Customer Reviews

.hack, Part 4: Quarantine

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

For dedicated dot hackers, the easiest way to describe the fourth and last chapter of this game is 'more or the same.' Once more Kite adventures into the many fields and dungeons of 'The World' seeking loot, experience, and trying to safe the world (the real world) from a virus gone out of control. This time, though, all the loose threads are drawn together, answers are provided, and the glow of a new day restores the shine to the gaming world.

If you are new to the game, you are likely to find Quarantine a bit difficult to play and confusing to understand. While it can be done, I think a very large part of the series' charm is the slow, game-by-game, building of character and story. With the earlier games now available at discounted prices the best strategy is to start at the beginning and work forward. Do not, however, try to play the games one right after another. Spread out, their similarity doesn't interfere with enjoyment. Taken all at once, it is quite possible to overdose on grunties.

If you have been following the series than expect no great surprises. Well, there are one or two, but for the most part everything is a natural progression from the previous games. While the plot undertakes some interesting twists, gameplay is pretty much a matter of bigger and badder. If you have been religiously leveling up in prior episodes then Quarantine will feel a bit too easy. If you have been getting through by the skin of your teeth then there will be some tough fights ahead.

I felt that Quarantine was a little too short, and not as spectacular as I expected. There is provision for playing after the game is complete, including an item challenge, and some familiar characters will suddenly become available. Unfortunately quarantine features a smaller set of monsters. Most often data bug variations of ones you have already seen. There is a little voice in my head that keeps telling me that Bandai would have been better off packaging this game in three episodes rather than four.

Of course, that means they would have had to find another way to deliver the Liminality OVAs. This last episode is excellent, providing a lot of information on the nature of the.hack world as well as an exciting conclusion. We see both the outside and the inside of The World in one tidy package. In retrospect, the game is the weakest link in the entire marketing package (I'm not completely sure about the manga either), simply because Bandai chose to leave it unchanged for four episodes. However, many of the concepts behind the .hack package are quite novel, even if a bit overplayed. This, it is an entertaining (if somewhat expense) way to spend a lot of hours with your Playstation 2.

definitely a fun series. any rpg fan will like it i think. the dungeons are a tad repetitive, but they're good dungeons, so its not so bad. good storyline, good characters (Gardenia is my favorite), nice graphics, decent music & voice acting, & no endless leveling up before you can move on. one word of caution: you definitely want to have played the previous 3 games before playing this one. a great, well-balanced rpg.

This game is great when I play it! The story were awsome. I reccommend it for people who have play part 1 to 3. If you just get this game without playing the previous parts then it will not be that fun and become confusing. I love the game and every time I play it I felt like I really was online. Probably the best RPG games I play.

If you have played the first three /.hack games...you will prolly love this one. The fact is://.hack rules. 1st off, you get to interact with NPCs and trade with them. In games like Final Fantasy, you either buy the worthless pieces of junk, or you go around for hours stealing items from monsters which is a huge time consumer. Well i guess this too considering the numbers of monsters to kill going through the dungeons. I simply got hooked. The games very easy to play plus it has some challenge in it. Its better then final fantasy because you don't have to use the same gay boring menus. I'd rather be able to move the character and do what i want. :-) The story is different but you need to pay attention in games to whats going on. There are LOTS of skills to get which makes it very fun instead of fire, ice, thunder. Hmm? Kinda gets old. LOTS of weapons with cool details is another big gain. i'd rate this serious a 5 anyday.

A lot of people really miss the point of this game so I'm going to lay it out for you.

It's a simulation of a mass-multiplayer online RPG. You meet several players along the way and the game tries to make sure you interact with them as often as possible. However the main characters in the story turn out to be Balmung, Blackrose, Wiseman, and of course Kite, and as such when you're in situations where the story line is progressing they are the characters that you'll probably want to (or have to in some cases) select for your party. A lot of the dry spots in the story is to progress your relationships with other characters.

For experienced gamers the .hack//saga should provide little difficulty. The characters are brilliantly designed, my only complaint is that you don't really get a lot of substance in each individual game. It's fun to progress the story, but before you know it the game is over, which is why I eagerly awaited this installment in the saga. I was pleased to see the story come together the way that it did, and the DVD's that coincide with the game are well done. It's not nearly as hack and slash as some would make it out to be, there is a bit of strategy in the game, several opposing elements, several enemies with both physical and magical tolerance that require some sort of strategy to defeating them. Another lacking quality in the game is the variety of enemies is low, you end up fighting the same enemies over and over again in each level, the lack of variety at each weapon shop is also frustrating, however the trading system and the variety of weapons you find on the field along with the leveling them up with the help of special dieties known as "grandpa" and "monsieur" make up for that.

The story is frighteningly progressive and cutting edge. As I stated earlier the character models are fantastic, and quite honestly some of the best I've seen since Final Fantasy VII. Now don't get angry....this series is by no means of Final Fantasy VII caliber, however its very much worth the play as you can usually find most titles for around twenty dollars. It's a fun and addictive story line. I highly recommend it.

I give this one star for its price, not the game itself. Here, as on auction sites, this game is described as "rare". How rare can it really be when there's at least 10 available at any given time, often complete with the animé DVD? I would like to have this game to complete my collection, but I absolutely will not pay $70+ for it. When the price comes down to a more reasonable level, like around $25, I'll consider it then, but not now.

Love it. Ending kinda sucked but great way to end the series. I hope they make these for new gen systems.

for the longest time, i was stuck on part 3 and not been able to anything after i beat it and then i found this game on some other site than that god-forsaken ebay and i could not be happier with it. I simply love the .hack series so this was pretty much as good as a christmas present except i paid for it.

While formed from the interesting concept of a virtual gaming world gone psychotic, what .hack//Infection really is a dungeon based adventure game comprised of hack-and-slash travels through levels to get treasure. The classic RPG with a bit of a twist, it starts when Kite, a new player, is introduced to 'The World' by his friend Orca. On their first outing to a dungeon, Orca is attacked by a mutated monster and permanently loses consciousness. It is up to Kite, and the friends he makes to try to find out what is really going on.

I really like the fact that you can use your save data from the previous game and that the story is flowing along a similar path as the Anime Series. The DVD disk that comes with these show the real world events which is another good perspective and a lot better than the Anime's shaded few second shots of the real world.
Still need to finish the game. I seem to have a problem finding a place that doesn't have one really hard monster to kill that takes 20 min to fight, and I have to kill 20 of them to level up.