PSO2 New Genesis has been experiencing a lot of success – averaging 40,000-50,000 concurrent players through Steam alone over the last week, peaking at 60,000 on its first day of release.
If we take other platforms into consideration, we’re looking at well into the hundreds of thousands of active players per day. That’s an enormous success regardless of how you look at it.
But you’ll notice that while concurrent players are very high, the ratings for the game have been a little less… positive. 77% positive, as a matter of fact.

Now what is the reason behind the recent negativity? Well, there are several, actually. And while I can say that I had fun during my first day streaming New Genesis, I would like to elaborate on some of the issues by starting off with the most common complaint I came across while playing: Lag. Their server stability is a joke.
Input delay lasting several seconds at a time, players teleporting all over the screen, getting stuck in a loading loop while fighting boss monsters resulting in immediate death, respawn, then death once more as you get locked up again as soon as you click resurrect.

Now I understand having server issues, so while it was definitely annoying to experience, I don’t expect game launches to go over flawlessly. I’m aware a lot of people were complaining about the server stability, I’m also aware there were plenty of people turned off enough that they stopped playing until they’re fixed.
But I’m sure, as they’ve confirmed they’re working to stabilize servers, that it won’t be long before you’re capable of jumping back in and enjoying yourself.

There were a few minor complaints I read in the mass of negative reviews on Steam, and some of those very same issues I heard mirrored in-game. “The UI isn’t friendly,” “it’s difficult adding friends,” “changing blocks is annoying,” “the story is boring,” “the tutorial is too long.”
I feel like for the most part, all of those are purely subjective. Some people enjoyed the UI. Some people had no issue adding friends.
Changing blocks was a feature present in PSO2 as well, the story is your typical JRPG Anime story and tutorials have taken much longer than the 20 or 30 minutes this one took.
Again, purely subjective. I found the story to be perfectly fine – I enjoyed the cutscenes, I enjoyed the voice acting and learning about everything that was going on around me.

Now the two following issues are what REALLY hold the game back from being an epic MMO right now – a lack of content, and the battle power gating. Sega have outlined a roadmap in terms of content for the game, with content coming out periodically over the next several months.
Defense quests in 2, Trigger quests, mission passes and titles in 4, and then an entirely new region in 6.
But yes, there’s a severe lack of content – especially pertaining to content diversity at this very moment. And to maintain an active playerbase, you’re going to need content for players to consume at a steady rate, content that will urge them to log in and continue playing.
Then came the battle power gating. This is probably the only real issue I had with the game.
Let me give you a breakdown of what I mean. After continuing with the story for approximately 30 minutes, you’re hit with a message saying “to continue you need to upgrade your battle power to 830.” Does this sound familiar at all? No? It doesn’t sound eerily reminiscent of the combat power mechanic found in mobile MMOs?
After either purchasing gear from the store, grinding gear out in the field, or upgrading enough you’ll hit your goal of 830 battle power.
You’ll then receive additional quests, lasting a short while before you’re hit with additional gating requiring you grind out to 950 battle power, 1,100 battle power, with a few quests in-between.
Meaning you’re spending the vast majority of your time grinding out items, gear and whatever else you can to achieve a high enough battle power to continue with the story and unlock the rank 2 areas and urgent quests.
Again, gating content like this behind battle power is very, very similar to how mobile games handle their progression, requiring you have a certain combat power to access new areas, to combat the boss at the end of whatever area you’re stuck in.

Thankfully the game is not only beautiful, but the combat itself makes playing the game and achieving the required combat much less tedious. But not even that can save the game from feeling like a chore to grind through.
Which is fine, as there are plenty of players that both love gating content, and have no issue with grinding. I’m not saying any of this makes the game inherently bad, I’m just stating that there’s a lot of grinding, and a lack of content present right now to necessarily justify the grind.
Since there isn’t much in the form of endgame, I look forward to seeing some in the near future.

I had a lot of fun in PSO2 New Genesis, and will continue to have fun as we push through the game while streaming on Twitch – which quick FYI, we have an Alliance for if you’re looking to join!
I just hope the game can hold onto its players long enough to push out the content the game needs to survive.

Yes, in a surprising Tweet made yesterday, it turns out Sega’s highly anticipated Anime MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis has a confirmed release date! Not only for its global Closed Beta test, but also for its official global launch!

According to the Tweet,

“We’re excited to confirm that PSO2 NEW GENESIS will be launching this June!~

This and so much more was confirmed as part of our ‘Prologue 3’ livestream early this morning~ Missed it? The stream is available to view now on our YouTube channel!”

