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This is pretty much the baseline of what to see and play. Honestly, the games are the main focal point of the series, and if you so desired, you could get away with just playing IMOQ and/or GU, but you'll lose out on a lot of world building and widening of the mysteries. Not to mention all of the references and details that a keen eyed observer will notice. Each part of the series is meant to self-contained, but many entries will leave you with more questions about The World than answers (not in a bad way, mind you).

To add on to the list posted by /u/MootDesire, SIGN is basically self contained, but only really answers the questions that directly pertain to these characters (Tsukasa in particular) and leaves much of the other questions about The World in general unresolved. Most of these unresolved mysteries from SIGN are answered in IMOQ though. As a side note as well, I'd recommend reading the Legend of the Twilight manga after playing IMOQ (but I'd also recommend staying away from the anime). It's definitely a side story, but it's fairly short and gives a glimpse into the Golden Age of The World post-IMOQ. And on a first playthrough of IMOQ, I'd also recommend watching each episode of Liminality after playing each volume of the games, i.e., Infection -> Liminality 1 -> Mutation -> Liminality 2 -> etc.

Roots serves a similar function to SIGN for the R:2 media, but it's much less necessary even though both Roots and GU focus on Haseo and a few key characters. Basically everything important in Roots is explained in some form during the GU games (Shino's importance, Haseo and Ovan's relationship, Haseo's obsession with Tri-Edge, etc). The only thing I can think of that isn't explained in detail is perhaps Phyllo's significance, but that isn't really a major detail in GU. Roots isn't as good as SIGN in my opinion, but it isn't bad or anything. It's got less mystery than SIGN does and that makes it harder for me to sit through.

There is also the .hack//Quantum OVA which is pretty good, but is set several years in the future from GU and will throw a lot of things at you because it assumes you are already relatively familiar with previous entries. I highly recommend watching this, but wait until after you've at least played IMOQ and GU.

Aside from the games and anime, there are a slew of light novels and manga relating to the series, only some of which were every properly translated into English. Most of these are pretty well written and add to the overall story with varying amounts of significance, but I would recommend holding off on these until you're already a fan of the series because some can be confusing, and like Quantum, will assume you have some grasp of the background and events of other entries.

Heya!

This is what you're looking for!

It's a nice story that covers the end of the first "season" of .hack. It's about the daughter of Aura, basically the God of the internet who watches over the network, and the heroes who find her and try to take care of her until they can reunite her with Aura.

Chronologically it takes place 4 years after the original video games but it's a standalone story and you don't have to read anything else in .hack to enjoy it.

Oh, awesome. I wanted to pick one of those up. My girlfriend got me a wall scroll with the cover of Mutation a few years back and I was amazed at how high quality it was. That Amazon seller has a ton of .hack designs, so I may get another soon.

I think he means he wants to buy the original .hack games. Disc 4 goes for hundreds.

https://www.amazon.com/hack-Part-4-Quarantine-Playstation-2/dp/B000094M47

For example; 283 dollars; that's more than "A few hours" for most people. I like me some .hack, but I'll get a Switch before I pay that much for an early PS2 game

HYPE!

.Hack//G.U. Last Recode - PlayStation 4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0743X12TX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_c2ICzb131RTHM

I remember having a series of .Hack books a long time ago that had date references at the beginning. I'll have to go find it, I might have lost them but I can buy them again. I think this is one of them that has it: http://www.amazon.com/hack-Another-Birth-Vol-v/dp/1598164473/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1450985776&sr=8-4&keywords=another+birth

Aren't those screens and models from the blu-ray/ps3 game hybrid disc?

There's a fighting game for the PS3 with a bluray movie in the same disc, those screens are from that.

http://www.amazon.com/hack-Versus-Hybrid-Import-Playstation-3/dp/B007NDJH10