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Phantasy Star Zero

Bender_OITBender_OIT Bendimus PrimePort Orchard, WARegistered User regular
edited February 2010 in Games and Technology
Didn't see anything about this after a search, so I figured I'd make one.
phantasystarzeroimageef.png

What is it?
The next game in the Phantasy Star Online/Universe series for the Nintendo DS. Taking place on an alternate Earth 200 years after a war known as the “Great Blank”. Released last December in Japan, English screen shots and a release date of November 10th have started to pop up around the net.

40 English Screen shots:
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=64909

What's new?
Featured in the game is "Visual Chat", a take on PictoChat where players communicate by drawing on the DS touchscreen. The game contains three online modes: Free Mode, in which the player is randomly paired up with a party; Friend Mode, where the player can invite friends into a private room (and vice versa); and Single Mode, where the player can play online by oneself to level up (similar to Phantasy Star Online's offline mode). There is a full offline story mode as well.

The game contains over 350 weapons, debuting two new weapon classes, Shields and Gunslashes. Shields are a blunt weapon that can be used to block an enemy attack at the cost of PP, and Gunslashes are a hybrid mix between a gun and a sword, allowing for long range and short range interchangeability.
The game features a mix of PSU's character styles with PSO's game-play, including the return of the MAG units for each character.

When is it out?
As said before, online retailers have the game now listed as November 10th, but Sega's website still has it down as "Winter 2009".

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Bender_OIT on
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Posts

  • PikaPuffPikaPuff Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    sooooooooo it's for the DS?

    PikaPuff on
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  • Bender_OITBender_OIT Bendimus Prime Port Orchard, WARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Yes. Edited that really important fact into the first post for those that haven't heard about the game. :oops:

    Bender_OIT on
    sig.gif
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    PikaPuff wrote: »
    sooooooooo it's for the DS?

    Yup. Which makes me a little more excited.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • GilderGilder Aw snap Macaroni PartyRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I sure hope this game has obscene drop rates likes PSO. Damn do I love me some 1/850,000 drop rates. Win the lottery? Yeah right, call me when the jackpot is a psycho wand.

    Gilder on
  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    This game has actual online servers as in PSO, and not friend codes.

    It's still rather PSU-ish, or at best PSO-lite. There is some fun Nintendo-based equipment, including Samus' Power Beam as a gun, and a Warp Pipe bazooka.

    Items dropped now only appear after all monsters have been cleared from that "room". A big chest appears and each player gets their own individual drops from it.

    For PSO veterans
    • Hunters: HUmar, HUmarl, HUcast, HUcaseal, HUnewm, HUnewearl
    • Rangers: RAmar, RAmarl, RAcast, RAcaseal
    • Forces: FOmar, Fomarl, FOnewm, FOnewearl
    • HUmar is still retarded, just in an entirely new way.
    • Materials are back but there are "reset materials" you can eat to redo them at any time.
    • MAGs can eat any type of item a la PSU. Weapons raise attack, Armors raise defense, etc.
    • MAGs don't fight with you, they hover around your shoulders and increase your stats.
    • Both armors and weapons can be ground.
    • You can add a photon percentage to any max-ground weapon. Not sure about armors.
    • FO weapons melee attack using your mental strength instead of attack power, and grinders increase the mental boost of FO weapons.
    • This would be great except the game isn't especially well-balanced; Forces end up many times more powerful in melee than any HU, plus they have Techniques.
    • There are no longer separate techniques of the same element; you charge Foie up and it changes into Gifoie, then Rafoie.
    • There are Rappies. Lots of Rappies. They will still peck you in the groin.
    • Other PSO enemies guest star as rare monsters.
    • Plenty of old equipment returns

    IceBurner on
    3DS: 3024-6114-2886 | NNID: Rabites | Steam: IceBurner
    PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
    Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
  • ZerokkuZerokku Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    IceBurner wrote: »
    This game has actual online servers as in PSO, and not friend codes.

    It's still rather PSU-ish, or at best PSO-lite. There is some fun Nintendo-based equipment, including Samus' Power Beam as a gun, and a Warp Pipe bazooka.

