“Crescent Serenade” from the Phantasy Star Zero soundtrack. This is basically classic PSO: really atmospheric, with a mix of orchestral and sci-fi type sounds. I don’t know how to describe music.
Famitsu reports that PS0’s soundtrack, along with the soundtracks to Phantasy Star Online, PSO Episode I & II, PSO Blue Burst, PSO Episode III (THE CARD-BASED ROLE-PLAYING GAME), and the Phantasy Star Universe series are all available on iTunes in Japan.So if you know how to access Japanese iTunes, you can do that. Or, if I’m an idiot and I missed their domestic release, you can tell me.
I mean… I looked, but there’s always a chance I’m an idiot. I’m prepared for that eventuality.
Prelude to a boss fight in Phantasy Star Zero. In this scene, your party of hunters stands around a wetlands area when Sarisa feels something unexpected in a private area:
Sarisa: AaiiiEEE! What-what-what is that? It’s all long and… T-tentacles? This is not okay!
Sarisa: Hey! That is off limits! Ah! Ah ha ha! Ah ha ha ha! Stop it! Th-That tickles! I-I’m gonna pee!
Sarisa: [Player name]?! Help! Hurry, it’s… it’s… Ah ha ha haa ha ha ha!
Kai: Quit messing around, [Player Name]! This is serious! (I imagine this in Ming Ming’s voice.)
Sarisa: Huff… Pant… Th-Thank you, Kai. I’m fine.
Sarisa: Ugh, but it’s all sticky where that thing grabbed me.
I should know better, but I didn’t expect Sega/Sonic Team to include a loli/tentacle scene in this game. CERO is A in this software! (ESRB: E10+)
Please excuse all the Phantasy Star Zero posts lately; JC’s a Phantasy Star Online fan from its Dreamcast days, and I jumped on the bandwagon because I haven’t played a decent online RPG in years. Despite our similar tastes in video games, it’s rare that we’ll play the same game at the same time; that’s why you’re hearing so much about it!
So far, I really enjoy the game. I haven’t spent much time with it yet, so I don’t understand a lot of stuff, but I played enough to get my face rocked off by the octopus boss.
Phantasy Star Zero wallpaper (click for full-size), unlocked on the Japanese website by entering one of the item download codes. There might be more than this one, but all the codes I tried resulted in the same one.
While I was looking up codes — and now that I’m far enough in the game to use them — I went ahead and entered a bunch of codes in the game. So far, the weapons I’ve used the most are a giant Mario warp pipe cannon and an issue of Dengeki DS.
Phantasy Star Zero Rappy shirt, being given away by Sega at PS0 events and other contests. If it looks familiar, it’s because it’s the PS0 shirt from Sega’s Winter Campaign, in black instead of the original yellow.
Tonight, I found one of the Winter Campaign codes in the box for my Japanese copy of Phantasy Star Zero. Expired, of course, and valid for Japan only. It didn’t bother me at the time, but now the trauma of having a thing that would have let me get a shirt but now won’t is starting to set in.
“Makenai Kokoro,” opening theme to Phantasy Star Zero, which was totally released today despite not being Modern Warfare 2. This song incorporates melodies familiar to Phantasy Star Online players, without resorting to the dramatic J-pop/funk of the Phantasy Star Universe theme (which I really enjoy):
Yujin’s Phantasy Star Zero gashapon figures. Did you remember that this game comes out in the States next week? No? I don’t blame you; other than a community event Sega held at its San Francisco HQ last week, I’ve hardly seen press for the cooperative action RPG.
I know JC has an import copy of Phantasy Star Zero, and I plan to pick it up, too (players from different regions can play with each other) — maybe if you buy the game, you’ll run into one of us online.
