GameCube & Xbox Features

Altimira has many new quests, modifications to original Sega quests, and quests ported from Blue Burst back to V3. In addition, I ported many of the Episode I quests to V3 from my updated V2 editions, so there are many small fixes and changes compared to standard V3 Episode I quests. You can learn about these new features below.

Much of the information on this page was consolidated from various posts on the Sylverant forum. You can find the original information here.


General Information

These topics apply to multiple quests.

Quest Enhancements

Click here to see details.

Super Hard Mode

Click here to see details.

Super Hard mode is a custom difficulty setting I created that serves as an alternative to Ultimate mode. Monsters have more ATP, DFP, and HP, but they also have less ATA, EVP, and ESP. As a result, your attacks are more likely to connect than in Ultimate, but they also do less damage, especially without support Techniques. Special attacks are also more effective, so it's possible to use Arrest and Blizzard against most monsters if you don't have access to Frozen Shooter or Freeze Traps. Enemy resistance is also lower, so Forces can deal respectable damage when nuking.

Super Hard mode also gives your character invincibility frames, so you don't get instantly chained to death by various attacks (Baranz missles, Sinow punches, Recon saw blades, etc.). This makes the game considerably more fair to classes that lack access to Freeze Traps. Various monsters have also had their parameters altered: Megid levels have been adjusted in both episodes, Mericarol/Merikle/Mericus's Megid attacks can now be resisted with EDK, minibosses are now vulnerable to Arrest and Blizzard, and all monsters in Episode II give ~25% more EXP than before to compensate for how much harder Episode II is compared to Episode I.

Some of the enemies are more difficult than they are in Ultimate, while other enemies are easier, so the point of Super Hard mode isn't so much to increase or decrease the game's difficulty as it is to provide you with a different kind of difficulty than usual. You'll find that different weapons and tactics are useful in Super Hard than are useful in Ultimate, so it gives you a chance to play differently than you normally would.

To activate Super Hard mode, simply load a quest in Ultimate mode and talk to the soldier outside the hospital in Episode I or the officer across from the Lab warp in Episode II. The NPC won't let you activate the side quest unless all players are present, so everyone must agree to play Super Hard by approaching the NPC. Additionally, you can only enable Super Hard at the beginning of a quest. If any player leaves Pioneer 2 before you have enabled Super Hard, you won't be able to activate it without loading the quest again.

Quests that support Super Hard mode include:

Photon Crystals

Click here to see details.

Since Photon Drops can only be earned through luck, I created a secondary currency using Photon Crystals. You are awarded Photon Crystals upon completing quests in Super Hard mode, which you can then spend in Garon's Shop to buy various services. See the section on Garon's Shop for information on what you can do with Photon Crystals. The Photon Crystal rewards for each quest are listed below.

Partner NPC

Click here to see details.

Many online quests are difficult to complete alone, so I've added a partner NPC who can help you handle missions. You'll find a RAcaseal named Jade standing in the Hunter's Guild (Episode I) or the Lab (Episode II) at the beginning of certain missions. Jade has additional abilities compared to standard NPCs:

Jade will warn you when her supplies are running low, and if you return to Pioneer 2, she will automatically "shop" to replenish them. If you allow her to die without a Scape Doll, she will quit the game, and you will have to finish the mission by yourself.

You must talk to Jade to recruit her at the beginning of the mission if you want to play with her. You can also ignore her if you prefer to play by yourself. If you leave Pioneer 2 or attempt to activate Super Hard mode without her, you won't be able to play with her unless you load the quest again.

Jade is available in all difficulties, as long as you're playing alone. She is available in the following quests:

Tool NPC

Click here to see details.

Most quests include an extra NPC in the Hunter's Guild who will sell all 13 types of tools to you, regardless of your level or the difficulty setting. This allows you to buy the items you want, even when the Tool Shop refuses to sell them. Buying items through the Hunter's Guild costs 50% more than buying them through the Tool Shop, however.


Updated Quests

These are original Sega quests that I've modified over the years, including quests brought over from Blue Burst.

Garon's Shop

Click here to see quest details.

Garon's Shop has many new features and changes on Altimira. You can read about the various enhancements below.


Garon:

Garon vouchers allow you to store tools for later use. For 1000 Meseta or 3 Garon points, you can exchange 5 tools for a voucher. You can redeem the voucher later to get your items back whenever you want. You can have up to 200 vouchers for each type of tool, thus storing 1000 of each item without needing mule characters for bank space. Garon vouchers are stored on the server, so you can deposit items on one character and redeem them on a different character, as long as both characters have the same Guild Card number.

