Item Lab

• アイテム強化 Item Grinding
• 属性強化 Attribute Grinding
• 特殊能力追加 Add a special ability

Item Grinding

When you grind items you increase the strength of the weapons. Select the item you wish to grind and pay the meseta and grinder cost that’s required.

Required

• グラインダー数 Grinder Cost
• メセタ Meseta

On the grinding screen, it will tell you the success rate which is color coded:

成功確率: Success Rate (color)

• 確実: Assured
• 安全: Safe
• 注意: Caution
• 危険: Danger

And your biggest risk: 最大リスク tells you how many grind values you will drop when you fail a grind.  In your first grind you won’t have any risk so you won’t drop below zero.

Grind Cost

• Up to +6 : 1 grinder.
• +7 and up: 2 Grinders

Biggest Risk (Grind Failure for Weapons)

• +1 ~ 3: Grind Value will not drop
• +3 ~  6: Grind Value may drop by -1
• +6 ~ 10: Grind Value may drop by -2

Biggest Risk (Grind Failure for Units)

• +1 ~ 5: Grind Value will not drop
• +6 ~ 8: Grind Value may drop by -1
• ??

Attribute Grinding

Grinding attributes requires using the same weapon name, it doesn’t matter what + values or element it has, as long as it is the same weapon. But in order to grind an attribute, the weapon should have an attribute anyway.

From the screenshot, the red box shows your 対象アイテム target item. This item will gain attributes when finished. The green box shows items of the same name that you can add to the grind. The purple box shows the 素材アイテム material items. Whatever items you selected in the green box will become the material items used for attribute grinding.

Possible Material Items

• Weapons of the same name
• Weapons of No Attribute
• Weapons with different attribute from the target item.
• Weapons with same attribute of the target item.

Each weapon you use will add a certain amount to the attribute value, those discovered so far are:

• +1: No Attribute
• +1: Different Attribute
• +2: Different Attribute over 30
• +2: Same Attribute

The highest attribute value you can grind to is 50% in alpha test 2.

Special Abilities

Special abilities lets you customize your items by adding various bonuses and parameters to them. Basically you will transfer an ability from one item to another.

The red box in the screenshot above is the target item 対象アイテム, the green box shows the list of possible items you can choose for 素材アイテム material items. The orange box shows you what ability the item has already.

This target item has 2 abilities, in our tests, items with 2 abilities needed another item with 2 or more abilities. Items with zero abilities used items with 1 or  more abilities.

Target Ability Number

• 0 Abilities needs items with 1 or more abilities.
• 1 Ability needs items 1 or more abilities.
• 2 Abilities needs items with 2 or more abilities.

Ability Description

• The ability description box will tell you what ability is already on the weapon. It is on the third page of the item window. Some abilities will change your stats. This is displayed in the パラメーター補正 Parameter adjustment area.
• For example Power パワー will increase striking stat by 10. Shoot シュート increase Range Stat +10, React リアクト: increases your shooting defense +10, Stun スタン increases the Stun Level, ロックベア・ソール: Rockbear Soul increases your striking by 25, HP +50, and ability stat decreases by 5.

Merging Abilities

• If your target weapon and material weapon have the same ability, it will allow you to upgrade that ability’s level.
• For example: Power 1 パワーI (target) + Power 1 パワーI (material) = Power 2パワーII which adds 20 striking.
• However Power 2 has an even less of a chance of transferring over.

Transfer Success Rate

• When you transfer abilities they will each have a success rate percentage. In addition you also get an extra slot. For example, a weapon that already has 1 ability, will get 1 extra slot, which will create a weapon with 2 abilities. A weapon with 2 abilities will get an extra slot to make 3 abilities, and so on…
• As you add abilities onto a weapon, the success rate will drop.

In the screenshot above, the target weapon has 2 abilities already, and the material weapon also has 2 abilities. Each weapon has Shoot I already attached, thus Shoot II is now selectable from the list. Though it is 80% now, it will drop as I add more abilities onto the weapon.

 [some info via nanika]

In the main menu, go to Community, and select the last option, “オートワード設定” and then choose オートワード

The cool thing about PSO2′s version of autowords is that you can say up to 3 phrases in one event, breaking up the monotony of constantly saying the same thing over and over.

Autoword list

There are three tabs, Event, Member, and Action. Corresponding Autowords are underneath these tabs.

