.Hack - Goblins

Infection and Mutation

Throughout the Dot Hack series, Goblins will challenge you, via the board, to play tag with them.  In other words, they are speedy little creatures who run away from you.

To easily defeat the first few goblins, use spells.  For those with Magic Tolerance (Martina) use a Beast Bane first.  Speed Charms are also pretty useful.  Both of those can be bought at the magic shop.  They're all weak against wood spells. 

Outbreak

In Outbreak, the Goblins suddenly become a lot more difficult; it's very hard to hit them with spells, and there are three instead of one per level.  It helped a lot, on the first two, to use Knight's Blood, Warrior Blood, and Speed Charms.  Bring spares, these things take a while.

By the time I got to Jonue T, it was insane.  I found that using a Knight's Blood, Warrior Blood and a Speed Charm (from the item and magic shops respectively) on Kite, and then focusing on one and using a skill whenever I got close enough really helped.  You'll generally only get one hit, but it'll be for about 250 if you're at level 70 with Sora's blades.  Once you've got one of them, that'll only leave one to heal and one to chase, so it will go a little faster.

Albert T was a huge drop in difficulty.  Wear the Ladies Mail from Sigma Unusual Ghostly Remnant, use a Hermit Blood (increases magical accuracy), a Warrior Blood (increases physical attack), and a Hunter Blood (increases physical accuracy) on yourself, cast Mumyn Lei on one of them, run up to it, and get in as many hits as you can before it wakes up.  It will wake up within seconds.  All you do is get it in your sights (use R2) and rinse repeat.  Since the Alberts will cast spells on you, they will sometimes lock you in place for a few seconds.  Just focus on one, and when there are only two left, it's a lot harder for them to do that.  The last one should go down quickly.

Martina T was also quite easy.  Beast Bane, sleep spell, wood spell, repeat.  The healing is a little annoying, but, again, it gets easier as you  whittle them down.

Ryu Books of 1000

The Ryu Books are key items that you receive when data-draining in the .hack// series.  You will get one for every ten data drains, up to Ryu Book VII.

The Ryu Books track various statistics, and will reward you for hitting specific numbers, ie, for meeting Grandpa five times.  You can get all of them in the fourth game, Quarantine.  Otherwise, a few more rewards unlock each game, as listed below.

The rewards consist of images and music with which to decorate your desktop, and videos of cutscenes, which you can view after gaining the data flag, ie, finishing each installment.  The rewards always unlock in the same order, no matter which achievements you get.

I was originally going to list all the achievements you can unlock, and which game you can first get them in.  But, really, that's boring and it's been done before.  I'm only listing the highest numbers you need to get, so you know what to aim for.  You'll only unlock the final reward in Quarantine, but you won't miss any if you hit these numbers then.


Ryu Book I
Chronicles Areas and Playtime

• 210 Areas Visited
• 60 Hours Playtime.

If you struggle with this, just hop in and out of a few areas, then leave the PS2 on overnight.  But, really, you shouldn't struggle.

Ryu Book II
Chronicles Magic Portals

• 1700 Magic Portals Opened.
• xx Field Portals Opened.
• 75 Dungeon Portals Opened.

If you struggle with field portals, just go to a low level area and open a few.  For field portals, Lambda Lonely Ghostly Feeling.  Three.  You're welcome.  For dungeon portals, try Theta Chosen Corrupted Spiral, which has six.


Ryu Book III
Chronicles Players You Have Met

• All Players Met.
• xx Trades Made. 

If you just talk to a handful of people as you run around the root towns, you should meet most of them without trying too hard.  Some characters won't appear until the game has been completed.

  
Ryu Book IV
Chronicles Monsters

•  All Monsters Fought.
  

There is an excellent bestiary here.  When you reach Quarantine, simply look up any monsters you've yet to meet and go exploring.  Don't bother doing it earlier; you'll probably run into them anyway, and the effort will be redundant.


Ryu Book V
Chronicles About Your Friends

• 350,000GP in Gifts.
  

I hit twice that just by making sure everyone had the best weapons in each game.

Ryu Book VI
Chronicles Treasures

• 1500 Treasure Boxes Opened.
• 1400 boxes, cask, jars and bones destroyed.
• 85 Gott Statue Treasure Opened.

