Phantasy Star Portable Any Good?

[Jefe]

I've never played one of those games because I never owned a Sega machine, or just didn't get into it. However, now that it's going to be released today for the PSP it caught my eye because some of the fighting is similarish to MH. So I wonder, how's the game? Is it like action RPG, or MMO style type of game (grinding fest included)? Does it have a robust assortment of weapons and armour like say MHF2ndG? Anyway, from what I've read, some games differentiate from one another but since I'm not familiar w/ any of them I know jack.

Here's a vid for reference: YouTube - Phantasy Star Universe

[Darus Grey]

It's more of an MMO style single player game.

[Kiarax]

Not played PSU/Portable (though gonna DL Portable later) but it uses a lobby system (similar to MH I guess). Portable supports up to 4 players (don't believe it has built in online, but AdHoc party supports it assuming you have a PSP). Speaking from PSO experience, they do get grindy later on, you'll run through the games levels until you reach a certain level (20 in PSO) where you unlock Hard mode, then you repeat until V.Hard and Ultimate, but the majority of the grinding would be hunting for rares. An example of how many different rare weapons you'll be able to find here. You can filter to just weapons from the PSP version and you'll still notice a shitload. Doesn't seem to be any results for rare clothing in PSP, so I'm not sure if visible armour differences is included or not (it wasn't in PSO either, but there was visible rare shields later on). Some rares in PSO had absolutely obscene drop rates, to the point where almost every time you saw someone using the weapon it was an almost guaranteed dupe/hacked item.

Combat is pretty much the same premise as MH's but it plays alot differently (though I only have a couple hours experience with MH2 on the PSP, maybe it gets faster). PS's is alot faster with less focus on taking your time to learn enemy patterns and instead just killing it before it gets a shot at you. Bosses are your standard "learn how to dodge it's moves then chip away at it". I personally loved PSO and I've put hundreds of hours into it, but there's also plenty of people who try it and can't get into it at all. Best bet is to just try it.

[Jefe]

MH doesn't get a lot faster eh. From your description it kinda reminded me of L2 lol. But yeah, MH is more strategic, you can't just waltz in and hack at the mobs or you'll get rapped in an instant. Also, some of the drop rates in MH to make armour are ridiculous but are worth the efforts since they offer awesome skills. Irregardless, I'll try it just waiting to pop @ BC. Thanks for the info guys.

[Atreides]

there's a demo of this on PSN (downloadable via the psp itself, or your ps3) if you want to try it out D:

[Linliel]

I've just played through the first few missions and it's exactly the same maps/bosses as PSU so far, even the same music! It's making me miss PSU but I don't miss it enough to endure the hacking/grinding of the bloody dragon again. The story is different but it's the same sort of story "we thought we purified the SEED but maybe we didn't".

Overall it's actually quite nifty to see similar graphics from PSU on the PSP, and the gameplay is pretty much the same as PSU; I find the controls a bit harder than PSU/keyboard but that's probably just practise needed. Full voice acting is pretty good too, but I found the voices a bit on the annoying side.

I'm looking forward to the purple carpet room though! my favourite PSU level!

[Not Kuno]

Damn it. I've been playing the Gamecube version so much with friends lately. Really wanna get this now.

[Linliel]

Okay so I played most the day and although there are a couple of slightly different levels, the majority of it is very similar in look and feel to PSU, and several levels use the same level design & maps from PSU. I'm lvl 27 now and have unlocked 3 planets, and I'm disappointed that there is no purple carpet room on Neudaiz There are the relics levels though, and all the levels have the CBAS progression as usual.

There's no mag feeding that I can tell and you upgrade weapons through grinders that never break, so that's a lot simpler. I never really got into the nerdy details in PSU so I tend to not bother with them too much in this. I'm currently toting around a bloody huge double bladed sword thingy which has love hearts at each end and when it swings it throws out more love hearts. lol. (surprisingly it does reasonable area damage too!)

It's pretty easy to play with only you in the party but you can bring your mag along with you if you like. There's a few different sorts of weapons than I remember from PSU (though I didn't get the expansion) like little mag-likes that hover above your head and fling magic for you (I'm a beast hunter).

