So....about ST's approach to advertising...

[Telina]

http://psutimes.blogspot.com/2008/04/community-user-comments-and-reviews.html

From the main page of course. I noticed there was no link to a discussion topic, so i decided to make one and observe the public's opinion. What do you all think about their approach, inventive? creative? lazy?

personally i can't believe they pretty much said, "yeeeaaa....we're gonna leave it up to you guys to pay for this, AND put your time forward in advertising our game."

Honestly if ST is leaving such things up to us, why stop there. I say let us decide on the 'updates' too. But nonetheless, I think this was too late comming from them, and it may be beyond repair at this point. Even if we harness all that happy energy that the internet provides http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Advertisement is a business, there are people who make a living off of it. I'm at a loss for words just thinking why they pretty much told us to advertise ourselves by revising game reviews as ST washes their hands of the matter.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

Uhhhhh, that's not an official statement at all.

S-T-H may be a mod now, but that is meant to be a player-based effort.

[Noblewine]

It sounds like a good idea though I looked at the page and I didn't see any link to the message boards. How are we suppose to do anything if they don't have a message board. It be nice to be able to get more into the game.

[EspioKaos]

On 2008-04-19 18:21, Telina wrote:
What do you all think about their approach, inventive? creative? lazy?

personally i can't believe they pretty much said, "yeeeaaa....we're gonna leave it up to you guys to pay for this, AND put your time forward in advertising our game."

...

I'm at a loss for words just thinking why they pretty much told us to advertise ourselves by revising game reviews as ST washes their hands of the matter.

But this isn't SEGA or SonicTeam's doing. They didn't tell us to advertise for them. This is the result of a single fan coming up with ideas that could help promote the game with a little help from the community.

I've been reading reactions to S-T-H's idea at other boards over the past few days, and to be completely honest, I'm absolutely disgusted by the negative reactions that so many people have thrown at it.

Personally, I think it's a great idea. Sure, it'd be better if SEGA would do more to advertise the game, but until that happens, I see nothing wrong with the fans speaking up about a game they enjoy playing.

[PALRAPPYS]

On 2008-04-19 18:36, EspioKaos wrote:

On 2008-04-19 18:21, Telina wrote:
What do you all think about their approach, inventive? creative? lazy?

personally i can't believe they pretty much said, "yeeeaaa....we're gonna leave it up to you guys to pay for this, AND put your time forward in advertising our game."

...

I'm at a loss for words just thinking why they pretty much told us to advertise ourselves by revising game reviews as ST washes their hands of the matter.

But this isn't SEGA or SonicTeam's doing. They didn't tell us to advertise for them. This is the result of a single fan coming up with ideas that could help promote the game with a little help from the community.

I've been reading reactions to S-T-H's idea at other boards over the past few days, and to be completely honest, I'm absolutely disgusted by the negative reactions that so many people have thrown at it.

Personally, I think it's a great idea. Sure, it'd be better if SEGA would do more to advertise the game, but until that happens, I see nothing wrong with the fans speaking up about a game they enjoy playing.



I must agree. Although it is up to them to mainly advertise, but it wouldn't hurt us to help out anyways.

[beatrixkiddo]

In before facepalming.

And yes, it's not official. The official ST blog for PSU is at:

http://blogs.sega.com/usa/category/phantasy-star-universe/

[HolyOrderSaek]

I love PSU a lot, and although I loved PSO, I'm not one whose apt to make comparisons to it. This is a different game, and I try to evaluate it as such.

The problem is, as an MMO, it's fun is proportionate to the amount of people who play it. I talk about the game all the time, but I never seem to convince anyone to play. Let's face it, it's against WOW and FFXI, and any number of spin-off MMOs based off much more popular and/or mainstream franchises. I don't know a single person who's played one of the original PS RPGs even.

Now, not to say that this isn't a gallant or worthwhile effort, as it's the only online game I even care to play, but it is one hell of an uphill battle. Honestly, if we were able to combine this in conjunction with another expansion release, with a possible combo package like FFXI has done, we'd be a lot more succesful. Of course, STA getting off it's ass would work too XP

[WBMike]

Yes I agree its a huge uphill battle, metacritic/gamerankings isn't very newsworthy. Plus some video game bloggers usually show PSU in a negative light. Other ways to promote the game is through signatures with links or screenshots of PSU. You can put these on gamespot and post for non-psu games. For example, Sonic fan-sites usually have a lot of devoted fans to Sonic Team, its a good place to start since they are already comfortable with the company. Sega Nerds is another place you can suggest some promotion of this game also.

[TresIngram]

Sound like a great idea to me leaving it up to us.

[HolyOrderSaek]

The site http://www.sega-16.com/ might be a place if anyone could get an editorial written about it, since the site would have all the old PS games on it and tends to include articles about new games in series, seeing as they just had one about a Sonic game in development. Can't believe I didn't think of that when I first posted...

[Mikura]

I see nothing wrong with letting the community spread the word about PSU. Any of us that play PSU certainly have enough free time to leave a few remarks or interviews over the net. Is it a huge up-hill battle? Yes. But I rather do this than let the game languish on it's own and potentially die a premature death before it's even reached its prime.

Honestly, if everyone here is a fan of PSU, show some damn support for the game. Of course, ST should also take responsibility and start marketing the game more on the internet and post ads and banners on websites with heavy traffic, but as a community there's no reason why we can't try to do our part as well.

[Sinue_v2]

After all that Sonic Team has done to screw up and mismanage their game, I would not want to be responsible for drawing in any more players who I know are likely to last only 2 months tops before throwing it aside in disgust. If Sega can't satisfy their customers, then they don't deserve those customers. I might be willing to put up with Sega's shit, but I wouldn't advocate that ANYONE else do the same.

Sega is a business, and Phantasy Star Universe is a product. If they want customers, then they can put out a product that people want, advertise it, and support it. If they can't manage that, then it's not my responsibility to do it for them. Unless of course they want to pay me. If they want to do that, then that's great. But I'm not going to PAY them so that I can do THEIR jobs.

[Shinko]

i don't think that was sega that said that but as i said before i talk about psu alot. this is sega fault. its there job to do this. this is a good game its just sad that its low community maybe the death of it.....

they really need to keep it up with games like wow out there..... i bet thats where everyone went.

[Nirvash7]

It's literally fucking stupid to match anything with WoW right now. Blizzard is at the peak of their success right now so getting people to stay with PSU as opposed to WoW is like a 1* hotel trying to get a big celebrity to stop going to that 4* hotel across the street.

Sega is pretty fucking stupid imo for not letting MS buy them out. Imagine that. If MS bought Sega out, Phantasy Star servers would be around forever, the game would be on a better server, the "monthly fee" would be cheaper, the graphics would be up-to-date, and much more!

And wow...why does your sig remind me of 2girls1cup???

[SmurfALMIGHTY]

Well people have somewhat of a right to compare it to wow and FF for the simple fact that it's an mmo that charges a monthly fee(basically all do anyhow). It's an hard competition SEGA can easily pull through and make the game a lot better but they choose not to. We wouldn't be in this situation of needing advertising for the game if the game was supported more often instead of the events that are basically seasonal they need something to keep people coming back to the game day in and day out not a month by month basis. All the people I used to party with are all the same they've all gotten up and left to other mmo's/COD4 or back to Halo keeping there PSU accounts alive and coming back for MAG then most likely leaving again. IMO Sega needs to step up to the plate and not strike out this time around.

[Sekani]

Sorry guys, but I'm not going to damage my reputation by recommending a game of below-average quality to anyone else that I know. Tried that last year; everyone got bored from just the demo, and the one person who did sign up quit in less than a week.

