Currency can make or break a Free to Play title. If everything is gated behind the “real money” currency, you’re going to be paying out your ass to afford what would have otherwise been a simple $15 subscription fee. Likewise, if everything behind the “free money” currency (which earned through constant play) is super expensive, the developers can drip feed you basic content with a cap while you potentially become addicted and eventually spend “real money” (or worse, limit your play to force you to spend money to keep playing).
Thankfully, our friends at Siliconera have unearthed the three types of currency available inPhantasy Star Online 2, so that we can get a better perspective of Sega’s latest online action RPG — meseta, arcs cash, and “FUN”. Arcs cash is the “real money” currency ofPSO2, which allows players to buytypical F2P MMO perkslike extra character slots and customization features. Sega has made it known that likeGuild Wars 2,it isn’t in favor of giving anyone major advantageswith Arcs cash items. FUN is a fairly unique beast in itself.
FUN is earned by doing meta-gaming actions like logging in a lot, and “liking” other players inside the game’s contained social network. Funnily enough, you can also acquire it automatically by spending arcs cash (which will no doubt entice big spenders). With FUN, you can buy unique items, like stuff for your instanced house and for your character. As for meseta, like otherPSOgames, it’s still the standard “gold” like you’d find in any MMO or RPG. As long as Sega sticks to their word, and arcs cash isn’t used for anything major, I thinkPhantasy Star Online 2will be a wonderful free to play dungeon crawler.
