General Info
-The Phantasy Star Portable team started work on the game after they finished the original and once the Phantasy Star Zero team finished Phantasy Star Zero, they were brought on to also work on PSP2.
-Story is advanced through chapters, it will also contain a side story.
-Side Story appears to consist of requests from clients (like in PSO's offline mode).
-Multiple Endings.
-ALL of your characters will share an illustrative database record containing monsters defeated, weapons, and clothing.
-Release date: December 3, 2009 in Japan.
-There will be a data install option.
-Multimode target's FPS is 30 as opposed to PSP1's 20 FPS.
-Multimode's enemies will be tougher than their Story Mode equivalents (just like in PSU and PSO).
-There will be a free online infrastructure mode. It will be tied to your PSN account! Much like with PSO, your copy of PSP2 will include a code that you will have to use to register for access to the online mode.
-There will be a 3D hub city where all the NPC shops and counters will reside just like in PSO. This will be on the Clad 6 space station.
-Missions will take place across the entire Gurhal System but they will all be accessible from ONE mission counter on Clad 6.
-Character animations have been said to be improved.
-Just like in Phantasy Star Zero, players all come across different items. What may be a Monomate on your screen may be a
Dilan Slayer!
-Voice samples available in the character creator are brand new.
-Super rare items come in a rainbow colored box.
-If you attack an enemy with an opposite element attack, you will see new animation. For example, ice will scatter if you attack a fire enemy with ice element-based attacks.
-Keep all Photon Arts you have ever learned. (Goodbye 32 PA limit.)
-New enemies and mission fields.
-See images at the official site:
http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/volume/01/
-Battle mode returns (sorta)! There will be several different gametypes such as territories and capture the flag variants. One such variant is "Catapult Jump" in which you collect energy balls and acquire bases.
-Challenge mode returns (sorta)! Players will have access to special challenge missions where several parameters are restricted.
- Choose from one of 4 combat types (classes).
- The mission starts when all 4 people are gathered at the gate.
- There will be a time limit.
- Level, weapon, and armor will be restricted.
- You get to get up to 99 spots for revival items, so its safe to die.
- The mission is over once you are incapacitated.
- Gravestone will mark spots where players died. When revisited during another run through of the mission, they give 1 random healing item.
- See more at the official site's Challenge mission page: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/mode/challenge/
Battle System Info
-Dodge move from Phantasy Star Zero has been added. Performed by pressing the Circle button (but will likely by the Cross button in the localized versions). Consumes 50 Photon Points when used.
-Ranger weapons, Guns, will now have a charging capability.
-Photon Points (PP for short) is now tied to players and not their weapons. The PP gauge will slowly recover points after they have been used.
-New weapon category 'Shield' has been added. This allow you to 'Just Guard'. If time correctly, guarding with a Shield equipped (done by pressing 'R') with nullify damage from an enemy strike.
- 'Just Guard' can only be done with a Shield weapon equipped.
- You can still guard with two handed weapons, except it will only reduce the damage received.
- Guarding can cancel your attack animation. The time it takes to cancel will differ with Photon Arts.
- While you are using Urgent Evasion (dodge move) you will be invincible for a certain amount of time.
- Once you complete the animation, you will not be able to move for a certain amount of time.
- See related images at the official Battle system page 1: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/battle/01/
-Human and Newman receive summon ability called Mirage Blast that are tied to specific element attributes. Just like with CASTs' SUVs, Human and Newmans will have equip a unit to use their Mirage Blast after filling up the Blast Gauge. 6 exist but only these four have been revealed.
- Nui: A creature that attacks in front of you. (Fire Attribute) See Nui here.
- Konl: A creature with a ranged attack in a straight line. (Ice Attribute) See Konl here.
- Canna: A creature with a ranged attack from the sky! (Elec Attribute) See Canna here.
- ToiToi: A creature who attacks in a circular range. (Ground Attribute) See ToiToi here.
-Three Step Technics function added.
- Three Step Technics detailed:
- Release 3 Technics consecutively.
- You may only use this feature with the wand or the rod.
