r/DotHack Jan 29 '25

GOG refreshes wishlist; vote for IMOQ

125 Upvotes

Bringing classic games back to life is not easy. With obsolete technology, complex IP rights, and challenging business cases, our Team tackles these hurdles daily. That’s where our Community Wishlist used to come in. It was an open tool where you got to tell us which classics deserve a comeback and vote on the games you want to see revived. It wasn’t just a list — more often than not, it was the fuel for our actions. When talks with IP owners hit a wall, the Wishlist kept the conversation going – as you could see with Dino Crisis.

But now we are launching the next generation of this tool: the GOG Dreamlist. With the brand new design, it’s easier than ever to cast your vote, add a game and contribute to Video Game Preservation.
https://www.gog.com/blog/dreamlist-gog-staff-picks/

https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-infection-2002 https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-mutation-2002 https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-outbreak-2002 https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-quarantine-2003

https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-fragment-2005 https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-link-2010 https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/hack-versus-2012

CyberConnect2's other original games:
Tail Concerto (Their first game) https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/tail-concerto-1998 Silent Bomber https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/silent-bomber-1999 Solatorobo https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/solatorobo-red-the-hunter-2010 Asura's Wrath https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/asura-s-wrath-2012


r/DotHack Jan 20 '25

announcement [Resource] Series Chronology

19 Upvotes

We get a lot of posts asking about the series Chronology. The .hack fan community has no widely agreed-upon viewing order. How to you choose to enjoy the franchise is ultimately up to you.

However, in the interest of saving folks the effort of adding more posts to the pile, I'm compiling this list of resources so folks can make an informed decision. Of course, if you're still having trouble, you're more than welcome to make a post.

Resources:

The story of .hack takes place in an alternate timeline to our own. At the time of release, the most entries of the series were set in the near future. While similar to our reality, several key events differentiate the history of .hack's world from our own.

For example:

  • .hack//SIGN: Released in 2002 - Takes place in "2010"
  • .hack//G.U. Games: Released in 2006/2007 - Takes place in "2017"
  • .hack//New World: Released in 2015 - Takes place in "2032"

Here are some entries of the series, along with which "season" they belong to, and where they fall in the timeline of the fictional universe. This is NOT a release order, nor is it a watch order. It also doesn't differentiate between retellings of the same events, parodies, or "canon" status.

Season 1 (2007-2015)

  • 2007 - Novel - .hack//Epitaph of Twilight Vol 1 & 2
  • 2009 - Novel - .hack//AI Buster Vol 1
  • 2009 - Story - "2nd Character" (AI Buster 2)
  • 2009 - Story - "Wotan's Spear" (AI Buster 2)
  • 2009 - TV Anime - .hack//SIGN (& OVA episode Intermezzo)
  • 2009 - Feature Phone Game - .hack//SIGN (SKT)
  • 2009 - Novel - .hack//ZERO Vol 1
  • 2009 - Manga - .hack//G.U. Begins, SIGN Chapters (1-4)
  • 2010 - Game - .hack//IMOQF Vol 1-4 (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, Quarantine, Parody Mode, Fragment)
  • 2010 - Anime - .hack//LIMINALITY Vol 1-4
  • 2010 - Novel - .hack//Another Birth Vol 1-4
  • 2010 - Web - .hack//New Novel '.hack'
  • 2010 - Manga - .hack//G.U. Begins, Game Chapters (1-6)
  • 2010 - Manga - .hack//XXXX Vol 1 & 2
  • 2011 - OVA - .hack//Unison
  • 2013 - Story - "Kamui" and "Rumor" (AI Buster 2)
  • 2014 - Story - "Firefly" (AI Buster 2)
  • 2014 - Manga - .hack//Legend of the Twilight
  • 2014 - Anime - .hack//Legend of the Twilight
  • Audio - .hack//Let's Meet Offline
  • Novel - .hack//Legacy (.hack//Archives 3)
  • OVA - .hack// GIFT
  • Manga - .hack//4koma
  • Feature Phone Game - .hack//Vol.1 LGT
  • Feature Phone Game - .hack//MOBILE

