various questions for a2 testers

[Aiex]

Unfortunately I didn't get into the alpha, so I was hoping some of you could know the answers to some basic questions.

1. Are there class bonuses like PSO? I'm thinking specifically of tech boosts for certain force classes. FOnewm used to get a boost on Gi or Ra techs or something, FOmar had a shifta/deband boost, FOneweral had a simple tech bonus I think...

2. Do casts still have traps?

3. In PSO techs could be assigned to the number keys. In PSU they were linked to weapons. In the gameplay videos I see a bar along the bottom that resembles the one in PSO, but the way it's divided up sort of gave me the impression that techs / PAs are bound to weapons. How's it work?

4. What's the dodge move I keep seeing?

5. Do they classes seem balanced well?



I hope I can get into the Beta.
My Japanese is pretty good, so if there are any translation projects in the works look me up. Granted, I don't have the client.

[Kanashimi]

3. You can put techs on the bar; they aren't linked to your weapon.

4. Double tap a movement key to gtfo when something wants to punch you in the face.

5. I've only played force, but I can say that I don't feel underpowered or inefficient at all thus far.

[Aiex]

3. That's the best news I've heard yet.

4. Can you cancel out of techs to gtfo? lol

5. That's basically what I was thinking about. I'm glad to hear that too.

Thanks for your input.

[Kanashimi]

Dodge seems to take priority over other animations. No matter what I was doing at the time, I never had an issue dodging when I needed it.

[DoubleCannon]

I also have a question.. about the spawn for pso 2. Is it finally Random and not set? like challenge mode on pso1 was random but the main game was always set. How does this game handle replay value when it comes to this stuff?? please let me know!

[Zaix]

1 + 2. I think both are rather unknown or nonexistent in the Alpha.

3. That also means you can cast with any weapon, not just rods.

4. I don't care about the dash, haven't tried rolling yet, but the mirage escape was amazing.

4b. Yes you can interupt attacks and techs to GTFO.

5. I've used hunter and force so far. They both feel really solid. Hunter doesn't feel like the only class worth using for now. Force is so fun now with charge techs.


I also have a question.. about the spawn for pso 2. Is it finally Random and not set? like challenge mode on pso1 was random but the main game was always set. How does this game handle replay value when it comes to this stuff?? please let me know!

Spawn is extremely random since random events and random map layouts exist everywhere. Enemies even respawn if you backtrack. The only semi-scripted spawns are for quests, even then it doesn't seem to apply to non quest enemies that also spawn with them.

[Kanashimi]

@DoubleCannon: I didn't pay attention to this specifically, but in my forest wanderings, I can say that I never managed to recognize where I was or what was coming next.

But given my memory, that doesn't mean much, lol.

EDIT: Actually, I can think of one concrete example. I failed my first arrest quest and had to do it again, and I expected more wolves than actually showed up. The only thing I remember being explicitly the same was the rappies at the end, which fits with what Zaix said.

[DoubleCannon]

very nice. i figured with quests there is going to be the obvious always the same ending kinda since its a quest. since there is free play i was unsure how that would be but random layouts and spawns makes me a happy person. and the special sudden cut in quests i wasnt sure how random they are like if you get 2 attack ones would same number of same enemies would show up or if its completely different each time.

[xMarle]

To clarify #3

You can equip spells to the hotkeys 1 ~ 0, and cast them with any weapon equipped. Using a rod it seems techs combo more fluidly though.

You can also equip spells to your weapons, PSU style. (Left , Right, Shift + Left , Shift + Right)

As for #4 apparently using the guard action that certain weapons permit (wired lance and sword) cancels the animation faster than dodging, but dodge is just too useful to want to block. Atleast, against any of the bosses/mobs available in the alpha.

5. FO has a rough start, like die in 2 hits rough but it evens out. Razonde is kinda sucky but cool to look at , and HU's wired lance makes their other weapons practically useless, it's rather OP'd, Sword is arguably better when you have a full bar so you can charge super fast but that actually requires you to fill the bar up where as the wired lance is always good and doesn't require any maintenance like the sword.

and for ^

Interrupt events happen very frequently, almost a little too frequently, they always follow the same formula too. Exterminate(?) will always have you sealed into a small room until you kill everything for example.

Maybe i have bad luck but i swear i've been to the same forest map several times, i think there's a very small number of maps to choose from, it's not really randomly generated. I'm sure the selection will be bigger in full release though.

[Aiex]

Random maps and spawns are going to make the mechanics of hunting a specific rare different eh? Both pros and cons I suppose, but I'd say I cautiously I'm in favorof it.

[DoubleCannon]

So with the events like exterminate, are you fighting the same group of enemies or is it randomized to? etc. first one you had to kill 3 rappies and 2 robot thingy and 1 wolf, next one is 3 wolfs, 1 rappy and whatever else lol.

Btw another thing is has anyone encounter any rare form, i doubt this as its only alpha lol. But I see the rare drops. Can anyone translate into english the names of these red drops please :)

[Vent]

1 + 2:
I think the idea of the skill trees for each class (hunter, ranger and force) are the modern replacements for the unique abilities each class has in PSO as well as in PSU. The tech bonuses you mention are there in a different form. The usage of traps are in the ranger skill tree if I'm not mistaken and is thus not exclusively available for casts.

If I remember correctly, there is no character level in PSO2. So your level is solely based on your class level. The problem with this is how 'unique' your skill choices eventually will be. If one can just max all skills at max level, then eventually, there will be no difference from player to player.

4:
The dodge move for any class is kind of too powerful if you ask me, especially Mirage Escape for forces. It is kind of too easy to use that to escape big attacks from bosses. You can even Mirage Escape into flames, then Mirage Escape again without getting hit.

5:
@xMarle In PSO forces died in 2-3 hits by normal monsters too. It's nothing new. In fact, getting one-hit by bosses was kind of normal if you are not over-leveled.
Hunters seem to be very strong in just whacking around, dodging and spamming PAs. They just rampage around the battlefield non-stop. Some find that a bit too much. Rangers do not do that much damage, but they have very high mobility and range, making them very versatile. Forces seem to be the most balanced one, but uncharged techs are kind of useless compared to charged ones at the moment.

[Dinosaur]

1. Are there class bonuses like PSO? I'm thinking specifically of tech boosts for certain force classes. FOnewm used to get a boost on Gi or Ra techs or something, FOmar had a shifta/deband boost, FOneweral had a simple tech bonus I think...

I'm sure there will be.


2. Do casts still have traps?

Traps are a RAnger skill. Any race can use them.


3. In PSO techs could be assigned to the number keys. In PSU they were linked to weapons. In the gameplay videos I see a bar along the bottom that resembles the one in PSO, but the way it's divided up sort of gave me the impression that techs / PAs are bound to weapons. How's it work?

Techs can be casted through the 1-0 hotkey bar. You can also put up to four techs on the attack palette. PAs are a separate 3-tier combo similar to your standard 3-hit chain. You can choose what PA will the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in your string.


4. What's the dodge move I keep seeing?

Double tab direction is the command for evasive maneuver. It is dependent on the weapon equipped. ex: Gunslash = HUnter Step. Rifle = Ranger Roll.


5. Do they classes seem balanced well?

Very balanced. Everyone seems to deal damage. In terms of difficulty, Force is the easiest, Ranger is medium, and Hunter is the hardest.

[Vashyron]

Since no one has mentioned it. Only forces can put techs on the 1-0 bar, so effectively so far only Forces can use techs unlike PSO.

[Yamishi]

I believe I read somewhere that areas are randomly generated at the start of a run. So every map you run into will be different. However, at this point in the alpha(2), they may not have an incredible amount of variation.

That said, I have yet to run into a map/Interrupt Event that felt familiar. Everything's been randomized as far as I can tell.

[Masterflower]

Dont forget that enemies respawn on those maps as well lol.

As for the skill tree, I dont think we will be allowed to max everything cuz i saw alot of stuff can go up to 10 points. So I think it will work like one force may have the skills but another force will have a punch in his or her techs. I heavily suspect the lv cap will be 50 from the start since I seen this in alot of MMOs.

Dodging I dont have really have a problem. I played Force and yes when fighting bosses, I get hit really hard and die in 2 hits. Also it sounds like Hunter's evasion has less invincibility frames then Mirage Evasion.

Still drolling off that delicious 941 dmg I was doing on those big guys with the shields ^^

[Aiex]

How does leveling speed compare to PSO?

[xMarle]

How does leveling speed compare to PSO?


I got Lvl2~20 in one day on my Force, if that says anything.

The cap is 20. So..

[Aiex]

Sounds roughly the same in that case. Presumably final level cap will be 200?

[Serephim]

Since no one has mentioned it. Only forces can put techs on the 1-0 bar, so effectively so far only Forces can use techs unlike PSO.

Yeah i explained this in one topic. You aren't even given the option to map techniques to the sub bar outside of force.


We still aren't able to do it yet, but remember they did say eventually we'll be able to choose one class and one Sub-class. Perhaps choosing Force as a subclass will allow others to use Techniques, ala PSO.

[Rika-chan]

I'm pretty sure they removed sub-classes. Maybe not, though.

[terrell707]

Since no one has mentioned it. Only forces can put techs on the 1-0 bar, so effectively so far only Forces can use techs unlike PSO.

Maybe with the addition of sub-classes, anyone with a subclass of Force will be able to cast techs. (just speculation though)

Also, isn't leveling in alpha tests usually a lot faster so that everyone can experience everything in the short amount time given? and then betas is when the game is pretty much the same as the actual release.

Also I have a question, how are the variety of quests? is it all kill something or get to the end? or are there others? And how are the skills available so far for each class? Is it like traditional MMOs where you have to follow a path? or is it you can pick any skill that you like?

[moorebounce]

I have a question for all the testers (who will answer this question of course).

What is your computer set-up?

[Kanashimi]

I have a question for all the testers (who will answer this question of course).

What is your computer set-up?

Windows 7 SP1 64-bit, 8 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GT 220, Intel i5-750. Few years old, but I imagine it'll do me well enough for a while yet. No problems to report with this setup.

[Cayenne]

Check the "will my computer run this" thread, I put specs and FPS results.

[moorebounce]

Check the "will my computer run this" thread, I put specs and FPS results.

Thanks Cayenne ... Looks like I'll get a video card to be on the safe side.

[Agitated_AT]

So I registered to ask the following 2 questions. First I wanna say that this is a great forum with a great community. I am one of the people that skipped everything that had to do with PSU after giving it a chance.

Well anyway here are the questions:

1. I've watched a view videos and it seemed like the whip is maybe overpowered? I mean what it does is hold an enemy, making the enemy unable to move or attack, hitting any enemy that's close and then after throwing them they keep laying down for a moment. I dunno but it looked kinda cheap to me compared to other weapons. So I wonder if this is really the case?

