My Thoughts So Far.......

.Hack//G.U. Collection part 2

Hey guys! I'm back with another "My Thoughts So Far" article. The first one was about my first impressions on the .Hack//G.U. collection and I'll be continuing that now because it is such a long game. I don't really have anything good to say that I didn't say the last time. Just like before, the combat is what is keeping me going. The game is still padding out the time. I know this story could have been told in less time. Everything takes so long and has almost no payoff. I would actually care if the story were more interesting. I'm a little over an hour into vol 3. I've spent over 40 hours with the game at this point. It follows a very predictable, boring formula with each volume. Not a lot happens and the cast of characters isn't memorable at all. There is usually at least one character I latch onto in a JRPG and that hasn't happened at all in this game. I'm honestly very disappointed. I really want to like this game but it only has one feature that appeals to me, the combat. There is only 1 town added to the game per vol so there isn't exactly a lot to see and I've seen the same areas/dungeons far too many times in this adventure. I love long JRPGs but the game has to have something special to occupy all of the time they usually require. Sometimes it's the characters, sometimes the story, sometimes it's the game's systems and mechanics, and I love it when it's all 3 but .Hack only has the combat going for it and it's just not enough at this point. This is the final volume of what made up the original trilogy so I don't have much faith in anything changing. The brand new vol 4 better have something for me to look forward to.