It seems appropriate to update the party system as Haseo grows more akin to working within a party instead of being a lone wolf. That includes the morale system. Not only is the duration starting to lengthen but you no longer have to wait for it to fill up to use it, you can use it pretty much whenever but the longer you wait, the longer it'll last. New weapon too, you're pretty much where you were when you were the Terror of Death which is really saying something. You can even switch weapons in battle albeit it's through the menu or special. But having a good relationship via email with your party helps because it unlocks new attacks. Because of these improvements, the gameplay is slowly shaping up to be really enjoyable at times. I did actually manage to crash it from button mashing though…
The Versus card game is open now which means you can collect cards to play in the form of some really cool art. Same with the forum which you can in turn make your wallpaper in the desktop (which was a feature from IMOQ but done in a different way). The bike turns out that it was bland on purpose last time so they added an upgrade system where you can buy parts and mix and match to make it run how YOU want (really you just buy the best parts but it markets as how you want).
So now we're properly into spoiler territory and with that we're properly into SAO now with the players being stuck within the game. You can no longer head to the desktop to check your email. And with that, Atoli can't speak, can only send mail. But here's where it gets tricky because that's not the game's plot, in fact, the whole scenario is over pretty early, it just introduces that possibility and what it could possibly mean as well as the consequences it created.
It started becoming clear to me how much of a reinvention/reimagining GU really is to IMOQ because it's using a lot of the same elements just differently, like the Data cores (instead of virus cores). Donald Duck even returns!
wait... But as far as structure, it also takes after the first volume taking place with a tournament…again. Nowhere near as long though. But just know that once you've set your difficulty, you've done it for all the vols so…yeah.
The side-quests aren't nearly as meaningful but I'd have to say that the overall story jumped to being pretty good, there are some lines in there where I was very well shocked at how impactful they were. The only real complaint I have about it is the villains and I got spoiled about them but the way it's done (so far) is pretty cheesy, but I imagine it will be expanded upon and will actually make sense later. But yeah, this makes the first .hack that I actually properly enjoyed, thoroughly and genuinely, there was always bits and pieces but this one finally seemed worth it.
The Versus card game is open now which means you can collect cards to play in the form of some really cool art. Same with the forum which you can in turn make your wallpaper in the desktop (which was a feature from IMOQ but done in a different way). The bike turns out that it was bland on purpose last time so they added an upgrade system where you can buy parts and mix and match to make it run how YOU want (really you just buy the best parts but it markets as how you want).
So now we're properly into spoiler territory and with that we're properly into SAO now with the players being stuck within the game. You can no longer head to the desktop to check your email. And with that, Atoli can't speak, can only send mail. But here's where it gets tricky because that's not the game's plot, in fact, the whole scenario is over pretty early, it just introduces that possibility and what it could possibly mean as well as the consequences it created.
It started becoming clear to me how much of a reinvention/reimagining GU really is to IMOQ because it's using a lot of the same elements just differently, like the Data cores (instead of virus cores). Donald Duck even returns!
wait... But as far as structure, it also takes after the first volume taking place with a tournament…again. Nowhere near as long though. But just know that once you've set your difficulty, you've done it for all the vols so…yeah.
The side-quests aren't nearly as meaningful but I'd have to say that the overall story jumped to being pretty good, there are some lines in there where I was very well shocked at how impactful they were. The only real complaint I have about it is the villains and I got spoiled about them but the way it's done (so far) is pretty cheesy, but I imagine it will be expanded upon and will actually make sense later. But yeah, this makes the first .hack that I actually properly enjoyed, thoroughly and genuinely, there was always bits and pieces but this one finally seemed worth it.