Phantasy Star Portable 2 (i.e. PSU2)

[Serephim]

http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/battle/01/

pso stage update (from AotI, with PSO dragon boss. Not a reskin.)

Battle Mode glimpse

Has anyone been paying any attention to this? I remember a few of us here had our Phantasy Star Universe craze for about a few weeks got bored. I personally got tired of paying for Sega of America's shitty ass PSU service myself.

Well, while the PSU servers are pretty much dead, Sega has been working up a storm on the sequel to the PSP port. And while Sega usually screws up whatever they try to "improve and fix", for the most part they've actually pimped the shit out of this game.

In short, they basically combined elements from Phantasy Star Zero (the DS title), PSU, and implemented pretty much EVERYTHING the community has been bitching about since the AotI expansion came out and then some, including manual blocking/countering and a Dodge Roll. They also fixed the retarded Framerate problems. (Yeah, this game runs better than the 360 version, usually with far more going on.) They also added a Battle mode and a Challenge Mode. The retail version will actually have an Infrastructure mode. (actual online play, as well as ad-hoc for local.)

The demo came out yesterday. Ive been playing it since, and can seriously say they put some true effort into this game, and they've tweaked so much it doesnt even play the same as the other entries. The amount of depth has nearly tripled. If anyone has a PSP thats able to revert firmware, you can download the demo from their main website. It requires 6.00 firmware, though.

http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp/trial/step3/ (its the big red button.)

[Pheonix Gamma]

Portable was pretty ho-hum in my opinion, so I'll pass on this.

(Also, there's a patcher that gets 5.55+ games working on PSP. You know, if you don't want to update the firmware for some reason...)

[Guest Shadix]

This is actually pretty cool... The problem is they're still working within the crappy confines of PSU's continuity. Regardless of all the improvements they make I doubt there will be any new boss and enemy ai routines... Just MORE reskins, recycled assets, etc... (especially with little twinkles of PSO assets) >:|

Can't they just scrap the PSU universe (redundant amirite?) already and start something new. Maybe a reimagination of the PSO universe or something slightly more cool than blatant race wars and gay yuppies "purifying" alien cows.

[Serephim]

Portable was pretty ho-hum in my opinion, so I'll pass on this.

Portable really doesn't count. It was maybe one or two tweaks short of a literal direct port. This game's mechanics are so far removed from the rest of them, like i said they really should just call it PSU2. This game actually impresses me.

For instance, in the demo they have Plains Overlord. (Yeah, again.) However they shortened it to only 2 blocks, and severely increased the difficulty of the De Ragan boss. (who was a complete pushover in every other entry to the game to anyone who was over lv12.) He's actually QUITE difficult on this one, since he actually...well, attacks you. He'll use his tail when your behind him, he'll charge (and swerve now) when your far away. His attacks are something to fear now, and you're actually forced to move/block/pay attention/do something other than spam PA's while fighting him.

And PA's brings me to another thing they changed. With the Chain System, the game is no longer a Photon Art spam fest. Using PA's without a chain does pretty medicore damage -- you actually need to attack them first. If you've seen Final Fantasy XIII's Break System, its pretty much like that -- As you increase in number, the % damage you do increases. It seems simple, but its really changed alot about the game, since you're actually going to USE the other weapons in your pallete. I actually keep a Handgun on my pallete now and USE it for a change -- its extremely useful. BIG NUMBARZ is no longer the main focus of combat. Fast hitting weapons with weaker Photon arts actually have something that slow and powerful ones dont, and it gives different weapons useful roles in combat.

While fighting the dragon boss me and a friend of mine actually had to use teamwork in getting his chain up so we could do adequate damage. If someone uses a finishing attack (PA, Triangle-mapped Technic, Chargeshot) then the chain ends.

With the addition of Chargeshots and the chain system, Rangers play alot different, and have more versitility with all of their weapons since they now all (technically) have a second function. Forces are almost COMPLETELY different but far better than they were before, since they now can potentally do more damage than any other class in the game with the Chain system and Technic Combos.

A few significant changes from the other games in the series:

- PP is no longer on your weapon -- it depends on your character class and race (dont know if sex matters, its doubtful though.) This has a big impact on the game, since there are no photon charges anymore. It rapidly heals, but since Blocking (Non-perfect shielding) and Dodge Rolling both take up nice chunks of it, when you run out it can be a big problem.

-Bullets, Technics and skills are no longer grind-leveled, they drop in discs like on PSO.

-Gun and technic weapon elemental % is no longer determined by whats equipped to them -- they drop with set %'s just like striking weapons, and they actually go past 50%.

-Because of this, Bullet PA's are no longer elemental -- they now ( i THINK) modify the attributes of the Chargeshot. (which is kickass. They all do something different, for instance the handgun chargeshot hits like 3 targets.)

