Trivia / Phantasy Star Universe

• Bad Export for You: Phantasy Star Universe was full of this trope.
  • The Japanese version of Phantasy Star Portable allowed one to transfer their character from PSU, but this feature was removed from the localized version. Downloadable missions were also only released in Japan, leaving some weapons unobtainable in the localized versions.
  • When closing down versions due to falling customer numbers, the PC and PS2 versions were closed down, leaving the Xbox 360 version active. Due to this, the game was unable to transfer at all to a new free-to-play client due to restrictions in Xbox Live.
  • The final update for Illuminus on Xbox 360. Due to poor timing, and a even more baffling choice of which version to close, the cash shop and other elements which allowed the game to survive up until the follow-up was ready in Japan, but never surfaced.
• Franchise Killer: Phantasy Star Portable 2 is often blamed by the fanbase for killing the Phantasy Star franchise outside of Japan, although this is largely the fault of the players. The overabundance of custom firmware and rampant pirating on the PSP lead to mass pirating of PSPo2, which cut deeply into the game's performance overseas despite its warm critical reception. Phantasy Star has been No Export for You ever since. This was only narrowly subverted with the re-announcement of the English localization of Phantasy Star Online 2 at E3 2019 courtesy of Microsoft.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Even with online servers long gone and online distribution all but dropping it, Portable 2 (and especially Infinity) is still held by many as one of the best games in the franchise. With a fan translation making Infinity viable to play in 2020, both long-time PSP owners and those who run the games in emulation banded together to keep the game alive themselves and make sure it didn't get drowned out by Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis or especially by Sega.
• Milestone Celebration: Universe celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2016, which meant new Universe-based outfits, content, characters, and weapons... for Phantasy Star Online 2.^note The fact that Phantasy Star Online 2 has been, for the west until Microsoft entered the frame, in Development Hell for several years and had a Engrish version only in South East Asia, until they voluntarily cancelled it, suggests that Sonic Team haven't learned their lesson.
• Misblamed: For the longest time, NA/EU players blamed Sega of America for an inability to control hacking and the lack of content updates when it was Sonic Team's lack of communication and sometimes counter-intuitive attitude towards patches and updates which devastated the customer base.
  • In September 2012, a Glassdoor review by a former Sega of America employee claiming to have worked as a director there outlined the difficulties Sega of America had with having to work under both the European and Japanese branches.
• Screwed By The Company: Universe is a big hit in Japan, but aside from the Xbox 360 version, it did not do well internationally. The PC/PS2 version of Universe's Network Mode servers were shut down on March 31, 2010, three and a half years since their launch (October 24, 2006).
  
  The primary reason was Sonic Team's poorly set up management system for the PC/PS2 servers; Sega's American and European branches shared responsibilities (for example, the billing server was in Britain while most GMs and game servers were in America), but all actions taken had to be authorized by Sonic Team. The lack of coordination and screwups that arose from this system caused many PC/PS2 players to either quit or move to the 360 or Japanese servers.
  
  A case example happened during the first year of release, when there was an outbreak of griefing and hacking; this included duplicating rare items and meseta, crashing servers, stealing items from player rooms, and resetting other players' Partner Machines to their initial state (raising a Partner Machine cost a lot of time and money back then). Sega of America's GMs were unable to stop them, thanks to Sonic Team neglecting to give them the abilities to manage the servers effectively. After a while it wasn't an issue, but it did irrecoverable damage and cut the player base in half.
  
  Another major example was the "Error 65" epidemic in 2008, which left many PC/PS2 players unable to participate in the long-awaited "Maximum Attack G" event due to receiving a "Subscription Ended" message when their subscriptions hadn't even expired. Sega of America's GMs announced an extension of the event to compensate players for this, but were ordered instead to end the event early by Sonic Team, who told the GMs to "prepare for a new update schedule", which alienated even the customers who COULD do the event.
  
  This enraged most of the player base, who blamed Sega of America rather than Sonic Team. Several months passed without updates, until Sonic Team authorized an extension of the event months later. By that point, however, even more players had either quit or moved to other servers.
  
  The second reason for Universe's international flop was the content release system, which gradually unlocked content for online mode every few months or longer, subject to Sonic Team's whims — this often meant delays and long pauses in between updates, while the Japanese servers received regular updates as well as far more frequent special events. When the PC/PS2 servers were still active, they and the Xbox 360 servers shared the same update schedule.
  
  Although most content from Universe and Ambition of the Illuminus was eventually made available for Network Mode, at launch there was very little to do in comparison; only the lowest B-grade equipment was available, clothing choices were limited, there were only a few missions to run, and Moatoob wasn't even accessible. To say that it didn't leave a good first impression on many fans and reviewers would be an understatement.
  
  The final nail in the coffin came over Guardians Advanced Content, due to the sudden cancellation of all services outside the Xbox 360 version, which was partially managed by Xbox Live. The problem here was not Sonic Team, but Microsoft, adding an extra level of unneeded bureaucracy, since none of the new content could be implemented on the Xbox 360 version due to a policy on Xbox Live where any purchases made on the service had to go through Microsoft's payment system, and Sonic Team pulled the plug on the Xbox 360 version while SEGA of America were still negotiating with Microsoft.
  
  The big update hit a massive roadblock, with NA/EU players looking at the fact that they completely missed out on a free-to-play roll-out and a new currency based system. Consequently, the remaining players left.
• The Other Darrin: Many of the voice actors from Portable 1 do not return for Portable 2, with Lou being a prime example.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: There has been rumors of a black beast Nanoblast form that wields twin axes existing in the game. Then a black beast Nanoblast form actually appeared in Phantasy Star Portable 2. While it doesn't have two axes, it does have a large blade on each arm.

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