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Overview
Phantasy Star Zero
Phantasy Star Online reborn on the Nintendo DS with new classes, a new storyline, and familiar four-player online gameplay.
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Preview
This is not the Phantasy Star we've grown accustomed to since 2006 when Phantasy Star Universe released. Phantasy Star Zero is more akin to PSO from the Dreamcast than it has anything to do with Universe and the Gurhal system. To many a Phantasy Star fan, including myself, the prospects of PSO gameplay with all new areas to explore and brand new everything else is too good to be true in these post-PSU days. While newcomers to Phantasy Star who have only played PSU might be worried, fret not, PSO is where it's at!
The game premise is simple enough. Sonic Team is reintroducing the famously addicting PSO-style combat and exploration into a pint-sized cartridge. Y will be the Heavy Attack, A your Normal Attack. You can mix these up any way you want into a three-hit combo, with some weapons having a special attack on another button (which may or may not make it into PSZero). That's all there is to it. No Photon Art levels, no Photon Arts at all, and no Just Attacking (though I could be wrong!). Start off with a Normal Attack, which has more accuracy, but does less damage, do it again, and then try your hand at a Heavy Attack on the third string of the three-hit combo. As you progress in levels, try doing Normal, Heavy, Heavy. If you're particularly confident, try Heavy, Heavy, Heavy! More damage, but more likely to miss. This may seem incredibly basic, and it is, but don't let the absense of specialized combos fool you, as this attack system is very refined. Hold the R bumper on the DS and you'll switch over to your second pallet where you allocated spells, healing items, and more. And for those who missed them, our beloved MAGs will be making a triumphant return.
But why Nintendo DS? At least the PlayStation Portable got a full-sized Phantasy Star adventure complete with the same graphics and kind of content that PSU had!
The DS works here, because the portable gaming device has built-in WiFi with easy chatting capabilites thanks to Sega's innovative integration of Pictochat. Instead of fuddling around with an onscreen keyboard, all the player has to do is draw on the bottom screen pictures or words and hit the Enter button for a chat bubble to pop up on the screen, shown below.
We have many returning classes and a couple of surprises. Personally, I'm digging RAmar's new Vyse-like outfit (Vyse was the main male character from Skies of Arcadia), but my new favorite has got to be HUnewm. Look how sleek and impressive his outfit is! Hopefully Sega's integrating a half-decent character customizer at least on par with PSO, though it is confirmed that there will be a character creation system. For those of you unaware how PSO's classes go, it's broken down into Type: HU = Hunter, RA = Ranger, FO = Force; Race and Gender (male/female): Human (mar, marl), Newman (newm, newearl), Android (cast, caseal).
Phantasy Star Zero is no slouch when it comes to talent. It seems as though this is a full-on game and not just a 'something for the on-the-go' project. Sonic Team is cooking up what looks to be a juicy story with likable characters (taking place on Earth no less). Lunar series character designer Toshiyuki Kubouka is at the helm of character art, Toshiyuki Ohka is supervising character development, with both mystery novel writer Teru Arai and former PSO quest designer Touru Shiwasu collaborating on PSZero's scenarios.
Returning Classes
- HUmar
- HUnewearl
- HUcast
- HUcaseal
- RAmar
- RAmarl
- RAcast
- RAcaseal
- FOmar
- FOmarl
- FOnewm
- FOnewearl
Introductory Classes
- HUmarl
- HUnewm
Finally, let's take a look at the game's signature areas. Sadly, we won't be seeing any areas from PSO, but stay on the lookout for rappies!
I'm looking forward to Phantasy Star Zero right now more than any game and will be importing it as soon as it's available, so stay tuned for more preview updates as content rolls out as well as future impressions and a review of the Japanese copy. Can't wait to get my hands on the online mode!
Yusaku
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