So how is this game like if you don't spend real money?

[Icyflamez96]

Does saving up Meseta to buy things take about the same amount of work compared to Phantasy Star Universe? Or does it take an insanely long time and makes using real money the only sane way of buying weapons, armor, etc?

Can anyone here who actually plays the Japanese version without using money speak from experience here? Is it still enjoyable?

Actually, how does this game compare to the Phantasy Star Universe demo on the 360? Thats the only PS game I've played, it kept me occupied for like a year and a half lol.

What are the new features and stuff and how big is the game?

[Vintasticvin]

Its still enjoyable if you don't spend nothing just gotta save up meseta if you wanna buy the premium costumes and what not plus you also have free scretches you can buy with login points and friend NPC points :D

for a young game I think it offers alot, story quests, mission quests (Required to unlock new areas), and emergency quests as well as the usualy event quests and specials.

new features we have are over the shoulder view, great for shooters and techers, a very advanced and detailed character creator, few run through of the missions arnt always the same and have random bosses appearing out of the blue.

[blace]

The games size is around 10GB, might be bigger soon with the new updates coming this year.

[Vintasticvin]

The games size is around 10GB, might be bigger soon with the new updates coming this year.

V_V Sad faced, any bigger and I'll be forced to retire

[blace]

Playing an online game on the PC, it will always get bigger.

[Icyflamez96]

So for stuff like weapons and armor and kind of necessary stuff, it doesn't take an insane amount of time to get the Meseta to but them? How is buying stuff compared to PSU?

Oh and this is my first RPGMMO, well that isn't a demo lol. I'm also getting this for the Vita... If it doesn't come to the US then I'll just buy a new memory card for a Japanese account. Heck, I'll probably gave to get a 32 gig just for this game anyway 0_o

[MetalDude]

I went around 650 hours or so before buying AC, partly because I wanted mags for my other classes and a 30 day MyShop pass which allowed me to sell a lot of stuff off.

[Kasuma Izzigawa]

So for stuff like weapons and armor and kind of necessary stuff, it doesn't take an insane amount of time to get the Meseta to but them? How is buying stuff compared to PSU?

Oh and this is my first RPGMMO, well that isn't a demo lol. I'm also getting this for the Vita... If it doesn't come to the US then I'll just buy a new memory card for a Japanese account. Heck, I'll probably gave to get a 32 gig just for this game anyway 0_o

Honestly, getting pretty good gear just by going on missions and stuff. Of course, there's always buying gear from others and that always depends on what it is and who's selling it and whatnot.

[Syklo]

It's fun enough for me.
I just forget buying stuff until i get a decent amount of meseta (2.1 mil, I WANT ACUBENS!).

[Seravi Edalborez]

Virtually everything you buy with real money is either cosmetic junk (which you can buy from other players) or things to re-roll character stats (using that phrase broadly and including extra mags/character slots).

If you make informed decisions about how you spend your skill points and build your mag, you don't really miss out on anything by not buying AC.

[oratank]

saving Meseta didn't make problem in this game we got taco
and if u don't run intoo 4 affix armor it would be find

[FenixStryk]

You can get by with a little effort, thanks to TACOs, a few other COs, good 10* drop luck and the fact that +10 6*s w/ Soul+Stat are passable in end-game (to complete missions only; if you want to be a World Record holder, you need better gear than that).

[Anduril]

Honestly, buying premium is the only thing you might find worthwhile from using AC since it is a guaranteed shop to sell things, but like Servai said, as long as you plan your skill points and mag growth appropriately, and save your meseta and do TACOs(~150,000 meseta for just the normals, including selling off extra items to NPC), there is nothing really lost from not using AC.

[Eriko Fukada]

Its like, you are homeless but can scrounge stuffs by killing and robbing. With a little effort, you can be the same as your friends who pay. You'll just have to sleep in their room.

[Blackheart521]

Its like, you are homeless but can scrounge stuffs by killing and robbing. With a little effort, you can be the same as your friends who pay. You'll just have to sleep in their room.

Nice simile there haha ^^

[Great Pan]

A third-rate citizen would describe best.

