• There will only be 5 ships (servers) in the closed beta. Ships 6 - 10 will also show up but these ships are not online so you won't be able to log in to them.
• A "premium set" will be available in 30 day periods. This includes the use of your room, the ability to open a shop, expanded storage, and the ability to trade.
• Buying items via a player owned shop is free (as in you don't need to buy access to it)
• Players who purchase the premium set can join a block especially for those members and get bonus FUN from activites that provide it (kinda sounds like PSU)
• The game has bee tuned so you don't gain levels as quickly as you did in the second alpha.
• A menu option has been added for cash shop and FUN related purchases.
• Scratch terminals have also been placed around the lobby
• Since the AC cost of cash shop items has been set to 10 AC, the amount of AC given to testers has been reduced from 10,000 to 1000.

• All Arks Cash (AC) items are set at 10 AC for the closed beta
• Each tester will receive 1000 AC to use.
• You can't purchase more AC during the testing period
• The items in the store and scratches (Gatcha) will be limited during the beta and will change for the official launch

• FUN can be gained by logging in, using AC, using certain aspects of the game (Good Job!), and as a reward for being in the top three for the weeks ranking
• FUN can be used in a FUN scratch
• The contents of the FUN scratch will change for the official launch

• Human, Casts, and Newmen will be available, just like the official launch

• Only a limited amount of costume items will be available in the closed beta
• Players will only have one character to begin with.
• New character slots can be purchased with AC
• New costumes, accessories, and character voices
• The "Cat Ears" accessory will now match your hair color
• Characters can be saved and loaded as files on your computer
• New facial variations for male and female characters
• The Beauty Shop will allow you to change your character in game
• You can now get parts and clothing in game (you couldn't do this in the alphas.)
• Parts and clothing can be equipped from the equipment menu

• The max level for the closed beta is 20
• Classes can be changed at the class counter
• Raising a character to level 10 in any class will mean that account will receive a "Weapon Hologram" room decoration in the open beta

• Skill trees for all classes have been completely changed
• New skill trees can be added by spending AC allowing you to take you character in a different direction

• Titles are now available from the title counter
• Item collections and player records are visible from a visi-phone

• Partisans, launchers, and talis weapons are now usable
• On death, you can choose to return to the camp ship or use a scape doll if you have one
• You can now switch between different sub-palettes like you could with your main palette

• Several new enemies including the new boss Dark Ragne
• Boxes appear after defeating bosses instead of bosses dropping items
• Destroying parts of boss enemies increases the number of boss boxes
• Boost enemies will appear
• Starting enemies are weaker because they were found to be too strong
• Some enemies have been tweaked graphically to better fit the PSO2 world
• Some dragon-type enemies now have voices

• By raising any class level to 10 and completing a specific client order allows you to obtain a mag license. This lets you own and use a mag
• Mags evolve in to their second stage at level 50
• Mag levels are capped at 99 in the closed beta

• New lobbies have been implemented in the closed beta

• 2 new quest types: Story and Emergency
• You can invite NPCs and friend characters from the new Partner Terminal in the camp ship
• It is now easier to join other parties in an MPA than it was in the second alpha
• You can see more information about quests at the quest counter, including 7 days worth of data on drops, special effects, and enemies
• The Medical Center will sell temporary (1 mission) stat boosting drinks
• Certain missions now feature smaller maps than before

• There are new and different types of Emergency Trials
• A bug where enemies spawned indefinitely has been fixed

• New PSE variations exist
• The various PSEs have been renamed
• An "omen" system has been added to predict PSEs
• PSE effects, chances, and PSE bursts have been rebalanced

• The prologue and first chapter of the story will be available
• Starting a new game starts a tutorial story quest
• The matter board will be available
• Story events can happen anywhere

• The client order system will be available.
• Rewards for completing client orders include things like items, exp, and expansions to your palettes
• Accessed by completing parts of the matter board

• The main menu has been made easier to navigate
• PAs now say what weapon they are used for on the first line of the item description
• Disks for PAs and techs already learned will appear grayed out in your inventory and storage
• Units can now be customized while equipped
• Chat shortcuts will now show the first line of their settings when displayed with the quick menu
• An icon in the middle of the main palette will show what mode weapons like gunslashes are in
• The "message received" icon was made larger
• A tab for system messages has been added to the message system
• A message will appear in the chat box after a screenshot has been taken to assure you it actually happened