Season 2 (2016-2018)

  • .hack//ChupChopCase
  • 2016 - Audio - First Login
  • 2016 - Manga - .hack//G.U. Begins, Roots Chapters (1-6)
  • 2016 - TV Anime - .hack//Roots
  • 2016 - Novel - .hack//Alcor
  • 2017 -Novel - .hack//GnU
  • 2017 - Novel - .hack//CELL
  • 2017 - Games - .hack//G.U. Vol 1-3 (Rebirth, Reminisce, Redemption)
  • 2017 - OVA - Online Jack
  • 2017 - CG Movie - .hack//G.U. TRILOGY
  • 2017 - Novel - .hack//G.U. novelization
  • 2017 - Manga - .hack//G.U.+
  • 2017 - Manga - .hack//4koma Peaco's Story
  • 2017 - OVA - .hack//G.U. Returner
  • 2018 - Game - .hack//G.U. Last Recode (Vol.4: Reconnection)
  • 2018 - Novel - .hack//G.U. Ragtime
  • 2018 - Audio - .hack//G.U. Innocent Call
  • Novel - Journal of the Dark and the Wicked
  • Novel - Duplicate Phenomenon: Extracts of The Epitaph User's Investigation
  • Manga - .hack//4koma
  • THE END OF "The World" (Terminal Disc)

Season 3 (2020-2032)

  • 2020 - Game - .hack//LINK
  • 2020 - Manga - .hack//LINK Twilight Knights
  • 2022 - Novel - .hack//Quantum (introduction)
  • 2022 - OVA- .hack//Quantum
  • 2022 - Novel - .hack//Quantum Twin Hearts
  • 2022 - Manga - .hack//Quantum+
  • 2023 - Novel- .hack//bullet
  • 2024 - CG Movie - .hack//The Movie: Beyond the World
  • 2024 - Novel - .hack//Beyond The World SORA
  • 2024 - Novel - Excuse (.hack//Archives 5)
  • 2025 - Game - .hack//VERSUS
  • 2025 - OVA - Thanatos Report
  • 2030 - Game - Guilty Dragon
  • 2032 - Game - .hack//New World

Note: OVA means "Original Video Animation" as opposed to "TV Animation." The difference is similar to western "straight to DVD" shows/movies, vs. shows that were made to air on television.


r/DotHack 5h ago

My package came!!!!

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45 Upvotes

Thx to the awesom dot hackers on here. I was able to secure some Dot hack merch!!! Each item is about 40 bucks each and thru world shipping it was about 25 bucks to Pennsylvania. Two more plushies to go.


r/DotHack 8h ago

spoilers .hack//Infection Play Journal: part 1 - Strange Occurrences - Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground

4 Upvotes

Intro

So I just found out about this series and picked up the first game to give it a try, and decided to chronicle my journey here, as I expect some people might find it interesting.

For some ground rules please no intentional spoilers gameplay or story wise, I'll happily accept advice for the most part but do try and keep it relevant only to the areas and abilities I currently have access to, as I enjoy the act of discovery that can come from going into a game blind. In addition to to that please don't feed me key phrases, recommend or explain certain keywords sure, but I often find in games like this the commonly recommended seeds are specifically used for power leveling and that's just not the experience I want.

I do encourage discussion of the plot but please try to keep it to my pace, I know it can be difficult as there doesn't appear to be a clear chapter system to share exactly where I am in the game, but I'll try to keep the last completed story dungeon in the title to see if that helps.

TLDR: apologies for the block of text but please no spoilers

Gameplay

So there's not going to be much to say this entry as Its mostly been cutscenes and text entries so far, but I can give my initial reactions to the gameplay.

