Difference between revisions of "Phantasy Star Universe"

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Phantasy Star Universe

System(s): PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: RPG
ESRB PEGI USK OFLC CERO Missing Parameter!

Phantasy Star Universe is an action role-playing game by Sega's Sonic Team for the PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. In Japan, it was released for the PC and PlayStation 2 on August 31, 2006, with the Xbox 360 version releasing on December 12, 2006. Its North American release was on October 24, 2006, available in all formats. The European release date was November 24. While Phantasy Star Universe is a hack and slash role-playing game similar to the Phantasy Star Online games, it takes place in a different time period and location and has many new features. Like most of the PSO titles, PSU is playable in both a persistent online network mode and a full featured single-player story mode. Phantasy Star Universe was followed by a Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus.

Story

The universe is the Gurhal Star System, which consists of three planets. Each planet has its own unique culture formed by its inhabitant races. The history of the Gurhal Star System is filled with conflict amongst the different races. However, after the Final Conflict 100 years ago, a union was formed between the three planets. This led to the birth to the Allied Army, and ultimately to peace for the Gurhal Star System.

At the start of the game, Ethan, the main character, and his little sister Lumia, are at the celebration of the 100th year anniversary of the Alliance Space Fleet on the GUARDIANS Space station. The celebration is interrupted when a mysterious meteor shower almost destroys the entire fleet. During evacuation, Ethan and Lumia split off of the main evacuation route, and collapsing rubble separates Lumia from Ethan. Ethan then meets up with a GUARDIAN named Leo, but they are attacked by a strange creature. The creature paralyzes Leo, and Ethan takes his handgun and kills the creature. Leo then tells Ethan to find his sister, and that a rescue team is on the way.

After killing multiple creatures and saving people, Ethan finds Lumia, and they both leave the station. After a conversation between Leo and Ethan, Ethan reveals that he dislikes GUARDIANS because his father died when on a mission. Leo, impressed with Ethan's abilities, convinces Ethan to join the GUARDIANS.

Ethan and his classmate Hyuga are trained by a female Guardian named Karen, who leads them against the SEED, the strange monsters that came from the meteors. After being hired to accompany a scientist to a Relic site of an ancient, long-dead civilization, they find out the SEED are attracted to a power source (A-photons) the ancients used and that the solar system has just re-discovered.

Karen finds out she is the sister of the Divine Maiden (the prophet of the Holy Light) and takes over that position when her sister dies at the hands of her estranged father who intended to kill Karen to increase the original Maiden (Mirei)'s power.

After befriending rogues, guardians, and casts alike, Ethan angers Magashi, a CAST who heads the Endrum Collective and has been kidnapping scientists who know about the ancient power source. After Ethan and a rogue named Alfort Tylor kill Magashi, Ethan helps activate an ancient weapon the prior civilization used to survive the SEED before they were almost completely wiped out.

Ethan then gathers allies against Guardian orders to attack the last SEED outpost standing where two of his friends and the scientists are being held. In the outpost Magashi claims to be brought back to life by the SEED, where in reality he is a CAST incarnation of Dark Force who controls the SEED itself and controls whatever they infect. With the help of Karen, Leo and Tonnio, Ethan defeats Magashi once and for all.

Features

PSU has the following features:

Strafing - characters may strafe, in addition to the movement options available in PSO
Dual-wielding - characters may wield weapons akimbo, or even carry a different weapon in each hand
Player-controlled vehicles (Sega has stated that these will be customizable in some way; featured offline and during some online events).
Partner Machinery (pm) that evolve both in appearance and abilities when fed items.
20+ dungeons which the player may explore
15+ bosses to battle
Four character races: Humans, CASTs (Androids), Newmans, and Beasts (the latter two of which are races of genetically modified humans).
Three different classes to specialize in (similar to PSO) but with the ability to change classes at any given time and back again, while any bonuses gained are retained for later if you do change class.
An additional seven advanced classes which can either be specialists of the three main classes, or different hybrid versions.
An additional two advanced classes were provided upon the expansion's release, although they do not require the expansion to play.
A 40-hour offline RPG component with characters and events to complement the separate online game. Both use the same engine, although your customizable character can only be used online.
Extra Mode: A new offline mode that functions similar to online mode, with character customization. The "Extra Mode" character can only be used offline.
Character Customization: In addition, PSU features a character creation system with many more options than the original PSO, allowing players to customize the style and colour of their characters' clothes, hair and facial features, height and body proportion as well as their voice at any time in the game provided they have enough of the game's currency, meseta.