If you leave and re-enter a room, boxes and casks will reappear. Try Omega Chosen Solitary White Devil for Gott Statues; a two floor dungeon, with no forced battles.

Ryu Book VII
Chronicles the Spring of Myst and Symbols

• 55 Encounters with Monsieur.
• 55 Encounters with Grandpa.
• 140 Symbols Activated.

For Symbols, try Omega Bigoted Snowflake's Capsule.  There are two immediately to the west of the dungeon entrance. You'll easily meet enough grandpas and monsieurs while completing the item list.

Ryu Book VIII
Chronicles About Grunties

• All Grunty Foods Collected.
• All Grunties Raised.
• 230 Grunty Foods Obtained.

See my post here for where to find the food and the stats for the Grunties.  You should pick up enough Grunty food easily if you just grab a few whenever you go past.

Subquests & Extras in .Hack//Infection

As a general rule, it's pretty hard to miss stuff.  Just keep reading the board and your emails.

Time Trial

Use Delta Chronicling Pagan Sunny Demon.  Use a speed charm and Fairy's Orbs, and you should only run into one or two battles.


Key Words on the DVD

Delta Hideous Organ Market Scaffold - Statue has Ice Bar, Rainbow Card, and Grunt Doll.
Delta Voluptous Her Remnant - Statue contains Kagayuzen, Grunt Doll, and Yellow Candy.  You can also find the Rusty Nails here.  They're useful for data draining low level monsters, since they have negative attack, and can hit without killing.
Delta Dog Dancing Passionate Tri Pansy - Ceramic Helm, Yellow Candy, and Rainbow Card.

Areas to Go Back To

I've made a post on this before, I think.

Sometimes, you'll reach a key area - a boss fight or such like - before reaching the Zeit statue.  And then the game automatically pulls you out.  And then you have to go back into the area and right back down into the dungeon for the items (or, at least, I do, because I hate knowing that they're there, and I haven't got them).

These are the areas that they yank you out of;

Delta Boundless Corrupted Fort Walls - Statue has Fishing Gloves and Rainbow Card x 2.
Delta Closed Oblivious Twin Hills - Statue  has Wyrm Scale, Grunt Doll, and Rainbow Card.
Delta Plenteous Smiling Hypha
Delta Putrid Hot-blooded Scaffold - pulls you out when you pick up the remedy, which is in the south-west corner of the final floor.  Get the statue first, and you won't have to go back for anything; Fireman's Coat, Rainbow Card, Grunt Doll.
Delta Buried Pagan Fiery Sands -  Iron Anklet, Rainbow Card, Grunt Doll.

Grunty Food & Stats

Once you reach Theta, you'll find grunties, little piglet like creatures whom you can feed.  Once you've fed them enough to raise their size enough, they'll turn into a specific kind of grunty.  In Mutation, you can race them, and in Outbreak they will search for either food, portals, or the dungeon entrance on the field when you press circle.

In each new game, go back to earlier servers and check your grunties trade items.  The ones in Carmina Gardelica and Fort Ouph will get another Golden Grunty and a Silver Grunty to trade.

This table shows where you can find Grunty food as well as decoding how the grunty asks for things. These aren't the only places you can get them, just places where I've found them easy to locate.