-you dont have to stack technics to get an elemental boost, which is great because now you can put whatever on your weapon and not worry about losing damage.

- apparently you can control your NPC's to some degree.

-New light technics (finally). Ragrants is on the demo, and i saw my PM use what looks like Damgrants (a Light Beam emitting from the rod). Cant wait to see its higher levels.) And i guess we have the ball grants too.

-theres a system for upgrading the rank of your weapons, which will also upgrade their powers. (this isnt grinding.)

-Grinding on the other hand is done simply with money. Its ALOT easier, just more expensive : 0

Theres tons more changes, im just tired of thinking of them.

I'd actually give this one a try before you toss it.

Regardless of all the improvements they make I doubt there will be any new boss and enemy ai routines... Just MORE reskins, recycled assets, etc... (especially with little twinkles of PSO assets) >:|

Actually, every PSO enemy they've shown has different AI i believe, or at least a new attack. I havent fought the Nanodragon or any of the Sinows, but they dont have moves ive seen at least. I cant tell if the Evil Sharks are ripoffs of Vaharas, but they definitely do have different means of attacking you. The PSO dragon, however, isnt a reskin. Thats pretty obvious if you've seen the battle. The giant 4-legged mech in the demo is actually quite an amazing battle. Me and a friend went at it for like 10 minutes and STILL ended up being wiped out. The whole stage was fun too.

There aren't that many new enemies in the demo im playing, but of the ones they have, they DO stand out alot. For instance :

- remember those annoying, horribly animated bug clusters? Yeah well it looks like they've been replaced with one single bug that charges and occasionally shoots projectiles at you.

-Theres another bug that doesn't charge, but moves and shoots at you. They are HIGHLY annoying, and can kill you if you dont move or block.

-In the sealab, theres a new enemy variant that is particularly difficult to terminate. Its a octopus-looking enemy that actually changes element/attack and color while it fights. Its like fighting miniature versions of Metroid Prime (they kinda look like metroids too). As a force, they're extremely annoying to deal with, because anytime you do enough elemental damage to them, they'll switch to that element as a defense.

As much as im enjoying the newer enemy types, im very very eager to see what they've done to the older bosses. After fighting the new De Ragan with tweaked AI, I already know the Ragnus is going to be an absolute BITCH to deal with, since the new De Ragan (at level 10, C rank mind you) gives you more aggression than you'd get from 3 of its older AI. Not to mention he lives about 3x longer, too...

[shadowgoten]

I loved PSP1, and just reading up on the changes and additions to this one, I'm extremely excited. Not only are they collaborating with all kinds of companies to bolster their armors/weapons with stuff from anime (fate/stay!!!) and other video games, but at least in japan this game will have a free to play infrastructure mode, which means, finally you can take your shit online. Now whether this will be the same for Americans remains undecided, but one can only hope we also get infrastructure mode >.>

[Serephim]

you know Sega of Japan doesnt give a damn about anything they bring over here unless its sonic.

They didn't even advertise PSU over here. Hopefuly though since they've been showing this game to everyone and posting it all over japan, they'll make an effort over here.

[shadowgoten]

Yea I remain hopeful for the port. Honestly if you look back and think on it, they've pretty much ported over every phantasy star to us, though they don't spend much on advertising them anymore, like you said it's all about sonic and their new IP's.

Taking out infrastructure will be pretty harsh, but I guess i can assemble a dedicated 4 man crew to farm the worlds of Phantasy Star once again with me.

[Guest Shadix]

you know Sega of Japan doesnt give a damn about anything they bring over here unless its sonic.

They didn't even advertise PSU over here. Hopefuly though since they've been showing this game to everyone and posting it all over japan, they'll make an effort over here.

Wait when did they care about Sonic?

Also, Bayonetta.

[Serephim]

since you guys started buying their games.

Bayonetta doesn't count, Sega is only the publisher. If Sonic Team was responsible for Bayonetta, im sure it would suck a whole lot more.

PSP2, however, has Alfa Systems written on it, which is the only explanation i can come up with as to why its so much significantly deeper than its predecessor.

[Guest Shadix]

since you guys started buying their games.

Bayonetta doesn't count, Sega is only the publisher. If Sonic Team was responsible for Bayonetta, im sure it would suck a whole lot more.

PSP2, however, has Alfa Systems written on it, which is the only explanation i can come up with as to why its so much significantly deeper than its predecessor.

Isn't a Publisher what SEGA IS now? I fail to see how you can use the term SEGA and not refer to ALL of its subsidies. =\

Also, I fail to see how its SoJs fault that SoA didn't advertise stuff they localize here. I always sortof accused SoA of being lazy when it comes to the promotions department here in the US. I know theres some internal conflict issues with information control and inflated egos that led to the shit like PSUs crappy support, but I don't think that has anything to do with SoAs ability to promote their own products.

