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BahnKnakyu
Jan 27, 2012, 09:23 AM
Now that we've all had our healthy 8 hours of fun, I figured we make a thread where we get to talk about it.

Caveat: I didn't get to play Alpha 1. I went from PSO to PSU to PSP2(i) to this.

Needless to say, I am BLOWN AWAY by what Sakai has done. This game is only in its Alpha state and the amount of polish this game has is amazing. The game felt like the perfect fusion between PSO and PSU - you get that sense of familiarity yet at the same time it feels like a completely new game.

The game looks pretty good - nothing in terms of Crysis level, but the graphics look clean, crisp, and modern. It doesn't feel like it was ported from an outdated console *COUGH*PSU*COUGH*. Really feels like a full blown Windows game. Sega did an excellent job in keeping the game feeling like a PC game, yet incorporating enough elements into the UI to be friendly towards controller players.

Game loads reasonably fast. I'd imagine if you threw it on an SSD the stuttering you get from Camp Ship to the Field would be eliminated.

GameGuard so far hasn't stabbed me in the butt yet, but I've had it error out on me a few times - my antivirus wouldn't let it run (hah) and it REFUSES to let me use Steam with it.

But the gameplay is incredible. I only got to play a Hunter but this is basically my dream come true. I wanted a game that had an involved combat system that was along the lines of Devil May Cry 3/4. The ability to knock stuff up, juggle stuff, switch PAs on the fly and even midair dash is just... man it's just freaking AMAZING. I just wish our controllers worked - combat is kinda clunky on a keyboard (the game is still a console game at its roots). But Sakai has the right idea with the combat. It really feels like PSO's and PSU's combat taken to the next level. You can *cancel the ending frames of an attack with any move*. So you can do a PA, then if you think you're going to get hit, interrupt it either with a jump (to get out of the way) or a dash to move quickly while staying grounded.

A friend of mine got to try RA and he was impressed too. I personally didn't because I was having too much fun with Hunter. He likes the fact that guns have a "secondary" sort of trigger and he loves the TPS mode. He also likes the freedom of movement he has with the RA's dodge roll.

Nobody I know tried Force. Forces always semed to get the short end of the stick in the PS series, but if anyone has experience with one, feel free to chime in.

All in all, I already know what the next MMO I'm gonna play. I hope this lasts years to come!

Mike
Jan 27, 2012, 09:25 AM
Having played the first alpha, I think the second is, in general, an improvement. I do wish the HP and PP bars were back on top though.

Menochi
Jan 27, 2012, 09:32 AM
I tried Force and had fun. Would get instantly killed by traps and 1-2 shot by enemies, but it was fun nonetheless.

BahnKnakyu
Jan 27, 2012, 09:34 AM
Having played the first alpha, I think the second is, in general, an improvement. I do wish the HP and PP bars were back on top though.

Yeah, I hope they move some stuff around for the UI. I'd like the party info to be near the top and maybe a little smaller (maybe even give direct numbers?). There's lots of little things that I think need to be addressed, but overall the general gameplay feels rock solid.

Ezodagrom
Jan 27, 2012, 09:35 AM
Played as a Force, it was fun, I like how techniques can be charged, or comboing techs in the middle of normal attacks.

raigalcc
Jan 27, 2012, 09:55 AM
i tried both hunter and ranger and i enjoyed it^^ hope the ranger can get to use shotgun or dual gun in the beta

Reno
Jan 27, 2012, 10:04 AM
Only got to play for 2 hours but really enjoyed it, coming from PSU and PSZ it is a HUGE improvement.

I didn't find playing as a RA at low level very exciting to be honest, with everyone else spinning around doing schweet combos and casting techs around me and whatnot... But then I had the opposite problem, because my controller does work and I probably would've been better off with the keyboard and mouse. I'm sure at higher levels it will be more to my liking, I'm usually a heavily support orientated player rather than a damage dealer.

On a final note, Bahn! Didn't know you'd been on today, we need to partay up sometime.

Mike
Jan 27, 2012, 10:09 AM
I'm sure at higher levels it will be more to my liking, I'm usually a heavily support orientated player rather than a damage dealer.
Once you get some of the debuff bullet skills skills, you'll probably find something you like.

ashley50
Jan 27, 2012, 10:11 AM
Only played Ranger, and I still really enjoyed it.

Cayenne
Jan 27, 2012, 10:12 AM
I think some of us will wait until we played more and all classes, at least for me. Only played Hunter.

uhawww
Jan 27, 2012, 10:17 AM
Played as RA the first session.
TPS gunplay is very nice and a welcome addition.
Aerial combos with gunslash are extraordinarily satisfying.
Definitely feel the bump in difficulty with multiplayer rooms. Had a 3 person run on stream that got really hectic.

I feel all of the advancements from the past 5 years since PSU, but this game pulses with the soul of PSO.

Spellbinder
Jan 27, 2012, 10:20 AM
It was certainly reminiscent of the good old days of PSO to say the least. I played as a Force, and after adjusting to the controls (I'll have to tinker around more next time) it was quite fun, although I hope as characters progress in levels, techniques, and skills, the need to go up and smack enemies for PP goes down. (I like to keep my distance)

My only complaint sadly has to do with the controls, and I sent in some feedback a while ago. Unlike previous installments of this online series, if I'm using keyboard controls, I "have" to use the mouse to move the camera and attack, and that creates problems for me as I use the numpad for movement (never touched WASD in my life). I can forgive having to click the mouse to attack as I can slide my thumb down to the mousepad if I really have to, but I really hope they give us a little more freedom in customizing controls (ie. camera controls).


I feel all of the advancements from the past 5 years since PSU, but this game pulses with the soul of PSO.

Didn't see your post while I was typing, and just felt that needed to be said again for emphasis, hehe.

xMarle
Jan 27, 2012, 10:21 AM
I played all 3 but only a little bit of RA and FO (saving FO for when someone wants a pocket healer :-) )

HU is definitely the best all-around. The (whip?) thing feels crazy OP though. :-?
RA was fun, i really enjoy the TPS mode, but i didn't quite fancy the "easy mode" feel of standing back spamming the LMB.

FO has a rough start, but charging techs made it quite interesting.

I hope to see a difficulty spike eventually, i only got to lvl15 but it's way too easy for my tastes, doesn't mean it's not fun though :-) .

I want to see some challenge missions, such as that one in PSO:BB..i can't remember the name but it had Burning Rangers playing during it. I want that song back in PSO2. In Disk form so i can get my old PSO:BB crew together, it'd be quite the nostalgic day.

Overall the game feels ready, a few changes here and there and i'd be willing to pay for it.

jayster
Jan 27, 2012, 10:43 AM
On the 2nd and 3rd mission I had some random npc running around on its own with a whip. Did anyone else see this? I thought it might have been a real person but I'm pretty sure I made my own mission and that no one joined it lol.

youcantcatchtheblue
Jan 27, 2012, 10:45 AM
I had a BLAST, it's so much fun. The combat is pure bliss, the kind of action you can't get from other MMO's. I really want this game to be successful so that other developers can start using similar battle systems.

I only used Hunter but there was so much variation in the different play-styles and weapon types it's like I'm playing a bunch of different characters at once. Love it and can't wait to try out Ranger and Force.

The complaint I heard most was that the control schemes really takes some getting used to. I agree that it's not conventional MMO controls, but we can't have this kind of amazing gameplay if it were on conventional controls. If someone can come up with a control scheme that everyone will surely like, please please please send in the suggestion to SEGA! It would be so amazing if they can overcome this hurdle.

xMarle
Jan 27, 2012, 10:46 AM
On the 2nd and 3rd mission I had some random npc running around on its own with a whip. Did anyone else see this? I thought it might have been a real person but I'm pretty sure I made my own mission and that no one joined it lol.


Probably a multi-party mission, it's so fun running through an area and suddenly seeing another group of people fighting, and lending them a hand. :-)


I had a BLAST, it's so much fun. The combat is pure bliss, the kind of action you can't get from other MMO's. I really want this game to be successful so that other developers can start using similar battle systems.

Dragon Nest? Mabinogi Heroes? Elsword? (2.5D but still fast paced hack&slash) , Continent of the 9th? Blade&Soul ? Many games already use this combat system.

PSO2 is one of the best at it though. Elsword has the most skill-dependant of them and PSO2 is right at home with casual players.

raigalcc
Jan 27, 2012, 10:50 AM
On the 2nd and 3rd mission I had some random npc running around on its own with a whip. Did anyone else see this? I thought it might have been a real person but I'm pretty sure I made my own mission and that no one joined it lol.
that might be the so-called multi-party area i guess

HUnewearl_Meira
Jan 27, 2012, 10:58 AM
I certainly had a blast, though I eventually gave in to the need to sleep. There's no question that this game offers some of the best gameplay we've seen, so far. I can only imagine how much more captivating it might have been, if I could read the menus and tutorials.


I just wish our controllers worked - combat is kinda clunky on a keyboard (the game is still a console game at its roots).

My controller worked just fine, though I think that the keyboard and mouse is really the way to go for this game. I'm not sure exactly how everything is bound on the controller, but there are a lot of bindings on the keyboard. I certainly wouldn't touch the controller for TPS mode-- I find that as a rule of thumb, if you aim your weapon with your camera in a game, then you're always going to have a better time of it with a mouse than an analog stick.

pikachief
Jan 27, 2012, 11:06 AM
The first 3 hours was me just trying to get into a run ^^; lol

Game would crash whenever a person behind the counter would talk! pretty lame. Eventually the mission counter did work though and I did a couple of solo runs then went to bed.

Game is great. Gameplay works really well, the weapons are fun, and gunners are now fun! Just wish I could find a PA for the wired lances already lol

SuKKrl
Jan 27, 2012, 11:44 AM
Gameplay feels solid as does the sound (except that mind-numbing 5 second loop on the mission complete lobby). Graphics are good, not exceptional, which is good enough imo and makes it more friendly to people with older pcs.

New weapons are interesting, item progression felt right so far (except some 7star units dropping really early on, minor really) and character customization is pretty good. Also it is pretty interesting to find someone mid mission from another party and clear the map with him.

Didn't expect it to be as good its now in an alpha and I hope it fulfills the potential during the next few months.

RikkiBlackNanobeast
Jan 27, 2012, 11:50 AM
Just wish I could find a PA for the wired lances already lol

I wish I studied more on my Rosetta Stone in the past! D: I came across a few Wired Lance PA disks and just used them without know what they were before then. XD

At first I thought 'Shovels? There's gonna be dual shovel wielding in this game?' before I realized they were the Wired Lance PAs, btw. XD

Crystal_Shard
Jan 27, 2012, 12:05 PM
I managed to sneak in 2 hours to play with the character creator and do a few solo runs. Would have been more had I not needed to rush off to evening classes. orz

Was not let down in the slightest so far - though trouble with my controller forced me into a mouse / keyboard scheme, didn't have much trouble smashing up groups of enemies with charged Foies. Unfortunately, without a controller, it's difficult to use the secondary palettes, Mirage Teleport and lock on, but playing this way is a bit more similar to old school PSO controls.

Managed to get MSI Afterburner working with audio just in time - though the first videos are somewhat messy, I managed to get quite a bit recorded of my first session. Will post it up somewhere once I sort it all out.

Looking forward to marathoning tomorrow's test.

Zyrusticae
Jan 27, 2012, 12:10 PM
My only complaint sadly has to do with the controls, and I sent in some feedback a while ago. Unlike previous installments of this online series, if I'm using keyboard controls, I "have" to use the mouse to move the camera and attack, and that creates problems for me as I use the numpad for movement (never touched WASD in my life). I can forgive having to click the mouse to attack as I can slide my thumb down to the mousepad if I really have to, but I really hope they give us a little more freedom in customizing controls (ie. camera controls).
That... is odd. Do you play shooters at all? Or any MMORPGs, for that matter?

It seems to me like that control scheme would be a problem in many games, not just PSO2...

I strongly suggest either acclimating to WASD or getting a controller.

Spellbinder
Jan 27, 2012, 12:17 PM
That... is odd. Do you play shooters at all? Or any MMORPGs, for that matter?

It seems to me like that control scheme would be a problem in many games, not just PSO2...

I strongly suggest either acclimating to WASD or getting a controller.

