PSO2 New Genesis Interview: Yuya Kimura Talks December Update, Helping New and Returning Players

Highlights

• December update focuses on making the game more player-friendly, with enhancements such as increased experience earned, better equipment matching, and eased story progression.
• The development team actively listens to player feedback and uses it to prioritize updates and make adjustments to improve the game.
• The team has been working on addressing the challenges faced by new and returning players, with adjustments in participation requirements, rewards, and boost campaigns to make it easier to catch up with veteran players.

Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis broke new ground for the popular sci-fi action series back in 2021 by shifting to an open-world MMO format, although much of Phantasy Star Online 2‘s original content is still playable in this new standalone iteration. As an MMORPG with vertical progression and an extreme degree of character customization, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis steadily releases updates that introduce new content to keep players engaged.

In an interview with Game Rant, Series Producer Yuya Kimura spoke about how the new December update is meant to make life much easier for new and returning ARKS Defenders trying to catch up to endgame content. Kimura also weighed in on what makes a good Phantasy Star game, how the developers listen for player feedback when working on updates, and some of the most significant changes that have been made to the game over the past two and a half years. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What would you say are the most significant additions from the December update? Is there anything you are particularly excited about?

Kimura: With gratitude towards all the ARKS Defenders who have always been playing NGS, we have decided to hold a special event titled Super Genesis Festival to celebrate the half anniversary, which is the first of its kind in the PSO2 series. However, even outside of the Super Genesis Festival campaign period, I would first like to inform you all that as of December 6th, NGS has become significantly more player-friendly permanently.

To make it easier to catch up to veteran players, Combat Sectors up to a certain level have a constant +300% EXP Earned boost. Furthermore, now when you level up, you will get enhanced equipment that matches your level, so until you reach the maximum level, you will rarely have any difficulties with equipment. In NGS, you can set a Sub-Class in addition to your Main Class, and up until now, that Sub-Class would only get 50% of the experience your Main Class got. However, now your Sub-Class earns 90% of the experience.

Furthermore, while the latest chapter of the story is Chapter 6, the overall difficulty of story progression has been eased. By clearing up to Chapter 5, players receive substantial rewards such as a large amount of in-game currency called N-Meseta and obtain a plethora of avatar items. This allows players to enjoy fashion and other aspects while smoothly advancing through their adventures. Speaking of fashion, the period during which players can freely re-edit their body type and other features at the Salon after creating a new character was only 5 in-game hours. We extended this to a cumulative login time of 72 hours.

In addition, as a matter of convenience, after clearing the tutorial, players will automatically receive 15 days of Material Storage. Everything I’ve mentioned up until now are initiatives that are separate from the campaign, but during the Super Genesis Festival campaign, some great things are going on, such as the Use the Salon to your heart’s content! Campaign, and we’re giving out 15 Color-Change Passes, as well as a Material Storage Use (15 Days) for free. Whether you are a new player or a returning player who is on a break, I encourage you to take this opportunity to play NGS.

Q: What is the team’s process for approaching New Genesis updates? How do you decide what changes to make, or what content to work on for a given update?

Kimura: Every week, dedicated staff members collect and compile user feedback and requests from various sources such as official website submissions and social media. Based on these reports, key members of the development and operations team gather for meetings to discuss and address the feedback.

During these meetings, we determine the approach and prioritization for addressing user feedback. The decisions made in these meetings are then communicated to the development or operations team by key members, who take them back to their respective teams. Detailed planning and scheduling are conducted, and the decisions are incorporated into the update plans.

In addition, every week, reports are generated based on player behavior within the game from various logs. Any unexpected numbers or trends that are identified in these reports are examined, and countermeasures are considered. These findings are then incorporated into the update plans in a similar manner.

In other words, we collect information from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives and make comprehensive judgments based on that.

Q: This update increases the drop rate for certain rare items. How do you go about deciding which items to do this for, and how do you decide how much to increase the drop rate?

Kimura: This is similar to what I already said, but particularly in terms of the recent drop rates numbers for the latest equipment and weapons, we check the numbers daily and the development staff compares the expected drop rates and equipment numbers with the actual figures when making balance decisions. If the numbers are lower than expected, as in this case, we make upward adjustments.

Q: The December update is focused on new and returning players. What do you feel are the main challenges that new and returning players face, and how does this update address them?

