So, I've sort of just discovered "portable gaming"...Help?!

[sadius551]

Title pretty much sets the tone.

I've always been a PC/casual console gamer. I went back to my GameCube a few weeks ago on a whim to play some Ocarina of Time and found Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II sitting in the disc tray; all of my fantastic memories of that game came suddenly flooding back: hours and hours upon hours of playing my Ranger named BarneytheDin with friends (dinosaur wouldn't fit, you see...) and even playing with my dad, introducing him to the video game world.

It prompted me to look back into the series since I haven't played anything since and here I am. I've just recently bought a PSP and I'm flabbergasted by all of these super-niche games that I've never heard even heard of, but have such massive, devoted followings, i.e. this, Monster Hunter, Shin Megami Tensei, etc.

I guess when you play mainstream games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age and such that are on the "mainstream" systems, you just don't become exposed to the other wonderful titles being released. I'd like to consider myself fairly well-informed in regards to gaming by frequenting quite a few sites and such, but man, I've missed a ton of titles that have come out on the Wii, DS, and PSP.

So, anyways, I'm looking at picking up a PS game and was wondering what it should be. What's the difference between PSO and PSU? Should I get something on the Wii or one of the Portable titles? Are there any upcoming titles?

I just can't even describe how overwhelmed I am that I've missed these great-looking games/series for so long. Help me get started, please!

Thanks!

[TheAstarion]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 is regarded as the best that PSU has to offer in terms of combat, and it's also free to play online if you have the PSN Digital Download or a new retail UMD copy. Used copies can't currently go online since the "Little Wing Licence" designed to stop piracy can only be used once.

The biggest differences between PSO and PSU are Photon Arts, special moves that can be at will for increased damage. Coming straight from PSO you'll be able to pick up the feel of a PP bar (much like TP in PSO but useful for bullets and skills as well as spells). The other main difference is that anyone (even CASTs, revamped androids) can be any class, though CAST Force won't do much tech damage for instance.

PSU on the 360 (the only platform with a server still active in English) is $10 a month and is really coming into its own now that updates have started actually happening again. It does, however, have quite a bit less content than PSP2, although communication is much much much much much much easier, with keyboards and/or microphone headsets being the norm.

There is currently no Phantasy Star on the Wii, but next year we can look forward to PSO2, a full sequel to PSO, currently confirmed for PC, hopefully around this time next year, possibly earlier. Japan is also getting an expansion/sequel to PSP2 called PSP2: Infinity, also on the PSP, containing new areas, enemies and a new race. It is unknown if it will be localised in the West; hopefully PSP2 sales will tip the balance in favour of an English-language release.

Other PSP titles you may wish to consider include Valkyria Chronicles 2, Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Final Fantasy Crisis Core and ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman.

[sadius551]

Wow. Awesome info. Thank you for taking the time to help!

I've actually seen quite a bit mentioned randomly about PSP2:I and maybe that's what subconsciously drew me towards my GameCube, lol. So PSP2:I is going to be more like an "expansion" rather than an entire new game?

Also, how much time can I look forward to sinking into it? Is there like, an endgame, per se? I can't really remember specifics from my time spent with PSO:E1&2 back in the day, so that's why I ask. I just remember running around killing stuff and having a blast.

I'm glad to hear that there's a future for the games here, then. Means my investment won't go for naught. :D

Now I just need to go explore the site and learn what I can learn.

Thanks again!

[Dragwind]

As with both PSU and the PSPo2 series, there is an end-game involved which primarily consists of hunting and improving all of your gear, and time attacking (for some people).

[Crazyleo]

Of course, if you're a title whore, you can try and get every one. There's also battle mode in which you can compete against other players plus the challenge modes (a throwback to the PSO days).

Once you cleared the story, you can repeat the story in hard mode. Plus, unlike PSU, PSP:2 level caps have gone up. (200 for the character, and 30 for each of the classes)

There are tons to do in PSP:2.

[TheAstarion]

There's also three endings you can get, each with a title and subsequent reward. You can play the entire story again as a separate character, or use the first one to replay old story missions.

The story mode in ep 1&2 was... let's say you had to hunt pretty hard to piece together a coherent story in PSO. It was almost entirely in quests, most notably Seat of the Heart. As such, the endgame of PSP2 is much the same as the main game of PSO, in terms of it's mostly hunting for better gear and hoping for some decent photon disks for your spells & skills. There's more to do in the singleplayer, and by extension there's a lot to do online too.

You may wish to check out Izuna's thread on using the Japanese Downloadable Content in the local PSP2, it's a pretty comprehensive guide and adds roughly 10% to the game. It's mostly new missions (which, in true PSU fashion, are just recycled area maps with different enemy spawns). The stuff you get in it is much easier to come by than the same items elsewhere in the game, and the missions tend to offer great EXP and type points (for levelling up your class, something PSO didn't have).

PSU online has an optional story mode. I personally like it, the later chapters were quite fun but episode 2 had a downer ending after episode 1 (offline mode). Also, if you do get PSU, the offline mode is, again, completely optional, and has very few of the system changes implemented with AOTI such as PP regen when using normal attacks, PA levels above 30, or the "new" weapon types. It does give one of the easiest 1000 gamerpoints on the xbox though, automatic by completing story mode.

[Roger Triton]

You may wish to check out Izuna's thread on using the Japanese Downloadable Content in the local PSP2, it's a pretty comprehensive guide and adds roughly 10% to the game.

And here is that thread, I was wondering where it was too.
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181966