.hack//G.U. Vol. 3: Redemption

Just Fuck Me Up

Story

• Gaspard getting PK'd in town after the new parameters were set and player killing became legal everywhere was heart-wrenching already because, fuck, man, he's just a kid that wants to have fun playing this game and now he can't even safely navigate root towns without feeling weak and threatened. This pissing Haseo off warmed my heart -- he really fucking loves Gaspard and Silabus by this point. Him thinking "I can't forgive anybody who'd take their joy away." actually made me want to burst into tears. He's come so far from finding them annoying to wanting to make them happy, to keep them safe and smiling! Haseo, my darling, how I love you and how glad I am that you love your friends, too, finally. Silabus getting angry also got to me, just because he and Gaspard are usually quick to get discouraged... but now he and Haseo both are furious and ready to fight back against Sakaki's tyranny. UGH, I LOVE THEM
• The incentive to winning the tournaments in this one, instead of ingame items, is... "Net Money"...? Is this Bitcoin? Did .hack predict motherfuckin' Bitcoin?
• The whole Sakubo reveal was... interesting. I was prepared for Saku to get redeemed, not for her to turn out to be All In Bo's Head. I agree with a friend of mine who said it was the only thing in //G.U. that felt cheap -- using "HE WAS MENTALLY ILL THE WHOLE TIIIIME" as a Shocking Reveal, I mean. That being said, it did explain a lot and made me feel for Bo more: did he fabricate Saku to justify his gay crush on Endrance? Was he in love with Endrance or was it just that in Endrance he saw someone who flourished in isolation rather than crumbled like Bo himself did? I dunno, it allows for a lot of interesting thoughts even though it was handled poorly.
• It also put me in one of the most morally awkward situations I've ever been in in a video game -- it gives you the chance to encourage Saku or to support Bo letting her go. The healthy option would be to be there for Bo and to help him overcome his reliance on an alternate personality, but it didn't feel like that was right in the game. Saku is his coping mechanism and Haseo isn't a therapist, so it sort of only made sense to try and keep Saku around. I still feel for Bo and hope he can become independent in the future, though.
• Every time Haseo refers to Silabus and Gaspard as his "friends" I cry a little
• Once Pi dropped the quiet bomb that Yata was a .hacker, theorising about who he was became so exciting. My first guess was Wiseman, since he was also an information broker in the R:1 days, but I also thought he could be Balmung, since that was someone who was deeply affected by the game and cared about its progress. If he were Balmung, then Pi could be Rena, which would explain her obsession. However, my first thought was right! And it made the most sense -- Yata goes into an emo depression after he feels betrayed by CC Corp. I mean, he's only, what, 17? He's still a kid, so it's natural that he'd be so personally offended by being pushed away and unappreciated.
• Kuhn inviting Haseo on a date after he got dumped by two different girls was hilarious. I'm glad to know Kuhn has a backup, disappointed to know it's Haseo.
• ALKAID'S RETURN!!! THE FIRST SIGN THAT HASEO IS MAKING AN ACTUAL DIFFERENCE AND PROGRESS!! Sirius returning from his coma didn't mean as much because he didn't have an attachment to Haseo, but with Alkaid, he finally saved a friend. I think that marks the turning point from when Haseo is doing this despite thinking it can be fruitless to truly believing that he can save everyone. I gasped when Alkaid appeared on the scene to rescue him, and gasped even harder when Haseo brought her into a thoughtful hug. GOOD SHIT, I WANT TO HUG HER TOO
• "As long as guys like you are around... I won't let 'The World' die!!" Haseo said this about Silabus and Gaspard (and not anyone else) and this made me want to bust out crying. They're his reasons to play... he wants to keep them safe and protect their smiles... Haseo is such a good boy
• What is it about this game that the stakes are higher than the original core games, but it doesn't feel as deeply affected? It's hopefully just nostalgic attachment on my part, but the first four games didn't have the threat of nuclear meltdowns (that I recall?) following The World and the internet's collapse. But I felt more invested in that, more rushed to get to the end to save everyone. Haseo's Orca is Shino, but for some reason, even with all the backdrop, his story doesn't feel any more emotional to me than Kite's. I wonder why that is? I hope I can pin it down sometime.
• Ohhh my GOD the reveal of Aura/Aina! The Azure Boys being Aura's knights! Something about my fucked up glitchy boys being her servants and doing what they do for her changes everything. .hack has a tendency of making out the Big Bad to be someone that it isn't -- like Skeith was, originally, at the end of //SIGN and //Infection, like Tri-Edge and AIDA in Vol. 1 of G.U. and then Sakaki in Vol. 2, now Ovan (comatose) and AIDA in Vol. 3 -- and it did so superbly with this game, too. It didn't feel unnatural. The shift from "Ovan is fucking insane" to "Ovan has a motivation and he risked his life for it" (and Haseo's feeling of betrayal, more on that later because that was good shit) and from "Tri-Edge is AIDA!" to "Tri-Edge isn't AIDA?" to "Tri-Edge is still bad! Defeat!" to "Tri-Edge was doing his job, but defeat." Him passing on the legendary Empty Skies -- his eponymous three-bladed swords -- was incredibly moving. Haseo finally overcame him, and Azure Kite passed on the torch to save Aura.