First, I'll say no I don't play shooters. I played FFXI for at least 6 years, PSOBB, PSU, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online, FFXIV, and several other games, all using numpad for movement and other keys on the keyboard for the camera.

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 12:28 PM
As stated in my sig, I played a Fonewearl.

It was very indeed fun playing her, albeit a tad squishy but kiting got me out the worse situations. I found it very interesting I could use the terrain and nuke enemies from above. Oh did I love that fire skill, I was able to charge it up really good and aoe kill enemies in a few hits.

The group I ran with was quite pro, and we were able to do run after run after run. The only thing that slowed up down was any japanese text we didn't understand (like first time when I was trying to do a quest i had no idea wtf to do).
The most interesting run I had involved one of those multi-group areas. At the time we had no idea we ran into one, and some how two of our members didn't enter at the same time we did (they eventually got int though, not sure why they were delayed in entry). Before they had showed up, two members from another group replaced them and help us kill the mobs. One was definitely an english player, the other had kanji in the name so probably not. Eventually the person with japanese in their name disappeared (not sure if they quit or got really lost somehow) and we got our two members in the same map.
For at least a good hour or two we were just killing mobs over and over because the map was so damn big. The other areas we had done before were so small in comparison, maybe like 20x smaller than this huge map. Our members got from lvl 7 to lvl 11/12 just from all the mobs in it.
Towards the end of the run, there was a boss area with two giant ape bosses and random mobs spawning. Wasn't too bad, and we got some decent loot in the end.

SELENNA
Jan 27, 2012, 12:52 PM
Reading this makes me jealous. I watched a couple of videos and the game looks astonishing. I'd like to see a multi-party area though.

Slyster
Jan 27, 2012, 12:59 PM
I was able to watch a stream last night and the game looked terrific..

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 01:01 PM
Reading this makes me jealous. I watched a couple of videos and the game looks astonishing. I'd like to see a multi-party area though.

I didn't have fraps on and I didn't get around to taking any pictures or vids b/c my team and I were just churning out so many runs (we were so dedicated to that it took me a while before I realized I wasn't equipping my gear correctly).
By the time we decided to call it quits and I finally tuned on fraps the servers d/c'd me and didn't let me back on.
I think they d/c'd everyone but I didn't stick around to see if the issue got resolved as I was so tired I went to bed.

If I get into another mutli-group area I'll take a vid of it for sure. Maybe I can find one that isn't the forest stage (was kinda straight foward and not interesting tbh).

Kazzi
Jan 27, 2012, 01:06 PM
I played for 6 out of the 7 hours it was up, I also kept running into all the errors which kind of put a big damper on my enjoyment. But when it did work I was really happy with it! The multi-party areas were a great addition, though the other party kept stalking us. I played a HUcaseal and kind of grew attached to the wired lance. I also found plenty of rares and some level 20+ looking gear.

I couldn't figure out how to access the Room feature though :/

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 01:09 PM
I couldn't figure out how to access the Room feature though :/

Yeah I didn't get around to the rooms as well.
Anyone who did so mind providing a few tips for us for tonight?

Ezodagrom
Jan 27, 2012, 01:13 PM
Yeah I didn't get around to the rooms as well.
Anyone who did so mind providing a few tips for us for tonight?
If I'm not mistaken it's in the quick menu (in the keyboard + mouse controls it's the middle mouse button), 5th option and then 3rd option.
I didn't try it though, so I'm not sure.

Fatal-Killer
Jan 27, 2012, 01:47 PM
To get to your room you go to the block changing area and pick the option above block 1.

kyuuketsuki
Jan 27, 2012, 01:52 PM
I'd say the game is definitely rough around the edges, but that's to be expected with it being an alpha and all. With some polish the graphics could be quite nice. I loved the transitions from sunshine to rain and back again in the forest areas. The water looked good. (I'm playing on max settings.)

I played with an Xbox 360 controller and didn't have issues besides getting used to the layout and figuring out what did what when I couldn't understand 90% of the menus. Also, I *really* need to figure out how to invert the Y-axis. That was screwing me up. I will say I'd definitely have to switch to the control scheme that uses the triggers as the attack "buttons" rather than X and Y if I was using TPS mode.

Played a FOmar. All the basic techs (foie, barta, zonde) were enjoyable and useful, as was mixing it up with regular attacks. Barta was interesting because it actually kind of followed the terrain (curving around depressions and such) rather than going in a strictly straight line. Using the dash/evade was very helpful as a FO, since it only took a few hits from an enemy to go down.

I will agree that the difficulty is a tad on the easy side... but these are the early levels and it's alpha. In one of the multi-party areas I got split up (a.k.a. lost) from the group and just me and one other were fighting huge waves of enemies... that was a blast (and slighty frantic).

I plan on trying a HUcaseal or HUnewm next, not sure. Although if some people want to progress to higher level content and need a party mate I'll certainly keep going with my FOmar.

I'm going to keep Bandicam on all the time in the background so I can record on the fly. Game runs at 60+ FPS even with it on, so no reason not to. Hopefully I'll figure out how to get my videos onto Youtube in HD...

ThePendragon
Jan 27, 2012, 03:11 PM
So as far as I can tell, there's no way to switch classes. Or am I missing something? If so, that's extremely annoying.

therealAERO
Jan 27, 2012, 03:16 PM
Yeah I had a blast. Spent more of my 7 hours just figuring out what all the freaking menus do! I really want to find a way to reverse the X axis for camera. I'm used to pushing left to turn camera right and right to turn left. Kills me. I hope something translates the ingame system options. Sooo many freaking options.

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 03:30 PM
Charged Barta is AWESOME very powerful and it's as big as lv40+ Barta in PSU. Found myself using TPS mode a lot on force when stuff is at a distance and normal view when they're close. Keyboard and mouse works great but they totally need to add a dash button. You have to press a directional button twice to dash and I accidentally cancel my tech charge :/ also got to a quest where you have to destroy a giant darker ball at the end but nothing seems to work we keep failing cause it explodes.

Vent
Jan 27, 2012, 03:41 PM
Charged foie seems to be a bit too powerful. If you have noticed, the technique penetrates if it does not hit any monster directly. Even though it will not do its full damage this way, it can still out-damage a charged barta, while the latter is supposed to be used when mobs are lined up.

Also about the Force's dodge skill (Mirage Escape?). The invincibility frame kicks in immediately after the button input, but your character has not disappeared yet during that time. Same goes when the animation is about to end. It looks kind of awkward to have a rockbear body slam and miss you while you're clearly still there and not 'vanished into thin air'.

The animation of the characters feels slightly limited, especially compared to the different kinds of attacks and the animations of the monsters. An example is the Darkz Base tentacle attack. When I first got hit by that I thought I was inflicted with sleep, since my character looked more like she doze off PSU style than being impaled by a pillar of...life draining goo!

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 03:48 PM
Vent what level was your Barta? My Foie and Barta is at level 4 and they're both on equal terms. In the volcano area it even does 100 damage more.

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 03:55 PM
Foie does feel a bit overpowered.
I think I have like lvl 3 Foie and lvl 4 Barta.
I felt like I could wipe all the mobs out with Foie while Barta was like meh.
Zonde didn't seem impressive to me and I think I had like lvl 3 or 4.

therealAERO
Jan 27, 2012, 03:59 PM
Who here blacklisted their friends multiple times :p

Serephim
Jan 27, 2012, 04:03 PM
Hey, isnt the server supposed to be up right now?

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 04:07 PM
I post dates (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Alpha+2+Day+2&iso=20120128T18&p1=248&ah=8) and a countdown (http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/customcounter.html?msg=&month=01&day=28&year=2012&hour=18&min=00&sec=00&p0=248) in my sig and people still ask.... >_>

Serephim
Jan 27, 2012, 04:21 PM
Like i actually click on random sigs

ThePendragon
Jan 27, 2012, 04:22 PM
Does anyone know how the charge bars on the Whip PA work? Unlike on a regular Melee weapon, there's like a bunch of sections that can fill. They're used for charging PA's I guess? but what does each charged section mean?

Valini
Jan 27, 2012, 04:23 PM
Like i actually click on random sigs

But I described what the link was and you can even hover over it and see that it's timeanddate and psow... <_>

What, you afraid of getting viruses or something?

kyori
Jan 27, 2012, 04:25 PM
So has any Hunter players figured out what the gauges are above the action palette for? It seems to rise every time you attack.

•Col•
Jan 27, 2012, 04:30 PM
So has any Hunter players figured out what the gauges are above the action palette for? It seems to rise every time you attack.

We knew about this months ago...

You get to set up to 3 Photon Arts on a melee weapon. As you use melee attacks and the bar rises up, the photon art on the pallete changes depending on the order you set the PAs. Also, pretty sure it increases the power of your photon art the more it's built up.

kyori
Jan 27, 2012, 04:33 PM
The thing is there seems to be different gauges depending on the weapon or some don't even have any at all like Gunblade.

Vent
Jan 27, 2012, 04:47 PM
Vent what level was your Barta? My Foie and Barta is at level 4 and they're both on equal terms. In the volcano area it even does 100 damage more.

My foie and barta were both at level two. Barta could do equal damage as foie in the forest area, but a charged barta seems to have less width than a charge foie, not to mention most of the time the enemies do not line up that well. Actually that's a good thing. Even the basic enemies are much smarter this time around. Of course barta is better in the volcano area, because most monsters there are weak to it.

And yeah, zonde does feel a bit useless for now, except against those robot darkers (what do people call them anyway?). I also have gizonde, but it seems to have even less range at the moment than a normal attack. ^^;

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 04:57 PM
Gizonde is only useful up high, but still better than normal zonde. Wish we had a few extra techs though.... Might try ranger tonight. Seems to be fun.

maxx69
Jan 27, 2012, 04:58 PM
Wish rangers had more than just rifle and gunslash, the latter also being a melee weapon...

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 05:00 PM
I'm curious if they'll unlock more stuff on day 3/4 like they did on the first alpha.

ttdestroy
Jan 27, 2012, 05:27 PM
Btw I've been meaning to ask, how's the music in this game, as good as the original?

Touka
Jan 27, 2012, 05:32 PM
Didn't pay much attention to the music because I was getting used to the game but from what i've heard it's good.It sounds like PSO music if that's what you're wondering.

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 05:41 PM
The music is AMAZING and stomps all over PSU's failure of a soundtrack. The forest theme feels like forest in PSO but totally different.

Fayorei
Jan 27, 2012, 05:42 PM
I am absolutely loving PSO2. It's a level of addiction I never had on PSU. They've really mashed together what works from all the games and made a beauty of a game. It's also a nostalgia bomb with all the sound effects especially. I cannot WAIT to hear more of the OST in the beta/full verison. :D

My negatives are as follows:
-I am one of the 64-bit windows folks who can't get my controller working. I still need to see tonight if it might work on my desktop machine at all, but I'm doubting it. I have a 360 controller.

-While it's great to be able to play on my lower spec laptop, it's being hit by the counter bug where it will crash the game. And it's the only thing that will do it. My laptop has a decent Nvidia card(rocking it at 1, haha), and my desktop has a good-very good ATI card. I am wondering if brand of card has something to do with it, even slightly. I know a lot of weird bugs happened in early WoW dependent on card brand.:(

-I hate that if I don't have my fan monitor going and fraps already loaded, the game yells "H4X!" and crashes out.:P Minor complaint. Gameguarddd! Though my Nexon Gameguard isn't nearly as finicky!

-That I can't use resta or any basic techs on my hunter. I still wish we could do that, but ah well.

Positives:

-DASHING. Oh do I love it. I'm getting the hang of it even using the keyboard/mouse setup, and it's a lifesaver. I don't really even block at all. I need to fix that, but old habits die hard(PSO/PSU). It's also why I sucked a lot in PSP2i.:P Need to guard more.

-Chaining PAs. It's so exciting to find new PA disks because of this. I've found that there's always a "best" PA or two associated with a weapon type in PSU/PSP2(i). Since there's combos, it feels like there isn't truly a best PA anymore. Mixing and matching is a ton of fun, even though I only have 3 different ones on the whip-sword things.

-Random objectives while playing, that are there for random flavor. Yes, yes, YES! Dynamic events are nice. They happen pretty randomly, and award extra small rewards for doing them. Ideal idea there.

