
So I felt that we needed PSO2 thread, since there's probably a lot of people that are excited about it but aren't keeping up with it. Here's all the general information, pictures and videos will be in the next post.
I. HUD: The PP system from PSP2 returns, in which the PP bar is tied to your character rather than the weapons. It also seems like your max PP may rise after each time you level up
There is an EXP bar under the HP and PP bars.
During mission events, a counter appears on the right hand side of the screen under the minimap. This counter will display various information, such as how far from the objective you are, how many monsters you have to kill, or the health of objectives you must protect
II. GAMEPLAY: You can now sheathe and unsheathe your weapon
While your weapon is sheathed, you may sprint for a currently unkown amount of time
You can now jump at will, which is also integrated into battle, such as comboing enemies in the air with a melee weapon, gaining a high ground advantage as a Ranger, or jumping onto a large enemy's back
Rolling returns, and no longer costs PP
Dashing makes an appearance in the game, which can be used to help create/lengthen melee combos
Interupt events:
-Event occurrence locations are not set in stone.
-There are some rare events which can occur.
-Due to the wide range of enemy levels you will encounter, expect drastic changes between difficulty levels.
-Even if you fail an event by not meeting all of its conditions, you will not suffer a penalty.
-You will receive items and so forth for successfully completing an event.
Incapacitation Penalties:
-If you are incapacitated, your individual grade will fall.
-Results are on a character-by-character basis.
-For example, if Mr. A dies, Mr. B's grade will not be affected.
-In short, you don't have to worry about being blamed for giving your party a bad grade!
PSE and PSE burst:
-There is a new component known as "photon sensitive effect."
-There is a fixed probability of PSE occurring while you continuously defeat enemies.
-Attack power, drop rates and Meseta drop quantities are all boosted for a fixed period when PSE occurs.
-If you acquire an "evolved drop" (details unknown) from killing an enemy, you get even more boosted attack power, drop rates and Meseta payout.
-If consecutive PSEs occur, you can perform a "PSE burst."
-Bonuses from a PSE burst last for one minute and include even higher drop rates and highly increased number of enemies that appear.
-You can extend the PSE burst's duration by killing more and more enemies.
IIa. RANGED WEAPONS: With Ranged weapons, you may enter a TPS mode (which also gives bonuses to damage depending on which part of the body you shoot enemies, like their head)
Normal shots no longer cost PP
Instead of having different elemental bullets, guns now get Photon Art special attacks that cost PP to use
Guns are now reloaded after shooting(currently unknown if this is manual or if it's just an automatic animation)
Speculation: It seems like the center button for the Rifle might switch the left and right buttons to another set of commands, such as alternate Photon Arts.
Known Weapon Types:
-Rifle
-Handgun
-Gunslash
IIb. MELEE WEAPONS: Melee Photon Arts return and cost PP to use, and they can also be chained one after another
You may now guard with Melee Weapons
There is now an additional bar above your button interface. This bar builds up as you hit monsters with your normal melee attacks. As this bar builds, your current Photon Art changes. It is likely that the more you build up this bar, the stronger the Photon Art you unleash is.
Known Weapon Types:
-Sword
-Wired Lance (Info here)
-Gunslash
IIc. MAGIC WEAPONS: You may now use Rods to perform Melee attacks like what was possible in PSO
You can link three spells at a time to a rod
Known Weapon Types:
-Rod
IId. TECHNIQUES(SPELLS)/PHOTON ARTS: Disks are used to learn photon arts and techniques
Disks have certain learning requirements, such as Stat requirements
Unlike PSU, there will not be a limit on the number of PAs or techs you can learn
You will be able to return a learned Photon Art/Technique back into disk form
Low-level disks can be bought at shops
High-level disks can be obtained as enemy drop
You can set different photon arts to the three parts of a combo.
Combined PAs will let you pull of three-part combos. For example, Tornado Break to Spinning Break to Gravity Break. Also, you can perform normal attacks between all of those.
Techniques are chargeable, and may be cast while in the air
Techniques cost PP to cast, but don't require any additional PP when they are charged
Techniques may only be charged when linked to a magical weapon (which implies that they may not have to be linked to a weapon to be cast)
A Technique's power, range and effect change when charged
Known Techniques/Spells:
-Foie
-Lightningbolt (possibly Zonde?)
-Lighting spell that hits nearby surrounding enemies(Looks extremely similiar to Gizonde from PSU)
-Ball of ice (possibly Barta?)
III. ENVIRONMENTS/LOBBIES: Randomly generated fields
Dynamic weather change system
Interrupt events may occur during a mission, such as killing a number of a certain enemy, or to save an ally from an enemy’s trap
A feature similar to PSU's room will be in PSO2, but details are unknown
Multiparty Areas:
-Certain areas allow for up to 12 people to play together simultaneously.
-However, this doesn't necessarily mean that you are limited to three parties of four people each.
-For example, 12 individual solo players can all gather in these areas.
-It is possible to reorganize your party in a multi-party area.
-For example, if you have three parties of four people each, players from each party can transfer from one party to another.
-At first you can have the following parties: A1 A2 A3 A4 / B1 B2 B3 B4 / C1 C2 C3 C4
-But you can swap players around like so: B1 C2 A3 B4 / C1 A2 B3 C4 / A1 B2 C3 A4
-In multi-party areas, support techniques will only affect your party.
