Battle Hunters General FAQ
Version 2.33
Begins August 9, 2001
Updated August 13, 2001
Updated August 15, 2001
Written by Ayalla (ayalla@aol.com)
About This Document: This FAQ is written to assist those wanting to
play the game Battle Hunter, who aren't finding any help in the manual
that comes along with it. My suspicion is that the game was poorly
translated, as well as the manual, so it can be a bit difficult to tell
what in the heck's going on some of the time. The system for Battle
Hunter is unlike any I've seen before, and hopefully this FAQ will
provide a better understanding for those somewhat confused.
Update: Fixed errors regarding the VIKEIF and SHUICHI tricks... thanks
to jodai@msn.com and Zodiac Knight Leo for the info!!
Update: Fixed some erroneous info about the pricing of HP restoration.
Thanks to Hunter GMX for the info!
Update: Added the Gon Sub-Section to part four. Thanks to wildfire559
for bringing various stuff about my FAQ to my attention. Be sure to
check out his FAQ as soon as it's posted up.
Table of Contents:
1) Character Creation
2) Hawaiian Shirt Man, or, About Item Identification, Reselling, and
Acessing the Dungeon
3) The Hospital - How to Level Up and Restore HP
4) How to Operate in the Dungeon
5) Playing Battle Hunter with more than one character
6) Options
7) Glitches
8) Tips
***1 : Character Creation***
After you start up Battle Hunter, you have a few options to pick from,
but none of them do too much if you don't have a character set up. To
create a character, select the first option (looks like a white
rectangle with rounded corners, with some black lines on it), and once
in that menu, choose the first option there as well, which says "NEW" on
it.
The first thing you will do is select a name for your character. Names
can be up to seven characters long. I really don't have any hints for
this part. =P
After selecting a name, you will assign points to your character's
stats. This is like a pencil and paper RPG. You are given ten points
to assign any way you like to your character's four statistics:
Movement, Attack, Defense, and HP. Some catagories require more points
than others to raise the stat. Movement and Defense both require two
points (possibly three for the first point) to raise the stat one point.
Attack and HP only require one point for the stat to be raised. In my
estimation, Attack is probably the most important stat. It's nice to
have a large Movement, but costs too much pointwise and your movement
bonus can be nulled by Leg Damage, a status effect that occurs all too
frequently in the Dungeon. However, it's helpful to have at least +1
Movement. The same applies for defense; it's too expensive pointwise to
get much defense, especially when you're just starting out. However,
having at least 1 Defense point is advisable. Attack and HP are where
you want to put most of your points. If you have enough HP, Defense
isn't as important, and your Attack must be high enough to off other
characters in the dungeon whom you might need to kill to get the Key
Item from. (More about this later.) So, to summarize:
WHEN ASSIGNING POINTS:
-AT LEAST +1 MOVEMENT
-AT LEAST 5 ATTACK
-AT LEAST 1 DEFENSE
-AT LEAST 16 HP
The above is my recommendation for a well-rounded character. If you are
trying to create a character who has specialization in one stat or
another, naturally you may have to revise the above standards. Feel
free to experiment! That's half the fun of Battle Hunter.
After assigning points for your character, you will be asked to choose a
sprite for your character. There are quite a few sprites to choose
from, and each sprite has eight color variations. This is entirely an
individual choice, and there aren't really any tips about this.
After you've chosen a sprite, simply select "OK" when prompted, and
you'll be done! If you select "CANCEL", however, you will lose any
previous work on the character and be forced to do the entire process
over again.
A FEW TIPS ON CHARACTER CREATION:
If you enter the name "VIKEIF" or "SHUICHI", you will be able to access
the sprites and statistics for those characters, who appear later on in
the game. In an earlier version of this FAQ I said you couldn't level
them up; that's actually not quite true. They DO level up, but you
don't choose where the points go when they do. (More about point
assignment and Levels Up in area three.)
***2 : Hawaiian Shirt Man, or, About Item Identification, Reselling, and
Accessing the Dungeon***
Once you have created a character, you can take them into the Dungeon
for the first mission. To do this, go back to the main menu and select
the second option (the brown square). When you select this option,
you'll be treated to the picture of a balding man in a hawaiian shirt.
You have three options; the first is to enter the dungeon, the second to
sell items, and the third to identify items. To enter the dungeon,
simply select the first option. I'll go into the Dungeon's rules in
depth later, but right now I'm going to talk about the last two options.
IDENTIFYING ITEMS
The third option, to identify an item, is of use in two ways. Firstly,
items that give you bonuses, like Weapons, Armor, and the Discs, won't
give you those bonuses until they've been identified. Secondly, each
item you identify goes on your Item Collection, and once you've
identified each item in the game you can have a 100% finished item
collection! Of course that's purely a matter of individual preference.
