Well, I have absolutely no idea where to start with this.
I'll get it out the way and say that it's absolutely brilliant, first of all. No, I don't understand a word of Japanese but yes, I did play Phantasy Star Online extensively so it was very easy to play.
If you HAVE prior knowledge of PSO and the way the game worked, you'll be right at home with this. Only a few minor things have changed and I would strongly advice any current PSO or PSU player to pick this up, even in Japanese, now.
I don't understand a word and yet i've managed to navigate the entire single player storyline, understand all the NPCs aswell as the items and weapons, and the way they work. So if anybody has any questions feel free to fire them my way.
Well, as i've already stated the game is more like PSO than PSU. The timing attack system is back in properly, you have your palette of 6 keys which you can map to anything you like, Mags are back in for you to feed and evolve and as a result, so are photon blasts. What's been added from PSU is the inclusion of a camera lock-on and strafe, and what IS nice is a rolling dodge command which you can use to evade any attack with the proper timing.
Photon Arts are back in, however they are attached to weapons. Not things you learn. Hold in an attack button and you will charge that weapon's PA.
There are PROPER GUN PA'S NOW, none of this elemental bullet crap.
It's better than Universe. Fact.
There's no running around trying to find mission lobbies, etc. You have one city, and all of the quests are obtained from a single NPC. You have your weapon vendor, item vendor, armor vendor, tekker, and later on, you get Photon Drop trading NPCs aswell as an NPC to turn enemy parts into weapons.
Beasts are gone. Just Humans, Newmans, and CASTs.
You have Normal, Hard, and Super Hard difficulties, with 7 areas each. The single player is very easy to navigate and all conversations with NPCs can be fast forwarded. All conversation choices SEEM to be optional, as i've just blagged my way through them and it's made no difference. You talk to a few NPCs, you go to the quest lady, you choose the 'Main' quest or a 'New' quest if you want to play an optional quest in an area you've just done, and you're off.
Wi-Fi play is very well done.
If you're playing with randoms, then you get to choose a difficulty, what quests you're willing to play on, and then search for random players.
It will pick a random mission out of what you've chosen, and you'll all be able to go off and do that mission. All chat is presets, so you can't use pictochat or custom chat with anyone you're playing randomly. You also only get to play the one mission before you're sent back to the starting city and you have to re-search for another mission.
You can only search to play areas that you've currently unlocked in Story Mode.
If you're playing with friends, you have the option to use a Pictochat style symbol chat with other people. Unfortunately there's no text input, it's all writing. But you can all stay together, do as many quests as you like, and just have fun levelling. You can also play all the quests that the host has done, so even if you only have the starting 3 areas, you can still play through the rest of the game if the Host's already done it.
Content seems to be all new! There are no areas you're revisiting, I don't even think i've seen a weapon that's the same. Everything seems to be new, including the bosses! (Well, there's some Dragon in it again...)
So in short, it's like PSO, it's miles better than PSU, they've done everything properly and not given us recycled levels and weapons, and added enough new stuff in.
It's incredibly good, go buy it, and give me all your wi-fi codes so I can start power levelling you all with my uber shifta and deband.
I'll get it out the way and say that it's absolutely brilliant, first of all. No, I don't understand a word of Japanese but yes, I did play Phantasy Star Online extensively so it was very easy to play.
If you HAVE prior knowledge of PSO and the way the game worked, you'll be right at home with this. Only a few minor things have changed and I would strongly advice any current PSO or PSU player to pick this up, even in Japanese, now.
I don't understand a word and yet i've managed to navigate the entire single player storyline, understand all the NPCs aswell as the items and weapons, and the way they work. So if anybody has any questions feel free to fire them my way.
Well, as i've already stated the game is more like PSO than PSU. The timing attack system is back in properly, you have your palette of 6 keys which you can map to anything you like, Mags are back in for you to feed and evolve and as a result, so are photon blasts. What's been added from PSU is the inclusion of a camera lock-on and strafe, and what IS nice is a rolling dodge command which you can use to evade any attack with the proper timing.
Photon Arts are back in, however they are attached to weapons. Not things you learn. Hold in an attack button and you will charge that weapon's PA.
There are PROPER GUN PA'S NOW, none of this elemental bullet crap.
It's better than Universe. Fact.
There's no running around trying to find mission lobbies, etc. You have one city, and all of the quests are obtained from a single NPC. You have your weapon vendor, item vendor, armor vendor, tekker, and later on, you get Photon Drop trading NPCs aswell as an NPC to turn enemy parts into weapons.
Beasts are gone. Just Humans, Newmans, and CASTs.
You have Normal, Hard, and Super Hard difficulties, with 7 areas each. The single player is very easy to navigate and all conversations with NPCs can be fast forwarded. All conversation choices SEEM to be optional, as i've just blagged my way through them and it's made no difference. You talk to a few NPCs, you go to the quest lady, you choose the 'Main' quest or a 'New' quest if you want to play an optional quest in an area you've just done, and you're off.
Wi-Fi play is very well done.
If you're playing with randoms, then you get to choose a difficulty, what quests you're willing to play on, and then search for random players.
It will pick a random mission out of what you've chosen, and you'll all be able to go off and do that mission. All chat is presets, so you can't use pictochat or custom chat with anyone you're playing randomly. You also only get to play the one mission before you're sent back to the starting city and you have to re-search for another mission.
You can only search to play areas that you've currently unlocked in Story Mode.
If you're playing with friends, you have the option to use a Pictochat style symbol chat with other people. Unfortunately there's no text input, it's all writing. But you can all stay together, do as many quests as you like, and just have fun levelling. You can also play all the quests that the host has done, so even if you only have the starting 3 areas, you can still play through the rest of the game if the Host's already done it.
Content seems to be all new! There are no areas you're revisiting, I don't even think i've seen a weapon that's the same. Everything seems to be new, including the bosses! (Well, there's some Dragon in it again...)
So in short, it's like PSO, it's miles better than PSU, they've done everything properly and not given us recycled levels and weapons, and added enough new stuff in.
It's incredibly good, go buy it, and give me all your wi-fi codes so I can start power levelling you all with my uber shifta and deband.
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