Welcome to Buster Quests, which are basically EQs, but not EQs!
Buster Quests are the "revolutionary" new gameplay mode for Episode 5! In Buster Quests, players must defend their Buster Towers from enemy attacks, then when the time is right, strike back with the powerful Buster Pile (that definitely wasn't stolen from another Phantasy Star game that has "Busters" and "Piles") and face down the demon boss.
Matching
Buster Quests will be sorted into three gameplay modes:
- Main Match: Standard Buster Quest. Main Match has a limit as to how many times it can be played per day; this limit resets at 5 AM JST. In Main Match, player stats are capped according to your Grade. Winning a Main Match will increase your Buster Points, while losing will decrease your Buster Points.
- Main Match Advanced: Standard Buster Quest for Grade 3+. Shares a play limit with Main Match. Unlike Main Match, stats aren't capped in Advanced. Requires 3000 Buster Points to participate. Requires 80/80 or Hero 80 to play. Advanced has the same drop pool as Main Match, but has a higher rate of dropping good loot. Winning an Advanced Match will not increase BP, but losing will decrease BP.
- Free Match: Buster Quest with unlimited play time. Playing Free Match will restore some up to 3 play points to Main Match and Main Match Advanced. Winning a Free Match will not raise your BP, but losing will decrease BP.
In addition, Buster Quests will support Cross-Block Matching. However, the Expert match option will not function for Free Match.
Grade System
Unlike regular Quests, Buster Quests run on the Grade System. There are three levels of Grade; Grade determines enemy level, enemy spawns, and player stats, all of which scale to the Grade Level. Grade 3 is identical to XH difficulty.
- Grade 1: Enemies are Lv. 20. Players whose stats are higher than the limit have their stats capped accordingly.
- Grade 2: Enemies are Lv. 50. Players whose stats are higher than the limit have their stats capped accordingly.
- Grade 3: Enemies are Lv. 75. No upper limit on stats.
- Grade 3+: Main Match Advanced. Enemies are Lv. 80. No upper limit on stats.
Towers
At the start of a Buster Quest, each player is assigned to a Buster Tower which they must protect. Unlike a Mining Base, Buster Towers are armed with several types of defense weapons. You can select one of four types of Defense Weapon loadouts at the start of the Quest:
- Balance
- Defense
- Attack
- Special
Each type of loadout contains a variety of weapons, which include armaments such as:
- Photon Punisher: Obliterate your foes with a satellite cannon!
- Telepipe Cannon: Deploy Telepipes from your Tower.
- Barriers: Various types of Barriers are available; Buster Towers can use the Freeze Barrier as well, and new Barrier types are included.
- Turrets: Deploy ranged armaments such as Shotguns and Gatling Guns for some last minute defense
- And More!
Phases
Buster Quests are split into five Phases.
- Defense Phase: Protect your Buster Towers while collecting Mana scattered on the field. Mana can be consumed to power your Defense Weapons and restore HP to your Buster Towers.
- Buster Phase: Consume your Mana reserves to summon the Buster Pile, a giant spear that can be used to destroy the Demonic Barriers protecting the boss. You'll need to protect your Buster Pile while it's charging up; if it's destroyed, you must return to Defense Phase and collect more Mana to summon another Buster Pile.
- Attack Phase: Engage the Demonic Castle in direct combat. Defeating it in this phase will transition to the Final Defense Phase.
- Final Defense: Stay alive while surviving the onslaught of vicious attacks. If you can make it, the party will transition to the Final Attack Phase.
- Final Attack: Destroy the Demonic Castle within the time limit to clear the Buster Quest. If you can make it this far, you can still receive clear rewards even if you fail. However, better rewards are dispensed for clearing, and the higher your Clear Rank, the better the drops.
EDIT: Now updated with a video trailer!
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