General opinion

[Shadownami92]

Not to mention it only takes about 3 fully charged Foie spells to kill almost all the little monsters in the Forest. And I tend to be able to cast about 3 or 4 spells before running out of PP. The more little attacks you do the more PP you get back. So I just pelt things with the gunslash and it recharges fast enough.

I love the visual effects of the techs though. It makes me feel awesome.

And a charged Resta covers a good area, and heals decent HP, and since it heals multiple times it's all good.

[LoN_Lina]

Why did my asking for an overall opinion of the current game turn into my critiquing of force?

[XionAsuka]

Well, it's still pretty early, all things considered. More often than not, Force tends to be a little hard to play early on, but they really start shining after you set up. Just stick to it, and you'll look back on this time and go 'I can't believe I had trouble that time.'. =p

[Vylera]

As far as gameplay is concerned, PSO2 is definitely the most fun I've had in a long time.

My only issue with the game so far is that I feel 0 incentive to play anything besides a ranger. They clear bosses the quickest with the least chance for error, and when unlocking new areas requires you to complete things on a time limit, gunslash bullets to the head are often the best option for a hunter...which is basically playing a ranger with no PAs.

I don't know, maybe I'm just bad at hunters because I've never played a hunter in the Phantasy Star series until this version of the game, but with headshot damage and weak bullet, rangers just get it done.

The way I've been doing things is unlocking stages with ranger, and re-farming them with hunter just to enjoy the stages. I don't see how I could do enough damage in time when I'm forced to dodge so much vs bosses.

[ZIE creations]

As far as gameplay is concerned, PSO2 is definitely the most fun I've had in a long time.

My only issue with the game so far is that I feel 0 incentive to play anything besides a ranger. They clear bosses the quickest with the least chance for error, and when unlocking new areas requires you to complete things on a time limit, gunslash bullets to the head are often the best option for a hunter...which is basically playing a ranger with no PAs.

I don't know, maybe I'm just bad at hunters because I've never played a hunter in the Phantasy Star series until this version of the game, but with headshot damage and weak bullet, rangers just get it done.

The way I've been doing things is unlocking stages with ranger, and re-farming them with hunter just to enjoy the stages. I don't see how I could do enough damage in time when I'm forced to dodge so much vs bosses.

There is a skill in the hunter tree that allows you to combo out of a dodge and just blocks allow for fast counter attacks. Basically if you play like I do you stay on a boss, hold agro, and take minimal damage while you can quickly hit weak points between movements. Remember bosses have multiple weak points so aim for whatever you are close too, even jumping then air step to get a quick crit on them.

[Vylera]

There is a skill in the hunter tree that allows you to combo out of a dodge and just blocks allow for fast counter attacks. Basically if you play like I do you stay on a boss, hold agro, and take minimal damage while you can quickly hit weak points between movements. Remember bosses have multiple weak points so aim for whatever you are close too, even jumping then air step to get a quick crit on them.

On the skill simulator, http://ryuhiroshi.ry.funpic.de/pso2/hunter.html , would that mean I need to obtain Just Counter and Just Reversal?

[Coatl]

Why did my asking for an overall opinion of the current game turn into my critiquing of force?

Yeah, sorry about that..

But what I'm saying is that I don't think the forces are lacking on anything really. They did a good job on making all three classes incredibly fun.

The bosses are challenging, and who wouldn't be shocked seeing a random Dark Ragne appear in free forest for the first time? I know I was shocked when I had to kill TWO dark Ragnes.

I also love how you can bring your favourite npc to battle with you.

It's exciting and fun, and besides things not being in english, as well as the inability for me to trade with people directly currently, I don't see any faults to the game.

Also, once I went tali'd, I wondered why I carried a rod until lv10 Force. It's like it does everything a rod does..but better.

[ZIE creations]

On the skill simulator, http://ryuhiroshi.ry.funpic.de/pso2/hunter.html , would that mean I need to obtain Just Counter and Just Reversal?

Pretty much. (wish I had something else to post so this didn't seem so short...)

[TerminalMontage]

Why did my asking for an overall opinion of the current game turn into my critiquing of force?

Because at level 4 you have no idea what you're talking about lol

[JeyKama]

Overall the gameplay feels pretty lightweight. Ranger is pretty one-dimensional and I hear Force support is really awkward. Hunter has potential with the Gear Gauge and their PA/weapon variety but considering how the Japanese love their 3D hack'n'slash I'm not surprised in the least.

There are a LOT of QoL things I wish they would add, but I know they won't because they are franchise 'features' (like seeing/being able to lock onto target points directly from the over-shoulder view) I also wish the mob/other player locations synched up better though that may be more a server bandwidth thing.

The only thing I'm really not happy with is paid skill tree resets - those are really important for how sparse points get as the xp tnl gets astronomical, and if you messed up early you might be boned from getting an important ability down the tree for a long, long time (or never, depending on the level cap). At least one should be available free for new players, because that could impact gameplay.

Also, anyone have any good results sticking multiple traits on gear? I have amazingly awful "luck" - I failed to put Shoot 1 on a gun 10x in a row with a 80% success chance, same with 80% Body 1 and Arm 1 on various other things another dozen times... possible of course but seems fishy considering obtaining synth booster items will probably involve real money too.

The game combat is pretty fun (though I just came from Diablo 3 so probably scratching paint would feel fun). It has its weak points with the UI and PA balancing (I would like to use something other than Divine Launcher, thanks) but mostly things seem bug-free and smooth. Simplified though, for better or worse.

Oh yeah! srsly the character creation mode is the best thing ever. Too bad real MMOs can't handle that much customization.