(Hypothetical) So NA PSO2 never releases...

[Zipzo]

Who do you blame, SoJ or SoA? x2 Blame Combo?

Are some of you only playing the JP version just to pass the time until a localized one happens? Would this soil your enjoyment of JP PSO2? Would you continue to play? Would you do anything? Write SEGA angry letters? Go to PAX and kick the guy at the SEGA booth? Are you one of those people that will not be the least bit surprised? You saw it coming? No skin off your back?

Bonus Question : Will the translation team continue to update the english measures they currently have if an official english version was to release?

I'm curious!

[spoiler-box]http://25.media.tumblr.com/858a594ec138e77afcbfeac68c400b52/tumblr_mhs31rHuhZ1rrx8wzo1_500.gif[/spoiler-box]

[UnLucky]

plz remove 'hypothetical' from thread title

thx

[blace]

Only reaction I'd give is 'meh'.

I'm uncaring as I've already seen what PSO2 has to offer and what it is now.

[Xaeris]

"Hypothetical?" lolk

As for the question, I'd do absolutely nothing. I accepted that I'd be playing the JP version for as long as they'll have us a long time ago.

[Lostbob117]

"So if NA PSO2 never releases"

That should be the title.

Also, I'm not going to blame anyone.

[strikerhunter]

Honestly, anyone playing the JP version shouldn't really care much about NA/EU release anymore at this point.

For me: (answering you questions in order)
1. I don't like pointing fingers but I'll just say SoA.
2. No, not going to NA/EU version because I already made lots of friends over on the JP servers. Will not go over to the NA/EU version unless it is "different" enough to be worth to play on and updates are up-to-date which it won't be.
3. I'll continue to play on the JP servers.
4. I won't do anything about PSO2 NA/EU because it's pointless when others had already tried. Sure it means that they have a lot of die heart fans who are still waiting and begging for info, but it means nothing when they don't reply.
5. No. I won't kick the SEGA guy at the booth because I'll likely be charged for it. He'll even probably just act like Edward saying that he wasn't given any new info promising that he'll give it out as soon as there are new info like Edward had said all year long.
6. No, I wasn't surprised since February of this year.
7. Everyone on the JP servers saw it coming.

[Shirai]

Not going to blame either one.

Decided to stay with the Japanese version long before the game was even announced.
After switching from NA/EU to Japanese during PSU, I came to the conclusion of never going back to NA/EU servers again for any phantasy star game. Japanese servers were a crap ton better, and it'll most likely stay this way.

[Kondibon]

I'm already running on the assumption that the game won't come out stateside so it wouldn't matter to me, especially with members of the english community putting so much work into localizing the game themselves... If it does release It'll be more of a pleasant surprise for me.

[NoiseHERO]

Well the original form of the game is already terrible I don't see why people are still worried about it.

[Cyron Tanryoku]

lol playing pso2

[Kondibon]

Bonus Question : Will the translation team continue to update the english measures they currently have if an official english version was to release?

I believe Kion said that he'd keep updating the english patch, but would use stuff from the english version of the game to take some of the slack.

[Totori]

Who do you blame, SoJ or SoA? x2 Blame Combo?

Are some of you only playing the JP version just to pass the time until a localized one happens? Would this soil your enjoyment of JP PSO2? Would you continue to play? Would you do anything? Write SEGA angry letters? Go to PAX and kick the guy at the SEGA booth? Are you one of those people that will not be the least bit surprised? You saw it coming? No skin off your back?

Bonus Question : Will the translation team continue to update the english measures they currently have if an official english version was to release?

I'm curious!


I wouldn't blame anyone, I guess it's both of them at fault really. But there's nothing I would be able to do about it.

I am currently playing PSO2 JP version, because I love PSO. And I'm planning on playing both versions still even when the NA version is released, so it wouldn't affect me on playing the JP side.

On the flipside, I will have more time to devote to playing FF14 and JP PSO2, if that "ever" does happen.

As for the translation, it just depends if SEGA hands out a CD to them, if so I would guess there's nothing they can do about that.

[Macman]

I wouldn't care, and neither should anyone who is really a fan of the series. Why should I worry about the bastardized watered-down version?

[Enforcer MKV]

*Shrug* SoJ - They're the main branch, PSO2 was created by them. If it's going to be localized, they're probably the ones green-lighting it. If they tell SoA no, there's not much SoA can do at that point, the way I figure.

[Freshellent]

I think it's just the nature of the cash-shop related items and the amount of content being released. It's a pain in the ass for companies to get stuff on our shores because of legal stuff. The patches we get are proof that it can be done with minimal manpower, it's just a matter of other BS that can't really be spend up any faster I'd say.

I'm pretty happy with the game as it is, because I'm not burnt out on it. Everything is still new to me and I'm getting over a lot of my old hang-ups. Leveling as fast as I am now, and tons left to see is the best part.

[Hyetos]

At this point I'd actually feel troubled if the NA version was released, due to selfish worries as to how it'd affect the english community here. Worries as to how many of our population would leave, worries as to how it would cut into our flow of newcomers and make our community stagnate, worries as to whether Sega would continue their lenient view of foreigners when we have our own official servers, etc. Well, I'm perfectly aware those are selfish worries though- there is still a half-decent part of me that would be glad this incredible game made it to a bigger audience.

Never once would migrating myself cross my mind, since this is home now- and it's certainly been made comfortable, both by the Superhuman Translators of Justice, and indeed by this community as a whole. Playing both would be an option though, of course, if I felt a reason to.

[NintenJon25]

Think you got the thread title mixed up, bud. PSO2 is definitely canceled for the US---SEGA is pulling out the same "it's just delayed" card that they did for Aliens: Colonial Marines on the Wii U. While I don't want to bring up that accursed tragedy of a game as an example, it does prove a point here.

