Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1 (click to see context) from:
[[redirect:DotHack]]
to:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,172 (click to see context) from:
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dot_Hack_3216.jpg]]
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.
Most of these series contribute to canon while others, such the second anime series, ''.hack//Legend of the Twilight'', are retellings of the same story from differing perspectives. Each installment refers to the others, making this an AllThereInTheManual series. The title always follows the construction of .hack//title and are read as "dot hack title". The slashes are never used when referring to the series as a whole. The word "Dot" is often written in small print inside the "." to reinforce the proper reading.
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.
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.
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.
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, ''[[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.
Shortly after, in the anime ''[[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]],'' an introverted player named Tsukasa finds himself trapped in the game itself. Tsukasa's body is in a coma in the real world, but Tsukasa the character is still playing the game, and experiencing ''The World'' with his full senses, even to the point of experiencing pain when he's hurt or killed. The series focuses on a handful of players who become aware of his entrapment within the game, and decide to explore Tsukasa's character and his connection with an "unborn" AI character named Aura.
The first series of PS2 games (''.hack//Infection'', ''.hack//Mutation'', ''.hack//Outbreak'' and ''.hack//Quarantine''), the ''[[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]'' [[{{OVA}} OVAs]] and the ''.hack//Another Birth'' novels chronicle the following adventure, where another band of players - later known as the legendary "dot hackers" - challenge Morganna, the evil AI lurking within ''TheWorld''. Using a [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] power given to him by Aura before her destruction, the newbie Kite and his partner [=BlackRose=] lead the fight against Morganna in the hopes of restoring Aura and the many coma victims that have resulted from Morganna's attacks. A set of Novels known as .hack//Another Birth retell this story from Blackrose's point of view, tells us about her offline and some of the things she does when not with Kite.
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.
By 2017, Aura has vanished of her own accord, and many errors started to form on the net, which had become dependent on her. [=CC Corp=] tries to fix this by reforming the Morganna system under their control to recreate Aura. They are unable to do so and are only able to restore the eight Phases she controlled, which are placed under the control of special players (with one stolen by a staff member). During a test the creator of the plan, Jyotaro Amagi, goes insane and sets fire to CC Corp ruining the servers and much of the data and losing the data of the phases in the system. ''The World's'' remaining data is [[DolledUpInstallment combined with another project]] and released as ''[[DarkerAndEdgier The World: Revision 2]].''
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 story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind Tri-Edge. The .hack//CELL light novels are a side-story set between Roots and G.U.
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. A full-length CGI movie has also been announced titled ''The Other Side of the World''.
''.hack'' is not for everyone, as it is mostly dialog and artistic character pieces, despite being about a video game. (Some have said that it's a good simulation of what playing an MMORPG is really like.)
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}}.
Some media have their own articles - tropes for them should go on these pages, not here.
* [[DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]] (novels)
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]] (anime)
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]] (the first four games)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]] (OVA)
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]] (the second generation games)
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]] (OVA)
Not to be confused with {{Nethack}}.
Also see the [[Characters/DotHack character sheets]].
----
!!''[[DotHack .hack]]'' has examples of:
* AIIsACrapshoot: The good or otherwise nonevil AI are obscured by the many many obvious evil ones.
* AkashicRecords: The MacGuffin in ''.hack//LINK''.
* 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]].
* AntiGravityClothing
* ApocalypseDayPlanner
* ArtShift: ''.hack//LINK'' featured an opening animation sequence animated by Studio4°C, the art looks radically different from previous .hack// installments game and animation series alike.
* ArtMajorBiology: Some dungeons in the first games are Flesh-type WombLevel dungeons. Of course, don't expect them to follow any kind of sensible anatomy.
** Justified in Vol. 1's Bonus Dungeon "Aerial Fleet". An accident has left a fleet of aircrafts carrying a mummified giant to wander the skies forever. The insides are of a standard Flesh dungeon until the Boss Area, where it is the only metallic room left. The boss's name? "Parasite Dragon".
* AwesomeButImpractical: Any skill beyond the standard Data Drain, such as Drain Arc and Drain Heart, is situational at best. With nasty side-effects like level down and [[strike: death]] '''instant Game Over''' from overexposure to viruses due to Data Drain, using riskier forms of Data Drain just to get rare items or hitting multiple enemies seems superfluous.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo is subverted. The overbranching theme of the series is how the "gods" are dead and people have to make their own path.
* BlackBox: The technology of The World, and to some extent, ALTIMIT itself.
* 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.
* {{Bowdlerisation}}: The punchline of one 4Koma in ''Legend of the Twilight Bracelet'' is Hotaru saying "I have them / they're attached", which some readers interpreted as [[spoiler:a reference to having testicles]]. The English version quietly changes this line to "I'm very lucky".
* BraggingRightsReward: Eventually averted, when all your rewards fuse into the Infinity Plus One Armour and Accessory.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Implied TwinCest between Shugo and Rena in the anime version of ''Legend of the Twilight'' such that the series has arguably become infamously immortalized because of it.
* ButtMonkey: Elk to a T. However, completely Justified. Why? See LoveHurts below.
* 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.]]
* CityOfCanals: Mac Anu.
* CollectibleCardGame
* CrisisCrossover: ''.hack//Link''
* {{Cyberspace}}
* DigitalAvatar: The characters in the series are shown as these instead of their flesh and blood players, with a few exceptions.
* DegradedBoss: Of Type-B variety. Think you've had enough defeating those Data Bug Bosses? in Vol.3 onwards, expect dungeons filled with NOTHING but Data Bugs. Happy hunting, hope you don't overdose on Data Drain!
* DemonicInvaders: Viruses and hostile [=AI=]s.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mistral's "confession" in Vol. 3/Outbreak sounds exactly like ''another'' [[LoveConfession kind of confession]]. She acts like a teenager in-game but betrays that she's older than she acts in e-mails (by mentioning cooking, going to store and haggling, for example), which gives an interesting possibility: "Is she an older woman into {{shotacon}}?" Nah, [[spoiler: she's an expecting housewife that will soon give birth to Mirei who will inherit her Player Character later in Legend of Twilight Bracelet]].
* DoWellButNotPerfect: The Grunty races award prizes for beating the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place times, and you can race them over and over again to win more; however, your race times become the new record times to beat. If you want to maximize the payout, then you want to just barely beat the current times (starting with 3rd place and working up) so that the new times are not too hard to beat.
* DualBoss: Gorre
* DuelingGames: SquareEnix attempted to [[FollowTheLeader sponge off]] the series' success with an Action RPG named ''Code Age Commanders'', which would have been followed up with a anime and manga series, as well as portable spinoffs. However, the mothership game failed and sunk any chance of having a series developed around it.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Type 2. Kite (Sora), an unlockable extra character in ''Link'', is the main character in ''[=.hack//The Other Side of the World=]''.
* EasterEgg: Keywords to access secret areas in the games were hidden throughout other media, including the subtitles for the Liminality OVA.
* EyesAlwaysShut: A-20 in ''.hack//SIGN''.
** Natsume, a character in the games with the same character model, has this as well, so one can assume it's the character base.
* {{Expy}}: Justified example (see FacialMarkings below), but it doesn't stop the trope from being lampshaded and played with; for example, [=BlackRose=] and Mimiru actually argue over this in a SIGN {{omake}} episode, accusing the other of being a copycat; in the same episode, Bear is killed by Orca but everyone assumes one is the other. A similar incident occurs in Roots and the G.U. games, where Haseo finds himself being befriended by a character who's nearly identical to a close friend of his, who was [=PKed=] and put into a coma. Mistral and Mirelle are an interesting example as [[spoiler:Mistral and Mirelle are the same The World character, but Mirelle is played by Mistral's player's four year-old daughter. (She changed the character's name to Mirelle at an event.)]]
** 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).
*** 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...
* FacialMarkings: Used to distinguish Player Characters, since, as in some real video games, the base "design" is the same for each gender/class combination.
* FanService: All parts of the franchise have some, but the biggest offender is definitely the ''Legend of the Twilight'' manga.