-Rappies. Minor thing, I love the models, and how they get up more quickly when feigning death in PSO2.

-Animations: So fluid and amazing. My desktop can probably handle the game on max settings, but at level 3 settings even- the water is gorgeous and the character animation is so fluid. The whip-sword PA involving latching an enemy and tossing them around is so satisfying. Feels like a true hit.

-Environment: I knew some of the footage looked pretty, but seeing the water effects for myself especially just gave it so much justice. I can't wait to possibly see caves on my desktop tonight. The jumping and more vertical level design is also killer. It really feels like the practical evolution of an ARPG.

-The ship system: Having access to the item shop, storage, and a room finder in the ship right before dropping down into missions is excellent. I hated chugging back to "my room" to store things, and even doing so in the shop interface could get a bit annoying. This is perfect, and because of the room-access terminal, I can avoid crashing at the mission counter with a party.

-Everyone getting their own drops: It works! It's a lot less stressful to not have to divide things, etc. I hope all future PSO games and games in the franchise continue to work this way.

-The fact there there are not 6 subclasses, etc. I got sick of the grind in PSU for early class requirements. So by the time I hit a specialty dual-class thing, I was so bored and frustrated. Straight up picking Force, Hunter, or Ranger provides immediate satisfaction since leveling isn't too hard, but just hard enough. And, you get rewards that will be there to keep(leveling skill trees).

ttdestroy
Jan 27, 2012, 05:51 PM
Ahh yes thx for the replies, music matters alot for me in a game that I'll be knocking down 100s of hours in.

GCoffee
Jan 27, 2012, 06:39 PM
Just don't stay in a mission you finished for too long. Just my words of advice. Your ears will thank you.

Cayenne
Jan 27, 2012, 06:47 PM
My cons for the game:

MAKE IT IN ENGLISH!!!

but really...

Cons:

-For enemies, slightly raise the AI (make 'em more aggressive), maybe added an extra attack or 2 for enemies (that rock throwing gorilla just throws rocks, needs more), more mobs for 4-man parties (can't get enough lol).

-Yes to whoever said it, need a dedicated dash button. It gets tricky at times.


Bugs:

-PA pallet sometimes resets and you have to manually add them again.

-Had trouble with friend/party invites but I'm not sure if it was the language barrier or the game.


Personal Opining:

-Maybe when you get to higher levels, you can hold more than 10 of any item.

-HP/PP Bar and party moved to upper left of the screen, it works better.

The rest of the game is just GREAT! Just needs more content unlocked and more weapons (duh!).

Cayenne
Jan 27, 2012, 06:48 PM
Just don't stay in a mission you finished for too long. Just my words of advice. Your ears will thank you.

Good suggestion, the music should clear right after you see your rank and collect your meseta/exp.

^^^This is one SEGA needs to do.

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 07:01 PM
Oh btw, when I hit like level 7 or so my PP raised to 105 as a force. Didn't play with the skill tree yet though cause of the language barrier, gonna see if the skills help the pp issue.

Mracless
Jan 27, 2012, 07:06 PM
I found the keyboard and mouse controls as a hunter to be surprisingly good. I was initially going to use my 360 controller, but I'm glad it didn't work now, because I think I'll end up sticking with keyboard and mouse. Biggest issue I had with them was that I kep unintentionally dashing every once in a while when doing combos if I had one of WASD held down or something.

I was disappointed only 1 of the 3 multiparty missions had multiple parties! I guess there just weren't other available people doing the missions. :C

One of the runts running about during the dragon fight dropped a Yasminkov 3000R for me. :O Too bad I wasn't a ranger!

I'm sure I'm the only one who doesn't know, but could someone explain the graphic options for the game? Does selecting 5 on the slider in the launcher mean highest graphics? I was playing with 3 all along! D:

Cayenne
Jan 27, 2012, 07:11 PM
Does selecting 5 on the slider in the launcher mean highest graphics?
Bingo.

Serephim
Jan 27, 2012, 07:19 PM
My observations.

- ** things i find particularly important get stars.


Sound:

- PSO-grade. It's absolutely wonderful....except for the Mission Complete theme, which annoys the shit out of me very quickly.

- *** Alot of the SFX seem to be straight out of PSO, but the ones that aren't are a VAST improvement over everything else in the series. Explosions, Swings, Gunshots, Photon effects, rainfall, fire, everything melts together so perfectly. I recommend you play this game with Stereo Headphones.



Graphics:

- *Art direction, Atmosphere, Variety -- everything that makes you love PSO. Me, Fay, Digi and Cayenne ran through like 5 forest missions, and each one felt unique to the other. You can easily tell apart specific landmarks, but the variety is pretty good.




Environments:

- Absolutely awesome. Phantasy Star is adopting the ability to jump perfectly. The forest was great, and the caves got even better.

- * As shown by the caves, Phantasy Star finally uses altitude in level design now. It's surprisingly fun to travel in this game.


- Traps...well, long story short, they will fuck you up. Some of them are particularly dangerous, like that random one that shows up and shoots red waves out. There's another one that traps you, but it isn't very dangerous since you can easily jump out of it. Im assuming the detonation time will increase in harder levels though.


- This should be in some other section, but Status Effects like Poison and Burn are pretty annoying this time around. Burn will literally last for like, minutes. Being burned by fire/lava in the caves while fighting groups of enemies can be pretty bad.







Enemies:

-The monkey things in the Forest, upon picking up a rock, will actually smack you with it, and then throw it at you if you're close enough. This surprised me a bit.

-** Monsters in the caves will actually parry you with their shield, and then counter attack. I havent been able to tell if they do this through a stance, or if attacking them on their shield side will cause your weapon to deflect. Regardless, the collision on enemies now are much more sophisticated, as easily shown by enemies with weak points.

- The intelligent monsters in the caves also seem to have Forces that cast techniques like Resta, and a few ranged attacks. They'll sit outside the battle and attack, but when you weaken enemies and leave them alone, it looks like they'll run to get healed.

-There is another type of Darker enemy in the caves that will sit on the outskirts of battle and shoot lasers at you. Attacking them will do pretty much single digit damage, but there's a platform on their back where you can jump and hit their weak spot, killing them pretty much in one combo.


-***Enemies don't seem to be too much restricted based on topography -- they'll find their ways to you. They also do not seem to be very limited in terms of distance from spawn point, either, which was surprising to me.


-In general, just like in PSO, different groups of enemies require a different kind of approach to battle. Even simple groups of weakling enemies can pose a threat to you if you're alone and they encircle you.






Combat:

- Easily the best in the series. This is the first time since PSO where ENEMIES actually feel like they have their own place in battle. Photon Arts are no longer spam to win. It's actually most practical in some situations to just attack regularly. In fact, different hits in Photon Arts have different power now (instead of PSU, where one value makes all the hits in the combo have the same multiplier), so in some cases, spamming photon arts will do less damage than just regularly attacking.


- * I don't know whether or not to put this in Combat or Enemies, but mobility in this game is alot less of a crutch than it was in PSU. Not so much in escaping enemies (because you can dash / block now), but actually HITTING them can be difficult now.


- The Chaining system works great, and feels pretty fun to use. Depending on where you are in the combo, the PA you use will be different, so this encourages you to switch them up.

- Animations are great, you can really feel the weight in the swings on this game.


- Photon Arts that have the ability to charge (the launch and circle swing PA for the sword) are EXTREMELY fun to use, and can pretty much change how you use the weapon. The moment you get one, you'll definitely be using the sword much more often.


- Was anyone wondering what that rising meter near your action pallete was? Well, it seems to be a "Charge" meter for your Photon Arts. It fills up by using regular attacks, and the higher it is, the faster your PAs will charge, and other PAs will actually gain stronger effects. It makes you very dangerous if you're using a Charge weapon like the Sword, being able to get a full charge attack (usually like 6 or 7 seconds) off in like 1.5.


Hunter Weapons (i only got to play hunter)
[SPOILER-BOX]


Gunslash-

+ seems to be the most balanced weapon for speed, power and use (for obvious reasons.) They can do pretty much everything. They're great for taking down troublesome enemies when you're crowded.

- Rifles are a better ranged weapon, Swords do more damage, Wired Lance has more range.

Overall gunslash is pretty balanced 1v1 damage.


Swords:

+ easily have the most power output. They do alot of base damage with their attacks, their Photon Arts (when charged) can do massive damage, and their swings cover a wide arc in front of you.

- However, although they can hit multiple enemies, they really don't have much of an effective distance on them, AND they're slow, so faster enemies can cause you to wiff easy.


Good for 1v1 or dispatching multiple enemies. But they're pretty slow.




Wired Lance :

+ most definitely the new "crowd control" weapon, and it's also pretty versatile depending on how you set them up. They have a wide radius and hit multiple times, so if you're having trouble hitting things they're the best choice.

+Once you obtain their Grab attacks, you're able to do higher damage to single targets, but all of the grab moves are actually perfect Crowd Control as well. The attack where you swing the enemy around actually damages surrounding enemies, but does more damage to the enemy you're swinging if you hit another enemy or obstacle.


- Against some single targets, for some reason i just have trouble making good use of them. It's mostly just preference though.[/SPOILER-BOX]

BioWarrior
Jan 27, 2012, 07:27 PM
I found the keyboard and mouse controls as a hunter to be surprisingly good. I was initially going to use my 360 controller, but I'm glad it didn't work now, because I think I'll end up sticking with keyboard and mouse. Biggest issue I had with them was that I kep unintentionally dashing every once in a while when doing combos if I had one of WASD held down or something.

I was disappointed only 1 of the 3 multiparty missions had multiple parties! I guess there just weren't other available people doing the missions. :C

One of the runts running about during the dragon fight dropped a Yasminkov 3000R for me. :O Too bad I wasn't a ranger!

I'm sure I'm the only one who doesn't know, but could someone explain the graphic options for the game? Does selecting 5 on the slider in the launcher mean highest graphics? I was playing with 3 all along! D:

Yeah 5 is highest, also put the yas in your common box so your ranger can use it later :p

Myself I found a 7star wired lance but I'm only force atm.

NoiseHERO
Jan 27, 2012, 07:29 PM
So dunno if it was mentioned... but can you you cast techs without a rod equipped? or no.

Cayenne
Jan 27, 2012, 07:30 PM
So dunno if it was mentioned... but can you you cast techs without a rod equipped? or no.

I couldn't (Hunter) so I'm guessing no unless I missed something.

therealAERO
Jan 27, 2012, 07:34 PM
Yes as a force I can confirm I casted without a rod. I had to set the techs to my number panel though. I set 7 and 8 to cast foie and barta respectively.

Serephim
Jan 27, 2012, 07:34 PM
So dunno if it was mentioned... but can you you cast techs without a rod equipped? or no.


I assume you mean, can a non-hunter cast them without a rod? In which case, No. Hunter's dont seem to be able to use them at all.




I was able to learn Foie as a Hunter, but there was no way to use it since i couldn't equip a rod, and it wouldn't let me choose it on my sub pallete.


I quickly made a force before i went to bed. You're able to put techniques on the subpallete, but the window you choose them from wasn't even present on Hunters.



Casting techniques without a rod isn't very interesting anyway, since they dont have their own specific off-hand casting animations like in PSO. They'll just put their weapon on their back and use their hand.


The ability to charge them offhand though, that's pretty cool. Hopefully they'll have different unarmed / weapon animations like in PSO, so i can put my rod away and nuke stuff with my hands on my Fomar.

NoiseHERO
Jan 27, 2012, 07:55 PM
I mostly meant in general (I just hate rods)

But yeah glad to hear I don't have to hold an upside down sextoy to shoot lightning from my hands if I make a force.

Cleptomaniac
Jan 27, 2012, 08:05 PM
*sobs because I didn't get an invite*

Dinosaur
Jan 27, 2012, 08:53 PM
I'm playing this game on Cherry MX Reds. I can die a happy human.

