hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth Walkthrough

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.hack// G.U.
Vol. 1// Rebirth
"Do you know Tri-Edge?"
Yet to return, the shadowed one.
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon
Rumbles the Dark Hearth,
And Helba, Queen of the Dark,
has finally raised her army.
Apeiron, King of Light beckons.
At the base of the rainbow they meet
Against the abominable Wave,
together they fight.
Alba's lake boils.
Light's great tree doth fall.
Power- now all to droplets turned
in the temple of Arche Koeln.
Returns to nothing,this world of shadowless ones.
Never to return, the shadowless one,
Who quests for the Twilight Dragon.
"Epitaph of Twilight", Emma Wielant.
---In-Depth step-by-step walk through / FAQ
---(!!!!!)---This Guide has been written by Jon_Fireblade and only by
Jon_Fireblade. (Unless other wise stated)
You may not copy or reproduce it under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of the guide on any other web
site or as a part of any  public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. This guide was written for GameFAQS.com only and is not
for use on other web sites. Any requests to use this guide for anyhting
other then personal use will likely
be denied. Thank You.
-----(Warning)-----
This guide may contain mild language but
no worse then you'll hear in the Game.
-------(!!!!) -------------------
*Note*-For personal use on a computer I suggest using the 'select all' option
and then copy and paste this on a blank WORD PAD document. This program is the
most basic word processor document and comes standard on all windows
computers.
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-----Table of Contents----
I) Intro. to guide
II) G.U. series
((Area words marked with (Q) are quest shop related areas))
A) Vol. 1- Rebirth
--Rebirth of the Story--
1)Courageous,Engaging,Daydream
2)Peaceful,Leading ,Freedom
3) Chasing, Cupid's, Phantom (Q)
4)Submissive,Tragedy's,1000 Oaks
5)Great,  Cursed,  InLaws
6)Blurry,Obsessive,Slacker
7)Gallant,Season's,Drunkard
--In the Pursuit of Power--
8)Hidden,Forbidden ,Holy Ground
9)Lazy,Advice's ,Exile
10)Sneering,Failing,Empire
11)Pulsating,Ullimited,Metal doll (Q)
--Awakening--
12)Tourtament: Round One
13)Delicious,Past's,Weed Eater
14)Setting,Eterinty's,Night Moon
15)Tourtament: Round Two
16)Hidden,Forbidden,Bulwark
17)Tourtament: Semi-Finals
18)Hidden,Forbidden,Bulwark
--The Change--
19) Tourtament: Finials
20) Tourtament: Title Match
--The Other Side of 'The World'--
21)Dancing,Mourning,Masquerade (Q)
22)Counting, Red Plum's, Berserker (q)
23)Hidden,Forbidden,Bulwark
--End of Vol. 1 / Post Game--
- a)Normal Quests -
- b)HIDDEN QUEST -
- c)Doppleganger -
- d)Books of 1000 -
--End of the game Statistics--
- a)Desktop
- b)Books of 1000 stats
- c)Party members
-- Frequently Asked Questions --
- 1)Questions for All 3 Games
- 2)Questions for Vol 1
- 3)Questions for Vol 2
- 4)Questions for vol 3
III) Credits
*Note- if you're looking for a specific place in the guide follow these
instructions to find it quickly:
1) Select the item you're looking for from the above table of
contents,and Copy it.
2) press ctrl (then) f to open a small window. Paste the title of what you're
looking for in the shearch box.
3) Click on 'Find Next' until you see what you're looking for.
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----------------------------I) Introduction to Guide------------------------
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Ok, Now a few words from yours truly. As you might have guessed from
the title, this is a step by step walk through guide to the PS2 game:
.Hack//G.U.- Rebirth
If you’ve never played the games ( ‘Original
series’, or the G.U. series) Then
I’d say you’re in for a real treat. If you don’t
have all four (Original) games
or the three new games of the G.U. series at this point; then I suggest you
start looking.
