PSU the last Phantasy Star?

[xenokai]

Back int he gc dc and BB days i was a HUGE PSO player and when PSU released i was up and ready to kick ass. But was shot down by disapointment. Its not that PSU is a bad game its just so much diffrent it makes the gameplay less appealing to me. Anyway i was wondering if this would be the last PS (online based) game? i really wish they would go back tot he roots of PSO and just build on it.

[Zyrusticae]

Nobody knows. Except perhaps for the higher-ups in Sega, assuming a sequel isn't already in development.

Considering precedent, I wouldn't be surprised to see another PS game by 2011.

[Dragwind]

There is still Phantasy Star Zero coming out, but it's "online" mode and depth longevity is questionable. Aside from that, there is no word until Sega says something.

[ShonagarACE]

There is still Phantasy Star Zero coming out, but it's "online" mode and depth longevity is questionable. Aside from that, there is no word until Sega says something.

This. If you want something that's like PSO though, here's your best bet for now.

[Ryno]

but, it's hand held.
but to me I'd rather have a Phantasy Star game that is PC or Console System like PS3, Wii, or 360 or future game systems
because of a bigger screen.

[ShonagarACE]

best bet for now.

This again.

[landman]

I want PSØ on XBLA, and I want an spartan laser instead of a hillian shield in this version of the game :wacko:

[gratefulgriz]

I would like to see more regular non-online PS titles come to the DS. You know kind of like the original 16 bit Gensis titles, but different. Or a remake of 4 of course. I love PS and it would be awesome if they would make more games for the handhelds.

[JC10001]

I sure hope not. But if they do have another online title I hope they make it like PSO and give us everything up front. I think if there was one area where PSU failed compared to PSO it is that. They should still have events and lobbies every couple of months but as far as the missions and weapons are concerned we should have everything on day one...and no level caps.

[Sinue_v2]

I would ideally want Sega to split the Phantasy Star franchise into at least two separate lines. One to expand and focus on the online experience, and one to expand on the traditional single-player offline RPG roots. Whether or not the stories of the two new lines overlap, connect, or otherwise have anything to do with each other - that would have to be up to Sega.

I only say this because Phantasy Star is still Sega's flagship RPG franchise and there's still a LOT of potential for the series as a traditional RPG experience. The online portion is a no brainer, of course. Made popular by a "new generation" of fans who grew up with PSO, that's the only Phantasy Star they know - and perhaps want to know. There's, again, lots of potential for online sci-fi action RPGs which can be milked for a monthly fee.

I think the franchise could still stay profitable splitting like this. However, it would avoid one major pitfall which PSU fell into - trying to do too much, with too little budget, and with too diverse a fanbase. In the end, it only served to lose the focus of the development team and created both a mediocre offline RPG, and mediocre online RPG. It CAN work - and I applaud Sega for taking the risk... but it's a monumental undertaking and you have to really have the confidence and drive to ensure it's success and budgeting. I get the feeling that doubt and suspicion caused focus to shift quite a lot during development. You can't do a project like PSU half-assed and expect it to be successful.

Further, since PSU's storyline pretty much fell on it's face and is more a object of ridicule than a selling point - keeping the franchise in a single line such as this forces Sega to stick with that storyline for so long as they want to keep the servers operating. If we get a bad story, we're stuck with it till the servers shut down. That's basically ONE Phantasy Star title per generation... whereas falling flat with the fanbase in a offline single-player RPG can be a temporary affliction, as it was in PSIII's case, since they're finished when the development cycle ends - and they can start fresh and correct fundamental problems the next time out without trying to hobble things together like a hillbilly truck or have their creativity limited by keeping consistent with a currently active storyline.

Phantasy Star classic managed to mitigate this by keeping only a few central plot-points and locations... but the 1,000 year gap between games allowed for them to make vastly different games with original storylines within the same over-arching storyline, which was more of a sub-set to the immediate story. In a game like PSU or PSO, your options are more limited since players will keep a single character throughout whatever storyline you write.

[Suzuka Miyamoto]

Back int he gc dc and BB days i was a HUGE PSO player and when PSU released i was up and ready to kick ass. But was shot down by disapointment. Its not that PSU is a bad game its just so much diffrent it makes the gameplay less appealing to me. Anyway i was wondering if this would be the last PS (online based) game? i really wish they would go back tot he roots of PSO and just build on it.

Pso = Gold :-o
Psu = Epicfailure :barf:

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

i really wish they would go back tot he roots of PSO and just build on it.That's what PSU is!

[RemiusTA]

I think the franchise could still stay profitable splitting like this. However, it would avoid one major pitfall which PSU fell into - trying to do too much, with too little budget, and with too diverse a fanbase. In the end, it only served to lose the focus of the development team and created both a mediocre offline RPG, and mediocre online RPG. It CAN work - and I applaud Sega for taking the risk... but it's a monumental undertaking and you have to really have the confidence and drive to ensure it's success and budgeting. I get the feeling that doubt and suspicion caused focus to shift quite a lot during development. You can't do a project like PSU half-assed and expect it to be successful.