Event:

• クエスト開始時 At the start of the quest.
• クエストクリア時 At the end of the quest.
• Ｅトライアル発生 Start of the Emergency Trial
• Ｅトライアル成功 Emergency Trial Completed
• Ｅトライアル失敗 Emergency Trial Failure
• ＰＳＥ発生 PSE Occurs
• ＰＳＥレベルアップ PSE Level Up
• ＰＳＥバースト PSE Burst
• クエストを受注した Received a Quest
• キーを拾った Pick up a key
• ロックを解除した: Unlocked (a gate/door)
• 罠に引っかかった: Caught in a trap
• 罠から救助された: Rescued from the trap
• 罠から仲間を救助: Rescued party member from the trap.

Member

• 自分がレベルアップ I leveled up
• 仲間がレベルアップ Party Member Leveled up
• 回復してもらった Healed
• 補助してもらった Buffed

Action

• 戦闘不能になった Incapacitated
• 復活 Revive
• 瀕死になった Near Death
• 残りＨＰが３０％未満 HP less than 30%
• 残りＨＰが１０％未満 HP less than 10%
• 回復アイテム使用: Used Healing Item
• レアアイテム取得: Got a Rare
• 小ダメージ: Received Light Damage
• 中ダメージ Medium Damage
• 大ダメージ: Heavy Damage
• アタック: Attack
• ジャストガード成功 Just Guard
• 緊急回避時: Dodge Rolling
• スキル発動: Doing a Skill

Sakai came out to play for a while and participated in the “water fountain.” A term meaning a clump of people  jumping together in the lobby which resembles a water fountain spouting up in the air.

On the first day the gamepad controls weren’t implemented properly, so they had to play with the keyboard and mouse. On the 2nd and 3rd day, they fixed this issue through a patch. But for all 3 days, the servers were really congested which caused considerable lag. When there are lots of people playing at the same time, the damage numbers gets delayed, and it takes a long time to pick up items. They will have to take some counter measures in improving these server problems when the closed beta test occurs.

The good news is that 70% of those accepted participated in this test, which is about the same percentage of the previous test. Sakai was expecting 50% of the winners to play.

Today’s porori images are about the prologue movie and story.

People said they didn’t understand the story after watching the opening movie, which is absolutely right.  There is actually another movie coming up known as the  “prologue movie” which should let you know about this whole “world” we are playing in. It would explain the Oracle fleet, as well as introduce the three races.

This movie is going to have some narration as well, post-production work is starting next week. In addition, since characters from previous series do not appear in this game, all the voice actors were replaced.

The script is about 3 volumes.

Even though Alpha Test 1 and 2 doesn’t have much of a story,  you can expect by the time PSO2 comes out, a story where your character is the main character.  Story development, you could say, is sort of like PSO, where major developments come into view through a fragmented story.

See you next time!

[via psblog]

Update: Well it looks like Spellbinder finished it before I did, so you can view the photoshopped images here.

Hunter Skills

• HPアップ HP Up Increase HP
• 打撃アップ1 Striking Up Increase Striking Power
• フューリースタンス Fury Stance: A Stance skill that raises your Striking and Range Power, but reduces your Defense
• JAボーナス1: JA Bonus: Other than Technics, you get a damage bonus for Just Attacks
• アタックPPリストレイト Attack PP Restoration: When a normal attack hits an enemy, the PP restored is higher.
• フューリークリティカル Fury Critical: When you are in Fury Stance, it increases the critical hit rate.
• 打撃アップ2 Striking Up 2
• 打撃防御アップ1 Striking Defense Up 1
• ウォークライ War Cry: Attract Enemy’s attention
• アイアンウィル Iron Will Occasionally your HP will stay at 1 when you receive damage that would have incapacitated you.
• ガードスタンス Guard Stance: Reduce Striking and Range Power but increases Defense
• HPアップ2 HP Up 2
• フラッシュガード1 Flash Guard 1 Striking, and Ranged Damage is reduced
• ガードスタンスポイズン Guard Stance Poison: Poison is restored when you do the Guard Stance
• ガードスタンスバーン Guard Stance Burn: Burn is restored when you do the Guard Stance
• フラッシュテックガード FlashTechGuard: Tech Damage is reduced
• ガードスタンスアップ1 Guard Stance Up1  Guard Stance’s defense power is increased
• オートメイトハーフイン Automate Halfline, use -mates automatically when your HP is 50%
• オートメイトデッドライン Automate Deadline use -mates automatically when your HP is 25%
• ガード Guard  Hold weapon in front of you and guard
• 射撃防御アップ1 Range Defense Up:
• ジャストガード Just Guard Greatly reduces damage when you guard at the right moment.
• ジャストカウンター  Just Counter After you Just Guard successfully, the next attack you perform becomes a Just Attack
• ステップ : Step: Nimbly rush short distances
• ステップアドバンス Step advance: While stepping, your invincibility time increases.
• ステップアタック Step Attack: Attack during Step
• ジャストリバーサル Just Reversal: When you fall down from an attack, use jump to get up quickly.

