Let me start by saying that I love the Phantasy Star series as a whole. As a kid, I remember the days of watching GameSpot TV and seeing the gameplay of Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast. I was instantly hooked. I always wanted to play a game where I created my character from the ground up and dungeon crawl / explore the world. I believed that PSO would give me that. I never owned a Dreamcast growing up so, I didn't get a chance to play in back in the early 2000s. No, it was not until 2003, after I graduated high school, that I went to GameStop, using some of the money I was gifted as a graduation present, and bought a used copy of PSO for the Nintendo GameCube.
Lucky me that the code inside the box was still valid for registration to obtain a Hunter License and play online. I still have the game now, so many years later.
It's seen better days, for sure...
Don't mind my mess as I edit this... But, see! I have the disc and all!
So many fond memories of me playing in college and beyond. The fun I had in that game prompted me to look back at the Phantasy Star RPGs of the 80s and 90s. I really seem to like Phantasy Star 2 and 4. Anyways, I played every class in PSO, settling on the HUnewearl (Hunter / Newman / Female) after trying each class out. She had the playstyle I liked. Melee combat while being able to fully support. I even made a name for myself on the servers for being such a great player. I had a blast.
There's me, the second one from the left covered in the blue aura.
Fast forward to October 24, 2006. The release date of Phantasy Star Universe.
Note: the below expansion followed about a year later.
Anyways, I was back from college, working at Taco Bell - oh, how the mighty have fallen - and I was telling one of my best friends, who was the night shift manager, how much I can't wait until this shift was over. I had preordered the game and picked up before work, leaving it in my car, sitting lonely for several hours until I would have it in my grasp again to enter it in my PlayStation 2. I feel like I may have broken several speed limits that night once the store closed. I made it home and was barely out of my work uniform before spending about five to six of the eventual countless amounts of hours in that game. I again, played every class until settling on the closest thing to a HUnewearl, the Wartecher.
I even stayed as a female Newman just to keep things as authentic as possible. Meeting up with old friends from PSO while making new friends on PSU was a blast. Getting my future wife to play was a blast. Oh, we let the good times roll. The expansion followed soon thereafter and continued the fun for a long time.
Eventually, everything has to come to an end. The PSO servers were shut down some time before PSU was released. The PSU servers were shut down about five or so years after its release. There was a huge void...
But then, Phantasy Star Online 2 was announced... We celebrated. Even with a Japan only release, we played. July 4, 2012, I was there. Couldn't read a word of it. It didn't matter. I played. Fast forward to about two years ago...
A global version of PSO2 was announced. Many returning players, old friends reuniting. (I have my gripes with the global version of the game but that's not gonna matter for this post.)
And also, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis was announced.
The sequel was upon us. Hype ensued. Then, June 9, 2021, about a month after the closed beta, we were here. The excitement was boundless. A new world to explore, new challenges to take. Then, over time, though it felt sudden, it died down. Less players, less friends, less everything. What happened? A year into the life of NGS and, it's more of the same. Where did the excitement go?
It's hard to place where the issues start when it comes to NGS. The game looks amazing.
These are shots from the closed beta. And it looks really good, right?
So many things you could show off.
Here's three more from the full game.
Looks great, yeah?
Even the cold effect on the last one here is a nice touch. Though, this is a bad thing to your character if it's appearing.
Given the overhaul of the visuals of the game, it can be easy to get lost in the exploration as well as the cosmetics of designing your character. It's a stylish anime sci-fi action RPG. But, that can't fool you. The gameplay loop is very shallow and hasn't changed much over the course of a year with two major updates. Given that this is a direct sequel to what is now called "base PSO2", you would think that NGS would improve upon what made PSO2 so good and maintain a decent player base for nearly ten years. It's nothing like it. Mostly everything that you may know from the base game is most likely gone.
Let's start with the characters themselves. Right now, with the second major update having released at the beginning of June, the level cap of the game is 60. Max rarity for weapons is now 7 star and the armor is 6 star. You have 40 total skill points to use. And you have eight classes to play as: Hunter, Fighter, Ranger, Gunner, Braver, Bouncer, Force, Techter. Sounds good, right? Especially with each class having their own strengths and weaknesses. The problem lies that everything has been stripped down and simplified so there is no sort of uniqueness to your character. The skill tree in each class has been reduced to a few skills that 40 points will nearly learn every skill on the tree.
That's it. These two screenshots show the full tree for a class. Note how many skills are learned AND maxed versus aren't learned.