The games(at least the old ones) are becoming something of a rarity in some
respects and for a gamer with his/her recourses limited to the local GameStop
store, you might want to keep your eyes open.
However if you have the ability to use E-Bay then I suggest locating them
there as I’m sure they’d be more readily available. It took me
over a year to
track down all four volumes using local stores, and that was in the summer of
05’; I can only imagine how hard they are to get now.
Recently in Nov. of 06 .Hack// GU- Rebirth was released and from what
I understand it sorta flopped, which is really sad considering it got rated
8-9 out of 10 from most gaming websites and by most fans. So I can't imagine
how hard it would be to get ahold of but at least try if you like the series
because, especially the new games, are really really fricking sweet.
I myself bought  the special edition of Rebirth the second day it came out.
(It includes  the Terminal Disk). The Second Volume of the GU Series,Reminisce,
is due to come out May 8,07 and the third game Redemption will be released
September 10,07. But moving right along.
In order for you to better enjoy the games I’m going to give you a short
run down on some  background information that you may find helpful if you find
yourself enthralled with  this series like so many of us fans.
The series known as Project .Hack// is a large series including TV series,
video games, and novels/ manga. “Project .Hack//" has an extraordinary story
line that in my opinion rivals that of the Finial Fantasy franchise. (Not to
say anything bad about Final Fantasy: I am a big fan of it myself) Really the
Sad difference is that if it doesn't have the name Finial Fantasy stamped on
the cover most RPGers wont touch it.
The project includes 3 Anime TV series, two sets of video games (for a
total of 7 games all together), and many novels, manga, and other media.
Going in chronological order (in terms of the story line) we have
--Old media
.Hack//SIGN (TV series)
.Hack//Infection,Mutationm Outbreak,Quarantine (four ‘classic
games’)
.Hack//Legend of the Twilight (TV)
--Then the newest additions to the series are:
.Hack//ROOTS (TV)
.Hack// G.U. Vol: 1 (Rebirth),2 (Reminisce), and 3 (Redemption)
are the new video games dating(2006-2007).
Also note that there are bonus disks that come with each of the four original
games and one bonus disk (The Terminal Disk) that comes with the special
edition of .Hack//G.U.- Vol. 1-Rebirth. I also understand that a bouns
will come  with the normal copy of Vol. 2-Reminisce ;it is the
first episode of .Hack//ROOTS if I'm not mistaken.
This is just a short run down of the .hack//  media that is available, there
are also novels and manga out there but I myself don't have much resources to
get my hands on that type of thing; so I have to stick to what I know. However
if you’re interested in .Hack//  either now or by the time you finish this
guide then I strongly suggest to you,  that you visit: www.dothackers.net
You can find more information on the games and anything concerning the
series there.
Now I’m sure you’re sick and tired of me babbling on so if
that's the case then we can get on to business.
This Guide with take you step by step through leveling up, boss fights,
story events, back ground information. Be forewarned now, this guide contains
huge spoilers BUT, Major events in the guide that contain spoilers will be
marked and I will let you know ahead of time when such an event is coming up.
In this way I will be able to have you play ahead to a spot I will tell you
about before hand; an example of this might be something like: “Play on and
watch the scenes, come back to read more when its done.” This keeps the guide
from spoiling the story line. Yet allows me to walk you through it.
Also note that the .Hack//  games feature a convert game data system.
Q: What is it and why should I care?
A: when you beat of these games you will recive a Data Flag, or
Cleared data. What this does is that you can pop in the next game ,and you can
load up your saved data from the game before. That means it's possible to
continue the story line with a well prepared character in the next volume. You
keep all your exp, items, money, equipment,party members...
everything. Or if you bought the games out of order:
you can start a new game even on game 2 or 3, ect. And apperentally there
is enough new game play and story that it feels like a new game rather then
the same old game play with the continued story line.
Important note: I should forwarned anyone Converting data should know that with
the data from The four old games, the terminal disk, and the 3 new games, you
almost need a completly seperate ps2 memory card just for.hack//.
Well, with that out of the way. Lets get going.
