Hey guys! New to the forums.

[Hazzerone]

I learned about PSO2 JP version just a few days ago and knew I had to get it...

I'm not the most experienced Phantasy Star player, I started playing PSU in '06 on the 360 and stopped around '10. I was completely and utterly enthralled by that game, it was the only MMO game I had ever played where I could actually happily sit and play for hours on end and "grind" runs without having the feeling that I was actually grinding (I always put this down to the combat system which at the time seemed a lot different to other MMOs...the fact that you were fighting as if it was an offline action games, and had full control over your character at all times, had a massive appeal to me).

Although I never played PSO, I gotta say I pretty much played the crap out of PSU and loved every bit of it.

I started playing PSO2 just two days ago and I'm so far sitting at level 13, on Ship 20 and always trying to get into Block 20.

I've made quite a few friends so far...I've added basically everyone that I've partied up with and even just a few guys I was speaking to in the lobby when I very first started.

Overall my experience of PSO2 has been great! The community has been very friendly towards me and helpful, which I gotta say I didn't really expect as I'm pretty much 6 months behind a lot of the people that are playing right now...I actually expected a hardcore community that didn't cater towards newcomers, but I was gladly surprised :)

I gotta say though, I'm not quite "feeling" this game like I did back when I started playing PSU...in my opinion it lacks the atmosphere that the stages and planets had in PSU. For example, it was quite amazing to walk into a very Japanese-feeling Neudaiz, do a few missions there where the majority of mobs were ice-based, then be able to switch to Parum with a more Western-feel. I don't quite get that experience in PSO2 where it seems like all there is is a docking station and quest counter? I think I attribute quite a bit of this less immersive feel to the presence of a lot of Japanese text (which I can't understand) - for example, all of the NPC talk and story-based content. It's not really my place to complain about Japanese text in a Japanese game meant only for Japanese players though, and I gotta say that the English Patch has done a great job of keeping me playing the game due to it's on-point client side translations!

This isn't me trying to be pessimistic at all, by the way; just me sharing my experiences of the game so far! I put in a solid 6-7hours of gameplay yesterday so I am still gripped by the gameplay, for sure.

How has your experience of PSO2 been thus far? And last but not least...is there anyone interested in partying up with a laidback going-on-19 Englishman who just wants a bit of fun? :P

[Menasthos]

Uhm ye, i agree about the "just the docking station and quest counter" feeling. We don't go anywhere at all outside docking station, just log, go to counter, do your grind, log off. Meh.. :-?

[Vintasticvin]

Yeah just kick back in the lobby, chat, steal symbol arts and do a mission here and there.

[ZER0 DX]

That's actually the biggest thing I miss about PSU. The various hub cities (especially when it came time for holiday decorations) and mid point lobbies between missions were a nice break from the daily grind. It was a nice way to just sit and enjoy the scenery, and I absolutely miss the music of Neudaiz lobbies and missions. I also miss a lot of the weapon categories PSU had, Twin Sabers especially. Oh and 6 player parties. No idea why they decided to limit it to 4 again, 6 was perfect for joining a large group of friends and two 6 player parties would make up the 12 needed for a good MPA.

But it is what it is. They had to streamline it since in terms of finding a party, PSU's system wasn't that great unless you already had a large group of friends to play with. Outside of event missions (another thing that PSO2 is lacking) it was pretty difficult to get people to run most of the missions.

[やすはら だいすけ]

Yeah just kick back in the lobby, chat, steal symbol arts and do a mission here and there.

How do you actually steal'em? lol

@TS

Know what you mean and I'm still hoping for some kind of change in the future.

[Opy]

Its the opposite for me, during psu i wished everything was based out of one area like psobb was. I remember it being hard to find games. The current set up seems a little better for social activity and finding group games.

[Hazzerone]

Well a quick update here:

I've been playing pretty much all day today. Had my first taste of the Valentine's event run and I have to say it was pretty damn amazing. I had my first taste of a rare drop that I had to go and identify (turned out to be a pink rappy card). I was over the moon after having found an 8* weapon, bearing in mind the best stuff I had previously found was like...4* sabres and launchers! (Where the launchers seem to be awkwardly weaker than the 2* ones I use, but that's neither here nor there...)

I was asking around the player shop terminal on how to search for this new item I found, when someone taught me about using ctrl+C then ctrl+V to copy and paste the item name for an easier time searching.

I thanked the guy, checked the price...turned out to be a 2.5k weapon (not that that means too much to me, as I don't own a shop; but still - I was a bit letdown at the cost of my first rare weapon :P)

Ran off and joined a random PUG. Guy messages me about 5minutes later asking if they had previously been talking to me at the terminal. I freaked out as I had no idea how to whisper to someone who wasn't on my list, so had to ask around on how to reply to them. Turns out the guy wanted me in their team, I was like hell ya! What a great community in this game, really. Even over my 4-5 year PSU experience, I was never once asked to be part of a team; it was always just the ritual of adding people's cards and spamming invites and whispers to them if I wanted to do some runs.

What a great community, really. For a group of level 50s to show a level 13 the ropes, answer endless questions and even do some runs with me. Pretty impressed I gotta say.

I learned many things today... such as using ctrl+arrow keys to switch between the different chats available and alt+arrow keys for an easier time switching between typing in nearby/party etc chats.

Another thing I learned about is the absence of the boards+synthesis system from PSU and I was shocked. I was even more shocked by the fact that people were actually glad that this feature is not in PSO2!?

I gotta say...in almost every game with a crafting system I pretty much just ignore it with the mindset of "hey, why would I bother to craft weapons or armour if I can simply buy the results off of player shops" but with PSU that was completely different.

PSU was the only game where I admired the crafting system. I think the main thing for me was that you could craft 50% elementals and have a huge advantage in certain runs or even sell the item for a usually very high price.

It wasn't just that though, at the time there were many rumours going around on how to increase the chance of successfully synthesising weapons and armour and to also have a better chance of getting a 40% elemental, such as based upon how quickly you take the item out after it has completed it's synthesis stage or the quality of food you fed your MAG to level it up, aswell as the MAG type you had created.

I fondly remember setting an alarm precisely when a batch of weapons/armours would complete synthesising and having my closest PSU buddy in my player room so we could enjoy the experience of the pseudo lottery draw together. It was great fun. Watching people run in and out of my player room (either because they were friends or because they wanted to buy one of my fairly priced items for sale) and sharing my synthesis success or bad luck stories was probably the greatest thing for me in that game.

I really can't believe that the synthesis system was so hated and that players are glad that it is gone!

What is your view, or your experience, of the synthesis system?

[Hazzerone]

Im just gonna bump this :P