Open beta

An open beta was held for Xbox 360 users a few weeks before it was released in North America. The software was available on the marketplace for Xbox Live Gold subscribers for download for two days starting on October 13, 2006. The trial originally ran until October 18 but was eventually extended to October 21. As of January 15, 2007 it has now been put back onto the marketplace, and the server is up and running, for players who have Xbox Live Gold to download and try. Their policy states that they will reset the servers at the end of each month, however, from the period of September 2007 to April 2008, Sega did not reset the servers.

Community Online

The PC/PS2 servers are merged together while the Xbox 360 plays is on a server on its own. The PC/PS2 servers are region locked, while the on the Xbox 360 servers people from all over the world can play together.

Production Credits

Executive Supervisor: Hideki Okamura, Masanao Maeda, Kazihiro Yasutomi, Hideaki Morishita
Executive Producer: Yuji Naka, Hisao Oguchi
Producer: Takao Miyoshi
Director: Satoshi Sakai

Planning Section

Planning Director: Shintaro Hata
Players: Akihiko Mukaiyama
Items: Masayuki Mukaiyama, Takamitsu Kobayashi
Enemies And Bosses: Yuya Kimura, Keisuke Suzuki, Yuji Nakazawa, Yu Suganuma
Interface: Kazutaka Karashima
Quest Director: Yuya Kimura
Scenario: Sakae Tabata, Naozumi Yamaguchi, Satoshi Sakai, Yasushi Ohtaka, Yuya Kimura
Quest: Yasuhiro Imami, Michihiko Okano, Katsunori Nagai, Satoshi Oku, Toshiki Ito, Kenji Matsumura
Maps: Masanori Shiramizu, Yuka Onoda, Tatsushi Toyoshima, Shigetaka Hoshina
Support: Masaya Amano, Yosuke Tanaka

Design Section

Art Director: Kosei Kitamura
Characters: Akikazu Mizuno, Akira Iketani, Masatoshi Yasumura, Satoshi Arai, Satoshi Tomastu, Masahiro Tsunoda, Yuka Matsumoto, Chrissy Jean, Hu Wen-Jie
Motion: Michihiro Sato, Tomoaki Yuyama
Enemies: Masaharu Nakayama, Yoshiyuki Tomatsu, Satoshi Kunitomo, Yoshiyuki Yamamoto
Maps: Kaori Hitsuda, Haruka Haginoya, Michio Abe, Masahiko Yagi, Koyko Chino, Mayo Sudo, Kenji Odaka, Maki Kaneko, Tomoharu Kawataki, Daizo Kimura, Takanobu Tsujihata, Shunsuke Takehaka
Event Directors: Naozumi Yamaguchi, Seiju Taniguchi
Event: Tomonori Dobashi, Takashi Tamaguchi, Keita Mizoguchi, Tsuyoshi Tanaka, Hideaki Makinouchi, Sho Mutsura
Effects: Takanori Fukazawa, Ryutaro Sugiyama, Yasushi Honma, Yasutaka Tanaka
Web: Ken Hijikata, Madoka Horiuchi
Technical Support: Masayuki Ishino

Programming Section

Programming Director: Yasuhiro Takahashi
Players: Toshihisa Satake, Yoshiji Kosaka, Daigo Matsura, Kenichi Tanase, Mie Kawanishi
Enemies: Junichi Takeda, Yoshitaka Katsume, Kenji Furukawa, Makoto Azuma
Maps: Shinya Matsunami, Hiroshi Fujimoto, Naohide Shiga
Event: Tsuyoshi Agura
Interface: Takashi Sakamoto, Masatoshi Nakamura
Network Director: Akio Setsumasa
Network: Kouichi Toya, Hideto Fujishita, Kazuhiro Tonogi, Yuji Hirukawa, Yasumasa Matsumori, Tomokazu Tochi
Technical Support: Naoki Matsumoto

Sound Section

Sound Production: Sega Creative Center, Sound Section
Sound Director: Hideaki Kobayashi
Music Composers: Hideaki Kobayashi, Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi, Seirou Okamoto, Taihei Sato
Acoustuc Effects: Masaru Setsumaru, Tatsuyuki Maeda
Sound Effects: Hideaki Kobayashi, Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi, Junko Shiratsu, Hideki Abe

Warsaw & Hollywood Orchestra Recording Section

Conducted & Mixed By: Masamicz Amano
Co-Orchestrator: Toshio Mashima
Recording Producer: Hidetaka "Carl" Shibata (Power House Studio)
Recording Director: Kotaro Kamada (Band Power)
Recording Coordinator: Kan Hashimoto (Jailhouse Music Inc.)