Gameplay

• Oh FUCK yeah with the Avatar Awakenings! It's odd to just trash the Divine Awakenings altogether, but this is more effective and less effort-intensive anyway. It's nice to be able to finally Data Drain, although the effect isn't as hilarious and charming as it was in the original games (where Data Draining regressed an enemy into a simpler and weaker form, at the expense of the EXP you'd gain after the battle).
• Fidchell felt WAY more difficult than any other Avatar Battle so far. It was frustrating, but I liked it.
• I'm glad they FINALLY updated the Hangeki shout to actually say "Hangeki" and not "Rengeki." They've changed how "Rengeki" has been said with each volume, and it does not sound that badass in this volume, admittedly.
• The addition of dashing changes everything and makes battling a bit more nuanced and fun. I like it.
• The battle with Azure Kite And The Boys was surprisingly challenging considering how overleveled I was. And none of it could have been done without Atoli (seriously, they definitely planned to only offer one effective healer until postgame so that Atoli wasn't just plot-relevant, but essential to succeeding in-game, too).
• The Cubia Gomoras seemed almost underwhelmingly weak, but that may just be because I grinded the fuck out of my party for Azure Kite. This is good, too, because it only takes Haseo a few shots to take them down and you can level grind with Alkaid! I wonnnder if that was intentional or if I am just too strong.
• Remember how I complained about budgeting items and space in Vol. 2? Well, Vol. 3 brings on the UNLIMITED USE restoring and revealing tools. FEELS GOOD