PSU is already by nature too shallow to appeal to anyone outside of a very niche market, and the massive number of technical problems are pissing off the few people that do like the game. Let me put it to you like this: what makes you think PSU is capable of attracting new players if they can't even keep the ones they already have?

Feel free to advertise as much as you want if it'll make you feel better, but the simple truth is that I can't in good faith recommend PSU to anyone.

[RemiusTA]

On 2008-04-19 20:32, HolyOrderSaek wrote:
I love PSU a lot, and although I loved PSO, I'm not one whose apt to make comparisons to it. This is a different game, and I try to evaluate it as such.

The problem is, as an MMO, it's fun is proportionate to the amount of people who play it. I talk about the game all the time, but I never seem to convince anyone to play. Let's face it, it's against WOW and FFXI, and any number of spin-off MMOs based off much more popular and/or mainstream franchises. I don't know a single person who's played one of the original PS RPGs even.

Now, not to say that this isn't a gallant or worthwhile effort, as it's the only online game I even care to play, but it is one hell of an uphill battle. Honestly, if we were able to combine this in conjunction with another expansion release, with a possible combo package like FFXI has done, we'd be a lot more succesful. Of course, STA getting off it's ass would work too XP



This is true. If this game ever had a CHANCE of going against WoW or FFXI, we would have to wait until they basically unlock all the content. There is absolutely not enough to do at this point.

[DavidNel]

With this desparate call for help, ST has lost all my respect. Not only will they not fix their games, but now they want people who PAY TO PLAY to advertise for THEM! That's just rediculous...

[soolayah]

On 2008-04-20 07:25, DavidNel wrote:
With this desparate call for help, ST has lost all my respect. Not only will they not fix their games, but now they want people who PAY TO PLAY to advertise for THEM! That's just rediculous...

It's not ST's suggestion though. Someone who PAYS TO PLAY came up with it on his own. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

[Thela]

Sega have nothing to do with this, this is completely a fan-based initiative. Although S-T-H is a site mod that does not mean he is affiliated with Sega, he's just a volunteer and bar his mod powers is pretty much a regular player just like nearly everyone else.

Furthermore, this wasn't directly prompted by Sega. I think they could try and do more myself but they're not and no amount of 'This is Sega's job hurdurrrrr' will influence them. I see no reason not to show initiative ourselves, if you don't want to take part then don't, but why the sheer negativity?

This certainly is an uphill battle, no doubt about it, I don't think anyone involved expects miracles. But isn't even the chance of a minor success worth it to you people? Or is it easier to jump on the antipathy bandwagon that infects this community like a plague?

I can't understand exactly why people, supposed PSU fans, can be so negative towards something that will never hurt them, even if it fails.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.


Sorry guys, but I'm not going to damage my reputation by recommending a game of below-average quality to anyone else that I know.
I had to single out this comment. Your reputation? Do people judge you by the video games you recommend to them or something? Good God.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2008-04-20 08:40, Thela wrote:
I can't understand exactly why people, supposed PSU fans, can be so negative towards something that will never hurt them, even if it fails.
Because most of them aren't PSU fans at all; rather, ITS just LIKE THEY ARE HOOKED.

[Xaeris]

Sorry guys, but I'm not going to damage my reputation by recommending a game of below-average quality to anyone else that I know.

I had to single out this comment. Your reputation? Do people judge you by the video games you recommend to them or something? Good God.



I can't speak for you, but if someone I know recommends a restaurant or a band that I end up hating, I'm much more likely to second guess the next recommendation, or skip it all together.

I have to agree with those saying that I can't in good conscience recommend this game to anyone I know.

[SmurfALMIGHTY]

On 2008-04-20 08:40, Thela wrote:
Sega have nothing to do with this, this is completely a fan-based initiative. Although S-T-H is a site mod that does not mean he is affiliated with Sega, he's just a volunteer and bar his mod powers is pretty much a regular player just like nearly everyone else.

Furthermore, this wasn't directly prompted by Sega. I think they could try and do more myself but they're not and no amount of 'This is Sega's job hurdurrrrr' will influence them. I see no reason not to show initiative ourselves, if you don't want to take part then don't, but why the sheer negativity?

This certainly is an uphill battle, no doubt about it, I don't think anyone involved expects miracles. But isn't even the chance of a minor success worth it to you people? Or is it easier to jump on the antipathy bandwagon that infects this community like a plague?

I can't understand exactly why people, supposed PSU fans, can be so negative towards something that will never hurt them, even if it fails.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.


Sorry guys, but I'm not going to damage my reputation by recommending a game of below-average quality to anyone else that I know.
I had to single out this comment. Your reputation? Do people judge you by the video games you recommend to them or something? Good God.



Im more concerned about the fact that we're paying to play the game and we shouldn't even have to have any fans be in the situation to advertise the game like this if they hold out on everything for us. They need to unlock all set to release content asap, add more challenging missions to the game or just add something new and exciting.Basically the average character usually just runs White Beast all the way into level cap and then farms random runs in my case I did Desert Goliath most people tend to do Sleeping Warriors etc.. for cash then basically buy what you need and its basically game over. It's sad to say when I have all the weapons/money I need and i've only done about 6 different missions.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SmurfALMIGHTY on 2008-04-20 09:46 ]</font>

[Else]

If Sega just had a PC 14-day Free Trial, the PC servers would be exploding. The free 14 days AFTER (40 dollar) purchase does nothing for advertisement and new players coming in.

[Mikura]

Even though we have to pay a monthly fee for PSU, I wish people would stop comparing it to FFXI or WoW. I don't care if you consider those games ST's "competition." PSU has and always will be an online RPG that is outside the norm. It's not like any other MMORPG and shouldn't be compared to any others.

The game's far from great but I could easily recommend it to friends and anyone I know without losing face. Just be completely honest with them about all the pros AND cons of the game. We're not asking people to persuade others or use under-handed ways to "trick" people into playing PSU. Be blunt and honest. If someone still decides to try it after all the flaws you point out to them, you can be sure they'll probably join and stay committed to the game afterwards. Everyone pointing out all the negatives to this are just being too damn pessimistic. I don't think any of us expect the game to suddenly reach 5,000+ players or for everyone to stay committed. Some won't bother at all, some will and may quit shortly thereafter. But the main point is "it doesn't hurt us in any way whatsoever to at least try."

I agree with Espio on this...it's sad that so many supposed "fans" of PSU rather piss all over the game and not give a rat's ass about trying to help support it. If you think the game is that subpar, why do you still bother to play at all or post on these forums? If you can care enough to bitch and moan, you can dedicate some of that energy to saying some positive things about the game and spreading the word a bit. No one's asking us to put the game up on a damn pedestal. Just let it merely be known that it exists. Period.

Lastly, for people saying "Well, the game's shallow and we're lacking a lot of content so everyone will grow bored and quit soon," just look at how many players are still hanging around. Sure, it's not many but you will always have those dedicated players on PSU. That's the key. Not everyone will stay but if we could gather enough players, there'd be a few in the "batch" that would join the ranks of those dedicated players and stay. I see a ton of these free Korean MMO's that have thousands of players and I don't see where it's nothing more than a grind fest but they still manage to have a huge population. PSU could do the same, despite the fact that it isn't free. If people like it enough, they'll pay the fee.

I can see both sides of this arguments and both have good points but it's disheartening PSU has such a negative and apathetic player base. I really would have expected more from the people that claim they enjoy the game.

