PSUBlog | Phantasy Star Fan Blog – bumped.org
In just a few more days, Phantasy Star Online 2 will be reborn into PSO2: New Genesis!
Players will begin anew as a “Meteorn” who descends within a drop pod onto Planet Halpha. There, they are discovered by Aina, an ARKS Trainee, and Mannon, another “Meteorn, ” but with memories of the past. After meeting up with Aina’s father, Garoa, the three welcomes the player to a small village by the sea known as Aelio Town.
Story Characters
Aina (CV: Sumire Morohoshi)
Aina has a positive and cheerful personality. She is the first to reach out to the player after they descended from the drop pod.
Mannon (CV: Yume Miyamoto)
Mannon is a “Meteorn” with memories of the past. She’s cool, yet cautious, and passionate about new and unusual things.
Garoa (CV: Kenta Miyake)
Garoa is Aina’s father, and the protector of Aelio Town. He is one of the five strongest veteran ARKS on Planet Halpha.
Crawford (CV: Kappei Yamaguchi)
Crawford is the “Central Leader, ” who commands the ARKS on Planet Halpha. He has a calm personality and treats everyone equally. He considers it his duty to bring peace and tranquility to the inhabitants of Planet Halpha.
Bruder (CV: Tokuyoshi Kawashima)
Bruder is a skilled instructor for the ARKS. As Crawford’s right hand man, he is responsible for protecting the Aelio Region while training the next generation of ARKS.
Ran (CV: Yumiri Hanamori)
Ran is a rookie ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. Despite being a new recruit, they work very diligently and is loved by everyone due to their honest personality.
Liu Lin (CV: Eri Inagawa)
Liu Lin is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a cool and calm personality.
Oranje (CV: Risa Shimizu)
Oranje is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a calm personality and does things at her own pace.
Rossa (CV: Michiko Kaiden)
Rosa is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a caring personality, and is the leader of the 4.
Aelio Region
The Aelio Region is an area rich in water and lush greenery. It is comprised of several ecosystems, including mountains, plains, marshes, and caves. The region is divided into several exploration and battle sections.
Exploration Sections
Gathering sections are peaceful areas where local wildlife and fauna co-exist. Since not many enemies spawn here, you can safely gather materials by yourself or with a small group. However, do note that powerful bosses and high-level enemies can spawn in rare occasions.
North Aelio
West Aelio
Halphilia Lake
Combat Sections
Combat Sections are areas where lots of enemies spawn. Enemy locations are indicated by an E-Marker, directing everyone within the area to the spawn point. As you continue fighting enemies, sudden events known as “trials” may occur, tasking nearby players to complete a specific goal. In addition, a [PSE Burst] can also occur, increasing the rate of rare enemies appearing. Use this to your advantage to gain lots of EXP and items!
Mt. Magnus
Vanford Laboratory Ruins
Resol Forest
Ryuker Device
Sprinkled across the region are Ryuker Devices. These allow you to teleport to various locales across the world map.
Cocoons and Towers
Cocoons are a type of training facility known as “Trania. ” Each Cocoon has an objective which will award a Skill Point once cleared!
Towers are like Cocoons, but are larger and more difficult. Clearing these will reward you with even more Skill Points.
Drome
Within the Vanford Laboratory Ruins, you’ll encounter objects called Dromes. Generally they will attack, but once they are defeated, they become a powerful support for the player.
Trials
Stella Gift Collection
Stella Gift is a Trial where a container full of items will fall from the sky. Smoke will engulf the drop site, making visibility poor while enemies spawn. Defeat all the enemies to acquire the Stella Gift.
Dolls Control Aircraft Interception
In addition to the already troublesome Dolls, a barrage of attacks will rain down from the sky. If you look closely at the attacks, you might find some clues as to how to get to the Aircraft.
Assembly Point Mop-Up
Enemies will take positions on top of turret-like structures and attack from above. In addition, “Tendars” can spawn, making the situation even more frustrating as they have the ability to heal enemies.
Gigantix
June 23rd Update
Gigantix are enemies that spawn in Exploration Sections, but only during certain weather conditions. Gigantix are noted for their purple auras and prefixed names. These enemies will begin appearing after the June 23rd Update.
Weapon Types
Sword
Hunter’s signature weapon is the Sword. It’s a well-rounded weapon able to handle various situations. The power and performance of each Photon Art changes when the attack is charged.
Partizan
The rapid-striking Partizan is back in the Hunter weaponry. Take on foes with swift wide-range attacks. Learn class skills to unlock further actions and additional attacks.
Wired Lances
Wired Lances are whip-like weapons where you must keep a certain distance from the enemy to maximize the damage output. They have wide-range attacks and are great at fighting multiple enemies. Learn the class skill “Wired Anchor Advance” to change the weapon action’s movement based on the directional input.
Assault Rifle
The assault rifle can be used by both Ranger and Gunner. You can maximize its damage output by keeping a certain distance from the enemy. Learn the Class Skill [Weak Bullet] to create a weakpoint on an enemy that both you and your allies can damage.
Launcher
The Launcher is the Ranger’s other weapon. Although it is a bit slow, you can blast at enemies with wide-range explosions. The weapon action “Sticky Bomb” can be used as a method to recover PP.