** .hack//GIFT probably has the best example: After the cartoony silly parody of the series is done, it goes to a silly cartoony parody of the .hack//sign credits, before suddenly inexplicably cutting to a photo of Mimiru, BT, and Subaru completely nude bathing in a sauna. AnimeAnatomy took a step back for that scene.
* FinalFirstHug: [[spoiler: Ovan gives Haseo one of these when he's finally defeated in the manga.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: In GIFT, there is one part where they muse on whether the three kana that make up the Japanized pronunciation of the word (''gi'', ''fu'', and ''to'') point to three words (three-word combinations serving as room names/coordinates). One of these hilariously random [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guesses]] was partially bleeped out (if unbleeped, it would be [[spoiler:Awkward Marital Slaughterhouse or something like that]]).
* GeckoEnding: Legend of the Twilight follows the manga up until episode 6, but then creates it's own storyline afterward since the manga was still being written.
* GenreSavvy: Justified since they're people playing an MMORPG.
** WrongGenreSavvy: Some characters suspect that the unkillable monsters, mysterious message board posts, and players "allegedly" trapped in the game are all part of some elaborate meta-event or AlternateRealityGame. Very few realize that the situation is entirely real and beyond the boundaries of the game.
* {{GIRL}}: Played straight, subverted, and inverted all over the place. The most classic inverted example is of course, [[spoiler: Tsukasa]]. ASTA (from G.U.), on the other hand, is a straight example.
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: In the backstory of The World, the humans had a war with the gods which ended in the death of the gods, and the general [[AfterTheEnd ruined]] feel of much of the game world. Also, in G.U. most of the AI "gods" are inactive, apathetic, or dead.
* HairColors: For the same reason as above.
* HermeticMagic: In the online videogame version.
* HiddenEyes: Nearly everyone's depiction in the real world has overshadowed eyes. Only the few honest or "free" personalities have eyes.
* HonestAxe - In SIGN and the original video game tetralogy. The honest answer provides the player with an upgrade or downgrade of the item they have thrown in, while the dishonest answers provide weak golden and silver axes that are only useful for trading. Tsukasa just tries to kill the water spirit.
** If the item is out of the level range for the pond you tossed it in, and are honest, the water sprite will suggest you take it to a different area and give it back along with both the Gold And Silver axes.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: somewhat {{Justified}}, given [[spoiler:the fact that The World was specifically designed to produce an AI.]]
* InstantRunes
* JustAMachine
* LampshadeHanging: To be expected, considering the players are in an MMORPG.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you ''insist'' on being spoiler-free, start by reading a novel, then follow up with its sequel [a short story collection], then watch a 26-episode anime series, then play 4 games (or cop out by reading 4 novels... actually, just do both as the books tell the story from BlackRose's point of view while the games are from Kites and some events are only shown in one version as only one of them is there), then read a 3-volume manga series (and don't you ''dare'' cop out by watching the anime adaptation, as that's in CanonDiscontinuity), then watch ANOTHER 26-episode anime series after that, then play 3 games. ''In that order.'' Not to mention [[FilmOfTheBook the movies that come with the first four games]], which tell what's going on in the real world in the time period the games take place in.
** Done with that? Great! Now you've got a few more books to read, one more game to play (which is unlikely to be [[NoExportForYou officially localized]] but will at least play on your PSP) a subtitled miniseries to watch, and the movie that'll be out sometime in 2012! Have fun!
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of the [=AI=]s in the first four games gives you "rumors". The rumors include stating that the [[GenreSavvy online game is not an online game but a perfectly crafted game since people seem to speak several lines before repeating what they have to say.]]
* LevelGrinding: Aside from the events of the plot and the odd event here or there, this seems to be the entirety of what ''The World'' consists of, you go into dungeons to level up and get better equipment so you can go to higher level dungeons to level up more and get better equipment...
** 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.
* LinkedListClueMethodology Go to dungeon. Get clue. Go to next dungeon, get next clue.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: For the series as a whole more than individual stories: most of the stories in .hack focus on [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent someone completely different]], so this was pretty much inevitable.
* LostAesop: A ''lot'' of effort is made in ''R:1'' to show that Man and [=AI=] can get along together and build a bright future. Most of these [=AIs=] die in ''.hack//ROOTS'' and after or else choose not to interact with humans directly ever again. The plot no longer cares.
** Perhaps it will be regained in ''Links''.
*** [[spoiler:It wasn't. If anything, the final boss made that aesop even ''more'' lost.]]
* 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.
* 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.
* {{Minigame}}: Racing Grunties!
** Replaced by Steam Bikes in GU/The World R:2
* MindScrew: From the "What is [[CanonDiscontinuity .hack//XXXX]]?" page of the first volume of said manga, here's this: "[=* =] Incidentally, this background image is a random image from the non-existent manga ALTIMIT XX which .hack//XXXX is simultaneously related to and disconnected from. (CC2: Matsuyama)" Wha...?
* MonsterOfTheWeek: The Eight Phases of Morganna you will fight in the game.
* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Other Side of the World'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.
* NiceHat
* NoExportForYou: ''.hack//frägment'' an online RPG version (not to be confused with an MMO) that allows custom created characters on a playable online server, only released in Japan. Fans fear that this may also be the case with .hack//Link, as the PSP is nearing the end of its lifespan.
* NonstandardGameOver: If you use Data Drain too many times, your corruption level will rise to such a high point that when it reaches 100%, you have a fair chance that the game just immediately kills you. Made even worse later on when you NEED to Data Drain everything in sight to look for rare Virus Cores. Made even worse than that because a bonus dungeon contains almost nothing but protected enemies that require you to data drain them to kill them, so your corruption level ''will'' reach 100%.
* OldSaveBonus: As can be expected, playing the games in order and loading new games with the saves of previous ones will benefit your characters, usually transferring their levels over, as well as any {{Optional Party Member}}s you encountered. Transferring from the first four (and ''[[NoExportForYou frägment]]'') to ''G.U.'' even unlocks a few special e-mails
** Inversion? Starting a new game of .hack G.U. volume 1 with volume 2 clear data starts Haseo at level 35 with better weapons and armor.
* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: Four. Then another for three.
* OneGenderRace: All the Vagrant [=AI=]s appear entirely female except for one, whose gender is listed as "[[DudeLooksLikeALady male?]]".
* OnlySixFaces: Justified. Lots of characters have similar voices, or faces, or body types, or hair styles, or costumes. But since this is an MMORPG you're bound to run into stuff like that now and then.
* TheOtherDarrin: Balmung was voiced by DougErholtz in the first game of the original tetralogy. He is voiced by CrispinFreeman from ''Mutation'' onwards.
* OvertookTheManga: See GeckoEnding above.
* PerspectiveFlip: .hack//Another Birth tells the story of the R1 games through the perspective of Black Rose.
* RantInducingSlight: What Haseo does when [[spoiler:Atoli cranks her love freakiness UpToEleven.]]
* 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.
* RecapEpisode
* RelationshipValues: Make your friends like you more through e-mail and trades. ''.hack//G.U.'' has a wedding at the end.
* RewardingVandalism
* 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.
** But those other sources are non-canon so they don't really matter.
* RolePlayingGameVerse: Literally.
* RunningGag: In ''Legend of the Twilight'', Shugo would sooner or later get one of his front teeth knocked out because of some AmusingInjury for most of the episodes.
* SaveBothWorlds
* SayMyName: There's a scene in the Legend of the Twilight anime which is nothing but the two main characters shouting each other's names. For about ten minutes.
* SceneryPorn: Especially in ''.hack//SIGN'', where the camera spends ages languidly panning across the World's various landscapes.
* SchmuckBait: The Guardian enemies Protect Break after unusually small amounts of damage. If you Data Drain them, they become The Bracelet. Enjoy your Game Over.
** On the other hand, actually killing The Bracelet nets you ''huge'' amounts of experience points (far more than any other enemy in the game), so if you're capable of it, it saves a lot of time on level grinding.
