So after about 3 weeks without a monitor, I finally gave in and purchased a widescreen monitor. So I'll be back on PSU and will continue with regularly scheduled updates. Next up will be some minor news about Phantasy Star Zero Mini.
P.S. This monitor is extreeemeely bright.
IGN posted the first Phantasy Star Portable review outside of Japan, and gave it a score of 7.0. Comparing this score to Phantasy Star Universe, it is slightly higher from 6.6 for PS2 and 5.5 for PC. IGN reviewer Ryan Clements summed up his review as:
Despite its problems, including a terribly lackluster story.
poor AI and imperfect lock-ons, Phantasy Star Portable
is really satisfying, especially if you enjoy collecting loot and
seeing your deliciously fashionable robo-wizard level up.
He pointed out that "the game's entire presentation feels extremely cheap" noting shops and cities have been reduced to a 2D representation of themselves. He also felt the AI was atrocious, stating, "Never have I seen such incompetent, incapable party members like the AI-controlled riffraff of Phantasy Star Portable."
We can assume the AI for Phantasy Star Portable acts the same as it does in Phantasy Star Universe. Most players use them for meat shields and healing support, they don't tend to be useful in any other fashion.
He did point out excellent parts of the game, praising the wide assortment of cool looking weapons and the game's multi player modes. He seemed to like the action pallete system describing it as, "…extremely handy, as attempting to navigate the game's full set of menus with monsters leaping all over you is excruciatingly difficult (as it should be)."
So in all, this is a very surprising review score coming from IGN after the horrendous scores of Sonic and the Black Knight and Sonic Unleashed. Maybe IGN isn't so IGNorant after all?
[via IGN]
Phantasy Star Portable Launch Event On Friday March 6th
Phantasy Star Portable releases today, March 3rd, 2009. Phantasy Star Universe will be having a cross promotion launch event. It consists of Vivienne, in search of her nemesis, Helga Neumann. There will be clues given out and tickertape messages. During the event a secret phrase will be revealed to the participating players. They will automatically receive these two prizes if they type it.
On Thursday March 5th, the prizes have been changed to Real Handgun+ and Moatoob Collectible. In order to receive Moatoob Collectible you must say "Phantasy Star Portable Day" without quotes. In order to obtain Real Handgun+ you must participate in the event at the specific times, and say the secret phrase depending on which server it's on.
Whats the significance of these prizes? Holy Ray /D was supposed to be given during Mission Carnival's quiz mission. Unfortunately this mission was not released outside of Japan. Unfortunately this item will not be released at this time.
If you remember a while back, Pumpkin Trick was an item which was supposed to be given out during Halloween. There was a bug with the item and the GMs decided not to release it until later.
The event occurs at specific times throughout the day, we'll cover the specific times for each major time zones for United States and France.
France Time Zones
C’est l’heure exacte.
United States Time Zones
| EST | CST | MST | PST |
| 1pm – 2pm (Ps2/Pc) | 12pm – 1pm (Ps2/Pc) | 11am – 12pm (Ps2/Pc) | 10am – 11am (Ps2/Pc) |
| 2pm – 3pm (xbox360) | 1pm – 2pm (xbox360) | 12pm – 1pm (xbox360) | 11am – 12pm (xbox360) |
| 4pm – 5pm (ps2/pc) | 3pm – 4pm (ps2/pc) | 2pm – 3pm (ps2/pc) | 1pm – 2pm (ps2/pc) |
| 5pm – 6pm (xbox360) | 4pm – 5pm (xbox360) | 3pm – 4pm (xbox360) | 2pm – 3pm (xbox360) |
| 7pm – 8pm (ps2/pc) | 6pm – 7pm (ps2/pc) | 5pm – 6pm (ps2/pc) | 4pm – 5pm (ps2/pc) |
| 8pm – 9pm (xbox360) | 7pm – 8pm (xbox360) | 6pm – 7pm (xbox360) | 5pm – 6pm (xbox360) |
| 9:15pm – 10pm (ps2/pc) | 8:15pm – 9pm (ps2/pc) | 7:15pm – 8pm (ps2/pc) | 6:15pm – 7pm (ps2/pc) |
| 10pm – 10:45pm (xbox360) | 9pm – 9:45pm (xbox360) | 8pm – 8:45pm (xbox360) | 7pm – 7:45pm (xbox360) |
Hope to see you all there!