The items you can store with Garon vouchers are:

The items you can buy are:


Minigames:


Paganini (Item Trades):

You no longer need to argue with Paganini to trade your Photon Drops for items. He will show you a list of the items you can buy, instead. The list is sorted into tiers based on how many Photon Drops each item costs. Sega randomised the price of each tier originally, so the prices below are based on the lowest possible cost you could have paid during the arguing "minigame". The tiers are:

In addition, Paganini will no longer take all of your Photon Drops when you make a trade. You only need to pay the cost of the item, so if you want to buy 3 AddSlots, you can now bring 3 Photon Drops and buy multiple AddSlots in one trip.

Note 1: You must have the Decoction Patch in order to buy a Decoction, as the item has no effect without the patch.


Paganini (Regular Weapons):

Paganini now offers the ability to erase a weapon's Photon attribute for 50 Photon Drops. Erasing an existing attribute creates a free slot so you can use Photon Spheres on a different area. The price is fairly steep to avoid making this the best option with every weapon: if you find a Monkey King Bar with undesirable attributes, it's probably more practical to hunt another Monkey King Bar than to erase the existing attributes. On the other hand, if you find a Sealed J-Sword with undesirable attributes, it's much easier to get 50 Photon Drops than it is to get another Sealed J-Sword, so paying to erase an attribute makes sense.

As with the Photon enhancement option, you cannot modify the Hit attribute, and you must complete the Paganini side quest in The West Tower to access this feature.


Paganini (ES/S-Rank Weapons):

Neither renaming nor changing the type has any effect on the weapon's grind or special attack. To avoid confusion, adding specials to ES weapons is now called "Enhance ES Weapon", while changing the type and name are under the "Modify ES Weapon" category.


Photon Crystal Shop:

You can purchase various services with Photon Crystals by talking to the receptionist who transports you to Garon. If you have Photon Crystals in your inventory, a new ???? Shop option will appear in the menu. Select this option to transport to the new shop. The available services and their prices are listed below.

The first eight options should be self explanatory: you can buy the listed items in exchange for Photon Crystals.

The Discount and Bulk Discount options allow you to buy multiple items in a single transaction for a slightly lower price than if you bought the items individually. The Discount option allows you to buy 15 Trigrinders or 12 Scape Dolls, while the Bulk Discount option allows you to buy 12 Photon Drops, 8 HP Materials, 6 TP Materials, 450000 Meseta, or a Weapon Upgrade.

Remember to have enough space in your inventory before you try to use one of the discount options, as you can't complete the transaction unless you have enough space to hold all of the items you're buying. You can buy multiple items in a single trip if you're carrying enough Photon Crystals. The list of available services automatically scales after each purchase you make based on the number of Photon Crystals you have left, so if an option is still in the list, then that means you still have enough Photon Crystals to buy that service.

The Weapon Upgrade service is based on the upgrade system that Sega added in Blue Burst: if you select this service, you may raise the Hit percentage on a limited set of weapons. A standard upgrade lets you add 5% Hit, while the Bulk Discount upgrade lets you add 15% Hit. Regardless of which option you choose, you cannot upgrade any weapon beyond 50% Hit. Eligible weapons include enemy part weapons, Offline S-Rank/Maximum Attack 3 weapons, Easter Egg weapons, and weapons obtained as quest prizes. The complete list of eligible weapons is available below.

Click here to see the available weapon upgrades.

Enemy Part Weapons

Offline S-Rank/Maximum Attack 3 Weapons

Easter Egg Weapons

Quest Reward Weapons

Note that you must play Super Hard mode in order to have access to the Photon Crystal shop.


Hunter's Guild:

You can earn Photon Crystals by selling unwanted rare items to the military officer in the Hunter's Guild. As with the "Team Points" system on Blue Burst, the price you get is based on the number of stars the item has:

Unlike the BB system, you may sell more than just weapons: frames, barriers, and units are also allowed. The rules for selling are:

The purpose of this feature is to give you a reason to keep all of those Dragon Slayers, Cross Scars, and other technically rare items that would normally just get left on the ground or sold for 10 Meseta. Now "junk" rares actually have some utility.


"Lost Weapon" / Hopkins Series

Click here to see update details.

Lost HELL PALLASCH

This is a Japanese Blue Burst quest that I ported to V3 after Cranberry and I translated it into English. It takes place in Ruins 1-3.