Warsaw Staff

Played By: Warsaw Phiharmonic, National Orchestra
Concept Master: Ewa Marczyk & Peter Tsegietski
General Manager: Wojciech Nowak (Classical Recording & Concepts)
Recorded & Edited By: Andzej Sasin
Assistant Engineer: Aleksandra Nahorko
Recording Hell: Warsaw Phiharmonic Hell

Hollywood Staff

Played By: The Hollywood Session Orchestra
Orchestra Contractor: Chris Tedesco
Recorded Engineer: Damon Tedesco
Assistant Engineer: Steven Rhodes
Recorded By: Cello Studios

New York Recording & Mix Session

Sound Producer: Atsushi Kosugi
Recorded & Mixed By: Roy Hendrickson
Assistant Engineer: Chad Lopo
String Arrange/Score: Philippe Saisse
Chorus Arrangement: Marton D. Sauncars
Recording Studio: Avatar Studio

Tokyo Mastering Session

Executive Producer: Fumitaka Shibata
Artist & Repetoir Director: Kazuo Koizumi
Recording Studio: Wave Master Studio
Music Mastered By: Masato Morisaki
Assistant Engineer: Touru Hoshino

Save This World (Phantasy Star Universe Main Theme)

Vocal: Kelli Sae
Composed & Arranged By: Hideaki Kobayashi
Lyric By: Kan Hashimoto

With You (Phantasy Star Universe Ending Theme)

Vocal: Lita Harvey
Played By: Warsaw Phiharmonic, National Orchestra
Composed & Arranged By: Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi
Lyric By: Fumie Kumatani
Lyric Translated By: Kan Hashimoto

For Brighter Day (Phantasy Star Universe Grand Ending Theme)

Played By: Philippe Saisse, Acoustique Trio, Reaturing Kelli Sae
Composed & Arranged By: Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi
Lyric By: Fumie Kumatani
Lyric Translated By: Kan Hashimoto

Motion Capture: Sega Creative Center, Motion Capture Studio, Takeo Iwata, Hiroshi Tanaka, Shunkichi Yukitake, Kimiko Nakaizumi, Hitoshi Noda, Yukie Nagiwara, Haruna Mitsuhashi

Motion Capture: Links Digiwork Inc.

Producer: Kazuhisa Nishimura
Supervisor: Tomokazu Sakamoto
Lead Editor: Ryuji Tominaga
Editors: Ayako Sakuma, Ayako Yoshioka

Motion Actors: Katsugekiza

Actor Coordination: Wataru Koga
Main Wire Stunt Coordination: Motoki Kawana
Action Coordination: Wataru Koga, Yoshio Miyaki
Capture Actors: Wataru Koga, Motoki Kawana, Tony Hosokawa, Iori Sakakibara, Kunio Masaoka, Kazuhiro Shinyako, Hajime Kutihara, Mai Shibata, Ami Sakai, Misato Suzuki, Maiko Yamada, Toyoe Sekita, Yoshio Tomoeda, Hiroto Nakamura, Kazuko Saito, Masaki Yatoh, Hidetaka Takase, Tyson Ohya, Hayatomaru, Masayoshi Enomoto, Ryuichiro Nishioka
Stunts: Yoshio Miyaki, Makoto Arakawa, Hiromi Shimjo, Kazuhiko Tai, Fumihito Minamitsuji, Tohru Miyokawa, Keiji Hasegawa
Actor Support: Yukito Yano, Jun Sawaki
Action And Stunts Support: Kouichi Funayama, Fujio Kai, Kouta Fukuchi, Naoyasu Achi
Face Actors: Taro Koyama, Masaki Nonaka, Risa Furukawa, Yoshjkazu Kodama, Takumi Gontani, Alice Hiragi, Hiroko Hosoi

Capture Edit Cooperation: Studio Ibuki Inc.