[Alamar]

Sega always had an ad problem. I use to keep track of ads in EGM. When the Dreamcast(great system) was running against the Playstation.
On average in a single issue Sony had 24 ads and Sega had 10, Nintendo rounded it up with 3.
So thats what 2-1 for Sony ads against Sega. Sony just saturated the market with ads.
Then something happened someone with just as much if not more money then them came along.
Microsoft had the Xbox, I know some hate MS but you have to give them credit they have enough dough to go head to head with Sony.
Couple that with it is a good system besides all the problems. No system is problem free,It is the nature of the beast. As I said before Sega and advertising never go hand and hand.
But in Sega's defense they really did not have the money to do ads. They lost $300,000,000 (yes thats 300 million) on the Sega Saturn mess. So thats my 2 cents take it or leave it.
I do know they were never one to put alot of ads out there. Word of mouth is their idea of ads. Which is stronger then any other but never good to rely on only.

[Sekani]

On 2008-04-20 10:18, Mikura wrote:
Even though we have to pay a monthly fee for PSU, I wish people would stop comparing it to FFXI or WoW. I don't care if you consider those games ST's "competition." PSU has and always will be an online RPG that is outside the norm. It's not like any other MMORPG and shouldn't be compared to any others.
All of the games you mentioned are online RPGs with a monthly fee. Those two traits alone make comparisons to WoW and FFXI completely valid, no matter how much you don't like it. All of the people I talked about earlier who didn't stick around because of the demo almost unanimously said that the content compared to WoW was lacking. This is a major negative here, but you can't overcome it by denying that this is an issue.


The game's far from great but I could easily recommend it to friends and anyone I know without losing face. Just be completely honest with them about all the pros AND cons of the game.
I'm being completely honest when I say that in it's current state I would not recommend it. This is not so much the fault of the actual game as it is the result of me having lost all confidence in the development team. Until the massive slowdown issues are fixed at the very least, I will not recommend it to anyone else. If someone else happens to be curious for whatever reason I won't dissuade them from checking it out, but beyond that I feel I would be doing people a disservice.


But the main point is "it doesn't hurt us in any way whatsoever to at least try."
I have no problem with this plan, and genuinely wish you all the best of luck. However, I stand by my reasons for not wanting to personally participate.


I agree with Espio on this...it's sad that so many supposed "fans" of PSU rather piss all over the game and not give a rat's ass about trying to help support it. If you think the game is that subpar, why do you still bother to play at all or post on these forums? If you can care enough to bitch and moan, you can dedicate some of that energy to saying some positive things about the game and spreading the word a bit.
Frankly I'm sick of the if-you-don't-like-PSU-GTFO mentality. I have no obligation to say anything other than my opinion. I also don't have to justify my right to state that opinion. Please end this line of thinking.


Lastly, for people saying "Well, the game's shallow and we're lacking a lot of content so everyone will grow bored and quit soon," just look at how many players are still hanging around.
I have looked, it's a lot less than it used to be. I guess that's the reason for these measures you're proposing, right?


it's disheartening PSU has such a negative and apathetic player base. I really would have expected more from the people that claim they enjoy the game.
And I expected more from Sonic Team. This game has so much unrealized potential that it saddens me to see it ruined like this.

[Else]

Whoa whoa whoa, guys, where are you getting the idea that this game is ruined? So what if the PC/PS2 servers are made up of the White Beast community? We're a tight knit group that knows everyone, and there's been players here that have been playing for years despite how much capped characters they have. The game isn't ruined in the least bit; we just need a boost!

The 360 servers are doing -great- considering a console MMORPG. It's one of the top! They have a HUGE community and a lot of that helps that there's a Free to Play option. This is what the PS2/PC servers need.

[DoubleJG]

ST's job.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2008-04-20 09:45, SmurfALMIGHTY wrote:

Im more concerned about the fact that we're paying to play the game and we shouldn't even have to have any fans be in the situation to advertise the game like this
You're right--we shouldn't have to do this. However, reality is, we do have to do it. You can either sit around whining and let PSU die a slow and boring death, or you can do what you can to help it along.

Whether or not we should have to do it is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that we do have to do it.

On 2008-04-20 11:05, Else wrote:
Whoa whoa whoa, guys, where are you getting the idea that this game is ruined? So what if the PC/PS2 servers are made up of the White Beast community? We're a tight knit group that knows everyone
Uh, what PC version are you playing? Everyone either plays with the same four-six people all the time, or they just join open games and never speak during the whole run and then promtply leave without a ord after you kill Alterazgohg and open the boxes.

[Psycho_Sonic]

Uh... you guys want to invite your friends to play the same mission over and over? Cuz that's all this game really is anymore. I quit a little more than a month or so ago, and I'm only going to join back up for events like MAG and Dangeki then sign off again. This game's content is an absolute joke. If you deny that the reason you play is because you're nothing more than a diehard fan, you're kidding yourself. Sorry guys, but that's the reality of it.

[WBMike]

Thats also sad this game is turning into White Beast Online! Now I'm just too annoyed of seeing anything with water and teal. If only we could just push everyone else into other missions. I'd also advocate for PC/Ps2 to have 5 servers only until we have a increase in population.

[relentless]

I just read the whole thread.
Okay.
Hm.
Gotta start to play again, taking a friend with me into this oh-so-dead game, and then rock da house. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif
If I'm not too lazy, I can help with S-T-H's "project", too.
...
BANZAI!!! o/o/o/

[SmurfALMIGHTY]

On 2008-04-20 11:22, Ffuzzy-Logik wrote:

On 2008-04-20 09:45, SmurfALMIGHTY wrote:

Im more concerned about the fact that we're paying to play the game and we shouldn't even have to have any fans be in the situation to advertise the game like this


You're right--we shouldn't have to do this. However, reality is, we do have to do it. You can either sit around whining and let PSU die a slow and boring death, or you can do what you can to help it along.

Whether or not we should have to do it is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that we do have to do it.


You're saying it like its our obligation to do so honestly sega can easily step up to the plate and help fix things but they choose not to or instead they deliver what they can to only the japanese community first. If they honestly want more fans or subs they can easily just hold 7-14 day trial.

As for the person saying that we can't compare PSU to WOW or FF how can we not? We play a monthly fee for an MMO which is basically cost for updates/servers/good time in general and as of now in PSU we are basically occasionally getting updates and I think that's giving a little too much extra credit. Theres very few GM's if not any active ones in game at all. Glitches (robots) never seem to get patched. If any glitches occured on WOW or FF they would be patched almost immediately after they occur not weeks later.

Coming from WOW to PSU you really notice a lot of things. I didn't really directly transfer I just quit wow over the summer last year and then 2 of my RL Best friends recommended me to play PSU since I used to play the old one. Im not saying to make the game like that im just saying to give the "fans" more to work with for there money.

[RemiusTA]

Everyone can stop bitching about sega now because this is not SEGA's request.

If you dont feel that you should do it then don't. Once again i ask, what is all the bitching for.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2008-04-20 12:08, SmurfALMIGHTY wrote:
You're saying it like its our obligation to do so honestly sega can easily step up to the plate and help fix things but they choose not to or instead they deliver what they can to only the japanese community first. If they honestly want more fans or subs they can easily just hold 7-14 day trial.
Look, all I'm doing is accepting the facts of the matter.

ST isn't going to advertise the game, at least not in its current state.

ST isn't going to change the way the game works to appease everyone's little quibbles.

ST isn't going to do jack shit, except maybe get more GM in-game support involvement.

So where does that leave us? We can either sit around and bitch about things that are never going to change, or we can do small things to help out here and there.

Think about it.

