Idola: Phantasy Star Saga (Japanese: イドラ ファンタシースターサーガ) was a free-to-play gacha mobile game released in 2018 to celebrate the phantasy star franchise's 30th anniversary. Service for the Japanese version of the game was ended on January 12, 2022. The western version published by Boltrend Games ended service on August 22, 2022.
An English version of the game was announced on August 4th to be published by Boltrend Games. An Open Beta was held starting from August 5th. While the initial release and beta were only open for SEA countries (except for Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam), Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, the publisher had stated that they're planning for eventual US and EU regions releases. Developers then set up a pre-registration website as well as advertising via social media; and by mid-Summer 2020, it became available for pre-order. It was released to all other regions on September 16, 2020. A version for European audiences followed on October 30, 2020.
A major update for the JP version was to be released in April of 2020, but was delayed to May due to the Covid-19 pandemic at the time. The update, billed as the game's Episode 2, continues the in-game story from the point of view of a new protagonist, with Stella and Ulysses being demoted to major supporting characters. Episode 2 was released for all audiences as of March 11, 2021.
Story Synopsis[]
In the fantastical world of Vandor, the people of this planet fight for their lives against giant monsters called the Idola. The malevolent Dark Falz that was once sealed in ancient times is awakening. Can civilization prevent the resurrection of Dark Falz? And what is the true identity of the Idola, whom are regarded as the disaster god's kin?
Main Characters[]
- Stella is the heroine of Episode 1. A shy girl that hides her true feelings beneath an iron mask. By wearing the mask, her posture changes drastically, giving her the courage to be able to act confidently in the battle field. Upon removing the mask, however, her shy demeanor returns. Stella is the leader and Master of her armed brigade, the Aries Chivalric Order, who are currently locked in war with the monstrous Idola.
- Uly is the protagonist of Episode 1. After a fateful encounter with Stella, Uly is recruited as the commander of the Order's guerrilla unit. He beams with an honest and caring personality to anyone he meets. He lost his parents as a child and was taken in by an old acquaintance of his father's who raised him as a sailor.
- Anna Marie is the former Master of the Aries Chivalric Order, who had recently passed her title to her daughter Stella.
- Rosalinde is an imperial princess who initially joined the Order in their hunt against Cetus at the start of the game. She oversees the Law wing of the guerrilla unit.
- Jasper is the leader of a group of itinerant brigands who challenged the Order and lost, after which he and his posse joined the Order for the greater good of his fellow Chaos people. His duty is to manage the Chaos wing of the guerrilla unit.
- Phuramy is a mysterious bard who ventures Vandor in search of her lost memories. Her duty is to manage and organize the Symbols owned by members of the Order.
- The Warrior is the protagonist of Episode 2, a mysterious savior who crashed to Vandor from outer space and just recently awakened from a long cold sleep, they are also partnered with a Mag named New.
- Giselle is the heroine of Episode 2, she insisted that the Warrior is her destined person. Formerly of the country of Canseed, she defected to the Aries Chivalric Order and remains on the run from a cadre of Canseed's elite soldiers.
Gameplay[]
Characters will align themselves with Law, Chaos, or Neutral stances.
Law vs Chaos[]
Idola presents the player with two different parties that they can customize based on each character's affinity with either Law or Chaos.
The people of Law used the power of ancient Runes sealed within their armaments to fight and manipulate the elements. Characters valuing law follow the virtues of order and justice, and typically excel at recovery and defensive abilities.
The people of Chaos bind the power of Runes within their bodies, surfacing in the form of tattoos known as Fests. Characters influenced by chaos value a life free of restraints. As such, they usually excel in offensive prowess and possess status afflicting abilities.
There are also characters that decide to live by a neutral code which is neither law nor chaos. Since they lack commitments to either side, these characters will be able to join any party composition.
During battles, both the player's Law and Chaos parties take part, one at a time. However, the player can choose to unleash a "Reverse Rush", which not only switches the current active party, but also deals damage to the enemies depending on the new party's strength. Additionally, switching into different parties offers an edge depending on which party the player switches into: Rushing into Law will reduce the damage received by the new party; Rushing into Chaos will reduce the current enemy party's defenses. Releasing a Reverse Rush requires at least 1 Reverse Rush charge. A charge is added per turn, for a maximum of 3. When the player Reverse Rushes, all charges are consumed, but the potency of the action become stronger for each charge spent.
Characters & Symbols[]
Players build their party through the combination of different "Characters" and "Symbols", which are units that can be earned in the game.
Characters are units assigned to the party to fight enemies. Characters grow as they earn EXP through either completing battles or being fed with experience tomes.
