Monday, August 4, 2014

Case Study No. 1485: Natsume Oguro (student library worker)

.hack//INFECTION: Recruiting Natsume, Lv. 8 solo run
9:39
Part 1 of Project Natsume!

What's that? Natsume wants the Spiral Edge? Leave no stone unturned! That thing must be somewhere in this dungeon!

In this run, I picked up every treasure chest along the way and got an All Portals Opened, without any outside help of course.
Tags: ProjectNatsume .hack//INFECTION .hack INFECTION Natsume solo
Added: 6 years ago
From: OtakuD50
Views: 456

[Kite enters "The World" and finds Natsume standing in front of a dungeon entrance]
NATSUME: I went right into the dungeon because I wanted the Spiral Edge, but I got scared and ran away.
[the camera zooms in on Natsume, as she tries to give herself a pep talk]
NATSUME: Come on, Natsume ... Be strong! That's why you started this game!
[she suddenly loses her nerve again]
NATSUME: Oh ... I am such an idiot.
[Kite walks up to her]
NATSUME: I really want the Spiral Edge.
[Kite enters the dungeon in her place, and eventually finds the Spiral Edge]
KITE: Natsume was looking for this.
["You now have Spiral Edge!" appears on screen, then cut to Kite walking up to Natsume outside of the dungeon]
NATSUME: Wow, you have the Spiral Edge? You're so lucky!
[the player selects "Give"]
NATSUME: Oh? Are you sure? But I can't give you anything in return. Well ... except maybe myself.
KITE: What?!
NATSUME: Don't take me wrong. Well, what I meant was ... maybe I could help you out with something.
["You now have Natsume's member address!" appears on screen]
NATSUME: Bye!
[she logs out of the game and disappears]

---

From wikipedia.org:

.hack is a series of single-player action role-playing games for the PlayStation 2, developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai. The four games are titled .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine. The series features a "game within a game", a fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World, which does not require the player to connect to the Internet. Players may transfer their characters and save data from one game in the series to the next. Each game comes with an extra DVD containing an episode from the accompanying original video animation series .hack//Liminality, which details fictional events that occur concurrently with the games.

The games are part of a multimedia franchise called Project .hack which explores the mysterious origins of The World. Set after the events of the anime series, .hack//Sign, the games focus on a player named Kite and his quest to discover why some users have fallen into comas as a result of playing The World. The search evolves into a deeper investigation of The World itself and its effects on the stability of the Internet.

.hack takes place in an alternate version of Earth in the year 2010. After a computer virus called "Pluto's Kiss" crashes nearly every computer in the world, the Internet is shut down to the general public to address security concerns. After two years lacking both Internet and online games, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game called The World is released to coincide with the reopening of the Internet. It becomes the most popular online game of all time, with over 20 million subscribers. Shortly before the events of the .hack games, a number of users fall into comas as a result of playing The World. However, the developers blame their condition on cyberterrorism.

The World was originally developed by a German programmer named Harald Hoerwick. The World's backstory is based on the Epitaph of Twilight, an epic poem by Emma Wielant, whose death inspired Hoerwick to create the game. However, elements of the poem are also coded into the game's programming itself. The hidden purpose of Hoerwick's game is to develop the ultimate artificial intelligence (AI), capable of making decisions for itself. To this end, Hoerwick inserted functions into the system which monitor and extract behavioral data from the game's millions of players to aid in the AI's learning process. After Hoerwick's death, these pieces of code became black boxes to the current developers, unable to fathom their purpose yet critical to the proper functioning of the game.

The main playable character of .hack is Kite, a new player of The World whose friend Orca fell into a coma due to mysterious circumstances. Kite is joined by nearly twenty other players in his quest to uncover the mystery of the coma victims.

---

From wikia.com:

Natsume is a young and naïve Twin Blade that joins Kite's party when he gives her the Spiral Edge she was searching for. Normally a shy and socially awkward girl, she started playing The World because she wanted to change.

Online Appearance
In the fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game "The World", the character of Natsume is a Twin Blade with green hair and a blue one-piece outfit. Her dress is adorned with triangular patterns; blue symbols (the same one that appear on Kite's hat) appear on her gloves and in the form of tattoos on her legs. According to the official .hack JP website, her chosen waves are Fire and Wood. She uses a character Model similar to that of A-20.

Although she is naive, she does make up for it with energy and a positive outlook. This is a great contrast to her rather pessimistic e-mails. Her e-mails show that she doesn't think much of her abilities; but regardless of what she thinks, she gives it her all when battling in The World. She is actually more skilled than she gives herself credit for; in her quest to become stronger, she followed a hoax and successfully traversed to the bottom of a high-level dungeon solo before she had to be rescued by Kite.

