PSO2 for NA/Europe in Early 2013

[Arkios]

Not everybody is an english speaker in this boat. I have a better knowledge of english than japanese, that's true, but the fact is that for me both languages are foreign.

Who says there won't be EU servers as well?

Lattency is something that depends on the location and the quality of the servers, apart from your connection. Currently I suffer almost no lag, I see numbers going instantly when I play. And I live in Spain, I'm closer to the US than Japan. If you're telling me that I can have even less lag that I have now in the US, then players in the US shouldn't even consider playing in any other place than the JP servers, as they're even closer than me. And my connection is nothing flashy, 10 MB or so.

A 10MB internet connection is fast. EU has better internet connections than we have in the states. The average home user has a DSL circuit running at a couple MBs down. Some of us faster cable internet, but the vast majority of users do not. So while you might not notice problems, others in the US might. Especially ones on the east coast.

You don't even know that they're going to do a direct conversion between prices. They might put the prizes exactly the same. In pSU the subscription cost was the same for everybody. Why would they ask you for less, when they actually gotta invest more money on a localized version than on their own?

This is all speculative. I don't know and neither do you, so pointless to argue on this point.

Also, western community in general sucks. Only for not having to make an intensive use of the blacklist feature I'd already give a good deal of points to the JP server over the US. They're more polite, and less noisy, and why not, I don't really understand the inmature ones doing the idiot, so it doesn't affect me. The truth is that in the american server I'd play with the same percentage of players, but the rest wouldn't be flooding my chat with crap.

The game is F2P, so it's going to bring in stupid people, regardless of region. All online games have this "problem" it's not just because "AMERIKANZ LEIK TO SHOOT AND CALL PEOPLE NAMES".

Then, of course, updates. If the servers are separated, US server is certainly going to be behinf the JP shcedule. And JP server got already a "head start" of about 8 months. Pray that it doesn't go much longer than that.

This isn't necessary the case. Tera just recently came out in the US and it was just barely behind the Korean version in terms of content. The US version will likely be behind the JP version, but that doesn't mean it has to be 8 months behind. It could very well just be a patch behind the majority of the time. Which is fine by me, the JP players can "beta" test those patches for us.

Again, you can throw names all you want, I'm not trying to compare numbers. They have released localized versions in much less time after the JP release than they're doing now. They could do it for PSO and PSU. So they should be able to do it for PSO2.

So you don't want to throw around numbers when they don't agree with your opinion, but you do want to throw around "imaginary numbers" when they "back up" your opinion?

OK.jpg

Still, I don't see that as a reality. The past experiences don't appear to me like they would use their JP fanbase as guinea pigs to test how the game would work in the rest of the world, unless they were going to do a global server, chich I really hope they do, but all hints point otherwise.

Step 1) Hope for a global release
Step 2) Release the game in JP where it has the "strongest" fanbase.
Step 3) See if the game is successful in JP.
Step 4) Begin working on marketing/localization for other regions.

It's not about being "guinea pigs". It's about testing out the market and making sure you're going to get a return on your investment. It doesn't make sense to launch a game "globally" and have it potentially bomb on a global scale. That just costs the company more dollars.

[Ryuujin13]

Step 1) Hope for a global release
Step 2) Release the game in JP where it has the "strongest" fanbase.
Step 3) See if the game is successful in JP.
Step 4) Begin working on marketing/localization for other regions.

It's not about being "guinea pigs". It's about testing out the market and making sure you're going to get a return on your investment. It doesn't make sense to launch a game "globally" and have it potentially bomb on a global scale. That just costs the company more dollars.

THIS!!! Just look at how FFXIV bombed when they did a global release. I played that game and I have to say it was HORRIBLE! So if they want to take there time and make the necessary changes and fixes by all means take your time.

[lilibat]

The point for those of us who can't speak Japanese is to get the story.

[Kinniku]

I haven't been keeping up with this game, like at all, but is it going to be P2P or F2P when it comes out in NA? If its going to be F2P, then maybe by the time it comes out I'll be slightly less addicted to GW2 and give it a shot.

[Blackheart521]

I haven't been keeping up with this game, like at all, but is it going to be P2P or F2P when it comes out in NA? If its going to be F2P, then maybe by the time it comes out I'll be slightly less addicted to GW2 and give it a shot.

It'll be F2P in NA as well.

[Hategull]

It's confirmed that it will be free to play. It's just unclear as to how closely it will follow JP PSO2's system.

Now, the story continues for a new generation of online games and new ways to play and explore, while embracing a free to play model and building the game around that. There are, of course, lots of details to be revealed about this model — we know everyone has questions about how “Free to Play” will work for the Western version of PSO2, so stay tuned!

[Arande]

2013? 2013? really? Well, I guess we'll be able to tell if it's worth playing on the non-JP servers the day they launch. if they start the launch with what JP currently has in their game at the time, fine. If they launch it with just the three planets and lv 30 cap like JP launched, nope. SEGA, you aren't going to make up repeating the massive update gap by starting the servers taht much apart.

Short version, oh? spring 2013? lets look what all JP has planned before then: http://bumped.org/psublog/phantasy-s...2012-road-map/

Japan is planning on having 4 new fields, 5 new weapons, new techs, and 3 new classes all before the NA/EU release. I see little reason to play less of a game then than I can play now.

edit: watch they do start with minimal content, then when most of the core NA/EU players stay on JP servers, they use 'lack of interest overseas' as to why it failed. Who knows, till then, I'm enjoying PSO2 on JP.