It’s gone on to receive thousands of Likes and Retweets since, with players exclaiming their excitement that they’re finally going to have another new MMORPG to play. And not just any MMO: This is something players have been eagerly anticipating for the better half of a year by this point as PSO2: New Genesis is a drastic departure from the franchise, providing massively overhauled graphics, combat and providing larger zones for players to explore (comparatively to its traditional linear environments,) and allowing for significantly expanded party play, allowing for many additional players to occupy the same world even when not partied with the player.

Pre-registration for PSO2: New Genesis’ upcoming global Closed Beta runs from 04/21 10:00AM PDT until the end of the Closed Beta test. Yes, you can register at any point from now until the Beta tests’ conclusion. The Closed Beta test in question will begin on 05/14 at 6:00PM and last until 05/16 at 7:00PM PDT.

How do I apply?

Good question. According to the PSO2: NGS website:

The PSO2: NGS Closed Beta Test will be available to play after downloading the close beta test from the “Xbox Insider Hub” on Windows 10 or Xbox. You will receive a chance to participate in the closed beta when you become an Insider Program member.

Everyone is awaiting the upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis game, right? It looks like it could take PSO2 to an entirely new level – and I’m incredibly excited. Not only does the game look incredible, but they’ve taken what was already arguably an amazing combat system and enhanced it even further beyond.

So let me start this off by stating that they’re currently holding pre-registration for the Closed Beta of PSO2: New Genesis that will launch later this year (at a currently unconfirmed date,) for those of you that want to get into the game and test it out ahead of everyone else.

Now concerning the original incarnation of PSO2, currently the game is available on Xbox and PC. It launched onto Steam at the end of 2020, finally allowing the majority of PC players to access the title, as up until that point it was only available via the terrible Microsoft Store.

As of February 17th – just next week, the game will be launching onto the Epic Games Store as well, potentially increasing the total playerbase by another 3 or 4 people – which is huge (kidding.)

Additionally, there’ll be a brand new class for players to level: The Luster class, which utilizes gunblades – one of my favorite weapon types after seeing Squall use it way back in Final Fantasy VIII. If you’ve been holding off jumping into PSO2 for whatever reason, now’s the perfect time to make that investment!

Sega recently held a 2 hour livestream where they opted to release quite a bit of information concerning the brand new upcoming Anime MMO.

In the livestream they addressed a number of changes being made to the game. The world itself is going to be drastically altered, from the small, linear world to much larger, much more engaging zones.

There will be substantially more to do in each zone as is evident in the video. Large boss monsters, entirely new events, even instances that appear within the zone you’re in. You’ll also be capable of navigating the world both X and Y axis, scaling mountains with the new Wall Kick feature.

While there are plenty of things added to the game, the two most notable are the combat overhaul and the graphical overhaul. The graphical overhaul looks incredible. This looks like a game that is actually released from this generation. From the environments to the characters themselves. The combat has also taken the game to the next level. Players always commented on how PSO2 had some of the best action combat in the genre, and this.. this makes PSO2’s combat feel very dated. Classes looked very fluid, abilities felt impactful. Overall this is a fantastic change to see.

And you can go swimming too!

There’s also the cross-play between both PSO2 and New Genesis. They touched on how seamless transferring between versions of the game is, and went on to show how the new graphical overhaul would look in the current PSO2 world.

All in all, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is looking to be a contender for the best Anime MMORPG of 2021, and I couldn’t be more excited.

I don’t care what you guys think about Sword Art Online.. I love that Anime. It has some of the best Waifu’s I’ve ever seen. And Asuna is the most bae Waifu of them all.

Now I know you guys have been eagerly anticipating a Sword Art MMO.. it’s probably the most requested MMO of all time, yet all we get are single-player or very limited multiplayer RPGs which while perfectly fine and plenty of fun in their own right, don’t provide us what we want out of them.
So, imagine my surprise when Sega announced they were holding a crossover between both Phantasy Star Online 2 and Sword Art Online. Yup, after almost a decade of being online, we’re finally getting one of the greatest crossovers in the history of the genre.
Although it is worth noting that unfortunately this doesn’t apply to the global incarnation of the game, but rather the Japanese version which is still pretty damn popular considering the release outside of Japan.

The Sword Art crossover event will take place in December 2020 and will add both Kirito and Asuna to the game along with weapon skins and various lobby actions.

In anticipation of the upcoming crossover event, a new brand new trailer was revealed.. which was honestly much more of a teaser than a trailer if you ask me. It didn’t really show anything other than key illustrations, which I guess stands to reason as we’re still a little ways off from having the event functional in-game.
I’m well aware that plenty of players play the global – the international version of the game but there are still plenty of English speaking players that never left the Japanese incarnation of PSO2 because of the sheer time invested into it.

We just got Episode 5 a few weeks ago so players are still playing through all of the content that Episode 5 brought with it, and Episode 6 is slated for release before the year ends – which isn’t very far off.
Then we’ll get to go into 2021 with the brand new PSO2: New Genesis MMO while waiting on Blue Protocol.