- Unfortunately, Madoogs can not use this feature!
- You can release Foie > Foie > Foie in quick succession. (read 3 step casting time)
- You can also alternate between different technics.
How to Alternate 3 step Technics
- Technics can be alternated using the square and triangle buttons
- (ex. □Foie > △ Barta > □Foie)
- However, you must use the front palette or back palette to alternate Technics.
- (ex. Front□Foie > Front△ Diga > Front□Foie) = SUCCESS!
- (ex. Back□Diga > Back△ Foie > Back□Diga) = SUCCESS!
- (ex. Front□Foie > Back△ Diga > Front□Foie) = UNACCEPTABLE!
3 Step Technic Casting Time
- The Casting time will be shorter based on which attack you are on.
- The first attack will have a casting time of 100%
- The second attack will have a casting time of 70%
- The third attack will have a casting time of 50%
Technics with range (AREA OF EFFECT)
- Technics with area of effect will hit a boss in multiple areas.
- For example: Rafoie would hit in multiple areas on a boss like in PSO as opposed to just one spot like in PSU/PSP.
- Example:
-Enhanced version of Phantasy Star Zero's Chain Combo system added.
- Chain Combo system detailed:
- When you do a regular attack your Chain Combo tallies up.
- All players in a party contribute to the CC. Two hits from player A and three from player B will raise the Chain Combo number to 5.
- Chain Combo FINISH
- A chain combo finish means you have broken the combo.
- This is where the damage of the Photon Art is increased
- Pressing the Triangle button will automatically finish your Chain Combo
- Photon Arts will break your Chain Combo!
- Charge Shots will break your Chain Combo!
- Technics (assigned to the Triangle button) will also break your Chain Combo!
- In other words, all attacks mapped to the Triangle button (Photon Arts Skills, Bullets or a Technic) will end the Combo resulting in massive damage.
- Example:
- See more at the official Battle system page 2: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/battle/02/
-Four New Nanoblasts have been added.
- Nanoblast Changes
- Blast Badges will be unlocked depending on your level.
- Nanoblasts
- At Level 10: Defense and Accuracy is unlocked. (Blue and Yellow Color)
- At Level 20: Attack is unlocked. (Red Color)
- At Level 30: Hurricane (Gale) is unlocked. (Silver Color) See the Silver Nanoblast here!
> Black Nanoblast possible..
- At Level 40: Impact is unlocked. (Gold Color)
> Black Nanoblast possible
- At Level 50: Invincible is unlocked.
- Black Nanoblast
- Under a certain condition, the Black Color Nanoblast can be triggered.
- (It has been speculated its when your HP is low.) See Screenshot.
- It is described as a berserk state.
- Can be activated during Gold and Silver forms.
-Four New SUVs have been added.
-Ranged Weapon Details
- Elemental PA bullets are no more!
- A ranged weapon will drop with an element attached to it.
- The attack power of the gun is affected by the elemental attribute percentage:
For example:
Gun ATP of 500 (x) 50% elemental (=) ATP of 750 .
Gun ATP of 100 (x) 50% elemental (=) ATP of 150.
- A bullet was added that can increase the percentage of the element.
(*note: It will not change the element attached to the gun.)
(side note: may be possible this bullet is of power type)
- Based on the type of gun you have, the charge shots range and power will change. (see: charge shot animations)
- Accuracy can alter the amount of damage given from the gun.
-New Technics have been added and some have been removed.
- Added: Grants (from PSO)
- Added: Damgrants
- Removed: Zodial (accuracy buff)
- Removed: Zoldeel (accuracy debuff)
- Removed: Dizas (physical damage absorb)
- Removed: Gi Resta (HP regeneration)
- Removed: Regrant (Light element "flamethrower" attack)
- Removed: Retier (magic buff)
- Removed: Rentis (magic damage absorb)
- Removed: Megistar (attack, magic, accuracy, defense buff with HP drain)
- Enhanced: Shifta now buffs ATP and TP. Deband now buffs DFP, EVA and MST.
- Enhanced: Jellen now debuffs ATP and TP. Zalure now debuffs DFP, EVA and MST.
