Latest News and Updates

SEGA has announced that they have increased the number of testers for Phantasy Star Online 2's Vita closed beta test. Newly selected testers have been chosen by lottery and should be receiving emails today.

The rewards for participants have also been increased. Previously, players would be rewarded with the Riser/Nacht weapon, photon sphere, and a 500 FUN ticket for reaching level 10. In addition to those rewards, players who reach level 20 with any class will now also receive the Captain's Hat and Spiked Choker accessories, as well as one EXcube.

Finally, if all this news wasn't good enough already, SEGA has also decided to merge the testing windows for the last two days of testing, meaning that the servers will stay online for a continuous 32-hour period, rather than two 9-hour windows. The updated remaining test schedule is as follows:

January 23rd, from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST (9 hours)

January 25th, from 3:00pm - January 26th @ 11:00pm JST (32 hours)

For those of you in the US, 3pm JST converts to 1:00am EST (12am CST / 11pm MST / 10pm PST) and 11pm JST converts to 9:00am EST (8am CST / 7am MST / 6am PST).

Next week's content update for Phantasy Star Online 2 (JP) will be raising the class level cap to 55, as well as introducing a new Valentine's Day lobby and related limited-time items and quests. SEGA has released a teaser video for the update, which they are calling "Courageous Leader." Check it out:

Starting on January 23rd and ending February 20th, PSO2 will be featuring the Valentine's Lobby, special client orders, and a new emergency quest called "The Missing Chocolate" (which will feature an appearance from the cake sisters, of course). While you're questing, be on the lookout for the "Love Rappy" and its exclusive item drop.

In addition, a new batch of AC scratch will be rolling out, featuring the costume worn by the cake sisters, a blue rappy costume, and a number of other items and accessories.

It's also worth noting that advancing to level 55 will not require the completion of a client order.

SEGA has revealed more details on their upcoming concert, "Sympathy 2013", commemorating the Phantasy Star Series' 25th anniversary. The concert will be performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Masamichi Amano, and will feature at least 10 different pieces taken from a variety of past and present Phantasy Star games, including the opening theme for Phantasy Star Online 2.

In addition to the great music, attendees of the concert will receive special PSO2 item codes for items such as a Guitar Case rifle, Sonichi mag evolution device, nine different room items (including Grand Piano, Drum Set, Jukebox, etc.), four different music discs, and a Phantasy Star Series 25th Anniversary logo sticker. See image below for most of the items:

Sympathy 2013 will take place March 30th, 2013 at the Hibiya Public Hall in Hibiya Park, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Tickets can be purchased for ¥7,300 or ¥7,800 (about $81 & $87 USD).

The latest update to Phantasy Star Online 2 brings yet another campaign from SEGA. Any players completing one of two emergency quests during the campaign period will receive (99) Grinders as a reward.

The campaign will run from January 16, 2013 through January 23rd, 2013 @ 11:00am JST (Jan 22 @ 9pm EST, 8pm CST, 7pm MST, 6pm PST). The quests, as well as some schedule times when they will be appearing, are as follows:

Approaching the Abyss (Falz Hunar) - ????????

January 18th @ 11:00am JST

January 19th @ 2:00pm & 12 midnight JST

January 20th @ 11:00am JST

January 18th @ 2:00pm & 12 midnight JST

January 19th @ 11:00am JST

January 20th @ 2:00pm & 12 midnight JST

Rewards from this campaign will be distributed to players' storage boxes during regular maintenance on January 30th, 2013.

This week's maintenance for Phantasy Star Online 2 (JP) is extended and will be starting earlier than normal, with the servers going offline starting at 2:00am JST on January 16th and lasting through 5:00pm JST. For those in the West, this means the servers will be down the rest of today (Jan 15th), with maintenance taking place from 12 Noon EST (11am CST, 10am MST, 9am PST) to 3:00am EST (2am CST, 1am MST, 12am PST).

In addition, AC purchase and update downloading will be unavailable for at least the first two hours of this 15-hour maintenance window. While you're waiting, be sure to head over to the PSO2 forums, which are said to temporarily relieve symptoms of withdrawal.

Update & WebMoney Award (Free 1000 FUN ticket): Maintenance is now complete. In addition, SEGA has announced that Phantasy Star Online 2 won WebMoney's 2012 "Rookie of the Year" award and is giving anyone who logged in between November 21st and December 26th a 1000 FUN ticket. This ticket, as well as any other items earned through the Christmas and New Year's campaigns, should now be in the special storage box for qualifying players.

SEGA has also released a list of AC and FUN scratch that will be taken out of the rotation during next week's regular maintenance on January 23rd. You can view the full list here.

