January 15, 2013 | J.J. Cappa
Last week, PlayStation Vita owners that applied for the closed beta test of Phantasy Star Online 2 were notified if they had been selected to participate, and although the download has been available since then, this afternoon marks the first time that the game will actually become playable. In addition to the Vita version, the 50,000 lucky testers (who were chosen from a pool of over 100,000 hopeful applicants) will also have access a special PC client for trying out cross-platform connectivity.
The test itself will take place on six different days over the course of two weeks. The game’s producer Sakai Satoshi warned, however, that the schedule is subject to change. The current testing days are as follows:
- Tuesday, January 15: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
- Thursday, January 17: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
- Saturday, January 19: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
- Wednesday, January 23: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
- Friday, January 25: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
- Saturday, January 26: 15:00 to 23:00 JST
The initial download of the Phantasy Star Online 2 beta is just under two gigabytes, but as the full version is expected to require at least four, users should expect the client to expand over the next few weeks as well. In fact, a small patch has already gone live and SEGA is accepting bug reports on the official PSO2 website, which will likely lead to more updates through the test.
Phantasy Star Online 2 is a free-to-play online action RPG for Windows that launched last July, nearly twelve years after the original was released for the SEGA Dreamcast in 2000. Unlike its predecessor, the game can only be played online, but its servers are accessible anywhere in the world. All players that level a character to ten during the beta period will receive a special code, redeemable for bonus items and currency, when the PS Vita version goes live next month.