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Tuesday 4 September, 2012
Phantasy Star Online 2 is a game introduced to me by a good friend of mine from Japan. I have been playing this on and off with a couple of other games, however I decided to write about this game because it has not been released in the NA servers yet. The only server that is running is the Japanese one, which is the one I am playing on. The game came out July 4, 2012, which makes it fairly new. PSO2 is the second in the Phantasy Star series, coming after PSO, which came out in late 2000 for the Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox, and PC.
PSO2 is an action MMORPG. Unlike most other RPGs out there, PSO2 utilize both the first and third person views. While most of the game is in third person, the game lets you switch to first person when you are in a “mission”. This control of perspective gives the game better feel as well as gameplay. In addition to change in perspective, PSO2 also allows players to choose different classes on the same character. Most RPGs require a separate character to play a different class. PSO2 allows you to switch between their 3 classes by talking to a NPC. The three classes so far are Gunner, Blader, and Mage. By allowing players switch between classes, the game makes it easier to work with. Instead of having multiple characters, you can easily play all of them. Also this makes the game less like an RPG.
Another difference I found between this game and most RPGs is that it doesn’t have much of a skill tree except for the one controlled my the NPC. Skills are obtained by drops from monsters in missions, and there are no level requirement for a specific skills. By doing this, the game limits the player of a more “free” RPG. Another aspect of this game that differs from most RPGs is the terrain setup. Even though the game is a free roam, the maps for missions are limited and linear. A player can almost never get lost since the map is so detailed and guides you well.
There are many parts of the game I have not fully explored yet. The language barrier hinders my explorations a bit since the words are in Japanese. However, there is one part of the game I have mastered - the character customization. Out of all the games I have played, this game has the most elaborate customizing options. When I first made my character, it took a it took a good one hour just to make it the way I wanted to. The customization in PSO2 is divided by the 3 sections: the head, the upper body, and the lower body. Each section is then divided by many other sections each containing many options. Some options include shape of the face, positioning of the ear, weight, height, body proportions and much more. And before you ask, yes…you can also change “that”.
PSO2 is a great game to play. I have high expectations for this game and will continue to play it. I will also continue to log this game from time to time.
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