Publisher CyberConnect2’s .Hack// franchise is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year with the remastered release of .Hack//GU with the goal of introducing the series to a new generation that missed the game back in its original PlayStation 2 format.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series, .Hack// (dot Hack) is a multimedia franchise owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment that consists of video games (PS2 and PSP), anime, novels and manga each mostly taking place and is centered upon a fictional MMORPG game called “The World” (and its revisions in later series). The second game in the franchise, .Hack//GU is comprised of a trilogy of games starting from:
- Volume 1: Rebirth
- Volume 2: Reminisce
- Volume 3: Redemption
The story centers around Haseo, an adept rogue who gets PK’ed on the first day he logs in to the world, a player killer that put his friend into a coma after killing her “in-game”, and a mysterious phenomenon called “AIDA”.
For the remastered release titled, .Hack//GU: Last Recode, all three volumes will be included with the addition of new content and enhancements that according to Bandai Namco, will “make it feel like a new game”. The current information lists the following changes:
- A brand new chapter titled, Volume 4: Reconnection, that takes place 15 months after the end of Volume 3
- A new job form for Haseo
- Updated visuals (1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, HD visuals including all movies/backgrounds/UI, etc)
- Dual-audio option with English and Japanese voice-overs along with English, French, and German subtitles
- Cheat System (Play the game with max stats/levels/equipment), for people who just want to play through the story
- Item Shortcuts and sorting features
- Increased the maximum item quantity allowed
- Chim Spheres and Virus Cores cap increased to 999
- Retry feature
- “Leisurely Break” implemented (a new method for recovery)
- The option to manually choose between “character” Sakubo will be in the party
- Decreased probability of computer controlled allies to sell items you give them
- Improvements to Volume 2 & 3 will be applied to Volume 1
- Combat improvements in order to speed up battle tempo
- Weapon proficiency and character experience increased
- Awakening scenes will finally be skippable
- Enemy balance/difficulty changes
- Avatar battles improved and implementation of “Suspend” features
- Marriage improvements (no more resets)
- All videos from the “Terminal Discs” that were included at the limited edition PS2 release of Volume 1, will be included as well
And the best part is that we do not have to wait long as the game has been announced to release on November 3rd, 2017 (November 1, 2017 in Japan) for Windows and the PlayStation 4.
The announcement video can be seen below:
I hope they also release the original tetra-logy in the future as well..
3 Comments
nice theres a pc version! wish they include Japanese and English voice acting
ayon sa sources ko yeap, kasama JP voice acting, option for dual-audio English/JP, other languages only for subtitles.
Zedrick Tungol