There are a few notable differences between the Japanese and English NA version of PSO2, this information should clarify a few things. Most things listed here will likely be made available within the near future, with the exception of regional content - which may be repurposed for NA regional access.

Here's a Video Version to see the differences as examples:

https://youtu.be/DX1HWeIc9MQ

Technical / Regional Differences

• Xbox has Voice Chat built into the game.
• NA uses a different set of fonts.
• NA Xbox Version will log in without prompt for password like JP PC.
• JP has 10 Ships, NA has 3 Ships.
• PC Cross Play has been hinted at, but is not completely confirmed as far as it's capacity yet.
• Other platform versions are unconfirmed, but hinted at.
• NetCafe options, points and vendors are not present.
• PSO2es Vendor (Seraphy) & PSO2es storage are not present.
• NA has Game & Mission passes, whereas JP does not.
• Nanon re-positioned to Photon Drop / Badge shop area.

Content Availability

• Episode : JP Ep. 6 / NA Ep. 3.
• Personal Quarters Crafting is not available yet.
• Tokyo, Las Vegas & Enchanted Forests areas are not available yet.
• Some Extreme Quests are yet to be added.
• Content tied to Episode 4-6 may be unavailable in regards to items, weapons, units, mag devices & AC/ fun related items.
• Shirona's Treasure Shop is not available. Possibly replaced with the Fresh Finds store.

Gear Differences & Availability

• No Old Type weapons in NA (therefore no need for -NT suffix)
• 14+☆ Weapons and 12+☆ Units are not yet available
• Some Affixes are not yet available
• There is 1 Takt / Harmonizer in the game currently. The one you start with.
• NA does not have 'Magazine Item Code Weapons' ( Chronos Scythe/Nacht, Tradicion/Nacht, Phyteuma/Licht etc.)

Quest availability Unavailable in NA at this point in time:

• Bonus Quests (Ep. 4)
• Buster Quests (Ep. 5)
• Endless Quests
• Ultimate Quests
• Riding Quest
• Trigger Quests
• Challenge Quests
• Battle Arena

Character / Class Availability

• The current Level cap is 75. In turn Sub-Class level caps out around 55. To further level it, you must change this to your main class.
• PA & Tech discs cap at Level 10.
• Level cap trials I & II have been removed.
• Successor / Scion Classes not in yet - Hero, Phantom and Etoile.
• Skill trees are missing some of the skills that came in later episodes. If you're using the build website links, be sure to toggle for PSO2 NA.
• There are height restrictions below 154cm on the NA version.
• Complex PAs are not in yet.
• Dark Blast forms are not in yet.

Terminology Changes (JP) > (NA)

• Teams > Alliances
• Featured Quests > Recommended Quests
• Free Field / Expedition
• Training Quests / Practice Quests
• Darker > Falspawn
• Dark Falz [Double] > Dark Falz [Gemini]
• Massive Hunter > Hunter Physique
• Limit Break > Overload
• Freeze/Poison Ignition > Freeze/Poison Detonation
• Rare Mastery Class > Arms Enthusiast Class
• Gear > Focus
• Point Assist > Summoner's Mark
• One More Jump/Showtime > Encore Jump/Showtime
• Every Single Braver Photon Art
• Dual Blades > Soaring Blades
• Gunslash > Gunblade

Thanks to the following contributors:

• GM Deynger
• Havocx3
• Leonkh99
• ErinXh
• Fiona Respha
• coldreactive
• Cathy

Let me know if there's anything else I should add to this list.

No Old Type weapons.

Thanks for that, good to get clarification!

Minimum height? I saw a thread of someone posting they can't create or change in salon character below 154cm, as a PC player I can't confirm.

To avoid confusion / people thinking the game was rolled back to earlier versions... the game does in fact use the Episode 6 game client which is why it carries a lot of the balances and fixes made then and why the Story Mode's the way it is.

What is changed is then the content. Its also a tad bit inconsistent in the sense that we do have Tutorial Quests (which is Episode 4+ and feature Xiera instructing you) and the Summoner Class.

