.Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

[Zempten]

Hi

I noticed this side of the fourms is pretty dry,

Recently I've finishd .Hack Sign. I'm not sure if I get the storyline right. Does anyone know what happened on episode 26 near the end? I think I have a hunch but I'm not exactly sure if it's right and if others are reading this thread I don't want to spoil it for them.

So let's discuss, there's a few things I want to ask but I want to make sure I have a group of people to discuss with first before I start firing off my questions ^^

[Shiyume]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

I've watched it through a few times, if you tell me what specifically is confuddling you I shall try to help :D

[Zempten]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Thanks ^^ I really appreciate it.


Okay, here is my questions.

1) What is the Key of Twilight? Is it Aura? What was so important about her "Awakening"? Did it matter if she awakened as the regular one or the warpped one? What was the condition for Aura to awaken? I'm still very lost on that. Was it Tsukasa logging out? or him being extremely depressed so a Warpped Aura would awaken? or being extremely happy so the correct Aura would wake up?

2) Who is that lady that trapped Tsukasa in "The World"? And how is she related to the Brokan Man in the upside down dungeon in the episode called "Castle". He said he created her, but somehow got warpped? Is that right?

3) In Episode 26 (named Return), Sora is pinned to some staff something, dies, and then it shows him in the Real World dropping unconcsious in front of his terminal. How does he make it back into "The World" again in episode 28 (named Unison)?

4) Also in Episode 26 (named Return), Bear, BT, Crim, Silver Knight and the entire gang is about to square off with Skeith (that robot with a red staff) and then all of a sudden . . . um . . . the screen fizzles out and it shows Tsukasa meeting Subaru in the real world. What in the world happened in between when Skeith showed up and the happy ending?

5) In episode 20 (named Tempest), near the end Tsukasa is . . . um . . . how do I say this . . . . being hit wit multiple yellow beams of light, I guess tortured is a good word here?. Afterward he seems to be very depressed. What exactly was the point of that? To put him into even greater despair? I thought it was so but the lady clearly said that she didn't need him anymore. So what was the point of making him even more depressed?

6) What was the point of Tsukasa? He had the ability to awaken Aura, right? Why did that lady (as in the one that trapped him into "The World") always want Tsukasa to be in despair? Why did she make it so he couldn't log out?

7) What was Macha? A Player or a program? It was strange cause he died in episode 25 (named Catastrophy), but in Episode 28 (named Unison) he comes back I guess? And Tsukasa recongnizes him but somehow Macha doesn't recognize Tsukasa but he cries for no reason.

8) Technically is Episode 26 Return the last episode? Because after that episode there is no "Preview" and Episode 27 and 28 don't really tell much. What's with the deal with all the new players suddenly (Like Elk, BlackRose, Kitte) in Episode 28? Who is this guy named Kitte? What is this braclet he talks about that Aura gave him?


I'm sorry if these questions are put into a bad order. The thoughts are still so jumbled in my head. Thanks for any revelations ^^

[Sadeira]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

first thing first, you have to understand that the world of .hack takes place in the world of an mmorpg. this is actually kind of difficult to grasp if you don't keep up closely.

let's say for example we create an anime about ffxi based on the player interactions in the game and let's say there's a problem with ffxi. the gilfarmers take over and they plan on overthrowing the gm's surreptitiously and completely monopolozing the in game market for one server, a test server for them to see if it is feasible. .hack is similar in that effect.

.hack is supposedly a revolutionary mmorpg. it seems to me that when one puts on the visor, they digitize their conciousness into their character in the game world. in other words, every player is literally uploaded into the game. if the player does not properly log out, then their conciousness will be stuck in the game. meanwhile, their body goes inanimate without that conciousness.

so let's see if i can answer some questions.

1) aura is the central figure in the .hack series. explaining her would pretty much spoil anything that would be explained in the .hack game series. so if you want to go play the game. actually, .hack//sign is, simply put, a clever marketing scheme to get you to buy the .hack games. as for her relationship with tsukasa, aura allows him to properly log out.

2) play the game?

