=============================================================================== .hack Newbie FAQ =============================================================================== author of steel: rhyste@herzeleid.net shameless plug: http://www.net-slum.com update/version info: last updated 18.02.03 version 0.3 =============================================================================== _______Menu_ + Updates/Upcoming + Frequently Asked Questions + The Timeline + Gameplay * Member Address List * Data Draining * Gate Hacking * Character Classes * Transferring + The English Version * Name Changes * Additions * Subtractions * Editing * Voice Actors + Legalities + End =============================================================================== + Updates/Upcoming =============================================================================== Version 0.3 - 18/02/03 Updates - Updated Voice Actors, and Editing; Removed some stuff. Version 0.2 - 18/02/03 Updates - An entire one thing was changed. XD Version 0.1 - 17/02/03 Updates - I've split the Gameplay FAQ into a new FAQ called the Newbie FAQ. =============================================================================== + Frequently Asked Questions =============================================================================== Q: Is .hack an Online Game? A: No; it's a simulation of an online game. Q: Do the //sign characters appear in the game? A: Yes; some in the flesh, some in "memories." Q: Do the //sign characters join you? A: No. Q: Are Elk and Tsukasa, BlackRose and Mimiru, and Orca and Bear the same people? A: No. There character designs are quite clearly different. You forget this is an online game; people can *look the same,* suprise suprise. I personally have ran into twins on PSO and Ragnarok Online many a times. :P Q: When's .hack coming to the US? A: The anime .hack//SIGN is airing February 1st on Cartoon Network; 3pm EST. The .hack games are being released every three months starting with volume one in February. Q: Who is this, "Balmung" guy? A: Balmung is the token bishonen of the .hack series, and appears or is at least mentioned in every series. We're also getting married. ^_^ He doesn't know yet, but, WE ARE! >:O Q: What's this battle system like? A: I've given up on using a longer list of games, so for now I'll just have to say - Kingdom Hearts. Only, without the migraine camera views. Q: I've watched .hack//SIGN; is Sora that monsters that's attacking you in Infection? A: No. Sora is Data Drained by that monster, who's name is Skeith BTW. The same thing happens to Orca. Q: Should I get .hack or Xenosaga? A: Uh, I dunno why people even ask this, but I personally have been looking forward to .hack moreso than Xenosaga... mainly because I never finished Xenogear - my Memory Card got a bit trashed when I was in the dungeon of Deus. Q: What's this Limited Edition DVD on the dothack.com webpage? A: That's the .hack//SIGN Limited Edition DVD's. The webpage shows you the LE volume one, with episodes 1 through 5. It's released in March, while the others come in the months following. =============================================================================== + The Timeline =============================================================================== The .hack universe timeline goes like this... and it is absolute - unless they add another part, it is totally up to date and cannot be proved wrong. 1) .hack//AI Buster Medium: Novel Availability: Try Amazon.Co.Jp 2) .hack//SIGN Medium: Anime Availability: All 26 episodes available over p2p programs or on IRC. Airing in US Feb. 1st on CN. ?) .hack//Another Story Medium: DVD Availability: Not released in Japan yet. 3) The following take place concurrently: .hack//INFECTION EXPANSION Medium: Ps2 game Availability: Released in Japan, coming to US .hack//Liminality - In the Case of Minase Mai Medium: Anime DVD Availability: Packaged with .hack//INFECTION EXPANSION. 4) The following take place concurrently: .hack//MALIGNANT MUTATION Medium: Ps2 game Availability: Released in Japan, coming to US .hack//Liminality - In the Case of Aihara Yuki Medium: Anime DVD Availability: Packaged with .hack//MALIGNANT MUTATION 5) The following take place concurrently: .hack//EROSION POLLUTION Medium: Ps2 game Availability: Released in Japan, coming to US .hack//Liminality - In the Case of Tohno Kyoko Medium: Anime DVD Availability: Packaged with .hack//EROSION POLLUTION 6) The following take place concurrently: .hack//ABSOLUTE ENCIRCLEMENT Medium: Ps2 game Availability: Not yet released in Japan, coming to US .hack//Liminality - Trisgimestus Medium: Anime DVD Availability: Packaged with .hack//ABSOLUTE ENCIRCLEMENT ?) SUPPOSEDLY, a sequel to the inital four .hack games is being planned. 