SEGA kept saying, "it's on its ways" but they're "evaluating possibilities for an inevitable delay". Guess what happened? The game got canceled.

PSO2 wouldn't do well here in the States. Those who are PSO and JRPG or Online RPG fanatics (the entire PSO fanbase, in other words) have already or are planning to join the PSO2 JP servers from previous bad experiences with the Western release.

Other than the fact that you have everything synchronized with each other to avoid having to install fan-patches, there's no reason I would ever want to play the localized version of ANY future Phantasy Star Online game unless I absolutely had to.

I doubt SEGA really cares much nowadays that so many (probably more than half) of their PSO2 community isn't playing from Japan. While it was a concern for them at launch, I think the random bans have been over with for almost over a year now as far as I can tell from numerous friends...

The fact of the matter here is that there will always be only one true canon version of the game---and that's always the JP version. Why? Because it's where the game originates from. It's where you get ALL of the game's updates, and it's always the most active part of the entire PSO community.

There are always so many different things to do in JP servers for PSO in the past and present that you would never even see the light of day on for a Western release. Just look at PSOBB for a perfect example.

As long as SEGA is still making money off of Western players, I don't think they mind having us on their servers really. Their ToS may say otherwise, but people are quick to forget PSOBB...

I think the logical point to take here is to at least invest in your character a little bit on the JP server. If any bans do happen in the future, they may not ban you if they notice you are making them sufficient funding to keep the servers running. At least, that's my completely optimistic point of view. People are free to express how they may see things turn out contrary to that.

[Totori]

Actually, when the NA version is released. We will have a lot more newcomers, there's quite a few who refuse to play this game, because they want to wait until a readable version is out.

Also: NintenJon25, you don't have any proof. It's not nice to confuse others.

[strikerhunter]

I doubt SEGA really cares much nowadays that so many (probably more than half) of their PSO2 community isn't playing from Japan.


I doubt that majority of players are not from Japan. NA/EU players barely fells up 1 block primarily (looking you afkers on b20) and bout another 1-4 on a regular base when the sun raises for us on Ship 2. Compare that 4-5 full blocks to a nearly full server logins during JP evening time. Yea I highly doubt that most players are not from Japan. During my normal hours of playing, all ships are green, during those times I wake up early most of them are full.

I would roughly say no more than 15% of the population are from outside of Japan.

[NintenJon25]

Actually, when the NA version is released. We will have a lot more newcomers, there's quite a few who refuse to play this game, because they want to wait until a readable version is out.

Also: NintenJon25, you don't have any proof. It's not nice to confuse others.

I think valid enough proof is that SEGA completely dropped all info about PSO2 off their main page of their website. Then, the entire PSO2 website (even though the US version still exists) is practically archived from view.

I'm not stating that as a fact---I think it's pretty weird that it would even come across as that.

However, it's obvious that SEGA of America won't bring the game stateside. There's just too much at stake.

On top of all the translations they'd have to do for in-game text files, there's also voice dubs that they'd have to do unless they want characters to be completely mute (which would ruin a lot of intense story moments). Then, the game is constantly receiving updates weekly on the JP servers, whereas EN servers are always known for having a shoddy update schedule.

The optimist in me would love just having a worldwide release running on a worldwide server, but things just don't usually work out to be that way due to consumer demand.

PSO is always first-and-foremost a Japanese game before it is English. It's probably the only thing holding them back at this point from releasing an official Western version of the game...the interest for RPGs like PSO in the West has heavily dwindled due to the advent of mobile (casual) gaming, an influx of shooters, and MMOs like WoW that have run the MMORPG genre quite tepid for WoW veterans.

[AlaskanKactus]

I wouldn't be surprised, I already view an English release as sort of a myth now.

IF it happens to be released then I would only play it if any of my friends wanted to try it out. If they like it then I would tell them to join me on the JP servers.

I wouldn't place any blame on anyone. SoJ knows they're fanbase and SoA must have found out how difficult it would be to localize it. If I was SoA, I wouldn't release it for the states either. It just wouldn't be as profitable as the JP version.

[NintenJon25]

I doubt that majority of players are not from Japan. NA/EU players barely fells up 1 block primarily (looking you afkers on b20) and bout another 1-4 on a regular base when the sun raises for us on Ship 2. Compare that 4-5 full blocks to a nearly full server logins during JP evening time. Yea I highly doubt that most players are not from Japan. During my normal hours of playing, all ships are green, during those times I wake up early most of them are full.

I would roughly say no more than 15% of the population are from outside of Japan.

Even then, that's still a sustainable, great portion of English players on the JP servers. 15% of the 2.5 million registered players would entail to over 375,000 registered English players for PSO2 JP.

That's about the same (most likely more) than SEGA would expect on their servers for PSO2 in the West throughout the same length of time (one-year and counting).

As said before, there's really no reason for SEGA to bother releasing a US version if there is already such a dedicated group of individuals from the English PSO2 community working on fan-patches for the Japanese release. Contrary to the English version, all we need to do is wait for fan-patches to be fixed for each new weekly update to enjoy all of the goodness that is on the Japanese servers.

As mentioned in an earlier comment, I don't think SEGA really cares about anything else but making a profit off the game and the money to sustain these servers.

A Western release is too risky for them after you count how expensive the localization would be to get good enough voice actors (as an example) for the HUGE slew of voice acting the game has in the JP version. I mean, there wouldn't be a reason for a Western release if the only option for all of the NPC and Player characters was to still speak in only Japanese with English text, right?

