Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

[Icecypher]

Hello, guys.

A couple of months ago I got my copy of Phantasy Star Portable and loved it. While it is different from my favorite style of games (turn-based RPGs), it is great to spend time, since it does not require too much attention or large enough segments of playing time. Since I have to play during lunch or commute, this makes it easier to pick this game up for a quick play, instead of other RPGs, which I leave for weekends now.

In PSP I created an avatar of myself. Of course, the avatar's hair, face and body are better than my own, because I could not find enough options for customization (even though it has a lot of options, but the more it has, the more specific our needs will become). So my hair is straighter in the game, and my tummy, although avatar is not thin, is portrayed with a six pack.

Now, the six pack is something I wish we had the option to get rid of. If someone wanted to create an even fatter character, it would still have the six-pack marks... My avatar ended up being 17 years old me instead of 34 years old me, mainly because it has just finished training and everyone looks at him as a kid. Not a lot of difference in the design, though. And I was actually thinner then, so it is fine.

Then I wanted to try a small character. I went with myself again, but with the smallest build possible (I was rather thin as a kid). I suppose it would be around 8, because I was tall enough to be way bigger than that at 11 or 10. I had to use a different face because my nose had not reached its not-cute-kid-nose stage then. But the real problem is, again, the six-pack... I do not want my 8-year-old-me avatar to have a six pack...

Anyway, I spent some time with the game. My main save (which had to be started again when I was at around 30+ levels) is now at 50+. I will want to get one of every set of clothing (mostly green-colored, when possible) and the toy equipment, along with some "best" equipment, as well.

I started as Force (was surprised at the level 10 cap for each class). Ranger seems the most dynamic and fun, althoug I still like to use spells better than guns.

Now, the Japanese copies of Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity and Phantasy Star Zero arrived yesterday.

Not playing Zero yet, but I will use a no-hat, dark-brown-haired Force Human. Cute style in the design, but now I see why people said there were not a lot of choices.

About PSP2, I started the game with the smallest build again, but now I used a Newman (I had always been a Human before). I loved the hair options this time. The Newman faces made me look even prettier and less like myself, but I thought it was okay for another species. Then I created another character, this time more myself. My hair now looks more like it usually does (I mean, mine can look good, but it takes too much time, so it normally just looks "normal"). There were fewer face options, but I found one that works.

What I loved is the fact I can now use my other characters in my party! In PSP I have myself, kid myself and Captain Mar-Vell, but they will never interact. Now I can create my boyfriend and some friends and have my own "real-life" party.

Big wall of text just to share this, but I arrived years late for all of these games, so I had to post all of this in one entry instead of in several during a conversation with you.

I will be glad to hear your own experiences, or your thoughts about mine, or even to have some advice about anything for these games. I am going to use this thread to share my happiness or complain when I find or fail to find some Pizza Hut or KFC items.

That is all for now. I am back to work (and play during lunch).

Edit: Even if this is long and not as interesting, I noticed this is my 100th post, so I am allowed.

[tilinelson2]

Oh, Phantasy Star Portable games were quite good, in my opinion. I always play with my blue-haired female Newman mage named Lizzie because out of the PSO characters I have built, the only one that I managed to develop was Lizzie, and I carried the tradition to every game I have to build a character to create Lizzie, blue-haired if possible, a mage if possible, and a Newman if possible.

My favorite is Phantasy Star 2: Infinity because of Nagisa. I know nobody believes that, but it was her story that attracted me.

Okay, who I am trying to fool that it was Nagisa's story that attracted me... But I really liked her story.

[Icecypher]

I wish there were some numeric equivalents to the character creator settings we could see in-game (besides the ones for face types, and such). When you try to recreate Lizzie, don't you worry if she will be the right height and build? Having no way to compare the characters to others until they have been created, it is kind of frustrating to spend some time creating one just to discover he or she is too short or too tall.

I like to play as "myself" as much as I can. In my Japanese copy of Dragon Quest IX (a game that lets you create your own characters, too), I had originally created "myself" but with green hair and eyes. Later, I started the game again because I had missed some boss character information that has to be obtained during their battles (OCD much?). Then I used the brown hair and eyes, and darker skin, something that I kept doing whenever I had to create any avatar that represented me.

I read in some thread, perhaps in GameFAQs, a guy complaining that characters he saw online had no creativity in them... I imagine he expected very wild looks and all, when I think there may be some people like me, who would rather see themselves in the game. So it is cool that everyone creates whatever character they want.

I did try something like that in my "new" Infinity. Since I discovered I could use my own alternates in my party, I went on to create a full set of Césars (that's me). I had already created young (and small) Newman Shin Cesar (italics will mean whenever I used Katakana), with green hair and kid voice, with a slightly cooler hairstyle than my own.

Then I went wild and created Dark Cesar, a Dewman with dark green hair and the darkest Dewman skin (not much); slimmer than me, but not much.

Robo CESAR came next, tallest-possible CAST with human face, light green hair and radioactive green eyes (and green armor, while I'm at it); somewhat high-pitched and high-speed voice, kind of like Dragon Ball's Goku.

The last one was Cub Cesar, another young and small character, a Beast this time; green hair, shorter hair in almost the same style as the rest (except the Newman) and a kid voice with a slightly low pitch (still sounds like a kid). Both the Newman and the Beast had cuter faces than I have, that is why I went with the kid options. Since I had already used the "tall" character with the robot, there was no need to have the tall Beast, as well.

So far, it has been fun being in a party of just myself and my alternate selves. Now I can decide if I want to use story characters (only Emilia by now, I do not want to do much story at the moment), my boyfriend (when creating him, I realized there is no good curly hair option at all), or the "Cesar" team.

[tilinelson2]

I don't care that much about specific values for some things that can be customized. If Lizzie looks hot enough, she is fine Most of the time she of average height, or a bit shorter than that.

I always try to make characters that look nice to my eyes since I will be spending 30, 40, 50 or even 100 hours with them. I have some "default characters" I create, and some default names I give to the chars when I have the option to choose.

By the way, guess who was my main character on Dragon Quest IX?

On PSP, I only created one character. I tend to focus on only one character when the party is not made to necessarily have many PCs created by the player. Other games like Disgaea and Class of Heroes, which lets you to create many characters (and incentivates you to do so), I have tried different characters, but mostly they are based on characters I have created in my musings, attempts to write stores and things like that.

[Icecypher]

Blue haired mage Lizzie in Dragon Quest IX, by any chance?

I am not into creating stories for them, so it is just "me" magically inside the video game.

I just filled up the last two spots with two real life female friends, one a CAST and the other a Newman. Now I can have a whole-real-life party (my boyfriend and these two girls), and I will not feel I am collecting female clothing and robot parts for nothing (since this game keeps track of the clothes percentage, it is something I will want to do).

These party members have been giving me quite a few "live tickets" after clearing free missions. I searched what those are for and realized they are needed for one special mission later on. It seems they are "hard" to obtain otherwise, so that is one benefit to try at least one other character of your own in the party.