-------------------
-------------------------------- II) G.U. series  ---------------------------
------------------
.Hack// G.U.
--------------------A) Vol. 1- Rebirth --------------------------
--- Game info.
Game length: Moderate
Average Game time: 30 hours (25-40 hours)
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
----Over View---
--Gameplay: 8/10- Nothing's perfect but still ALOT of fun.
--Music: 10/10- It fits perfectly, and I mean Perfectly.
--Graphics: 9/10 - granted it can't compare to some
Final Fantasy CG movies, but it's the next best thing.
--Voice Acting: 9.5/10 - only on rare occasions did I
think it might have been better,and even then not by much.
--Replay Value: 8/10- There's more replay value once you beat
the second game, but even so, there is still a good amount to do.
--Story Line: 10/10- By itself it can't be compared to the rest of
the .hack series as a whole, but still as a seperate game, it has
to be the best so far.
Overall rating: 9/10 - Best of all the .Hack games to date. Other two games at
this time are yet to be released. Still: Great game play, amazing music, great
graphics,and a story worthy to be called .Hack// .
--- Getting started-
Alright. First things first. Those of us who went and bought the Special
Edition. As you can see your wonderfull package came with two extra things:
A Haseo toy (booo) and a bonus disk titled- Terminal Disk (YAY!!). The later
of the two is a disk that has extra information about the story events games
and the previous .Hack game series as well as info that concerns the story
events of the GU series.
Anyway this disk is like the most amazing thing ever. If you've never played
the old games this is the perfect thing to bring you up to date on important
events. The disk contians 11 reports that makes up a journal made by one of
the head engineers at CC corp. He wrote the journal for his little sister as
something of a confession of what he did while at CC corp.  For those
wondering, His sister is a character that you meet in the game, and she also
works for CC Corp.  You can unlock the reports by converting the saved data
flag from the previous  games and a cleared data from the three new games.
---For those who don't have the Terminal disk I highly suggest looking at the
in-depth guide at (www.gamefaqs.com) written by CRtwety. He did an AMAZING job
writing his guide for the Terminal Disk. And I HIGHLY suggest reading it if
you don't have the Terminal  disk open to you. But be warned now. Some of the
later Reports ,the reports that are after report 4, contian HUGE spoilers. So
if you read that guide, JUST look at the first 4 reports that concern the
events from the original games.
Well anyway starting into the game:
What you need to realize is that .Hack is a story about an online game, if
it's confussing now you'll soon get the hang of the concept.
As you put in the disk take time to watch the opening movie play and don't
skip it. It's sweet.
As the main menu comes up notice that you have the Convert option at the
bottom. There's a reason for this. If you've played the above mentioned games
can take you're cleared data from those games and get bonus material while
playing this game. So if you have said game data from the previous .hack games
you can use that convert option now if you wish.
-Also, if you play and beat the 2nd game in this series; you
can take your game data and covert back to the first game. By doing this
the game puts you at level 35 instead of starting a level 1. And you get
some better equipment, and some extra cash and items,
After that lets get started:
Go Ahead, start a new game and watch the opening movie.
--------------------------
---------------------Rebirth of the Story-------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------------
Movie- Opening
Short Version/Main points: This shows when our main hero of the
game, Haseo,as he makes his Charatcer and steps into "The World"
for the first time.
----------------------------------
Look, if this is your first time playing you may know about Haseo's kinda
gay looking outfit. Well I'll admit that at times it really does look prety
lame. BUT, don't worry, 1/3 into the game Haseo gets a Job Extension which
changes his appearence and then he looks amazing. So please bear with the game
till you see the CG movies comming up later and his Job
Extention. And besides after you play the game a bit more you'll start to not
notice so much and eventually it won't bother you so bad.
----------------------------
-------Town:     Mac Anu        -------
----------------------------
As you log in for the first time you will apear in Mac Anu, the main town for
the game. And are met by two....very helpful players.
This in the first tutorial for the game: They do a really good job explaining
everything and Honestly I don't think I'll need to say much, but I'll comment
here and there.