The first day of beta testing for PSO2 (JP) Vita has officially started. If you are one of the selected testers, you'll have until 11pm JST (9am EST / 8am CST / 7am MST / 6am PST) to get in some play time during this first phase of testing. There will be four more testing windows and the schedule can be found in our previous article.

In addition, SEGA has posted a list of things that PSO2 Vita testers should know, such as certain restrictions or changes that apply to the beta. Here's a summarized list (these should apply to the future testing days as well):

Classes restricted to Hunter, Ranger, Force up to lvl 30 - No subclasses, no EXcubes

Available quests include normal/hard for Forest, Caves, Urban areas (some EQ and rankings)

No badge or net cafe shops

Maximum mag level of 50

First matter board only

10,000 AC will be given for free, but additional AC cannot be purchased

The enhanced premium set from PSO2 PC is not included.

A special version of AC scratch and FUN scratch will be used exclusively for the beta.

Game balance will differ from PSO2 PC for leveling and teams, adjusted specifically for the beta

Items required for some client orders have been adjusted

Weapon "Potential" abilities are not include, but other weapon enhancing features will work as normal (grinding, ability add, etc).

Players will not be able to transfer ships, use friend invite, redeem item codes, or access Toro and Kuro.

All character data and AC will be deleted when the beta is over

Your Sony Entertainment Network account linked with your Sega ID at the start of the beta will be reset after testing ends.

For more information, discussion, and a list of other testers, be sure to head over to the beta tester's thread in our forums. Have fun!

Today's content update for Phantasy Star Online 2 (JP) brings a new, and highly anticipated, escape quest and Arkz clone emergency trial. In the new quest, players will be abducted and transported to the Darker's Den (this happens randomly when starting a quest), where they will have to escape with their lives. Those who escape and are deemed powerful enough will be cloned by the darkers and will appear in a rare emergency trial. It will be possible to face clones of yourself, as well as friends, with increased rewards for defeating them.

Initial information on this update was posted back in December in a previous story and additional details, as well as a teaser video, can be found here. The technical specs of this patch are as follows:

Update Size: 60MB

Launcher Version: 01.05.01

Game Version: 1.0201.5

First Time Download Size: 5.4GB

We'll update this article with more details as they become available. In the meantime, be sure to check out the above thread, where info on the update is being consolidated (thanks Sasuga!). This first update of the year is looking to be a lot of fun and we're looking forward to the stories of PSOW members defeating (or being defeated by) each other's clones!

SEGA has launched their official player's site for PSO2 Vita's closed beta test and emails to all 50,000 selected testers (chosen by lottery out of more than 100,000 applicants) have been sent out. If you were one of the lucky ones to get invited, there are some details posted on the new site that you'll want to be aware of and below is a brief rundown for your convenience.

For starters, players will only be able to access the test servers on six designated testing days, and only during certain hours on those days. Those days and times are as follows:

January 15th, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 17th, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 19th, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 23rd, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 25th, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 26th, 2013 from 3:00pm - 11:00pm JST

January 25th @ 3:00pm JST - January 26th @ 11:00pm JST (32 hours, Updated!)

For those of you in the US, that eight-hour testing window is going to start at 1:00am EST (12am CST / 11pm MST / 10pm PST) and end at 9:00am EST (8am CST / 7am MST / 6am PST).

If you received an acceptance email, you'll need to enter the included code into the Japanese Playstation Store to download (Wi-Fi only) the client. The game will require that you have more than 2GB of free space. SEGA also mentions that accounts with chat restrictions due to parental controls will be unable to play the game and that setting will need to be disabled.

During the beta test, players can report any issues using a special form that SEGA has set up here. Also be sure to check out this thread in the forums if you want to meet up with other testers from PSOW and the EN community (thanks Crystal_Shard).

SEGA's latest update on its war against cheating indicates that a whopping 188,683 accounts were suspended during the month of December for malicious activity. In related news, somebody, somewhere, has got to be getting ridiculously tired of making new accounts for Phantasy Star Online 2.

We're assuming that the vast majority of these accounts are a result of bots or other automated nuisances, but the number does also include players trying to purchase or sell in-game currency through RMT, as well as those attempting to use cheat programs or commit fraud. While the number does still appear quite large when considering the recent milestone of one-million registered users, SEGA's waves of mass suspensions likely have cheaters and RMTers in a continuous cycle of creating new accounts (it is a free game, after all).

Nonetheless, it's good to see that SEGA continues to bloody its ban hammer in an effort to keep PSO2's servers clean. We'll be hoping to see the same efforts once the game inevitably releases in the West this year!