Rod
Cast powerful techniques using the Force’s iconic weapon, the Rod. Even though you can’t use Photon Arts, a variety of skills are available for Techniques to make the most out of this weapon type.
Talis
These CARD-like weapons can be used by Force and Techer. Utilize the Talis photon arts to change the locations that Techniques are shot from.
Knuckles
Fighters can utilize Knuckles, which excel in swift attacks. Sway between the enemy’s attacks to launch a powerful counterattack.
Twin Daggers
Twin Daggers are Fighter weapons that specialize in aerial combat. Slash through your enemies, with high mobility, by learning the Class Skill [Axel Drive].
Double Saber
Double Saber is a Fighter weapon that can hit enemies multiple times. Photon Arts will trigger a whirlwind, and this can be consumed through a class skill to launch a powerful attack.
Twin Machine Gun
Gunner’s main weapon are the Twin Machine Guns. These bad boys excel at close aerial combat and have excellent mobility in the air. You can increase the performance of attacks by learning the “Chain Boost” skill.
Wand
Wand is a versatile Techer weapon able to use both Photon Arts and Techniques. An additional attack can occur through “Tech Explosions, ” and the element of this explosion can be changed after learning a skill.
Preset Abilities
Preset Abilities, otherwise known as Preset Skills, are extra abilities that are attached to a weapon or unit when they drop. Preset Abilities have various effects, such as increasing damage, or increasing the critical rate, among other things. Unfortunately, Preset Abilities cannot be transferred to other equipment.
★3 Weapons
Weapons of ★3 rarity include the white and rugged [Terseus] series and the black and sharp [Troward] series. These weapons actually appeared in the Closed Beta, but only for specific weapon types. The [Terseus] series will appear for Hunter, Ranger, and Gunner weapons, while the [Troward] series will for Force, Fighter, and Techter weapon types.
Stamps
Communicate in new ways with the addition of animated illustrations called stamps! Look out for more stamps to collect, via an SG Scratch or other means.
Login Bonus
Log in once a day for fantastic rewards, courtesy of Crawford and Aina! An extra login bonus will be available for a limited time to commemorate the launch of New Genesis.
New Scratch System
Once an SG Scratch is implemented, players will be able draw one free ticket a day.
Militant Soldier (AC Scratch)
Embark on a new adventure in the military wear of Central City and Aelio Town soldiers.
PSUBlog | Phantasy Star Fan Blog – bumped.org
In just a few more days, Phantasy Star Online 2 will be reborn into PSO2: New Genesis!
Players will begin anew as a “Meteorn” who descends within a drop pod onto Planet Halpha. There, they are discovered by Aina, an ARKS Trainee, and Mannon, another “Meteorn, ” but with memories of the past. After meeting up with Aina’s father, Garoa, the three welcomes the player to a small village by the sea known as Aelio Town.
Story Characters
Aina (CV: Sumire Morohoshi)
Aina has a positive and cheerful personality. She is the first to reach out to the player after they descended from the drop pod.
Mannon (CV: Yume Miyamoto)
Mannon is a “Meteorn” with memories of the past. She’s cool, yet cautious, and passionate about new and unusual things.
Garoa (CV: Kenta Miyake)
Garoa is Aina’s father, and the protector of Aelio Town. He is one of the five strongest veteran ARKS on Planet Halpha.
Crawford (CV: Kappei Yamaguchi)
Crawford is the “Central Leader, ” who commands the ARKS on Planet Halpha. He has a calm personality and treats everyone equally. He considers it his duty to bring peace and tranquility to the inhabitants of Planet Halpha.
Bruder (CV: Tokuyoshi Kawashima)
Bruder is a skilled instructor for the ARKS. As Crawford’s right hand man, he is responsible for protecting the Aelio Region while training the next generation of ARKS.
Ran (CV: Yumiri Hanamori)
Ran is a rookie ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. Despite being a new recruit, they work very diligently and is loved by everyone due to their honest personality.
Liu Lin (CV: Eri Inagawa)
Liu Lin is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a cool and calm personality.
Oranje (CV: Risa Shimizu)
Oranje is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a calm personality and does things at her own pace.
Rossa (CV: Michiko Kaiden)
Rosa is an ARKS operator who reports directly to Crawford. She has a caring personality, and is the leader of the 4.
Aelio Region
The Aelio Region is an area rich in water and lush greenery. It is comprised of several ecosystems, including mountains, plains, marshes, and caves. The region is divided into several exploration and battle sections.
Exploration Sections
Gathering sections are peaceful areas where local wildlife and fauna co-exist. Since not many enemies spawn here, you can safely gather materials by yourself or with a small group. However, do note that powerful bosses and high-level enemies can spawn in rare occasions.
North Aelio
West Aelio
Halphilia Lake
Combat Sections
Combat Sections are areas where lots of enemies spawn. Enemy locations are indicated by an E-Marker, directing everyone within the area to the spawn point. As you continue fighting enemies, sudden events known as “trials” may occur, tasking nearby players to complete a specific goal. In addition, a [PSE Burst] can also occur, increasing the rate of rare enemies appearing. Use this to your advantage to gain lots of EXP and items!