[ila]

Alright, lets be friends now.

[Serephim]

Isn't a Publisher what SEGA IS now? I fail to see how you can use the term SEGA and not refer to ALL of its subsidies. =\

Well, they didn't create the game is what i mean. Just like with the Conduit. Anything with Sonic Team on it however usually means they made it themselves.

Also, I fail to see how its SoJs fault that SoA didn't advertise stuff they localize here. I always sortof accused SoA of being lazy when it comes to the promotions department here in the US. I know theres some internal conflict issues with information control and inflated egos that led to the shit like PSUs crappy support, but I don't think that has anything to do with SoAs ability to promote their own products.

Well, its both of their faults. From what i hear, SoJ is responsible for everything translated and brought over when it comes to PSU, so technically when we dont get content, it's them just not giving a damn. Not like that makes SoA look any better, they fuck up things with the server almost every other month, even if it isn't their fault.

So yeah, this is likely a PSU exclusive kind of thing, but it happened with PSO in America as well, especially the GCN/xbox versions. It should have survived just alot longer than it has. Look at PSOBB -- it ended here like forever ago, but the JP site is very much still up and the game is still being updated. Its like they have no incentive to bring it over.

That scares me for PSP2, because its just leaving the doors wide open for fuckups. Phantasy Star Portable didn't even get DLC over here.

[shadowgoten]

Well, they didn't create the game is what i mean. Just like with the Conduit. Anything with Sonic Team on it however usually means they made it themselves.

Well, its both of their faults. From what i hear, SoJ is responsible for everything translated and brought over when it comes to PSU, so technically when we dont get content, it's them just not giving a damn. Not like that makes SoA look any better, they fuck up things with the server almost every other month, even if it isn't their fault.

So yeah, this is likely a PSU exclusive kind of thing, but it happened with PSO in America as well, especially the GCN/xbox versions. It should have survived just alot longer than it has. Look at PSOBB -- it ended here like forever ago, but the JP site is very much still up and the game is still being updated. Its like they have no incentive to bring it over.

That scares me for PSP2, because its just leaving the doors wide open for fuckups. Phantasy Star Portable didn't even get DLC over here.

I think that it'll have a lot going for it, psp fanbase is huge, and stuff like monster hunter has just begun to explode here now sales wise. Monster hunter is SIMILAR in the way everything works aside from it not having an online mode. So we may actually see a few years worth of server up time IF it does come out in america with the online mode still attached.

In other news, Adhoc party comes out soon for ps3, so if no online mode makes it in the US version there will be a way to play online using adhoc party.

[Serephim]

Vast improvement. And i dooooo mean vast. Got the game, been playing it for a good dozen hours. When i say absolutely everything about Phantasy Star Universe was significantly improved upon in this game, i do mean it.

For those who played PSP1, you know it was basically a shitty port of Ambition of the Illuminus with some minor tweaks to gameplay and a new boss or two. I'll have you know, for anyone who actually played PSP1 (or PSU for that matter) that this is not the case for this game -- they actually put some work into this one.

Story Mode impressions:

Ive been playing through storymode. This game, unlike PSU and AotI, actually has a storymode. No, not long, continuous, very familiar stages with save points, an actual story mode with missions. Yeah, the dialouge are still told through image stills, but luckly the pictures are pre-rendered so they arent so fucking ugly. All that aside though, the main point here is that...yeah, the game actully has a storymode. WORTH PLAYING. The first story mission gives you a full-out (skippable) tutorial of how to play the game and its new combat system and evasive mechanics. Once you get to the main hub though, there are people at every shop to explain absolutely everything (i understand absolutely nothing though, but its pretty self explanatory to anyone whos played before.)

The story missions themselves? Best i can describe them? To anyone who's played PSO, the story missions feel alot like Challenge Mode missions, in the aspect that you aren't just running around slashing enemies 100% of the time. They have switch puzzles, little tasks to accomplish, really neat obstacle and trap courses, boulders and moving laser fences to avoid and jump through...its interesting, really, and very fun. They never feel forced or obnoxiously gimmicky, and do a very good job of adding hazards to the stage or changing the pace of the level. The maps are also not copies of the multimode maps -- if they are, they're usually modified and decorated and stray off normal course.

Bosses Impressions (new and old):

Bosses? Huge improvements. They dont drop in seconds anymore, for one. Second off, they'll actually try to kill you now. Most of the bosses had their AI tweaked to be alot more aggressive, thanks to the fact they added defending and dodge rolling to the game. Theres a giant 4-legged machine boss that actually may take some stragety to take down. Theres even an "Agni & Rudra" (DMC3) ish twin boss that does combination attacks against you. The AI for the NPC bosses are also surprisingly good, they have a good number of attacks and can manuver well enough to make the fight exciting.

