Before we get into today's video, first a big thanks to our sponsors at NordVPN.
Get 68% off by going to NordVPN.com/censoredgaming or checking out the link in the description.
NordVPN allows you to surf the web as if you were located in over 60 countries, meaning
you can bypass filters and regional restrictions.
It also keeps your internet data secure, so you're kept safe when browsing, and they recently
passed an independent audit which confirmed their strict no data logging policy.
This, alongside being based in Panama, a region known for being a haven for data privacy,
means your info will always be kept private.
So again, get a huge 68% off by going to NordVPN.com/censoredgaming or checking out the link in the description
– and, even more, get an extra month for free by using the code CENSOREDGAMING at checkout.
August has seen not just Phantasy Star Online 2 being released on Steam but also story content
from Episode 4 being finally made available outside of Japan.
For those out of the loop, the MMO was originally released in Japan way back in 2012 and it
wasn’t until April 2020 that the game was officially made available in North America.
This means there’s still a lot of catching up to do for the international version.
And, alongside this, the new update originally only brought part of Episode 4’s story,
with the rest coming in a later update last week.
Now that Episode 4 has fully been released outside of Japan though, it’s been spotted
that there were a number of curious changes made to the international version.
Episode 4 is set 4 years after the events of Episode 3 and begins with a red haired
female student called Hitsugi waking up after playing the video game Phantasy Star Online
2 and finding a confused male character, who looks exactly like her avatar from the game,
in her bed.
And it’s here where international players will be able to find one of the changes.
In the original Japanese version of the game, the male avatar character is presented completely
naked, presumably to supplement the idea that this character is out of this world and not
from planet Earth.
In the international version of the game however, this scene was modified so that the male character
is wearing clothes and, alongside this, the dialogue had to be altered in places due to
the original dialogue making numerous references to the nudity and Hitsugi’s understandable
shock at finding herself in this situation.
Another story change that’s been made outside of Japan is the complete removal of three
cutscenes scenes that involve the characters taking public baths together at different
points in the story.
Public baths are a common thing in Japanese culture and so the depiction of this is something
that can be found in lots of Japanese media.
But, an interesting fact about these removed scenes is that, despite being removed from
the international version, they actually still got dubbed in English and the voice lines
were left in the game files.
This means that a YouTuber has made a video, which is what you are seeing clips from on-screen
now, with the English lines added to the Japanese release and the text translated to English.
And so, if you’re interested in checking out the full video then you’ll be able to
find a link in the description.
But, on top of those changes, there are also some other alterations made to some scenes
during chapter 5.
Due to plot-related reasons, various points within this chapter’s story will depict
Hitsugi without clothes during cutscenes.
This is only the case in the Japanese version though, as overseas she is now depicted fully
clothed.
Whilst, that seems to be the extent of the major changes brought on by the new Episode
4 update, this isn’t the first time for the game to get alterations outside of Japan.
Other changes that have been made to game include the character height slider when creating
your character.
For some reason, the international version minimum height is set notable taller than
over in Japan.
This could have possibly be due to concern over characters being made to look too young
in appearance, but as for any official explanations on why these changes have been made, there
have currently been no comments.
It’s also worth pointing out that the game has been assigned a Mature rating by the ESRB.
Of course however, with the game now being released 8 years ago in Japan and, considering
the nature of MMO games and the large amounts of content that they have, there are various
other differences that can be found between the versions.
Some of these changes are the result of trying to rebalance the game considering the big
difference in time span since the original Japanese release, or due to the large amount
of content is perhaps planned for future updates.
Other changes though include various licensing deals that have been made over in Japan where
dozens of big names have had crossover events in the game.
These includes the likes of Nier, Persona, as well as Attack On Titan.
Some of these crossovers may never see a release outside of Japan, as it’s not just down
to Sega but whether the other legal parties involved also agree.
However, in Persona’s case, fans will be pleased to know that August 12th saw a Persona
crossover event for the international version.
This event, dubbed Persona Paradox features items from previous Japanese events - these
being the Persona 5 collab in December 2016, Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona
5: Dancing in Starlight in June 2018 and then Persona 3 and 4 back in December 2018.
Another difference that can be found overseas is down to the localization work and that
there are numerous differences in names and terminology between the two versions.
But, aside from this, an aspect of the localization that fans have been rather critical about
is the much sparser item descriptions outside of Japan.
Whilst the Japanese version’s item descriptions of often full of lots of flavour text and
lore, quite often the English translation can be left very bare bones currently, which
is something fans have been quite vocal about over on the official forums.
It’s also worth mentioning that there’s an unofficial fan patch for the Japanese version
that’s been available for some time now, called Phantasy Star Online 2 Tweaker, and
is being actively maintained.
Plus, alongside the translation work, the Tweaker brings a bunch of other options and
fixes to the game.
Are you a Phantasy Star Online fan?
And what are your thoughts on the changes made outside of Japan?
As always, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below and, once again, a big
thanks to our faithful sponsors at NordVPN.
There will be a link in the description if you want to go check their big discount out
and, until next time, thank you for watching.