.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/ressurection 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 badies 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 Ressurects 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.