PSP2 Japan Server Closing Time

• February 22, 2012 at 15:00JST

Phantasy Star Portable 2 can still be played on Ad-hoc Multimode and Story Mode.  If you have Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity, you can continue to use those servers to play online.

[via pspo2]

• To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Phantasy Star Online
• Because it’s a completely new game.
• Because it’s a fully online game
• Because it’s a title that carries on the idea of an Online RPG that’s spread to even more people from those Phantasy Star Online had already captured.

You should view “PSO2″ as not a direct sequel to PSO, but rather the successor to Phantasy Star Online.

And here’s an area most people who played the Alpha test are familiar with already. This is the camp ship area where after you receive a quest, players enter this small Arcs space ship that travels to the planet that corresponds with the quest.

It is the point between the lobby and the field where players can make preparations before diving in.

This camp ship area is shown in that TGS promo movie you saw earlier.

Did you ever notice there’s a small aircraft stored beneath the Camp Ship? Yes, though it may look small, the camp ship is actually quite large. It is covered in camouflage paint since it’s not only used for space travel (warping), but can enter within range of the atmosphere.

Mystery Weapon Category?

In Famitsu Connect-On, Sakai dropped some hints on what that weapon was in the Tokyo Game Show Trailer. The hints said since PSO, it’s not the first time this weapon category has appeared, and out of the 3 classes, Forces can not equip it.

Given these clues, we know generally Partisans can only be equipped by Hunters (except if it’s a rare partisan, then even forces could equip it.). But what other weapon category could it be?

Also for Alpha Test 2, Sakai thinks he could have 10,000 simultaneous connections. The first Alpha test managed to get 6,000 people simultaneously connected. (So I guess that’s a hint as to how many more people would be added?) Also the second alpha test you don’t have to buy something to participate like last time.

[via shougai]

Oracle Mother Ship

In the same interview, Sakai dropped some hints about that ship tailing behind the Oracle fleet as you saw in the TGS trailer. It is the Oracle’s “Mother Ship“, though the existance of this ship is a mystery, we know this isn’t a place where there are people. This place is described as a “sacred area.” 

 (So is this ship used for sealing dark falz? This sounds like a final area to me.)

[via shougai]

Project Cute

Project Cute is actually for Phantasy Star Universe, the concept behind it is to make original clothing with a “CUTE” theme. So Marie Wind マリー ウィンド is coming up next on October 27, 2011 within the GC Gachan.

Various colors are available too!

[via psblog]

November Wallpaper

 A Message from Bonko

Bonkohara wrote a little message to the Facebook page, we’ve cleaned up her English translation to make it more coherent. 

Good evening everyone. Here in Japan it is around 11:00PM.  I am at my desk and working hard even though I’m feeling cold. Producer Sakai has a long meeting today. All of the PHANTASY STAR staff are doing thier best for PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2! We would like to see our fans smile. ♥ We sent a email newsletter yesterday. Please check it out .

This post is a copy paste of information added from the previous post, but I felt this  interview should have its own post instead.

Sakai Interview

Sakai and Terada did a 3 page interview with 4gamer, so lets summarize the major points. This interview didn’t reveal any major aspects about the PSO2 though. (My personal comments are italicized and in this color)

