So the .hack series is actually mostly games, but there's also .hack//SIGN, .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet, .hack//Roots, and .hack//G. U. Trilogy. There are also various manga adaptions and novels, but whatever. Seeing as I haven't actually played the games (I don't have any PS consoles) and haven't read the readable stuff, all that's left is the anime and Trilogy.

Well, ok, I've read more than enough from various sources on the internet to know the story just as well as someone who's played the games AND read all the readable stuff, but this is the anime board, so keep it on those.

I love it, I've played through the first two of the original .Hack games, watched Sign and Roots and read the LotT manga. *will not accept the travesty that was the anime version of that one* >.>

My personal favourite part of the franchise are the novels, mainly because they show more about the players behind the characters, which is definately nice to see.

AI Buster's second volume was particularly good with this, giving the reader a great view into the characters from the first novel, as well as a few others in the franchise.

I hate to sound like a noob at this but I've actually watched one of the anime series, but I don't remember which one. I believe it was //SIGN with the older characters right? From my memory, I tried out //ROOTS for 1-2 episodes but I hated it. I really dislike the younger characters. XD

Yeah, that's all I have to say.

I would assume that you mean .Hack//Sign, yeah.

Good assumption

Of course. =P

I can't say much about the books except that I know what happens in them, but I do know almost everything about the story and characters.

In my opinion, I think SIGN was better than Roots, mainly because SIGN and the first generation in general (called "Project .hack") dealt more with the fact that they're playing a game that just happened to be a cover for the most powerful AI creator ever, while Roots and the second generation (".hack Conglomerate") is more about the story of some kid trying to save his friends.

I didn't watch Roots long enough to know about this but thanks for clearing that up. Now, I'm glad I dropped it.

Well the .hack Conglomerate was mostly made to make fans happy. For the longest time, they said that .hack//Legend of the Twilight was supposed to be the last thing, tying up all loose ends, but then they announced .hack//G. U. with the return of the 8 phases in the form of Player Characters, and everyone got excited. Then they included Azure Kite and the rest of the Azure knights and all the fans exploded with happiness. It's closer to being an anime/game series about living in a digital world, although there are references to offline stuff, just not as much and not used as well.

From your information, I can tell they are really trying to please the fans. That's good, except it might become bad like those Disney sequels. *shiver*

Yeah. Older characters = //SIGN. Sign was the first of the series, I believe.

Wait. Wait. How many are there in the series? I only know Root and Sign for sure.

Oh, there's a lot. *checks MAL*

well...

Anime/animation
.hack//SIGN
.hack//Liminality
.hack//GIFT
.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet
.hack//Roots
.hack//G. U. Trilogy

Manga
.hack//XXXX
.hack//Legend of the Twilight
.hack//Gnu
.hack//G. U. +
.hack//4koma
.hack//Linker

Novels
.hack//AI Buster
.hack//AI Buster 2
.hack//Another Birth
.hack//Zero
.hack//Cell
.hack//G. U.

Magazines
.hack//The World
.hack//G. U. The World

Games
.hack//Infection
.hack//Mutation
.hack//Outbreak
.hack//Quarantine
.hack//Rebirth
.hack//Reminisce
.hack//Redemption
.hack//ENEMY
.hack//MOBILE
.hack//Fragment

There are more, but they're not as important.

Exactly.