There’s plenty of game there without bringing other people into it; even without the online functionality, the game’s still quite playable. Unfortunately, it’s also got some fairly noticeable pacing issues and a combat system that - despite an innovative UI - just feels a bit clumsy. Rule 1: If you’re in a JRPG, and a cute elf-looking girl heals your wounds with what seems like magic, RUN AWAY BECAUSE THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET CRAZY. Like meteors and alien beings slamming into a space colony crazy.
As you escape the chaos, a peacekeeper directs the flow of beings toward safety, but because you’re a rebellious jackass who’s SO INDEPENDENT, you refuse to follow his direction simply out of spite and end up with your sister trapped behind some debris. Not getting off to a good start, Phantasm Star Universe. Not at all.
Seriously, I thought my TV was screwed up the first time I saw it. To this end, you’ve got a system of weapons and items, which can be assigned from the main menu to a palette called up by the B button. A few quick movements and you’ve swapped from your broadsword to a gun/saber combo, and used a healing item in the middle of it all. It’s a pretty elegant system, except for targeting and, y’know, actually hitting things.
You can use the left bumper to lock-on, but to hold it for extended periods gets pretty uncomfortable, especially as you’re trying to maneuver in combat. And when you ‘rein combat, you’re in a hell of a lot of combat.
I posted a time of 1:40 in the “burning meadow” mission - AN HOUR FORTY - which was good enough for an A rank. That, sir, is a dungeon that’s too long. I had high hopes for the pacing - as each chapter is bookended by opening and closing musical pieces, kind of like a TV show. (additional reading)
A TV show with rather awkward dialog, extras that just disappear into thin air if you get too close to them, and one of those aggravating pseudo-foreign fonts like in Final Fantasy X. So, of course, it’ll last longer than Firefly.