Ranger Skills:

• 技量アップ1 : Ability Up: increases ability stat.
• ウィークヒットアドバンス1 Weak Hit Advance: Your damage given to the weak spots on enemies increases.
• ウィークバレット Weak Bullet, exclusively for Assault rifles, loads a weakening bullet.
• 技量アップ2: Ability Up 2: increases ability stat.
• 射撃防御アップ1 Range Defense Up
• ウィークヒットアドバンス2: Weak Hit Advance 2: Your damage given to the weak spots on enemies increases a lot.
• ツールマスタリー Tool Mastery: Tool type skills increases
• ポイズントラップ Poison Trap: Set a Poison trap
• アッパートラップ: Upper Trap: Set a trap to launch enemies in the air.
• スタングレネード: Stun Grenade: Throw a grenade that stuns the enemy.
• アッパーTカスタム Upper T Custom: Increase the power of Upper Traps
• ポイズンTカスタム: Poison T Custom: Increases the chance of poison in poison traps.
• 射撃アップ Range Up: Range stat power goes up.
• 射撃アップ2: Range Up 2
• スタンディングスナイプ1: Standing Snipe: Ranged damage increases when you stand still.
• バインドバレット: Bind Bullet: Exclusively for Assault Rifles, loads a Binding bullet
• ダイブロール: Dive Roll, Dive a short distance.
• ダイブロールアドバンス: Dive Roll Advance: Extended Invincibility time through dive rolling.
• ジャストリバーサル: Just Reversal When you fall down from an attack, you can use Jump to get up quickly.

Force:

• 法撃アップ1: Tech up 1, tech power rises.
• テックチャージアドバンス1 Technic Charge Advance1: Charged Technic Damage increases
• テックチャージアドバンス2: Technic Charge Advance2  Charged Technic Damage increase
• チャージPPリバイバル Charge PP Reversal. While charging PP restores.
• フォトンフレア Photon Flare: Temporarily Increases Tech Power but decreases max hp
• フレイムマスタリー1: Flame Mastery I: Fire Technic power rises
• フレイムテックSチャージ: Flame Tech S Charge: Fire Technic charging time decreases
• フレイムマスタリー2: Flame Mastery 2: Fire Technic power increases.
• アイスマスタリー1 Ice Mastery 1: Ice Technic Power increases
• フリーズブースト: Freeze Boost: Increases the rate of freezing.
• アイスマスタリー2: Ice Mastery 2: Ice Technic Power increases
• フリーズイグニッション:  Freeze Ignition Gives heavy damage through an explosive blast to frozen enemies.
• ボルトマスタリー1: Bolt Mastery Lightning Tech power rises.
• ボルトテックPPセイブ: Bolt Tech PP Save: Lightning Tech PP usage decreases.
• ショックブースト: Shock Boost, increases rate of shock.
• ボルトマスタリー2: Bolt Mastery, Lightning Tech Power increases
• ノーマルテックアドバンス: Normal Tech Advance. Uncharged Tech damage increases
• PPアップ1: PP Up 1
• PPアップ2: PP Up 2
• テックJAアドバンス Tech JA Advance: Tech Just Attacks get a damage bonus.
• ジャストリバーサル: Just Reversal When you fall down from an attack, use Jump to get up quickly.

Let me know of any issues, thanks!

[thanks Mewn for screenshots]

Magazine Roundup!

Sakai talked to a bunch of magazines this week and last week about the plans for this game, we learned a few tidbits.

• When the game officially launches there will be 3 races, but considering it’s an online game, sooner or later more races could possibly show up.
• Even if you max out your class level, you won’t be able to obtain all the class skills. 
• When you switch classes, you will keep your existing level, but when you change to a  new class you start over.
• The closed beta is planned to start before it gets hot. (sometime near summer…)
• In the OPEN Beta, it looks like he wants to transfer your character data over to the official game.

[via shougai, shougai]

Please add this notice to your videos on Youtube in the description area:

「『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』α2テストにおいて撮影された実機動画です。

開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」

『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト

http://pso2.jp/

The problem is that Sega of Japan is probably taking down videos because they can’t read the English notice. This Japanese note should be placed before the English one.

Mini Guide!

Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Test 2 has begun. This post will include the more important parts of the manual as well as player feedback from the English Community. If you are in the alpha test and you want to post your uploaded videos, screenshots, and streams you can comment below and it will be added to the list.

The manual will update randomly throughout the weekend, as well as any little tidbits that were found.

TOC

• Player Relay
• Shop
• Item Pack NEW!
• Quest Counter
• Transferring to My Room
• Equipment and Subpalette
• My Room NEW!
• Visiphone My Shop NEW!
• Gamepad Bug
• Shader Settings

Player Relay

Enemy

• Boss enemies have their own entrance sequence, but they can also appear during quests. We had a case where 4 interrupt events featuring Rock Bears all spawned at the same time.
• Enemies can respawn if you revisit an area.

Environmental Hazards

• The forest area has lightning which can shock the player. This shock status effect makes the character trip and fall to the ground.
• Traps can randomly appear. You can deactivate certain traps by going near to them and clicking on their switch.
• Lots of hazards in the Volcano area, Stalactites from the ceiling can drop on the player, as well as lava hazards and random fire spouts.

Force Gameplay

• Forces use PP when they use Techs. I felt I ran out of PP way too quickly and had to rely on striking with the rod to do anything significant.
• The timing to Just Attack techs were a little cumbersome.
• It was a little awkward shooting techs in TPS style.

Low End Graphics

• The game ran well on Radeon HD 4250. Slowdown occured with Technics and too many enemies on the screen.
• Turning down the Shader setting in the options helped make the game go much smoother.

Bugs

• Numerous cases where Gamepads refused to work properly making the game unplayable. Please see workaround below.

Mini Guide Manual

Shop!

Press the [E] or “Chat” button on your gamepad to talk to a shopkeeper.

• アイテムを買う Buy Items
• アイテムを売る Sell Items
• 倉庫へアイテムを買う Buy Items to Storage
• 倉庫からアイテムを売る Sell Items From Storage
• 買い戻す Buy Back Item you sold
• ショップを出る Leave Shop

When you are buying items it will display a list of items currently purchasable. Use the + or – buttons to change what amount of items you want to buy at the same time.  Click the left button 購入 to purchase items.

Please Choose [はい] to purchase the selected
items at this confirmation screen.

If you are selling items, please choose アイテムを売る Sell Items or 倉庫からアイテムを売る Sell Items From Storage.

You will see this window in the above screenshot. Click the button 売却 to sell items, press [はい] to sell the items at the confirmation screen.

The second to last option in the shop menu: 買い戻す, lets you buy back your sold items. The repurchase price is different from the price you sold them at. In the manual screenshots, a monomate sold for 20 meseta, but the buyback price was 100.

 Item Pack

From the main menu, your item pack is the first icon to your left. When you open it up you will see your item list, by default it will list all of your items, until you sort them.

Item Options

• [使う]  Use
• [倉庫へ送る] Send to storage
• [ロック] Lock
• [置く] Drop
• [捨てる] Discard

Please note that you can not drop all items.

Quest Counter

At the quest counter, you can join or create parties and accept quests.

• クエストを選ぶ Choose a quest
• クエスト中のパーティーに参加す Join a Party in a quest.

First you will see a quest type, クエストタイプ一覧, choose アークスクエスト for Arks Quests. You will then see your available quests. If you click on one of them you will see :

• 新しいルームを作成 Create a new room
• クエスト中のパーティーに参加する Join Party in a Quest (to join other player rooms)

If you are creating a party you can set up the room by:

• [パーティー名] Party Name
•  [パーティーコメント] Party Comment
•  [プレイスタイル] Play Style
•  参加パスワード] Password
• [レベル制限] Level Restrictions
• [フレンド限定] Friends Only

Use the + and – signs to set the maximum player level first then the lowest player level second. The Friends Only button can be ticked on.

If instead you are joining a party, you can select whether you want to see a list of all parties or just your friends you registered on the friend list.

• [すべてのパーティー] All Parties
• [フレンドがいるパーティー] Friend Parties

You can see the list of parties that are active. Just press [はい] after you select them to join them. If a party requires a password, type in the password then press [決定]. When you join or start a party you can then head to the space port into your camp ship and into the telepool to start the quest.

But if you did not accept any quests, you can then start フリーフィールドの探索 Free Fields. Head to the space port and select a Freefield quest to start.