After you form a party, go and save your game before you head out.
Note)The blue number is the people at the location you're about to warp to.
The pink people are the number of people you've already met out of the
blue number.
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-------1)Courageous,Engaging,Daydream-------
----------------------------
Area Type: Field
Area Level: 1
Party:Haseo,Asta,IYOTEN
My Level:1
-Just make sure to do as your 'friends' ask you and you'll be fine. It's all
prety easy.
--Comabt--
As the long time .hack fans will notice Combat is ALOT differnt is someways and
yet it still retians it's .Hackish feeling. Read on for detials.
-Combos-Rapidly pressing X will result in Haseo preforming a basic combo
attack. At the end of the combo Haseo will preform a finishing attack.
Depending on what kind of weapon you are
using (Speed or Hold and Release) will determine what you have to do to
preform the finishing attack for the combo. 'Speed' requires you to rapidly
press X. 'Hold and Release' requires you to charge the attack and then release
it to exacute.
-Charged attacks- Hold X to charge an attack. It takes a few seconds but this
attack will send an enemy flying, which is critical for certian battles.
Charged attacks also break enemy's guard.
-Block-Those who played the old games will be happy to know that the new games
feature a new and amazing thing: A block button =P. Yes that's right. The
block button (circle) will defend you against all attacks (including magic).
BUT it won't block charged attacks or status ailments .But you wont face any
enemies like that for awhile but in the Arena. So no worries for now.
-Rengeki- This bascily lets you do more powerfull attacks, kinda like a
critical hit. If you rapidly inflict damage to an enemy blue and purple
circles will form around the enemy. If you trigger an arts in that time you
will increase  the damage dealt from the attack. It also increases the Exp
you'll get at the end of the battle, plus it increases the exp for your Arts
level which allows you to gain new arts.
-Arts and Skills- Arts are (for Haseo) the offensive physical skills. As you
go through the game ,gaining more Rengeki exp, you will level up your
weapon's level, or in other words how proficient you are at using twin swords.
As you level  up your weapon's abilities, you will gain up to 4 arts in
vol. 1-Rebirth.
-After Battles: A menue will appear and this shows you how much exp you gain
and what rewards you recive to defeating an enemy party. Players of the older
games will again be happy to see that you gain ALOT more exp per battle. In
three battles you can gain a level. Alot better then the old: 10 battles
per level.
-Menue- If you open the menue by pressing triangle, you will notice that
everything you need to worry about can be dealt with in one menu.
-Replacing the old complex chat system from the older games is a brand new
stradgey menu. It allows you to set you characters to differnt stances that
will alow you're charatcers to fight in different ways. For now it's a good
idea just to leave things as is. Also if you go under "skill" in the menue,
you can not only chose skills that Haseo uses but also desingnate skills
you're party members can use. You can use the menue in battle. Use it to
activate healing,attack magic,and other skills. This right here simplifies
all the complexe chat systems from the old game, and you'll find it much
more simple.
-Also a change worth note-ing is that you only have one peice of armor, one
weapon as normal, and an accessory. These three peices of equipment have
customization slots.  The slots alow you to add atributes to the equipment
like added fire damage for weapons, or -10% physical damage for armor,
or -5% Sp use for arts for accessories. Different stuff like
that you can mess around with later so don't worry about it just yet.
-Map- You can view the full map by pressing the SELECT button. Press X once
to view the map objectives. Press Select again to make the map disapear
completey. You must press Select again to make it re apear in the upper right
hand corner. Basicly it cycles through three positions: Mini map, Full map,
No mini map (repeats). Also note. There are compass markings on the outer
edges of the map- North, south, east ,and west.
Explore the menue; you'll find explanitions for everything at the bottom.
But it's not totally nesscarry.
Continue on with the mission.
When you get all three symbol fragments you'll be able to go to the
final destination. (no pun intended).
Also don't bother about trying to reach level 2. I've tried like 5 times and
have never been  able to do it. Besides it'd be pointless anyways.......never
mind just finsh up.
