According to the latest news from the PSO2 team, if you’re outside of Japan and you’ve been connecting to the Japanese servers, you’ll no longer be able to play.

User Agreement Amendment – Notice

Thank you for your continued use of Phantasy Star Online 2. As of 11 am on August 8th, 2012, the Phantasy Star Online 2 user agreement will be amending to the following:

Section 2, Part 8 is hereby established:

Section 2 – Using the Game Server

• 8. Connection to the game server will be limited to software installed on computers located within Japan. Direct connections from outside Japan or connections from outside the country routed through computers located in Japan will be forbidden.

The Phantasy Star Online 2 team will continue diligently working to provide our players with even better service, so we ask that you continue honouring us with your use of our game.

~The Phantasy Star Online 2 Administration Team

Good thing I didn't invest much time in it then, I guess.

well i'm happy i stopped playing after i heard it was coming to the states, but feel bad for the people that actually managed to put money into the game.

Cant you use a VPN for this game?

I'm now glad I didn't fall down the rabbit hole of trying to play it in Japanese and just banked on them releasing it here. That's like two for one!

Cant you use a VPN for this game?

Not quite getting why they would do this when the english version isn't coming for a while. The fact that those who were interested could get in was the reason they decided to make a translated version in the first place. The only explanation that would make sense would be technical, perhaps server-side stuff?

I installed and went through the registration. I went through tutorial and looked around, instant head ache. I have gone through a Japanese game before using guides and what not...however....this is a little more complicated. With the fact I can loose NPC's or not understand a quest in English let alone using a guide as if someones telling me map directions and I just guessing from what I see in-front. (Dayz has taught me even with a map I get lost) I would not be able to last at the game.

I still have it installed to try again. However this seals it and ill wait for English. Man it sucks for the people that is playing it.

This probs have something to do with the English communities being the ones hacking or being hacked.

Bullshit. I certainly hope there's a way around this. my buddy's already put in well over a hundred hours, and I know that if PSO2 goes down, my brothers going to go back to Runescape (which I can't stand seeing him play).

whoever it is pulled that lobby hacking thing should kill himself or get murdered for it

Probably financial reasons, just like companies wanting people to buy the non-import copy of a game. Perhaps they think that if people invest too much in the Japanese servers, then who will play the ones in America?

Problem is, some people don't live in America or in Europe. Will they put those clauses on those servers too?

Really, all that they're doing is pissing off a lot of the people who got into the game outside of Japan. They had that in the user agreement during the closed beta, and then took it out. Now they're adding it back. So are they going to remove it again? Or is it here to stay for real this time?

I wonder if this will cause the people who got invested in the game already to lose interest in the entire product, and thus, lowering the amount of people who are actually interested in playing it. The people who were so interested in the game that they invested time, and in some cases, money, are now being screwed over. Will they forget about it and play the PSO2 servers when they come out in America or not?

It really comes off as a slap in the face to some players. I can understand why, but I question if most people will, especially the ones who invested money in the game.

Pretty pissed about this myself!

@Ariketh said:

Probably financial reasons, just like companies wanting people to buy the non-import copy of a game. Perhaps they think that if people invest too much in the Japanese servers, then who will play the ones in America?

Problem is, some people don't live in America or in Europe. Will they put those clauses on those servers too?

Really, all that they're doing is pissing off a lot of the people who got into the game outside of Japan. They had that in the user agreement during the closed beta, and then took it out. Now they're adding it back. So are they going to remove it again? Or is it here to stay for real this time?

I wonder if this will cause the people who got invested in the game already to lose interest in the entire product, and thus, lowering the amount of people who are actually interested in playing it. The people who were so interested in the game that they invested time, and in some cases, money, are now being screwed over. Will they forget about it and play the PSO2 servers when they come out in America or not?

It really comes off as a slap in the face to some players. I can understand why, but I question if most people will, especially the ones who invested money in the game.

I think that the people who are truly interested in the game will also realize that this move couldn't have been avoided... I don't know. If I was one of them, I would be pissed, but I'd also be excited to start again in a localized version when it comes out. And another plus is that whatever bugs the game has now could be patched by then.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this benefits Sega at all, and I can't come up with anything other than "they just lost about half their player base."