Mt. Magnus
Vanford Laboratory Ruins
Resol Forest
Ryuker Device
Sprinkled across the region are Ryuker Devices. These allow you to teleport to various locales across the world map.
Cocoons and Towers
Cocoons are a type of training facility known as “Trania. ” Each Cocoon has an objective which will award a Skill Point once cleared!
Towers are like Cocoons, but are larger and more difficult. Clearing these will reward you with even more Skill Points.
Drome
Within the Vanford Laboratory Ruins, you’ll encounter objects called Dromes. Generally they will attack, but once they are defeated, they become a powerful support for the player.
Trials
Stella Gift Collection
Stella Gift is a Trial where a container full of items will fall from the sky. Smoke will engulf the drop site, making visibility poor while enemies spawn. Defeat all the enemies to acquire the Stella Gift.
Dolls Control Aircraft Interception
In addition to the already troublesome Dolls, a barrage of attacks will rain down from the sky. If you look closely at the attacks, you might find some clues as to how to get to the Aircraft.
Assembly Point Mop-Up
Enemies will take positions on top of turret-like structures and attack from above. In addition, “Tendars” can spawn, making the situation even more frustrating as they have the ability to heal enemies.
Gigantix
June 23rd Update
Gigantix are enemies that spawn in Exploration Sections, but only during certain weather conditions. Gigantix are noted for their purple auras and prefixed names. These enemies will begin appearing after the June 23rd Update.
Weapon Types
Sword
Hunter’s signature weapon is the Sword. It’s a well-rounded weapon able to handle various situations. The power and performance of each Photon Art changes when the attack is charged.
Partizan
The rapid-striking Partizan is back in the Hunter weaponry. Take on foes with swift wide-range attacks. Learn class skills to unlock further actions and additional attacks.
Wired Lances
Wired Lances are whip-like weapons where you must keep a certain distance from the enemy to maximize the damage output. They have wide-range attacks and are great at fighting multiple enemies. Learn the class skill “Wired Anchor Advance” to change the weapon action’s movement based on the directional input.
Assault Rifle
The assault rifle can be used by both Ranger and Gunner. You can maximize its damage output by keeping a certain distance from the enemy. Learn the Class Skill [Weak Bullet] to create a weakpoint on an enemy that both you and your allies can damage.
Launcher
The Launcher is the Ranger’s other weapon. Although it is a bit slow, you can blast at enemies with wide-range explosions. The weapon action “Sticky Bomb” can be used as a method to recover PP.
Rod
Cast powerful techniques using the Force’s iconic weapon, the Rod. Even though you can’t use Photon Arts, a variety of skills are available for Techniques to make the most out of this weapon type.
Talis
These CARD-like weapons can be used by Force and Techer. Utilize the Talis photon arts to change the locations that Techniques are shot from.
Knuckles
Fighters can utilize Knuckles, which excel in swift attacks. Sway between the enemy’s attacks to launch a powerful counterattack.
Twin Daggers
Twin Daggers are Fighter weapons that specialize in aerial combat. Slash through your enemies, with high mobility, by learning the Class Skill [Axel Drive].
Double Saber
Double Saber is a Fighter weapon that can hit enemies multiple times. Photon Arts will trigger a whirlwind, and this can be consumed through a class skill to launch a powerful attack.
Twin Machine Gun
Gunner’s main weapon are the Twin Machine Guns. These bad boys excel at close aerial combat and have excellent mobility in the air. You can increase the performance of attacks by learning the “Chain Boost” skill.
Wand
Wand is a versatile Techer weapon able to use both Photon Arts and Techniques. An additional attack can occur through “Tech Explosions, ” and the element of this explosion can be changed after learning a skill.
Preset Abilities
Preset Abilities, otherwise known as Preset Skills, are extra abilities that are attached to a weapon or unit when they drop. Preset Abilities have various effects, such as increasing damage, or increasing the critical rate, among other things. Unfortunately, Preset Abilities cannot be transferred to other equipment.
★3 Weapons
Weapons of ★3 rarity include the white and rugged [Terseus] series and the black and sharp [Troward] series. These weapons actually appeared in the Closed Beta, but only for specific weapon types. The [Terseus] series will appear for Hunter, Ranger, and Gunner weapons, while the [Troward] series will for Force, Fighter, and Techter weapon types.
Stamps
Communicate in new ways with the addition of animated illustrations called stamps! Look out for more stamps to collect, via an SG Scratch or other means.
Login Bonus
Log in once a day for fantastic rewards, courtesy of Crawford and Aina! An extra login bonus will be available for a limited time to commemorate the launch of New Genesis.
New Scratch System
Once an SG Scratch is implemented, players will be able draw one free ticket a day.
Militant Soldier (AC Scratch)
Embark on a new adventure in the military wear of Central City and Aelio Town soldiers.
PSO2Blog – Thoughts on PSO2 news, features and other things
So that was an unexpected surprise during the XBOX show wasn’t it? I’m not even sure I’m going to be able to put together a cohesive blog post sharing the news and my thoughts/speculations on things, but heck I seem to be in the mood for it so why not? Let’s talk about New Genesis.
