PSO2 JP: Emergency Maintenance (12/7/2012)

Ricardo 25 Comments

Phantasy Star Online 2 will be undergoing Emergency maintenance on 12/7/2012

Client Update

  • ver. 1.0201.1
  • Dark SuN's Windows Admin Permissions Fix

Patch Size

  • 15MB

Maintenance Times:

  • Friday December 7th @ 08:00 ~ 14:00 JST
  • Thursday December 6th @ 6:00 PM  ~ 12:00 AM EST
  • Converted Time Zones

Maintenance Contents

  • To fix the bug where the screen keeps loading.
  • To fix the bug where the screen abnormally shakes when using certain photon arts/technics
  • To fix the bug where character's skin color appears red-tinged.
  • To fix the bug with the unusual NPC skin color.
  • To fix the bug where certain long distance technics can not attack its target when there's an obstacle in the way.
  • Other bugs will be corrected in a future update.

No your character did not go tanning overnight!

Phantasy Star Online 2 Vita Optimized for Efficiency

Ricardo 1 Comment

In an interview with 4Gamer, Sakai shed some minor details about the Vita version. Most of the information is old, but some interesting tidbits about the game's development were sprinkled in.

The PlayStation Vita version of PSO2 releases on February 28th, 2013. You can download it for free at the PlayStation Store. You can opt into purchasing the Special Package version which includes a variety of goodies like the 30 Day Premium Set and 1000 Fun Ticket among other things.

 

Those that buy the Special Package version will receive three items depicting the Clad 6 colony and Little Wing! Players can choose 2 out of the 8 default costumes from Phantasy Star Portable 2. You can even place stickers on your character's body replacing the default ARKS logo with Little Wing stickers. You can listen to the Phantasy Star Portable opening and ending theme in your Jukebox.

 

Lastly, Special Package owners will receive the Clarita evolution device that transforms your mag into an angel that represents Emilia.

 

Currently, the Vita version is in debugging stages and is roughly 4GB in size, however once released, both special package and download versions must download patches to access online content. The Vita version will also support offline character creation.

As for the PC version's Premium Package, he's thinking about whether he should create a new updated version of that package. However, the PC version currently takes up a lot of space, almost 10GB in size. Surely the game won't be able to fit on 1 DVD. He feels it's difficult to put this in motion as some PCs don't support dual-layer DVDs or Blu-Ray.

 

The Vita version plans to be roughly similar to the PC version but there will be some minor differences to the way the game is set up. For one, you'll see fewer enemies appearing at the same time and fewer emergency trials compared to the PC version. Since people will be playing in shorter spurts, the game's map sizes will be smaller, it will take less time to encounter enemies, and PSE Burst will last longer than the PC version. These changes will also apply if a PC player joins the Vita blocks. The Vita version will also support less button configurations than the PC version but that is to be expected.

These changes had to be implemented so that the Vita version could run efficiently. Little did you know, back at TGS, the game couldn't even support 12 person multi-parties. He had to make sacrifices to the frame rate, map sizes, and enemy appearance numbers to support it.

 

Toro and Kuro will be giving out client orders in the Vita version. If you clear them, you'll receive their partner cards. Once they've grown to liking you, they'll even hand out a "Toro Mag" and "Kuro Mag." If you manage to get their partner cards, you can even call on them on the PC version.

 

Did you know, Toro and Kuro run on their own separate shaders?
The Dev team coined it "Toro Kuro Shaders"

So far we know the closed beta test will have Forest, Caves, and Urban. After the test is over, character data gets deleted. If you reach level 10 in any class during the beta test, you'll receive special items. For testing purposes they will allow 3G connections during the CBT, but overall they recommend playing on Wi-Fi anyway.

  • The Smartphone version is still in development, for now they believe they can support Android 2.3 or higher and iPhone 4 but this is subject to change.

Phantasy Star Online 2 JP: Attack of the Clones

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In an extremely long interview with 4Gamer, Sakai spills the beans on some of the future content heading to the game. First let's talk a little bit about that Dark Falz quest coming up next week. Sakai has always wanted to make "Maximum Attack" type quest for PSO2 and this has finally become a reality with our Dark Falz battle. The battle itself is set in two stages where you first face Falz Arms, and then you'll go up against the head honcho Dark Falz Elder.

 

The first battle is a 12 person multi-party quest similarly to Big Vardha. Everyone (united) will battle against Falz Arms within the 30 minute time limit. If enough of these Arms are not defeated in time, you will not proceed towards the Dark Falz Elder battle. Right when Dark Falz appears, you'll see announcements like "Dark Falz is getting closer…" Every 5 minutes, a message will pop up telling you what percentage he's defeated.

 

This quest is available on all difficulties from Normal to Very Hard mode. Even level 1 players can participate though Dark Falz will be around level 20 on Normal Mode.

 

The game will automatically generate a set goal players must reach to unlock Dark Falz Elder. This goal is based on the amount of players on the ship when the emergency quest initially becomes available.

 

Attack of the Clones

Updated

The last update for this year will be on December 26th, which will release with a New Years scratch. They are planning to celebrate the New Years by changing the lobby at the stroke of midnight. So if you were to stay up on New Year's Eve, you'll see the lobby transform in real time with a Shinto shrine in the center. The final update for "Where Darkness Gathers" is set for January 9th, around this time they'll introduce a new system update.

Basically this new update will introduce something where "Darkers will create clones of Arks they've kidnapped." But they don't have a name finalized yet (internally it is called Code: Clone). There will also be something like an "Escape Quest" where players are suddenly transferred to the Darkers Nest. As the name implies, you'll have to escape to clear this quest. Unlike normal quests, you cannot return to the camp ship, so if you retire you'll have no choice but to return to the lobby.

Darkers will make clones of players who've cleared the quest and turn them into enemies. The Dev team internally calls them "ARKS Clones." How it works is that the Darkers will seek out the most "excellent" er.. elite ARKS and make clones of them. You'll even see their names and title. Those who were cloned will likely see themselves. Since the clones appear in such a rare emergency trial, you'll receive photon spheres for clearing it and you'll get even more if you defeat your own clone. You could get a title or something to the effect that you've "defeated oneself." If your character was cloned, it will take the appearance of your character, use your photon arts and skills, and even use your auto words.

This system is supposed to give the impression of PvP without directly enforcing it. So after all that speculation, this is the new thing you can "play" in 2013.