PSO2 Web Site Gets Massive Update

The official Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 Web site has received a massive makeover following today's press event. Lots of new information has been released about the game, though a date for the alpha test was curiously not given.

Among the things we now know for sure about PSO2:

Officially a PC-exclusive game. This was probably a foregone conclusion at this point. In case you weren't sure, a trailer shown at the media briefing stated "for Windows PC" explicitly. Also, I'm not entirely sure how you would be able to use PSO2's character creator on a console.

In-depth character creator. We finally got a glimpse of PSO2's character creator, which seems to allow players to edit a character's appearance in just about every way. Most features can be changed using a clever "wire-box" slider which allows players to simply click and drag to create the desired look. Each slider provides a zoomed-in look of what the feature looks like. Female characters get a boob slider, too!

Large party areas. Phantasy Star Online 2 isn't going the open world route, though it does allow multiple parties to team up in designated areas. PSO2 one-ups Phantasy Star Universe by allowing up to 12 people to play together at once.

Back to basics (sort of). The Beast race, introduced in Phantasy Star Universe, appears to be absent from PSO2. The class system appears to be limited to Hunter, Ranger, and Force.

Videos of the media event, as well as additional screenshots, have been posted in a topic over at PSO-World. Lots of new screenshots have been posted on the official PSO2 Web site, too. So far, so good... looks like this game is on the right track!

Revisiting PSO2 Global Support Yet Again

With the official PSU forums out of commission for awhile, PSU GMs have taken to various fansite forums to connect with the Xbox 360 PSU community. It seems that the purpose of this exercise is to reassure fans that official support for the game hasn't gone away.

However, PSU GM Edward posted a slightly disturbing comment on PSO-World's forums, one that we blogged about and that could cause many members of the community to think twice about how they choose to play PSO2. You can click on the link above to get the full text; I'll post just a small snippet here:

Officially, the XB360 version [of PSU] is a different version of the game. It is not meant as a duplicate of the JP version. You can disagree with that but that is the official stance, and so whatever communication you're going to hear from me or us, that's the ultimate message.

This comment should raise some eyebrows among potential US/EU players of PSO2. If the game doesn't get international servers, what stops Sega from taking this stance again? Does that mean that the Western version of PSO2 will get delayed or different content, and/or different levels of support?

Applied in the context of PSO2, Edward's comment shows exactly why the game absolutely must have international servers. If it doesn't, players will be taking an enormous risk in choosing to play on the US/EU servers. I personally took that risk once already with PSU. I will not make the same mistake again.

The release date for PSO2 hasn't even been announced yet, but if you want to enjoy the game for a long time after it's released, you really have only two options: Play on the international servers or play on the Japanese servers. Hopefully Sega provides the right option.

PSO2 Web Site Prepares for Media Briefing

The official Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 Web site has been updated with a link to what will be a live stream of the PSO2 media briefing scheduled to take place tomorrow (July 26).

Details of the briefing haven't been announced but it has been speculated that a date for the alpha test may be revealed.

More to come tomorrow...

PSU version disparities

So I saw this interesting post over at PSO-World from Edward@Sega in response to complaints over the new PSPo2 weapons having generic models and the new melee weapons dropping only neutral.

This is the best part here:

2) Officially, the XB360 version is a different version of the game. It is not meant as a duplicate of the JP version. You can disagree with that but that is the official stance, and so whatever communication you're going to hear from me or us, that's the ultimate message. That means that saying "it was like X there but it's like Y here and therefore it is broken" isn't something we can respond to, officially. They are different versions for a reason, and supplying new artwork to the XB360 is not the same as providing new artwork to the PC version. I know there's a fuzzy line there, some things, yes, it's worth raising the issue for sure. I said this on our forums before they went down and if you are unsure of what is "okay" to bring up ... you can always ask!

Err.. what? Wasn't the game supposed to receive the same updates as the Japanese version but with only a few months difference based on the release of the games? To me it sounds like an Xbox360 problem with having to go through getting content/patches certified. Probably doesn't help that they chose a poor method to distribute the "Guardian's Advanced Content" update either. I wonder how things would have been explained if the PC version was never shut down?

I'll be fair: OK we knew that there would be differences in the game from the Japanese version especially after things like the second MAG, the long update drought that followed the second MAG, and the absence of Guardian's Cash. But still that doesn't excuse cutting small details from the game. At least save excuse for something big like explaining why an event or other highly anticipated content won't make it over. It would sound a lot better then, trust me! Although I still wouldn't buy it.

I certainly hope PSO2 can avoid content problem like these. Well at least I do feel a little better knowing that Sega has full control over content since they don't need to go through a third party like Xbox Live.

PSO2 Will Have Forces

The addition of Forces in Phantasy Star Online 2 was probably a foregone conclusion to most people, even though the official PSO2 trailer failed to show any footage of Force characters doing Force things.

Potential Force players that were scared the class might not make it into PSO2 can breathe a sigh of relief. Today's PSO2 news (hinted at yesterday on the Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity blog) basically served to confirm the existence of Forces in the game.

PSO-World has some screenshots of Forces in action, along with a bizarre screenshot of some rappies. Of course, we all knew they would make it into the game, too...

The PSU and PSO2 News Roundup

After a busy start to the summer, things have cooled off a bit on the Phantasy Star news front. That could be about to change, though.

In Phantasy Star Universe, The Great Arms Race is about to come to an end. The Japanese Xbox 360 PSU Web site is reporting that the first round of rewards from that event will be added in this week's maintenance period. In addition, a new mission will be added. This mission will make up part of a GBR that includes missions The Black Nest, The Dark God, and True Darkness, which will be seeing S3 upgrades this week.

In Phantasy Star Online 2 news, the Japanese Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity blog has hinted that more PSO2 information may be released tomorrow. We haven't heard a whole lot about the game lately, so any news would definitely be welcome.

Finally, the Sega Pass outage from June continues, with the official forums still down at the time of this posting. The US/EU official Phantasy Star Universe Web site is also down with the same "essential maintenance" message that appeared at the forums for a few days in late June. There hasn't been any word on how much longer the outage will continue.

That's all for now. Keep your fingers crossed for some awesome PSO2 news tomorrow!