This is more than enough of a reason to come back to PSO2 if you’ve been absent for a while, and although this Sword Art collaboration with the Japanese version of the game is releasing exclusively for the Japanese version of the game, I’d like to note that it doesn’t mean we won’t get it as well somewhere down the line.
We’ve gotten various collabs already with more to come in the future. Granted there are plenty we haven’t gotten either – but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this goes.

Regardless, we’ll be jumping back into PSO2 when Episode 6 drops and streaming it over on Twitch if you guys wanna follow and join our.. guild? Alliance? Whatever it’s called in PSO2. We play on Ship 2!

Earlier this week Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis was announced. This is an all-inclusive, easily-digestible list of everything we know about New Genesis currently.

So, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is going to be an entirely new title in the PSO2 series. Not an overhaul. Not an expansion. Not an update. An entirely new entry. New Genesis will take place one thousand years after the events of the original PSO2 game.
New Genesis is going to be completely open – having fields that are large, filled with content to explore, filled with enemies to combat. This is very different to what players have in PSO2, where the game is instanced, hub-based, and highly linear.
Players will be able to use the characters they created within PSO2 within New Genesis. PSO2 and New Genesis both will be coming to a global audience in the near future.
Currently, the game is available within North America and Japan, however at an undisclosed date it will be accessible globally.
Not only that, but once again the devs have reiterated that there will be additional platforms for PC players to play on coming in the near future. It’s still unconfirmed whether a Steam release is in the works but we can continue to hope.
Japan and North America should both be getting the update at roughly similar times, with New Genesis rolling out as the next large update after Episode 6 later this year. The update specifically will launch in 2021, celebrating Phantasy Star Online’s 20th anniversary.
New Genesis will feature an entirely new, upgraded graphical engine and game system, including higher fidelity character models allowing you to create absolutely stunning Anime characters.
Character creation and the avatar you create within PSO2 or New Genesis will be compatible cross-game.
Certain content, such as emotes will be shared between your character in both games. Character growth will not, meaning you’ll be required to level up separately in both games, including skills, Photon Arts and Techniques.
Currency will also not carry over as that would break the economy. AG and SG are shared between both games. Weapons, Units and Mags obtained within PSO2 will be usable in New Genesis, however, their functions, abilities and appearances will change.
PSO2’s graphical engine will be completely overhauled to match the engine that New Genesis will be running. And yes, for those of you wondering, PSO2 and PSO2 New Genesis will both be 100% completely free-to-play.
This update doesn’t mean PSO2 is going anywhere though. It will still be actively worked on, and allow for players to play and grow in both games, side by side, concurrently, traversing both universes with the very same character.
Finally, New Genesis is going to be available, at launch, on Windows 10 – for PC players, like the game has been for the last several months, and Xbox One. It is worth noting that they mention “if PSO2 is added to new platforms, we plan to make PSO2: New Genesis available on those platforms as well.”

And that’s it – that’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis.
Hopefully you’re excited for the game, I know all of us are.

We all enjoy Phantasy Star Online 2, right? Of course we do. But one thing I know a lot of people can agree on is the fact that the game, although it still holds up well graphically, looks pretty dated. Both the graphical style, and the UI.

Well, Sega and Microsoft aim to remedy that – sooner than you might think! Earlier today at the Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft went ahead and debuted a brand new trailer for PSO2 titled “Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis.” No, that’s not the title of an expansion or a new DLC.
Or, perhaps I don’t think it is. See the official PSO2 Twitter went on to state “Today, during Microsoft’s #XboxGamesShowcase, we proudly announced a brand-new title in the #PSO2 series, PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 NEW GENESIS!” – if you didn’t catch that, they list it’s a “brand new title” in the PSO2 series.
However, the official PSO2 Youtube channel had this in their description: The latest entry in the PSO2 series, PSO2: NGS was announced at Microsoft’s Online Conference, the Xbox Games Showcase, on Thursday, July 23, 2020. Celebrating PSO’s 20th anniversary, PSO2: NGS is the latest entry in the series, updating PSO2’s game system and graphics engine. We’re planning to release this update on a global scale, including Japan and North America.” – “updating PSO2’s game system and graphics engine” and “we’re planning to release this update.”
Those are fairly contradicting statements to make, and as such the community is highly confused as to what it means for PSO2. Are we getting an update? Are we getting an entirely new game? Judging from what I saw in the trailer itself, I feel as though this is a complete overhaul to the original PSO2 title, and I’m definitely excited for it.

Now, when is the Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis release date? According to the trailer, the official Twitter, and Microsoft themselves, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will be launching in 2021. When specifically in 2021 is unknown, but that’s as good as a release date as we have right now.