SELLING ITEMS
The second option, to sell an item, does just what it says; you sell an
item, for money, and then you use money to gain levels. The man in the
hawaiian shirt will offer you a price for the item; you then have three
options, sell it (OK); don't sell it (Cancel); and try to raise the
price (Rise). Raising the price doesn't work very much. The only times
I've gotten it to work are on a Bottle, the price raised from 25 CR to
27 CR, and Scrap, raising the price from 50 to 55 CR. If you fail in
raising the price, the man calls you greedy, and takes the item from
you, giving you HALF of what he originally offered. So, raising the
price REALLY isn't worth it. To summarize:
DO NOT TRY TO RAISE THE PRICES OF ITEMS. You will get shafted.
ACCESSING THE DUNGEON
The first option takes you to the Dungeon. If you have only one
character loaded to the game, you go into the Dungeon in Story Mode. If
you have two or more of your characters loaded to the game, you go into
the Dungeon in "Nomal" Mode, which doesn't progress the story at all,
but simply sends the characters in search of a specific item.
***3 : The Hospital: How to Level Up and Restore HP***
Selecting the third option from the main menu, which looks like a red
cross, takes you to the Hospital, where you have two options: Restore HP
(the icon for this is a syringe), and Level Up (the icon for this is a
blue arrow pointing up with "LV" on it).
RESTORING HP
When you are "killed" in the Dungeon, you don't actually die. Your HP
total is halved, and you're warped to another place in the Dungeon. If
you've been killed a few times, your HP can get very low. How do you
get it all back? Go see the nurse. The cost to restore each HP varies
depending on your level; as you level up further, it costs more, the
same price as it costs to identify items with your broker.
LEVELING UP
To level up, you have to pay the nurse a sum of money. In return for
this, you are given 1 additional hit point, and 1 point to place in any
of your statistics. For more information on how to place points in your
statistics, see the first section of this FAQ, "Character Creation".
The fee to level up rises exponentially each time you want to level up;
your first level costs 1000 CR.
***4 : How to Operate in the Dungeon***
To enter the Dungeon, from the main menu select the second option (Brown
Box), then in that area, select the first option. When prompted, select
"OK" and you'll be sent into the dungeon in search of some item. In
Story Mode, you are sent to retrieve an item, and there are three others
in the Dungeon with you, also trying to retrieve that item. The first
person to reach the Exit with the Key Item in their inventory wins. If
someone gets the Key Item before you do, you may kill them and take the
Key Item from them.
STARTING OUT
You, and the boxes, flags and opponents, are placed randomly in the
Dungeon. There are several different maps used. Sometimes you start
right next to the Key Item. Sometimes you start right next to the Exit.
Sometimes, you even start right next to both! However, the same may
happen to your opponents, so if you get an unlucky start, just reload
your character and do it over again. This, of course, makes it
important to save often.
CARDS
Each human in the Dungeon starts out with a "Hand" of five cards. There
are four different types of Card: Attack Bonus, Defense Bonus, Trap, and
Movement Bonus.
TYPE # 1 - ATTACK BONUS
The Attack Bonus cards are red, and range from +1 to +9. These cards
can only be used in battle, when you attack or counter-attack, and they
add points to your Attack score.
TYPE # 2 - DEFENSE BONUS
The Defense Bonus cards are orange/yellow, and also range from +1 to
+9. These cards can be used in or out of battle; when used in battle,
they can be used while either attacking or defending, and add the
indicated bonus to your Defense score. When used out of battle, they
give you a certain percentage chance of evading a Trap should you step
on one. A +5 card would give you 50% chance of evading; a +9 card would
give you 90% chance, and so on.
TYPE # 3 - TRAPS
The Trap cards are green. There are four different kinds of Traps:
Leg Damage
Empty
Stun
Damage
Each Trap type is indicated by a letter on the card: L for Leg Damage, E
for Empty, S for Stun, and D for Damage. You may only use a Trap card
outside of battle. When you use a Trap card just before moving, the
Trap will be set on the square you were on before you moved. Leg Damage
traps give a character the "Leg Damage" condition, dropping their
Movement stat to zero. Empty traps empty the character's card "hand".
Stun traps stun the character, which means several things: one, the
character will not be able to move or take any action until the second
turn after it has been Stunned, and two, they cannot take any actions in
battle. Also, I believe it drops the character's defense, but I'm not
positive about this. Damage traps cause damage to the character; the
amount of Damage done varies but in my experience it's been around half
of the character's HP.
TYPE # 4 - MOVEMENT BONUS
Movement Bonus cards are blue. There are four different Movement
Bonuses you can get; +1, +2, +3, and E. The first three give you a
bonus equal to the number indicated, meaning you can move an additional
one, two, or three spaces. The "E" card is an Exit card, taking you
directly to the Exit. These kinds of movement cards are VERY rare. Do
not count on recieving one! It can be a great help if you have the Key
Item but beware, because if you go to the Exit and you DON'T have the
Key Item, you will be bounced to a random place on the Dungeon Map. You
can also use the Movement Bonus cards in battle to help you Run away
faster, and to successfully attack a player that is running away.
