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Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.

Kin posted:

So I've not played PSO since the first one way back on the Dreamcast but I thought it was great even if the level variety was a bit limited.

Does PSO2 give you the exact same vibes/gameplay but just more of it. Or has the gameplay been hugely revamped too?

You will get the most massive nostalgia hit, yeah. While there is a bunch of upgrades, tweaks, and streamlining the core game-play loop is exactly the same, with everything tacked on after to facilitate it.

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Dabir
Nov 10, 2012

It's a lobby based loot MMO. The gameplay is completely different. It's a lot more of an action game.

Hyper Inferno
Jun 11, 2015
The biggest difference IMO is that the gameplay is a lot more bitesized. While it could take over an hour to clear Ruins in the original, none of the free field explorations in this game will take nearly as long.

Happy Hedonist
Jan 18, 2009


I'm brand new too. I played the first one on GC, but that's it. So far, seems pretty similar?

Am I going to be able to figure most things out on my own, or do I need to watch some dumb video first? I don't have the patience to learn some complicated MMO right now, I want to hit poo poo with a big sword and look like a cool mech.

Combat Lobster
Feb 18, 2013

Happy Hedonist posted:

Am I going to be able to figure most things out on my own, or do I need to watch some dumb video first? I don't have the patience to learn some complicated MMO right now, I want to hit poo poo with a big sword and look like a cool mech.

I'd probably just hop on the discord and ask questions in the questions channel whenever you need help with something. That said, apparently someone on the discord went in solo and managed to get to level 70 without any help, so idk it's possible.

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor
The game is not that hard on a basic level. But the game doesn't do a very good job of telling you the nuts and bolts of the game's finer details. And once you figure out what the real things to avoid are, and how to improve and what to improve in what order of priority, your ability to perform will skyrocket.

Hyper Inferno
Jun 11, 2015
There are two things that I would recommend looking up a guide for to understand the basics for if you're thinking of playing the game long term. Look up how the basics on how skill points/trees work and then make sure you know how you want to build your MAG. Skill trees are a big part of your damage and can easily be messed up so consulting a guide/simulator on how to distribute points is very helpful if you don't want to spend real money. Similarly, knowing which pure stat MAG you want to build and how to build it will also save a lot of headache down the line.

Stuff like gathering, crafting, affixing, PvP, the casino, auxiliaries can all be learned at your own pace but gathering/crafting is easy enough to do that it's worth looking into getting started on those because they are so time-gated.

Happy Hedonist
Jan 18, 2009


Hyper Inferno posted:

There are two things that I would recommend looking up a guide for to understand the basics for if you're thinking of playing the game long term. Look up how the basics on how skill points/trees work and then make sure you know how you want to build your MAG. Skill trees are a big part of your damage and can easily be messed up so consulting a guide/simulator on how to distribute points is very helpful if you don't want to spend real money. Similarly, knowing which pure stat MAG you want to build and how to build it will also save a lot of headache down the line.

Stuff like gathering, crafting, affixing, PvP, the casino, auxiliaries can all be learned at your own pace but gathering/crafting is easy enough to do that it's worth looking into getting started on those because they are so time-gated.

Planning a build is the exact kind of thing I'd hoped to avoid, but I really like what I've played so far. I take it there is no respec feature, or it's behind paid content? Can anyone link a decent site to research that type of thing? I hate youtube video tutorials.

I'll jump in the Discord this weekend.

kirbysuperstar
Nov 11, 2012

Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.
Respec is paid except for when they change anything on a tree and give every character (important, character not account) an all-trees reset pass. So even if you make two more characters to just sit there, they'll get them and you can stock a few that way.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Happy Hedonist posted:

Planning a build is the exact kind of thing I'd hoped to avoid, but I really like what I've played so far. I take it there is no respec feature, or it's behind paid content? Can anyone link a decent site to research that type of thing? I hate youtube video tutorials.

I'll jump in the Discord this weekend.

I know you don't like videos, but I'd still recommend looking at Blac to Basics as they do short, to the point videos on many of the different systems (plus a videos on what's new in each update).

The builds I've been referencing have come from here: https://arks-layer.com/naclassbuilds and they seem to be good so far. The only thing to watch out for is that some of them do expect you to grind out levels past the cap for the last 5 skill points, so it may look like you're coming up short on points.

Stanos
Sep 22, 2009

The best 57 in hockey.
It pays dividends to do a bit of reading before you start because there's some things that aren't explained or explained well in game. Mags are also one of those things because if you gently caress up a mag bad enough it's either in game materials to fix, or spending real money on buying a new mag or a reset pass.