    Oh hell yes.

    Zerokku on
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    The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Was introduced to this today, an official gallery of English version screens

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/segaamerica/sets/72157612363651500/

    IceBurner on
    3DS: 3024-6114-2886 | NNID: Rabites | Steam: IceBurner
    PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
    Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
  • MorvidusMorvidus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Man, I haven't played anything since PSO a la Dreamcast. Is PSU worth getting if I was an GINORMOUS fan of PSO? I think I logged over 3000 hours in PSO, and the fact this is for the DS just made my pants exceptionally happy.

    Morvidus on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    And here I was hoping for a return to form. The form of singleplayer RPG.

    I'll probably get it though, because I've played every Phantasy Star game and must continue to do so.

    Henroid on
  • GrimthwackerGrimthwacker Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Ehh, my brother picked up PSU at launch and only got a couple of months worth out of it. The single player's okay for easy Gamerpoints (and a few cheap laughs from how unashamedly anime it is), but the bottom line was it didn't really do anything to evolve the formula. I wouldn't be surprised if the servers now are ghost towns. You should probably wait to see how PS0 pans out.

    And am I the only one here who thinks the Genesis Phantasy Star games were vastly overrated? PS2 was just too much wandering and fighting for my taste, and while I was able to breeze through PS4 on the Playstation 2's Genesis Collection, I was hoping for a lot more. Maybe they just weren't for me.

    Grimthwacker on
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Grimthwacker wrote: »
    Ehh, my brother picked up PSU at launch and only got a couple of months worth out of it. The single player's okay for easy Gamerpoints (and a few cheap laughs from how unashamedly anime it is), but the bottom line was it didn't really do anything to evolve the formula. I wouldn't be surprised if the servers now are ghost towns. You should probably wait to see how PS0 pans out.

    And am I the only one here who thinks the Genesis Phantasy Star games were vastly overrated? PS2 was just too much wandering and fighting for my taste, and while I was able to breeze through PS4 on the Playstation 2's Genesis Collection, I was hoping for a lot more. Maybe they just weren't for me.

    Blasphemy. I love the PS Genesis games, they are my favourite RPG worlds of all time. I also really enjoyed PSO and it was my first online multiplayer game i ever played. PSU was great as well but maybe that was mostly nostalgia from my PSO days, and the PC servers are pretty dead. 360 ones are still really active though.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    Zombiemambo on
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  • spookymuffinspookymuffin ( ° ʖ ° ) Puyallup WA Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    This, so very hard.

    spookymuffin on
    PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138
    Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    spookymuffin wrote: »
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    This, so very hard.

    Yeah well. I liked PSU, for about a month. But i honestly think it was mostly nostalgia and my need for something Phantasy Star related, and it was all that was there. It's like the equivalent of settling for the fat chick at the bar because nobody else is really there.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    I played the fucking shit out of PSO on the Dreamcast. The days of dial-up when I had to stay up all night so I didn't tie up the phone line when people would actually call the house.

    I absolutely loved that game. Got at least 4 characters up to level 100. I had a bunch of friends and family that we would all meet up on Saturday nights at around 11PM (Puck 10 was out ship)

    Hopeful about Phantasy Star Zero.

    maximumzero on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    Care to elaborate? The only negative thing I can think of about PSU (aside from the god-awful story) is that techs were linked to weapons. But everything else was better. Strafing while firing, able to go first person to shoot if needed.

    ... I play rangers, go fuck yourself. :P

    Henroid on
  • Shady3011Shady3011 Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Do I need to pay Sega a monthly fee? Please say no.

    Shady3011 on
  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    This game is free to play online even in Japan.

    IceBurner on
    3DS: 3024-6114-2886 | NNID: Rabites | Steam: IceBurner
    PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
    Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Henroid wrote: »
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    Care to elaborate? The only negative thing I can think of about PSU (aside from the god-awful story) is that techs were linked to weapons. But everything else was better. Strafing while firing, able to go first person to shoot if needed.

