I only just recently realized the vast amount of RPGs that GBA has, and decided I might get one. But the problem is, I'm not sure if I could sit there and stare at a handheld thing for hours at a time to play an RPG. What's your opinion on it? It has a lot of good things like BoF1 and 2, both of which I missed back on SNES, then Golden Sun, Tactics Ogre, Lunar Legend, and soon another Lufia game---A lot to keep one busy in the RPG scheme of things. I just don't know if I'd have the patience to sit under a massive light playing on a dimly lit GBA screen, hehe.

Also, I'm currently deciding between which RPGs to buy and start on for PS2. Wild Arms III or Suikoden III? I bought Suikoden III already, and played it for like an hour. It was..."Meh," decent, but not mind blowing or ground breaking by any means. I like stories that focus less on knights and military stuff and castles, and more on like a specific person going from the ground up---i.e. Bastion in Vanguard Bandits, Alex in Lunar, etc. I hate games that are all like, "You are <name>, decendent of <name> of the 3rd batallion of <name> of the <name> kingdom of the continent of <name>, part of the <name> army." i.e. FFT, Tactics Ogre, Brigandine, Brigandine, and oh yes, did I mention Brigandine? I almost split that friggin' CD in half that game made me so mad.

There's been a lot of inconsistent information in Andrew's columns about .hack. Here's all the information I've gathered about it.

.hack//SIGN is the 26 episode anime series. It mostly focuses on the character Tsukasa who gets trapped inside an advanced MMORPG and is unable to log out. The anime takes place almost entirely inside the game rarely ever showing glimpses of the characters in the "real world". Time wise, it takes place before "The Awakening". This awakening refers to when the girl named Aura, who is first introduced in the anime series, wakes up (this is within the game). The show has been finished for a while in Japan and the first volume of the anime is scheduled to be released in America on 3/4 for the special edition and 3/14 for the regular version. Though not officially confirmed, according to animenewsnetwork.com, reliable sources have said the show will be airing on Cartoon Network, either on Toonami or Adult Swim, in February to coincide with the videogame.

I've seen fansubtitled versions of the entire series and here's my quick opinion... the show is extremely slow. It is very drawn out with little being accomplished during some episodes. There are also very few hardcore action scenes, much less than what you would expect out of a "videogame anime". Attention is mainly focused on politics within "The World" (the name of the MMORPG), character development (though it is slow), and a tiny bit about the adventures of the characters. It's not a series to see demons get slashed to pieces. I personally found the series to be quite interesting and involving but it might put others to sleep.

.hack the game is the story of seperate main characters which takes place after "The Awakening". Again, it deals with people who are unable to log out of the game. There are four scheduled "volumes" of the game to be released.

.hack//LIMINALITY is a four part OVA series. Each game volume comes packaged with one of them. The OVA coincides with the game series but takes place in the real world point of view.

.hack//DUSK is the manga and soon to be new anime series (which is said to start on Jan. 8 in Japan) which takes place five years after the events in the game. The manga is so far not licensed to be released in America but it most likely will come out here time due the game and anime which will most likely popularize the .hack name.

.hack//Al Buster is a new manga in Japan that is being released now. I was unable to gather anymore information about it other than it exists.

Hopefully this will clear up some confusion regarding this entire .hack project if you decide to print it.

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