2. Also i've heard that you can hold down the attack button and it keeps on attacking. Is this really the case? And how is it in action?

Edit: Wait I actually have a few more.

3. How is the difficulty and AI? Are the enemies aggresive?

4. the previous question sort of applies to this. If the enemies aren't aggresive enough, I feel that rangers benefit the most from this, as they can keep running around and shoot. Enemies won't ever hit these guys so rangers are the safest. Well basically.. do rangers feel cheap (at least in the alpha's content)? Or is it balanced out in a way?

[AzureAsh]

I have a question for all the testers (who will answer this question of course).

What is your computer set-up?

AMD Phenom II X4 B60 Black Edition
ATI Radeon HD 6770
8GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Maxed out
60fps in gameplay.
45-60fps in lobbies, checked this by Fraps.

Keep in mind, the game has a 60fps lock unlike in Alpha 1.

[Cayenne]

@Agitated_AT

Before I answer your question, here's an FYI. I had your same thoughts before I even played it and the things you worry about were the ones I had as well UNTIL I played, videos don't do this game justice. You have understand that how it looks is COMPLETELY different from how it feels and it feels right.

1. Whip is not overpowered and I used it less because the sword was more effective. It's fun to use and great for a single enemy but the sword was better for crowd control. At least for me.

2. Yes you can hold attack but like in PSO you would rather use your strong attack when you can to deal more damage plus you can't physically miss. It's there if you want to be lazy and less effective.

Just Attack is similar in a way to PSO's timed attacks and I was upset that SEGA went with a lazy approach to fighting but there are times when I get bombarded by enemies and mess up my timing and I'm thankful auto attack was there to help me continue fighting when you can't time it right. It's a welcome addition.

Against auto attack before playing it, happy is there after I played.

3. It's kinda easy at first but remember it's still in alpha and people are here to try it out, give feedback and report bugs mainly so it could change over time. The enemies can do serious damage if you give them a chance (3 wolfs can end your game in seconds). I think why you think it's easy is because the videos you see are people that are playing really really good and using common sense to avoid getting hit because there are some beast that get you down from 1/3 HP to almost death in 1 hit so you have to be really cautions.

I learned the hard way, being cocky got me killed quick a few times. Also the AI is good, enemies dodging, blocking with shields, counter attacking, leaping from very far away, jumping from walls, they'll make you dance I can report that. It could use a bump in difficulty but again it's the beginning of the game which it should be easy and (I'm very sure of it) it will be getting stronger/smarter enemies the higher you go.

4. Not cheap at all, they are there kinda for backup in the same way force backup the team. Also shooting may looks boring but dude, it's not. I had more fun being a ranger than a hunter. Whaling on enemies while timing Just Attack with your PAs (which you can choose which to shoot at any time) give you a good mix and strategies to use on different enemies and situations.

Again, videos don't do this game justice, you HAVE to play it to understand that the mechanics of the game feel great!

Edit: I was also one of those guys that gave PSU a chance after playing PSO for years and hated it. SEGA has got this down, nothing to worry about bud.

[failstrom]

I'm personally under the impression that subclasses will HAVE to be released in the future. The people who alpha test seem to largely miss that we're here to serve SEGA, and the less content they show us the better. They're looking for major gameplay bugs, however, I'd like to put this out there: Races are obsolete without perks. That is if a HUmar or HUney can't cast, there's literally no point to making them at all. That is to say, no balance. In PSO, PSU, and PSP, there was some balance to fine tune playstyle. RAmars had more ata than a RAcast and could heal, and in PSU a CAST could make a decent GunTecher. In the alpha there's just flat out no reason at all to make anything but a RACAST, HUCAST, or FONEY (except that force types tend to have to rely a bit on melee for PP regen, so they have some balance).

[AzureAsh]

If anyone here ever feels like asking some quick questions and things they are wondering on Alpha 2. The PSO2 Community IRC (shown in my signature) is currently answering a2 questions and we wouldn't mind answering more ;)

[H3Av3NS PUNISH3R]

Is it still possible to join the next beta gameplay? I'm getting too excited watching these videos and I really want to join.

[Cayenne]

As far as we know, only Alpha 2 players that reach Level 10 are automatically entered for Beta.

I'm think SEGA will do something similar like what they did for Alpha 2 for people to enter Beta. Gotta wait it out bud.

[Joe Friday]

As far as we know, only Alpha 2 players that reach Level 10 are automatically entered for Beta.

I'm think SEGA will do something similar like what they did for Alpha 2 for people to enter Beta. Gotta wait it out bud.
Whoo! Thanks for the info. My HUnewearl is around lv14, so I can look forward to the beta when it happens. :)

[Agitated_AT]

You are the best Cayenne, thanks. But yeah lol, I was thinking about that because surely if they were really issues, the fans would have mentioned them. I just wanted to make sure is all.

Well let me continue about some of the answers you gave.

1. Not to come off disstrusting or anything :P, but since I only get 1 answer from 1 person, do you think this is generally agreed on? I would think that maybe a little reduction in the "spin attack" damages would be needed?

2. This was very clear and I think i'm not concerned at all about this anymore. Just struck me as an odd decision because button mashing in PSU was exactly what I disliked over PSO's that got you nowhere by doing that. Them going even a step further just didn't connect with me right away, but i'll believe ya reading that it should be played before judged.

3/4. Ah that sounds pretty good overall. I've seen videos and I think they could be a little bit more agressive towards rangers. Maybe run/travel faster towards long distance characters? This is based on pso2 on it's own, because any online phantasy game has had rangers being safe in the first couple of places where enemies are close combat oriented themselves.


Edit: Well another question has come to mind after watching a little more. I was remembered about the difference between forest 1 and 2. Forest 1 in the bright day, and forest 2 in the rainy night. I still love that about forest to this day.

So I learned that there are weather conditions in the game. Are there day and night cycles as well? If not could one please bring this as feedback because it is needed in my opinion. Or I don't mind if they just randomize the condition before entering the forest and let it change after awhile within the place. Hope this isn't too much

[Cayenne]

If you want to nitpick on the spin attack for the whip then yeah it could be nerfed a bit. The reason why I didn't mention a nerf for the PA is that enemies have LOTS of HP and even though you might see some people spam 3 PAs in a row (surprisingly I did this quite a bit) it's required sometimes just to kill foes in under 10 secs otherwise you'll meet one enemy group out of like 15 per section and it could take around 3 mins just to move on.

To put it clear, my group on both days of testing failed around 4 missions because we couldn't kill fast enough.

AI does seem to target at random so no one is ever safe, they keep you on guard.

As for rangers, they've always stayed in the back giving cover fire since PSO so it's no different here except since you can aim with your mouse you actually end up getting closer to get accurate shots (enemies have weak spots). Auto aiming will get you less accurate shots (bullets are more scattered, higher chances of missing weak spots). You're more interactive than previous series.

Edit: Your other question, Weather is random. It's not predefined by mission. Also no night but you should request that in the feedback thread.

[xMarle]

If you want to nitpick on the spin attack for the whip then yeah it could be nerfed a bit. The reason why I didn't mention a nerf for the PA is that enemies have LOTS of HP and even though you might see some people spam 3 PAs in a row (surprisingly I did this quite a bit) it's required sometimes just to kill foes in under 10 secs otherwise you'll meet one enemy group out of like 15 per section and it could take around 3 mins just to move on.

To put it clear, my group on both days of testing failed around 4 missions because we couldn't kill fast enough.

AI does seem to target at random so no one is ever safe, they keep you on guard.

As for rangers, they've always stayed in the back giving cover fire since PSO so it's no different here except since you can aim with your mouse you actually end up getting closer to get accurate shots (enemies have weak spots). Auto aiming will get you less accurate shots (bullets are more scattered, higher chances of missing weak spots). You're more interactive than previous series.

Edit: Your other question, Weather is random. It's not predefined by mission. Also no night but you should request that in the feedback thread.

For the sake of arguing the opposite side...

1. Mobs don't have lots of HP, very few do. The reason it took forever for stuff to die was because the server was severely overloaded, and hits wouldn't register for a large amount of time.

I have yet to fail a single mission, i'm lvl20 FO and lvl15 HU.

2. I havn't experienced any random AI whatsoever, everything is way too predictable and easy to avoid IMO.

You can just dodge anytime the mob makes an irregular movement and escape everything. This goes double for FOs because their dodge is quite frankly OP'd.

For example, the yellow monkey guys will always do a handstand prior to attacking, lock on, double tap, you're now behind them and safe from attack. :)

3. As for the whip/wired lance , I'll argue that it is infact, OP. Slightly.

It offers too much utility and crowd control, damage is decent.

You can completely lock down a single mob with any of the PAs, you can chain them together to prevent that particular mob from doing anything untill it's dead.

The spinning PA allows you to rapidly damage everything while keeping the target locked down, chain this from the PA that pulls you in and you have the ultimate CC.

The only time sword is superior to lance/whip , is when you have the bar fully charged.


Now this is just an alpha, so i'm sure things will be more balanced in full release, we might not see PAs so early or doing as much damage, because they just want us to hit lvl20 fast to test everything, not to play :)

If anything i'd only suggest nerfing the spinning PA and raising the difficulty by having smarter A.I. But again, it's an alpha so none of this stuff is likely to stay.

[Agitated_AT]

If you want to nitpick on the spin attack for the whip then yeah it could be nerfed a bit. The reason why I didn't mention a nerf for the PA is that enemies have LOTS of HP and even though you might see some people spam 3 PAs in a row (surprisingly I did this quite a bit) it's required sometimes just to kill foes in under 10 secs otherwise you'll meet one enemy group out of like 15 per section and it could take around 3 mins just to move on.

To put it clear, my group on both days of testing failed around 4 missions because we couldn't kill fast enough.

AI does seem to target at random so no one is ever safe, they keep you on guard.

As for rangers, they've always stayed in the back giving cover fire since PSO so it's no different here except since you can aim with your mouse you actually end up getting closer to get accurate shots (enemies have weak spots). Auto aiming will get you less accurate shots (bullets are more scattered, higher chances of missing weak spots). You're more interactive than previous series.

Edit: Your other question, Weather is random. It's not predefined by mission. Also no night but you should request that in the feedback thread.

Thanks again!!

I get what you mean about the large HP for enemies, but to me it's more about the choice between weapons. I feel like everyone picks the whip once they realise how handy it is. This is still in alpha so im sure all sorts of balancing is taking place.

Will do about the day and night cycle. I think to keep it simple for the devs this deep into development, they could just program it to simply make it randomly set from the start perhaps.

[Cayenne]

@xMarie, is that why I though enemies had lots of HP? Server lag? Humm well then I guess I had a longer time killing foes than others hahaha.