[Mikura]

On 2008-04-20 12:32, Ffuzzy-Logik wrote:

On 2008-04-20 12:08, SmurfALMIGHTY wrote:
You're saying it like its our obligation to do so honestly sega can easily step up to the plate and help fix things but they choose not to or instead they deliver what they can to only the japanese community first. If they honestly want more fans or subs they can easily just hold 7-14 day trial.
Look, all I'm doing is accepting the facts of the matter.

ST isn't going to advertise the game, at least not in its current state.

ST isn't going to change the way the game works to appease everyone's little quibbles.

ST isn't going to do jack shit, except maybe get more GM in-game support involvement.

So where does that leave us? We can either sit around and bitch about things that are never going to change, or we can do small things to help out here and there.

Think about it.



I totally agree with this and that's the only point I was trying to make with my other posts. I'm sorry if I made it sound like everyone was obligated to chip in but for those of us interested, I think we should do our part to contribute.

And the only reason I said PSU shouldn't be compared to the other MMO's is despite the online fee, it really has absolutely nothing in common with other MMORPGs. Even if ST released all the content in the game starting next week, it still wouldn't be nowhere in scope or grandeur of FFXI, WoW, or whatever. Are we obligated to have better service since we're paying for $10 a month? Sure. But we can't expect a whole lot of radical changes either.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic but the fact Chill has recently been making efforts to get player feedback and see what's right and wrong with how ST is handling things shows that we might be getting better service soon. If and when we do, then I don't think we'll have any reason not to recommend the game then. I think everyone here agrees it's not so much the game that's the problem so much as the people behind it that are supposed to keep it in tip-top shape.

[S-T-H]

Reading over some of the responses I expected that some opinions on this might be rather negative. Hopefully I can enlighten you guys a bit to try and clear some of that up.

First off, I'm not at all a Sega employee and they in no way requested that I or anyone else do anything like this. I was asked to become a site mod just recently, but it was in fact after I made that post. To eliminate further confusion, it wasn't because of it.

People from PSUP and PSOW both contacted me in regards to putting up links to that blog post, not the other way around. I'm hardly the guy out there from Sega bossing around people to do various things. I just try and come up with some positive ideas and generally it is the users themselves that inquire about them to me.

Some of you might remember that a month or two ago I put up a couple of polls asking about to what degree word of mouth has worked for you guys or what PSU's target audience might consist of. This isn't something new. What I find this current idea to be is not quite advertisement. I just think that we're lacking in community reviews. Good, bad, average, I don't really care too much what you guys say about the game. The entire point was that there was nothing/very little on many of these sites. I figured that we talk daily on the forums about our views on the game and how little Sega does to promote it. Really I just tried to put 2 and 2 together.

If anyone is really concerned about how little attention the game gets (ie where's a gamefaqs review of aoti?), then I am merely saying there is something that can be done on our part. I'm in no way calling anyone out for not helping, but I am a bit disappointed that some people are outright attacking myself/others/Sega for a few of us following through on a random idea that really doesn't seem all that harmful to anything. I don't expect EVERYONE to jump on it, I just figured if I posted something on my blog a few people might pick up on it and contribute. It's not like it's some master plan or something...

Believe me, I know very well about how little Sega does at the moment to advertise or promote the game. That doesn't mean that we can't tell our friends or put in a couple comments here and there about what we think about the game.

So to the people that think it's a sound idea:
Thanks for the support and don't rate the game TOO highly. We wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.

And to the naysayers:
If you're going to attack someone, please attack me. This has nothing to do with Sega.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: S-T-H on 2008-04-20 13:48 ]</font>

[Kelvie]

Better grandeur ?
That is quite subjective, but I sure don't agree with you. Both games sure got better services, and better engine, but I don't see anything I can classify as "better grandeur" in a "lock-on & watch" monster grinder game, over a hack 'n slash.

PSU may be a repetitive game where you kill lame monsters per dozens, at last, you aren't meant to stay for hours on a single map to do it, and not to fight them like you would play beatmania, in way slower, and without the sharp timing not the music.

About the topic, I voted that Sega should handle the advertizing, which is true, but if we players like the game and want more peoples to play with, then, it is our responsability too to make the game known, and give our positives feedbacks about it.
You want something? Go get it.
And there, what players wants seems to be a larger community. So, go help yourselves, peoples.

[Rust]

Not my job to advertise, unless i'm paid for that. And besides i don't see the point in bringing more people in White Beast.

[Sekani]

On 2008-04-20 13:23, Mikura wrote:
And the only reason I said PSU shouldn't be compared to the other MMO's is despite the online fee, it really has absolutely nothing in common with other MMORPGs. Even if ST released all the content in the game starting next week, it still wouldn't be nowhere in scope or grandeur of FFXI, WoW, or whatever. Are we obligated to have better service since we're paying for $10 a month? Sure. But we can't expect a whole lot of radical changes either.

I understand where you're coming from, but you still need to understand as well that the comparisons are inevitable. In fact, you guys should probably use these comparisons to your advantage. Over 10 million people have played WoW, so I'm sure you'd get a reaction if you told them you knew of a game with a better combat system, better character customization, faster travel, no 20-man raids or lame reputation grinds to get the best stuff, and the ability to progress your character without spending two hours a day looking for a party. I mean, you'd still have to deal with the slowdown, lack of content, and the failure of the developers to actually give a damn about anything, but it's a start.

[Else]

There's a few things that we can actively do:

http://boards2.sega.com/psu_board/viewtopic.php?t=75987
I posted a petition there for a PC Free Trial. This is long ways away from something happening, but it has gotten discussion with how people can contribute to getting more players.

MMORPG.com PSU Forums, Commenting on PSU + Posting Screenshots
MMORPG.com is a bit of a rough community at times, but it doesn't hurt to get the PSU forums there active. There are well over thousands of people visiting per day, and people pay close attention to forums that are very active. Starting a post your screenshots thread of some sort would be KEY.

ONRPG.com Screenshots
While it's well known this is a P2P game amongst the ONRPG.com community, there is a thread for posting screenshots which EVERYONE frequents. Posting a lot of screenshots of different aspects of the game there can prove to be VERY helpful.

Youtube.com
Posting videos about events, mission running, character creation, ANYTHING and commenting on them and bringing up the hits can help tremendosly.

Massively.com
These people recently did an article about MAG-- so they are listening! Send in some screenshots to be posted on the website, or ask them to do a re-review.

[Mikura]

On 2008-04-20 13:47, Kelvie wrote:
Better grandeur ?
That is quite subjective, but I sure don't agree with you. Both games sure got better services, and better engine, but I don't see anything I can classify as "better grandeur" in a "lock-on & watch" monster grinder game, over a hack 'n slash.

PSU may be a repetitive game where you kill lame monsters per dozens, at last, you aren't meant to stay for hours on a single map to do it, and not to fight them like you would play beatmania, in way slower, and without the sharp timing not the music.

About the topic, I voted that Sega should handle the advertizing, which is true, but if we players like the game and want more peoples to play with, then, it is our responsability too to make the game known, and give our positives feedbacks about it.
You want something? Go get it.
And there, what players wants seems to be a larger community. So, go help yourselves, peoples.



I only meant the other games in comparison to PSU have far more content and a larger landscape or in-game world...which they do. The problem people see with PSU is it's either a grind fest for exp or repeated runs to hunt a particular rare. There's very little deviation besides those two things. Other MMOs do offer other things besides that to keep the game interesting over the course of many years and even add completely new content that wasn't in the original game before.

But sometimes, being simple is a good thing. I like PSU for this reason. It's not a time sink, nor do you need to have the dedication to get ahead in the game like most MMORPGs have you do. So before you disagree with me again, I'm only pointing out the differences here. I'm in no way glorifying one game over the other.

