With games like World of Warcraft being so popular, it's probably only natural that in the future the most popular game would be that of a MMORPG called The World. Of course, The World isn't your average MMORPG, as our heroes found out in .hack//GU Vol.1. With the upcoming release of .hack//GU Vol.2: Reminisce – a RPG set in a MMORPG world – what will happen next in the series. Killer Betties got to be a part of a conference call with Nasahiro Knittel – localization at Namco/Bandai and Project Lead and Localization Producer for the game – to see what's in store.

Can you give a quick overview for the game?

.hack Vol. 2 is the sequel to .hack Vol. 1 and it takes place immediately after the events of Vol. 1. The player will be given a brief synopsis on what happened in Vol. 1 to get them up to speed, but it launches right after that, straight into the events right afterwards. It is a direct sequel and there is very little passage of time between the events that happened in Vol. 1 and the start of Vol. 2.

Do you want to talk about the changes made between Vol. 1 and Vol. 2?

The system is largely the same. There have been some modifications, tweaks and improvements in Vol. 2 compared to Vol. 1. There have been some additions to the battle system to make things go a little faster. One of the extra things that was implemented into Vol. 2 based on feedback from players who played Vol. 1 was the speed of the steam bike into town was improved so you could travel around town faster. There has been a new card game called Crimson VS added to the game. And there has been several new avatar battles taking place in Vol. 2.

.hack//GU Vol. 1 had some what of an action RPG meets MMORPG feel as well as gameplay scenarios and camera angles all related to MMORPGs. Where does the sequel take us?

Basically, along the same veins as Vol. 1. Vol. 1 begins by introducing a major evil force in this fictional MMORPG people are playing in the world in the future. In Vol. 1 people learn there is a sinister force behind some real world problems being caused in the game; following that the game launches straight into a major bad things that happen to the players right at the onset of Vol. 2. Players are discovering the game is a lot more than what it seems to be and that there are things at work behind the scenes that they don't understand. As far as the MMORPG elements of the game goes it picks up right where Vol. 1 left off. It is basically a videogame that depicts what might happen in the future when events unset and unfold inside a videogame have real world ramifications.

We all love the idea of tying the first episode of the show into the game. How does it fit into the game series?

The relationship between .hack//ROOT and .hack//GU in the series as a whole is very, very close. .hack//ROOT takes place during a sequence of eight months or so that are not described in the game. Players from Vol. 1 will remember an introduction scene where you first log into the game, given help by a couple players, who then turn on him and player kill him. And while on the ground he is rescued – immediately after this there is a scene that fades to black and says "Eight Months Later" and it shows he has grown much stronger. .hack//ROOT covers those eight months in detail and describes what takes place and the Twilight Brigade guild.

Among the episodes that are currently airing, is there any particular elements player should pay attention to so players will get a clue as to what is coming in .hack//GU Vol. 2?

None in particular. All of the episodes are important to the storyline as far as developing characters. I would encourage anybody interested in what is going to happen in Vol. 2 to go out and watch .hack//ROOT. There is no real particular single instance or episode I would encourage people to focus on, but just observe the series as a whole.

Is the goal to break out of this MMORPG world?

Part of the goal is to break out of it. The grand goal, the grand scheme of things that all the characters are trying to figure out that are in the GU project in the game are trying to uncover the truth behind what is causing these things to happen. They want to get to the root of this. Obviously, if they are trapped in a MMO the whole time, they aren't going to be able to get so that real world events happen around them. Breaking out of the MMO is one of the things they are going to try to do as they unfold this mystery before them.

Are there any new characters either good or evil, playable or NPC?

Yes, there are several new characters that are going to be introduced. Some of them will be characters invited to your party.

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