    ... I play rangers, go fuck yourself. :P

    For me, I downloaded the demo and I couldn't even figure out how to get out of the freaking ship.

    maximumzero on
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  • LorkLork Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Henroid wrote: »
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    Care to elaborate? The only negative thing I can think of about PSU (aside from the god-awful story) is that techs were linked to weapons. But everything else was better. Strafing while firing, able to go first person to shoot if needed.

    ... I play rangers, go fuck yourself. :P
    The core gameplay was fine, which is why it's such a shame that literally every other aspect of the game was mind numbingly awful. The interface, economy, art style, level design, character progression, story, voice acting and so many other parts were just indisputably bad. The crafting system in particular deserves some kind of award for being the most soul sucking, asinine impediment to fun ever to exist in a videogame.

    Lork on
    Steam Profile: Lork
  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Lork wrote: »
    The core gameplay was fine, which is why it's such a shame that literally every other aspect of the game was mind numbingly awful. The interface, economy, art style, level design, character progression and so many other parts were just indisputably bad. The crafting system in particular deserves some kind of award for being the most soul sucking, asinine impediment to fun ever to exist in a videogame.
    Lime orchard for truth. So true.

    I hated the levels in particular, so freaking uninspired. They were all built from a very limited number of 3d "tiles" that fit together in various ways. These were then re-skinned over and over and over to be different "places", and as a result everywhere felt the same. PSO managed to at least have a few unique rooms per stage, if not 100% uniquely-modeled stages. Also, I actually surveyed the entire game and no room is repeated more than twice in a single stage with one exception (one Cave stage).

    IceBurner on
    3DS: 3024-6114-2886 | NNID: Rabites | Steam: IceBurner
    PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
    Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Lork wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    Zombiemambo wrote: »
    PSU sucked. PSO was magical.

    Care to elaborate? The only negative thing I can think of about PSU (aside from the god-awful story) is that techs were linked to weapons. But everything else was better. Strafing while firing, able to go first person to shoot if needed.

    ... I play rangers, go fuck yourself. :P
    The core gameplay was fine, which is why it's such a shame that literally every other aspect of the game was mind numbingly awful. The interface, economy, art style, level design, character progression and so many other parts were just indisputably bad. The crafting system in particular deserves some kind of award for being the most soul sucking, asinine impediment to fun ever to exist in a videogame.

    I didn't mind the interface really. I was still able to quick-swap my weapons (which was great because gun ammo was linked to elemental damage, useful!). I'll agree to the art style. A lot of the custom-clothing was bullshit, definitely not Phantasy Star at all (PSO was good at that, especially in regard to Rangers). And I never played it online, so I don't know about the economy.

    And level design didn't bother me, it wasn't much better or worse than PSO.

    Henroid on
  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Oh Jesus Christ no

    You can't do this to me

    I have a life

    Olivaw on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Oh Jesus Christ no

    You can't do this to me

    I have a life

    Don't freak out. This one is on the DS. You can go outside with this one.

    maximumzero on
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  • OlivawOlivaw good name, isn't it? the foot of mt fujiRegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    maximumzero wrote: »
    Olivaw wrote: »
    Oh Jesus Christ no

    You can't do this to me

    I have a life

    Don't freak out. This one is on the DS. You can go outside with this one.

    That's what I mean

    I can play it anywhere

    This is awful and whoever came up with this is worse than Hitler

    God damn it
    the robots are the best race, true fact

    Olivaw on
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  • Darth_MogsDarth_Mogs Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    The only thing Phantasy Star related that I've played since PSO was Portable's Demo. Just haven't gotten around to finding it/buying it.

    I am really pretty excited about this, even if it's 'PSO-Lite'.

    I'm also excited because I'll finally be able to play the game with other people. (Couldn't get my DC connected to the internet because my room never had a phone line run to it, and the adapter didn't work.)

    Edit:
    Olivaw wrote: »
    the robots are the best race, true fact
    This is truth. Level 124 HUcast was my best character.

