Latest PSO2 details from Famitsu (July 27-28)

[voxie]

"Original Combos

- You can set different photon arts to the three parts of a combo.
- Combined PAs will let you pull of three-part combos. For example, Tornado Break to Spinning Break to Gravity Break. Also, you can perform normal attacks between all of those."

Yes, I am liking the sound of this!

And MAGs! Woooooooooooo!! I can finally relax!

[Zyrusticae]

Why 80 though?
Why not 100?
Why not 60?
Arbitrary cutoff point is completely arbitrary.

The number is pretty arbitrary; you could put any number between "10" and "100" in there and it'd work just as well, as none of the ORPG examples I mentioned actually allow parties bigger than that.

*COUGH*

Do people really not read before they post?

Do they really?

FAITH IN HUMANITY AT LEVEL 0.0001. CRISIS IMMINENT.

Edit: Just in case you didn't get it, actual MMORPGs allow for HUGE numbers of players in a single world instance.

PSO, PSU, PSO2 do NOT do this. Same thing with Guild Wars. Same thing with Vindictus. Those games are, by definition, NOT MMOs because you don't actually have a massive number of players interacting with each other in the same space.

Same space meaning something other than a pre-mission lobby; y'know, as in a space where people actually play the game. If people can't kill mobs or other players next to three dozen other players in the same instance, it's not an MMO.

[Kent]

On-topic:

Yeah, everything looks nice and dandy. I'm curious about the points listed about rods, however.

It implies that you can still cast techniques freely, regardless of your equipment (which is a fantastic thing), though techniques can only be charged if they're bound to a rod. It raises the question though: How much of a real difference is it going to make, to charge techniques? It's going to be a rather difficult thing to balance, especially if they want to facilitate anyone playing a sort of hybrid gameplay style. That's really my only worry.

Why 80 though?
Why not 100?
Why not 60?
Arbitrary cutoff point is completely arbitrary.

It may seem that way, but there's actually reason behind it.

Make note of the word "massively" in the term "Massively-Multiplayer Online Game." What constitutes "massive" varies between people, but in general terms, 32 players at once is not something people consider massive. Hell, if you ask a Tribes player whether or not either of the two Tribes games anyone cared about are massively-multiplayer, they'd tell you that no, they are not, despite that 128 players could feasibly take part in the same instance of gameplay at a given time. This is why we look at multiple games that are not considered massively-multiplayer and make a judgment on what constitutes massive based on it (and therefore, making the number non-arbitrary).

Non-massively-multiplayer online games are generally somewhat small-scale. Diablo, PSO, PSU, all of these support anywhere between four and eight people playing at once. Even if you were to take into account individual lobbies, how many people can occupy a single instance of a lobby at once in PSO? 15. Some people are easily fooled by lobbies and visual chat channels (those two are really just a difference in nomenclature) into thinking that it's how many players a game supports playing at once... Because they can't tell the difference between what is effectively a menu system to facilitate players in finding other players, and an actual multiplayer gameplay instance.

On top of this, people often seem to forget that the term is "massively-multiplayer," taking note of the hyphenation. The implication is that within a multiplayer game (which does, in fact, refer to a given instance of the game - you'd have to be an idiot to actually try and argue that), there can be a massive number of people playing together at a given time. "Massive" is indeed subjective, and therefore can be easily seen as an arbitrary description, but then we try and apply some logic to it:

If we consider that most-commonly, games that are not considered massively-multiplayer generally support a maximum of 16 or 32 players at once (and, somewhat-uncommonly, 64 players at once), then we can safely call numbers significantly larger than this "massive" by the term's common definition (of describing something as being "much larger than normal"). Thusly, for something to be considered "massively-multiplayer," it has to support a significantly-larger number of players playing together in an instance of gameplay than what we generally see among games just described as "multiplayer."

I would not personally deduce that the point at which a game becomes massive is so low as 80, but that's beside the point - that being, that whether or not a game can be logically considered as "massively-multiplayer" is determined by how many players can be actively playing together in a given instance of the game's world simultaneously. It has nothing to do with "styles" or "setups" of massively-multiplayer worlds; it either supports a massive number of simultaneous players in the same gameplay instance, or it does not.