To S-T-H: Thank you for coming here and making that post to clarify your point. You have my support by the way. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

To Sekani: I agree with you and those are exactly the points I will make when I have the time to post a few reviews about the game. I'm a fan of PSU but I'm not going to pretend it's the best thing since sliced bread either. It has many pitfalls, especially with the service, but it has a few qualities about it some may like. And yes, it'll be a start.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mikura on 2008-04-20 14:20 ]</font>

[Criss]

On 2008-04-20 14:10, Sekani wrote:
Over 10 million people have played WoW, so I'm sure you'd get a reaction if you told them you knew of a game with a better combat system, better character customization, faster travel, no 20-man raids or lame reputation grinds to get the best stuff, and the ability to progress your character without spending two hours a day looking for a party. I mean, you'd still have to deal with the slowdown, lack of content, and the failure of the developers to actually give a damn about anything, but it's a start.Well, considering you just gave twice as many pros as you gave cons, PSU can't be such a bad game, can it? Plus, if you're not the kind of person that somehow absolutely has to do the one and only mission that has the best reward, there's enough missions to keep you busy for a while. Unless you're thinking PSU is the kind of MMO that should be played 40+ hours a week, in which case you'll obviously end up bored with things.

But you're absolutely right about the complete lack of attention from SEGA for this game. There are very easy things they could do that would greatly help bring in new players, like X360 and PC demos that let you try out more than basic PSU launch content. (Or maybe if there were any PC demos at all...) Then obviously, fix the 360's memory-leak-bots problem.

But anyways, even if it's not SEGA that asked the community to advertise, the fact that a community member has to come up with a modest advertisement help idea in the first place means that SEGA still is to blame.

[pikachief]

On 2008-04-20 14:04, Rust wrote:
It's my job to advertise. I'm even paying for it.



fix'd just for sega! lol

[LuigiMario]

All it is is just more people doing SEGAs job. It seems you have to do everything and find out everything yourselves unlike most other games that tell ya everything ya need to know about the things in game and advertize for themselves. SEGA doesn't explain much about this game, its all upto the fans to figure it all out, from luck to synth to luvk lady to w/e is left out, RUBBISH!

Good luck to you all, slaves.

[Syl]

On 2008-04-20 15:52, LuigiMario wrote:
All it is is just more people doing SEGAs job. It seems you have to do everything and find out everything yourselves unlike most other games that tell ya everything ya need to know about the things in game and advertize for themselves. SEGA doesn't explain much about this game, its all upto the fans to figure it all out, from luck to synth to luvk lady to w/e is left out, RUBBISH!


Oh hay, welcome to online RPG's. You must be new here. I can't name any MMO's that have a developer made in-game full game guide besides maybe a couple tips here and there. You swear like PSU is that hard to learn too :/

[SmurfALMIGHTY]

On 2008-04-20 14:49, Criss wrote:

On 2008-04-20 14:10, Sekani wrote:
Over 10 million people have played WoW, so I'm sure you'd get a reaction if you told them you knew of a game with a better combat system, better character customization, faster travel, no 20-man raids or lame reputation grinds to get the best stuff, and the ability to progress your character without spending two hours a day looking for a party. I mean, you'd still have to deal with the slowdown, lack of content, and the failure of the developers to actually give a damn about anything, but it's a start.Well, considering you just gave twice as many pros as you gave cons, PSU can't be such a bad game, can it? Plus, if you're not the kind of person that somehow absolutely has to do the one and only mission that has the best reward, there's enough missions to keep you busy for a while. Unless you're thinking PSU is the kind of MMO that should be played 40+ hours a week, in which case you'll obviously end up bored with things.

But you're absolutely right about the complete lack of attention from SEGA for this game. There are very easy things they could do that would greatly help bring in new players, like X360 and PC demos that let you try out more than basic PSU launch content. (Or maybe if there were any PC demos at all...) Then obviously, fix the 360's memory-leak-bots problem.

But anyways, even if it's not SEGA that asked the community to advertise, the fact that a community member has to come up with a modest advertisement help idea in the first place means that SEGA still is to blame.


Honestly I think a lot of people have really bad views on the ol the you must play XX amount of hours per week in WOW you can play WOW just as casual as PSU especially now that quest exp in WOW is doubled which will get you mad xp. The only time you need to play wow that much is if your in an end game raid guild which a 95% chance your not considering theres probably only 1 sometimes 2 on a server and if you are chances are you have all the free time you need.

[Shinko]

On 2008-04-20 05:26, Nirvash7 wrote:
It's literally fucking stupid to match anything with WoW right now. Blizzard is at the peak of their success right now so getting people to stay with PSU as opposed to WoW is like a 1* hotel trying to get a big celebrity to stop going to that 4* hotel across the street.

Sega is pretty fucking stupid imo for not letting MS buy them out. Imagine that. If MS bought Sega out, Phantasy Star servers would be around forever, the game would be on a better server, the "monthly fee" would be cheaper, the graphics would be up-to-date, and much more!

And wow...why does your sig remind me of 2girls1cup???



what the hell? what do u mean it cant be compared. any gave that charge a fee and is a mmo can be compared. That sega's fault for getting so low on the charts.

and the 10 fee is one of the cheaps fee's out there. how low do u want it.

oh and you know u like the sig lol

[Shinko]

On 2008-04-20 10:53, Sekani wrote:
[quote]On 2008-04-20 10:18, Mikura wrote:
Even though we have to pay a monthly fee for PSU, I wish people would stop comparing it to FFXI or WoW. I don't care if you consider those games ST's "competition." PSU has and always will be an online RPG that is outside the norm. It's not like any other MMORPG and shouldn't be compared to any others.
All of the games you mentioned are online RPGs with a monthly fee. Those two traits alone make comparisons to WoW and FFXI completely valid, no matter how much you don't like it. All of the people I talked about earlier who didn't stick around because of the demo almost unanimously said that the content compared to WoW was lacking. This is a major negative here, but you can't overcome it by denying that this is an issue.


The game's far from great but I could easily recommend it to friends and anyone I know without losing face. Just be completely honest with them about all the pros AND cons of the game.
I'm being completely honest when I say that in it's current state I would not recommend it. This is not so much the fault of the actual game as it is the result of me having lost all confidence in the development team. Until the massive slowdown issues are fixed at the very least, I will not recommend it to anyone else. If someone else happens to be curious for whatever reason I won't dissuade them from checking it out, but beyond that I feel I would be doing people a disservice.





i completely agree with both comments he said. I mean i like psu i like it alot main because it's different but man so many issue they have that needs to be fix and they always screwing up something (especially on pc/ps2)

[Else]

Okay, here is some of what I've done to help spread the word:

On ONRPG.com I posted a screenshot of my character, and I also posted information about the Event coming up and how it links to PSO. I've already recieved a few instant messages, 1 PM and some replies in the threads about "What game is that? It looks great." A few asked where they could get it.
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/87775.html
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/22399-1134/

On MMORPG.COM I started to get active in the forums:
http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/forum/739 Which has already yield a few replies. And I also posted a screenshot in their gallery. I also passed along the news article about the new event.

On Massively.com I've submited a screenshot in hopes of them posting it next week.

[Thela]

On 2008-04-20 16:35, Else wrote:
Okay, here is some of what I've done to help spread the word:

On ONRPG.com I posted a screenshot of my character, and I also posted information about the Event coming up and how it links to PSO. I've already recieved a few instant messages, 1 PM and some replies in the threads about "What game is that? It looks great." A few asked where they could get it.
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/87775.html
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/22399-1134/

On MMORPG.COM I started to get active in the forums:
http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/forum/739 Which has already yield a few replies. And I also posted a screenshot in their gallery. I also passed along the news article about the new event.

