Phantasy Star Online 2 finally made its official way west, after many years of hopeful waiting from its fans. The Xbox One version of the game already managed to release last month, but now it's time for PC players to get on the action too, since SEGA has just announced the launch date for the platform. On May 27th, Phantasy Star Online 2 will head to the Windows 10 Microsoft Store as an exclusive for PC. While there was a Steam version planned at some point, there's been no word on when or if the game is still planned for that launcher. This release features both text and voice acting in English, with four races and nine different classes to choose from. For Xbox One players, a crossover event with the Hatsune Miku series will be taking place starting today.

ARKS (soldiers of the Oracle colony fleet in the Phantasy Star Online 2 series) are invited to join together online to explore numerous worlds with friends and experience PSO2's unparalleled action combat and character customization. Choosing from four unique races and nine classes, players can join forces with up to eleven other operatives at a time to experience unforgettable battles and boss fights.

"We're thrilled to announce the long-awaited arrival on PC," said Fred White, PSO2 TEAM North America's Head of Marketing. "There's a loud and passionate PC fanbase who has been patiently waiting for the North American version – we can't wait to welcome them in. There will be login bonuses waiting for them with more surprises planned in the coming months."

The North American version of Phantasy Star Online 2 includes fully localized text and character voices in English, spanning three years of content. In addition to the immersive original PSO2 story, the NA version also features the most-up-to-date balancing and quality-of-life improvements from the Japanese service. Players can choose from four races and nine classes while tackling various missions. They can also take a break from questing by playing one of the many Casino mini-games, chilling in the Alliance Quarters, competing in the new ARKS League or attending all-new live stage events. And for the first time they will be able to do all of this with friends on both PC and Xbox One thanks to cross-platform play.

SEGA also announced Phantasy Star Online 2's first in-game collaboration to come to North America – Hatsune Miku! Special items are available starting today on Xbox One in the Scratch Ticket Terminal. Players can use Arks Cash Scratch Tickets to get stylish clothing and accessories. This AC Scratch features collaboration items from Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, as well as Kagamine Rin & Len. Represent at the main stage like never before with these unique outfits and get ready for the vocaloid performance of a lifetime!

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[duwen]

Yeah it's obvious by how many players WoW continues to retain that MMOs don't need to have cutting-edge graphics. It looks like an N64 game and people are still willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for it, lol.

Indeed. I'd still be playing Star Wars Galaxies if they hadn't killed it. I know there are a couple of fan ressurrections, but it's not the same...

 

[Arras]

Yeah it's obvious by how many players WoW continues to retain that MMOs don't need to have cutting-edge graphics. It looks like an N64 game and people are still willing to pay a monthly subscription fee for it, lol.

Not having top of the line graphics also means the game is easier to run, which might be a good thing for free to play titles. Plus pso2 doesn't even look THAT bad.

 

[Xzi]

Not having top of the line graphics also means the game is easier to run, which might be a good thing for free to play titles. Plus pso2 doesn't even look THAT bad.

Oh wow I didn't realize this game is F2P, I at least expected it to be a buy-once model. Guess there really is no reason to wait to play it then, even despite it being exclusive to the Win10 store for some stupid reason.

And yeah, it doesn't look bad at all. Just that much easier to max out the graphics settings and still hit 144 FPS.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

When the game came out, it did look pretty good. I remember downloading the character creator demo before it's official release and being surprised at how in-depth it was and how good the characters looked. It has been nearly a decade since then though.

I suppose that it was good for PS Vita. Not to be rude, I respect your view. I just personally can see the game looking impressive for PS Vita even today so back then it must have been a treat. Assuming it targets 60fps. Is it 60fps on Vita?

lol @ everyone saying it's too late ...PSO1 and PSU still have a fairly large loyal playerbase 21yrs/13yrs (respectively) on.
The fact that this 8yr old game that's been relegated to one region for 99% of it's existence and is still getting major support speaks volumes about the community that enjoys the PS games.

Just a shame that Playstation will be the last platform to get this in the west, when it was the launch platform for it when it came out. I still play the Vita version (thanks to the Arks-Layer patcher) occassionally.

Does PSO1 have a fairly large playerbase? Schthack has total of just 8 players online at the moment, across all versions of PSO1.

 

[duwen]

Does PSO1 have a fairly large playerbase? Schthack has total of just 8 players online at the moment, across all versions of PSO1.

There are other servers.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

There are other servers.

I think I remember seeing one other. Please can you link the good ones here

 

[duwen]

I think I remember seeing one other. Please can you link the good ones here

https://ephinea.pioneer2.net/
https://www.phantasystaronline.net/
http://edenserv.net/
https://sylverant.net/

I only know people that use the first two, but the others are pretty well populated. SCHTHack just happens to be one of the lowest populated, predominantly due to it being cross platform where the others are more PC/DC/GC specific.

 

[Pokemon_Tea_Sea_Jee]

https://ephinea.pioneer2.net/
https://www.phantasystaronline.net/
http://edenserv.net/
https://sylverant.net/

I only know people that use the first two, but the others are pretty well populated. SCHTHack just happens to be one of the lowest populated, predominantly due to it being cross platform where the others are more PC/DC/GC specific.

Oh wow. I thought that SCHTHack was the only good one. The first one you linked I looks really good and popular.

I am sure when I tried SCHTHack it was more popular but that was something like a decade ago.

 

[duwen]

Oh wow. I thought that SCHTHack was the only good one. The first one you linked I looks really good and popular.

I am sure when I tried SCHTHack it was more popular but that was something like a decade ago.