[Zenobia]

*Looks at thread SMH*

*Sees the same thing being talked about in many threads before this one*

*Wondering why we are still worried about an NA release we all are having so much fun on the JP servers*

*Zipzo you baddy you dun Rick Rolled again*

[strikerhunter]

As mentioned in an earlier comment, I don't think SEGA really cares about anything else but making a profit off the game and the money to sustain these servers.


That right there my friend, is not also the only reason why we are not seeing an NA/EU release but also not seeing an large IP ban.

[Totori]

I think valid enough proof is that SEGA completely dropped all info about PSO2 off their main page of their website. Then, the entire PSO2 website (even though the US version still exists) is practically archived from view.

I'm not stating that as a fact---I think it's pretty weird that it would even come across as that.

However, it's obvious that SEGA of America won't bring the game stateside. There's just too much at stake.

On top of all the translations they'd have to do for in-game text files, there's also voice dubs that they'd have to do unless they want characters to be completely mute (which would ruin a lot of intense story moments). Then, the game is constantly receiving updates weekly on the JP servers, whereas EN servers are always known for having a shoddy update schedule.

The optimist in me would love just having a worldwide release running on a worldwide server, but things just don't usually work out to be that way due to consumer demand.

PSO is always first-and-foremost a Japanese game before it is English. It's probably the only thing holding them back at this point from releasing an official Western version of the game...the interest for RPGs like PSO in the West has heavily dwindled due to the advent of mobile (casual) gaming, an influx of shooters, and MMOs like WoW that have run the MMORPG genre quite tepid for WoW veterans.

Ahh, my, my, my... Bringing an online game over takes a bit of work. They don't have an issue with translation, honestly they are prolly done with that. And they are well aware of the issues about the JP side getting update bi-weekly.

I don't think I seen anything from SEGA of America about them dropping info, they just can't talk about anything at the moment. It's due to NDA's and well there's really not much to say, they still do have the website up. Remember some games, can take a while to reach overseas. (Just take a gander at Sakura Wars, that game took longer than the original development time to localize)

PSO2 being Japanese, I'm not sure how that's holding them back. SEGA of America are prolly struggling more with how to manage the Arks Cash content and collabs more then having to do Voice work for the game.

[Shambertin]

can people stop making these threads now please. anyone who wants to play is already playing.
any release for na/eu will never happen. and i highly doubt people would migrate to that release because we have all put too many hours into jp server. english release will be lacking in anything decent to do anyway.

[Totori]

I'll migrate over >.>b

[Yutaka20]

lol the only known news is asiasoft will be the english version host.
go get ur fill of sadness then ;P
most of us ,and i mean at least 98% of the english players will be staying in jp.
super loads of reason which i dont need to state cos it's too obvious :x

[Kion]

That was me, actually. I've said that even if a NA version is released, we (Arks Layer) will continue to do what we do, and I'll continue to update the EN patch. As for whether Agrajag and them will continue to work on it, you'd have to ask them.

I'd like for Arks-Layer to be able to manage an official English release if given the chance.

As for Sega, at this point I really doubt any official version at this point. If they do a good job of releasing the game then I'll happily be able to simply play and do other things. If they do release it and in the likely event it sucks total monkey balls, then I'll keep translating the JP version for the English players on it unless I specifically am asked to stop. But again, I'm highly skeptical about the probability of Sega releasing a Western release at all.


Who do you blame, SoJ or SoA? x2 Blame Combo?


Blame? Not at all. Sega not doing anything has made this the best Phantasy Star release yet. I think SoA and SoJ both deserve credit for sucking. Thank you!

[Nitro Vordex]

If it ever came out US, I would gladly play on the servers. Hell, they might even get money from me.

That being said, depending on how the US one would be handled would determine on whether I stay on JP or not. I would, more than likely, play both versions, as I know there's a few people that feel that migrating would be a waste of their time and money, since they've put in the hours and cash into it already. Me? I haven't spent a penny, and I'm still leveling, and I would more than likely check out the US servers and even spend time leveling on those. I did it on multiple versions of PSO, I did it on PSU, how would PSO2 be any different?

Plus I would love to hear the cheesy ass voice acting. :wacko:

[Mystil]

I'm in the "I don't care if it ever does" department.

[Cyclon]

can people stop making these threads now please. anyone who wants to play is already playing.Yeah right.

I think it'd be a shame, though I''ve resigned myself to the idea for quite some time by now.

[FacelessRed]

I find it hilarious that people come onto PSO-WORLD to post in the PSO2 forum to make fun of some of us for even playing PSO2 ... strange world.

Asia -> Western releases of MMO's have always been sub-par. The only thing you could look forward to is the AC store not being such a pain and as expensive, but after so many have already dishes out money for JP PSO2, who the hell is actually going to take that as a positive?

PSO messed up by not releasing a universal version from day 1, they may just be realizing that now and decided "fuck it". But if that is the case It's a shame we can't request to be allowed officially into the game. So we don't have to go through 3rd party websites etc and feel like criminals trying to enjoy a game.

[gigawuts]

can people stop making these threads now please. anyone who wants to play is already playing.
any release for na/eu will never happen. and i highly doubt people would migrate to that release because we have all put too many hours into jp server. english release will be lacking in anything decent to do anyway.

I can personally vouch for 5 people who cannot or will not play the JP version due to not being tech savvy, not finding the risks of IP ban worth it, not wanting to be on a foreign server, so on and so forth.

You can yell your head off about the english patch and SoJ never banning foreigners but that IS in the terms and that IS extra work some people don't want to put down.