I liked this game. A lot. But losing 150+ hours worth of progress only to be told "go play a (possibly) gimped version of what you had" really kills my enthusiasm for the game.

@xyzygy said:

@Ariketh said:

Probably financial reasons, just like companies wanting people to buy the non-import copy of a game. Perhaps they think that if people invest too much in the Japanese servers, then who will play the ones in America?

Problem is, some people don't live in America or in Europe. Will they put those clauses on those servers too?

Really, all that they're doing is pissing off a lot of the people who got into the game outside of Japan. They had that in the user agreement during the closed beta, and then took it out. Now they're adding it back. So are they going to remove it again? Or is it here to stay for real this time?

I wonder if this will cause the people who got invested in the game already to lose interest in the entire product, and thus, lowering the amount of people who are actually interested in playing it. The people who were so interested in the game that they invested time, and in some cases, money, are now being screwed over. Will they forget about it and play the PSO2 servers when they come out in America or not?

It really comes off as a slap in the face to some players. I can understand why, but I question if most people will, especially the ones who invested money in the game.

I think that the people who are truly interested in the game will also realize that this move couldn't have been avoided... I don't know. If I was one of them, I would be pissed, but I'd also be excited to start again in a localized version when it comes out. And another plus is that whatever bugs the game has now could be patched by then.

Once it gets localized, I'd be interested in seeing how well it is maintained, and how many people actually play the English version of the game.

It's possible that whatever bugs are in the game could be patched, but that's assuming that the translation team is working with an up-to-date version of the game.

@Morbid_Coffee said:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this benefits Sega at all, and I can't come up with anything other than "they just lost about half their player base."

I liked this game. A lot. But losing 150+ hours worth of progress only to be told "go play a (possibly) gimped version of what you had" really kills my enthusiasm for the game.

I think it's simple. When the English version launches, they're not going to allow all the noobs to play with the >100 hour characters... that would just frustrate all the new players who thought they just bought into a new game with a fresh community.

that would leave all the experienced players having to choose between rerolling with the new English community or hanging onto a rapidly shrinking old community ( with still no English text). So the developers decided to make this choice easier by "ripping the bandage quickly" as opposed to the drawnout death of the original community.

I've already broke the TOS by using a fake Japanese address for billing so I'm just going to continue playing until I get banned. Also I'm surprised this wasn't already in the TOS. Oh well. Looking forward to an awesome English release!

Damn shame. I'll keep trying to play until they establish hard IP locks.

Aww man fuck whatever gonna play till I get banned!

Well this is saddening news. My PC hasn't been working properly for the past 3 weeks and all I wanted to do was play some more Phantasy Star Online 2, eventually at least. Oh well, by the time it finally releases in the US I will have forgotten about it and lost any interest I had in it.

Sega can FUCK clean off. I didn't put money into or anything but I've put time in and now I fear of playing again.

I hope in the English release they block foreign accounts too. Mind as well make it fair.

I wonder if this will actually be enforced or not. Didn't think they would update the terms like this until the NA/EU release was much closer. Bummer :/

I'm sad :(

I was probably going to switch over to the English version anyway, but I'm going to miss my peeps :(

So my plan to play Persona 4: Arena continues unabated? Whew...

No, but seriously, this seems REALLY counter-intuitive and destructive if they were trying to build a solid Western base...

Odd way to handle this, I think. Understandable, but you'd think they'd be interested in taking care of the non-jp userbase rather than lock them out, especially with the translated release being so far into the future. Had I been in their position, I would try to dedicate a temporary japan-based server for over-seas play and have some notice about how the game experience might not be great and that it's a temporary solution. As it is, the servers probably take a lot of beating from having to handle over-seas play so it might affect paying jp customers.

@CaptainTightPants said:

Well this is saddening news. My PC hasn't been working properly for the past 3 weeks and all I wanted to do was play some more Phantasy Star Online 2, eventually at least. Oh well, by the time it finally releases in the US I will have forgotten about it and lost any interest I had in it.