Also I didn't say AI was random, it was better but yeah with the right moves you can dodge them easily.

Please feel free to add more input and correct me as lag made the game slightly different in my view.

[Agitated_AT]

Is it a good idea to make quicksteps/dodge movements use PP?(like 10 perhaps)

[xMarle]

Is it a good idea to make quicksteps/dodge movements use PP?(like 10 perhaps)

I'm thinking increase the delay on them so they aren't spammable and decrease invulnerability frames so you must dodge prior to being hit, not 2-3 seconds earlier (@FO dodge)

Perhaps give us a reason to use block over dodge, sure blocking cancels animations faster but dodge is still superior. :(

[rezakon]

Anyone from the oceanic AUS/NZ region in beta, if so hows the latency?

I've never had a problem in the other games (or most mmo's in general) but with the action orientation of the gameplay I'm curious if it's acceptable.

[Masterflower]

I see alot of people saying that force's Mirage dodge is too good. You know what, it saved my life. I cant block as a Force (At least I tired everything key) and those Big Monkey things, that can spam body slam no worries like its all good. Tries to body slam me like 6 times a row. And the Dragon.. Oh boy his body slam. As it is, Techs cost way too much imo so idk what to tell ya.

[xMarle]

FO doesn't have access to a weapon with block in a2, (It's the shift key to block)

The dodge is still too good. It probably needs to be shortened or have a larger delay between uses.

As a lvl20 FO, i can go through any of the available missions and not get hit once because of it... the only challenge so far is lag :)

Also techs are fine, barring Razonde, looking at costs the whole point is to get you to fight in multiple ways rather than sitting back spamming 1 tech over and over.

Try burning all your PP on techs then switching out the gunslash in gun mode, your PP will be full again in seconds (Or just cast techs with that equipped, for endless PP if you shoot between techs.)

[SELENNA]

Question :

i) Do we know if there are any random environments effects? I'm thinking stuff like rain / sunset / fog that happen from time to time.

[Mitz]

Question :

i) Do we know if there are any random environments effects? I'm thinking stuff like rain / sunset / fog that happen from time to time.

You get them, yes. But they're usually not random and more related to quest progress.

Besides it would be weird to have several random sunsets in 1 area.

[xMarle]

Question :

i) Do we know if there are any random environments effects? I'm thinking stuff like rain / sunset / fog that happen from time to time.


It rains (increasing water levels and making rivers flow faster, pushing you with the current) , it gets cloudy , there will probably be more too.

Were there any for the caves? I don't remember any "weather" there..

We just answered this too like, a couple posts back :)

[Vent]

I'm not sure if the thunderstorm weather is scripted into a quest or also appears randomly. I couldn't help myself to stand in the area where the lightning bolt was going to strike when it happened.

[kyuuketsuki]

I think, as far as difficulty concerns go, the AI just needs to me more aggressive and the enemies a little quicker. That would go a long way. Of course, these are the early, early parts of the game so the low difficulty could be entirely intentional.

It wasn't clear whether the change from sunshine to rain and back again I experienced was "random" or part of the mission. Either way, I enjoyed it.

I think, if I continue playing my FOmar on Tuesday/Wednesday, I'm gonna keep the Gunslash equipped and see how that works out. I don't remember... rods don't have any advantages as far as tech damage is concerned, do they?

And on that subject, I just looked at my work schedule and I've got Wednesday off. So, I can stay up all night Tuesday and get some good alpha playage in, probably until the server goes down or I fall asleep in my chair. Not really relevant to the topic, I'm just excited and had to share. =D

[xMarle]

I think, if I continue playing my FOmar on Tuesday/Wednesday, I'm gonna keep the Gunslash equipped and see how that works out. I don't remember... rods don't have any advantages as far as tech damage is concerned, do they?



I'm not entirely sure, i would assume so. My guess is rods with elements on them, that freeze mobs and stuff, would also raise the associated tech's damage.

Speculation aside, if you've tried to melee with a rod, techs fluidly combo into the attacks, where the gunslash will leave you open for a short period, if you attempted to combo a tech to a regular attack.

[Mitz]

Hopefully they'll turn the difficulty up a bit. With barely any practice I was able to solo missions without being hit.. at all. Caves were a bit harder and the monsters definitely changed their attack patterns. They also all felt unique; as in they played a different role when engaging your party. The enemy AI is not really my concern, it's just too easy to dodge them in general. Dodging, or moving should be a tactical decision, not something done or spammed all the time. It'd give the game more of a learning curve, which is good because you need the game to be engaging, and not a cakewalk'd grindfest.

[xMarle]

I agree whole-heartedly , button mashing is not fun. I don't care how casual someone is.

I fear they'll end up making everything easy mode pending NA release... another reason to stick to JP :)

[Masterflower]

FO doesn't have access to a weapon with block in a2, (It's the shift key to block)

The dodge is still too good. It probably needs to be shortened or have a larger delay between uses.

As a lvl20 FO, i can go through any of the available missions and not get hit once because of it... the only challenge so far is lag :)

Also techs are fine, barring Razonde, looking at costs the whole point is to get you to fight in multiple ways rather than sitting back spamming 1 tech over and over.

Try burning all your PP on techs then switching out the gunslash in gun mode, your PP will be full again in seconds (Or just cast techs with that equipped, for endless PP if you shoot between techs.)

See I dont have a controller to bring out my full power, playing on keyboard and mouse hurts my hands and my fingers after awhile while a controller doesnt. I hit shift and there doesnt seem to be any indication that my blocking unless its like fighting games block, idk. That dodge is the only thing saving me with my horrible delays in attacks and actions. The gunblade is nice and all but its like no point if i can use melee with my staff. Personally I think its useful for solo, in a pty not so much but thats just me. As far as techs and stuff Foie did all the dmg. Thats all i used after lv 10 ;p I'll take a shorter animation over frame lost.

[xMarle]

See I dont have a controller to bring out my full power, playing on keyboard and mouse hurts my hands and my fingers after awhile while a controller doesnt. I hit shift and there doesnt seem to be any indication that my blocking unless its like fighting games block, idk. That dodge is the only thing saving me with my horrible delays in attacks and actions. The gunblade is nice and all but its like no point if i can use melee with my staff. Personally I think its useful for solo, in a pty not so much but thats just me. As far as techs and stuff Foie did all the dmg. Thats all i used after lv 10 ;p I'll take a shorter animation over frame lost.

Keyboard + Mouse is superior and "brings out your power" on FO, because you can have easier access to the numbered hotkeys.

Shift only blocks for the sword (not gunslash) and wired lance, FO has no weapon capable of blocking.

I was suggesting using the gun mode on gunslash, not melee , but even melee is better than rod melee damage wise.

I'm pretty sure barta out damages foie in the caves since everything is weak to barta there, except the spiders who are weak to foie and the giant shield guys who are weak to zonde.

[Vent]

Walking and holding a charge with one of the numbered hotkeys as a force is kind of awkward though, even when it's put on 1 - 4.

[xMarle]

Walking and holding a charge with one of the numbered hotkeys as a force is kind of awkward though, even when it's put on 1 - 4.

This is true, and even though we can change the button configuration i'm not entirely sure if it's possible to change the numbered keys.

If getting used to it is out of the question, i'd suggest instead just using a rod and only pulling out the gunslash when you need to recharge PP.

I'd also suggest having a 2nd rod in your palette with alternate spells so you don't need to use the numbers at all :) (Resta, Anti on one rod, Barta/Foie/Zonde on the other)

[Masterflower]

Keyboard + Mouse is superior and "brings out your power" on FO, because you can have easier access to the numbered hotkeys.

Shift only blocks for the sword (not gunslash) and wired lance, FO has no weapon capable of blocking.

I was suggesting using the gun mode on gunslash, not melee , but even melee is better than rod melee damage wise.

I'm pretty sure barta out damages foie in the caves since everything is weak to barta there, except the spiders who are weak to foie and the giant shield guys who are weak to zonde.

Idk lol i saw 93 dmg on Barta but Foie did 180~300. Then again Foie was at lv 5 or 6. And see I knew you couldnt block with a staff.
The keyboard is always in front of me so no worries about the hotkeys but I'll be honest and probably only use them for mates and nothing else.... maybe shifta and deband most likely resta but all dmg spells will be on weps.
Like I said, Foie always did triple digits so i stood with it lol. Maybe your techs were better lv'd then mines.

[Mitz]

Bless Razer Naga, huh. You could look into that if you feel like you want to use keyboard + mouse more.

[Arkios]

Are there any options to re-map the keybindings in the Alpha?

In most games, I usually remap the 1-0 number keys. I find it really awkward to try and use the number keys.

I like to use WASD for movement and then I bind Q, E, R, F, C and Z to keys.

[Agitated_AT]

I'm thinking increase the delay on them so they aren't spammable and decrease invulnerability frames so you must dodge prior to being hit, not 2-3 seconds earlier (@FO dodge)

Perhaps give us a reason to use block over dodge, sure blocking cancels animations faster but dodge is still superior. :(

Didn't it work that way in pspo2? As I recall it worked pretty well that way. But both suggestions aren't bad perhaps.

If I had to choose then i'd say making it cost PP would give it a more tactacle flavor. Doing a dodge would stop PP to regenerate for a moment, but using alot of magic/PA would remove the option of a dodge. So the player would have to think of what's best through the process. Making it more delayed will only feel awkward. Well it depends on what you mean with delay. Do you mean delay all movements? or just the dodging?

[xMarle]

Didn't it work that way in pspo2? As I recall it worked pretty well that way. But both suggestions aren't bad perhaps. If I had to choose then i'd say making it cost PP would give it a more tactacle flavor, because making it more delayed will only feel awkward. Well it depends on what you mean with delay. Do you mean delay all movements? or just the dodging?

I havn't played psop2 so i wouldn't know.

Adding a PP cost might end up being a bad thing because PP is already very limited, you frequently have to smack stuff to build PP up, this would make you conserve your dodge, so at least it won't be spammed anymore. But you might end up needing it when you're out of PP.

As for delay i mean, when you dodge, add a cooldown of some sorts before you can use it again. Currently it's spammable with no down time, allowing you to put yourself in a dangerous situation and get out with little issue easily.

Actually now that i think about it, i think they should just add a third gauge, stamina, which would function as a limit to dodging, while not taking away from your available PP. (Think monster hunter.)

[Zyrusticae]

I fear they'll end up making everything easy mode pending NA release... another reason to stick to JP :)
Haha, I always see people suggesting that the devs might do something like this and I've never seen a single shred of evidence that it actually happens.

Honestly, it's getting kind of annoying. The devs don't care enough to maintain two different sets of code/balance settings no matter how different the player base is overseas. The disparity between US PSU and JP PSU is purely one of development time and nothing else. They don't add anything special to the US PSU version, and they won't do anything to US PSO2, either. (In a similar case, I see a LOT of people claiming US Aion has things nerfed compared to KO Aion, with absolutely no proof whatsoever. Drives me utterly bonkers.)

