Phantasy Star Portable
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is an
action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
co-developed by
Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for the long-running '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights ...
and
Alfa System ''Alfa System'' is a video game development and planning company from Kumamoto City, Japan. The company was founded in 1988. In their early years Alfa System developed exclusively for NEC consoles with Hudson Soft and other publishers. They later ...
, and published by
Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
for the
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
. Sega released the game to Japan in July 2008, and to other markets in 2009. In addition to the game's single-player story mode, ''Phantasy Star Portable'' has a cooperative multi-player mode that supports up to four players. The 2009 sequel, ''
Phantasy Star Portable 2 is a video game for the PlayStation Portable, produced by Alfa System and published by Sega. It is the sequel to '' Phantasy Star Portable'' and was released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on December 3, 2009. The North American versio ...
'', takes place three years after the events of ''Phantasy Star Portable''.


Plot

''Phantasy Star Portable'' begins a few months after the conclusion of ''
Phantasy Star Universe (''PSU'') is an action role-playing video game developed by Sega's Sonic Team for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 platforms. It was released in Japan for the PC and PlayStation 2 on August 31, 2006; the Xbox 360 version was re ...
'' (2006) and its expansion, '' Ambition of the Illuminus'' (2007), in which an alliance of humans, newmans, beasts, and CASTs of the Gurhal
star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speak ...
drove off alien invaders known as S.E.E.D. The peace is short-lived, however. Vivienne, a newly constructed CAST android, and her partner (the player), discover that some SEED remain, and are causing trouble. Vivienne and her partner work to save the Gurhal system—and, in the process, learn more about humanity.


Gameplay

The player begins by choosing one of four races and three
character class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is a job or profession commonly used to differentiate the abilities of different game characters. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes aggregate several abilities and aptitudes, ...
es. The character design is adjustable through several variables: face model, eye color, eyebrows, eyelashes, ears, head type, body color, proportion, jacket, pants, shoes, voice type, and voice pitch. Players are assigned missions in which they must kill all opponents in the area; many of the levels conclude with a
boss battle In video games, a boss is a significant computer-controlled opponent. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the player has faced up to that ...
. Along the way, players collect weapons, armour, money, and other helpful items.


Characters

;Player character :The
player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
is a newly trained member of the GUARDIANS, a security force that protects the Gurhal
star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or '' galaxy'', although, broadly speak ...
. S/He lives in a GUARDIAN space colony, and is a shy person who rarely speaks in the game. ;Vivienne :Vivienne is a newly constructed CAST (an android created by the humans of Gurhal). Like the player, she has just completed basic training, and is now a hunter assigned to be the player's partner. ;Laia Martinez :Laia is a hunter-class beast with the GUARDIANS. She is also the instructor who trained the player character. She accompanies the player on some missions. ;Mina :Mina works at the mission counter at the headquarters of the GUARDIAN space colony. She gives the player and other GUARDIANS their mission assignments. ;Helga Neumann :A woman who works with the Illuminus. Although she appears to be in her mid-twenties, she is actually 43 years old. She says that she died and was revived by the SEED. She caused the spread of the Remnant SEED and the creation of another HIVE.


Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the
review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. In Japan, ''
Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...
'' gave it a score of one nine and three eights for a total of 33 out of 40. James Mielke of
1Up.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
gave the game a A- stating, "The truly neat trick that Portable performs is that it is not only an excellent distillation of the Phantasy Star Online/Universe experience, but it makes me want to go back and give Ambition of the Illuminus another shot, even if it's just to reinvestigate that game's offline mode." In its first week on sale in Japan, the game sold more than 342,000 units. ''Phantasy Star Portable'' was the 14th best-selling game in Japan in 2008.


References


External links

* * {{Portal bar, Video games Role-playing video games Action role-playing video games Phantasy Star video games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only games Sega video games Sonic Team games Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender 2008 video games Video games developed in Japan