.hack


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.hack (pronounced "dot-hack") is a Japanese multimedia franchise that encompasses two projects; Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate. Both projects were primarily created/developed by CyberConnect2, and published by Bandai. The series is still ongoing, through manga, anime, video games, and novelty items or costumes (also called cosplay uniforms).

Contents

Overview

Setting

The series takes place mainly within The World, a fictional MMORPG published and maintained by the also fictional CyberConnect Corporation, known as the CC Corporation. Players interact with The World using virtual reality headsets called FMDs (Face-mounted display) and Dreamcast-like controllers. It is the creation of German programmer Harald Hoerwick, who creates the first version, "Fragment", to help create his virtual daughter, Aura.

The World consists of a cluster of servers distributed around the world. When players log in, they materialize in the Root Town of the server they last used. Each server in The World has its own unique Root Town. They are the starting and ending point of any gaming session. In order to properly log out of the game, the player must be in a Root Town. Each Root Town has a Chaos Gate, a large revolving ring used to transport players to areas or other servers. To transport to an Area, a series of three keywords must be entered. These keywords determine such parameters as difficulty, terrain, and weather amongst other things. Most keyword combinations result in an Area with a field and a dungeon.

Each area features a large boundless expanse of terrain of finite size characterized by its open air environment and lack of living civilization. Typically most structures in the fields are the ruins of some long ancient dwellings, or the bones of some massive creature. They contain dungeons, which are labyrinths containing two to five descending levels of interconnected rooms. It contains a single entrance/exit that links the first level to the field and a single stairway between levels. The deepest level of the dungeon contains a special room known for the distinctive floating figure, known as a Gott Statue, behind a golden treasure chest.

Most characters in the .hack franchise are known only by their virtual avatars within The World. The character class chosen determines the base appearance to other players and the role that they can play during combat. Because skills and abilities are given by the items equipped, each character class can only use a specific type of weapon, though some armors can be used by multiple classes. However some character classes are chosen only as a matter of aesthetic value, reflecting the user's self image whether real or ideal. In the beginning there are only six types of classes: Twin Blade, Heavy Blade, Blademaster, Wavemaster, Heavy Axeman, and Long Arm. In .hack//Legend of the Twilight, an expansion to The World was released, introducing the Kickboxer and Werewolf class.

In the real world, Pluto's Kiss, a virus written by a ten-year-old elementary school student, caused a simultaneous crash of all computers and network control systems on the Internet that did not run on the ALTIMIT OS, which subsequently became the dominant operating system worldwide. The Twilight Incident, also known as Pluto Again, and the Second Network Crisis is the series of disasters depicted in the .hack//Games. It involves the massive blackout and system shutdown at Yokohama, which results in multiple car accidents, fires throughout the city, various other system malfunctions in other parts of Japan, and various players of The World ending up comatose. It is caused by the glitching Morganna System, though it is eventually resolved with the full awakening of Aura. Kazushi Watarai is held responsible, despite being hospitalized for the majority of the incident.

Data Drain is an illegal skill that is used by various characters in the franchise. It rewrites data and has the ability to affect people in real life, such as making them fall comatose. It is generally required to "Protect Break" victims before Data Draining them.

Characters

Main article: List of .hack characters

Project .hack

Project .hack was the first generation of the .hack series. It launched in 2002 with the PlayStation 2 game, .hack//Infection and the anime series .hack//Sign. Project developers included Koichi Mashimo, Kazunori Ito, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Since then, Project .hack has spanned television, video games, manga, novels, and even trading cards.

Main storyline

Series that are part of the official continuity (canon) of the project.
  • .hack//AI buster, a novel telling the story of Albireo and a prototype of the ultimate AI, Lycoris, and of how Orca and Balmung defeated "The One Sin" and became the Descendants of Fianna.
  • .hack//AI buster 2, a collection of stories involving the characters of AI Buster and Legend of the Twilight Bracelet: ".hack//2nd Character", ".hack//Wotan's Spear", ".hack//Kamui", ".hack//Rumor" and ".hack//Firefly". "Rumor" was previously released with the Rena Special Pack in Japan.
  • .hack//Sign, an anime series surrounding the character Tsukasa and his (her) inability to log out of The World.
  • .hack//Zero, a novel series that tells the story of a Long Arm named Carl, of what happened to Sora after he was trapped in The World by Morganna, and of Tsukasa's real life after being able to log out from The World.
  • .hack, a series of four PlayStation 2 games that follow the story of the .hackers, Kite and BlackRose, and their attempts to find out what caused the sudden coma of Kite's friend, Orca, and BlackRose's brother, Kazu. The four volumes, in sequence, are .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine.
  • .hack//Another Birth, novelizations of each of the .hack video games from BlackRose's point of view.
  • .hack//Liminality, a set of four DVD OVAs included with the games that follow the story of Mai Minase, Yuki Aihara, Kyoko Tohno, and ex-CyberConnect employee Junichiro Tokuoka as they attempt to find out what is causing the comas.
  • .hack//Legend of the Twilight, a manga series following the player characters Shugo and Rena, as they win a mysterious contest that earns them super deformed character models of the legendary .hackers Kite and BlackRose (from the .hack PlayStation 2 games).