3) since 'the world' is the mmorpg .hack is based on, mmorpg players can choose an avatar to represent them in the game and many mmorpgs may not have a wide variety of avatars to choose from.

for example, in ffxi, just how many black hair, pony tail hume females do you see running around? hell, my avatar is a black haired pony tail hume female. same thing here. there's only one sora but there could be 100 people that use the same avatar as he does. so the sora in ep 28 is probably a completely different person.

(i find it ironic that 'the world' can upload your conciousness to the game server but the developers cannot allow a player to create unique avatars)

4-8) i wouldn't be able to tell you, it's only been about 3 years since i last saw .hack//sign

this is the best i can do

[Shiyume]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Like Sadeira said, a lot of your questions actually are answered in the .hack games. I'll see what I can remember for the rest.

Some of this might be game spoilers, but I'll try to stay away from those, excuse me if I mix up anime and game.

As far as Aura and Morganna, they were AI created by Harold (upside down guy) who created The World. Aura was his "daughter" and Morganna was to take care of her until she would awaken. Now, Morganna realizes that once Aura awakens, she's done. Since she works of emotion, she gets Tsukasa and links him to Aura. If he descends far enough into despair, Aura is destroyed, or at least never awakens, and Morganna gets to do her thang. Again, this process is expanded upon in the game (I haven't gotten around to playing the higher ones yet, plus I don't wanna spoil).

Maha is an NPC. Maha is created in the second or third game, in a sort of twist of fate.

The end of 26 is explained right before it happens. Helba decides to junk the entire level, so that Skeith goes with it. Basically, she pwnhacked him so they didn't have to fight. At that point, Tsukasa regains consciousness and gets to meet Subaru.

26 is the end of the story. The one with all the extra characters was for fun. They're all from the game, I wouldn't consider it canon. This might explain Sora's presence as well, though he has a part in the game too.

The end of 20; I don't know, really. Maybe she was just being mean.

If it interests you, .hack//defragment is an actual The World MMO. Looks like it might be pretty cool. I think its in development now.

[Blood Red Poet]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

The MMORPG is called "The World". //Sign was a prequel to the games. Skeith is the first major boss of the series.

[Zempten]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

I'm sorry. I completely forgot about the games. If as much of the story as you say lies there then I'll play it to find out.

Thanks for your replies. It's helped me.

I'm a bit interested in the .hack//defragment MMO. I found a bit of information at http://www.hack.channel.or.jp/fragment/index2.html, but shouldn't it already be out? Is it really a MMORPG? It seems like it's only 3 players in an entire world. Not quite like how EQ, WOW, and FFXI are setup.

[Rikaku]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

there is some spoilers so i put the text to mach the backround of the forum

8) Technically is Episode 26 Return the last episode? Because after that episode there is no "Preview" and Episode 27 and 28 don't really tell much. What's with the deal with all the new players suddenly (Like Elk, BlackRose, Kitte) in Episode 28? Who is this guy named Kitte? What is this braclet he talks about that Aura gave him?

There was no preview was 27 & 28 are OVA's. Play the .Hack//Game to find out who the other chars

7) What was Macha? A Player or a program? It was strange cause he died in episode 25 (named Catastrophy), but in Episode 28 (named Unison) he comes back I guess? And Tsukasa recongnizes him but somehow Macha doesn't recognize Tsukasa but he cries for no reason.

Macha is a wandering AI that is in the PC rules.

5) In episode 20 (named Tempest), near the end Tsukasa is . . . um . . . how do I say this . . . . being hit wit multiple yellow beams of light, I guess tortured is a good word here?. Afterward he seems to be very depressed. What exactly was the point of that? To put him into even greater despair? I thought it was so but the lady clearly said that she didn't need him anymore. So what was the point of making him even more depressed?

I don't think it was torture but to delete Tsukasa memorys.

3) In Episode 26 (named Return), Sora is pinned to some staff something, dies, and then it shows him in the Real World dropping unconcsious in front of his terminal. How does he make it back into "The World" again in episode 28 (named Unison)?

