Phantasy Star Portable 2: Snowy Mountain, Client Order, Story Mode

Story Mode

story mode variable level

If you notice in the screenshot above, this story mode mission has a variable level difficulty between 1 through 20. The higher level you are, the harder the monsters.  For this particular mission, the highest level cap is 20. If you are level 21, the monsters will stay at Level 20 difficulty.

This variable level system was implemented because in PSP1, players would achieve higher levels during multimode. As they switched to story missions, the game would turn out much easier than expected.

story mission

Free missions on the other hand have a fixed level difficulty. Free Missions levels are based on C/B/A/S rank so feel free to play missions much easier for you.

As you play through Story Mode you are set up with a bunch of choices during gameplay. These choices affect the ending which you'll get. (Speaking of which, Terada in his many rambling blog posts keeps mentioning a TLUE ending with Magashi? It's probably likely the L is supposed to be an R.) (Also Sakai mentioned Dark Falz is not the final boss of the game).

 

Will Vivienne Appear (Part 2)

Oh yes, Vivienne is no longer blurred out in the screenshots and will appear in a Side Story Mission and a Extra mission. These missions will pop up as you clear Story Mode. Famitsu Magazine mentioned how her appearance in the game might actually be fan service. 

Even if you did not import your character from PSP1, you are still able to play that mission with her. (This should stop that debate over which ending is cannon…)

 

Item Trader

After exchanging partner cards with a friend, you can exchange items at the cafe, as long as they are not A/S rank and rare items. To combat drop trading, (you sneaky people) there is a limitation to what items you can drop on the ground. In multimode and internet multimode, only recovery items, buff items, and traps can be placed on the ground.

You can place down any item within a challenge mission. However you can not take any items with you during a challenge mission. Any item you pick up will disappear once the challenge mission is over.  (I don't believe this applies to challenge mission rewards.)

 

Client Order

client order33

You can receive requests from Elias, Roletto (Loretto), and Pit in the Cafe. The content of each request is different based on the person who requested it. When you complete a request, meseta, room items, weapons, etc, can be obtained. You perform requests by following the instructions while playing a free mission.

  • Elias restricts your time and weapons you can hold to clear the mission
    (She may ask you to clear a mission under  7 minutes.)
  • Roletto wants you to clear several missions.
    (May ask you to complete two or more missions)
  • Pit wants you to defeat a specified target.
    (Defeat a number of a specific enemy. For example defeat 50 Naval and Naval Rudda)

You can receive requests of up to 3 people at the same time, however you can only do one of the requests for each person respectively. (In other words you can take on Pit, Elias, and Roletto requests together, but you can not do 2 Elias requests at the same time.)

Cafe2

When you clear the free mission and succeeded with their requests you can receive the reward at the cafe.  A new request is generated after completion of a previous request. You can check the current requests by checking the mission information section in the start menu.

  • Example Rewards you may receive From Elias
    • Buster (Weapon), Tornado Throw (Room Item), 2500 Meseta
  • Example Rewards you may receive from Pit
    • Rappy Coffee Cup (Room item) Soda Brekka (Weapon) 2500 Meseta.

Snowy Mountain

snowy mountain2

snowy mountain

Welcome to Elbars (Elbals) Snowy Field in Phantasy Star Portable 2

A new area is introduced called, "Elbars Snowy Mountain"  It consists of an ice cave and an outside field covered in snow. This area was shown in promo video 3 with the snowball that ran over Emilia many times. Douga Dounga (Duga Dunga) and Gohma Dilla appear at the end in a boss fight.

Douga Dunga

Douga Dounga moves slowly and the laser is fired at random as it rotates. The Gohma Dilla make this fight especially hard. I think your Just Guarding skills should be top notch to prevent the missile knock backs.

 

Extras!

SeBossess

Hi Res of New Bosses

 

 

Cool Rappy T-shirts for Phantasy Star Zero

[via pspo2 blog + mike + Famitsu]

Phantasy Star Zero Microsite Opens

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Phantasy Star Zero now has a microsite. So because of this I can now update my Japanese terms to the American terms. During November, older blog posts related to PSZero will be updated to keep in sync with the American version, though I also have to keep up with PSP2 news so please be patient! I'm also very surprised to see this blog listed on the fan pages. Thanks Sega!

Phantasy Star Universe GM's Ruby Eclipse and Edward will be holding an event in San Francisco on November 4th from 5:00PM to 8:00PM. If you attend we'd like you to not only ask questions about PSZero but about the fate of PSU. Shougai PSO speculates that Sega will announce PSZero Mini, PSU Supplemental update, and maybe even the PSP2 release date. (Remember these are speculations…) The rappy balloon will also be given out to attendees, for now 30 people will be invited to the event.

 

A Mini Guide for Phantasy Star Zero

This is just a mini guide to get your feet off the ground. It will orient you to some aspects of the game, and may eventually become very long down the road. If you need a full walkthrough for the entire game, please consult Gamefaqs. Below is a guide for the Japanese version of the game. Some names have been changed since the release. 

