Since Phantasy Star Online 2 launched on PC in the West last month, I've played more than 50 hours of it—and even I can't tell you what the hell is going on in the trailer for its upcoming August update. Unveiled today during IGN's Summer of Gaming event, this new trailer teases Episode 4 of PSO2's story, but the trailer itself mostly shows a squad of mechs fighting a giant battleship. I'm not even talking about, like, a cool space battleship. This is literally the IJN Yamato, a WW2 Japanese battleship.
That's predictably baffling for PSO2, which has been out in Japan for over eight years but just recently received an English localization. Those who have played the Japanese version likely understand what's happening here, but the NA version is several updates behind, and its story is pretty nonsensical anyway so I'm not sure if the reason why these space explorers are fighting a battleship off the coast of Japan makes sense.
Despite that and the messy launch on the Windows store, I'm really enjoying PSO2's Monster Hunter-esque action and extreme amount of loot. But PSO2 is weird.
Right now, for example, the main hub is decked out with giant statues of Sonic and Knuckles, and despite being a game about humans exploring uncharted planets, one of the levels you can explore is the Japanese version is Las Vegas. What I'm saying is that a bunch of mechs fighting a WW2-era battleship feels perfectly normal—and it doesn't really matter anyway because you don't play PSO2 for the story. You play it for the over-the-top combat and excellent boss battles.
The other neat bit of info, though, is that PSO2 will likely be coming to Steam or another storefront soon, as mentioned at the end of the trailer. That's great news if you're unwilling to dip into the Windows Store to play it right now (though most of the issues have been fixed).
If you want to play PSO2, I highly recommend getting the custom launcher made by its community. It negates the need for the Windows store and is easy to install.
