Well that didn't take long. Actually, maybe it's taking too long, depending on which side of the announcement you look at. After a brief open beta and a full-scale rollout in Japan last week, Sega has announced that its free-to-play action-RPG, Phantasy Star Online 2, will be coming to North America and Europe in 2013. That's the part that might be taking a bit too long.

In case you haven't seen any of the video we've been running, it's been relatively easy to get into the Japanese version of the game, despite the language barrier. In fact, it's starting to seem like foreigners are absolutely flooding Sega's servers, as the agreed-upon servers and lobbies where English-speakers congregate seem to be getting absolutely packed. This has led to a bit of server maintenance as Sega attempts to rejigger the ship and block system a bit to take some of the rush off. Of course, it's not just English speakers that are filling up the game. The first five ships (servers, or "shards" if you want to be a jerk about it) aren't accepting any new character creation, though that's said to be a temporary restriction. Generally speaking, the game's servers have been holding up pretty well under the load.

It'll be interesting to see how Sega handles the English-language version of the game. Will North American players have access to the Japanese servers? Or will they be split off? If they're split, will that lead to a situation where new content debuts first on the Japanese servers and then eventually trickles over to the English servers? The PSO franchise has sort of a spotty past when it comes to bringing all of its Japanese content over to the other servers, after all. Will the slightly-higher-than-they-should-be prices of items and character creation passes see any adjustments when they leave Japan? Will I be able to continue to use the RAcast that I've already put 40 hours into, or is he stuck on the Japanese servers forever? That's the sort of stuff I'm left wondering about, but these are questions Sega probably won't be prepared to answer until it gets a little bit closer to launch.

It's also worth noting that Sega's announcement only covers the PC version of the game. Some form of the game is also scheduled to appear on Vita, iPhone, and Android.

Well that didn't take long. Actually, maybe it's taking too long, depending on which side of the announcement you look at. After a brief open beta and a full-scale rollout in Japan last week, Sega has announced that its free-to-play action-RPG, Phantasy Star Online 2, will be coming to North America and Europe in 2013. That's the part that might be taking a bit too long.

In case you haven't seen any of the video we've been running, it's been relatively easy to get into the Japanese version of the game, despite the language barrier. In fact, it's starting to seem like foreigners are absolutely flooding Sega's servers, as the agreed-upon servers and lobbies where English-speakers congregate seem to be getting absolutely packed. This has led to a bit of server maintenance as Sega attempts to rejigger the ship and block system a bit to take some of the rush off. Of course, it's not just English speakers that are filling up the game. The first five ships (servers, or "shards" if you want to be a jerk about it) aren't accepting any new character creation, though that's said to be a temporary restriction. Generally speaking, the game's servers have been holding up pretty well under the load.

It'll be interesting to see how Sega handles the English-language version of the game. Will North American players have access to the Japanese servers? Or will they be split off? If they're split, will that lead to a situation where new content debuts first on the Japanese servers and then eventually trickles over to the English servers? The PSO franchise has sort of a spotty past when it comes to bringing all of its Japanese content over to the other servers, after all. Will the slightly-higher-than-they-should-be prices of items and character creation passes see any adjustments when they leave Japan? Will I be able to continue to use the RAcast that I've already put 40 hours into, or is he stuck on the Japanese servers forever? That's the sort of stuff I'm left wondering about, but these are questions Sega probably won't be prepared to answer until it gets a little bit closer to launch.

It's also worth noting that Sega's announcement only covers the PC version of the game. Some form of the game is also scheduled to appear on Vita, iPhone, and Android.

im in

2013 is kinda long for a mostly-text translation job.

Boing!

i don't get this game or series

@PosableActionFigure said:

2013 is kinda long for a mostly-text translation job.

Maybe they are reworking some of the VO. Possibly just the tutorials?

Don't tell my Gamecube. She'll get jealous and cry.

I read "RAcast" as Racist >_>

While 2013 seems like it is too far out, I'm kind of relieved. I've been trying to get through some of my massive backlog of games recently and if PSO 2 came out soon that would only set me back further.

