March 4, 2013 | J.J. Cappa
Available free on the PlayStation Store, the PlayStation Vita version of Phantasy Star Online 2 is technically region-locked. Because the console itself only supports a single PSN ID at any given time, the downloadable client must be accessed by a Japanese account. However, SEGA also released a physical copy of PSO2, and users have reported that this version allows them to connect to the game servers regardless of region. A Japanese SEGA ID is still required, but it can be tied to any PSN account.
There are some things to consider before importing the Phantasy Star Online 2 Special Package, though. Should PSO2 be released internationally in the future, for example, it may not be possible to link a second SEGA ID to the same PSN account. That being said, although an English version has been announced, news has been sparse since its reveal. Moreover, the servers will not be worldwide; they will be separated by region, so English-speaking players may prefer to stay on their original Japanese “ship” regardless. In addition, there was a time when the international PSO2 community feared that SEGA would ban users with foreign IP addresses from playing the game. That never came to fruition, but players using this trick could be blocked in the future if SEGA decides that it is an exploit.