Sora didn't die, he gone unconcsious like Tsukasa, Sora did but turn in to Skeith.
In OVA 28 Sora is back, his old self. To find out you need to play the .Hack//Game

[Pyro Elf]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

In order to understand the eps after 26, you need to play the game on PS2.

1-26 was the original series, the end of 26 is actually the beginning of the first .hack game on PS2 (Outbreak). At the samet ime the game is beginning, the whole Luminality Series starts beginning as well.

But pretty much as the games are wrapping up, 27 happens someplace, and when the game is all over, 28 (Unison) takes place. Unison is the aftermath of the game, when the series meets the true end for the first part (The series Legend of Twilight begins 2 years or so after the game's storyline ended).

.hack//sign you actually have to watch once or twice, and again after you beat the games to grasp an understanding to it. I actually had a pretty detailed explination of the entire storyline that I typed up as I was rewatching it after beating the games...

But you cannot truely understand what happens after 26 without beating the 4 part game at least once.

[TBoTB]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Episodes 27 and 28? Are they OVA's? I dont recall them coming out unless there on the last DVD of the series. I played the games, well, 3 out of 4. I have the 4th but got sidetracked with other RPG's (its still in the shrink wrap ;. .Hack is practicly one of the most story complex animes ive seen, its along the line of Animes like Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex 1st and 2nd Gig. Its a very good anime none the less. One of teh best ways to beat the games is to just get strong by going to different zones then just go through the story becuase it will get reptitive having to clear out worlds to level up although it can be done fast if your manage your your strength vs weakness pretty well and just dominate a world that is weak against your current weapons element but at a higher level than you. The level cap for each game is like lv 30 for the first, 50 for the second, 70-80 for the third, and i guess 100 for the last.

[Shiyume]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

As for the "3 players in the world" thing, this isn't made super clear in the anime but in The World, to enter a field from a town you input three keywords, and it generates a level based on them (the keywords change the weather, element, strength of monsters, etc.). In //fragment your party can have up to 3 people in it, when going into a level. Its kinda small, but being an action-rpg rather than click'n'wait means it should get hectic. I'd like to play it ~_~

[Zempten]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Thanks alot for clearing things up. I'll play the game to gain a even better grasp of it all

[EDIT] One last thing . Would anyone mind telling me the order of how the .hack series goes? So far I've seen .hack//Sign , .hack//Dusk, and .hack//LIMINALITY.

[Shiyume]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Well, if you're going to be really technical, .hack starts with //AI BUSTER, which is a novel you can probably find in the manga section of your bookstore. Next comes //SIGN, which is followed, almost immediately, by the games. //LIMINALITY happens in the real world while the games are going on, but separately from them. //Twilight Bracelet (aka dusk, udeden, etc.) takes place two years later.

If I can do a little suggesting, LIMINALITY is cool but unless you download it, you have to buy the games which can be a bit of a grind. Also, it can be really, really confusing. //Twilight...in the beginning, I liked it, but it got pretty rough, also had the most vomit-inducing ending ever. I would recommend the manga its based on, I only read a little bit but it was better. If you're expecting another //SIGN, you'll be rather disappointed. Its lots of comedy, with some cool plot but mostly either filler or stuff you don't really care about (did anyone else just really want Rena to die? >.>).

Also, there's one more new .hack game, a true sequel, //GU. You play as a PKer, and...there's lots of story and stuff. Its still popular enough where Bandai's doing the "split up a game that could have fit on one into multiple discs" thing, this time only 3. The games were a little repetetive, but you can't argue with the story.

Elk

EDIT: For those who are interested, there's a timeline of .hack that has tons of useless information they never give you in any of the normal canon at http://blackwings.net/hack/timeline.php . I don't remember there being any spoilers, but don't hold me to that. It ends at //SIGN's beginning.

[Zempten]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

Thanks ^ ^

[Shiyume]

Re: .Hack Sign (Possible Spoiler Alert)

No problem, .hack is one of my absolute favorite anime/game/etc to talk about. If anyone else has questions, shoot XD