Chapter 02 - Desert Zone

Here you will see hotspots of various sizes on the map, and approaching them will lead to a fight against large enemy swarms. This can be tough in higher difficulties but on the bright side, you will be able to make a decent fortune off them. Plus these enemies have a pretty good drop rate for plug-in chips. In any case, make sure to always take out the flying enemies first; the more you can destroy from afar the better. And try to locate the access point as soon as you possibly can to enable saving.

You only really need to approach that one hotspot indicated by the destination marker to proceed. But I would recommend clearing out as many as you can to load up on experience points and funds as well as free plug-in chips if you're lucky. There are item boxes in some of the locations too by the way. When you're ready to move on, walk up to the target marker and a robot will run off before you get a chance to destroy it.

As soon as you arrive at the Desert Housing section, turn around and you'll see a shiny on the ground in the distance. Go pick this up to score a Large Recovery. Move toward the housing district and activate the access point before going after the robot. Continue following it and once a scene plays of it saying "Ahh not this way.", look around nearby for a staircase and climb it to find an item box with a Ranged Defense Up (S) in it. Keep moving passed the pile of dead androids which should be a good enough warning on what's to come.

Further along up the path is the machine's lair where a large hotspot is waiting at the area below. Be sure to pick up the Medium Recovery on the way. Head down there to witness a rather odd and creepy scene. After which you'll be attacked by an ever-growing swarm of machine lifeforms. Destroy what you can and hold out until an event plays. The swarm will resort to waking a naked humanoid something which you must defeat.

This boss starts out at level 1 and steadily gain strength as you damage him/her before ultimate capping out at level 10. You have a choice of fighting at close quarters or to just shoot it with your pod guns from a distance. 9S will move in close at times depending on which combat style you have set on him. The target will not do much besides teleport around for the most part, that is until he/she reaches level 6 and above. At this point he/she will actively start dodging, deflecting and countering your attacks. So be prepared to evade once you see your opponent charge up for a projectile blast.

The place will start to crumble as soon as the battle ends so hurry towards the hole above that 9S points you to. Move through the tunnel and press the action to push the block at the end off the ledge so you can proceed. Return to the Resistance Camp and talk to Anemone. She will now give you access to the room that you were barred from all this time. Collect all the freebies inside and rest if you like. You should now have plenty of funds to upgrade your current weapons or buy new ones. Leave the camp to receive your next objective.