Tag: NDA

Closed Beta Briefing and Recap

The closed beta testing period is set to begin in less than 24 hours now. This post is to serve as a reminder of the features to expect as well as other information regarding the tests.

Tester website: http://pso2.jp/cbt/

Unofficial Importer Ship: Ship 02
This is the currently settled upon ship in a poll on PSO-World, which contains the largest portion of the importer community. This may not reflect which ship most of the importers will be present on in the release version. There is no unofficial block picked at the moment. Your character is not bound to a block, however. They are bound to a ship, so that as much is important if you want to meet other players.

There is a non-disclosure agreement, You can find it at http://pso2.jp/cbt/rule/copyright/
It is essentially the same NDA that was present in the Alpha tests, which means that yes you can share screenshots and videos.

  • Posting Images
    • You will need to place a (C) SEGA somewhere on your screenshots
    • On the page you post them you will also need to include the following notice:

      「画像は『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』クローズドβテストにおいて撮影された実機画像です。
      開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」

      『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト
      http://pso2.jp/

  • Videos
    • For 2 seconds you will need to place a (C) SEGA notice at the start of the video.
    • In your video description you will need to put the following notice:

      「『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』クローズドβテストにおいて撮影された実機動画です。
      開発中のため、正式版とは異なる内容であり、今後改良される可能性があります。」

      『PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2』公式サイト
      http://pso2.jp/

    • Aside the editing the NDA requires you to do, you are not allowed to do any editing.

Schedule

Unlike the previous alpha test, there are no planned maintenance sessions. Ideally this means the test should be one continuous session, but realistically speaking I would expect random issues to occur, issues that may require a maintenance to sort out.

This is when the tests are due to start:

  • 8:00AM, 19th April, GMT
  • 3:00AM, 19th April, EST
  • 2:00AM, 19th April, CST
  • 1:00AM, 19th April, MST
  • 12:00AM 19th April, PST
  • 9:00PM 19th April, HAST
  • 4:00PM 19th April, JST

Changes to Features Since They Were Announced

As the subtitle suggests, not all things have remained the same since they were announced.

  • Character class level cap is now lv20, instead of lv30
  • Despite the client displaying 10 ships, there will only be 5 available during the tests.
  • The prices of Arks Cash items has been adjusted, so players will be given 1,000 AC to spend as they like instead of the previously announced 10,000.
  • All Arks Cash items are currently set to 10AC.

To me, it sounds like they’re using the tests to see what items would be in most demand so they can set the release prices appropriately..

Feature Recap + New Features

Here’s a general list of things that will be in the Beta

  • Planet Naberius and Amduscia, with their Forest and Volcano Caves areas.
  • The new Urban area,which will be available during Emergency Quests
  • Emergency Quests
  • New Interrupt Events
  • Client Orders
  • Story content
  • Tutorial missions
  • Matter Board functionality (required to unlock some quests for some of the above categories)
  • New Photon-Sensitive-Effect variants have been added. PSEs have also been rebalanced.
  • Inviteable NPCs, both story NPCs and NPCs of your friend’s characters (Partner Friends).
  • Boost enemies can now spawn
  • Lower level enemies have been nerfed
  • Bosses will now spawn boxes on death
  • New ranking system, including Interrupt Rankings and Weekly Rankings
    • Interrupt Rankings will be announced randomly, setting some aim that players will be ranked with. This could be “Kill as many of X monster as you can” withi an hour.
    • Weekly rankings concern themselves with many other actions, such as the number of times players entered another room or the number of rare containers destroyed.
    • The top 3 players of either ranking types will be awarded with FUN points for their efforts.

  • Selectable races are Human, Newman and Cast. This is also the same selection that will be available on release. (Datamining suggests that there is at least one more race to come…)
  • Character data from the Character Creation Demo/Benchmark is compatible with the closed beta client. So make your final adjustments while you have time!
  • Like the demo, created characters can be saved and loaded.
  • Limited to one character only, unless you buy additional slots with Arks Cash.
  • Players who reach level 10 will receive a Weapon Hologram decoration in the Open Beta.
  • Mags are in.
    • Can be raised through feeding them items
    • Their stats are the same as the player’s
    • Their stats can influence player stats
    • At lv50 they can start using Photon Blasts
    • Photon Blasts can be chained.
  • New weapon types are available
    • Partisans for Hunters
    • Launchers for Rangers
    • Talis/Cards for Forces
  • New Photon Arts are available for all weapon types, old and new.
  • New Techs are available
  • Items are now bind on equip.
  • Players can now change their class in game
  • Skill trees have been completely revamped
  • Use of Scape Dolls is optional on death.
  • New character outfits
  • Outfits can be equipped through the equipment menu, like your Units.
  • New lobby animations
  • Character Data from these tests will be wiped

  • New Arks Lobby. The old one is gone!
  • New shops and facilities
    • Medical Counter – Where you can buy temporary buff items of various flavours
    • Title Counter – Collect and track your titles/achievements
    • Team Counter – Create and manage your guilds
    • Costume Shop – Buy new clothes and parts
    • Makeover Shop – Alter your character in various ways. Some features cost Arks Cash
    • Tekkers – Identify SPECIAL WEAPONS.
  • Various Gachas will be placed around the lobbies
  • New items to manipulate your equipment through the Item Lab have been added.
The shopping basket icon displayed here is how you access the Arks Cash shop.
  • Arks Cash system
  • You can not purchase Arks Cash during the test, you can only use the free AC you’re given!
  • The ability to sell items in player shops is confirmed as being a rental feature.
  • AC shop and Gacha items are limited, the release versions won’t be the same
  • Purchaseable “Premium Pack”, which unlocks player rooms, trading, selling through player shops and expanded storage. It also grants access to a special lobby block just for premium users. The Premium Pack lasts 30 days.
  • FUN points system
  • The UI has been slightly reworked
  • Virtual Full Screen mode has been removed (LIES).
  • An option has been added to disable auto-words in chat logs
  • Increased the maximum number of displayed player characters to 160
  • Added many formats for screenshots
  • You can now whisper other players
  • Symbol Art is implemented

This list doesn’t cover all of the changes and features coming up in the tests, but does list what I think is significant or interesting. As anything else surfaces, I’ll add it here.

[Sources: PSBlog, PSO-World Mike, Bumped]