Characters

• Oh man, this cast. THIS CAST. I understand what everyone meant by "G.U. has better character building than //IMOQ." I didn't want to believe it because I loved //IMOQ, but they may just be right. That being said, no one has come close to dethroning Mistral as my best girl.
• That being said, Haseo comes THIIIS CLOSE to being best girl. Like holy shit I am proud of this boy and I am fond of him and I want for him to live a happy life. Haseo's progression from the violent shitlord he was in //Roots to the pissbaby he was in Vol. 1 all the way to here, where he's actually pretty soft and kind and considerate even though he would deny all of those things, it's been such a fantastic ride. //4koma has Pi making a joke about how Haseo runs the gamut of "angsty teen" and he really does. I wonder what it says about me for loving him so, so much. Fuck? He might actually be my fave of //G.U., which is wild. Kite was precious but he was also someone without a fuckton of personality -- he didn't even necessarily have to be named "Kite." I feel like with Haseo, there's so much more there, with his history and motivations and what makes him tick, as well as what ticks him off.
• Atoli: I can't believe Atoli was actually so bad off that she almost committed suicide before she found respite in Sakaki. That was a shocking reveal (to me, at least), and yet it wasn't used as a plot contrivance like Sakubo's -- you find out through emails where she mentions in passing how she met Sakaki, and where. Location being "suicide forums." I'm so glad that the time comes when you can promise to be there for her and, while she still feels anxious and like something will go away, she has Haseo. That being said, I think I prefer Shino, in terms of characters. Where Atoli has crippling (and relatable) anxiety, Shino has an alluring confidence. More on her later! But it's also what makes them different that makes their surface comparisons so much more interesting.
• Kuhn: I didn't think I'd like Kuhn (he's ugly and the sort of womanising type that I tend to hate in media/real life) but I love him, too. I think I love everyone in this game. Kuhn's great because early on his diligence is showcased by how he challenged and fought Haseo with his Avatar, but never actually threatened him physically, because his was the only Avatar battle that never ended with Data Drain attempts on the part of the opponent. He's a sleaze, but he does truly care about what he's responsible for, and that includes Haseo.
• Pi: Pi mentioning "Jun" IMMEDIATELY made all my receptors go off for ALERT, ALERT, WHO IS THIS, HAVE I SEEN A JUN BEFORE IN THIS STORY, THINK THINK THINK, and it was COOL. I don't have the Terminal Disc (it only came with limited edition copies of Vol. 1, but it does come with all versions of Last Recode, which made it possible to watch online), but I finally got to experience it and piece together a bit of Pi's history. That's what I fucking adore about .hack. I love putting together the puzzle of a bunch of different media and understanding the whole better. The explanation behind why Pi was linked with Tarvos was cool, too. I feel like there wasn't as much context behind why Tarvos was Pi, unlike Haseo-Skeith, Yata-Fidchell, Endrance-Macha, or Kuhn-Magus. This totally pulled it together.
• Motherfuckin' Kaede: Like Holy Shit Bro. Let's just start with how I've never even played a dating sim where you can court and marry a divorcee! Everything is possible in .hack! Their Promise event was so moving, too. You learn a lot about Kaede through emails with her -- she dotes on Zelkova because she lost her child and she projects her maternal care on him, she married young (at Haseo's age!) and divorced soon after losing her child due to her own irresponsibility, etc. Her past is loaded and being able to make Haseo pledge his time to her is so moving. I found his Promise end with Kaede to be more moving than a lot of the others, probably because of the "I'll make you happy" line. That warmed my heart so much. Haseo is young and stupid but that there's a route where he can try to bring security and trust back into a woman's life is so sweet.
• Zelkova: I'm still confused about just what Zelkova is, like, he's somehow confined to the internet like Midori, but how he came to be is a mystery to me, as he doesn't seem to be associated with the other AI...? Regardless, he's such a sweetheart, and I'm glad Kaede found him. Since AI doesn't age, she'll always have a sweet little life(?) to dote on. Zelkova is adorable as fuck too, I love how he phrases his interest in Haseo: "By the way, what do you like about me?

Your heart, your PC, everything about you interests me. I think it's wonderful." What an angel.

• Shino: SHINO'S BACK, BITCH, and I love her. Her voice, for one, is much more pleasing than Atoli's, at least in the dub. Her disposition, too, is quite endearing. She has this fundamental confidence in her words that make her so different from Atoli. Haseo only ever gushes over her in emails and she owns all of it. She knows he's in love with her and she doesn't take advantage of it, she just accepts it and reciprocates with pride.
• Tabby: Ohhh, Tabby, I love her so dearly. It's wonderful how even after Shino is cured and Tabby's immediate "reason" for becoming a nurse is gone, she doesn't give up on that dream. Shino helped her realise what she wanted to do, and Shino getting better is just a step forward in Shino's life, not a step back in Tabby's plans.