* SchoolgirlLesbians - [[spoiler:Tsukasa and Subaru.]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Emma Weilant's Epitaph of Twilight. Harald Hoerwick used her poem as the setting for frägment, the beta version of the The World, both of which which are actually an attempt to [[spoiler:create a true [=AI=] by studying the millions of players]]. But part of his program ends up becoming intelligent on its own and rebels against its purpose, resulting in the rebel [=AI=] and a handful of players actually ''reenacting'' the story of the Epitaph in ways Harald never anticipated. And considering Emma's rather mysterious inspiration for the poem...
* 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.]]
** On a more conventional sense, the gender of Hotaru's real-world player, one of the characters of .hack//Legend of The Twilight Bracelet, is ''very'' fiercely debated due to several conflicting informations across the medium. Specifically, while many has said that Hotaru is a female, she is revealed to be male in the non-canon Let's Meet Offline, and in a throwaway, hard-to-translate line in A.I. Buster 2, which ''is'' canon.
** This series brings this trope UpToEleven. Players of The World never seem to just take a step back and say "OK, this is a game - even if something really terrible happens, I can just quit and forget all about it". As such, you never see players log out or turn off their computers when faced with [[YourMindMakesItReal "real"]] threats from The World, which is what any sane person would normally do.
*** Note that a scene in ''Liminality'' suggests the [[MindRape Mind Raping]] begins with just the ''presence'' of such a threat. When Mai and Junichiro encounter Skeith, [[ChekhovsSkill Mai]] just pulls off her headset, but Junichiro's twitching and foaming at the mouth, madly mashing his control pad, until she shuts down the system. And he wasn't even Data Drained.
* 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.
** In G.U. you can read a message board poster saying he/she is reminded of a story about [[WolfsRain wolves searching for paradise]].
** Gaspard sends you an e-mail saying "[[GhostBusters I aint afraid of no ghost"]]."
* SolomonDivorce: Shugo & Rena seem completely unable to meet outside of The World.
** That's only in the anime. In the manga, there's no mention of a divorce, and they even share a bedroom.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide:Quite a few examples, although it's played for laughs in [[spoiler:Natsume's]] case.
* {{Synchronization}}: Happens in reverse form, where various [=AI=]s - Aura, the eight Avatars, and [=AIDA=] - are linked to certain players and respond to their emotions. More than one player openly questions how such a thing could be possible.
* ThemeNaming: It seems many Captains and Guild Leaders in G.U. have to be named after Heavenly Objects. The various arena champions are all named after stars, and the guilds are named after birds (although Silabus offers an alternate explanation for "Canard").
* ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet: Part of the reason for the denial about [[spoiler:Tsukasa]].
* TitleDrop: The group that defeated Morganna is known in later installments as the ".hackers".
* TragicMonster: Most of the series' "villains."
* TrappedInAnotherWorld - Get killed by the various corrupted evils of .hack, and you get to spend RL in a coma, and your mind in The World!
* UndergroundMonkey: Many of them in the video games.
* 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 Epitath of Twlight, though she is more an Antihero. Aura takes the pure from of this being the core of the system.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Characters who get attacked by Data Drain also reportedly suffer severe comas in the real world; this is explained in ''Legend of the Twilight'', where it's revealed that Data Draining causes the mind to assume a "nocebo" death.
** [[FridgeLogic Wait, does that mean nothing The Dot Hackers or Haseo did actually helped people escape their comas?]] [[FridgeLogic This also puts Tsukasa's existence into question.]]
** Except that's likely from the anime, which isn't canon.
----
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.
Most of these series contribute to canon while others, such the second anime series, ''.hack//Legend of the Twilight'', are retellings of the same story from differing perspectives. Each installment refers to the others, making this an AllThereInTheManual series. The title always follows the construction of .hack//title and are read as "dot hack title". The slashes are never used when referring to the series as a whole. The word "Dot" is often written in small print inside the "." to reinforce the proper reading.
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.
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.
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.
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, ''[[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.
Shortly after, in the anime ''[[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]],'' an introverted player named Tsukasa finds himself trapped in the game itself. Tsukasa's body is in a coma in the real world, but Tsukasa the character is still playing the game, and experiencing ''The World'' with his full senses, even to the point of experiencing pain when he's hurt or killed. The series focuses on a handful of players who become aware of his entrapment within the game, and decide to explore Tsukasa's character and his connection with an "unborn" AI character named Aura.
The first series of PS2 games (''.hack//Infection'', ''.hack//Mutation'', ''.hack//Outbreak'' and ''.hack//Quarantine''), the ''[[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]'' [[{{OVA}} OVAs]] and the ''.hack//Another Birth'' novels chronicle the following adventure, where another band of players - later known as the legendary "dot hackers" - challenge Morganna, the evil AI lurking within ''TheWorld''. Using a [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] power given to him by Aura before her destruction, the newbie Kite and his partner [=BlackRose=] lead the fight against Morganna in the hopes of restoring Aura and the many coma victims that have resulted from Morganna's attacks. A set of Novels known as .hack//Another Birth retell this story from Blackrose's point of view, tells us about her offline and some of the things she does when not with Kite.
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.
By 2017, Aura has vanished of her own accord, and many errors started to form on the net, which had become dependent on her. [=CC Corp=] tries to fix this by reforming the Morganna system under their control to recreate Aura. They are unable to do so and are only able to restore the eight Phases she controlled, which are placed under the control of special players (with one stolen by a staff member). During a test the creator of the plan, Jyotaro Amagi, goes insane and sets fire to CC Corp ruining the servers and much of the data and losing the data of the phases in the system. ''The World's'' remaining data is [[DolledUpInstallment combined with another project]] and released as ''[[DarkerAndEdgier The World: Revision 2]].''
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 story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind Tri-Edge. The .hack//CELL light novels are a side-story set between Roots and G.U.
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. A full-length CGI movie has also been announced titled ''The Other Side of the World''.
''.hack'' is not for everyone, as it is mostly dialog and artistic character pieces, despite being about a video game. (Some have said that it's a good simulation of what playing an MMORPG is really like.)
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}}.
Some media have their own articles - tropes for them should go on these pages, not here.
* [[DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]] (novels)
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]] (anime)
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]] (the first four games)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]] (OVA)
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]] (the second generation games)
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]] (OVA)
Not to be confused with {{Nethack}}.
Also see the [[Characters/DotHack character sheets]].
----
!!''[[DotHack .hack]]'' has examples of:
* AIIsACrapshoot: The good or otherwise nonevil AI are obscured by the many many obvious evil ones.
* AkashicRecords: The MacGuffin in ''.hack//LINK''.
* 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]].
* AntiGravityClothing
* ApocalypseDayPlanner
* ArtShift: ''.hack//LINK'' featured an opening animation sequence animated by Studio4°C, the art looks radically different from previous .hack// installments game and animation series alike.
* ArtMajorBiology: Some dungeons in the first games are Flesh-type WombLevel dungeons. Of course, don't expect them to follow any kind of sensible anatomy.
** Justified in Vol. 1's Bonus Dungeon "Aerial Fleet". An accident has left a fleet of aircrafts carrying a mummified giant to wander the skies forever. The insides are of a standard Flesh dungeon until the Boss Area, where it is the only metallic room left. The boss's name? "Parasite Dragon".
* AwesomeButImpractical: Any skill beyond the standard Data Drain, such as Drain Arc and Drain Heart, is situational at best. With nasty side-effects like level down and [[strike: death]] '''instant Game Over''' from overexposure to viruses due to Data Drain, using riskier forms of Data Drain just to get rare items or hitting multiple enemies seems superfluous.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo is subverted. The overbranching theme of the series is how the "gods" are dead and people have to make their own path.
* BlackBox: The technology of The World, and to some extent, ALTIMIT itself.
* 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.
* {{Bowdlerisation}}: The punchline of one 4Koma in ''Legend of the Twilight Bracelet'' is Hotaru saying "I have them / they're attached", which some readers interpreted as [[spoiler:a reference to having testicles]]. The English version quietly changes this line to "I'm very lucky".
* BraggingRightsReward: Eventually averted, when all your rewards fuse into the Infinity Plus One Armour and Accessory.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Implied TwinCest between Shugo and Rena in the anime version of ''Legend of the Twilight'' such that the series has arguably become infamously immortalized because of it.
