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Ridelynn
Member EpicPosts: 7,383
So the PC version hit this week, and I've never played a Phantasy Star game before, so I'm pretty green at this.
I've only got a handful of hours in, so I'm no expert
First impressions:
Microsoft Store sucks. I did the pre-download while I was at work, only to come back from work and find out the game needed another 80+ GB to download through it's own patcher. It makes a mess of the installation, which otherwise would be a pretty straight forward affair.
Lots of people have had problems with the MS Store. I did not - it has worked ok for me. I just hate that it won't let me change installation directory and does weird things with file permissions... I rather like my own file organizational method.
I did hear about a tool called PSO2 Tweaker, but for some reason my computer won't connect (DNS timeout) to https://arks-layer.com/ ... but it works just fine if I manually type in https://www.arks-layer.com/ ... probably explains why the tweaker won't auto-update.
YOU CAN CHANGE CLASSES! This was the best part about FFXIV for me. You don't need to re-roll your character to try out new classes. They do all have their own level. I've run about 3 classes up to L15 so far.
The classes play similar enough that once you get the basics of the game, you can play most any class, but they are still distinct enough that they don't all just feel homogenized or generic. Maybe this changes as you get further into the game.
The F2P model is one of those where they throw items at you, but severely limit your inventory space unless you pay up. Double-edged sword: kinda nice that you don't really have limits on content, but your constantly playing the inventory management meta. As a new player, I have no idea what to keep, what to sell, what to throw out or not even pick up. I spend most of my time in public missions trying to make room than I do actually attacking.
Tutorial and intro quests are adequate to get you going. I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I can find and complete quests and get around the ship.
GOOD CONTROLLER SUPPORT! The controls are a little odd (RT to dodge, for instance), but you don't need a lot of chording for all your abilities like FFXIV requires.
Graphics are... ok. Not modern AAA, but it doesn't significantly detract. The animations are decently fluid.
The UI is a bit wonky - a lot of nested dialogs. It works, but it isn't the cleanest.
You can tell the game has been around for a while, there's a ton of stuff and systems and currencies all in there.
Still a few translation dialog errors here and there. The voice overs are all pretty good, and not so frequent as to be too grating.
Combat isn't too bad. It's action based, it's fairly responsive without being too twitchy. SEGA has struck a decent balance, at least so far in the early game.
Missions are fairly straight forward. It's randomized zoned/sectioned, and those areas between loading are fairly small - so people who like open worlds will have a fit. It reminds me a lot of the COH missions where the building layouts would be randomized, and about the same size. But they do a decent enough job of fitting a few puzzles and hidden chests here and there.
Boss fights are pretty good - almost straight out of Monster Hunter there.
The world feels alive. There are a lot of people running around. There are events all the time: Alerts that pop up randomly during missions, server-wide missions, a concert event that runs a couple times a day, there's a wedding theme running right now, NPCs will react when you get near, etc.
There isn't really any story line to speak of. Yeah, there's some cutscenes. I don't understand them.
I still have very little idea what I'm doing, and the game is far from perfect, but I'm having fun.
my tl;dr
Robotech meets Monster Hunter.
I've only got a handful of hours in, so I'm no expert
First impressions:
Microsoft Store sucks. I did the pre-download while I was at work, only to come back from work and find out the game needed another 80+ GB to download through it's own patcher. It makes a mess of the installation, which otherwise would be a pretty straight forward affair.
Lots of people have had problems with the MS Store. I did not - it has worked ok for me. I just hate that it won't let me change installation directory and does weird things with file permissions... I rather like my own file organizational method.
I did hear about a tool called PSO2 Tweaker, but for some reason my computer won't connect (DNS timeout) to https://arks-layer.com/ ... but it works just fine if I manually type in https://www.arks-layer.com/ ... probably explains why the tweaker won't auto-update.
YOU CAN CHANGE CLASSES! This was the best part about FFXIV for me. You don't need to re-roll your character to try out new classes. They do all have their own level. I've run about 3 classes up to L15 so far.
The classes play similar enough that once you get the basics of the game, you can play most any class, but they are still distinct enough that they don't all just feel homogenized or generic. Maybe this changes as you get further into the game.
The F2P model is one of those where they throw items at you, but severely limit your inventory space unless you pay up. Double-edged sword: kinda nice that you don't really have limits on content, but your constantly playing the inventory management meta. As a new player, I have no idea what to keep, what to sell, what to throw out or not even pick up. I spend most of my time in public missions trying to make room than I do actually attacking.
Tutorial and intro quests are adequate to get you going. I still don't really know what I'm doing, but I can find and complete quests and get around the ship.
GOOD CONTROLLER SUPPORT! The controls are a little odd (RT to dodge, for instance), but you don't need a lot of chording for all your abilities like FFXIV requires.
Graphics are... ok. Not modern AAA, but it doesn't significantly detract. The animations are decently fluid.
The UI is a bit wonky - a lot of nested dialogs. It works, but it isn't the cleanest.
You can tell the game has been around for a while, there's a ton of stuff and systems and currencies all in there.
Still a few translation dialog errors here and there. The voice overs are all pretty good, and not so frequent as to be too grating.
Combat isn't too bad. It's action based, it's fairly responsive without being too twitchy. SEGA has struck a decent balance, at least so far in the early game.
Missions are fairly straight forward. It's randomized zoned/sectioned, and those areas between loading are fairly small - so people who like open worlds will have a fit. It reminds me a lot of the COH missions where the building layouts would be randomized, and about the same size. But they do a decent enough job of fitting a few puzzles and hidden chests here and there.
Boss fights are pretty good - almost straight out of Monster Hunter there.
The world feels alive. There are a lot of people running around. There are events all the time: Alerts that pop up randomly during missions, server-wide missions, a concert event that runs a couple times a day, there's a wedding theme running right now, NPCs will react when you get near, etc.
There isn't really any story line to speak of. Yeah, there's some cutscenes. I don't understand them.
I still have very little idea what I'm doing, and the game is far from perfect, but I'm having fun.
my tl;dr
Robotech meets Monster Hunter.
