Okay so which do you prefer?

To me, while I like SAO, I have to say that .Hack, though flawed, is way better. it has a rich back story and an otherworldly quality that SAO lacks. That and the characters seemed to be fleshed out more, and the music is better.

What do you think?

 

Probably biased but I'd go with .hack as well.

It does indeed have lovely music.

 

SAO has incredibly disappointing characters, in my opinion, and it comes across as very shallow.

.Hack, I enjoy the characters and I feel like the world is incredibly fleshed out. There's not much comparison, for me.

.Hack can be a bit confusing to follow, though, while SAO seems to have a simple, easy to follow singular story. So that's one thing.

 

.hack all the way. I've only played GU, so maybe the original is vastly different, but I was astounded at the sheer level of character development across the games. Pretty much everyone is a completely different kind of person at the end of the third game than they were at the beginning of the first.

 

SAO started well, but ended crappily (can't be helped since the LN also started to go down in quality, especially from the GGO arc onwards... not to mention the latest arc, Alicization).

As far as anime goes, .hack//SIGN trumps them all.

 

Back when .Hack came out, I just couldn't get into it. It made for an excellent opportunity for me to go outside and smoke during its showings at our anime club. SAO on the other hand pulled me right in from the start.

 

.Hack//, definitely. I've watched most of the anime(s?) and read a couple books, but unfortunately have only played one game, myself. Watched Poytin's playthrough though, even if he didn't finish all the games.

Even with my incomplete knowledge, what I do know tells me that the characters are fleshed out more, there's a better setting/background, and the music is just plain awesome.

SAO, while good, has never been that great. I lump it in with other shows like Guilty Crown and Zetsuen no Tempest, where it was the flavor of the month, but not anything really special.

 

I never could enjoy the .Hack// franchise, although I can't really put my finger on what about it puts me off. On the other hand all of SAO's interesting ideas and potential was wasted by the story being horribly rushed, and the rather uninteresting later arc like Fairy Dance and Alicization.

But for some reason I still enjoy SAO despite its flaws while I can't feel the same way about .Hack//.

 

I have not watched SAO but my understanding is that it's a series written by a sex-deprived sixteen year old shut-in? I've even heard that he's ashamed of some of his ealier work. Um, not to bash the thing, because I haven't seen it, but .hack// is kind of special to me because it's so weird. There's very, very little action, which is what turns off 90% of people who try to watch it. I think that's a bold move, even if it makes the series a bit thick and dry to watch, so I just have way more respect for it.

They aren't comparable, since I believe SAO is your typical shounen. They appeal to different audiences.

 

I know a few .Hack fans, but I've yet to hear much good about SAO.

 

The only redeeming quality of .Hack/Sign was the music, and SAO has no redeeming qualities. So I guess put me in the .Hack camp as well.

This is like asking if dog shit smells better than cat shit.

 

.Hack all the way.

 

I didn't watch .Hack//SIGN enough to actually know what the fuck was going on in that show (because I was impatient and it moved incredibly slowly), but .Hack is a really good series, judging primarily based on the games.

I don't know anything about SAO, but I kinda doubt it's anywhere near as good.

 

.hack all the way. The GU series is better than the original for games. And SIGN is the best of the .hack animes. SAO is good for the first arc then terrible.

Also thanks Proudboar for the shout-out.

 

I felt the SAO anime had a decent enough premise (At least during the Aincrad arc), but completely failed in execution - at all levels. Simplistic characters, poorly put together plot and then barely used its original premise properly (with the time skip, you barely got to see much of how people were adjusting to being stuck in a death game. It basically turned into a normal fantasy with a focus on a love story).

I started reading the GGO arc in the light novels, but that was terrible and failed even as a premise, so dropped it.


I only ever attempted one episode of .hack//sign YEARS ago, but it never really interested me. Even more than SAO, it felt more like a straight up fantasy and seemed to ignore a lot of the aspects that would make it a game world. Is it worth forcing myself to continue from there? Also, is .hack//sign the first one or should I watch one of the other .hacks first?

 

It's been a long time since I watched .hack//, but the real world does play a pretty important role, or at least, it does in //sign. Though, I should add, reality isn't important in any overt way.

Sorry, that's kind of a cryptic statement, but it makes sense if you've seen it. I could spoil it? Well, there's wikipedia if you don't care to watch it, I can't defend it for its slowness.

I did play the .hack games (PS2) - the story there is pretty interesting, but even THERE the action is just... I mean... It's a jRPG with randomly generated dungeons. You either keep playing it for the story or you give up out of boredome.

 

G.U. has dramatically better gameplay, but its writing suffers from the fact that the developers basically had 2.5 discs worth of gameplay but needed to fill 3. The second half of the last game is complete trash. That said, the characterization is a lot better than IMOQ, despite the weaker story.

The anime .hack//ROOTS takes place before G.U., but near the end has some hardcore story spoilers and probably shouldn't be viewed prior to Vol. 2//Reminisce.

 

SIGN is one of those animes where if you don't watch the episodes in order it's either boring or confusing depending on what episode you hop in on.

 

You know, I feel it's a tad unfair to compare the two - .Hack\\ is franchise, composed of several different media, including 2 different game series, several Light Novels, a few manga, and a multitude of anime.

SAO is simply a few Light Novels, and a 25 Episode anime. (And maybe a manga? Idk) There's just a wide berth of stuff to draw from in one series, that the other lacks.