And these are just the tiny number of players who even care enough to know. F2P games sell themselves on appealing to the millions of ordinary players who will sign up, spend ten bucks, then leave. This is why so much work goes into making sure it's easy to get started - subclass exp gains are mainly for lowbies, koffee exp bonuses are for lowbies, all of this stuff is catering to new players to make the game "fun" enough to spend money at the first hurdle.

[Eternum]

can people stop making these threads now please. anyone who wants to play is already playing.

I've been checking out some gaming journalism blogs and I've read several comments from people still pining for an international release (albeit a month old at this point). They want badly to play, but don't feel confident in trying to get into the Japanese version. Not to mention the crowds of people out there that don't yet know about the game.

I, too, found the learning curve of playing a game in another language pretty steep, and it killed my interest not to know what was going on in-game unless I went to Youtube vids. The fan-made English patch has been arguably the best thing to ever happen to me.

This does make me curious what would happen if the PSO community went on a self-motivated advertising campaign for JP PSO2 and the English patch. Would other language translators jump on board? Would that prompt more bans?

TL;DR: I could see PSO2 going viral.

[Masakan]

There are other worthwhile mmos to play some with just as high of quality as PSO2.

Tera, Warframe, Firefall, Path of Exile. There are other options. If Sega thinks people are gonna be good little boys and girls and just wait for them to release it whenever they damn well feel like it, They are gonna have a rude awakening.

As much as I really want to play PSO2, If they decide to give western players the middle finger, I won't any sleep over it. Because at this rate by the time they do release it over here(assuming they don't give us all the content at once) It will be so far behind no one will care about it.

On a side note: I personally think that people playing on the jap server is indirectly screwing over the chances of a western release. But take what I say with a grain of salt.

[Meireles]

I wouldn't bother playing the NA release unless they gave me a really, really, really good reason to.

[strikerhunter]

On a side note: I personally think that people playing on the jap server is indirectly screwing over the chances of a western release. But take what I say with a grain of salt.

Players playing on a foreign server has nothing to do with the chances of any releases. Especially when the foreign population is only a minor part of the game's population (10-15%).

[BlankM]

I enjoy (relatively) small communities so I won't be going to US server even if it did come.

[gigawuts]

There is such a relatively small amount of money coming from western players that saying something like that is akin to saying you think people importing PSU at launch reduced the odds of PSU launching in the west.

Seriously. If there is something preventing it, it's either the cavernous gap in the game's built up culture that wouldn't appeal to the western masses, or the competition with pre-established titles that generally handle things less restrictively, which is much more appreciated in the west. To make a blanket general statement, western F2P games tend to reward players and promote paying with even more rewards - eastern F2P games punish players and promote paying to reduce punishments.

[darkwraith007]

Here's the rub, said much more clearly in this (http://www.screwattack.com/shows/partners/game-overthinker/game-overthinker-episode-56-setting-sun) video.

The non-Asian market (the markets outside of Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and nearby countries) has not always been the most profitable market for certain games.
Localization still costs a significant amount of money, although large companies like SEGA could drop the money on it in a heartbeat.

This is speculation on my part, but I believe that translators take their sweet time with things since they want to make sure they remain employed on a long-term basis. Why would they risk doing a fast/fantastic job, then getting fired & replaced in time for the next patch? If they're paid by the hour then it makes perfect sense for them to take as long as possible. If they're paid by the job, then it makes far less sense.

Since the post-crash of 1983, the video gaming boom was largely attributed to Nintendo's fantastic gamble at being able to revive video games as a viable economic force of entertainment. The failure of SEGA and the way Nintendo is struggling with the WiiU has many Asian developers looking to 'easier' and more profitable markets closer to home.

We (non-asian gamers) demand too much. We are less tolerant of bugs/glitches/crashes (for the most part). We're highly intolerant of 'buying power' in F2P games. We're very vocal and outspoken. Many of us are highly opinionated on how developers should do things and constantly seek to tell them how to do their job.
Asian developers don't want to deal with it. They don't care at all. They just want happy loyal profitable players that will play any shit garbage they spew out into the market. But the tides are changing.
Blade and Soul, a typical Korean-focused MMO by a Korean company, failed *miserably* in the market and was absolutely DESTROYED by the competition. Tides are changing to where even many Asian gamers are not willing to put up with shoddy quality and crappy support.

The era of 'quality over quantity' is over, essentially. We get a small bit of content with high quality, or a lot of content with very low quality. Expenses have also gone up, but so has executive compensation.

And the final bit to all this is ego. Many Asian developers have this fucking ego that says they have to have X profit projections in order to even consider a market viable. They don't care about the fans or catering to a niche market. They aren't worried about it. Many Japanese developers and gamers in particular have been infected with a dire case of Xenophobia. Their tightly-homogenized society is one that feels comfortable and familiar to them so they don't bother with anything else. Why bother? :P

I find it sad though. I wish SEGA would get their heads out of their asses and realize the non-Asian markets are just waiting to throw money at them if they started making certain smart decisions. But instead of that, they're just taking their ball and going home like a spoiled child. NO YOU CANT HAVE MY BALL I DONT LIKE THE WAY YOU LOOK HAHA!
Many of these behaviors by both developers and players are borderline-racist in their hostility and attitudes.

Non-Asian gamers have been getting screwed out of very good content for decades, and it is only getting worse as time goes along.
The ONLY good 'Back to the Future' game? Only in Japan for the Super Famicom. >_<

[Zysets]

Okay so like others said, I wouldn't switch. I'm having a good time playing on the Japanese servers, and I don't want to lose all the progress I've made so far. I have people I can play with regularly on the JP servers now, so it's cool.

[Masakan]

Here's the rub, said much more clearly in this (http://www.screwattack.com/shows/partners/game-overthinker/game-overthinker-episode-56-setting-sun) video.