And, I understand. The level cap is only 60 a year in and base PSO2 is at 100 after now 10 years. More time to flesh things out. The thing is, even at the start of base PSO2, the skill trees were a little more fleshed out. Even after several skill rebalances and remakes of the skill trees.
I needed the following four screenshots to show the entirety of a skill tree from base PSO2. Notice the skills that AREN'T learned and NOT maxed out despite having used all 119 skill points.
The base PSO2 trees are large and expansive, allowing for freedom of build and letting you be different from the next player. As in all MMOs, there is always a "meta" but, you didn't have to follow it (I didn't). So just about everyone is running around with the same skills learned in NGS. Certain skills in the trees are gone, too. You can no longer learn skills that boost your attack power, defensive power, HP, PP, and so on. Now, you have certain skills that boost your "potency" (this doesn't show in your stats) and "damage resistance" (also doesn't show in your stats). Not all classes have them.
The stats have been flattened out to be even for everyone. There is no longer a difference in what you choose as far as race and gender like previous versions of Phantasy Star. Now everyone is the same stat wise when creating your character. I personally liked the challenge of being a female Newman and having the lowest base HP in the game and having high magic strength while being a melee character with support magic. I can't do that here in NGS. No matter what you choose, male or female, Newman, CAST, Human or Dewman, it's all the same. Only differences come in once the classes are chosen and the equipment is set. Also, why introduce Beasts in PSU only for them to be gone?
RIP these awesome players...
...And their equally cool transformations.
That would have a nice race choice to have. Also, there is no more Melee, Ranged and Tech attack as well as there is no more Melee, Ranged and Tech defense. Same for Dexterity (RIP max critical rate build players). It's just attack and defense. Not even stats from older Phantasy Star games are here (MST, DFP, EVP, ATA, ATP, TP, HP, LUCK). That's it. This also applies to your equipment. Now, if you have a weapon from the same series and rarity, the attack power is the same. Meaning, a gun will have the same attack power as a sword, which will also have the same attack power as a wand. This is also similar for armor units, too.
Growth has been streamlined, too. While you can have a main class and then choose another class as a subclass to use it's skills and weapons, there is no need to level that subclass anymore. In base, you gained a percentage of your subclass' stats based on the level. That is now gone. Only your main class matters. Your subclass can be level 1 and it won't affect you in anyway.
Here's the proof. Note my battle power or any of my stats under basic information.
Now look at it again with a level 1 subclass.
While some people like these changes, a search around the internet shows the mixed feelings on this. I felt that it was a nice way to reward someone that went through the effort of leveling a second class. But, I understand those that didn't like to have to level a second class just to be able to do certain things in base PSO2. Certain missions required both the main and subclass to be at a certain level. Some didn't - it would be main class only at a certain level.
I will say that with NGS, you can easily equip the weapon of your subclass unlike base PSO2. In base, you had to use a weapon that was able to be equipped by your subclass AND your main class to use your subclass weapon. It was a pain in the base game and I'm glad that change was made.
Battle Power is horrible. Similar to Final Fantasy XIV's iLevel for equipment, NGS has a battle power system that locks and gates players from certain content. Meaning that you have to have gear of a certain strength (enhancement, augmented, potential, etc.) to be able to do certain "content".
Note the "recommended stats" and then the level of the enemies present. There is a mechanic in place in NGS that requires you to be at least four levels under an enemy to damage it. Meaning that, in this particular quest, level 40 would be needed in addition to the battle power of 2082.
The level requirements for things like equipment, and urgent quests are still there, but now, for certain things, you have another restriction with battle power. Many people like this because it "forces" more casual players to actually care for their equipment, which I can understand, but I believe that it should be one or the other. Restrict players with a level requirement like previous Phantasy Star games or restrict players with battle power, not both. This was implemented badly. The original PSO and base PSO2, for that matter, had systems that worked.
The original PSO: Level requirements for everything except weapons, which had stat requirements.
PSU: Stat requirements for equipment. Level requirements for quests. Class level requirements did not apply as they were separate from your character.
Base PSO2: Stat requirements for equipment. Level requirements for quests.
Skills, abilities and items are gone. This ties in to the skill tress complaint with things being removed and the skill tree being barren. But, why is a simple mechanic such a healing and support magic not a thing? Yes, if you've never played NGS but have played PSO/PSO2, there is NO HEALING OR SUPPORT MAGIC in the game at all.
Resta? (Standard healing magic that has existed since the beginning of Phantasy Star) No.
Anti? (Debuff and status effect remover that has also existed nearly forever) Nope.
