.Hack//Infection has been going nicely for me now, and I am pleased to say that after a weekend of play it holds up nicely.
Transitions between dungeons, fields, towns, the message boards, and email make for a nice staggered pace for gameplay.
Combats have been sufficiently unpredictable to maintain an air of controlled panic. When approaching a magic portal, you don’t know if you’ll be facing four mimics, a pair of hobgobs and a swordsmanoid, or what. This prompts rapid, reactive decisionmaking, which I’ve always found enjoyable for video games in general.
If there’s anything that I have a serious problem with it is the lack of custom keyword combinations that aren’t plot-related in the message boards. You can be assured that (with the exception of Goblin Tag, which hasn’t connected to the overarching plot in a way I can recognize) any premade keyword combo will have a plot element to it. After eight hours of play (not counting time spent after saving, then dying) I’ve come to rely on being able to exhaust my list of premade keywords, then return to my mail and the message board to get a new crop that pushes the story along.
Just one or two red herrings amongst them, resulting in no discernable plot point, would serve to increase the illusion of a non-linear plotline. Of course, an interesting, truely non-linear plotline is somewhat of a Holy Grail amongst game makers, so I shouldn’t hold my hopes out too far.
On a side note, the option to have the original Japanese voice actors instead of the English version is very handy for atmosphere reasons. I always play RPGs with the subtitles on (so I can turn the volume off if need be), and having English subtitles for English dialogue has always seemed… odd to me. Thanks for the choice, Bandai.
Overall Grade so far:
A
I have yet to watch .Hack//Liminality Ep1, as my viewing of .Hack//Sign is not yet complete. My Hong Kong translation of Sign is quite poor (they call Tsukasa “Zea” and Subaru “Une” and Ginkan “Enhan” for reasons passing human understanding, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg). At least they were able to get the names “BT,” “Mimiru,” and “Bear” correct. A review of .Hack//Sign should be upcoming.
Sorry to be a pest, but I am playing Hack infection,,,,I was in a dungeon and had too many items so I gave some to Blackrose to hold for me, problem is, I can’t get them back,,is there any way to get them from her ? I tried to trade but she doesen’t trade the items I want ,,, also how can I use her money .? I really hope you can help me,,
Sorry, but when you give something to another character in .Hack, just like in any real MMORPG there is no guarantee you’ll ever get it back. When you give something to BlackRose, she treats it as a gift, and there is no mechanism for requesting the return of an item within the game.
Similarly, her money is her money, and she’ll spend it as she sees fit. You have no control over that.
Ummm… I think i am in the finbal battle with that thing called skeith, but i don’t know how to beat it.
Somebody HELP!!!!!
As for giving other characters equipments and stuff…the key is to make sure that the piece you are giving to them is Higher in level than the one that they currently have. Let’s say if Black rose currently equipped Claymore (lv. 15) and you (Kite) give her Shikisokuzeiku (lv. 18 rare) she will immediately equip it.
I think .Hack series of games replicates the feel of Multi-player Online Role-playing Game very nicely. and the fact you can’t control what other characters do with their equipments and money is the fact of MMORPG… Just make sure what you give them is useful to them, than everything will be okay.
as for Skeith…you have to make sure that both of your other characters have La Repth or Ola Repth (which cure everyone for 150 or 400 hp). All characters should be at least level 31 or above. Skeith have no elements so any magic or skill would do. Just make sure you keep everyone alive – you can’t beat Skeith with just two – make sure that you have planty of Restorative, Antidote, Health Potions, Mage’s soul and Ressurect. Beating SKeith will take a while, but just keep beating at him and eventully you will be able to date-drain him.
Now I’m just waiting on the .Hack: Outbreak since I have beaten both Infection and Mutation…
oh yes, you will NOT get any item you give to other characters. so make sure you give Kite the best of everything, than use the rest as gift or to make sure that your party is up to par with Kite.
best regards,
Hyperboomer
Well put, ‘Boomer.
I had no particular problems with Skeith, as I simply kept Kite back on healing/resurrection duty while BlackRose and Gardena whupped its behind. The same with the monster on the airship (which was a much tougher battle, IMHO).
I haven’t picked up Mutation yet (due to a promise I made myself about defeating Hearts of Iron before playing any other computer games), but Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill have fallen before my mighty Panzergrenadier divisions. It’s time to move on, as they say. Word on the streets is that the only serious gameplay changes are in the form of a new Twilight Bracelet ability and some new characters to team with, but I play RPGs for the plot.