Neolink868
Jan 27, 2012, 08:54 PM
I did not get to play the Alpha so I hope you don't mind my post but... This game sounds amazing, I wish I could just watch one of you play. If i got the chance I'd totally try out being a force. Normally I make a Human hunter as my main, then a Newman force, then a cast range. I actually started as a force in PSZ (my current Phantasy Star Fix)

I hope they add more people to these tests :P

vPharaohv
Jan 27, 2012, 09:03 PM
2 questions: is there a way to make casts use jets when running post character creation? Second is there a way to turn up game volume? I went to the settings before the login and turned volume all the way up but it was still quite.

Mike
Jan 27, 2012, 09:14 PM
2 questions: is there a way to make casts use jets when running post character creation?

Not in the alpha.

Mitz
Jan 27, 2012, 10:14 PM
I'm playing this game on Cherry MX Reds. I can die a happy human.

Reds, really?

Kent
Jan 27, 2012, 10:27 PM
Casting techniques without a rod isn't very interesting anyway, since they dont have their own specific off-hand casting animations like in PSO. They'll just put their weapon on their back and use their hand.

The ability to charge them offhand though, that's pretty cool. Hopefully they'll have different unarmed / weapon animations like in PSO, so i can put my rod away and nuke stuff with my hands on my Fomar.
So you indeed can both cast techniques (as a Force) without a Rod equipped, as well as charge them? So you could be running around with a Gunslash being productive in combat with it, while still being able to sling around techniques?

If so (and if it's viable), then this just alleviated the majority of the concerns I have for the game.

Now they just need to add in Slicers and at least let the flesh-flavored Hunters and Rangers cast techniques, and we'll be set.

raigalcc
Jan 27, 2012, 11:11 PM
btw a piece of warning, watch out for natural lightnings cause the last time i was soloing the weather is raining and when i was in the air trying to swat a mob then suddenly i got zapped by lightning. man the development teams sure are getting scarier by the time

Blueblur
Jan 27, 2012, 11:13 PM
So you indeed can both cast techniques (as a Force) without a Rod equipped, as well as charge them? So you could be running around with a Gunslash being productive in combat with it, while still being able to sling around techniques?

If so (and if it's viable), then this just alleviated the majority of the concerns I have for the game.

Now they just need to add in Slicers and at least let the flesh-flavored Hunters and Rangers cast techniques, and we'll be set.

Yep, check the 02:35:00 mark of this video.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20034085

Vashyron
Jan 28, 2012, 12:42 AM
We knew about this months ago...

You get to set up to 3 Photon Arts on a melee weapon. As you use melee attacks and the bar rises up, the photon art on the pallete changes depending on the order you set the PAs. Also, pretty sure it increases the power of your photon art the more it's built up.

I don't know what the bar above the Melee weapons are.... but that first part is not it.

You link 3 PAs yes, these change depending on your combo.

So if you were to use a normal attack first, then use your PA you'd end up using the 2nd linked PA. Then say you could attack once more normally then use your PA again, you'd use your first linked PA as it looped back from the 3rd to 1st.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 12:47 AM
eh, hopefully I have everything set up for tonights test right. error 640 is just server isnt up yet right?

another question; regarding controllers- is there a controller settings ingame or will it automatically work if I just use my logitech PC controller?

Cayenne
Jan 28, 2012, 12:54 AM
640 means incorrect password/user name. Not sure about the anything other than PS3/360 controller, it should work.

You play yet Poubelle?

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 12:57 AM
I think you can set kb/controller mode from outside the game. You can also customize the buttons in the game itself.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 01:14 AM
640 means incorrect password/user name. Not sure about the anything other than PS3/360 controller, it should work.

You play yet Poubelle?

no I havent played yet. I entered the email verification code that I was missing, but now for some reason I'm getting the 640 error when I attempt to log in. are you sure that's incorrect ID/PW? im entering the same id/pw that I was able to login with earlier, and verify my email

this is the error i get when trying to log into the game right now, but i think my ID & password are correct. what does this say?

http://i.imgur.com/CrNfn.png

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 01:16 AM
no I havent played yet. I entered the email verification code that I was missing, but now for some reason I'm getting the 640 error when I attempt to log in. are you sure that's incorrect ID/PW? im entering the same id/pw that I was able to login with earlier, and verify my email
oh about that its juz the server is down atm

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 01:17 AM
oh... thats what I thought to begin with x_x; got scared... okay guess I'm set for 4:00am then haha

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 01:27 AM
By the way, does anyone know how to access the dragon quest? Me and Arika got to lv15 and don't have access still.

Mike
Jan 28, 2012, 01:29 AM
By the way, does anyone know how to access the dragon quest? Me and Arika got to lv15 and don't have access still.

If it works the way it did during the first alpha, you need to clear an interupt event in the mission that happens before it.

vPharaohv
Jan 28, 2012, 01:34 AM
640 means incorrect password/user name. Not sure about the anything other than PS3/360 controller, it should work.


Actually it means it's not up to date. When you start up the alpha click the second button (the button under the big one that starts the game) and wait for 3 bars to load. If that doesn't work re-install it.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 01:39 AM
If it works the way it did during the first alpha, you need to clear an interupt event in the mission that happens before it.

Please tell me it's not the mission in the forest with that giant annoying ball :/ can't figure out how to kill it.

Mike
Jan 28, 2012, 02:06 AM
Please tell me it's not the mission in the forest with that giant annoying ball :/ can't figure out how to kill it.
It was one of the Volcanic area missions and you had to kill a certain large-type of Darker.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 02:15 AM
Oh the Darkers that you could kind of "stand" on them and hack away at their weak spot? I did that but it never unlocked. I'll try it again, though I still need to figure out how to do the forest one as well.

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 02:28 AM
oh btw does anyone know where to get a mag?

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 02:28 AM
I don't think mags are in the alpha.

Zaix
Jan 28, 2012, 02:28 AM
No MAGs in Alpha 2, sorry.

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 02:32 AM
oh ok thx anyway

Omega-z
Jan 28, 2012, 04:07 AM
Has anyone had an issue of not having the character they had the day before not there? or is there no way to save char. data in Alpha? or was I a total goof and didn't save it bf I logged off?

Vent
Jan 28, 2012, 04:48 AM
Has anyone managed to destroy said annoying red ball yet? I think I've tried everything from hacking away at the ball, trying to amputate its tentacles to killing the monsters next to it. Or maybe you may not get caught by the final explosion?

ZER0 DX
Jan 28, 2012, 05:12 AM
no idea, haven't succeeded in killing it yet either, hoping someone figures it out soon.

Asai
Jan 28, 2012, 05:15 AM
Has anyone had an issue of not having the character they had the day before not there? or is there no way to save char. data in Alpha? or was I a total goof and didn't save it bf I logged off?

Yes. Mine was gone tonight. Was yours a cast hunter too?

pikachief
Jan 28, 2012, 05:56 AM
For some reason my game crashes at the cut-in chats so i can't play any missions due to the npc's cut-in chat from time to time. idk why it is doing that today and not yesterday (or at all)

I'll just try again next alpha test, and if I can't get to lvl 10 i'll have my friend get me to lvl 10 lol

Arika
Jan 28, 2012, 06:03 AM
Let me share information here, the message when you fight the dark orb,
it says "Please stay away from the absorb area, its energy is increasing"

It says this multiple time until it says "Please evacuate, it is going to self destruct soon"
Now, going for next attempt. First attempt I didn't care to read message.

Arika
Jan 28, 2012, 06:29 AM
Alright, and we beat it ^^

the strategy is just same as what I posted before this post.

Vent
Jan 28, 2012, 06:42 AM
I can stay back and stall the whole process, but hitting it from as far as I can manage with foie while still seeing it hit doesn't seem to do much.

Or are you suggesting one should actually telepipe back when its about to blow?

Arika
Jan 28, 2012, 07:13 AM
No, just stay far and kill it, and btw after you kill orb, you unlock dragon mission.

Dragon mission is multiple players zone, but it isn't hard, we just manage it on 4

redroses
Jan 28, 2012, 07:35 AM
Ah, I am having so much fun with this game. The gameplay is great and so much fun, even playing as a ranger is crazy fun! The my room feature is also very well done in the game, so many details, and the reform tickets are amazing. And we all know how perfect the character creator is. I ablsolutely love this game.

The only complaint I currently have is that PP runs out way too fast for forces. Which is sad, because as a force my main way of attacking should be casting Technics. But it would be quite easy to fix this (for example, just give forces much faster pp recovery).

Also random question, does anyboy know how to switch between hovering and walking for Casts?

xMarle
Jan 28, 2012, 07:44 AM
Ah, I am having so much fun with this game. The gameplay is great and so much fun, even playing as a ranger is crazy fun! The my room feature is also very well done in the game, so many details, and the reform tickets are amazing. And we all know how perfect the character creator is. I ablsolutely love this game.

The only complaint I currently have is that PP runs out way too fast for forces. Which is sad, because as a force my main way of attacking should be casting Technics. But it would be quite easy to fix this (for example, just give forces much faster pp recovery).

Also random question, does anyboy know how to switch between hovering and walking for Casts?


Personally i remedy the PP issue by switching out the gunslash thing, and shooting stuff. PP recovers really fast and you don't need to get in close :)

That or just run in and melee them with it, the high attack speed allows for very rapid PP gain as well. It's just not as safe to do it that way.

Fatal-Killer
Jan 28, 2012, 07:55 AM
How do you use the reform tickets? do you have to remove everything placed first?

Raven5_1
Jan 28, 2012, 07:58 AM
damn it i'm supposed to be cooking yet i've justspent over an hour watching Steparu's stream.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 08:13 AM
For forces having pp issues buy the ability that lets your regen PP while charging techs. Helps tons.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 09:11 AM
SIGH... passed out before 4am. 3 hours left according to the schedule. and now I'm getting error 601. remind me what that one is?

Edit: NVM. Yes I'm playing! :'D *faints* *revives and plays*

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 09:16 AM
Uggh need to decide what race to make my ranger. Already got a Newman force named Eldena, not sure if I want another newm or do a cast/human.

Fayorei
Jan 28, 2012, 09:22 AM
Absolutely fantabulous tonight. I got a human ranger to level 12, and then switched back to my HUnewearl. We got to finally see the dragon boss, and have a pretty fun multi-party encounter with a Japanese team before that. Very hilarious stuff, they very much enjoyed the use of the words "ATIATIATI!" and "KILL" and "DEATH". :D It was such a huge multi-party in caves though, and was so long. It's very fun though! And I got about 3 levels from it, and I'm level 17 atm.

Omega-z
Jan 28, 2012, 10:18 AM
I'm guess the answer is a No then to saving game play during the alpha? Oh I was a Focast:). Haven't had any PP issues even beat the rockbear solo with magic only, they die very fast by burn using the dumb monkeys as a fire starter did as a Lv.10.:rappy:

If there is a way to save your char please let me know redoing everything is annoying lol.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 10:32 AM
is there a beginner guide around? I'm playing a fonewm, I think I just want to solo. but I ran out of monomates fairly quickly and I'm not currently sure how to restore health ^^; lol

Mitz
Jan 28, 2012, 10:54 AM
I soloed and I wasn't really running out of monomates, try working on moving all the time, it'll help you dodge attacks more effectively.

Cayenne
Jan 28, 2012, 10:57 AM
is there a beginner guide around? I'm playing a fonewm, I think I just want to solo. but I ran out of monomates fairly quickly and I'm not currently sure how to restore health ^^; lol

I'd suggest after alpha is over today, you scoop out this entire forum, plenty of threads with lots of info.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 11:28 AM
yeah ill definitely be more prepared next time.


i think ive played so many mmos since when I was little on PSO, I forgot what PSO is like... youre not supposed to ever take hits, it does a lot of damage ^^; take's some getting used to...


anyway...i played with some japanese players..they might have known I wasn't JP but if you just say よろしくです and おめでとう and thank them for the PT after and say sorry if you make a mistake.. no one yelled at me or got mad

but maybe for next time I can find some english people to play with; i chose ship_02

Flame
Jan 28, 2012, 11:51 AM
So to those who are playing, do you think players who loved PSO but hated PSU will enjoy the gameplay? Will this game be the salve that heals the wounds left by disappointment?

Fayorei
Jan 28, 2012, 11:59 AM
So to those who are playing, do you think players who loved PSO but hated PSU will enjoy the gameplay? Will this game be the salve that heals the wounds left by disappointment?

