Month: February 2012

Hello, Sakai updated today, nothing really that important actually. He was really busy with postproduction work on that prologue movie that was mentioned a while back and didn't get the time to finish up the Alpha Test 2 Player report. Even though 50,000 people played the alpha test, only 24,000 people completed the questionnaire.

The effect of the improvements to character creation can be seen in that Cast usage has increased since last time. Even though the gamepad wasn't working the first day, about 65% used it. Keyboard and mouse usage increased from 23% to 35%.

The entry in the questionnaire where you had to grade each aspect of the game with a score of 1 – 5, each section got a higher grade this time.

About 5,000 people actually participated in the BBS. There's about 1,000 threads, and 18,000 replies. It was interesting to see the various opinions people had about the game to show which aspects were going in the right direction.

Just so you know, the Alpha Test 2 Players site will shut down once the report is released. But the good news is that from March, we'll have announcements almost every week.

Racast Concept

 

HuCaseal Concept

PSE  (Mini Guide Append)

Various effects may occur when you slay enemies, which is known as Photon Sensitive Effect. When these occur, can receive various bonuses like increased stats or experience points.  As it occurs, PSE levels can increase the effect of the bonuses applied.

When you reach the 8th PSE level, you will achieve a PSE Burst. The effects increase dramatically for a limited time. You can extend the time of the PSE Burst when you keep killing enemies.

Before a PSE occurs, some kind of omen is displayed on the screen.

One of my favorite things about the PSE Burst is how the battle music slightly changes reminiscent to Phantasy Star Zero's rare enemy music.

Sakai comments about 3D printing PSO2 Characters

What if you could bring your PSO2 avatar to life in a physical 3D form. Unfortunately such a thing would be considerably expensive, like 30,000 yen. Plus how many people could actually afford such a service? 

[via shougai]

Hello! Sakai updated this morning. On the last day Sakai and the development team came out to play in the lobby!

A little more than 50,000 or 73% of players participated in this alpha test. 80% of those players reached up to Level 10. There were approximately 23,000 simultaneous connections. There is a lot more data he has to go through but he thanks you all for participating.

Be careful though, if you uninstall the game you may lose your screenshots, so please back them up beforehand.

Sakai is going to arrange a new Alpha Test 2 Player Report after he gathers the responses from the questionnaire. Here you can compare the results from the first alpha test with the second.  However, there are some new questions on this questionnaire.

You must complete the questionnaire by Feb 10th, 2012 18:00 JST.

 

Newman Ranger Costume

So we haven't yet seen the concept designs for the Newman Ranger costumes, well here it is! It has a gunner motif, protected in tight armor head to toe.

 Questionnaire

The top entry — 選択してください — is not shown in this list

Q1. What Control Scheme do you mainly use?

• Gamepad and Mouse
• Gamepad and Keyboard
• Gamepad and Keyboard is only for chatting.

Q2.  Which Gamepad and Model do you mainly use?

• I do not use it
• Sanwa Supply
• Logitech
• Buffulo
• Elecom
• Xbox 360
• Other

Q3. What Internet Connection do you use?

Internet Connection

• ADSL
• Fiber Optics
• Cable (CATV)
• Other

Internet Method

• Wired
• Wireless

Q4. Please checkmark the titles you have played before.

• Phantasy Star Portable (PSP)
• Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP)
• Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity (PSP)
• Phantasy Star Online Series (DC/GC/PC/XBOX)
• Phantasy Star Universe (PC/PS2/XBox360)
• Phantasy Star Zero (NDS)
• I did not play any of these.

Q5. Did you participate in the August Alpha Test 1?

• (x) Participated ( ) Did not Participate

Q6. For each of the following entries, please rate from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

• Game installation including the Launcher     great! (5 4 3 2 1) terrible!
• The whole title sequence from title to login.
• Character creation
• User Interface
• Character Operation Scheme
• Quest Contents
• Enemy Behavior
• Game Balance
• Character, field, enemy graphics
• Motion (animation)
• Effects
• Communication Functions
• My Room
• My Shop
• BGM
• Overall

 Q7. From what you played in Alpha Test 2, which aspect should be strengthened the most?

