Gaming PSO2 West CBT!

[Subtle Demise]

So closed beta signups are still open on the XBOX Insider Hub for anyone who might be interested in playing the official English version of Phantasy Star Online 2. After 8 years in the making and about 5 of those spent playing on the Japanese servers through the Tweaker has got me cautiously excited to see how well the game does here.

Anyone else signed up already? Maybe looking to group up whenever the beta drops? My gamertag is the same as my name on here. Do you think Sega will massively fuck up this release the same way they did with PSU?

 

[FAST6191]

I have not properly played any PSO title since the Dreamcast (didn't even put much into the DS efforts in the end) but given the state of online gaming these days I am at least curious to see what will happen here.

 

[Subtle Demise]

I have not properly played any PSO title since the Dreamcast (didn't even put much into the DS efforts in the end) but given the state of online gaming these days I am at least curious to see what will happen here.

Spent probably close to a thousand hours or more on both the Gamecube and Blue Burst private server for PC on the original PSO. I even enjoyed the Episode 3 card game spinoff and still have the disc and manual. Spent a little time messing with the original turn-based games on the Master System and Genesis, and got into Phantasy Star Universe for a year or so until I noticed how the Western audience was basically being fed table scraps in comparison to the Japanese version. Needless to say I'm somewhat obsessed with this series for some reason, and it makes me sad to see Sega neglect it so much.

Anyway, the closed beta starts next weekend. Good news: game has dual audio, and all the voice acting has been dubbed into English, but can be swapped back and forth on the fly; they haven't changed the names of classes, spells, or items and ruin established lore; and most of the content should be there at launch. Bad news: game is missing 4 classes already; the "closed beta" is actually more of a free play weekend, only being up for 30 hours; and will likely be censored due to cultural sensitivity on this side of the globe. Still trying to be optimistic, but I'm seeing a lot of red flags already.

 

[FAST6191]

If we are talking about the turn based stuff then that would be a different matter. I tend to treat the online series as a different series that just happens to share either a broad setting or names for magic spells (or techniques as magic is technically another thing within the games).

An interesting censorship case could also be fun. Haven't had a properly good one of those for a while.