Ultima is the only one I've personally experienced, and that's because an IRL friend of mine is part of the dev team (specifically responsible for the droptables). I know those guys are going above and beyond to restore content that in some cases wasn't available outside of the Jp servers.

 

[Skelletonike]

I suppose that it was good for PS Vita. Not to be rude, I respect your view. I just personally can see the game looking impressive for PS Vita even today so back then it must have been a treat. Assuming it targets 60fps. Is it 60fps on Vita?


Does PSO1 have a fairly large playerbase? Schthack has total of just 8 players online at the moment, across all versions of PSO1.

I played it on PC. As I mentioned, the character models and the character creation were pretty good back then. Other than that though, the graphics weren't that special.

 

[call me Ken or Accel]

I mean that it looked unimpressive and a letdown in 2012.

I am very very fond of PSO1 and I aways wanted a PSO2 to be epic.

Unrealistic, I know. Like this cheapo Shenmue 3 that came out. Sure, it is a way to have a Shenmue 3. But it is like a fan-made project. Not a blockbuster by any means.

Whelp. youre missing big ass fights. Some of them are Asura's Wrath level

Few months ago, PSO2 had Neon Genesis Evangelion collab (yep) and you can fight Sixth Angel Ramiel with space mechs. It was crazy
Current (JP) expansion is high tech space theme. So, there are lots of outer space and spaceship battles

 

[LightBeam]

"Windows 10 store" exclusive huh? Guess we will see if that move is more hated than "Epic store exclusive"

It will not cuz it's Microsoft who brought the game to the west, so it's fair


Would like to be able to play it from Europe tho

 

[GbaNober]

lol @ everyone saying it's too late ...PSO1 and PSU still have a fairly large loyal playerbase 21yrs/13yrs (respectively) on.
The fact that this 8yr old game that's been relegated to one region for 99% of it's existence and is still getting major support speaks volumes about the community that enjoys the PS games.

Just a shame that Playstation will be the last platform to get this in the west, when it was the launch platform for it when it came out. I still play the Vita version (thanks to the Arks-Layer patcher) occassionally.

does the PS Vita patch 100% or not ,what's your estimation?

 

[duwen]

does the PS Vita patch 100% or not ,what's your estimation?

Not even close, but it's enough to be playable. Some of the equipment menus can be a bit arduous at first with some stuff being translated and some not.
It may have got better since I last played it a few months ago - I know they've released a handful of updates since then. The launcher app is pretty cool as it auto updates the patch and launches the game for you. The hope is, now that official translations are out, they'll end up 'borrowing' from those.
Word of warning though, after you install the initial game (which is over 3gb from what I remember) there's a mandatory 16gb update (!!!). I only bothered with installing it on my PSTV, as I couldn't guarantee my 1000 would remain connected to power or internet long enough to install it.

 

[MetoMeto]

So....another forceful, slimy way to make people switch to Windows 10.
Similar like Half Life forced you to buy VR gear.

 

[duwen]

So....another forceful, slimy way to make people switch to Windows 10.

Unless you've got an offline system rigged up for retro or legacy apps/devices, Windows 10 is the only version of Windows anyone should be using at this point.

 

[MetoMeto]

Unless you've got an offline system rigged up for retro or legacy apps/devices, Windows 10 is the only version of Windows anyone should be using at this point.

Speaking of points, you didn't get my point.

It doesnt matter what system i got, they are limiting it to 10. Many people still have Windows 7, 8 and works great. They been trying to push Windows 10 in many ways, this is nothing new and this is just one of those ways.

Similar thing was done With Half Life Alyx to get people to buy VR set...no other options like playing regular way.

And about that last sentence of yours "Windows 10 is the only version of Windows anyone should be using at this point." thats not up to anyone to decide for me.
Only thing that i can understand is that they dont use Windows 95, but Windows 7 can rune this just fine. So this obvious forcefull way to get people on Windows 10, especially if you desire to play certain game such as Phantasy Star.... or if youre an of HL games, and waited for 10 years + Its briliant tactic, but a slimy one at that.

You can say whattever you want but facts remain and this game can easily be played on Windows 7/8.

I mean this is nothing new, companies do these things, dont act like you just learned it. I just point out the obvious.

 

[duwen]

Speaking of points, you didn't get my point.

It doesnt matter what system i got, they are limiting it to 10. Many people still have Windows 7, 8 and works great. They been trying to push Windows 10 in many ways, this is nothing new and this is just one of those ways.

Similar thing was done With Half Life Alyx to get people to buy VR set...no other options like playing regular way.

And about that last sentence of yours "Windows 10 is the only version of Windows anyone should be using at this point." thats not up to anyone to decide for me.
Only thing that i can understand is that they dont use Windows 95, but Windows 7 can rune this just fine. So this obvious forcefull way to get people on Windows 10, especially if you desire to play certain game such as Phantasy Star.... or if youre an of HL games, and waited for 10 years + Its briliant tactic, but a slimy one at that.

You can say whattever you want but facts remain and this game can easily be played on Windows 7/8.

I mean this is nothing new, companies do these things, dont act like you just learned it. I just point out the obvious.

I completely agree.
Unfortunately if you're using any version of Windows other than 10 at this point in time you're massively more susceptible to security breaches. The free Windows 10 upgrade is still available if you do a bit of research (despite reports that it was discontinued a few years ago), so I don't see what the issue is... free upgrade, better security... but you're correct, it's your decision if you want to leave yourself vulnerable to cybercrime and think a free upgrade is too expensive.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Lol played the English patch years ago.

 

[call me Ken or Accel]

Lol played the English patch years ago.

"Years ago"
PSO2 is completely different from 3 years ago now. Its very different