Transferring to My Room

When you are in the Arks Lobby, off to the side you will see the Block Teleporter that transfers you to different blocks. From here you can select to go to your room by choosing:

• マイルームへ移動 : Transfer to My Room

Additionally you can go to your room from the Quick Menu. The Quick Menu can be activated by pressing the [Middle Mouse Button] or [Select Button] on Gamepads. When you are here:

• Click  マイメニュー My Menu, 
• Then click 自分のマイルームへ行く Go to My Room.

Gamepad Bug > Direct Chat Setting

When your gamepad isn’t working, and you want to play with the keyboard, you must turn off Direct Chat. Choose the Gears Icon in the main menu, click オプション > Scroll down on the first page and look for ダイレクトチャット, and choose 使用しない.

Equipment

Open the Main Menu with the [ESC] key and click the second button for equipment 装備 menu.

When you open the menu you will have three choices to equip with.

• 武器装備 Equip Weapons
• 防具装備 Equip Armor
• サブパレット Sub Palette

When you click Equip Weapons, a weapon palette window 武器パレット will appear on the left. This lists your 3 slots of weapons you will use during battle. If you click on a weapon slot it will display your equipable weapons. Just  select one and it will be added to that slot. (You can also drag and drop  weapons into the slots.) You can remove weapons from slots by choosing [外す] on an already equipped weapon. You can see this button at the bottom of the window in blue.

Next to each weapon slot is the Photon Arts/Technic. It is indicated by 3 horizontal slots which represents 3 combos. Click an empty slot as highlighted in the screenshot to add a Photon Art.

The next window shows the available photon arts for that weapon. You can then apply these photon arts into the empty slots.

However  some photon arts work slightly different with Techs and Bullets. They will have a BL and BR slot. This is called the back palette. You can switch to the back palette by using the Extra Action button or SHIFT key during quests.

Equip Armor menu has three specific areas

• コスチューム: Costume
• リアユニット: Rear Unit
• アームユニット Arm Unit
• レッグユニット Leg Unit

Exactly like equipping weapons, you will click an empty slot, where a list of units will display, and you can drag those units into the correct spot.

The last menu is the SubPalette, again, just click an empty slot, which will open a new window and drag whatever icons you want into these slots. You can also add Skills and Technics by clicking on the respective tab icon in this window.

My Room

At the item shop you can buy room items, let’s go through the list of what reform items are available. The rest of the room items are self explanatory because the icons show you what they are! Neat!

First 4 Reform Items in order:

• ベーシク　スタイル Basic Style
• ゴシック　スタイル Gothic Style
• リモデルームＳ Remodel Room Small
• リモデルームＬ Remodel Room Large

After you visit your room, you can set your room items and change the style of each room.

On the left side of your main room, you will see the room setup terminal. If you access it, you open the My Room menu マイルームメニュー

My Room Menu

• ルームグッズ設置 Room Item Placement
• ルームカスタマイズ Room Customize

Either choose your Item Pack アイテムパック or storage box 倉庫, a new window, a list of your room items ルームグッズ一覧 will pop up. Choose the item you want.

After you set it down you can choose to:

• (Contextual Interaction)
  
• グッズを動かす Move the items
• 撤去する remove  them from the room.

If you are customizing the design of your room, choose the second option ルームカスタマイズ Room Customize, in the My Room Menu.

• 中央の部屋 Center Room
• 左の部屋 Left Room
• 右の部屋 Right Room

Choose which room you want to customize, by using your remodel items. Expanding the size of your room requires Remodel Room L. You can also use the Remodel Room items to add a left and right room. Use Basic or Gothic style to change the style of your room.

Remodel Room L

Gothic Style

Visiphone Shop

In the Arks Lobby, you can access your Visiphone ビジフォン, this will access your:

• アークスサーチ: Arks Search to search for a player by the ID name
• マイショップ: My Shop to sell items in your shop

In the My Shop menu

•  商品検索 Product Search
• ショップ検索 Shop Search
• フレンドのショップを探す Search Friend’s Shop
• マイショップ管理 My Shop Management
• ショップメニューを閉じる Close Shop Menu    

In Product Search there are various ways to search and filter search listings.

• アイテム名 Item Name
• カテゴリー Category
• サブカテゴリー Sub Category
• 属性 Attribute
• 属性値 Attribute Value
• 強化値 Grind Value
• 特殊能力数 # of Special Effects

The bottom portion lets you checkmark the minimum and maximum value. Push the blue button to change the price. In otherwords according to the picture, 100 meseta is the minimum and 10,000 is the maximum.

In the Shop Search menu you can search by:

• プレイヤーIDネーム Player ID name
• キャラクター名 Character Name
• 広告文 Advertisement

If you choose the フレンドのショップを探す, it will display your friend’s shop.

