PSP2i Questions for the experienced.

[h2olight]

Hi everyone.

I'm a long-time PSO fan, it was a major part of my childhood growing up.

I've been playing PSU as of late, but it's finally hit me that Sega hasn't, and won't, update PSU for North American servers. (When I logged off in 2005, everyone was doing White Beast S because it was the newest/best mission. I logged on again in 2011 and everyone was STILL doing White Beast S.)

I really want to buy PSP2i and I have a PSP, all I need are a couple of questions answered before I order it from Playasia.

1. Is it easy to play the game without knowing any Japanese?
2. Can I play online without hacking my PSP (are there IP blocks on regions?)
3. Is there a sizable English speaking population to play with from this website?
4. Does it still get updates? Or can I at least expect more content in PSP2i than I find in PSU?
5. Monthly Fees?

Please and thank you for any and all assistance!

[Mike]

Let's start with the easy questions.

5. Monthly Fees?

No.

2. Can I play online without hacking my PSP (are there IP blocks on regions?)

No IP blocks, just load up the UMD. You'll need a Japanese PSN account to play online though.

3. Is there a sizable English speaking population to play with from this website?

I'm not sure if the population is particularly sizable. Time-zone depending, you'll usually be able to find someone from PSOW online though.

4. Does it still get updates? Or can I at least expect more content in PSP2i than I find in PSU?

The life of a PSP game is fairly limited so most new content distribution stops around the 8-month mark or sooner. There is a lot of content though and new missions and items are still being distributed.

1. Is it easy to play the game without knowing any Japanese?

If you're familiar with PSU then Infinity shouldn't be too hard to grasp but how do you feel about playing a game in a language you don't understand one bit of? You won't get the story (which you have to finish to unlock stuff) and you may not be able to understand some of the special things that happen in some missions.

[DeviFoxx]

1: Yes. Especially if you're familiar with how PSU, and PSPortable played. The menu layouts are virtually the same, and there's plenty of translations for menus available for you to cross-reference.
2 : Yes, you can play online. No, IPs are not region-blocked. There's something of an established English-speaking userbase on the Japanese Infinity servers.
3 : (See #2. Myself and a number of others from these very forums are included in that population.)
4 : Of course it still gets updates. It only just came out on February 24th in Japan. It's still relatively new. It's the American / European version that doesn't get updated at all, and is based off of old content Japanese players got first. You'd be ahead of everyone else if you played on the JP servers in terms of content.
5 : Monthly fees on a handheld? No way. It's free to play. Just need a serial key that comes with a purchased copy of the game.

[Shugo17]

1: As long as you aren't trying to follow the story, it plays similar to PSPo2. New features are rod blocking and alternative chargeshots for ranged weapons.

2: you can play online without hacking your PSP, you just need a Japanese PSN account. There are tutorials all over YouTube, so making one won't be an issue.

3: There are plenty of us here that play Infinity, so finding a party won't be hard.

4: It just came out, so there is plenty of DLC out there.

5: No monthly fees

[h2olight]

Thank you everyone who replied!!!

I live in Florida, do you think I'll get lag?

Either way, I'm buying the game today! THANKS!

[Crystal_Shard]

Just a note. With the PSN JP Store still down, you won't be able to play online just yet, as you can't redeem the product code, neither can you buy the DDL copy.

You'll probably get some lag, but that should be mitigated if your network connection is fairly fast and stable. I'm using a 3G router (though admittedly at a fairly high advertised rate) for playing and not having any problems.

[h2olight]

"Just a note. With the PSN JP Store still down, you won't be able to play online just yet, as you can't redeem the product code, neither can you buy the DDL copy.

You'll probably get some lag, but that should be mitigated if your network connection is fairly fast and stable. I'm using a 3G router (though admittedly at a fairly high advertised rate) for playing and not having any problems."

I'm sorry?
PSN JP?

[Crystal_Shard]

The Japanese Playstation Network Store. In order to play online, you will receive a Product Code that you will need to redeem in the aforementioned store. If you're buying your copy now from Play Asia, with the store offline, you cannot redeem the code, and thus cannot log onto the Playstation Network to play online.

Though, it seems like some others are saying that the store is back up already, albeit somewhat buggy. Perhaps my info may be slightly out of date. ^_^

[Mike]

Unfortunatly, that would be the stores in locales outside of Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.

[Crystal_Shard]

Ah, that's a shame then. Looks like my note was spot on then.