Things you like / dislike in NGS

[classicburger]

NGS has been out for a while now and it's probably a good time to share our thoughts on what has become better or in some cases worse than what most of us enjoy. Keep in mind this thread is mainly about each individual's opinion so there is no need to try and debate each other into changing his / her opinion. I'll be starting things off with:

Battle Speed / Tempo - I am a combat freak and while I feel like the new combat is not bad I find I am missing how fast the tempo was in
the old PSO2, the motion was also very fluid because of the smoother cancels.

Boss Battle Camera - Unlike the old PSO2 with a behind the back third person view camera, zooming out removes a sense of immersion in the action making me feel like I'm playing some RTS game. Turning off the option also makes the game quite unplayable because of the lock-on camera.

Lock-on Camera - It's just bad as it is now. On top of how difficult it has become to lock on to a part you want, most of the time the camera will be behind the boss blocking everything in your view.

Salon and face editing - This has been around since forever but the NGS salon is worse for face editing. There is a big difference between the face inside the salon and outside the salon. I get the feeling the face has been warped and deformed to an abomination. I'd stick with the old Salon when editing faces and the NGS salon for editing body.

NGS Body - I like it, specifically type 2.

There's probably more to the list but I'll add them later on.

[ShiroiRen]

Well, why not? Here's my input for this topic as well, my opinions only of course so it's moot to others unless they agree of the things. Disregard if not. Also things won't exactly be in order so pardon me. Also beware language.

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The Pros:
Exploration is better, at least this time there's no random "Emergency Code" when someone simply sets foot out of the gate... like pesky Gel Wulfs or a random boss trying to kill me.

For Classes/Styles being updated despite back to the plebian ones (no Hero/Phantom/Etoile/Luster yet...) when a friend did say the changes here kinda rival the better ones of basic PSO2, they were serious indeed. I say all of them are much better, and I also admit that even classes I disliked are at least a bit better; like Fighter actually moves much faster and does even bigger combos this time, and Ranger has full auto firing and kind of felt like in those other shooting games (like Lost Planet 2), while some of my favorites are easier to use now such as Forces now can freaking defend and counterattack back this time!

Aerial combat is one of the best parts as I can now (kind of?) rain death from above down on foes below which kind of suits my favorite character's style lol (especially for Forces!)

Sub-classing a style giving full access to that one's entire weapon arsenal is helpful! No more having to look for built-in skill weapons which are underpowered just to use another's move with said weapon when wanting to use a lot of things...... or (if like me) unlucky Forces getting inventory nuked by Fighter/Ranger/Gunner/Hunter weapons every single damn time and yet they're the thing you're finding only and getting trolled by those which will never be used as the -only- high rariaty gear as a booby-prize instead of something actually wanted but never drops in 9 years straight... well at least those kuso-weapons can finally be used as a back-seat arsenal by some meaning I guess, and fully too.

Pricing isn't 100fuckingMillion+ here (sorry bad language but it's ridiculous, it'll never make any sense) making things far more reasonable to buy for those who don't get their secret. Takes me back to when I was around the good ol' days when prices were reasonable and actually possible to go shopping in player shops and such.

Areas specific for things instead of chaotic messes and not so much pesky enemies unless in specific "Combat Sectors" which is good for a person's change of pace. Also gathering doesn't require SG if you want to collect a lot anymore.

Making a "Multi-Weapon" is a new mechanic and might at least be up to a 3-Class weapon if done right (?) I think, though expensive but worth the hassle; such as making a real Devil May Cry style attempt of Sword + Dual Guns to be like Dante?

Rappies are even cuter!

Dragons, and they can be humiliated in the same old Monster Hunters' way lol (off with his tail!!)

Soundtrack is still headbanging in some places or soothing in others.

Dual Take-off start this time: now nobody is ahead/behind of the other for JP or the Unorthodox sides, a fair start. (... or so it seems, minus the censors)

Can cliff-hike like Genshin Impact / Skyrim, minus the Fall-Damage or stamina usage.

Most stuff from basic PSO2 can carry over to this one while they eventually decide to make things better (?) which is even more fashion chances in the future to come.

Records don't keep insults held on you anymore such as scoffing you for dying a lot; that data is scratched (and does not stack to generic PSO2 deaths roster either)

A new Once-A-Day scratch is added to some of the SG stuff for once, even if the odds are stacked against you, it's better than wasting actual SG to end up with undesirable trash and lose gems at least.