I know WoW is popular and it is incredibly easy, but honestly? That doesn't mean all western gamers need easymode, and it certainly doesn't mean that overseas developers believe that to the point where they'd make a special offshoot just for us.

[xMarle]

Haha, I always see people suggesting that the devs might do something like this and I've never seen a single shred of evidence that it actually happens.

Honestly, it's getting kind of annoying. The devs don't care enough to maintain two different sets of code/balance settings no matter how different the player base is overseas. The disparity between US PSU and JP PSU is purely one of development time and nothing else. They don't add anything special to the US PSU version, and they won't do anything to US PSO2, either. (In a similar case, I see a LOT of people claiming US Aion has things nerfed compared to KO Aion, with absolutely no proof whatsoever. Drives me utterly bonkers.)

I know WoW is popular and it is incredibly easy, but honestly? That doesn't mean all western gamers need easymode, and it certainly doesn't mean that overseas developers believe that to the point where they'd make a special offshoot just for us.

I'm not familiar with how sega does it, last one i played from them (NA) was PSO:BB. That was ages ago.


As for other localized games, it's always been that way. Western gamers are more casual. The "easy mode" is most often, just nerfing stats of enemies.

Looking at elsword NA for example, boss mobs have roughly 1/4th their original health.

For cash shop based games, NA versions tend to milk them like crazy, adding loads of "original" stuff that breaks the game. Latale comes to mind, 500% EXP / hour potions as an example.

I could keep going but i'd rather not take this topic..off topic and i'm about to head to bed :)

[Serephim]

I'm not familiar with how sega does it, last one i played from them (NA) was PSO:BB. That was ages ago.


As for other localized games, it's always been that way. Western gamers are more casual. The "easy mode" is most often, just nerfing stats of enemies.

Looking at elsword NA for example, boss mobs have roughly 1/4th their original health.

For cash shop based games, NA versions tend to milk them like crazy, adding loads of "original" stuff that breaks the game. Latale comes to mind, 500% EXP / hour potions as an example.

I could keep going but i'd rather not take this topic..off topic and i'm about to head to bed :)

This depends solely on the developer.

I know for a fact that devs like Square Enix tend to always refine their product a bit farther BEFORE sending it over here. This usually results in games being more difficult over here than over there.

But in general, i actually know more cases where they're harder here than over there.




But Sega has NEVER done this with Phantasy Star, or any game i can really think of. So I really don't even know why people are bringing this up. They barely spend the time to update our english servers, do you think think they'll take the time to try and rebalance things just for us? It defeats the purpose. If something is done to one side, it makes no sense for them to not do it to the other. And "difficulty" is pretty much half of the reason you continue to play Phantasy Star Online.



I can understand being weary about a US release, but all this other stuff is just blind paranoia.

[Zyrusticae]

I'm not sure how low-to-mid budget F2P games are in any way comparable to a flagship game from a big publisher, or why you would extrapolate that something those publishers (and for the NA versions, they're only publishers - there are no NA developers for, say, Elsword) do for their F2P games would ever apply, again, to Sega.

I would honestly be shocked to see them do something specifically for overseas players. Anything at all, for that matter.

Also, too late, you opened the can of worms :p

[xMarle]

I'm not sure how low-to-mid budget F2P games are in any way comparable to a flagship game from a big publisher, or why you would extrapolate that something those publishers (and for the NA versions, they're only publishers - there are no NA developers for, say, Elsword) do for their F2P games would ever apply, again, to Sega.

I would honestly be shocked to see them do something specifically for overseas players. Anything at all, for that matter.

Also, too late, you opened the can of worms :p

Oh i wasn't trying to say they WILL make it easy mode, i just "fear" they will :) It may be a groundless fear based off past experiences. But it's a fear none the less. I almost exclusively play foreign servers nowdays, KR, TW and JP (Mostly KR ) due to my bad experiences, community and publisher, with NA releases.

Even if they don't make it easy mode, it'll still probably end up kicking the bucket somehow, after PSU was handled and all.

I think it's safe to say it'll be localized "as is". What happens after that though..is anyones guess.

[Serephim]

For the sake of arguing the opposite side...

1. Mobs don't have lots of HP, very few do. The reason it took forever for stuff to die was because the server was severely overloaded, and hits wouldn't register for a large amount of time.



This is arguable, but I guess you're right.

The larger enemies are able to take ridiculous amounts of "damage" because unlike on PSU, you're encouraged to hit weak spots, and when you DONT, the damage is quite low. Rockbears took a while to take down on my Hunter, but once i realized the weakpoint was the face, my Force was able to take them down in a fraction of the time.



2. I havn't experienced any random AI whatsoever, everything is way too predictable and easy to avoid IMO.

You can just dodge anytime the mob makes an irregular movement and escape everything. This goes double for FOs because their dodge is quite frankly OP'd.

For example, the yellow monkey guys will always do a handstand prior to attacking, lock on, double tap, you're now behind them and safe from attack. :)


difficulty has nothing to do with the AI being random or unpredictable. If the enemies were made to attack you with only a twitch warning then the difficulty of the game would be entirely fake.

I've come to find that in situations where the enemies are preoccupied with more than one target, they are FAR easier to deal with, but in the event you're targeted by multiple instances of the same enemy, they become significantly harder to deal with because you can easily be blindsided. Kiting them seems to work pretty well since there are no boundary limits on this game (which is a good thing, for the most part).


The issue here isn't so much that our dodge moves are OP, it's that the enemies really aren't trying very much. You can be swarmed by enemies and have them literally just stare at you for a good moment. If enemies attacked the moment they acquired an opening on this game, people would be singing a slightly different tune. Keep in mind, even in games like Devil May Cry (3 was the hardest for me), the game starts of insanely difficult, but the moment you mold yourself to the difficulty it becomes significantly easier -- the only moment the game becomes truely hard is when you're presented with a combination of enemies that combat your usual playstyle. This is usually a combination of aggressive melee enemies, and agressive long-range enemies. Of course any one of these combinations are made significantly easier with team members.





And finally, dont you guys remember the JP players complaining about difficulty because enemy attack animations couldn't be interrupted? Any Just-Attack will cancel an enemy animation on this game. This could easily not be the case for higher modes. There are too many easy changes they could do to make this game harder (faster movement, more frequent attacks, ect ect) i dont think there's a point in complaining about it right now.



3. As for the whip/wired lance , I'll argue that it is infact, OP. Slightly.

It offers too much utility and crowd control, damage is decent.

You can completely lock down a single mob with any of the PAs, you can chain them together to prevent that particular mob from doing anything untill it's dead.

The spinning PA allows you to rapidly damage everything while keeping the target locked down, chain this from the PA that pulls you in and you have the ultimate CC.

The only time sword is superior to lance/whip , is when you have the bar fully charged.


I agree to an extent.

The spinny move is probably where all the OP part comes from, mostly because it allows you to use the move even when you can't actually grab the enemy, and it does a crapload of damage to everybody.

As for locking down mobs...you can lock down any one singular mob on this game easily with any weapon. Even gunslash has absolutely no issue with keeping an enemy on the ground. It's extremely fast and has two PA's with multiple hits and launch, so you can use juggle combos anyway. As for damage, I dont know about you, but i always got more damage in tight groups with my sword. The Whip has more range, but the sword attacks just seem far more powerful to me.

Difficulty in Phantasy Star has never been from singular mobs, unless they're large ones, like Sinow Zoa or Hildebear. Or complex ones, like Sinow Beat or Delsaber.




My changes:


Sword : None really. The charge bar balances it pretty well i guess.

Gunslash: Again, none really. It seems pretty right in it's current state.


Wired Lance:

1) Swing PA:
-Nerf the amount of collateral damage to outside enemies
-Enemies hit with the swung enemy are not flinched
-increase PP usage slightly

2) Other PAs: *Maybe*
- scale the damage based on the bar a bit farther. It should do less per charge level, but about the same damage at max.

I didn't use wired lance as much as Sword, so im not entirely sure what the charge meter actually did. Im sure it made the grab attacks more powerful? I do see that after one use, the bar empties, unlike the Sword.

[Agitated_AT]

I havn't played psop2 so i wouldn't know.



I have played it once on my little brother's PSP, and I gotta say that I was quite surprised about the game in general. The change of how PP works (regenerating and all that) was a welcome change. The 10PP cost for dodging also worked quite well in my opinion.

No need for another bar imo. Imagine like having to decide wether to use a certain magic/PA, insisting on draining all of your PP to damage the enemy and run away or shield after that, OR dodge and charge your PP up before engaging the enemy.

Personally I could really imagine it to work. The forces allready have a horrible defense so dodging for them is important when needed. Making it cost PP would make it unusable when using too much techniques or using the dodge too often would make the the FO do less damage. Maybe this is a bit too much but at least it gives incentive to use shielding at some instances(which wouldn't drain anything)

Well... it's just a suggestion anyway. Those who are actually playing probably know alot better about wether it would work

[Kanashimi]

And finally, dont you guys remember the JP players complaining about difficulty because enemy attack animations couldn't be interrupted? Any Just-Attack will cancel an enemy animation on this game. This could easily not be the case for higher modes. There are too many easy changes they could do to make this game harder (faster movement, more frequent attacks, ect ect) i dont think there's a point in complaining about it right now.

This. Very this. I dunno about anyone else, but I would be incredibly disappointed if enemy difficulty didn't change as their level increases. If anything would make the game a boring grind, it would be that. I want to be forced to get better, not just trudge through flat level-ups.

[Serephim]

Yeah, even PSU and PSP2 had a few AI alterations for harder difficulty. If not AI alterations, then they just stuck different enemy instances that were more aggressive.



AI is the least of my worries in this game. This alpha test has proven that they are more then capable of enemy AI far superior to the ones in the previous games.

[Agitated_AT]

Is dexterity still a factor in hitting and missing?

[Rika-chan]

It seems not.

[SELENNA]

What is the colored light we see when defeating some monsters?

How many types of Interrupt Events are known so far / in the alpha?

[Vashyron]

Is dexterity still a factor in hitting and missing?

There is no ATA or EVP.

[Agitated_AT]

There is no ATA or EVP.

How does that work with a "lock-on" feature added now? (well it's a general question but mostly curious about the ranger)

[Serephim]

How does that work with a "lock-on" feature added now? (well it's a general question but mostly curious about the ranger)

Where you aim is where you shoot. Of course the bullets stray a bit, but for the most part the guns are surprisingly accurate.


