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I've put somewhere around 70 hours into the PC version of Phantasy Star Online 2. Despite being free to play, it's a fun and complex multiplayer title that's been getting a steady stream of updates since release. Having played since the Japanese beta, I was excited to finally get a chance to check out the PS Vita version of the game, due for release early next year in Japan. For those of you unaware, PSO2 for the Vita is the full PC game, except playable on Sony's little powerhouse of a machine.
Fortunately for me, the lines were incredibly short on the first day of Tokyo Game Show and I was able to get into the demo area after waiting a brief ten minutes. I sat down with three other gentlemen who also had experience playing PSO2, and we dived right into the demo.
Much to my surprise, Phantasy Star Online 2 feels like it was made for the Vita.
The last time Phantasy Star Online 2 was shown in any capacity was during the Vita Game Heaven online event back in March. At the time, it was in an early state and the frame rate was an absolute mess. Half a year later and any concerns I had about the stability of PSO2 have been thrown out the window. Sega has done a miraculous job of replicating the PC version of the game.
The demo had us select our race and class right off the bat from a list of preconfigured characters. I decided to roll with a Cast ranger, proficient at long-range projectile combat. The demo mission had us exploring the first area of the game, a dense forest filled with wolf monsters, flying creatures and giant apes. I was immediately struck by how clean the visuals were despite the game running at what seemed to be a fairly stable 30 frames per second. There was some minor slowdown when giant monsters were on the screen, but it was never intrusive or distracting. While the actual level of detail on the environments and characters was a bit lower than what I'm used to on the PC, it still looked great on the OLED screen. As a Vita title, there's no denying that Phantasy Star Online 2 looks great.
Combat is as simple and fun as ever, with the square and triangle buttons assigned to your basic and secondary fire, respectively. Phantasy Star Online 2's combat relies heavily on timing and rhythm, with a colored circle that closes in your character after every strike. Hitting the attack button at the right time will result in the chance to continue your combo and build up more energy for your skills.
As in the PC version, skills and items are lined up in the row at the bottom of the screen. Instead of using a mouse to select from the various options, you can simply tap the icons directly with your finger. For the most part, the system works well, but every now and then I'd have to tap an icon multiple times because of how small it was. The d-pad is regulated to various hot key options that I was told you'd be able to customize as you like.
As me and my companions proceeded through the demo mission, I was taken aback by how smoothly the multiplayer ran, with nothing noticeable in the way of lag. This was especially impressive during the boss encounter, a battle with a giant rockbear and several ape monsters. While putting down the beast was a cinch since the four of us had clearly defeated the creature dozens of times on the PC, playing it on the Vita felt like a new experience.
After beating the Rockbear, the demo ended and we were herded out of the booth. Before leaving, I confirmed with a Sega representative that you'd be able to use the same character across all three versions of the game.
I was a bit concerned that Phantasy Star Online 2 for the Vita would be a throwaway project, but as it stands I'm convinced they know what they're doing with this port. The fact that it will be a free download when it releases next year is even better, and one can only hope that Sega confirms a western release for this version.
The iPhone version is the throwaway version since it isn't going to be the same as the Vita/PC version.
I'm amazed this is going to be free like the PC version, I thought it'd have been a retail release. The game looks like it has a solid framerate and just is the PC version in a smaller resolution. Hopefully this doesn't delay PC updates since they'll have to update both to allow the characters to be used between the two.
you can use a controler on the pc version with no problem, in fact, a lot of people is preffering it, i personally go for mouse and keyboard tough, but it seems im a minority, lol.
Sounds great, I hope it's released stateside. My only concern would be the over-use of microtransactions, but other than that I would get a Vita to play this, I absolutely loved PSO on Dreamcast although hacked accounts were common.
Is the PC version of PSO2 available in english? I dont dig playing games in a language I dont know.
please bring this to the states... I cant say this enough to the jap devs.. please localize.. there is a huuugggeee market for these games in America because we want these..
If you need help with translation (which MHP3 got from fans with a 90% translation of the game currently so there's people there who want to translate.. and can..) hire fans to translate.. I dont see why the industry works against it's self sometimes..
Why hire expensive translators when fans are willing to do it for less..
Wait wait wait. This is a free game? No purchase or subscriptions? How does this game fare regarding microtransactions? Are you punished for not paying, or casually encouraged with aesthetic and side-grade incentives to pay?
@Arttemis: The cash-shop items include emergency revives, an option to have player-owned housing, some gacha things for furniture, and trading. Paying for trading is to prevent people from scamming as much, since paying to trade means if you scam someone then you have something to lose, something you've invested. I played the JP version over the summer and played a whole ton without paying a single cent for micro-transactions. I don't recall any core gameplay things being pay-to-play, as in there aren't any levels you need to pay to unlock. So I'd say it's one of those rare moments where a cash shop isn't a horribly broken pay-to-win scenario! :)
Soul Sacrifice, Ragnarok Odyssey, PSO2, YS Celceta, God Eater2, Gravity Rush 2... Now people can't say that the Vita is all crappy ports or re-release of old games. =)
Now the only problem is that the Vita doesn't have a single system seller like Monster Hunter in Japan or Pokemon for the rest of the world and if people doesn't buy the the system then developers will not make many games for it. =/
Low cost? that's a good one. The cost is about $80 USD. You just get a month of premium and a few other unique goodies that don't much except help you slightly more in the start.
@BananaGobbler
They are bringing it, but don't expect it to get the same support (if any) after it launches. You'll be lucky to see a christmas or summer event after the US launch since SOJ is really picky about sending things to SOA to release.
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