Version Differences
6 years ago
Capital Territory, Australia
Synrey
He/Him, They/Them
6 years ago

Hi all, Just wanted to know what the version differences between NTSC-U and J are. I wanted to pick up this series for speedrunning, but importing the NTSC-U versions to Australia is quite expensive and I already own the Japanese versions of all 4 games. If the Japanese version is really bad for running, would running the American version off of a PS2 HDD at disc load speed be an option? Thanks in advance.

Hawaii, USA

From what I can tell, the Japanese version is just a little slower for running than NTSC-U. There are quite a few differences that affect the run. The biggest being the run speed; Kite runs much slower in NTSC-J than any other version. This actually only loses a little time in towns and fields because you can get to dungeon doors before they open. The next biggest would be that treasure chests and breakables have completely different drop tables that I haven't fully tested. Gott statues only reward 1 weapon/armor and no tradables so money routing is different too. Hell's Gate is still kite's best weapon but I believe the skills on it are changed to only Saber Dance. I believe Irisu, an NTSC-J runner, uses a different leveling area in Theta server because the portal placements on the field are different but I'm not sure which area it is.

Not all of the differences are bad though; a lot of monster stats and some AI are changed. Cyclo Sharks (a monster that I really don't like seeing in the NTSC-U speedrun) has significantly less defense and dies very fast as a result. Caster-type monsters don't run away from you like maniacs and instead sit perfectly still where they spawn. From watching Irisu's run it seems like some data bugs protect break a lot faster in NTSC-J too.

Overall it doesn't matter too much which version you run. You would just have to refer to Irisu's video a lot if you decide to run NTSC-J. I don't think running NTSC-U off a ps2 HDD would be a huge advantage, but I would suggest double checking your load times against other ps2 runs just to be safe. Either way, I hope you have a lot of fun running this game! Don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions.

Edited by the author 6 years ago
Capital Territory, Australia
Synrey
He/Him, They/Them
6 years ago

Thanks finzenku!

I'll be sure to test the load times before I submit any runs. I won't be able to start running for a while but I figured it'd be a good idea to ask ahead of time. :)

England

I can confirm Kite runs incredibly slowly in NTSC-J haha. Also, one other good thing about the J versions of .hack infection, mutation, outbreak and quarantine is that they don't seem to have the weird control layout switch that the PAL versions have. So circle buttons stays as your confirm button throughout the series.

England

I've been talking to iririsu on twitter, and they've been testing to see the differences between Japanese and North American NTSC versions. Apparently, the key data bugs in the any% speedrun actually protect break later in the JP version than in the NA version of the game. I speak Japanese (iririsu doesn't speak much English), but google translate should actually do an adequate job for non-Japanese speakers of clarifying which numbers in this tweet string represent what:

https://twitter.com/KyokoIrisu/status/865899677002022912

In short, Red Wyrm breaks at around the same time, Killer Snaker breaks much earlier in the NA version, and Skeith potentially data breaks slightly earlier in the JP version.

Hawaii, USA

Were you comparing the Killer Snake with just regular attacks or with Gale of Swords? He breaks really fast in our runs because of the elemental hit of Gale of Swords that isn't on Hell's Gate in NSTC-J. He's prob'ly the worst data bug if you can't elemental hit him.

Edited by the author 6 years ago
England

I totally forgot about that! It seems they actually did further tests and as you say, the lack of elemental hit in the NSTC-J version is why Killer Snake breaks later there than in NSTC-U - i.e. it requires a similar amount of damage, but elemental hit reduces the time required to achieve that breaking point. I have no idea exactly how iriirisu did these tests mind you, so I should probably ask them xD it looks as if they calculated the amount of damage racked up on an enemy before it protect broke, so that would only take account of damage required, and not how quickly you can dish out that damage to reach protect break.

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