• More compatible game pads
• You can now switch between normal and direct chat with the scroll-lock key
• Holding control and pressing a number key will let you use your sub-palette while in direct chat mode
• Camera speed can be changed in the options menu
• Sped up the switch to character front function
• Added the option to change zoom setting for the mouse wheel
• Removed auto-run as a default for game pads
• Added a "switch targets" option for game pads
• No more virtual full screen
• Increased the number of player models that can be displayed on-screen to 160
• Added several formats for screenshots
• Added the option to not use auto-words or show auto-words in the log

• Arcs Cards
• Ability to create teams added
• Can send "Good Jobs" to players with comments
• Symbol Art system
• Whispering added
• Friend Partners, the ability to take friend's characters on missions
• Item trading is now possible for those who spend purchase a Premium Set with AC
• Items that you equip are bound to your character and can not be traded or sold in player stores
• The ability to imitate another player's lobby actions has been added
• New emoticons have been added
• Added new rule variations for auto-words
• New lobby animations
• When word bubble combine, they now use the last person's word bubble
• A party history function has been added to let you see who you played with before
• You can now receive notifications when specific friends log on

• Must rent the ability to open a shop with AC
• You don't need a room to open a shop
• The lowest price you can set on an item is 1000 meseta
• You can search by special ability when searching player shops

• My Rooms need to be rented with AC
• 3 Day room tickets are available in the FUN scratch
• Player rooms now have locks where groups of players can be prevented from entering
• New Scenery Passes allow you to change the view from your apartment
• Weapon Hologram items allow you to display a weapon you have as a decoration in your room
• A juke box room decoration will allow you to change the background music in your room
• Some decorations now have special actions when you use them
• You can now place small decorations on tables or desks
• The Shop Counter decoration allow players to access the shop of the owner of the room it is placed in

• The option to use an item to reduce the failure penalty when grinding items has been added
• An item to change the element of a weapon to whatever you'd like when strengthening elements has been added
• An item to add an additional special effect has been when moving special effects has been added

• Weapons that drop during a mission have a chance to show up as "SPECIAL WEAPON"s
• Tekking these weapons allows you to pick the element and a special effect for it. An additional special effect will also be added to the weapon at random

• Only a portion of the ranking system will be available in the closed beta
• Players are ranked against other members of the ship they play on
• Two rating types exist: "Interrupt Ranking" and "Weekly Ranking"
• Interrupt Rankings are rankings announced randomly several times a day. In the beta, these will be who can defeat the most of a certain enemy in an hour.
• Weekly Rankings include things like number of room visits and number of rare containers destroyed
• The top three players in any ranking receive FUN as a reward

• The game has been optimized to run better on PCs that meet PSO2's minimum specs

• The balance in the closed beta represents what will likely be the balance for the launch version of PSO2 but this is subject to change

• Character data from the closed beta will not be carried over in to any upcoming version.

The Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 character creator and system benchmarking program was released earlier today. It is available for download from the Japanese website. It can also be downloaded from the 4gamer mirror. The download is 446 MB.

Credit goes to Mike for bringing us this news. You can share screenshots of your characters in this forum thread.

• Free to Play and Cash Shop - Access to the game and executable will be free on all platforms. The game will be supported by an in-game item transaction shop.
• iOS and Android Versions - Phantasy Star Online 2 will be released on iOS and Android platforms. These versions will use the same data as the PC and PlayStation Vita versions. However, they will be single player only.
• Symbol Chat - Symbol Chat will return in Phantasy Star Online 2.
• Character Creator Demo - A character creation demo will be released on April 5th.
• PC Release Date - The Japanese PC version of Phantasy Star Online 2 is scheduled to be released during the Summer of 2012.
• Japanese PC Beta Test - A beta test for the Japanese PC version is scheduled for late April. To sign up for the beta, visit the Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 website and click on the golden beta button.

