Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis

 PC
User Score
2.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 27
  3. Negative: 21 out of 27

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  1. AJCk19
    Nov 12, 2022
    3
    It needs a lot of "quality of life" changes, and I don't see why I would play this over something like Xenoblade Chronicles. Basically, if any other rpg sci-fi driven single player game becomes a mmo, this game is in trouble.
  2. 2random
    Jun 10, 2021
    2
    It took me about 16 hours to finish main story quest and all the subquests. I feel like it would take even less if there were no terrible lags. I've also managed to get the best available gear and upgrade it. I've also completed the "endgame" event and finished all the challenges.
    At this point, there is nothing left to do. There is no endgame- just standing afk in main city, chatting or    It took me about 16 hours to finish main story quest and all the subquests. I feel like it would take even less if there were no terrible lags. I've also managed to get the best available gear and upgrade it. I've also completed the "endgame" event and finished all the challenges.
    At this point, there is nothing left to do. There is no endgame- just standing afk in main city, chatting or making screenshots.
    You can't use most of the PSO2 equipment in NGS because of level restrictions. And by the time you get to required level you already find something better.
    And yeah, lags are so bad people are calling NGS a turn based game. Most of the fight mobs just stand still and move once in like 20 seconds. Basically, everything is frozen 80% of the time.
    The game feels like a cheap Genshin Impact ripoff, nothing like the original PSO2. It's extremely short. It's missing most important stuff like custom PA, crafting, half of the classes, concerts, custom mags, etc. Oh, and you can't place items on ingame auction with a free account. So, the game is actually free-to-try, not free to play.    … Expand
  3. Tomas2404
    Jul 20, 2021
    3
    As a beta I will rate it 7/10...
    As a full game 3/10
    There is no content, enough said ...
  4. PlanckZero
    Aug 6, 2021
    0
    If you have any self respect please do not play this game. Everything about it screams that the developers do not care about their players as anything more than living breathing wallets there to be squeezed for money.

    Want any cosmetics? Give them money, okay that seems standard enough right? Oh, did you think we meant you get to pick the cosmetics you wanted? Haha no, you gacha for    If you have any self respect please do not play this game. Everything about it screams that the developers do not care about their players as anything more than living breathing wallets there to be squeezed for money.

    Want any cosmetics? Give them money, okay that seems standard enough right? Oh, did you think we meant you get to pick the cosmetics you wanted? Haha no, you gacha for them and get all this crap you don't want first. What do you do with all of the crap you don't want? Sell it? Okay then just give them even more money and they'll allow you to use something as basic as the player shop. Finally get the item you wanted? Oh, did you get one of the other three color variations you didn't want? It's okay, you can recolor it! You do have the special one time use limited availability item that lets you recolor your stuff right?

    And all the cosmetics they're letting people carry over from the original game? You'd think it'd be nice to see all of your old gear in the new updated graphics system with new customization options right? Haha, no none of that old stuff works with the new system so it's stuck as it is. Don't worry though they're going to gradually update the textures and add new attach points and color customization and everything! And then you can throw your money at the game buying them all over again as they're drip fed as padding in the new gacha.

    Why so much focus in this review on the monetization? What about the content? That's probably a question you should be asking the developers because there isn't much to speak of. The available story is short even for a newly released game, the combat system is all brain dead spam, the classes have few skills to speak of and their skill trees are more like skill weeds. The weapons are uninspired and have awkward "bonuses" attached that don't even suit some of the weapon types. Want to increase their stats? That's a lot of grinding. Want it to be less grinding? Of course they monetized that, go buy some special boosters. Want to actually put your character to use fighting stuff? Well then pull up a chair and get ready to afk for a while because the big boss missions and open world bosses just sort of randomly spawn with no warning so good luck being around when any of it actually happens.    … Expand
  5. Diwari1215
    Jun 21, 2021
    3
    Let me start by saying I have over 2,000 hours logged into PSO 2. I have playing PSO since the Dreamcast, and this franchise has always been a staple for my friends and I. This time around we are all deciding to give up for at least a year on this one. It simply does not have enough content to engage us, or even really be considered anything other than a big open beta.