Basically, you make your own ATA. Bullets in general do pretty poor damage, but this game uses a real collision engine, and Headshots actually register as headshots and do more damage. Some enemies also have multiple weak points to attack. Rangers and Forces have the luxury of being able to hit some of them more easily.


And due to manual blocking and evading, you make your own EVP as well. If you get hit, you get hit. If you dodge, you don't, lol.



What is the colored light we see when defeating some monsters?

How many types of Interrupt Events are known so far / in the alpha?


The colored light appears when you're under PSE, which is basically increased drop/rare rate. Maybe experience too.



There seem to be a decent amount of Interrupt Events I guess. Code Attack, Defend, Duel (boss), Capture, Rescue to name a few. There are also specific ones (i can't remember the name) that deal with Darker stuff, like the one with the giant Plant bastard with the tentacles that take alot of work to take down.



Also, I never noticed when it happened (i noticed while watching an older video) but there are also Chngovr Events (Change-Over) that will switch from one code to another.



Some also seem to be level-specific. There was one we encountered in a multiparty area that required us to collect objects that spawned around the map. But i dont think it exists in the Forest.

[Agitated_AT]

Thanks serephim. That sounds excellent

[Cayenne]

To put it simple, SEGA is making sure this game is A.D.D. approved!

[moorebounce]

Did anybody figure out the character limit for naming your character?

[moorebounce]

I've seen in a few videos where you'll get different coloered "PSE Burst" type showers over a player but without the timer. What do the different colors mean?

Was there a weapon/item trade system in place during testing? Besides players standing near each other and actually dropping their items?

[Serephim]

There was a player shop system. Though i was pretty angry at no ability to simply drop stuff in case you want to share / help someone out.

[kyuuketsuki]

Was there a weapon/item trade system in place during testing? Besides players standing near each other and actually dropping their items?
You actually couldn't drop items. I'm hoping that was an alpha limitation and not something that's going to stay that way.

There were Player Shops, as Seraphim mentioned, but I couldn't figure out how to get something on it for other people to buy. Then again, I pretty much spend all my time in the field and didn't really look into Player Shops or the My Room feature much.

[youcantcatchtheblue]

Speaking of dropping items,

I don't know if this is correct or not, but it seems that you don't have to share the loot that you pick up either? Like, if I break a box open, I can take whatever is in the box and other players will still be able to pick it up as if I didn't take anything.

I can't remember if it was it like this in the original PSO too or not... is this correct?

[moorebounce]

Speaking of dropping items,

I don't know if this is correct or not, but it seems that you don't have to share the loot that you pick up either? Like, if I break a box open, I can take whatever is in the box and other players will still be able to pick it up as if I didn't take anything.

I can't remember if it was it like this in the original PSO too or not... is this correct?

It wasn't like that in PSO. What you saw come out the box in PSO was first come first serve. Now in PSZero had what you are talking about which is a very very good thing. lol So when I saw players zipping around taking everything in the alpha tests it looked like they were being greedy but they weren't. Thanks for the answer.


You actually couldn't drop items. I'm hoping that was an alpha limitation and not something that's going to stay that way.

There were Player Shops, as Seraphim mentioned, but I couldn't figure out how to get something on it for other people to buy. Then again, I pretty much spend all my time in the field and didn't really look into Player Shops or the My Room feature much.

In player shop could you set your own prices or was it an automatic pricing. Meaning since you couldn't drop items could you make items in your player shop free?

[Angelo]

Is it a good idea to make quicksteps/dodge movements use PP?(like 10 perhaps)

I feel like that would ruin the dynamic flow of combat.

[Vashyron]

In player shop could you set your own prices or was it an automatic pricing. Meaning since you couldn't drop items could you make items in your player shop free?

You set your own price. (Then the game adds a bit more based on some % I didn't bother to calculate, obviously there as a Money sink.)

And you could place your items in the shop for 1 Meseta, but there wasn't anything stopping someone you didn't intend the item for grabbing it.

[shiink]

You actually couldn't drop items. I'm hoping that was an alpha limitation and not something that's going to stay that way.


This is in fact an utter fallacy. You COULD drop items. Which I did and was also able to pick up items that Japanese players dropped for me. Particular example was that I told the Japanese player that I was out of Monomates and in which case he dropped x5 of them for me. There was an option and it was the exact same kanji for "drop" as it was in PSU. Once you clicked on an item in your item back it was the option second from the bottom if I remember correctly. I unfortunately do not have screenshots of this but If someone happened to have one showing what options were available I would gladly point it out.

tl;dr Yes you can drop items and it was not a limitation due to the alpha.

[Omega-z]

actually FO Mirage is not at all OP'd and you would realize this more if Solo'd more and realize what happens at higher difficulties. In fact you could say jumping is OP'd base on the alpha but it's not and Mirage is not alway good since you can't keep a charge with it and lose the pp you have and it doesn't regain back when you spam it so leave it alone it's not op, the game is in Noobie mode right now. and normal attack need less PP. Ice only work better because of it use to spread it's damage to more foe's and the ability to huge the terrain not for DPS infact I've seen better damage with other tech's on the dragon then using Barta. It's going to be fun not spam one spell to attack that a little boost in damage and instead use spell for a more strategical use with other's to get better results.

[kyuuketsuki]

This is in fact an utter fallacy.... Is this how you speak in real life? Just curious.

tl;dr Yes you can drop items and it was not a limitation due to the alpha.Odd. I tried every option that came up when selecting in item in inventory and nothing dropped the item. The only thing I could do was discard the item entirely (it disappeared from inventory, but did not appear on the ground). Others have had the same experience and I never saw anyone drop an item. Unless I see a video of it happening or get confirmation from some other sources, I'm gonna have to call BS.

[shiink]

... Is this how you speak in real life? Just curious.

I am just going to ignore this statement



Odd. I tried every option that came up when selecting in item in inventory and nothing dropped the item. The only thing I could do was discard the item entirely (it disappeared from inventory, but did not appear on the ground). Others have had the same experience and I never saw anyone drop an item. Unless I see a video of it happening or get confirmation from some other sources, I'm gonna have to call BS.

Well you clearly didn't do this otherwise you would have found that dropping an item would be possible (it does ask for a quantity confirmation).
There was an option to move the item to your bank, or to trash the item altogether so this is accurate. However there was a separate drop option.

Unfortunately, you are obviously taking the cowards path to victory since you very well know that the test is over and I could not simply fabricate a video at this moment in time. I can tell you that I am moderately competent in reading Japanese (people that play with me on PSU can verify this) and that this option was in fact there. Not only was I able to drop Items but the Japanese players (whom I played with mostly for the duration of the test) were able to drop items for me to pick up. Please do not simply call "BS" on someone on account of your inadequacy.

Like I said If some one happens to have a pic of these menu options I will gladly circle it for you

[Hivernia]

PSO2 Alpha Test 2 Player Relay and Mini Guide (http://bumped.org/psublog/pso2-alpha-test-2-player-relay-and-mini-guide/)
You can find a pic in the 'Item pack' part of this guide

But it seems that you can't drop anything and anywhere ? Maybe weapons/units where not dropable atm ?

[kyuuketsuki]

PSO2 Alpha Test 2 Player Relay and Mini Guide (http://bumped.org/psublog/pso2-alpha-test-2-player-relay-and-mini-guide/)
You can find a pic in the 'Item pack' part of this guide

But it seems that you can't drop anything and anywhere ? Maybe weapons/units where not dropable atm ?
Ah, thank you Hivernia. So the second-to-last option was the drop option, and that option was greyed out (unusable) on all the items I attempted to use it on. Which was always weapons/units/discs. I never tried dropping mates or other consumables.

So, I'll change my previous statement: I hope the inability to drop anything but a limited number of items (seemingly limited to consumables) is only an alpha limitation and you can drop any item in the final game. I don't see any good reason to not allow items to be dropped.

[shiink]

PSO2 Alpha Test 2 Player Relay and Mini Guide (http://bumped.org/psublog/pso2-alpha-test-2-player-relay-and-mini-guide/)
You can find a pic in the 'Item pack' part of this guide

But it seems that you can't drop anything and anywhere ? Maybe weapons/units where not dropable atm ?

Thanks for the link!

I guess this is consistent with my anecdote seeing as how I only attempted to drop/pick up healing items.

@kyuuketsuki - Apologies for my confrontational gesture. Will try to be a better sport :P

[SELENNA]

Sorry if it's been answered before, but are there rare monsters in the game? Not just bigger, because I know you can encounter something like a buffed up Rappy. One of the main reasons I enjoyed PSO was to hunt the rare mobs and their loot. Hopefully they bring this back. I want Nar Lily with Psycho Wand drop!

Also I think mini-bosses are a great thing. Do you consider the rock bears and the shield monsters to be strong enough to be considered as such?

Thanks

[Noblewine]

1) Is leveling up important if you want to avoid any critical hits.
2) Did they make learning to exploit enemy elemental weakness easy with element symbols or is it like pso?
3) Do you have to find/buy skills in shops or can you level them.

[youcantcatchtheblue]

Sorry if it's been answered before, but are there rare monsters in the game? Not just bigger, because I know you can encounter something like a buffed up Rappy. One of the main reasons I enjoyed PSO was to hunt the rare mobs and their loot. Hopefully they bring this back. I want Nar Lily with Psycho Wand drop!

Also I think mini-bosses are a great thing. Do you consider the rock bears and the shield monsters to be strong enough to be considered as such?

Thanks

It's a bit early to tell whether there will be rare mobs or not, so far in the alpha I don't think there were any, but I'd like to see them too, would be awesome to have them.

I haven't seen a buffed-up Rappy, but I know that the big floating alien heads can buff-up those metal spiders and make them like twice as large, it was quite neat to see!

As for mini-bosses, Rock Bears and Catadorans both got a boss-like treatment (look at the videos in my sig) as well as just appearing randomly in interrupt events. The only boss that was an authentic boss fight was the Vol Dragon. The dragon also shows up in Interrupt events, but much less frequently.

[Mike]

are there rare monsters in the game? Not just bigger, because I know you can encounter something like a buffed up Rappy.
I believe the Rappy, but not the Nav Rappy, may count as a rare enemy. It has a higher appearance rate than PSO's rare enemies does though. This could just be alpha only though.


Also I think mini-bosses are a great thing. Do you consider the rock bears and the shield monsters to be strong enough to be considered as such?
Rockbears? Yes. Gawandas? No.


1) Is leveling up important if you want to avoid any critical hits.
2) Did they make learning to exploit enemy elemental weakness easy with element symbols or is it like pso?
3) Do you have to find/buy skills in shops or can you level them.
1. Can't say. The best way to avoid damage is to not get hit though.
2. The enemy info tells you what element the enemy is weak to via icon. PSO didn't make enemy weaknesses hard to understand though.
3. You have to find higher level skills.

[jayster]

I felt UP as a ranger but I may have just been doing it wrong.

