Nothing stung worse to we Sega-loving Phantasy Star fans than the day Phantasy Star Online shut down. An enterprising group of players created a private server to keep the game alive but the next game in the series, Phantasy Star Universe, didn’t share that good fortune. Due, supposedly, to heavy encryption by Sega to avoid such a fan server being made again, PSU was said to be uncrackable and would never have the kind of player-run server that PSO has enjoyed.
Don’t get your hopes up, but it seems someone has begun attempting just that. Since about four months ago, a message board popped up that has been discussing work on a fan-made PSU server.
Those involved (and the few who seem to be testing it with them) post progress updates on the forum, and though they have a long way to go, it’s comforting to know that so many people still care about what is essentially the less attractive and younger sibling of Phantasy Star Online.
Apparently, this project was started as a private experiment between some friends, but as they began to chip away at it and saw that they could re-enable things, it went public, and has promised to one day return PSU‘s true online mode to a playable state.
It’s entirely likely we’ll see this server become open to the public before Sega ever mentions anything about Phantasy Star Online 2‘s American debut.
