Phantasy Star Zero

Lately I've found myself addicted to Phantasy Star Zero for the Nintendo DS again.  I've been playing this game off and on for years so I wanted to share why I think it's so great.

If you're familiar with the Phantasy Star Online series then you know what type of game to expect.  But in case you aren't, it's a series of sci fi online action rpgs that started on the Sega Dreamcast and has crossed over to pretty much every console and handheld since.

Gameplay

Since the Dreamcast, the Phantasy Star Online series has evolved a great deal in regards to gameplay, adding abilities like blocking, evasive rolling, strafing and jumping.  The reason I find Zero so appealing is that it maintained the feel of the original Phantasy Star Online in its combat mechanics while Phantasy Star Universe (released around the same time) took combat in a new direction.

To be specific, Zero requires you to link your strikes in a timed manner unlike Universe which allowed you to simply mash the button.  The customizable action palette is carried over from PSO with nearly the same button scheme (hold the R button to access a second layer to the action palette) as seen in the screen below.

Like in PSO, Zero's missions are carried out in one to four player instances.  You start by meeting your team mates in the city hub and then embarking on missions or free areas from a mission counter.  Each dungeon/instance is randomly assembled from a collection of pre-existing maps making each mission different from the last.  The goal can range from defeating a boss, collecting items or surviving arena type battles.

The character classes and races are also carried over from PSO.  You select your race, class, and sex separately, but choose wisely as you're stuck with this set as long as you keep the character.  Fortunately unlike in PSU you can dabble in the other play styles at your leisure.  For example, you do not need to have a wand or staff equipped in order to use techs.  Each class plays virtually the same as it did in PSO.  Hunters are used primarily for melee and forces rely upon their spells or techniques while rangers use mostly guns.  

They give you three character slots to check them all out though so you won't need to start over if you decide you don't like your character anymore.   If you get bored with your appearance, don't fret, you're allowed to change your appearance and name at any time from the title screen.

Oh yeah, mags are back!  And just as important as they were in PSO.  Yes!



Story / Single Player

I'll keep this spoiler free, but what I will say is that if you're a fan of PSO you'll love the tie-ins.  The story begins in a small desert town where you learn that most of the world has become inhabitable thanks to the number of monsters and toxic environment.  It seems that the world is turning itself around though as more and more areas are becoming livable again.  It is your job as a hunter to lead the exploration of the new territories while solving the mysteries of humanity's past along the way.  The story takes itself seriously with enough lighthearted moments to keep things entertaining.  The comedic scenes don't feel awkward or forced like in PSU.

Your NPC teammates are nicely designed and each have an interesting back story that you'll actually end up caring about the more time you spend with them.  I've come to love these characters in my time with the game and they've become some of the favorites in the Phantasy Star series as a whole.

Completing the game unlocks harder difficulties and thus the opportunity for more valuable loot which keeps the replay value strong.

Graphics / Sound

 My screen shots don't really do the game justice, but PSZ is probably one of the nicest looking games for the original DS.  The backgrounds and characters are nicely detailed and animated quite fluidly.  The sound effects themselves are ported directly from PSO, which are pretty timeless on their own.  The familiar hum of a saber is quite nostalgic.

The score fits perfectly depending on the area you're visiting and changes depending on if you're just exploring of if you've been ambushed by hostiles.  Thankfully there aren't any lullabies like the PSO caves theme.  Everything is relatively upbeat here.

It's also worthy to note that the game boots up super fast and pauses itself when the DS is closed making it perfect for bite sized sessions of hunting while you're on the go.

Multiplayer and Communication

It's possible to play the game local and online multiplayer via wifi.  The game was released within the life cycle of the original Nintendo DS model, so the obvious downfall of the online mode is that it relies on Nintendo friend codes to be able to connect to your friends.  It is possible to play with strangers, however due to Nintendo's original vision of online play Sega had to leave out the ability to communicate.  Due to the age of the game it is rare to see anyone waiting to find a game in the non friend code lobby though.  Fortunately there is still a community for the game, albeit small, you just have to look for it.  There are active threads of players exchanging friend codes at the PSO-World forums.  Unfortunately there are no lobbies as we knew in PSO, so meeting new people has to take place exclusively outside of the game.

