History Franchise / DotHack

There is also a card game called ".hack//ENEMY" (previously distributed stateside by Decipher, but now no longer in print), online/offline RPG (not an MMO, and service has since ended) called ".hack//frägment" named after the prototype of The World, and a short .hack//GIFT parody of SIGN and the games, available only on DVD; none are {{canon}}.

The first chronological installment localized in the US[[hottip:*:[[NoExportForYou A recent novel series, .hack//Epitaph of Twilight takes place before this.]]]] is the first novel, ''[[LightNovel/DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]]'', which takes place in 2010. Watarai, a game administrator, meets the first Vagrant AI (an {{NPC}} whose intelligence has grown to a level that cannot be programmed) that he cannot deny has a soul.

Eventually, commercial internet access becomes available again, and the release of the first post-crash online game, ''The World'', turns it into an instant craze, with twenty million users joining in the first few years. With a computer, a virtual-reality headset, and a gamepad, [[AnAdventurerIsYou one becomes a swordsman, magic-user, etc.]] and experiences ''The World'' through the [[InAnotherMansShoes perspective of their own characters]].

Eventually, commercial internet access becomes available again, and the release of the first post-crash online game, ''The World'', turns it into an instant craze, with twenty million users joining in the first few years. With a computer, a virtual-reality headset, and a gamepad, [[AnAdventurerIsYou one becomes a swordsman, magic-user, etc.]] and experiences ''The World'' through the perspective of the character.

*** Ofcourse LeaningAgainstTheFourthWall is the subject of the game as it's supposed to simmulate a MMORPG in a fake reality. It even says on the back that it's an MMORPG with no need of connecting internet cords, and what not.

*** On another note, some has noted the physical similarity of Kite's X-Form with [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Kaworu]]. Hey, Sadamoto ''is'' the character designer after all...

The ''.hack'' (pronounced "dot hack") series is a conglomeration of books, video games, manga, {{OVA}}, and anime TV series that started with the games by CyberConnect2. Most of these are character dramas told from the perspective of online gamers playing an {{MMORPG}} called "The World," which displays the disturbing tendency to affect the minds of its players, calling into question the nature of human consciousness.

* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]] (the second generation games)

* RoadCone: If you went through ''.hack//G.U.'' with anyone other than Atoli as Haseo's love interest, you're gonna be disappointed when you watch the movie - and it's hinted that Haseo ends up with [[spoiler:Shino]] at the end of the manga.

* LoveHurts: Poor, poor [[TheWoobie Elk]]. Not only does Mia, the only friend he has in The World and his first love [[spoiler: turn out to be an AI]] but immediately after that revelation, he [[spoiler: is forced to fight her alongside the main character and erase her from the game]]. It gets better in the BonusDungeon where you [[spoiler: bring her back into the game]]...only to get [[ItGotWorse much, much worse]] during the move into G.U. when Mia [[spoiler:gets destroyed anyway along with the rest of the world. This turn of events causes Elk, now Endrance, to [[HeroicBSOD become a social recluse and spend his life addicted to the world]]. When he thinks he is finally reunited with her in the form of a cat, he finds out that it was only AIDA manipulating him and watches as she disintegrates right in front of him when you defeat him in battle, leading, understandably, to ANOTHER HeroicBSOD where he becomes a recluse in The World, literally trapped in crystal.]] Elk's got it rough.

The setting for the series is TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, diverging from the real-world timeline beginning in October of 2002. On December 24, 2005, a supervirus codenamed "Pluto's Kiss" destroyed all of the world's computer operating systems. Microsoft, Macintosh, Linux... all gone. All except for one, [[strike: [=OpenBSD=]]] ALTIMIT, which seems to be immune to all computer viruses. In response, hacking becomes a capital crime worldwide, and the internet returns to its roots as a communication network for government and military use for the next several years.

The ''.hack'' (pronounced "dot hack") series is a [[CrackIsCheaper conglomeration]] of books, video games, manga, {{OVA}}, and anime TV series that started with the games by CyberConnect2. Most of these are character dramas told from the perspective of online gamers playing an {{MMORPG}} called "The World," which displays the disturbing tendency to affect the minds of its players, calling into question the nature of human consciousness.

