Phantasy Star Online 2 - Official Pre-Release Topic

[Sharky]

Phantasy Star Online 2!


Over View:
Phantasy Star Online or PSO for short is a Massively Multiplayer Online Dungeon Crawler set in a unique sci-fi setting. Players will form parties and explore an ever changing universe and battle monsterious foes in full real time combat.
Character customization, leveling up and other JRPG elements make up a big portion of the experience.

Info:
"Oracle, a fleet traveling infinite universe"
"A new adventure waiting on an unknown number of planets"
"An invading evil surrounding the universe"
"Arks, that is the name of those who face it"
"Can they protect the universe, or will it be devoured?"
"That is up to you."

-Random fields
-"Original combos" (?)
-Third person shooter style
-Jumping
-"Hybrid Custom Action" (?)
-Seamless weather
-"Interupt events," special random mini-situations
(From trailer intro)

-Section ID on this dude's chestplate
-Photon Points cap rises as player levels up (different screens of 'Sonic' character show him at level 1 and 4 with more PP at level 4)
-Gun reloading animation present (Ranger character reloads their gun in the video)
-Blocking is in from PSPortable 2 (seen on the command bar)
-Dodging is in from PSPortable 2 (seen in the video)
-Characters are seen with weapons holstered (Ranger character can be readying her gun in the video)
(Spotted by PSOWorld members)


Trailers:
[youtube:1dvxuqze]NxqukE7UfLk[/youtube:1dvxuqze]


Screen Shots:

[Happy Cat]

i wish SEGA japan would put up a direct feed trailer already

[ezodagrom]

Are those screenshots ive seen stupidly blown up beyond their original resolution?

Looks like it's the original resolution in the screenshots. The HUD wouldn't be so small if it was a much lower res, and if the huge pictures were resized pictures, there would be something noticeable about the resize in the text in the HUD.

[Sharky]

Are those screenshots ive seen stupidly blown up beyond their original resolution?

Looks like it's the original resolution in the screenshots. The HUD wouldn't be so small if it was a much lower res, and if the huge pictures were resized pictures, there would be something noticeable about the resize in the text in the HUD.

I hope not, it looks pretty poor at that size. But when looking at the trailer and other screens I've come across it looks much, much better.

I'm looking forward to seeing HD ingame video so I can get a real feel for how it'll look and play.

EDIT: Maybe I mean 'Aspect Ratio' and not 'Resolution'... I'm not tech minded enough to know the difference.

[CrazyT]

I need to watch that trailer in High quality.

[Radrappy]

I'm pretty disappointed by all of this.  The character designs are fine but the environment is pretty generic.  The gameplay looks exciting but I'm worried by "random" dungeons.  Random dungeons are never a good idea.  You want someone to design levels, not have a computer shit them out.  The enemy designs look TERRIBLE.  They could be from any sci-fi game ever made.  Where are the rappies?  The most disappointing part of the whole thing though is how it doesn't remind me of PSO at all.  It looks way more like PSU2.  I mean, I dunno.  I'll obviously wait until I see some real gameplay footage before giving up on it.  Poo.

[CrazyT]

Wow radrappy. To me it looks like an evolved PSO game in a lot of ways. The forests looks more alive then ever. The character designs don't look stupid imo. They would have looked like that at those times if the graphics were able to view such. The music, the feel of the way weopons hit the enemies and all that + tons of new feutrues. I am sure rag rappy's will be there. No doubt about it.

[STORM!]

PSO is not a "massively" RPG, it's a MORPG ;p

 Rag Rappy is a creature from Ragol,right? I don't think we are in Ragol this time...

 I've expected better graphics, but it looks good for me till now.

 Sakai wants to release it on the NGP, but it will take a lot of time... I hate PC games, but this time I think I will try it.

[Sharky]

I'm pretty disappointed by all of this.  The character designs are fine but the environment is pretty generic.  The gameplay looks exciting but I'm worried by "random" dungeons.  Random dungeons are never a good idea.  You want someone to design levels, not have a computer shit them out.  The enemy designs look TERRIBLE.  They could be from any sci-fi game ever made.  Where are the rappies?  The most disappointing part of the whole thing though is how it doesn't remind me of PSO at all.  It looks way more like PSU2.  I mean, I dunno.  I'll obviously wait until I see some real gameplay footage before giving up on it.  Poo.

