History VideoGame / PhantasyStarNova

''Phantasy Star Nova'' is the second ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' installment for UsefulNotes/TheEighthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames after the popular {{MMORPG}} ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'', and a GaidenGame to said title. It was developed by Creator/TriAce for the UsefulNotes/PSVita and published by Sega, and released in Japan on November 27th, 2014, and elsewhere in Asia on March 26, 2015.

* BonusBoss: [[spoiler:Nemethgeist, an upgraded version of Ravegeist encountered in Extra Hard difficulty.]]

* LargeHam: The announcer for Emergency Codes is ''extremely'' over-the-top.

* CameraScrew: Due to the size of a Gigantes when locked on it can be almost impossible to see under your feet, making dodging the red circles indicating incoming fire all the more difficult.

* AwardBaitSong: A rearrange of the British folk ballad "Scarborough Fair", performed by Juno's voice actor Sayori Hayami, in ''[[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish English]]'', no less.

* GenderNeutralWriting: Played with. While voiced dialogue uses gender-neutral nicknames when referring to your character, text dialogue occasionally refers to you as male. This comes to a head during the [[spoiler:secret hot springs event]], which is all but written as if your character were canonically male.

* ArbitraryMaximumRange: Projectiles and Techniques fired by the player tend to simply vanish once they reach a certain range. Strangely, enemies tend to not have this problem, if only for the fact that the majority of projectiles they fire at players also home in on them.

* {{Gainaxing}}: More pronounced than in ''[=PSO2=]''; womens' breasts tend to jiggle a lot when they do anything. Just try jumping at any point. Even ''comparatively flat'' characters' breasts jiggle.
** Everything has an exaggerated bounce not just breasts: hair (especially long ponytails on women), earrings, tails, flowing clothing, even the skirts on certain outfits.

* {{Combos}}: As it borrows from ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'''s combat system, weapons are capable of fluid and dynamic combos. Rods, Talises, Wands, and Halos are also capable of stocking Technics on their Weapon Palette in addition to their normal attacks (and in the case of Halos, Gran Arts), and can stock extra Technics on their Subpalette for extra versatility.
** This also takes the form of a fundamental gameplay mechanic called Chaining. By landing multiple hits against targets, you can start a Chain, which will constantly increase as long as a character in the party attacks an enemy. Chains are translated into a scaling damage multiplier, and sustaining a Chain fills the Burst Gauge. When the Burst Gauge is full, the party achieves a Gran Burst, which provides a random benefit and prevents your Chain from disappearing for the duration of the Gran Burst.

* SequelDifficultySpike: Spinoff, rather, but ''Nova'' has a nasty tendency to be ''much'' harder than ''[=PSO2=]'' in post-game, especially when they start chucking DemonicSpiders and {{That One Boss}}es at you willy nilly.

* {{BFS}}: The Swords you can get are pretty damn huge. In addition, the Sword Gran Art "Over End" takes this UpToEleven by ''doubling'' your Sword's length with a gigantic [[HardLight Gran-powered]] LaserBlade.

* CensorSuds: Used in the secret hot spring event unlocked by [[spoiler:buying an installing a Spa or Mini Spa.]] After watching said event, female player characters ''[[UpToEleven can craft it as an outfit!]]''

* DifficultyLevels: Normal, Hard, and [[HarderThanHard Very Hard]]. Version 1.03 adds [[UpToEleven Super Hard]], and Version 1.05 adds [[OhCrap Extra Hard]].

* AbsenteeActor: The PlayerCharacter is explicitly excluded from pre-rendered cutscenes, even if they were present beforehand.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: While the central cast is relatively small, consisting only of five or six characters, the actual participating cast is much larger, at around 12 to 15 characters. And then there are the Partners, which there are an ''enormous'' amount of. 90% of them will probably never see use.

* MagicSkirt: Skirts never seem to flip in spite of all of the crazy jumping action the players do. It's still possible to invoke PantyShot with some Lobby Actions.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Some [=NPCs=] have normal hair colors, some have some pretty wacky ones. The PlayerCharacter can pick from ''any color in the spectrum.''

* StandardStatusEffects: Well, calling them "standard" would be a bit of a stretch...

* DummiedOut: Some of the Passwords don't work in non-Japanese versions of the game, preventing you from acquiring a few special Partners.

* FrickinLaserBeams:
** Ragrants, which fires a thin beam made of light.
** Resonance Cannon, a Halo Gran Art that fires a redirectable beam of pure energy. Combining it with Satellite Bit improves the beam radius and damage.

* GiantEnemyCrab: Erude is a Gigantes [[SubvertedTrope lobster]] loaded with FrickinLaserBeams, GatlingGood, and capable of performing a MacrossMissileMassacre.

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: [[spoiler:Magnus gets fatally injured by Gran Darkers and dies no more than twenty minutes after the start of the game, which serves to cement the game's liberal application of AnyoneCanDie.]]

* [[TwentyBearAsses Twenty Carnebear Asses]]: Most Promise Orders require you to collect X amount of Y. [[TropesAreNotBad This is actually a good thing,]] because the majority of items they ask you for can be found through the normal course of gameplay, and most are also repeatable given enough in-game time, allowing you to avoid CantCatchUp by using later-game Promise Orders to train low-level classes.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The game's core mechanics are based on ''[=PSO2's=] gameplay at the time of ''EPISODE 1'', which is notably slower and clunkier in a similar vein to previous ''Phantasy Star'' games than ''[=PSO2=]'' was in later years, where game updates gradually made it [[ActionizedSequel more streamlined and actionized]] compared to the other post-tetralogy games. As a result, coming back to this game after playing ''[=PSO2=]'' may feel jarring due to the use of old mechanics that were antiquated or obsoleted by updates.

** [[CaptainObvious The Light element.]]