BradyGames published a Phantasy Star Zero strategy guide for the U.S., and it lists codes to access unique items (spear/shield from Valkyrie Chronicles’ Selvaria, Puyo Puyo soul) from an in-game vending machine. Apparently, there are several items missing that were in the Japanese version, like Hatsune Miku’s Leek, the Warp Pipe bazooka, and Samus’ arm cannon. This doesn’t mean they aren’t in the game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sega cut them during the localization process.
You can also use a code to grab a Nintendo Power item, which I presume replaced the Dengeki item.
Vacation shopping report: FINAL, containing some very important odds and ends. I’m sure I’ll remember some other game-related junk I picked up in Tokyo, but I won’t trouble you with any of it.
Of course I had to get some DS games while in Japan. I actually found the store shelves, with their hundreds of identical-from-the-side, Japanese-language DS games, too intimidating to do any serious shopping; add to that the fact that I couldn’t think of many specific Japanese games I wanted, and my DS pickups were pretty minimal. I was stoked to find a copy of Phantasy Star Zero on a clearance table at Sofmap for 680 yen — the shiny cover alone is worth that much. GCCX2 was used, but in perfect condition, even including a Shinya Arino business card (yessssss).
The Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box, containing every version of Gunstar plus Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier (again, yesssss), was also used, and discounted a bit because Mandarake Galaxy said the condition of the disc was “B” grade. It was immaculate. Thanks, super fussy game shop!
Parappa the Rapper was 100 yen at Super Potato. Of course I already have a copy of Parappa, but it wasn’t that one. I don’t want to think about what kind of person could turn down a 100 yen Parappa. And, of course, the disc turned out to be in much better condition than my US copy, and there was a poster packed in! Yay.
The tiny yellow Fire Emblem cart, which came inside that tiny Fire Emblem box, is an eraser. It came out of a capsule machine in Ueno that had not only an assortment of first-party DS game erasers, but little DSi watches as well.
Okay, I think that’s it! I promise the next post won’t be about me.
Phantasy Star Zero screens show off janky typeface.
If you’re unsure what I’m complaining about with these screenshots, it’s the font that squishes W’s and M’s, with lowercase m’s looking more like n’s with a bloated stem. It’s a minor complaint, but presumably an avoidable one if the studio modifies the fontset or the game to better display these letters (with character display limitations kept in mind, of course).
Other DS games with this problem: Retro Game Challenge (in the magazines and manuals), Suikoden Tierkreis, The Dark Spire, and Avalon Code.
You can see more English screenshots of the game, which I’m still very interested in buying, in this set.
Unlike the original Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online, the Japanese release of Phantasy Star Zero doesn’t have English text. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure the Japanese Dreamcast game did. Maybe I should have just left that bit out instead of mentioning it and then saying I didn’t know it was true.
In any case, this game is in Japanese, which means you may not understand why you’re poking around in dungeons or what the stuff you pick up is.
It’s on sale at Play-Asia this week for $14.90. I had a serious PSO problem back in college, and I suspect that having a similar experience with portable convenience could draw me in for a long time.
I probably won’t have the exact same experience of hanging out in the lobby over Christmas vacation, making up Pac-Man symbol chat animations with my roommate as he describes the Twilight Zone episode he’s watching on a second TV in his parents’ house, but the “playing the game a bunch and having a rad time” experience should carry over.
Sega will release Phantasy Star Zero Mini, a condensed RPG experience, to the DSi’s download service in Japan later this month for only 200 Nintendo Points!
“This downloadable version of last year’s Phantasy Star Zero (available only in Japan at present) consists of a score attack where players select from three characters and attempt to defeat a creature known as Raven. Just like its big cartridge brother, the game will support four player wireless play and a ‘visual chat’ hand drawn messaging service.”
In other DSiWare news, Siliconera uncovered an Australian classification listing for a game called D-Code (not to be confused with Juvenile’s lackluster 1999 rap album Tha G Code), indicating a potential worldwide release for Skip’s Art Style puzzle game Decode. Maybe Nintendo will also bring HacoLife and PiCOPiCT stateside?