On Massively.com I've submited a screenshot in hopes of them posting it next week.


Well, that's encouraging. Hopefully you can get some interest going on those sites.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

Yes, that's very encouraging to see how well people seem to be responding to something as simple as a screenshot.

Anyway, since someone brought up Massively.com, ChillAura got a little blurb about MAG posted there last week, which is also a step in the right direction.

[cheapgunner]

On 2008-04-20 14:04, Rust wrote:
Not my job to advertise, unless i'm paid for that. And besides i don't see the point in bringing more people in White Beast.



Remember, it's not sega advertising, but I feel your pain. From the start of the expansion, they should of brought every bit of pso content to the game, and newer (no rehashes or reskins) content for both new and old players to get into. Instead, they bring us a crap-filled event with hardly any content from pso that most ppl would of preferred. Also, they still haven't fixed any of the game's current bugs and glitches. Then again, I guess thats what's expected out of a 2nd rate group like sega, *sigh*

[Mikura]

Good job Else. See, enough of that gets spread around, we could get a lot of people interested. I wish I played on PC so I could take some screenshots too but sadly, I'm on PS2. I'll see if I can get some PC friends to help me out with that.

[F-Gattaca]

Good Lord, a bunch of people are taking what Telina said about PSU Times' article and running with it.

The people who're picking up these false impressions likely aren't going to read much in to see everyone else pointing out that Sega did NOT ask the community to help advertise the game--a PSU fansite did!

I've noticed several people saying "Good luck getting people to join a game where the only thing to do is run the same mission over and over again." Or continue on to bitch about the content.

Which is funny.

When I play with my friends, we don't camp the hotspots--only if we're doing any hardcore hunting will any of us spam a mission over and over.

But honestly? How is this different from any other MMO? Slogging through a dungeon at a specific level, then going and slogging through another one until you outgrow that area ... World of Warcraft Raid Parties are pretty much glorified White Beast runs in a way. Just a bunch of people spending hours on the same mission, letting it consume their lives.

It's real easy to boil any game down to absurd simplifications, and you can make any game sound terrible by doing so.

Case in point ...

Someone in my community has never played PSO, in any form. He did not play PSU; he bought AotI.

He enjoys it, a lot. When he learned of people whining about how much PSU sucks because it's not PSO, he laughed and said something along the lines of "It's just fanboy nostalgia."

So if someone outside the so-called niche can get into and enjoy PSU, why can't others? Putting aside the bad rap PSU got at launch and the hacking spree--why do people think PSU is a niche game if it can attract people completely outside of the Phandom? Could it be all the PSO fanboys wanting to make the game seem outright terrible for not being PSO Episode 5?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: F-Gattaca on 2008-04-20 17:49 ]</font>

[Wiz]

On 2008-04-20 16:35, Else wrote:
Okay, here is some of what I've done to help spread the word:

On ONRPG.com I posted a screenshot of my character, and I also posted information about the Event coming up and how it links to PSO. I've already recieved a few instant messages, 1 PM and some replies in the threads about "What game is that? It looks great." A few asked where they could get it.
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/87775.html
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/22399-1134/

On MMORPG.COM I started to get active in the forums:
http://mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/forum/739 Which has already yield a few replies. And I also posted a screenshot in their gallery. I also passed along the news article about the new event.

On Massively.com I've submited a screenshot in hopes of them posting it next week.


It's nice to see someone actually doing something http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif.

I also posted in the MMORPG.COM forums.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/169500



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wiz on 2008-04-20 18:58 ]</font>

[Else]

It's nice to see someone actually doing something instead of bitching and moaning.

I also posted in the MMORPG.COM forums.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/169500



Thanks so much, I added your contribution on this thread: http://boards2.sega.com/psu_board/viewtopic.php?t=75987

Let me know if you don't want it there, or editted, or whatever. Just trying to keep track!

[Wiz]

On 2008-04-20 18:42, Else wrote:


It's nice to see someone actually doing something instead of bitching and moaning.

I also posted in the MMORPG.COM forums.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/169500



Thanks so much, I added your contribution on this thread: http://boards2.sega.com/psu_board/viewtopic.php?t=75987

Let me know if you don't want it there, or editted, or whatever. Just trying to keep track!


Oh, no problem. ^_^

I saw you edited my post, so I edited it here, too.

[Else]

Something that will also help: Write up reviews on forums titled "First Impressions" and stuff like that. =) Those would help TREMENDOSLY.

[Else]

Well, just recieved some bad news. I sent in a screenshot to Massively.com and I recieved an e-mail back about how Sega asked Massively.com to ONLY cover the Xbox 360 version. Seems they already forgotten about the PC/PS2 players.

[Xaeris]

On 2008-04-20 17:42, F-Gattaca wrote:

When I play with my friends, we don't camp the hotspots--only if we're doing any hardcore hunting will any of us spam a mission over and over.

The key words there are "with [your] friends." Consider, why would I be unwilling to recommend this game to others, yet play it at the same time? Because, I'm already established here. I have a pool of active cards (albeit dwindling) to call upon for a party should I be in the mood for company, and the levels and equipment to solo any soloable stage currently available.

The newcomer will certainly not have levels and equipment, and perhaps no one to consistently play with. Until that becomes standard with every subscription, the hot spot issue isn't something that can be glazed over by saying "oh, just take your friends" where newbies are involved.

So, while you hit up your card list to do a run wherever, the newcomer is seeing a load of "No Parties Available" notice wherever he goes outside White Beast and where he doesn't see it, he's saying locked games. And where he doesn't see locked games, he joins the one game on the list to find that the people inside forgot to lock it and kick him out.


But honestly? How is this different from any other MMO? Slogging through a dungeon at a specific level, then going and slogging through another one until you outgrow that area ... World of Warcraft Raid Parties are pretty much glorified White Beast runs in a way. Just a bunch of people spending hours on the same mission, letting it consume their lives.

It's quite a bit different and the parallel you attempt to draw is wrong on quite a few counts. I'll mention a couple.

First, let's take an endgame raid dungeon in WoW. I dunno...Tempest Keep. See, there's the first difference right there; there's more than one dungeon to do. Another key difference is progression; your raid goes into Tempest Keep and probably gets killed at some point if that's the farthest they've gotten. So while raiding is certainly repetitive, you slog through Tempest Keep to get to Black Temple. You slog through White Beast to get to White Beast.

Second, if you get bored of wiping, there are plenty of other things to do with the population of the game; 5-mans, bombing runs, PvP, etc. If a newbie gets bored of White Beast, he's left with pretty much a solo game.

You can boil any game down to make it sound terrible, as you say, but some you have to boil longer than others.


So if someone outside the so-called niche can get into and enjoy PSU, why can't others? Putting aside the bad rap PSU got at launch and the hacking spree--why do people think PSU is a niche game if it can attract people completely outside of the Phandom? Could it be all the PSO fanboys wanting to make the game seem outright terrible for not being PSO Episode 5?

Please, don't attribute some ridiculous reason of PSO fanboyism to those of us unwilling to run free advertising for Sega.

It's quite easy to harbor rational reasons for not recommending this game to people we know, friend or acquaintance, as they are very much in abundance. But let me be clear, I don't hate PSU; right now, it's a cheap and adequate diversion for me. I just don't recommend "adequate."

If you all feel you can though, by all means, do so. It's not like I'm going to be out there acting as a foil to your efforts. This post wasn't made to say you're wrong in what you're trying to do, but simply to clarify my own reasons for not joining in.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2008-04-20 20:36, Else wrote:
Well, just recieved some bad news. I sent in a screenshot to Massively.com and I recieved an e-mail back about how Sega asked Massively.com to ONLY cover the Xbox 360 version. Seems they already forgotten about the PC/PS2 players.

lolwut.

