Phantasy Star Online 2 Announcement!

[coreyblueexclusive]

Don't trust Sega, people.

Trust Sakai instead, because he's heading this project, just as he headed the original PSO, and is inevitably as worried about whether the rest of the company will provide the necessary follow-through for PSO2 as we are.

Dont abandon us Sakai. (Please do not not make this game PSU related,seriously I'll have to look at that game for the next decade.

[Allison_W]

words

OK, you got me.

[S N K]

Only way they can do this if the server goes Global,if not this game wouldn't even be worth mentioning,it's gonna be the same BS.

Well to be fair they did it for the Dreamcast, Xbox and Gamecube Versions so it's not really an issue. The thing is even tho the servers were global, JPs stayed on their servers more and NAs stayed on theirs even tho they could cross over.

It was like looking at a fence you could easily jump over but didn't want to because you felt comfortable on your side.

But to expect them to allow player characters stored offline to be played online is absurd to the max. Far too many cheating possibilities there. There's a reason even Diablo 2 has such a segregation in place.

This is something I agree with 100%. I am totally for server side character data because it would literally prevent people from hacking gear/level/mags/whatever.

[Allison_W]

Well to be fair they did it for the Dreamcast, Xbox and Gamecube Versions so it's not really an issue. The thing is even tho the servers were global, JPs stayed on their servers more and NAs stayed on theirs even tho they could cross over.

It was like looking at a fence you could easily jump over but didn't want to because you felt comfortable on your side.

The point to global servers isn't some "let's all play together" hippie business. It's to prevent non-JP players from falling behind in terms of new content and other updates, as happened with the online PS titles that had separate regional servers. If all regions are connected such that they could play together if they were so inclined, they necessarily have to receive updates at the same time, and can't be on different update schedules.

Being able to play with people across a hilarious language barrier is just a bonus.

[S N K]

The point to global servers isn't some "let's all play together" hippie business. It's to prevent non-JP players from falling behind in terms of new content and other updates, as happened with the online PS titles that had separate regional servers. If all regions are connected such that they could play together if they were so inclined, they necessarily have to receive updates at the same time, and can't be on different update schedules.

That's the thing, The servers were connected but JPs of course were way more hardcore about farming items at the time. However when an NA did get something rare that a JP was looking for, they would come to that player on the NA side to work out a trade deal.

Trading of items of course was the part of PSO I enjoyed on the Gamecube. I ended up getting some great shit from JPs and NAs both.

Being able to play with people across a hilarious language barrier is just a bonus.

JPs weren't all bad but I'll be the 1st to state that a lot of them were xenophobic as fuck toward other players not from Japan.

[BahnKnakyu]

Basically, yeah. I understand that server-side characters are because of hacking and cheating, but I believe that can be taken care of with good moderation on Sega's part, which PSO never had.

I would settle for separate offline and online characters if need be, just to ensure I still have a game if I can't play online.

The problem here is Sega of America failed to do this with PSO DC/GC/XBOX. They failed to do it with PSOBB, and they failed to stop the hacking/cheating in PSU PC/PS2 (X360 seems a bit more secure).

Fourth time's a charm? If they kept it on a closed online ecosystem like the PS3 (yes, I'm aware of the jailbreaks, but currently you cannot go online even with a jailbroken PS3) or X360 it would be easier for Sega to deal with it, but for them to go straight to Windows either shows a bold (or foolish) move in their part, or Sega has found a way to actually keep that cheating down to a minimum without needing LameGuard (ala WoW and most half-decent MMOs out there).

Edit:

And yeah, what Allison_W is saying is the main thing that's giving me hope for the title. Sakai basically brought PSU back from the brink of death and fixed up a lot of the glaring issues that made the gameplay horrible pre-PSP1. Ever since Sakai took over, PSU has basically took a turn for the better, and with the new expansion pack along the way, it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon. The part I don't get is, Miyoshi produced PSO, and it was great, but I got no fucking idea what happened when he produced PSU and AOTI. It's like he suddenly forgot how to make a great game.

But yeah, at this point, my two concerns for PSO2 are:
1) Sega of Japan giving Sakai enough resources to make a great game. I had a small discussion with my friends about this. The fact that they announced a 2011 launch date, but did not provide ANY ingame info is very unsettling. Seems to imply to me that the project is either behind schedule or something weird is going on. A game that is expected to launch by next year should already have at least some sort of concept in-game mockup, but we didn't see anything like that. Just a photoshopped logo with a "2" tacked on the end.
2) Sega of America not being at the mercy of Sega of Japan for content updates. This shouldn't be the case since the game is global, which will force content parity on both sides of the world. However, if the game is not global, Sega of Japan better be good about support for their US branch, or else this game will die quickly like how PSU died in the states just 2-3 months after launch.

My fingers are crossed for SoJ and SoA to know what they're doing. I've been already thoroughly disappointed by the English localization of PSP2, and have been proven right about SoA's lack of support, but I'll give them one last chance with PSO2.

[Allison_W]

Actually, if I remember right, wasn't moderation better on the JP servers? If there's no regional segregation this time around, that should mean better moderation for us, too.

As for Miyoshi, clearly, the talent didn't come from him but rather from other important team members.

[ShinMaruku]

Wel as long as it ain't the Sonic team that did PSU or any of them Sonic Games.

[Zyrusticae]

JPs weren't all bad but I'll be the 1st to state that a lot of them were xenophobic as fuck toward other players not from Japan.

This is true. Japanese people in general are pretty xenophobic, though, so this is to be expected. Especially from a small nerdy community sub-set that lives on the internet. Trolls, etc.


On another note, it is indeed very curious that they have not shown any actual game footage or even CGI. For a project this big I imagine they'd been working on it (as in actual production) for at least a year or two. If they're not showing anything for marketing reasons I can understand, as it's still a ways from release, and they had to have SOMETHING for the anniversary date.

That, or they just like being big, evil cockteases.

[coreyblueexclusive]

This is true. Japanese people in general are pretty xenophobic, though, so this is to be expected. Especially from a small nerdy community sub-set that lives on the internet. Trolls, etc.


On another note, it is indeed very curious that they have not shown any actual game footage or even CGI. For a project this big I imagine they'd been working on it (as in actual production) for at least a year or two. If they're not showing anything for marketing reasons I can understand, as it's still a ways from release, and they had to have SOMETHING for the anniversary date.

That, or they just like being big, evil cockteases.

THIS is what has be worried,if this shit ends up like PSU,I'm kicking SEGA in the balls,they screwed me over to many times,and this is straw that broke camels back.(We dont know how long this been in production,and their just making a sequel for PSO,please dont tell me it takes 8 months to make a good game because it doesn't.(I hope it's been aleast year or something because they popped out of the blue with this announcement and thats what has me worried.)I'm afraid they wont put any love or effort in this game and it's just a money thing,I will BASH the shit out of this game on the official forums,so it better be good,or I'm unleashing the beast on their asses.