Sakai is back for his typical Friday update. This time it's mainly a summary of the media briefing which we have already covered before. In the next test, he will introduce Planet Lillipa. The desert planet full of Darkers and Robots.

In part two of the Media Briefing 2nd, they did a talk show and showed some secret footage. He wanted to announce the dates of the Open Beta Test but couldn't due to the problems that occurred. After some internal testing they will decide upon a date and announce the schedule to you guys sometime around the end of May.

 

Now over here in the shoutboard and on other sites you may have heard about changes Japanese social games must make to their complete Gacha. A gacha is basically a game where you win random prizes like those toy/candy vending machines outside of stores. Some companies offer a complete gacha that lets you win an extra prize if you win all the major prizes. (Read here for an illustration.) In PSO2's case, if you collected all 8 outfits on the Gacha sheet, you would have won the Rappy Suit costume.

As a result of this law, the gift you would have received by completing the AC Scratch will have to be removed. This news doesn't affect the next test's schedule. Even though the problems that occurred in the CBT resulted in some internal scheduling changes, the official release date has not changed and is still on for Early Summer 2012. The game will continue to be free to play, and you will still be able to download it for free.

He thanks you for completing the survey, he received more than 37,000 entries. Around mid-May he plans to release the Closed Beta Test Report with data collected from the game and survey.

 

Character Contest

After more than 18000 votes sent in, taking up 1/3 of the votes, "mw" has won the Character Creation contest. She will appear as a character within the game.

Kumanotabi won the producer prize. This character will be 3D printed.

Josan Waver won the Arks Prize. The winner of this prize will receive artwork of their very own character, in fact Mizuno liked this oyaji character.

Those that won the Rappy Prize will receive the Racaseal figure. If you didn't win don't fret, Sakai is thinking about future contests where everyone can participate. A symbol art contest, weapon/costume design contest, and illustration contest are some of the things he's thinking about. If you have any ideas for a future contest, be sure to comment on his blog.

 

PORORI

It's been quite a long time but today we can show the next porori image.

When you played the CBT, you met many story characters in the world of PSO2. In fact, out of these story characters, two of them were original models: Xion and Matoi.

Everyone else that you saw could be created in character creation.* Thus unfortunately, they do not have concept designs. However, you may recall that they each wore unique outfits. So today we'll introduce the costume concept artwork that the highly popular character "Lisa" wore.

 

As previously stated, though Lisa wore this outfit, this isn't her character concept. (Lisa may look very similar but she had the CRAZY EYES!) However, in the official game, you'll be able to wear this outfit just like Lisa.

 *EDIT Note: Due to some confusion about this I'll make this clear for new readers. As it was previously mentioned a while back, all the default costumes in character creator were available for free. The rest of the NPC costumes costs Arks Cash. The point was to say that you can create a character who looks just like Afin, or Xeno, in the character creator, but their costumes would cost AC. In fact if you watched the media briefing you would see that Xeno's and Echo's costumes are in the AC Scratch.

 

Attribute Grinding Values

Previously in Alpha Test 2, we talked a bit about the observations on Attribute grinding. Though the Closed Beta Test added some changes to the menu, it still worked essentially the same.

You have your base weapon, and by feeding it weapons of the same name you will increase the % by a certain amount.

• Attribute + Same Attribute (1-29%) = +2%
• Attribute + Same Attribute (30-50%) = +3%
• Attribute + No Attribute = +1%
• Attribute + Different Attribute (1~29%) = +1%
• Attribute + Different Attribute (30~50%) = +2%

The last entry is different from Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity by 1%. Which I guess sounds fair to say the least.

[via shougai]

Gaebolg/Nacht

The July issue of Famitsu Connect!On is distributing an item code for the Gaebolg/Nacht partisan. This issue of Famitsu goes on sale 5/26/2012. You can input item codes in the Visiphone terminal in the Arks lobby. So far there are 5 "Nacht" type weapons being distributed.

[thanks Silent Panda]

At the Phantasy Star Online 2 Fan Briefing 2nd, Sakai discussed new features coming up in the next test and beyond! Here are some stats from the previous Closed Beta Test.

• 147,000 CBT Client Downloads
• 131,000 people participated in the Beta.
• Average of 63,000 people login a day.
• 23,500 simultaneous connections.

During the Closed Beta, several disconnections and server issues occurred making the game somewhat unplayable. People also had a difficult time sending in bug reports as the official site ran slowly. Despite this, Phantasy Star Online 2 official release schedule will not change. They will continue to release the game sometime Early Summer 2012.

