So it looks like 2011 will be the year...

[Cayenne]

http://phantasystar.sega.jp/psportal/history/

[PrinceBrightstar]

Can't wait to get my hands on it. It Looks like they completely ignored the PS II text games, Phantasy Star Gaiden and Phantasy Star Adventure, as well as the PS2 remakes in that time line though.

[GCoffee]

Can this really be taken without a grain of salt? Besides, they could still mean the financial year.

[Hatemachine]

They could well just be pulling our proverbial puds and mean a Japanese release, I hope I am dead wrong and am forced to eat shards of glass for popping anyone's bubble on that, but it wouldn't be the first time in gaming something this heinous (whoa I spelled that right?) has taken place.

[Enforcer MKV]

Though, considering most to all of the information is being handled by the Japanese, a japanese release would......make sense?

[Mracless]

I could see it coming out in 2011 in Japan with very little content and then releasing more and more content for people to download in what would hopefully be regular updates.

When PSU first came out, there was barely anything to do until they gradually unlocked more content.
I could see the same kind of thing happening again with actual content updates rather than unlocking.
It seems to me that they're going to embrace the fact that this is an online-only PC game.

Reviews might slate it for the lack of content early in the game's life though.
It wouldn't matter too much with their dedicated fanbase in Japan.
Maybe they'll release the game in the West at a much later date with more initial content in hopes of getting positive reviews.

Complete and utter speculation! Blah! What the hell do I know!? I'll just have to wait and see!

[HappierWorlds]

It will be 2012 for the rest of the world. Trust me.

[Canard de Bain]

It will be 2012 for the rest of the world. Trust me.

I don't.

[•Col•]

They've been saying it was coming in 2011 in pretty much every trailer/press release.... So I dunno what the big deal is.

[RemiusTA]

The deal is that as of september, the game is only 50% completed.

October, November, December. That's 3 months for them to get 50% of the shit out of the way.


unless the game is full of a bunch of unscripted, plain terrain and monster reskins, with barely any animation work or decent rares....


Im more afraid of it being undersupplied than anything. I think they're on the right track, and that with some polish the game could look reaaaallllly good. But if they get lazy at the finish line, they'll be doing the EXACT same thing they did with PSU.

[Mag-X]

From what I remember, there's supposed to be multiple planets. I'd bet on only one being available at release.

Also, this info is for Japan. There's no way it will be out here before the end of the year.

[Vashyron]

Each planet so far was a different area, Forest was one one and the Volcano Area was another. (Forgot the names, but they have been said in the past.)

I really do see them heading in a PSU route and having content gradually being released. (Planet Unlocks, Items, etc.) At least this time they have a real 'excuse.' So even being at '50% complete' I can definitely see it being released before 2012.

[RemiusTA]

Yeah, im starting to think they've been buttering us up with the whole "IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER FROM HERE" gambit.

-Play our game! It's only an alpha though!

-Look at our game! It's only 50% done though!

-Buy our game! It's only 60% done though! We promise it'll get better!

If they release this game in 2011, calling it "50% complete but we're still working on it if you pay us for unlocks", then im just going to wait about 7 months before i even touch it after it releases here.

[RenzokukenZ]

The deal is that as of september, the game is only 50% completed.

October, November, December. That's 3 months for them to get 50% of the shit out of the way.

January, February, March, and maybe April will still count as 2011, by fiscal year standards. And the whole 'unlock' concept is a basis for online games, as most are not complete at launch. Releasing new content via patch updates is usually how it works.

[RemiusTA]

why the fuck would they tell the consumers that it'll release in "FISCAL YEAR 2011" like they care?

They must always do that in japan or something. i personally dont care which records it gets placed in for you, I just want my damn game.

[SELENNA]

The deal is that as of september, the game is only 50% completed.

October, November, December. That's 3 months for them to get 50% of the shit out of the way.


unless the game is full of a bunch of unscripted, plain terrain and monster reskins, with barely any animation work or decent rares....


Im more afraid of it being undersupplied than anything. I think they're on the right track, and that with some polish the game could look reaaaallllly good. But if they get lazy at the finish line, they'll be doing the EXACT same thing they did with PSU.

The other 50% might not take as long too.

