Pangya Fantasy Golf for PSP
Club Set Statistics FAQ
by Dancer62
OVERVIEW
Pangya Fantasy Golf is a unique golf game for the PSP, with both a
RPG story mode and a tournament mode. It's got the cuteness of Hot
Shots Golf with an over-the-top anime plot and a cast of off-the-wall
characters. What would be skill points in an RPG are attributes of
clubs, balls, rings, and characters. Combining the strengths and
weaknesses of characters and club sets, modified by golf balls and
attribute rings, allows for changing range, ease of hitting perfect
(or acceptable) shots, and ability to make special shots.
There is a total of 22 club sets and 18 playable characters. The game
starts with two characters, Scout and Hana, and playable characters are
unlocked through completing Story chapters.
Story mode has chapters for each of the main characters. Since the
character choice is fixed in each chapter, it is important to utilize
club set, golf ball, and booster item attributes to capitalize on the
strengths and minimize the weaknesses of that character in order to
complete their set of missions.
This guide is intended to help in selection of appropriate club sets
for the game characters, and how to modify the attributes by using
special golf balls and attribute boosting rings.
I'd point out that huge aspects that make the game unique, like story,
Course strategies, use of potions and charms, and the intricasies of
collecting costumes are beyond the scope of this guide.
ATTRIBUTES
Clubs and playable characters have five attributes:
Power affects maximum range, needed for reaching the green in a
reasonable number of shots, as well as shooting over hazards.
Power also increases the speed of the swing meter, thus reducing
the effect of Control. Power is then a trade-off, high power is
good, but only when it doesn't compromise control.
Control affects the speed of the swing meter, and thereby the timing
for setting swing power and hitting the ball. The faster the swing
meter moves, the more difficult is to hit a perfect shot (maximum
power and hitting the Pangya "sweet spot). Missing the timing at
the top end of the gauge compromises range, missing the timing at
the lower end of the swing meter leads to an inaccurate shot, or
even a missed swing. Control above 13 is good, but remembering that
Power increases the speed of the swing meter and reduces effective
Control, a higher Power statistic demands a higher Control statistic.
The better your reflexes and the more consistent your sense of timing
are, the more you can compromise Control, it's up to the individual.
The AI opponents never miss swings, rarely make mistakes like shooting
out of bounds or into hazards or traps, and usually sink 20+ yard putts
with ease, so the consequences of a wild or muffed shot on the player's
part are severe in terms of mission completion.
Accuracy affects the width of the pink zone surrounding the white
Pangya "sweet spot" at the bottom of the swing gauge. The wider the
pink zone, the greater the tolerance for slight errors in timing at the
bottom of the swing. Stopping the swing gauge in the white zone
results in a perfect straight Pangya shot. Either side of the white
zone but still within the pink, is an acceptable shot, but the larger
the error, the larger the hook or slice from the ntended path. Missing
the pink zone entirely results in a muffed shot, wasting a stroke. In
general, Accuracy above 10 is good, how close you can shave it is up to
your reflexes. If you are missing shots, or swings, you may need more
Accuracy or Control, or both.
Spin affects how much you can vary the vertical strike point on the ball
with the analog nub to apply forward or back spin to modify the
trajectory and roll of shots. Forward spin is useful for making low
shots under obstacles, and for increasing roll out after the ball hits
the ground. Backspin is useful for increasing the height of the
trajectory to get over an obstacle, and for reducing the roll after the
ball hits the ground, to prevent overshooting the green.
Curve affects how much you can vary the horizontal strike point on the
ball with the analog nub to apply fade to curve around obstacles.
There are also special shots, for specialized purposes, that are affected
by the Power, Control, and Accuracy statistics. Because special shots
are an order of magnitude more difficult to use properly with complex
control inputs and much tighter timing, they greatly increase the chance
of a muffed swing. Since the AI players are quite formidible, and a
muffed swing often means a failed mission or lost tournament, I save
special shots for the most dire situations where taking the risk is the
only possibility of success. There are potions and charms from the
Equipment Shop and the Papel Shop Lottery that can increase the chance of
a perfect shot. As an illustration, my Panga (perfect) shot rate overall
is 58%. My unassisted success rate for the more complex special shots like
Tomahawk or Cobra is only one in three or four.
COMBINING ATTRIBUTES
Attributes are additive, for example, a character with a Power of 9,
using a club set with a Power of 10, would have a Power characteristic
of 19. Finding a workable combination of attributes for range and
precision is crucial to being competitive in the game.
In Story Mode, each of the main characters has a chapter with several
3, 6, or 9 hole matches against other characters or for score. In
Tournament Mode, any of the currently unlocked playable characters can
be selected.
