Phantasy Star Online 2 is one of those games that many here in the West have been watching anxiously, hoping for it to come out here soon. We have had 'boots on the ground' during the Japanese open beta for Phantasy Star Online 2 and have a full report with videos/screens to share. Check it out!

Gameplay in PSO2 is distinctly old school and doesn't stray very far from the formula that the franchise has been maintaining for the last 10 years. Most of the game consists of accepting quests from the hub and then heading off into a public (or private) instance dungeon to do what needs to be done. If you've played Monster Hunter, God Eater or Phantasy Star Portable, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Now before most of you start groaning about the obvious grind and inevitable monotony of instance dungeon hell, the game does pull off a few (sometimes spectacularly amazing) tricks to spice things up during quest runs.

Read more of Adrian Liew's Phantasy Star Online 2: Japanese Open Beta Preview.

I would try it.. if i understood japanese, guess registiring must be pretty standard but i would be really really lost in game.

To ElvenWolf,  From what i seen theres Guides to Help you thru Features of the game and JP language.

Im personally gonna wait a year or 2 for a NA Beta (i hope 1 year max but ...who knows)

PSO was great, and i'll be all over PSO2 once it comes out on NA soils

PSO was about the only reason I could ever have justified my Dreamcast purchase. PSO2 is looking pretty neat so far, hoping for a NA version (soon-ish).

must say, i really dig the atistic looks of this game :)

Thank you Urthal22 !

I'll check them out and will try, who knows, i might even learn something about japanese!

I loved this game on the old Dreamcast. Is it coming to PC?

There will be a pc release from what I understand, as well as a PS vita release. The game will be f2p and from what I understand (could totally be wrong) you share one account across platforms. Given the wireless (and/or 3g) capabilities of the vita, sounds like a dangerous combination! Might make a vita worth it..

i keep getting confused when you reference 'cash' as to whether you mean ingame or not. the article seems to move back and forth between its uses of the term. perhaps some clarification, please?

otherwise, great news for PSO lovers.

I've been in the beta for about 2weeks now, and I gotta say, it's freakin' awesome!  I played PSO and PSU (and the portable versions), so I can definately say they really smoothed things out here.

The combat feels more smooth and polished. For instance, I have a gunblade!! and by pressing shift, you can switch between the gun/blade skills. Being able to go first-person to aim, even with a sword, feels great too.

Character creation/customization is endless! So many options! 

I was a little deterred by having to work around the Japanese aspect (I barely know any Kanji....) and even though I can't follow the story, the rest of the game is pretty easy to get used to. And like 'urthal22' mentioned, there is an online guide with lots of translations out there.

I'm alos playing it. This game is somewhat "simple yet awesome".

The fighting gameplay is really smooth and fun.

Thank you SEGA!!!

Yeah I've been playing the beta lately :D, it's amazing. I remember me and my dad back in the day hogging the phone and running the bills up playing this online on Dreamcast. This is oh so very similar, and I love the free aim combat.

I didn't play Phantasy Star Universe because the community sucked in there, but this will be amazing I think.

I get quite frustrated though, I have no idea how to spec my MAG because it's all in Japanese and I'm too busy to read guides... But I'm quite looking forward to an English release :).

I hope they don't split us off from the Japanese players though, they never have in any of the other games so I hope they stick to that formula :)

I am in the OB right now, and so far it's been a lot of fun for me.

Great game design concept ,fun and challenging fast pace skill based gameplay, muilt classes that u can switch anytime(when not in a mission),amazing character creation,and a noob friendly AI Partner system that let up to 3 NPC to join you in a fight.

But it's gets a little bit boring when u have to repeat the same mission for several time to finish all the mission,and lving really does takes quite some time.And 1 char limit at all time (unless you buy a char slot from the shop) hurts me a little.And speaking of Cashshop it does sell gear and stuff in the store,but that doesn't ruin the fun for me(as it's not a PvP heavy game).

I'll rate it 8.5/10,and will recommand anyone who like Action game (Monster Hunter,Devil may cry ect.) to give it a try.

Phantasy Star Online rocked and was one of the first games I ever truley loved.  I have high expectations for PSO2 when it comes out here in the US.

I played Stalker Online in Russian for awhile. I got by with the knowledge that somewher ein the starter area someone wanted me to kill 10 rats. After that I was pretty lost.

Kind of of a disservice not to mention that Ship 2 block 20 is the unofficial home for English speaking players.  Maybe the reviewer was not aware of that but yeah. Also an English patch is in the works which I guess will be integrated into this game instead of sega doing a NA version.

I can't wait. I have a Vita a ps3 and a pc so I could definately play on any platform I want.

Originally posted by DashiDMV

Kind of of a disservice not to mention that Ship 2 block 20 is the unofficial home for English speaking players.  Maybe the reviewer was not aware of that but yeah. Also an English patch is in the works which I guess will be integrated into this game instead of sega doing a NA version.

 

 

The english patch is made by an unofficial third party. Not by SEGA.

is this actually an MMORPG or just online multiplayer kind?