PSO2 is pretty fair in the scale of F2P stuff but it's definitely not above charging you for falling into certain noob traps.

Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.
Skill trees should absolutely be meseta costs to reset and real money for extra trees. It's really the only big chafing point that I can think of.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Rynoto posted:

Skill trees should absolutely be meseta costs to reset and real money for extra trees. It's really the only big chafing point that I can think of.

The only other real "gross" thing I can think of is that there's no in-game way to increase your inventory size, which quickly becomes an issue on UQs.

Happy Hedonist
Jan 18, 2009


Nemo2342 posted:

I know you don't like videos, but I'd still recommend looking at Blac to Basics as they do short, to the point videos on many of the different systems (plus a videos on what's new in each update).

The builds I've been referencing have come from here: https://arks-layer.com/naclassbuilds and they seem to be good so far. The only thing to watch out for is that some of them do expect you to grind out levels past the cap for the last 5 skill points, so it may look like you're coming up short on points.

I've got to admit those videos seem pretty great, I'll make myself watch some relevant ones.

Thanks for putting up with dumb questions everyone, I appreciate it.

MR. J
Nov 22, 2011

Chuck and Fuck

Nemo2342 posted:

The only other real "gross" thing I can think of is that there's no in-game way to increase your inventory size, which quickly becomes an issue on UQs.

Do you mean a free method to do so? Because they sell bag expanders in the AC shop.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

MR. J posted:

Do you mean a free method to do so? Because they sell bag expanders in the AC shop.

Yes I meant a way that doesn't involve spending real money. Most everything else you could want can be either bought with meseta on the player shop or with star gems, but you can't do anything about your tiny inventory.

It's not the end of the world, but it's definitely one of the few places where you eventually feel forced (or at least strongly encouraged) to give them money.

Phayray
Feb 16, 2004
If you're new and collect your login rewards, mission pass, and go through the story, you'll get enough SG for 1 (or 3 if you play a lot) months of material storage pretty quickly, which is what I did. It's basically required if you're going to play this game a decent amount; I think the game would actually be unplayable for me without it. I've been playing for 3 or 4 weeks, dropped 720 SG on 3 months of storage a few weeks ago, and I've already stashed over 1,200 more SG since. They're handing it out like candy right now and I can sustain material storage totally free for the forseeable future, like, years at this rate, unless I go hard on the SG shop.

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor

Happy Hedonist posted:

I've got to admit those videos seem pretty great, I'll make myself watch some relevant ones.

Thanks for putting up with dumb questions everyone, I appreciate it.

They aren't dumb questions, they're really good questions to ask. Knowing that the game isn't being entirely forthcoming with information about important systems is showing good awareness and will serve you well.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Phayray posted:

If you're new and collect your login rewards, mission pass, and go through the story, you'll get enough SG for 1 (or 3 if you play a lot) months of material storage pretty quickly, which is what I did. It's basically required if you're going to play this game a decent amount; I think the game would actually be unplayable for me without it. I've been playing for 3 or 4 weeks, dropped 720 SG on 3 months of storage a few weeks ago, and I've already stashed over 1,200 more SG since. They're handing it out like candy right now and I can sustain material storage totally free for the forseeable future, like, years at this rate, unless I go hard on the SG shop.

Oh yeah, material storage is a must (even if I keep running into stuff that isn't being auto stored) and is definitely worth the gems as soon as you can scrape them together.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost
"Quest progress has been saved" - one of the most terrifying things to see while doing the story quests.

MR. J
Nov 22, 2011

Chuck and Fuck
Translation: don't gently caress up from here on or you're playing it all over again for the gems, rear end in a top hat.

Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free
Persona the Masked can sure go gently caress itself!

enjoying AQs otherwise though, so many drops

kirbysuperstar
Nov 11, 2012

Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

Code Jockey posted:

Persona the Masked can sure go gently caress itself!

enjoying AQs otherwise though, so many drops

Watch out! Purple Sword Easy Man!

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Code Jockey posted:

Persona the Masked can sure go gently caress itself!

enjoying AQs otherwise though, so many drops

Can't say I've had too much trouble with him in particular, but there are definitely some of the mini-bosses that randomly pop up that I haaaaaaaaate.

Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.
Recently started going hard into Summoner and jesus gently caress those pets are on steroids once they get leveled. Just expensive to minmax.

Levantine
Feb 14, 2005

GUNDAM!!!

Nemo2342 posted:

Can't say I've had too much trouble with him in particular, but there are definitely some of the mini-bosses that randomly pop up that I haaaaaaaaate.