The non-Asian market (the markets outside of Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and nearby countries) has not always been the most profitable market for certain games.
Localization still costs a significant amount of money, although large companies like SEGA could drop the money on it in a heartbeat.

This is speculation on my part, but I believe that translators take their sweet time with things since they want to make sure they remain employed on a long-term basis. Why would they risk doing a fast/fantastic job, then getting fired & replaced in time for the next patch? If they're paid by the hour then it makes perfect sense for them to take as long as possible. If they're paid by the job, then it makes far less sense.

Since the post-crash of 1983, the video gaming boom was largely attributed to Nintendo's fantastic gamble at being able to revive video games as a viable economic force of entertainment. The failure of SEGA and the way Nintendo is struggling with the WiiU has many Asian developers looking to 'easier' and more profitable markets closer to home.

We (non-asian gamers) demand too much. We are less tolerant of bugs/glitches/crashes (for the most part). We're highly intolerant of 'buying power' in F2P games. We're very vocal and outspoken. Many of us are highly opinionated on how developers should do things and constantly seek to tell them how to do their job.
Asian developers don't want to deal with it. They don't care at all. They just want happy loyal profitable players that will play any shit garbage they spew out into the market. But the tides are changing.
Blade and Soul, a typical Korean-focused MMO by a Korean company, failed *miserably* in the market and was absolutely DESTROYED by the competition. Tides are changing to where even many Asian gamers are not willing to put up with shoddy quality and crappy support.

The era of 'quality over quantity' is over, essentially. We get a small bit of content with high quality, or a lot of content with very low quality. Expenses have also gone up, but so has executive compensation.

And the final bit to all this is ego. Many Asian developers have this fucking ego that says they have to have X profit projections in order to even consider a market viable. They don't care about the fans or catering to a niche market. They aren't worried about it. Many Japanese developers and gamers in particular have been infected with a dire case of Xenophobia. Their tightly-homogenized society is one that feels comfortable and familiar to them so they don't bother with anything else. Why bother? :P

I find it sad though. I wish SEGA would get their heads out of their asses and realize the non-Asian markets are just waiting to throw money at them if they started making certain smart decisions. But instead of that, they're just taking their ball and going home like a spoiled child. NO YOU CANT HAVE MY BALL I DONT LIKE THE WAY YOU LOOK HAHA!
Many of these behaviors by both developers and players are borderline-racist in their hostility and attitudes.

Non-Asian gamers have been getting screwed out of very good content for decades, and it is only getting worse as time goes along.
The ONLY good 'Back to the Future' game? Only in Japan for the Super Famicom. >_<

Well said this is why I've always Enjoyed games from companies like Namco Bandai, Atlus and recently Square Enix. (the FF Fantards can say what they want I like SE's new approach.)

All of who make and honest effort to appeal to western audiences.

[Eternum]

Thoughtful post.

I wish I could "like" or "thank" posts in this forum.

[MetalDude]

Well said this is why I've always Enjoyed games from companies like Namco Bandai, Atlus and recently Square Enix. (the FF Fantards can say what they want I like SE's new approach.)

All of who make and honest effort to appeal to western audiences.

Their other games, sure. They've done pretty decent there. FF? Sorry, but 13 was atrocious, 13-2 was mediocre. Just wanted to throw that out there.

[Masakan]

Their other games, sure. They've done pretty decent there. FF? Sorry, but 13 was atrocious, 13-2 was mediocre. Just wanted to throw that out there.

7 is overrated
9 put me to sleep
8 was the worst piece of garbage game I've ever played
10 got repetitive after zanarkand
and the 13 series imo is one of the better entries in the series.
I didn't even really Like FF until 12 and we all know how much people hated that.

Of course I've always been a tales fan by nature so take that however you please.

You may now proceed to flame me into oblivion and wish all sorts of heinous deaths on me.

[MetalDude]

7 is overhyped, but it's a good game. I agree with the rest though, I actually hate most of SE's post-7 work and I think 13 is simply the apex of "cinematic video game" bullshit which is why I hate it so much. It's not a video game. Never played 13-2 but I heard better of it at the very least but at this point I don't care anymore.

And Tales is awesome so there's that.

[Reyva]

Eh back in its time when it first came out, FF7 was awesome. Played that game like no other over and over.

FF8 wasn't as bad either. A bit different, but I liked it. Once again, I'm talking as if we had the playstation, n64, sega saturn and no ps2 and so on. If you are of the newer generation and had all these other games, ofcourse its gonna be crap lolz.

Found 9 to be not so fun. Infact boring. To this day, never finished it. Mostly the story, characters, and so on.

10 was just too short for me. Loved it, but too short. Heck even x-2 wasn't that bad after I used to tell people that was game was crap. Battle system was actually pretty cool after I ACTUALLY played the game lol.

12 was boring. The rest I haven't bothered because I don't own a ps3 and I'm too lazy to buy games for xblox 360.

Anyways, point is that we can all call these games crap, but SE made a buttload of $ off each one. What about those other "no name" games that came out that aren't around anymore. Shoot, Tales series and Xeno series are the only ones still going these days.


Off topic I KNOW lol

================

Anyways on topic, whats the point of NA pso2? I've been scammed since pso dc and segac still can't get it right. Odds are all the events the JP version had we won't get, the cash shop would be ridiculous, and someone will screw with the game/servers.

Rather just stay here on the JP version. The NA version would have to offer something out of this world for me to actually play on it. Either that or SoJ saying : "JP onRY now EnG get out!" and basically blocking everyone outside of Japan from the game and the website. Sure, can get over that little "firewall", but average joe won't.

