Similarity to PSO/U?

[Muramasa_Man]

Thinking of buying this title, as I have a DS and nothing to play on it currently, with college (and a fuzzton of downtime) coming soon.... So...

Are the environment levels closer to that of PSO, with long massive levels, or are they short stage areas like PSU.

Also is the play time/weapon farming roughly the same as previous titles?

How big is the online community at present?

[Mustache]

The levels are fairly short, probably about twenty minutes long each.

If you like the game then you'll dump the time into it, I have about 500 hours on mine and know of some that put much more. The weapon farming is that if you put 1000 hours into the game you probably wouldn't find all the 7* rare drops. Trading helps fill in the gaps but some rares are just...rare.

The community is small, on this site the active community is on the PSZ Revival group, if you try to play to hook up with randoms online you'll find alot of times there's no-one else playing.

[Norco]

I would say that the game is very much like PSO with a few exceptions
- Stages are shorter and always random, so you cannot memorize the paths
- There is not stat cap like in PSO, so you can focus on just one stat with materials if you wants. There is also a Material Reset leaving a lot of room for experimenting.
- Mag feeding is a lot easier, also a mag can only have one Photon Blast. I recommend reading up how PBs work.
- Rangers are not as powerful as they were in PSO, however this does Not make them bad or useless.
- There are quickmenu, however you have to stop to use them and you cannot select techniques from a quickmenu. Meaning if you want to use a technique it must be on the action palette. To use a quickmenu press either R + Start or L + Start.
- To use the AoE version of a techique you have to charge the basic technique. For example you hold down the button with Foi to charge it to a Rafoi.
- Photon Arts exsist in PSZ, however unlike PSU a PA is binded to the weapon so you cannot change it. To use a PA you hold down either the normal attack or strong attack and wait for it to charge, the power of the PA will be the same regardless of which of them you hold down. Keep in mind that there is a slot unit which can speed up the charging, this also apply when charging a technique.
- Just like in PSU you can also lockon target and strafe.
- I would say that rare farming is quite time consuming. If you start playing online with people you added with friendcodes you will hear this a lot "I got a Rock.." xD
- The most active group on this site playing PSZ is the "Phantasy Star Zero Revival" which have games pretty much daily at the moment. There have been a increase in players recently. If you sort all groups on PSO-World by "messages" you will find it instantly and can see how many are in it. It is invite only so you need to send AtBHR a PM or post in the PSZ-R Recruitment thread which can be found in the "Player Matchup" forum.

Also I would like to point this out since A LOT of people do not find out about this until higher levels or if they start experimenting. Something you need to keep in mind when playing any character (except forces sometimes) is that some areas are melee resistant and some are range resistant. I will add a little list to explain.

Spoiler!

Melee resistant
- Ozette Wetland (Use ranged)
- Rioh Snowfield (Use ranged)
- Makara Ruins (Use ranged)

Range resistant
- Gurhacia Valley (Use melee)
- Oblivion City Paru (Use melee)
- Arca Plant (Use melee)
- Dark Shrine (Use melee)

When playing a force you will basicly need to learn which technique is more effective(just like in PSO). I am sure there is someone who can point out what works best versus what monster. In some areas it is really easy to figure out and you can use the same technique throughout the entire area.

I hope this answer your questions and look forward to seeing you online if you decide to get PSZ ^_^

Edit: Just like in PSPo2 there is a dodge-roll which is very effective, however in PSZ it does not take any of your PP. Also techniques are learned by using disks just like in PSO ^_^

[Cry]

Norco stated the most important things, so yeah..."

As for the 'feel' of the game, i'd say its a cut-down PSO with a few new Elements taken from PSU, which were also shrinked or slightly changed. This doesnt mean, however, that PSZ is a bad game, not at all! Its just .. smaller. The DS simply cant display a whole Map at once, like Cube/Box/Cast/PC, so you have small rooms, with a second of loading time inbetween. (really, just a second. thank god for the DS not using Disc's !)

if you like Handheld gaming, and also PSO, you'll have a grat time with this game, especially Online is just a heckload of fun!

[Norco]

I added a few things at the bottom which I forgot to mention xD

[XxGoregrinderxX]

What does "I got a Rock" mean?

[Nick O'Demus]

What does "I got a Rock" mean?

When you kill a boss or a rare enemy, and you don't get anything good from the drops, then you got a rock.

[Muramasa_Man]

Is the friend code usable if I buy a used game? Or is it like the serial code on every PSO game ever, not for resale. (despite the fact that i have had to tell several game stores they can't resell the old PSO since it system locked. -.-)

[Atbar]

Yes, the F/C is usable on a used game. You can also do a Factory Reset and be assigned a new F/C too. Doing a Factory Reset will restore the game to what it was when it was first bought by the last person who owned it.

Add-on: Factory Reset is done by turning on the DS, then select the game and hold B+A+Y+X+L+R at the same time and push start. If you did it correctly, you'll be asked if you do want to delete all previous saved information. If not, then you'll have to do it again.

[Nick O'Demus]

Before you do the reset though, you should check in the inventory to see if there are any good items. If so, you can get someone else to hold them by trading over wifi. Then they can give them back to you after the reset.