Now I will lead this article by saying anything I speculate on is really just my own thoughts. I don’t know much more about this game than anyone else! I’m just some guy that likes to write about this game every so often, I’m not involved in anything official nor have the developers/staff ever reached out to me or anything. I do want this post to be informative as well, however, so I’ll try to keep information and thoughts as clearly separate as I can. To that end, let’s summarize the factual information that we know so far about the game:
So What Actually IS New Genesis?
Is it PSO3? Is it an expansion to PSO2? Well… turns out it’s both.
This video came with a blog post on the official site giving a brief rundown as to what’s what.
It should be noted that as this game is still in development some of these points could change! They make a particular point about this with regard to items that may or may not be transferable.
Information Summary
New Genesis is a massive update and overhaul to PSO2, both graphically and in terms of gameplay/game PSO2, it supports massive open fields instead of just smaller segmented 1000 years after the events of Oracle (current PSO2 story), so it takes place in the same universe. We’re still ARKS, even! The game is 100% Free to Play with some monetization features. They haven’t said what these are yet. The game will co-exist with current PSO2. PSO2 will be uplifted with New Genesis. This means it’ll gain the graphics and Character Creation overhauls (though the exact details are sketch)PSO2 and New Genesis will have very different game systems. The PSO2 you know will stay the same! NGS will be released on all current and future platforms that PSO2 will be on. For NA this means Xbox and Win10, for JP this means this means PC(Win10 by now), PS4 and Switch. PSO2 is still set to arrive on new platforms (strong suspicion that a Steam version is on its way) and they assured us that NGS will follow is set for a global release (in both JP and NA). They didn’t say if this meant global servers, however!
Arks Cash and Stargems are transferable/usable in either gameFUN, Meseta, Materials and all other currency items are non-transferable. Characters and their cosmetics are transferable. You can swap back and forth between either game. Cosmetics includes costumes, hair, lobby actions, accessories, aracter gear is kind of transferable but will go through substantial changes to fit in with New Genesis’s systems. So stats, potentials, affixes/augments etc will be different to suit the new game. As far as I know the reverse isn’t true? As in gear from NGS may not transfer to aracter progression does not transfer between either game. This means EXP, classes, skills, Photon Arts, anything like that. Certain items don’t transfer – Includes things like Skill Rings, furniture, consumables. Mags are in, but this time they are cosmetic only. Your current PSO2 mags and their appearances will transfer, but will only have cosmetic function in New are invisible including the ones you rarity gear transferred from PSO2 may be unequippable initially – Either because they have a level requirement you need to meet first or because the classes that equip them aren’t released yet.
To my understanding that’s all the actual information we currently know. The rest of this post I’m gonna go over my thoughts and speculations so if you were just here for information alone, you’re pretty much done here! We’re about to get way less factual with a mix of the above and some trailer analysis.
Reveal Trailer – My Initial Reaction
So this is the trailer that they dropped during the show. At the time, I was kind of half tuned in so I wasn’t really sure what this Xenoblade Chronicles X looking game even was until I saw the character weapons and the UI popping up….
It dawned on me that this is indeed a Phantasy Star, but it looks completely different to the PSO2 I know so this can’t be an update, right? It has to be PSO3? That’s when the title card dropped.
This is a PSO2 game!? I’m so confused! Is this like a Phantasy Star Nova deal where it’s a side-story?
Anyway so that was more or less my initial reaction. After that video dropped the community kind of exploded and frantically clawed at all sorts of possible explanations as to what exactly it was that we just saw.
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be coming in 2021! PSO2: NGS will surpass Phantasy Star Online 2 in every way, offering players limitless adventure and unparalleled character customization. The game has been redesigned as a best-in-class online action RPG experience! Xbox Youtube channel
So we’d hit up the descriptions on trailer uploads; “newest game in the series”, “surpasses PSO2”, “redesigned”, “massive update”. The terms from official sources were all so confusing, they seemed to contradict each other.
These wide open fields for whatever reason immediately made me think about Xenoblade. It’s possible it was the sci-fi like tech and the animals they showed at the start of the trailer that did it.
They even have the weird faces from Xenoblade! Well OK maybe they look a bit less freakish than that..
I was so half at the wheel that I somehow failed to notice this bit of exposition text at the start… that would have made the penny drop far sooner than it did!
The North American version of PSO2 has only just been released, so the announcement of a sequel so soon caused a bit of an uproar. People had spent real money, afterall! Was PSO2NA just a quick cash grab before they released this game? Because of concerns similar to this I think the developers knew they had to clarify things quickly. The trailer at the top of the post as well as the official blog were released within a day possibly precisely because of these concerns. I’m glad they did that.
The Big Update to PSO2
So back in March, during the PSO2 Station Plus #5 broadcast it was revealed that instead of a new episode later in the year we’d get a major update instead. It was teased with the comical “NOT EPISODE 7” seen above.
Was this referring to New Genesis? Peronsally I’m not sure. Originally it was teased that this’d happen after August but they didn’t specify precisely when, it was kind of implied that it was happening this naturally, a certain worldwide event may have delayed that! Perfectly understandable, of course! But see, if this is in fact the update they were referring to the fact its set to have a global simultaneous release presents a bit of an issue. NGS is going to happen after PSO2NA is all caught up to JP, which isn’t scheduled to happen until early next year.