7) .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu Translation: .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet Offical Nickname: .hack//UdeDen Fan Nickname (thanks to Subaru): .hack//DUSK Medium: Both an Anime version and a Manga version Availability: Anime recently aired in Japan. Manga version serialized in Comptiq, Manga vol. 1 came out last August. Plans to release //LotTB in the US have been set in slate, according to the .hack//INFECTION demo disk. If you want to get fansubs, get Anime-Kraze's. =============================================================================== + Gameplay =============================================================================== These are some of the more commonly asked parts, taken from my Gameplay FAQ. __________________________________Member Address List__________________________ Your list of online friends is in the form of the Member Address List. You can call them into your party any time unless the current place in the story doesn't allow you to. In example: At the beginning of volume two, you're supposed to go to a dungeon with BlackRose and BlackRose only. The game purposelly makes it so that no one else on your member address list can't be called. Some of the characters are optional to the story, and you can get them if you'd like. They'll later mail you asking you to take them to dungeons. Below are the full lists of Member Addresses you can get separated by Volume. Characters with a * are optional. After reading their post on the BBS, you can choose to go into the dungeon they listed in their posts and get them or not. Characters with a - are required characters. Volume One: - Orca - BlackRose - Elk - Mia * Natsume - Mistral * Gardenia * Sanjuro - Piroshi Volume Two: * Rachael * Getchoseki * Nukeusagimaru * Maro - Wiseman Volume Three: - Balmung * Terashima Ryoko __________________________________Data Draining________________________________ Some specific monsters you're going to need to Data Drain. During battle, the words, "Protect Break" will appear. You now know it's safe to Data Drain. The Data Draining skill is the last page of Kite's skill menu. It costs 10sp per use. Using it repeatedly will result in Kite's Infection gague turning Red. when he goes Red, DON'T DATA DRAIN! You could loose a level or get a game over. Although it has a very low risk of happening, you can get a status effect or EXP Loss even when the gague is lowered. Quite random though. As you continue to Data Drain more and more, you can open up a more powerful version of the drain. There's a 20sp version that targets all Protect Broken enemies, and a 30sp version that hits one target, but with a higher rate of the enemy giving you a nice Rare. :D Of course it also makes your Infection go up higher, much quicker. x_o; When you Data Drain, you can get a rare item from an enemy, and the enemy will turn into a lesser enemy. Killing it will minimal EXP. Instead of a Rare Item, you might get a Virus Core, which goes into Gate Hacking... __________________________________Gate Hacking_________________________________ Some fields you'll need to Gate Hack. This requires Virus Cores. There's 26 different types of them, 12 of which can be drained out of various enemies regularly, the other ones you're given during parts of the story, or from Data Draining a previous boss. The nine different cores are available based on the server you're on, and the size of the enemy. Delta & Theta Size Type Small A Medium B Large C Lamda Size Type Small D Medium E Large F Sigma Size Type Small G Medium H Large I Omega Size Type Small J Medium K Large L Volume four isn't out yet, but based on various patterns, it's safe to assume that J, K, and L will be available on the Omega server. __________________________________Character Classes____________________________ Like in an MMORPG, there's different character classes you can play as. The classes in .hack are divided by what kinds of weapons