• PSU Update 3rd
  • Dewmans will not appear as a 5th race. They didn’t want to split up the resources of the Phantasy Star team so greatly… since they are doing PC and non-PC games.
  • There was too much of a difference in service with the PS2 and PC versions. They decided that it was already practical to continue service on the PC version. (Most likely referencing the PS2 limitations..)
• The purpose behind PSO2′s Alpha Test
  • For aspects surrounding the game portion, they are seeking player opinions. “Which parts about the game are heading in a good direction?” “What parts fail to meet player expectations?” These are some of the questions they are seeking to answer within the alpha test.
  • Although, not everything is going to change, players’ opinions help push the team to aim for something better. They want to remind everyone that this is just an Alpha Test and not a Beta Test.
  • The test is a bit behind schedule.
• Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity
  • Dewmans were created during the planning stages but didn’t make it since the workload was too great at the time. Now they’re in Infinity.
  • “In development Dewmans were extremely strong at first, but then we quickly decreased that. Though their attack and technic power made for a very strong race, it made them overshadow the other races. So instead we weakened their defenses. This race is meant for advanced players who must rely on evading attacks.” (Now it makes a bit more sense as to why their description said they would overpower the other races..)
  • 4gamer asked if it was difficult to make 10 character slots instead of 8 since the Dewmans were added.  They answered that it was impossible.  Making 10 character slots puts too much pressure on the memory. (Most likely not referring to storage space but PSP memory) An allegorical example would be the SUV attacks disappearing, something like that. It was a necessity to give up that feature.
  • Another feature they wanted to implement but couldn’t due to memory limitations were to add different steps to the Install Data. When you install the game data, it consists of character and weapon data. So another step would add field data based on the capacity of your memory stick. (Obviously the PSN version doesn’t have this problem but UMD players will hear loading sounds for every “sector/block” they visit. )
  • Though Episode 2, based on chapter size, is half of Episode 1, the dialogue is about 60% of Episode 1. You could think of it as Episode 1 is like a TV series, and Episode 2 is a movie
  • During development, they planned that you could not start Episode 2 until you finished Episode 1. Instead they placed a warning sentence for those who really wanted to start with Episode 1 first. Even Sakai himself objected to being unable to play Episode 2 without completing episode 1. 
  • Heathcliff Flowen and Rapico’s partner cards aren’t obtainable within the base game. Instead you can get their cards in the future. Perhaps you should check out event related information…
  • It was Terada’s idea to implement passive communications while actively playing the game. He thought he was the first to implement it through Story Mode, however another game beat him to it. (Usually Passive Communications is done in sleep mode.)
  • They plan to have the PSU + PSP2i event sometime around Golden Week, a Japanese Holiday. This means the event could start at the end of April or very early May. (Keep in mind the earthquake may have impacted this date.)
  • They plan to distribute all hidden bosses/areas mission codes by May.  (Earthquake has impacted schedule)
  • Once a month, they plan to do a collaboration related mission. (Recall Fanta Epic Battle and Calorie Mate.)
  • They reduced the amount of collaboration content in the base game to increase the amount of original outfits. (This is apparent very much so by comparing the amount of visiphone passwords of unique collaboration content in PSP2 and PSP2i.  The point was to release collaboration projects as DLC instead. This doesn’t mean he is stopping collabs, just that more original content should be readily available in the game at least…)
  • Even if PSP2i was your first game within the series, you can download older Phantasy Star Portable 2 DLC clothing and weapons and use them within your game. The team acknowledges they had a problem with the way Phantasy Star Portable 2 loads DLC. They fixed this problem in Infinity, and now you can load DLC easily without having to wait for the game to load it.
  • As for sales of paid DLC, it’s not considerably that great. They’re making a loss. The amount of people who download Free DLC is much different compared to Pay DLC.
  • Sega themselves have to cover the cost of the online servers. (But it makes you wonder how can they make a profit with the international servers without having Pay DLC.)
  • During development they had a hard time with the visual lobby handling communication for 12 players. They were told it couldn’t be done. After some tuning here and there they were able to get it implemented. 
  • Forces were hardly used in Online Multiplayer in Portable 2. (So you can see why they implemented new technics and drastically changed PP usage. Foverse especially makes chaining very easy)

[via 4gamer]

Sakai outlines the player population statistics from December of 2009 to December of 2010. We note some stability in the player makeup but some aspects saw a decrease in players.

The above chart shows the amount of players per level for Phantasy Star Portable 2. Sakai notes, eventually the level 60 ~ 100 players eventually quit the game. 

In the Infinity demo, most players hit the level 100 cap. Players above level 100 didn’t play it that much. Sakai ponders if those players started a new character.

For PSP2 sexes, the first column represents male to female ratio. Female characters always had more players through out the year, but slowly the male characters were catching up.  The third column represents the battle types for each player. About a year ago we noticed forces were dropping off in numbers, the trend continues in the chart above.

The Force battle types started at 10% and dropped to 8%. Rangers dropped from 17% to 14%. The Bravers (Vanguards) increased from 20% to 26%. Sakai sees it as a problem to have very few forces.

Human then Casts were the most popular race. Beast always remained the least popular. The race makeup changed in Infinity.

Dewmans gained considerable popularity in the Demo, second place to Humans. Forces increased to 15% while vanguards decreased to 22%. Sakai thinks the Force increase may be attributed to the way the new technics work. But I really think it’s because of the increase damage output and the huge decrease in PP consumption.  Rangers are still the least popular battle type.