Content road-map on PSO2NA.
To me, that left two possibilities as to what the “major update” for PSO2JP was going to be:
NGS is the is something different, but it was delayed due to world events
It also made me wonder if the big update for PSO2 was just whatever it is that makes it across from NGS, as in the character creation and graphics system overhauls. That, in principal, could still happen this year on the Japanese servers right?
Well later on we got a more detailed content road-map for the Japanese servers. This added some details for things happening between August and November. After which is a section simply labelled??? with the (google translated) text “An unprecedented super-sized update that replaces the new Ep[isode]”
So I don’t know. It sure seems like NGS is indeed the major update the developers were being coy about the last three months but there could still be some surprises in store for regular old PSO2.
On Characters
So I have a few short thoughts on various parts of characters and how they’ll work between the two games…
First off, I’m thrilled that we’re getting a character creation uplift. Particularly with regard to accessories because I know I’ve bumped into the limitations of the current system way more than I’d like. While this does increase the likely-hood of seeing cocks in the lobby, it also means we could see some real interesting creatures and super-sized casts like we’ve never seen before.
The info trailer made sure to proudly announce that finger animation will finally make it to player characters. However, they did also state that older cosmetics could be used in NGS. I don’t expect them to go back and re-rig every single costume they’ve ever done because well, there’s just way too fucking many of them at this point. But the possibility exists that they could…
They demo’d character transfers by showing PSO2’s Ash in-game. Conspicuously, his fingers are not moving…
So costumes, accessories and weapon models will make it over. Cool! But I mean, aren’t they gonna look a little dated in the new engine? The new rendering tech will take some of the edge off them being models made back in 2011 but I still worry a lot of the old stuff is just gonna look out of place and weird in a next-generation game. It’s possible they could just re-export higher resolution models but I don’t expect them to go to that amount of effort somehow… Maybe up-res the textures?
Also how are old cosmetics going to work with the new character models and vice versa? It’s possible they won’t. The info trailer suggests you can “choose which system you prefer”, PSO2’s or NGS’s. To me this could indicate that old cosmetics are incompatible with new character models and new cosmetics in NGS are incompatible with old ones. They don’t show PSO2 Ash wearing NGS clothes nor do they show new Ash wearing PSO2 clothes, so it’s hard to tell.
They do however show what looks like old accessories being used on the right there though. I can’t tell if its a remake of the clinging rappy accessory or if it just looks nicer with the new rendering tech however so I can’t draw anything conclusive from this image personally.
This also begs a huge question regarding collaboration cosmetics. Those are certainly bound by licensing agreements, so will all of those make it across? Which ones won’t?
I am also deeply amused that it turned out that fashion was the true end-game all along!
On Character Classes
Well the classics are in at the very least. We see a sword user which is presumably a Hunter, a rifle user which is presumably a Ranger and a rod user which is presumably a Force.
They did indicate that transferred gear wouldn’t be usable if their class isn’t released yet. So clearly they’re going to stagger the release of the classes as they did for PSO2 but sound like they’ll all make it across eventually. Will this also apply to Hero, Phantom and Etoile? How the heck is summoner gonna work in this regard? I guess we wait and see.
One part of the trailer also showed the character switching from a Sword to a Rifle. That might just be cutscene magic, but maybe it hints that classes are fundamentally different in NGS? Maybe the classes are more fluid in what they can equip like in PSU? Maybe it’s that there is just some base class that can use those weapons? Maybe it’s something like your weapon determines your class and you can always freely swap? Or maybe its just a demo class for the sakes of the trailer. I don’t know, just speculating.
While MAGs may be gone, Photon Blasts are still with us but now they seem to function more like ultimates that our characters use. Well I mean I guess functionally speaking Photon Blasts were always ultimates? Well either way it’s coming from our character now instead of our mags and also has a cooldown applied to it after use (in this case 2 minutes). Unknown if these will replace class-based ultimates or what of course.
Both the “Ranger” and “Force” demos show a grey icon on their weapon pallets. Force’s looks like some kind of shield, but it’s never used in the demo so no clue what that might do (aside, presumably, some form of protection). The one on the assault rifle meanwhile makes it do some kind of elaborate sliding attack. I wonder if the spinning attack that Sword was using multiple times in the trailer is Sword’s equivalent of one of these moves? They never show an icon for it if so.
I’m not entirely sure what the special function of these actions are, all I can tell is they don’t use PP and they don’t appear to have charging or cooldown mechanics applied to them?
Also sword gear is missing! Is this finally the end of that ball and chain for Hunter sword? It’s that or for whatever reason they didn’t take the skill yet.
On Gameplay
Still got good old Just-Attack circles!
So it’s definitely different but also when you look at it pretty closely it’s still largely the same game we know. The action is more or less happening at the same pace, its using the same kinds of attacks we know (although clearly with significant modifications). More or less, it feels like they took the lessons they learned with the later classes in PSO2 and applied them to the older ones.
There is however a completely different sense of scale in NGS – not just due to the size of the map, but the sizes of the enemies they showed and the much greater verticality present in the game.
