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Additionally, all discs at NexWave Games are carefully inspected and assessed for quality. When discs arrive, we do not accept any that are so badly damaged that they are unlikely to work. We only accept discs with light scratches at most. Discs with scratches are then treated in our professional disc repair machine. By warming the disc and polishing it with soft brushes, these machines can remove a very thin layer from the disc. This removes the layer containing surface scratches and improves the disc’s readability. This ensures the disc works properly, even on consoles with ageing lasers that have difficulty reading games! Great news for the player.
Phantasy Star Portable for PlayStation Portable
Phantasy Star Portable for PlayStation Portable is an action RPG in which you create your own adventurer and investigate the planets of the Gurhal system. As a new Guardian, you work with Vivienne, an artificial life form who still has much to learn about people. An investigation into malfunctioning machines leads to remnants of the hostile SEED and a woman named Helga. During missions, you fight directly using swords, firearms and techniques that work like magic.
You choose your appearance, ancestry and combat type, among other things. A Hunter fights at close range, a Ranger uses firearms and a Force focuses on techniques. Later, additional types open other combinations of abilities. Equipment you find and experience points help you tackle subsequent assignments. From clear city maps, you select shops, people to speak to and missions. The same character and accumulated progress remain usable in both the story and separate free missions, so you do not have to start again when you want to play differently.
You play the story alone, with computer-controlled allies who can accompany you. Separately, you can complete free missions locally with two to four players through Ad Hoc. Everyone uses a PSP with wireless networking and their own copy of the game. This first Phantasy Star Portable does not offer a direct internet campaign with other players. Network features and additional downloads from later instalments are not part of this UMD. You then continue using your shared loot and experience with the same character.
Region and language
Our PlayStation Portable games are European editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
You receive the physical UMD edition. You need a PSP with a UMD drive to play it; a PSP Go cannot play this disc.
Manual
Phantasy Star Portable for PlayStation Portable includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Phantasy Star Portable
SEGA released Phantasy Star Portable in Japan in July 2008; the European release followed in 2009. Alfa System developed the game within the world Sonic Team had established with Phantasy Star Universe. The adventure takes place between the original Universe storyline and Ambition of the Illuminus. Vivienne became a new partner for your self-created Guardian, giving PSP a separate story alongside the familiar planets, enemies and battles from the larger releases.
The portable game's structure changed in several areas. Cities became clear maps on which you choose a destination directly. Weapons and important items dropped as complete loot instead of requiring you first to collect materials for the original crafting process. The same saved character could also switch between the story and free missions. Those changes shortened the route to another assignment and made collecting equipment a direct part of every journey through an area.
Local cooperation was designed for groups bringing their PSP systems together. The original Japanese website also described separate download and import services, which later ended; those services are not needed to use this UMD's content as a solo game. Phantasy Star Portable 2 followed in Japan in 2009 and expanded the series further. That sequel's internet support and other changes must be distinguished from this first release, which combines its own story with local free missions.
Similar games for PlayStation Portable
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for PSP, like Phantasy Star Portable, links individual assignments to collecting equipment. You hunt large monsters and turn their materials into weapons and armour. Phantasy Star Portable has you develop a combat type and find many weapons directly as loot. Both give another mission meaning through what you bring back, but Monster Hunter asks for more preparation around a specific monster and carefully learning its movements.
Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade on PSP also lets you choose a hero, defeat enemies in real time and gather constantly changing weapons. The world around Aven consists of dungeons, monsters and classic fantasy rather than space stations, planets and photon weapons. Phantasy Star Portable interweaves assignments with Vivienne's story and changeable combat types. If you enjoy comparing inventory after a battle, you will recognise that rhythm in both games, although the setting changes the nature of your adventures.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for PSP also uses real-time battles and separate assignments alongside a science-fiction-flavoured story. There you follow the fixed protagonist Zack Fair and his ties to Shinra and SOLDIER. Phantasy Star Portable lets you create your own Guardian and choose their combat type. Both let you match attacks and equipment to a mission, but Crisis Core develops Zack's personal history where Phantasy Star gives more space to your own character.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep on PSP lets you fight in real time while travelling through different worlds. The stories of Terra, Ventus and Aqua provide three perspectives on an adventure through familiar Disney settings. Phantasy Star Portable connects its planets to one self-created Guardian and their partnership with Vivienne. Both combine story with direct action; Kingdom Hearts' fixed protagonists and fairy-tale worlds take a different approach from Phantasy Star's roles and loot.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions for PSP, like Phantasy Star Portable, asks you to consider your group's roles, abilities and equipment. However, you act in turns on grid-based battlefields, rather than moving and attacking directly. Character development continues to matter over a long period in both games. If you mainly want to calculate your next move calmly, Tactics offers that; Phantasy Star asks you to put that preparation into practice during real-time combat.