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The Cons:

While class changes did take place, some still don't exactly feel any better that much and some changes aren't all that good either though they have their reasons for now... Gunner doesn't seem much different though at least it's a bit faster in my opinion(?), and some weapons have less of a omph than they used to as well, such as Launchers kind of feel weaker even if able to fire off lasers as a special attack that can overcharge... but some reason doesn't feel like it hits as hard anymore. Techer is the only one that uses Shifta & Deband anymore which is kind of well... limiting, but I can see that it now makes (pardon me) a difference in considering Force as "black mage (damager)" and Techer as "white mage (supporter?)" also getting black-barred PP problems are a royal pain when trying to force some jerk-boss into submission (moot)

VPN is now required to play the JP version, and that's a major drawback. I dislike the other unorthodox version.

A "Better than Good" computer is required to play the game at all. I actually can still run it on my own PC and my back-up one but having a laptop over 8 years old and not able to get a "better" one isn't good, and the Acer Aspire 3 got its battery fried and won't turn back on anymore even though I replaced the battery with a newer one (ouch).

Field "Veteran" Bosses will bar you from freely exploring if you aren't proper level and will kick your ass on first sight usually and recent update makes even them now to a point of futile to even try to fight back if you're only a little below-par, just die to them. (don't even bother trying to support a higher level player facing off, you're just in their way... and will get no credit either way.)

Gigantix bosses are pesky, useless terror. When trying to go out to gather some supplies on a lesser character / starting off as a newbie even without other characters on a new account, these bastards get in the way at some of the worst times and get the drop on you, and they cannot be detected by radar on first sight till they already attack/get attacked first and it's too late (both versions!) even if you're looking them dead in the face from a small distance hoping they don't bother... which then if you're not aware, can get the jump on you and it's over. For characters who are under-par/just starting out they should at least make these pests harder to find or get in a beginner's way. Like giant flies of Beelzebub, they are pesky and very evil, but will swat -you- instead.

No NPC partner hiring possible here anymore... not too good when wanting to speedley take out zako-mobs in a rush but can't find friends/don't want to go with randoms who are potential cowards. Makes some things drag a bit (not too serious, but I miss running around with a self-made NPC doppelganger lol)

You can't pet the animals who aren't hostile.

For a place where "Code: Capture" or "Code: Arrest" would be meaningful, you can't catch cute things and keep them as pets...

You cannot pet the cats in the city area anymore...

You still have to spank the Rappies, even if they never intend to hurt you, and can even sadistically torment them with any element (ouchies!) which is a bit much.... but can't so much to other brutes that deserve that treatment (except some bosses, and not as easily)

Resta is obsolete, it's now down to more Dark Souls like "Limited Heals" and if you drag in a long-endurance battle for the first time and have absolutely no idea what's coming while blind or wasted too many "Area Heal" items on people and then finally get targeted at the end when nothing is left, you're fucked.

Use of multiple characters in this version is discouraged it seems...

Mag is a generic one and not the same one you grew up with and loved... (I miss her... Tamahime...) nor do they attack for or help you anymore.

Forced-change controls to 3-type instead of 2-Type anymore which can be a bit difficult at first (moot)

Not every class is out at the time; no Hero, Phantom, Etoile, or Luster. Summoner isn't seen either yet, overrated Braver IS confirmed however but not yet there, Bouncer is still absent.

Not all gear carries over to NGS, and especially no "old" weapons allowed. No "all-class" weapons either/if do they aren't versatile anymore. Also PSO2 gear cannot be modified in NGS (not even grinding, this is to be expected though) so will have to go back to generic side if need to finalize those.

Lots of basic stuff is absent: no personal room, no team rooms, etc.

SG scratch even though free once a day is brutal; when even over 20+ failures (keep nuking me with MALE outfits or duplicate stamps, ouch!) yet no possible way to turn in scrap-badges into something actually desired at the time.