    It takes under 10    Let me start by saying I have over 2,000 hours logged into PSO 2. I have playing PSO since the Dreamcast, and this franchise has always been a staple for my friends and I. This time around we are all deciding to give up for at least a year on this one. It simply does not have enough content to engage us, or even really be considered anything other than a big open beta.

    It takes under 10 hours to get through all of the quests, and even less if you skip the cutscenes. In total there are around 20 total quests outside of Dailies and Weeklies. All of these are extremely mundane and boring, they all essentially boil down to "Go to X area, and kill Y amount of enemies"...not very exciting at all. There are of course additional challenges such as Towers and Cocoons, which are little more than glorified tutorials that award Skillpoints for your skill tree. There are 20 skillpoints in total, and the skills are usable on each class tree, meaning that cocoons and towers are worth doing only once, then it's just a matter of getting faster times....on tutorial missions.

    Once that is complete, the player finds themselves art about level 15 of 20 total levels, and the only meaningful way to level up is to grind the same enemies in the same regions for hours on end. No dungeons, no team challenges, no pvp, no extra lore locations, no real way to spend the time, just go and grind PSE bursts. And the carrot on the stick to encourage play is basically gearscore, or Light Level akin to Destiny or several other MMO's. Only in PSO 2, Battle Power (gearscore) just reflects your characters power. It's not a reflection of the player overcoming any difficult challenge, time trials, or boss fights, it's basically an indication of how much theyve just grinded. The "endgame" weapons and armor do nothing to even change the gameplay or flow of combat, everything is just ann increase to atk power so you can....I guess grind PSE Bursts slightly faster?

    The foundations for a GREAT game are there, but one could say that about a myriad different Betas out there. This game enters into a market where free-to-play MMOs are very common, and many come with worthwhile content, but at the moment, this game doesnt compete for our time. That can change as SEGA adds more, but with all of the server and economic issues that this game sees, I reckon that's a long way off. Come back to this one in a year, it may be a different picture by then.    … Expand
  6. TsukasaHiiragi
    Aug 11, 2021
    0
    Summary -

    NGS right now is basically an open beta/demo Pro's Significant graphics update over PSO2 Can be fun to play Scenery looks amazing Satisfying combat Con's Severe lag issues Barely any content at present Prone to crashing and other major issues Heavy Korean style grindfest, think BDO but with no content Balance issues with some classes especially Melee Some    Summary -

    NGS right now is basically an open beta/demo

    Pro's

    Significant graphics update over PSO2
    Can be fun to play
    Scenery looks amazing
    Satisfying combat

    Con's

    Severe lag issues
    Barely any content at present
    Prone to crashing and other major issues
    Heavy Korean style grindfest, think BDO but with no content
    Balance issues with some classes especially Melee
    Some enemies have a bit too much HP, making some battles boring
    Less than 20 quests/side quests?
    Daily/Weekly quests are SHARED, making alts useless baggage holders
    IP Block for JP server
    Bugged/Broken Daily quests
    Bugs and Issues all over the place
    Shady business practice

    8/11 Update

    Sega is showing on full display absolutely shameful business practices by literally reselling old costumes and accessories in new scratch cards at higher resolutions using new rig system forcing players to rebuy the same outfits.

    Gigantix Update

    This raid boss update is the worst content update I've ever seen, poorly designed in the extreme literally forcing players to sit around for hours for storms to appear for a level 24 boss to spawn that requires a full group of players to take down before it de-spawns, and can one shot everyone but everyone farms it through sheer desperation because of the general lack of content, and hopes to get a new weapon to sell on the market which is now completely locked behind a paywall.

