both.

man i fucking miss .hack man , my childhood collecting all the games just watching haseo grow

Your retrospect was great to watch. ^^ Got my friend to watch the roots anime with me and started playing this one tonight for a couple hours and got to right the first party with atoli. But watching this made me really excited again to play and show my friend 😅

A great trip down memory lane, thanks!

Man, almost forgot how insufferable our MMO Sasuke is in the beginning. At least he gets better fast lol

torn between watching this video to push it forward into the Al Gore Rhythm and not watching this video so i don't get any spoilers for a game i just remembered was in my backlog

The in-game seriousness of Haseo using Skeith to me gets foiled by my brain jumping to the visual of the Skeith from Neopets. I half expect this edgyboi to turn into a chonky dragon goblin that eats everything.

Me from 20 years ago is here for Pi. Between her and Harle from chrono cross I clearly have a thing for certain hairstyles.

Reminder that almost all this game’s cast is taken from Naruto Haseo = Sasuke Yata and one of the starting PKs = Orochimaru Sakaki = Itachi Endrance = Gaara Of course plenty of other famous VAs as well like Ovan is Iron Tager/ MHW Commander And my favorite one Gaspard = Kakashi

Every jab John made through editing was right. Im a man child.

That SAO bit at the start 11/10 *slow clap* I miss the .hack series

That hit me right up in my nostalgia! Before undertale came along I openly said that the .hack//G.U. trillogy was was my favourite gaming series. Nowadays with a bit more of experiences on many games I know that was a *strong* statement, however I won't deny that G.U. did something that frankly only half life did at that point: an overarching and everexpanding series of games. Rebirth is a bit of a rough gem, but the story and the mistery makes up for it in strides. Reminisce is such a better game it's not even funny, excited to see the next video

.hack is always one of my favorite games, used to play the original one back in my junior highschool putting all nighter here and there every weekend just to finish it

When I first sat down to play the .Hack//G.U. games, I immediately thought, "Oh crap... I bought this whole series pack, and I don't think I like it. ".. But the more I played, I just couldn't put it down. Now they're some of my favorite jrpg games from that era, haha 😅🤣😎🤘🏻🎮

Great Video John i never Played the .Hack series but do know the characters like Kite, Black Rose, Aura, And Haseo via the Project X Zone Series on the Nintendo 3DS/2DS and love how they implement their Story in that series it great i would Recommend the games it pretty good. But Go Back to what I'm saying never played it but i wouldn't mind picking it up also I Love the Soundtrack the Composer Chikayo Fukuda Did a Amazing job in this Series, the Naruto Ninja Storm Games, Asura's Wrath, and Much More she my favorite Composer next to Yoko Shimomura and Tomoyo Mitani who did the Vocal songs. Once Again Great Video dude.