Symbols are divided into two kinds; Weapon and Soul. Weapons are units assigned to Characters to boost their stats. Souls are units assigned to Characters to grant special effects. These effects range from temporary stat buffs to gradual HP recovery. Often, Souls require certain triggers to activate during battles, such as landing critical hits or arriving on the last battle in a series of battles.
Affection, Destiny Divergence and Destiny Bond[]
Rosalinde's attire and battle style changes depending on the influence of Law or Chaos.
Stella's Destiny Bond activates when the player owns both a Law-aligned and Chaos-aligned Stella.
Alongside their EXP gauge, each character has an Affinity Gauge that fills up whenever that the player clears a quest or finished battling in Idola Challenge. Filling the Affinity gauge of a character will increase their Affinity and unlock a new chapter of their side story. Once a character's side story is completed, they're eligible for a Destiny Divergence.
Upon reaching a character's maximum Affinity level, the player can decide to change the character's alignment to either Law or Chaos through the Destiny Divergence. The system is an important aspect that will hugely impact each character's appearance, personality, Skills, Elemental Blast, tactics, and the conclusion to their character-specific story arc. If for some reason the player changes their mind, a special item is required in order to reassign the character's alignment.
Destiny Bond is a special endgame feature that grants stat bonuses if there are at least 2 of the same characters whose another copy diverged into a different path in their destiny.
Battle[]
The party confronts a group of earth-aspected Land Reapers.
Idola: Phantasy Star Saga's battle system is a return to the command style typical to Japanese role-playing games. Upon selecting a character's attack, the system defaults to automatically targeting a foe to give the player the best advantage. It will also allow the player to manually specify which character will attack which target on the battlefield. Various tactics will be given to make battles more seamless and offhand, such as the ability to fast forward battle speed, auto battle, or skip Elemental Blast animations.
Reverse Rush is a powerful all-out attack.
Both of the player's parties share a pool of Elemental Value for each element. As the turns proceed and characters perform their actions, the Elemental Value gauges will fill. Each time this happens, that element's Value goes up by 1 point. Attacking enemies that are weak to a certain element fills that element's Value gauge much faster. On the opposite, using a resisted element made that element's Value grow slower. As Values grow, characters will be able to unleash Skills and power up their normal attacks. There's no MP/PP system in the game; instead, Skills are restricted with a simple cooldown mechanic.
Once an Elemental Value reaches a certain amount, a character with that element can consume it in order to unleash powerful a special ability called Elemental Blast. Elemental Blasts are unique to the character using them. When an Elemental Blast becomes available, the character's element crest changes into a stylized golden pattern. Upgrading an Elemental Blast increases its strength, as well as reducing its Value requirement.
During battle, the player will be able to switch between Law- and Chaos-oriented parties through the Reverse Rush. By switching at an opportune moment, the player will be able to lay waste to a group of enemies with a powerful Reverse Rush all-out attack or survive an oncoming onslaught entirely. Inactive units also recover HP passively each turn, so Reverse Rush can also be used to "rest" worn-down characters.
Quests[]
The main daily loop of the game is through doing quests. There are 4 types of quests: Story, Event, Biography and Challenge.
Story covers the main story portion of the game. Some of the game's features require the player to progress into the early story quests. Story Quests don't require Drive to undertake, and if the player's character Levels are past the stage's recommended Level, the enemies' Levels are scaled in accordance to the party's overall strength (to a certain maximum amount).
Event covers time-limited contents, including the daily raids where the player can aim for Meseta or experience tomes. These quests usually have static enemy Levels. Certain quests of this type also require the player to pay a certain amount of special currency to play.
Biography is a collection of side stories concerning the collectible Characters. All of these are unlocked upon the player to choose from, but proceeding past the first chapter requires the player to actually own the character.
Challenges take place in a completed Story node. These quests require Drive to complete, and comes with special missions that reward SD if the player managed to complete them, such as "Clear with at least 1 Water Character" or "Clear within 8 turns or less." There are no limited tries to these, so the player can complete them at their own leisure to earn some SD.
Idola Battles & Idola Challenge[]
Unlike most enemies, Idola bosses have multiple parts, each with their own HP bars. When a part's HP is depleted, the Idola would reveal its core and become immobilized for a turn. The core is an Idola's weak spot, so focusing an assault during a core exposure is essential. Additionally, once per battle, if the player managed the deal enough damage to pass a marked HP threshold on the boss, a core exposure would also occur.
However, take note that to defeat the Idola, the player has to defeat the "main body", and not only the parts. While breaking parts will generally give the player huge advantage, there may be times when attacking an Idola's main body would be more beneficial.