Reverser? (Revive skill in PSO, debuff and status effect remover in PSU) No way. (It was poorly implemented as a Techer only skill in base PSO2...)
Shifta? (Attack Buff)
Deband? (Defense Buff)
It's a Techter (that's the correct spelling) main class only SKILL that combines both and it's not a spell.
Jellen? (Attack Debuff) Nah... Though, it's not a spell in base PSO2, either. It's a secondary effect of certain abilites... Odd choice if you ask me.
Zalure? (Defense Debuff) Nope. Wasn't in base PSO2, either. Only certain things caused it.
Retier? (Technique Attack and Defense Buff)
Zodial? (Accuracy and Evasion Buff)
Both are left behind in PSU.
Zoldeel? (Accuracy and Evasion Debuff) Same.
Giresta? (Regen effect with revive function in PSU) Nope.
Megistar? (All stats buffed at the cost of some HP) Nah.
What about your consumables? Mono/Di/Trimate? None. Mono/DI/Trifluid? Nope. Sol/Star Atomizer? None whatsoever. Status healing items like antidote or anti-paralysis? Nope. Moon Atomizer? Nope, it's now called reversersigne and you can hold five at a time. My guess is this was to clear up inventory (which gets filled with tons of useless junk instead) and action palette space for streamlined gameplay.
But why do "support" classes have the inability to heal others through support magic? Your healing in NGS is literally an item called "restasigne" that you can hold 10 of and pick up more if you are in the field of play. If you play as a Techter or Force, and know a specific skill in your skill tree, when you use the item, you have an area of effect heal that is active for several seconds that players can run in to and heal if they aren't in range.
The below screenshot shows the ability that needs to be learned to heal others with your healing item.
Then use the item in the field to get this effect.
Note at the left most spot in the action palette. I used my item so now I am down to nine heals left. So, that's it. TEN HEALS. Unless you pick up more in the field (which I will talk about, though if you look at the above screenshot, the green flower near my character is the item that would have to be picked up).
No casting anything. Also, there is no way to heal status effects. That means, you can be poisoned, confused, frozen, shocked, burned etc. and the effect just lingers until it wears off. Sure, you can augment your equipment to resist it, like older games, or learn certain skills in your skill tree to help reduce the effects, but, unlike the older games, there's no way to heal it if afflicted. So, there is plenty of attack magic to be casted but there is no way to support yourself through magic. It was already a bad thing when magic was taken away from most classes like the original PSO. In that game, as long as your weren't a CAST (simply put, a robot), you were able to cast techniques. Hunter and Rangers could cast all sorts of spells to varying strengths along with Forces. (There were only three classes in the original PSO) You also didn't need to have a weapon equipped to cast anything. Once the game moved to Phantasy Star Universe, you had have a weapon equipped (as was shown in the above screenshots) that could cast spells AND to be a techer-type class to use spells. Force, Wartecher, Guntecher, Fortetecher, Acrotecher, Masterforce. I thought this was a bad move, but I adapted to it since it was kept in base PSO2 as a concept, even though base PSO2 went back to allowing you to be barehanded if you wanted to cast spells. Though I wish spells would return to the original PSO's usage, like it did when Phantasy Star Zero released for the Nintendo DS, I think the new method is here to stay.
This is the closest I've been to the original PSO, outside of private servers, in years. Like... Before my kids were born.
Now, even as a techer-type class/subclass, you can't use any healing spells anyways. That means Force, Techter and Bouncer cannot do any supporting. We'll see if the newly announced Waker class is any different next month when it releases. It's terrible that the developers went in this direction. Extremely terrible.
Main class only skills are bad. I already didn't like this in the base PSO2 game and it's still a thing in NGS. If the game is supposed to be for casuals (the developer's words, not mine) and for everyone to be what they like, then why are class skills restrictive? Want Iron Will to survive a fatal blow? Have to be a Hunter main. It's been taken from Hunter sub players in base PSO2. Want Physical and Elemental down boosts? Bouncer main. Shifta/Deband boost? Techter mains only (as shown in the above photo). I can go on and on but, the point is that why is this still a thing? There is so much that has already been stripped and then you have the same limitations on what you can be. It almost feels as if the developers either haven't played their own game or never played an MMO at all.