ABSOLUTELY. I never played PSU much at all. PSO2 is something I can see myself just huddling over for two days straight. (Wait, didn't I kinda do that already? Whatever, man.)

It has the good points of each game recently. And it makes for a ton of fun. I'm still a bit ambivalent on crafting, but I don't even think it's in the Alpha at all.

Mags coming back is icing on the cake at this point. I am having so much fun on the Alpha that I completely forgot mags will even be added later.

The salve worked on me, a pretty regular PSO BB player.:)

Also, Pou, I would say my theoretical key to Force is that OP dodge, man. Forces don't need to be getting touched at all.D: Also, be wary, very wary of getting boxed in by enemies on all sides.

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 12:03 PM
whew today test was fun too^^ i also experienced the multy-party and i was kinda fun and difficult at the same time. why you ask? cause got a hard time communicating but i enjoyed it. also manage to solo the gorilla-like boss

Kazzi
Jan 28, 2012, 12:04 PM
I found out how to access the room feature, and feel really stupid for not noticing it before. It's the first option when you're on the block changing teleporter XD!

Multi-parties i ran into when i was on my own, more than with a group. But it became more of a fight to get the kills first, so it sucked a bit of the enjoyment out when you have people screaming KS at you all the time. What I liked about PSO was the fact you didn't have to fight for the enemies.

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 12:06 PM
lol i also found my room and i already modified it^^ currently installed with a bedroom and a living room

Mike
Jan 28, 2012, 12:08 PM
Multi-parties i ran into when i was on my own, more than with a group. But it became more of a fight to get the kills first, so it sucked a bit of the enjoyment out when you have people screaming KS at you all the time. What I liked about PSO was the fact you didn't have to fight for the enemies.
Enemies in multi-party areas do come back so you don't really have to worry about that.

Omega-z
Jan 28, 2012, 12:09 PM
lol Force is a monster, Raping all the monster's in the caves area with a rod and tech's when you need to. never ran out of PP and owned them all, Flying around warping thru foe's go into berserker mode and give the shield guy a new one, and done only solo'ing. lol this game is easy they need to up the AI.

Kazzi
Jan 28, 2012, 12:10 PM
Enemies in multi-party areas do come back so you don't really have to worry about that.

I did not know that! Thank you! Now I can argue with the people who keep shouting at me in JP.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 12:11 PM
So to those who are playing, do you think players who loved PSO but hated PSU will enjoy the gameplay? Will this game be the salve that heals the wounds left by disappointment?

yes...despite my short time playing today, I had tons of fun, and while I enjoyed PSU, this is definitely more like PSO... thus the name I guess ^^; it's very fun...

it's actually PSO, but with additional things...obviously you couldn't jump and do air comboes in PSO but it still feels very much like PSO

unlike PSU which changed the feel..if that makes sense

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 12:25 PM
I found a use for zonde. Those Darkers in the forest with the shields? It completely ignores the shield and shock makes them fall down a lot.

therealAERO
Jan 28, 2012, 12:29 PM
Yeah thats what I used Zonde for!

Crystal_Shard
Jan 28, 2012, 12:30 PM
Well, that was exhausting, but fun. Partnered with Mike for the whole time, and a several others, including it seems, Biowarrior and Fayorei. I lost the last recording I was making though, because the game disconnecting all of us from the server at 2am JST seemed to mess up Afterburner's ability to save the file correctly. That last run was just crazy though - having an interrupt event with the dragon in one of the regular areas was quite amusingly ironic, especially since one of the group members was wondering out loud about seeing that exact thing happening.

Anyway, Force is great to play - nearly maxed out to level 20 before the disconnection. Wish I had more techs to deal out though, but I have to say it's very nice to see Zonde return to its PSO version - love standing on a high spot and calling down lightning strikes from afar. The class skill tree isn't very useful at this point though - needs more PP related stuff to make things better. It's not as bad as PSPo2 vanilla was, in terms of PP regen and PP cost of techs, but PP does run out a little bit too fast for my liking. Damage output seems pretty decent and crowd control is good as well.

Still having issues with my gamepad - maybe I will need to get a wired 360 controller for this after all. It's much harder to strafe and use the Shift palette on a mouse/keyboard, so I'm stuck switching main techs PSU style for the time being.

@Biowarrior: Useful to know that. ^_^ Pity Zonde is pretty rare in dropping. Even RaZonde dropped more often for me than Zonde.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 12:32 PM
Mike made me drool hard core over ranger and I need to play it next. Ranger rebuff made my Barta hit the caves boss (not the dragon) for a whopping 1000+ a hit.

And I was the one wondering about that dragon lol....

MOH.lt
Jan 28, 2012, 12:34 PM
Is it ok to upload alpha's videos to youtube? >.> I won't brake somesort of NDA or something?

Fayorei
Jan 28, 2012, 12:44 PM
Is it ok to upload alpha's videos to youtube? >.>

Yes, but make sure you absolutely have a watermark of some kind that says (c) SEGA for at least 2 seconds at the beginning in the video, and a thorough description that can be found in the Alpha Streaming/Vid topic.

I get a copyright strike from SoJ itself for not having the watermark IN the video, I believe.

Crystal_Shard
Jan 28, 2012, 12:44 PM
Mike made me drool hard core over ranger and I need to play it next. Ranger rebuff made my Barta hit the caves boss (not the dragon) for a whopping 1000+ a hit.

And I was the one wondering about that dragon lol....

Yep. ^_^ Unfortunately, my video proof seems to have been corrupted because of some issue or other. Could be the disconnect at 2am JST or some other issue. Will try to salvage it though - hopefully I can get a video editor to read the file enough to do so.

I'll probably spend Wednesday creating Shard and Deis. May also need to spend time helping my bro level up if I can even get him to log on during the next test. He wanted to log on earlier while we were in the middle of a run, and I couldn't stop in time to go help him out.

Serephim
Jan 28, 2012, 01:04 PM
I found a use for zonde. Those Darkers in the forest with the shields? It completely ignores the shield and shock makes them fall down a lot.


I found a use for zonde when i realized TPS pretty much made it strike wherever you could aim.


Now, find me a use for Razonde. X_X


Perhaps it was the lag, but it just was not very good of a spell for the longest. But then again Early lvl Razonde sucked on PSO as well, especially without a race multiplier.





So to those who are playing, do you think players who loved PSO but hated PSU will enjoy the gameplay? Will this game be the salve that heals the wounds left by disappointment?


If this game doesnt, then no other PS game ever will.


No, seriously. This game is amazing.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 01:09 PM
Razonde gets bigger if your in the air when you use it or on a ledge above enemies. Also TPS mode rocks for forces, only way I can play it. Easier to hit multiple enemies that way.

Serephim
Jan 28, 2012, 01:11 PM
Yeah i noticed that Razonde works alot better in the air, which is why im guessing the Fonewearl in the video jumps before using it -- it's probably meant for midair use. It's pretty shitty on the ground.


Which is good, they need to mixup the use of the spells to keep it fresh.


Have you ever used it on a very high ledge? It's great lol.






Overall, Force was extremely fun to me. I only hope that

1) Spells evolve like in PSO instead of PSU. (Like every 3 to 5 levels instead of every 10.)

2) They once again fine tune the non-charged spells, because they're still pretty useless. They do decent damage, but the PP cost for them is so high that i dont get the point in using any of them.



Apparently, someone said there's a skill that charges PP as you charge spells. That would have helped immensely.

xMarle
Jan 28, 2012, 01:13 PM
Theres also a mob in the caves ( a giant guy with a massive shield) who's actually weak to zonde damage, i think he's the only mob with a zonde weakness in the game unless i missed something.

That mob only showed up during a code attack though :(

Fenn777
Jan 28, 2012, 01:15 PM
I have a question for those of you in the 2nd alpha: what is the most fun/your favorite part of playing your favorite class (Hu, Ra, Fo)?

Serephim
Jan 28, 2012, 01:16 PM
In a few of the Multiparty areas, we were assaulted by tons of them.


We actually got lost in one spot and ended up fighting a total of at LEAST 5 or 6 Rockbears.



I have a question for those of you in the 2nd alpha: what is the most fun/your favorite part of playing your favorite class (Hu, Ra, Fo)?

Hunter:

Everytime you find a new skill on a weapon, that weapon instantly becomes tons more useful.

It took me a while to realize the sword builds charge as you use normal attacks, but the Charge Moves on swords is fun as hell, they're so great to unleash on enemies. Once you build that charge meter up, you basically become a monster in battle.


Force:

Charging techniques and blowing foes away doesn't really get old. Especially when you're gonna be the character who's able to walk up to a Rockbear and do upwards of 700 damage by blasting their weak spot. Or the one who can FREEZE THE DRAGON to the ground during battle.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 01:24 PM
Sera, I got Foie and Barta to 5 and it didn't change, inundate they just didn't add the animations yet. Foie goes as far as my camera can draw almost though. Think it mightve gotten slightly bigger too.

Vent
Jan 28, 2012, 01:56 PM
I found a use for zonde. Those Darkers in the forest with the shields? It completely ignores the shield and shock makes them fall down a lot.

Really? Last time I tried it they just blocked the thing. ^^;

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 02:00 PM
You can either lock on and cast it or aim it in TPS mode just barely behind them.


Btw mike which ability is it that unlocked trap use? Seems weird you can unlock traps but still can't use it. Traps should branch off the same tree, should prolly suggest it to sega.

Vashyron
Jan 28, 2012, 02:29 PM
You unlock a trap skill for each trap available. (3) Unlocking 1 allows opens the path to the next and then the last one.

Don't think it's worth it though, I got them and only one that I felt seems kinda useful is the stun grenade, others take time to place down and detonate.

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 03:01 PM
Mike and Arika said they unlocked traps and it wouldn't let them set it on the sub pallet and that a separate skill is needed from the tree. Though it seems the best thing to do is probable Mac weak shot. That move is godly.

Legato Bluesummers
Jan 28, 2012, 03:07 PM
So I've been watching a few gameplay videos and I've got a question: there aren't gender/class specific combos, are there? Like how in the original PSO for Double-Sabers you had the Male combo, the female combo and the HUcaseal combo.

Neolink868
Jan 28, 2012, 03:32 PM
The more I read/watch the more is want to play. I'm so happy this game is not letting my expectations down :) its making my PSZ look like nothing xD

redroses
Jan 28, 2012, 03:41 PM
Ah, I had so much fun playing today.

I ended up playing my FOcaseal way more than my RAnewearl. Had so much fon with her, and eventhough she is a Cast, techs did decent damage. I am so happy about this! And figuring out how to use technics right is so much fun (for example, figuring out that jumping and then casting Razonde is way more effective then just casting it on the ground), and many other little things like that.

I can't wait to play again. This game is awesome!

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 03:41 PM
It makes PSO look like nothing. I was originally gonna skip alpha and wait for beta or retail but I'm glad I didn't.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 03:46 PM
it makes every other game look like nothing! well maybe I'm just hyped because I got to play but it's really really fun~

i also tested for other online games coming up, such as blade& soul. isn't it kind of funny that PSO2 makes blade & soul seem like cheap trash?which got hyped up for years

well, it's funny to me ^^; i hope they just skip alpha/beta testing for the english release. I want it nao. also I hope we have global NA+JP servers. JP players are nice

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 03:49 PM
If they separate servers I'm going jp servers for sure. We all know how PSu went down.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 04:04 PM
If they separate servers I'm going jp servers for sure. We all know how PSu went down.

except psu wasnt very good , and pso2 is lol

edit*let me rephrase that... the online wasnt good... PSU could have been good, so much bad decision making in that games development

DarK-SuN
Jan 28, 2012, 04:10 PM
No need to go that far, let's think of PSOBB (US servers) VS PSOBB (JP servers).
Similar situation, PSOBB was also good, PSU wasn't to blame there (PSUJP is still going strong).

Back on topic: I'm extremely happy with PSO2, way more than I expected, way way more!

BahnKnakyu
Jan 28, 2012, 04:21 PM
The Auto Word Select function gives me the impression the servers will be worldwide. I hope this is the case so we get content the same time the JP does.

Edit: http://www.g-heaven.net/topics/2012/01/120127a.html What does this article say?

