Taking to the Gurhal System, next up is Phantasy Star Universe. PSU builds greatly upon ideas from PSO introducing new battle mechanics and more classes.
Incase you missed it, we revisited Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst a few weeks ago.
Character Customization
The Character Customization is greatly improved upon from PSO's. Players will be able to choose their desired Race and Gender without being locked to classes. However, the stats matter greatly based on what you choose. Once in the game, you'll also be able to find even more costumes and hair styles to pick from.
World Layout
Universe's world layout greatly differs from other Phantasy Star Games. There are four planets the Guardians can visit with their own unique missions. The missions connect to more lobbies allowing players to explore the planet and see all the views it has to offer. Players can party up with 5 others to challenge the missions!
Type Introduction (Classes)
Classes are known as [Types] in PSU. Players will start as a Basic Type–Hunter, Ranger, or Force–based on the Race they choose. Afterwards, your Type can be changed at the 5th Floor of the Guardians Colony. Once the Basic Types are leveled enough, players will be able to swap to the Expert Types and later the Master Types.
Combat Introduction
The combat has been sped up compared to the first PSO. PSU also introduced Photon Arts to the series. These additions allow even more enemies to be thrown your way.
Just Attacking
Timing your attacks will boost your next attack's damage greatly. There is no indicator as to when to JA, but there will be a yellow effect on the character when you perform one successfully. Only Striking Weapons can JA.
Photon Arts
Photon Arts are composed of Skills, Bullets and Technics used by Striking, Ranged, and Casting weapons respectively. While Technics were in PSO, Skills and Bullets are new to PSU.
Photon Arts will level up as you use them, and become more powerful. Skills will gain more attacks in it's combo, Bullets will gain bonus effects, and Technics will become larger. There is a level cap for Skills, Bullets, Technics and Support Technics based on the Type chosen.
Playing PSU Today!
If you and your friends want to give PSU a shot, you can try it out together on the recently launched private server [Clementine]. On Clementine, they changed the drops to be PSO2-style where everyone gets their own stuff. While it is nowhere close to perfect, they are still refining the rough edges and taking feedback.
There will be a Double EXP and PA EXP week starting December 18th after the Maintenance, a perfect time to start. You can check them out over on their Forums and Discord.
Clementine Forums Clementine Discord
Unfortunately, we were not able to interview any admins of Clementine. However, please look forward to the final part of Revisiting the Phantasy Star Series with the next post going over [Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity]!