Gemaga and PSP2i is having yet another collaboration. This time an item is called, “Castkochan Grenade” and has the appearance of a Dreamcast.  Based on their twitter page, Gemaga is releasing a password for an item in the 2/26/11 Gemaga magazine. It’s likely to be the password for this weapon.

Infinity Curry

Another food based collaboration, this time with Space Create. If you show your PSP2i screen when you enter the store you can get a Calorie Mate Strap. But of particular note is the 3rd campaign which has curry along with the infinity symbol.

We’ve been receiving a lot of reports about players unable to connect or continue past the matching counter screen for the Phantasy Star Portable 2 US/EU server. Currently this problem is affecting the majority of users. We now know the servers are back online! Enjoy your game. Gamefaqs.

This post is specifically for US/EU servers down in January 2011.

Story Trailer

Today is Phantasy Star Portable 2 one year anniversary! As the days go by, we are closer and closer to commemorate Phantasy Star Online’s 10 year anniversary. In the future, we’ll see the release of Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity and the highly anticipated Phantasy Star Online 2.

The story trailer features:

• A block of land rising up.
• The infamous fight scene of Nagisa and Hyuga.
• Wynarl speaking.
• Pioneer 2 flying above.

And of course, the most forbidden thing of them all; Nagisa removing her eye patch and unleashing her dark Dewman power. The scene is set up in such a way where Nagisa glows red versus Hyuga and his blue sword. There was a reason Lumia wore blue and and Emilia wore red.

Monsters

Garanz: A large machine that was reconstructed by using data from Rykros

Garanz can shoot destructive missiles from its shoulders.

Bora Vrima is a large enemy deriving from the Polavahra species.

Bora Vrima has a tough shell with missile-shaped needles attached to it.
It can roll up into a ball and ram into you. It boasts its high fighting strength!

Game System

Now there’s gameplay videos teaching the concepts of the game. This video showcases how to fight and use combos, though it emphasizes the need to chain.

Terada’s Corner

Can you find Alfort Tylor? He’s the darkest one standing of the three.

Terada and Sakai blogged early tonight.

• Let’s just cut to the chase…
• The Mirage Blast invocation is fast. The light and dark mirage blast effectiveness has increased.

Well at least now we know for sure the light mirage blasts increases the rate the blast gauge fills up. Then the dark mirage blast increases the attack speed of the user.  But I feel Calorie Mate might be a better choice… So are we going to be faster than an acrofighter eh?

Satoshi Sakai

For the Playstation Awards, Satoshi Sakai chose three titles which he voted for in the Playstation Questionnaire.

• Voted Titles
  • 1. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
  • 2. God of War 3
  • 3. Phantasy Star Portable 2

[playstation awards]

Phantasy Star Portable 2 has been awarded the gold award for selling 500,000 copies.

Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst Memorial

Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst is having a memorial event. Players will participate in taking screenshots of various situations during their time on PSOBB. Screenshots are separated by two distinct styles.

The first is a screenshot memorial where players take screenshots of their various adventures. The second is the episode memorial, where players take screenshots relating to the episodic content. You would then write something interesting describing the episode picture, whether it is happy, or sad…

• Application Period
  • 11/30/2010 ~ 1/21/2011
• Results
  • 2/7/2011: Screenshot Announcement
  • 2/24/2011: Episode Screenshot Announcement

For episode screenshots, one must write a description up to 200 characters describing the image. The screenshots for both types should be no larger than 1MB.

[via psobb]

Wynarl and Hentai?

The word Hentai can mean different things like perverted, sexual nature, strange or abnormal and wierdo. Rapico has said that Emilia seems to think Wynarl is perverted. You can check it out in the demo in January.

[via rapico]

Clothes and Parts

Nachtlotus

The 1st place winner. This original design isn’t meant to be showy at all. It has a floating line shield that goes around the circumference of the outfit.

[designer: 竹光]

VerdeCoat

This is a hooded cloak for Male Casts. The theme of this coat is to represent a Shinigami or Death God. The line shield is at the back so that the player can easily identify it.

[designer: jona]

Croce Segmentata

At the back of this outfit, a device assists with propulsion so that you are highly mobile in battle. It is used by members of a certain religious organization.

