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Phantasy Star Online 2 coming to PS4. Will be playable at TGS.
- Thread starter Netto-kun
- Start date
To quote myself from the announcement thread:
Also remember that it's a f2p game. If it came to the West do you think that many people would pay to play Scratch or just keep playing for free, like most of the English speaking crowd does on the Japanese server?
There seems to be a new (short) trailer for the PS4 version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeDXQhVPLbw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeDXQhVPLbw
CertifiedFP
Member
Yeah, where did things go wrong?
How, in a decade, did we go from PSUniverse being THE 360 game (Up until Halo 3 and CoD4 came out), to Phantasy Star being on Sega's "Do not localize" list?
And the F2P model can work just fine if Sega knows what they're doing. Through effective marketing (A dark art Sega has long forgotten) and effective rework of microtransactions to adapt the game for Rest of the World markets, they could have had a success on their hands, especially if they could achieve the levels of content-parity that Square Enix maintains with Final Fantasy XIV.
How, in a decade, did we go from PSUniverse being THE 360 game (Up until Halo 3 and CoD4 came out), to Phantasy Star being on Sega's "Do not localize" list?
And the F2P model can work just fine if Sega knows what they're doing. Through effective marketing (A dark art Sega has long forgotten) and effective rework of microtransactions to adapt the game for Rest of the World markets, they could have had a success on their hands, especially if they could achieve the levels of content-parity that Square Enix maintains with Final Fantasy XIV.
Absoludacrous
Member
I mean, there's a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is that the bolded was never true to begin with.
I'm over it at this point but Sega pissed me off enough with this that I'll never support anything their company does going forward they can seriously get lost.
Are you mistake PSU for gears of war, I think you are
Don't they IP block people that aren't from those regions though?
Teletraan1
Banned
I never understand why these games in particular don't get localized. They aren't some narrative driven 80hr jrpg. Admittedly I only played Blue Burst but that just consisted of doing the same areas over and over on higher difficulty with a handful of missions that were just delivered in text form. The game is an exercise in repetition. There isn't much content to localize. Does sega not have any server infrastructure in NA/EU?
Sumio Mondo
Member
"Not currently". People need to contact Gio Corsi and make this happen. The dude helped make Shenmue 3 happen (along with Ryan Payton and Adam Boyes), so people really need to Tweet Gio about their interest with this game! Force SEGA's hand once again.
It's extremely rare for a PSN game to be IP blocked.
Off the top of my head, the only game I remember being blocked was PS3's Karaoke game Joysound. And even that one was replaced by an unblocked version now...
djplaeskool
Member
It's a realm only COG (Capcom Online) really makes use of.
Monster Hunter Frontier, Dragon's Dogma Online, etc, are all ip blocked.
Sega doesn't.
There were some ISP-related networking shenanigans in the wake of a major DDoS attack last summer, but that has been cleared up.
This does actually kinda invalidate your view on this tbh. Blue Burst was a loooong time ago, and much has changed since then.
Teletraan1
Banned
So the game is very dialog heavy now? I just don't think even with a modernization of the series that it would be a huge task to localize. Yakuza sure, but a loot game with a basic narrative...I don't see it.
Wonko_C
Member
It has an ever-expanding story mode with full voice acting (not to mention branching paths), aside from that there is a lot of text in the form of client orders (side quests), item descriptions, side stories, tutorial texts, and probably a lot of stuff I'm forgetting.
It's very very dialogue heavy. Nothing like the minimalist approach taken by classic PSO at all. Even the fan translation has numerous amounts of minor NPC dialogue un-translated because there's just so much of it.
To be fair, early on it wasn't as easy to buy stuff for the game. Also, I imagine lots of people don't know that PSO2es can be used to buy Arks Cash, or that Arks Layer sells it.
The games have had significantly more dialog since
There's obviously more of a barrier than just translation though. You translate Yakuza and you're done. For PSO2, you need to run the service itself, have GMs, provide constant updates, sort out a payment system, work out how to handle crossover promotions (for IPs that are often not very relevant in the west), etc.