[Asirae]

I tried playing for free for a while, but finally had to break down and get a new skill tree and mag. 1000 AC for two skill trees and 300 for a mag.

[Shiyo]

You don't really need meseta for anything but costumes, you can 1 shot trash and 3-4 shot beefier mobs with a 6 star +10/50 element weapon with 1 soul affix and 1k meseta units with 1 soul affixes for ~300-400k which is 1 day of VH tacos :D

You don't need to spend IRL money on anything but 2 more mags($6 total) if you want to play all 3 class types.

[Husq]

The only thing I find really useful is the storage expansion, going from 50 to 100. Considering that drops, including rare drops, do disappear it is annoying losing rares during a burst. Besides that it is also useful for TCO and COs that requires you to collect certain items.

[Alisha]

within a day of buying 5150 AC i had 4 mil meseta. just sayin.

[blace]

within a day of buying 5150 AC i had 4 mil meseta. just sayin.
From selling clothes right? You could earn more from 7-9* drops, depending on its affixes and grind.

[Alisha]

also stuff like voices and i have 2 items that can bring in 8 more mil.

[Heat Haze]

The game is just fine if you don't spend real money. Obviously, the experience might be better if you did spend real money but it isn't necessary at all. As long as you get your mag, skill trees, and character right; the only real thing you might be tempted to purchase would be a myshop pass. Even then, that's questionable as daily Client Orders (Time Attack CO's) will net you a fair amount daily. There isn't anything in-game currently that will necessitate the use of a MyShop pass for more meseta (at least until Advance Quests come along).

Personally, I've only spent 1k AC monthly ($15-ish?) to get a Shop Pass. Within a single day, I've netted around 50mil. However, the game isn't nearly as difficult where I need that much meseta to work on my equipment.

tl;dr: You can get by just fine without spending anything, but spending will get you to some places quicker with less time.

[Icyflamez96]

Thanks for the replies guys! A few more questions... What does AC stand for? I can guess what it is by now but I just don't know what it stands for.

And what are Mags? If I mess up my skill tree I can't reverse it unless I have premium? How exactly do I mess up the skill tree anyway?

[Anduril]

Thanks for the replies guys! A few more questions... What does AC stand for? I can guess what it is by now but I just don't know what it stands for.

And what are Mags? If I mess up my skill tree I can't reverse it unless I have premium? How exactly do I mess up the skill tree anyway?
AC stands for Arks Cash; it's the game's real money points(1AC is the equivalent of 1 Yen).
Mags are little robots that fly over your shoulder; you feed them and level them up so they can boost you stats and give you access to various other abilities like intermittent stat buffs/heals and Photon Blasts.
The only real way to mess up your skill tree is to put points into abilities you most likely will not need or don't really give you a benefit. Ask around and people can offer good advice on skill tees. You actually have to pay AC to reset a skill tree, but it is much cheaper (and required for even resetting a previous one) to buy a new skill tree (1000AC v. 500AC).

[Chik'Tikka]

AC= Arks Cash, it is 1 Arks Cash = 1 ￥ +^_^+
Mags are little helper robots that follow you everywhere and depending what you feed it boost certain stats by a substantial amount, but be careful, when you increase a specific stat in a mag, you can't decrease it+^_^+

and skill trees, well, lets take Force for an example, at the beginning as you gain levels you get 1 skill point (SP) per level, so you can get a max of 55 right now from leveling, and you can spend one of these points in a class skill tree to gain a new passive or aggressive effect+^_^+

Force starts out simple only having one way to delegate points, but after a few levels the tree expands into 3 branches, then you must choose which branch you'd like to travel down (in this case a fire branch, an ice branch, and a lightning branch)+^_^+ you only will have enough points to fill out maybe one branch and if you try to delegate them equally among all the branches you might end up gimping yourself from having enough additional atk strength or special skills that can be found with just one branch+^_^+ also, once you spend a point you can't get it back for that tree and you may need to buy a new tree or reset that one with AC to fix a mistake+^_^+

you might find a lot more info here http://bumped.org/psublog/pso2-guide-list/

[Corms]

Mags are little device sidekicks that are raised and raise a players base stats which help tremendously for equipping new gear.