You might want to bring that up with ChillAura, since he seems to have been the one who got the MAG notice posted on Massively.

[Else]

On 2008-04-20 20:46, Ffuzzy-Logik wrote:

On 2008-04-20 20:36, Else wrote:
Well, just recieved some bad news. I sent in a screenshot to Massively.com and I recieved an e-mail back about how Sega asked Massively.com to ONLY cover the Xbox 360 version. Seems they already forgotten about the PC/PS2 players.

lolwut.

You might want to bring that up with ChillAura, since he seems to have been the one who got the MAG notice posted on Massively.



Heh. . . Alright, well. That is who sent me the message. = Want me to start sending hate mail?

[Else]

Rechecked and the author of the MAG article on Massively.com is the same as the one who contacted me = Sigh.


Tink,

Don't worry dear, we'll try to keep up with Phantasy Star Universe a bit
more. :3 I'm an old PSO player myself, loved the game and totally
support the game. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

But.. um... heh heh... um... *looks left and then right* Sega asked us
to cover the... um... 360 version. XD *cringes in fear of being hit*

As for the one shot, we'll throw it into the one shot area. I'm not in
charge of that, so no guarantees, but I like that shot. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif I always
liked how PSU used those neat comic book style emotes. Very different
from the ordinary.

Keep guarding those systems!

Sincerely,
Colin Brennan
Massively.com Blogger/Writer of Anti-Aliased

[YUKI_N]

On 2008-04-20 20:36, Else wrote:
Well, just recieved some bad news. I sent in a screenshot to Massively.com and I recieved an e-mail back about how Sega asked Massively.com to ONLY cover the Xbox 360 version. Seems they already forgotten about the PC/PS2 players.


PS2/PC Server Shutdown in 2009, mark my words

[GuardianElite]

On 2008-04-20 23:05, YUKI_N wrote:

On 2008-04-20 20:36, Else wrote:
Well, just recieved some bad news. I sent in a screenshot to Massively.com and I recieved an e-mail back about how Sega asked Massively.com to ONLY cover the Xbox 360 version. Seems they already forgotten about the PC/PS2 players.


PS2/PC Server Shutdown in 2009, mark my words


might I add that 2014 Square-Enix and Sonic Team will cooperating to release next gen mmo
Final Phantasy: The Enternal Phorce

[Tink]

Way to be optimistic guys. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tink on 2008-04-20 23:16 ]</font>

[BahnKnakyu]

Some of you might remember that a month or two ago I put up a couple of polls asking about to what degree word of mouth has worked for you guys or what PSU's target audience might consist of. This isn't something new. What I find this current idea to be is not quite advertisement. I just think that we're lacking in community reviews. Good, bad, average, I don't really care too much what you guys say about the game. The entire point was that there was nothing/very little on many of these sites. I figured that we talk daily on the forums about our views on the game and how little Sega does to promote it. Really I just tried to put 2 and 2 together.

WALL OF TEXT ALERT.

Notice how Telina hasn't entered the discussion after posting that? That sort of "LET'S START A FIRE AND LET THE FLAMES ROLL" thing is what's hurting the community at the moment.

Here's the problem S-T-H, as much as I can advertise the game to my friends (I've actually advertised it to several people), the issues Akaimizu and another poster pointed out is what caused them to quit almost immediately.

1) Impossible to start off now because of the tiny exclusive population. The X360 population is bigger, but it's still relatively small and it's rather hard to find people to party with outside of WB (Lab S2 was the problem spot for X360 before AotI).

2) Game becomes a solo noob leveling fest outside of WB. On top of that, if you consider the PC/PS2 population, it's rather difficult to make new friends if you're *completely* new.

3) Because it's hard to start a game outside of WB (well not difficult, but rather unlikely), the new player will be forced to play by himself, which cheapens the game for him, giving him the wrong impression of what the game is capable of.

4) If the new player does manage to make friends, if he's come from "the world of bigger MMORPGs", then he will run out of content in a short amount of time and get bored of the game. This part is near impossible to control, because Sega of America is at the mercy of Sega of Japan when it comes to content releases.

My friends who tried to play this game gave up in less than a month because of two reasons: lack of content, lack of population. It's kind of an endless loop too. Lack of population = less money in Sega's pockets. Less money in Sega's pockets = less reason for SoJ to give the SoA crew what they need to make the game better (less content). Less content = fewer players. Lack of population... and you know the rest.

But I do agree with Sekani. The game has a TON of potential. There's tons of stuff in there that hasn't been unlocked. The fighting system is very one of a kind (action game beat'em'up style ONLINE). Fans of games like Dynasty and Samurai Warriors would love this game. I still play this game because I'm addicted (duh) AND because I can't find many other online games like it with this futuristic Sci-Fi theme.

This game took a step in the right direction to advance the combat system from what it was in PSO, Sega should know they are sitting on a goldmine here. We can do our part to help out, but they need to do what they can on THEIR part to help the community out.

And they are - they need to give ChillAura a raise because he's been the one-man army for our community. He basically jumped into a shitstorm and is doing his best to weed his way out and get things back in order. I hope that everyone agrees that at the very least, we have someone on the GM side (somewhat late, but better late than never?) stepping up to the plate and doing what SoA neglected to do when PSU first came out: listening to the community.

And I know at times Sega support has been unresponsive in terms of account issues, I remember hardly getting responses when PSU was first out, but I heard there were two new guys actually TRYING to help out. One of them went out of his way to help several of my friends out with account issues on the PC/PS2 side - Edward. It's a step in the right direction, but again, I am still wondering if it's too little too late at this point...

[landman]

It's a good idea, I already did it some months ago, first in a friendly community I visit, we just opened a thread to talk about the game, show screenshots etc, then other users (all PSO veterans) tried the game... all of them just played for a few months...

Then I made a thread (http://www.elotrolado.net/hilo_Phantasy-Star-Universe-Ambition-of-Illuminus--Hilo-oficial_874380) in one of the most popular Spanish videogame communities. It was quite a success but at the same time lots of users just bitched about the crappy graphics and the online fee...

[F-Gattaca]

On 2008-04-20 20:39, Xaeris wrote:
The key words there are "with [your] friends." Consider, why would I be unwilling to recommend this game to others, yet play it at the same time? Because, I'm already established here. I have a pool of active cards (albeit dwindling) to call upon for a party should I be in the mood for company, and the levels and equipment to solo any soloable stage currently available.

I've seen this issue in many MMOs aside from PSU.

I've HAD this issue in many MMOs aside from PSU.

If I can't find a group to run an MMO with, it loses a lot of its charm. I haven't gotten back into Anarchy Online precisely because of that; I patched the game and checked it out for a day or two, but I felt completely lost as none of my old AO friends were currently playing.

Even World of Warcraft was like this for me, despite its questing system giving meaning and story to the otherwise usual grind.

Most games that rely on online/network play aren't as much fun alone. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC_aGQyFETU)

You're right, though--new players won't have a way to connect as easily. There's a way around this though. The solution lies in what happened with my own community:

Once I and the RW cast started playing PSU, it got people in the RW community interested. A number of them play on PC/PS2 right now, and the important thing is they came in a cluster and play together + with randoms.

They have enough people they know that they won't be alone all the time and can enjoy running missions across Gurhal--and can meet new people through random missions. (This is how I got like 90% of my partner cards, really, despite running with friends often)

So when advertising on a community, if enough people are interested and start playing the game, the next step is to build a, uh ... community base camp. "The (Community) PSU Thread" or what not, so people can coordinate and play together within that community and therefore not quit the game due to loneliness.