•  Character Actions
• Increase the number of weapons
• More weapon categories
• Increase the variety of PA and Skills
• More luscious graphics
• Improve Character Creation
• Improve Enemies
• More Map Variations
• Improve Chat Functions
• Add Something you can raise other than characters like Pets.
• Improve My Room Functions
• Improve Story and Setting
• Improve elements where lots of people can play.
•  Improve areas other than battle
• Add Competitive elements

Q8. Please choose a service that you would like us to coordinate with the game.

• Facebook
• Mixi
• Twitter
• Mobage
• GREE'
• Amoeba
• Youtube
• Nico Nico Douga
• Other
• Nothing in particular

Input Other service here:

Q9.  Please choose the service you currently have an account with.

• Facebook
• Mixi
• Twitter
• Mobage
• GREE'
• Amoeba
• Youtube
• Nico Nico Douga
• Yahoo Japan
• Livedoor
• Google Account
• Other
• Nothing in particular

Other Account:

Q10. From the following, please select the online game and portal sites you use.

• Capcom Online Games
• Game Chu
• mgame
• MK-Style
• NEXON
• play nc
• gamania
• Gungho Games
• Gamepot
• HanGame
• Other
• Nothing in particular

Q11. Please write 3 console games you find most interesting.

Q12. Please write what PC online games you usually play

Q13.  Which game consoles and handhelds do you have?

• Playstation 3
• Playstation Portable
• Playstation Vita
• Wii
• Nintendo DS
• Nintendo 3DS
• Xbox 360
• Dumb Phone
• Iphone
• Android
• Windows Phone
• Desktop PC
• Laptop
• IPad
• Android Tablet
• Windows Tablet
• Other
• None in particular

Please type in what other platform you use:

Q14. Using your character data from the PC version, which other platform would you like to use it to play the Phantasy Star Online 2 "Series".

(Of course with this particular question, it is alluding to the relationship between Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Portable 2. You can import character data from PSU into Phantasy Star Portable 2. )

• Playstation 3
• Playstation Portable
• Playstation Vita
• Wii
• Nintendo DS
• Nintendo 3DS
• Xbox 360
• Dumb Phone
• Iphone
• Android
• Windows Phone
• Desktop PC
• Laptop
• IPad
• Android Tablet
• Windows Tablet
• Other
• None in particular

Input Other:

Q15: Were you able to play this test normally?

• Yes, I could play the game normally and play with other people
• I could play the game normally, but was only able to do so solo.
• I downloaded the client but the game did not even start.
• I wasn't even able to download it.

Q16: What comments would you like to give the development team in 1000 characters or less.

 

Additional Comments

We recommend not typing any comments in English. Anyway, this is yet another hint of a console Phantasy Star game in the pipeline that may use character data from PSO2. However I strongly believe Phantasy Star Victory will be highly related to PSO2 in every shape and form.

The Alpha Test 2 is over, but there are other aspects we didn't get a chance to cover. Phantasy Star Online 2 allows you to grind the strength and attributes, as well as add a special ability.

Item Lab

• アイテム強化 Item Grinding
• 属性強化 Attribute Grinding
• 特殊能力追加 Add a special ability

Item Grinding

When you grind items you increase the strength of the weapons. Select the item you wish to grind and pay the meseta and grinder cost that's required. As you grind, your weapon will have a +number after their name. A grind value of 6 would make your VitaRod +6. If you fail a grind, the + value drops and you'll have to pay again to grind it back up.

Required

• グラインダー数 Grinder Cost
• メセタ Meseta

On the grinding screen, it will tell you the success rate which is color coded:

成功確率: Success Rate (color)

• 確実: Assured
• 安全: Safe
• 注意: Caution
• 危険: Danger

And your biggest risk: 最大リスク tells you how many grind values you will drop when you fail a grind.  In your first grind you won't have any risk so you won't drop below zero.