Best compromise sets of statistics vary depending on the mission. For
Chip-in and Hole-in-One missions, precision and repeatability is vital,
so high Control and Accuracy are necessary, while Power is not important.
For Score missions, Matches, and Tournaments, the yardage to reach the green
in as few shots as possible is most important, so Power, even at the
expense of precision, is vital. Some courses need other considerations,
Wiz Wiz has lots of obstacles, so Spin and Curve have greater relative
importance, while in Deep Inferno, the need to loft over obstacles plus
long distances to the green relative to par require an emphasis on Power
and Spin.
HOW TO GET CLUBS
Club sets are unlocked in three ways, through winning them in Story
missions or tournaments, through unlocking them for purchase in the
Equipment Shop through Experience Level, or by winning them in the Papel
Store Lottery.
In Story Mode, the winning of club sets is part of the story. One
of the best balanced club sets, the Holy Air Lance Set, is won in
Story Mode.
Each completed mission, chapter, tournament, or license test yields
Pang (game money) and experience points. Experience points accrue
toward Rank levels, with five promotions within each main rank, from E
to A, starting at Rookie F and progressing to World Master A. At
various points, new club sets are unlocked in the Equipment Shop. The
Twin Feathers Set, one of the most useful in-game sets, is unlocked
in the Equipemnt Shop thorugh experience points.
Some outstanding sets, for example, the Piko Piko Hammer Set, are won in
the Papel Shop Lottery. The way the lottery works is: each calendar day,
by the PSP internal clock, a new set of rare items is available for the
lottery, usually costume items, sometimes club sets. Entering the lottery
costs 200 pang, for which you get one to five chances to fill nine blank
item slots. Each entry has a random selection of nine possible wins,
slots for balls/potions/charms show up as black silhouettes, while chances
for rare items show up as shiny silhouettes in the win window. There is
some discussion on the Gamefaqs Pangya message board about whether the
number of stars or the presence of shiny stars in the background increases
the chances of a rare win. I've played the lottery hundreds of times, and
haven't notices a particular correlation, OTOH, I've never seen a shiny
item slot appear without shiny stars in the background. The lottory can
be a very frustratinig experience, easily consuming thousands of Pang
without winning the desired item. A way around this is to turn Autosave
OFF in the options mentu, and after a fruitless seeeion in the Papel Store,
exit the Store without saving, and reload the previous saved game for
another try. Note that reloading a saved game will often turn the Autosave
back ON, remember to turn it off again in the options menu before going back
to the Papel Shop.
ATTRIBUTE BOOSTERS
Attribute boosting rings are available in the Equipment Shop. They are
expensive, but can save a lot of frustration. A Power Ring will add +1
to power, a Control Ring will add +1 to Control, an Accuracy Ring will
add +1 to Accuracy, etc. More complex rings are available at Pro E level,
and special rings are awarded as prizes for completing ALL license tests
for a course.
Similarly, golf balls (Aztecs) have characterisics that can modify
statistics to a small degree, for example, the Blue Star Aztec adds +2 to
Control, the Baseball Aztec adds +1 to Power and +1 to Accuracy, etc.
Balls are available in the Equipment Shop, availability depending on being
unlocked through experience levels. Some balls not yet unlocked for
purchase in the Equipment Shop can nonetheless be won ine the Papel Shop
lottery, a valuable source of items, especially in the early game. Some
golf balls are obtainable though Story missions. Golf balls are consumed
at the rate of one per hole, so the special golf balls like the Holy Aztec
and Dark Aztec obtained through missions are not replaceable until unlocked
at high rank, and must be conserved until really needed.
Papels other than the beginning default can add bonus statistics. For each
20 items of clothing purchased, a new Papel is earned. I only have the first
additional one, the Striped Papel, which adds Control +1. The cheapest
costume items are 200 Pang, so it is necessary to spend a minimum of 4000
Pang to earn a new Papel. Clothing costs increase rapidly, 300, 500, 700,
1000, 1200 Pang, so it will take many thousands of Pang to earn additional
Papels.
I also understand that in the online PC game Pangya/Albatross 18, clothing
items have bonus stats, but this is not true in the PSP version. In the
PSP game, Clothing does earn bonus Pang the first time it is worn, 10% of
the amount won in the match/tournament for each new item of clothing worn.
STATISTICS TABLES
I've compiled a list of club sets, characters, and balls, with a tabulation
of attributes that should be useful in setting up combinations for missions
and tournaments. I've also noted how the clubs are obtained.
