The eight-year wait for Phantasy Star Online 2 to be released in the West has finally come to an end for some, with PSO2's dependence on the Windows Store making it impossible for some to play due to errors and bugs. Much of this is due to PSO2's dependence on the Windows Store.

I was able to install the game without issue and had no problems playing, but there are many threads on the PSO2 subreddit complaining about the numerous problems that can occur between installing a free-to-play MMO and actually logging in." The current top thread is "Sega and Microsoft, get a grip.

There is more than one main error code, such as Diablo 3's infamous Error 37, and a variety of issues are piling up; a bug fix mega thread created by Redditor DozyVan includes everything from an issue with the wrong regional settings in the Windows Store to PSO2 to error codes 1813 and 104 that pop up when trying to actually run the launcher required to log in and play. Both of these errors seem to be caused by system permission settings, but the proposed solutions do not seem to work for all players.

Exacerbating all of this is the awful Windows Store, where half of DozyVan's guide is devoted to explaining how to uninstall and reinstall PSO2. Even choosing which drive to install the game on is complicated.

It is puzzling that Microsoft and Sega did not at least make PSO2 available for download from the Xbox beta app. Fortunately, players seem to have developed a way to download PSO2 without using the Windows Store.

PSO2, despite being eight years old, seems to be quite nicely done so far. And if you can work around all of these potential problems and actually get into the game, the experience is relatively smooth (though you might want to update your Nvidia drivers to fix the stuttering in the main player hub).

It's ridiculous that the Windows Store is still in such a terrible state after all these years, and Sega and Microsoft made the inexplicable decision to make PSO2 a Windows Store exclusive when there are so many better solutions available.