Offline Appearance
Natsume Oguro is a girl in the 9th grade, in her last year of middle school. She lacks self-confidence and dislikes athletic activities. She sometimes gets sick the day before she has to run track. She also works as a librarian and is a decent cook, especially when it comes to beef dishes. Her mother's name is Yayoi. She knows Kite's player in real life and invites him over for some beef stew in an email in Mutation.

Natsume is a fan of science fiction novels and popular book titles such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

History
Natsume does not play a significant role in the Games. She has only two sidequests, one of which is her recruitment dungeon at "Raging Passionate Melody." After spending some time in Kite's party, Natsume follows a false rumor on the BBS and must be saved from the bottom of a high-level dungeon at "Bottomless Hopeless Footstep," believing that defeating the monster "Level 10 Vine" would be a quick way to level up.

Aside from those two missions and her e-mails, Natsume does not seem to play any additional role. Natsume makes it quite clear that despite her best efforts to improve herself, she still relies on Kite for moral support. Like most of Kite's party she helped fight against Corbenik and was temporarily placed into a very short coma as a result of his Drain Heart attack.

Trivia
* Both Natsume's Japanese voice actress (Maaya Sakamoto) and English voice actress (Lia Sargent) also play the role of Aura
* Natsume is the only female Twin Blade available in the first set of .hack//Games.
* It is speculated that she has met Kite offline some time between Mutation and Outbreak. She says quite casually that she would invite Kite over to try her cooking if her beef stew comes out right; this implies that Kite already knows where she lives, or possibly that they even go to the same school.
* In the last mail she sends to Kite she very clearly states that she is in love with him.
* It has been theorized, though disproven, that a line in Natsume's dialogue ("Oh, are you sure? But I can't give you anything in return. Well... except maybe myself.") is responsible for the "Mature Sexual Themes" in the ESRB rating.
* Her starting weapon is Spiral Edge, a rare level 2 weapon that Kite gives her.
* Her original weapon was the Kai, a level 1 Twin Blade which looks like a golden version of the Steel Blades.
* Her starting level is 1 when she first joins the party.
* Natsume's only BG Image for the ALTIMIT OS Desktop is Image 40: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto - Natsume Color
* Natsume co-starred with Piros as the hosts of CyberConnect2's Q&A section on the JP .hack website.
* Natsume has a minor, non-speaking cameo in a single 4koma strip, "Mr. Taboo."
* At some point of the game, she accidentaly sends a mail to Kite, wich was directed to BlackRose, saying that he prefers BlackRose over her.

---

From ign.com:

E-Mail Chain # 1

E-Mail #1 | BIO
(Req.: 50 | Affection: +0)
Real Name: Natsume Oguro,
9th grade, 15 years old. I'm a
librarian at the school. I started
the game to change myself. I'll
probably cause lots of trouble,
but thanks for having me on
your team.


Reply #1: I'm in 8th grade. (Right | Cont.: 2)
You're a year older than me.
I only started playing this game
recently too.

It's been fun!

Reply #2: Where do you live? (Wrong | Cont.: N/A)
It it's close, it'd be nice to
see each other...

E-Mail #2 | RE: I'm in 8th grade
(Req.: 100 | Affection: +10)
>You're a year older than me.
>I only started playing this game
>recently too.
>
>It's been fun!

You're a year younger than me?
You seemed reliable so I thought
you were older. You're much
better than I am :)

Do you read books?

Reply #1: I hate all words... (Wrong | Cont.: N/A)
I keep reading the same lines...

Reply #2: I read (Right | Cont.: 3)
I like science fiction. But
books are so expensive... I
don't have enough money...

E-Mail #3 | RE: I read
(Req.: 125 | Affection: +10)
>I like science fiction. But
>books are so expensive, I
>don't have enough money...

Wow, I love them too! I'm a
librarian because then I can
read the new titles before
anyone else :)

And if I like it, I'll go buy
it at the book store.


Reply #1: After you read it? (Wrong | Cont.: N/A)
After I read it once, that's it.

Reply #2: Favorite books (Right | Cont.: 4)
Don't you sometimes feel like
reading your favorite book again?

E-Mail #4 | RE: Favorite books
(Req.: 150 | Affection: +10)
>Don't you sometimes feel like
>reading your favorite book again?

Yes, after you read it several
times, it feels different. My
dream is to fill my bookshelf
with my favorite books.

E-Mail Chain Complete

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