The targeting is the modern turkey fail system, please add something more like REFFI from Thunderforce! (lol, but really) as this is perhaps the biggest gripe I have of NGS yet and is No.01 actual legit game drawback that deducts points -- while I do want to hit a specific rat in the weak spot or a boss, the game targets -something else- and that gets me into trouble, a LOT ...in fact is perhaps the most annoying case of this game to me to be honest as since I'm an aggressive FONewearl, I'd like to either fry a zako-mob in an instant or Barta-Blast a boss in the weak spot but "Oops WTF!?! Why did I target that puny little baka Lizard-Frey!?! Damn it!!" *gets hit in the face!* or *Boss zooms 90MPH a long distance, breaking targeting off then quickly buzzes back in but targeting goes off to some other hapless enemy!* this drives me "Diggnutts" and in some situations had me suffer premature deaths in absolute rage. It gets really serious in cases like a PSE-Burst with giant crowds of enemies coming from every wichway, one obstructing another and distorts my battle coordination terribly. (really nasty in Rank-2 and then a boss drops into the orgey too)

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Random morbid curiosity: I wonder what future binomes will NGS have for us!?
what to expect: a Desert zone (confirmed!), a Tundra (unconfirmed but can see one), a Volcanic belt (please do NOT be as nasty as kill-all-players-on-walking boobytrapped Amdusca Caves!)

what I'd like to see (or not, lol): What's the DOLLs' territory like? Is there another Sheol area? A all-metal fortress? Actual city area? A underwater area that actually does allow swimming or such (more advanced seabed?), a creepy meat cave/cell invasion organic area? Any possible crossover areas from some other games in the future?

Will people be able to use more vehicles in the future to travel around too and fight in them?
--will we be able to take on an area like in Thunderforce or Panzer Dragoon? or any more full Mecha travel usage areas with familiar AIS bots or something bigger? (lol)

-an idiot can dream.

[Cyclon]

Thought of making such a thread recently. I don't think I would have because of laziness though... anyway I'll try not to repeat myself too much; game lacks content, combat is fine but a downgrade imo, I miss having my room, etc etc. I'll touch on other things.

Pros:

- The mobility is solid, as we have great speed and great control, to the point where I think the movement cocoons are the most fun part of the game for me, currently. Hope we see more content like that.

- The open world is too small, but what we do have and what we can peek at beyond the barriers is quite nice. Considering how pso2 was, this definitely wasn't a given. I'm very interested in certain upcoming zones.

- Enemy design is better fit to combat a crowd of players, which is good considering how NGS works.

- I'd say skill trees are generally improved. Each point feels more valuable and most skills directly impact gameplay in some way.

- The area system is commendably smooth, and partying up seems pretty painless as well.

- Combat power is, on principle, a good system.

- The story doesn't waste too much time, and considering it's now tied to progression(which is its own thing), this is for the better. I liked many of them, but pso2 had decidedly way too many side characters from the get go.

Cons:

- I've read most of everything anyone has said here and elsewhere and this has definitely not been said enough;
After almost a decade of thankless support, screw you for IP locking us without even a word or an opportunity to get our stuff back, Sega. I don't care that you're in your right, I don't care if you have reasons; you made the conscious decision to screw over some of your most loyal fans. I'm not naive, I know you'll suffer no consequences for this, but man do I wish you would.

- Back to NGS so to speak, I'd say it's now clear that there was a serious lack of ambition behind this project. Considering they had this huge opportunity after finally rebuilding an audience in the west and with pso2's general success, this is so disappointing to see. Feels like we're back at square one, again, and for the wrong reasons as usual. Frankly, I'm getting too old for this shit.

- Ok, for real now... I don't care much for the setting this time around. I'm willing to assume space travel is coming, but at the moment everything, from the conflict to the different parties to of course the planet itself(your biggest city is that size and not even a city really?), everything feels way too small and limited. There's no denying that past games merely gave an impression of scale granted, but I'd say they did a pretty good job at it.

- Most attacks in this game feel like they lack impact upon connecting and I'm not completely sure if it's a hitstop, sound or visual problem, but yeah. It's all the more surprising because some others do feel great to land.

- I've never really been one to afk in the lobbies, but even for me, NGS direly lacks coziness. Makes you realize that adventure can only be so exciting if you have nowhere to return to.

- I praised the enemy design on a gameplay level, however this game is a textbook case of why you should most always give your enemies faces of some kind. Most Dolls feel less intense, threatening and satisfying to defeat than they could've been.