While otherwise the same as normal battles, Idola Challenge has additional specific rules. First of all, the battle is turn-limited. When the turn limit is up, a Battle Break will occur. This will finish the battle, although the player can continue where they left off as long as the Idola is still up and they have Idola Challenge stamina available.
During Idola Challenge, the player's Stage increases as they earn scores from battling other players' invoked Idola. Reaching higher Stages allow the player to challenge stronger Idola for better rewards. Stages ranking are calculated each week; at the end, the player will be rewarded in accordance to their last-reached Stage, then they will be dropped a few Stages down.
Idolarize and Raid[]
The player can form an 8-man party that merge their powers to summon the player's own Idola. This Idola is then sent to the other players to fight. The summoning player gains reward depending on how many characters are defeated by their Idola, while the raid parties gain reward when the summoned Idola finally falls. A summoned Idola's stats and the skills chosen from its type's pool are dependent on the Idola party's overall strength, while the Idola's type and skill pool is dependent on the party Leader.
Both Idolarization and Challenge can be done by accessing the Idola Challenge menu. Battling Idolas require spending a battle stamina, which fills by 1 every 30 minutes to a maximum of 4. Additionally, Idola Cores can be spent to do Quick Match, which pits the player's parties against the Idola in an instant, without having to go through the battles manually. Summoning an Idola can be done for 10 Idola Cores, and a player can only summon 1 Idola at a time. A summoned Idola lasts for 3 hours, or until defeated by raiding players.
Stamina and Challenges[]
Doing quests require the player to spend Stamina, with the exception for Story Quests. Stamina regenerates by 1 every 3 minutes, and instantly when the player Ranks-up. Additionally, whenever the player Ranks-up, their maximum Stamina increases and they gain Stamina equal to their current maximum Stamina. This could cause the player's Stamina to overflow. Since Stamina won't regenerate while in this state, it's recommended for the player to spend these excess Stamina so every second of their regeneration time counts (unless the player is usually a busy person who play the game in very small sessions). Additionally, the player can use Stamina Potions to recover an amount of Stamina immediately.
Challenges are required to do Idola Battles, of which the player has a maximum of four. These regenerate over time, or when the player increases their overall Battle Rank. Challenge Potions can also be used to recover Challenges immediately.
Achievements[]
Aside from doing Quests, the players also tackle various achievements as they progress through the game. These achievements grant Medals to the player, as well as special rewards such as SD or Symbol Fragments.
The Daily Achievements are this game's take on the "daily task" feature. There are 5 of them, and each reset every 24 hours.
- Draw from the Gacha once.
- Complete a Quest.
- Battle in Idola Challenge once.
- Idolatrize in Idola Challenge once.
- Earn all the other Daily Achievements.
For the Quest achievement, the player don't have to do battle at all, even "cutscene" quests count for its completion. For the Gacha achievement, the player don't have to actually do the SD or Ticket Gacha, as the Arena Gacha also counts.
Freemium model[]
Payment Model
Idola is a free-to-play title, with in-app purchases. There are 2 main currencies in the game, Meseta and Star Diamond (SD). Meseta is the standard currency obtainable from playing the game normally, mainly used to upgrade units and buying items from the rotating Daily Shop. Star Diamond is mainly purchased with real money (although finishing certain tasks also award SD), and is used to pull the Gacha for units or buy certain items and perks from the Shop.
While there are no true "premium perk" purchases in the game, the player can buy a monthly Star Diamond pass that grants 4000 SD immediately and trickles in 100 SD per day afterwards for 30 days.
Idola Points Exchange
If a player links the SEGA ID they used to play the Japanese version of PSO2 with their Idola app, they are eligible to earn Idola Points in that region's version of PSO2. The points can then be exchanged for various Idola-themed goods as well as generic support items and even Star Gems. Up to 10.000 Idola Points can be earned per week.
Take note that due to the necessity to own a JP SEGA ID, Idola Points Exchange is currently only available for the Japanese version of both PSO2 and Idola.
Earning Idola Points[]
Idola Points can be earned when the player does the following actions while playing the game:
| Action | Value |
|---|---|
| Login (Once a day) | 300 Idola Points |
| Clear a Quest (Repeatable) | 50 Idola Points |
| Battle an Idola (Repeatable) | 100 Idola Points |
Exchange Items List[]
The following rewards can be exchanged for Idola Points exclusively in the Japanese version of Phantasy Star Online 2. To exchange points, use a Visiphone, then choose Idola Points Exchange. The amount of points currently held, as well as the list of items available for exchange will be displayed.
