Interview: PSO2: NGS Series Director Daiki Hamazaki On Anniversaries, Chapter 7, And "Increasing The Pace Of Content"

Less than a month ago, SEGA launched Chapter 7 in Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis. The MMORPG's update not only added new content, but also unveiled the "Nameless City", new Creative Space themes, and teased both the birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog and anniversaries in PSO2 and PSO2: NGS.

Ahead of the update's release, we had a chance to sit down with PSO2: NGS Series Director Daiki Hamazaki to chat about the new content and where PSO2: NGS is headed.

MMOBomb (MB): It’s great to talk to you. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do day-to-day for PSO2 New Genesis?

Daiki Hamazaki (DH): My name is Daiki Hamazaki, and I am the series director for PSO2 NGS. I have been involved with the PSO2 series since before its launch, and I was in charge of player actions and enemies at the time. After serving as the director for Episodes 4 and 5, I became the director for NGS, and became its series director ever since NGS ver.2.

MB: Let's talk new content. The Nameless City is our new field in the latest update. How does it differ from zones we’ve seen so far? How does the team try to make each region feel different?

DH: We began development on The Nameless City with the goal of creating a field that would retain the fun of exploring an open field that we’ve had up to now, together with ensuring replayability. This time, we added moments of risk even in battles with regular enemies, adding tension to regular battles, while also combining the treasure hunt-like elements of obtaining points and opening as many chests as possible within a given time limit, creating a different type of exploration gameplay to the open field.

Within the open field, there’s a difference in the usable objects and trials for each region, but for Leciel Exploration and Nameless City Exploration, differences are created by adding rules that go beyond just fighting enemies in the field. You can also open chests and apply enhancement effects to the player, while also having to account for the enemy’s buffs in battle.

MB: Whether it’s new cosmetics added, items that come from crossovers, or even gameplay rewards, PSO2 NGS has a ton of customization. We received Far East inspired creative space sets in this update. Talk a bit about the inspiration behind these, please.

DH: We have a variety of ideas for sets. We decided to implement a Japanese-styled theme this time because it would be significantly different from previous themes, and we thought that it was something that many players wanted.

MB: Speaking of Creative Spaces, last time we spoke with the team these were a new feature. How have these been received in the last year? What are some improvements that have been made based on player feedback since the feature was launched?

DH: Even now, one year after it was implemented, we are aware that a large number of players continue to enjoy the content and they are still actively creating spaces and posting them on social media. About half of our active players engage with it every week, and around 20% of them are making edits with much enthusiasm. Many improvements have been made based on player feedback. Things like fine-tuning the position and accuracy of placed build parts, adjusting the range of terrain height changes, and the ability to move to other Creative Spaces were implemented based on player requests.

MB: Look, I don’t mean for this to sound super negative, but I’ve been a long-time fan of the PSO series. I’ve told many PSO stories on stream for years now, but I have a question. How was New Genesis received? It may just be me, but PSO2 took so long to come West that it came with years and years of content, I get that. But now that PSO2: New Genesis has been out for a few years, how is the game received? Sometimes I feel like a very full game has been replaced by one that has far less content being released and caters more to the type of player that wants to play with fashion or creative spaces. Are you hearing similar feedback and if so, how does the team address it?

DH: NGS is being operated with a different distribution plan from that of PSO2, and we understand that there are players who are dissatisfied with the pace of releases and the volume of content. Since the 1st anniversary of NGS, we have been working to increase the pace of content releases and to improve the density of content, and our development and operations teams are currently working together to increase the volume of content as well.

MB: You get the last word. Anything else you’d like our readers to know about PSO2 NGS or the next update?

DH: We have reached the 3rd anniversary of NGS, and the 12th anniversary of PSO2 thanks to all of our players. We are very thankful for your support. The development and operation teams are united in our commitment to bringing you content and implementing features for the game for as long as possible, so hope that our players will continue to accompany us on this journey. We have various updates planned for the second half of 2024, so we hope that you look forward to them too!

We'd like to thank Daiki Hamazaki for sitting down with us.