- I think pso2 always had decent appeal as a purely single player game(aka being on your own without half a dozen others buzzing around). Heck, I think historically the online portion of this franchise has always generally delivered on that front. But NGS does not, at all.

[oratank]

task force player to pay to continue the more character you have the more pain you got
rank 2 map force you to complete story mission even you have enough power you can't enter it which mean you have to paid that stupid task i hope they change it someday

[silo1991]

pros
1 reworked weapons: weapons that i ddint used in OG PSO2 i use them a lot in NGS i use the partizan againts bosses a lot as ahuge example compared to OG which it was more useless than a gunblade(pre luster)
2 all classes now have added value as subclass no matter the combination you play and also NGS motivate you to be more experimental
3 the free SG pull its great , you can recycle the repeated stuff for SG tickets in OG PSO2 and get specific stuff in the permanent SG gatcha
4 i like the open world , i like the cocoon and tower quest
5 NGS base wears can be recolor which for most ocassions you dont have to buy 2 or more colors of the same BA now

cons
1 the lack of default makeups for NGS faces and bodies , hell not even mustaches and beards at least
2 the story (and on the way) map discoveries are not account shared , if you are new you wouldnt notice that but most of us already have plenty of characters and with each we have to clear the story and rediscover all the places in the map , IMO this is a huge stepback considering the NGS director its the same fool who directed EP5 and there the story progress was unified.
at least the cocoon/tower quest progress its unified
3 the gigantix management: the spawn of these enemies are badly implemented , you can see them in centra Aerio nearby central city , a newbie area WTH
and with the recent changes its even more WTH
4 the battle hardened enemies : why nullify the damage instead of just make them high risk enemies , just damage a shielded enemy and you do more damage than a battle hardened enemy , and even if you kill them you dont win EXP anymore a crappy execution IMO
4.1 why make under level enemies give 1 EXP instead of give what they should , for example western and south Aerio enemies gives 10 EXP if the fight its fair , why they cant still give 10 EXP despite even in max level we cant 1 shot them ?
5 the roadmap worry me for the fact NGS might commit the same mistakes as EP5 the only relief its : EP6 director (who also created phantom , etoile and luster) its in charge of class balance so its imposible the Hero phenomenon repeats again

[leilei]

The launcher beam doesn't shoot all the way up or down.

There's random freezes now and then.

Accessories' mounting and colors aren't saved in ensembles.

Positional audio front/back is reversed.

FO's pretty weak right now. Those bartas feel like i'm petting someone. Gizonde is a razonde.

The monster AI is rather amusing right now, i quite enjoyed solo'ing a veteran banshee struggling to climb a cliffside lol

Overall it does feel like a premature launch with not a lot of ironing out, not helped by the restricted microsoft platform beta tests, but there's also that pandemic thing holding production back... Hopefully everything in this post means moot in 3 months.

[the_importer_]

It's a "meh" for me. I've been playing on both the Global servers and JPN servers when we got a translation for it. Mind you, this is my last week on the Global servers, just no point to it, you can see that it's gonna be an inferior version right off the bat.

Pros:
-It looks better, but that bar wasn't high to begin with
-I like being able to teleport anywhere on the map
-While there's less Photon Arts, I feel like what little there are plenty effective and some old ones were converted to weapon actions
-Accessing storage from anywhere and selling stuff is very useful
-No more spending cash on mates, moons and boosts is a nice bonus
-I like the new SP system, hope they'll be generous with the amounts in the other regions
-Love the gathering system
-Basically, the only thing that costs meseta is the player shops and upgrade shop, which is a good thing
-Love the new affix system, no more rage when you fail, just a small inconvenience

Cons for both versions:
-Lack of Techs
-Not having Titles from the start is not motivating me to play enough
-Can't trade with other premium players
-No "My Room", they could have at least sent you to your regular PSO2 room without having to change game
-Speaking of which, you need to log out everytime you want to change characters
-Most new enemies are just ugly, very basic design
-Recycling old enemies was lazy
-They should have limited certain enemies per areas
-Public chat reaches too far, it's very annoying
-Meseta is very limited. Enemies and selling junk doesn't give much and once you get all of the red box, it feels like all you have left is a weekly allowance.
-EXP boost is limited at 10% for premium, 10% is you spend 250SG and 10% for Region Mag
-Sub-class almost feel pointless now except for when you need to get it to Lv15
-My main class, Fo, feels very nerfed now. It can't boost and most of its Skills are meant for PP and not making your techs stronger
-Most skills are main class now
-Very little story so far and I hope it doesn't turn out to be something like "ARKS were the real enemy the entire time!"
-The music is also very generic. Phantasy Star OSTs always had something too them, but I'm not feeling this one (except for the Deads/Veterans music)
-The game in general feels soulless. Phantasy Star games were always flawed, but had a certain charm, a soul to them. This one seems like a cookie cutter of how to make an MMO and they branded the name Phantasy Star to it