If you have less than five cards in your "hand", you will usually get
one card per turn. If you Rest, you get two cards. You must be careful
about card usage, however. In the top left hand corner of the screen,
is a number telling you how many cards are left in the "deck"; you begin
the Dungeon with a "deck" of 80 cards. Each time you use and replace a
card, you're taking a card from the deck. (The "cards" randomly
generated for attack, defense, and movement don't count; only the cards
from your "hand".) Once the "deck" of cards reaches zero, not only do
you recieve no more cards, Gon comes out in the dungeon. Gon is a very
large, sleek black creature, who does a LOT of damage; essentially, he
is the "boss" of the dungeon. So BE CAREFUL!
MOVEMENT
Up to four different factors can affect your movement. When you select
the Move option in the Dungeon, you can choose one of your cards from
your card hand. If you have a Movement Bonus card, (see above) you can
add 1 - 3 to your possible Movement radius. Your base Movement score is
also a factor; if you have a Move of +1, it adds 1 to your radius, if
+2, it adds 2, etc. Another factor is Leg Damage; if you have Leg
Damage, you do not recieve a bonus from your Movement score. Finally,
after you've selected a card (or chosen not to), the game randomly
generates a card from 1 - 6, and that is your Movement radius, which can
be added to by any of the three factors mentioned above.
ATTACKING
When you are next to another character or one of the Dungeon's randomly
generated monsters, you can Attack them. To do so, select the second
option in the menu in the upper left (the three red slashes) and select
whom you wish to attack. You can also attack a character after you move
next to them; simply select the character after you've moved. When
Attacking, you can use your Attack Bonus cards to raise your Attack
score, or you can use your Defense Bonus cards to raise your Defense
score when and if the enemy counterattacks. After you choose which card
you want to use (or choose not to use a card), random cards will show up
on the screen - two for you, and two for the enemy. Yours will be red,
his or hers yellow-orange. The scores on these cards are totally
random. If your score is higher than theirs, you have a greater chance
of hitting and doing more damage. If their score is higher, you have a
lesser chance; however, if you use an attack bonus of +9, and your
Attack score is high enough, you can do damage even if you get a 1 1 and
the enemy gets a 6 6. (Incidentally, the random card scores are 1
through 6 - they never get higher, or lower.) If both of your cards
show the same number (ie, 5 5, or 4 4) you get to do a special attack.
Your character "charges up" and then attacks the enemy - if you are
successful in doing damage, the enemy will at least be Panicked
(Confused) and unable to counterattack. If you are fighting another
character, there is a chance that not only will you Panic them, you may
also do Leg Damage, and Empty their card hand. But beware, because
attacking enemies can do this to YOU, also, under the same
circumstances. You will become confused (unable to control your own
character), perhaps leg damaged and emptied as well. However, if the
enemy doesn't do any damage, the effects will not harm you. If you kill
another Hunter in the Dungeon, you can take any one of his or her items.
WHEN UNDER ATTACK
The likelihood is that you will be attacked many many times in the
course of any one Dungeon. When you are being attacked, a small speech
bubble appears next to your character with some options in it (press
left and right on the directional pad to scroll through the options):
Counterattack, Guard, Run, Surrender. If you Counterattack, your attack
will come after the opponent's; you may use cards from your hand just as
you would if you were attacking. If you Guard, you raise your defense
and lower the damage the enemy does to you. While Guarding, you may use
Defense Bonus cards. If you Run, you attempt to run away before the
enemy attacks - this is not always successful! You may use Movement
Bonus cards to try to run away faster. If you Surrender, you must give
up one item (you choose the item) but the opponent can't hurt you.
RESTING
The third option in the Dungeon's menu, the coffee mug, is Rest. When
you Rest, you cannot move or attack, but you regain a small amount of HP
(around 6 or 7 unless you have a Medicine equipped) and if you have room
in your hand for it, you gain two cards.
GON
I thought I should pop in a section about Gon, the "boss" of the
dungeon. I mentioned up in the Cards section that Gon comes out when
all the cards (their number is posted in the upper right corner of the
dungeon screen) are gone. Gon is a nasty creature, some kind of cross
between cat and serpent, with a high attack, movement, defense, AND HP.
But you CAN kill him. However, after you do, he can reappear; the
"WARNING" will display on the screen and he'll simply popup again. I've
been told that this also happens if Gon takes too much damage, or if
he's hanging around the dungeon too long, the "WARNING" screen will
appear and he'll teleport to some other place in the dungeon, with full
HP. My advice concerning Gon is that when he shows up, RUN LIKE HELL.