Communicating online is fun and can be entertaining as it's done via the touch screen.  Draw or write out a message with the stylus to send it to your friends.  You can create short cuts to drawings you've done previously and even copy ones that you've seen from your friends.  I'm usually weary of talking in handheld games that don't have voice support, but the touch screen capabilities make communicating in PSZ much less tiring. 





Final thoughts

At the end of the day if you're looking for your next big online multiplayer experience PSZ might not be able to deliver thanks to the friend code hurdle.  However, the game does stand strong as as a single player action RPG.  Like all other games in this genre, it'll take you years to amass every single piece of loot in the game, so if you're a collector or completionist Phantasy Star Zero will keep you busy for a long while.  If you're hungry for an RPG with a purely action driven combat it's got you covered there too.

Pros:

-Combat "feels" like the original Phantasy Star Online.
-Awesome music and graphics for a early model NDS game.

- Story stays interesting throughout and connects itself to earlier entries of the series through its many quests.
-Online and offline multiplayer options available.

Cons:

-Friend codes.  It'll take you some work outside of the game in meeting people before you can get together for a worthwhile online experience.

My All Time Favorite RPG Battle Themes

One thing that helps make or break a traditional style turn based RPG for me is the battle music.  I mean, if you're going to be doing a lot of fighting then the battle music has to be good right?  Fortunately this is one thing most RPGs actually get right, but I wanted to share a few examples of what I feel are the best battle themes of all time. 

A good battle theme for me needs to be upbeat of course, and follow a score that can convey a struggle or challenge for the characters.  Double points go to those games that actually have different themes depending on how well you're doing or how far you've progressed in the game.

Below, in no particular order, are my favorite battle music themes from turn based RPGs:


Chrono Trigger main battle theme:  Whether you're fighting those Imp things in Guardia forest or storming Magus' castle, this theme always sounds like the battle is of epic importance.

 Suikoden Confrontation with monsters:  I love how at first this theme sounds like you've been ambushed or something and the party is in serious trouble and eventually changes to a sort of triumphant tune that suggest you're making a comeback.  When the song is ready to loop again it sounds like things are swinging in your enemies favor again.

Phantasy Star IV battle theme:  This theme screams mutant/cyborg/demon that's ready to savage your body and make a meal out of you if you don't stay on your toes!

Phantasy Star II  Rise or Fall:  These theme actually evokes the same feelings in me as the Chrono Trigger one.  Appropriately titled Rise or Fall, it makes every battle sound of epic importance.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest:  This music in this game was too epic sounding for the silly game itself.  It makes all the battles feel like serious business indeed.

Final Fantasy IV:  This theme never lets you forget that you've embarked on the ultimate quest. 

So those are my particular favorites.  What are some of yours?  This is only the tip of the iceberg of battle themes out there.  I'd love to hear what other people out there feel are the best in their opinions.

Thanks for reading, and listening!

Phantasy Star Phakes

I was going through some of my old Phantasy Star related artwork and screen shots and stumbled upon some of my early Photoshop work.  I remember doing this for a message board that was discussing whether or not we would ever see games like Phantasy Star Online or Phantasy Star Universe in handheld form (we didn't have long after that until we had the answer, but I'll save that for another post).

Anyway, the first is obviously supposed to be funny.  I grew up with these Tiger Electronics hand helds and it seemed like there was one for every franchise you could think of.  The second was a mockup I did of what the touch screen could be used for if a Phantasy Star title released for Nintendo DS.  I personally think I was on to something but Sega did pretty good on their own anyway.

Phantasy Star Online 2: Worries and Wish Lists

The Phantasy Star Online series is my favorite Online Multiplayer RPG series hands down. The atmospheres, character designs, loot and monstrosities Sega has created captivate me every time. Much more so than other Sci-Fi fantasy offerings. It was the first and only series where I've created a character from scratch and found myself creating back stories for them in my head, who they are and what they're about, and really caring about them. Couple all of that with the fighting mechanics of an action game and endless amounts of loot to seek (strange and fantastic) and you've got a winner.