Your First Steps On Earth

As you start the game, you choose your character, depending on which race you choose, you will start at a different location, but will  meet up with Sarisa if your a Cast, Kai if your a human, or Reve if your a newman. You'll then be whisked away to Dairon city.

In this guide I chose a Human character to start with,
if you chose another race your story will vary.

weapons-shop

A grizzly man is the perfect type to sell you weapons.

items

The Item Shop owner, you can tell she's good with her hands.

Within the city, walk a bit forward passing the purple cast named Ohyo. To your left you should see see two large wagon carts. The first wagon cart is teal/green with a lady in pink in front of it. This is the アイテムショップ (Item Shop). The second wagon on the left is red, a bearded man in a cowboy hat is standing in front of it. This is the ウェポンショップ (Weapon Shop). On the opposite side of the wagon is a purple teepee with a midget cast in front of it, this is the Custom Shop.

track

No she's not Sailor Moon, but she will help store your personal items.

If you go inside the building in front of you, some dialogue may appear, you will also see a human named Grey wearing a cowboy outfit towards your left.  A little ways behind him is a lady in blonde, she will be your Personal Counter where you can store your items and meseta. The bottom option in the personal counter menu is your Player Record, which keeps track of the enemies you defeated and other useless information. On the right side of this area you can talk to Lindo, a purple cast with big breasts.

dairon-city

Walk over to the door to the right near Lindo and you will meet Dairon of Dairon City! After some dialogue with Kai, Dairon, and Grey, walk back towards the Personal Counter but instead click on the lady next to her with brown/green hair.

quest

Select the second option to start a quest at the Quest Counter

This is the Quest Counter. From here on out you will receive your quests here. Select the second option to start your first mission. It will first show you the difficulty which is on Normal, now select again and a map will show up. (Depending on what race you are the first mission will vary in location). You'll see the top two options grayed out when you are currently in a mission. Make sure you exit the counter, do not reselect the quest menu, or else she will ask if you want to forfeit the quest.

On the bottom screen of the DS you will see a blue dot.  Walk towards that blue dot to the room in front of you. Head over to the center of this room to start your first mission, and Enjoy Your Game!

After the completion of the main game you will be able to select hard mode. While in hard mode you can optionally complete the Eternal Tower, a very massive tower with 101 floors. There is a boss battle on every 10th floor, including the last 101th floor. It can take 6-10 hours to complete.  After playing all missions on hard mode including Eternal Tower on the same character, you can unlock super hard mode.

Photon Arts

Photon arts is a concept carried over from Phantasy Star Universe. With Photon Arts you can unleash a custom powerful attack that will hit multiple enemies or multiple times. All photon arts are new but only one has been carried over from PSU, the famously annoying Tornado Dance as a Double Saber Photon Art.

When you first start the game, your weapon will not have a Photon Art. Fear not, unlike PSU, weapons that drop have photon arts already attached! You can check if a weapon has a Photon Art by pressing Start, click the first menu called アイテム (Item), scroll to the weapons page, then press the L or R buttons until the right sidebar is on page 3. The top entry lists your エレメント (Element) and below it lists your フォトンアーツ (Photon Art). Press Start again to exit the menu.

To perform a Photon Art, hold down one of the attack buttons until a puff of smoke appears from the weapon. Release the button and your photon art will be unleashed. If you don't have enough PP, the photon art will not perform. Use モノフルイド  (monofluid)  in your Items menu to regain PP.

Techniques

Returning in Phantasy Star Zero yet again is the ever so popular techniques. These "magic" type actions can heal, buff, or attack. Techniques are available only to humans and newmans. Hunters and Rangers only have access to a limited amount of techniques and can use them up to  level 10. Force based classes have no limitations with techniques and can use them up to level 15. To learn which techniques each class can learn, consult the classes guide.

alresta1

Alresta can heal players nearby, but where is everyone?

Techniques are subdivided into two types, normal and charged. For example using レスタ (Resta), a normal healing technique will heal your character only. If you charge resta by holding it down, a puff of smoke will appear. As you release the button, you will deliver アルレスタ (Alresta) to everyone nearby and heal them also.

You learn techniques by using them in your items menu. On your first mission you may find a Resta disk. Press Start, click on  アイテム (Item) and scroll right to the last page. You should see Techniques and their LV (Level) listed there if you picked them up. Click on the technique disk to learn them.

action pallete

You can add レスタ (Resta) or any other technique to your Action Pallete by pressing Start, then select the third option パレット (Pallete), select which entry you would like to edit, and scroll down until you see the Resta icon which looks like a thick green plus sign. Press Start again to exit the menu.

Rare Blocks and Enemies

rare-blocksrare-enemies

While playing the game you may encounter rare blocks. These rare blocks hold interesting things like a Rappy Nest, an Arena, or even the Naura Cake Shop.  As you enter these rare blocks you can earn titles which gives you special prizes.

Read on for more Phantasy Star Zero News
The Mini GuideThe Story
The WeaponsThe Classes