* ButtMonkey: Elk to a T. However, completely Justified. Why? See LoveHurts below.
* 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.]]
* CityOfCanals: Mac Anu.
* CollectibleCardGame
* CrisisCrossover: ''.hack//Link''
* {{Cyberspace}}
* DigitalAvatar: The characters in the series are shown as these instead of their flesh and blood players, with a few exceptions.
* DegradedBoss: Of Type-B variety. Think you've had enough defeating those Data Bug Bosses? in Vol.3 onwards, expect dungeons filled with NOTHING but Data Bugs. Happy hunting, hope you don't overdose on Data Drain!
* DemonicInvaders: Viruses and hostile [=AI=]s.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mistral's "confession" in Vol. 3/Outbreak sounds exactly like ''another'' [[LoveConfession kind of confession]]. She acts like a teenager in-game but betrays that she's older than she acts in e-mails (by mentioning cooking, going to store and haggling, for example), which gives an interesting possibility: "Is she an older woman into {{shotacon}}?" Nah, [[spoiler: she's an expecting housewife that will soon give birth to Mirei who will inherit her Player Character later in Legend of Twilight Bracelet]].
* DoWellButNotPerfect: The Grunty races award prizes for beating the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place times, and you can race them over and over again to win more; however, your race times become the new record times to beat. If you want to maximize the payout, then you want to just barely beat the current times (starting with 3rd place and working up) so that the new times are not too hard to beat.
* DualBoss: Gorre
* DuelingGames: SquareEnix attempted to [[FollowTheLeader sponge off]] the series' success with an Action RPG named ''Code Age Commanders'', which would have been followed up with a anime and manga series, as well as portable spinoffs. However, the mothership game failed and sunk any chance of having a series developed around it.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Type 2. Kite (Sora), an unlockable extra character in ''Link'', is the main character in ''[=.hack//The Other Side of the World=]''.
* EasterEgg: Keywords to access secret areas in the games were hidden throughout other media, including the subtitles for the Liminality OVA.
* EyesAlwaysShut: A-20 in ''.hack//SIGN''.
** Natsume, a character in the games with the same character model, has this as well, so one can assume it's the character base.
* {{Expy}}: Justified example (see FacialMarkings below), but it doesn't stop the trope from being lampshaded and played with; for example, [=BlackRose=] and Mimiru actually argue over this in a SIGN {{omake}} episode, accusing the other of being a copycat; in the same episode, Bear is killed by Orca but everyone assumes one is the other. A similar incident occurs in Roots and the G.U. games, where Haseo finds himself being befriended by a character who's nearly identical to a close friend of his, who was [=PKed=] and put into a coma. Mistral and Mirelle are an interesting example as [[spoiler:Mistral and Mirelle are the same The World character, but Mirelle is played by Mistral's player's four year-old daughter. (She changed the character's name to Mirelle at an event.)]]
** 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).
*** 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...
* FacialMarkings: Used to distinguish Player Characters, since, as in some real video games, the base "design" is the same for each gender/class combination.
* FanService: All parts of the franchise have some, but the biggest offender is definitely the ''Legend of the Twilight'' manga.
** .hack//GIFT probably has the best example: After the cartoony silly parody of the series is done, it goes to a silly cartoony parody of the .hack//sign credits, before suddenly inexplicably cutting to a photo of Mimiru, BT, and Subaru completely nude bathing in a sauna. AnimeAnatomy took a step back for that scene.
* FinalFirstHug: [[spoiler: Ovan gives Haseo one of these when he's finally defeated in the manga.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: In GIFT, there is one part where they muse on whether the three kana that make up the Japanized pronunciation of the word (''gi'', ''fu'', and ''to'') point to three words (three-word combinations serving as room names/coordinates). One of these hilariously random [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guesses]] was partially bleeped out (if unbleeped, it would be [[spoiler:Awkward Marital Slaughterhouse or something like that]]).
* GeckoEnding: Legend of the Twilight follows the manga up until episode 6, but then creates it's own storyline afterward since the manga was still being written.
* GenreSavvy: Justified since they're people playing an MMORPG.
** WrongGenreSavvy: Some characters suspect that the unkillable monsters, mysterious message board posts, and players "allegedly" trapped in the game are all part of some elaborate meta-event or AlternateRealityGame. Very few realize that the situation is entirely real and beyond the boundaries of the game.
* {{GIRL}}: Played straight, subverted, and inverted all over the place. The most classic inverted example is of course, [[spoiler: Tsukasa]]. ASTA (from G.U.), on the other hand, is a straight example.
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: In the backstory of The World, the humans had a war with the gods which ended in the death of the gods, and the general [[AfterTheEnd ruined]] feel of much of the game world. Also, in G.U. most of the AI "gods" are inactive, apathetic, or dead.
* HairColors: For the same reason as above.
* HermeticMagic: In the online videogame version.
* HiddenEyes: Nearly everyone's depiction in the real world has overshadowed eyes. Only the few honest or "free" personalities have eyes.
* HonestAxe - In SIGN and the original video game tetralogy. The honest answer provides the player with an upgrade or downgrade of the item they have thrown in, while the dishonest answers provide weak golden and silver axes that are only useful for trading. Tsukasa just tries to kill the water spirit.
** If the item is out of the level range for the pond you tossed it in, and are honest, the water sprite will suggest you take it to a different area and give it back along with both the Gold And Silver axes.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: somewhat {{Justified}}, given [[spoiler:the fact that The World was specifically designed to produce an AI.]]
* InstantRunes
* JustAMachine
* LampshadeHanging: To be expected, considering the players are in an MMORPG.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you ''insist'' on being spoiler-free, start by reading a novel, then follow up with its sequel [a short story collection], then watch a 26-episode anime series, then play 4 games (or cop out by reading 4 novels... actually, just do both as the books tell the story from BlackRose's point of view while the games are from Kites and some events are only shown in one version as only one of them is there), then read a 3-volume manga series (and don't you ''dare'' cop out by watching the anime adaptation, as that's in CanonDiscontinuity), then watch ANOTHER 26-episode anime series after that, then play 3 games. ''In that order.'' Not to mention [[FilmOfTheBook the movies that come with the first four games]], which tell what's going on in the real world in the time period the games take place in.
** Done with that? Great! Now you've got a few more books to read, one more game to play (which is unlikely to be [[NoExportForYou officially localized]] but will at least play on your PSP) a subtitled miniseries to watch, and the movie that'll be out sometime in 2012! Have fun!
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of the [=AI=]s in the first four games gives you "rumors". The rumors include stating that the [[GenreSavvy online game is not an online game but a perfectly crafted game since people seem to speak several lines before repeating what they have to say.]]
* LevelGrinding: Aside from the events of the plot and the odd event here or there, this seems to be the entirety of what ''The World'' consists of, you go into dungeons to level up and get better equipment so you can go to higher level dungeons to level up more and get better equipment...
** 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.
* LinkedListClueMethodology Go to dungeon. Get clue. Go to next dungeon, get next clue.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: For the series as a whole more than individual stories: most of the stories in .hack focus on [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent someone completely different]], so this was pretty much inevitable.
* LostAesop: A ''lot'' of effort is made in ''R:1'' to show that Man and [=AI=] can get along together and build a bright future. Most of these [=AIs=] die in ''.hack//ROOTS'' and after or else choose not to interact with humans directly ever again. The plot no longer cares.
** Perhaps it will be regained in ''Links''.
*** [[spoiler:It wasn't. If anything, the final boss made that aesop even ''more'' lost.]]
* 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.
* 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.
* {{Minigame}}: Racing Grunties!
** Replaced by Steam Bikes in GU/The World R:2
* MindScrew: From the "What is [[CanonDiscontinuity .hack//XXXX]]?" page of the first volume of said manga, here's this: "[=* =] Incidentally, this background image is a random image from the non-existent manga ALTIMIT XX which .hack//XXXX is simultaneously related to and disconnected from. (CC2: Matsuyama)" Wha...?
* MonsterOfTheWeek: The Eight Phases of Morganna you will fight in the game.
* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Other Side of the World'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.
* NiceHat
* NoExportForYou: ''.hack//frägment'' an online RPG version (not to be confused with an MMO) that allows custom created characters on a playable online server, only released in Japan. Fans fear that this may also be the case with .hack//Link, as the PSP is nearing the end of its lifespan.
* NonstandardGameOver: If you use Data Drain too many times, your corruption level will rise to such a high point that when it reaches 100%, you have a fair chance that the game just immediately kills you. Made even worse later on when you NEED to Data Drain everything in sight to look for rare Virus Cores. Made even worse than that because a bonus dungeon contains almost nothing but protected enemies that require you to data drain them to kill them, so your corruption level ''will'' reach 100%.
* OldSaveBonus: As can be expected, playing the games in order and loading new games with the saves of previous ones will benefit your characters, usually transferring their levels over, as well as any {{Optional Party Member}}s you encountered. Transferring from the first four (and ''[[NoExportForYou frägment]]'') to ''G.U.'' even unlocks a few special e-mails
** Inversion? Starting a new game of .hack G.U. volume 1 with volume 2 clear data starts Haseo at level 35 with better weapons and armor.
* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: Four. Then another for three.
* OneGenderRace: All the Vagrant [=AI=]s appear entirely female except for one, whose gender is listed as "[[DudeLooksLikeALady male?]]".
* OnlySixFaces: Justified. Lots of characters have similar voices, or faces, or body types, or hair styles, or costumes. But since this is an MMORPG you're bound to run into stuff like that now and then.
* TheOtherDarrin: Balmung was voiced by DougErholtz in the first game of the original tetralogy. He is voiced by CrispinFreeman from ''Mutation'' onwards.
* OvertookTheManga: See GeckoEnding above.
* PerspectiveFlip: .hack//Another Birth tells the story of the R1 games through the perspective of Black Rose.
* RantInducingSlight: What Haseo does when [[spoiler:Atoli cranks her love freakiness UpToEleven.]]
* 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.
* RecapEpisode
* RelationshipValues: Make your friends like you more through e-mail and trades. ''.hack//G.U.'' has a wedding at the end.
* RewardingVandalism
* 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.
** But those other sources are non-canon so they don't really matter.
* RolePlayingGameVerse: Literally.
* RunningGag: In ''Legend of the Twilight'', Shugo would sooner or later get one of his front teeth knocked out because of some AmusingInjury for most of the episodes.
* SaveBothWorlds
* SayMyName: There's a scene in the Legend of the Twilight anime which is nothing but the two main characters shouting each other's names. For about ten minutes.
* SceneryPorn: Especially in ''.hack//SIGN'', where the camera spends ages languidly panning across the World's various landscapes.
* SchmuckBait: The Guardian enemies Protect Break after unusually small amounts of damage. If you Data Drain them, they become The Bracelet. Enjoy your Game Over.
** On the other hand, actually killing The Bracelet nets you ''huge'' amounts of experience points (far more than any other enemy in the game), so if you're capable of it, it saves a lot of time on level grinding.
* SchoolgirlLesbians - [[spoiler:Tsukasa and Subaru.]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Emma Weilant's Epitaph of Twilight. Harald Hoerwick used her poem as the setting for frägment, the beta version of the The World, both of which which are actually an attempt to [[spoiler:create a true [=AI=] by studying the millions of players]]. But part of his program ends up becoming intelligent on its own and rebels against its purpose, resulting in the rebel [=AI=] and a handful of players actually ''reenacting'' the story of the Epitaph in ways Harald never anticipated. And considering Emma's rather mysterious inspiration for the poem...
* 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.]]
** On a more conventional sense, the gender of Hotaru's real-world player, one of the characters of .hack//Legend of The Twilight Bracelet, is ''very'' fiercely debated due to several conflicting informations across the medium. Specifically, while many has said that Hotaru is a female, she is revealed to be male in the non-canon Let's Meet Offline, and in a throwaway, hard-to-translate line in A.I. Buster 2, which ''is'' canon.
** This series brings this trope UpToEleven. Players of The World never seem to just take a step back and say "OK, this is a game - even if something really terrible happens, I can just quit and forget all about it". As such, you never see players log out or turn off their computers when faced with [[YourMindMakesItReal "real"]] threats from The World, which is what any sane person would normally do.
*** Note that a scene in ''Liminality'' suggests the [[MindRape Mind Raping]] begins with just the ''presence'' of such a threat. When Mai and Junichiro encounter Skeith, [[ChekhovsSkill Mai]] just pulls off her headset, but Junichiro's twitching and foaming at the mouth, madly mashing his control pad, until she shuts down the system. And he wasn't even Data Drained.
* 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.
** In G.U. you can read a message board poster saying he/she is reminded of a story about [[WolfsRain wolves searching for paradise]].
** Gaspard sends you an e-mail saying "[[GhostBusters I aint afraid of no ghost"]]."
* SolomonDivorce: Shugo & Rena seem completely unable to meet outside of The World.
** That's only in the anime. In the manga, there's no mention of a divorce, and they even share a bedroom.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide:Quite a few examples, although it's played for laughs in [[spoiler:Natsume's]] case.
* {{Synchronization}}: Happens in reverse form, where various [=AI=]s - Aura, the eight Avatars, and [=AIDA=] - are linked to certain players and respond to their emotions. More than one player openly questions how such a thing could be possible.
* ThemeNaming: It seems many Captains and Guild Leaders in G.U. have to be named after Heavenly Objects. The various arena champions are all named after stars, and the guilds are named after birds (although Silabus offers an alternate explanation for "Canard").
* ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet: Part of the reason for the denial about [[spoiler:Tsukasa]].
* TitleDrop: The group that defeated Morganna is known in later installments as the ".hackers".
* TragicMonster: Most of the series' "villains."
* TrappedInAnotherWorld - Get killed by the various corrupted evils of .hack, and you get to spend RL in a coma, and your mind in The World!
* UndergroundMonkey: Many of them in the video games.
* 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 Epitath of Twlight, though she is more an Antihero. Aura takes the pure from of this being the core of the system.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Characters who get attacked by Data Drain also reportedly suffer severe comas in the real world; this is explained in ''Legend of the Twilight'', where it's revealed that Data Draining causes the mind to assume a "nocebo" death.
** [[FridgeLogic Wait, does that mean nothing The Dot Hackers or Haseo did actually helped people escape their comas?]] [[FridgeLogic This also puts Tsukasa's existence into question.]]
** Except that's likely from the anime, which isn't canon.
----
to:
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.
Most of these series contribute to canon while others, such the second anime series, ''.hack//Legend of the Twilight'', are retellings of the same story from differing perspectives. Each installment refers to the others, making this an AllThereInTheManual series. The title always follows the construction of .hack//title and are read as "dot hack title". The slashes are never used when referring to the series as a whole. The word "Dot" is often written in small print inside the "." to reinforce the proper reading.
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.
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.
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.
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, ''[[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.
Shortly after, in the anime ''[[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]],'' an introverted player named Tsukasa finds himself trapped in the game itself. Tsukasa's body is in a coma in the real world, but Tsukasa the character is still playing the game, and experiencing ''The World'' with his full senses, even to the point of experiencing pain when he's hurt or killed. The series focuses on a handful of players who become aware of his entrapment within the game, and decide to explore Tsukasa's character and his connection with an "unborn" AI character named Aura.
The first series of PS2 games (''.hack//Infection'', ''.hack//Mutation'', ''.hack//Outbreak'' and ''.hack//Quarantine''), the ''[[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]'' [[{{OVA}} OVAs]] and the ''.hack//Another Birth'' novels chronicle the following adventure, where another band of players - later known as the legendary "dot hackers" - challenge Morganna, the evil AI lurking within ''TheWorld''. Using a [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] power given to him by Aura before her destruction, the newbie Kite and his partner [=BlackRose=] lead the fight against Morganna in the hopes of restoring Aura and the many coma victims that have resulted from Morganna's attacks. A set of Novels known as .hack//Another Birth retell this story from Blackrose's point of view, tells us about her offline and some of the things she does when not with Kite.