-There are some techniques that have cross-party effects, however.
Visual lobbies:
-Event billboards will be in the lobbies.
-There will also be a large screen theater.
-Motion pictures of some sort can be played on the theater screen.
-This feature will be active during the alpha test.
IV. ENEMIES: You can now throw certain enemies, and certain enemies may pick you up
You can jump on top of certain enemies
V. ITEMS/EQUIPMENT: Consumable items return
Meseta returns
Telepipes return from PSO
Item drops:
-Drop items are decided on a character-by-character basis.
-Each character can get different drops.
Units:
-Units exist in this game.
-They can be equipped to your arms, back and legs.
-Units can be additional costume parts for your character.
-When equipped, units can change certain visuals of your costume.
-Units can boost abilities such as defense and attribute rates.
Mags:
-Mags exist in PSO2 as living, evolved protectors(Details are scarce, so they may or may not be returning as equipment in PSO2)
VI. STORY: PSO2 will not be set in either Ragol or Gurhal
Dark force spreading through the universe
Star Fleet "Oracle" transports the Arks(the players) who fight against the Dark Force
VII. RACES/CLASSES: There are only 3 playable races(although Sakai has said that it is possible that this number may increase)
The three races are: Humans, Newmans, and Casts
There are 3 playable classes: Hunter, Ranger, and Force
You are not locked into a class when you create your character; you may change your class when you want
In addition to the three main classes, there will also be subclasses to choose from
Human:
Newman:
Cast:
-Can now hover/skate when they are dashing on the ground, and may also air dash
Hunter:
Ranger:
Force:
-Forces have the ability to teleport short distances. It is possible that this is just an animation for their air dash.
VIII. CHARACTER GROWTH: EXP information:
-Whether or not you receive EXP is determined by your range to an enemy.
-If you are within the enemy's range, you will receive EXP.
-If you are out of an enemy's range, you will not receive EXP.
-This may be a counter-measure for multi-party leveling.
Instead of raising a character level, there are class levels that you level up instead. For instance, if you level your Hunter class to 50, your Force and Ranger classes will still be level 1
Players can further enhance their character by selecting skills (For example: Guard > Just Guard > Just Guard Master > Just Guard Stun)
Picture of Hunter skill tree:
Skill tree information:
-This system is used to learn class skills.
-EXP earned goes toward increasing your class level.
-You accumulate points by leveling up.
-By using these points, you can learn class skills.
-Class skills can only be used on the class you learned them with.
-For example, a skill learned as a Hunter cannot be used by a Force.
-Even if you max your class level, you cannot learn all skills.
-You will have a limited number of points to put toward skills, so individual skill combinations will vary.
-The ability to redo learned skills is under consideration.
IX. CHAT: Cut-in chat returns from PSU
Lobby animations return
X. GAME DEVELOPMENT: Development of PSO2 has been running alongside PSP2 Infinity, so the game is further along in development than some people likely think
The game is currently slated for a release sometime in 2011
Alpha testing for the game begins this Summer
XI. MISC: PSO class style armor, which can be seen in the beginning of the alpha gameplay video
List of random notes in the initial announcement video:
# "Action" and "RPG" re-connected
# Increased variety of client orders
# Map functions changing in real time
# User-created story
# New interface for environmental interactions
# Global support
# Thorough racial balances
# Full user participation events
# Seasonal changes
# New chat system
# New mail functions
# Drastic item synthesis overhaul
# Even wider variety of ways to raise your character
# New direction of event scenes
# Approach from NPCs (possibly a new approach to NPCs?)
# Silhouette changes by add-ons (obscured)
# New photon arts (obscured)
# Community supported content (obscured)
# Additional character customization
# Category-based weapon training system (obscured)
# Implementation of asynchronous communication
# New party system
# Improved enemy AI / cooperation
# Limitless content
# New approach to the game client
# Implementation of a new "life work" (obscured)
# Daily surprises
# "Trump card" system
# Mutual interaction functionality for new and veteran users
XII. SYSTEM SPECS: Note that these are the minimum system requirements for the Alpha testing of the game, so they are subject to change;
o Windows XP 32bit
o Windows Vista / 7 32bit or 64bit
o Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 or higher
o RAM: Windows XP 1.5GB or higher
o RAM: Windows Vista / 7 2GB or higher
o HDD 8GB or higher
o NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT or similar graphics card or higher
o DirectX 9.0c or higher
o Broadband connection
XIII. SERVER INFORMATION: There will be several servers, each known as a "world."
Each world is independent of the others.
Different worlds cannot interact with each other.
Essentially worlds are as they were in PSU. (EK note: Though they are now known as "entrances," originally they were called "worlds.")
When you start the game, you can choose the world you want to belong to.
You can create characters on multiple worlds.
They are considering the ability to move a character from one world to another as a future possibility.
If you want to play with your friends, make sure you all decide on a world to start on!
XIV. GAMEPAD CONTROLS: Using Gamepad Buttons
-Normal Attack
-PA/TECHNIC
-Selection/Item Pickup,
-Jump/Cancel.
Using L buttons
-Lock On/Off
-Sub Palette Access (L1)
Left Stick
-Character Movement
-Auto Run (When Pressed in)
Right Stick
-Camera Movement
-POV Change (When Pressed in)
Arrow Key
-Change Action Palette (Up / Down)
-Sub Action Palette Target Change(Left/Right)