[kyuuketsuki]

@kyuuketsuki - Apologies for my confrontational gesture. Will try to be a better sport :P
No worries. I also apologize if I was a little hostile. =p

Sorry if it's been answered before, but are there rare monsters in the game?
There almost certainly will be, but there weren't in the alpha as far as I could tell. Except, perhaps, as Mike mentioned, the Rappies (the PSZero-looking ones, as opposed to the Nav Rappies which were the "regular" rappies), but they were a little too common (possibly an alpha thing, again, as Mike mentioned) and didn't really seem to have enhanced drop rates, let alone guaranteed good drops or increased health/damage/experience like you'd expect from a rare monster.

Also I think mini-bosses are a great thing. Do you consider the rock bears and the shield monsters to be strong enough to be considered as such?Mini-bosses are great, totally. The gawandas (shield-guys) are strong normal enemies, though. I wouldn't consider them mini-bosses. Still, good fun to fight.

[moorebounce]

Since no one has mentioned it. Only forces can put techs on the 1-0 bar, so effectively so far only Forces can use techs unlike PSO.

Thats just a small improvement on a feature because even though you could add techs to the 1-0 bar in PSO still didn't mean you could use them. Not without some sort of trainer anyway. Thats something Sega should've done before now anyway.

I hope Sega doesn't have sub classes where everybody can do everything. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of the game. You want players from different classes working together as a team for a common goal. If everybody can do everything you wouldn't really need to team up.

[Omega-z]

well it looks like there well be three sub-class. going of the icons in Vashyron thread.

[Dinosaur]

I felt UP as a ranger but I may have just been doing it wrong.

Weak Bullet is the best enemy killing skill in the game. Stun Grenade is real damn good.

Even without those, just spamming piercing round and grenade launcher PAs makes Ranger a monster.



well it looks like there well be three sub-class. going of the icons in Vashyron thread.

Welcome to 6 months ago?

[Omega-z]

true but confirm's it more, but it also tell's you maybec how many more races and weapons too if Sega still goes that same route.

[Vashyron]

You see, sub classes were written in the skill tree thing in the First Alpha, so people took that as confirmation that there would be subclasses, but then it was removed in the 2nd Alpha.

Though incidentally the icons I posted change nothing as they are from the First Alpha.

[Omega-z]

ah, so they might of changed it then or just simple just removed for awhile?

[Vashyron]

ah, so they might of changed it then or just simple just removed for awhile?


Or even scrapped the idea? Can't tell until the final release. (Or if they officially confirm it beforehand.)

Though I kinda doubt they scrapped it, some melee weapons add Tech Attack when forces can't equip them and that the hunters that can equip them can't use techs.

(Sure that could change too, but seems much less likely.)

[Noblewine]

1. Can't say. The best way to avoid damage is to not get hit though.
2. The enemy info tells you what element the enemy is weak to via icon. PSO didn't make enemy weaknesses hard to understand though.
3. You have to find higher level skills.

Thanks mike.

[Vashyron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGM0SwqtE-Q"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGM0SwqtE-Q

Can anyone tell me why Code Elimination was in red?

[Saotome Kaneda]

Can anyone tell me why Code Elimination was in red?

Might need some Dev comments for this one, I never got one of those during my play(or didn't notice it). Nothing else about that Code event seemed out of the ordinary either, same timer, same enemy kill requirement, same awarded exp...

[moorebounce]

Can anyone tell me why Code Elimination was in red?

Maybe a restart of a failed code red? Or maybe because its a code red they just decided to make it that color.

[Brou150]

So do RAngers have ammo, or use up PP to shoot? I found that really annoying and it prevented me from playing as a RAnger in Psp2,infinity.

And how come no one has uploaded any game music? Is it more PSO styled music? PSU styled? Or a mix of both. From what I heard it seems PSO styled. I hope they use a mix. There were some great songs in the PSU series aswell. Seems like the pulled a PSZ with the music changing when enemies are present.

Also can you just ignore those random interrupt events and keep going?

There are no more doors, keys and security fences? Awsome. I've always felt those were out of place unless youre in some sort of facility.

Are we allowed to be a HUmar and wear RAnewm clothes? (Probably can't tell in the alpha...)

How does the lobby work? Like every vid I see is field gameplay with maybe a second of the lobby. Can you see EVERYONE in the lobby like PSU? Or only your party and maybe the multiparty aswell?

Is there a good selection of voices for character creation? The vids i've seen have female characters with rediculous squeaky voices...I like how high pitched japanese girl voices can be sometimes, but the ones i heard in the alpha seemed rediculously annoying and exagerated a bit...

Are there any 1hand swords, daggers, wands, dual pistols, etc? I've only seen the whip swords, gunslash, great swords, rifles, and staffs. I think i saw a single pistol once. (Not really a fan of some weapons cause i like to use stuff i could realistically handle irl). Simply not included in the alpha I guess?

And I hope we get human/newman/cast enemies to fight, like in PSU. Fighting monsters all the time just feels...Idk. Like there isnt a plot or depth to it.

[Zyrusticae]

I can answer a few of these.


Are we allowed to be a HUmar and wear RAnewm clothes? (Probably can't tell in the alpha...)
Yes, you can wear any clothing of your chosen gender regardless of race or class (with the exception of CASTs and CAST parts).



Is there a good selection of voices for character creation? The vids i've seen have female characters with rediculous squeaky voices...I like how high pitched japanese girl voices can be sometimes, but the ones i heard in the alpha seemed rediculously annoying and exagerated a bit...
From what I've seen, there are about as many voices as there were in PSU (re: A LOT), and you can change the pitch as well, so the squeaky voices were chosen to be so.



Are there any 1hand swords, daggers, wands, dual pistols, etc? I've only seen the whip swords, gunslash, great swords, rifles, and staffs. I think i saw a single pistol once. (Not really a fan of some weapons cause i like to use stuff i could realistically handle irl). Simply not included in the alpha I guess?
The only weapons included in the alpha were the weapons listed above (no single pistol, however).

We know they're going to be adding a lot more weapons as development continues, including a partisan-like weapon.


And I hope we get human/newman/cast enemies to fight, like in PSU. Fighting monsters all the time just feels...Idk. Like there isnt a plot or depth to it.
This is unlikely. PSO2 will likely follow in the same vein as the first PSO when it comes to enemies. Expect some surprises, especially in later areas (think of the first time you run into the ruins in the first PSO).

[Yamishi]

(questions)


Rangers use PP for their Photon Art shots (such as a grenade launch or a piercing shot or a full-auto burst) but not for regular firing.

The music seems more PSO-style to me.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think you can skip/run away from some of the interrupt events, but others you can't. I never tried to skip them, so I'm not entirely certain if you can.

There are fences in certain places (such as guarding treasure), but they're few and far between. There are also giant rocks that you can break apart. But no doors that I've seen.

Yes, all clothes are swappable!

The lobby is similar to PSU, where you can see everybody, but it has a similar layout to PSO (shops, guest counter, et cetera are all in one place).

If I'm not mistaken, there are nearly 20 different voices per gender, and you can adjust the pitch to make them higher or lower. So no worries there. You can also choose to not have a voice for your character.

As has been mentioned, we only saw a few of the weapons that the final game will have. So far, we've got Swords, Wire Lances, Gunslashes, Assault Rifles and Rods.

Lastly, I hope we get a huge variety of enemies, including humanoid ones -- but it won't be a deal-breaker if we don't. Even PSO had the occasional NPC to fight.

[AzureBlaze]

I know this wasn't directly in your "voices" question but I feel its important to mention:
You can choose NO VOICE / SILENT as Yamishi mention.

If they garbage-up the USA voices with stupid phrases / things "your guy" would never say, this is super important to be able to choose "no voice" because you hate it all. I remember having like 2 choices in PSU because they were all like "HNRRRGHHH RUGH RUGH" and it narrowed it way down too much. I chose 'silent' on the alpha.

You can't run away from CERTAIN "Code Destruction" ones.
For example in the one where that ball of sticks shows up, if you do run OR you fail it, you 'fail out of' the whole mission/level and aren't allowed back in. Things like the "Save the downed ship" we did run from & failed, but it didn't do anything major. (We ran from it because the ball of sticks showed up in another area simultaneously/it was more important)

The lobbies work more like PSO, if I had to compare.
You have "Blocks" which are exactly what they were like in PSO. When 1 is full, you can't get in. You change to different blocks via a teleporter pad like PSO. The difference is, you can buy things from the stores in them, and you can't form teams in them. You'll need to go "Down?" to the "getting ready" lobby which has the skill counter, quest counter & teleporter area in it to make the team. In both of these places you can still see & talk to "everyone" not just the people on your team. Like PSO, there are a few wandering NPCs.

The big diff from PSU here is that they're not enormous. You're not going to run around on 3 floors & central table looking to do things. They're efficient like PSO.

After you make the team and use the main teleporter in the 'getting ready' lobby, you get into this little "on the ship" space that has a 'bank counter' and 'buy/sell' counter, neither of which are staffed by an NPC. It has basic stuff only. At the end of that room is the telepool that you keep seeing. Once you jump in that, you're "in the level". There doesn't seem to be 'mid lobbies' or anything like what PSU had. (Which is good in my opinion, I felt they scattered things)

[youcantcatchtheblue]

Speaking of "Blocks" being full....

I went into My Room at one point and then couldn't go back out because my Block was full.... not sure if this was a bug or I just didn't know how to change Blocks from within My Room... was there any way to do this?

[Dinosaur]

How does the lobby work? Like every vid I see is field gameplay with maybe a second of the lobby. Can you see EVERYONE in the lobby like PSU? Or only your party and maybe the multiparty aswell?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7AJBKRMzOg

[Saotome Kaneda]

The difference is, you can buy things from the stores in them, and you can't form teams in them. You'll need to go "Down?" to the "getting ready" lobby which has the skill counter, quest counter & teleporter area in it to make the team.
You can party up with people the second you appear on the ship right after you log in, all you need to do is send a party request to a particular player on that block's "Current Players" list. This is accessible via the Community tab in the menu, and gives you a list of anyone that hasn't accepted a quest from the counter/headed down to the pre-mission ship.

There's also the various character/account search kiosks all over the place that help you find people if you do not have them in your friend list yet. So compared to PSO/PSU/PSPo finding and grouping up is far easier and doesn't even require you to start a quest. On top of that once you're all grouped into a party you are free to do whatever you want until an action occurs that ends the quest.

I went into My Room at one point and then couldn't go back out because my Block was full.... not sure if this was a bug or I just didn't know how to change Blocks from within My Room... was there any way to do this?

Pretty sure I've seen complaints about this in the JP alpha BBS as early as session 2(because I got hit by it too). No idea what they'll do to fix that, but I imagine that if you're in your Room it won't remove you from the total players in that block, or allow you to choose a block to hop to once you leave.