Director: Masahiro Miura
Motion Designers: Koji Hayashi, Ken Hatsumi, Masatoshi Kasuya, Takahisa Ueno, Keisuke Matsumoto, Takamitsu Kousaka
Voice Recording Cast Record & Director: Greg Weber (Webtone)

CG Movies: Polygon Magic Inc., Dynamo Pictures Inc.

Producer: Akira Mayama
Director: Kaname Aoki
Chief Animator: Ryichi Tsurunosono
Modeller: Kiyoshi Akimoto
Animator: Yasuhiro Kato
Compositor: Takateru Kzdota
Production Manager: Takaaki Furusawa

CG Movies: Sega Creative Center CG Team

Directors: Takeshi Itou, Tomokazu Takahashi
CG Designers: Kouhei Kajisa, Masahito Imamura, Takaaki Kise

CG Movies: Dynamo Pictures Inc.

CG Director: Kaname Aoki
Compositor: Takateru Kadota
Animators: Naoki Kondo, Yuki Mizoguchi
Production Manager: Takaaki Furusawa

CG Movie/Event: Griot Inc.

Producer: Masashi Sakamoto
CG Director: Minoru Kusakabe, Toshiyuki Aoyama
Designer: Kiyonobu Kitada, Ryoji Fujita, Kei Yoneoka, Kensaku Takaishi, Tomohiro Shimizu, Hidenori Tanaka, Momomi Kuriyama
Production Manager: Masashi Kuwahara

CG Movie/Event: Animaroid Inc.

Designers: Shinichi Kawabe, Masato Nozawa, Fumihiko Kagawa, Tomoya Shinbori, Yoshihiro Hatano, Kazuyuki Mori, Takuya Suzuki, Yuya Nagata, Yuki Hamatani

CG Movie/Event: Digital Media Lab Inc.

Producer: Shusaku Chamoto
Director: Hideaki Sato
Engineer: Miho Obata
Creators: Satoshi Koshimizu, Tomoki Morizumi, Kenji Kushima, Junko Hirata, Kazue Tsukamoto, Tomomi Masuda, Takamasa Namiki, Akihiko Kimura, Saori Yoshimoto, Tomoki Morizumi, Satoshi Koshimizu, Takashi Matsuda, Keisuke Keboushi, Hideki Miyao

Modelling/CG Movie/Event: Polygon Magic Inc.

Supervising Producer: Osamu Ogiwara
Producer: Toshinori Suzuki
Character Models: Nobuyuki Nakayama, Daisuke Amakawa, Ayako Yoneda, Yoshiaki Mori, Tadashi Abe
Enemy Models: Dai Kitajima, Daisuke Yoneyama, Akira Morita, Hiroki Takamura, Makoto Hayashi, Masatoshi Fujita, Yuki Hirohara
Map Models: Minoru Sugiyama, Yuko Yoneyama, Rumi Kodera, Eri Watanabe, Yoshiko Miyahara
Motion/Events: Takanobu Mityazawa, Tadashi Chiba, Wataru Horikawa, Noriaki Isogai, Atsushi Kinbara, Atsushi Hashimoto, Masahiro Yokoyama, Shun Manabe, Masaki Shimizu, Chiharu Katagiri, Koji Hata, Hirokazu Tanata, Masahiro Ohmomo

CG Movie: Sanzigen Inc.

CG Designers: Toshiaki Ihara, Yasuhiro Kato, Tatsuya Kono, Kazunobu Sano, Atsushi Nemoto

Modelling: Flight Unit.

Designers: Hiroyuki Matsumoto, Kaitzokuya, Takeshi Miyamoto, Kouhei Kyono, Atsuyoshi Hokari, Keiko Miyahara, Shigeyoshi Ishima

Modelling: Sega (Shabghai) Software Co. Ltd.

Designers: Yu Yong Qing, Jin Chuan Zhong, Huang Fu Lin, Liang Jia Ni, Chen Yan

Sega Of America Inc.