Food	Description	Hint	Location
Bearcat Egg	Really Sour	In a very fancy gallery	Theta Quiet Eternal White Devil On the big room on the right, on the 1st floor of the dungeon.  Two more on B2, in the big room and in the t-shaped room just north of it.
Bloody Egg	Like Blood	In the stomach of a very scary monster	Delta Chronicling Pagan Sunny Demon There are two in the first two little rooms on B1 of the dungeon.  Just run in and out of the dungeon a couple of times.  Complete the time trial here first.
Cordyceps	Cold and Spicy	Near a large statue of Buddha	Theta Quiet Eternal White Devil From the dungeon, go straight east till you hit one of those fire switch things.  Go south from there and you'll find three.
Golden Egg	Really Expensive	Inside an important story	Delta Buried Pagan Fiery Sands In the first room of the dungeon.  Just run in and out a couple of times if you need them.  Really though, they show up in most dungeons.
Grunt Mints	Minty	Near a very hot square face	Delta Raging Passionate Melody. There are some just south of the dungeon.
Immature Egg	Really Bitter	Deep in a really dark labyrinth	Theta Chosen Hopeless Nothingness In the first room after the entrance.
Invisible Egg	Really Salty	Inside a very deep cave	Delta Putrid Hot-blooded Scaffold There's one in the first room north of the entrance, and two more in the rooms to the east and west, as well as a golden egg in the room to the north.
La Pumpkin	Really Sweet	By a big coccoon	Theta Great Distant Fertile Land You'll find five or six just to the east of the dungeon, and three right in front of the entrance, near a symbol.
Mandragora	Noisy	By a pointy tower	Theta Beautiful Someone's Treasure Gem There are three just north of the dungeon entrance.
Mushroom	---	In the shadow of mushroom boulders.	Delta Putrid Hot-blooded Scaffold There's one just outside the entrance to the dungeon.  Just wander in and out a few times.
Oh No Melon	Really Sweet and Round	Near barnacles	Delta Buried Pagan Fiery Sands There are some just west of the dungeon, and a few more to the south of it.
Piney Apple	Crispy and Sweet	Deep in the green forest	Theta Soft Solitary Tri Pansy There are three in the small areas to the south, and one in the northernmost area.  This is also a very good area for getting all the field portals open.
Root Vegetable	White and Spicy	By a wall at the end of a maze	Theta Soft Smiling Fort Walls You can definitely find some earlier than this, in an area you have to visit.
Snakey Cactus	Juicy	Near ribs that were once an ocean	Delta Discovered Primitive Touchstone You can find two just to the east of the dungeon entrance, in the ribcage.
Twilight Onion	Raw and Spicy	By a very old, strange weapon	Delta Hideous Destroyer's Far Thunder There are some to the east of the dungeon.
White Cherry	Cold and Sweet	By a very old pillar	Delta Detestable Golden Scent.  You have the benefit of no portals here.

You can unlock three grunties per server.  There are easy ways to get them, but I find it more interesting to give it whatever it likes, then adjust the stats when it starts asking for Golden Eggs.  If you want the recipes, look at the wiki.

Types

Iron Grunty (Theta)

• Size: 30
• Body Odor: 3 to 17
• Rebel: -2 to 12
• Brutality: 13 to 27
• Intelligence: 8 to 22
• Purity: -2 to 12 

Your grunty wants to grow up to be an Iron Grunty.  Give it whatever it likes, and that's what you'll get.  Once it has the iron stats, it'll only ask for Golden Eggs.  Your Iron Grunty will take you to the Dungeon Entrance, in the field.


Poison Grunty (Theta)

• Size: 30
• Body Odor: 0 to 20
• Rebel: -5 to 15
• Brutality: 10 to 30
• Intelligence: 5 to 25
• Purity: -5 to 15 

The poison Grunty will take you to magic portals, on the field.

Bony Grunty (Lambda)

• Size: 40
• Body Odor: 13 to 27
• Rebel: 3 to 17
• Brutality: 8 to 22
• Intelligence: 8 to 22
• Purity: -2 to 12 

Grunties in Lambda want to grow into Bony grunties; just give it whatever it asks for.  The Bony Grunty will take you to the dungeon entrance on the field.

Snakey Grunty (Lambda)

• Size: 40
• Body Odor: 10 to 30
• Rebel: 0 to 20
• Brutality: 5 to 25
• Intelligence: 5 to 25
• Purity: -5 to 15 

The Snakey Grunty will search for magic portals in the field.

Aqua Grunty (Lambda)

• Size: 40
• Body Odor: 8 to 20
• Rebel: 8 to 22
• Brutality: -2 to 12
• Intelligence: 13 to 27
• Purity: 3 to 17 

Grunties on Sigma want to become Aqua Grunties.  Give them whatever they ask for.  Aqua Grunties will take you to the dungeon entrance on the field.

 Milky Grunty (Lambda) 

• Size: 40
• Body Odor: 5 to 25
• Rebel: 5 to 25
• Brutality: -5 to 15
• Intelligence: 10 to 30
• Purity: 0 to 20 

Milky Grunties will search for magic portals on the field.

