FAQs: .hack//INFECTION (Part 1): Starter's Guide .hack//INFECTION (Part 1) Starter's Guide by CloudStrife768 .hack Experience FAQ Ver. 0.27 Written by CloudStrife768 in full Email-megatrigger44@aol.com *********************************************** Table of Contents: I.Backround, FAQ Overview and Opening Thoughts II.Version History III. FAQs IV.Experience Table V.Easy Way to Level Up in the Beginning VI.Copyrights and Credits VII.Closing Thoughts *********************************************** I.Backround, FAQ Overview and Opening Thoughts Good tidings to all! Welcome to my second FAQ ever written. And what a game to be writing about. .hack// is a pioneer of it's day in so many ways. It will be the first to be able to successfully connect a series of games and make a single file out of them. Shenmue came close, but it was ruined thanks to Bill Gates and his system, which has too much hype around it. Thankfully Billy won't be able to buy off Bandai, as it's deal with Sony is too strong. Getting back to the game, it's also a first to be able the make an online game totally offline. The player is playing the game as if it's online, but really isn't. Bandai does this very well, putting in little extras that remind us that it's online, such as the little emoticons that occasionally appear :). And it has an allstar cast coming close to matching that of Kingdom Hearts. It doesn't have the stars of 7th Heaven or Angel, or even a person from 'N Sync, but if you ever watch cartoons in the morning, Digimon being a big one, the voices are the same. In terms of how it plays, think Kingdom Hearts battling combined with a Dark Cloud dungeon combing, and you have yourself .hack. If you have a PS2, about 600KB free space on your memory card and an extra $50 in your pocket, by all means go out and get it. You won't be disappointed. *********************************************** II.Version History 2/24/03-Sorry about not updating it sooner. Dark Cloud 2's childish charm has gotten me hooked :). Expect some kind of FAQ for that in the future. Anyways, I finally made time to play some .hack and figure out a good level up strategy. But I have only gotten 1 question so far, and without questions, whats the point of me even writing, right? So please, send some questions. And hopefully I can move onto Xenosaga :) Ver. 0.27 2/20/03-Started guide. But what is a FAQ without the questions, right? So please, go ahead and send me some questions, comments, complaints, whichever. But please, title it something like ".hack Question" or something like that. If not, it's gonna get deleted. Ver. 0.15 *********************************************** III.FAQs (still waiting) *********************************************** IV.Experience Table First, a small explanation. In .hack, the levelling up system is a bit different then conventinal RPGs. The first time you open up that menu and go down to status, most people will be shocked to find out that they need a whopping 1000 EXP to gain a level. But don't freght. It stays that way until level 99 (I think). If you go right into a battle after a story event, most likely the defeated monster will give you anywhere from 40-60 EXP. It's a bit complicated at first, but by level 5, most people have it down. With that said, here is the table you can follow: Difference in Level Experience Received -10 1 -9 2 -8 3 -7 4 -6 6 -5 8 -4 13 -3 28 -2 40 -1 50 0 60 1 70 2 80 3 100 4 130 5 170 6 220 7 280 8 350 9 430 10+ 520 The higher the number means that is the level of the monster compared to the level of the party member. When it comes to the 10+ part, I am not to sure about the experience. Mostly because if anybody were to brave a monster 14 levels stronger, they probably won't live. Any problems with this table, please email me. *********************************************** V.Easy Way to Level Up in the Beginning Alright, to clear the air here, I cannot guarentee this will work for everyone. It involves quite a bit of skill, the right weapons, and finally a lot of luck. Get stuck fighting the wrong enemy, and you could be dead. Any ways, the minimum requirements are as follows: -Kite level 4 -Blackrose level 4 -A level 10 or higher weapon for Kite, preferably with skills like Staccato or Gale of Swords (I used a Raitei I got from a trade) -A heavy sword for Blackrose thats at least an Earth Sword -Several Warrior Bloods, Knight Bloods and Hunter Bloods -At least 20 Health Drinks With these, you have a pretty good chance of surviving. Anyways, summon Blackrose (or if you happen to have someone else, like Mistral, she can come along as well) Equip everything you must, then save, for the love of GOD, SAVE! I don't want to be held responsible for anyone who played for 5 hours straight, went to do this and all of a sudden die at the hands of a ridiculously powerful enemy (It's happened to me before). So after all the proper fittings have been made, everything has been purchased, and you have saved, step up to that gate and go to make your own keyword. Enter "Indiscreet Gluttonous Remnent" as the keyword. Don't freak out when you see battle level 13. Enter, and the first chance you get, use a Warrior Blood, Knight Blood and Hunter Blood on each member of your party (If Mistral is in your party, you only need to use a Knight Blood). Now use a Fairy's Orb if you have extra's. If not, dont sweat it, just head towards the nearest portal. Now is when the luck comes in. Prey a Guardian comes out, a single Guardian. If it's two, you are in big trouble. If a Flame Heads comes out, you are in big trouble too. A single Guardian will be enough to handle, trust me. With all the boosts you have equiped, you should survive. If you dip below about 60 HP, heal fast, or else you will die. If you want to speed up the battle, you can use any WIND scrolls or magic you might have. Eventually, and hopefully, you will win, and be awarded either 430 or 520 EXP. Congradulations, you just defeated a monster 3 times your level. For an even greater challange, do random keywords until you find a fire field with a battle level of 16. Save beforehand, of course. And do the status enhancements when you get there. If you run into a Killer Snake, its an easy 520 EXP. They really aren't that tough, especially with all the boosts you have. Just use Staccato or Gale of Swords a lot, and attack and heal regularly. If you have any skills with Blackrose, by all means use them. Hopefully, this will help you gain levels like mad, and actually have fun fighting a lot of bosses, who may actually be a monster you had already fought (*cough*Killer Snake*cough*). *********************************************** VI.Copyrights and Credits This FAQ is copyrighted by me, CloudStrife768, and cannot be used under penelty of law! Actually, you can use it, but only with my consent. Few people know how difficult it is to get something like this going, so please, just ask and you will get. Also, as of now, only these sites are supposed to have this FAQ: www.gamefaqs.com faqs.ign.com If any of you notice my hard work is on a site without my consent (not shown above), please contact me ASAP so I can correct this and give proper credit to whomever noticed this, and all the people who put effort into making this FAQ great. Credit with help for this FAQ is given to the following: Gamefaqs and IGN for posting this FAQ Bandai for making an incredible game My girlfriend for leaving me alone tonight to write this FAQ *********************************************** VII.Closing Thoughts This is the part where I have to say thank you to Bandai once again for such an incredible game. I also want to tell you stuff like emailing me with thoughts, praise, complaints (hopefully not the latter) and send it all to MegaTrigger44@aol.com and title it something like ".hack Question". Also, if you want to add something, want to correct a grammer or spelling mistake, contact me so I can put it in or fix it and give proper credit. After all, this FAQ is for you, so it's better for everyone if this FAQ is a project everyone will enjoy reading. And with that, I thank you all. Farewell, as I am off to scour the land in search of RPGs worthy enough of being written by me. After all, Xenosaga is coming out in a few days. At least so I can read :) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Other FAQs by CloudStrife768 Medabots AX: Metabee Version: Walkthrough/FAQ Medabots AX: Rokusho Version: Walkthrough/FAQ ------------------------------------------------------------------