System Related
- Part 2 quests will allow 6-man party and avatar knights (Arc Knights). Part 1 will still be restricted to 4-man and no avatar knights.
- Resource nodes only require one harvest to receive all items.
- Those under character level 35 can reset their skills at the training dummy in Rapacci's Wine shop
- There will be new NG+ treasure. NG+ will also start from part 1 of the story
- New PSN cash items will include skill reset coupon, makeover ticket (comes with gender and name change), 30 day ticket that increase exp gains.
- Updated graphic engine.
- Pray and site emotes will increase HP/MP regeneration rates. NPCs in party will also use these emotes with the player.
- Players can bring NPCs for offline quests.
- Resident requests: Offline sidequests given by town folks, designated by "!", progress can also be tracked.
- Bounty - Available at Adventurer's Guild. Target monster will be marked by "!" on map Rewards include consumables, equipments, GR points, and Dahlia (can be exchanged for special items)
- Extra dungeon will be available after finishing part 2.
- Level cap increased, GR50, rebirth level requirement increased.
- Players can travel between adjacent areas without going through the world map.
- Live Talk system from International version
- Voiced, video tutorials in the beginning of part 1
- Online requires a code/license activation that comes with the game. Additional code/license can be purchased on JP PSN for 900 yen.
Equipments
- Over 400 new equipments.
- Binding recipe requirements have been tweaked and made easier. Most requirements reduced to 1/3 ~ 1/4
- Changes to damage formula, supposedly weapon base attacks will have more influence on overall damage
- Equipment bonus stats have changed.
- Enhancements will be capped at +5 for same GR equipments. I.e., GR12 player can only +5 GR12 equipment, but able to +10 GR11 equipment
- 2-h sword and 2-h axe no longer have -VIT penalties.
- 1-h axe, 2-h katana, 2-h mace will have increased critical rates, but lose durabilities faster.
- Increased item and equipmen storage to 500
- Quests can sometimes reward unidentified ??? equipments. They can be identified at the weapon shop.
- New "Killer" modifier added to weapons, which deal bonus damage against certain species. For example, Evil's Bane has Undead Killer property. Arch Demon Bow has Gigas Killer property.
- Male and Female previews now available at binding shop.
Combat Related
- Action circle will be filled as soon as players draw their weapons and engage in combat.
- AC charging skills (Placid Heart, Anima, Pray) have been removed. There will be weapons that convert MP to AC.
- Many offensive skills (outside of combo) no longer cost AC, they consume MP instead. Most AoE skills will still cost 1 AC
- Command Circle starts spinning as soon as a command is chosen, instead of after the command is performed.
- Players can guard anytime with R1 + O. Players can change AI tactics with R1 + analog directions
- Accuracy and evasion now scales with distance.
- Players' balance will scale with equipment weight. The heavier the set, the less likely a player will be blown away or lose balance from enemy attacks.
- Break Chance - Against giant mobs, there will sometimes be Break Chance markings. Attacking the marking with the correct weakness will force the enemy off-balance.
- Flying Mode - Some enemies will be able to fly including dragons in part 1 [
http://japan.gamespot.com/ps3/screenshots/common/pictures/0,3800075610,10439235p-222,00.htm) ]. Melee weapons will not be able to reach flying enemies.
- Yellow damage seen from videos signify that the enemy is weak to the player's attack (slash, thrust, crush, element, "Killer")
- Buff and debuff can cancel each other out, such as spider web canceling haste vise versa.
- Counter attacks - Take reduced damage and immediately counter
- Dash attacks - Dash to the enemy location and attack, damage increases with range.
- Charge attacks - Mash the button to increase damage dealt.
- AoE attacks now show range markings> (
http://japan.gamespot.com/ps3/screenshots/common/pictures/0,3800075610,10439235p-432,00.htm)
- All skills in combo will cost at least 1 AC. No more 0 AC skills in combos.
- Auto-camera in combos can be switched off.
- Base capturing system - Enemy camps, siege weapons, and Zoa Crystals.
- Most monsters' weakness and resistances have been changed around. Bees now weak to thrust, boars weak to slash, etc
Weapon Skills
- Required amount of SP to learn skills have been tweaked. Weapon Master Lv 5 for example will cost 10 SPs to learn.
- Amount of SPs gained at level-up now scales with level. A level 2 character gains 2 SP, level 30 character gains around 5 SPs per level-up
- Prerequisites for all skills will be shown in-game.
- New training skills such as Dagger Training, 1-h Sword Training, which will increase damage for their respective weapon types.
- Inspire spell from divine magic has been removed.
- Weapon skills such as stance, cry, aura, field will be more effective and last longer.
- 1-handed - Dual-wielding stance to switch from tank to a DPS role. Able to counter-attack with shields.
- 2-h sword - New passive allows the action circle to spin faster when the user's HP is low. New counter and dash attacks
- Axe - New passive increases damage dealt when the user's HP is low. New 2-h maces added to weapon type.
- Spear - New Guardian skill allows the user to recover more AC from enemy attacks. With Shield Training, they have increased chance to block. They also have AoE slow and AoE knockdown.
- Bow - Double / Triple shot passives, chance to increase damage dealt. New songs to recover HP/MP, raise allies or buff them with haste. New Consumable Training to increase potion effectiveness. Their attacking animation has been sped up as well, there are nearly no delays at the end of an attack.
- Staff- New passives reduce MP cost and cast time. Capable of restoring MP to party members like bow users.
- Elemental Magic - New tier IV spells. New non-elemental magic, Eclipse Gate and Last Apocalypse.
- Divine Magic - They can banish undeads and debuff wraiths and succubus with the new Holy Light spell
- Knights - All of Knight's skills are AoE, even the basic thrust.
- Knights - Turn Break skill can interrupt enemy attacks and force them off balance. Turn Break can be used even when the action circle isn't full.
- Knights - Fortress Guard transfers all of allies' damage in an area to the knight.
Misc / GeoNet
- Better room searching function (
http://japan.gamespot.com/ps3/screenshots/common/pictures/0,3800075610,10439235p-530,00.htm)
- Better USB keyboard support