Official Site: http://pso2.jp/
Source: Youtube Channel Keirnoth
Up till now, I've been watching players from around the world participate in the alpha testing of Phantasy Star Online 2 and the videos they've uploaded. The game eventually went into closed beta and I didn't want to follow it too much anymore since it was such as tease knowing it's playable, but not by me. Then Sega announced a character creation demo open to the public to mess around with and check out what kind of hunter one can make. Planning on messing around with the demo, I jumped onto chat a few days ago to join some friends for some League of Legends and I heard them talking about robots and magic. "What game are you guys talking about?" I asked. "Phantasy Star Online 2!" I screamed with excitement just hearing the name and asked them why they were talking about it. Well, they've been playing it! Shortly after, my friend offered me a beta invite that ends this Saturday to allow me to participate in the testing. Needless to say, I was enthralled by the opportunity presented to me.
After about 3-4 hours of registration, downloads, and patching, I started up the game and spent the next "hour" just creating my character. There's an array of customizable features that a player can choose from such as facial features, body type, clothing, color, hair styles, height, accessories, angles of certain features, length of arms and legs, etc. Even when the beta ends, I'm probably going to be messing around with the character creation demo all year long! After having my fun from creating my character, I jump into the game and start checking out every change the game has had from the original Phantasy Star Online game:
-Better graphics (this is a given)
-Being able to jump! (This was also a big deal for Guild Wars 2 when it was revealed)
-Combos can be chained indefinitely
-Different types of combos can be created through various skills and weapon switching
-Stronger attacks can be executed by timing the attacks (A mix from the original and Portable)
-The ability to dodge attacks (from Phantasy Star Zero)
-Capable of chaining combos in the air and attacking after a jump
-Each weapon has their own technique chips (from Phantasy Star Universe)
-Technique chips can be arranged as a combo chain
-Third-Person Style shooting works incredibly well (a variation from Universe's horrid FPS view)
-You can shoot and move at the same time!
-Everyone gets their own loot, no more loot stealing or priority sharing (from Phantasy Star Zero)
-Special events can happen in the middle of a dungeon run
-There are certain situations where 12 players can quest together at the same time
-Enemies have weak points on them where players can specifically aim at
-Classes can be interchanged (from Phantasy Star Universe)
-Each class has their own special skill tree that enhances their abilities
-Lobbies are incredibly large compared to the original
UPDATE:
-I just played a HUNTER class and yes, you can block at will
-You can air dodge after a jump
I think that covers a lot of the new changes. The only thing I'm not sure about is the ability to block (in Phantasy Star Zero, it's possible to block with a shield equipped while in Phantasy Star Portable 2 it's possible to block an attack with armor attachments). It's like they took everything that was great about the original, the spin-offs and notated the problems from them to create what Phantasy Star Online 2 is what it is now. I saw a similar development trend with Koei's Dynasty Warriors 7 where they took all that they've learned and used in spin-offs and past games to put into DW7 which made it refined and great. With a taste of what's in store, I can only hope that PSO2 is brought over to the Western market. PSO2 could very easily become one of my favorite games in the future. No news of a solid release date has been announced for Japan and no news of an international release has been revealed. Please Sega, give us Phantasy Star Online 2!!!!!
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