Be warned if you get it from Windows Store; there's still issues with it. I had it brick on me again this week after installing the newest Windows Update (again). It is possible to use the Tweaker that people used to play the JP version but I haven't messed with it too much. The episode 4 trailer said it would be coming to other PC platforms but no timeline or hints of what those would be were given. If you're up for playing though, then go for it! A lot of the JP vets went to ship 2, but I went to ship 3 on account of the fact that ship 2 was super congested at launch.
I forgot about this game. I remember a while back reading about it and being somewhat interested. Since it's free-to-play, I might give it a go. Do I need to play any of the previous games in the series, for continuity or references? The only game I've played before was Phantasy Star Zero for the DS. I don't mind emulating Online or Universe via Dolphin (Might be interesting to try it in DolphinVR) and PCSX2, respectively. Similarly, I've been meaning to try emulating the original PSO anyways, ever since I played it once at a friend's house when I was a kid. I just never got around to it and got side-tracked by other things. Seriously, if there's a reason to play any of the previous games first, I'd really rather do that. It's a new series to me, and it's always easier to play the earlier games before getting spoiled by any improvements or streamlining that later games make. But if PSO2 is so far removed from everything else that there's absolutely no point, then I can just jump straight into that one, since multiple games beforehand are quite a bit to do before going into a completely-unrelated MMO. By the way, slightly off-topic since this thread's about PSO2, but if I were to emulate the original Online, would local multiplayer be close enough to get any online-exclusive stuff? I did a quick check on TVTropes (though avoiding the PSO2 page for spoilers) and it said something about online-exclusive items being permanently lost by now on any version reliant on the now-closed servers. Does the Gamecube version count, or is it standalone with multiplayer replacing the actual online part? I think the system was technically able to go online, just there was only one or two games that actually took advantage of that, and other than those couple of games, the online functionality was never actually used. Was this actually one of those games?
Thanks with the heads up about the Windows Store issues! I was kinda hoping that they had been fixed, or at least alleviated with PSO2 Tweaker support but I guess I don't mind sticking to the XB1 version for the time being. Might be the best idea anyway as the game's pretty huge on PC. You can go into PSO2 pretty much blind. I'd say that it's pretty different from both PSO1 and PSU, which are pretty unique their own ways. You can partly replicate the online experience with PSO GC split-screen, but it doesn't support quests iirc. It's still fun nevertheless. For PSO I would actually recommend playing the PC port of Ep1&2 (which included an exclusive Episode: 4) called Blue Burst. There's a fantastic private server called Ephinea which manages to have a very faithful experience, while also simultaneously offering a bunch of quality of life improvements. For Universe, I'd actually recommend playing the PSP game called Phantasy Star Portable 2 through either native hardware or the emulator PPSSPP. It's the most enjoyable version of the Universe formula.
For console private servers for PSO I & II (III technically as well) then Sylverant is the best choice. https://sylverant.net/
For PSO Episode III at the very least SCHTServ is the most developed. Also regarding other PC platforms that PSO2 would launch on, data leaks seem to indicate the game would be coming to Steam (much like the earlier Online Manual leak during Closed Beta indicated). On a side note, it seems the localization got a bit creative in some parts:
I lol'd so hard when that popped up (and it's pretty true... from what I've seen knuckles are the strongest Fighter weapon). They got pretty clever with some of these. I do recall hearing about the data leak indicating that it would come to Steam. Hopefully that happens next month at the earliest. As for story, I don't think you need to play the previous ones to get this game's story. Hell, the story for this game is pretty much optional; the only reason to do it is to get Star Gems and special items if there's a timed campaign going on.
Regarding the story... each 'mainline entry' (Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Universe, Phantasy Star Online 2) are treated as being set in their own separate universes/continuity with references to past titles either being non-canon or just fanservice. The same can be said for whatever title precedes this regardless whether its called Phantasy Star Online 3, Phantasy Star Universe 2 or Phantasy Star Galaxy/Dimensions/<insert title larger than 'Universe' here>. As for Steam release, although data exists in the game client and the game's planned to release on Steam within 2020 as per the roadmap announcement... there's still no data on SteamDB. Yakuza Like a Dragon already has a Steam store setup even though we won't be seeing that title on PC until the end of the year most likely... though circumstances might be different (SEGA Europe manages digital storefronts, PSO2 being the exception as SEGA of Japan is handling the game's digital storefront page and pretty much the whole NA release itself).