[kyuuketsuki]

Seems like the pulled a PSZ with the music changing when enemies are present.
That was actually first done in the original PSO.

There are no more doors, keys and security fences? Awsome. I've always felt those were out of place unless youre in some sort of facility.
As mentioned, there were fences that you opened by finding (usually somewhat hidden) buttons to deactivate.

I actually hope there are door/key scenarios in other levels. It makes sense that there aren't any in the Forest/Caves areas though.

Are we allowed to be a HUmar and wear RAnewm clothes? (Probably can't tell in the alpha...)
People were wearing other class/race/gender combo clothes all over the place. Clothing choices are not restricted, there are simply "default" choices for class/race/gender combos, hence why you'll see them referred to as "HUmar outfit", "HUnewearl outfit", etc.

Presumably, there will be a lot more options in the release version, and probably even purchasable/findable outfits.

Are there any 1hand swords, daggers, wands, dual pistols, etc? I've only seen the whip swords, gunslash, great swords, rifles, and staffs. I think i saw a single pistol once. [...] Simply not included in the alpha I guess?
The one-handed sword and the single one-hand pistol are combined into the gunslash. By current knowledge, there will be no separate versions. They'd be redundant anyway. Twin daggers are likely to be in game, but no single-handed version. They aren't using the dual-wielding system of PSU, it's like PSO where twin-weapons are their own unique weapon type and there wasn't a single-weapon variant (except for the twin-sabers of course).

And I hope we get human/newman/cast enemies to fight, like in PSU. Fighting monsters all the time just feels...Idk. Like there isnt a plot or depth to it.
Unknown, but I would expect they're going to stick to the PSO convention of only fighting monsters. Don't see how that prevents having "plot" or "depth".

[ClothoBuer]

Graphics question for those out there who have somewhat deep pockets and/or time invested in their PC: what's gameplay like on Eyefinity? Does it stretch the UI out or place side elements on the corner monitors to compensate for the adjusted resolution, or does it all stay where it's supposed to? What are the framerates like? Heck, can you even SET a resolution higher than 1920x1080 in the alpha?

[kyuuketsuki]

Heck, can you even SET a resolution higher than 1920x1080 in the alpha?
You could not set any resolution higher than 1920x1080/1200 in the launcher. I dunno if you could force an Eyefinity resolution through editing .ini settings or not, but the game does not support it (currently), so I doubt the game would relocate UI elements appropriately, if it even worked at all.

[LoveRappy]

are names unique, or can anyone character share the same name like in past PSO games?

can you choose a metallic/robot voice for CASTs? i don't remember the voices in PSU, but i know PSZ only had "human" sounding voices for all the characters and they didn't fit CASTs so i went with the silent option (like good old PSO).

[kyuuketsuki]

Names are not unique, I believe there is a separate, randomly generated player ID number like in previous titles for the purposes of uniquely identifying different players.

I don't believe there was a robot-like voice option for CASTs. This is actually a great idea and should be submitted to the PSO2 team if that suggestion submission form is still there.

[Vashyron]

In PSO2 there is both a Number ID Given to a player and in the first time Login you choose a Name ID to be known across your account.

[Randomness]

What were the various mobility skills (rolls, dash, warp) available in alpha, and who had access to them (class or race-based)?

[Dinosaur]

What were the various mobility skills (rolls, dash, warp) available in alpha, and who had access to them (class or race-based)?

Evasive maneuvers are based on the weapon you currently have equipped.

Dash is for hunters weapons
Roll is for ranger weapons
Teleport is for force weapons

For the record, Gunslash counts as a hunter weapon, effectively giving every class access to the hunter dash.

[Mike]

I don't believe there was a robot-like voice option for CASTs. This is actually a great idea and should be submitted to the PSO2 team if that suggestion submission form is still there.
I think the human like voices for casts may be run through an echo-box-like filter to provide a semblance of robotness but I don't remember off-hand.


What were the various mobility skills (rolls, dash, warp) available in alpha, and who had access to them (class or race-based)?
The dodge skills themselves are class based. Hunters get the dash based skills, rangers get the roll based skills, and forces get the warp based skills..

[NoiseHERO]

In PSO2 there is both a Number ID Given to a player and in the first time Login you choose a Name ID to be known across your account.

Ah that's cool for people with characters that come from the same story, just name your account after the title. 8D

[moorebounce]

In PSO2 there is both a Number ID Given to a player and in the first time Login you choose a Name ID to be known across your account.

Are you saying they spit out a Number ID for each character you make? Or is it like Blue Burst where you get a guild card ID numder that is used for all your characters. Then your Name ID is associated with the Number ID(s)?

[Randomness]

Evasive maneuvers are based on the weapon you currently have equipped.

Dash is for hunters weapons
Roll is for ranger weapons
Teleport is for force weapons

For the record, Gunslash counts as a hunter weapon, effectively giving every class access to the hunter dash.

Hmm. Can't help but think there should be a way to get access to specific movement skills regardless of weapon (at the cost of always having the same one). Would be interesting to see a hunter using teleports... (maybe through the subclass system or something?)

[NoiseHERO]

Hmm. Can't help but think there should be a way to get access to specific movement skills regardless of weapon (at the cost of always having the same one). Would be interesting to see a hunter using teleports... (maybe through the subclass system or something?)

SUBCLASSES? SUBCLASSES

Hmm... Wartecher... ninja dashing melee mage...
Or Techfighter... sparkle gliding( "teleporting" ) melee mag...

[•Col•]

Gunslash.

Gunslash is a melee weapon usable by every class and gives you the Hunter's stepping dodge move.

[Vashyron]

Are you saying they spit out a Number ID for each character you make? Or is it like Blue Burst where you get a guild card ID numder that is used for all your characters. Then your Name ID is associated with the Number ID(s)?

Yeah, it's like the previous Account Guild Card Numbers + You also give the account a name. (Separate from your Login name.)

I'm guessing this was done as a measure make it simpler for people to whisper/mail each other by a name identification instead of numbers.

(All the while still allowing multiple people having the same character name.)

[Kaydin]

I'm curious how attacking was controlled. Did you have to press attack at precisely the right time like PSO, or could you just button smash and get the same effect like PSU?

[Omega-z]

Kaydin - It was different base on what you did or needed it for. You could time your attacks or spam them, Hold the button to use stronger attacks, you could even hit the button once for a turbo non-stop attack saves your finger's lol. But yeah you can attack freely anyway you want.

[Oldhound]

NOt sure if this has already been asked I can't seem to find it, but, can casts be poisoned? I hated that in PSU, I've heard people say it was overpowered, but I've been playing a lot of PSO lately and it didn't have that much of an affect.

[Mike]

Yes, they can.

[NoiseHERO]

Kaydin - It was different base on what you did or needed it for. You could time your attacks or spam them, Hold the button to use stronger attacks, you could even hit the button once for a turbo non-stop attack saves your finger's lol. But yeah you can attack freely anyway you want.

Wait wait what?

I don't get it...

You do hard attacks by holding the attack button? Like megaman's charge shot?

So then how does the turbo button attack work? @_@

Cause I hate just holding the button then my character does all the work... I really hate that... But you're saying holding the attack button actually makes em do a hard attack?

[Mike]

You do hard attacks by holding the attack button? Like megaman's charge shot?

At least one sword PA and all the techs were chargeable. That doesn't happen for regular attacks though.

[moorebounce]

Yeah, it's like the previous Account Guild Card Numbers + You also give the account a name. (Separate from your Login name.)

I'm guessing this was done as a measure make it simpler for people to whisper/mail each other by a name identification instead of numbers.

(All the while still allowing multiple people having the same character name.)

Thanx Vashyron

You wouldn't have happened to be on the Ultima server last week?

[Saotome Kaneda]

Wait wait what?

I don't get it...
Hold button = "quick", weak attacks that do on average 1/2 less damage than a properly timed attack(Just Attack). They also give a very minimal PP recharge and will not put the enemy into hitstun as often.

Timed button presses = Just Attacks = high chance of enemy hitstun, maximum damage, greater PP recovery(one JA hitting will gain about 8-10 PP). The system is more or less like PSU/PSPo, but with far more emphasis on just attacks.

This only happens for standard melee attacks from any weapon(even rifles atm), holding the button during HU PAs or FO techs will charge them.

So to make you feel a bit better, Just Attacks are far more useful, but there are times when just going in and using the auto-weak attacks is easier(breaking boxes/destroyable terrain/recharging PP from a group of weak enemies as a FO).

[youcantcatchtheblue]

To sum it up:
- Spam / Hold Attack Key to do continuous auto-attack
- Press Attack Key at the right timing for Just Attack
- Press the PA Key to do a Photon Art (some of them you can hold to charge)

I really liked how they handled the battle system. While Just Attacks felt really good to do when you're in the rhythm, you also have the faster-paced option of spamming the attack key when you just want to quickly beat the crap out of a bunch of enemies (which can be really useful for mobility and dodging because Just Attacks slow your pace down)

Also notable is that Just Attacks will cancel an enemy's attack (at least the smaller enemies. I didn't get a chance to try it on the bigger enemies).

[NoiseHERO]

To sum it up:
- Spam / Hold Attack Key to do continuous auto-attack
- Press Attack Key at the right timing for Just Attack
- Press the PA Key to do a Photon Art (some of them you can hold to charge)

I really liked how they handled the battle system. While Just Attacks felt really good to do when you're in the rhythm, you also have the faster-paced option of spamming the attack key when you just want to quickly beat the crap out of a bunch of enemies (which can be really useful for mobility and dodging because Just Attacks slow your pace down)

Also notable is that Just Attacks will cancel an enemy's attack (at least the smaller enemies. I didn't get a chance to try it on the bigger enemies).

Ugh... can you at least turn the auto-attack off?

[Mike]

No. Just don't hold down the attack button.

[NoiseHERO]

No. Just don't hold down the attack button.

It's not that simple! D:

I wish it were!

[Mike]

It's not that simple! D:

I wish it were!
That's the only way it works. I suppose you could still send in a request via this form (http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psportal/pso2/msg/) as it's the only method left to send something directly to Sega regarding PSO2 but it's not exactly the way it's supposed to be used.

[moorebounce]

NOt sure if this has already been asked I can't seem to find it, but, can casts be poisoned? I hated that in PSU, I've heard people say it was overpowered, but I've been playing a lot of PSO lately and it didn't have that much of an affect.

I saw that in both set of test videos. I'm not liking that one bit. They got rid of what gave the races a little bit of difference between them. Androids used to see traps and regenerate their health too and they got rid of that in PSU.

[Dinosaur]

It works out fine. For the most part, you're trying to get Just Attacks off. If you aren't, you're missing out on a large percentage of your damage output.

