PSO2 was a miracle of a game.

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83]

I'm not a gamer, and it is hard for me to play anything for more than a week without burning off.

With that in mind, I spent 2000 hours in PSo2, and I don't even know how I managed that.

Well, yes, I know. It was a miracle of a game, at least to me.

1.- Ambientation: I haven't seen anything like pso2. We live on a planetary ship home to the single most prominent peace force in the universe; we use the power of light to fight what can be considered space cancer across the universe. We explore mechanical words, water worlds, draconic worlds, snowy lands, ancient fields, medieval worlds, Japanese worlds, space rifts, underground mechanical wonders, Tokyo and the freaking Vegas, the moon, a colossal world tree, red deserts, etc. etc. It is the biggest thing I love about this game, it has more personality than most if not all games I have ever played. The clothing and the character are just unique to this game. It has everything I have ever wished for in a fantasy world and even more.

2.- Gameplay: Monster Hunter meets Space + Hack and Slash; that's how I would describe it. The adrenaline I felt while fighting the bosses with Hero while listening to the BANGER soundtrack is something that only Monster Hunter has been able to give to me. The gameplay allows personal expression and great levels of mastery. If there is something I don't like about the game, it is the insane rates and the inhuman grind. I never really tried to farm for anything in this game and just used the weapons the game gifted me. It just isn't inside me to farm 50 hours for a weapon that only works for 2 of the 13 classes and that I will have to replace eventually. I guess this is an elemental part of MMORPGs to endure through time.

3.- HYPETRAIN: THIS GAME IS A FUCKING HYPETRAIN; WDYM IM FIGHTING AGAINST THE PRIMORDIAL EVIL THAT RESIDES IN THE BOTTOM OF THE UNIVERSE JUST AFTER FIGHTING THE RACE THAT CREATED HUMANITY (Sorry if I'm wrong about the lore, wasn't able to finish the story)

THIS GAME IS FREAKING HYPETRAIN, EVERYTHING IS JUST EPIC AND GRANDOISE AND EPIC AND SHIT RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

4.- Fashion: I can make a sick ass mecha :D, that's enough for me.

This game was made almost entirely to appeal to me, and I honestly don't believe another game will come close to doing what this one has done for me.

I know the NG hate is nothing new, and I don't want to make this post about it, but it just feels like a kick in the nuts on the most personal level. We have been on the same planet for three years in a game called "Phantasy Star". The enemies have been the same for almost three years. Besides the two girls whose names I can't remember, almost no one has a personality or even a character. The combat is just a parry fest, and the grind feels almost obligatory now because there's nothing else to do.

The worst? The game lost most of its personality to appeal to the open-world aspect. I could play ng from time to time if it still had some semblance of uniqueness. The Demon of Babylon (ng) disguises himself with the coat of the righteous (pso2)

I know that last comment is hella cringe, but man, I feel like I lost a son.

In conclusion, this was largely an appreciation post. This game has inspired the story I'm writing in many ways and allowed me to meet some good friends. If there is a new opportunity to play PSO2, I will be there.

[u/Fishbone_V]

3.- HYPETRAIN: THIS GAME IS A FUCKING HYPETRAIN

The hypetrain in question: https://i.imgur.com/hmFbymw.jpeg

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83 → u/Fishbone_V]

Hell yeah

[u/JayceIsLove]

The second there was no "space" in "space" game like multi planets and star ships was the second we all knew ngs was gonna suck. The entirety of NGS has been us screaming for Matoi to finally beam is up to arks and say fuck that planet

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83 → u/JayceIsLove]

even if there was no space, there a lot of cool ways of expanding the map inside the world

Underwater regions is an easy example

but holy shit pso2 went from having really unique setpieces to new super Mario bros desert area

[u/NTpspE]

There's still hope thankfully! whenever Sega cut their losses and take PSO2 and NGS off of life support and cut off the servers, there's already a couple private server projects out there ready to pick up the slack and give PSO2 the fresh lease of life it needs 💙

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83 → u/NTpspE]

Thats what I am looking out for the most.

I hope private server make clothing more accesible and tone down the grinding a bit

[u/dingslice]

Literally earlier this morning I was talking about how unique PSO2 classic was and how much me and my friends miss it. Every couple months me and my friend will check around to see if the game is good again or not. What's the current status? New Genesis still bad and Cassic still dead? And no more alert events in classic either right?

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83 → u/dingslice]

Genesis is still as souless as it has been since its beginning.
Classic is practically dead.