@AnamanaAU

Also side note, working on a visual comparison over here (still WIP and needs screenshots):

https://segaretro.org/Phantasy_Star_Online_2/Comparisons#Regional_Comparisons_.28North_America.29

I got a question for you, I could write a 10 page essay about all the differences but how in-depth do you wanna go? And which differences do you consider? Do you look at the 2 versions and describe the differences between them as of right now? Or do we consider the potential (factual) differences as well? What about current differences that we know in the (near) future aren't going to exist? (temporary differences) Especially, considering that the NA version isn't in its 'final form' yet. And do we talk about 'ALL' the differences, even the smallest ones?

For example, If you would look at the 2 versions 'as of right now'. A difference could be that the PSO2NA version doesn't have crossplay with PC.

But, we do know as a fact that in the 'future', crossplay with PC will happen. (So which of the 2 statements should we consider?)

Going into detail, you could mention that the PSO2NA version doesn't have 2015-2019 Weapon Badges. Or going through all the outfits, costumes, cast parts, lobby actions etc. etc. to describe individually which ones are not in PSO2NA or PSO2JP, and which ones are in PSO2NA or PSO2JP.

This might be nitpicking, but how in-depth/in detail should we go? What do you find important to consider putting on the list?

Ooooh I see I see.. That must be why Crafting isn't a thing right now.. I've been spending all day today wracking my brain about this...

I would rather they release everything all at once if they want to make a seriously strong impression, especially since the largest population is always at the launch of a game.

@ErinXh said in JP / NA Differences:

I got a question for you, I could write a 10 page essay about all the differences but how in-depth do you wanna go? And which differences do you consider? Do you look at the 2 versions and describe the differences between them as of right now? Or do we consider the potential (factual) differences as well? Or actually leave out things that are different between the 2 version as of right now, but knowing they aren't going to be in the (near) future. Especially, considering that the NA version isn't in its 'final form' yet. And do we talk about 'ALL' the differences, even the smallest ones?

For example, If you would look at the 2 versions 'as of right now'. A difference could be that the PSO2NA version doesn't have crossplay with PC.

But, we do know as a fact that in the 'future', crossplay with PC will happen. (So which of the 2 statements should we consider?)

Let's say you wanna go into the smallest detail. You could say that the PSO2NA version doesn't have 2015-2019 Weapon Badges. Or go through all the outfits, costumes, cast parts, lobby actions etc. etc. And describe which ones are not in the PSO2NA or PSO2JP, and which ones are in PSO2NA or PSO2JP.

This might be nitpicking, but how in-depth/in detail should we go? What do you find important, to considering putting on the list?

I wouldn't go as deep as 'this enemy doesn't drop this item', but the weapon badge point is a good one. Regardless of the tiny details making it onto the list, it would still be good for folks to read in the thread if you mention anything.

@Leonkh99 This is amazing work!

@AnamanaAU Thanks! ^^

Between the Closed Beta and Open Beta I made other Comparison pages to (all still in development) for Phantasy Star 0, Portable 2, Online, Online Ep I & II and Universe.

I had decided to wait a bit for the PC version in order to get a consistent source of screenshots (as I would be taking them myself) and also because at the moment I feel like im comparing Oranges to Apples (as someone once said) as some differences may not be regional changes but rather changes made for different platforms. An example is present with this image here from the manual:

Which has different options listed from what we've got in the actual game:

While some would be quick to jump and say the image was taken from an earlier version (and I can see why as the header was changed from "LOGIN MENU" to "TITLE MENU" for some reason), I do believe the Manual screenshot is from the PC version as the missing options are consistent with what is present elsehwere on PC:

• Window/Text Size Settings: Is in the PC version on the game's launcher (which the Support Page reveals, will still be used for NA)
• Online Manual: Is normally present in the Ship Menu as opposed to the Title Menu, for some reason Xbox One moved it to the Title Menu.
• Licenses: The license requirement is that it has to be 'visible'. On the PC version there is a folder in the game's files labelled "Licenses" which has the various .txt license files for each API/Middleware/Third Party stuff used.
• Reset Saved Data: This feature is uneeded as resetting data is done through the launcher / you can delete your local character files from the Documents Folder.
• Return To Title Screen: Just like in JP PC, it used to be "Exit Game" which... well exits to Desktop. The Xbox One version simply makes it a "Return to Title Screen" option.