Do they have plans to start the closed beta by summer or in summer. 5-6 months between the alpha and beta seems like an awfully long time, and from my experience with MMO betas, from alpha to beta they tend to make it an ongoing thing so they can do continuous testing of content and game. Feels kinda weird to have this 4-5 day thing, then a giant gap where nothing happens?

Menochi
Jan 28, 2012, 04:36 PM
Edit: http://www.g-heaven.net/topics/2012/01/120127a.html What does this article say?

Do they have plans to start the closed beta by summer or in summer.

The part you're referring to just mentions "Before it gets warm", so it could easily be the case that they want to have it done before spring gets under way as well.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 04:39 PM
is this just a PSO2* general thread?

this is kind of random, but does anyone know if this game will have snowy/icy areas ;o I hope so. the jungle is nostalgic but i hope theres tons of areas with stranger landscapes (not that snowy area is unique at all,I just happen to always love snow/ice areas in video games)

I wonder what interesting areas we'll get to explore.

Vent
Jan 28, 2012, 05:04 PM
this is kind of random, but does anyone know if this game will have snowy/icy areas ;o I hope so.

Just for the record, set your graphic settings to high, go to the first forest area, actually take the time to look at the background far away instead of rushing to level 20. Then come back and tell me what you saw. :-P

BioWarrior
Jan 28, 2012, 05:09 PM
Just for the record, set your graphic settings to high, go to the first forest area, actually take the time to look at the background far away instead of rushing to level 20. Then come back and tell me what you saw. :-P

I saw jaw dropping inducing scenery that made me literally drool.

Poubelle
Jan 28, 2012, 05:18 PM
Just for the record, set your graphic settings to high, go to the first forest area, actually take the time to look at the background far away instead of rushing to level 20. Then come back and tell me what you saw. :-P

I would if I could log in D:!! but yeah I saw it earlier, the big white mountain~ oh yeah hope we get to go there ^^; and other snowy places too

Joe Friday
Jan 28, 2012, 05:23 PM
Once you build that charge meter up, you basically become a monster in battle.

More like a demon in battle! I was having so much fun with my HUnewearl's wired lances and custom PA combo that I was giddy with psychotic joy as I helped the party beat down those darker shield giants in the forest. XD;


Ah, I had so much fun playing today.

I ended up playing my FOcaseal way more than my RAnewearl. Had so much fon with her, and eventhough she is a Cast, techs did decent damage. I am so happy about this! And figuring out how to use technics right is so much fun (for example, figuring out that jumping and then casting Razonde is way more effective then just casting it on the ground), and many other little things like that.

I can't wait to play again. This game is awesome!

I had fun too, thanks again for joining! :D I was the HUnewearl called Kurama. Before, I had only soloed as I wanted to try and get a handle on how the game played. It was great fun, but playing in a party that works together was completely awesome.

The next test session feels so far away...

Kent
Jan 28, 2012, 07:59 PM
So, I'm hearing talks of Razonde.

What all techniques are in the alpha? I've seen Foie, Barta, Zonde and Resta, but I haven't seen Razonde or any other Ra- or Gi- techniques.

I'm really hoping Gizonde is back in its true chain lightning format, rather than that nonsense from PSU. One of the much more fun things about PSO was that nearly every technique you had to think about using it differently than other techniques, because they were (for the most part) functionally-unique from each other. The Gi-level techniques have always been my favorites just because of how radically-different they are not only from each other, but from the other techniques in their respective elemental series.

AzureAsh
Jan 28, 2012, 08:07 PM
I would recommend adding the Japanese notice to your videos if you are seeing them taken down
[spoiler-box]
『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』α2テストにおいて撮影された実機動画です。
開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」

『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト
http://pso2.jp/
[/spoiler-box]

Zaix
Jan 28, 2012, 08:11 PM
So, I'm hearing talks of Razonde.

What all techniques are in the alpha? I've seen Foie, Barta, Zonde and Resta, but I haven't seen Razonde or any other Ra- or Gi- techniques.

I'm really hoping Gizonde is back in its true chain lightning format, rather than that nonsense from PSU. One of the much more fun things about PSO was that nearly every technique you had to think about using it differently than other techniques, because they were (for the most part) functionally-unique from each other. The Gi-level techniques have always been my favorites just because of how radically-different they are not only from each other, but from the other techniques in their respective elemental series.

As a force i found Foie, Barta, Zonde, RaZonde, Resta, and Anti. They all have charged versions also. But that doesn't change things much, just makes them better.

Kent
Jan 28, 2012, 08:22 PM
As a force i found Foie, Barta, Zonde, RaZonde, Resta, and Anti. They all have charged versions also. But that doesn't change things much, just makes them better.
So how does Razonde actually behave when you cast it? Is it like PSO's Razonde, or is it something else entirely?

Spellbinder
Jan 28, 2012, 08:37 PM
So how does Razonde actually behave when you cast it? Is it like PSO's Razonde, or is it something else entirely?

Razonde in this game functions like PSU's Gizonde.

Cayenne
Jan 28, 2012, 08:37 PM
Im lazy so can someone post stat comparisons for each class/race/sex?

Serephim
Jan 28, 2012, 08:41 PM
So how does Razonde actually behave when you cast it? Is it like PSO's Razonde, or is it something else entirely?


It's its own spell.


Foie shoots a fireball. Charge ball shoots an exploding fireball, wide area of damage if you touch the fire around it while it's exploding through the air. Zonde is the same as PSO Zonde. It shoots a bolt of lightning to the nearest target or in front of you. The DIFFERENCE here is that in TPS mode, the lightning will strike wherever you aim, and charging it will give INSANE range. Foie has about the same range, but Zonde is instant, so you dont have to worry about missing.


Barta was the most interesting improvement to me. Barta is like PSO's barta, but it actually contours to the terrain. If you shoot Barta over a large ledge, it will actually fall until it hits the ground, and then continue to move. Charged Barta is just a much larger, and freezes. Resta = Same old resta. Charging it turns it into a Healing field. It heals ALOT of life when charged, but it's dangerous to use in crowds. Anti = Same as resta, except with status effects.


And to answer your question:



Razonde = the most odd spell to me. It kind of works like PSU's Gizonde, in which it shoots lightning downward around you.

But there's a spin on it, in which that it only arcs outward as far as you let it. Which means, if you use it on the ground, it has pretty bad range. But if you jump when you cast it, it'll arc out all around you MUCH better. Charging increases the range it seems. The most interesting thing? Find a very very tall ledge (The caves has plenty of them), and then use Razonde. It'll arc ALL the way to the floor.



At first Razonde seemed useless until i realized it was meant to be cast in midair. Just like the Fonewearl does in the opening video. Hopefully, this should be an indication that they really are thinking outside the box like PSO, and each spell should be different. Hopefully Gizonde will be neat as well.



That Mirage step move is probably one of the best for escaping danger IMO. But even more importantly than that, it is PERFECT for Platforming, because it doesn't let the force fall while doing it, the same way the hunter step would. It made getting good vantage points in the caves much easier and safer.





My favorite thing to do in the caves was to get as high up as I could, and then continously mirage step until i hit the ground. You can do it maybe like 5 or 6 times before you hit the ground. It's definitely slower than running (step spam is slower than running too), but it really doesn't get old lol.

Crystal_Shard
Jan 28, 2012, 10:51 PM
@Seraphim: Agreed about Mirage Step being pretty fun. Whenever I reached a high ledge, I'd try to see how far Crystal could fly before she fell too low. ^_^ I think with practice, you could probably reach some of the high pillars in the Caves areas, followed by raining Razonde and Zonde death down on everything below. :D

Personally, I like how Razonde looks and works, but I don't think I'll get much use out of it until I buy better gaming equipment, or if I can get the gamepad to finally work. Trying to hold the Shift Key and click/holding the mouse buttons, or one of the numpad keys, is a frustrating exercise. It's easier if you play a force as an artillery unit when using the mouse/keyboard combo imo.

Zonde is just lovely as a personal "satellite cannon" of a sort. I think I'll focus on bolt mastery during the Beta and in the final game at this rate. XD If only it wasn't so hard to find Zonde in the first place.

@Biowarrior: Whether or not there will be a US server, I'll be on the JP server from day 1 as long as Sega permits it. ^_^ Speaking of Ranger, I should try Weak Shot out when I create Deis on this coming Wednesday.

About the videos I took, it seems I didn't get that video of Eldena wondering out loud about the dragon a few seconds before it did appear. Le sigh.

raigalcc
Jan 28, 2012, 10:51 PM
it makes every other game look like nothing! well maybe I'm just hyped because I got to play but it's really really fun~

i also tested for other online games coming up, such as blade& soul. isn't it kind of funny that PSO2 makes blade & soul seem like cheap trash?which got hyped up for years

well, it's funny to me ^^; i hope they just skip alpha/beta testing for the english release. I want it nao. also I hope we have global NA+JP servers. JP players are nice
indeed, when i 1st saw this game trailer, i thought omg!you've gotta be kidding me!!@@

I have a question for those of you in the 2nd alpha: what is the most fun/your favorite part of playing your favorite class (Hu, Ra, Fo)?
i like to use hunter and the wired lance and the gunslash

Mike
Jan 28, 2012, 11:08 PM
Trying to hold the Shift Key and click/holding the mouse buttons, or one of the numpad keys, is a frustrating exercise. It's easier if you play a force as an artillery unit when using the mouse/keyboard combo imo.
Change the settings from "hold" to "click." It's in the options menu in game.


About the videos I took, it seems I didn't get that video of Eldena wondering out loud about the dragon a few seconds before it did appear. Le sigh.
That was pretty good.

Arika
Jan 28, 2012, 11:29 PM
I would recommend adding the Japanese notice to your videos if you are seeing them taken down
[spoiler-box]
『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』α2テストにおいて撮影された実機動画です。
開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」

『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト
http://pso2.jp/
[/spoiler-box]


I wasn't following, so did any vid got taken down? (and did him put up english word of alpha notice?)

Dinosaur
Jan 29, 2012, 12:08 AM
I have a question for those of you in the 2nd alpha: what is the most fun/your favorite part of playing your favorite class (Hu, Ra, Fo)?

Playing Hunter is DMC mode. LITERALLY.

Don't get hit with insane mobility and deal insane damage via. CRAZY COMBOS.

Arkios
Jan 29, 2012, 12:31 AM
I really hope they move the "description/target" box from the top left to somewhere closer to the bottom/center of the screen.

It's really annoying to have to keep shifting your eyes up to the top left each time you hover over an item.

Serephim
Jan 29, 2012, 12:38 AM
Zonde is just lovely as a personal "satellite cannon" of a sort. I think I'll focus on bolt mastery during the Beta and in the final game at this rate. XD If only it wasn't so hard to find Zonde in the first place.


Man, there was this one area in the forest with a super high cliff. I sat up there and played Zeus with Zonde, it was hilarious.

AzureAsh
Jan 29, 2012, 01:35 AM
I wasn't following, so did any vid got taken down? (and did him put up english word of alpha notice?)

A couple of videos have been taken down most of them with English alpha notices.

What nobody seems to realize is that the people in Sega of Japan that are taking them down probably don't know much English and have no clue that it actually is a notice mentioning that the game is in Alpha and probably think it's just your opinion of the game and a link to it.

Mitz
Jan 29, 2012, 01:46 AM
I foolishly spent my skills, thinking they were WoW style. How do I reset them?

Mike
Jan 29, 2012, 01:56 AM
You don't.

voxie
Jan 29, 2012, 06:30 AM
Also random question, does anyboy know how to switch between hovering and walking for Casts?

It's one of the last settings on the character creation screen. I missed it too on my first cast ^^;

Fayorei
Jan 29, 2012, 06:49 AM
The Auto Word Select function gives me the impression the servers will be worldwide. I hope this is the case so we get content the same time the JP does.

Edit: http://www.g-heaven.net/topics/2012/01/120127a.html What does this article say?

Do they have plans to start the closed beta by summer or in summer. 5-6 months between the alpha and beta seems like an awfully long time, and from my experience with MMO betas, from alpha to beta they tend to make it an ongoing thing so they can do continuous testing of content and game. Feels kinda weird to have this 4-5 day thing, then a giant gap where nothing happens?

