Sega’s method of account linking is still terrible

I talked about Sega’s method of linking your account to other platforms before and at the time I wasn’t impressed with it. It always seemed kind of roundabout and I was left with a question:

In the future if there are new platforms added to the game do we need the original version of the game to link the that new platform? Can the Steam version create a link code if it is not the original version the account started on?

But now that question has been answered! Browsing the PSO2NGS subreddit (because Sega has no forums now) I found this post. Now it seems that if you try to issue a link code on a platform that is not the one you started on you receive an error message that states: “The link code should be issued from the platform where you first started PSO2.”

Talk about a terrible choice. Many of us unfortunately started with the trash Microsoft Store version of the game and have bailed on it once the Steam version was available. I’ve made it no secret that I hate the Microsoft Store after all the troubles it cause. Plus there was that whole thing where it hijacked my local windows account when I attempted to sign into the store. Hey I tried to go into it with an opened mind but then Microsoft pulls that BS. Anyway, because of that I now have the Microsoft Store disabled and wish to never touch that shit ever again.

You really should be able to create link code on any platform you linked to your account. It would be the smart thing to do but hey this is Sega we are talking about.

It is unfortunate that this is route Sega took because in my case if I choose to go back to the game I would have to start over because there is no way I’d ever use the Microsoft Store ever again. Fortunately, I felt that didn’t accomplish anything in PSO2, which also happens to be one of the many reasons I stopped playing the game. So because of that there is no reason for me to make an effort to bother linking that account to another platform. So uh… problem solved I guess?

PSO2 is now available on PS4 and it features some hideous artwork/banner

It’s true and it’s also playable on PS5. You can now download the game from the PlayStation Store. And that banner Sega is using, just look at:

I’m not sure what I am looking at here but it certainly doesn’t feel like PSO.

Yeah that’s terrible. Anyway moving on.

What’s interesting is that the PS4 client differs from the clients on the other platforms on what is initially downloaded. The PS4 client is just for New Genesis and does not contain the original PSO2 game.

I think it was a good move. If you have no interest in the original game why waste space on it. I see no reason the bother with the original PSO2 anymore since Sega has abandoned it and if you never played the base game you won’t be missing anything worthwhile by not playing it.

But if for some reason you do want to play the base game or are someone that is transferring your account to play on PS4 you can download the original PSO2 as DLC. You’ll find it after all the Arks Cash under the name “PSO2 Data 1” and once you start the download it will also automatically download part 2 and 3 of the original game.

I still think Sega waited way too long for the PS4 release; but hey better late than never, right?

The PS4 version of PSO2 will be released on 8/31

It’s finally happening! PSO2 will be released on PS4! So I guess anyone that was still holding out for the PS4 release should be excited.

Sega does have some information regarding Arks Cash and platform exclusive items that you should be aware of if you are going to play the game on multiple platforms. Sega posted the following information in their announcement:

How to manage and consume AC

Please be mindful of the following when charging AC (paid in-game currency), as the AC that you can access differs depending on the platform you log in from.

• • On the PS4 version, you can charge AC by purchasing AC Exchange Tickets from the PlayStation™ Store and then logging into the game. AC purchased and charged on other platforms will not be accessible.
  • Likewise, AC charged on the PS4 version is not valid on other platforms.

*You can check the breakdown of your AC balance from Main Menu > Shop > AC/SG Shop > View AC/SG Details.

Platform-exclusive items

Some items, such as those given out as bonuses, are only available for use as equipment on their corresponding platforms.

• Therefore, some items cannot be used or equipped on the PS4 version and some cannot be used or equipped on non-PS4 versions.
• These items will be hidden or replaced with a different appearance if players log into a platform where the items are restricted while having them equipped.
• The same restrictions apply to the areas where these items are displayed, such as furnishings that allow you to showcase your equipment.
• This specification applies to your own and other players’ characters.