To make sure these server issues do not reoccur, it is possible that depending on the situation, they may have to perform an additional closed beta test before the Open Beta starts. This CBT2 (or whatever they call it) would only run for a very short amount of time. The details of whether or not this will happen will be discussed at a later time. Sakai just wants to make sure he doesn't have such network problems when the Open Beta Test starts.

 

In the Open Beta Test, they will introduce a new field on the planet Lilipa. It's a planet under a harsh environment covered completely in sand. Throughout the planet you'll see the remains of structures that apparently were used to collect resources from the planet. Liliipa is a dangerous place filled with robots who attack indiscriminately and Darkers. In the open beta you can level your classes up to level 30. There will also be a Hard Mode for those Level 20+.

 

The desert field has buildings that are wasting away in the sand.

 

Be careful, you may come across a new Darker Boss called Gwanahda. He hides in the ground and attacks with his large pincers and many tentacles.

 

Story Quests will be added to the game, the scenes showed the discovery of small creatures on Lilipa, and a small meeting with the Dragon Tribe on Planet Amduscia. There's also new characters like ゲッテムハルト Gechtemhalt? voiced by Nubuo Tobita, and Melfonsina voiced by Kana Hanazawa. Furie as seen in this screenshot is voiced by Hisako Kanemoto.

 

When the official game starts you'll see brand new costumes and hairstyles that you can obtain from the AC Scratch.

 

In addition, the official release will add time attack quests which will have a ranking similar to other quests.  The official game plans to add a new field called "Frozen Soil." This field is on the planet Naberius. Sakai also plans to update the game roughly once per month.

 

In Part 2, Sakai and Kimura took the stage to discuss about additional features and answer questions from fans. It even looks like they may hold a symbol art contest.

One of the questions asked if it would be possible to move our characters across ships. It appears due to the server issues, this won't be implemented just yet and is kind of a difficult process to do so. However, they are currently testing this service to see how it pans out.

Another fan asked about the possibility of making Symbol Art outside of the game, the staff may think about it.

Someone asked if there's going to be an ON/OFF switch for boob jiggling. They don't have plans to add such a switch but expect to see plenty of sexy costumes.

They are still investigating how they should have the pricing scheme for Arks Cash. They are thinking about charging something like 1AC = 1 Yen? Of course the prices in the CBT aren't going to be the same as the official game.

There will be 8 types of weapons for the official release, but more will appear later on. During the presentation someone shouted for Double Sabers, and Sakai responded that they'll put them in. In addition, expect to see the Knuckle weapon category.

 

Also at the end they showed off a new map. This map was described as a near futuristic mechanical area full of robotic enemies. They didn't discuss the name of the map but you should expect to see it in the official game.

 

Of course the Darkers show up everywhere!

 

Only those who were physically present were able to see this secret footage.

 

 

[via gpara + famitsu]

Satoshi Sakai went on stage to present the 2nd Fan Briefing. He announced some of the results of the Closed Beta Test and introduced new features implemented in the Open Beta Test. Unfortunately the Open Beta Test dates were not announced today.

Later on PSO2 will implement a Desert Planet, new costumes, new story quests, and a time attack quest.  But for now let's go through what's actually coming in the Open Beta.

OBT: New Planet Liliipa

Liliipa: A harsh environment where the whole planet is covered in sand. It has the remains of a civilization that existed once before. In many places there are structures that mine resources from the planet.

 

 

The Great Wall!

Desert: An area covered in sand. There's hardly any traces of lifeforms, but there seems to be robots roaming about. They seem to have lost their masters and attack indiscriminately. The Arks have also confirmed the presence of the Darkers.

 

OBT: New Enemy

Gwanada

Gwanada: The Desert Boss, a large-sized Darker which lies hidden beneath the sand. Not only does it have large pincers, but it can easily manipulate its many tentacles.

 

Gilnas

Gilnas: A large machine with a sturdy body. Within its body lies a hidden core. Unless you destroy the core, it will  attack you even if its body is scattered in pieces. 

Signogan

Signogan: Medium sized robot that moves very quickly.

 

Spardan

 

Feature Recap

Open Beta Test Features

• New Planet (Lillipa)
• New Field (Desert)
• New Boss (Gwanada)
• New Enemy: Robots
• New Story Quest
• Class Level 30
• Hard Mode

Official Release Features

• New Field (Frozen Soil)
• New Enemy (De Marmoth)
• New Enemy (King Yede)
• New Enemy (Yede)
• New Boss (Marmoth)
• New Boss (Snow Banshee)
• Class Level 40
• New Costume and Hairstyles added to AC Scratch
• Mag's 3rd evolution.
• Time Attack Quest