The story is very short and not very interesting. One look at my YouTube channel and you can find three separate videos that have the entire story with their missions completed in them. If you sat through them and watched it all, it's a little over four hours. That's it. Four hours of actual story that's spread out because of the battle power requirements to do each story mission. My character was already leveled to the point that I didn't need to grind battle power through leveling up or improving gear when each set of story missions was released at each expansion. Only a new character may have a little grinding to do for chapter one. The story itself doesn't really engage me. Your character still doesn't talk, as the norm for most MMOs nowadays, which is fine. But, you're a time traveler of sorts (the game is 1000 years after base PSO2 but your character is still here) and you reach a planet with amnesia. The planet seems really artificial and you find out that the residents are fighting this new enemy. You arrive at the new town (which is beautiful) only for it to be destroyed by the new threat. Obviously being the main character, you join the fight, join the residents' "military", and help out with the aid of two new companions along with anyone you meet along the way. The loop pretty much is: Meet up with main contact, get your orders, help out with some tasks, beat a boss or two, celebrate and report back, then repeat when new orders come in. I've streamlined it heavily to avoid spoilers for anyone that's going to play it but that's the gist of it. Side note: I really did not like that when the developers were asked about the first town and if it could be seen again, their literal response was "if you want to see 'the town' again, make a new character and start the story over." That's a really -explicit term here- response to your fans to legitimate question about something directly related to the game. A recent update in the game seems to allow you to view completed cutscenes so, you may have the ability to see it again after all. As of this writing, I have not tried that feature yet to know for sure.
The gameplay is flashy and cool looking but gets stale fast. The pictures below don't give the combat proper justice.
Each class has a handful of skills they can use during combat. Put aside the fact that all skills are at level 1 for some reason. More skills were released over time but, it's not enough. Everyone is running around doing the same handful of moves and spells. Even with about three or so weapons per class that you can use, some weapons are just better than others and most players are going to stick to what they like. The lack of variety on what to use while wielding them is concerning. I'm not sure if more are eventually going to come but, there are several weapon types that have been removed. The survey results to this game also show that other players want more weapons, too. Look at it this way. Combining the previous phantasy star games before PSO2 we had:
Saber (semi-replaced by the Gunslash)
Twin Saber (replaced by the poorly named Soaring Blades and Bouncer class only)
Claw
Dual Claws (replaced by Wired Lance in PSO2 and is Hunter class only)
Dagger
Twin Daggers (is in PSO2 and is Fighter class only)
Double Saber (is in PSO2 and is Fighter class only)
Fist / Knuckles (is in PSO2 and is Fighter class only)
Sword (is in PSO2 and is Hunter class only)
Katana (is in PSO2 and is Braver class only)
Twin Katana
Shield (left handed weapon that hasn't been seen outside of Phantasy Star Portable 2 for PSP)
Axe / Hammer
Spear / Partizan (is in PSO2 and is Hunter class only)
Gun Mag (left handed, PSU series only)
Tech Mag (left handed, PSU series only)
Single Handgun
Twin Handguns (PSU series only)
Machine Gun (was a twin handed weapon in PSO, was a single left handed weapon in PSU and now it's in PSO2 back as a twin for both hands and it for the Gunner class only)
Crossbow (left handed, PSU series only)
Rifle (replaced by the rapid fire assault rifle and is Ranger / Gunner class only)
Grenade Launcher (is in PSO2 and is Ranger class only)
Magic Rod (is in PSO2 and is Force class only)
Magic Wand (is in PSO2 and is Techter class only)
Whip (PSU series only)
Throwing Slicer
Laser Shooter (PSU series only)
Bow (is in PSO2 and is Braver class only)
Fan / Throwing Cards
Players would like to see some, if not all, of these weapons return. I don't believe they all would be back but a handful of these I would be open to. Especially, as a Hunter main, the shield for a possible sword and shield combo.
The removal of certain weapon abilities is bad, too. I'll give a few examples. No longer can a Hunter block with all of their class weapons. That is now sword only. The other two weapons have a parry instead. The Bouncer's air dash with photon blades attacking is gone. The photon blades is now a skill that has to be activated and is only up for a few seconds. Each class feels like playing the Hero class from base PSO2. You have a side step dodge that grants invincibility and a counter. Each class can do that. It was said by the developers that it was to speed up combat. Looking around the internet and the players aren't agreeing. Especially when not everyone wanted to play as a Hero in the base game and has no interest in it now.
The move to seamless open world was welcome but it has been executed poorly. As I said at the start, the environments looks amazing. But, they are literal ghost areas. Broken down in to two types of areas. Exploration and combat areas. Both have different sets of drops meaning that both areas need to be used to maximize what you obtain. But, outside of defeating enemies, there's nothing in them. No NPCs, no safe havens, nothing. Once you leave the base area for each region, there's nothing but enemies that want to kill you, and non-aggressive wildlife (except the boars in first region). It's bad enough that ryuker devices that teleport you and MAGs that you feed to give boosts aren't safe areas.