CEO: Naoya Tsurumi
President/COO: Simon Jeffery
VP Product Development: David Cobb
VP Marketing: Scott Steinberg
Marketing Director: Don Mesa
Product Manager: Ben Harrison
Assistant Producer: Jason Kuo, Beejey Enriquez
PR: Jennie Sue
Creative Service: Jen Groeling, Heather Luchrtti, Briget Oates
Network Engineers: David Fung, Masahiro Sato
Online: Julian Mehlfeld, Chris Olson
QA Manager: Deni Skeens
QA Supervisor: Josh Morton
Mastering Lab: Rey Buzon, Andrew Byrne, Rhiana Kellom
Senior Team Lead: Demetrius Griffin
Assistant Team Lead: Mabel Chung
Assisting Team Leads: Athony Banks, Orville Bongat, Omar Woodley
Compliancy Test Lead: Stephen Akana
Compliancy Assistant: Lawrence Mann
Compliancy Testers: Steve Fleming, Joe Floyd, Jason Mahar
Testers: John Bonyhard, Jamil Hale, Mike Castillo, Jake Holub, Tristan Corbett, Nick Makovkin, Tim Erbil, Ken Nacua, Matt Girard, Seneca Roux, Alice Grunstra, Mike Sliva, Teresa Guest, Camden Tayler, Kyle Uberman
Webtone Voice Director: Greg Weber
Teanslation By: Inbound
Speical Thanks: Kevin Frane, Kim Weber

Sega Europe Ltd.

CEO: Naoya Tsurumi
President/COO: Mike Haye
Development Director: Gary Dunn
Creative Director: Matthew Woodley
European Market Director: Gary Knight
Head Of Localisation: Kuniyo Matsumoto
Localisation Producer: Ayano Murofushi
European PR: Lynn Daniel, Kerry Martyn
Assistant Brand Manager: Hiromi Ando
International Brand Manager: Ben Chalmers-Stevens
Creative Services: Tom Bingle, Keith Hodgetts, Morgan Gibbons, Akane Hiraoka, Arnoud Tempelaere
Localisation Manager: Marta Lois Gonzalez
Localisation Coordinator: Giuseppe Rizzo
Head Of Development Services: Mark Le Breton
QA Supervisor: Marlon Grant, Stuart Arrowsmith
Master Technicians: John Hegarty, Jigar Patel
Team Lead: Jigar Patel
Senior Lang. Team Lead: Jean-Baptiste Bagot
Assistant Team Leads: Malon Andall, David Higgins, James Langtry, Gabriel Ralls
Testers: Caroline Walker, Chi Hao Tsang, Luca Marini, Wayne Quarmby, Louise Ridley, Phil Swan, Michael Hewitt, Pete Mctean, Noel Ogumuyide, Chris Jones, Emanuel Addo, Sacha Allari, Richard Haw
Language Testers: Ronan Salon, Peter Beicht
Standards Coordinator: Mohammed Ajaib
Assistant Standards Coordinator: Michael Hanley
Standard Tester: Ali Hassan, Nithiyan Thirudaian
Created By: Sonic Team
Presented By: Sega

Physical Scans

PlayStation 2 Version

US cover
DE cover

Xbox 360 Version

US cover
AU cover

Windows Version

US cover

Phantasy Star series

"Classic" series

Phantasy Star (1987) | Phantasy Star II (1989) | Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom (1990) | Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (1993)

Compilations

Sega Ages Phantasy Star Collection (1998) | Phantasy Star Collection (2003) | Phantasy Star Complete Collection (2008)

Related media
	Phantasy Star Collection: Sound Collection I (1993) \| Phantasy Star Collection: Sound Collection II (1993) \| Phantasy Star 1st Series Complete Album (2008) \| Phantasy Star Series 25th Anniversary Sound Collection (2012) \| Phantasy Star Series 25th Anniversary Concert Sympathy 2013 Live Memorial Album (2013) \| Phantasy Star (2022) \| Phantasy Star II (2022) \| Phantasy Star III (2023) \| Phantasy Star IV (2023)
	Memorial Drama CD & Fanbook "Phantasy Star: Fuujirareshi Kioku" (1995)
	Phantasy Star II Hint Book (1989) \| Phantasy Star III: Toki no Keishousha Koushiki Guide Book (1990) \| Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom Hint Book (1991) \| Phantasy Star: Sennenki no Owari ni Game Guide Book (1994) \| Phantasy Star Koushiki Settei Shiryoushuu (1995) \| Phantasy Star IV Official Players Guide (1995) \| 25th Anniversary Phantasy Star Visual Chronicles (2013)

"Modern" series

Handheld games