The game boasts a day/night cycle and even evidently provides an in-game clock to let you track it. The red tick appears to be the current time, the icon in the middle might indicate the weather (though its only ever sun/moon in the footage I’ve seen) and the yellow portion of the bar indicates when it’s day time. Exactly what impact day/night and weather will have on gameplay or if its just for immersion purposes isn’t clear.
While the maps are open, much more open looking than PSO2’s, it doesn’t seem like the game is as open as the likes of FF14 or WoW. There’s a pair of numbers in the top-left corner of the radar. It’s always x/4 in the shots I’ve seen. The x appears to indicate the number of players around, with it turning orange at 8. In PSO2, that number turning orange indicates that the Multi-party is full. That to me says the game is still instanced, so these large fields probably work more like Guild Wars and Monster Hunter World than World of Warcraft. It could also be tied to the encounters themselves of course.
As for the number on the right? I’m not sure. At first I thought it was the number of people in your party (making the number MPA/Party) but it seems to always be 4 even when the player is solo. It could be that this is just an indicator for the maximum party size or it could have some other meaning.
Honestly? I’d prefer it to be instanced for various reasons but I’m not against the idea of it being truly open either. I’m also fine with them reducing the MPA size from 12 to 8, cause it should result in slightly better scaling/balancing. Basically an issue PSO2’s had since the start is it’s hard to balance things for the widely varying firepower that 1-12 people can bring to an instance. The more people you add in a game like this as well, the less of an impact an individual player feels like they have which has soured many a quest for me. So if reducing the cap from 12 to 8 reduces the amount of times I have a strong feeling of “why am I even here” then it’s definitely for the better.
I also hope this isn’t the end of corridor dungeon crawling because for me thats where some of the most fun content is in PSO2. The hand-crafted dungeons anyway, not the random MPA run-in-circle murder trains.
On Enemies
Gilliam giving some stellar advice.
They’re big, they’re glowy, they’re stretchy. Not an enemy type we haven’t seen before in the series by any measure.
They’re called “DOLLS” as if the Xenoblade comparisons didn’t need more fuel and they seem to be NGS’s main antagonistic force akin to Darkers/Falspawn in PSO2, SEED in PSU and D-Cell monsters in PSO.
Bujin
Nagrus
They don’t actually show us many enemies but they do only show big ones which makes me wonder if the emphasis is on larger encounters rather than waves of lesser monsters like in PSO2. It could also just be that those were the only ones they wanted to demonstrate (the original PSO2 trailer focused pretty heavily on Dark Ragne). They did show some endemic life, so I’m sure we’ll be murdering some of those too!
It seems like every DOLL shown so far has a calm and enraged state, incidated by the color of their er, jelly parts? Nagrus above gets considerably more swole when red but it seems like all “enraged” DOLLS may gain new attacks in this state.
At least they’re keeping enemy names short and sweet, so I guess they learned from their mistakes in Episode 3.
Unknown DOLL on the left from NGS. SEED Venas from PSU on the right
This last paragraph is mostly for fun. I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between how some DOLLS look and the SEED and Stateria from Phantasy Star Universe. Does this mean there’s a connection between PSO2 and PSU? Of course it doesn’t. I’m pretty sure all it means is the same designers from PSU are still working for the team.
Final Thoughts
True adventure starts now (in 2021)!
It almost feels like the PSO2 developers played Xenoblade Chronicles X one day and were like “Man remember when we wanted to make PSO2 like this? Maybe we should do that.. ”.
So it’s a sequel but it’s also not a sequel and monetization currencies count in both games. I’m not sure how to feel about it being a kind of non-committal version of PSO3 but I’m still on board for now. It’s a little concerning that it seems like a kind of “have their cake and eat it” sort of deal I guess.
I still think NGS looks like it could be really good! After playing Monster Hunter World I tended to feel like that was a game which got Free Fields “right” where PSO2 didn’t. Similarly, a friend of mine was hoping for PSO2 to be more like Xenoblade and it looks like we both may have gotten our wishes. Of course we don’t know if our ideas for dream versions of PSO2 will be as fun as we imagined but…
Some of that is just gonna depend on how well they pull off the function of an open world. Is it going to feel good to move around in? Will it have enough things to do to justify the size of the maps or will it feel barren?
There’s plenty of remaining questions concerning the itty gritty of what transfers between the games and what overall impact this is going to have on PSO2 moving forward. Is that it for new PSO2 stuff or is it also going to get an Episode 7 anyway?
Some stuff I’d like to see
While it’s indicated that all of PSO2’s classes may make it across (though how exactly Summoner is gonna work is a huge question) I kind of want to see them come up with new classes and weapon types all the same. There’s a few weapon types from PSO and classic PS that they still haven’t done in PSO2, like claws, slicers, handguns, shotguns, whips, the piles and halos from Nova, sabers and possibly other things I’m forgetting. With the exception of slicers and shotguns (mostly), most other types got re-imagined into other weapon types which is mostly fine as PSU’s large array of weapons resulted in a lot of redundancy. That said, it’s an area they could expand into and definitely something I’d like to see them do.
Other major things I’d like to see them do is to abolish the server structure they have in PSO2, or at least limit the old lobby system to just the social lobbies and have everything else act a bit like their PVP matchmaking system.
I’d also like to see them finally add a re-join match feature so that disconnecting randomly isn’t so devasting!