Grind Cost

*These values may be different depending on rarity.

• Up to +6 : 1 grinder.
• +7 and up: 2 Grinders

Biggest Risk (Grind Failure for Weapons)

*These values may be different depending on rarity.

• +1 ~ 3: Grind Value will not drop
• +3 ~  6: Grind Value may drop by -1
• +6 ~ 9: Grind Value may drop by -2
• +9 ~ 10 Grind Value may drop by -3

Biggest Risk (Grind Failure for Units)

*These values may be different depending on rarity.

• +1 ~ 5: Grind Value will not drop
• +6 ~ 8: Grind Value may drop by -1
• ??

Attribute Grinding

Grinding attributes requires using the same weapon name, it doesn't matter what + values or element it has, as long as it is the same weapon. But in order to grind an attribute, the weapon should have an attribute anyway.

 

From the screenshot, the red box shows your 対象アイテム target item. This item will gain attributes when finished. The green box shows items of the same name that you can add to the grind. The purple box shows the 素材アイテム material items. Whatever items you selected in the green box will become the material items used for attribute grinding.

Possible Material Items

• Weapons of the same name
• Weapons of No Attribute
• Weapons with different attribute from the target item.
• Weapons with same attribute of the target item.

Each weapon you use will add a certain amount to the attribute value, those discovered so far are:

• +1: No Attribute
• +1: Different Attribute
• +2: Different Attribute over 30
• +2: Same Attribute

The highest attribute value you can grind to is 50% in alpha test 2.

Special Abilities

Special abilities lets you customize your items by adding various bonuses and parameters to them. Basically you will transfer an ability from one item to another.

The red box in the screenshot above is the target item 対象アイテム, the green box shows the list of possible items you can choose for 素材アイテム material items. The orange box shows you what ability the item has already.

This target item has 2 abilities, in our tests, items with 2 abilities needed another item with 2 or more abilities. Items with zero abilities used items with 1 or  more abilities.

Target Ability Number

• 0 Abilities needs items with 1 or more abilities.
• 1 Ability needs items with 1 or more abilities.
• 2 Abilities needs items with 2 or more abilities.

Ability Description

• The ability description box will tell you what ability is already on the weapon. It is on the third page of the item window. Some abilities will change your stats. This is displayed in the パラメーター補正 Parameter adjustment area.
• For example Power パワー will increase striking stat by 10. Shoot シュート increase Range Stat +10, React リアクト: increases your shooting defense +10, Stun スタン increases the Stun Level, ロックベア・ソール: Rockbear Soul increases your striking by 25, HP +50, and ability stat decreases by 5.

Merging Abilities

• If your target weapon and material weapon have the same ability, it will allow you to upgrade that ability's level.
• For example: Power 1 パワーI (target) + Power 1 パワーI (material) = Power 2パワーII which adds 20 striking.
• However Power 2 has an even less of a chance of transferring over.

Transfer Success Rate

• When you transfer abilities they will each have a success rate percentage. In addition you also get an extra slot. For example, a weapon that already has 1 ability, will get 1 extra slot, which will create a weapon with 2 abilities. A weapon with 2 abilities will get an extra slot to make 3 abilities, and so on…
• As you add abilities onto a weapon, the success rate will drop.

In the screenshot above, the target weapon has 2 abilities already, and the material weapon also has 2 abilities. Each weapon has Shoot I already attached, thus Shoot II is now selectable from the list. Though it is 80% now, it will drop as I add more abilities onto the weapon.

 [some info via nanika]

Character Stats

Character stats from the wiki. You can click on a column's heading, to sort the stats.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Billing Status

In a recent magazine interview with Famitsu Connect-on, Sakai said he plans to talk about Phantasy Star Online 2's billing procedures between the Closed and Open beta test. He did not discuss any details about what they might be, and how it would work. Please wait until the announcement is made.