Phantasy Star Online 2

 PC
User Score
5.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 59 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 59
  3. Negative: 26 out of 59

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  1. t3hyoshi
    May 29, 2020
    5
    Disclaimer

    I've been playing this game since 2017ish using the unofficial english patch, hence why the score's a little higher than what will be featured here. However, I'm not going to turn a blind eye to the issues SEGA's had with bringing the game west. Gameplay: If you like Monster Hunter, God Eater, or Dauntless, you'll like PSO2. The combat's fast and furious and the most    Disclaimer

    I've been playing this game since 2017ish using the unofficial english patch, hence why the score's a little higher than what will be featured here.

    However, I'm not going to turn a blind eye to the issues SEGA's had with bringing the game west.

    Gameplay:

    If you like Monster Hunter, God Eater, or Dauntless, you'll like PSO2. The combat's fast and furious and the most notable features are the outfits feature and the FFXIV-like Armory System.

    However, it's time to discuss the North American Release -

    The Closed Beta Kerfuffle:

    On February 7th, 2020, SEGA Games in Japan launched the North American game in a closed beta, available to all Xbox Insiders who were able to get into the experience through the app. The app, mind you, is free to download, and there was no real specifics to getting into the beta at all. Basically, it was an unofficial open beta.

    For me, the game was launched at 7 PM, but I was there when the game went down for emergency maintenance. Supposedly, at 7:30 PM, the crew opened Ship 2, the second server for the game. However, their bandwidth was terrible going in - people were dropping like flies before they could even connect due to the influx of Xbox/Xbox-PC players. The game went down for percussive maintenance to widen those pipes and allow more players in at once. Things went swimmingly from 1 AM the next day to the end. This lasted through the official Open Beta and Xbox Launch.

    PC Launch Day:

    May 27th - a day most players were waiting for. The Xbox-PC and PC players began flooding the servers... on three servers. It's Closed Beta all over again - all THREE servers are filled, out of a potential of six and barely anyone can connect. SEGA Games pushed the game out over the Microsoft Store instead of the Xbox App, (Where one can manage XGP Games and Perks) which, while not perfect, is a smoother experience for management and installation of UWP Games.

    Furthermore, it's on notice that many players are having issue with the PSO2 launcher, a program that itself has been in use for over 8 years. Sometimes, the application will delete itself AND the game files, leaving you in a situation where you can't uninstall it by traditional means. This can possibly be repaired by Windows 10's app options for the game, however, there are some cases where that's not the resolution. When uninstall/repair/reset doesn't work, you have to bust out Revo Uninstaller Free, attempt to uninstall the game, close out of the Powershell window, delete the Registry Keys, and delete all the files within the file system for the game. After that, just wait a while for Windows to detect that the game was uninstalled, only to reinstall the game from the MS Store.

    I understand they wanted to use Xbox accounts for user management, and I'm sure there's a way to do that through a Steam version of the game.

    I don't put blame on Microsoft for how this launch was carried out. All the choices were deliberately made by SEGA Games in Japan. As much as I love the combat and customization of PSO2, I have to give the game a 5/10 based on the way the North American launch was handled both during Closed Beta and during PC Launch.    … Expand
  2. Aokana
    Jul 20, 2020
    6
    My actual rating for the game itself is 8 but the horrible install process drops it to a 6.

    Lets get that elephant out of the room first. After downloading the entire 70gb of data for this game 4 or so times It clicked what my issue was... the gamegaurd file was tripping a false positive on my antivirus that kept wiping the folder clean only I didn't know because my antivirus runs in    My actual rating for the game itself is 8 but the horrible install process drops it to a 6.

    Lets get that elephant out of the room first. After downloading the entire 70gb of data for this game 4 or so times It clicked what my issue was... the gamegaurd file was tripping a false positive on my antivirus that kept wiping the folder clean only I didn't know because my antivirus runs in silent mode.
    Even with that resolved your best to look into PSO2 tweaker and use that. Not only will the game run better but it gives you more resolution and framerate options.

    Story - N/A ... I think there's some story missions. Honestly haven't played them. Theirs a overarching setting for the game that is done very well and if you really want some story, watch PSO2: Episode Oracle, a 25 episode anime. I will tell you this. "Ive know matoi for all of 5 minutes but if anything happens to her..."

    Graphics - 8/10 - Taking the sheer age of this game into account (originally released in Japan in 2012) the graphics hold up pretty well for a MMO which typically don't have the best graphics.

