There's been discussion here and there on this subject in different threads. Lets consolidate some discussion in one thread dedicated to it.

I've played every Phantasy Star game to date, from PSI to PS:P2.

PSO's rigid class/race system could not be copy and pasted (in my opinion) to a game over a decade later without same changes. With the old system there were some gender restriction issues. To be a newman hunter you had to be female for example. Some classes were simply better than others, HUmars were fairly behind the other hunters. Its not all bad though; this rigid system actually meant that class/race combos were different versus PSU's only difference being l stat differences. In some cases these differences in PSU were minor and even fixable with equipment. Another pro of PSO's system was its simplicity with 3 classes. While there were limitations in this system, generally it worked great.

PSU's class system alluded to complete costumization. You could create any combination between the 4 races, 2 genders, and the ~15 classes. With all of these combination, there were a few that were significantly overpowered and plenty that were simply worse than others. I played a female beast Wartecher in PSU for the majority of it and people would comment that I "was good for a wartecher". Still, usefulness and damage output of that class/combo was behind others. Tech limits and efficiencies were class specific in PSU unlike PSO's way of making the specific class/race/gender combos stand out from each other. Some balancing could have helped this but things never really got better for some classes, like my Wartecher.

PSP2 is notable in that it took the PSU's class system and reduced redundancy. At the same time, the ability to customize a class was significantly increased. A con of this in my opinion was again, some customization options were simply bad or overpowered. Sega giving us more options should also come with more active balancing attempts.

So, PSO had rigid, limited class options while PSU had plenty of class options with many of them being crap. Each had pros and cons, I feel the best way to go would be to combine them in someway.

I believe that PSO's system were classes each had their own reason to be was strongest and should be the base of PSO2's class system. Customization options could be implemented by maybe allowing class change down the line, some choice in efficiencies like in PSP2 and make more class combinations available but give them an actual purpose.

My system:

Start by choosing one of the 3 basic roles.
*Hunter - melee
*Ranger - ranged and support
*Force - tech

Each class then breaks down into race specifications (not gender, gender differences would be kept at a minimum past appearance). Basic race roles being humans a the in between with no outstanding weakness (highest combination of defence, evasion, hp and mst), casts being a physical tank (highest attack and physical defence, lowest mst, eva and tech) and newman being the glass cannon (highest tech, mst and lowest def and attack). If beasts were included I would make them similar to that in PSP2 and would take it further.

Beasts had the best evasion in PSP2 and i would let them keep this. On top of that I'd give them low accuracy but higher attack speeds, lower their attack and tech to near human levels and lower PP/TP. Maybe keep highest HP. This role would be good for chaining (if it was kept) but not best for highest damage (physically being cast and teching being newmans). To sum up beasts they would be the ravagers of battle, beserkers if you will. Up in the front lines swiftly taring things up, taking hits with their high HP but evading too. Beasts of battle. /biased maybe, but it could differential them and give them a purpose. They would be the acrofighters now that I think of it.

Note, these race roles can bend depending on the class they are in, similarly to PSO.

Hunter
*HUmar/HUmarl - run of the mill hunter with the average stats for the class but with best average defences. Some basic spells available like first teir attacks, and Resta. Access to many weapon classes. Role: basically, the HUmar of PSO
*HUcast/HUcaseal - Highest attack/defense of hunters. No techs, though access to traps and natural trap detection. Proficiency with heavy equipment. Lowest defense to magic and little evasion. Role: the tank, high damage output but requires healing and support from others
*HUnewm/HUnewearl - Lowest attack and physical defense of hunters. Best magical output and defence of hunters (to the point that its actually worth using in combination with melee). Proficiency with light weapons.. [i]Role: mage/melee hybrid.
*HUbeast/HUbeasle - Highest evade, HP and attack speed. Lowest accuracy and pp/tp. Basic magic, like just resta and maybe a few debuffs and foie. Meant for chaining and fighting up close and keeping enemies occupied. Proficient with
dual wielding Role: Meant for chaining and fighting up close and keeping enemies occupied

Ranger
*RAmar/marl - Run of the mill ranger, with best accuracy and proficiency with medium weight guns (rifles). Magic capabilities are basic, meaning resta and little else.Role: i'll sum them as RAmars from PSO
*RAnewm/newearl - Taking up the role of RAmarls in PSO. The ranger with teching capabilities though mainly useful for support. Lowest attack of rangers but best magic. Proficiency in light and magic ranged weapons. Role: RAmarls from PSO and Guntechers in PSU
*RAcast/caseal - highest attack and defence. lowest magic defence, evasion with no techs at all. proficiency in heavy weapons Role: combined version of RAcast and RAcaseal
*RAbeast/beasle - Low capabilities with accuracy means use of heavy and medium guns are limited. Best with rapid, light guns. Run and gun and mess things up. Similar magic to humans in this class. Role chainging and up from line fighting

Force
*FOmar/FOmarl - Great def/mst/hp for a force. proficiency with medium power techs though access to all tech avail. Some melee ability Role: FOmars of PSO
*FOnewm/FOnewearl - Best magic output in game, worse physical defence. Proficiency with highest power/cost techs though access to all tech avail. role: THE glass cannon. mix of FOnewms and FOnewearls from PSO.
*FOcasts/FOcaseals - In PSU some people realized that this combo was good at being a nurse/supporting role. Most physically sturdy force though average at best MST. Highest procifiency with support techs and only attack spells available are lightning. Some melee/ranged weapon capabilities though attack and def severely reduced to allow teching abilities at all. role: sturdy healer
*FObeast/FObeasle - Good with low teir, quick spells. Highest evasion in the game. With combination of high eva, access to light melee weps, speed and low tp/pp good makes role of beserker mage.



As game progresses, give ability to change class? Maybe, I don't see it as necessary though. Give the ability to customize within the classes similarly PSP2 but don't allow every class to do everything (forces with long swords?)

I typed this up quickly, some sorry if some of it doesn't seem clear. I agree that things like inclusion of beasts and FOcasts aren't necessary.

What are your thoughts? how could the class system be done right in PSO2?