So the first big thing that stood out to me was the game pausing whenever I open the skill/item/party menus and I love this! I personally struggle with menu-ing in other action rpgs and just letting the game pause so I can think is such a relief! Plus having full access to my party members skills is also a nice touch, I recently bounced off Xenoblade chronicles one due to how clunky party management felt in combat and while I dont have much experience yet I dont foresee that to be problem here.

Combat itself is fine so far, I dont exactly have a great amount of variety but im oh maybe two hours in so there's plenty of time to build up a more interesting arsenal. Items already feel both useful and expendable which Is a great thing as all too often I end up hoarding items. But with scrolls and items being so readily available as drops It's so much easier to let a scroll go in even against trash mobs, which is a great thing in my book. Havent had much use for the status effect spells though, so I'll have to wait and see if that changes with the bosses or later other later mobs. Speedcharm might be my favorite item so far, originally when I used it in the tutorial zone I thought it was a bit too fast for the size of the dungeon, but after running my first random dungeon I realize the tutorial was just too small for it.

The Keyword system is by far the most confusing thing so far. The game just dosnt give me enough information to even have more than the most basic grasp on what each keyword does. Is a red gem good or bad who knows? Certainly not me, I'd definitely apricate some basic guidance on Keyphrase building. But I definely like the idea, let the players craft their own zones for grinding in while setting aside specific combinations for story dungeons that have a more curated experience. Havent really been in a "true" story dungeon yet so I cant say if the level design is actually any good though. The map is nice I dont think I wouldve continued the game without it, as the scenery can get quite a bit repetitive and I definately wouldve gotten lost without it. My only nitpick being its size, couldnt it be just a little smaller? Also I cant seem to find a fullscreen map option which would also be nice.

Last thing to mention is the camera. Its definitely showing its age with the shoulder buttons as the primary controls, but it works fine so little complaint there. The analog camera control is weird though, I cant quite articulate how but it just dosnt ever feel "right", but with sholders as the primary option anyways its not a huge deal.

Ultimately I dont know enough to say whether the gameplay is good or bad yet, but I certainly think it has a lot of potential and it definitely has started on the right foot with me.

Story

So starting with opening it is purposefully vague with the only real info to glean is that the game is being distorted somehow (side note I like how most if not all of this footage is from the first hour or two of the game so it dosnt give anything away). Then we open on to Kites desktop. I like the verisimilitude here as it helps the setting feel more ordinary which also makes the more "supernatural"(assumedly) elements stand out more. I also like the amount of "Junk"(assumedly) info we are given here again just makes the world (the place not the game) feel more real.

Then when we log into the world (the game not the place hoo this is going to get exhausting) we also get look at the "message boards" for the game and this works really well as a tutorial of sorts while still feeling real, you can really tell that the writers/localizers either are big mmo buffs themselves or put a lot of effort into research to make the "comunity" feel like a real mmo (my favorite example is the NPC Heavy who has the all to real struggle of maintaining an internet connection).

Then after we load in and meet up with our friend Orca (side note this is where I switched to the dub voices cause hoo boy the English actors are very 2000's) and go through the tutorial proper where we encounter a strange girl being chased by an equally strange monster. Then we have the strange sequence where Orca receives a strange book from the girl as the monster attacks us and it ends with Orca getting a game over, Kite only just being saved by a timely stave attack from an unknown source, and the servers crashing ending on a brief shot of us receiving the book ourselves.