That's the only way I know to effectively combat a downard spiral in an MMO's population.


On 2008-04-20 20:39, Xaeris wrote:
Please, don't attribute some ridiculous reason of PSO fanboyism to those of us unwilling to run free advertising for Sega.

It's quite easy to harbor rational reasons for not recommending this game to people we know, friend or acquaintance, as they are very much in abundance. But let me be clear, I don't hate PSU; right now, it's a cheap and adequate diversion for me. I just don't recommend "adequate."


I'm well aware of that, but honestly, what am I supposed to do if I see people bashing PSU while either outright saying they think it sucks because it's not like PSO, or bashing PSU while wistfully remembering their old PSO days?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: F-Gattaca on 2008-04-21 06:05 ]</font>

[MSAksion]

Wait... but we already do things like this.

When our friends ask us "hey what you playing there" i say "Phantasy Star Universe - I'm an ELF-PRINCESS of POWER" and i impress my friends with the ability to sling Flames around the screen.

I explain to them unlike WARCRAFT you dont need to get 50 people on a tema you can do it solo if you can't or you can find a close knit group of friends.

We already do the advertisment for the game when we just tell our friends.

BUT what they want is more. We can go to IGN.Com or or Gamespot.com GAMEFAQS.com or some other game websites and spread the PSU name around the RPG & Online Boards. We could do what we already do - Put Down WARCRAFT and praise Sega on messagse boards.

So just keep doing what we do - post our thoughts on why WarCraft Sucks and why we play PSU on OTHER websites =3

[Seority]

My friends make up the great excuse, "We are da poor cheap basturds who can't pay 10 darra to pway a silly game." Sad, but it's true.
I've NEVER heard of PSU/PSO from anyone exept DreXxiN. I stand as a 'gamer' who just goes with what my friends play and don't really look at reviews or anything. But there is no kind of outside advertising anywhere. None in game stores, ads, nothing! The only kind of outside advertising I've seen is a tiny little review written by NewType. An anime/manga magazine.
I have faith that more people will join if ST advertised past game reviewers, and players for their backbone.

Man, if the pc/ps2 servers really fall off that quickly,... I'm just not gonna think of it right now. I spose it's Xbox or japanese servers for Drex and I, sadly, we can't just quit Phantasy Star.

[Tink]

http://www.massively.com/2008/04/21/one-shots-some-love-for-psu/

I had submitted a screenshot to Massively.com in hopes of it being displayed and sure enough it made it today! I've also been in direct contact with one of the PSU Columnists at Massively.com and they said they plan on doing a fresh review of the game, alongside of closely following the MAG event (Several massively.com writers are active PSU players) and writing several articles about it.

We are looking closely at how we can contribute more to the PSU community, so if you would like to express your ideas and concerns with how we can improve head on over to this link:
http://boards2.sega.com/psu_board/viewtopic.php?t=75987


If you guys have contibuted anything worth noting, please let me know!

[Seority]

Grats!
Well there's one little reveiw for PSU. I wonder who reads those?
>.>;
Meh, if only I was on ST and ST had more dough.

[EspioKaos]

On 2008-04-21 11:16, Tink wrote:
I've also been in direct contact with one of the PSU Columnists at Massively.com and they said they plan on doing a fresh review of the game, alongside of closely following the MAG event (Several massively.com writers are active PSU players) and writing several articles about it.

This makes me very happy. Glad to see they're showing some interest in the game again.


On 2008-04-21 11:16, Tink wrote:
If you guys have contibuted anything worth noting, please let me know!

It was pointed out to me recently that Wikipedia's article on AOTI has been overlooked for quite some time. I checked it out over the weekend and realized how embarrassingly outdated it was -- still referencing the expansion as "coming soon." <_< Anyway, that's been fixed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasy_Star_Universe:_Ambition_of_the_Illuminus

I added a decent amount of specific information that focuses on some of the expansion's new features. There's still more to add, but it's a start.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EspioKaos on 2008-04-21 11:59 ]</font>

[Tink]

It was pointed out to me recently that Wikipedia's article on AOTI has been overlooked for quite some time. I checked it out over the weekend and realized how embarrassingly outdated it was -- still referencing the expansion as "coming soon." <_< Anyway, that's been fixed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasy_Star_Universe:_Ambition_of_the_Illuminus

I added a decent amount of specific information that focuses on some of the expansion's new features. There's still more to add, but it's a start.

Saw this! Thanks so much + great job! I've added your contribution to this thread here:
http://boards2.sega.com/psu_board/viewtopic.php?p=850866#850866

[Tink]

Yup, it's true. You CAN make an impact on new and old players just by posting screenshots in random places. Look at these people returning to PSU after I posted my screenshot:
http://www.onrpg.com/boards/22399-1137


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tink on 2008-04-21 13:53 ]</font>

[Dragwind]

While the whole depending on the fanbase to advertise is admirable, its a pretty sad point of view from a possible customer to company view. It makes the company look weak that they can't handle advertising on their own.

HOWEVER, thats just a view I get from people, not what is actually going on. With business, not only do you need to make spending decisions, but you need to budget your money right. Iincluding a good amount on advertising, which they didn't seem to do on the US version.

Now I don't understand what happened there, but it seems either they got a small budget for US localization or something, or just didn't depend on the US population to buy it anyways. In any case, its a big mistake they didn't do something more to advertise. Even a simple, plain, 1 minute TV ad would have improved the games success. Look at Maple Story yes? Free game, still made a commercial.

Now if the fans want to really do something, we need more media on the game. This should be ST's problem, but yeah.

I've noticed quite a few people like to make YouTube videos. Well, perhaps making some trailers for the game would be a good idea? People could take these fan based trailers and advertise them in places of interest.

This sounds corny, but posting bulletins with fan made trailers of PSU would be neat. Doing the same on sites like 1UP and blogs would be another good idea. Even sticking them in profiles and such.

[Complex_Jao]

why dont the put any thing on tv

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

On 2008-04-21 17:37, Complex_Jao wrote:
why dont the put any thing on tv

There's this thing called money.
Apparently, it's a pretty big deal.

[gratefulgriz]

I have been a fan of Phantasy Star since the genesis days. I am not pleased at all how Sega and Sonic Team are leading the PS series. It is totally aimed at offending the gamers and fans of the series. Constant delays, bad press, unfinished patches and lvls, HORRIBLE SUPPORT, and the list goes on and on. ST the job is simple especially with other role model companies out there to follow like Blizzard. Segas PSU web page sucks, I havent seen a newsletter published from Sega talking about PSU, the wallpaper and downloads suck, the game doesnt exist on retailers shelves, and now you are asking us to advertise on game reviewers web pages to support the game that we pay for? I will always play PSU but I am seriously thinking about badmouthing ST on every blog or review site i vist. I mean get with the program and start appreciating your fan base

[Alamar]

Gratefulgriz: Well said. Sorry but I have to agree with him on this one. Except the writing bad reviews part. I always said the way ST handles PS series (online versions) is disgracefull to say the least. The tech support to me is the most unforgiving thing they can do. I paid 10 bucks a month for 18 months for a service that lacked in a lot of places. It is sad but true. The truth is the truth and everything he said honestly you can't argue with.

[gratefulgriz]

Alamar-
I love PS sooo much, but I seriously have a bone to pick with ST. I think there are plenty of old time series fans that are just bewildered with how PS has a tendency to poke its head out and shine for a moment and then get brushed under the rug...I blame ST> AND LONG LIVE PSU < nerdiest thing I've said all day =)