Free field Gemini is my least favorite, I think.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Levantine posted:

Free field Gemini is my least favorite, I think.

At least while leveling other classes, Gemini and Falz Angel are the ones I hate to see.

Levantine
Feb 14, 2005

GUNDAM!!!

Nemo2342 posted:

At least while leveling other classes, Gemini and Falz Angel are the ones I hate to see.

Ugh Falz Angel has ruined so many AQ PSE bursts I can't even tell you :argh:

ACES CURE PLANES
Oct 21, 2010



Angel never really hosed up my bursts, but Lodos on the other hand, gently caress Lodos.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

ACES CURE PLANES posted:

Angel never really hosed up my bursts, but Lodos on the other hand, gently caress Lodos.

Oh god I forgot about that rear end in a top hat following me around the stage.

Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free
I have just started cracking 100k damage on crits with my bow and it rules (Nox Lexio+15 using Final Nemesis Lv. 10)

I mean, when something doesn't whack me out of the sky during my 45 minute long wind-up, that is. :v:

Just did the final mining UQ with Apprentice, holy poo poo that was chaotic and fun. Tried it at first on SH, our team got wrecked (headed into Apprentice with like 25% left on the towers, it managed to get its giant laser off, and that was the end of us). Retried on hard, and it was still a challenge but we got 'im.

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost
I'm not sure why Episode 4 decided to go all SMT on me, but I am here for it.

(judging me on damage taken on the final quest with multiple boss fights can still bite me though)

Nemo2342
Nov 26, 2007

Have A Day




Nap Ghost

Code Jockey posted:

I have just started cracking 100k damage on crits with my bow and it rules (Nox Lexio+15 using Final Nemesis Lv. 10)

I mean, when something doesn't whack me out of the sky during my 45 minute long wind-up, that is. :v:

Just did the final mining UQ with Apprentice, holy poo poo that was chaotic and fun. Tried it at first on SH, our team got wrecked (headed into Apprentice with like 25% left on the towers, it managed to get its giant laser off, and that was the end of us). Retried on hard, and it was still a challenge but we got 'im.

As a general rule, the SH urgent quests are pretty miserable to do because of some badly tuned bosses (and badly geared players); for any UQs that you can run 3+ times, it's almost always better to run on VH so you can finish more attempts. Once you unlock XH at 70 that becomes a much more viable option, though there are still a few UQs (like the one where you fight Falz Elder's hands) where it's still better to run VH because you can get in and out in 2 minutes.

Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.
I love how wildly over-the-top Deus Esca is :allears:


Also the Units it drops seem pretty decent.
E: Oh it's the stuff that upgrades into Clifard Units. Cool poo poo.

Rynoto fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Sep 9, 2020

NextTime000
Feb 3, 2011

bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
<----------------------------
JP Server Devstream recap: (im mostly just going to copy and paste out of this article)
http://www.bumped.org/psublog/pso2-station-plus-9-recap/

Senran Kagura AC Scratch collab announced for November

September 16th update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ZfRq4fWC0
★13 Units Can Be Turned into Excubes
★14 Weapons Can Be Sold In Your Shops
Increased the purchase limits for ★15 Weapons and ★13 Units to 99 in the Cobalt Medal Exchange Shop.
Added Luminmech Grainne Crystal to the Prize Medal Shop
Increased the purchase limits for ★15 Weapons and ★13 Units to 99 in the Prize Medal Shop.
JP Server gets Mission Pass and that intro video for new players from Global
:frogsiren:JP Mission Badge exhchange shop has Add Ability Astral Soul / Ether Factor / Mana Reverie for 120 mission badges each:frogsiren: (but since mission badges have a set amount per month no matter what, even if you buy tiers you're still just as time-gated as anybody not spending a dime)

Oh yeah also, Luster will be released on the JP server on September 16!
They just released a video showing off how Luster operates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SUCnakiLE4
stick around to the end of either of these two videos for a little "motivation"

Late September Update:
Player-chosen PSO2es weaponoids return for the annual event they do; bringing their outfits, and some new versions of the weapons they're based on.
New Las Vegas Emergency Quest: it's some kind of score-attack quest, might be fun
New SP File weapon: RA Blade (I guess it's like that RA Stinger partisan, but a dual blade)
New Collection File set, featuring new 15★ weapons for Hero, Phantom, and Etoile. These file appear to have weapon-type grind cap increase items on them; so I guess that means you won't have to clear them as many times to +35 them (or use the grind cap increase items on other weapons)

Early October? Update?
Outfits from PSO2: The Animation will be distributed through some manner I didn't catch
An AC scratch featuring outfits of The Heros of Earth (in pso2)
ARKS Mission Campaign to get a mag and the weapon camo used by the Luster class in promotional works.