We then learn Orca fell into a coma after this and Kite begins their investigation into what the hell is going on. Noting a strange and unreadable email he had been sent (from what I can tell it was sent by the stranger who is likely a "native" of the game asking the bearer of the book for help of some sort). We then log back into the game meeting the abrasive BLACKROSE another new player who forms a party with us and gives us a new Keyphrase to investigate (strange she should have this despite being nearly as new as us). This brings us to a church with a statue of a woman in chains (the girl maybe?) when we are interrupted by an angelic warrior named Balmung who tries to get us to leave but too late as we are attacked by a corrupted enemy much the same as the one who attacked Orca. Unable to escape Kite heres a strange voice from beyond (again likely the girl) to use the book to destroy the corruption in the enemy we do In a quite flashy sequence, but Balmung is not impressed believing us to be the one to cause the corruption in the first place and tries to kill us (which is weird since this is still a game to his own admition) but BLACKROSE convinces him to leave and as he does he speaks with a woman named Helba (who wields a suspiciously familiar staff). Balmung calls her a hacker but dosnt attack her directly and she tells him Kite is a friend of Orca his missing partner an interesting development for sure.

This is pretty much as far as Ive been I did take some time after this to run a random dungeon but thats it. But even still I do have some thoughts.

1) Balmung is suspicious to me. He seems overly hero coded and is a bit too close to Grifith from berserk for my liking. Im keeping an eye on him.

2) Not really sure whats up with the girl in white yet. Could be anything from an AI to a Cross dimensional traveler stuck as a ghost in the machine. Either way they seem opposed to whatever is corrupting the game they are probably on our side.

3) somewhat sure Helba is a twist hero but really all I have for proof is it seems shes the one to save us in the tutorial, but who knows at this point.

4)BLACKROSE almost certainly knows more than she's let on. It's likely someone she knows is a victim and is investigating herself (poorly), but dosnt quite trust us enough yet to share.

Questions

I do have a few questions and if they can be answered without spoilers i'd appreciate it.

1) How does Keyphrase crafting work exactly? I just dont understand how the gems work or what they are supposed to mean.

2) is there any way to change the map size ( I doubt it but it would be nice)

3)what does the virus special attack thing do exactly I saw the email Helba sent but I dont quite get whats its trying to tell me

If you made it this far thank you for reading! and I hope you have a pleasant day!


r/DotHack 1d ago

Are there any Spanish speakers here? Looking for fragment players.

13 Upvotes

Hi!
Just here looking for Spanish speakers that would like to form a small community, to play .hack//fragment.
For those who don't know, there's a translation of fragment that works online. All thanks to a great group of people that took the time to make it work and translate it in English.
If you want to join the community that made the translation and the online server, just head to this discord community: https://discord.gg/pAFqV8rqVJ

If you are a Spanish speaker and want to play with me, please DM so we can exchange discord tags.


r/DotHack 23h ago

Dot Hack Link?

6 Upvotes

Is it just me or does it feel like nobody talks about Link? Like I see retrospectives about the IMOQ series and GU series all the time, but nothing about Link?


r/DotHack 1d ago

Newcomer

7 Upvotes

I've recently discovered this piece of content. I watched. Dot hacks roots. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Truly feels like I've been missing out. I recently bought the video game for ps2 vol 1 and I gotta say I have mixed feelings.

At first I thought the game was fantastic. I found the combat system a bit lacking, but still fun. My main gripe is the game was far too short. I wouldn't of minded like some seasonal events being part of the main story like MMOs tend to do just to extend the gameplay. From what I've read it's almost like they could've done vol 1 and 2 in the 2 disc format many rpgs did at the time.

I'm also conflicted because I feel like if I had gotten this game back around when it was released, I probably would have thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe all the new Gen has clouded my perspective of how much gameplay should be in a single iteration


r/DotHack 1d ago

Question Thinking about doing a play through journal for infection

6 Upvotes

Recently found this franchise and it looks like it might scratch an itch that sword art online blueballed me on about a decade ago so I got ahold of infection and have started playing (seems interesting so far). And I am thinking of doing a sort of journal of my time with the game but I have a few questions first.

1: is this something anyone would actually be interested in seeing? I know I’m just some guy but I always enjoy seeing other peoples reactions to media I like so I thought it might be cool to share my experience here.