There's only one problem in the equation, at least for the NA/EU fans out there: Sega themselves.

I love Phantasy Star and what Sega cooks up for the series. I just wish once they were done they would hand things over to another company to handle the online side of the games. I've held this sentiment since PSO Episodes 1 & 2 for the Gamecube. A wretched hive of scum and villainy was an understatement.

The NA/EU servers had little to no support from moderators to regulate weapon hacking, level moding and the dreaded FSOD (frozen screen of death) that ran rampant, all while still collecting the monthly fee from players to access the game.

Later versions were better, such as Episode 4 Blue Burst for PC and it's successor Phantasy Star Universe. Hackers were still present but at least they couldn't force your console/PC to freeze and boot you from the game or warp your character back to level 0. Sega themselves caused enough discouragement on their own though, more on that below.

Today Sega is working on the next entry to the franchise simply titled Phantasy Star Online 2. Looking at the videos of the game it's hard not to get excited. The graphics and character design options alone has Sega's fingers creeping closer to my wallet already. However, looking at their track record with the series makes me weary to take the plunge. Are things just going to end up the same as in previous versions of the series? Time will tell, but for now I've compiled a list of things, that if implemented, would make PSO2 a hit for years to come rather than slump into another niche fan only title.

1. Spread the love. If you played any online version of Phantasy Star you're probably well aware that Sega favors the Japanese user base and makes them a much higher priority over the NA/EU players. I guess this is to be expected since they're a Japanese company after all. However if you expect to collect a monthly fee to play then you need to offer the same level of customer support and content for all players equally. Which leads me to my next point.

2. Hand the reigns over to Sega of America for our online handling. SOA has given a hand with customer support over the years but it's usually lack luster due to the shadow that SOJ casts over them. Quest updates and content, along with player moderation has largely been handled by SOJ with SOA having to seek their approval to make any moves. They need to give SOA the rights to release content and quests as the NA/EU fans demand it. Which leads to the next point.

3. Make all content available to the entire player base equally. The amount of content that is Japanese exclusive usually dwarfs what is available to the english speaking players. Phantasy Star Universe for Xbox 360 is way behind in the amount of new quests and avatar costumes that are available on the Japanese PC servers. I understand that it takes time to translate these things, but again, if you're expecting a monthly fee to be paid then a higher priority should be given. If that's too much of a hassle, then let SOA develop new missions for the English speaking players to keep things fresh.

4. No time released content. There's no sense in this. Do you expect us to believe that you're still developing the content that's already on the disc? The content on the disc should be released as the player progresses through the missions, just like the original PSO. When Phantasy Star Universe launched you were able to experience all the content allowed in probably a days worth of playing. This effectively caused a large sector of the players to abandon the game in it's infancy because they had simply ran out of things to experience. By the time they realized that their release schedule was too slow the damage had already been done. Let's hope they remember this mistake.

5. Keep the player base together. There should not be dedicated separate servers to split the NA/EU players from the Japanese. You can still let SOA handle our customer service and missions. There shouldn't be an issue about exclusive content because there have been Japanese exclusive missions present on certain versions of PSO where all players were together. If you divide the servers you divide the user base. History has shown that some players prefer to import and play on the Japanese servers because they know they'll receive better support from Sega. It's sad that this is true.

6. Put the NPCs in the back seat, not the player. The thing I hated most about the Phantasy Star Universe story missions was that my character was just an extra. Sure, sometimes the characters would look at you and ask "what do you think? Yes or No?" but it never made any real difference in the story. The player's character should be the center of attention and the decisions they make should determine how the story unfolds. No one gave half a rat's ass about Ethan Waber or his struggles, especially after you've taken the time to give life to your own character. Don't force us to support some NPC, it should be the other way around. Hopefully this wont be an issue if the new "dynamic" cut in story interuptions are what I think they are.

