Morning folks, Sakai updated with a very long post. Unfortunately I'm pressed for time today as it's not a usual day the blog updates on. I covered most of it already in these last three posts but here's what you need to know.
Closed Beta details
- In the closed beta test movie it was written that you can go up to level 30. Well Sakai states it is actually level 20, there was a change in the game's balancing so they had to make the adjustment. Sorry for the mistake.
- The character creation demo in April does indeed work offline.
- If you've applied for Alpha Test 1 or Alpha Test 2 or the Email newsletter you are already in the drawing to participate in the Beta test.
- The closed beta expects to have 100,000 players and already 10,000 new entries were sent in. If you reach level 10, you can get a weapon hologram room item you can use in the Open Beta.
- They understand your concerns for cheaters in F2P games and will do what they can to provide a safe community.
As of now, their plans is to start the PC game officially in early summer. The smartphone version uses the same play data as the PC and Vita version. You can play a single player game that includes character creation, raising your character, go on an adventure with your friend's character, check mail from your friends, or confirm sales from the shop. The smartphone version is aiming to start in Winter 2012. Since there will be some interlocking connection to the PC version of the game, smartphone users will undergo a test to ensure quality.
PC/Vita/Smartphone users can download the official game fore free. On each version the standard game is free. It will be supported by cash items.
Their game policy is to ensure that by playing for free there will not be any restrictions on what class level you can go up to. They will not allow the direct sales of highly over powerful weapons (and such) for large sums of cash either.
For example, there will be a campaign to receive select game items from purchasing particular Microsoft and Intel products. These items are not intended to rob the motivation of players since these weapons are not powerful, and the same kinds of items will eventually drop sometime after the official game starts.
System type items
- Storage and Skill Tree expansion (Instead of skills costing money, you could acquire a new skill tree.) Add-ons like allowing you to set up a My Room/My Shop, and expanded features in Item Trade services, etc.
- (Clarifying note: Sorry, since it was causing confusion, I incorrectly worded the sentence. The basic sentence was to say that these are features that you add or expand upon your game by purchasing these services. )
Consumption Items
- The sales of some consumption items like Scape Dolls. You can of course revive other players for free by using moon atomizers.
- Some cash items can have larger effects on health restoration.
Limited Time Effect Based Items
- Items that can increase the success rate of grinding, drop boosts, and experience rate. And drop and experience rate boosts will have an effect for a limited time.
Avatar Items
- You can purchase items that affect your character's appearance, including variations of clothing and accessories and costumes. Only certain areas of the makeup counter will be charged.
Some cash items are available in "Arks Scratch". It appears to be some kind of lottery game. With items you acquire from "scratch" you can sell most but not all these items in your player shop and even use them in meseta transactions. There are two styles of scratch. The cheap version consists of various cash items including clothing and accessories. In the slightly expensive version, it only consists of clothing and accessories. (As explained above, weapons are not included here.)
Tomorrow he wants to talk about the Character Demo releasing on April 5th.
PSO2's higher quality main visual designed by Mizuno
who also did artwork for PSP2 and PSP2i.