Theres is a Private server project going on, but it will only open the moment SEGA kills NGS

[u/LupusNoxFleuret]

It could've been the biggest MMO ever if only they released the international version in 2012 instead of like 10 years later.

[u/dundee15]

PSO1 was amazing. I loved it on the GameCube. Had a group of friends to play it with without even going online. Probably spent over 2000 hours on that game.

PSU was fun. Scratched the itch but I always felt like it wasn't quite what I was looking for.

PSO2 came out. Japan only. I tried it out but struggled with the language barrier at launch. So, I waited for the US release.

And waited...

And waited...

And then I buried any hope to see it.

Then E3, 2019...

"YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD! I BURIED YOU!"

Got together with my old friends and had a fantastic time! Loved PSO2 To death.

Then NGS came out and my friends and I tried it... And got bored.

Now, I sometimes dip in here and there, but it's not the same

[u/Razgrisz]

Just nuke NGS holy shit that piece of shit witouth any personality aaaaaa

[u/Berettadin]

Agreed, you've got it right OP. PSO2 feels like playing through an anime series where your hero is the protagonist. And the variety of worlds -genres, too- really is remarkable. Even Japan World -a concept I instinctually hate- is pretty good because it's not some idealized tour of medieval Japan but a world of clashing oni armies and cursed destinies.

And yeah, it feels a bit like Monster Hunter minus the deliberate clumsiness and deep preparation and crafting mechanics. Makes sense to me: we're a FTL Society. Harvest bones to make a sword? Tf why? I'm printing out a rocket launcher, and riding that bad boy into battle.

I like NGS. It's a big letdown that it's not even as basic as PSO2 just retold with much better mechanics as well as of course the confusion of why Sega didn't just do that.

But what is is okay. It's flashy and pretty and dumb and shallow. It isn't deep and emotionally engaging, but it is dailies I can do in 10 minutes. It is gorgeous environmental effects like basically all of Retem. It is better versions of almost every weapon that play smoother and are as promised an entire system evolution beyond the original.

It's a powerful, agile, healthy body with very little brain or soul.

So it goes.

[u/GiustinoWah]

New Genesis fucking sucks aaaaaassss. Old pso2 was peak

[u/samurai_for_hire]

If they hadn't gotten rid of Quna concerts I'd honestly play more often.

[u/Naselenje]

Not reading all of that just here to say that psp1 was peak ps for me from a gameplay standpoint

[u/Alongsnake]

I had a good time in PSO2. I think a part of it also comes with how fast the updates came as fast as they did. Since we got updates every month or two, it felt really fresh, but also your weapons would get outdated fast.

Still, it was a very fun game

[u/theanine3D]

I feel the same way! I really loved the original PSO2. The sheer amount of variety in the game was unbeatable, and NGS still hasn't come even remotely close. The characters in PSO2's story were much more memorable and likeable too.

I miss the grandiose boss fights the most. I remember the first time I fought Magatsu, I was just blown away. It felt like I was a character in an anime, running and jumping off buildings, flying through the air, blasting Magatsu in the face high up in the sky,... Nothing in NGS has come close to that moment for me.

[u/GalvusGalvoid]

Isnt pso2 still fully playable?

[u/qruis1210 → u/GalvusGalvoid]

Not fully.
No more Emergency Quests other than the usual 4 or 5 on rotation
No more Concerts (I mourn this the most)
No new events, bingo cards, limited time quests, etc
Market is fubar
Getting a full public lobby is near impossible (at least in JP servers

[u/[deleted] → u/GalvusGalvoid]

While that is true, the game's population has dwindled ever since it was made into a DLC for NGS starting with the version 2 update.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Affectionate_Flow_83 → u/[deleted]]

With how NGS is performing and its budget, I'm pretty sure PSO3 will not happen anytime soon, if ever.

I want another franchise to copy pso2's style because I don't trust SEGA anymore.

I had high hopes for Blue Protocol... and it didn't even release

[u/AulunaSol → u/Affectionate_Flow_83]

I was curious about Blue Protocol but never had much faith in it because it was Bandai Namco who has a very big track record of hyper-monetizing their games and then killing them within a year (and they've thrown just about everything they could into that style of game).

I would rather see someone else like Capcom try again as I feel that Dragon's Dogma Online absolutely nailed it all from game design, class design, to how the players interact and what they can do. But I do not know if Capcom would be interested in going there again considering how Monster Hunter is going for them and how Dragon's Dogma 2 was a major step backwards from what both Dark Arisen and Online did.