Ah, I didn't get to notice word select- but the whole "language" option in the options/settings is also kinda "Hmmm." It'd probably cost them less to release one set of servers as well, so I hope for at least that reason they do it. I don't think the community is large enough here to warrant hosting multiple servers here. We're dedicated as heck, however.

Seriously, seriously hoping they try the FFXI model of servers. Unfair rare spawn ganking wouldn't be a problem in this game. The latency is fine on Alpha 2 from the US East Coast at least- we only started lagging down when EVERY block was nearly full during the middle of the Alpha 2 day 2, ship 2. Just throw up an English client, have it connect to JP servers and awesome. It'd also be refreshing to know that our characters would be a bit more secure. PSU shut down our PC servers quite early. I was planning on renewing finally to find the version had been nuked.

I don't know what I'll do yet if the servers are separated. I've never had the experience of playing on a main-release PSO on a JP server(until alpha 2, and it's a great experience), but if it comes down to that I'm definitely playing the JP version I think. Depends on who plays where as well.

Crystal_Shard
Jan 29, 2012, 09:40 AM
Change the settings from "hold" to "click." It's in the options menu in game.

Really? I thought that was for lock on only. That would make things much easier then, short of buying a 360 pad or a multibutton gaming mouse.

@Seraphim: I plan to do just that the next time as well. XD

Kent
Jan 29, 2012, 10:30 AM
A couple of videos have been taken down most of them with English alpha notices.

What nobody seems to realize is that the people in Sega of Japan that are taking them down probably don't know much English and have no clue that it actually is a notice mentioning that the game is in Alpha and probably think it's just your opinion of the game and a link to it.
I think probably the best and most obvious solution is to actually, you know, do what they say when it comes to notices and copyright in images and videos.

You know, rendering "© SEGA" on videos for a few seconds (not in annotations, basically everyone turns those off anyway, and they don't appear when watching videos on things like mobile phones), and putting the alpha version notice in the comments in Japanese and then in English afterward (as a courtesy). I think doing that instead of trying to find ways around editing the video before putting it up would probably go a long ways toward making sure videos don't get taken down.

It's worth noting that "(c)" is literally meaningless from a legal standpoint - the proper copyright symbol is ALT+0169 on a US English Windows Keyboard. One may think it's splitting hairs or something stupid like that, but why be silly when you can show good faith and do what they actually asked?

Zaix
Jan 29, 2012, 10:33 AM
I just slapped the SEGA from the game start-up on my videos... works for now atleast.

Mitz
Jan 29, 2012, 11:55 AM
You don't.

Are you quite sure, because that would be a huge oversight.

BioWarrior
Jan 29, 2012, 03:27 PM
At least in the alpha you can't Mitz. Then again you can't change class either which will be allowed in retail.

Serephim
Jan 29, 2012, 05:54 PM
Are you quite sure, because that would be a huge oversight.

Think i remember reading you'll be able to change them at some point. Not sure though.



I felt like an idiot on my Force, i spent alot of points on stupid crap when i never looked down and realized the skill tree was FULL of Technique Upgrades.

Crystal_Shard
Jan 29, 2012, 09:59 PM
I felt like an idiot on my Force, i spent alot of points on stupid crap when i never looked down and realized the skill tree was FULL of Technique Upgrades.

No need to feel bad - I too now regret spending points on Flame Mastery after realizing how wonderful it is satellite cannon everything from on high. Just remember this when the Beta/Retail starts and we should all be the wiser for it. ^_^

On the issue of readjusting skill points, I'm also thinking that you'll be able to reset those come retail version.

Aiex
Jan 29, 2012, 10:08 PM
No need to feel bad - I too now regret spending points on Flame Mastery after realizing how wonderful it is satellite cannon everything from on high.

What is satellite cannon exactly?

Crystal_Shard
Jan 29, 2012, 10:19 PM
What is satellite cannon exactly?

Just a joke name for Zonde, given how it looks like and acts in game.

Aiex
Jan 29, 2012, 10:43 PM
Can you stockpile your points or do you have to use them when you level up?

AzureAsh
Jan 29, 2012, 10:44 PM
You can stockpile them. :)

BioWarrior
Jan 29, 2012, 10:45 PM
You can stick pile them. I put 10/10 into flame charge S and my charges are -50% and feel almost instant.

Arika
Jan 29, 2012, 11:36 PM
You can stick pile them. I put 10/10 into flame charge S and my charges are -50% and feel almost instant.

i want to know if it is better to put it on barta for boss?

Serephim
Jan 29, 2012, 11:45 PM
You can stick pile them. I put 10/10 into flame charge S and my charges are -50% and feel almost instant.

There was a skill for increasing charge speed? Holy shit.


What were they all for? I know one was for Just-Attack technique damage (which was already very good as it was). What did the others do? There were like 3 for every element.




What is satellite cannon exactly?

Just a general name for anything that causes damage from the sky in the form of a beam, or laser. Zonde strikes from the sky, and it's instantaneous depending on where you aim, so it's kinda like a Sat Laser lol.

BioWarrior
Jan 30, 2012, 12:00 AM
If your gonna go for the damage ones, just do charge tech damage+ it does the same as the individual elements which branches off of it, but at least the first 5 levels only adds 1% damage so I didn't deem it worth it. Think fire had burn rate+ I've had freeze rate and bonus damage to frozen monsters? And lightning had PP reduction on zonde techs. Also the PP skill on the far left of the tree is godly, it's regenerate PP while charging techs.

H3Av3NS PUNISH3R
Jan 30, 2012, 02:39 AM
I can't wait to see some high level/advanced & highly experienced players playing this.

Cayenne
Jan 30, 2012, 03:25 AM
Also, if you come across a river that is flowing, it WILL pull you in the same direction where it's going like it does in real life. Really small details like this make this game SOOO amazing.

Joe Friday
Jan 30, 2012, 03:28 AM
I know! I was so surprised when I found myself fighting against the current in the middle of a battle. The terrain can really affect the flow of battle, and you can quickly find yourself at a disadvantage if you forget to mind your surroundings.

Serephim
Jan 30, 2012, 03:53 AM
Yeah, it's pretty impressive.


The more impressive thing is that it only happens while it's raining/storming. The river isn't the only thing that changes, in some areas the water level will also rise, if there was like a puddle or something there.


Im sure someone else also brought it up before, but i've even been struck by lightning during a thunder storm in the forest.

Angelo
Jan 30, 2012, 06:06 AM
Haven't put my two cents in yet.

All and all... for an alpha test it's pretty impressive. The controls are incredibly intuitive and combat is a blast. So now that the bread and butter of the game is working I can't wait to see everything else in store.

lugnut360
Jan 30, 2012, 08:40 AM
Does anyone know what photon crystals are for yet? I see they are in 3 tiers (mono,di,tri).

raigalcc
Jan 30, 2012, 08:47 AM
Yeah, it's pretty impressive.


The more impressive thing is that it only happens while it's raining/storming. The river isn't the only thing that changes, in some areas the water level will also rise, if there was like a puddle or something there.


Im sure someone else also brought it up before, but i've even been struck by lightning during a thunder storm in the forest.

lol i also got hit once, really should watch for the weathers from now on, dun wanna be another lightning rod again^^;

Kent
Jan 30, 2012, 03:37 PM
The recent discussion of Force skill trees has me wondering, has anyone put in an English translation of the three class' skill trees yet? It'd be really interesting to see what they are and an explanation of what some of them actually do - and how much flex room there is for creating actual builds (rather than cookie-cutter builds being the norm).

BioWarrior
Jan 30, 2012, 04:12 PM
The problem is you can barely use the tree at low level, 2-19 you only get 1sp per level, 20 is 2sp a lot of the tree is locked until you spend 1-3 points on a previous ability.

ShadowDragon28
Jan 30, 2012, 06:29 PM
I will get the import of this game.

So, I am passed the point of being able to be patient enough to wait 6 months to a year for content updates or new events on a "US version's" server (hypothetically speaking).... IF Sega of America shows that they have their act togther, then I'll get the US version (whenever/if the game comes out in the US & EU)...

BioWarrior
Jan 30, 2012, 06:35 PM
I will get the import of this game.

So, I am passed the point of being able to be patient enough to wait 6 months to a year for content updates or new events on a "US version's" server (hypothetically speaking).... IF Sega of America shows that they have their act togther, then I'll get the US version (whenever/if the game comes out in the US & EU)...

Except the client has a language select and jp version will probable run in full English giving more reason to not putting your faith into SoA again.

ShadowDragon28
Jan 30, 2012, 06:42 PM
We shall see.. It is interesting that the game client has a language select option, and that one can chat in english in the game, even english words like "Fart" and "damn" are censored. Not much sense to have those in the game client if they didn't have some plan to do an international release...

Serephim
Jan 30, 2012, 07:14 PM
They could have easily just ported the current english filter.


But yes, plenty of things point to an international release, including character-separated worlds, language options, english filter support and, most importantly of all, PSO2 devs giving information out in english.


But there is no indication that they've begun translating anything, and there probably wont be until they officially have the ability to announce it.







There's no reason for them to officially notify the west about this game right now anyway. Their competition is huge and the game is in Alpha.

Eclipse5632
Jan 30, 2012, 07:26 PM
I just stumbled across an interesting post (http://pso2.jp/alpha2/bbs/?mode=detail&gid=8227&forum=5) on the alpha forums about the gauge that swords and wired lances have. I haven't seen much discussion of it here (though I also haven't been following these threads too closely...), so I'll summarize what it says. Pretty interesting stuff.

Swords and wired lances both have a gauge above the action palette that fills up as you hit stuff. The official name for this gauge appears to be "Gear" (ギア in Japanese). For swords, it fills up from both normal attacks and PAs, but only normal attacks increase it for wired lances. With swords, Gear goes down over time if you don't keep attacking, and for wired lances a certain amount is consumed every time you use a PA. The known effects of Gear are as follows:

- Increases PA damage
- Reduces charge time for the sword PAs Rising Edge and Nova Strike
- Increases the range of the shock wave at the end of the sword PA Twister Fall

Pretty interesting system, imo. I'm interested to see how other weapons will make use of this, assuming it's for more than just swords and wired lances.

Serephim
Jan 30, 2012, 07:32 PM
Yeah, i completely forgot about that bar most of the time i was playing.


I didn't even notice its effects until i finally obtained the chargable sword PAs. I started charging to anticipate an incoming wave, and noticed that it charged almost instantly. Then I made the deduction.



Like i said before, it's a wonderful idea. It adds compounding effects to different weapons to make them feel unique.


Hopefully, they'll be some rare weapons that can utilize that gauge in differing ways.

pikachief
Jan 31, 2012, 12:06 AM
We shall see.. It is interesting that the game client has a language select option, and that one can chat in english in the game, even english words like "Fart" and "damn" are censored. Not much sense to have those in the game client if they didn't have some plan to do an international release...

You can chat in english in JP PSU and there are certain english words censored in JP PSU as well :)

Cayenne
Jan 31, 2012, 12:40 AM
Yeah, you can't say damn or sh*t but you can F bomb all day lol

•Col•
Jan 31, 2012, 12:49 AM
The recent discussion of Force skill trees has me wondering, has anyone put in an English translation of the three class' skill trees yet? It'd be really interesting to see what they are and an explanation of what some of them actually do - and how much flex room there is for creating actual builds (rather than cookie-cutter builds being the norm).

Stickied thread...

Could've changed from the last Alpha, but it's unlikely.




Hunter:
-Skill tree:
[spoiler-box]
Step: Nimbly and quickly step short distances
Step Attack: Attack during “step”
Step Advance: The time of Invincibility during “step” is increased.
Guard Stance: Shooting / Striking power decreases, while Defense power increases (Stance Skill)
Guard Stance Up 1: Improve defense during a Guard Stance
Guard Stance Up 2: Improve defense during a Guard Stance
Guard Stance Auto Mate: Automatically use Mates while receiving hits when in a Guard Stance
Guard Stance Poison: Recover Ailment Poison while in Guard Stance
Guard Stance Burn: Recover Ailment Burn while in Guard Stance
Guard: Hold weapon in front of you to guard attacks from enemies.
Just Guard: Reduce damage greatly by guarding at the moment of receiving an attack
Just Guard Master: The time for Just Guarding is extended.
Guard Absorber: The Damage reduction rate during guarding is increased.
Just Guard Stun: During a Just Guard, the probability of stunning the enemy is low.
War Cry: Attract attention of Enemies.
Fury Stance: Striking and Range Power increases, while defense decreases. (Stance Skill)
Fury Critical: Improve critical hit rates during the Fury Stance
HP Up and Response Up.

