We’re Here for the Grind
The Phantasy Star series has undergone some serious changes, since its Sega Master System debut in the late 1980s. While it eventually broke from the more traditional sci-fi/fantasy RPG roots that won so many players over in the first four games in favor of a MMORPG format, the series eventually settled on a gameplay mixture that combined a strong solo campaign with expansive online multiplayer worlds in Phantasy Star Universe and its expansion, Ambition of the Illuminus.
Drawing substantially from those two titles, Phantasy Star Portable is heavy on the customization, loot hunting, and sci-fi dungeon-crawling but skimps out on the presentation. With an unspectacular tale, often repetitive gameplay, and a handful of other issues, this handheld action-RPG may make some players ache for a return to the series’ early days of 8-bit glory. Even so, it has some redeeming qualities beyond its portability, particularly if you like to pound buttons, kill scores of beasts, and collect lots of shiny things.
Before delving into either the solo or multiplayer modes, you’ll create a character from the ground up. The level of customizability you’re given in creating your character’s appearance, and in modifying their outfits and gear later in the game, is absolutely insane. After picking from male and female variations of four different races, you can tweak your character from head to toe. You can change their face shape and look, eyebrows and eyelashes, ears, skin color, hairstyle and color, undergarment color, physical proportions, clothing, voice types and pitch. Each category has tons of options to choose from. You’ll also pick your starting job and a partner machine to help you in battle. Of course, this is all before you even get into the meat of the game itself. Phantasy Star Portable features tons of items, weapons, outfits, gizmos, and other goodies to deck out your character’s appearance and abilities in battle. Customization features certainly aren’t new in handheld games, but Phantasy Star Portable takes things to the extreme – in a good way.
Taking place in the Gurhal Star System just after Phantasy Star Universe and before Ambition of the Illuminus, the story in Portable fires up when native beasts begin showing signs of infection by the alien SEED. As a rookie GUARDIAN recruit partnered with Vivienne, an upgraded CAST model who struggles at coping with being a robot capable of expressing human emotion, you’ll help investigate terrorist activity tied into the re-emergence of the once-contained SEED. Unfortunately, the story serves as little more than a thin justification for hopping from planet-to-planet on arbitrary missions to slay evil beasts and take their goodies. While that’s fine for some gamers, the fact much of the tale is presented through uninspired, static 2D portraits and text boxes married with grating voice-overs exacerbates the problem.
Phantasy Star Portable’s gameplay centers on action-oriented dungeon-hack missions. After you’ve formed a party for a particular mission and stocked up on supplies at the planetary hub, your group is dropped into a “dungeon” (the visual themes vary from grassy forests and caves to tech-laden interior structures) and must fight its way out. While some areas have you collecting keys to access locked laser gates, most of the time you’ll battle your way through numerous areas, slaying foes, collecting goods, and then tackling a boss battle at the end. Certain missions advance the story, but you’ll also have the option to take on side missions to level-up your party and hunt for items. In some instances, you’re forced to explore a few regular missions while waiting a set time for a story mission to open up. This formula cycles steadily throughout the game. It’s repetitive, yet players with a fondness for loot-hunting and level-grinding will appreciate how much the game leans on those elements and manages to pull them off quite well. The story itself may not push you to dump dozens of hours into the adventure but searching tirelessly for new weapons, rare equipment, special outfits, and other gear will.
Monsters and other foes will pop-up as you explore mission dungeons, and real-time battles engage seamlessly. In single-player mode, you’re A.I.-controlled party members will run around blasting and hacking at enemies and using support magic with varying degrees of ability – generally straddling the line between helpfulness and ineptness.
Monsters and other foes will pop-up as you explore mission dungeons, and real-time battles engage seamlessly. In single-player mode, you’re A.I.-controlled party members will run around blasting and hacking at enemies and using support magic with varying degrees of ability – generally straddling the line between helpfulness and ineptness.
There’s a staggering a variety of weapons and special ability add-ons in the game, which makes combat more interesting. You’ll be able to equip everything from humongous swords and massive spears to high-caliber firepower and hand pistols. Some weapons require both hands to wield, while others are small enough to use in one. This lets you dual-wield pistols, swords, or a combination of the two. Since there’s no way to pause the game on the battlefield, the handy Action Palette system lets you stack quite a few of your favorite weapons into a quick-access menu that lets you switch out your armaments in mid-fight or use items with ease. Engaging in innumerable battles and collecting equipment upgrades to up your killing prowess in subsequent battles in and of itself is one of the more addictive aspects of the game.
The third-person perspective gives you a decent view of the action, except when the camera occasionally flits around to awkward angles when turning. In the midst of battle, the game visuals are quite solid. Party members are nicely detailed and every minute change in your equipment, armor, and clothing is visible. Phantasy Star Portable’s other areas are less visually stimulating. Actual animated cutscenes are infrequent, and free-roaming character interactions outside of battle have been cut down to oversimplified 2D overhead maps and menus.
With so many options for weapons, equipment, abilities, items, clothing, and other things to purchase and uncover, delving into Phantasy Star Portable missions will quickly become addiction forming for players with a love for the grind (both level and loot varieties). Though the game’s other aspects fall short in some regards, its strength and focus as a dungeon-hack RPG are hard to ignore.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
Everything looks good on the battlefield, but the lame 2D hub map and substantial lack of pizzazz and animation in story presentation chops things down a few notches. 3.8 Control
A few quirks aside (long-distance aiming in-particular), the game controls very well. 3.3 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Most of the audio is passable, but folks who aren’t obsessed with JRPGs will find the voice acting painful. 3.9 Play Value
The story presentation isn’t so hot, and the gameplay can get repetitive, but hunting for items, weapons, and gaining experience is addictive. 3.7 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
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