In the onslaught of hype for certain other games on certain other consoles, whose name isn't a very far Reach away, let's not forget about the other games being launched. Like Phantasy Star Portable 2!!If you've ever played anything Phantasy Star Universe related since the old, nostalgic Dreamcast MMO, PSP2 is more of what you've come to love: grinding dungeons for cash, sweet loot, and dropped weapons; all bridged together by a plotline of dubious relevance to the actual gameplay. Let's be honest: all I need personally is an open invitation to go to space and kill stuff for a living -- I don't need any outside motivations. As they say: have beam sword, will travel.
That said, PSP2 livens up the old PSU formula with some unexpected additions, resulting in an experience that even the most jaded old-school Phantasy Star fan would -- and rightly should! -- be interested in. The storyline is genuinely new and exciting, shifting the universe three years ahead of the time and place older titles were set in. This means new items, new environments, new stories, new regions, and even new races of playable characters!! Your player character can be customized in great detail, with starting armor pieces and clothing items that can be exchanged for newer, cooler-looking ones later down the line. In additions to Humans, Newmans and Casts, a race of Beasts -- 75% man, 25% jungle animal -- are fully customizable and playable.
Their emphasis on raw physical strength lends them to be great tanks and even better supporting characters for your group grinding fun. This new racial addition compliments the new "Vanguard" class, a jack-of-all-trades class that is good at everything but excels in no one area; great for new players looking to find a class they want to play seriously or seasoned players looking for a new challenge. A look at Beast character creation. Courtesy of AlamTAZ on Youtube.New weapons and an improved dual-wielding system mean you have more possibilities for weapons than ever before. MAGs, your little floating robot buddies from previous games, have been taken out entirely (!!!) and replaced by mySynths, AI-controlled stand-in players that act as your buddy in battle.
You can choose from multiple models, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, specialties and support styles, from a long-ranged caster that specializes in healing to a brash warrior that goes all-out and attacks enemies alongside you. These AI-controlled characters can be directed using Quick Chat functions that allow you to be a legend soccer hack shout out various pre-scripted speech bubbles like "Attack," "Spread out," "Can I get a heal?," "Take cover" and so forth. PSP2's Online Play is fully functional, meaning you don't need a PS3 with ad-hoc Party or four local friends to play multiplayer, just a wireless connection. The same ease of communication with AI players extends to online play with real people with Quick Chat functions, manual text entry, user-created Quick Chat boxes and AutoWords, a new system that makes your character say something in response to an event. If your health drops below a certain percentage, with a little forethought you can make your character ask for a heal automatically. If a friend you're playing with levels, you can make yourself automatically congratulate them.
The range of special events that will trigger certain AutoWords is remarkably vast, and the emphasis SEGA's put on communication in this reiteration of Phantasy Star Universe is surprisingly vast.PSP2 is looking like a surprisingly deep addition to the PSU franchise, with unexpected amounts of depth and customization packed into a refreshed, updated experience. It ships tomorrow, the 14th, for the Playstation Portable -- meaning it will be in stores by the 15th according to what the GameStop guy told me today when I asked if I could buy PSP2 instead of Halo: Reach tonight at midnight. If you're not sold already, go pick the PSP2 demo up on the Playstation Network for the low, low price of free and check out one of the first introductory dungeon sequences and a couple of regular hunting quests by yourself or with friends. I leveled my character up to lv5 just on the demo content alone...a surprising amount of progress for just a demo.
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