マイショップ管理 My Shop Management Menu

• アイテムパックから出品 Display items from the Item Pack
• アイテムパックへ取り下げ Put back item to the item pack
• 倉庫から出品 Display from the Storage Box
• 倉庫へ取り下げ Put back item to Storage Box
• 広告編集  Edit Advertisement
• 売り上げ確認 Sales

When you choose any of the options above to display an item, an empty list window will pop up. You will then choose which items you want to sell.

• 価格設定 Set a price for your item

If you don’t set a price, you can’t sell that item in the shop. Afterwards when you are done click the left blue button 出品する to sell your items.

Once someone buys your items choose the second to last button  売り上げ確認 Sales

You can claim your earning by pressing the bottom blue button 売り上げ金回収 Collect Money

Shader Settings

The game essentially has two major graphical modes. Complex and Simple Shader. If you can run complex shaders already there’s no point in reading this section. However those who may be mid-range to low end graphics may want to try out shader options.

Your shader settings is in the launcher on the 4th tab and right colomn. When setting shaders to complex, your FPS may take a considerable hit, but there are ways to lower the shader settings in game, as long as you can reach to the lobby.

テクスチャ解像度: Texture Resolution [Left Column]

• 高解像度 High Resolution
• 通常 Normal
• 圧縮 Compressed

シェーダー品質: Shader Quality

• 標準 Complex
• 簡易 Simple

The first blue button at the bottom of the window will save, and the last blue button will exit.

Click 2nd entry: オプション Options from the system menu.

This will open the options menu, on the left side you’ll see 4 major drop downs, the 2nd one in particular has three sub menus. They contain the following settings:

描画機能 Drawing Function

• エフェクト光源設定  Light Effect Setting
• 地形光源 Terrain lighting
• ブルーム処理 Bloom
• 被写界深度 Depth of Field
• ブラー Blur
• ライトシャフト Light Shaft
• アンチエイリアシング Anti-Aliasing

We found turning off terrain lighting had the most improvement to framerates

影設定 Shadow Settings

• 影品質 Shadow Quality [1 to 3]
• 自分のキャラクター Shadow My Character
• 他人のキャラクター Shadow Another person’s character
• その他のキャラクター Shadow Other Characters
• エネミー Enemy
• オブジェクト Object

表示設定 Display Settings

• 詳細モデル表示数 Detailed Models (5 ~30 )

Hello guys, for those who are in the PSO2 Alpha Test, you can now start downloading the client to connect to the game when the Alpha Test 2 servers are up. The download size is about 1.2Gbs

Alpha Test 2 Start Dates Japan

• January 27th, 16:00 to 23:00 JST
• January 28th, 18:00 to 26:00 JST
• February 1st, 16:00 to 23:00 JST
• February 3, 15:00 through Feb 4, 23:00 (32 hours continuously)

Alpha Test 2 Start Dates Eastern Standard Time

• January 27th, 2AM to 9AM
• January 28th, 4AM to 12PM
• February 1st, 2AM to 9AM
• February 3rd, 1AM to Feb 4th 9AM

Alpha Test 2 Start Dates Pacific Standard Time

• January 26th, 11PM to 6AM
• January 28th, 1AM to 9AM
• January 31st, 11PM to 6AM
• February 2nd, 10PM to Feb 4th 6AM

Alpha Test 2 Start Dates Greenwich Mean Time

• January 27th, 07:00 to 14:00
• January 28th, 09:00 to 17:00
• February 1st, 07:00 to 14:00
• February 3rd, 06:00 to Feb 4th 14:00

[thanks ezodagrom]

PSO2 Alpha Test 2 Control Scheme

(Haven’t gotten any sleep yet so this is unfinished.)

* The entry listed as STEP will change to Dive Roll if you are a ranger, and Mirage Escape if you are a Force
* The button layout may change based on your controller brand.

An alternate control layout is available (TPS Style Layout) where the attack and photon arts button moves to the L2 / R2 position like in shooter games. Additionally based on each of the three battle styles (Striking, Range, and Force) you can set the default control layout and any additional settings you want in the options page.

Oh my gosh what does this all mean? Well there’s two modes, Mouse Mode which lets your mouse do all the attacking, and Camera Mode which lets your mouse just control the camera when there’s no menu or windows open. I recommend using Mouse Mode for TPS style for precise control.