So thats the only way I guess. Even then, NA version will be 5 years behind.

[Masakan]

Anyways on topic, whats the point of NA pso2? I've been scammed since pso dc and segac still can't get it right. Odds are all the events the JP version had we won't get, the cash shop would be ridiculous, and someone will screw with the game/servers.

Rather just stay here on the JP version. The NA version would have to offer something out of this world for me to actually play on it. Either that or SoJ saying : "JP onRY now EnG get out!" and basically blocking everyone outside of Japan from the game and the website. Sure, can get over that little "firewall", but average joe won't.

So thats the only way I guess. Even then, NA version will be 5 years behind.

Why do i get the feeling this will actually happen eventually?

[Rekku]

Why do i get the feeling this will actually happen eventually?They won't do this until we get our own game. Like someone said earlier, they keep us around because money. They know we buy AC, and they know there's enough of a foreign population that they would notice losses if they kicked us out. Of course the game would still prosper without us, but we all know by now that they want to milk PSO2 for all it's worth, which includes that bit of foreign income.

Come on, it's obvious based on their ToS and culture that they technically don't want us, and they have the power to mass IP block at any time. But they can't, not until we have a place to give them money. And right now that place is their own servers, the only ones in existence.

If I were them, I'd probably do the same thing. Ban when my Japanese ego gets the best of me, but keep the ones that pay.

[Neferpitou]

Just forget about NA PSO2. It'll be full of new players and chat spam. I don't want Block 20 to be every block. And I want to play with competent players. NA PSO2 would be full of morons.

[Totori]

PSU NA had some pretty good players. B20 isn't all bad, just a few one that block just prefer to be social rather then play the game through missions.

[Masakan]

Just forget about NA PSO2. It'll be full of new players and chat spam. I don't want Block 20 to be every block. And I want to play with competent players. NA PSO2 would be full of morons.

Implying that all Japanese players are just top-notch upstanding players...give me a break

[Light dragon]

However for anyone experienced PSO2 NA would feel like a bunch of morons.

[Freshellent]

If you wanted to avoid morons you most certainly would not be coming to this forum.

[Masakan]

However for anyone experienced PSO2 NA would feel like a bunch of morons.

Now that's just pretentious sounding. You would think that you would be happy to show newer players the ropes if they don't know what to do.

But instead you would just be like, "Join the jap server, It's 1 million times better than the stupid NA one because its the original." (join the dark side, we have cake!)

Look If you prefer to stay in japan, That's your prerogative. If it ever does come out here (although that's wishful thinking at this point) I would hope you would at least have to decency not to try and coerce people into switching servers.

[Light dragon]

@Masakan Oh no personally I am waiting for an international release for I can play with my girl ^_^ and I would definitely not tell people to join JP server mostly because it is a lot of hoop jumping just to play and at point said jumping is pointless. If you didn't do it originally what is the point later?

@Freshellent For personal opinion I think this forum is a lot better off than most.

[Link1275]

Who do you blame, SoJ or SoA? x2 Blame Combo?

Are some of you only playing the JP version just to pass the time until a localized one happens? Would this soil your enjoyment of JP PSO2? Would you continue to play? Would you do anything? Write SEGA angry letters? Go to PAX and kick the guy at the SEGA booth? Are you one of those people that will not be the least bit surprised? You saw it coming? No skin off your back?

Bonus Question : Will the translation team continue to update the english measures they currently have if an official english version was to release?

I'm curious!

[spoiler-box]http://25.media.tumblr.com/858a594ec138e77afcbfeac68c400b52/tumblr_mhs31rHuhZ1rrx8wzo1_500.gif[/spoiler-box]
To answer your questions in order,
Who cares who's fault it is? If they aren't making a western version, it's time to throw a party!
I'm only going to play the JP version of PSO2, because I played on the US PSP2 servers.
No it would not spoil my enjoyment of JP PSO2.
No, I wouldn't do anything other than throw a metaphorical party.
No.
I might do that either way.
Not surprised in the slightest.

The English patch Dev team has already stated that they will be using the Official English names if they ever do release a western version.

[Zysets]

FF? Sorry, but 13 was atrocious, 13-2 was mediocre. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I loved 13! 13 was pretty good. At least to me.

[ZcRaider]

Here's the rub, said much more clearly in this (http://www.screwattack.com/shows/partners/game-overthinker/game-overthinker-episode-56-setting-sun) video.

The non-Asian market (the markets outside of Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and nearby countries) has not always been the most profitable market for certain games.
Localization still costs a significant amount of money, although large companies like SEGA could drop the money on it in a heartbeat.

This is speculation on my part, but I believe that translators take their sweet time with things since they want to make sure they remain employed on a long-term basis. Why would they risk doing a fast/fantastic job, then getting fired & replaced in time for the next patch? If they're paid by the hour then it makes perfect sense for them to take as long as possible. If they're paid by the job, then it makes far less sense.

Since the post-crash of 1983, the video gaming boom was largely attributed to Nintendo's fantastic gamble at being able to revive video games as a viable economic force of entertainment. The failure of SEGA and the way Nintendo is struggling with the WiiU has many Asian developers looking to 'easier' and more profitable markets closer to home.

We (non-asian gamers) demand too much. We are less tolerant of bugs/glitches/crashes (for the most part). We're highly intolerant of 'buying power' in F2P games. We're very vocal and outspoken. Many of us are highly opinionated on how developers should do things and constantly seek to tell them how to do their job.
Asian developers don't want to deal with it. They don't care at all. They just want happy loyal profitable players that will play any shit garbage they spew out into the market. But the tides are changing.
Blade and Soul, a typical Korean-focused MMO by a Korean company, failed *miserably* in the market and was absolutely DESTROYED by the competition. Tides are changing to where even many Asian gamers are not willing to put up with shoddy quality and crappy support.