Well that's mildly depressing. =/ Hopefully that changes soon. Good to know about the story. There's definitely some fanservice-y references in this game like the Ragol Fashion Pack (character outfits from the original) and according to the different Wikis I've looked through there's a Mag Evolution device that can make your Mag look like Red Ring Rico. I don't think that device is available in the US yet, though.
RE: Translation- I'm impressed by them including obscure references to other Sega titles intentionally. One of the first things I noticed when finishing episode 3 was that PSO2 has the same voice director that Shenmue 3 had and translation was outsourced to a 3rd party company. The cutscenes sometimes have mistakes similar to Shenmue 3, where the subtitles don't match what the voice over says as if they decided to make improvements to the translation after the dub had already been recorded. And in one case for a while back in June one of the emergency ship announcements would start in Japanese then switch to English for the 2nd sentence. It's the only case in the entire game it happened, and seems to have been fixed in the July sever update. Since this question wasn't directly answered... all of the online exclusive stuff from PSO 1 on Dreamcast, Gamecube and PC was backed up and is available on private servers that are currently online. The only real exceptions would be things like event related quests that changed over time / got updated. I remember things like PSO Max Attack where stuff unlocked as players met sever-wide goals, or Gallon's Shop which changed over time. In some cases, there were multiple backups of some quests, but I don't know if private servers have attempted to replicate any of the events. I do know that they've made brand new quests that did not exist in the original games.
There's more franchise fanservice than that. Not too long ago there were items from Phantasy Star Universe distributed in the North American (soon to be 'global' hopefully... unless they decide to have yet a separate version for whatever reason). In the Japanese version, there was even an entire optional storyline for one of the game's anniversaries which featured characters from Phantasy Star Portable 2 travelling to the world of PSO2 (though this is non-canon to both games). Some of the random events you could encounter out in the field (Interrupt Events) could even have you run into these set of characters: - Rico and Flowen (from Phantasy Star Online) - Ethan and Lumia (from Phantasy Star Universe) - Laia and Lumia (Laia's from PSU's expansion and online story mode, Lumia's with her Phantasy Star Portable 2 appearance). - Emillia and Vivienne (from Phantasy Star Portable 2 and Portable respectively) These encounters are, however... still non-canon and not a part of the game's story (Interrupt Events can have you encounter bosses that story and timeline-wise, you shouldn't even be able to encounter) Lastly... it's not available yet in the North American version, but the Gal Gryphon from Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II will be a boss you'll get to encounter later on.
So... small update for those looking forward to a release outside of North America. The game's gotten an official PEGI rating and has had its rating on the Australian Classification Board updated. The PEGI rating: As well as the updated Australian Classification Board rating: https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/phantasy-star-online-2-0 I should note that the game did receive an ACB and PEGI rating earlier in the year through the automated IARC system as changing regions on the Microsoft Store page showed the game with other ratings. That said... this automated rating was much lower (PEGI 12) than the current one (PEGI 16) and was not displayed on PEGI's website and the ACB entry had very barebones information. These newly updated ratings, as well as the active involvement of a SEGA division (in the old ACB rating the applicant displayed as "IARC", the updated application displays "SEGA of America"), seem to imply that a launch in these regions is not too far off.
Yes it is already available, it was part of Episode 3 content. Gal Gryphon is the boss at the end of the Time Attack quest for Harokutan complete with the original music. That quest is basically a boss rush, where you have to defeat 100 enemies but several of them are bosses. Gal Gryphon ends up being the 100th enemy that spawns at the end. One of the Client Orders you get from the guy to the left of the main quest counter area (the NPC who gives you all of the "defeat X" boss quests) is to defeat a level 61 or above Gal Gryphon, and that Time Attack quest on Very Hard is the easiest way to complete it.
For anyone joining PSO2 with the NA release, or having left the game early and coming back with this release, remember there's an anime called "PSO2: The Animation", which takes place between the third and fourth episodes of the game. It's a nice short anime, though I curse it tied the end of the the story arc on the first three episodes with what came later. There's no continuity you'd be joining late, but there's a lot that comes from previous games of the brand. PSO2 could be considered some sort of retelling of the previous games as it borrows stuff from all of them, like a remix of their concepts with no real link with their actual events. It can make the experience better for long-time fans, but makes no harm to new players that know nothing about previous installments. The three first episodes are really good as a story because it was based on the classic games and at least partially planned since the beginning; you'll easily notice almost everything after that is padding with quite a different narrative. Gameplay, on the other hand, has some sort of "continuity" since the first PSO. PSU was quite different in many aspects, but Phantasy Star Zero, which you've played, worked a lot more like an evolution of PSO. Gameplay wise, PSO2 felt to me like a real sequel of the first PSO and PSZero. If you want to try the original gameplay, just make an account on Ephinea as someone suggested and try it a bit, but be warned that, despite the similarities, it will feel quite different and is really dated in a lot of aspects (I have an account on Ephinea because I liked to thrash those dumb monsters from vanilla PSO ). I loved the story of PSU, but it's not worth trying as a gameplay ancestor; the stuff it had is either present enough in PSO2 to not need checking out the previous version, or so different the most unique features from that series never came out of it.