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.
By 2017, Aura has vanished of her own accord, and many errors started to form on the net, which had become dependent on her. [=CC Corp=] tries to fix this by reforming the Morganna system under their control to recreate Aura. They are unable to do so and are only able to restore the eight Phases she controlled, which are placed under the control of special players (with one stolen by a staff member). During a test the creator of the plan, Jyotaro Amagi, goes insane and sets fire to CC Corp ruining the servers and much of the data and losing the data of the phases in the system. ''The World's'' remaining data is [[DolledUpInstallment combined with another project]] and released as ''[[DarkerAndEdgier The World: Revision 2]].''
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 story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind Tri-Edge. The .hack//CELL light novels are a side-story set between Roots and G.U.
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. A full-length CGI movie has also been announced titled ''The Other Side of the World''.
''.hack'' is not for everyone, as it is mostly dialog and artistic character pieces, despite being about a video game. (Some have said that it's a good simulation of what playing an MMORPG is really like.)
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}}.
Some media have their own articles - tropes for them should go on these pages, not here.
* [[DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]] (novels)
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]] (anime)
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]] (the first four games)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]] (OVA)
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]] (the second generation games)
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]] (OVA)
Not to be confused with {{Nethack}}.
Also see the [[Characters/DotHack character sheets]].
----
!!''[[DotHack .hack]]'' has examples of:
* AIIsACrapshoot: The good or otherwise nonevil AI are obscured by the many many obvious evil ones.
* AkashicRecords: The MacGuffin in ''.hack//LINK''.
* 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]].
* AntiGravityClothing
* ApocalypseDayPlanner
* ArtShift: ''.hack//LINK'' featured an opening animation sequence animated by Studio4°C, the art looks radically different from previous .hack// installments game and animation series alike.
* ArtMajorBiology: Some dungeons in the first games are Flesh-type WombLevel dungeons. Of course, don't expect them to follow any kind of sensible anatomy.
** Justified in Vol. 1's Bonus Dungeon "Aerial Fleet". An accident has left a fleet of aircrafts carrying a mummified giant to wander the skies forever. The insides are of a standard Flesh dungeon until the Boss Area, where it is the only metallic room left. The boss's name? "Parasite Dragon".
* AwesomeButImpractical: Any skill beyond the standard Data Drain, such as Drain Arc and Drain Heart, is situational at best. With nasty side-effects like level down and [[strike: death]] '''instant Game Over''' from overexposure to viruses due to Data Drain, using riskier forms of Data Drain just to get rare items or hitting multiple enemies seems superfluous.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo is subverted. The overbranching theme of the series is how the "gods" are dead and people have to make their own path.
* BlackBox: The technology of The World, and to some extent, ALTIMIT itself.
* 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.
* {{Bowdlerisation}}: The punchline of one 4Koma in ''Legend of the Twilight Bracelet'' is Hotaru saying "I have them / they're attached", which some readers interpreted as [[spoiler:a reference to having testicles]]. The English version quietly changes this line to "I'm very lucky".
* BraggingRightsReward: Eventually averted, when all your rewards fuse into the Infinity Plus One Armour and Accessory.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Implied TwinCest between Shugo and Rena in the anime version of ''Legend of the Twilight'' such that the series has arguably become infamously immortalized because of it.
* ButtMonkey: Elk to a T. However, completely Justified. Why? See LoveHurts below.
* 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.]]
* CityOfCanals: Mac Anu.
* CollectibleCardGame
* CrisisCrossover: ''.hack//Link''
* {{Cyberspace}}
* DigitalAvatar: The characters in the series are shown as these instead of their flesh and blood players, with a few exceptions.
* DegradedBoss: Of Type-B variety. Think you've had enough defeating those Data Bug Bosses? in Vol.3 onwards, expect dungeons filled with NOTHING but Data Bugs. Happy hunting, hope you don't overdose on Data Drain!
* DemonicInvaders: Viruses and hostile [=AI=]s.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mistral's "confession" in Vol. 3/Outbreak sounds exactly like ''another'' [[LoveConfession kind of confession]]. She acts like a teenager in-game but betrays that she's older than she acts in e-mails (by mentioning cooking, going to store and haggling, for example), which gives an interesting possibility: "Is she an older woman into {{shotacon}}?" Nah, [[spoiler: she's an expecting housewife that will soon give birth to Mirei who will inherit her Player Character later in Legend of Twilight Bracelet]].
* DoWellButNotPerfect: The Grunty races award prizes for beating the 1st, 2nd or 3rd place times, and you can race them over and over again to win more; however, your race times become the new record times to beat. If you want to maximize the payout, then you want to just barely beat the current times (starting with 3rd place and working up) so that the new times are not too hard to beat.
* DualBoss: Gorre
* DuelingGames: SquareEnix attempted to [[FollowTheLeader sponge off]] the series' success with an Action RPG named ''Code Age Commanders'', which would have been followed up with a anime and manga series, as well as portable spinoffs. However, the mothership game failed and sunk any chance of having a series developed around it.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Type 2. Kite (Sora), an unlockable extra character in ''Link'', is the main character in ''[=.hack//The Other Side of the World=]''.
* EasterEgg: Keywords to access secret areas in the games were hidden throughout other media, including the subtitles for the Liminality OVA.
* EyesAlwaysShut: A-20 in ''.hack//SIGN''.
** Natsume, a character in the games with the same character model, has this as well, so one can assume it's the character base.
* {{Expy}}: Justified example (see FacialMarkings below), but it doesn't stop the trope from being lampshaded and played with; for example, [=BlackRose=] and Mimiru actually argue over this in a SIGN {{omake}} episode, accusing the other of being a copycat; in the same episode, Bear is killed by Orca but everyone assumes one is the other. A similar incident occurs in Roots and the G.U. games, where Haseo finds himself being befriended by a character who's nearly identical to a close friend of his, who was [=PKed=] and put into a coma. Mistral and Mirelle are an interesting example as [[spoiler:Mistral and Mirelle are the same The World character, but Mirelle is played by Mistral's player's four year-old daughter. (She changed the character's name to Mirelle at an event.)]]
** 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).
*** 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...
* FacialMarkings: Used to distinguish Player Characters, since, as in some real video games, the base "design" is the same for each gender/class combination.
* FanService: All parts of the franchise have some, but the biggest offender is definitely the ''Legend of the Twilight'' manga.
** .hack//GIFT probably has the best example: After the cartoony silly parody of the series is done, it goes to a silly cartoony parody of the .hack//sign credits, before suddenly inexplicably cutting to a photo of Mimiru, BT, and Subaru completely nude bathing in a sauna. AnimeAnatomy took a step back for that scene.
* FinalFirstHug: [[spoiler: Ovan gives Haseo one of these when he's finally defeated in the manga.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: In GIFT, there is one part where they muse on whether the three kana that make up the Japanized pronunciation of the word (''gi'', ''fu'', and ''to'') point to three words (three-word combinations serving as room names/coordinates). One of these hilariously random [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guesses]] was partially bleeped out (if unbleeped, it would be [[spoiler:Awkward Marital Slaughterhouse or something like that]]).
* GeckoEnding: Legend of the Twilight follows the manga up until episode 6, but then creates it's own storyline afterward since the manga was still being written.
* GenreSavvy: Justified since they're people playing an MMORPG.
** WrongGenreSavvy: Some characters suspect that the unkillable monsters, mysterious message board posts, and players "allegedly" trapped in the game are all part of some elaborate meta-event or AlternateRealityGame. Very few realize that the situation is entirely real and beyond the boundaries of the game.
* {{GIRL}}: Played straight, subverted, and inverted all over the place. The most classic inverted example is of course, [[spoiler: Tsukasa]]. ASTA (from G.U.), on the other hand, is a straight example.
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: In the backstory of The World, the humans had a war with the gods which ended in the death of the gods, and the general [[AfterTheEnd ruined]] feel of much of the game world. Also, in G.U. most of the AI "gods" are inactive, apathetic, or dead.
* HairColors: For the same reason as above.
* HermeticMagic: In the online videogame version.
