3/20/14 PSO2 Episode 2 Deluxe Package Event (pix cuz it happened)

[Zipzo]

Hello. So this will be in two parts. Sakai isn't going to be showing up for the event until 18:00, which means I'll have to wait until then for anything futher but I thought I could just share the what everything looks like and how (little) big a deal everything is.

First, for anyone who hasn't seen or heard of the Club Sega building, it's just a 6-7 story building with nothing but arcade games, some floors are just claw machines (which are all rip-offs, I seriously laugh at dudes who spend thousands of yen on these until they win something worth a fraction of the cost), others have the more well known and popular games like the Blazblue, Guilty Gear, Persona, and other franchises like the non-anime fighters as well. Looks like this from the outside, it's a pretty rainy day today, unfortunately, not the greatest day for an event, but I took pictures anyway. The frontal giant postal is often changed, and despite it being a big release for SEGA I'm surprised they didn't change it to a giant PSO2 poster (which they sometimes sport).



As you get closer to the building you start to see the setup. Right now it's just a little overly PSO2-plastered section of the wall with a table where they take your receipt (proof of purchase) as a raffle ticket. It's the little box on the right with the yellow top.




Everyone gets a giant PSO2 sleeve, and one pull from the raffle, that would be the silver sleeve you see in the following picture, paired next to my copy of the vita version of PSO2 E2 Deluxe. I already had the first PC premium package so I decided to get the vita version this time around in order to save memory card space.



I pulled the random card from the silver sleeve, I got the "Mercy of Lilipa". Kinda wanted the Heart of Naberius but, you know, SEGA scratch.



At this point, they also gave me a free voucher ticket for some tokens to play the new arcade anime-style fighting game called "FIGHTING CLIMAX" (lol). They ushered me upstairs and coaxed me to give it a shot. Since I do like anime fighting games, I went ahead and did so.



It felt a lot like it borrowed from Persona's engine a lot, but with less emphasis on auto-combo. Mark my words, Kirito is OP as shit. Right now there's only 2 stations (4 screens) available with the game, and at the moment they are only allowing vouchered players to give it a go since they are fixing the machines up or something like that. You can see the bucket on the right side which belongs to the technician working on the machines.



After I finished I left the SEGA building, with intention to return tonight at around 6:00PM in order to get Sakai to sign both my original Premium PC Package and my new Vita Ep2 Package. I'm hoping to ask him to sign "Nani wo Ka ne" on my vita package. All in all this isn't really a huge thing, the advertising for it isn't really even that grand, if not subtle. I only saw one advertisement for it on a game shop I passed on the way to the building, and it was very close to an already existing SEGA building.



I will take pictures tonight when I meet Sakai. He's only going to be there signing for an hour, which means the likelihood I'll get some personal time to discuss balance and details pretty darn slim, but I'm almost sure I can throw one question in there. I asked in the other thread, but I'm still open to suggestions and ideas on good single questions to ask the producer of the game we all play. A question that isn't open to a vague answer, and a question that an answer from Sakai would actually be meaningful for. Anyways...

More to come later...!

UPDATE

Alright so, have some pretty unfortunate news. It was not a good environment to ask him any questions about the game. It was very much a sign and go situation, where the only conversation you could possibly have with him was as much attention as he could give you while signing your stuff.

So...I brought 3 different things to sign...he signed using a little picture of the Vol Dragon as seen here on my PSO2 PC premium package...



It was a line going around a building in a [little] bit of rain, he was signing, shaking a hand, and you were off. What's worse is they weren't allowing pictures of the setup unless you asked to have one specifically with Sakai. Obviously that didn't stop me from shooting a shot of the setup from a bit further away...much less anyone less I'm sure...



You can see the line going around the corner of the building and continuing back in to the street going left.

Anywho, finally I meet the man himself. I tell him that I'm a big of PSO2 and I try to represent the foreign population of folks who enjoy the game. Since I didn't really get to ask him a full fledged question, as he was signing I sort of slipped it in the form of an observation by saying...

Me : "One thing I love about PSO2 is how I can play with people from all over the world, it's really just like the first PSO, there are so many players from other countries"

He actually didn't seemed very phased or surprised by this statement because his response, and I'm paraphrasing JP > ENG...

Sakai : "Don't you think? It's awesome that PSO2 attracts people from all over the place. Where are you from?"

Me : "Oh, well my wife is Japanese, I'm only a fraction Japanese on my mothers side, but I'm British."

Sakai : "I see, I see."

By then he was done signing and the security guards started calling for the next person with really loud voices, but I wanted a damn picture. I said...

Me : "Wait, wait, wait, is it okay if I get just a picture?"

Security guard takes my phone kind of hurriedly...and here's the shot...



So while it wasn't an ideal situation...I did get a slight whiff from Sakai that he appreciates the foreign fan-base. He could have said anything though but there was a definite genuine feeling of satisfaction that the game he produces is attracting people from all over the world.

Sorry I didn't say anything about a US server, I am not American and I don't live in USA or EU currently so I didn't really think it would make sense for me to ask that. I wish I was able to at least get one serious, straight-forward question but the situation was just not right and a bit rushed, he was only there for an hour and the line was reaching pretty far back. Anyways, it was still cool to meet the guy who is at the helm of the game I play, and I dare say I was a tad nervous even. Despite what you think of the game and its flaws, you can't help but respect a dude who's making a living by just breathing life in to a video game. I sure as heck it were that easy for me.