* AllThereInTheManual: In short, if you want a full understanding of what's going on without consulting a wiki, be prepared to spend ''a lot'' of [[CrackIsCheaper money]].

* CrackIsCheaper: RealLife wise. If you plan to buy the games now, they cost around 40-50 £ or 60-90$ roughly. And that's for one of the original games that kick started the project! And there's 4 games in the original series. (Which was due to space limitations, lack of DLC back then, and to keep the games alive).

* TheOtherDarrin: Balmung was voiced by DougErholtz in the first game of the original tetralogy. He is voiced by CrispinFreeman from ''Mutation'' onwards. This is in cutscenes only, however; Erholtz' voice is still used for battle vocals. Evidently they recorded them before Erholtz was replaced.

* InstantAIJustAddWater: somewhat {{Justified}}, given [[spoiler:the fact that The World was specifically designed to produce an AI.]]

A full-length CGI movie set in the The World FORCE:ERA was released in January 2012 titled ''.hack//Beyond The World'', set in 2024 centering around a girl named Sora and her friends Balder and Gondo as they try to save the world from destruction. A new video game in addition has also been announced, by the name of ''.hack//Versus'', set in 2025. The World FORCE:ERA arc will focus much more on the backstory and deeper workings of forces behind the scenes of .hack's universe, and most particularly on Emma Wielant, ALTIMIT, both of their associations with the environmental awareness and protection group mama, and their own ultimate desires intended with The World and in extension, Aura.

Though they'd never admit it, the game's publisher, [=CyberConnectCorp=] doesn't fully understand how the game's core program was [[BlackBox created]]. It was based on a prototype written by a German neurobiologist who has disappeared. He created his program after the death of the woman he loved, a poetess who began working on an unpublished masterpiece after having what she called a "supernatural experience." This beta version of the game was known as ''frägment'' and a few recurring characters had active accounts during said beta test.

A full-length CGI movie set in the The World FORCE:ERA was released in January 2012 titled ''.hack//Beyond The World'', set in 2024 centering around a girl named Sora and her friends Balder and Gondo as they try to save the world from destruction. . A new video game has also been announced, set in 2025.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The manga and novels, as published by Tokyopop, as the translators didn't stay true to canon. (And the soundtrack CD published by Pioneer.)
** They weren't ''quite'' that bad. It was a case of lazy translation, followed by a "rewrite" to make it friendlier to the perceived audience, both done by people unfamiliar with the series. Things got better starting with volumes 2 and 3 of Another Birth.

* CallingYourAttacks: justified in that they're in a video game. OF COURSE THEY'RE GOING TO MESS WITH THIS!!!
** Possibly justified with the magic. Each element gets a word, and each "magic type" (e.g. making a tornado, dropping a blob of the stuff on the opponent) gets a word. Although it seems like the words depend on the level.
** It still seems odd that the players themselves would feel the need to call out the names of the game's spells, though. It's possible [[TranslationConvention they could actually not be calling their attacks and it's just for the benefit of the actual player of the games.]]
*** Alternatively, [[WMG the spells are voice activated.]]

* MeaningfulName: Everyone. Seriously, ''everyone''. Even the ones that aren't even ''names'', like BT. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that players name their own characters, and would naturally choose something personally meaningful.

* SeriousBusiness: Much like in real life, people take The World way too seriously and [=PKing=] has the same status as murder. Somewhat justified with those [[TrappedInAnotherWorld trapped inside the game]], since it becomes a question of [[YourMindMakesItReal what would happen to them in the real world if they died.]]

* TheOtherDarrin: Balmung was voiced by DougErholtz in the first game of the original tetralogy. He is voiced by CrispinFreeman from ''Mutation'' onwards.

The ''.hack//ZERO'' novel series is set shortly after; a set of stories that tells the story of a character named Carl, of what happened to the character of Sora after the end of [=SIGN=], and of Tsukasa's real life after being able to log out from The World. This series was never finished and Carl's fate was eventually revealed in other material.