Basically, all the bosses they've added are quite amazing to fight, really. They all feel like they're straight out of PSO, and all require more than simple "SMACKIT TIL IT DIES" strategy. I get a good kick out of facing them. There are still some old PSU bosses i have yet to try out to see if they have new AI, but the De Ragan most definately does.

Enemy AI

Enemy AI? A huge problem in the older games is that everything was a dammed reskin. Same ones still exist in this game, but the newly added AI are VERY WELCOME additions. They tweaked some enemies to be far, far more aggressive than they previously were, and the new ones can be pretty damn brutal. All of the PSO Enemies have either completely new AI or heavily modified AI of existing monsters, and the enemies that aren't PSO enemies can get pretty interesting.

But seriously though, the difficulty of this game is actually worth talking about now. I may be biased because im playing a force (way low HP/DEF), but staying alive is actually more than simply running around -- i constantly end up rolling around for my life. When left alive and plentyful, some enemies can just be downright brutally annoying. Ive been killed by pannons for christs sake (They have combo attacks now). There are rappies that will dash away from you, just to spear you from the other side of the room and knock you down. Newer sentry bugs will gain distance, surround you, and shoot your ass to death. Evil Sharks will block and sidestep your attacks. Sinow Beats will stealth-attack, shoot fireballs and combo your ass to death. I recently started encountering a Dark Paldin type enemy that has charge attacks, combo attacks, dash attacks...the bastard even has a move that freezes you to set you up for a finishing combo. He even TELEPORTS. Remember the Delbiters from Episode II? They have a new screech move that will blow away and confuse your entire party, and a beam that will rape you if caught in it.

A little bit about the new game mechanics? Oh, how i love them.

First off, the Chain System changes almost everything about this game. It adds alot of balance to the game, and makes alot of previously useless weapon combos potential to be HUGE damage dealers. The whole game plays completely different now.

Instead of the combat being centered around "the most powerful attack", the game now consists of "chain" moves and "finishing" moves. For instance, a normal attack will build a chain off an enemy, while a Photon Art (triangle move) will deal damage based on how high the enemy chain is.

This means just about every weapon type has two functions now. (only known exceptions being Shadoogs and shields of course) While Technics and Striking weapons always had this feature, Ranged weapons didnt. But now that EVERY ranged weapon now has a second Chargeshot function, rangers can now get more out of the weapons they use, with cooler animations to boot. Forces play almost completley different now. Not to mention everyone can Dodge Roll, and all two-handed weapons (save for rods, dammit) can now guard. Yes, that includes Twin Handguns, Shotguns and Rifles. The game feels so much more complete now...

Classes are also completley different. You choose a class for your stats, but weapon selection is now entirely up to you with the new selection system. Basically, your given a set amount of points, and the maximum goes up everytime your class goes up a level. Each weapon and its rank (C,B,A,S) costs an amount to be able to use, and naturally the higher the rank the more you use. There is no Penalty for doing and undoing this, so you can change your weapon usage anytime you want at the shop. It adds alot more flexibility to the classes. Also new are Type abilities, which you learn as your class levels up. the cool thing about these abilities are that even if you switch classes you can still use the ones learned from other classes. The customization runs pretty deep.

There is ALOT of new mechanics present in this game, and im not about to go through them all. Bottom line, if you even mildly liked PSP1, you'll love this fucking game. It isn't out in english yet, but when/if it does come out ill be jumping on it. 200 levels of content, Secret Bosses and levels, Challenge Mode, Battle mode, Infrastructure Mode, Ad-Hoc mode, Special Weapons that dont suck ass and have special effects...

The new stages are great, the story missions actually have specific scripted events instead of poorly implemented slap-ons to the normal engine (You get to use a GATLING GUN TURRET in some of the missions), bosses dont suck, game actually is difficult, vastly improved animations, a final boss that is not Dulk Falkis...

Its like they added EVERYTHING the community has been bitching about, right down to all the guns having chargeshots/second functions, us being able to manually guard and even dodge roll, even the damn challenge mode. This game fucking rocks.

[ila]

Too bad a US release hasn't even been hinted at yet.

[shadowgoten]

Man it sounds so sweet, plus I'm hoping that if/when they decide to translate it, nothing gets lost, including the sweet anime crossover costumes and shit.

[Serephim]

I doubt thats going to happen, sadly.

Its a real pity if it doesn't too, because the crossover items are really effing sweet -- i love the different costumes, and the weapons are usable at lower levels and are decently powerful. I went down a list for like 20 minutes putting in the codes and trying on the different outfits and stuff.

Im on the final boss of the game. Its killed me about 20 times now. one of the forms is like Olga Flow mixed with Falz Lv3. Its effing awesome, but damn difficult. Forces have it so hard on this game : / It was nice that they were smart enough to limit one scape doll in the inventory at a time, but gosh.