I mean, I still think Sega fucking suck for not sorting it out regardless... but at the same time I can see why something like Yakuza is a simpler process.
Freeman76
Member
This is not going to happen, simple. And even so, you have to go through all the aggravation of setting up a JP PSN account. So I care if it doesn't come to the West, thank you very much!
Theanine3D
Member
I can understand not localizing it. What I'll never understand is announcing a localization and then going silent for years about it, and insisting it's still coming when asked about it. It's totally bizarre.
Just announce that it's canceled in the West and be done with it already. Nothing good has come out of giving fans false hope. All it does is embitter them and make them reluctant to trust you in the future.
Just announce that it's canceled in the West and be done with it already. Nothing good has come out of giving fans false hope. All it does is embitter them and make them reluctant to trust you in the future.
PlayStation Japan has a 2+ minute trailer, though no idea if this is really old or new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyKFnrKGslk
You would think they would have reconsidered by now seeing Destiny do whatever numbers it did, with a more aggressive payment model.
I dont see how they cant think it wouldnt have been profitable -- this game is literally Destiny minus PvP.
Everything else matches pound for pound with Destiny:
-Mission "random events"
-gear treadmill
-Guns, guns, and more guns.
-Bosses galore (raids)
-"hunter's hub"
Everything else is better:
-Character creation
-Character customization
-Swords, dual pistols, tons of different weapons beyond gunsVergil like dmc combos, weapon switching combos etc...
-3rd person, so you can see your character
-Actual text chat
I dont see how they cant think it wouldnt have been profitable -- this game is literally Destiny minus PvP.
Everything else matches pound for pound with Destiny:
-Mission "random events"
-gear treadmill
-Guns, guns, and more guns.
-Bosses galore (raids)
-"hunter's hub"
Everything else is better:
-Character creation
-Character customization
-Swords, dual pistols, tons of different weapons beyond gunsVergil like dmc combos, weapon switching combos etc...
-3rd person, so you can see your character
-Actual text chat
Freeman76
Member
This is not going to happen, simple. And even so, you have to go through all the aggravation of setting up a JP PSN account. So I care if it doesn't come to the West, thank you very much!
djplaeskool
Member
It's just showcasing some of the graphical improvements on PS4 (and coming to PC)
It's mostly just improved textures, lighting, and particle effects.
Since this thread has been bumped, I'll share my short impressions from Thursday, when I was able to play the game during the TGS:
I personally like the improved graphics and the game was really smooth on the PS4. Can't wait.
It's kind of funny, how they announced the engine upgrade a few hours later, but I'm not surprised that they don't want any uncontrolled leaks.
I personally like the improved graphics and the game was really smooth on the PS4. Can't wait.
The posts talking about the costs involved with running a f2p game probably have a good point. Sega in the west, especially the US, has been gutted pretty hard since PSO 2 was announced. Even stuff like Yakuza is translated by an outside firm and localization programming is handled by the original team iirc.
I don't know how sound it actually is, but there's a theory that Sega West was going to fund some of these major localization efforts with profits from their cash-cow Aliens franchise, and when Colonial Marines flopped they had to cut way back, both in people and plans. And Sega Japan probably wasn't interested in saving the western branch from their own mistakes, even if it would've meant more income overall.
I don't know how sound it actually is, but there's a theory that Sega West was going to fund some of these major localization efforts with profits from their cash-cow Aliens franchise, and when Colonial Marines flopped they had to cut way back, both in people and plans. And Sega Japan probably wasn't interested in saving the western branch from their own mistakes, even if it would've meant more income overall.
magwizsorc
Member
Would a publisher with multiple MMORPGs under their name , like Nexon or Trion, ever pick up this kind of thing if they thought the potential was there?
PSU also did really well in the West on the 360
Sir Abacus
Member
The lighting looks much better, but everything else has this sheen to it which makes it look plasticy/slimy. Reminds me of when quake 1/2 source got released and modders immediately started applying bumpmapped textures to stuff.