you can use. And no, you cannot change Kite's class. :P Blade User - Typical fighter class with a one-handed sword. Blade Users in .hack: Balmung, Rachael, Orca, Mia Blade Users in .hack//SIGN: Bear, Ginkan Twin Sword - Can wield two daggers/katars/etc. They're identical to a class like a Thief, or a Rogue. Twin Swords in .hack: Kite, Natsume, Getchoseki/Moonstone Twin Swords in .hack//SIGN: Sora, A-20 Twin Swords in .hack//DUSK: Shugo, Ouka (?) Heavy Blade - Uses large, two-handed swords, that're, as the name implies, heavy. :P The little Heavy Blade icon, I found out the hard way, is hard to tell apart from the regular Blade icon. x_x; Yay for giving a level 50 Heavy Blade to Balmung after coming out of a dungeon I did not want to re-do. ;-; Heavy Blades in .hack: BlackRose, Sanjuro Heavy Blades in .hack//SIGN: Mimiru Heavy Blades in .hack//DUSK: Rena Long Arm - Use long-ranged weapons, like spears and javelins. Supposedly they can also use Bows and Arrows, because in .hack//SIGN, episode 22 in specific, there were two characters shown; one using a bow + arrow, the over using some kind of throwing Javelins. *shrugs* Long Arms in .hack: Gardenia, Nukeusagimaru Long Arms in .hack//SIGN: Crim Long Arms in .hack//AI Buster: Albireo Long Arms in .hack//DUSK: Kamui Heavy Axe - Like the Heavy Blades, they use large, heavy weapons; Axes in specific. Sometimes they come off looking more like spears. ^^; Heavy Axes in .hack: Terashima Ryoko, Piroshi Heavy Axes in .hack//SIGN: Subaru, Kaho Wave Master - The typical Mage class, low physical strength and high magical power, and a staff. Wave Masters have no physical attacks like the others do, but their staves usually come with many a different spell. Wave Masters in .hack: Elk, Mistral, Wiseman Wave Masters in .hack//SIGN: Tsukasa, BT Wave Masters in .hack//AI Buster: Hokuto Wave Masters in .hack//DUSK: Mireille, Hotaru, Reki, Magi Wave Master isn't the exact translation, it's something more like... "Crest User." But, ehhh... :P __________________________________Transferring_________________________________ After you've beaten the game, and watched the credits, a little "Save Game?" box will come up. Go ahead and save your game - overwrite your old file - you can still play even after you've saved, but, because you've beaten the final boss, you'll now have a yellow file. The yellow depicts you've finished the game, story-wise. But, like an in MMORPG; even after you've beaten the final boss, you're still able to walk around and do as you please. You can still save and the like, and when the next volume comes, everything that's in the save file (levels, equip, items, etc), will get carried over to the next volume. I don't believe that you can load English game data file onto the Japanese game and vice versa, nor can you load volume 4 data into volume three. =============================================================================== + Concerning the English Version =============================================================================== I'd like to take a little time out to list some of the things changed from the Japanese version to the English version. ^_^ __________________________________Name Changes_________________________________ Goes from: Japanese <-> English Piroshi <-> Piros Getchoseki <-> Moonstone Terashima Ryoko <-> Terajima Ryoko Ginkan <-> Translated into Silver Knight Puchiguso <-> Grunty Blade User <-> Blademaster Dona Roriak <-> Dun Loireag Calmine Gaderica <-> Carmine Gadelica Fort Auf <-> Fort Ouph .hack//vol. 1 INFECTION EXPANSION <-> .hack//vol. 1 INFECTION .hack//vol. 2 MALIGNANT MUTATION <-> .hack//vol. 2 MUTATION .hack//vol. 3 EROSION POLLUTION <-> .hack//vol. 3 OUTBREAK .hack//vol. 4 ABSOLUTE ENCIRCLEMENT <-> .hack//vol. 4 QUARANTINE Because I was first told the original names and places from the Japanese version, I use the Japanese names and places. ^_^; As for the Ginkan <-> Silver Knight thing... Silver Knight is a translation of Ginkan, so I guess it kind of makes sense... but we like to call him Ginkan because it sounds more like a name. ^_^; __________________________________Additions____________________________________ Bandai, being the incredibly smart people that they are (sort of) decided to include a choice of English or Japanese voice track option. This is probably because they also publish Anime