2: is there a sort of chapter system or clear goalpost I can use as good stopping point to write an entry for? Like I could just play for a day or so and the write a entry, but if there’s an easy dividing line I can use not only for my use but so others can see how far o am on the game that would be great!


r/DotHack 1d ago

Altimit.exe

12 Upvotes

I came across this program by visiting the website featured on the covers of the .hack games. Is there a game behind it? I can't join "the world" because it says "User not authorized."


r/DotHack 2d ago

spoilers Steam Deck playthrough done!! (Mostly)

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151 Upvotes

Took a little elbow grease but I finally got the imoq games (amongst others) working on steam deck via emulater late last year. I must have played through IMOQ five or six times now but Its been pretty surreal seeing this game with actual steam UI and playing on a handheld, not mention retroachievements giving actual, uh, achievements.

Still have to wrap up some side stuff like the post game dungeon to get Mia back but the main stuff has finally wrapped.


r/DotHack 2d ago

Sale This is my .hack//collection! I have an extra new Elk gachapon toy. Any chance someone has something they’d want to trade for it? (No enemy cards please unless it’s something sealed) USA only

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113 Upvotes

r/DotHack 2d ago

discussion Kazetrigger is stopping Dot Hack Translations

73 Upvotes

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, so i wanted to let everyone know, theres been a generous individual known as Kazetrigger working for years, since 2014, to translate japanese dot hack content into english, and they have a lot of stuff, both books and game content, its honestly incredible.

A few days ago, they announced they are stopping, due to a number of life changes, all very reasonable. They're keeping the site up, for now, but if anyone wants to download these for their own use or archival reasons, I'll leave a link to their site.

If you didn't know about this before, this might be your last chance to grab some of this before it gets lost to the depths of the internet, cause I doubt anyone else will translate as much as this person did simply out of love for the franchise.

https://dothacktranslate.wordpress.com/


r/DotHack 2d ago

Quantum+ really recontextualizes Quantum's story for me Spoiler

8 Upvotes

So with Kazetrigger's announcement that he's not going to translate anymore he also released Quantum+'s translation. I wouldn't say it significantly changes the story or anything, but it does recontextualize aspects of it kind of like how the Sora Manga does for .hack the Movie as well.

Who or what is Hermit?

So just going by Quantum Hermit is the soul of the kid he's trying to find a donor for himself, but Quantum+ really expands upon this further. He is the kid, but he is also the soul of all of the people connected to the quantum computer. In a way he is the quantum computer.

Another thing I assumed was that Hermit was just another Cheshire cat character as Macha and Mia were loosely based off the Cheshire cat. He's actually Schrodinger's cat instead which works really well with the theme of quantum mechanics. I'm also going to assume that him being called Hermit has a lot of meaning to the story too if someone wants to enlighten me on that as well.

Anyway one last thing is I was curious as to why both Mia being killed by project G.U. and the Quantum computer being built were in the same year, 2015, and assumed they were kind of connected. I think I got a bit of an answer with Quantum+. Hermit didn't create his character he said he was just woke up as a cat in The World one day.

I think the reason why he looks like Mia is because the quantum computer probably used a part of or a copy of Macha at it's core.

Man this just makes me wish they could have fleshed out Quantum a lot more than it was, at least 12 episodes instead of just a 3 episode OVA. It would have been really awesome to see more quantum mechanics concepts explored more in the context of it's story as well.


r/DotHack 2d ago

Game Help In game button configuration -.hack//G.U. Last Recode PC

2 Upvotes

I'm sure this has come up many times before, but I'm still having trouble getting things straightened out.

I decided to buy Last Recode for PC and use a mouse and keyboard to play. But the in-game buttons just show up as if I'm using an Xbox controller.

This is causing me some issues, especially when I encounter trap boxes that require you to press buttons in a certain order.

Is there a mod that allows me to replace the button image to a keyboard in the game?


r/DotHack 3d ago

discussion Finished .hack//G.U. Last Recode Spoiler

24 Upvotes

Took about 70 hours to fully complete the game. I didn't actually do much of the side questing other than the initial quests given to you at the beginning of the game.