The series timejumps to 2014, where ''.hack//Legend of the Twilight'' takes place. Shugo is the new hero, and he and his sister Rena take on limited edition, [[SuperDeformed chibified]] clone accounts of Kite and [=BlackRose=] to try to defend Aura's Daughter Zefie, whose existence is threatened by debuggers that still don't understand [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman that [=AI=]s are more than data]], and return her to her mother.

The anime ''.hack//Roots'' begins here, with the new player Haseo joining the game. For reasons he can't guess, two powerful guilds are competing for Haseo's allegiance from the first day he logs in. The story primarily follows the changes in his character as he joins one of the guilds, his leader Ovan disappears and the guild falls apart, his love interest Shino is attacked and put into a coma by a mysterious player-killer called Tri-Edge (who looks strangely like Kite), and Haseo finally becomes obsessed with destroying Tri-Edge and all other player-killers.

The latest story continues three years later with ''.hack//Link'', where yet another new version of The World has been created. The World R:X. 14-year old Tokio Kuryuu gets sucked into this new game (apparently ''[[TrappedInTVLand physically]]'') by a mysterious new classmate, Saika Amagi, via her [=PSP=]. Currently a manga and [=PSP=] game in Japan (the American release is forthcoming), this new series combines elements from both the ''R:1'' and ''R:2'' eras. An organization of illegally modified characters is going after {{MacGuffin}}s called "chrono cores" located within certain previous main characters. These cores connect to the AkashicRecords of ''The World'', and with Saika Amagi acting as MissionControl, Tokio has to repair them by actually traveling between all of the .hack series: the R:1 and R:2 games, ''SIGN'', the novels, and the different manga.

An OVA called ''[[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]]'', which also sets in The World R:X in 2022, was released in 2011.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Kite and Haseo.
* CrackIsCheaper: RealLife wise. If you plan to buy the games now, they cost around 40-50 £ or 60-90$ roughly. And that's for one of the original games that kick started the project! And there's 4 games in the original series. (Which was due to space limitations, lack of DLC back then, and to keep the games alive).

** The character of both Kite and [=BlackRose=] has been used many times, particularly Kite. Aside from Kite himself, there's Shugo (Legend of The Twilight Bracelet), Azure Flame Kite (G.U.) and Azure Flame Knight (LINK). Oh and, Kite (Sora) in LINK as well as Sakuya in Quantum (both being played by females, incidentally).

** More conventionally, be prepared to do some of this yourself in the games. If not for actual levels, than for the [[RandomlyDrops randomly Data-Drained]] Virus Cores. Annoyingly, using Data-Drain increases your infection level, which makes it less likely that you'll get Virus Cores from using it, meaning you can't just spam Data Drain at the enemies that have the cores you need.

* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Other Side of the World'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.

* ShoutOut: In ''.hack//Link'', Haseo and Ovan's secret costumes are [[VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Asbel and Malik]].
** There are quite a few to another one of CyberConnect2's games, TailConcerto. Various "other players" are named after the charaters in TailConcerto (Waffle, Cyan, etc.). There are even ads on your desktop about the game.

** Gaspard sends you an e-mail saying "[[GhostBusters I aint afraid of no ghost"]]."
* SuperpoweredEvilSide:Quite a few examples, although it's played for laughs in [[spoiler:Natsume's]] case.

* WomanInWhite - Mainly Aura and Helba , though there are quite a few others. Helba takes the evil version of this trope, being a hacker and her character name is from the Queen of Darkness in the Epitapth of Twilight, though she is more an Antihero. Aura takes the pure from of this being the core of the system.

** Except that's likely from the anime, which isn't canon.

* CrisisCrossover: ''.hack//Link''

* RapeAsComedy: Try [[spoiler:giving the Promise card to one of Aura's Knights, or Natsume]]. You've been warned. Also [[spoiler: Mia on Elk]] in .hack//GIFT.

An OVA called ''[[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]]'', which also sets in The World R:X in 2022, was released in 2011. A full-length CGI movie has also been announced titled ''The Other Side of the World''. A new video game has also been announced, set in 2025.