| Image | Name | Category | Trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 SG
(max. 5 times a week) |
Currency | 800 Idola Points | |
| 5 SG
(max. 10 times a week) |
Currency | 800 Idola Points | |
| Idola-Style Steak | Consumable (Boost/Food Item) | 2500 Idola Points | |
| 569 [Idola Channel] | Consumable (Lobby Action) | 100000 Idola Points | |
| 453 [Uly/Stella] | Consumable (Lobby Action) | 10000 Idola Points | |
| Stella Helmet | Consumable (Accessory) | 7500 Idola Points | |
| Vandor | Music Disc | 3500 Idola Points | |
| VS. Enemy 1 | Music Disc | 3500 Idola Points | |
| IDOLA Main Theme | Music Disc | 3500 Idola Points | |
| Idola Background Box Set | Consumable (Box Set) | 9000 Idola Points | |
| IDOLA Poster | Furniture (Wall) | 3000 Idola Points | |
| Idola Sticker Box A | Consumable (Box Set) | 6000 Idola Points | |
| Idola Sticket Box B | Consumable (Box Set) | 6000 Idola Points | |
| Attribute Enhance +2% | Support Item | 4800 Idola Points | |
| Grind Great Success Rate +50% | Support Item | 800 Idola Points | |
| Custom Type A +30% | Support Item | 800 Idola Points | |
| Custom Type B +30% | Support Item | 800 Idola Points | |
| Merit Value +30% | Support Item | 800 Idola Points | |
| Demerit Value -30% | Support Item | 800 Idola Points | |
| Lambda Grinder | Material | 400 Idola Points | |
| Photon Booster | Material | 400 Idola Points | |
| Extreme Pass | Pass | 400 Idola Points | |
| 1,000,000 EXP Ticket | Consumable (Ticket) | 2500 Idola Points | |
| 15,000 EXP Ticket | Consumable (Ticket) | 400 Idola Points |
Note: Items that have a weekly limit resets during the weekly Wednesday maintenance.
Gallery
Promotional Teasers
Images
Screenshots
Video
Trivia[]
- Sega announced that they will gift everyone that participates in the preregistration campaign a ★5 Quna character unlockable as a reward if 100,000 people visit their website and sign up to preregister. She will have her own side story quest. In this game, she will be part of the rare Bard class.
- The word Idola as it is used in the franchise's lore refers to a Dark Falz aberration. Although it is not spoken within game text, the word is typically part of the name of a Dark Falz associated creature's theme song.
External links[]
- Official Japanese site
- Official Twitter (Japanese)
- Japanese End-of-Service notice (via Google Translate)
| Races of Vandor | Human - Elf - Machina - Demonic - Lycan - Gnome | |
|---|---|---|
| Character Classes | Archer - Assassin - Bard - Berserker - Brave - Dancer - Elementor - Emperor - Grappler - Guardian Joker - Knight - Paladin - Photoner - PR Agent - Ranger - Rappy - Saint - Soldier - Shooter - Striker Survey Corps - Valkyria - Wizard | |
| Aries Chivalric Order | Abeille - Anna Marie - Bernhardt - Emile - Giselle - Jasper - Killion - Nadia - Reiner - Rosalinde Stella Marie - Phuramy - Popona - Popopurin - Sasha - Ulysses - The Warrior | |
| Forces of Law | Vindemia Forest | Astraea - Kira - Mirabelle - Totonott |
| Leorian Empire | Barnabas - Elwin - Emma - Gelda - Gustav Kaempfer - Sigismund - Walther | |
| Roxanne - Tyrol - Wolff | ||
| Forces of Chaos | ||
| Chertan Harbor | Boozer - Sandra | |
| Liberation Army | Kibaki - Madoc - Messala - Rachel - Theatre - Zola | |
| Lycan Village | Karin - Lycaon | |
| Praecipua Island | Liese - Neville - Windis | |
| Melissa - Schenk - Vanessa | ||
| Neutrals | Duncan - Knut - Lana - Rogia - Tanya | |
| Principality of Canseed | Farley - Irene - Lambridge - Lindsey - Melvi - Rockingham - Victoria | |
| Visitors from the Star Gate | Jeanne - Luther - Matoi - Risa - Quna - Eren - Levi - Mikasa - Selvaria | |
| Lesser Idola | Andromeda (Andromeda G) - Cetus - Chamaelon Hydra (Diabolos) - Lupus (Fenrir) - Polaris (Polaris Nova) | |
| Zodiart Idola | Aries (Arch Aries) - Gemini - Leo (Arch Leo - Dark Leo - Royal Leo) Libra - Sagittarius - Scorpio - Virgo | |
| Quests | Side Story - Free Quest - Story Quest | |
| Game Modes | Arena - Brigade - Idola Challenge (Idolarize) | |
| Equipment | IdoMag - Symbol (Weapon - Soul) | |