So yes... I have a hunch that some screenshots in the Manual are in fact... from the PC version. Once the PC version is out I will get down to making a comparison between any differences the two have! ^^

I am going to wait a bit with doing a full comparison. Gonna take a deeper look when the NA version has settled a bit after its official release.

To add a couple differences off the top of my head.

For the current (most likely) temporary differences:

• NA: 3 Ships vs. JP: 10 Ships.
• No Riding Quest in NA. (Makes sense off course.)
• No Endless Quest in NA. (Makes sense again.)
• No Tokyo, Las Vegas & Enchanted Forest Expedition, related Arks and Time Attack Quests in NA. (Idem ditto.)
• No Ultimate Quests in NA. (Idem ditto.)
• NA misses a couple of Extreme Quests compared to JP. (Idem ditto.)
• No PVP mode in NA. (Idem ditto.)
• NA misses quite a bit of affixes for now. (Idem ditto.)
• NA doesn't have 15☆ Weapons & no 13☆ Units.

(Haven't checked if NA has Trigger Quests.)

Now these temporary differences are not really that interesting, because in time the majority if not all of them will become available in the NA version.

The following permanent (or at least in all probability permanent) differences are more intriguing.

• No NetCafe & NetCafe Points for NA. (There is barely any infrastructure for it in the US, and we don't have the culture for it in the west.)
• Nanon re-positioned in NA from her JP location.
• Different font use between the 2 versions. (Wonder if the NA version has Halfwidth and Fullwidth forms, probably still has.)
• No Seraphy in NA. (Probably due being related to PSO2es.)
• The NA version doesn't have and will most likely never going to have the Toro and Kuro Partner Cards and related items. (They are Sony mascots after all.)
• The NA version doesn't have (and maybe will not have) 'Magazine Item Code Weapons', stuff like Chronos Scythe/Nacht, Tradicion/Nacht, Phyteuma/Licht etc.
• JP doesn't have Game & Mission Passes.
• NA doesn't have (and probably will not have) PSO2es Storage. (But I don't doubt that a different storage will take its place, and OTP storage will find its way to PSO2NA as well eventually.)
• JP doesn't have Voice Chat. (Al though it's more due being a Xbox feature, but hey it's there.)

Now I wonder if the old Matterboards titles still reside in the NA version of the game, I assume they still do. Adding to another difference. (depending on how you see it.)

• NA: No way of getting those titles. vs. JP: Used to be able to get those titles.

(And if they aren't in the NA version.)

• NA: Doesn't have the Matterboard titles. vs. JP: Does have the Matterboard titles.

[Pssst. Wanna know the most important difference? Big Vardha has killed the JP server and every ARKS on it twice! It has yet to do that on the NA version.]

Thanks for this, appreciate it. I'll compile stuff into the original thread a bit later. It'll help with anyone making guides.

This is quite an interesting attempt! I thought maybe sorting items depending of their importance on our gameplay could organize the list.

@Leonkh99 Very interesting read! I didn't know Taiwanese PSO2 was 夢幻之星

@Fiona-Respha , if you are curious, there was also supposed to be a Korean PSO2:

https://imgur.com/a/zIpgc6K

It was showcased before the original 2013 announcement happened and was done as early as Alpha 1... unfortunately this Korean version was also 'delayed'.

@Leonkh99 said in JP / NA Differences:

@Fiona-Respha , if you are curious, there was also supposed to be a Korean PSO2:

https://imgur.com/a/zIpgc6K

It was showcased before the original 2013 announcement happened and was done as early as Alpha 1... unfortunately this Korean version was also 'delayed'.

Didn't know this story. Delaying after having Alpha 1 was quite disappointing, I suppose...