SEGA has announced that its forthcoming MMO, Phantasy Star Online 2, will be headed to both North America and the European Union in 2013. The open beta is currently ongoing in Asia.

“Phantasy Star Online was a revolutionary game when it was released, and we want to make sure that its successor in the series is every bit as ambitious,” said Chris Olson, Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA of America. “We look forward to introducing Phantasy Star Online 2’s unique, easy-to-access multiplayer action to the rest of the world next year!”

Find out more on the Phantasy Star Online 2 site.

That's awesome. Admittedly I didn't think that SEGA would come through with this, but I'm still wary they'll let the servers go to trash like they did the first one. They haven't seemed to care much about the West in years.

Still want to play it, though :x

I'm looking forward to it. It's been kind of rough playing it in JP.

I'm really looking forward to this game. I played PSO and PSU so much. I might even still have my PSU subscription going on the 360, I can't remember. The game itself is very repetetive, but for some reason it's really fun.

but why? this is the most repetitive game I have ever played. It makes Diablo 3 look like a sandbox mmorpg.  the combat is tera but about 10 times worse. obviously low budget, and while they have some fantastic game mechanics in there, it just isn't a good game. oh well...

Sweet! Good memories with PSO I & II. Truthfully I'll be too busy in Guild Wars 2, but I might give it a shot eventually.

Originally posted by coretester

but why? this is the most repetitive game I have ever played. It makes Diablo 3 look like a sandbox mmorpg.  the combat is tera but about 10 times worse. obviously low budget, and while they have some fantastic game mechanics in there, it just isn't a good game. oh well...

It's combat that people liked from the older games. If you didn't enjoy it back then you won't enjoy it now, I don't understand this complaint. It's a game made for a fan of the series. It may or may not bring more people into it, but I'm sure it will get a lot to try it based on the free to play.

Originally posted by Panther2103

Originally posted by coretester

but why? this is the most repetitive game I have ever played. It makes Diablo 3 look like a sandbox mmorpg.  the combat is tera but about 10 times worse. obviously low budget, and while they have some fantastic game mechanics in there, it just isn't a good game. oh well...

It's combat that people liked from the older games. If you didn't enjoy it back then you won't enjoy it now, I don't understand this complaint. It's a game made for a fan of the series. It may or may not bring more people into it, but I'm sure it will get a lot to try it based on the free to play.

fair enough

Excellent. I've been playing the japanese version. Once GW2 comes out, I'll stop playing that. Once PSO2 comes out for NA, I'll play both. 

Originally posted by coretester

but why? this is the most repetitive game I have ever played. It makes Diablo 3 look like a sandbox mmorpg.  the combat is tera but about 10 times worse. obviously low budget, and while they have some fantastic game mechanics in there, it just isn't a good game. oh well...

PSO2 was obviously made to please PSO fans. It reminds me a lot of the old games but with newer controls and gameplay, nothing wrong with that. Though I highly disagree with PSO2's combat being worse then TERAs. PSO2's combat actually involves having to play smart cause even normal mobs can hurt you bad. TERA had no tention is fighting normal mobs, they were trash to lengthen the game for the most part. Anyone who loved PSO, PSU or the PSP games then I highly reccomend it but since most people here in the west don't like room based instance games (which raid / multiparty rooms help to fix) then I suggest to look else where if you can't handle that. 

We will be on the same server as the Japanese, right?

If not, I'll be staying on the Japanese version I think. US players make for a very poor community from my experiance, the reason I couldn't get in to PSU, and the reason the US version of PSO on Dreamcast was taken offline in 2002 and the EU and JP regions stayed on till 2007, they liked to hack.

Finally! Lost many many nights sleep back on the Dreamcast with PSO. Cant wait :-)

Been playing for a week now, and loving it all. If your an old school fan of this game you will love it.

"Phantasy Star Online was a revolutionary game when it was released"

Oh really?  Did not notice anything revolutionary about it, also did not particularly like the game.  One of those I resold quickly.