"Ultimate Online RPG Action"

So, I’ve Been A Busy Boy.

This is not for the faint of heart, but I did the lion’s share/ heavy lifting for a fansub (“fan subtitled video”) of a “media briefing” (in the vernacular: press conference) for the still-in-development, upcoming online RPG, Phantasy Star Online 2. You can check it out here. There are high hopes and a lot of strong wishing involved. It was like 38 minutes. That’s some work, people. And I didn’t get paid a dime for this, either.

I have no intention of stealing the thunder of Producer Satoshi Sakai, who seems to genuinely know his gaming stuff and is a breath of fresh air here. This has the feel of a very good online action RPG that can actually fulfill its potential. The original Phantasy Star Online was ten years ago, and therefore very primitive by today’s standards, but is still beloved by many for creativity and concepts… but can go much further. Would-be successors didn’t cut it; not enough, though the most recent portable ones (PSP) are “better” (though probably shouldn’t be called great either). This has a shot at greatness.

At any rate, when a guy’s opening gambit is “Is there adventure in RPG’s today?” then let me make this clear: adventure is good. Sense of adventure is very good and most critical. Feeding that beast is a Good Thing.

Anyway, my work is done, and I credit Velocity7 for the work he’s put in, and those who helped on the other end of things. I hope people appreciate it all. I’m interested in the game after all this, at least. The rule is, promise much… and deliver.

The alpha test is on the 18th, two days hence. – J

The above is a gameplay video on YouTube showing the first stage of one of the potential main characters in Super Robot Taisen (“Super Robot Wars”) Z the 2nd, on PSP, sequel to SRW Z, on PS2. As usual, new “original” mecha and pilots are used with a wide mix of mecha anime crossover plots, machines, and characters for a lively mix.

The rough version of the above: the main character, whose name reads like “crow” or “claw” in katakana but is probably representing the name Crowe (while giving the aforementioned impressions), is a man with a million G in debt.

(Eat your heart out, Bernacke; Super Robot Wars apparently functions just fine on a gold standard. Ahem. Anyway…)

So, a desperate man down on his luck due to debts left by his father (and the collapse of his father’s company) makes him receptive to an offer that he really can’t refuse: test pilot an experimental combat machine and earn the money to pay off his debts and be a free man. Since Japanese like to express certain figures in units of “man” (万, or 10,000), the “100 man man” means, in our terms, the million dollar man (or at least, the man in debt for that much!).

As one might cynically expect for the first stage of a video game, it’s not quite some little milk run; a bunch of terrorists are attacking the world’s foremost financial group, but Crowe makes it inside and a deal is struck. I don’t want to vouch for what the name of the machine should be yet, but it reads almost like “Blastia” (like in Tales of Vesperia or something).

Anyway, the terrorists go down fast but, in this completely time-space messed up Earth, there’s such a thing as “Dimension Beasts” that show up to cause more death and destruction, but a mysterious “ally” (?) shows up in the form of Wufei from Gundam Wing, complete with the Shenlong Gundam. The rest of what you see in the video is simply the action.

While the tactical map is all traditional portable SRW type 2D, the battle animations are pretty good, and I found the original music to be not bad at all. Gundam Wing’s music has never been hard to listen to for me.

Now, stage 2, below, introduces another element of this strange new world, the Gundam 00 universe’s content. There’s going to be quite a lot of it in this game.

Prior to the stage, you see some “intermission” (in-between “episodes” i.e. game stages) bookkeeping type work to manage the as yet one-bot army at the player’s disposal. This army will greatly expand in the course of the winding plot. However, this next stage isn’t truly about Crowe; it’s mainly a kick-off of the Gundam 00 plot, with Setsuna starring.

The rest doesn’t require any explanation to fans of Gundam 00, so watch and enjoy. I’m finding the music to be represented pretty well here. – J