[Finalzone]

PSO, PSU, PSO2 do NOT do this. Same thing with Guild Wars. Same thing with Vindictus. Those games are, by definition, NOT MMOs because you don't actually have a massive number of players interacting with each other in the same space.

Same space meaning something other than a pre-mission lobby; y'know, as in a space where people actually play the game. If people can't kill mobs or other players next to three dozen other players in the same instance, it's not an MMO.

See #228 and [url=http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2662772&postcount=232]#232[/ur]Problem is how that post assume that every MMO games must do specific function. That is very much narrow-minded concept where facing a game like PSO that does different tasks like command input .

[LoveRappy]

* The ability to redo learned skills is under consideration.

Respeccing HAS to be in the game. Its the norm in all MMOs now. I do not like the idea of messing up my spec and then having to create another character to re-do it. I like to experiment and not get punished.

* You can link three techniques to a rod.

I hope this doesn't mean we are limited to only using 3 techs at a time. But, from the look of the next line, it seems that there is a benfit from slotting techs to a rod and you can still use other techs besides the slotted ones?

* The ability to transfer disks to other players (such as through disk restoration) is under consideration.

Huh? I hope we aren't limited in trading stuff now. I like being able to pass stuff to friends/alts.

Units
* Units exist in this game.
* They can be equipped to your arms, back and legs.
* Units can be additional costume parts for your character.
* When equipped, units can change certain visuals of your costume.
* Units can boost abilities such as defense and attribute rates.

Meh. I hate equipment that adds looks to your character. Judging by the screens, some of the units look really dumb.

EXP
* Whether or not you receive EXP is determined by your range to an enemy.
* If you are within the enemy's range, you will receive EXP.
* If you are out of an enemy's range, you will not receive EXP.
* This may be a counter-measure for multi-party leveling.

Good. I hated the whole "have to hit the mob" to get exp. At least now if you have crazy party members who like to kill everyhting or you just want to heal, you can get exp.

* Certain areas allow for up to 12 people to play together simultaneously.

Not really liking this. Does this mean you will *need* 12 ppl to get thruogh the content? I was only planning on duoing/small groups, I don't wanna be locked outta content. Sounds too much like raids, meh.

[Shadownami92]

Hmmm... I like what they did with the option to link techs to canes. Makes for a lot more options to either go all caster or mix melee with magic at one time.

So.... While we wait, who wants to play a Massively-Multiplayer Game of Monopoly!

And I wonder if they will troll us with any doors that require 12 people to stand on different switches at the same time that are scattered throughout the Caves or something.

[Jade DaBain]

Hmmm... I like what they did with the option to link techs to canes. Makes for a lot more options to either go all caster or mix melee with magic at one time.

So.... While we wait, who wants to play a Massively-Multiplayer Game of Monopoly!

And I wonder if they will troll us with any doors that require 12 people to stand on different switches at the same time that are scattered throughout the Caves or something.

That be evil. Who want to go on a mad hunt, trying to find 12 switches in a zone?

[voxie]

I hope this doesn't mean we are limited to only using 3 techs at a time. But, from the look of the next line, it seems that there is a benfit from slotting techs to a rod and you can still use other techs besides the slotted ones?

Judging from what's been said somewhere, "techs are stronger when linked to a rod".

Does that mean you can use some techs without the rod?

If it's what I think it is, this sounds rather cool - possibly, you can juggle having explosive techs on your rod in one hand, and less used techs to flick out from the other, unequipped hand.

[lostinseganet]

I'm not to keen on the fact you can't freely roam between servers...if half your friends play world 1 and other half world 2 your forced to make chars on both instead of using 1 char.

Why even choice for something like that? I mean PSU could do it, why PSO2 not?.

I hope that distance for EXP changes depending on your type, otherwise Rangers have to get really close to get any exp.

I think this is how they will keep jpn from the rest of us heathens. They are getting the concept in the users head so they can excuse segregating the player base.

[Jade DaBain]

I think this is how they will keep jpn from the rest of us heathens. They are getting the concept in the users head so they can excuse segregating the player base.

Ya know, you may be right. That just may be an excuse for Sega to separate us.