CLUB SETS
Power Control Accuracy Spin Curve
Lucky Air Lance.. beginning set
4 13 8 2 2
Air Lance Set.. Equipment Shop
6 12 8 2 2
Baseball Bat Set... Equipment Shop
11 6 6 3 8
SV Afterburner Set... Equipment Shop
13 4 4 7 3
Household Goods Set... Max Chapter 2
11 10 7 5 5
Medieval Arsenal Set.. Kooh Chapter 2
16 4 4 5 5
SE Afterburner Set ... Papel Shop Lottery
12 9 5 5 3
Twin Feathers Set... Equipment Shop
14 10 8 6 8
Umbrella Set.. Equipment Shop
15 8 4 2 10
Piko Piko Hammer Set.. Papel Shop Lottery
15 10 8 1 2
Golden Twin Feather Set... Win All Tournaments
17 9 4 13 4
Magical Cane Clubs.. Papel Shop Lottery
16 8 9 4 6
Air Lance II Set.. early tournament win
8 8 7 4 7
Wooden Practice Set.. Equipment Shop
12 8 5 4 4
Celestial Blades... Papel Shop Lottery
17 8 6 4 13
Holy Air Lance Set... Scout Chapter 2
14 8 10 8 5
Soul Reaper Blades.. Equipment Shop
17 6 4 8 4
Mike Set... Equipment Shop
15 10 6 6 10
Merry Christmas Club Set.. Papel Shop Lottery
15 12 7 3 5
Bloody Thrall Set,,, Papel Shop Lottery
18 8 7 5 6
Rusty Soul Set.. Papel Shop Lottery
19 8 5 6 6
Golden Spike Hammer.. World Master A
79 4 4 2 2
CHARACTERS
Power Control Accuracy Spin Curve
Scout 9 8 9 2 2
Hana 8 9 9 2 2
Uncle Bob 11 5 4 5 2
Cecilia 10 9 7 1 5
Max 12 7 6 1 1
Kooh 10 6 11 3 1
Arin 10 7 9 3 2
Kaz 12 6 7 2 2
Cien 12 8 6 4 2
Pippin 8 10 8 3 3
TitanBoo 12 2 13 2 2
Lola 9 10 8 1 1
Quma 11 7 5 2 2
Tiki 8 9 10 3 3
Brie 11 5 7 3 5
Mingty 9 9 10 2 2
Dark Titan 13 1 12 1 1
Keeper 14 2 6 1 1
AZTECS (GOLF BALLS)
Power Control Accuracy Spin Curve
Standard 0 0 0 0 0
Bomber 2 0 0 1 1
Blue Star 0 2 0 0 0
Love Love 0 0 2 3 0
Fortune 0 0 0 2 8
Baseball 1 0 1 0 0
Clover 0 1 0 1 0
Soccer 0 0 0 8 2
Watermelon 1 0 1 5 5
Halloween 0 1 1 0 0
Dark Aztec 2 0 2 3 0
Holy Aztec 0 2 2 2 2
CONCLUSIONS
After I compiled this table, it became obvious why I find
Uncle Bob's missions among the more difficult, since he has good
Power but poor Control and Accuracy. Max, on the other hand,
is fun to play, his shots have good range, and his marginal
Control and Accuracy can be compensated for by selection of
golf ball and ring. Although not a main character in Story Mode,
Mingty appears to be the best balanced character for Tournaments.
The Twin Feathers Set is my favorite set, followed closely by the
Holy Air Lance Set and the Piko Piko Hammer Set. In the early
game, it's advisable to upgrade to the Air Lance Set as soon as
possible, and the Air Lance II set is very useful and earned
early on.
In Story mode, you can compensate to some degree for weaknesses
in the character you're playing by selection of golf ball. The
Baseball, Love Love, and Halloween Aztecs are available early,
and are very useful. Special aztecs like the Blue Star and
Watermelon can also be obtained in the Papel Shop Lottery before
they are available in the Equipment Shop. The Power +1 ring, the
Control +1 ring, and the Accuracy +1 ring are also available early
in the equipment shop, and each is well worth the 4000 Pang cost.
For example, Chapter 2 Scout, equipped with the Twin Feathers Set,
the Baseball Aztec, and the Power +1 ring has the very respectable
statistics of 25 power, 18 Control, 18 accuracy, 8 spin, and 10
curve.
A lot of the club sets, like Household Goods and Medieval Arsenal,
are very clever and fun, worth collecting but not really
competitive for completing missions or tournaments.
I hope you find this information useful, and that you have as
much fun with Pangya Fantasy Golf as I do!
