Cel Shading changes the appearance of characters and NPCs in PSO2: NGS, though players can disable it if they prefer the traditional style.
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis allows players to create and customize a controllable character with which to complete quests, defeat enemies, and explore a fictional world.
The game’s developer, Sega, recently released a new Headline, which introduces numerous new features to the game. Headline discussed various details about PSO2: NGS version 2, including Cel Shading.
PSO2: NGS Version 2
The latest Headline, which occurred on Tuesday, 25 April 2023, revealed that PSO2: NGS version 2 will be released on 7 June 2023. Version 2 introduces a range of new features to the game for you to enjoy, including a new creative space.
You can create your own home, cities and obstacle courses in the new creative space. Furthermore, players can place Holograms almost everywhere in Halpha for other players to see. The update will also introduce a new enemy to the game.
This enemy has the ability to strengthen itself and nearby enemies, which makes it more difficult to vanquish. However, if you successfully destroy this enemy, you will be rewarded well.
PSO2:NGS: Cel Shading
In addition to the features explained above, players can now enjoy Cel Shading, which is described as follows, “Try creating new characters with a more anime-look using Cel Shading.”
Players can apply this feature to non-player characters (NPCs) to make them appear like anime characters.
The update recommends that you try this new feature with your favorite events and live concerts to experience the full effect. Since Cel Shading changes characters’ appearances in PSO2: NGS, many players will not like the changes.
Fortunately, you have the option to disable Cel Shading completely, to enjoy the traditional style if you prefer it. You will be able to adjust the thickness of the character outlines and shadows in the settings menu as well.
This means that you can decide how big the Cel Shading effect should be on your characters and NPCs. Since it is a personal choice, you can only adjust your Cel Shading preferences in your settings.
This means that other players can still adjust their settings to have more or less Cel Shading effects on their game.
Players can either create a new character and apply a Cel Shading effect, or you can log into an existing character and apply the Cel Shading effect on them.
It is worth noting that the Cel Shading feature will only be available from 7 June 2023, since it forms part of PSO2: NGS version 2 and it is scheduled to be released in June 2023.
Will you be using Cel Shading?
On a Reddit forum, one player created a poll to see if players will be using the Cel Shading feature. The results of the poll are as follows:
| Poll answer | Number of votes |
| Yes | 169 |
| No | 105 |
| Maybe | 224 |
| I thought the game already had Cel Shading | 99 |
According to the poll, several players are interested in using the new Cel Shading feature, and there are numerous players who decided that they are not going to use it at all.
The majority of players are willing to try the new feature, but if they do not like the appearance of Cel Shaded characters, they will disable it.
Does Cel Shading influence performance?
Although it is yet to be confirmed, we assume that Cel Shading will not influence your character’s performance in PSO2: NGS.
This new feature is quite similar to a Weapon Camo, as it changes the appearance of your character without affecting your character’s abilities.
Furthermore, the chances of Cel Shading influencing your character’s performance is very low, as some players will choose to disable the feature entirely.
However, if PSO2: NGS announces that the Cel Shading feature will affect your character’s performance, then most players, even if they do not like it, will apply the effect to their characters.
Potential collaboration events
Since the Cel Shading effect makes your character appear more anime-like, players assume that there will be Anime collaboration events in the future, but this is yet to be confirmed by Sega.
That being said, though, Sega hinted in Headline that it will be working with companies to have more collaboration events and quests.
Allegedly, PSO2: NGS will collaborate with organizations with whom they have not collaborated in the past. This gives players the idea that they will introduce Anime collaboration events and quests to the game.