PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus JP Release Date + Updates Rating Options

[donkeybeatz]

Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus Gets A Release Date in Japan!

Quoted from EspioKaos from PSO-W:

Reported earlier today by Rakuten Ichiba, the Japanese release date for the PC and PS2 versions of Ambition of the Illuminus has been set for September 27th! According to the article, the expansion's story mode will be a retelling of the events of our current game's online story missions (Episode 2) complete with voice overs during event sequences as well as a more powerful story. Following this, the network mode of Ambition of the Illuminus will feature a new series of story missions to be known as Episode 3.

I'm assuming the US release date is probably 2-3 months later.
You can check out the original post here.

In other PSU news, there will be an update this week (in a few hours rather):

Firebreak Purification Reward!
To mark the end of Operation: Firebreak, various rewards will now become available to notable GUARDIANS for their outstanding personal and collective achievements during the purification.

New Co-op Mission!
"Her Secret Mission"

On a mission to investigate the contamination around the abandoned Shikon Islands on Neudaiz, Bunami Seagol collected samples to bring back to the lab for further research. Along the way, the samples mysteriously disappeared, and now Bunami has requested that the GUARDIANS help her re-collect the samples in time for her to deliver her findings. Although this mission is time-sensitive, you cannot go it alone – you will need to round up at least 2-4 allies at the Neudaiz GUARDIANS Branch to complete the mission and get Bunami her samples in time. Good luck!

New S2 Rank Missions!
System Defense & Desert Terror

New High-Rank Board Drops!
New Clothes Available!


New SUV Attacks!

Hegel Attacker


Blitz Attacker


Meteor Attacker

Source page

[AC9breaker]

HELLFU CKING YEAH

[DarkEpyon]

Meh.... smack dab in the middle of school. Why do they have to put this shit out then? All I know is I ain't doin' SHIT that day or that weekend. Bunami's a pretty cool mission. Lots of money and JXP.

[Retehi]

Dude, the coats are awesome, especially the yellow.

[DarkEpyon]

I'm actually somewhat surprised you guys didn't get level 90. If I remember right, we got level 90 alongside Bunami and that other stuff at the end of April. BTW, Donkey and AC, if you guys import AoI, the first 30 days will be free for you since you haven't paid with a credit card yet.

[donkeybeatz]

I'm actually somewhat surprised you guys didn't get level 90. If I remember right, we got level 90 alongside Bunami and that other stuff at the end of April. BTW, Donkey and AC, if you guys import AoI, the first 30 days will be free for you since you haven't paid with a credit card yet.

Yea importing still part of the plan. Sweet deal.
I'm in no rush to hit 90. I'm not even 80 yet.

Anyway, the new clothes are awesome:

[Vitamin D]

Yeah the new clothes are hot man haha. I bought a whole bunch with the discounted price, you gotta look good.

[Crushinator]

Dude, the coats are awesome, especially the yellow.

Awesome!

[donkeybeatz]

So I was browsing Amazon to see if I can find the original PSO for cheap and I came across this:
Link

According to Amazon, the expansion will be released here in the US, November 20th.

Good? Bad?
I'm getting it.

$30? HEL YEH

[donkeybeatz]

Some of you guys may have seen this already but there were some new info dug up in the past few days, so I'll pack it all in here.

Official site was updated with some uber awesome pics.
Go check it out:
http://illuminus.phantasystaruniverse.jp/

Some posts from EspioKaos of PSO-W.

Click here!

This scan covers some of the new stuff being added and changed between the base game and expansion. I don't have a whole lot of time right now, so I'll make this quick. (I'll try to clarify certain things later in the day, if I have a chance to while I'm at work.)

01. "Just Attack" added
The "Just Attack" is the culmination of all of that talk about a timing system with melee attacks. If you manage to time it correctly, your third hit will pull off this move, which seems to be a more powerful attack.

02. "Just Counter" added
This is a special guard which seems to be tied to melee attacks. I'll look more into this once I have a chance.

03. PP recovery from normal attacks
It says something about recovering PP at a higher rate during critical times. I'll look more into this one, too, once I have a chance.

04. Monster areas of attack
This will be adjusted, I believe to make the monster AI use its own attacks more wisely instead of just chasing players around. I'll look more into it.