Make for the exit like your life depended on it. If Gon comes out and
you still don't have the item you're supposed to get, chances are you're
screwed. But try it anyway. It's possible to get by Gon, just not
likely.
***5 : Playing Battle Hunter with more than one character***
USING AND CREATING MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER
Your first character's status screen should show up in the lower left
corner of the screen. You'll notice that the stripe above the status
screen is blue, and that the feather you use to select options from the
menu is also blue. (If the "blue" mentioned here is either red,
yellow/orange, or green for you, don't worry. You just loaded your
character into one of the other character slots.) If you try to create
another Hunter while the color of your feather icon matches the color of
the character currently active, the game will tell you that this hunter
is already registered. To create a second character, simply press
SELECT. The feather should change color (if you are blue, it should
turn red; if not, any color other than your current character's is
fine). Now, select the NEW option and create a new character. (For more
info on character creation, see the section above in this FAQ.) You
should have two characters available now; ie, two status screens on the
bottom of your screen. If you can't see any status screens, hit
TRIANGLE a few times until you can. To switch between characters,
simply hit the SELECT button until the feather turns the color of the
character you wish to use. You might notice that there are four colors;
this is because there are four available slots to place Hunters in.
Yes, up to four people can play Battle Hunter. You can assign the
controller to control each character either in the OPTIONS menu, or by
pressing START. Pressing the START key will toggle control of the
character from its current controller to whichever one isn't controlling
it currently. This game is supposed to be multitap compatible, but I
haven't tried using one with it yet; I assume that, if Character X
starts out assigned to Controller One, pressing the START key twice will
toggle it to Controller Three, but I have no proof to back this up.
A NOTE ON USING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS: When you are using more than one
character controlled by you or your friends or anyone but the game's AI,
you cannot advance in Story Mode. In order to advance in Story Mode you
must play with only one character at a time.
You can save and load your characters in the same menu where character
creation occurs; simply use the two options with the arrows on them.
When you want to get rid of a character, select the "INN" option with
the character you wish to get rid of selected.
***6 : Options***
In the options menu, represented by a wrench icon, you have three
options; Controller Setup, Sound Config, and Background. In the
Controller setup you can set which controller will control which
character, what configuration you want for the controller, etc. Sound
Config is the same it is everywhere; stereo/mono, bgm/no bgm, etc.
Setting the Background is a little different. When you start the game,
you have five backgrounds to choose from. Through the course of the
game, however, you can get more backgrounds in your collection. You do
this by going into the dungeon and retrieving "Disc" items. These look
like floppy discs or CDs. Take them to your broker, have him Identify
them, and then you'll have new backgrounds in the Background menu! You
can sell the discs after they're identified; your character will retain
the background. My personal favorite is BG 06; the regular blue floppy
disc. Of course, the one with the Nurse sleeping is nice too.
***7 : Glitches***
Okay, okay. Battle Hunter isn't the most sophisticated game of all
time, and it's got its problems. The biggest problem is that sometimes,
when AI has control of a character (be it an enemy or one of your
characters that's Panicked), the AI seems to try to move them off the
map. This has happened to me both with an enemy, and with my own
confused character. When it occured with the enemy, no real harm was
done, and furthermore, the enemy couldn't attack my characters! But
when it happened to my character, the game locked up and I had to
restart it. So, beware! I'm not sure exactly what causes these
glitches, but they do happen!
***8 : Tips***
Just a few hints for the beginning Hunter. First of all, there's the
little trick I mentioned in the Character Creation segment; creating a
character with the name VIKEIF or SHUICHI will give you those
character's sprites and beginning stats. However, you can't choose
where their new points go when you level them up. Secondly, about
getting items. Some items are extremely helpful, and very rare. Say
you've got one character with a +3 attack weapon, one character with +1
defense body armor, and yet another character with one of those high-
evade gameboys! Wouldn't it be great if you could get those all
together on one character? Well, you can. And this is a pretty obvious
tip, but I thought I should mention it. Simply take your characters
into a dungeon together, and have the character that NEEDS the item
attack the character that HAS the item. (This part is important.)
Then, have the character that HAS the item Surrender to the character
who NEEDS the item, and give up the item the character needs. Try not
to put any special items on the character who's given up the needed item
for the rest of that particular Dungeon outing. When it's over, just
reload the character that gave up the item, and voila! I find pulling
this stunt to be a lot easier if I take four characters into the
dungeon; otherwise someone might get killed and it's no fun shelling out
the dough to replace lots of HP.
Well, that's about it for this FAQ - if I come across anything
important, I'll certainly add to it. If anyone out there has anything
they'd like to see included in this FAQ, e-mail me and I'll certainly
take a look. You'll get full credit in here, no worry. In the
meantime, good day, and good hunting!