I have the complete opposite impression.

It reminds me much more of PSO than PSU, from the character outfits being more toned down and very 'military-esque' instead of frilly, over the top stuff.
The music is VERY PSO to me, I instantly recognized it as PSO style music.

The enemies look like any thing I've seen in a PSO game before... I don’t think the enemy designs in any PSO game were anything to write home about, if anything it's continuing that tradition. Rappies will so very likely be in there too.

Finally for me at least, the BEST edition is randomly generated levels, It's what I have been hoping for. Why? Because as soon as I know the level lay out of levels I start to get bored of it. Anything that'll keep it fresh is great for me.

I don't think your worry of the Computer designed levels will be a problem. I suspect each area will be created by the developer, the only thing random about it is every time you go through a door, as you would in any PSO game the next room is random.

Really the only thing that strikes me as different from PSO is the combat. Which is totally fine with me, if there was one thing that PSU did better it was the fluid combat, especially in later years with blocks, rolls, counters, strife and so on introduced. This looks to expand on the PSU combat and make it even better.

Finally, I wouldn't judge the game so quickly from the very very little we have seen. It's pretty early in development and we have seen so very little I wouldn’t worry about lack of exciting enemies or bland level designs.

[Sega Uranus]

I like the character art and the world looks good to me, even if I agree it looks pretty generic.

I really hate the jumping in combat with big swords though, it just looks silly and annoying, like Kingdom Hearts stuff. I guess as long as they do not use the sword like a skateboard I will be okay with this. The lack of rappies is also pretty stupid and weird.

I like how you can turn it into a third person shooter with the guns though. I would probably try that first.

[Sharky]

I'll be extremely suprised if both Rappies and Mags aren't in the final game...
I'll eat my hat if Rappies aren't at least.

[tarpmortar]

I've never really played too much Phantasy Star Online, I played some Blue Burst for a couple of hours and some of Phantasy Star Universes single player. Too me this game looks more like PSO, for whatever that is worth.

[CrazyT]

^Neutral Taro has spoken

[CosmicCastaway]

I'm definitely going to keep an eye on PSO2, it looks outstanding.

[Sharky]

For those that may not remember, at last year's Tokyo Game Show, SEGA showed off a reel of upcoming games that they were working on. One of those just so happened to be a sequel to the first true online RPGs for the consoles when it made its debut on the Dreamcast, the game called Phantasy Star Online 2.
 
Today, after months of bated breath and barely a word from the company on the current status of its project (we at least know there will be an alpha test this summer in Japan), we have for you today details about the story of PSO2, along with 15 different screeenshots and even a gameplay trailer from today's Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity fan appreciation event held in Akihabara in Japan. All of the media does a great job showing off the incredible engine that is going into this game, which may be a modified version of the Hedgehog Engine.
 
The story is as follows, taken from 4Gamer, which was shown as a series of one-line quotes in the presentation: "The ship fleet Oracle which travels the endless stars. A new adventure that awaits on the countless planets. Invasion of the malice that covers the universe. The name of the people who face off against them is Arcs. Will the universe be saved, or will it be swallowed up? It’s in the hands of you, the hero."
 
According to the video, there will be randomized dungeons just like in the first game, along with a more combo-focused battle system, a Third-Person Shooter camera and action system, the ability to jump around the environment, the capability to customize your equipment in many different ways, weather transitions, random events that occur during the course of battle, and like the first one, a promise for a neverending adventure.
 
Phantasy Star series producer Satoshi Sakai and his staff promised on stage at the event that they are trying their best to give players a strong feeling of adventure that they feel has been lost in today's world of RPGs, and the aim is to bring a more mass appeal while making sure hardcore fans and online gamers have plenty to enjoy as they celebrate the 10th anniversary of Phantasy Star Online's release.

I have sunk literally hundreds of hours into this game and it still holds a strong place in my heart to this day. I just hope we still get to use the Spread Needle and Pan Arms. Oh, and a Sega Dreamcast for a MAG! The combat looks way more hectic compared to the first, but still seems to capture the look and feel of the environments in the first, which I loved. Here's to hoping we get more details about a Western release at this year's E3.

Further details will be revealed before the alpha test begins this summer. In the meantime, take a look at the preview video (shot using a camera at the event so we apologize beforehand for the quality) and screenshots below!

http://www.rpgsite.net/news/1080/phanta ... ealed.html