^_^ I’m no good at stratigic games so I envy you on that front. As for the plot of the .Hack series. True to it’s creator (Sadamoto and Ito) of such distingushed anime title like Evangelion. The story starts out light but gets grim toward the end. I would really recommand checking out “.Hack//Sign” to get a feeling of how the whole Saga started. I did and now the game make alot of sense to me.
as for Parasite Dragon being tougher than Skeith…I had to say Skeith was a little tougher due to his high mobility. Parasite Dragon don’t move all that much so it is easy to position yourself to “trap” it (I put Black Rose and Gardenia in front, and Kite directly behind) which makes beating it a little easier.
just my two cent’s worth,
Hyperboomer
Well I finally picked up .Hack//Mutation, so I’ll be posting more about that later in the day. It has been refreshing to face challenging combats from non-bosses again (by the time I got through Infection, all the non-boss baddies were laughably weak compared to my party). I actually died the first time out on some level Gardenia pointed out to me.
I battled with Skeith when I was @ lv. 33 but he still whooped my behind. How were the characters equiped and with what equipment were each one equiped with??? I already bought Mutation but have’nt beat Infection yet.
The only trick to Skeith really is to keep your characters alive and pay attention for the “protect break” message. I fought him with Kite, Black Rose, and Gardenia. I had nothing particularly impressive for equipment, but made sure that I was thoroughly stocked up on Antidote, Restorative, Mage Souls and Health Drinks. I hung back with Kite and use La Repth repeatedly to keep Black Rose and Gardenia alive until I was able to Data Drain.
Please don’t fall into the trap of equipping gear because it has slightly better defensive or offensive stats: the magic abilities are the real key. Always make sure that Kite has decent healing abilities, and that at least one other character can Repth if need be. Also, sell off old gear to buy some Resurrects to distribute to your party members when you’re heading into a big fight like Skeith: you don’t want to die and have nobody able to bring your sorry ass back. 🙂
Thanx jdf for the info. But i still got one question, how do I get the ability called Ola Repth. Which Equipment is that.
Sorry, Ola Repth isn’t available until you get to Mutation (several new abilities pop up as you move along and your gear gets better). I don’t recall exactly which items had it, but they tended to be headgear appropriate for a Wavemaster (so Elk and Mistral ended up with it, and I sacrificed some defensive capability on Kite in order to be able to throw down some heavy healing (400hp recovery with an area of effect like La Repth)).
Does anybody know if the unreleased .Hack//SIGN episode — intermezzo — comes before or after the series? I have no Idea but i have seen it but dont know where to place it.
Does any one know if they’re going to make a real game ‘The World’ with virturl reality head sets. I know they have a .hack//SIGN game but i need to know if they are going to make a new game. If any one knows or if anyone knows a person i can e-mail to get information e-mail me!! please!
Nope. It’s my understanding that the anime, manga, and ps2 games are all there will be for the .Hack series. This is probably all for the best, as VR headset technology really hasn’t moved forward in the consumer market in the past eight years or so. I personally would be happy to try out an actual MMORPG based on “The World” from this series, but I just don’t see it as financially appealing to Project .Hack to pursue this (MMORPGs are money-sinks for most of the companies that have tried them so far). Perhaps somebody will grow a backbone and allow a minimal-admin-interference MMORPG someday, but I fear that day will not come soon.
If you are stocked up with at least 30 pure waters, it cuts his Judgment attacks in half. When he’s about to use judgment, use pure water on him. 🙂
I think I picked up .hack//Infection about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but nevertheless I am facing Skeith and I got mutilated. Besides the fact that I wasn’t prepared, I think better weapons would help. Sooo, why can’t I find any weapons over level 12 for any of my characters?! Please help, much appreciated.
Don’t tell me you haven’t gotten the Claymore or Masterblades! It’s so easy. Use Data Drain on an Ogre and you might get Kite’s Masterblades. To get the Claymore trade with a Poison Grunty. When you’re fighting Skeith don’t be stupid and run towards him to attack, he’ll kill you like a small dog. Instead run away and tell BlackRose and Gardenia to use any offensive skills they’ve got. Be prepared to use a load of Ressurects and Mage’s Souls, Also make sure you use a Pure Water on everyone, otherwise he’s gonna rip you up bad. As I said don’t rush towards Skeith if he uses Execution on you your party members will either die right after you or be too busy to revive you.
