Phantom Dust Game Sample - Xbox
2,397 views · Published 22 July 2012 · 47:11 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: Vysethedetermined2 · 2012 · Gaming
Original Air Dates: January 03rd, 2009 / March 10th, 2010 (Revised Today!!) Gameplay starts at 18:20 Phantom Dust is a phenomenal budget title and cult classic post-apocalyptic action/strategy game with a clever story that starts off slow but ultimately feels inspired at the end. Developed by Microsoft Game Studios (Japan) and directed by Yukio Futatsugi (director of Panzer Dragoon for Sega Saturn), the game was released in Japan in 2004 and published in the U.S. by Majesco in 2005 for $19.99. The basic plot deals with two male amnesiacs discovered in capsules, excavated by a group of scouts known as "Espers" who roam the mysteriously abandoned and ruined surface world once called Earth in search of things necessary for survival and for their scraps of memories. These two men (Edgar and The Protagonist) are the key to what has transpired on the Earth, which has become virtually uninhabitable due to the paranormal "dust" that envelopes the planet and causes ordinary people to lose their memories immediately if exposed to it for prolonged periods of time (even scouts who are granted powers by the dust can't last long). For this reason, the survivors have constructed an underground city and slowly attempt to recover the planet's memories, stored in strange memory boxes on the surface. However, things quickly become more interesting once a mysterious woman named "Freia" enters the picture. At its core, Phantom Dust is a card game -- the player can purchase or obtain over 300 skills and assemble a deck or "arsenal" built from different skill schools (Ki, Psycho, Nature, etc.) in the main game or challenge other players locally or online (no longer supported) to earn and/or trade even more skills. This facet is then merged with third-person character navigation and real-time control, NPC interactivity, and varied stages that lend themselves to the game's design to deliver a game unlike any other on Xbox. Not only can characters run about and use a large variety of skills at will, they can also destroy things in the environment and even use the environment as a weapon or to their advantage! Players can assign up to four skills at a time which randomly spawn on the levels, and there are a variety of skills with their own conditions for using them as well as different costs and benefits/detriments. An arsenal can hold up to thirty skills, but you can't have a deck with only skills in them; you need "Aura" as well, and Aura is assigned to unused skill slots, so even more strategies come into play as you determine whether or not to have many skills / low aura, few skills / high aura, low cost skill arsenal, high cost skill arsenal, a wall arsenal, and much more. Some skills are not suited for certain environments, but building a versatile arsenal or modifying your favorite arsenal to offset potential pitfalls is loads of fun and there are thousands of possible combinations. Phantom Dust has strangely fitting music... mostly ambient sounds, strange and almost indescribable noise, and adaptations of real-world classics like "Kagome Kagome" and "Piano Sonata No. 14". The visuals are great for the type of game it is with great special effects and amazing lighting/shading. The characters are all distinct and serve their purpose and you uncover a little backstory on each of them, but are primarily just a means to an end. The game does have a few issues, primarily the camera which can become quite troublesome when locked on to targets and the large variety of tutorial missions which force you to use specific skills, but the game is definitely worth the price of admission. This is a revised video at much higher quality and shows more footage of the game. Enjoy.