* HiddenEyes: Nearly everyone's depiction in the real world has overshadowed eyes. Only the few honest or "free" personalities have eyes.
* HonestAxe - In SIGN and the original video game tetralogy. The honest answer provides the player with an upgrade or downgrade of the item they have thrown in, while the dishonest answers provide weak golden and silver axes that are only useful for trading. Tsukasa just tries to kill the water spirit.
** If the item is out of the level range for the pond you tossed it in, and are honest, the water sprite will suggest you take it to a different area and give it back along with both the Gold And Silver axes.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: somewhat {{Justified}}, given [[spoiler:the fact that The World was specifically designed to produce an AI.]]
* InstantRunes
* JustAMachine
* LampshadeHanging: To be expected, considering the players are in an MMORPG.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you ''insist'' on being spoiler-free, start by reading a novel, then follow up with its sequel [a short story collection], then watch a 26-episode anime series, then play 4 games (or cop out by reading 4 novels... actually, just do both as the books tell the story from BlackRose's point of view while the games are from Kites and some events are only shown in one version as only one of them is there), then read a 3-volume manga series (and don't you ''dare'' cop out by watching the anime adaptation, as that's in CanonDiscontinuity), then watch ANOTHER 26-episode anime series after that, then play 3 games. ''In that order.'' Not to mention [[FilmOfTheBook the movies that come with the first four games]], which tell what's going on in the real world in the time period the games take place in.
** Done with that? Great! Now you've got a few more books to read, one more game to play (which is unlikely to be [[NoExportForYou officially localized]] but will at least play on your PSP) a subtitled miniseries to watch, and the movie that'll be out sometime in 2012! Have fun!
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One of the [=AI=]s in the first four games gives you "rumors". The rumors include stating that the [[GenreSavvy online game is not an online game but a perfectly crafted game since people seem to speak several lines before repeating what they have to say.]]
* LevelGrinding: Aside from the events of the plot and the odd event here or there, this seems to be the entirety of what ''The World'' consists of, you go into dungeons to level up and get better equipment so you can go to higher level dungeons to level up more and get better equipment...
** 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.
* LinkedListClueMethodology Go to dungeon. Get clue. Go to next dungeon, get next clue.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: For the series as a whole more than individual stories: most of the stories in .hack focus on [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent someone completely different]], so this was pretty much inevitable.
* LostAesop: A ''lot'' of effort is made in ''R:1'' to show that Man and [=AI=] can get along together and build a bright future. Most of these [=AIs=] die in ''.hack//ROOTS'' and after or else choose not to interact with humans directly ever again. The plot no longer cares.
** Perhaps it will be regained in ''Links''.
*** [[spoiler:It wasn't. If anything, the final boss made that aesop even ''more'' lost.]]
* 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.
* 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.
* {{Minigame}}: Racing Grunties!
** Replaced by Steam Bikes in GU/The World R:2
* MindScrew: From the "What is [[CanonDiscontinuity .hack//XXXX]]?" page of the first volume of said manga, here's this: "[=* =] Incidentally, this background image is a random image from the non-existent manga ALTIMIT XX which .hack//XXXX is simultaneously related to and disconnected from. (CC2: Matsuyama)" Wha...?
* MonsterOfTheWeek: The Eight Phases of Morganna you will fight in the game.
* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Other Side of the World'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.
* NiceHat
* NoExportForYou: ''.hack//frägment'' an online RPG version (not to be confused with an MMO) that allows custom created characters on a playable online server, only released in Japan. Fans fear that this may also be the case with .hack//Link, as the PSP is nearing the end of its lifespan.
* NonstandardGameOver: If you use Data Drain too many times, your corruption level will rise to such a high point that when it reaches 100%, you have a fair chance that the game just immediately kills you. Made even worse later on when you NEED to Data Drain everything in sight to look for rare Virus Cores. Made even worse than that because a bonus dungeon contains almost nothing but protected enemies that require you to data drain them to kill them, so your corruption level ''will'' reach 100%.
* OldSaveBonus: As can be expected, playing the games in order and loading new games with the saves of previous ones will benefit your characters, usually transferring their levels over, as well as any {{Optional Party Member}}s you encountered. Transferring from the first four (and ''[[NoExportForYou frägment]]'') to ''G.U.'' even unlocks a few special e-mails
** Inversion? Starting a new game of .hack G.U. volume 1 with volume 2 clear data starts Haseo at level 35 with better weapons and armor.
* OneGameForThePriceOfTwo: Four. Then another for three.
* OneGenderRace: All the Vagrant [=AI=]s appear entirely female except for one, whose gender is listed as "[[DudeLooksLikeALady male?]]".
* OnlySixFaces: Justified. Lots of characters have similar voices, or faces, or body types, or hair styles, or costumes. But since this is an MMORPG you're bound to run into stuff like that now and then.
* TheOtherDarrin: Balmung was voiced by DougErholtz in the first game of the original tetralogy. He is voiced by CrispinFreeman from ''Mutation'' onwards.
* OvertookTheManga: See GeckoEnding above.
* PerspectiveFlip: .hack//Another Birth tells the story of the R1 games through the perspective of Black Rose.
* RantInducingSlight: What Haseo does when [[spoiler:Atoli cranks her love freakiness UpToEleven.]]
* 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.
* RecapEpisode
* RelationshipValues: Make your friends like you more through e-mail and trades. ''.hack//G.U.'' has a wedding at the end.
* RewardingVandalism
* 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.
** But those other sources are non-canon so they don't really matter.
* RolePlayingGameVerse: Literally.
* RunningGag: In ''Legend of the Twilight'', Shugo would sooner or later get one of his front teeth knocked out because of some AmusingInjury for most of the episodes.
* SaveBothWorlds
* SayMyName: There's a scene in the Legend of the Twilight anime which is nothing but the two main characters shouting each other's names. For about ten minutes.
* SceneryPorn: Especially in ''.hack//SIGN'', where the camera spends ages languidly panning across the World's various landscapes.
* SchmuckBait: The Guardian enemies Protect Break after unusually small amounts of damage. If you Data Drain them, they become The Bracelet. Enjoy your Game Over.
** On the other hand, actually killing The Bracelet nets you ''huge'' amounts of experience points (far more than any other enemy in the game), so if you're capable of it, it saves a lot of time on level grinding.
* SchoolgirlLesbians - [[spoiler:Tsukasa and Subaru.]]
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Emma Weilant's Epitaph of Twilight. Harald Hoerwick used her poem as the setting for frägment, the beta version of the The World, both of which which are actually an attempt to [[spoiler:create a true [=AI=] by studying the millions of players]]. But part of his program ends up becoming intelligent on its own and rebels against its purpose, resulting in the rebel [=AI=] and a handful of players actually ''reenacting'' the story of the Epitaph in ways Harald never anticipated. And considering Emma's rather mysterious inspiration for the poem...
* 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.]]
** On a more conventional sense, the gender of Hotaru's real-world player, one of the characters of .hack//Legend of The Twilight Bracelet, is ''very'' fiercely debated due to several conflicting informations across the medium. Specifically, while many has said that Hotaru is a female, she is revealed to be male in the non-canon Let's Meet Offline, and in a throwaway, hard-to-translate line in A.I. Buster 2, which ''is'' canon.
** This series brings this trope UpToEleven. Players of The World never seem to just take a step back and say "OK, this is a game - even if something really terrible happens, I can just quit and forget all about it". As such, you never see players log out or turn off their computers when faced with [[YourMindMakesItReal "real"]] threats from The World, which is what any sane person would normally do.
*** Note that a scene in ''Liminality'' suggests the [[MindRape Mind Raping]] begins with just the ''presence'' of such a threat. When Mai and Junichiro encounter Skeith, [[ChekhovsSkill Mai]] just pulls off her headset, but Junichiro's twitching and foaming at the mouth, madly mashing his control pad, until she shuts down the system. And he wasn't even Data Drained.
* 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.
** In G.U. you can read a message board poster saying he/she is reminded of a story about [[WolfsRain wolves searching for paradise]].