• Mags can attack by themselves based on their stats.
• Mag feeding works like it did in Zero. You can feed them weapons and armor.
• SPECIAL WEAPONs may return since a techer (tekker) is a possibility in the new city
• Mags have the same stats that characters have + an "energy" meter
• Additionally, mags have an "Auto Action" and "Trigger Actions."
• Trigger Actions look to be similar to what mags did in PSO when certain conditions were met (boss, low health, PB full).
• Auto Actions are things like physical attacks, shooting, or techs.
• Mags can be given "devices" that accelerate their evolution.

As usual, the official Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 site was updated with results of requests sent in during the second Alpha test. In addition, there has been a new gallery section opened for the new lobby and mags! The screenshot gallery has also been updated with some of the images from this week's Famitsu. Also, there's also a letter from Sakai on the "after" page. He says, among other things, that the closed beta will proceed on schedule. Here is a summary of the request and response information:

Battle & Quest Related

• Lag
• Multi-party area (MPA)
• Starter enemies
• Solo-play
• Grind by using PSEs
• Emergency Trial spawn
• Quests length
• Bosses boxes
• Destroying parts of enemies
• "Quest clear" music
• Grinders and synthesizers
• Sub-pallet settings

• More supported gamepads
• Chat modes
• Radar map styles
• Sub-pallet in direct chat mode
• Speed of camera
• Zoom camera
• Auto-run key
• Switch targets
• Full screen option
• Details on characters
• Screenshots format

• Item pack
• PA descriptions
• Learned PAs
• Customize equipped items
• Shortcuts in quick menu
• Shooting or slashing mode
• Message icon
• Different tabs for messages
• Screenshot taken

• Auto-words option
• Whisper feature
• Chat bubbles
• Be friend or black-list players
• Notified when friends log on

• Lock My room
• Display weapons
• Jukebox music
• Interact with room goods
• Desk for smaller objects

• Trade items between characters
• Non-sellable rare items
• Search by special ability

• Base character
• Facial variations
• Beauty shop

Credit goes to Mike for bringing us this news. You can view the entire response translation and discuss this news in the original forum thread.

The official Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 blog was updated with new details about the Sony PlayStation Vita port of Phantasy Star Online 2. The purpose of the new information was to clear up some of the concerns that people had expressed about the Vita version. Here is a summary of the information:

• Vita Updates - It will be possible to distribute updates and make balance changes to the Vita version.
• Online Security - Phantasy Star Online 2 will be an online only game. All data will be stored on the servers. Also, the Vita version will use the same security measures as the PC version.
• 3G Connections - It will be possible to play Phantasy Star Online 2 using a wireless connection or 3G network. However, the connection method for a 3G network will be different.
• PC/Vita Compatibility - The current plan is to allow PC and Vita players to play together. However, there is a chance that the PC and Vita players maybe separated depending on early testing results.

Credit goes to Mike for bringing us this news. You can discuss this news in this forum thread.

• The game is less than 10% complete. It is scheduled for release in 2013.
• It will use the same servers and character data as the PC version.
• Gameplay will be online only.
• It is possible that cross-platform parties between PC and Vita clients will be allowed. This is briefly shown in the video.

The official Phantasy Star Online 2 blog was updated earlier today with new concept art and information about "Boost Enemies." Boost Enemies have previously appeared in Phantasy Star Zero and Phantasy Star Portable 2. Compared to regular enemies, they have enhanced stats and have improved odds on certain item drops. The screenshot below provides an example of what a boost enemy will look like in Phantasy Star Online 2.

Boost Enemy Example

Also, concept art was released for the FOmar, RAMarl, and NPC vendors. Be sure to click on the image below to view larger version of the concept art!

FOmar

RAmarl

Female NPC Vendor

Male NPC Vendor

Credit goes to Mike for bringing us this news. You can discuss this news in this forum thread.

Concept art for the default RAnewearl costume was posted today on the official Phantasy Star Online 2 blog. Be sure to click on the image below to view larger version of the concept art!

RAnewearl

Also, a large treasure trove of information from the Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha 2 test was posted on the Japanese Phantasy Star Online 2 website. This information includes breakdowns on race/job statistics and the most popular items. Mike has translated and posted the information here.