[Metalsonicmk72]

From what other people have told me, the western releases of the Phantasy Star Online/Universe games have been problematic in the past, especially with PSU. I doubt they'd release the game with the currently up to date material, they'd probably start several updates behind what the Japanese version has so that way people can't just rush to whatever level is the latest level when it's just getting started, update a few times, and then stop caring about updates for about a year or indefinitely. Unless SEGA West can prove they're not lazy and are more than capable of maintaining a massive online game that needs tweaking and staying on par with the Japanese which seems to be getting updates nearly every week, I wouldn't bother with the Western Release.

This post has been edited by Metalsonicmk72: 26 March 2013 - 01:48 PM

[JaxTH]

Metalsonicmk72, on 26 March 2013 - 01:46 PM, said:

From what other people have told me, the western releases of the Phantasy Star Online/Universe games have been problematic in the past, especially with PSU. I doubt they'd release the game with the currently up to date material, they'd probably start several updates behind what the Japanese version has so that way people can't just rush to whatever level is the latest level when it's just getting started, update a few times, and then stop caring about updates for about a year or indefinitely. Unless SEGA West can prove they're not lazy and are more than capable of maintaining a massive online game that needs tweaking and staying on par with the Japanese which seems to be getting updates nearly every week, I wouldn't bother with the Western Release.

I know PSU got they way it did because Japan introduced microtransactions and the West didn't want to do that.

[Azu]

Everyone's pretty much playing the Japanese release. That is until SoJ outright ban western connections. According to their TOS, we're not even suppose to be able play unless we live in Japan. They been nice enough to let western players play, despite the lot of them "unintentionally" breaking their TOS.

This post has been edited by Azu: 26 March 2013 - 02:53 PM

[Morph]

Azu, on 26 March 2013 - 02:53 PM, said:

Everyone's pretty much playing the Japanese release. That is until SoJ outright ban western connections. According to their TOS, we're not even suppose to be able play unless we live in Japan. They been nice enough to let western players play, despite the lot of them "unintentionally" breaking their TOS.

That has been removed and re-added to the TOS at least 3 times. I think the only reason it's there at this point is so they have an excuse to ban problematic foreigners. If they really did mind us being there (and they've made it pretty clear that they don't), we'd have been gone a while ago—or at least, it would be harder to get in.

I'm sure it was the same situation for PSU as well. While both the NA and JP servers were running, there were plenty of non-Japanese players playing on the JP server.

[Mecha Sally]

Metalsonicmk72, on 26 March 2013 - 01:46 PM, said:

From what other people have told me, the western releases of the Phantasy Star Online/Universe games have been problematic in the past, especially with PSU. I doubt they'd release the game with the currently up to date material, they'd probably start several updates behind what the Japanese version has so that way people can't just rush to whatever level is the latest level when it's just getting started, update a few times, and then stop caring about updates for about a year or indefinitely. Unless SEGA West can prove they're not lazy and are more than capable of maintaining a massive online game that needs tweaking and staying on par with the Japanese which seems to be getting updates nearly every week, I wouldn't bother with the Western Release.

I've heard stories about this as well, and how the US servers were like a year behind in updates. Many people seemed to be getting pessimistic about the US version of this game because the experiences with PSU left a bad taste in their mouths. Can't say I blame them.

I just find it hilarious that it's taking Sega over six months to release a game in English while a bunch of random people online have managed to translate and patch most the game's text into English in a LOT less time. Seeing how there's so many non-Japanese players on the Japanese servers already they might as well add an English language option to the game and just have the servers be international.

[Azu]

They said international servers are not happening, but I really wish they would. If Sega follows the PSU route, then there's no point in playing. Only people who'd play are the people new to PSO or those who didn't bother to play the JP PSO2. From what I keep hearing is that they're having issues with the FUN/AC Scratch thing.

[sonicblur]

With Japan due to get Episode 2 later this year, I hope this is the reason they delayed the Western release. It would be nice if they launched with content on par with Japan, but that's unlikely.

[Azu]

Suppose, there's gonna be a SEA server by Asiasoft Games from thailand. They're supposedly going to be a English option as well.
http://www.asiasoft....sp?contID=33570

If you're form thailand or knows thai, there's the announcement.

[JaxTH]

Episode 2 Trailer:

[Mikel]

PSO2 X Shining Series collaboration trailer:

[JaxTH]

Episode 2 Trailer:

[Mecha Sally]

Wow, already? O_O Looks cool, and having a new race is even cooler.

And yet there's still no word on the US version... we're not getting it, are we? >.>

[TimmiT]

Looks like Relic Entertainment is probably working on PSO2, according to this recent job posting:

Quote

Server Engineer
Programming/Engineering | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | 12/23/2013

Relic Entertainment, a wholly owned studio of SEGA, is the award winning RTS developer of Homeworld, Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, among other games. Relic was founded on the premise that it is entirely possible to ship first class, genre altering, AAA titles, and have a life. Relic is based out of beautiful Vancouver, Canada, a city that has breath-taking mountain and ocean views, along with snowboarding and skiing, golfing year-round and amazing hiking trails. If you love games, enjoy working collaboratively with smart, creative people, and have diverse personal interests outside of work – you'll enjoy our culture.

What you will be doing

Ramp up and perform due diligence on an existing live MMO project in development in Japan, embedded with the live team
Gain full understanding of the game and code architecture, content authoring pipelines, build and deployment process, engineering process, and current code status
Establish working relationships with key members of Japanese development team
Participate in and contribute to minor/peripheral engineering tasks on the project, as well as in daily project planning, code reviews, release process, etc.
Create/translate documentation of existing code modules, tools, processes and work flows
Prepare regular status and activity reports to Producer
Prepare a full written project evaluation

What you should have

5+ years’ engineering experience from PC client/server based MMO development
Ability to spend extended (3+ months) periods of time on-site in Tokyo
Ideally fluent in Japanese and English languages
Excellent verbal and written communication skills

http://hire.jobvite....tion&j=oqafYfwx

[sonicblur]

We haven't had any news or discussion here on this game in awhile.
PSO2 Episode 3 was announced today, coming to Japan in August. An English version of PSO2 launched on May 29th, but it's specifically for Southeast Asia and they're blocking IP ranges from outside that region.
http://pso2.playpark.com/en/index

Still no word on a western release, which sucks even more considering the English version is ready.

Edit: It sounds like the southeast Asia English version of PSO2 is really shitty. According to some threads on PSO World, it's about 2 years behind on content updates (in other words, it launched with practically the same content the Japanese version had when it was first released) and the translation isn't very good. Hopefully it's not a sign of what's to come. Meanwhile, the English translation patch for the Japanese version seems to be maintained still.

This post has been edited by sonicblur: 15 June 2014 - 07:52 PM

[Mecha Sally]

I think a US release is looking really unlikely at this point. A shame, because it's the only MMO I was looking forward to playing. =/ At this rate SEGA should just make their servers global and allow US players to play on the Japanese servers without ToS crap being an issue.