A huge overhaul update to PSO2 had been announced. And we already have a website: https://new-gen.pso2.com/ Some details so far: - As can be seen in the footage, the update's already being localized as its being developed. The PSO2 team confirmed the game would be having a simultaneous global launch. - The game is apparently considered an expansion on the scale of a Realm Reborn and characters will transfer from the regular PSO2. - Its launching in Japan on PC, PS4 and Switch. In the West its launching on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
People are already crying about potential censorship of sexy outfits/emotes. Like... fucking what? This was just announced. We don't know the full details of it yet. Wait a bit before crying about something that may not even happen. Very curious that they would do this so soon after the NA launch... guess it's just coincidental timing. Very curious as to what this will be like (and what the PC requirements will be).
If I try it, I will probably use my JP account, but if it changes technical requirements I might not even be able to try.
I just did a bit of analysis over on PSO2's forums. Although I initially thought that this would just be a standalone game sharing data with PSO2 (same way that PSO2, PSO2es and IDOLA share data in Japan using the same account), I'm starting to believe this may be a major update to the existing client on the level of A Realm Reborn or that Unreal Engine 4 of Blade n Soul. It being announced shortly after the NA launch is pure coincidence and may, in fact, be all the more reason why we are being sped up through content... especially if this is truly an update to the existing game. The PSO2 Team did already announce that they want to roll this out simultaneously worldwide after all. As for some analysis: The default characters have been updated once again (from Left to Right: Gilliam, Sue, Ash and Rupika; PSO2's default characters based on the same ones PSO1 has of the same name): The game/update appears to already be in the process of being localized as its being developed. The trailer shows some English text with things like enemy names and weaknesses: The UI has been updated once again. If this is truly an update then this is the third time it's been updated. They appear to have added a day and night cycle: Although the world is more open, the game's still going to remain instance-based. At the top left corner of the screen, one can see a limit to the number of players present in an instance (max appearing to be 8). The reason why I think its an update as opposed to a standalone game... even in cases where another game is used as a base, they are still considered their own separate thing and have their rating 'pending'. The trailer and English/Japanese website shows that 'this' already has a rating... the same one PSO2 has. Furthermore, the platforms listed on the Japanese website.... the Switch version will still be cloud-based like the existing PSO2 version.
The "Update versus New Game" stuff seems really unclear right now. The description for the trailer on their YouTube page (as of earlier today) said it was an update. But their tweet announcing it calls it "a brand new title in the PSO2 series". There's also the matter that none of the areas shown in the trailer are from the existing game. I don't know anything about the story from episodes 4 to 6 having stopped playing the Japanese version when 4 came out, but apparently Episode 6 had completed the main story of PSO2. So if this is a completely new game in the PSO2 Universe I guess that would make sense.
New Genesis looks fantastic! Was definitely a huge surprise to see it pop up on the stream. Ah yeah! I forgot to mention that. The SCHTServ team has been working pretty heavily on getting Ep3 into a great shape over the past year and a half. They've done a good job making it actually playable. It's not perfect, but it barely functioned online before this.
Article and follow-up video about New Genesis: https://pso2.com/news/announcements/pso2ngsannouncement Key points: You can keep playing the original PSO2 after NG launches. You can switch back and forth between them. Character customization will be even more detailed, i.e. can change luster of skin and fingers can be moved. Can wear more accessories too. Characters and their creation info from PSO2 will carry over into NG (including emotes!). It does not specifically mention fashion items. However, character progression (level, exp, skill tree skills, PAs and techs) will not carry over Skill rings, boosters, gathering materials, furniture, and some consumables will not carry over. Meseta and FUN will also not carry over. AC and SG can be used between the two versions Weapons, armor units and Mags will carry over but their appearance, functions and abilities will change. Sounds pretty fair to have to start over on levels. I'd like to see more of the new version, but this is a promising start!
