I remember years ago when the original Phantasy Star Online was released on the Game Cube, and it included many upon many hours of replayability and exciting encounters. Now its sequel has made its way to our shores, and it builds upon all the things I remember so fondly. Let’s have a look!
Before we get started, I do want to remind players that, while Phantasy Star Online 2 by Sega is a free to play MMOJRPG, you need Xbox Gold to access it. The opening cutscene is a display of the Oracle’s huge space fleet, and we reside somewhere in there having been enlisted to survey the planet we are orbiting. This is when we are taken to the character customization screen. The original let you change things like your body type, hair color, armor color, etc. A decade later, we have that and even more character customization options. There are 4 races to choose from: Humans, Newmans, CASTs, and Deumans. In this walkthrough, I went with the CASTs, because they look like people sized gundams. From there we choose from 6 classes. There are a variety of character presets that help us tailor our character.
In the top left corner of the screen we have our tutorial guide, Astarte, give us the rundown on how missions work. Missions generate rewards on top of the loot we collect. There are different kinds of missions offered at the Quest Counter. Weekly and Daily Missions are a decent ways to quickly gather reward items or sell them to make a quick profit. There are also ARK missions, which we can progress at our own pace irrespective of the main storyline. Our first mission takes us to the planet’s surface, and my first reaction was to ogle at the yellow penguins. And then I murdered them hoping for quest points. The goal is to wrack up 100 quest points to consider the mission completed.
This is not an open world exactly, but it acts more like a level-oriented area. You explore the area and you can see the mini map get filled in as you go place to place. Along the way you can discover party areas as opposed to single player areas. There are certain obstructions like energy fences, which can be navigated around with the use of teleporters. In this case, I found a bunch of loot in green army crates. While battling enemies, the game indicated to me what level the mob was and what its weakness are. That’s pretty nifty. I personally did not find combat to be difficult for my first run into the unknown. You have your basic attacks and hotkeys for special abilities. In my case, I could swing my sword around, block, and could even lift them into the air.
I really like the atmosphere on the planet surface, with some environmental interactions like cutting down a tree. Area zones are static, as in environments don’t change; you move from stage to stage. The inside of our fleet is also something out of a science fiction dream. It handles very much like other free to play titles, namely SWTOR, but retains its own JRPG elements. I like the idea of the Quest Board being the counter as opposed to having to chase down quest givers all over the place. You also encounter such missions while exploring.
I would personally recommend Phantasy Star Online 2 as a fan of free to play RPGs. It is very user friendly and doesn’t hold back in the early character customization. Everyone can put their creative touch on their avatar. I think a fair rating for this title is a 9 out of 10. At the end of the day, you have a game that’s easy to pick up, play, and enjoy. I’m sure it would be even better in a party.
Check Out the Phantasy Star Online 2 Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://pso2.com/
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I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.
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