Yesterday at E3 2019, Microsoft unexpectedly announced that they will bring Phantasy Star Online 2 to North America. This is a big deal, says our author Schuhmann. But somehow, one has to get used to it first.
That’s why it was the biggest surprise: Phantasy Star Online 2 was really off the radar for most people. The game was a topic here in the West back in 2012. It was shown at conventions but ultimately only released in Japan.
It did well there for years, came to more and more platforms, most recently on the Nintendo Switch in April 2018.
However, for most of us in Europe, the game was too far away to really engage with. Only those who were really keen installed an English patch and a VPN client and took on all the inconveniences to play it directly on Japanese servers.
Time and again, when the MMORPG drought here in the West was particularly severe, one could observe that people appeared in the relevant forums asking: “How can I play this together with you in Japan?”
But hardly anyone hoped for a port to the West anymore.
SEGA announced that they would also bring the MMORPG to the West, but ultimately broke contact after having remained silent for years anyway.
The fans finally gave up hope after 4, 5 years: If Sega hadn’t brought the game to the West after such a long time, why would they still do it? That would be completely pointless.
Therefore, the announcement came almost out of nowhere and is therefore even more surprising. Apparently, SEGA really only needed a (probably financial) push to take the risk and bring their game to the West.
The RPG series of my childhood
Why is Phantasy Star something special? Many of today’s RPG players grew up with the “Phantasy Star” series – at least if they had a SEGA in their childhood (like me) and not a Nintendo (like almost all my friends back then).
I played the 1st Phantasy Star on the SEGA Master System almost 30 years ago. It was my first experience with RPG systems at all.
I still remember how I grinded sea fish by a lake for hours and ultimately stomped through the story with my party members, including a cat, severely over-leveled.
Parts 2 and 4 were masterpieces on the Sega Mega Drive – we’ll gloss over part 3.
I lost track of the series after that, but others continued to follow it on Sega Dreamcast and other platforms.
Also, the first Phantasy Star Online was a matter of the heart for many players, as you know.
What makes Phantasy Star Online 2 stand out? In recent years, one could only follow the game from afar, even though some made the effort to play the game in Japan:
- It is probably a very “grindy” game – that’s why fans are now saying “For God’s sake, I have 7000 hours in Japan, don’t block the IPs if there’s now an NA version”
- It has a unique art style – Phantasy Star has always been somewhere between science fiction and fantasy
- It has quite revealing costumes
- Phantasy Star Online repeatedly does insane crossovers with other franchises popular in Japan
- and over the years it has received endless new content
The online action RPG enjoys a good reputation in the community, as a sort of insider tip, that was out of reach for us Europeans for a long time.
Especially players who are usually at home in Final Fantasy XIV seem to be looking forward to the game. A crossover is likely to be expected.
What’s still a concern: Now Sega says the game will come in spring 2020 to PC and Xbox One – but initially only for North America. We will have to see what this means for us Europeans and what hurdles we will have to overcome to play it,
For now, it is definitely a very positive surprise.
Although I am curious whether the game can really establish itself here in the West after such a long time.