-Character Types (Classes) have been reduced and changed!
- The Four Types
- Hunter: Strong offensive ability and Defense Power. The good balance between offense and defense.
- Ranger: Can aim and fire at an enemy from a safe distance.
- Force: High Technic power and spiritual strength, they are good with handling technic weapons.
- Braver: They are good at handling light weight weapons (said to be a mix of the other three classes).
- Each Type has a Photon Art level cap. For example, the highest Technic a hunter can use a level 15.
- Hunter: Skill: 30 | Bullet: 15 | Technic: 15
- Ranger: Skill: 15 | Bullet: 30 | Technic: 15
- Force: Skill: 15 | Bullet: 15 | Technic: 30
- Braver: Skill: 20 | Bullet: 20 | Technic: 20
- To change your type, you must spend meseta at the type counter.
-Type (Class) System has been overhauled!
- This time youll be able to customize each type as you see fit with Type Extend and Ability Customize. In PSP1 and PSU, when you cleared a mission, you would gain Mission Points. Well in PSP2, the name has been changed to Type Points. As you amass these Type Points, they increase your Type Level. Based on your Type Level, you gain a certain amount of Extend Points which allows you to customize your Type (Class) even further.
- The Type Extend system will use your Extend Points to add additional weapon categories to your class. When you apply these points to a weapon category, you can either increase or decrease the grade. For instance, you can upgrade a C-rank Claw Weapon to B-rank or downgrade it back to C-rank. So with this mix and match system, you could essentially apply the S-rank Sword weapon category to the Force class. However, keep in mind you are still limited by your Photon Art cap. In addition to this, it is supposedly impossible to establish S-rank status in all weapon categories.
- Abilities allow you to customize your character even further by equipping special features. For example, you can apply the HP boost or PP boost Ability. There are about 100 different kinds of Abilities. Abilities are limited by the slot system, since each Ability costs a certain amount of slot points. You can only apply a limited amount. Some abilities will cost 1 Slot as others may cost 3. As your Type Level goes up, there will be more Ability Slots available to you.
- See more images at the official site: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/battle/03/
-Line Shield swapping has been added to the Action Palette.
-The edges of the screen turn red when the player is almost dead.
Click here to see an example.
-No more elemental Bullets that specify the element of a Gun Weapon, but a Bullet that increases the elemental % has been added along with other kind of bullets.
Items Info:
-Dropped items will use the item box models from Phantasy Star Zero.
-More than new 50 clothes will be added into PSP2.
- 6 manga artist from Shonen JUMP magazine help SEGA to design some of the uniform and weapons.
-Armor Unit slots will be free slots just like in PSO. This means you can equip several Arm Units or Head Units, etc.
-Photon Charges are gone along with the Photon Charge Cubes.
-Scapedoll will be found as rare item from missions only. They will not be sold in NPC shops. The amount players can carry will be limited (speculated to be 3 max).
-Guns and Technic weapons are endowed with elemental attributes.
-Some special Force weapons will boost specific elemental Technique types.
-Grinding weapons will require Meseta instead of Grinder Bases.
-Rare items drops are represented by red boxes with a red glow.
-Even rarer item drops are represented by a rainbow colored box. See below.
Phantasy Star Online Monsters
- Featured above from left to right: Nano Dragon, Poisonous Lily, Sinow Beat, Astark, Ill Gill, and Sand Rappy.
- Other known returning enemies: Forest Dragon, Barbarous Wolf, and Savage Wolf.
- See more images at the official site: http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psp2/about/volume/field/
- New Dragon tidbit: "PSO Dragon has a new battle strategy. If you are a Hunter or Braver, you may think you should focus on the tail, but it will be hard to cut it off with striking weapons. I heard the Dragon loses its balance and
"
Miscellaneous
-New Bonuses System
- Meet Sayo Yuhki, of Faith Healer Sayo a religion of sorts, shes a shrine maiden, just as in Shitenkaku. Does the name Sayo Yuhki sound familiar to you? Probably not, but in this case Sayo Yuhki is actually a collaboration character from another game known as "Shikigami no Shiro."