Also no more Urgent Quests. I hate the game worth playing and progress-able at all times rather than randomly selected half-hour segments of the day. God do I love putting together a group to run specific content only to have the group fall apart to a UQ announcement because there;s no way to complete what we want to do before it starts… Admittedly this will create a design/incentivization issue if they want to do raids in NGS and honestly for that I don’t have a good answer. I liked the way FF14 handled it that’s about all I can say.
There’s probably other things I wanted to say that I’ve forgotten about but this blog post is far too large as it is. If additional things come up that I can’t just summarize in a twitter post then I’ll do then in future blogposts. I anticipate we’ll hear a few more tidbits about NGS in the upcoming August 7th PSO2 Station. Also who is gonna be the great great great…. great great grandson of Dudu?
So in case you’re unaware, the PSO2NA beta period has begun. Right now it’s in an intermittent “Closed Beta Test” phase (although the word Closed is doing some legwork there.. ) and is slated to enter an “Open Beta Test” phase soon. You can find out more about it on their brand new official site here. This may have re-invigorated my interest in covering some things but… well.. this post is going to talk about the future of this fan-site generally.
For those who’ve never seen this blog before; Hello! This is a fan-blog by one guy who is not remotely associated with Sega of Japan, Phantasy Star Crew, Sega of America/Europe or anyone who works for them. It was set up as an independent opinions blog to cover various bits about the original Japanese PSO2 release which dates all the way back to late 2011. Frankly it kind of terrifies me that that was nearly 9 years ago! Aside opinions, this site has also gone over some guides and speculations into future content.
Did It Ever Really Die?
See, while the main blog certainly went silent for the last couple of years I have been keeping the twitter account going in that time; mostly micro-blogging and reporting server maintenance.
During the initial waves of hype around the PSO2NA beta (of which I was absolutely a part! ) I gained a small surge in followership but a pretty large boost to activity generally. Even this blog’s traffic raised a fair amount. All the activity seems to be centered around the NA version of the game primarily, so I believe it may be worth it to re-purpose the account around that. Note that I still wish to talk about the Japanese version of the game, but it just may be more useful to have some unofficial NA resources about.
The Main Plan – For Now
While this might be a revival of the blog in a sense, it won’t be the same as it was in the old days. The days of regular giant opinionated semi-news posts are probably done and the primary vector of information is likely to continue to be through Twitter. As such, I expect PSO2Blog to be mostly a micro-blog via Twitter whilst using the blog for longer pieces which are inappropriate for social media.
I don’t expect the posting schedule to be like clockwork, particularly as the contents of my most recent blog post are still kind of true! I have passions now that I didn’t have during this blog’s heyday; I do a lot of art and other creative stuff that’d be inappropriate to promote here but those endeavors are going to remain my primary passion.
Content
In terms of what I’ll actually be covering? Well see, the official site itself has an awful lot of useful information on it as it is. There’s pretty much no point in my covering things that they already do; such as game-play basics, Urgent Quest schedules, news posts.
That said, there’s definitely room for some more in-depth guides on classes, class-subclass combos, gearing, raid bosses, progression paths and elaborations on subjects that the official site either doesn’t fully cover or is straight up incorrect about. There also might be opinion posts and possibly data-mine-y stuff, though that stuff has gotten increasingly difficult to do.
Additionally, I expect to make some posts for any divergences between the Japanese and American versions of the game which might be helpful for anyone wishing to transfer between either version (though primarily from Japanese to American).
Existing Guides
I honestly don’t know what to do about existing guides… Some of them are hugely out of date or are really annoying to check if the information in them is still valid. Additionally, there’s a chance now that people googling issues with PSO2 NA are going to end up landing on one of my guides which is for a different version of the game. So yeah, I’m not sure what to do about these.
The Community
The NA version existing might drastically alter the nature of the PSO2 community! I’ve always liked supporting community efforts to support the game where I can, which is why I have links to other fan sites at the top of my side-bar. That thing is going to need re-organizing, pruning and I may have to add new links to whatever community resources might spring up now.
Towards the Future
So yeah, even if this blog is “back”, it won’t be the same at it was. I expect it to primarily be an extension to the micro-blogging site that is the PSO2blog twitter.
While I may still talk about PSO2JP stuff, it seems like it might be more useful to people to cover the North American version of the game primarily. We’ll see! I’m not entirely certain what’s going to happen here.
Oh also still gonna RT any PSO2 meme-posts I stumble on that amuse me.
There was a time I enjoyed writing and maintaining this blog, but those days are clearly behind me now. I haven’t posted in nearly a year, but held off from officially calling it “just in case I’d be back”. I don’t think there’s any chance of that now, hence my making this post.
Things change, life changes and my interests have simply moved on from attempting to be some kind of community resource (even if ultimately, it was just my opinions).
It was fun while it lasted. I have fond memories of working on this thing (some less pleasant memories too).
For any regular readers, I apologize I wasn’t able to keep this up in the end. Thankfully, the community continues to have people dedicated to making the game accessible outside of Japan and with keeping the player-base up to date with what’s happening with the game. It frequently is not the nicest community to be a part of, but some aspects of it I’m still enamored with.