Skill trees are up to the player really, but some skills are better than others so most people opt for those.

That aside, it's probably going to be rough for a new player (who plays without spending Arks Cash) to make money early on until you have access to Time Attack Client Orders, which are the main source of income for most people.

Now what really sets free players and people who spend AC apart is access to selling on player shops. Player shops can easily make millions in a fairly short period of time and even new players can get items worth a ton if they're lucky. You have a low chance of getting shop passes for free from FUN points (these are obtained by simply logging in) which are redeemed for a random item.

I don't buy shop passes with AC, so when I do get shop passes from FUN I cash out and can make a good chunk of meseta, which is enough for me. I've never had over 6 million meseta on me at a time and I've still managed to max grind 5 10* weapons, affix my gear appropriately (you people running around with +7s and 1 slotters with over 10m meseta don't have an excuse), and obtain way too many costumes and accessories that I probably don't need.

Basically while AC is certainly nice, it's certainly not needed to succeed! I would play for a bit first then decide what you want to do. :D

[Coatl]

In my opinion there are a few things that are really useful but annoyingly only can be bought with AC.
New mag? AC onry. New skill tree? AC onry!

[gigawuts]

You'll want mags, a couple extra skill trees on your favorite classes to experiment with (For example, on force you might want a pure fire mastery tree, and a generalist tree with maxed bolt PP save, or for hu/fi if you're big on melee you'd want a tree for both with step attack but one without step attack to spend the SP on something else, etc.).

After that, most people say a shop is pretty necessary to get the real experience from the game, but that varies from person to person. The only thing I miss from premium is 40 client orders, which I'm sure they made sure would become pretty necessary given the sheer number of CO's they threw in right around when premium got that (Rare enemies, like a dozen ruins CO's, etc.)

[Gen2000]

You pay with time. AC is not needed but is more for convenience. TACOs are a good source of "free" money but you're committed to doing them daily if you want stable income vs. a shop owner who can just face roll over a valuable in-demand item and make the same (if not double-triple) amount in about 10min.

Not really the same comparison to PSU since everyone had ability to participate in the market back then (at least pre-F2P PSU days).

You only get one Skill Tree and one Mag per account, coming into the game now is good since a lot of info is out there to make researching easier so with careful planning your chance of screwing up is much lower nowadays. If you do mess up though you're only option if not using AC and you want to fix it is to delete and remake, starting from scratch, again paying with time.

[EvilMag]

If I ever get AC I will only buy shit that I'm guarantee to get. None of it is touching the AC scratch.

[Chik'Tikka]

If I ever get AC I will only buy shit that I'm guarantee to get. None of it is touching the AC scratch.

yep, when they had AmEx support i got one month of premium, a new skill tree and saved 1700 for later+^_^+ I'm really thinking about expanding my character's inventory (i like to carry my whole wardrobe, just in case+^_^+) or buying something else that's permanent+^_^+

[FacelessRed]

yep, when they had AmEx support i got one month of premium, a new skill tree and saved 1700 for later+^_^+ I'm really thinking about expanding my character's inventory (i like to carry my whole wardrobe, just in case+^_^+) or buying something else that's permanent+^_^+

currently sitting on 80 inventory.. NOT -E-NOUGH

[UnLucky]

It's just too bad a pack of inventory increase tickets is 1600 AC, so you have to get 2000, which isn't an option so you have to get 1000 twice instead. Then you have 400 AC left over which isn't enough for a 2nd character or a skill tree (let alone a shop). You could get a new mag, but that leaves you with 100 AC that can't buy a single damn thing.

And thus I still have 50 bag space.

[Shiyo]

within a day of buying 5150 AC i had 4 mil meseta. just sayin.

Oh man 5 days of TACO's or spending ~$80 on AC, which shall I choose?

[Z-0]

Spend 1k AC instead, get WAY more than TACOs give you.

TACO money is actually kind of peanuts compared to what shop can get you with little effort; all you have to do is play and know what affixes to keep and sell. Clone Hunting is also easy money providing you have a group.