Kimura: As NGS celebrates its 2.5-year milestone, we are aware of the growing disparity between new or returning players and veteran players. To address this, we have implemented various adjustments in October and November. These adjustments include easing the participation requirements for the latest content, reviewing reward balances, and implementing boost campaigns for lower-level players.

Additionally, in December, we plan to implement further adjustments and review rewards to make it easier for new and returning players to catch up with veteran players. We want to create a more enjoyable experience in NGS than ever before, and we strongly encourage new and returning users to give it a try.

Q: Do you believe there is still more work to be done regarding bringing new and returning players up to speed? If so, does the team have ideas for more ways to tackle this?

Kimura: After the update to Phantasy Star Online 2 NEW GENESIS ver.2 in June 2023, new elements such as the Creative Space and Portable Holograms were introduced, which resulted in an influx of new and returning players.

However, after August, there were high entry barriers for the battle content aimed at core users, and many players felt that the rewards for participating in the content did not match the difficulty level or playtime. As a result, some players ended up giving up on playing the game midway.

In response to such circumstances, adjustments were made in October and November to make it easier to meet participation requirements, rebalance rewards, and implement boost campaigns. As a result, we believe that the in-game environment has been moving towards normalization compared to before.

In addition, we are planning to implement further adjustments in December. We believe that such adjustments should be made consistently alongside the release of new content.

Q: How did community feedback factor into this update? Were there certain features that were significantly influenced by player input?

Kimura: Regarding the feedback received from the community, we believe that the adjustments made in the updates from June to August, such as increasing drop rates, have been strongly reflected in the game.

In fact, the actual drop rates and equipment numbers have not been following the projected figures, and we admit that the initial balance settings were not ideal.

Additionally, improvements to features such as the Creative Space and Alliance Space have been highly requested since the initial release of the content. We were finally able to address these requests.

Q: PSO2 New Genesis has had quite a few updates over the last few years. What are some additions that have changed the game the most since its release? What do you feel players have been most excited about?

Kimura: The introduction of the Creative Space alongside the ver.2 update had a significant impact, considering that the game had primarily focused on combat content.

Furthermore, the release of the newest class, Slayer, received high satisfaction from players, generating positive feedback including pre-release promotions.

The series’ traditional final boss, Dark Falz, has had 3 iterations released, and each time it had a significant impact on the game’s scene, providing enjoyable experiences and challenges. We aim to continue releasing high-quality large-scale boss enemies that satisfy players in the future.

Q: Are there certain things the community has been vocal about that you are interested in working on for future updates? For example, how community feedback at launch lead the team to prioritize Personal Quarters?

Kimura: Since the initial launch of NGS, there were many requests for Personal Quarters. However, we prioritized updates that focused on classes, fields, enemies, and character creation, which are essential elements of the series. After two years of hard work, we were able to release four regions along with Chapter 5 of the Story, all weapon categories from PSO2, and the enhancement of avatar items specific to NGS. As a result, we decided to prioritize the release of the non-combat content, in the form of Creative Space.

Moving forward, we aim to deliver various quests at a high frequency to keep players engaged. Additionally, we have been actively developing new Fields in response to increasing demands from the player community.

Q: You’ve worked on many titles in the Phantasy Star series over the years. What do you think makes a good Phantasy Star game? Are there certain features or elements you believe are very important for the series? How does New Genesis embody those?

Kimura: Throughout the PSO series as an online multiplayer game, we believe that the ultimate concept that applies universally is the deep affection players have for their own characters.

Players develop a love for their characters by enjoying their combat animations, movements, interactions with friends, story involvement, and their unique attributes. Furthermore, players enjoy strengthening and customizing their characters, including their fashion choices. All of these aspects contribute to the overall experience of loving your own character.

While there are numerous online games that allow character creation, I consider the PSO series to be the most influential in terms of how much motivation one has for their character affects the game’s retention rate.

To achieve this, we prioritize providing extensive character creation options, a science fiction world that accommodates various expressions, and content that emphasizes communication beyond battles. We strive to develop and operate the game with these aspects in mind even on the day-to-day.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share or say to PSO2 players or our readers?

Kimura: To all the ARKS Defenders playing NGS and the fans of the Phantasy Star series, thank you.

Last year, the series celebrated its 35th anniversary, and the latest installment, NGS, is approaching its 2.5-year milestone.To commemorate this, we are now conducting a grand celebration campaign called the Super Genesis Festival through the New Year period. This campaign offers numerous benefits not only to existing players but also to new players and those who have been on a break. We encourage everyone to take this opportunity to play NGS.

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