[NoiseHERO]

My game was almost complete...I just had to add a second character... and fix a number of issues...

But then I was too lazy to make all the pixels/ and design the obstacles for the other 4 stages...

I won't be going back to that for a while.

[Enforcer MKV]

Well, I'm glad the whole "fiscal year" thing I mentioned has properly been spread among the masses. :D

Anyway, who did what isn't important in this case. XD

But seriously, if it's only half way there, I'm hoping they push it back. Even if it is fiscal year, I don't think they have enough time to finish everything and have it live up to the standards of the fanbase.

[Zyrusticae]

It's worth noting that it's the last phases of game development that go by the fastest (a.k.a. "crunch time" in game development circles).

Once the tools are in place, they can easily get into a routine that lets them drop-in content at a breakneck pace.

Whether or not it's any good, on the other hand... that's another matter entirely. I do hope they don't rush the release. Getting the game in our hands is all well and good, but I really think it'd be in everyone's best interests if the game is not dangerously short on content at launch.

[Reksanden]

Well, I have no idea what they're gonna do. If they pull what Nintendo did on Twilight Princess, then all I can hope is that they're making sure that they have everything that they wanted in the game actually IN the game before they begin adding new ideas via updates and patches.

[Cayenne]

I'm saying they better not pull a PSU and not release the whole game.

[Arkios]

I'm saying they better not pull a PSU and not release the whole game.

They did the exact same thing with Blue Burst. I don't understand why they did it, but they have a history of doing that now.

[Kamen Rider Sting]

If the game is 50% complete at this point, I dunno if thats good news or bad news since we don't know when they achieved 1%. By the end of 2011 would be a great Christmas present to myself, even if it was open beta. Early 2012 would be a great way to bring in the new year but waiting till the end of the financial year? Thats crazy, who would wanna wait till June 30 2012? Well what Aussie PSO fan would wait that long anyway.

[Faceplant]

Good vibes! =) This game is gonna swallow my life. Especially if it's JP only -_-

How content is released won't be a big deal to me..I played dofus for 5 years after all...

[moorebounce]

It will be 2012 for the rest of the world. Trust me.

Unless it's a worldwide release you'll be right. Right now I'm in your camp for the when the rest of the world gets it.

[Randomness]

Unless it's a worldwide release you'll be right. Right now I'm in your camp for the when the rest of the world gets it.

I wonder how many jaded people would pick it up anyways if it was actually given a simultaneous release with international servers...

[Vashyron]

I'm saying they better not pull a PSU and not release the whole game.

I see them doing this, but a real "excuse" this time, since it's not actually locked away... instead still being created.

Though if JP PSU is anything to go by with many constant updates, there is no such thing as "releasing the whole game" from the start.

[ShinMaruku]

Fiscal 2011 makes sense gives them 6 or so months to grind the game into perfection.

[Golto]

I think it means calendar year 2011 because PSP2i was released 02/24/11 but it has 2011 on that list. So 02/24/11 is still fiscal year 2010 isn't it?

[Cayenne]

I think it means calendar year 2011 because PSP2i was released 02/24/11 but it has 2011 on that list. So 02/24/11 is still fiscal year 2010 isn't it?

Observe at what this man had said...

[moorebounce]

I'm saying they better not pull a PSU and not release the whole game.

They gave you the whole game. The problem was they tried to make a offline story that turned out to be crap. So they reissued it w/o the offline crap.

[Cayenne]

They gave you the whole game. The problem was they tried to make a offline story that turned out to be crap. So they reissued it w/o the offline crap.

Oh geez, don't remind me of the single player story again... *barf*

[Anon_Fire]

thats why PSO2 should not have offline mode

[Cayenne]

Yeah, the only thing that should be close to single player is being able to do things on your own online.

[Arkios]

Yep. Hopefully they bring back "Solo Mode" (which was online).

[•Col•]

Yep. Hopefully they bring back "Solo Mode" (which was online).

If I remember right, we saw a video where a person went to the mission counter and there was a "Single-player" option or something like that...

[Zyrusticae]

Yes, the lack of focus on a (horribly cheesy, terribly-written) story mode is another bright spot on the game's future.

The developers have their priorities straight, at least.

[Anon_Fire]

If PSO2 does turn out to be Pay-2-Play, we need more subcription options.