Yeah. I guess a lot of people will be in that boat, unless Jeff reminds us.

Well, this is already pretty common among other games anyway. Mostly it's the NA version locking people out though. I'm just suprised they didn't have this in there from the start.

@sate2801 said:

whoever it is pulled that lobby hacking thing should kill himself or get murdered for it

Yup. If there's one thing people totally deserve to die for, it's video games.

Kinda sucks. I've stopped playing a while ago, waiting for the english release personally, but folks who got all the features and quests and high level stuff translated in their mind and grinded through it all, it really sucks.

@Elazul said:

@sate2801 said:

whoever it is pulled that lobby hacking thing should kill himself or get murdered for it

Yup. If there's one thing people totally deserve to die for, it's video games.

because anything anyone actually taken serious about should be laughed at and that totally won't make you an asshole at all

@sate2801 said:

@Elazul said:

@sate2801 said:

whoever it is pulled that lobby hacking thing should kill himself or get murdered for it

Yup. If there's one thing people totally deserve to die for, it's video games.

because anything anyone actually taken serious about should be laughed at and that totally won't make you an asshole at all

There's quite a big difference between taking a game seriously and saying that people should be executed because of it. If you genuinely think that I'm the asshole in this conversation then you're pretty far beyond reasoning with.

@Undeadpool said:

So my plan to play Persona 4: Arena continues unabated? Whew...

No, but seriously, this seems REALLY counter-intuitive and destructive if they were trying to build a solid Western base...

I'm guessing they want people to actually play the English version when it's released, rather than sticking with (or being bored of) the Japanese one.

It's a shame the English version is so far away, but this really isn't surprising. Something like this was bound to happen and I'm surprised there are people sinking so much time into a foreign version.

damn it, i had been enjoying my time on the japanese servers, this really thows a spanner in the works for me. Ill need to have a look at a vpn solution or a way to just mask the ip address im using, i put quite a lot of time into my character and with the lack of support and missing events during PSO and PSU i really dont want to have to play on the euro servers. Also, its always the players in the west that hack the game and i really dont want to be stuck on a ship full of them.

So I did a bit more digging on what this actually means. Here's what I've come to:

- Is it illegal to be playing on the Japanese servers without a Japanese IP address? Yes.

- Will you be banned on the spot for not being a Japanese player? No.

Non-Japanese accounts will still be able to play (for now) as long as you don't be an ass about it and go hack the game client or harass people. The worst that comes out of this is that if you get banned, you will not be able to repeal the ban unless you're from Japan.

I would assume trying to buy AC is also a dead giveaway for "hey guys I'm an American come take my account away!" So I wouldn't recommend doing that either.

I just feel bad for people who spent real money on the game and now can't access it.

This is not true. Has been proven false in the Neogaf PSO2 thread, Just shit sites like kotaku et al making a story out of a rumor based on a misunderstanding.

I'm playing right now. Block 20 is filled with people spamming symbol chat and speaking in English.

Nothing has changed. Nobody is banned. Back to playing, everybody.

I understand why they are doing it, but it still really sucks

@Morbid_Coffee: If it's anything like Monster Hunter Frontier, it's wise to lay low. Went through 2 or 3 VPNs playing that game because some ass decided to be a dick to random Japanese players, which got everyone using the VPN IP banned.

Think all that statement really means, if you get banned or whatever happens to your system, or your money just goes up in smoke trying to buy AC, don't waste time calling us for support about it if you're not connecting with a JP address.

Sega hasn't IP blocked a PSO game before. I guess we'll see where this goes.

@Morbid_Coffee: if you really want some AC I gues this web money thing is the only way to go. At least it's safer than using non-JP credit cards and risk getting banned

Regarding the terms of service.Summary: It's meant to scare off malicious activity, but if it continues, they have to ban every non-Japanese IP.

I appreciate hearing that Sakai likes the worldwide player base, but IP banning a thousand people because of a handful of hackers is dumb. They're all going to migrate to the NA servers and fuck everything up there, and you can't IP ban everybody again in their own region. Here's a suggestion, Sega: Get rid of gameguard and use something better.

PSO2 is a true sequel. In every sense.