    The biggest problems with New Genesis is *massive lack of content*, everyone who played the original PSO2 knows that Sega milked the game for the best part of a decade with releasing minimal amounts of content updates, and maybe once every 14 months a new story part and in between these slices of content, smaller mini updates coupled with seasonal events...then we come to the real reason, the AC scratch and collabs...this is what original PSO2 is, and was..but it still had a significant amount of content even at launch! The signs are already apparent that they plan on releasing content in a similar fashion with the next significant update for New Genesis being scheduled for winter, meaning the current content HAS to tie you over until then which is basically mindless grinding since the quests very quickly drop off which provide any respectful amount of exp so you are forced to into a truely mindnumbing boring grindfest that apart from the graphics overhaul adds surprisingly very little all across the board and even adds only 72 new armor/weapons from 1* to 4* Naturally, all these issues will be made worse when Sega develops content for the Japanese only server such as collab events and skips the global server entirely, this will happen.

    You have a 30 minute tutorial quest that you can't skip unless you finish it once, then thrust into the game with very limited amount of side quests that unlock as you progress though the story...which..there is about 4 story quests right now, and its spread out with battle power gates to actively prevent you from progressing until you hit the required amounts.

    What is sad is they literally killed PSO2 to push players into playing this game, which honestly if the content was acceptable in the first place, then it wouldn't be so bad but it isn't - NGS is gated in the extreme, with areas, quests and content being power gated and they force the player into a mindless grind to slow players down whilst they slowly release trickle amounts of content, this is very apparent once you've played the game for a day...you have already done 90% of the content currently available....except for one of the quests that tell you to find every single hidden red crate in the game.

    It's honestly a shame, because under the hood - the graphics, character design and sound/music elements are pretty solid, everything works. It feels like the New Genesis was put together in the past six months because there is just a massive lack of everything. Essentially, once you have played one class and finished all the story/side quests, there isn't *any* repeatable quests and once you hit 20 there isn't anything left to do except farm for souls or affix 4* gear or level up a new class and here lies the problem, without any quests except for a slice of daily/weekly quests which offer a tiny sliver of exp so you are literally forced, and repeat forced to kill the same set of monsters in the same areas until your fingers blister and bleed, I can confirm at least one blister on my finger right now....and since the daily and weekly quests are ACCOUNT locked, having any alts to do daily quests or to level up a different class....you can forget that and forces back into the grindfest.

    Character classes are extremely lacking, missing ability to level up PAs and skills and missing a huge amount of abilities, especially abilities that close the distance between you and your target making gameplay messy, some classes are very overpowered whilst others are underpowered and suffer.    … Expand
  7. Bullcaniro13
    Jul 6, 2021
    0
    過去作に比べても劣化している上に、課金要素に影響する不具合を放置…すばらしいゲーム
  8. AshiraEX
    Apr 3, 2022
    0
    My ENG is not good.
    but I really want to do the review.
    9 months after release.. -new map and new story? Content still feel empty. -new enemy, new boss in game? Meh..is just reskin. -have a lot more gacha, but...most item are come from old base PSO2. -event in game? Feel like déjà vu.. Just keep recycle old event. -RNG item drop rate, still like Korean MMO game style.    My ENG is not good.
    but I really want to do the review.

    9 months after release..

    -new map and new story? Content still feel empty.

    -new enemy, new boss in game? Meh..is just reskin.

    -have a lot more gacha, but...most item are come from old base PSO2.

    -event in game? Feel like déjà vu.. Just keep recycle old event.

    -RNG item drop rate, still like Korean MMO game style.
    (yeah… that only way to preventing player burnout content too fast.)

    -new gear (5 star) item need more grind for update and unlock thing.
    (and some item for update are behind Time-gating.)

    -new function and more QoL update are coming?
    is this just all basic function system should have from old PSO2?
    I see nothing really new.

    Are they start listening to players?
    Do they really care about players?
    Did they try hard to keep the game alive?
    And why should I care?
    ิBecause I don't want to see phantasy star series become a dead franchise.

