Many things are written on the Pages you find on the Web... but many Things are simply left out it seems...

They all talk bout Online Gameplay, yeah... but what bout the Rest?

I thought I would check it out myself...

Chapter 1 : Testing the Obvious...
First Thing to try was of course the Onlineplay... and seeing if you would get onto the Server... N-ope...
Even after patching the DNA-S Code onto a DVD-R Backup to make it look like a proper Original Disc the Server refused any Connection... most probably a Check to keep Non-Japan-IPs out of their Network... :pissed:

Theory : We might be able 2 reroute all this over some sort of proxy... But I just got no Idea how...

Chapter 2 : Testing the Untested...
It was easy 2 guess that you should first try urself at offline play before doing anything else... get used to it, ect... Fine and all... But I had serious trouble from the start... due to .hack being a simple-built game... its definently enjoyable - even without being able to read Japanese...

The only two Problems you might come across is figuring out what Itemname is what... But after 5-10 Attempts... you sorta see the Japanese Signs fly around in your Head... and you ... simply get used to it... ^^

And finding out what Stat is what on Char-Creation... (Yes... there are STATS!!! ^^)

But this has been dealt for you already by Llewelyn & Co...

The first thing i noticed once seeing the desktop... "WTF... they removed so many Icons!"

Yes... only 3 Icons are still present... Webnews, Email and The World...

Both Webnews and Email were split into two Sections aswell... Online and Offline... while in Offline you can check the Story-Emails you get... in Online you can actually receive and send your own Emails, either using the Joypad or a Keyboard... (I tested it using my PS2-Keyboard... I can type... but due to server not letting me join i of course cant send... nor receive)

The Online Webnews is linked to the Support-Page for FRAGMENT User... where updates 2 the lobby, server, ect. are listed... (I only know this because Im hacking this Game into lil pieces on my pc... im trying 2 hack the script files so we sometime might be able to do a fantranslation...)

But lets finally get to the Character Creation... You can create up to 3 custom Character... The First thing to choose is of course... What Class you want to be...

Twin Blade - Blademaster - Heavy Blade - Heavy Axe - Long Arm and Wavemaster, in that order ^_^

After choosing a class you can choose from several designs, labeled from A to whatever is the last available design...

Each Design can be customized using color-sets... Very nice... ^^

Also you can choose from different char-heigth and width... you can make a child-character by using smallest size, a normal one using normal size... or a REAL giant by using big size... you can make it fat, normal and thin... (thin looks just weird... i would even prefer a fat character over thin...)

Unlike Peaple thought... theres no real difference between male and female... what gender ur char got is decided by what design u use... so - each design is one gender only... But dont worry - There are enough nice ones to choose from for each gender ^_^

Well... then choose to continue with ur character... and u should land where every adventure in the world starts... Mac Anu - The Water Capital...

Like in the first .hack Games... you now have 2 go through that stupid stupid tutorial... Its unavoidable...

Its the same Tutorial you had 2 play in the first four games... even on the same field...

But instead of Orca, its now Bear and BT who explain everything to you... and no - noone falls into a coma ^_^

Also... you can guess what you have to do by reading the text (lol) - no really - i mean it...

Sometimes you will see things like L1 / R1 or L3 appear in the text... showing you what you need to do...

The Problem thought is... that they didnt take too much time to develope this tutorial... and therefore... the most important new thing is left out... The Skill and Party Shortcuts... Yes - Finally there are some ^^

Instead of going to the Menu - and stopping the game all the time... you can hotlink your own skills and your party members' skills to hotkey combos... (like R1 + X, O, [],/\)

Of course, you can only hotlink party member skills in offline play... in online play - the actual player decides what to do with his char... ^^

All Shoulder Buttons are available for such Combos... meaning you got 16 shortcuts in total... ^^

Also... like they mentioned in the Previews, you have the Guild-System... which I couldnt check out properly yet... cause once i enter something into guild box, i dont know how to continue... haha ^^'

Also... This Time, you wont save ingame everytime... no - thats no good news... it got worse... The Guy who normally saves your game is still there... but only tells you "go to option menu and exit the game to auto-save your game..." - WTF?

Yes... meaning your char wont get saved until you exit the game to the altimit desktop atleast... :pissed:

Even thought its hard 2 get into this Game, especially as a English User... Its easy 2 handle once you're used to it... :D

Also Peaple... watch out, as Im going to set-up a Guide Page for English-User, so they can enjoy the game aswell...

Greetings - Commander Coldbird, the Dark Vessel~ ;)

im glad we got someone who has a bit of wats its gonna be IF they make us fragment...

o by the way who sold u the game?

Noone really :-)

Anyway - You .hack//FRAGMENT nerds (im one aswell... hehe...) might be interested in my upcoming Guide...

http://fragment.lan.st

Currently doing a lengthy Character Creation Chapter... ^^

Edit : Added 'Create Character' Tutorial to Page... In-Game Tutorial will be the next - muahahaha....

Very interesting....im wondering what programing language youd need to know, coz well im a 17 year old student currently attending highschool and id be interested to help if i can do anything...but im afraid i only eknow pascal for now lol i start learning c++ in a year which is kinda d most popular programming language..
]

an other thing im from a european country, and to buy the game id require to buy it from some japanese seller right.


###EDIT###
1 more thing... i think playing online by hacking it is a completly an unbelievable concept.... no offence i was just thinking about it i mean how could it happen i mean this is the ps2 its not as easy as emulating world of warcraft like a private server....or is it ARGHHHHH im just kinda frustrated lol hopefully it will ware off once u post and good job coldbird i admire u guess u shud have made ur nick helba )))) lol......lets say u manage to crack it, will european players on ps2 be able to play aswell or?