New Details on M.A.R.S. Armament and LINE STRIKE IN NGS

New details have been revealed about the new Special Armament system called M.A.R.S and the LINE Strike card game in various interviews posted on Dengeki and 4Gamer. Read below for a brief rundown on each system.

M.A.R.S (Special Armament System)

What is M.A.R.S.?

• It's a special armament (akin to Dark Blast) where players are equipped with special weapons.
• It has 4 different types of main armaments and 3 different types of sub-armaments.
  • You'll fight with a combination of 2 main weapons and 1 sub-weapon from these types.
• Each armament has its own unique role and actions, and its combos change in complex ways based on the weapon combinations used.
• It has one skill tree as a whole with each armament having its own skills within the tree.

M.A.R.S Usage

• M.A.R.S. is time-usage based, which can only be activated when the gauge is at 25% or more.
• You can deactivate it at any time, so you won't end up wasting it if the enemy dies too soon.
• For example, if the gauge is at 50%, you can use 10% of it and stop.
• It takes about 9 minutes for the gauge to reach 100%.
• At 100%, the gauge gives you 2 minutes of continuous usage time.

M.A.R.S. Unlocking

• You can unlock this feature by clearing Chapter 1.
• The feature is planned to be released at the end of July.
• Items acquired during quests can be converted into points and used to unlock skills.
• You can reassign points if you'd like.

LINE STRIKE

What is LINE STRIKE

• It's a Card Battle mini-game implemented as stand-alone content.
• It's based on "Mining Base Defense" with card designs modeled after PSO2 characters.
• In fact, the designs are based on the PSO2 Trading Card Game that was discontinued a while back.
• It's a 1v1 game where each player has 3 bases.
• The first player to destroy 2 of their opponent's bases wins!
• You won't get rewards like strong armor, they don't want to force you to play this content.

How do you get cards?

• Each player will start off with a deck of 15 cards.
• You can get additional cards through the "Card Scratch."
• "Card Scratch Vouchers" can be obtained by playing Ranked, Unranked, and NPC Battle modes.
• You'll still get some vouchers even if you lose the game.
• You can also get some vouchers from Tasks and Titles.
• Vouchers and even a Starter Deck can be purchased with AC.
  • This is optional, and only for those who want a head-start.

Card Availability & Management

• Initially, there will be 100 cards, (and 200 if you count their "Foil" versions).
• They plan to add new cards but they don't have a regular update schedule planned at the moment.
• They are considering adding characters from NGS and past Phantasy Star games.
• You can convert extra cards into decorations like card sleeves and play mats in the Recycle Shop.
• There is no trading, so players must collect the cards on their own.

Future of NGS

Nameless City

• The third sector of Nameless City will be released in August.
• The third sector has objects to make it easier to use the M.A.R.S. armaments.
• Enemies that appear in the 3rd sector will be different, such as new boss enemies.

PSO2's 12th Anniversary

• Harriet will be the mascot for this year's anniversary.

Misc Features

• Global players have been requesting voice chat, they are looking into if they can implement this.
  • Correction: Global Players have been requesting Voice Tickets for English voices.
• They are considering adding new classes and weapons but nothing to announce at the moment.
• It's difficult for them to increase the cost limit for accessories but they may be able to do something about increasing the slots for makeup and such.

New Collaboration

• The Eminence in Shadow will be the next Anime collaboration, set to release in July.

Sources:

• 4Gamer
• Dengeki