[NoiseHERO]

It works out fine. For the most part, you're trying to get Just Attacks off. If you aren't, you're missing out on a large percentage of your damage output.

I'll probably only focus on just attacks then, and pretend it doesn't exist. D:

[Omega-z]

Saotome Kaneda - You can Hit Stun lock with the Turbo weak attack ( Relentless Attack I Call it ) but I have Pic's of that attack done on the sword and shield Lizard Foe beating the snot out of it and It give's FO'type a fighting chance at Melee ( Since this attack is only done with the Rod only or Assault Rifle if your a RA'type ). I for one like the Turbo option, as long as it doesn't get to overboard and everything has it.

[youcantcatchtheblue]

I'll probably only focus on just attacks then, and pretend it doesn't exist. D:

Dude, I thought the same thing too before I played the alpha, but you gotta play it before judging because I honestly loved it after I got a chance to play it hands-on.

Like I said before, Just Attacks are slow and leave you vulnerable when there are a whole bunch of enemies surrounding you. Using the auto attack lets you attack-dodge-attack-dodge at a much faster pace. So try it out at Beta!! ^^

[Mike]

Slow? I can't say much about swords but I didn't find the just attacks for fists, rods (hitting not techs), or rifles to be too slow.

[NoiseHERO]

Dude, I thought the same thing too before I played the alpha, but you gotta play it before judging because I honestly loved it after I got a chance to play it hands-on.

Like I said before, Just Attacks are slow and leave you vulnerable when there are a whole bunch of enemies surrounding you. Using the auto attack lets you attack-dodge-attack-dodge at a much faster pace. So try it out at Beta!! ^^

Yeah but I'm the kind of kid that, after shooting a giant spider and making it land on it's face. I get an adrenaline rush whipping out my sword and button mashing on it's cyclops eye weakspot. ;o;

But yeah, guess I have to play it myself.

There's apparently new info every week this month right?

[Omega-z]

Mike - It's true that Rod JA attacks aren't too slow but still can give the foe the chance to block your attack or beat you to the punch sometimes. I like using JA attacks with Rods as a Finishing blow.

Now the interesting thing is Turbo can outperform JA attacks since the Turbo is 1/2 of the damage and you get two hit's off for one JA. How this happens is when your using a Elemental weapon. Turbo has a small +/- Boost or no boost at all but with JA attacks it does, So if you attack something of the same Ele. then your JA attack is going to be 10-20% lower then a Turbo but the opposite happens when it's not the same Ele.; and almost the same with non-Ele. in JA Attacks Favor.

[Dinosaur]

Now the interesting thing is Turbo can outperform JA attacks since the Turbo is 1/2 of the damage and you get two hit's off for one JA. How this happens is when your using a Elemental weapon. Turbo has a small +/- Boost or no boost at all but with JA attacks it does, So if you attack something of the same Ele. then your JA attack is going to be 10-20% lower then a Turbo but the opposite happens when it's not the same Ele.; and almost the same with non-Ele. in JA Attacks Favor.

For a fact, one JA does not equal two normal attacks in terms of time. The series has never been like this. You also have to consider critical damage(which aren't uncommon). A normal critical is significantly lower than a JA critical.

[Omega-z]

Yes your right Dinosaur normal attacks don't come close to equaling the Damage of JA but Turbo isn't just some normal attack either. That Turbo is a new concept so, yes it's never been done before. And when it come to most things yes JA is better but there is going to be those times it won't be (If using the same Ele.). In fact, you could just change the weapon to a better Ele. and then you don't need to worry at all then.

[Mike]

So are you calling the ability to hold down the button to repeatedly attack turbo or is this a skill for hunters? The auto-attack thing was slow.

[Omega-z]

Yeah the Auto-Attacking is Turbo (or Relentless Attack), In Fact your faster with your hits in that mode then using your normal attacks ( but can't aim as well with Rods doing it). And it can only be done with Rods and Assault Rifles unless hunter's can do it with sword or wirelance since the gunslash doesn't have it (or at least I don't recall it having it, and re-guarding the post notes of Alpha 1 ).

hmm that's odd that you where slower, either it wasn't done right or maybec Racial difference ? I was a FOCast that looked like a Dezorian? I don't know:-?

[kyuuketsuki]

Just Attacks did not seem slower at all to me, as opposed to using auto-attack. You just have to get the timing right and risk interrupting your combo if you mess it up. The only advantage to auto-attacking is convenience, as far as I could tell.

[youcantcatchtheblue]

JA isn't THAT much slower, but it was noticeable for me when I played, at least as a Hunter. It's probably because when you're in the rhythm for Just Attacks you won't be able to dash around and move a whole lot otherwise you'll interrupt your rhythm (or maybe I'm just bad at multi-tasking?)

When just mashing the attack key for auto-attack I can feel a lot more freedom in movement while still attacking continuously.

[Omega-z]

Huh that's interesting, I now remembered that Gun Slash having Auto attack but yeah that was slow or normal speed but when I did it with the Rod it was faster and noticeable too. Take the shielded Lizard's in the caves when I did a normal or JA attack they could block my attack but when I did the other it couldn't block at all since the attack was hitting .5 to .75 of a sec to a normal around 1 sec and JA at 1.5 sec. I have pic's of doing this of around 5 pic's straight in a row doing this attack( but only caught half of the attacks since Print Screen is slow when your fighting at the same time lol ) . I wish there was a timer in - game so you could see how fast it was going.

Now I'm wondering if it was a Racial Ability? Having faster Rod Melee attack's? OR maybec it was all those yrs playing WT and multi - tasking made me faster then the auto? who knows? Anyway this is interesting to know either way if does or not.:D

The only down side to it was you couldn't change direction's as well since you tend to over attack a little with this form of attack.

[moorebounce]

I forgot to ask but do some techs work better on some enemies than others like in PSO or is it set up where it doesn't matter what tech you use it does the same amount of damage?

[Dinosaur]

I forgot to ask but do some techs work better on some enemies than others like in PSO or is it set up where it doesn't matter what tech you use it does the same amount of damage?

Enemies have elemental weaknesses. Some even have multiple weaknesses. So yes, some techs will do more damage than others if you hit elemental weaknesses. The level of your tech + your magic attack determines the power of your tech.

[Cayenne]

For those that played Alpha 2, did anyone get an official PS3 controller properly working at all or did you have to retort to using Mouse+Keyboard only?

Everything worked except the analog sticks. My character moved only diagonally left so it was pointless.

[AzureBlaze]

I didn't get it working either, on the controller.
I had a PS3 controller, and it did nothing at all.

So I bought that thing that runs an Xbox controller wirelessly to your PC (it was inexpensive enough to give it a shot) Had to meddle with the installation to get it to say 'installed properly' but then that controller didn't do anything either.

I too would love to know how to get either controller going, especially now that the beta date is approaching. I don't have any pc games to test it on though...

Are you just supposed to plug it in and it works?
Not a PC gamer, have 0 exp with these things.

I do remember something saying that they DID admit to controller compatability issues with the A2 that will be gone by the next test.

I want one though, because on just the alpha2, I pushed the D key so many times half the letter rubbed off.

[Cayenne]

I use MotionJoy and supposedly you set it to emulate a 360 controller and some had luck doing that but other details weren't mentioned like did you have a certain/all netframe installed, 32/64 bit, XP/Vista/Win7.

We gotta get on SEGA's ass about this when Beta gets near.

[Saotome Kaneda]

I used a PS2 pad via the Elecom converter (http://www2.elecom.co.jp/peripheral/gamepad/jc-ps101u/) on my desktop, and Dual Shock 3 via USB and the Motioninjoy driver (the only driver left http://www.motioninjoy.com/) on my laptop.

I had absolutely no problems with the Elecom. As for the DS3, I experienced the same problems everyone did at first, but was fine for the 2nd session. After that I stopped fucking around on my laptop that could barely play the game and grinded on the desktop.

Just remember that there's only one realistic choice for PS3 controller drivers as Sony does not have a solution like the 360 does. I don't know if the Japanese players have a different driver they use, but I do know that the motioninjoy driver is more or less the only choice we have.

Edit:
I use MotionJoy and supposedly you set it to emulate a 360 controller and some had luck doing that but other details weren't mentioned like did you have a certain/all netframe installed, 32/64 bit, XP/Vista/Win7.

We gotta get on SEGA's ass about this when Beta gets near.
This is another key point. Some mentioned that certain versions of windows also had problems getting drivers to work with the game even with the controller being recognized by the OS. I'm sure Sega got enough complaints about this, but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

[Vashyron]

^ Can I ask what the icons the game used for things such as attacking or PA was with those controllers? I know that they change to Xbox buttons with a 360 controller so would like to know if you saw anything special with those.

[Cayenne]

The same, PS3 buttons were shown as well.

They had screen shots of this before Alpha 2 was released with some showing keyboard, 360, or PS3.

I'm sure anything other than will just shows numbers

[Omega-z]

moorebounce - I'm not sure on the tech's, I would say the same as Dinosaur But I don't know. When looking at this at DPS and not weakness. Take the Dragon he's Fire and Ice would be his weakness it can Lock his feet which is a plus, hit only once and is hard to hit him with since the attack drops to the ground. Now the interesting thing if you use Fire you do more damage and not just that but the Blast from the impact also hits it again for the same damage (when it's Charged ). Then take Lightning it does better damage and can be used with TPS mode to hit weak spot ( spikes..etc) for more damage. It's hard to say for sure in Alpha I was using a different Spell or the opposite one's to kill monsters faster but not all the time because I did use what the monsters where weak against too.

[moorebounce]

Enemies have elemental weaknesses. Some even have multiple weaknesses. So yes, some techs will do more damage than others if you hit elemental weaknesses. The level of your tech + your magic attack determines the power of your tech.

Thats good to hear.

Although they said you could but I don't recall seeing it in any of the videos any forces using techs w/o a weapon.

[Mike]

Although they said you could but I don't recall seeing it in any of the videos any forces using techs w/o a weapon.
You can. I may have shown it in my FOcast videos but I don't remember. The important thing is that while you can use techs without a "tech weapon," you lose out all the power provided by using a tech weapon.

[hbmizzle10]

i have a question. earlier information showed that mags will be returning. do you think they will show up in the beta test? what is your guess that the new mags will be doing? will they be like how they were in pso(i hope that returns only) or like in psu?

[Mike]

i have a question. earlier information showed that mags will be returning. do you think they will show up in the beta test? what is your guess that the new mags will be doing? will they be like how they were in pso(i hope that returns only) or like in psu?

Well, that's not something anyone who played the alpha would have known but according to Shogai (http://www.g-heaven.net/topics/2012/03/120315b.html), mags will be in the beta. There's more English in the copy-past post here (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193595).