    Or franchise already dead?! It's rare to see a sci-fi character style these days.
    Player dress like almost nude girls with big **** everywhere in the game right now.
    It used to be a sci-fi action game, not a hentai action game. WTH SEGA!!    … Expand
  9. Procz
    May 18, 2022
    0
    few content, boring and repetitive game play, story sucks and damn cringe. There is no hope for this game.
  10. LightByte
    Apr 27, 2023
    1
    The game is a hack and slash that is limited in terms of content. The only thing to do in the game is attack enemies in new areas that are released roughly twice a year. The events in the game reward players for staying in combat zones for hours, collecting points earned from defeating enemies. Urgent quests, or "raids" in other games, are time-based and happen sporadically throughout theThe game is a hack and slash that is limited in terms of content. The only thing to do in the game is attack enemies in new areas that are released roughly twice a year. The events in the game reward players for staying in combat zones for hours, collecting points earned from defeating enemies. Urgent quests, or "raids" in other games, are time-based and happen sporadically throughout the day. High-level content is challenging but very repetitive as it's the only content available to you aside from non-stop grinding combat zones once your level is maxed.

    The core hack and slash part of the game is free, but the game has many cosmetic gachas and sometimes pay-to-win gachas with special weapon and armor enhancements. There is a player market, but most players will scalp you instead of offering fair prices. Additionally, you cannot sell items on the market without paying for a premium pack, which is a monthly subscription. One of the main aspects of the game's monetization is encouraging players to "bandwagon buy." Either you have enough meseta (the in-game currency) to buy items from player shop scalpers, or you have to spend real money on the gacha. However, be warned that most items in the gacha will not profit you much more than 200k-500k meseta.

    The game is not very rewarding, as the chances of getting a rare drop are slim to none. Grinding for hours will not yield enough meseta to buy most of the items that players sell in the market. End of quest rewards are also generally poor, making Urgent Quests and high-level trigger quests feel like a waste of time.

    Playing the game solo is recommended to avoid spending money on cosmetic items that cost more than a brand new game with hours of content, or even more than the cost of gas and a nice dinner. However, you can always find people to play with in matchmaking. If not, try to find a populated block of "AFK" players, as someone may be advertising a quest you'd like to join.

    In summary, the game is a limited hack and slash with repetitive content and poor rewards. While the core game is free, the game's monetization system encourages players to spend real money to get better gear or cosmetic items. Playing solo is recommended to avoid spending too much money, but you can always find people to play with in matchmaking or by joining a populated block of players.    … Expand
  11. Junanagou
    Nov 13, 2022
    3
    - STORY -
    The story we are served in PSO2NGS is abysmal. It's distressingly mediocre, both in terms of characters (who are as stupid as they are empty) that about the story itself (bland and totally dispensable). Even Peppa Pig's scenarii are more interesting and better tied together. For example, the game has been out for a whole year at the moment I'm writing this review and we still    - STORY -
    The story we are served in PSO2NGS is abysmal. It's distressingly mediocre, both in terms of characters (who are as stupid as they are empty) that about the story itself (bland and totally dispensable). Even Peppa Pig's scenarii are more interesting and better tied together. For example, the game has been out for a whole year at the moment I'm writing this review and we still haven't exchanged the least word with an antagonist (because there is none). We just mindlessly fight tons of DOLLS, the main enemies of the game, and that is all. Why ? We don't know. And I'm convinced the devs don't know either. SEGA didn't even try to relate us something enjoyable. Laziness in all its glory.

