Revision as of 14:48, 21 January 2007

Game play wise, Phantasy Star Universe plays very much like its predecessor Phantasy Star Online. If you want to jump right in, read the Beginner walkthrough.

Combat

Combat features two basic commands for encounters.

These are:

• Attack - Your character uses their weapon to attack a foe or foes (depending on your weapon). With timing you can use the three variations of attack to perform what is known as a Combo, which are only possible now with Melee weapons. The advantages to performing combos is chaining the attacks in rapid succession which gives greater damage over time and different variances/angles to most follow-up swings.

• Photon Arts - Rangers have a PA called "Bullet." "Bullets" simply adds elemental damage to your Attack. Forces have "Technics" which allows them to cast magic spells, depending on technic(s) attached to the Staff or Wand. Hunters use the PA called "Skill." These skills are a special attacks that inflict more damage to enemies. "Technics" and "Skills" require the immediate use of Photon Points (PP), similar the the TP gauge in PSO or "magic bar" in other games. Guns use PP for attacking normally (Acts like an ammo guage), so "Bullets" simply drain more PP per shot.

Photon Abilities

Photon Abilities enhance the corresponding weapon it applies to. Bogga Donga, for example, is a photon ability useable on a corresponding weapon type such as glove weapons. These are purchased in a shop such as the weapons shop on guardian colony, or the GRM shop on Parum. After purchasing, you must open your items list and select the photon ability to learn it. Once you have learned the ability, you then select the correct weapon that the photon ability can be linked to. In this manner, you can link 1 photon ability to one weapon at one time. However, in online mode there are currently 2 different photon abilities to choose from for each weapon type.

When used in battle, photon abilities can perform a wide range of devastating attacks to your enemies. However, they use up your photon power. Each photon ability has its own corresponding amount of photon power it requires to activate each time. When you have no more photon power, you must use a photon charge or wait for your photon power to regenerate.

Techniques

Techniques are in essence Phantasy Star Universe’s ‘magic’. Each Technique has an associated Element and comes in a variety of uses. Among them are ‘Nukes’ such as Foie (Fire attribute Attack), Barta (Ice attribute attack) and etc. However, unlike physical attacks they cannot be chained together to form combos.

Online

When you login, you will be transported into a lobby area where other online players gather. Here you can chat, meet friends, and organize games.