PSO2: New Genesis Chapter 8 Announcement Reaction
Originally posted to YouTube on
So, uh, NGS is getting Chapters 8 and 9 next year, eh? I guess I need to talk about this... Because it feels like the closes thing to a 25th anniversary treat we're going to get.
I guess if these stories are substantial... Hell, even if they're on the level of Chapter 7, this is a lot closer to what the game needs. The game was getting a chapter every 6 months or so in its first two years. But by the time Chapter 8 comes out, Chapters 6+7 will have taken up nearly 3 years of the game's life. And that's kinda a big issue. The game is designed around a constant drip feed of new content, and without new story content, it felt like it just stripped away the illusion of this being anything other than a grinding treadmill. Plus, the end of Chapter 5 had the story finally getting good, so just when the story was picking up, we stopped getting new story at an acceptable rate.
That said, I honestly do feel like they would need to do a major game update to get me back, not just some new story content. A proper new open world area. Overhauled class design. A new class with new weapons that are unlike anything in PSO2. Something. Maybe I'm being demanding, but... I feel like, for a lot of lapsed players, it needs to be something big. Because I imagine a lot of us feel like we've been burned in the past. And if it's just new story content... While that may be the most important part, and a step back towards the expectations the game set in the first two years, I don't know if it will feel like enough of a revival to bring people back. I'm not asking for A Realm Reborn, just a bit more so the game feels alive again.
Of course... I'm kinda a special case here, aren't I? Like, I think we forget this sometimes, because the internet makes it easy to make being a hater your personality, but the normal reaction to a thing you don't like is to shrug and move on, rather than continuously engaging with it. I made myself go back and play probably more than I really wanted to, because I make videos on this series. If I didn't make these videos, I probably wouldn't have played nearly as much NGS this summer. I've made it pretty clear at this point that NGS's content model isn't for me. But some people clearly still enjoy playing it, so maybe it doesn't need to do things the way I'd prefer.
At least this is a step in the right direction, making it feel like there's something more substantial to do. If you're still fond enough of NGS to have stuck with it? I can imagine this is fantastic. My main complaint, while playing the game rather than as someone who needs motivation to come back, were content updates that felt like the bare minimum. And if players will have new story to look forward to? Well that's an improvement, whether or not the current pace of content has been enough for you.
Also apparently the Ruine Luther fight has some attacks from PSO's Dark Falz and Olga Flow. I guess that's neat. Anyway, check out my 25th anniversary video for the series, if you haven't already.