PSP:Phantasy Star Portable

Phantasy Star Portable logo

Phantasy Star Portable is the third iteration of SonicTeam's Phantasy Star Universe series. The game is exclusive to the Sony PSP and is scheduled to be released in Japan July 31, 2008. While Portable offers no online capabilities and thus is not connected with the PC, PS2 or Xbox 360 servers, four player multi-player is available via ad hoc. In addition, there is a single-player story mode where players accompany Vivienne, a new CAST prototype from GRM, to investigate recent terrorist activities across Gurhal.

New features

Phantasy Star Portable will introduce a number of new features which will set it apart from its console predecessors.

• While not an online multiplayer game, Portable will allow players to import their character data from the PC/PS2 servers to the PSP game.
  • Character import will carry over the following data:
    • Name, race and sex
    • Outward appearance (excluding facial features)
    • Voice type and pitch
    • Level (character which are LV21+ will be reduced to LV20)
    • Clothes and parts (only those which are equipped at the time of transfer)
  • The following data will not be carried over:
    • Equipment (weapons, line shields, units, etc.)
    • Inventory items (including personal inventory, common box and partner machine storage)
    • Meseta (10,000 Meseta will be given to all transferred characters)
    • Guardian type
    • Photon arts
    • Partner machine
• While in a party for wireless multiplayer, if a rare item is collected, it will be distributed to all party members.
• Drop items in a mission will change based on the Guardian type of the party leader.
• Enemies and boxes will drop only weapons, line shields and related items. Also, photon art disks will drop during missions.
• Movement in cities will be changed so that you can select a location to go to from a menu instead of walking there.
• Weapon grinding will be changed to get rid of the chance of failure. However, instead of stats increasing at predetermined values, increases will be random.
• A special mission will be released on the PC/PS2 version of Ambition of the Illuminus which will commemorate the release of Phantasy Star Portable. This mission will be single player only and feature Vivienne, a new lead character from PSP.

Controls

Button	Battle actions	Menu navigation
Square	Normal attack	?
Triangle	Photon art	?
X	Action palette	Cancel
Circle	Pick up item	Confirm decision
R	Switch between left- and right-handed weapons	Turn page right
L	Tap: camera reset / Hold (while moving): strafe	Turn page left
D-pad	Adjust camera	Move cursor
Analog key	Move character	?
Start	Menu screen	Close menu
Select	Enter first-person view	?

Guardian types

Phantasy Star Portable uses a slightly different type system from the previous versions of Phantasy Star Universe. While the three basic types, Hunter, Ranger and Force, still exist, there are only five advanced types, Fighmaster, Gunmaster, Masterforce, Acromaster and Protranser.

Type requirements and caps

	Type name	Req. type LV			Photon art caps
		HU	RA	FO	Skills	Bullets	Attack TECHNICs	Support TECHNICs
Basic types	Hunter	N/A			-	-	-	-
	Ranger				-	-	-	-
	Force				-	-	-	-
Advanced types	Fighmaster	7	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Gunmaster	-	7	-	-	-	-	-
	Masterforce	-	-	7	-	-	-	-
	Acromaster	4	2	4	-	-	-	-
	Protranser	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Weapon proficiencies

Weapons	HU	RA	FO	FM	GM	MF	AM	PT
	-	-	-	S	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	A	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	A	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	S	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	A	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	S	-
	-	-	-	A	-	-	S	-

New weapons

Weapon name	Weapon type	Rank
(Sacred Duster)		-
(Soul Eater)		A
(Nacon)		-
(Bil De Horn Axe)		C
(Final Impact)		-
(Primera Fiole)		-
(Laser Pannon)		-
(Girasole)		-
(Vivienne)		-
(Twinkle Star)		-
(Nidra)	?	-
(Nei Claw)		-

Image gallery

• 

  Vivienne, a new lead character in PSP.

• 

  Helga facing off against Tylor.

• 

  Bil Degoras, a new boss.

• 

  Cover art

External links

• Official Japanese PSP site
• Promo trailer on YouTube