Mid October Update: (dang they put a lot in this dev stream I must have zoned out after the luster release date drop)
SSSS Gridman AC Scratch collab: outfits, accessories, and lobby actions and more from this show that aired like last year? :shrug:
New Pet: Vulcan: It's an advanced/alternate form of Synchro. It looks kinda like a chibi version of one of the dark falz humanoid forms.
New Emergency Quest: Mourning of Demise (12 Player)
It's a quest that combines elements from Armada of Demise and Ship Infiltration, and turns up the bullshit some just for fun.

New information about [New Genesis: PSO2] will be coming at Tokyo Game Show on September 25th @ 21:00 JST

Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free

Nemo2342 posted:

As a general rule, the SH urgent quests are pretty miserable to do because of some badly tuned bosses (and badly geared players); for any UQs that you can run 3+ times, it's almost always better to run on VH so you can finish more attempts. Once you unlock XH at 70 that becomes a much more viable option, though there are still a few UQs (like the one where you fight Falz Elder's hands) where it's still better to run VH because you can get in and out in 2 minutes.

Yeah this is what I'm noticing too. The jump from VH to SH is... significant. Also my gear sucks but I'm working on that, finally actually paying attention to affixes, etc. But I can pretty safely do VH UQs, even...

the true Phantasy Souls starts here

Rynoto posted:

I love how wildly over-the-top Deus Esca is :allears:

... this guy, who cost me all my healing items, and I left the fight with like 50hp, but drat it I did it. Every time there was a short cutscene without the typical level-up chime to tell me the battle was over, I said out loud oh god there's more?! :v:

One of my problems is I really lean too hard on Final Nemesis, and it makes me WAY too much a sitting duck in high-action fights like Esca. There just is not time enough to stand still ~3-4 seconds to pull that attack off, unless I time it right as he opens his weak spot. I'm trying to just plink away with charged normal shots or photon skills that still keep me mobile, that do a nice amount of damage themselves, allow me to run around freely, and... you know, not get my rear end handed to me in the process.

Question: I'm using Jan and Afin for partners in a lot of missions, since they're all I have so far. Is there any way to tell them what to do, or give them basic tactical orders? I bring them along primarily to distract enemies so I can get some distance and plink away, especially bosses, but the two little idiots just run my way if I get too far away, and stop attacking. Like if I'm fighting a boss, I want to tell them both "go stick close and attack" not "come hang out halfway across the map with me" :argh:

e. Deus Esca also looks cool as absolute hell and I just adore the game's aesthetic, like even when I was getting my rear end beaten I kept thinking "man that looks cool"

Code Jockey fucked around with this message at 21:34 on Sep 9, 2020

Gearhead
Feb 13, 2007
The Metroid of Humor
Alas, Friend Partners will do as they will. As you do more quests in the story and do more missions for mission givers, you will get more FP cards.

My favorites to carry along right now are Matoi, Melrandia and Theodore for general utility, if I'm not soaking FUN out of my friends list. But at the end of the day the crew are there to provide a mild triboost for you and some extra herd thinning. I swear that I think in cases where a character has more than one version of themselves their AI becomes a bit more intelligent with each upgrade.

Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.
Gotta admit that besides grabbing some gifts (Support Roll) I barely use the AI helpers. It's just so easy to jump into a party for anything with actual decent rewards/xp that they seem like a waste unless you're grabbing the titles in which case you'd just do that one forest arks quest.

Code Jockey
Jan 24, 2006

69420 basic bytes free
Yeah, fair points. Now that I'm not terrible I need to start joining up into parties.

Speaking of beating things fast on lower difficulties, when I first started doing UQs, I remember dropping into a Hard one and thinking it was bugged - the boss just... instantly died. Holy poo poo this rules I thought, I better take advantage, so I used boosters and played that UQ like a dozen times. Spawn in, stand in teleporter, get teleported, two seconds later, victory!

I guess I know better why this happens now. :v:

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Hyper Inferno
Jun 11, 2015
There's no downside to carrying AI partners as long as you tick the "Active Recruitment" box when accepting a quest. Carrying three AI partners with you gives you a 25% Triboost while a full party of real players is a 40% one (and solo doesn't give you anything). If you tick "Active Recruitment" this allows other players to join your party to kick out an AI partner and join midway anyway.

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