Beginner walkthrough

This article is a guide and may contain opinions or other subjective information. The PSUPedia is not responsible for any inaccuracies or mistakes.

Introduction

This guide is designed to point new players in the right direction for the first 10 levels or so. Once they have reached level 10, they should have enough experience to get them through the game and join other players. We have tried to make this guide as universal as possible, as to detract from confusion between console and PC versions.

Getting started

To play Phantasy Star Universe online, you will need to register for an account at the PlaySEGA billing site;

• PlaySEGA Billing

Once you have registered an account and assuming that the game is installed on your PC or you own it for PS2 or 360, you are ready to go online. From the title screen chose Network Mode. The following things will happen;

• Patch updates: The game will check for and install them if it is a fresh game install or if an update has been put in place.
• Display DNAS or Xbox Live Terms of Service
• Display Login
• Display Ambition of the Illuminus account status warning. (If you are logging in through Ambition of the Illuminus, you will no longer be able to access the game through the original version of Phantasy Star Universe)
• Display Phantasy Star Universe Terms of Service
• Display Character Selection

If you have not made a character yet, you will be taken to the Character Creation screen to create a new character on a selected character slot on the Character Selection screen.

Creating a character

The first time you log in, you will be required to create a character. Compared to most online games, Phantasy Star Universe offers a rather indepth character creation system, allowing changes to aspects such as; Facial structure, Voice, Eye colour and Body mass distribution. You are given 4 races to choose from;

• Human - Humans are the "Jack of all, master of none" race. They have balanced stats, but no racial specialties. They can use some equipment that Beast & Casts cannot.
• Newman - Newmans are the elf-like race of Phantasy Star Universe, their stats focus on magic offense and defense. Like Humans, Newmans can use some equipment that Beast & Casts cannot.
• Beast - Beasts are best suited to melee types, as they have low accuracy and average skill in magic. At level 20, a Beast can purchase a Blast Badge, which allows them to perform a Nanoblast after a set amount of damage has been received and given to enemies. In Nanoblast form, the player takes on a more primal form and heightened status depending on the Nanoblast they are equipped with. In this form, they are unable to use items.
• CAST - CASTs are synthetic humans, whom are best suited to ranger types. Players who select Magic based types will have trouble matching a Newman or Human in the same type. At level 20, CASTs gain access to SUV weapons which are equipped as a unit on the Line Shield's extra slot. SUV weapons are large artillery that are beamed down via a satellite. Like Nanoblasts, are usable after a set amount of damage has been received and given to enemies.

After you have chosen your race and physical attributes, you are given a number of Voices and Clothing to choose from. The amount of clothing is quite low compared to what is available for purchase from stores in game. Once you have named and finalized your character, you will be taken to your room.

Tutorial

If this is your first time, complete the tutorials. They will explain the layout in the starter city. (You also receive the Rising Strike Photon Art)

There's three different spaces you can be in: Cities, Mission instances, and Mission counter.

• A) City spaces allow you to visit your room, buy/sell goods, and start missions.
• B) Mission instances are where you get to fight things and earn experience points.
• C) The Mission counter is just a menu screen that shows the space city or planet you're on, from outer space.

Preparing for a mission

After the tutorial, you'll be in Clyez City. Go to the 4th floor, and enter the Linear Line Platform tunnel. If you haven't done so already, set up your palette and skills.

• 1) Bring up the menu.
• 2) Select inventory.
• 3) Select the weapon you wish to add to the equipment palette. From the weapon selection mini-menu, select Add to Palette.
• 4) Add it to the palette slot you want it on.
• 5) From the weapon selection mini-menu, select Link Photon Art.
• 6) Select the photon art you wish to use to equip it to the weapon.

Accepting a mission

On floor 4 of Clyez City, there are two mission entrances, the one we are after is in the far end of this floor (North east). Enter this entrance for the mission map. You'll have a menu with four options: Select mission, Join party, Leave counter, Return to city.

• 1) Choose Select mission.
• 2) Unsafe Passage.
• 3) Accept it.
• 4) Select Start mission.

At the start of each Block (there's three in this mission) you'll see an empty crystal, you can touch it to set it up as a way point during the mission, in case you die and want to continue from where you were. Green doors will open automatically, while red doors require one or more keys. To get a key, just kill all the monsters you can find and it will drop from the ceiling. Walk to it and hit Enter to claim it. In some cases, simply destroying all the monsters in the area will open the door without the need for a key. If you see crates, break them for a chance at random items and equipment.

If you get lost, select map from the menu for a map. On a keyboard you can hit F3 to open this up without having to navigate the menu. Players appear as arrows on the map, Monsters will appear as yellow dots on the map, and Keys as red dots.

The correct buttons for attacking or using skills will always appear on the lower right of your screen. If you're low on health, open your palette and press left, which by default is bound to Monomate. At low levels, one monomate will refill your health 100%. You'll have to watch your PP (Blue bar, bottom right). This is how much energy your weapon has, it will slowly regenerate but if you use too many special attacks you can run out of energy and not be able to use them until it refills. As of late 2007, you are able to attack enemies to fill a melee weapons PP meter.

After you kill everything in the third block you'll be informed that you're done with the mission. At the bottom left of the screen you should see an large icon with an orange stroke around it, it should have one or two icons next to it. The large icon displays the button you can press to access these information icons. The following icons display different information;

• A) Guardians icons display the mission information
• B) A star icon displays a mission result dialog
• C) An icon that looks like the recycling logo will open a trade dialog. This is an interactive trade between players.
• D) A card is a received player's guild card. This allows you to communicate with them, without having to be standing next to them or within their party.

After a mission

Now that you're done, you can leave the area by exiting through the final door that has been opened. At this point you'll be in a city area, Transfer Terminal. From here you can do four things:

• talk to the NPC in the center of the room to buy/sell goods.
• talk to the orange diamond to teleport to your room, or to a different server.
• talk to the floating cube to refill your weapon's PP (for a fee).
• enter the Aurorey Viewing Plaza Area mission counter.

Most lobbies will have these services. At this point, refill your weapon PP and enter the mission counter, then choose Return to city. You'll be back in Clyez City. Take the items you found and store them in your room, or give them to your pet to eat.

Further adventuring

You can repeat this process until you're level 3-5, at which point you should choose the Fight for Food mission from the Aurorey mission counter for better XP and rewards.

You can continue to repeat these missions solo until you're level 10. Alternately, you can choose Join party to get faster XP, but fewer drops per person and fewer opportunities to skill up.