[designer: Noah]

Weapons

Weisse Lillie

The spear that protected a saint, it is a spear and shield combined. Sakai says this spear would be perfect for Infinity’s default cast male.

[designer: ヒルデガルト]

Juggernaut

These rustic knuckles have an animation of a rotating corkscrew. It’s supposed to use the sound effect Pike’s axe (Gryz) from Phantasy Star IV.

[designer: 西向アズタカ]

Double Waber

A double saber that uses the motif of the Waber Family. who helped to put an end to the Illuminus! Ethan Waber is represented as the sun, and Lumia Waber is represented by the moon. This weapon comes with a bonus effect. If you invite Ethan and Lumia to the party, the weapon’s attack power is supposed to increase. Sakai is investigating whether he can achieve this effect.

[designer: てら]

We’ll cover the honorable mentions at a later time.

Unfortunately these items are going to be free download items for Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity. They will also appear in Phantasy Star Universe Japan.

Fourth Place Winners

Here are SOME of the fourth place winners and their items. Expect to see these for Infinity and PSU Japan.

Imperial Cross

An outfit that’s opposite of Shizuru’s dark style. It has a wound in a shape of a cross.

[designer: Custard]

Sengetsu

Sengetsu, a crescent moon axe.

[designer: Reffi]

Sleipnir

This mysterious grenade arrived from a parallel universe through subspace. One cannot equip it unless they have closely bonded with the weapon. It has a ferocious neigh and spits out a spinning carrot. Its head and mouth are constantly in motion.

[designer: Big the Shogun]

Little Wing License Updated

The Little Wing License is a code that enables you to access the Online Multiplayer portion of the game. The Little Wing License was supposed to disallow those with illegitimate versions of the game from connecting online. The License is now updated to only allow those with a valid code to play the game online.

All users now need the code granted within the retail copy of the game or which was automatically awarded when purchased digitally to access the online servers.  [Ruby Eclipse]

If you have already entered the code and are still having problems logging on. You should try to redownload the Little Wing License from your Playstation Store or Account Management Transaction History.

In my personal test I was able to connect without having to redownload the Little Wing License.

Where is the Code?

The code can be located within your game case and must be typed at the redeem portion of the Playstation Store. If you digitally downloaded the game, the code is automatically applied to your copy. To view if you have an active Little Wing License,..

• View An Active Little Wing License
  • From the XMB on the PSP highlight Playstation Network
  • Select Account Management
  • Select Transaction Management
  • Select Services List

The Little Wing License should appear on this list.

If you have bought the game used where someone has already activated the code:

For those playing on used copies, there is currently no additional method to purchase a code individually…
[Ruby Eclipse]

So unfortunately there is no way to purchase a new license at this time.

Reporting Online Hackers and Cheaters in PSP2

Ruby Eclipse GM of PSU posted this earlier today:

If you guys spot anyone cheating or hacking in the game, please submit a ticket to us with their ID# at http://help.sega.com . If you could include pictures or other proof that will prove they’re cheating beyond a doubt, it would also be extremely helpful.

Our teams will then check to verify if the user has been cheating, and if we find evidence to prove so, will ban them from the game. [Ruby Eclipse]

For the Japanese version, Sega has already set up a website for those to report “wicked users”. As to some suggestions taken from the Japanese website on how to report players, try this tip. Whip out a cell phone camera and take a picture of the offending user in action. You can also include their online ID displayed above their character.

• To Display Online IDs
  • Press Start
  • Click System
  • Click Option
  • Click Player Data Display
  • Select Online ID.

Write a report on the offending action taking place and be as descriptive as possible.

Unfortunately, online cheaters who are the party leader can affect your data as well. We are unsure of how Sega will handle reports of users who’s save files were affected. It’s best to make daily backups of your save file by connecting your PSP to the computer through a USB port. Then copy this folder to your computer:

“x:\PSP\SAVEDATA\ULUS10529\” 

(x is represented by drive letter)
(ULUS10529 folder name WILL be different for EU version)

• 1 Grand Prize Winner
• 1 Silver Medal
• 1 Bronze Medal
• A few other winners.

So out of the 20 for each category, more than 3 will be chosen.

Surprisingly some of the clothes and weapons we picked on this site made it as a finalist. This includes Save This Life, Western Girl, Burial Coat, Dimension Butler, Tsukiyukihana and Nomad Nafud. As for weapons, our picks of King of Vlad, Dallgun Spirit, Soul of Icarus, and Dagger of Hexen made it!

