Technical Concepts of Phantasy Star Online, Universe, and Portable 2

I was contemplating whether to write this post, you see it's on the technical side of things and there's a few concepts that are hard to understand.  The first part goes into how Sega developed the character creation system of PSU and how it was adapted to PSPo2. The second part will outline the network aspects of how Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe handles positioning data.

To start this post you need to understand 2 concepts. The first is linear interpolation. Think of this like the in-betweeners of animation. It animates the movement of an object from one position to another. So a basic example of this, if you had a ball rolling down a hill, you would place your first scene at the top of the hill, and the second scene at the bottom of the hill. The computer then animates what happens in between both scenes through linear interpolation (But of course I'm no expert on this..) The point is for the computer to make the animation smooth between two points!

The second concept is server/client model. Clients are basically the Dreamcasts, Gamecubes, PC, PS2. Server is Sega's computer which you connect to for online gameplay.

(My own commentary will appear this way)

PSP2 Plastic Surgery

The left is the face shows a model from Phantasy Star Universe, and the right show's its equivalent in Phantasy Star Portable 2. If you played the demo of PSpo2, you may have noticed the facial slider no longer appears in the Character Creation screen. At the CEDEC, Sega developers gave a little insight on the technicalities of the PSP to explain why the slider was removed.

In Playstation Portable, the resolution is very low. Characters lose distinct details of the face when viewed from far away. The team decided to construct new faces that are clearer and easier to identify on the PSP.

In the example shown above, the eyes were made much larger so that one can identify her character from a far distance.

With this compromise, it allows the game to transmit less data for the character's themselves. The lecture continues to show how to implement cost cutting measures when designing characters for an online game.

 

Reducing Production Costs

Cost efficient measures were applied to the new default outfits for the races. When you develop whole outfits, (instead of the separate tops and bottoms like PSU has), the production time is greatly reduced.

The main star of these cost efficient measures are the hairstyles!

 

In this example above, you have two characters, A and B who both have the same outfit and facial features. It is determined that A and B are different individuals because they each have different hairstyles.

 

In this second example, if you have two characters with the same hair but change their outfit, it would be considered the same character.  (Personally I don't agree with this line of thinking. In some games, changing your hairstyle greatly changes the identity of your character. Yet in this game, I still feel that I have the same character even if the hairstyle has drastically changed.)

 

Even having such a slight change can attribute to character variation. The picture above show two characters with similar hairstyles. Their impressions are different because one has longer hair than the other. This changes the overall outline of her face. That modification took around 10 minutes to create, making this very cost efficient.

 

All 3 shots in the example above use the same face, and eye color. Comparing this picture with the one above it, their faces appear to have decreased in size.  However, these hairstyles do not change the model of the face in any way.

Since online games demand a large amount of character variation, having characters produced this way becomes very efficient. This efficiency isn't just to cut production time, but it also reduces network traffic since you aren't keeping track of many features (like the facial slider).  So with this concept in place, it allows many characters to gather in a lobby without increasing  loading times.

 


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Phantasy Star Universe On Demand; PSPo2 Challenge 2 Stage 4 and ESRB

Today's major announcement; Phantasy Star Universe for Xbox 360 will be available for Games on Demand. Though the current price isn't mentioned, it will finally put an end to those who can no longer find the game in retail stores. Though this problem never existed for the PC version, (Thanks to the internet…), but still, it's nice to know that newcomers have a chance to actually play the game. Ambition of Illuminus remains free and must be downloaded in order to play the game online.

[via segaforums]

Challenge 2-4

On July 28th, 2010 a new challenge mission will be released. Known as チャレンジⅡ ステージ4・金轟 Challenge Season II Stage 4: Gold Roar. This mission features the boss Duga Dunga, as well as several gimmicks you have to overcome. In order to play this mission you must pass the previous 3 challenge missions in Season 2. This mission is available for the Japanese Phantasy Star Portable 2.

 

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Rated T for Teen

The ESRB has rated Phantasy Star Portable 2 T for Teen. Just for fun, we'll take a look at their description of the game:

This is a role-playing game in which players engage in combat and complete quests to advance a storyline about a planet attempting space travel and domination. Players roam through new territories and battle dragons, demons, and other creatures. Players can slash at enemies with swords and shoot at them with futuristic guns. Damage is usually indicated by a blinking effect, puffs/sparks, and brief cries of pain.

Some female characters wear revealing outfits, or their breasts jiggle when they move. During the course of the game, characters engage in dialogue that is occasionally suggestive (e.g., "Perhaps you can get it up, too" and "I always liked having you on top"). The storyline includes a long discussion about a man's bar tab and a couple of scenes involving a champagne-bottle weapon. [ESRB]

Some females wear revealing outfits? Oh ya? Wait till they see… I do like suggestive lines and all which I can assume the examples above may be between between Crouch and Ursula.  Then of course the champagne bottle weapon is one of Chelsea's SUV Weapons which she only uses during one awesome cutscene.

 

Phantasy Star Universe Cosplay

With Comic Con going on, I was wondering if anyone dressed up as Phantasy Star characters, please send them in if you do. On a random search through the depths of the Internet I found some pretty accurate designs of outfits from PSU+AOTI characters. They even made sure to get Maya's "proportions" correct… Can you spot Lil' Hyuga?

[via gensoumelody]

Festival and Summer

Sakai gives us some close up shots of the new items and weapons released last week. Interestingly enough the male character makes sure to never "moon" the camera.

Male wearing the Light Festival Loincloth with a Lantern TCSM

 

Female wearing her School Bathing Suit while carrying a Watergun

[via pspo2blog]

  • Next time we'll feature some of our favorite items in the item design contest.

Sega Announces Phantasy Star Portable 2 "PSP The Best", Ambition of Illuminus Free on Xbox Live

Today's major announcement but I'm sure you saw it coming, Phantasy Star Portable 2 "PSP The Best" will be released on Japan's shorelines on August 26, 2010.  This announcement will hopefully put to rest fears about the product code expiring.

To recap, if you have imported PSPo2, you must register your product code  on the Japanese Playstation Store before December 3rd, 2010. However, you may alternatively wait for PSPo2 "The Best" version which may or may not have a product code expiration date. Though if you are waiting that long you might as well get the English version for NA/EU expected to be released Fall 2010. (Unofficial US date 9/14/2010)

 

What's new in PSPo2 THE BEST?

"The Best" version of the game is equivalent to "Greatest Hits" in English speaking territories. However, instead of just a lower price, the game will come equipped with two new weapons as well as a sheet that lists each and every Vision Phone Password which has magically appeared on this site.

ウィングスパーダ&ウィングスクード

Purchasers will receive Wing Spada and Wing Scudo product codes!

[via pspo2thebest]

Games ON Demand

Sega of America has announced Phantasy Star Universe Ambitions of Illuminus is free to download over Xbox Live. The game still requires the original Phantasy Star Universe disc to play. It is expected that Sega will make announcement about the availability of Phantasy Star Universe on Games on Demand. However they have not released any details about pricing information at this time.

 

Guardians Chronicle

Sega of Japan has announced a brand new event for PSU Japan titled Guardians Chronicle. This event will be hosted by Clamp our resident HP lookalike. The event features several popular missions of the past. The old missions will be readjusted so that new items will be mixed in with the original drops. The total number of enemies defeated will be tallied once again. In addition, the game will keep track of the amount of enemies you defeat. You can use this number to obtain various rewards. Available July 8th, 2010 to August 5th, 2010.

 ニレンカムイ (Nirenkamui)

[via gc]