    Darth_Mogs on
    Kupowered - It's my Blog!
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    One thing I'll say for PSU is it had a couple great songs in it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8hW6QD0S58

    This was a pain in the ass to find.

    Henroid on
  • GrimthwackerGrimthwacker Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Henroid wrote: »
    One thing I'll say for PSU is it had a couple great songs in it.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8hW6QD0S58

    This was a pain in the ass to find.

    Sonic Team and great soundtracks go hand-in-hand, PSO's in particular. PSU's was cool - one of the better aspects of that game - just not as "memorable" as PSO's score. PSO had that more "epic" feel, especially with the bosses.

    Grimthwacker on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Eh, the only music that stood out to me in PSO were the boss themes. I didn't care much for Ragol's surface theme, and the cave music was barely audible. I can't even remember the fourth area's music. I guess the mine music was alright. But yeah, the bosses. Especially the cave and mine bosses, holy crap.

    Henroid on
  • spookymuffinspookymuffin ( ° ʖ ° ) Puyallup WA Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    The screenshots look great. I just have one word to describe my happiness:

    MAGS!

    I swear I had so many Mags on Dreamcast PSO. I rasied them all from baby maghood, and even sought out the crazy rare ones like the Sega consoles... I fucking love me some Mags.

    spookymuffin on
    PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138
    Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
  • GrimthwackerGrimthwacker Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    spookymuffin wrote: »
    The screenshots look great. I just have one word to describe my happiness:

    MAGS!

    I swear I had so many Mags on Dreamcast PSO. I rasied them all from baby maghood, and even sought out the crazy rare ones like the Sega consoles... I fucking love me some Mags.

    I wonder if Sega'll slip any Nintendo consoles as Mags into Zero. I'd like a little Virtual Boy hovering around my character. Special effect: chance to inflict blindness on enemies.:P

    Grimthwacker on
  • ImpersonatorImpersonator Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Ok, now is the time to figure out how to make my DS connect to my WPA network. D:

    To the googlemobile!

    Impersonator on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Impersonator wrote: »
    Ok, now is the time to figure out how to make my DS connect to my WPA network. D:

    To the googlemobile!

    nintendo-wi-fi-usb-adapter-hands-on-20051107014430936-000.jpg

    maximumzero on
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  • EliteLamerEliteLamer __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2009
    Why dont they just do an exact port to the DS or something?

    EliteLamer on
    SEGA
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  • spookymuffinspookymuffin ( ° ʖ ° ) Puyallup WA Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Grimthwacker wrote: »
    spookymuffin wrote: »
    The screenshots look great. I just have one word to describe my happiness:

    MAGS!

    I swear I had so many Mags on Dreamcast PSO. I rasied them all from baby maghood, and even sought out the crazy rare ones like the Sega consoles... I fucking love me some Mags.

    I wonder if Sega'll slip any Nintendo consoles as Mags into Zero. I'd like a little Virtual Boy hovering around my character. Special effect: chance to inflict blindness on enemies.:P

    The possibilities are endless. I'd love to have a little GBA floating behind me.

    spookymuffin on
    PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138
    Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    EliteLamer wrote: »
    Why dont they just do an exact port to the DS or something?

    The DS in no way shape or form is as powerful as the Dreamcast.

    maximumzero on
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  • wakkawawakkawa Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    It been almost 2 years since I bought anything for my DS.

    Its about god damn time something interesting is coming out.

    wakkawa on
  • MorvidusMorvidus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    maximumzero wrote: »
    EliteLamer wrote: »
    Why dont they just do an exact port to the DS or something?

    The DS in no way shape or form is as awesome as the Dreamcast.

    Morvidus on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited August 2009
    Morvidus wrote: »
    maximumzero wrote: »
    EliteLamer wrote: »
    Why dont they just do an exact port to the DS or something?

    The DS in no way shape or form is as awesome as the Dreamcast.

    Now that may be debatable.

    maximumzero on
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  • MorvidusMorvidus Registered User regular
    edited August 2009
    The DS doesn't have Powerstone. (does it?)

    Morvidus on
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