Phantasy Star Portable 2

Phantasy Star Portable 2
Developer: Alfa System Publisher: Sega Platform: PlayStation Portable Released in JP: December 3, 2009 Released in US: September 14, 2010 Released in EU: September 17, 2010 Released in AU: September 16, 2010 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

The sequel to Phantasy Star Portable and the grand finale to the Phantasy Star Universe sub-series. Unlike the previous game, Portable 2 supports online multiplayer in addition to Ad-Hoc.

To do: See if the game has any unused content and get JP collaboration list.

Unused Graphics

Unused Sonic Team Splash Screen

In the same texture sheet used for the game's startup splash screens is an unused one for Sonic Team.

Demo Version Leftover

In the title screen's texture sheet area is a graphic previously used in the PSN demo's title screen.

Phantasy Star Portable Mission Counter Leftovers

A texture containing the graphical assets used in the quest counter in Phantasy Star Portable is present.

Unfinished Localization

The file containing strings for "My Room" has various language variants (using the same language coding other Sonic Team games use) which hint that the game was originally planned to be localized into languages other than English:

MyRoomText_S.bin
MyRoomText_K.bin
MyRoomText_J.bin
MyRoomText_I.bin
MyRoomText_G.bin
MyRoomText_F.bin
MyRoomText_CT.bin
MyRoomText_CS.bin
MyRoomText_BE.bin
MyRoomText_AE.bin

Most of these files are empty, though the files for the German and French versions of the file show an unfinished translation attempt. It should also be noted that this is one of the few times that the Japanese string file is present in the international versions.

Regional Differences

SEGA Logo

Japan	International

As is common with many western releases of Sega games, the light-blue Sega logo used in Japan was replaced with the dark-blue version used by Sega of America and Sega Europe.

ESRB Warning

The North American release adds an "Online Interaction not rated by the ESRB" startup notice that is not present in any other version of the game.

Storage Medium Warning

After all the startup logos, the international versions add an extra warning prior to the title screen.

Title Screen

Japan	International

All instances of the game's logo (including the opening cinematic) does not feature the Katakana spelling of the game's name alongside the logo. The option to go to the official website was also removed in the international versions.

Import Menu

Japan	International

The option to import items bought off the PSN Store was removed due to the DLC remaining exclusive to the Japanese version.

Mode Select

Japan	International

The English text for "Multi-Mode" and "Internet-Multi Mode" were altered to "Multiplayer" and "Online Multiplayer" respectively.

Ingame Tutorials

Japan	International

Most of the screenshots used for the game's tutorials were re-taken using the international versions.

Voices

Similar to Phantasy Star Universe: Ambitions of the Illuminus, Phantasy Star Portable 2 had a partial English dub made. The FMVs and voice grunts were dubbed into English, but the text cutscenes were simply muted.

Weapon Upgrade

In the Japanese version, the Weapon Upgrade system had the stat increment based on the weapon's Grade, with higher-graded weapons having their upgrade stats increment by more than lower-graded weapons. In the western versions, all weapons belonging to the same weapon category have their stats increment by the same amount regardless of their grade.

Furthermore, the overall value by which stats increment had been increased in the western versions.

Japanese Collaborations

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

The Japanese version had various events and items based around other brands and franchises. Due to licensing issues, some of these items could not make it to the western releases. As a result, items were either removed entirely, re-skinned, or outright replaced with new items made specifically for the western versions.

Weekly Young Jump

In Japan, Sega partnered with Weekly Young Jump to produce five in-game posters featuring Japanese gravure idols. Due to licensing issues, Sega of America announced that they would hold an art contest to design new posters that would replace the Japanese ones:

Interestingly, data for the other two posters are still present in the international versions, however their description simply reads "Del" and their texture defaults to either the one used for "Rappy of Hope" (for Photo4) or "Memoir of a Legend" (for Photo5).

Famitsu

To do: Find out what the international versions' replacement for the Famitsu magazine weapon is.

As was the case with past Phantasy Star Online titles, a magazine collab in the form of a "joke weapon" is present. The collab here was with Famitsu magazine. The international versions has the weapon rebranded to one more familiar outside of Japan.

Item Codes

The game has a system wherein players could obtain special items by inputting a special code into the "Visiphone" terminal found in the player's room. All the Item Codes were changed in the game's western localization and some items in this system (as is the case with collaboration items that were unable to make it to the west) were removed and replaced with other items.

DLC

In Japan, the game offered two different kinds of DLC: one kind was through the PSN Store and allowed players to download new weapons, costumes, accessories, etc. The other kind was Downloadable Missions, which were distributed through the game's website in batches.

None of the DLC was ever released outside of Japan in any official capacity, though the Downloadable Missions' exclusive item drops were made into regular in-game drops. The missions themselves are compatible with the international versions, though.