If you want to change modes press the [T] Key

Keyboard

Action

• Movement [W] [A] [S] [D]
• Jump [Space]
• Extra Action [Shift]
• Sub Palette [1] ~ [0] (not numpad)
• Lock-On [Q]
• Switch Lock-On [Tab]
• Picking up Item [E]
• Switch Point of View [Z]
• Auto Run [V]
• Action Palette Selection [R] / [F]
• Quick Action Palette [1] ~ [3] (numpad only)

Windows

• Main Menu [CTRL + F1] Esc] / [J] / [Home] / [Pause]
• Item [Ctrl]＋[F2]
• Equipment [Ctrl]＋[F3]
• Nearby Players [Ctrl]＋[F4]
• Quick Menu [Ctrl＋F5] / [K] / [End]
• Party [Ctrl]＋[F6]
• Friend List [Ctrl]＋[F7]
• Mail [Ctrl]＋[F8]
• Character Information [Ctrl]＋[F9]
• Logout [Ctrl]＋[F10]
• Cancel or Close [ESC}

Chat/Log

• Starting Chat [C]
• Log Window Scroll [PageUp / Page Down]
• Log Window Tab Change [Ctrl + ←] / [Ctrl + →]
• Log Channel Tab Quick Change [Ctrl]＋[1]～[5] (Not numpad)
• Shortcut Word [F1] ~ [F10]
• Lobby Action [Alt + A ~ Z]

Other

• Radar Map  [M]
• Area Map Display [N]
• Camera Zoom in / Zoom Out [+] [-]
• Mouse Mode / Camera mode  [T]
• Event [E]

User Stats

PSO2 Alpha Test 2 lists character stats in your Character Information Screen. To reach this screen press the icon with the shillouette of a person on the main menu.

• HP : Player’s Max HP
• PP: Player’s Max PP
• 打撃力: Striking Power
• 射撃力: Ranged Power
• 法撃力: Technic Power
• 技量: Ability
• 打撃防御: Striking Defense
• 射撃防御: Range Defense
• 法撃防御: Technic Defense

This “ability” stat is a damage stat. The higher your ability, the more damage you do.

In addition there are 6 elemental attribute resistances 属性耐性. These are marked with an attribute icon and a tiny shield on the lower left corner. You will receive less damage from the corresponding attribute. Attributes consist of FIRE, ICE, LIGHTNING, WIND, LIGHT, and DARK.

Character Menu

When you select another player in the lobby, you will open up the Character Menu. It lists the following features:

Character Menu

• パーティーに招待する: Invite to Party.
• メールを送る: Send Mail
• ブラックリストに登録: Black List
• フレンド登録要求を出す: Friend Request
• マイルームへ移動: Go to their room

Choose the first option: パーティーに招待する: Invite to Party, when you want to invite a person to your party, or you are the party leader.

If you were invited to a party, you’ll see the party invitation window as well as a party invitation icon at the top of your screen. Clicking YES [はい], the party icon at the top of the screen, or the main menu’s Community / Party [コミュニティ / パーティー], will let you reach a screen where you can choose to join or refuse your party invites.

• パーティーに参加する Join Party
• 参加を断る Refuse

If you’d like to send a friend request select フレンド登録要求を出す in the Character Menu. The person who recieves the request will see the window in the screenshot above as well as the Friend Request icon at the top of their screen.

If you click on YES [はいi] in the Friend Request Window, or click the icon at the top of the screen, or click on Community / Friendlist コミュニティ / フレンドリスト button you will reach to your Friend list window.

Under the top category Unreplied Requests 未返答の受信登録要求, you can see all your friend requests and approve or reject them.

Bonkohara tweeted that they are starting to send out the Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Test winner emails. Check your email box and spam folders to see if you got in. If you were invited you can sign into the PSO2 Alpha Test Login site here.

A second round of emails were sent in today  (jan 24th), meaning most of us foreigners should have gotten in by now, specifically those who lost out on the first alpha test.

Sakai plans to announce the dates of when the Alpha Test 2 will start later this week.

Image Guidelines

• You must write （C）SEGA in all of your screenshots that you release to the public.
• In addition if you are posting images on a site, please write something like, “These screenshots are from “Phantasy Star Online 2 Alpha Test 2″, since this game is currently under development, the contents may not reflect the final version. Additionally, such contents may be improved upon in the future. Phantasy Star Online 2 Official Site http://pso2.jp”
• You can crop and resize your images, as well as photo manipulate them to censor the names of your character and player ID names.
• If you use the in-game screenshot feature it will automatically append Sega’s copyright text for you. In fact, please use the in-game screenshot feature because there is a function that lets you remove your name/id and interface from your screenshots.