Once Skeith is Data Drained he’ll be as pathetic as a Goblin, only with 4500 HP! Now’s the time to rush in and slap the bejeesus out of this wimp. Watch out though. He can still use an attack that may kill you, have BlackRose or Gardenia revive you and continue beating the crap out of Skeith.
I just got Mutation a few weeks ago, but any way I’m fighting Magus and got my ass whooped, I was at a high level and was prepared but stil died. Any help will be much appreciated.
What is the best weapon to use against Skeith? I went up against him with the Amateur Blades…
but he whipped my behind 🙁 Any help will be appreciated.
Don’t engage Skeith with Kite at all. Equip him to act as a healer and rezzer, and let your heavy hitters do the real work (up until you Data Drain, at least). If you step up into melee with it, you’ll get pimpslapped into the dirt and sent cryin’ home to your mommy. Don’t send Kite in to do a man’s work; send Black Rose & Gardenia instead.
Okay then how should I fight him after he’s been Data Drained?
ok, i’m about to begin a nearly impossible task of getting all field/dungeon portal open on EVERY POSSIBLE AREA. now before i begin it would be nice to have a list of every area in level order, or just a list period, so i dont have to make my own. so if anyone knows the whereabouts of such a list please e-mail me.
da_marshmallow89@hotmail.com
Skeith: Continue to let Blackrose and Gardenia whack him with their respective weapons. This is the “I’m a cheapass” way to beat most of the bosses in this game. Some (such as Magus) require a little extra work, but standing back and keeping a couple damage-doers alive works against 99% of opponents.
Nelo: EVERY possible area? Presuming that you’ve already beaten the plot-portion of the game, you should be high-lvl enough to handle just about anything in the available levels. Just start working through one keyword at a time, cycling through like an odometer (1st key 1st key 1st key, 1st key 1st key 2nd key.. 1st key 2nd key 1st key, 1st key 2nd key 2nd key.. last key last key last key. There are literally thousands of level combinations, so I can’t imagine that doing so would be anything but horribly tedious.
What is the best way to fight Magus? I’m at level 50 right now have every advantage I could give my self and still got smacked around like a pathetic little jackass. Please help!
The trick to killing Magus is to have your party members (I used BlackRose and Mistral) attack Magus itself, while you run around using your melee attacks against the leaves that it sheds. The more leaves that are present when he pops his big bad attack, the more damage it’ll do, so if you leave more than one or two, it’ll probably kill all three of your characters. Each leaf has a timer on it, so you have to destroy them before the timer runs out, or it’ll cause Magus to pop its attack sooner than normal. This is definitely the hardest boss in the first two games, but quite doable.
Note that you should use normal physical attacks, as the leaves seem to have a high resistance to magic.
What is the best method for fighting Cubia? Every time I fight him I either get smacked around as if I was at level 1, or get killed by my own team because of those frickin’ Downer Gomoras. Help!
^^;; I engaged skeith at level 23, and I don’t think I can get 8 levels in a day(I’m renting).. especially when I’m about to go to sleep..And I can’t play .hack//infection most of tommorrow..So where might be a good place to TRY to get 8 levels? Geez, I feel so stupid engaging skeith at level 23..Should I just buy .hack//infection or rent it for a lil’ while longer?
P.S. And the last question was stupid, observing how long ago the last post was, but nevertheless, please answer asap! Thanks! =3
Use the Random option at a Chaos Gate to try and get a Level 30 area, this is the best place to level up, but might be too much for you, but if you’re daring like me, you’ll gladly accept the challenge.
Thanks! Although, I already had to take it back. Maybe I can rent it again soon, though.
Bonjour mes ami!
Anywho, I tried to beat Skeith from a distance and all of my spells and crud weren’t working! Also, how do u get to higher levels faster? IF anyone can help me do!!!
Chibi Monkey:
Don’t use spells directly at Skeith. Bring two melee-types (Black Rose and Gardenia work well), and stand back with Kite healing (and resurrecting) as necessary. Skeith has very high magic resistance, so spellcasting is really only going to help you in keeping your melee combatants alive. Once they’ve hit it enough, use Data Drain, and continue healing. Kite shouldn’t have to deal direct damage during the entire fight.