Although I think it’s a bit too late. I was interested in the PS4 version back in 2020. Instead I had to slog through the shitty Microsoft store version, which made for a terrible experience. Then I also came to the conclusion that I didn’t like PSO2 very much. I didn’t even bother with New Genesis based on that experience. There is also Sega’s poor handling of updates that gives me the feeling that I don’t really want to bother will the game. I’ve already been there done that with PSOBB and PSU and don’t feel like doing that again, especially for a game I don’t really care for.

But hey the PS4 version is releasing finally. So at least PSO2 has that going for it, I guess?

Good news everyone: PSO2 New Genesis updates are still trash

I’m still not paying too much attention to PSO2 lately but I did notice this post on reddit.

Apparently players no longer have any interest in the new content from the most recent major update and that content is only about 2 weeks old, yikes. It seems the rewards are crap and it isn’t worth the time playing those missions. It’s amazing how bad PSO2 New Genesis and its updates are. Honestly I’m kind of impressed at this point because it seems like these days doing something like this is Sega’s specialty. I mean it’s not something a company would normally do for their game but Sega does it constantly.

Now lets take a look at the events Sega is currently promoting on the PSO2 website:

There might be 10 “events” listed here but there is a whole lot of nothing going on in PSO2 New Genesis.

Okay lets see… Arks Cash scratch, Star Gem scratch, Arks Cash scratch, Arks Cash scratch, costume pack, costume pack, not an in game event, Special scratch, costume pack, and costume pack.

Idola Phantasy Star Saga is shutting down

That’s right the English version of Idola Phantasy Star Saga is shutting down on August 22. It follows the closure of the Japanese version back in January.

Boltrend posted the following notice on June 23rd:

Server Shutdown Announcement

We’re sorry to inform that we decided to shut down the game server of Idola Phantasy Star Saga from August 22, 2022 (UTC) permanently. Thanks for your support as always.

The specific arrangements are as follows:

1. The in-game purchases and registration will be closed on Jul. 22, 2022 (UTC) and the game will no longer be downloaded then.

2. The server will be shut down on Aug. 22, 2022 (UTC) and users will not be able to log in.

3. You can apply for refund from Aug. 22, 2022 (UTC) to Sep. 6, 2022 (UTC). Kindly please note that we only support the refund of your owned Star Diamonds (Paid).

We will do our best to offer good game experience and service. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the shutting down. Thanks for your understanding.

I guess it should come as no surprise. First of all Sega had no faith in the game outside of Japan since they didn’t even bother to localize the game and instead it was done by Boltrend. Then you also had the issue that the game did not have the ability to connect to PSO2 to get points for star gems like on the Japanese version. And we know everyone playing PSO2 would love to have more ways to get those star gems!

Also it didn’t help that Boltrend’s localization wasn’t very good nor was the schedule for content release since some content was released haphazardly. Then you also have Sega messing up the game with three bad decisions they made for the game starting with episode 2 of the game’s story.

First Sega decided to be greedy af and by not allowing “lucky chance,” which was 2x 5 star character rate, to be used on newly released characters anymore. In addition Sega no longer allowed draw tickets to be used for new characters as well. The third was Sega being lazy with character designs; choosing to make characters 3D vs 2D, character models no longer reflecting Destiny Divergence choice, and character elemental bursts animations no longer changed based between a character’s Destiny Divergence choice. It seems like a strange choice considering the whole Destiny Divergence, law/chaos thing, and their designs are a big part of the game. But hey, it seems like Sega likes to make decisions that tank their own games these days.

PSO2 is playable on Steam Deck and Linux

I haven’t paid too much attention to PSO2 recently but I did find these two posts that were kind of interesting over on Reddit talking about PSO2 working on Steam Deck and Linux.

Anyone interested should take note that the game has some serious performance issues which is why the game is only considered to be “playable” because you’re probably not going to have a good time. Although I’m sure that future versions of Proton will fix the issues and we’ll probably see fixes in custom builds of Proton such as proton-GE. So anyone planning to play the game on Linux or Steam Deck you do so at your own peril for the time being.

