Phantasy Star Online 2

[Eard]

Doog tiems, they finally announced it's coming Westward Ho.

http://www.pso2.com/us/

US release date 2013. A year too late to save me from the disappointment of Diablo 3, but oh well. For those that never played the original, it's a 3rd person loot pinata basically, set character classes that improve equipment and techs (magic) from item drops, and a ridiculous grind to actually hit level cap. Unlike mostly random drop setups, original PSO tied rare (read unique) drops to specific monsters, so farming for an item was a much more specific (and yet at times more frustrating) operation than the standard arpg setup. I haven't seen enough info yet to know how exactly all the systems will work in this, although the general feedback has been it's closer to PSO than PSU thankfully.

(yes, my standard no info shitty OP strikes again! most of the good bits are blocked at work, can't easily link/embed)

[strifal]

[Paradox]

mmmyeh

[strifal]

If you don't actually want to wait until next year and aren't afraid of a few squiggles, it's free to play and the Japanese servers are live.

Video walkthrough of registering and starting out
Chrome's auto-translate thing comes in handy.

And also some guides

[Lallante]

Why would anyone play such a retarded asian cartoon grindfest

[Eard]

Because those red boxes are really shiny

[Hels]

I'll totally play this on American release with you Eard. Cause fuck yeah PSO.

[Eard]

Strifal and I have grabbed the Japanese client. He's played around a bit, mine just finished patching this morning to try out tonight

[Hels]

Hmm I could grab it and see. Is it on a fully f2p model or what?

[strifal]

Hmm I could grab it and see. Is it on a fully f2p model or what?

Pretty much. The only real annoying thing I've found so far is that you get one character slot and have to buy extras. You can switch between classes on your one character at will and level them independently, but you're stuck with it's racial affinities--and also FOcast(what). Then again, you could just register more sega ids to make new characters on.

[Hels]

Soooooo that's silly.

Guess I'll make me a HUcast for group play and a HUnewearl to fap to.

[strifal]

We're on ship 9 if you want to join us. Oh, and it might be handy to use the standalone character creator with english translations to make your character and then import it into the game.

[Hels]

Word

[Eard]

Tried the character importer, worked pretty well, although you could fumble through the official lists since it's all visual changes.

And no go on Hucast and HUnewearl, I believe the character slot is locked by race and sex when you pick. The class you can change to any of the 3 once those are locked in though

[Hels]

I meant two separate accounts silly.

[Eard]

So, Strifal and i have been grinding this (both in the 15-17 level range), and despite the All Squiggles client, it's quite playable with the various guides on the net already, especially the bumped.org link above and c/ping into google translate. I originally though I'd just play around with it like a beta before US release, but considering Sega's track record for US Phantasy Star support (constantly behind on content, hackers not dealt with, servers shut off early, etc), and the amount of translated information already available, I'm leaning more towards just staying on the Japanese servers. Only downside is we weren't able to get on some of the larger English speaking ships (2, 10). They are now open again for new accounts, but there is no ship transfer option available yet and I didn't feel like remaking just yet. Sounds like a transfer option might be made soonish though as it's been a popular request (obviously).

The f2p elements aren't too bad. The biggest annoyance is no trading/player shops unless you pony up, and it's only limited time access at that (30/60/90 day options). Buying from player shops is free of course. Some items can be dropped and show for others, but not exactly sure which ones (items drops are player specific now ala D3). Sounds like only basic stuff is droppable for others. Extra mags and skill tree resets have to be bought, along with access to MYROOM and the usual cosmetic stuff. Also the usual xp boost type crap that's not, but not in any way required.

Rares are now bound on equip, but nothing is bind on pickup afaik. And, while most items actually look like their item type now when they drop, rares are still dropped as classic looking shiny red boxes. Rares also let you do customizing when IDing. You get to pick the element damage type you want, along with a XP/Item find/Meseta drop bonus. Bonus abilities are then listed after ID, so it appear the old IDing games of PSO are no longer necessary/possible.

Techniques can currently only be used by force characters. There are apparently more classes coming that are expected to be more like the hybrid PSO 1 classes with rangers/hunters being able to use techs. All combat weapon types now have special moves that also drop as "tech" disks with levels, which gives the rangers and hunters something to do with their PP. Combat feels like a natural evolution from the original, although some of it may have already been introduced in the various Universe games I ignored. Jumping, dodge/rolling, air juggling, almost all mobs have some sort of weak point that can be hit for more damage, and over the shoulder shooter mode for hitting said weak spots (I have ignored as trying to use that mode with a controller aiming spells is terrible) all keep the arpg combat feeling good. Additionally, each class now has a skill tree they can spend points in for some basic specialization. One point per level, and some quest(s) that can give an extra 5 points to spend. I have yet to play with it on my force, as I was trying to read which of the skills were actually useful. Some are just basic X attacks do more damage, while others add new abilities.

Actual content seems decent enough for now, and the subterranean area (read Mines) was just added. Bit of a grind to unlock everything though, you have to do a few quests in each area, then clear them with S rank (basically, kill lots of stuff and don't die) and under a certain time to open up free mode (like old PSO). Said free mode then has to be S ranked under a time limit to open up the next area. Strifal and I current stuck on the cave free roam quest cause the boss dragon takes ages to kill, but will open up Desert once we finish that. Apparently there are also quests to level past 30, and to hit lvl 40, which is the current cap, along with opening up hard mode for the various areas. So, that part is a bit of a drag and seems a bit too locked down personally, but I guess it does give more goals than just plowing through the level. Eventually a try non-quest open mode for each other is unlocked, along with a time attack mode.

Character stats are more broken out, you have separate striking, ranged, and tech attack and defense rating, along with a mysterious "ability" stat that people are still figuring out. Default you start with 3 weapon switches, at least one quest is available that ups that to 6. And you can set a default 0-9 hotbar for each weapon, and switch those on the fly as well. Body armor appears to just be a cosmetic choice, but you have 3 unit type slots for defensive purposes. Items have both traditional grinding and affinity (by element type now rather than enemy type), along with new abilities that are random bonuses on the weapons. All of these can be progressed by grinding or combining items of the same type. Have yet to play with this either, but greater chance of missing up item the higher you try to get the bonuses.

While I didn't play any of the Universe games as some of the mechanics turned me off, this really does feel like a modern PSO. My little grinding heart is aflutter (3 shiny red boxes so far, all the same rare unfortunately)

[Eard]

For the 1-2 of you that were interested in trying this but turned off by :squiggles:, there is a quite handy English patch now that translates a majority of the client available here

[XenosisReaper]

For the 1-2 of you that were interested in trying this but turned off by :squiggles:, there is a quite handy English patch now that translates a majority of the client available here

Downloadin

edit: jesus christ the official game files are hosted on a toaster, getting 300kb/s instead of the 4.5mb/s I get via Steam