- Sayo will perform prayers on your character for the right price! When the leader of the party receives a prayer, this effect will apply to the whole party. In this case it appears she may pray for 15% HP or even a rare drop rate boost.
-My Room and Partner Machinery
- There aren't that many changes to My Room if youve been following PSU:AoI. My room is a feature where you can decorate and remodel a player room using a reform ticket. Both features can be accessed through your Partner Machinery. Unfortunately, you will not be able to use a Move Pass (this is a feature in PSU:AoI where you can move your room to another planet.)
- The amount of Partner Machinery available has increased to about 60 different models. You can evolve some of them by either purchasing evolution devices in the My Room NPC shop or obtaining it through some other means.
- Partner Machinery has the following options:
- My Room Tutorial: Read a tutorial on the functions of your room.
- PM Function: Evolve your PM with an evolution device.
- Reform My Room: Change the look of your room with a Reform Ticket
- Room Goods Management: Customize your room by placing decorative items.
- Jukebox Management: Play Background music in your room by obtaining various Jukebox Discs.
-Player Records and Collection Book Record
- The Vision Phone (displayed above in front of the player character) is greatly expanded from PSU:AoI. If you played PSP1, you have seen most of the features already.
- Player Record
- Various records about number of monsters defeated, the amount of missions played.
- Story Evaluation
- Evaluation of the Story Mission
- Emilias Report
- Outline of the Story Mission
- Mission Achievement Record
- The time and clear results of each mission.
- Collection Book Record contains the following:
- Monsters Defeated
- Each Monster will have a little tidbit about them for example:
- A Bil De Vear needs to eat 100 Naval a day in order to survive.
- Jarba and Polty come from the same protist ancestors.
- Weapon Collection Record
- Costume Collection Record
- View all the Clothes and Parts you have obtained.
- Title Achievement Record
- There are over 250 different titles.
- The Demo version has 30.
- Challenge Mission and Battle Mission Record
- See various records of challenge and battle mission
- The Time attack and Battle outcome is also displayed.
Demo Info
The demo will be available November 1st, at the JP PSN store. You can download it for free and play ad hoc or infrastructure mode. The demo requires PSP FIRMWARE 6.00 in order to play it. Please note that infrastructure mode (Internet Multimode) will be available for a LIMITED TIME, the date it will end is December 3rd, 2009.
Infrastructure mode is by invitation only. Each individual who wants to play will receive a ticket, and Sega will hold a drawing and randomly select players . The announcement of who shall play Internet Multimode will be provided at the official website.
Youll be able to import your character from PSU:AoI and Phantasy Star Portable 1. You must allow 370MB of space on your PSP memory stick. There will also be a special menu on the main screen which will differ if your demo was downloaded online, or you obtained the UMD version.
Other demo details include:
- Shops will release a UMD demo on November 9th.
- Play Chapter 1 of Story Mode.
- You can play Ad hoc and Internet Multimode too.
- Free mission, Battle mission, and Challenge mission is playable.
- The free mission will have the new boss at the end. (Assumed to be Reol Badia from the Seabed area. )
- Level 15 Cap.
- Save Data Transferable to retail version.
- Fanta and Pizza Hut Collaboration items also transferable to retail version.
Video & Media Links
Gamespot Japan -
http://japan.gamespot.com/psp/news/story/0,3800075348,20399547,00.htm
TGS Stage Show images at Gamewatch
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090926_317831.html
Fun Fan 2 Snippet -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wpoxzq3VTY
Battle Mode snippet -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKw0fYvnC9s
Second Promo -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu5iMFoF3kc
Fun Fan Snippet 3 (filmed at TGS) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xiz9MLFCDE0
Game Reactor's TGS Footage -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biBUz--qOMg
TGS 2009 Phantasy Star Portable 2 Presentation -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsRKeYB1R9Q
PSO Dragon in Phantasy Star Portable 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjMQCf02kbE
With that, I'm pretty much done. I'll only update demo info and add more video links in the future.
I really need to get my preorder down for PSP2. What a Christmas it's gonna be.