Like so:

$8.95/month - 30-day free trial
$12.99/every 3 months
$29.99/for 6 months +30 days (One-time payment)
$59.99/annual subscription +60 days

[RemiusTA]

The problem with PSU's story was its execution more than its writing. There really wasn't much for me to complain about in the storyline, except for the completely abrupt Mieri dying and everything that happened after it went portable. But i honestly don't think anyone was expecting a Final Fantasy 7 here. And uh, Japanese Trademark Cheesyness is to be expected.



The story mode wasn't fun because the game didn't have a story mode. It just took a bunch of free missions and pasted them together in terribly long, terribly boring sequences. They simply did not put enough work into PSU's engine to support an RPG Story Mode, which is supposed to feature a plethora of things to do while going through the events.

Instead, you just ran through stages, cutscene, stages, cutscene, stages, cutscene, rinse, repeat. Kind of like Final Fantasy XIII, except much, much, much worse.

[Randomness]

If PSO2 does turn out to be Pay-2-Play, we need more subcription options.


Like so:

$8.95/month - 30-day free trial
$12.99/every 3 months
$29.99/for 6 months +30 days (One-time payment)
$59.99/annual subscription +60 days

They did this for PSU. Except that they weren't doing discounts that steep...

[Anon_Fire]

They did this for PSU. Except that they weren't doing discounts that steep...

All they had for PSU was two payment plans.

[PrinceBrightstar]

I know the biggest worry is the whole 50%, very little time left in the year issue. Even if there's a small amount of content at the start for levels, there will be plenty of options available for character development. With what's been announced with areas being random, I don't thnk we have anything to worry about.

...And don't forget, way back when PSO came out if you were an offliner, you had the 4 areas, and only so many quests you could do solo plus 3 difficulty settings, and if you managed to go online, there were only a couple of online quests. They have no reason to release all of their content up front.

[ShinMaruku]

Rather I hope they don't have pay to play because only wow can run that shit unless they do a tiered system.

[tehhaxorer]

It will be 2012 for the rest of the world. Trust me.

Unfortunately I am fairly sure this is the case.

[GCoffee]

Kind of like Final Fantasy XIII, except much, much, much worse.

I wouldn't go that far. PSU's story mode at least gave you the freedom to do free missions.

If only they had not had this stupid idea of having a fixed main character, then there would not have been the need for a seperate story mode to begin with.
Like Episode 2 and 3 in online mode. I don't think PSO2 won't have that.

[NoiseHERO]

I wouldn't go that far. PSU's story mode at least gave you the freedom to do free missions.

If only they had not had this stupid idea of having a fixed main character, then there would not have been the need for a seperate story mode to begin with.
Like Episode 2 and 3 in online mode. I don't think PSO2 won't have that.

They killed that off afterward with the story mode continuing "online" and i think it actually made story mode worse... Hell I liked ep1's pseudo anime story mode. I lost interest AFTER my character became a non-important filler errand boy.

Of course if the online continued story mode was co-op or something and it DID find a way to put your characters in a slot of 6 relevant heroes, that'd be another ...story.

[Keilyn]

This is why in the other thread I laughed at the idea of people believing that P2P games in the case of phantasy star had more content than F2P games.

I remember when Phantasy Star Universe started in the US...It was:

1) No Moatoob the first week
2) More Singleplayer content than multiplayer content.
3) Episode 1

Then AoTI

1) If you bought AoTI and logged with it, your original PSU network mode no longer functioned.
2) Episode 2, but needed two stand-alone games to play through episode 2.
3) You needed to play online for 2 - 3 years to have access to the Episode 3 story

When we reached the point that we should have gotten supplement update 1, our servers closed down. So much for content.

PSU Xbox 360 is by P2P
PSU Jpn is F2P w/ Premium Course option + Cash Shop (Has the most content of everything)

I just wonder exactly how SEGA will handle PSO-2. I don't want it to be a repeat of PSO and PSU.

[Mizunos]

I think it means calendar year 2011 because PSP2i was released 02/24/11 but it has 2011 on that list. So 02/24/11 is still fiscal year 2010 isn't it?
yes, it is

[Mag-X]

I really don't get this why you guys are caught up in this calendar year stuff. Outside of Sega, 2011 means "before 11:59pm onDecember 31st 2011." When has any other game had it's release date listed by the publisher's fiscal year?