The era of 'quality over quantity' is over, essentially. We get a small bit of content with high quality, or a lot of content with very low quality. Expenses have also gone up, but so has executive compensation.

And the final bit to all this is ego. Many Asian developers have this fucking ego that says they have to have X profit projections in order to even consider a market viable. They don't care about the fans or catering to a niche market. They aren't worried about it. Many Japanese developers and gamers in particular have been infected with a dire case of Xenophobia. Their tightly-homogenized society is one that feels comfortable and familiar to them so they don't bother with anything else. Why bother? :P

I find it sad though. I wish SEGA would get their heads out of their asses and realize the non-Asian markets are just waiting to throw money at them if they started making certain smart decisions. But instead of that, they're just taking their ball and going home like a spoiled child. NO YOU CANT HAVE MY BALL I DONT LIKE THE WAY YOU LOOK HAHA!
Many of these behaviors by both developers and players are borderline-racist in their hostility and attitudes.

Non-Asian gamers have been getting screwed out of very good content for decades, and it is only getting worse as time goes along.
The ONLY good 'Back to the Future' game? Only in Japan for the Super Famicom. >_<

Man....you laid down da truth. Im gonna buy you a beer :beer:

[Zipzo]

Blade and Soul, a typical Korean-focused MMO by a Korean company, failed *miserably* in the market and was absolutely DESTROYED by the competition. Tides are changing to where even many Asian gamers are not willing to put up with shoddy quality and crappy support.

Where on earth are you getting your information? This is blatantly false. Blade & Soul has been a massive success in Korea, matched and in competition only with Aion and Diablo 3. As of the beginning of 2013, BnS was ranked #2 most played game in Korea based on both internet cafe statistics user tracking compiled on by subscription counts...second only to League of Legends which by the way is the most played online game in the world. Currently, it is the #2 most played MMORPG in Korea second only to Aion, and the running is incredibly close.

You should do your research before spouting off absolutely false nonsense. BnS has been anything but a failure, you could consider it a grand slam. A hit. An utter success.


And the final bit to all this is ego. Many Asian developers have this fucking ego that says they have to have X profit projections in order to even consider a market viable. They don't care about the fans or catering to a niche market. They aren't worried about it. Many Japanese developers and gamers in particular have been infected with a dire case of Xenophobia. Their tightly-homogenized society is one that feels comfortable and familiar to them so they don't bother with anything else. Why bother? :P

Boy do I get tired of hearing this one. While I don't think these pure assumptions based on stereotype are random or aren't at least somewhat generated through a certain observation & perception of the actions of Japanese company conduct, all statements like this ever amount to is a heaping pile of ignorance.

Kick all the Mexican people out of your country and call it border control. You don't get every single foreign developed video game and it's xenophobia? The logic just eludes me, but more notably the hypocrisy is blinding.

[Masakan]

Man....you laid down da truth. Im gonna buy you a beer :beer:

So Let me see if I got this right.

Western Players are too verbal with complains, We will point out flaws will will point out problems. Will will openly say when something is making a big issue. And rather than deal with that, They rather just not bring the game to the west at all?

[AgemFrostMage]

They won't do this until we get our own game. Like someone said earlier, they keep us around because money. They know we buy AC, and they know there's enough of a foreign population that they would notice losses if they kicked us out. Of course the game would still prosper without us, but we all know by now that they want to milk PSO2 for all it's worth, which includes that bit of foreign income.

Come on, it's obvious based on their ToS and culture that they technically don't want us, and they have the power to mass IP block at any time. But they can't, not until we have a place to give them money. And right now that place is their own servers, the only ones in existence.

If I were them, I'd probably do the same thing. Ban when my Japanese ego gets the best of me, but keep the ones that pay.

At least provincially Japanese companies like Sega don't try being anything else whereas American companies always try being international and catering to everyone. But didn't foreign markets like Baywatch when it only thought Americans were watching? Try being international and you lose certain somethings. Sega did mass ban Chinese gamers though =( In Wonderland Online, a Taiwan based MMO, even the translation was terrible in many quest, but it still kept its flavor and IGG makes major changes, like grossly overcharging ($200 USD over for a completely upgraded item mall sword including strong scrolls. Yes you read that correct!)
and no need for element beads to use dragon soul skill.

You also needed alchemy to make weapons and armor, and was very RNG heavy. Look up Wonderland Online's alchemy process, many players would hate this game and reading what many say on Asian MMOs I understand why, the west and east have very different gaming cultures.

I think only western version had bursting though (people buy weights to get speed down so they can combo with pets, dismiss pets, then repeat process until 180 unpromoted), which is a glitch that allowed fast leveling. Even I did it, three fire alts, one water. Sometimes I let wind or earth friends join to help them level too. I did like their tent and selling system, no central trading post but set up tents and manufacture your own shelves and vending machines and must visit other players' tents to buy. Customizing tent was a good part of the game, when I went to WoW I was disappointed in no player housing or adding stat points to wherever you wanted per level. PvP is max out strength, rest into agility, PvE no agility since you can never outright the hard bosses, but max strength or INT, rest into constitution for HP/Defense.

[EXPFULL]

plz remove 'hypothetical' from thread title

thx

This.

[Shinamori]

Wasn't the change in the ToS due to people hacking in open beta?

[Golto]

SoJ has 100% of the blame for this. I don't know why some people here thinks SoA has the power over bringing games to NA.

[gigawuts]

Wasn't the change in the ToS due to people hacking in open beta?