[/spoiler-box]
Ranger:
-Skill tree:
[spoiler-box]

Weak Bullet: Exclusively for Ranger, you can charge a weakening bullet.
Bind Bullet: Exclusively for Ranger, you can charge a binding bullet.
Dive Roll: Quickly move short distances by diving.
Dive Roll Advance: Invincibility time during Dive Rolling is extended.
Tool Mastery: Damage from Skills in the Tool System is increased
Upper Trap: Install a trap that launches Enemies
Upper Trap Custom: Damage from Upper Trap increases
Poison trap: Install a poison trap
Poison Trap Custom: The probability of poisoning increases with the Poison Trap
Ability, Reaction, and Range UP.

[/spoiler-box]
Force:
-Skill tree:
[spoiler-box]
Flame Mastery: Fire Technics power increases
Flame Mastery 2: Fire Technics Power Increases
Photon Flare: Temporarily increase TEC Power in exchange for your maximum HP which decreases.
Flame Tech S Charge: Shorten the Charge Time of Fire Techs
Ice Mastery: Ice Technics power increases
Ice Mastery 2: Ice Technics power increases
Freeze Ignition: Give an explosive heavy damage to enemies that are frozen
Freeze Tech Boost: The establishment of “freeze” from ice technics increases.*
Bolt Mastery: Power of Lightning Technics Increases
Bolt Mastery 2: Power of Lightning Technics Increases
PP Convert: Temporarily increase the PP recovery rate, in exchange for your maximum HP, which decreases.
Bolt Tech PP Save: The PP Consumption rate of lightning techs decreases.
PP Regenerate: The amount of PP recovery increases
TECH Up, Mind Up, PP UP
Mirage Escape
[/spoiler-box]

Mike
Jan 31, 2012, 12:53 AM
The ranger tree is different. I don't have it in front of me so I can't say anything but there are a few skills in the second alpha that weren't present in the first one.

Spellbinder
Jan 31, 2012, 01:02 AM
The PP skills for Force seem different as well.

BioWarrior
Jan 31, 2012, 01:29 AM
Only difference on force is mind up being gone and they added just attack tech damage up and 2 tech charge up (which is the same power as each individual element boost and comes first in the tree). Oh and pp regenerate is now tech charge pp regenerate.

Eclipse5632
Jan 31, 2012, 01:30 AM
That Hunter tree seems to be a modified version of the one that was posted on Famitsu(?). There's no longer a skill called "Response Up", but there are a couple skills that just give a flat bonus to attack power and another that makes Just Attacks do more damage.

WBMike
Jan 31, 2012, 01:58 AM
Ranger Skill Tree (Rough Draft)


技量アップ1 : Ability Up: increases ability stat.
ウィークヒットアドバンス1 Weak Hit Advance: Damage to the weak point area on enemies increases.
ウィークバレット Weak Bullet, exclusively for Assault rifles, charges a weakening bullet.
技量アップ2: Ability Up 2: increases ability stat.
射撃防御アップ1 Range Defense Up
ウィークヒットアドバンス2: Weak Hit Advance 2: Damage given to weakpoints increase a lot.
ツールマスタリー Tool Mastery: Tool type skills increases
ポイズントラップ Poison Trap: Set a Poison trap
アッパートラップ: Upper Trap: Set a trap to launch enemies in the air.
スタングレネード: Stun Grenade: Throw a grenade that stuns the enemy.
アッパーTカスタム Upper T Custom: Increase the power of Upper Traps
ポイズンTカスタム: Poison T Custom: Increases the chance of poison in poison traps.
射撃アップ Range Up: Range stat power goes up.
射撃アップ2: Range Up 2
スタンディングスナイプ1: Standing Snipe: Firing damage increases when you stand still.
バインドバレット: Bind Bullet: Loads a Binding bullet
ダイブロール: Dive Roll, Dive a short distance.
ダイブロールアドバンス: Dive Roll Advance: Extended Invincibility time through dive rolling.
ジャストリバーサル:Just Reversal (When you are blown away (from an attack) and fall down, you can get up quickly by jumping?*)



If there is any mistakes let me know, especially Just Reversal.

Eclipse5632
Jan 31, 2012, 12:54 PM
Just wondering, but has anyone done any stat comparisons between the classes yet? I was just thinking about how Hunters can't use techs (at least in this test), and since there's no evasion or accuracy stats, what motivation is there to make a non-cast hunter? Or on the other hand, why would you ever make a FOcast? Besides aesthetic reasons, of course. Then it struck me that race/gender choices could possibly be totally aesthetic in this game. If no one says anything here I'm gonna try to do some research on that tomorrow. I'll probably just make a FOnewearl and FOcast and try comparing their level 1 stats (not enough time for me to grind them both up to 20, plus there's other stuff I wanna try out tomorrow).

Dinosaur
Jan 31, 2012, 02:13 PM
The F bomb is culturally cool in Japan

seriously

OT: @WBMike: Great job.



Just wondering, but has anyone done any stat comparisons between the classes yet? I was just thinking about how Hunters can't use techs (at least in this test), and since there's no evasion or accuracy stats, what motivation is there to make a non-cast hunter? Or on the other hand, why would you ever make a FOcast? Besides aesthetic reasons, of course. Then it struck me that race/gender choices could possibly be totally aesthetic in this game. If no one says anything here I'm gonna try to do some research on that tomorrow. I'll probably just make a FOnewearl and FOcast and try comparing their level 1 stats (not enough time for me to grind them both up to 20, plus there's other stuff I wanna try out tomorrow).

There will be sub-classes in a future build.

Eclipse5632
Jan 31, 2012, 02:19 PM
There will be sub-classes in a future build.
This has been officially confirmed? I don't actually recall reading about that. Do you remember where that was said?

Serephim
Jan 31, 2012, 02:24 PM
i dont know, but they did comment on the ability to subclass. I can understand them not being in the test right now though.

str898mustang
Jan 31, 2012, 07:38 PM
6 1/2 hours :D

Cayenne
Jan 31, 2012, 09:25 PM
You know what would be a good addition to make the make more challenging?

If the enemies can parry your attacks and knock you back like 1 foot, making you venerable for a sec or 2

NoiseHERO
Jan 31, 2012, 09:30 PM
You know what would be a good addition to make the make more challenging?

If the enemies can parry your attacks and knock you back like 1 foot, making you venerable for a sec or 2

Kinda reminds me of why I liked Mabinogi's battle system...

Sort of rock paper scissors but more choices like system. and making the wrong move on an enemy or using the wrong attack with get you staggered a bit or knocked down.

But if you think up the right strategy and patterns, you can completely dominate your enemy 1 on 1.

Of course at the same time it was broken and didn't age well. and eventually people were killing super bosses at level 1...

Cayenne
Jan 31, 2012, 09:32 PM
Just a random thought I had.

Serephim
Jan 31, 2012, 09:59 PM
You know what would be a good addition to make the make more challenging?

If the enemies can parry your attacks and knock you back like 1 foot, making you venerable for a sec or 2

The monsters in the caves DO do this. If they block you, you're staggered, and they immediately attack after.


I dont know if you can get out of it or not, im pretty sure you can jump out of the way. But if you dont react very quickly you'll get hit.

BioWarrior
Feb 1, 2012, 02:57 AM
Getting error 632 after being disconnected

Legato Bluesummers
Feb 1, 2012, 04:22 AM
Okay, so lemme get this straight, because nobody seem to talk that much about it when writing about their alpha experience: you can wear any outfit regardless of your class? For example, you can have a HUmar wearing what would typically be a FOmar's robes, but still be a Hunter in terms of class?

I've been wondering since forever on this.

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 04:23 AM
how do i change blocks?

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 04:24 AM
Okay, so lemme get this straight, because nobody seem to talk that much about it when writing about their alpha experience: you can wear any outfit regardless of your class? For example, you can have a HUmar wearing what would typically be a FOmar's robes, but still be a Hunter in terms of class?

I've been wondering since forever on this.

yeah.i think those starting outfits that look like updated humar/fomar etc etc outfits are more for fans/nostalgia things.clothes dont have anything to do with race or class,well except CAST i guess

•Col•
Feb 1, 2012, 04:29 AM
So where exactly do all the PSO-World players hang out when playing PSO2? (I mean Ship/Block-wise)

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 04:32 AM
Uhm, did the servers go down? :S Error 249. and also, how do I change bloks*again

uhawww
Feb 1, 2012, 04:32 AM
1.5 Hour emergency maintenance guys.
4:30 - 6:00 AM

Komali
Feb 1, 2012, 04:32 AM
Same 249 here...

Komali
Feb 1, 2012, 04:33 AM
1.5 Hour emergency maintenance guys.
4:30 - 6:00 AM
Ehhhh?
Are they going to extend it by that much time as well?
I'm not going to complain as it's still an honor to even be here, but still...

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 04:34 AM
aaah how unfortunate~ I finally got a party... because I don't know how to change from empty block 80 or wherever I am lol

Tyreek
Feb 1, 2012, 04:35 AM
Damn. Wonder what they found that was such an emergency? :o

schnee4
Feb 1, 2012, 04:36 AM
Error 249 after hearing a loud alarm noise for 10 minutes. What was that noise??

uhawww
Feb 1, 2012, 04:40 AM
Error 249 after hearing a loud alarm noise for 10 minutes. What was that noise??

Servers going down for maintenance.
That's the "Log out now" klaxon.

Komali
Feb 1, 2012, 04:42 AM
I didn't get something like that though; it just booted me off with 249.
I would have been able to read an announcement and my party didn't comment either.

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 04:42 AM
Damn. Wonder what they found that was such an emergency? :o

maybe a duping glitch!

SuKKrl
Feb 1, 2012, 04:49 AM
Wow, decided to have a break to eat something, and that happens 2 mins later. Anyways, there is always a considerable possibility of something of the sort happening in an alpha so can't say I'm surprised.

Ezodagrom
Feb 1, 2012, 05:20 AM
Anyone knows what is this area?

[spoiler-box]http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3195/pso20120201092812001.jpg

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/2185/pso20120201092814002.jpg[/spoiler-box]

str898mustang
Feb 1, 2012, 05:23 AM
does anyone know how to bring up the map besides pressing the map key on the keyboard? (i have it set to direct chatting)

Pochakun
Feb 1, 2012, 05:27 AM
That area is just a dead end. The flavor text says that there doesn't seem to be a reason to go there. It's probably just there for when they add more content in beta or for the release.

Ezodagrom
Feb 1, 2012, 05:28 AM
That area is just a dead end. The flavor text says that there doesn't seem to be a reason to go there. It's probably just there for when they add more content in beta or for the release.
Ah, okay, thanks. :P

Polantaris
Feb 1, 2012, 05:31 AM
That area is just a dead end. The flavor text says that there doesn't seem to be a reason to go there. It's probably just there for when they add more content in beta or for the release.

No that's not true. Those tags mark loops. When you go through it, you'll end up on the other side of the map. At least, that's what's always happened to me whenever I've gone through one with that tag.

Mike
Feb 1, 2012, 05:35 AM
That area is just a dead end. The flavor text says that there doesn't seem to be a reason to go there. It's probably just there for when they add more content in beta or for the release.
If it works the same way as in the first alpha, that is an entrance for different parties to the multi-party area. The party that used that entrance can use it to return to the first area but other parties can't.


No that's not true. Those tags mark loops. When you go through it, you'll end up on the other side of the map. At least, that's what's always happened to me whenever I've gone through one with that tag.
It shouldn't let you through.

Poubelle
Feb 1, 2012, 05:46 AM
Can I ask again how you switch blocks/channels? i would really like to know before the server goes up and you all stop looking at the forum. lol

Mike
Feb 1, 2012, 05:52 AM
Can I ask again how you switch blocks/channels? i would really like to know before the server goes up and you all stop looking at the forum. lol
Head to the teleporter on the right or left side of the main lobby or to the one on the right side of the Arks lobby. You can use them to change blocks or go to your room on that ship.