Honestly, I still wouldn’t bother with PSO2. Sure you don’t need run Windows 10 or 11 which are hot garbage, but your also playing a game that is trash. Between Proton and Lutris you’ll be able to get many games to run on Linux so I’m sure you can find much better games to play. For example both PSOBB and PSU work flawlessly and are much more enjoyable games than PSO2 ever will be even if their gameplay is a bit dated.

Well anyway, rejoice Steam Deck and Linux users! For now you too can experience how terrible Gameguard is; just like those of us who had the misfortune to play multiple games that used this trash. Also as bonus you can experience how bad PSO2 is.

The content drought continues in Sega’s new roadmap for PSO2 New Genesis

I can’t say that I’m surprised.  But yeah this roadmap is filled with disappointment: AC scratches, urgent quests (aka the worst kind of quests), some side story thing, and the usual level cap increases. Oh and that the next “major” update to the game will occur in June of next year. I can’t believe they are sticking with this 6 month major update plan after it was a complete disaster the first time around, which was expected since the game launched with hardly any worthwhile content to begin with. Just check out all that filler “content” Sega has planned until the next major update is out:

Oh wow. Can’t say that I’m excited to see this shit “update” plan again.

You know what? I’m not even mad at this point. If anything I appreciate that Sega is being honest and upfront with the players for once about half-assing their games. With PSOBB and PSU they totally tried to hide the fact they were half-assing it with the lack of updates and information. They also did an incredibility poor job of hiding it. Now with PSO2 New Genesis Sega is showing us clear as day that they don’t give a fuck and it great. It’s great because it makes it an easy choice to not support the game and when it fails it will come as no surprise to anyone.

Opinion: PSO2 New Genesis will never be successful and it doesn’t deserve to be

Honestly even though PSO2 killed any interest in New Genesis I hoped that perhaps Sega could surprise me with its release. And by surprise I meant it in a good way but instead Sega pushed out trash that was even worse than PSO2. I liked both PSO and PSU (after the AOTI expansion) and really would like the series to do well but Sega is making easy for me to dislike both PSO2 and New Genesis.

I think the problem with New Genesis stems back to PSO2. Specifically Sega getting away with is incredibly aggressive monetization of the game. I already went into with an older post but to be blunt Sega is stingy af. They expect you get the premium set subscription while still nailing you with micro-transactions with two premium currencies, Arks Cash and Star Gems. It’s even worse in New Genesis because Sega doesn’t give players any value to warrant any reason to spend money on the game.

Revisiting Phantasy Star Universe

It’s 2021 and I’m playing PSU again in 2k! I’d totally run it at 4k if the UI scaled properly.

I’ve been playing PSU again since the Clementine private server launched last year. And I’ve got to say it’s pretty nice. I wasn’t sure if I would get into the game again so I put in just under 400 hours into the game (so far), you know to make sure that I liked the game. I mean everyone knows that you need to put a few hundred hours into a game to know if you truly like it.

It’s been nice playing old favorites like Lightning Beasts, new missions like Beach Bum Beasts and stuff I rarely (or never) bothered with like missions on Moatoob such as Dusty Mines. I also never realized that PSU had support for surround sound on PC before but then again I didn’t have a nice speakers back when I played PSU before. I find that it really adds a lot of character to certain areas so I’ve been pleasantly surprised and pleased by the game’s surround sound support. I’ve also enjoyed the new items that were exclusive to the Japanese servers; there are plenty of new weapons, armors, and units to find. Also I’ve pulled out my old trusty DualShock 2 to play the game too so it’s just like how it was back before the servers closed.

Oh no the PSO2 forums are shutting down

That’s right you’ve heard it here last. Sega has announced that they are killing off their official PSO2 forums. Originally this was set to happen on December 16th but has been moved up to November 24th due to reasons. So if you got anything to post do it now, or not idc. Also Sega mentioned something about discord or whatever but I didn’t pay attention to that part.

Anyway I find it a little sad that the forums are shutting down. I mean how else will I find out about Sega announcing when PSO2 shuts down next year so I can get the jump on my “I totally knew PSO2 New Genesis wouldn’t even make it a year” blog post. Sure there’s the PSO2 official site or gaming websites but why would I want to bother with those?