AC isn't needed in this game, but I highly recommend getting a 30 day shop if you want to earn meseta steadily than have a soft cap of 760,000 (which won't be every day either, because the time you can do TACOs gets pushed back each day so you need to have a day to reset). Also recommend to get 2 extra mags if you want to play each class to its fullest.

And yeah, I never got the inventory expansion, don't really need it either. I would get it if I had money to throw at the game, but I think mags and shops are far more important in the long run.

[Shiyo]

Premium is basically x10 the meseta of non-premium because more FUN + shop, but you don't NEED that meseta. You can be fine(and very strong actually) with +10/50 element 1 affix 6 star weapons and 1 affix +10 units, all incredibly cheap to do.

$6 for 2 more mags is the only "required" thing you need to buy to play, and only if you want to play all 3 class types.

[Jim]

On topic:

The game's 100% intact for free players. As long as you don't mess up your trees/Mag and don't need in-game swag like cool costumes, you can play the game side-by-side with a premium user and enjoy it just as much. Trading's disabled, so you're basically soloing inventory-wise. If you're patient, well-informed, and cheap frugal, free play is a pristine choice.


Oh man 5 days of TACO's or spending ~$80 on AC, which shall I choose?

On that:

I pay just under $30 after fees for a 2000 AC 11-Scratch pack, which alwaye produces well over 10,000,000 Meseta. (I've gotten over 15, but we're talking bare minimums here) With that in mind, TACOs would have to produce over 2,300,000 Meseta an hour to be paying out Tennessee minimum wage. ($7.25 USD) And that's on a crappy AC Scratch day.

Relying on TACOs is a frugal way to safeguard your paycheck, and it's not a bad lifestyle at all. But these elitist people who think "Psh, go ahead and waste your money. I have TACOs." need a reality check. They're playing the same 3 tedious missions multiple times a day for sweat shop wages.

[UnLucky]

Yeah and who do you think is paying for your lucky AC draws? The humble workers of the land who form the backbone of this economy. If everyone got lazy and turned to shops thinking it's all "easy money" the only one with any meseta at all would be Dudu.

[Jim]

Yeah and who do you think is paying for your lucky AC draws? The humble workers of the land who form the backbone of this economy. If everyone got lazy and turned to shops thinking it's all "easy money" the only one with any meseta at all would be Dudu.

Absolutely correct. Nothing but respect for the people who grind the Meseta that finances my scratch habits! I really like that pay players and free players are both necessary.

It's the circle of life.
http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/17900000/Mufasa-Simba-mufasa-and-simba-17934270-500-375.jpg

[Icyflamez96]

Well I used to play the PSU demo ALL the time with my friends so I guess it wont be hard to get used to the features I wont be able to access.

Wait, could I get this for vita now if I made a Japanese account? How large is the Vita download file?

[blace]

You'll need to wait till the Vita release before knowing how big it is.

[Shiyo]

On topic:

The game's 100% intact for free players. As long as you don't mess up your trees/Mag and don't need in-game swag like cool costumes, you can play the game side-by-side with a premium user and enjoy it just as much. Trading's disabled, so you're basically soloing inventory-wise. If you're patient, well-informed, and cheap frugal, free play is a pristine choice.



On that:

I pay just under $30 after fees for a 2000 AC 11-Scratch pack, which alwaye produces well over 10,000,000 Meseta. (I've gotten over 15, but we're talking bare minimums here) With that in mind, TACOs would have to produce over 2,300,000 Meseta an hour to be paying out Tennessee minimum wage. ($7.25 USD) And that's on a crappy AC Scratch day.

Relying on TACOs is a frugal way to safeguard your paycheck, and it's not a bad lifestyle at all. But these elitist people who think "Psh, go ahead and waste your money. I have TACOs." need a reality check. They're playing the same 3 tedious missions multiple times a day for sweat shop wages.
Did you seriously just try to defend paying IRL money for in game currency?

[Jim]

Did you seriously just try to defend paying IRL money for in-game currency?

I wasn't "trying" to do anything.

I was defending paying IRL money for in game currency.

