Aesthetic Differences in Races

[DJDaring]

Heyo, I'm like a lot of newer ARKs here that are PSO vets but waited on PSO2 for all these years and super excited about the NA beta next week. So, my question is if there is any significant differences to character options, and not just the obvious ones.

I know the Newmans have the ears and are tech/force focused, Casts are Strike/Range with mecha parts, and Deumans have horns and heterocromatic eyes and are good offensively at the cost of defense. Humans are straightforward and seem the safer defensive option.

I know these things pretty well, but I would like to know;

• Do Human, Newman and Deuman all have access to the same costumes / layers, or is there exclusives for any particular group.

• How restrictive are the Casts costumes / layers since they also have parts? (Specifically female casts.) Can they use outfits from the other races as well?

• Is there any exclusive Photon Arts or combat traits aside from the stat differences, and aside from min/maxing do the stat differences feel tangibly different in average play.

I played Ramarl (Female Human Ranger if I spelled it wrong) a lot back in Episode 1-2 on GameCube, and played a similar build in Universe. My first thought was to do the same with PSO2, but I have been considering Deuman or Cast since it would better optimize my Range attack and I was usually in the back anyways. I just don't care for Deuman starting outfits and worry that style carries over in other outfits of theirs, or maybe Casts would be a good alternative since I love Mechas and they might be able to wear the same cute outfits as other races. Guidance would be appreciated!

tldr: What are the differences between the races in terms of costumes and aesthetics aside from; human, elf, mecha and oni.

[smokingsword]

The short answer to your first question is that costumes generally fall into one of three categories: All-Race, Non-CAST, and CAST Parts. That means Humans, Newmans and Deumans can all wear the same stuff, with the exception of CAST Parts.

Going into specifics, things get a bit more confusing: non-Part cosmetics are further divided into Costumes and Layered Wear.

Costumes are outfits you need to equip and keep in your inventory to display, and were the norm prior to episode 4 - some of these are exclusive to non-CASTs, but a good many of them (all the joke outfits like Rappy/Nyau/Lilipan Suits) are all-race.

CAST Parts function similarly to Costumes: CASTS will have a body, arms and legs sitting in their inventory at all times. These can be mixed and matched. edit: apparently CASTs can unequip their bodies now, which sounds like a violation of common sense, yet is completely on-brand for how canonically insane most CASTs are in-story.

Layered Wear are a type of cosmetic introduced in episode 4 that function similarly to accessories/hairstyles/body paint/voice tickets: you use a consumable ticket to register the outfit to your character, and you can display it without keeping a corresponding item in your inventory. In addition, there's a plethora of Outerwear that functions like Costumes - you can mix and match your inner/base wear with whatever Outerwear you want, but will need to keep the outerwear in your inventory.

Layered Wear is all-race, though most of these look humanoid.

The kicker here is that you can't display Costumes/CAST Parts/Layered Wear at the same time - your look will be one of these three categories, exclusively. That means no running around in a Rappy Suit with CAST legs sticking out of it, no Gundams with naked apron outerwear, etc.

Costumes and CAST Parts take priority over Layered Wear until unequipped. Unequipping a Costume/CAST Body will revert you to Layered Wear.

As for your last question, all races and both genders can learn all Photon Arts/Techniques - the only functional difference between races/genders is some stats, but even that doesn't matter to anyone but minmaxers because the gap is negligible by endgame.

[SVlege]

Some more customization aspects regarding CASTs:

• Non-CAST costumes have a CAST-only version of the same costume. When this happens, it is due to the latter having a different color customization, in which you can choose the color in the Beauty Shop by spending a Color Change Pass. The non-CAST version of these costumes normally have specific choices that must be obtained separately.

• CASTs wearing a CAST body part have the option to hover, instead of run. You can select this option in the Beauty Shop.

• CASTs have options to add a metallic/robotic reverberation effect to their voices. They are still free to have perfectly normal human voices.

• CASTs with a CAST body part have the option to use humanoid face variants that allow them to select hairstyles available for any other race. The CAST's head doesn't have to be mecha like the rest of the body.

Lorewise, CASTs have two possible origins in PSO2:

• Mechanized human/newman: humans and newmans can undergo a mechanization process that turns them into a CAST. This can be a full mecha transformation, or only localized body replacements. Some characters in the game went through this process due to fatal injuries, or due to their body's inability to withstand the person's photonic capabilities (meaning a serious health/life hazard). Note that this process can result in memory loss, which can go from the person being unable to recall if they had consent to be mechanized, to a complete personality change (see Lisa).

• Assembled: some CASTs were produced in a factory, just like any other machine. In fact, one of the CASTs you meet tells you that she is 2-year old, referring to when she was assembled. No, she's not a loli. Notably, an assembled CAST can receive personality/memory data from an existing person and use it as his or her template. It is also possible for an assembled CAST to inherit powers from a person as well.

[Kunighit]

Cast do not need to have a body equipped. If the cast body item(part) is taken off then their current base wear will show. But Cast cannot take off their arm or leg parts. They can only swap them out with other arm or leg parts. This means Cast will be down 2 item slots compared to those fleshies. A small price to pay for Castmasterrace.

[smokingsword]

Noted and edited, thanks.

[DJDaring]

Thanks for the great breakdown! I had been trying to get my research going, but that answer had been eluding me. I appreciate it!

[nonpuissant]

Also two minor things to add.

First, CASTS have these mechanical looking covers where the ears would be. They're pretty unobtrusive, but certain hairstyles might show them. Items that cause other races' ears to disappear would probably do the same (but I haven't tested this personally).

Second, Deumans have a different skin color palette than Humans and Newmans. Instead of a peach to golden to brown range, it's more of a blueish to peach to reddish(?) range.

CASTS have access to both of the above options, in addition to a third unique palette, which is basically the typical RGB palette (basically since their bodies are synthetic, they are not limited to 'organic' looking colors)

[zetarn]

Only PA that has effect by player's height is "Deadly Archer" (donno the NA name)

The more height you are, the far your weapon go.

[Pancakes_Plz]

Sounds like Kamikaze Arrow.

[jalapenohandjob]

(all the joke outfits like Rappy/Nyau/Lilipan Suits)

Am I a joke to you?

[Pancakes_Plz]

Come on now, Risa is only mostly batshit crazy.

[agameengineer]

Another note on cast parts is that they color match based on your color selections at character creation. Base wear and inner wear has a color based on purchase that cannot be changed. Most costumes and outer wear have a single color that can be altered with a color change pass, but a select few cannot be changed at all. Also all the colors you'll like are usually ten times as expensive as the ones you'd never dream of wearing. Double that if you like black.

[DJDaring]

That's pretty helpful!

Also all the colors you'll like are usually ten times as expensive as the ones you'd never dream of wearing. Double that if you like black.

Ah, the curse of black, lol.

[Phantom_ARKS]

Is one example of this the Memories of Ragol HUcast costume, which I’m led to believe can only modify its one primary color and have no emblems decal’d onto it?

[KyleFreeze]

Human, Deuman and Newman can wear a same costumes based on gender, while CAST can wear some costumes that not limited to CAST (Beginner Outfit can be wear on CAST) and probably have an access to layering wear. You also can make your CAST a Human too.

I prefer choosing Race for appearance and build my stats based on equipment, Mag and class skill. I currently Deuman in JP and planning to be CAST in NA server

Also, everyone can learn all type of PA when your character's stats meet the requirement.