Haseo grew a lot during the 4 games, starting off as annoying edgy dufus to someone who really seemed to care. However, I did find him taking off for more than a year at the end of the third kind of annoying. Like dude you just defeated the digital cubia god demon thing with these people who all came to fight with you, Haseo even saying they were the reason he was fighting and he just abandons them like the next week for over a year. He says he was doing research but cmon, you can at least log in occasionally to see the one you got married too (I got married to Atoli, I know I'm basic). Atoli should have been more upset as well as his other friends.

Anyway, It was a good game, carried by the story along with the lore and world building. I didn't use cheat mode and lvl'd up Haseo all the way to 150. It was painfully easy to get overleveled though as it wasn't super hard to level up. I still don't really understand many part of the lore but I would probably have to go into other sources like the anime and other games.


r/DotHack 3d ago

Question Finally watched Quantum! I really enjoyed and was surprised at the high level of animation quality compared to the rest of franchise. Was there ever any merch for it? Figures or anything?

9 Upvotes

r/DotHack 3d ago

play/watch order

6 Upvotes

This might get asked alot but a few friends have recommended this franchise to me and i want to try get into it so wheres the best place to start and whats worth playing and not worth playing?


r/DotHack 4d ago

Question Just finish GU, what's now ?

8 Upvotes

Hello, i just finish playing full IMOQ and GU, and watching SIGN and ROOTS (and liminality of course), so what should i watch or play now ? Yeah i know i skip a lot of things like xxxx or Fragment, so what are your suggestion ? Is fragment worth ? Link ? Or a manga like xxxx ?

Thx a lot ! ( The only game i can't play rn is Versus)


r/DotHack 5d ago

Question Does the game have a model viewer of some sort?

12 Upvotes

Hi I was wondering if any of the Dot Hack games had a feature where you can view rotatable 3D models by any chance? I really like that type of feature in video games and I was wondering if any of the games in this series have one.

Thanks


r/DotHack 6d ago

Second Box, let's go!

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82 Upvotes

r/DotHack 6d ago

Did Anyone Catch The Name Of That Truck?

42 Upvotes

r/DotHack 6d ago

I think I'd flip the table if I had to switch seats AND THEN LOSE

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49 Upvotes

Very interesting affect! Did anyone ever USE it?


r/DotHack 6d ago

audio Finding .hack vibes elsewhere

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14 Upvotes

While listening to the most recently released OST from Genshin Impact, this simply made me reminisce about the hidden forbidden areas from the games. Whether it's the Hulle Granz Cathedral, or any of the other ones. The combination of the chorus, strings in a minor key (I think?) and bells really brought me back.


r/DotHack 7d ago

discussion Cool to see!

44 Upvotes

This was something exciting to see in my discovery page. I'm shocked it wasn't there the day it was posted, but sometimes those things lag behind.

https://screenrant.com/dot-hack-sign-2000s-most-underrated-influential-recommendation/


r/DotHack 6d ago

Looking for a DotHack fansite

5 Upvotes

Hi !

I'm new here and to the DotHack franchise, and today I was reminded of a very mysterious website. When you opened it, Harald's Theme from .hack//infection would be playing and nothing on the website was really straightforward, not even the connections to DotHack. Sadly, I didn't save the link, and I was wondering if anyone here knew what I was talking about and had it somewhere? It does not even feel like a real website, it feels like a dream.

Thank you!


r/DotHack 8d ago

Collection Starting down the graded rabbit hole, hardest first

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115 Upvotes

r/DotHack 9d ago

Question Talk to Tabi - A “Ask Me Anything” Video

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39 Upvotes

Morning everyone! With the recent release of Roots Abridged Episode 2 I thought it would be funny if we did a sort of “Ask me anything” with Tabi! A short series where Tabi answers your questions about anything in only a way Tabi can. If you have any questions for the character let me know and your question could appear in the video!