Cons for specific versions:
-Need a VPN for the JPN version now, not sure if it's an IP banned that was asked by MS or due to SEGA's butterfingers
-The Global version is infested with spammers selling Meseta and they haven't done anything about this. They could have easily prevent this by requiring having to do more in the game before being able to chat publicly like get unlock your subclass.
-The Region Mag simply doesn't work for the Global version, that concept of everyone working together is not a Western mentality, it's a Japanese mentality. In the west, it's "Me, myself and I" so once people have capped their desired classes and gotten all the rares and items they need, they'll just stop feeding the Region Mag or just feed the damage boost one. They would need the Mag to keep it's boost if you keep feeding it, not reset it every 24 hours.

That's it for now.

[ShinMaruku]

The Open world part has been a massive con for me. The only game were that worked for me was saints row.

[Bellex]

Pros: Big open world, many shiny's, classes are more fun, gathering is quicker.

Cons: Audio sometimes cuts out when doing aoe, still some random lag, bosses going off map or through ground (hilarious every time), e & t symbols fading

[Zulastar]

1 Where is adjustable interface? Even Classic WoW back in 2005 had it.

2 Where is a free adjustable camera?

3 Why camera's always forcefully change itself whenever it wants?

4 Why in Salon I still can't open a few option adjusting windows?

5 Why when I exchange ability capsules I need to input tons of resources and not a destination item wanted count?

6 Why need to make these Cocoons/Towers when players clear these once to 5 star and forget about them?

7 Where is a direct Tasks window hotkey?

8 Why when I rebind some functions like "interact", "dodge", "switch target", etc. to differrent buttons they works only in Cursor mode but not in Camera one?

9 Why game during a combat feels free to start a chat with NPC due to Task clear and remove subpallete bar from a screen so it's functions and weapon switching can't be used at this time till dialogue which can't be skipped ends?

10 Why there is no option to hide all items unusable in NGS in storage? Or at least sort them like this? It's really annoying to list this endless Material storage just to skip all unusable items and find some NGS stuff among them...

11 Why there is no option to switch inventory from list to icons?

12 Why when I sell items I need to click these fcking arrows on each item? I wanna freaking click-drag highlight selecting and selling it one click already in damn 2021.

And I have more to add now:

13 Freaking autotargeting still don't work properly and don't have a sensitivity settings: it's targeting a further targets first even these which are out of reach and can jump 3 times more and end up somewhere else while I press a Lock-on button.

14 When open an Inventory - all interface disappear.. why? It's annoying.

15 Double jump sometimes just don't want to work and do a glide roll with a second press of a button.

16 Freaking Layering Wear Accessory Hiding option: when I change fashion layouts it can on and off at random and saving a layout with specified option doesn't help.

17 Lock-on persrective: Camera. It worked about 5 minutes when I'm actually could move a camera while Locked-On and returned as it was - static and directed to the target after that. So switch an option doesn't work anymore.

18 With a Boss Camera switched on Bujin and Wauron cameras not getting further but closer instead. It's
annoying. And when you switch it off, you can't target Oruka's head and Axe/Sword upper parts...

19 Where is message window scaling or transparenting at least? I can barely see a thing when other playes chat and spam Stamps and SAs. UPD: I know why it's happening - in OG message ballons and SA where shown in a depth where were a character launched it but here they're on a surface of a screen. It's lame and annoying.

Almost forgot a few things about a shitty SEGA's policy:

S1 N-SG Badges useless now and just stockpile.

S2 N-Color Change Pass can't be obtained by ingame methods, only with real money payment, moreover beside a paywall.

S3 No free conversion of an old stuff players spent their money on. They're selling it one more time instead.

S4 I'm still disappointed with a Free players completely cut off from selling stuff in Shop.

S5 IP block.