My character standing next to a ryker device after teleporting in. If you see the map in the top left of the picture, the yellow triangles are enemies that can attack me at any time.
You can be attacked while using both and you can't even teleport via ryuker while enemies are nearby. These should have been safe areas in the event that there is a strong enemy nearby (Malevolent and Dread enemies - looking at you) or if someone is lagging or even if someone is AFK for a few minutes but doesn't want to go back to the city. But, no. You kill and collect materials in these areas. The most recent update has included field races and I have yet to see anyone doing them as I have done several. All the flashy combat in the world isn't going to help that you mindlessly go into a gorgeous but empty world and kill pretty much anything that moves. There is no dungeon crawling, not much in the form of instanced content and, with the horrible horrible drop rates that the game has, not much that makes the grind worth doing. I understand that MMOs are grindy. I like that. But, when searching for something for months on end and you get pennies and pebbles? Even the strongest of wills can be broken.
Going back to instanced content, there are cocoons and towers that fall under the term "trainia" that are scattered out in the world. They are mandatory to do at least once to obtain skill points for your classes.
They are instanced in the sense that you can do them alone or in a group of four and you then complete the specified task under the specified conditions. There's not always fighting in them as you can have your mobility tested instead, too, for example. Once complete, you get your skill point(s) and that's it. After that, there's not much reason to go back unless you want to get a perfect score (if you didn't the first time through). A perfect score can net you a small amount of premium currency but not much else. Unfortunately, they all have the same look inside of them too. The above shot shows the start of a tower trainia. The other towers and cocoons have the same look to them.
The biggest form of instanced content outside of triggers for certain quests if the Geometric Pyramid in the second region that has already been nearly rendered obsolete as the third region has been released. Also a similar look, just a different color.
There are cosmetic rewards inside as you can complete the tasks in the pyramid under increasingly challenging conditions but not much else. The last form of instanced content are called battledias. They provide a decent amount of experience at the end as well as decent augment items for your equipment but, you guessed it, they look the same inside with just a different color. They come in yellow, which is a normal difficulty, and purple, which is the hard difficulty. All of the instanced content has battle power and level requirements (which I talked about above) and have to be completed in a certain amount of time among other conditions. Some are worth doing more than once, some aren't. I'd like to see more instanced content with decent rewards like the previous phantasy star MMOs gave. But, they aren't there.
The end game is pretty much the same as most MMOs once you get the level cap: grind for the best gear and complete the hardest challenges. The problem is that it's very boring being that you are doing the same couple of areas for the same thing at a horrid drop rate.
This is the current endgame area of the game as the June update that released this region.
Here's my character fighting one of the endgame enemies for the first time with a bunch of random players. No, I did not die but, I was not properly equipped so my character was literally starting to freeze to death.
It's not the same as base PSO2's endgame of doing divide quests, endless quests, extreme quests, risk explorations or Persona the Masked triggers. None of that exists and it's thinning out the player base. I can't say it's hurting the game since SEGA's earnings were made public and it showed that a profit was made from the game (whales mostly, I'm assuming).
I really like the Phantasy Star series and want to see this game succeed. I know players don't like to hear the comparisons to the best MMO on the market in Final Fantasy XIV. It can't be helped when, from top to bottom, the developers have handled it much better from player feedback to content to story and so on. The only thing I can say I like more in PSO2 than FFXIV is the combat and that PSO2 is free-to-play. If the combat in PSO2 were in FFXIV, I'd probably never play PSO2 again since FFXIV is the better game. I'll deal with $15 a month. I'm level 81 in that game as a Paladin having recently started the Endwalker expansion as it is. But, I don't want to give up on this game. I'm hoping that this game doesn't fall to the point of needing the A Realm Reborn treatment. If you aren't sure what that is, I'll give a brief explanation. FFXIV was so bad when it first launched that the game was shut down and rebuilt completely as a whole new game - hence a realm reborn. This revived the game and breathed new life in to it. I never played FFXIV before that moment but I have spoken with people who have and they have said that it was REALLY bad. A realm reborn saved the game in their words. I don't want to see that happen to PSO2. And some people have already predicted doom and gloom on the game. I lost touch with my alliance and friends being that the game is just not that good. I can even admit, my own playtime on the game and streaming it has dwindled, too.
So, if I'm saying anything at all, I'm saying - "Please, SEGA, do something and save your game. I want to play more. Give me a reason to do so. Otherwise, I could end up jumping ship before the Walker class releases next month."
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