05. (Edited out to avoid spreading more misinformation. My mistake, I mistranslated this part. Very sorry for that. See Lyrise's post for accurate info concerning elemental stat calculation changes.)

06. Weapon grinding
The method of grinding SonicTeam had mentioned before (where you don't lose your weapon from a failed grind, just it's stats) will be added. I'll go over this some more just to make sure there isn't anything I'm missing, though.

07. PA disk change
It looks like you will now have the ability to change an already-learned PA into a disk if you don't want it. Also, a new double saber PA is revealed here: Absolute Dance.

08. New types
The type requirements for Acrosfighter and Acrotecher have been made official.
Acrofighter: Hunter lv.3, Ranger lv.5
Acrotecher: Hunter lv.3, Force lv.5

More in-depth explanation from Lyrise:

Since I don't see too much of a translation other than the first post, I guess I can translate said scan, and add a few bits of information that was posted over at Shougai PSO who got their info over a 4 page section in the recent Famitsu.

1. Just Attack - Espio summed it up pretty well. On the 3rd invocation of your attack command, if you timed it correctly, you'll hear a new sound, see a new graphical effect. The attack itself might have a special effect, but from performing a "Just Attack" you'll be able to cancel into a photon art as well (for those who don't understand fighting game concepts, this means the elimination of any delay of the attack leading into your next attack). Additionally, this system will apply to photon arts too, but to a lesser extent (probably means it won't let you cancel 2 of the same PA).

2. Just Counter - Who said Evasion was useless? Ok, so maybe a lot of people do now, but this might change with the inclusion of Just Counter. Taking another page out of the fighting games handbook, Just Counter stipulates that whenever you evade or block an attack, if you time it right, you can guardcancel (see above explanation for cancel if you don't get this term, but change attack delay to evasion animation/delay) into an attack or photon art of your choice.

3. PP recovery from normal attacks. Simple explanation here, all normal *melee* attacks (sorry gunners, you're outta luck here) will recover small ammounts of PP, probably in the 1-2 range. In the case of a Critical attack, you will recover a large amount, many times more than a normal attack.

4. Monster Range. this is as I explained it before but just for monsters (no sign of weapon range adjustment). Rather than chasing down players in attempt for them to lure away, a monster will now use its attack range and knowledge of its attack options to its full ability. Fear of Bil de Vear and Goushin +1.

5. ELEMENTAL stat calculations. Sorry everyone, there's no mention of Racial stat changes here. Not too many details are given here, but expect a boost that makes low elemental ratio weapons and armors MORE useful.

6. No break grind system. You know this as well as I explained it last time. And yes, this IS the -1 system they're implementing. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, what this means is, if you fail the grind, your weapon gets reset to zero, but your max grind gets tagged with -1. Fail once, yur max is +9. Fail 10 times? You have really bad luck.

7. PA disk system. Espio's posting got it right. You are able to convert loaded PAs into Photon arts disks. From further information from Famitsu, this can NOT be exploited. Once you have Photon arts levels on a disk, you can't trade the disk or sell it, and unlike the Final PA system, it's unusable to other characters, even on the same account.

8. New classes. You know all there is to it. One side note, which most of you know from my ramblings. AT cast speed for all force weapons is the fastest of all classes.

That's all for that scan, seems to me like they took factors from another franchise Sega owns, and put them in here (Anyone remember the greatness that is Guardian Heroes?). Hunters get the offensive boost they definitely deserve, and people need not fear thta racial base stats are getting changed.

Source Page.

From Shougai PSO, I have a synopsis of a recent article from Famitsu. (Actually, it's from the same article that the small clip I posted this morning came from.) No scans of these pages yet, but I'll be on the lookout.

New Fields
Il Carbo Base: I'm sure some of you guys have heard me mention this one. You could see it when you went into one of the mission counters on Moatoob; I think it was when you left Casino Volyale. Anyway, this map takes place inside an AMF base in Vio Tonga.

Saguraki Conservation District: Another one I've mentioned in the past. It's accessible from one of the mission counters at the Pavilion of Air on Neudaiz. The article describes this area as a mountainous path lined with blooming cherry trees.

AMF Central HQ: Missions here take place inside the AMF HQ in Holtes City.

Habilao Restricted District: Not sure where this one takes place, but it's described as a forested area with really high photon concentrations.

Caves: Just like from PSO. Are we back on Ragol...?