DVD's. ^_^ ... however, we got the bonus Japanese voice track in place of something else, which leads us to... __________________________________Subtractions_________________________________ The Japanese versions of .hack contain an extra voice track called Parody Mode. Basically, the written in-game dialouge was the same, but the character's spoken lines were different. They were all humorous and stupid, and, well, parodic. :P In example: - Kite thought Aura was the spirit of his dead hamster. - Orca tries to be a stud and is like, "Whoa, Aura, can I have your phone number? ^_~" - Balmung, ala an Anime Mad Scientist, asks Kite if he can investigate his body... this also caused quite a few Yaoi fics on Japanese webpages. XD And the list goes on - my understanding is that a lot of it was culture jokes. Anyway, the English release doesn't get Parody Mode because we got the extra Voice Track. It also would've been more work to translate Parody Mode, and make it make sense to an American audience, which would've meant they'd've had to add the entire Parody Mode Voice Track in Japanese and English, and then an entirely new gamescript. o_x; __________________________________Editing______________________________________ Until recently, I was under the influence that nothing was edited from the game, but people who've played the Demo have made it clear that Skeith's Cross was changed to a Q. Another strange edit was when Balmung was walking out of the church: In the Eng version we see him from behind, but in the Jp version we see him from the side. Unsure of why this was changed. __________________________________Voice Actors_________________________________ Role_____________Voice Actor______________Other Role___________________________ Kite Mona Marshall Izzy (Digimon), Ascot (MKR) BlackRose Wendee Lee Faye (Cowboy Bebop) Balmung Doug Erholtz Older TK (Digimon) Aura Lia Sargent Big O (R. Dorothy Wayneright), Nanami (El Hazard) Helba Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Caroline (Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust) Lyoth Dan Lorge Cody's Gramdpa (Digimon) Wiseman Steven Jay Blum A LOT OF DIGIMON... O_O; Mia Debra Rogers Elk Brianne Siddal Jim (Outlaw Star), Jun (Persona), Tsukasa (.hack//SIGN) Orca Kirk Thornton A LOT OF DIGIMON... O_O; Emma Wielant Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Caroline (Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust) Harold Hoerwick Bob Klein Mistral Sandy Fox Fillet (Brave Fencer Musashi) Piros Daran Norris Cosmo, Mr.Turner (Fairly Odd Parents) Gardenia Carolyn Hennesy Natsume Lia Sargent R. Dorothy Wayneright (Big O), Nanami (El Hazard) Moonstone Lex Lang Crim (.hack//sign) Sanjuro Steven Jay Blum A LOT OF DIGIMON... O_O; Marlo Bob Klein Nuke Usagimaru Steven Prince Rachel Julie Taylor Terashima Ryoko Julie Maddalena Hikaru Shidou (MKR) =============================================================================== + Legalities =============================================================================== The .hack Gameplay FAQ copyright Rhyste January 2003. All content was typed up from personal experience with the game itself. aim: rhyste rhyste@herzeleid.net http://www.net-slum.com All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders, namely: http://www.cyberconnect2.jp http://www.bandai.com Concerning legal stuff... I prohibit use of this guide on another website except GameFAQs, .hack for Dummies, and .hack//SIGN Defragmented. I also disallow reproduction of any part of this guide, as well as using parts of it or the entire thing and saying it was your own, and things that're basically the same as the previously mentioned offenses. =============================================================================== + End =============================================================================== Uhm, more later. ~_~; Hope this was a little helpful. :P People to thank: Niu, Raistlin, Jack Eccs, the people who modchipped my PS2, CyberConnect2, Hawque, Kojirou, Master LL, Landale, a lot of people who I know I'm forgetting... oh, and Yoshiyuki Sadomoto for... sketching Balmung. ^_^ More Thanks: - Josh (Ryu Book Compilation) - Imagined Reality (Brianne Siddal's Roles) - PERSON WHO I FORGOT OMFG I'M SO SORRY (Lia Sargent's Roles) ===============================================================================