    Sound - 6/10 - Honestly it's pretty lackluster, Voices are Meh at best and if going from the japanese audio in the anime to the English release was pretty jarring.

    Character customization : 10/10. Honestly between what you can do with all the morphing features and the shear amount of outfits, layering wear, and accessories you have more customization than any other MMO I've played ever. Colour changing could be better and available on more items but it doesn't really detract much.

    Gameplay: 8/10 - While lacking an open world PSO2's hub system works just fine, you pick your area and load into the map, starting and end points change a bit and there are some map variants so there's enough variety that it avoids becoming overly redundant. Combat is faster paced and thankfully simple. Coming from FFXIV where every class has 30+ abilities to only being able to use 6 at a time + 10 skill slots is amazing. it keeps you focused on playing the game and not "Doing muh rotation". You can up the difficulty level, do time attacks, special courses, all in all there is enough to do to keep you entertained long past your "dailies". You feel and look different than other players since you will most likely have different skills attached even if your the same class using the exact same weapon. Not to mention Urgent Quest's and Concerts (yes, you heard me in-game concert events) bring people together. Something MMO's seem to be forgetting about these days opting for a more solo experience. If other players are around you don't need to party with them, loot drops on a player by player basis and you get experience points/drops for any mob kills in your vicinity. Nobody's running around "farming" mobs for loot while your trying to complete a quest.

    FREE TO PLAY. I've sunk about 300 hours into the game so far and at no point did I feel obligated or forced to spend money on the game. You get 3 character slots for free - 1 per ship but you only need 1 character since you can change classes/sub classes as you see fit. I was able to earn enough SG (1 form of paid currency) in order to get a mission pass and you earn enough off the mission pass system to keep it going (you get lots of free items including some outfits and some of the cash shop items like salon passes). Theirs a scratch ticket gatcha system, however unlike predatory loot boxes almost everything can be sold to other players so if you do buy them and you don't like what you get you can sell what you do get and use the money to buy what you do. You can also forgo it altogether and just grind out the measta (standard in-game currency) to buy whatever you want. This is not P2W, you can easily things off buy getting inventory expansions or whatever but the best gear is earned in-game.

    Oval PSO2 is a solid, very enjoyable MMO. PSO2 does what it does and it does it in a way that makes the game enjoyable to log into time and time again. If you start to feel burnt out change up your class or your skills to give yourself a refresh.Coming from FFXIV has been a refreshing experience that has made me love MMO's again. There's no patch by patch vertical progression system that simply puts you on a never ending gear upgrade treadmill running the EXACT SAME dungeons for months of end. You log in, you play, you have fun, grind out some XP, money and loot.    … Expand
  3. Darkmoon99
    Aug 31, 2022
    5
    Fun game and I like the anime style characters, however, it has one seriously fatal flaw. Mouse movement? Nope. Arrow key movement? Again, no. You are stuck with WASD movement and CANNOT remap them to the arrow keys - even with the New Genesis engine upgrade they did last year they never allowed remapping to arrow keys. Their anti-cheat software also blocks third party key remappingFun game and I like the anime style characters, however, it has one seriously fatal flaw. Mouse movement? Nope. Arrow key movement? Again, no. You are stuck with WASD movement and CANNOT remap them to the arrow keys - even with the New Genesis engine upgrade they did last year they never allowed remapping to arrow keys. Their anti-cheat software also blocks third party key remapping tools. How does anyone put out an MMO with no arrow key or mouse movement controls? Seriously? Final Fantasy XIV's original release was sunk in part by that kind of short-sightedness where they had crap keyboard + mouse UI like PSO2 does today, in 2022. The game play is fun but, as much as I want to enjoy this game, I am handicapped with only one hand and this game is frustrating with directional dodging and attack combos. I am unable to use my right wrist on WASD and need the arrow keypad for movement that is more in the open for me to mash with my wrist. If I could actually play it properly, I'd give it an 8.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 2 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Attack of the Fanboy
    Jun 22, 2020
    70
    If you live for long-term loot grinds, visceral combat, and everything anime then Phantasy Star Online 2 will amuse you with hundreds of hours of entertainment.
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  2. PC Invasion
    Jun 5, 2020
    60
    Extremely dated and worsened by a clunky interface and missing content, Phantasy Star Online 2 probably won't have much to offer to modern players who aren't already invested in its world.
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