We got more information about Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis yesterday. Let’s summarize what it means.
It is not a new game, and it’s less likely they will expect us to “play both” nonstop as if we live and breathe nothing but phantasy star. It’s like challenge mode blocks.
Current assets will NOT be upgraded. You will have access to every cosmetic you currently have, but it will be the same low-poly, low-quality texture, sandwich-handed asset that it currently is, just with new shaders thrown on top. And PSO2 cosmetics will NOT be compatible with NGS cosmetics.
The way character models are divided is basically - hair - face - body - accessories. These things are independent of each-other, and Sega is at least allowing us to use them as such. You can have PSO2 face with NGS body and vice versa, and hair and accessories will not have restrictions.
So basically if you spent 50mil on some thigh highs on PSO2 and you want to use them with NGS clothes, too bad. You wasted money. You’re Sega’s fool and they will absolutely sell them to you a second time. Same thing for eye patterns etc. and NGS faces.
Of course, this applies to mods, too. Mods based on current assets will not be compatible with NGS items. My deuman body paint mod will not work with NGS items, for example. We don’t know how much work it might take to make NGS versions, but it’s not like it matters much since most people are only using nude mods anyway. Not really the most complicated thing.
We will not have confirmation until NGS launches, but it’s very likely that file structure will stay at least largely the same, so modding should continue to be possible, and current mods should continue to work.
For things like my UI mods, it may take a while to update them the first time after NGS launches, depending on whether or not they shuffle things around again.
Now for other things they aren’t outright saying but definitely mean.
Storage is shared. You will likely encounter a large storage crisis if NGS does not actively make use of items from PSO2 and instead adds a ton of its own new things. Things like booster tickets, material items, item lab stuff. Be prepared for that.
Since NGS is not a new game, it will all be part of PSO2′s client. You will need the harddrive space to house it, whether you intend to play both or only one of them. They haven’t given us an estimate yet, but the current JP client is roughly 77.5 GB, and the current NA client is roughly 73 GB. They will probably both grow by 20 GB at the very least at launch, and of course grow larger over time. If you don’t have a lot of space left on the drive you’re running PSO2 on, it may be time to evaluate what needs to be installed where.
We don’t know if we’ll receive a benchmark test like before. The game will certainly require higher specs than it does now, and they have not said anything about possible graphic settings such as the current tier 1, tier 5 and tier 6 shaders, so you may not be able to play anymore at all if you’re on a PC that’s already struggling. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to upgrade PC parts, now’s a good time to start looking for deals.
Things we also don’t know yet...
Body proportions may not translate well between PSO2 and NGS. Anyone who has made a CAST and then put on a fleshy outfit for the first time (or anyone who tries on a different face variant, I guess) knows what I mean by this. Since this is possibly a problem, we also don’t know if we’ll have separate proportions for each body the way CASTs do today. Get ready for that to be a problem.
We still don’t know how gear will work from a practical standpoint. Gear will transfer, but we don’t know how useful PSO2 gear will be in NGS. Current endgame gear may continue to be endgame gear, or it may be reduced to hardly better than a 1*.