Mine: Just like from PSO. Hmm...

(Not trying to imply anything with those comments. The article doesn't specifically or officially confirm Ragol as being present here.)

New Enemies
Over 30 new enemies will appear in Ambition of the Illuminus. This article specifically mentions a new SEED-Form, the SEED-Ardite, as well as Alteratsu Goug, which beta testers will probably recall from the Pavilion of Air.

New Weapons
Van-brella (Shotgun): This gun is supposed to be designed after PSO's Madam's Umbrella. (No, seriously.)
Vishi Adan (Whip): A crimson-colored whip.
Eblozeek (Shadoog): Described as having a design like a wing bent at a sharp angle. (Probably a throwback to a certain MAG type.)
Ohsobera (Double Saber): Described as having half-moon-shaped blades.
Gungnata (Spear): The site says it has two points on it. (Like a double saber?)
Shura-hiken (Slicer): Designed after PSO's Flight Cutter.
Dory (Madoog): Says it has an emerald green body.
Flowduke (Shadoog): It has a flowery motif.
Madam-brella (Shotgun): Themed after Madam's Umbrella from PSO.
Ryo-sabeud (Twin Saber): Doesn't give a good description; just says they have sharp blades.
Ryo-beamtore (Twin Handgun): Described as having large barrels.

New Costumes
Twelve "PSO Replica" costumes will be available along with numerous new designs exclusive to the expansion. The twelve replica costumes cover all of the classes from PSO. The original clothing and parts sets are as follow.

SPF Set (male, clothes)
Valatenes Set (female, parts)
Granadas Set (male, parts)
Kohzue Set (male, clothes)
Goshikalia Set (male, clothes)
Bakorone Set (female, parts)
Hanaura Set (female, clothes)
Frauna Set (female, clothes)
Volyale Set (female, clothes) -- Cowgirl costume from Casino Volyale.
Mikumiko Set (female, clothes) -- Omikuji Maiden set from Mt. Ohtoku.
Musagan Set (male, parts)
Lukaral Set (female, parts)
Wai Wad Set (male, clothes)

New SUV Weapons
Gigas Faust: It's described as a straight-forward "rocket punch" attack.
Lapier Fluge: Anyone within the radius of this SUV's blast will have their HP recovered, any negative status effects removed and if anyone happens to be knocked out, well, not anymore! (Didn't see this one coming!)

New Photon Arts
Vishi Grudda (Whip)
Chikkyo-renjin (Slicer) - I'm not sure if this is a typo on the site's part, but I recall there being a PA for the slicer in the beta called Chikki Kyoren-jin.
Renga Chujin-shou (Twin Dagger)

Then there's pictures:

New weapons!
More new weapons!
Folks with that angel wing fetish will love Lapier Fluge.
New PAs!
New fields!
More costume shots!
A decent-ish shot of the cover.

Source Page.

[Crushinator]

Sounds like a lot of good changes and new content. The just attack/defend stuff will definetly make the game less mindless, because as it is now I basically just jam on the attack and PA button nonstop.

I don't understand the PA disk thing... is there a limit to the # of PA's you can learn that I'm not aware of? Why would you ever want to remove a PA from your char if you can't trade it to another person?

It sucks that the shitty PS2 version holds back these changes from just being handled as downloadable updates on the PC/360 games though, otherwise we probably could have seen these changes to the gameplay months ago rather than a year after the original game came out.

[donkeybeatz]

I don't understand the PA disk thing... is there a limit to the # of PA's you can learn that I'm not aware of? Why would you ever want to remove a PA from your char if you can't trade it to another person?

Yea you can only have up to 36 PA's at once. Currently, if you overwrite a PA and for some reason you want that PA back, you'll have to relearn it and level it up again from Lv1.

[HC82]

The combat changes are much needed; although, tech casting is still just as one sided as melee. They should add the whole guard cancel thing to tech casting too, so when you evade, you cancel into a tech. A "just attack" for techs would be sweet too (with an extreme increase toward PP consumption if activated), chain casting resta after a Foie would help allow FOs to not get one shotted all the time when trying to healteam mates.

Overall, it seems a like a huge revamping is being made to melee, but gun and tech casting seems to remain unchanged, even though it could use a boost. Although, I'd assume theres more to come as well, so we will see.