Rocker Grunty (Omega)

• Size: 40
• Body Odor: 3 to 7
• Rebel: 8 to 22
• Brutality: -2 to 12
• Intelligence: 8 to 22
• Purity: 13 to 27

 Grunties in Omega want to become Rocker Grunties.  Give them what they want. Rocker Grunties will take you to the dungeon entrance.

Wooden Grunty (Omega)

I couldn't find any information for the stats on these.  According to the wiki, the stats are identical to the Rocker Grunty, which obviously can't be right.  So, I used 4 Cordyceps, an Immature Egg, and enough Golden Eggs to raise its size to 40.  The one stat that differed from the Rocker Grunty with this method was the Rebel, which can therefore be as low as 7.  Wooden Grunties will take you to magical portals on the field.


Noble Grunty (All)

If your grunty's stats do not fit the requirements for the other two grunties on the server, it will become a Noble Grunty.  Noble Grunties will search for food on the field.

Levelling in .hack//infection

I had a lot of trouble with Delta Boundless Corrupted Fortwalls - mostly, that one attack from the monster at the end. So I went and completed Delta Greedy Haunted Touchstone with Mistral and Blackrose first. It really helped. Stock up on Health Drinks (I brought 50, but more would have been nice!), and resurrects (I gave 10 to everyone in my party, just in case). Use Fairy's Orbs on the field first, then clear it; there aren't too many monsters. That should give you the strength to get through the dungeon. Between battles, make the most of healing magic, and staying still to recover mp (in battle, use items).

In battles, command your party to use 'magic'. That'll get Mistral in on the attacks too (and she's really helpful). Spam Tiger Claws, or whatever you've got. Avoid data draining unless desperate, as it defeats the purpose a bit.

Right after clearing Theta Quiet Eternal White Devil, I headed to Theta Greedy Haunted Touchstone, which is level 28, and has relatively few portals outside (about four).  I took Mistral and Natsume, and a ton of healing items.  This time, I did Data Drain, to get a Jinsaran from the Metal Goblins for Mia, a Million$ Spear from the Cursed Blades for Gardenia, Jester's Wands from Wood Stock for Mistral and Elk, Shikisokuzeku from Goil Menhir for Black Rose and Sanjuro, and Axe Bomber from Red Scissors and Great Hill from Mantis for Piros.  The Mantis are weak against fire, so spam fire spells on them.

You'll probably still need weapons after this.  If you're hunting for a few, just randomise a few words until you get a combination that gives you a level of around 28 and there will probably be something there.  You can also consult this list, although some of the keywords suggested aren't available until quite late in the game.

Equipment in .Hack//Infection

The best equipment you can get in the game is as follows. I personally like to equip all my team-mates with their best weapons early on. Armour is a lot more difficult, as most items aren't available by data-draining, and so you need to rely on them randomly showing up at a Gott statue, which I've found not to be practical so I usually don't bother.

Head

Light: Thunder Torque. Trade from Tim.
Medium: Lightening Cap.
Heavy: Ceramic Helm (second best is the Stormlord Helm).

Body

Light: Thundercloak. Trade from Micino and Benkei.
Medium: Quakebeast Fur
Heavy: Thunder Armour. Occasionally received from Gott statue.

Hand

Light: Storm Bracer. Trade from Teria, or DD Wood Stock (non-rare).
Medium: Thunder Gloves. Trade from Benoit.
Heavy: Hands of Storm. Trade from Teria.

Foot

Light: Thunder Anklet. Trade from Benoit.
Medium: Ranger's Boots.
Heavy: Electric Guard. From Mantis, or DD Red Scissors (non-rare).

The best weapons are as follows;

Twin Blade (Kite, Natsume): Hyakkidouran (DD Parasite Dragon, only one available), Bom-ba-ye (DD Mu Guardian).

WaveMaster (Elk, Mistral): Dark History (DD Pheonix Queen), Jester's Wand (DD Woodstock).

Heavy Blade (Blackrose, Sanjuro): Shikisokuzeku (DD Goil Menhir), Sakabatou (DD Hell Hound).

Heavy Axe (Piros): Axe Bomber (DD Red Scissors), Great Hill (DD Mantis).

Blademaster (Mia): Phoenix Wing (DD Mystery Rock), Jinsaran (DD Metal Goblin).

Long Arm: Scarlet Autumn (DD Tetra Armour), Million$ Spear (DD Cursed Blades)