Book of Hunters vs Ep 1&2 Design Materials

[irun4fundou]

I love concept art. In particular, Phantasy Star Online concept art. Infact, interesting character designs and artwork often influence me to buy games.

As far as I know, there are two PSO concept art books. Namely, The Book of Hunters, which is the art book from the DC era of PSO, and The Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II Design Materials book.

My question is, does the newer Design Materials book make The Book of Hunters obsolete? Does anyone have both books that they can make a comparison? I'd love to own both volumes, and I plan on ordering both, but it would be a waste of money to find that they basically have the same content.

On a side note, does anyone know of any good websites with PSO concept art? My google searches have thus far proven fruitless...

[VioletSkye]

I have the Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II Design Materials book and I haven't seen anyone scan or post any images from the Book of Hunter's that hasn't been in the Design Materials book. I'm sure there are a few things here and there that it may be missing, but i wouldn't spend money buying both of them just to have an extra image or two. I'd say the Design Materials book would be the way to go.

I should note though that on some sites it says it lists images of all the weapons in the game which is not true. There are quite a few missing weapons that they don't show. Also they don't even scratch the surface in terms of mag artwork.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-13 11:56 ]</font>

[Alielle]

The Book of Hunters has a lot of concept art, including some very early sketches that they might've carried over to PSU. As you know already, it only covers the DC version. It's also a bit text-heavy compared to the other volume, so it seems like there's less art overall, but the emphasis seems to be on preproduction concepts.

Ep I&II Design Materials contains more finished production art than concepts (i.e., renders of in-game models and environments, and package/poster artwork). There's a long section dedicated to renders of every in-game costume and head style for every character class, which seems a bit excessive, but it's a nice reference. It also includes some newer enemy concepts, as well as weapon and Mag designs for Ep I&II. There's a lot of repeated art from the earlier volume, but almost as an afterthought - they're printed a lot smaller this time. A lot of the black and white sketches didn't make it over. It is, however, crammed with art, even if most of it is stuff you can see in the game anytime.

Hope this helps, though I'd really recommend getting both. :B They complement each other pretty well.

[bordering]

I never even thought about this. Oh. My. God. I want! NOW! Is it only available in Japanese? No matter if it is, it's the art that matters. It would be nice to read the text too, though.

Where's a good place to order from? Ebay isn't helping and neither are any of the major online outlets I usually use. Help!

[VioletSkye]

PSO Art books and guides from AnimeBooks

PSO related items including both books from AkaDotRetail - Just type in Phantasy Star in the search area. This site also has the Ep4. Master's Guide.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VioletSkye on 2006-02-13 13:59 ]</font>