The European version of Phantasy Star Zero was recently reviewed by Simon Bramble of the British-based Official Nintendo Magazine. The reviewer had mixed impressions of the game and gave it a 71/100 rating. He felt the offline mode suffered from repetitive gameplay, a troublesome camera, and questionable help from the NPCs. The online mode proved to be its saving grace:
"Online, the joy of loot collection is magnified. When you work together as a team to defeat a group of enemies and share the rewards, there's a rare feeling of having earned it. Online, the monotony of walking through randomly generated locales is lightened by being shown what your mate thinks your mum looks like. Online, you'll see the three-strike combat system working almost in rhythm, and very impressive it is too."Credit goes to mid Knight for finding this review. You can share your feedback in this forum thread.
The official Japanese Phantasy Star Portable 2 blog was updated today with a variety of news about new downloadable content and the Maximum Attack Little Wing event. According to the blog post, the following downloadable content will be available on February 17th:
In addition, the Famitsu-sponsored Maximum Attack Little Wing Event has been extended until February 17th. This will give players the extra time they need to unlock the final milestones.
Credit goes to Mike for bringing us this news. You can discuss the downloadable content in this forum thread and the Maximum Attack Little Wing event here.
User voting has now ended for The Phantasy Star Thanks Festa Global 2!
For the second round, users were able to vote on the contest website for their own favorite entries. Here are those results:
The official English webpage and the official Japanese Xbox 360 webpage were updated recently with details for the content update scheduled for January 29. Here is a breakdown of what will be available:
Maximum Attack G+ (event period runs from 1/29 through 3/11):
Right on the heels of Tuesday's MAG+ announcement comes some saddening news for the local PC/PS2 Phantasy Star Universe servers. GM Edward posted on the official forum that the English PC/PS2 servers will be closing Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Next week's update on January 29 will be the PC/PS2 version's final update.
As of January 29, 2010, no new PC/PS2 subscriptions will be available for purchase, however any players who are subscribed as of that time will be able to continue playing for free for the remaining two months until service is ended. Keep in mind that this applies only to the PC/PS2 version of Phantasy Star Universe. The Xbox 360 version will continue to be supported with future content updates.
PSOW user Artea has created a thread detailing this news. Feel free to join the discussion to share your memories of the game's past or vent your frustrations (responsibly, of course).
RIP English PC/PS2 PSU
October 24, 2006 - March 31, 2010
Edward, a Phantasy Star Universe GM, announced today that the long-awaited Maximum Attack G+ event is scheduled to start on January 29th. Full information and a website for the event will be available around the release date. It was also announced that no server maintenance will be performed this week. You can discuss this update in this forum thread.
The first phase of judging is now complete for The Phantasy Star Thanks Festa Global 2!
For the initial round, the following entries have been chosen to be the best by Arika (contest manager), Ryna (PSOW site administrator), and Edward (PSU game master).
The official English webpage was updated today with details for the content update scheduled for January 8th. Here is a breakdown of the new content: