Excellent sequel! Excellent story! This time with superb gameplay and gorgeous graphics as well!
A few years after that, a fire broke out at CC Corp, the creators and maintainers of The World, and a lot of the game's data was lost. The World was later brought back as The World R:2. People had to start from scratch, but the game iself has had some major improvements. However, over time, the game became a place where players kill other players relentlessly for loot, or simply for fun. New player Haseo find this out the hard way, when two players who offered to show him around suddenly kill him. He was saved and revived by a mysterious player called Ovan. Haseo then proceeds to become a fearsome PKK (Player Killer Killer), nicknamed "The Terror of Death". We find Haseo killing PK's everywhere asking about a PK called "Tri-Edge". His friend Shino fell into a coma in real life after being killed by this Tri-Edge. When Haseo finally manages to track down Tri-Edge, who people familiar with the series should recognize as the spitting image of Kite, he is utterly defeated, and Data Drained.
Haseo, however, does not end up in a coma. Instead, his computer is completely reformatted, and his character has been completely re-initialized. Although shocked by the fact that he's back at level one, and lost all his items, he retains his resolve and continues to play the game. He finds out that he has a hidden power called an "Avatar", that has the power of Data Drain. He becomes involved with "Project G.U." to hunt down and contain odd phenomena in the game called "AIDA". In exchange, the leader of the project provides Haseo with information on Tri-Edge.
This sets the stage for Rebirth. You once again interact with various other "Players" in a simulated MMORPG, go on adventures in various fields and dungeons, while at the same time pursuing AIDA and Tri-Edge. The last game was lacking a lot in variety and gameplay, leaving you constantly traversing the same fields and dungeons. Although the story was great, and the vast amount of recruitable party members had great personality, only the real fans could put up with it long enough to reach the ending of the fourth game. Then there's the matter of a lack of actual content, that had you complete each game in the series in a matter of hours.
G.U. changes this, however. G.U.'s main plot clocks at about 30 hours for the speedy player, and has a lot of varied content, and a completely revamped battle system. In the previous game, your attack button only did one single slash, and to use a skill, you had to enter the menu and select the skill. This made for rather repetitive combat. Again, G.U. changes this by implementing an all-new battle system which has a lot more action. Finally, the fields and dungeons are now a little more varied. Now, most fields have a mission, and you are rated and rewarded based on how many treasures you find, how many monsters you beat, etcetera. There's three mission types. One is get-to-the-end-of-the dungeon, one has you search a field for idols to open a temple, and one requires you to defeat the area's boss. Aside from that, the town has a Quest Shop, which sometimes gives you quests that send you to areas where you have to fulfill a more unique objective.
As in the previous game, the game also has a desktop, where you can read email and such. A news section provides various background info about what's going on in the outside world, this time supported by various anime scenes. This also introduces Online Jack, an online show where Salvador Aihara, an eccentric, amateurish reporter, investigates the relation between The World, and an odd illness called Doll Syndrome that has been showing up in young children. There are also various message boards which also provide background info, but also hints for playing the game, interesting fields to visit, sidequests, and sometimes important plot info. You frequently return here from inside The World to gather information before returning to the game.
Inside the actual game, you control Haseo, who can call other players from a list into his party (not all players are available at all times, tho). His class is Adept Rogue, an interesting class in the fact that while it has no weapon type of its own, it can use and switch between various weapons from other classes, although initally you only have the ability to use dual swords, similar to Kite before him. The dual swords have less attack power than other melee weapons, but this is balanced by you being able to strike swiftly and often. Later on, you unlock the broadsword, a large oversized sword that is slow, but packs a lot of punch and has a wide range. It is particularly useful against armored enemies, (which, ironically, become abundant right after you receive this upgrade). You can switch weapons at will both in and out of battle, although switching in battle produces a small delay as you put away your previous weapon and take out your new one.
Speaking of battle, it has been changed completely from the last game. Monster packs are scattered over the map. When you approach them from behind, it is possible to initiate a surprise attack. However you enter combat, the area around you is immediately surrounded by a barrier, called a Battle Area. The players you brought with you act on their own. Although you can choose from four different setups, concerning how they use their SP (the MP of this game), you have no control over what they do. The AI is rather smart, however, and never really gives you any trouble. In case of need, it's possible to order them to use a particular skill or item, but in general, you can focus on your own character's actions. You can pull off regular combos, which differ per weapon, and you can also use the "Skill Trigger", which is activated by pressing the R1 button. When you activate it, you can choose from four skills that you pre-set to one of the four buttons on the controller, rather than going to the menu to activate it. This skill trigger can also be used in a timing method that involves dealing continuous damage to an enemy, until it gets surrounded by blue circles. If you activate the skill trigger then, you score a "Rengeki" that deals extra damage, and fills up a bar that can be used to provide a temporary powerup to the party.
Monsters are not all you fight, however. At times, you will find a battle in progress in the fields (signified by their Battle Area), you can jump into these battle areas, where players are often in trouble with monsters, or other players. You also fight other players in the arena, with a fun altered battle system where they can use their own skill triggers to counter yours, but you can also do the same to them. Also, at certain points in the game, you are thrown into an "Avatar" boss battle. Where Haseo transforms into a scythe-wielding demon-like golem named Skeith. You fly around in "avatar space", shooting and slashing at your opponent, evading its varous attacks by dashing, until its HP drop to zero. When that happens, you enter "Data Drain Mode", where you have to hold down the button to release it at the right moment to end the battle. The bosses you fight during the story can be revisited at any time, and the system is quite fun.
The music is even better than last time. It provides incredible atmosphere to the locations you visit, and to the cutscenes themselves. The cel-shaded graphics are simply gorgeous. Some of the best I've ever seen on a PS2. The dungeons this time load in their entirety, instead of you having to face a loading screen every time you exit a room. This leads to a more fluid kind of play than the predecessor. The dungeons and fields themselves are quite detailed and beautiful, and don't get me started on the towns. So much work has been put into those. The animation's pretty fluid, but there are some rare occasions when the game will slow down when a lot is happening. This only happens every once in a blue moon, though.
The story is once again the game's strong point. Although the list of recruitable characters is halved, you meat a whole lot of other characters throughout the game's story, all with distinct personalities. Aside from Haseo's search for Tri-Edge, and a way to cure the coma victims, there are a lot of other dilemmas. Such as whether it's ok to kill other players at leisure, or even okay to kill other player killers with ruthlessness. Then there's the question of Haseo's recklessness with his new power, and his relationships with other characters. There's a lot going on, and the presentation is excellent.
All in all, the game's way more solid than its predecessors, and it actually feels like a full game, rather than part of a game. I, myself, found it hard to stop playing once I got started on it. Although there is repetitiveness, it's not even close to half as much as the previous games, and I feel like everyone should at least give it a try. Granted, not everyone will like it as much as I do, but I say you never now 'til you try, and try you must. If you have a PS2, and like action RPG's, anyway.