As for PSO2 itself? Hm… well, let’s drop some final thoughts for old time’s sake I guess.
One Last Pile of Thoughts
Episode 5 has been a mixed bag for me. Buster Quests and the way the developers have decided to handle progression leave a lot to be desired but the game has seen some great improvements to class play-ability, has introduced some genuinely fun quests and some good fashion as well.
Buster Quests were a clumsy attempt at coming up with an alternative to the Emergency Quest system that I’m sad didn’t work out in the end. This is ultimately a shame, as the Emergency Quest system remains one of my least favorite aspects about the game, like it actively makes the game less enjoyable to play for me.
The way the developers handled the release of Hero was fucking hilarious in the end. Releasing an advanced class system the developers apparently intended the player-base to move on to, but then only release the classes at a rate of one per Episode was one of the stupidest decisions I think I’ve ever seen the developers do. The silver lining to the backlash they got from this however meant that a number of genuinely annoying aspects about how the old classes played got rectified in a series of balance updates. Unfortunately, as part of that they decided to buff everyone’s power rather than reduce Hero’s, which only made the power-creep situation worse.
OK, I’ll admit it, I whined a bit about stone collections back in the day but good lord I think it was preferable to the system of pure RNG nonsense they’ve engineered for the game right now. The Ares NT, Lumiere, Austere NT (a future weapon series requiring you to get Invade NT, Nemesis NT and Slave NT weapons all of which are random drops) and Phobos series are all either themselves RNG or are based on trades that depend on at least one layer of it. I can only assume Collection Files were really unpopular with the player-base or something, because that’s the only reason I can think of for this design shift to go from progression based to pure fucking luck. Whatever the real reason is, this insistence to depend on multiple rolls of dice feels absolutely awful and is something I hope changes in the future.
To be clear on that last paragraph, I’m not saying Collection Files were perfect; the time-sink some of them required was maddening and their temporary nature an unnecessary design choice (except of course when they’re tied to temporary content).
While we do have material storage now, mitigating some of the issues I had with collecting stones back in the day (though it costs Star-gems to purchase…) I also remember how much of a piss they took with that. They’d require you to gather an absurd number of them for how few you’d get from time-gated or randomly available quests. With that all said, both are preferable to depending on pure dumb luck to progress.
Oh and unit affixing is still terrible with no indication that they’re ever actually going to address that aspect of the game.
Anyway, that’s enough vaguely coherent ranting. Despite the issues I have with the game and the way it’s being handled, I still do enjoy playing it. The combat still feels good and I generally like the aesthetics of the game. I’m still interested to see how Episode 5 ends, what the lv90 class skills will end up being, what’s in store for us with Episode 6 and what the Villain class will be like (if it turns out the data-mining was true! ).
Anyway, that really is it. As it has ever been, this is really just my thoughts and feelings on the game. If you disagree, that’s fine! Enjoy the game as you see fit! I know I’ll be trying to as long as I care about it and as long as it’s around (maybe into private servers and beyond, who knows! ).
Enjoy, and farewell!
Note: Post is heavily work in progress right now, it’s only public in order to get feedback and error correction more easily. Please let me know if information here is wrong or confusing.
I won’t publicize the post through Twitter until it’s in an overall better state.
Note that some info in this post is still really volatile and may turn out to be wrong later. I’ll try to correct it but I may end up missing stuff..
Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress #2
Phase 0
Not a lot to say about this phase. You’ll have to fight your way through a few waves of Omega’s demons while the dragon bombards you with flame attacks. Compared to other raids, this phase is over really quickly.
Phase 1
The Erythron Dragon will fly back and upon landing will stand perfectly still as it uses various flame attacks. At this stage, it has no actual weak points however its toes have the lowest resistance to damage overall. So for now, you’re just beating on its toes with whatever attacks you can.
Phase 1. 5
Eventually, smashing its toes will cause Erythron Dragon to flinch, at which point Laconium Swords start spawning.
The dragon’s chest will begin to glow blue. This is a guard point which can be broken to reveal a weak-point. Once broken, itll glow bright orange. This mechanic is key to the rest of the fight.
It seems any attack can actually break these guard points, but by far the best way to do it is to land a charged Photon Art with a Laconium Sword as it’ll break it in one hit (regardless of how much damage it actually does).
During this phase, once you break its chest weakpoint one of its wings will become targetable. Break the guard-point on it and do as much damage as you can before it flies off and starts the next phase.
Laconium Sword
There will always be 3 Laconium Swords available (until the final phase), as whenever someone’s sword breaks, times out or is unequipped a new one spawns in its place.
Laconium Swords function much like a vehicle or turret, in that it has stats independent of your own as well as its own attacks. Laconium Sword only has 3 actions, however; a regular attack that sends out a shockwave, a photon art and a guard.
The regular attack does decent damage and has an enormous reach, making it a reliable way to attack the boss if your regular attacks are difficult to use.
The photon art is a chargeable attack, with slightly different functions for un-charged and charged. The uncharged version does a small amount of damage but homes in to whatever you’re locked on to quickly and from considerably distance. The charged version do a lot of damage and does home in a little but not nearly as much as the uncharged one.
Guard functions just like guarding with a Hunter weapon, except it can block attacks from any angle and seem