PSU Jpn is F2P w/ Premium Course option + Cash Shop (Has the most content of everything)

I wouldn't really even say that PSU JP has a F2P option. There were so many restrictions it was basically a demo. After you get past the point of using B-Rank weapons, you pretty much have to pay if you don't want your characters to be super gimped.

You can't access your room, which means you can't get to the player stores or your bank. You also cannot trade items, or even pick up items other players have dropped, nor can they pick up anything you have dropped, which pissed people off if you accidentally pick up something they wanted.

I really hope they have a real F2P option this time around. I love PSO, and I'll gladly play, but my friends won't, and that's what really kills PSO for me. As fun as it is, it's only so fun playing with randoms for so long. :(

[RemiusTA]

I wouldn't go that far. PSU's story mode at least gave you the freedom to do free missions.

If only they had not had this stupid idea of having a fixed main character, then there would not have been the need for a seperate story mode to begin with.
Like Episode 2 and 3 in online mode. I don't think PSO2 won't have that.


Well i say worse because Final Fantasy XIII 1) was pretty to look at and run around in, and 2) had a very fun battle system.

I had to keep from falling asleep while doing PSU's story mode. It was just so god damn boring. At times i wish i could have just skipped straight to the cutscenes and fought the easy ass bosses. The stages were plain and ugly at times, the music was repetitive and drab....there was just nothing fun about that story mode. At least FFXIII had beautiful environments and a great OST. Oh, and fun fights. I hated just about every boss in PSU, Storymode or Online Mode alike.

The 2nd form of the final boss was just about the ONLY boss in that game where i felt like i was playing a game from the same makers of PSO. It was the only one that was even mildly good -- It was the ONLY boss who had a seperate camera angle, It was the ONLY boss with a scripted attack, and it was the ONLY boss with a good BGM to it.

[Vashyron]

I wouldn't really even say that PSU JP has a F2P option. There were so many restrictions it was basically a demo. After you get past the point of using B-Rank weapons, you pretty much have to pay if you don't want your characters to be super gimped.

You can't access your room, which means you can't get to the player stores or your bank. You also cannot trade items, or even pick up items other players have dropped, nor can they pick up anything you have dropped, which pissed people off if you accidentally pick up something they wanted.

Lol, Wat. PSU F2P is in fact very kind on the amount of stuff you can access. The worst part is you can't trade with others or do other My Room functions. (You still have a common box though.) Besides that you can do almost everything else a person paying monthly can.

[Mag-X]

...which makes the game suck. The only way to get weapons is to either get lucky enough to have them drop at your feet and hope no one else picks them up first, or to pay outrageous prices from NPC vendors. Eventually you're going to have to buy at least a month of premium access so you get access the player stores.

All the free MMOs I've played make money from the premium items store, not by gimping you from playing the normal game. Sega instead does both.

[Vashyron]

You can obtain all the high-end 15* items on Free Course, you have a chance at getting them, they aren't blocked out. Not being able to trade just gives you a lesser chance to get what your looking for.
I still have no idea what you were talking about being gimped at B-Rank weapons and beyond. Forgetting A ranks, S rank themselves drop like candy.

Also, "hope no one picks them up first?" What are you playing on, Give to Finder?

[Mag-X]

My point is that they purposely make the game a pain so you'll be annoyed into paying instead of just having a premium store. Decent weapons may drop fairly often, but I rarely got anything I wanted. Maybe that worked for you, but I found it to be too large of restrictions to be enjoyable.

It obviously isn't meant to be a way for you to play for free. It's meant to be a way for you to experience the game for a bit before you decide to buy it.

I've never played another free MMO that had so many annoying restrictions.

[Cayenne]

As much as I look at the 2011 release on the site, I'm still not sure it will come out 2011, there's just so much to get done unless they are hiding secret content!

[Zyrusticae]

I've never played another free MMO that had so many annoying restrictions.
*Coughcough* Champions Online *cough* Everquest II *cough*

...Not that I'm saying it's a good thing, but it's more common than you think...