Video Guidelines

• In your videos please add the copyright notice （C）SEGA for more than 2 seconds at the beginning and end of your video. 
• In your video description you are required to put the Japanese notice first: 「『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』α2テストにおいて撮影された実機動画です。開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト http://pso2.jp/
• In addition you can add a description like, “The following video contains footage of “Phantasy Star Online 2 2nd Alpha Test”, since this game is currently under development, the contents may not reflect the final version. Additionally, such contents may be improved upon in the future. Phantasy Star Online 2 Official Site http://pso2.jp”
• You are prohibited from altering your PSO2 Alpha Test 2 footage where you use other videos and music or change the playback speed.
• However you may modify the footage to obscure your player names and ID and append the notice as previously mentioned.
• If you are live streaming, it is recommended you get consent from other players featured in that footage before you start streaming.

Other

• When other player character names, player ID names, and chat logs are displayed in your screenshot/movie, you can either obscure them before you show it to the public or get the other player’s permission.

Japanese Requests

• One person requested PSO2 should have voice chat.

Sakai did some play testing with the development staff last weekend. He used a laptop he purchased 2 years ago. In the first alpha test, it didn’t work, but in alpha test 2 it ran properly, though some frames were lost. (It will be interesting to see how far low the specs will go by the time the game launches.)

The Alpha Test 2 version of the game also includes the opening movie, expect to see it before the title screen and on the monitors in the Arks Lobby.

Fan Briefing Characters

Remember a while back where Sakai said he’d feature characters created at the Fan Briefing? Well here’s a few he picked out!

Hakase’s character features cute pigtails.

Hisui Douji’s character is a newman force who looks like a samurai.

Enurin’s character’s color choices are neatly organized.

 Opportunity’s character is very macho and unique.

Karin’s character, it’s the default Fonewearl with a slight color change

Musashi’s character “an experienced warrior”

Shiera’s character’s paid fine details in customizing his face.

DHIC’s eye accessories are impressive.

Jugem is a cast, her scars, sunglasses,
and skin color makes her into a cyborg soldier.

Rubed’s character is simple but her red military outfit is cool.

Peste’s character is pretty short, but he looks very interesting.

Fan’s costume is like a mandarin dress.

Thinker’s outfit coloring is impressive.

CoralXV is a pink sexy female cast.

He plans to show these characters on the video monitors in the latter half of Alpha Test 2.

So here’s a surprising change in store, in the previous test you were not allowed to show off any images or information until they lifted the NDA. In this test you are allowed to talk about information you discover to the public. Images, videos, and articles are OK, but there are guidelines you need to read before you do this. 

Drop Icons

The drop icons in Alpha Test 2 are more distinct and easier to see than before. The drop icons match the color of their respective type (striking, ranged, tech) Units and Disk drop symbols were changed to make them easier to see.

Weapons, Units, and General Item Icons

Rare Red Box icons will certainly return.

Well we can expect some activity next week. He surely will not keep you waiting like last time where we had to wait several months before people could actually play the alpha test. More details about when the test officially starts will be revealed later. See you next time!

Staff Favorites!

Today Bonko posted a brief recap of the news on today’s blog post. Around 500 characters were created at the Fan Briefing in which she also helped Sakai narrow down the choices. However there were a few designs of honorable mention that did not make it to today’s post.

Today Sakai talks about the Shining Blade and Shining Hearts Collaboration with Phantasy Star Universe. Shining Blade is a new Playstation Portable game coming out later this year. In addition, they are creating a Shining Hearts anime that’s expected to release sometime in 2012 by Production I.G.

Mistral’s “Siren Songstress Dress“

Xiao-mei’s “Black Tail Kempo Uniform“

Maxima’s “Noir” and her Caduceon weapon.

Lastly, the outfit below isn’t a part of the Shining Series. It’s from Project Cute, and is the 4th outfit released from the series.

PopScore

We’re expecting the announcement of the actual date of when the PSO2 Alpha test 2 winners will be revealed. With 50,000 people to be added, will any of us foreigners make it in?

RaCaseal Yellowboze Ver. Apsy

This Plastic Modeling Kit includes:

• Double Saber 
• Sinow Beat Blade
• Spread Needle
• Shato
• Section ID
• 4 Head Parts
• 2 Bangs
• 2 wrists

Purchase @ AmiAmi

[thanks typestatic]

 New Photon Arts for PSE

Phantasy Star Eternal Planets added new Photon Arts that did not exist in PSU/PSP2 series.

• Rapid Wind
• Dam Wind

Hmmm Wind Technics?