I think it varies. Some of the JP people I talk to/occasionally group with are long-time Phantasy Star fans, most of them played PSO1, and the Phantasy Stars before that.
So they're not very pleased about PSO2's direction in general, or at least that's the impression I get from them. They certainly didn't think highly of the anime.
But SEGA supposedly said something like, PSO2 is intended to be a community/social phenomenon rather than a game (I forget the exact wording).
I have JP friends who don't really play games but hang out on PSO2 because it's one of the things friend circles do to socialize.
SEGA has all these social events and such that hook people in with their friendly atmosphere and appealing to nearly every demographic.
I think those are the people who are much more likely to enjoy the anime, and episode 4. Because they didn't really care about "Phantasy Star" to begin with.
They probably think it's neat seeing an anime of the game they kinda hang out in. Equivalent of "casual gamers", I guess.
Whereas I'd imagine people like myself who really liked PSO1's futuristic atmosphere, universe, story, immersion etc... feel kinda violated by the whole game within a game within a game within an anime within modern highschool girls whatever weirdness.
And I'm tired as hell and going to sleep now.