THUMBS DOWN FOR .HACK//GU?

I recently rediscovered the first console game I've ever purchased and noticed that quite a few people didn't like the .hack//GU games in comparison to the four original .hack// games that took place in The World R:1. Some stuff I saw pop up were criticisms like unoriginal and unimaginative characters as well as a bad storyline.

I might have some bias here because I bought GU before infection, but when I played infection, I really preferred GU more. I think my only dislikes for GU were that there were essentially only two field types, and then all that changed between them were time of day and weather. It got boring. Also, I liked how in infection, battles were fully open. But the flow of battle was really smooth in GU, whereas in infection and the other games, you had to cycle through menus for skills and first aid. Also, any battle in GU was escapable. Dungeon crawling became a real pain when you were trapped in rooms that only unlocked when all portals were open.

Stories in both games were great in my opinion, but in Infection, I felt I lacked a real sense of direction. On several occasions, I hit snags because I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

I'm wondering, why is .hack//GU seen as a "middle finger" to the .hack// series?