History VideoGame / PhantasyStarOnline2es

* RareRandomDrop: Emergency Quests have a few special items that are only available as rewards for completing [=EQs=], which include goodies such as the Rig and Sigma series 12★ weapons on Super Hard, and a regularly rotated (and decently powerful) 12★ Weaponoid, Nesis, and Raete series 13★ weapons on Extra Hard. Soul Receptor and Extreceptor equipment with high slot counts also technically count as this, as the odds of getting gear with said Abilities at high slots is quite uncommon.

* BackForTheFinale: Almost every major character in the game's story thus far makes a reappearance at some point in Season 3. [[spoiler:Even Lord, who is [[PosthumousCharacter long since dead]], and Donovan show up to help.]]

* {{Cap}}: There is a visual soft cap of 999,999,999 damage per hit. This is up from the visual soft cap of 999,999 that was originally in the game until Summer 2018; by this time, many players with a decent chunk of the better Chips could very easily hit 999,999+ consistently, so the cap was increased by three digits.

* MagikarpPower: Solid Straight. At base power, it's a pretty lackluster and overcosted Chip that gives a weak 100% U Frame for 18 Cost. After capping Ability Level, Plug 1, and Plug 3, Solid Straight has one of the best Cost/multiplier ratios in the game, sporting ''220% U Frame'' for a measly 12 Cost.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: ''es'' does... weird things to established conventions in ''[=PSO2=]''. For example, in ''[=PSO2=]'', Tech classes are the kings of damage, followed by Katanas. In ''es'', Twin Machineguns are the kings of damage, and everything else becomes muddled due to each of them possessing good Arts.
** In this game, Talises are better than Rods. This is because Talises can hit from a range; while Rods have better T-ATK and will thus cast better, getting Just Attacks requires performing a normal attack first, and because Rods have a melee-based normal attack, they have to walk up to their target's face and smack it before they can start popping off Technics. [[SquishyWizard Tech casters being Tech casters]], this is not a good thing. Wands are exempt because Wand players [[NotTheIntendedUse don't cast anyways]], instead opting to just rely on its absurdly strong normal attack.
** The UnnecessaryCombatRoll and Stylish Roll are the best methods of evasion. In ''[=PSO2=]'', Mirage Escape is the best method of evasion due to its lengthy invulnerability. In ''es'', the fact that you can't freely move severely hampers Mirage Escape, since there's also a lot of endlag present during while you're liable to be struck by some wayward attack. Ranged Weapons' dodge roll has the second-highest invulnerability while also being easy to spam due to its endlag being mysteriously removed in ''es'', and Elder Rebellion's Stylish Roll is part of what makes it incredibly good.
** Poison is ''much'' more deadly in this game. Poison in ''es'' ticks for a much higher percent of your HP per tick, so even getting Poisoned once is enough to bring you from full HP to 1 HP in seconds. God help you if you don't have any HP-restoring Chips.

* ActionGirl: Gene, Annette, and Quna. [[spoiler:Seraphy also demonstrates a capability of holding her own in combat near the end of ARKS Quests.]]

* AllYourPowersCombined: [[spoiler:Dante and his crew]] take the form of UndergroundMonkey versions of enemies, but with attacks borrowed from a variety of Darkers.

** Hilariously, Season 3 Chapter 6-3-3 involves fighting Falz Arms (a boss mob in ''[=PSO2=]'') as regular mooks.

* BarelyThereSwimwear: Some of the annual swimsuit designs are... ''questionable'' in nature. Most egregiously are Gene's 2017 swimsuit, which is essentially glorified pasties, and Khorshid's 2020 swimsuit, which is hardly qualifies for a swimsuit and is just ribbons covering the essentials.

* DubNameChange: The English fan translation changes "Rappy Medal" to "Rappy Coin", possibly to distinguish the currency from the similarly named Rappy Chips.

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent:
** Season 3 Gene's Side Story has you playing as her.
** [[spoiler:Bruno takes over as the playable character during Season 3 Chapter 6-4.]]

* AscendedExtra: After being [[DemotedToExtra demoted]] for three Episodes in the main game, Quna finally reappears as a supporting character in Season 2 of ''es''.

* HijackedByGanon: Averted in the first three Seasons, who have original villians instead of a Dark Falz running the show. Averted in Season 3, where destroying a Dark Falz is the main motivation for both the heroes ''and'' the villains.

* RandomizedDamageAttack: The Knuckle PA Meteor Fist. On cast, the player will charge up briefly, then punch into the air, which cues either a rain of small gold fist or a giant gold fist to [[DeathFromAbove drop out of the sky and strike your target.]] The rain of fist does far less damage but is useful for activating Support Chips, while the giant fist has the highest single-hit damage in the game and can easily lop off at least 50% of an XH boss' HP gauge at once.