Other notable outfits chosen are:

Vol Opt VerC

LG Frame

Retro Maniac

Rose Elsuaire

Croce Segmentata

The Nico Nico Item Design contest ends on October 30th, 2010. So get your entries in!

The winners of the Item Design Contest 2010 will be announced in the future.

Sega plans to reveal the winners sometime in the future. There’s also another Item Design contest going on at Nico Nico which we’ll cover later on.

This time we are picking the final week’s entries. You can view our 1st and 2nd week picks in this previous post.  You can also add comments to the outfits below or recommend an outfit that doesn’t appear on this list.

Clothes and Parts

Save This Life!  {Selected Finalist}

So take my hand, We need to SAVE THIS LIFE!

Save This Life is a medic outfit that includes accessories of a stethoscope, a rock climber’s rope harness, and boots. Rescue Squad and Military color variations also included. The Nanotranser is located on the shoulder, and the line shield  is located at the jacket’s tails and on the knee caps.

Ricardo says, “Rescue me!”

Tyreek says, “That looks quite new age modern.”

Dyne says, “That’s rad. Love the helmet options! Paramedic Gear.”

Centillion Frame

Throwing  Cast proportions out the window, this Centillion Frame makes for a very unique boxy look.  The line shield runs across the body as parallel lines.

Ricardo says, “This thing looks like it wants to run you over.”

Zorin says, “You gonna get raped!”

Western Girl {Selected Finalist}

Yes, I know, we already have a cowgirl outfit, but this costume comes equipped with a cowgirl hat and a gun harness. The Nanotranser is located as a butterfly motif on the waist area. The Line Shield color is located as a pattern on the shoulders, the butterfly logo, and the necklace.

Dyne says, “I like this because it’s not ridiculously over the top detailed like PSU outfits were. “

Ricardo says, “They need to upgrade that person to main character status. I imagine a rival for Chelsea.”

Tyreek says, “It’s rough, its sexy, its… Battle Ready. Make it happen!”

Slide to Nights

A sleek and stylish uniform made as three separate parts. The line shield follows the design of the vest itself including the belt, and lines around the pant’s bottom.

Ricardo says, “It’s like executors uniform, but i like the professionalism and modernism this outfit gives.”

Zorin says, “This could even be gender neutral. Looks professional and slick.”

Dimension Butler {Selected Finalist}

An outfit for that everyday girl with a kawaii sense of fashion. Dimension Butler comes with a plush toy and the line shield flows down the sides and center of the jacket. The hoody gives off that neko style.

Ricardo, “It’s that hoody that makes it win.”

Zorin says, “A whole new meaning to the word ‘catsuit’.”

Honorable Mentions
Tattoo TattooSet

The purpose behind this muscle bruiser outfit is to show off different tattoos in each color variation. This includes tattoos of the nanoblast pattern, Moatoobian text, and chest hair. The line shield is located on the pant’s leg and on the belt.

Honorable Mentions
Fallen AngelV GStyle

A gothic lolita outfit with angel wings. Tightly buckled from head to toe with black garters. The line shield is located within the angel wings as a logo.

Weapons

King of Vlad {Selected Finalist}

Just in time for Halloween, King of Vlad [Twin Claws] looks like typical robe Dracula would wear. But in attack formation, it expands out revealing sharp claws that are ready to strike. It even has an  extra effect where little bats fly out.  The photon art is around the cloth in normal formation, and within the bat’s phalanges.

Ricardo says, “This is cool, I like that it looks normal when it’s not in use.”

Tyreek says, “Creative naming and concept since it had a vampiric motif.”

Desmond’s Blade

Desmonds Blade is a red long sword with a crest encircling it at all times. This crest tends to follows the motion of the sword’s attack animation. Your character’s eyes will turn red when wielding the sword.

Tyreek says, “An articulate design, and the flowing sash provides a brilliant touch.”

Trident Ragan

Trident Ragan is a spear that extends out during an attack. Photon is wrapped around the handle and parts of it is revealed during the attack phase.

Dark of Grimoire

Dark of Grimoire and Magus Claw are a set of claws that feature a black wing like aura. The weapon surrounds your hand like a battle glove. The photon color is within the rings on your fingers. When you fight, you see a set of three blades slice with the motion of your attack.