Come at me, bro.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

That really is what the scratch is, I don't think anyone had any disillusions about it. Well I can think of one person >_>

[Jim]

To be clear, I'm talking about investing cash in AC, which I spend on scratches that give me items I can sell for Meseta.

This guy doesn't think I'm buying Meseta for cash from Chinese farmers or something, right? Because no, I don't condone that. OFC

[SociableTyrannosaur]

Yeah that's how I interpreted it. I guess it's better to be thorough and explain, but I don't see any other way to take it.

[UnLucky]

selling cash shop items for virtual currency is literally RMT

[SociableTyrannosaur]

except totally legal and well within the ToS

[UnLucky]

Why can't I buy inventory expansions for meseta Segaaaa??

[Jim]

selling cash shop items for virtual currency is literally RMT

Oh yeah, the way Sega has it set up is "money for meseta" no doubt. The only reason anyone buys Scratch is to get Meseta. I read an article somewhere that said Japan's law on scratch lottery might change in a way that makes PSO2's AC scratch illegal. So, it's straight-up real-life gambling. haha

[gigawuts]

except totally legal and well within the ToS

RMT itself is not against the rules, but who you give the money to may be. This much goes for many, many games.

F it if we want to split enough hairs having an account at all in any pay to play game is technically RMT.

Honestly, as bad as RMT can be, it's far from what's holding this game back. While more money is going into the system than is being taken out, things are roughly stable right now. The most trying problems for most people lie elsewhere.

[Jim]

Even if people did complain that the game is ruined by what you have to pay AC for, PSO1 was $50 plus tax. That's more than the cost of 5,000 AC.

Could they seriously not make the game playable with 5000 AC?



Edit: Had the price wrong and that's all people could comment on, so fixed.

[Icyflamez96]

So when I download the Japanese version, is there an option to switch things to English?

[Anduril]

So when I download the Japanese version, is there an option to switch things to English?
No, there isn't, but there is an English patch. We can't link to it here, but just know that Google can be your friend. And that's all there is to say about it.

[Icyflamez96]

No, there isn't, but there is an English patch. We can't link to it here, but just know that Google can be your friend. And that's all there is to say about it.

So you're saying they patched in an english mode? So I should have an option when I download the game if its already patched in right?

[MetalDude]

No. It's a fanmade patch.

[Jim]

So you're saying they patched in an english mode? So I should have an option when I download the game if its already patched in right?

It's not an official patch, so it won't download automatically. Basically, it's a fan-made mod.

[Alisha]

pretty sure dreamcast games were $40-$50

[MetalDude]

Pretty sure Gamecube games were $50.

[Maronji]

Pretty sure Gamecube games were $50.

Using this as a benchmark, according to my exchange rate sources (I have at least two I cycle between), it would be ~4600 yen, not 5000.

Does that change much, though?

[Jim]

Using this as a benchmark, according to my exchange rate sources (I have at least two I cycle between), it would be ~4600 yen, not 5000.

Does that change much, though?


It sounds like you're either including international exchange fees (which you can't really blame on the game) or forgetting to add sales tax. In TN, PSO1 would have been over $54, which converts to 5015.52 JPY according to Google's auto-conversion (https://www.google.com/search?q=50+usd+in+jpy&aq=f&oq=50+usd+in+jpy&aqs=chrome.0.57j0.3325&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=54+usd+in+jpy&oq=54+usd+in+jpy&gs_l=serp.3...11337.11453.1.11539.2.2.0.0.0.0.41.8 2.2.2.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.2.serp.65nBBOfCreM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41867550,d.eWU&fp=10c21c28c454948f&biw=1360&bih=643). (How accurate is that service?)

Still, you're definitely right. Even if you only bought 4600 AC, that's plenty to buy all of the AC features people gripe about.

[Maronji]

or forgetting to add sales tax.

Okay, so I've almost forgotten that sales tax exists because I buy most of my games online nowadays![spoiler]*honestly just didn't think to factor that in* Leave me alone! T_T[/spoiler-box]

But yeah, I figured as much.

[sabitsuki]

TA all day everyday