Zelda's Link Is Gatecrashing A Phantasy Star Title, But Only In Japan

That's it. I'm moving.

WE'RE STILL NOT GETTING IT!?

I'm sure something popular will see release elsewhere.

Now this I would be stoked about. Can we please get Phantasy Star in the States and Europe!?!?

It would be exciting if Zelda characters/costumes didn't already appear in every other game.

I think Monster Hunter XX wants it's costume back...

Really?? Thats more exciting news then this whole nintendo direct.

I mean it’s not hard to download this off the Japanese eShop but... if I don’t have a Japanese residence, would I be able to play this online? I assume but I don’t wanna buy this if I can’t...

Also, this isn’t free to play or anything is it? Because PSO2 for the PC is.

Another disappointment in a very disappointing direct. I really wish Phantasy Star would come west.

I still don't understand why Sega refuses to localize PSO2 or officially open up the Japanese servers and just officially provide the English text translation themselves, fan sites have done most of the work already, they just have to make an official version.

kinda shocked this isn't coming here too.

If only Sega would just announce this for the west...

I’ll sell my left ball if this gets released here in the West.

I really don't understand why this isn't here in NA...

Shame that Sega is completely inept. Now would be the perfect time to release PSO2 in the west - right when Destiny 2 is in a rut and The Division 1 is in its golden years. Monster Hunter is doing extraordinarily well, and Sega has a formula equal to or greater than that game in terms of systems that retain players with PSO2... and yet, we still don't get it.

I love every single Phantasy Star (including the single player games), and I know many others who do as well. It's an insult that they turned their back on us.

The worst part is a lot of people don't even know what they're missing. Western youngins don't know about Phantasy Star because the last freaking game released here was Phantasy Star Zero (10 years ago). Nova should have been a PS4 game with an international release.

@ShadJV If it doesn't work like the PC version, no you will not be able to play. Arks Layer (the phenomenal English translation effort for the PC version) has a built-in proxy, which is the reason people from outside of Japan are able to play it. If I'm assuming correctly, this will have no client whatsoever and will be completely cloud-based (like you're streaming the game), so no room for a proxy ESPECIALLY on a locked-down ecosystem like the Switch.

@KIREEK won’t it be separate servers from the PC version though? Like, as far as I know MHXX can be played from the US if you download it on your Switch (of course it’s all in Japanese), so why wouldn’t it be different? I’m honestly curious there, I’m aware the PSO2 for PC needs that English patch (as I actually have it but haven’t done much in it yet), but I didn’t think Switch games had any sort of region locking on online games either.

@KIREEK and in relation to your first comment, I feel like this is the perfect setting to release PSO2 officially in the West given the original PSO was one of the only GameCube games with online functionality (I am aware it was a port). Especially given there is not really a competitor in the West for online RPGs on the Switch so they’d definitely get noticed.

Of course, given the track record for PSO2 (pretty sure they at least strongly implied it would be localized at some point and never did), I don’t exactly expect this to happen, they’ve sorta decided the Western audience is nonexistent (it might be small but as stated the Switch would be a great chance to expand it).

Getting sick of this "ONLY IN JAPAN" shtick.

Bring THIS, Monster Hunter XX, and the Dragon Quest XI games to the West, COME ON!

I haven’t played Phantasy Star before, but it sure looks pretty interesting.

@ShadJV Interestingly, PS4 and PC are 100% on the same servers. It's one of the rare examples of cross-play on the PS4. I believe the Vita version also has cross-play but I'm not 100% about that one (and whether it had its own servers). Honestly I hope I'm completely wrong about the way the game will work on the Switch. However I think the problem is going to unfold like this: 1) you will have no problem getting the actual "launcher" from the e-shop but 2) you're going to have an insurmountable IP ban that Sega has in place for anywhere outside of Japan.

That isn't a snub at Nintendo either for helping to make sure their firmware is constantly secure. I respect that. But I do think it will make playing PSO2 on Switch an impossibility unless we get an officially sanctioned western release.

I would LOVE to be wrong about this and if I am, I will meet you in Ship 2 .

Completely agreed on your other comment as well.

Just release an English patch and I'll import it
Same with monster hunter!

BotW Link is everywhere these days, isn't he? Dang. Or at least his clothes are.

After all I've done for Ragol, this is how they treat me? PSO and Monster Hunter, please.

@KIREEK https://www.destructoid.com/phantasy-star-online-2-for-switch-won-t-need-updates-because-the-game-is-constantly-running-on-the-cloud-480843.phtml

I should’ve done some online searching last night but I was rather tired and didn’t think of it. After finding this article, I’m thinking you’re right - the source is just another news article and I don’t really wanna try to go down that rabbit hole but, assuming it’s true, the game does have crossplay with he PC version and the Switch app is just a small client, literally streaming the game... so yeah, you’re probably right there. :-/

On the plus side, it’s a free download too (according to this) so I’ll give it the old college try once this hits, won’t expect anything but it won’t hurt to at least make an attempt.