Ok As you approch the beast statue you'll trigger a huge string of CG movies
that will take awhile. So watch all of those and then come back and I'll give
you some intresting details you might have over looked.
----------(Watch movies then come back to keep reading.)-------
--------------------------------
Movie- Start with a PK
Short Version/Main points: Make note of the dude who saved Haseo. I find it
interesting that his shots from his gun- 1) kills in one hit, and 2) made the
pker's character data flicker on the screen. Also,check out his arm.
----------------------------------
--------------------------------
Movie- Terror of Death
Short Version/Main points: Haseo first off looks alot differnt from his
first form, thats because due to the events in .hack//ROOTS(an anime TV series)
,Haseo was able to gain huge amounts of strength: he also is in his Third
form (due to job extentions). And so you'll notice he kicks @$$. He's also
looking for Tri-Edge ,and Tri-Edge just happens to look ALOT like a character
we all know and love, but more on that later. Also veterans of the old games
will remember that there was something else in the series called the
Terror of Death..........?
----------------------------------
--------------------------------
Movie- Atoli
Short Version/Main points: Atoli's voice is like nails on a chalk board...
Arrggghh. Anyway, what you need to realise is that Atoli looks alot like Shino
...who was someone very special to Haseo. So...yeah, give the guy a break for
being a reall @$$ hole at times. Anywho, Atoli may seem like she'd be a side
character, but she isn't. She ends up playing a big role. Also, Sakaki.....
something about him that's a little........
----------------------------------
--------------------------------
Movie- Reunion
Short Version/Main points: Ok, Ovan is sweet and all but......well lets just
say he...is...well.....he knows more then he's letting on. What you need to
know about him is that everytime his glasses glare that red-orange color or
his face gets all dark, he's lieing about something  or planning something
shaddy.
----------------------------------
--------------------------------
Movie- Tri-edge
Short Version/Main points: That's right long time .Hack fans,
Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
is still around and it's as important as ever. And for those long time fans,
yes that's right.....Tri-Edge looks alot like a character we all know and
love. But don't worry, the real him (in the real world) is in college in 'real
life' so it cant really be him....maybe just his character data with a mind
of it's own now?
Haseo got his @$$ kicked big time. And look very very closly as the
movie ends. You see Haseo's line of sight for about a second or two. Look
closly at what he sees. You might recognize the out line of the person.
----------------------------------
Ok so Obviously alot just happened.
For now just check the e-mail and read.
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-E-mail-  Ovan  : choices
Short version: Ovan presents you with a choice. Conintue and find the truth.
Or run away with your tail between your legs. Well Haseo, being the bad @$$
he is decides he's not giving up, and no matter what it takes he's going to
help Shino.
----------------------------------
Ok Now it's time to put the main story on hold for a few minutes and do some
reading. Flip over to the "News Capture".
----------------------------------
-News-
The first and most important thing is Online Jack. The Red section thing you
can select. Online Jack is like the bonus disks that came with older games only
these are built into the game and come in segments that become available  to
watch through out the game. I know the first one isn't that great, but the
others have some seriously intresting things going on that you really need to
watch and pay attention to.
Other then that, I'd read a bit here and there; It really gives you a great
feel for what their 'real world' is like. It's prety cool.Try watching the
small clips of news that they have, it's actually prety neat the way it's done.
So read some articles and watch some stuff. If nothing else view it quickly
then back out of the artical so it doesn't say that it's new.
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
Forum-
The forum (like the Board from the old games) is where you can view peoples
posts from the story line. It's prety cool and they explain alot of stuff
there. Read what you want. Unlike the old games this board features a mass
read button. If you go into a forum and select a topic you can press the
triangle button and it will display all the repleys at once, aka it saves
time so you don't have to open every singel message by itself.
Read what you like. View everything (even if just in mass) so that nothing's
left marked "New".You'll gain a bunch of Key words, so that's useful.
-Under the Rumors Forum make sure to read the "Forest of Pain" Topic. Yes it's
some what important.
