As Hurricane Irene draws closer, the Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Test is finally finished. Bonkohara today posted she is finally lifting the ban on discussing information about the alpha test! However,  posting images and videos are still prohibited. Haha! It appears they may do a PSO2 Blog too.

Anyways, now that the Alpha test is over we'll post the long list of information that's available from blogs, twitter, Facebook, or wherever they come from. Most of the information may be a repeat of previous information, but the plan is to put them all in ONE place.

In an interview with Famitsu Connect!ON, Sakai and Kimura have some plans for the future in Phantasy Star Online 2. But this interview is again another conceptual thing. Will he go through with it or not, I don't know. Going through it quickly as I'm pressed for time.

• Symbol Chat
• They want to do something like symbol chat. (In the alpha test players site it does state there's a new chat function coming soon, could possibly be this?)
• Section ID
• Your character's name has no effect on playing, so it's not entirely the same as section ID. But they may do something similar to it.  They haven't decided on if it should be related to drops, but something similar to fortune telling could be a possibility.
• Having a situation like you stop ______ today because there's no Super Holy Light is something they don't want it to become. (Super Holy Light is in PSU, where you have the highest luck on certain days. But in its current form, you can have a situation where you don't feel like playing because for the whole day you will not receive the best drops. This was replaced in PSP2 with the Fortune Teller who gives random effects and resets after one mission.)
• They are considering whether if there should be some effect on players individually or based from the party leader. And they are thinking of adding something, that based on the day you connect to the server, changes the balance of the game, giving a strong "live" impression.
• Action Palette
• The alpha test currently has 3 slots. Sakai thinks he'll add some more to some extent as the game progresses. The magazine showed a screenshot of 6 slots for the palette.
• Destroying Portions of the Body
• Kind of like PSP2i, you can destroy certain parts of  body of the boss. Usually it will become weaker, and gets angrier, but this feature isn't limited to just bosses, even smaller enemies can have this aspect. When you destroy parts of a body, items may drop in addition to the original drops.
• (In a recently released video of PSO2's Vol Dragon, you can destroy a portion of his body by attacking the spikes area on his tail.)

Alpha Test Final Report

New and Old details collected will be posted here once they are available.

• Player
• Weapon Class changes the evasive action.
• Armor is compromised of your clothes, arm unit, leg unit, and rear unit. Each of these set up your stats. 
• There are specific units that are compromised of Arm, Leg, or Rear areas which you can attach to your outfit.
• Sub Units have access to any Arm, Leg, and Rear.
• Character Creation
• Humans/Newmans choose among the same clothing options. Casts of course have their own parts.
• You can not change your clothes after character creation in Alpha test.
• Lobby
• [First Floor] Event Stage and Huge Monitor
• [Second Floor] Item Shop, Weapon Shop, and a Teleporter (several shops closed in alpha test)
• [Third Floor] Closed Shops
• [Space Port] Quest Counter and Skill Counter
• [Camp Ship] Jump into the Quest, or Access your Storage Box.
  
• HUD
• Inserting skills into the sub palette. (Fury Stance was seen on Zero Key)
• Screen turns red when HP low.
• Can hold up to 3 weapons at a time (Will change sometime after Alpha Test)
• PP is not used up when shooting, or firing a gun, however when using PAs or charged technics it will use up PP.
• Quests
• In the beginning there are Arks Quests, and after a while Free Quests open up.
• Forest Field [Player Reported]
• Weather changes from Clear, Rain, Foggy, Lightning storm.
• Interrupt Event, In single area, exterminate the darker, or supplies are dropped
  
• In Multi area, helicopter crash lands, or you kill large enemies the spider boss, or the rock bear.
• Weather Environmental hazards, Lightning can strike the player and shock them.
• Weather Environmental hazards, Acid Rain can fall if you fail an interrupt event.
  
• Volcano Field [Player Reported]
• The Map Terrain varies with high and low areas.
• Environmental Hazard: Lava can damage the player.
• When lava spits out from the ground, you can receive knockback damage.
• In single, interrupt event, you attack a number of enemies.
• In Multi, interrupt event, an ally is trapped by the Darker and you must rescue them.
  
• Skill System
• When you level up you acquire Skill points to set among the skills at the skill counter.
• Theres a skill to increase the time of invincibility when using an evasive action.
• Hunter Class Skill Tree
• Step > Step Attack > Step Advance
• Guard Stance > Guard Stance Up1 > Guard Stance Poison > Guard Stance Burn > Guard Stance Up 2 >  Guard Stance Automate
• Guard > Just Guard > Guard Absorber > Just Guard Master > Just Guard Stun
• War Cry
• Fury Stance > Fury Critical
• HP Up 1 > Defense Up > HP Up 2
• Ranger Skill Tree
• Dive Roll >  Dive Roll Advance
• Weak Bullet > Bind Bullet
• Tool Mastery > Poison Trap > Poison Trap Custom
• Ability Up 1 > Ability Up 2 > Ability Up 3 > Reaction Up 1
• Force Skill Tree
• Flame Mastery > Photon Flare > Flame Tech S Charge
  >  Flame Mastery 2
• Mirage Escape
• Ice Mastery > Freeze Ignition > Ice Mastery 2 > Freeze Tech Boost
• Bolt Mastery >PP Convert > Bolt Mastery 2 > Bolt Tech PP Save
• PP Up 1 > Tech Up 1 > Mind Up 1 > PP Up 2 > PP Regenerate
• Weapon Elements
• Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, Dark
• Enemy
• Status Effects change the enemy's color.
• Boss
• Vol Dragon Boss was in a Multiparty Area, once player reached up to him he was about to die due to other players attacking him. (Monster Hunter like gameplay here)
• Vol Dragon can burrow into the ground and reappear.
• You can destroy the spikes on the tail of the dragon.
• Lizardlike enemies (Nodiran?) accompany the dragon.
• (Not entirely sure but there may be dynamic music during the boss fight. When the dragon burrowed into the ground for a while, the music sounded less intense. This music transition doesn't occur if the dragon immediately burrows in and burrows out quickly.)
• Interrupt Event
• Rescue a player captured by the Darker. (Player reported this happened in a multiparty area)
• Open the Magnetic Wall by defeating 5 groups of Dragon spawns. (Player Reported Interrupt Event)
• Code Duel: Boss Battle
  
• Map
• Each field is randomized, interrupt events occur randomly.
• Press [M] to change the map views.
• There are actual areas that go to the next block instead of like it was in PSU. (In the PSO2 Forest area, you may enter a cave to go to the next block, whereas PSU they will abruptly end the field and push the camera back to symbolize entering the next block.)
• Music
• Settings
• Change of Language Options Possible
• Data Mining
• Japanese Opinions
• A blogger wrote that it seems that Armor = Clothes, and asked will all the clothes have fixed attributes?  She said she's worried about not being able to wear her favorite outfit.
• Another liked the Quest Clear BGM.
• Thinks forces are going to be late bloomers.