[RemiusTA]

My point is that they purposely make the game a pain so you'll be annoyed into paying instead of just having a premium store. Decent weapons may drop fairly often, but I rarely got anything I wanted. Maybe that worked for you, but I found it to be too large of restrictions to be enjoyable.

It obviously isn't meant to be a way for you to play for free. It's meant to be a way for you to experience the game for a bit before you decide to buy it.

I've never played another free MMO that had so many annoying restrictions.

100% true. No matter how you look at it, this is essentially what they come down to.


If PSO2 has Premium missions that have high drop rates for very rare items, then best believe the "regular" way of obtaining them is going to be discouraging at BEST. Otherwise, nobody would be inclined to pay for the mission.


I say this all the time, and people still seem to find ways to argue the fact. When a game has a Cash Shop, they have to take other would-be in-game content and make it premium in order to give you something to pay for. This is, in SOME WAY, going to affect the game. But no matter HOW YOU SPIN IT, the game would have more frequent content if the cash shop did not exist, and they distributed all the Cash Shop content into the regular game. Without them having to alter it to make it "fair" because it's easier to obtain. (Usually, this is what Soul Binding could be used for. Which sucks. But there are other methods.)


Using games like PSU isn't a very good example, because that game so rarely got content that it was kind of pathetic. Not to mention, most of the content updates we got were disc unlockings.



I'd rather 2 big content updates a year with tons of new weapons, stages and rebalances instead of a constant stream of cash shop shit that you'll never see without paying. And besides, I dont WANT to buy the fucking weapon. I want the excitement of it dropping in a mission. How fun would PSU/PSO be if you could just Meseta all the rare shit in the game? It defeats the whole purpose.

[Vashyron]

Yeaaah, I'm not seeing whats so bad considering that there still is even a chance at obtaining the items, no one was talking about the Cash Shop here. Even so most of those obtainable by GC only aren't the 'best' and it still requires 'luck.' You aren't outright buying them.


To me right now on PSO2 either being P2P or F2P is picking my poison and I very doubt they will do F2P without a Cash Shop.
Though I would not mind if it only fell onto a quick way for someone to obtain what someone else that is F2P can get in the long run, as I don't give a crap if they took a shortcut to obtain their Items/EXP in a CO-OP game, they are only screwing themselves out of a experience in the long run.


I find it much worse in 'F2P' Games where you can outright buy the best weapons that can never be obtained by F2P players.

[Zyrusticae]

I'm just going to point out that F2P =/= P2W.

By extension, Freemium (what JP PSU is now, and also what Champions Online is doing) =/= F2P =/= P2W =/= P2P =/= B2P (what every non-MMO game uses). They're all different business models.

[Cayenne]

My vote is buy the damn game and that's it, keep it simple.

[Mag-X]

The difference is that most free MMOs don't make you feel like you're really missing out. The premium stuff is for people who are really into the game. The game needs to be enjoyable for us cheap asses so the people who pay will have others to play with.

There is a fine line between neat stuff I can buy, and making me feel like I'm missing out if I don't pay up. Free PSU feels like a large part of the game is missing (because it is). The restrictions are an afterthought.

Maybe you guys don't care, but I found not being able to use player shops and not being able to trade items to be infuriating. And even then, on top of the monthly fee just to be allowed to access this basic stuff, I still had to pay for a license key to gain the privilege of giving them more money, and there's still premium content you have to pay extra for.

It was just too much. If they had unlocked the game with the purchase of the serial key, done away with the monthly fee, and kept the premium store I would probably still be playing. ..and they probably would have got more out of me in the long run from the premium store.

[RemiusTA]

A company that uses the free model correctly wont have the player realize their situation until they're probably midway through the game's content. At that point they're more inclined.

[Chaosphoenix88]

The deal is that as of september, the game is only 50% completed.

October, November, December. That's 3 months for them to get 50% of the shit out of the way.


unless the game is full of a bunch of unscripted, plain terrain and monster reskins, with barely any animation work or decent rares....


Im more afraid of it being undersupplied than anything. I think they're on the right track, and that with some polish the game could look reaaaallllly good. But if they get lazy at the finish line, they'll be doing the EXACT same thing they did with PSU.


I Totally agree with that. I'd cry if PSU were recreated. Let them take their time and create a great game.