-Also the "Apkallu" is a forum where players post art work. You can set these
peices of art as back grounds for your desktop if you want to. Just View the
topics and press X while viewing the art to load it onto your
Accessories tools.
----------------------------------
-When you're done feel free to Save and Log-in.
----------------------------------
--Official Site
If I were you I'd view the Offical Site and get some background info. on the
game's theme.But really the only important thing might be enemies and the Jobs
(aka. Classes).
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
--Official Forum
I highly suggest reading some of the stuff here. It's prety helpfull and if
nothing else view topics en-mass to gain keywords.
----------------------------------
Log-in to the game.
Watch first then read ahead in guide.
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-------Town:     Mac Anu        -------
----------------------------
-------
Yep that's right, You're back a level one. Sorry but you don't get to play as
the level 133 Terror of Death. Well anyway, follow the instructions and see
you in a bit. Go with the flow for now. Really there's not alot I can say
at the moment. I'll comment here and there but really it's all prety straight
forward.
---Blue circles on the map mark objectives.
-So anyway you'll run into two guys who end up helping you out and end up
becoming your buddies. The guy in the green,Silabus is prety cool ,and a great
swordsman. The short pink dude ,Gaspard, on the other hand is well not all
that great....->prety useless.
---Use green warp points to get around the city faster. It saves huge amounts
of time.
-You don't have any cash yet so no point in shoping.
You might as well save and head for the area, nothing better to do.
---The key words with check marks next to them are story based areas with
events that progress the story. If you're confused check the Memoir option
in your Menue for hints.
----------------------------
-------2)Peaceful,Leading ,Freedom-------
----------------------------
Area Type- Jungel cave
Area Level-3
Party: Haseo,Silabus, Gaspard
My level:1
-And yeah, being called a noob kinda sucks, but they'll cut it out eventually.
Fight through the dungeon. It shouldn't be all that hard. Kill everything
so you can to level up as much as possible and make sure to use Rengekki
to get bonus exp.
---If you search along the edges of the dungeon you may find a steam switch
you can kick. This allows you to collect Chim spheres. Basicly Chim spheres
can power steam techknology. There are doors you will neeed to be opened
with chim spheres. So take some time and get a bunch.
-Treasure chests- That's right long time .Hack// fans. Trapped treasure
chests are back! But new and improved, These new chests shake instead of
being blue and instead of using an item  to disarm traps, this game requires
you to enter a button sequence before time runs out, and if it does run out
you suffer a gun blast to the face. Also Look for Kickable/Breakable objects.
-Awankening- this is basicly like a limit break attack. Awakening makes you
faster and stronger it's actually really good once you get the hang of it.
If you use skills in awankening they are like uber powerful. So thats a good
thing. You can use the Awakening by filling the Moral guage. To fill the guage
preform rengeki attacks and arts. When the guage is full press the Square
button. There are two type of awankenings for the first game. And you
chose which one you want from the Menue.
-Magic using party members- For the veterans of the .Hack series. You'll
be happy to know that unlike the magic users of the old games who would
stand around and wait to get killed; Clerics and Warlocks in this game
will atuo. block if an enemy comes near. They may attempt one or two
weak attacks then they will beat a hasty retreat to another part of the
battle area where they will continue to attack from a range.
Anyway eventually you'll make it to the Beast statue. Well that's about
the time when things get intresting. Remember the Pkers from before.
Yeah, well they decide to pay you a visit. Just watch and enjoy the movies.
Come back when they're over.
--------------------------------
Movie- Pi
Short Version/Main points: She looks like a slut in the game
but is a serious bussiness woman in the real world. She's
actually very mature despite her sluty outfit.
Anyway, Pi saves your butt from the Pkers.
----------------------------------
Well now you're back in control. Let me just mention two things,
First is that you get a ranking on how well you did in an area once you
leave it, and the better you do, the better the reward you get when you're
done. Rewards range from cheap items to getting newer and  better keywords
for the chaos gate. The second thing is that the dangerous power Pi