[bloodflowers]

Joined the same year as you, played all three games. I didn't play PSOW the game as much till PSO2 was announced but yeah, no I was there.

But yeah let's further ruin all hope and justify negativity and swear this game is going to suck right after BEGGING for it! Just because of a couple of things, things that point to how similar things were done in the past!

This game is utterly hopeless and doomed to end up like PSU all because we don't share Japan's servers! Oh noe!! Because that's all that ruined PSU! This game is going to die in 5 years, let's skip all that and say it's dead right now instead of giving it a chance because we can read the future with our powers acquired from our fanboy experience!

That's what you guys sound like!

So you've seen the pattern repeated times and you think that this time will be different? It won't change until SoA employ staff with a better ability to deal with customers and management who let them do it. It also won't change while Sonic Team (or SoJ in general) are calling the shots and treating the US like a whipping boy for the second class service they're providing, isolated from the repercussions.

PSU on the PC died because it was neglected, abused and poorly run, leading to a fall in already low player levels. A lot of those players are their target market for PSO2 in the West, and a lot of them have been burned enough times. You can only disappoint your fanbase so many times before it isn't there anymore, and you absolutely need that core fanbase when you're pushing a game on a system that has huge competition in the MMO/ORPG space. If anything this time around it's worse because they won't even have the PS2 owners stacking up the numbers.

SoA / SoJ between them have a really, really big mountain to climb if they're to restore the faith of their fans. An 8 month delay and a suggestion that they're looking for ways to close the gap does not to me suggest even for a second that the gap will be reduced. I think it will be released with more initial content than the JP one was, but it will slip every time they need to tend to their main market, Japan - which was in the past a reason for several update delays.

People love to blame the 360 for the delays, Microsoft certification and so on. At least partially (and probably mostly) bullshit. A great many of the delays happened when every system had all the data already, it was simply a case of flipping the switch server side, and it was simply something Sonic Team didn't do because they felt they had more productive things to be doing, ie looking after the customers who can actually complain to them.

I suspect the 8 month delay is less to do with translation, and more to do with giving the game a better chance and more content off the bat, rather than releasing it alongside hot Christmas competition, and there's a chance more people will have forgotten how wretched their service was by then.

I'm also expecting Arks Cash to be brought over in it's entirety, possibly costing more per dollar but with a different billing system, but not to the point where exchange rates and conversion fees would make JP cheaper. They must know the market for that is huge from a mixture of Japanese spending on GC, and the ridiculously lucrative trade in meseta seen on the 360.

I expect Sega to take US-EU players for every cent they can, and give nothing in the way of accountable service in return. I expect the US-EU servers to close possibly years before the JP ones, and I expect the pattern of nonexistant support to continue too.

This is not because I'm a JP fanboy, this is because I'm a realist, and when I see something happen a number of times, I expect to see it again unless there's a compelling reason to think otherwise. There are no compelling reasons other than Edward's posts, and we all know how reliable those have been in the past. To some extent, he can't help it of course, just doing his job. There are things he could have helped though, like not alienating unhappy customers even more by calling them petulant brats, there needs to be a MAJOR attitude re-adjustment at SoA before people can take them seriously again. I would be out of my job in minutes dealing with customers in such a manner, regardless of how angry or abusive they were being.

We will see, if I'm proven wrong it's all good, right? If I am, people can have a good time on local servers and not ever have to go to the forum to complain about updates, or having been hacked and being told they can't have their items restored (despite the fact that this WAS recently done proving it was nothing but an ugly policy decision).

All just like, my opinion, man. If you have a different one then fine, but don't expect sympathy if you come back with a black eye again.

[Galerianx]

Spoiler!

thats how most pso fans see it but i dont any more

[Reyva]

1) Don't know / sucks at learning JP or learning any language in general.
2) Have friends that want to play in English aka Western version
3) Played from PSO DC up to PSU Western versions and saw all the problems with them
4) Has 0 lag problems on JP PSO2 servers
5) Can purchase AC via JP version
6) Already has a high leveled cast hunter and newman force with a lot of virtual goodies
7) Would like to have things in English
Doesn't have a problem playing with the JP or overcoming the language barrier

Eh, therefore, I'll continue to play the JP version. I dunno, I could care less to what may happen to the US version in regards to hacking, management, duping and so on like the past psos and psu, but content updates and just being behind in general is what bothered me the most.

Sorry, Segac striked out more than three times already. I really don't feel like I should waste my time again. I've played with JP players in the past in FFXI so thats not a problem. And no offense to the NA/EU players, but for me, its always been a better experience with playing with the JP. And fortunately, at least they have some sense in regards to symbol chat, chatting and other things. Even though I'm 27, sometimes I feel that the general age group is 18-30, but I guess its more like age 2 - 17.

I look at the potential population also and don't think it will be the great. Thats just speculation though, but I'm kinda basing this off the past games.

EH and I guess its a good thing as maybe I can get over the whole "learning JP" deal with my slow **** self. I'll play the NA version no doubt, but I doubt I'm going to take it seriously. It will mostly be for the story and thats it. I could care less about my friends who want to play only the NA version.

Nevertheless, its nice to hear that its coming out. At least people on here can finally stfu about crap.