Phantasy Star Online 2 heading to the Vita is exciting news for fans. As would be expected in a port of a large game to a handheld, there are going to be some changes to the Vita version that are going to change the overall experience that you should know about before getting too excited.
But still, you should get excited.
Satoshi Sakai, the games producer, spoke with Japanese site 4Gamer (according to Phantasy Star Fan Blog) about some of the changes coming in the port. And no, they’re not expanding the scope of the game. This a port from PC to handheld we’re talking here.
Luckily, the changes are all simply to make Phantasy Star Online 2 run smoothly on the Vita.
Fans can expect smaller maps and less enemies on screen to ensure the game runs smooth as butter. This might sound terrible, but the smaller scope of the maps will allow players to encounter and fight enemies more quickly. That is a plus.
PC players will have the same experience as Vita users when using the cross-play servers.
This is a far better option than having huge chunks of content taken out of the game — though we will have to wait to see exactly how much smaller the scope of PSO2 will be.
PSO2 for the PC is currently live in Japan and is thriving at over 1,000,000 registered users. A portion of those users are English-speaking, as the Phantasy Star fanbase is more than a little dedicated. Those interested can look for English tutorials online to get into and enjoy the game almost to its fullest.
The PlayStation Vita version of Phantasy Star Online 2 will be released on February 28 in Japan and will be free via the PSN, meaning English-speaking players familiar with the game already will be able to get in on the Vita action relatively easily.
Source: Siliconera
Published: Dec 12, 2012 02:06 pm