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Phantasy Star Online 2 Review
 Sunday, July 26th 2020, 10:45 AM;  306;  0;  +0 | 0 | -0
Phantasy Star Online 2 started eight years back from Japan, but had been brought to western beaches only recently thanks to fan demand and Microsoft's participation. How could a near-decade old game fantasy to compete against these juggernauts? Turns out top-tier combat and a persuasive loot mill are more than enough to keep Phantasy Star Online 2 from becoming a relic of the past.
Phantasy Star Online 2 has plenty of design to mask its own wrinkles. Phantasy Star Online 2 isn't an MMO in the traditional-sense, at least not like those now dominating this genre. There is not a broad, open world to explore, jam-packed with players going about their respective errands. On the contrary, it's more reminiscent of older lobby-based MMOs like the first Guild Wars. There's a general hub/lounge area where gamers congregate to upgrade their gear, accept quests, or mingle. This social hub is much like the Tower from Destiny 2, plus it is invisibly into various instances, known as"cubes", to maintain the servers from slipping into hot slag. Each block can host up to 200 players, and you will find well over a hundred each host.
This method means playing friends or randoms could establish a touch cumbersome sometimes. If your friends are in another block you'll need to first move over to theirs before they could invite you in party. If you're using the baked-in matchmaking from the mission select screen you may opt to pull players from from your block, or can search for groups throughout the assortment of other blocks available, but if a group fills while you are surfing the list does not update to notify you of such. It's not terrible as soon as you figure out the nuances, but it belies Phantasy Star Online 2's age.
Other components of Phantasy Star Online 2 make the eight-year gap between Phantasy Star Online 2's initial release along with the North American launch harder to ignore. The images are clearly from a bygone age, with light, textures, and anti-aliasing showing their age the most. The anime art design keeps it afloat, but as you're running about the labyrinthine corridors of these procedurally-generated missions it's clear this was a game released in 2012.
That's not a knock against Phantasy Star Online 2 -- it's damn close to a dinosaur at this point. Though, by 2012 standards Phantasy Star Online 2 isn't pushing any boundaries. And that's fine, since the vibrant, anime aesthetic that amuses the experience more than makes up to its muddy environment textures, subdued shadows, and jagged edges.
More information about PSO2 in www.pso2ah.com
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