Anyway it's generally entertaining and I'll keep playing to see what levels I can unlock... maybe I can get the purple carpet room later! (I think it was called "Grove of Fanatics" but it had some awesome music!)

[Deband]

The important question is.. Does it have Shifta and Deband?

[Kiarax]

No.

[Jefe]

Is the AI supposed to be this dumb? As my party lvls up, will they... become smarter? If they aren't lost or stuck behind a box/wall, they just stand there and do shit. Even the felyne fighters in MH are way smarter than this. Not that I need them, but damn ;x

[Linliel]

lol I tend to just ignore them :/ Vivienne is particularly annoying because she *can* heal but only will when she's almost dead. Not when anyone else is almost dead

[Not Kuno]

Sorta dissapointed so far. I don't like their macro system, pretty unfair to mages. I figured out you can have a bunch of rods with different spells on them but.. thats so gay. I liked the original 6pallet better because I usually had like 1 item and 5 spells. No shifta/deband kinda sucks too. At least you get a ton more MP and it regens even if youre not w/e that race is.

No online play and knowing nobody else in rl with a psp sucks too. The best part of phantasy star was playing with friends.

[Jefe]

^You have a PS3?

Btw, is it possible to heal one's companions (I skipped all text)? Now I miss gambits <_<

[Akiyama]

See.. I played PSU for a good while with some folks. Actually a few of them were from BG. Either way, I just got so bored with it. It took a while, but after the new "Omg, Photon Arts are fun, fk yeah".. and spamming them hundreds of time, it got old fast. I've been playing PSO:BB on the PC lately off and on, and I actually have more fun with that than I had with PSU. The shiny effect for it just wore. Maybe it's because I played from opening day, but eh.

[Not Kuno]

^You have a PS3?

Btw, is it possible to heal one's companions (I skipped all text)? Now I miss gambits <_<

I do nots. Don't heal spells turn aoe when they get leveled up enough?

[volcanicweather]

I do nots. Don't heal spells turn aoe when they get leveled up enough?

Yes they do...

I've been playing this game for awhile now and it's pretty enjoyable. It's similar to a MMO but it allows more freedom to start/stop whenever you feel like it. I'm now level 49 just playing whenever for small spurts.

I was a huge DC PSO fan and never got into PSU because I was too busy with FFXI when it came out. So the story is pretty new/fresh to me and seems decent.

The AI is pretty bad, but it could be worse, and they do heal you from time to time.

I'm on the "last boss" supposedly and I just keep getting owned. Everything else in the game before this was fairly easy, so I cruised through it. Looks like I need to level up.

[Not Kuno]

Yes they do...

I've been playing this game for awhile now and it's pretty enjoyable. It's similar to a MMO but it allows more freedom to start/stop whenever you feel like it. I'm now level 49 just playing whenever for small spurts.

I was a huge DC PSO fan and never got into PSU because I was too busy with FFXI when it came out. So the story is pretty new/fresh to me and seems decent.

The AI is pretty bad, but it could be worse, and they do heal you from time to time.

I'm on the "last boss" supposedly and I just keep getting owned. Everything else in the game before this was fairly easy, so I cruised through it. Looks like I need to level up.

Yeah the AI is terrible, I always go solo. I'm a MasterForce at level 60, but I did alot of mistakes leveling up so I only now I have 10 "30 skills" - I wasted too much time leveling my arrow bolts for some reason lol (which helps a fucking ton on those annoying ass dragons, though).

I just wish you could play online. I got a sweet Guardians Formal, and I look super badass in a red/black trenchcoat.

[volcanicweather]

It's worth it to bring the stupid AI players along - they boost your XP, gil, and item drop rates. I'm playing an acromaster, it's pretty strong if you use a one-handed weapon (saber, claw, handgun) and use a support machine / wand to spam resta/reverser on yourself.

There's two ways to play online, I haven't tried either.

The first involves using ad hoc and JP PSN...

The second involves using a program called xlink kai... here's a tutorial:

Xlink Kai setup guide + meeting spot in PSU for voice chat - PSO-World.com Forums

[Not Kuno]

I dont have a JP PSN. God I heard the JP get downloadable content and alot of other cool shit.. and we don't get anything.