Haiiiii! Gurhal Channel 5 PSP SPECIAL!

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Official Site updated today with the most disappointing update ever! I think most of us were expecting huge game breaking developments and instead we are introduced to a new propaganda video simply known as Fun!Fan!

Fun!Fan! is hosted by Producer Satoshi Sakai in his goofy furniture salesman attire. He is joined by Yui Ogura, who cosplays as Hal (and believe me it does not look cute on her), and Arisa Noto, who is a part of the "Hello! Pro Egg". You can read their descriptions on the official site if you really want to know more about them. 

Part of the video is up on Youtube. Hopefully Sega doesn't take it down.

 

Transfer Item Get!

Using your PSP1 save data to PSP2,
you will get a saber named Igzam (Exam)!

Notable Screenshots

Dodgeroll through a laser fence?

 

An object (might be Crad-6?) is shot into space.

 

"Phantasy Star Portable [PSP: The Best]" will include a 63 minute movie UMD disc. The movie title "Phantasy Star Universe Chronicle" will sum up the Phantasy Star Universe series starting with Chapter 1: The SEED Invasion, Chapter 2:  Ambition of Illuminus, and ends with the Chapter 3: Seal of Rykros. It will feature narration from  Ethan, Laia, and Lumia,  and it also includes voice work for Episode 3.  The video also contains the opening movie for Phantasy Star Portable 2.

As seen in the Fun! Fan! video, the movie appears to be shot using in game cut scenes (whether real time or FMV) to explain the story.

 

Collaboration Speculation!

Phantasy Star Portable 2 will have a collaboration effort with famous characters and companies! One Japanese blog speculates the game "could" include collaboration items similar to Phantasy Star Zero. So far they deduced that Miku Hatsune is one of the fuzzy pictures in this screenshot. I believe if you follow games SEGA recently released, you might be able to figure out the rest of them. Did you ever wonder why the  Fun! Fan! video had a commercial for Valkyrie Chronicles 2? Hmm…

 

Official Blog Updates 9/3/ – 9/4/09

• Producer Sakai says he will announce details about transferring from PSP1 to PSP2.
• He says he is sorry for the back and forth of information.
• PSP2 has a Variable Frame Rate of 30FPS.
  PSP1 only used a constant 20FPS.
  
• He does this to let the gameplay feel as smooth as possible with the amount of processing the game has to do.
• FMV cut scenes  were added during important points in the story.
• Rappy Kid re-announces PSPo2 will appear at the Tokyo Game Show.
• Rappy Kid says you can get some promotional "Collaboration Goods" if you play the game at TGS09.
  

The blog comments in Japanese seems to praise the Fun! Fan! program, but overseas we are so confused and annoyed by it.

They plan to do more Fun! Fan! videos atleast twice a month. They plan to have a new video at the end of September.

[via fun! fan!]

[ad#Google Adsense]

Well finally Producer Sakai, whom I nicknamed as "Mr. Beat around the bush" finally spilled the beans on some game changing aspects. Shougai PSO also updated and this post will reflect what was stated in both areas for clearer understanding.

• Photon Arts Changes
  • You will not level photon arts as you did in PSU and PSP1.
  • Photon Art Disks will include the Photon Art with a level attached to it.
  • You can find Photon Art Disks in missions, shops, or as a reward for achieving a title.
  • You will remember ALL photon arts you have ever learned, (side note: The 36 PA cap would be removed).
  • Details uncertain about what Photon Arts each class can use.
    

• Common Storage Box
  • The Common Storage Box can be shared by all your characters.
  • You can access the common storage box  at any shop.
  • While you are in a mission, you can send extra, unnecessary items to the common storage box, even if you are full.
  • Sending an item while in a mission is free!
  • The Max number of items stored in the storage box is 1000.
  • The max stack of items in the storage box now becomes 999.

• No Grinders!
  • You will not use Upgrade Grinders to grind a weapon.
  • Instead you will grind them by paying with meseta!
  • The price is based on the "Grade" and the number of times you can grind the weapon.
    
  • The numerical value to strengthen your weapon is still random.
  • Some items can change if  you grind them (side note: similar to the PSP1 weapon "Beefedge Raria" becomes Beefedge Media )
  • There is a secret the producer doesn't want to say at this time.

• Drop Item Icons
  • Similar to PSZero, the drop icon changed into an 8 sided shape (octahedron).
  • Rare Item is still a red box.
  • A rainbow colored shining box was also added.

End notes

Well I believe that paying for "weapon grinds" with Meseta is just for convenience. In Phantasy Star Universe, it's a pretty annoying process to first match the grinding grade, buy the grinder base, synth the grinder, then carry said weapon and grinders to the specific planet who manufactured the weapon, then grind the weapon (and pray it doesn't fail).

I don't think Phantasy Star Universe players will be happy about the Photon Art change. At least it stops us from AFK bullet leveling. (Darn you Sega!)

[via pspo:2 blog]