I'm fine with this, it gives me at least 6 months of Planetside2 before PSO2 takes over my life.

I would be surprised if this wasn't posted by Jeff.

@PosableActionFigure said:

2013 is kinda long for a mostly-text translation job.

Its not only that.. The producer said the wait will be worth it.. there will be more content for english launch then jp launch.

I don't play MMO's....I might actually try this one. I really liked what I saw in the QL

Hoo. Fucking. Ray.

Well now I don't know if I should start playing now or wait...

The power of Giantbomb.com, bring this game to the West...

Awesome. I wish I knew if i could start now though.

Game of the Year 2013 here we come.

@Nightriff: It's possible that you liked what you saw because this isn't an MMO.

I am excited to see what they announce for the localized version; I didn't want to play on the JP servers without knowing if I could keep any of that progress.

Why even bother? WERE ALL GONNA DIE THIS YEAR!!

All SoA needs to do is be up to date with the japanese version and mention some way to let english speaking players keep their characters, and I'm sold.

Otherwise I've put way too many hours into the game just to start over, and would rather deal with the crazy moon language if it means the game is providing new content faster and more often than the US release.

If they're smart, they'll just do text translation and just leave the Japanese VO. I honestly think it adds to the experience, since the game is hella Japanese to begin with.

As long as the current "Emergency Code" voice over stays, I'm in!

Feed your MAG American style.

Hmmm I could use a little phantasy in my star. Sure, why not.

That is a fair bit away but I will wait

@MeatSim said:

Feed your MAG American style.

Lardy cheesburger-ass MAG, here we come!

Shit is going to get real.

@Dhutch said:

As long as the current "Emergency Code" voice over stays, I'm in!

Nah, Nolan North's gotta make a living somehow.

I've only slightly tried the Japanese version, I'd be all in for an English release.

A kot of what could have been the hardcore fanbase of this game will probably have moved on when this drops in half a year or whatever.

@DeanoXD said:

i don't this game or series

huh?

@BraveToaster said:

@DeanoXD said:

i don't this game or series

huh?

LOL gg typing. i forgot the get

You did it!

Cool, but Shit! So far away, maaaaaybe I'll look into trying the Japanese version.

I never really understood the series myself (couldn't get into to PSU a while back), but I got really drawn to this game. Now I'm kind of at a crossroads now as to whether I'll wait, continue playing the JP version and play the Eng release regardless of whether my character caries over or not, or stop playing altogether until next year.

This is great news. I'm having a lot of fun in the Japanese version. I'll keep the Japanese version installed since I expect that there won't be any sort of cross-region character migration. I've never heard of anything like that being offered in an online game before. Also, there is the possibility that the North American and European version of the game will not be as well supported as the Japanese version. I hope that will not be true, but I've heard that the Phantasy Star Online series didn't get as great a treatment from Sega of America as fans would have liked.

As long as they don't ruin it with micro transactions I will be playing it.

Cool! I'll just wait for the us version than!

@MeatSim said:

Feed your MAG American style.

Big Macs and bacon?

Finally! I'm totally buying a new PC for this later this year.

Pfft, I'm not waiting for 2013! JP server here I come!

I just started playing today and it's so damn fun. The combat feels so good. My last phantasy experience was that private server blue burst, but this is already much more addicting.

I have fond memories of Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast so I might check this out..... Maybe.

I'm happy that the game is getting a western release, but 2013 seems a long way away. I'll just stick to the JP servers until then.

The best of news!

After seeing all the videos on the site about this game I think I'm going to get this for my Vita

When I first saw this on Joystiq I immediately wondered how Jeff felt.

Jeff has taken charge of all PSO-related news content, for the good of humanity and America

I think Jeff was dead on with what he said on the bombcast about making an English version of the game. Just translate the text so people don't have to use some 3rd party website just to get by. Voices would be ok I guess but I think the western players that are really fanatical about PSO2 don't need the thing dubbed with English voice work. Also, I imagine those players are already deep into the game and would prefer a quicker release. Otherwise they could be burnt out of the game by the time the English version comes out.