Other storylines

Alternative stories (non-canon) of the project.
  • .hack//Gift, a self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek, one-episode OVA that was created as a "gift" for those who had bought and completed all four .hack video games. In Japan, one could only watch Gift if the Data Flag on the memory card file in .hack//Quarantine was present, whereas the American version included Gift on the fourth Liminality DVD. It is predominantly a comedy that makes fun of everything that developed throughout the series, even the franchise's own shortcomings. Character designs are deliberately simplistic - Balmung wears a tie around his head in this title to symbolise that he is an office worker.
  • .hack//4 Koma, a humorous manga series based on the .hack and .hack//G.U. franchises.
  • .hack//XXXX (read as "X-Fourth"), a manga series that adapts the four original .hack video games.
  • .hack//Legend of the Twilight anime series. It features most of the same characters as the manga version, but with an alternative storyline. It was incorrectly called .hack//Dusk, among other names, in early fan-translated versions.

Related products

  • .hack//Enemy, a collectible card game created by Decipher Inc. based on the .hack storylines. It was discontinued after running five separate expansions between 2003-2005.
  • .hack//fragment, the first .hack ORPG (Online Role-Playing Game). It was released in Japan and the servers have since been closed, ending all official online gameplay. Bandai announced at E3 '06 that frägment will not be coming to North America.

.hack Conglomerate

.hack Conglomerate is the sequel to Project .hack and the group of companies behind this second chapter of the series, although no true "conglomerate" has been formed. The companies include Victor Entertainment, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, Bandai, TV Tokyo, Bee Train, and Kadokawa Shoten. It encompasses a series of three PlayStation 2 games called .hack//G.U., an anime series called .hack//Roots, prose, and manga.

Main storyline

Series that are part of the official continuity (canon) of the project.
  • .hack//Roots, an anime series which follows Haseo and his joining (and subsequent exploits with) the Twilight Brigade guild. It also shows his rise to power and how he becomes known as "The Terror of Death". Towards the end of the series we see the start of .hack.//G.U.
  • .hack//G.U., a series of three video games (Vol. 1 Rebirth, Vol. 2 Reminisce, and Vol. 3 Redemption) that focus on Haseo's chase of Tri-Edge, his eventual involvement with Project G.U, and the mysterious AIDA who plague The World R:2. This latest series has proven greatly successful to the .hack franchise, with the recent release of .hack//G.U. Vol 3 in Japan selling over 100,000 copies in one day and becoming the number one game the week of its release in Japan.
  • .hack//CELL, a novel which involves a female Edge Punisher called Midori who acts as a "professional victim", by letting people PK her for money.
  • .hack//GnU, a humorous manga series about a male Blade Brandier called Raid and the seventh division of the Moon Tree guild.
  • .hack//Alcor, a manga series that focuses on a girl called Nanase, who appears to be quite fond of Silabus, as well as Alkaid during her days as empress of the Demon Palace.
  • Online Jack, a set of anime clips in the news section of the .hack//G.U. games' fake internet. It tells the "real world" story of the mysterious "Doll Syndrome".
  • .hack//Link, a manga that occurs three years after the end of .hack//G.U. in a new version of The World, The World R:X. It focuses on a player named Tokio and a mysterious exchange student named Saika.

Other storylines

Alternative stories (non-canon) of the project.
  • .hack//G.U.+, a non-canon manga adaptation of the three .hack//G.U. video games.
  • .hack//G.U. Trilogy, a cgi video adaptation of the .hack//G.U. video games.
  • .hack//4koma, a manga series which throws a little humor into both Project .hack and .hack Conglomerate alike.

External links

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