** Gaspard sends you an e-mail saying "[[GhostBusters I aint afraid of no ghost"]]."
* SolomonDivorce: Shugo & Rena seem completely unable to meet outside of The World.
** That's only in the anime. In the manga, there's no mention of a divorce, and they even share a bedroom.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide:Quite a few examples, although it's played for laughs in [[spoiler:Natsume's]] case.
* {{Synchronization}}: Happens in reverse form, where various [=AI=]s - Aura, the eight Avatars, and [=AIDA=] - are linked to certain players and respond to their emotions. More than one player openly questions how such a thing could be possible.
* ThemeNaming: It seems many Captains and Guild Leaders in G.U. have to be named after Heavenly Objects. The various arena champions are all named after stars, and the guilds are named after birds (although Silabus offers an alternate explanation for "Canard").
* ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet: Part of the reason for the denial about [[spoiler:Tsukasa]].
* TitleDrop: The group that defeated Morganna is known in later installments as the ".hackers".
* TragicMonster: Most of the series' "villains."
* TrappedInAnotherWorld - Get killed by the various corrupted evils of .hack, and you get to spend RL in a coma, and your mind in The World!
* UndergroundMonkey: Many of them in the video games.
* 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 Epitath of Twlight, though she is more an Antihero. Aura takes the pure from of this being the core of the system.
* YourMindMakesItReal: Characters who get attacked by Data Drain also reportedly suffer severe comas in the real world; this is explained in ''Legend of the Twilight'', where it's revealed that Data Draining causes the mind to assume a "nocebo" death.
** [[FridgeLogic Wait, does that mean nothing The Dot Hackers or Haseo did actually helped people escape their comas?]] [[FridgeLogic This also puts Tsukasa's existence into question.]]
** Except that's likely from the anime, which isn't canon.
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 154 (click to see context) from:
* ShoutOut: In ''.hack//Link'', Haseo and Ovan's secret costumes are [[TalesOfGraces Asbel and Malik]].
to:
* ShoutOut: In ''.hack//Link'', Haseo and Ovan's secret costumes are [[TalesOfGraces [[VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Asbel and Malik]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
The ''.hack'' (pronounced "dot hack") series is a [[CrackIsCheaper conglomeration]] of books, video games, manga, {{OVA}}, and anime TV series. 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.
to:
The ''.hack'' (pronounced "dot hack") series is a [[CrackIsCheaper conglomeration]] of books, video games, manga, {{OVA}}, and anime TV series.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.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
**If the item is out of the level range for the pond you tossed it in, and are honest, the water sprite will suggest you take it to a different area and give it back along with both the Gold And Silver axes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 91,93 (click to see context) :
* FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: [[YourMileageMayVary Possibly]]. In ArthurianLegend, "Morganna", a.k.a. [[EvilSorceress Morgan Le Fay]], is basically [[CelticMythology the Morrigan]] post-demonization after Christianity stamped out the native religions in the British Isles. Aura is [[{{Anvilicious}} repeatedly]] made out to be CrystalDragonJesus while Morganna will cease to exist when Aura takes power as the new [[DeusEstMachina Goddess of The World]]. Hmmm...]]
* FridgeHorror: In the flesh-type dungeons of the original .Hack games, a form of Grunty food called the "Bloody Egg" can be harvested. It sounds as though it's in actual pain when it shouts it's name out. (All Grunty Foodstuffs do this whenever your'e close enough) And it also looks bloody as well as having an expression of sheer agony. Also, note the skeletons hanging from chains and torture equipment sitting around the dungeon's floors. If one were to muse on how these Bloody Eggs were made, well.....The clues speak for themselves.
** And to make things a little worse, all of these eggs are alive (as alive as a computer program within a game can be).....And you're feeding them to your little Grunties so that [[spoiler: you can raise them into adults and trade for their treasure; Just to fill your own pocketbook.]] [[WhattheHellPlayer Think about that.]]
* FridgeHorror: In the flesh-type dungeons of the original .Hack games, a form of Grunty food called the "Bloody Egg" can be harvested. It sounds as though it's in actual pain when it shouts it's name out. (All Grunty Foodstuffs do this whenever your'e close enough) And it also looks bloody as well as having an expression of sheer agony. Also, note the skeletons hanging from chains and torture equipment sitting around the dungeon's floors. If one were to muse on how these Bloody Eggs were made, well.....The clues speak for themselves.
** And to make things a little worse, all of these eggs are alive (as alive as a computer program within a game can be).....And you're feeding them to your little Grunties so that [[spoiler: you can raise them into adults and trade for their treasure; Just to fill your own pocketbook.]] [[WhattheHellPlayer Think about that.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
YMMV
Deleted line(s) 49 (click to see context) :
* AccidentalNightmareFuel: In the second cutscene of .Hack//OUTBREAK; Kite has a brief reuinion with [[spoiler: Mia]], who has been with him for the last two volumes. However, she acts strange, has obscure dialougue, and makes gestures that imply that [[SanitySlippage all is not well upstairs.]] Couple this with the accuracy of her English VA, as well as the extremely distorted textures of the current area and you have a scene that should not be watched with the lights out. But then again, due to the game's art style, (Which for the current times, doesn't hold up as well) as well as the possibility that the player has played the other two volumes prior, [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
I haven\'t read the second one yet so not sure exactly how they fit in.
Changed line(s) 25,30 (click to see context) from:
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 story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind Tri-Edge.
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, Tokkio 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.
The story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind Tri-Edge.
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, Tokkio 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.
to:
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.
player-killers.
The story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behindTri-Edge.
Tri-Edge. The .hack//CELL light novels are a side-story set between Roots and G.U.
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,Tokkio 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.
The story immediately continues with the second series of PS2 games, ''.hack//G.U.'' (''Vol.1:Rebirth'', ''Vol.2:Reminisce'', and ''Vol.3:Redemption''). Haseo is back at level 1 after a losing battle with Tri-Edge, and finds himself embroiled in a complex plot involving the use of his newfound Avatar power (his character data possessing one of Morganna's eight Phases), warring guilds, rampant player-killing, a malicious AI phenomenon called [=AIDA=], and the truth behind
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,
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 21,22 (click to see context) from:
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 Zeife, 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.
to:
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 Zeife, 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.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 38,44 (click to see context) from:
* [[DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]]
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]]
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]] (The first four games.)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]]
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]]
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]]
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]] (The first four games.)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U. Games]]
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]]
to:
* [[DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]]
Buster]] (novels)
* [[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]]
hack//SIGN]] (anime)
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]](The (the first four games.)
games)
* [[DotHackLiminality .hack//Liminality]]
hack//Liminality]] (OVA)
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U.Games]]
Games]] (the second generation games)
* [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]]
hack//Quantum]] (OVA)
* [[DotHackSign .
* [[DotHackR1Games .hack//IMOQ]]
* [[DotHackLiminality .
* [[DotHackGUGames .hack//G.U.
* [[DotHackQuantum .
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 46 (click to see context) from:
Also see the [[{{Characters/Ptitleikxjln2mifoc}} character sheets]].
to:
Also see the [[{{Characters/Ptitleikxjln2mifoc}} [[Characters/DotHack character sheets]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 13,14 (click to see context) from:
The first chronological installment is the first novel, ''[[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.
to:
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, ''[[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.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 31,33 (click to see context) from:
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.
''* phew!* ''
''* phew!* ''
to:
An OVA called [[DotHackQuantum .hack//Quantum]], ''[[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.
''* phew!* ''
announced titled ''The Other Side of the World''.
''* phew!* ''
Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* EarlyBirdCameo: Type 2. Kite (Sora), an unlockable extra character in ''Link'', is the main character in ''[=.hack//The Movie=]''.
to:
* EarlyBirdCameo: Type 2. Kite (Sora), an unlockable extra character in ''Link'', is the main character in ''[=.hack//The Movie=]''.Other Side of the World=]''.
Changed line(s) 126 (click to see context) from:
* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Movie.'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.
to:
* TheMovie: A feature length CGI movie simply titled ''.hack//The Movie.'' .Other Side of the World'' .hack//G.U. Trilogy could also count.