    - GAMEPLAY -
    Gameplay wise, NGS is terribly boring and unbearly repetitive and it's clear that it has been done on purpose. It's as if every aspects of the game, like the places to explore or the number of daily activities, had been voluntarily 95% sucked out of the game. And the combat system, which could have been epic, has been particularly affected. The Skill Trees of NGS, determining a good part of the actions you have access to in order to fight enemies, are empty and restrictive. Same goes for the Photon Arts (i.e. Special Moves) which are an incredible number of 4 for each weapon. Without mentioning many of them are just an effortlessly copy/paste of other existing ones.
    This means that besides the normal attack, you'll end up using only 4 attacks when using a melee/ranged weapon. Yes, only 4 attacks from start to end. It was only 3 at first but SEGA graciously gave us a new attack half-way through the first year of existence of New Genesis... and they don't plan to add more until late 2023 according to their public schedule. It's miserable already but the palm of absolute emptiness goes to the gameplay of magical weapons, with which you'll end up spamming ONE SINGLE ATTACK the whole time for each situation if you want to be efficient !

    - VISUAL -
    If there's only one thing people can't criticize about New Genesis, that's its photography and its artistic direction. The world is visually amazing and gorgeous. Alas everything is ruined because, technically speaking, the game is incredibly bad. Not only PSO2NGS is very unstable and can easily give players a dozen of crashes/freezes/disconnections a day, but you cannot enjoy the true beauty of the game in such poor conditions.
    There are also serious lags and frame rate drops (even with top-tier hardware) with FPS often going from 60 to 20/25 without any particular reason. Of course, SEGA promised they would fix everything. But because those problems are not linked to the game itself but to the game engine, it wasn't possible. Unless without making heavy sacrifices... And that's what SEGA did, one maintenance after another. Downgrading the quality of textures, reducing the viewing distance (the world is practically being built under our feet), removing many visual effects, ... Without patching/fixing the incredible amount of visual bugs, clipping and MIP mapping errors in the front line. All in all, the game ends up being a true visual trash bin. It's totally unworthy of a game released in 2021, even for SEGA.

    - CONTENT -
    The main problem here is that not only there's really few actual game content in NGS but the available one is shamelessly reused ad nauseam following the "maximum profitability with minimum effort" motto. And because only paid cosmetic content matters to SEGA now, any animation of your character has been monetized. From the way you walk/run/jump/glide/swim to even the movement of your character's fingers. That's precisely why most of people who still play the game don't connect to actually play an MMORPG and to fight enemies during epic battles but only to pimp their waifus/husbandos and to spend hours and hours taking screenshots/videos of them... This is reflected in the total loss of interest of true players who wanted actual game/gameplay content, who have deserted the game.

    - CONCLUSION -
    SEGA decided to make PSO2NGS profitable to the extreme, even if that meant turning this product into a low-effort/low-cost cash grab game. In fact, the game is fundamentally unhealthy in its operation, by thirsting the players regarding real game content (one small update every two months) but by watering them with mountains of paid cosmetic content (two major updates every week). The result is a very bad and unequal MMO, which is no longer a RPG worthy of the name. Sadly, because SEGA-Sammy had already revealed that PSO2NGS would mainly serve as an income stock for the development of Sonic Frontiers in one of their press releases, we should have known what was going to happen. And how do you ensure some significant cash inflows when you're SEGA ? By creating the best possible game experience ? No, by soiling the legacy of your franchise and turning Phantasy Star Online 2 into a pathetic and expensive low-quality bimbo simulator.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 2 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. RPG Fan
    Jul 22, 2021
    60
    I really, really wanted to love New Genesis. It has a solid and fun core, but the game fails to build on it and falls flat in the end. Those problems are compounded by the horrid lag and issues at launch, but what MMO doesn’t have issues at launch? I can’t totally fault them for it, but it seems they were unprepared. This game feels like it needed another 6 to 12 months in the oven before it was ready. In short, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is a potentially incredible and enjoyable MMO that is ruined by archaic gameplay systems, poor monetization practices, and a total lack of content. Hopefully, in the future, a lot of these things will be fixed, but at launch, New Genesis is what it is: a game released in 2021 that’s stuck in bad practices from 2012.
    Read full review
  2. Destructoid
    Jun 14, 2021
    75
    I’m not sure if New Genesis is going to live up to the nine-year-and-still-going-legacy of PSO 2, but it’s a start.
    Read full review