Mop-up Operation Series

Click here to see update details.

Endless Nightmare Series

Click here to see update details.

Endless Nightmare #3

Phantasmal World Series

Click here to see update details.

Phantasmal World #3

Phantasmal World #4

Fragments of a Memory

Click here to see quest details.

This is a Japanese Blue Burst quest that I ported to V3 after Cranberry and I translated it into English. It takes place in Ruins 1-3.

The West Tower

Click here to see quest details.

Towards the Future

Click here to see update details.

Respective Tomorrow

Click here to see update details.

Maximum Attack 1 Ver.3

Click here to see update details.

I've added enough changes to Maximum Attack 1 Ver.2 that I decided to upgrade it to "Ver.3". ;)

Maximum Attack 2 Ver.3

Click here to see update details.

I've added enough changes to Maximum Attack 2 Ver.2 that I decided to upgrade it to "Ver.3". ;)

Maximum Attack 3

Click here to see quest details.

These quests are adapted from Maximum Attack 4th Stage on Blue Burst and feature completely rewritten dialogue and mechanics. I've adopted the following naming scheme to make it easier to tell which quest is which:

Episode I

Episode II

Here are the details:

Challenge Mode

Click here to see update details.

Episode II, Stage 3

The Lockgun is mostly for the sake of Rangers, so they are slightly more helpful when fighting Gal Gryphon. Of course these weapons don't have percentages, so you still need to find an A.Beast Buster if you want to defeat Gal Gryphon quickly, but at least this establishes a better baseline for fighting him and reduces the chance of failure when you get bad drops from Gees.

The fixed boxes are behind the rock wall next to the teleporter to Seaside Area. To access them, you have to hit the timer switch in the southeastern corner of the map and then run through the timed fence and saws. The four boxes used to drop 2 random weapons and 2 random frames, but the frame boxes have been replaced with fixed Buster and Lockgun boxes. There are already other boxes that drop frames with 4 slots, so these 2 random frame boxes were never important, anyway.


New Quests

These are Altimira-exclusive quests that I've created.

Sweep-up Campaign Series

Click here to see quest details.

These are Mop-up Operation-style Extermination quests for Episode II, which I created in 2024. The quests in this series are:

Shattered Reality Series

Click here to see quest details.

Shattered Reality: Alpha and Shattered Reality: Beta are are Endless Nightmare-style Extermination quests for VR Temple and VR Spaceship, respectively. I created them back in 2023.

Resurgent Darkness

Click here to see quest details.

This is the second quest I created in collaboration with Jodin: he created the Ruins 2 map, while I created the maps for Ruins 1 and 3 and wrote the script. Originally titled Lost HAVOC VULCAN and released in 2006, I reworked it in 2008 after Sega released Lost HELL PALLASCH on PSOBB. I brought the quest to V3 in 2016.

Prospective Horizons

Click here to see quest details.

This is the third quest I created and the first I created as a solo developer, back in 2010. It takes place in the Battle mode areas of Spaceship and Palace, which makes it the only quest in Episode I where monsters of different attributes appear together. Since the Battle mode maps weren't meant to be used in freeplay, there are some problems, such as monsters not staying in the rooms where they spawn, but overall the quest works quite well and is probably the most popular one I've made. I brought the quest to V3 in 2016. If you know the right people, you can also unlock an extra challenge...

Christmas Catastrophe

Click here to see quest details.

This quest has the distinction of being the first quest with custom monster spawns ever created, and it's also a case study in why you probably shouldn't let teenagers make quests: it has too many monsters, annoying Megid traps, and juvenile dialogue, but it's also a small piece of PSO history. I created it in 2005 in collaboration with Jodin: he made the Mine 2 map, while I made the Mine 1 map and wrote the script. I brought the quest to V3 in 2015. The quest is available on Altimira every December. You can also get various Mag items through a certain side quest...

Frantic Fauna

Click here to see quest details.

This is the second event quest I created, back in 2011. It takes place in Forest 1 and 2, and your mission is to battle speedy monsters that have been enraged by the radiation from a crashed probe. I brought the quest to V3 in 2021. The quest is available on Altimira in April and June. This quest has multiple side missions which allow you to get various items...

Halloween Horror

Click here to see quest details.

This is the third event quest I created, back in 2012. It takes place in the Ruins, where you'll be chased by terribly spooky ghosts as you fight speedy monsters. If the ghosts catch you, they'll inflict various curses upon your character to impede your progress. I brought the quest to V3 in 2018. The quest is available on Altimira every October. You can get various Mag items if you manage to unlock every door...

