Stia First Impressions

I'm finding it more personally difficult to be hyped about anything this game releases anymore, it's blatantly obvious Sega doesn't care etc etc (this thread isn't for discussing the issues with the game and playerbase) anyways. I'll post my opinion later when i actually play it.

garbo opinion:

1. smallest region released with areas blocked off for opening later to make people come back and experience as though the region is expanding when its really not. absolutely dumb to do this
2. Forgettable music
3. 90% reskinned and reused enemies already
4. I know Sega said they wouldnt do the same thing with Kvaris via gear but all of it is garbage or slightly better than Kvaris gear.
Point is, theres basically no gear to really chase thats worth your time.
5. Capsule farming again, when is Sega going to actually make this a fun grind or offer a better grind? Yes, base PSO2 had to actual fun grinds to do compared to what we have in NGS
6. New skills are alright, questionable but where are the dam PA's/Techs? 1 new PA/Tech is NOT going to cut it. People are tired of the same PA/Techs, the same old monotony. Adding just 1 PA/Tech that is either useless, niche or doesn't add to the overall fun isn't going to help whatsoever.
7. Last but not least, the story (no spoilers yet). Roughly the same length as the other regions. Still bland, written by middle schoolers, leaves a lot to be questioned, unanswered etc etc
Now spoiler: you had the obvious answer of where Dark Falz was the whole time only to have the fight time gated behind an EQ for who knows how long. Crawford either is the villain or not (my guess is he needs DF weak for his own use) at this point.

Either way, game continues to be bad. I seriously want to love PS again but right now Sega makes it very difficult to do so. I could criticize the shills for this games but I don't need to. This game could be so much better if it wasn't so low on Sega's priority while they focus on other "AAA" projects. Eventually the coomers and whales will realize this but hey, they still havent now lol

1. Aelio
2. Retem
3. Kvaris
4. Stia

ARKS

At this point I'm more intrigued in the idea of them doing something after Stia, than Stia itself. I have to wonder if they've even planned past it.

LMAO Guiden increase us again to the last level :rappy:

My first impressions:
- Story is even shorter, and unexpectedly shallow for a seemingly a place for an answer
- Location is smaller than expected
- The drill boss eq is literally bombastic. The sound effect is bombing my ears, in a good way
- The music is no better than retem and kvaris, as bad as aelio
- The place is barely likeable to stay, and they probably realize it so they put some sanctuary islands near the bridge
- Invisible box is the least favorite money item compare to other three regions, assuming alpha reactor map is provided. If not, aelio is still the worst
- More cute NPCs :D

I assume they're gonna drip-feed this region more than others. The story and the region are way smaller than the other 3, maybe they're gonna tell us about the teleporter above the lake a few months after to finish the planet off. 6 months in this region is gonna be super boring in this already boring cycle!

first i have a neutral position on lava levels = meh
story at least seems better than Kvaris (just a little) but still dissapoints me we havent seen hechmen at least (like how Persona used to be percieved back in EP1) and i mean if Sega didnt wanted to spend budget on an actor who would say its lines in 15 secs as much i understand it , still there was ways to present a hechmen visually and with corporal language only .
the music: most of it i feel it worst than Aelio with a few exceptions(which gave me a phantasy star zero vibes) . overall musical score so far Kvaris>Retem>Aelio>Stia
enemy wise: im glad Alters got a lot of love this time , now i know in Kvaris they sacrificed them (at least they should say in the story Kvaris Alters are the prototypes)
btw i think the first encounter against the Alters was something like this :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PZ...=BigDickCheney
for the Formers im glad they finally gave some rest to naberius animals to let the lilipan robots and the dragonkin take the spot (im not sure if i saw all the minions or not)

for gameplay loop , we already know the drill

Kvaris story was at least entertaining but the rest of the game aside from tutorial is pretty lackluster..
as for gameplay loop feels mostly the same but the UQ system isnt doing it for me...
ngs is pretty much just combat practice and fashion, which is very unfortunate for its playerbase...
but that being said it is better than nothing and i hope sega does better in the future!

Impressions, hm...? I normally don't do much of this, but let's see.

Story
-As expected, the story is short, well even shorter by this game's standards, but it's obviously slowly building up towards Falz. Still, I wish we could've done more.
-Finally get to see Manon use magic, despite the fact that she normally uses Daggers (even despite the fact that the site has her as Force/Fighter).
-Glen and Kanui are pretty good, and even finally getting to see Crawford in direct action. Bonus points for him being a Techter..

Music
-I mostly just really like the region boss song. It's the one I keep coming back to for its elegant feeling.

Enemies
-So for the formers, I'm kinda tired of seeing wolves, but it probably was expected. The Rockbear disappointed me. Very glad we got to see Draconians though. It was my concern that they wouldn't be in this region that fits em so well.
-Alters got some attention, even if we count the couple of obvious reskins. I wanna know more about these creatures though, since they're getting more interesting lately.
-Well the Dolls surely got a bit more powerful, some still annoying, but that's their job, especially those gun ones. They mostly seem the same except most of the bosses.
-Boss-wise, I appreciate the new ones that aren't reskins, especially the mage, monkey boss, and the regional big bad. I can respect the drill boss... just takes a bit of time to get used to all the stuff happening at once. The Flamedyl, flaming dinosaur and those reptile alters also get a pass.
-Region boss is my favorite for its elemental mechanic and beautiful music. The UQ one is even better, and is a reason why I sometimes wanna fight it. Make more of these kinda bosses.
-There's the special Giga Vardias around also which is okay, better than Ancients at least. The loot however is not desirable.


Other
-Disappointed that the geysers don't hurt or even launch you. I've been staring at it since the headline hoping it would be a field hazard. The flaming rocks and the lava core things are okay. Nice to know you gotta be careful not to hold the rocks for too long, but at the same time, holding it long enough makes it stronger.
-Only 1 combat zone definitely felt off and disappointing. I read somewhere that we're getting another combat zone in late January, and I really hope it's in that area where we fought the regional big bad in the story.
-This region's "Blizzardium", the Infernium, is handled much better with multiple ways to get em. Bonus points for Recon Gigants for existing.



Overall, the region was so-so in some parts, but it kinda felt worn out too fast. With the story being so short and only 1 combat zone upon release, it didn't feel complete. We'll have to see what else they'll add to this place besides the inevitable Falz fight later on, which is why I hope the upcoming headline will give us some important info.