That might have been the excuse they'll give, but I'm sure they wanted to put it in either way. That was just a happy accident that kept them from looking bad when they did it.

When the game shifted from being announced as an international title to being a regional title it was pretty obvious that little footnote was going to be put in eventually, but they couldn't do it just out of the blue. Or, maybe they really did want to leave it out if things went smoothly, but when the hacking was going on they had to do something that would give them an assured reason to ban any foreigners.

Kind of like being pulled over for having your taillight out and a cop using this as a way to get closer to your vehicle to gain probable cause to search your car. On its own the rule isn't a big deal - it's even a good one in principle - but in combination with other factors it can make addressing a problem so much easier without technically breaking any rules. So troublemakers will get banned for being foreigners, and civil players might not.

[Karazykid]

IF it releases and IF it's as current as the JP version and IF it doesn't impose new bullshit restrictions to encourage cash shop spending I might consider eventually switching IF my friends do.

But really, the English patch is getting better and better and so far it's not like we're getting kicked for not knowing moonspeak, so I'll be staying on the JP side of things.

[darkwraith007]

*mindless ranting snipped*

I knew that someone might poke me as to where my sources are and so on. I figured at least one slow person might not be able to properly read what I typed when I specifically qualified my statements as not 100% covering everyone of X type and so on.
Apparently, you are the lucky winner, so here we go.
First, I'm just gonna point out the hypocrisy of someone who lambasts me for not linking sources when you have done the very same thing. Where are you getting your information, hmm? Hypocrite! :P

1 - Blade and Soul (B&S) cost a significant amount of money for NcSoft in order to produce. Gonna go all financials on ya now :P

The money B&S has made since launch has not been enough to offset the ridiculously high costs of production. That is why NcSoft considers it a 'failure'. If you look at their financial statements available here (http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/quarterly.aspx), then you'll see B&S had 10% of total sales in the 4th Quarter of 2012. However, in the 1st Quarter of 2013, you see that B&S dropped down to 9% of total sales, while both Aion and Lineage 1 (L1) were older games far inferior in graphic quality and cost but far more profitable. During the 1Q of 2013, Aion jumped to almost double the sales of B&S.

By sharp contrast, the massive overwhelming 4Q sales of GW2 was a fantastic boon for NcSoft. Almost HALF of the 4Q sales for 2012 were from ONE GAME, a game NOT aimed at the Korean market! That is amazing and just goes to show that a fantastic team (ArenaNet) that has been given enough freedom to do the best they can and the money to build something fantastic can reap fantastic and healthy profits.

2 - Now for your terrible no-source rambling about popular games in Korea. My source here (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.17173.com%2Fcontent%2F2013-07-15%2F20130715085744778.shtml&act=url) shows that as of July 3rd of 2013, the most popular games had League of Legends in first place with 39.53%, Aion in 4th place with 3.99%, and B&S in 5th place with 3.97% of total Korean game market share. That 'Sword of the Spirit' is the Chinese name for B&S as seen in this article (http://ph.news.yahoo.com/koreas-top-10-most-popular-110014521.html) with the same information in English by 'Tech In Asia'.

Blade and Soul is considered a 'failure' by NcSoft because it hasn't become profitable enough to sufficiently recoup the cost of production (in financial speak the 'cost of goods sold').
Blade and Soul is such a failure that it is going Free to Play in China (http://www.mmoculture.com/2013/04/blade-soul-china-server-announces-free-to-play-model/) with significant benefits to those who do pay/subscribe!

Korean players are absolutely outraged and have threatened not to renew their subscriptions because of the way they feel completely ripped off. In addition to paying a subscription, the cash shop prices for the Korean version of B&S appear to be outrageously high. There was a great deal of controversy (http://bns.mmosite.com/news/08032013/cash_shops_necessity_to_support_the_game_you_love. shtml) over the summer swimsuits (http://bns.mmosite.com/news/07312013/blade_and_soul_kr_slices_of_watermelons_traded_for _swimsuits.shtml) (costing the equivalent of $45 in the Korean cash shop!) that were supposed to be available through an in-game event, but droprates and other stupidity on the part of NcSoft coerced most non-insane players to require them to pony up cash for the full outfit if they didn't have tons of time to play (excess of 12+ hours a day supposedly to earn it). Mind you this is in a SUBSCRIPTION Korean game in NcSoft's home market!

By contrast, China's players get far more reasonable prices to the point where they're absolutely stunned (http://www.mmoculture.com/2013/05/blade-soul-cash-shop-preview-stuns-players-with-low-prices/) by it.

Now then. While you may be ok with babbling nonsense, hypocrisy, and accusing others of making stuff up, I believe that I've shown a small part of what I have in store in forum contributions. I don't take kindly to those who treat me poorly or show a nasty attitude without something to back it up.

My statements made toward how MANY Asian game developers treat the non-Asian market is something that is based on personal experience; something of which many people here can attest to from the likes of SEGA in their near-hostile apathy towards non-Asian customers in previous Phantasy Star games. I stand by the statements because I made sure that I didn't speak in absolutes. I used the terms many and most to indicate my observations from the behavior of SEGA and other development/publishing companies that hold their main headquarters in an Asian country. With those qualifiers in place, I didn't feel the need for a specific special disclaimer or similar wording. I'd already said 'in my belief' earlier in that post. I actually noticed that I should've included another 'many' in there before 'Asian developers' but I type too fast for that and I'd already made it fairly obvious by my other statements that I wasn't applying it to EVERY 'Asian developer'. I even qualified 'Asian developer' as being from any one of several countries in the East-Asian subcontinent region.

Now grab a towel and wipe yourself off; you got your stupid all over my forum posts.