Acrid Aquifer

Click here to see quest details.

This is the fourth event quest I created, back in 2014. It takes place in Cave 1-3, where you'll be battling speedy monsters as you try to secure Pioneer 2's water supply. I brought the quest to V3 in 2018. Unlike the other event quests, this one is not tied to a particular time of year; instead, it's available whenever Frantic Fauna, Halloween Horror, and Christmas Catastrophe are not.

The Twisted Towers

Click here to see quest details.

This is the first new Episode II quest I created, back in 2016. An earthquake has triggered a security lockdown on Gal Da Val Island, and you need to retake both the East and West Towers so the Lab can continue its research. This quest serves as a sequel to The East Tower and The West Tower, and as such it's more difficult than those quests, but it's also easier than Phantasmal World #4. Unlike PW4, any class should be able to solo this quest, as long as you're careful and choose your positioning wisely.

Patches for Plus

Click here to see quest details.

This quest contains patches that Ralf and I made for GameCube PSO. If you're on GameCube, Wii, or Wii U, you can use this quest to temporarily apply patches in memory if you can't patch your ISO directly for some reason.

The quest allows you to automatically apply your favorite patches with only a few button presses. The automatic patching system works like so:

  1. Use Patch Select to apply the patches you want to use, one by one.
  2. Use Save Patches to store a list of these patches on the server, then exit the quest.
  3. The next time you want to patch the game, select Load Patches to automatically apply your favorite patches again.

This makes it more convenient to patch your game, since you must re-apply the patches every time you power cycle your console.


Download Quests

These are quests that you can download for offline play.

Garon's Scheme

Click here to see quest details.

This is a Japanese Blue Burst quest that I ported to V3 after Cranberry and I translated it into English. It takes place in the Forest and sees you working once again with Alicia Baz to track down a Rappy's egg.

Unlike the default offline quests, Alicia will revive in the hospital if she dies, instead of causing you to fail the quest. In addition, Alicia has access to Smart MatesTM in Super Hard mode, which allow her to heal herself during combat if her HP drops below 50%. She also receives 10 seconds of invincibility frames after getting hit.

Hero & Daughter

Click here to see quest details.

I released this quest in 2009 as a V2 adaptation of the Episode I Government quests from Blue Burst. Although V3 does support the Government quests, I had already made this one, so I brought it to V3 in 2015. The quest contains unique maps from various Government quests compiled into a single quest that spans Forest 1 - Ruins 3. The map for each area came from the following Government quests:

Time Attack Challenge #1

Click here to see quest details.

I created this quest in 2022 as a downloadable training tool for people who want to practice Normal mode speedruns. Simply create a new character, load the quest to select which freeplay maps you want, and then load the quest a second time to begin your run. The quest has the following features:

Note that this quest is only intended for use with dummy speedrun characters. Existing characters cannot play the quest, and your new character won't be able to make progress in freeplay after playing the quest, so you should only use it on new characters created specifically for speedrunning. After you complete a run, you can either reset the game to erase your progress or remake your character.

For more information on the rules for eligible runs, see Speedrun.com.

The East & West Tower

Click here to see quest details.

The updated editions of The East Tower and The West Tower include a fix for Gibbles EXP on Ultimate, as well as the ability to play the offline version of Super Hard mode.

The Twisted Towers

Click here to see quest details.

The offline edition of The Twisted Towers includes a fix for Gibbles EXP on Ultimate, as well as the ability to play the offline version of Super Hard mode.

The Ends of Desire

Click here to see quest details.

I released this quest in 2015 as an adaptation of the Episode II Government quests from Blue Burst. Although V3 does support the Government quests, I had already made Hero & Daughter for Episode I, so it made sense to create a companion quest for Episode II. The quest contains unique maps from various Government quests compiled into a single quest that spans VR Temple Alpha - Seabed Lower levels. The map for each area came from the following Government quests:


Quest Secrets

Click here to see details?

Many quests contain special prizes, as well as secret side missions. I've documented the secrets and prize information that people have discovered over the years to ensure that the knowledge isn't lost, but if you're new to PSO, I encourage you to play without reading this information right away. PSO is an old game, and old games tend not to get new secrets added very often, so once you know everything, there won't be any surprises left for you to discover.

If you hate discovering secrets yourself or just can't figure something out, click here to view the list of documented quest prizes and secret side missions.