7. Advertise your game! Usually you can get more people to try your product, if...you know...let them know it exists! Ask your average gamer what their thoughts on the Phantasy Star Online series are and they'll probably say something along the lines of "yeah that was an awesome Dreamcast game!" If you want players to try this series you need to get some tv spots and banners on some gaming sites. A single ad for a single month in the back of a Game Informer isn't going to cut it. Phantasy Star has the worst PR support I've ever seen for a game. Of course it'd be different if Sega wasn't so focused on wasting money on Sonic advertisements (games that usually sell themselves regardless of the quality).

I could probably keep writing on this subject all day but I think I've said enough. I haven't even touched on the Portable versions of the games either. In a nutshell a lot of problems would be fixed if Sega would at least ACT like they care about their player base outside of Japan.

In most instances we communicate to these companies with our wallets, but in the case of Phantasy Star they're more likely to pull the plug outside of Japan rather than fix things if sales went down. At least we'd still have our slew of Sonic games though, yippee.

Phantasy Star Online 2 trailer, my thoughts

I'm a long time fan of the Phantasy Star Online series starting with the Sega Dreamcast (well I actually got my start on Phantasy Star 2 for Sega Genesis but I'll talk about that another time). Over the years the Online series has brought me many good times and many headaches, but more good moments than bad, more on that below.

After many add-ons to the original Phantasy Star online, episode 1 and 2, blue burst etc, and then the jump to Phantasy Star Universe, it looks like it's time for the next evolution of the Phantasy Star Online series. Check out the trailer below for the first look at Phantasy Star Online 2.



What we can take from this video:

-Three races return so far: Humans, Newmans, Casts. There doesn't seem to be any sign of the Beast race from PSU thus far.
-3 classes return: Hunter, Ranger, and Force.
-Maneuvers such as rolling and possibly manual blocking are included from the Phantasy Star portable series.
-Cut in chat returns from Phantasy Star Universe.
-New to this series is the ability to jump! It appears that you can attack from the air after a jump as well.
-Randomized weather conditions can occur. Who knows if this will affect gameplay or if it's just for aesthetics.
-Randomized dungeons return.
-Random cut in events can interrupt your missions? This might keep repeat runs fresh.
-The official website shows the return of Section IDs if you look closely enough at the characters.

My opinion on the announcement and video:

The game certainly looks exciting and the action seems to be more fast paced than recent entries of the series. The graphics have improved a great deal over Phantasy star Universe as you can see from the screen shots below.

I love the added ability to jump and I hope they'll actually use this for platforming segments.

I think the game overall will be fun and as past entries of the series have shown, a good time investment as well. For some reason I've always found it easier to make new friends in the Phantasy Star games rather than more traditional MMO's.

The trouble with the online Phantasy Star games usually comes from Sega's management of them. The extremely slow distribution of new levels drove many of the players away from PSU in it's early months. They seem to be very slow with overall updates to the games in general as well. Security has always been a bit of an issue, mainly just cheaters, but this seemed to get a little better with later entries to the series.

If Sega wants this to be a successful title they need to take notes from other MMO developers such as Blizzard in regards to updates and dealing with cheaters/hackers. Especially if they are expecting to collect a subscription fee from this title. With the way they handled Phantasy Star Universe, it was pretty laughable that it was pay to play.

The biggest thing they need to get right out of the gate is allowing access to almost all content on the disk from the get go. No slow timed releasing of planets or any other nonsense like that. If I'm going to pay to play this thing I'd rather the money go to the development team on the creation of actual original missions.

Only time will tell if Sega can learn from their mistakes and hopefully make this the best Phantasy Star Online game yet.

Screen shots

The in game character models look beautiful. I can't wait to see more of the game. More screen shots can be found at the official game website: http://pso2.jp/











Bonus

Shout out to my Phantasy Star team TTATT (Tea Time All The Time). Can't wait to take on this new adventure with you guys! Expect a revival for Neia and Ry ;)