Further, since PSU's storyline pretty much fell on it's face and is more a object of ridicule than a selling point - keeping the franchise in a single line such as this forces Sega to stick with that storyline for so long as they want to keep the servers operating. If we get a bad story, we're stuck with it till the servers shut down. That's basically ONE Phantasy Star title per generation... whereas falling flat with the fanbase in a offline single-player RPG can be a temporary affliction, as it was in PSIII's case, since they're finished when the development cycle ends - and they can start fresh and correct fundamental problems the next time out without trying to hobble things together like a hillbilly truck or have their creativity limited by keeping consistent with a currently active storyline.

This. Couldn't have said it better myself, really.

PSU's story mode really should NOT have existed. The resources, time and money put into the Offline story mode could have been put to MUCH better use. We all saw what PSU was beforehand. We all saw the old trailers and concept videos, and the beta gameplay videos as well. Not very much of it pointed to "This is an RPG experience." The offline storymode of PSU v1 was good in theory, but the execution was terrible. Developing an RPG out of an MMO engine is completely asinine, unless you're Square Enix and everything you do just shits RPG excellence. They tried to do way too much with PSU, and it was quite obvious. Even the first playthrough videos i watched when it was released in japan didn't really do me justice....it didn't have the "THIS IS THE NEXT ENTRY INTO THE FRANCHISE WE TRADITIONALLY POUR SO MUCH MONEY INTO" feeling to it. No interactive loading screens, no beautiful soundtrack, generic sound effects...it just felt medicore. Not to mention, they thought it would be a smart idea to develop this game for the PS2. It may have been a good choice for their sells, but it was a HORRIBLE idea for the game itself; the PS2 limitations have utterly butchered this game, and even the Xbox 360 version suffers because of it.


But like i keep saying, Sonic Team still can save the reputation of PSU if they want to. Its pretty obvious PSU isnt to the PS2/PC/360 generation like PSO was to the DC/64/PSX generation -- the graphics are medicore at best, and the worlds are nothing we havent seen before.


The solution? Re-release PSU. Do to Phantasy Star Universe: AotI what Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2 did to PSO. START FIXING SHIT. Brush up the textures, give us interesting and dynamic quests and content, EPIC boss battles, change a few graphics, add some Heatwave Distortion to Fire Technics and explosions, add some water light-distortion effects to the water (Jungle/Seaside/Seabed stages in PSO were absolutely beautiful thanks to this) add some particle effects to photon-enemy collisions, more special effects for hit-sprites and S-rank weapons, more enemies, stages with actual art direction to them...You know, MAKE THE GAME INTERESTING TO PLAY.


People love to say "GRAPHICS ARE NOTHING GAMEPLAY IS EVERYTHING", but I whole-heartedly and respectfully disagree. Videogames are a form of Art. You cant give us gameplay, but serve us shit in both the visual AND audio departments. Its more than possible, really. PSU may seem like a piece of shit on the outside looking in, but the devs who made this game programmed it pretty well. We've gotten serious fixes and GAMEPLAY improvements (Just Attack, Just Counter) that have been implemented completely server-side. All they need is to fix up the things that they missed upon PSU's release.




As for the future of Phantasy Star (Online series)? Two words : Hedgehog Engine.
http://www.gemaga.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/276873_10-468x263.jpg

http://insidermedia.ign.com/insider/image/article/937/937881/head-to-head-sonic-unleashed-20081212012346735_640w.jpg
Graphical engine internally developed by Sonic Team. Lets hope they continue to use it! If anyone has seen Sonic Unleashed, they know what this means: CRAZY graphical engine with amazing lighting capabilities. If the next PS game puts as much money into graphics as they did with Sonic Unleashed, we will have an absolutely stunning game, visually anyway. All they need to do then is focus on not fucking up gameplay or wasting resources. With this engine, Sonic Team can now once again make games that actually make the current generation they develop for say "wow omgwtfpretty" when they look at their games, like everyone did when Sonic Adventure 1/2 and PSO came out. Unleashed is effing beautiful.


Now, replace Sonic in that last picture with a hunter holding a giant sword made of glowing photon. Tell me you wouldn't go fucking crazy.

[ShonagarACE]

But like i keep saying, Sonic Team still can save the reputation of PSU if they want to. Its pretty obvious PSU isnt to the PS2/PC/360 generation like PSO was to the DC/64/PSX generation -- the graphics are medicore at best, and the worlds are nothing we havent seen before.

Loved your post, but the Dreamcast doesn't belong in the same sentence as the N64 or Playstation, since it still has better graphics than the PS2. And you're right about Unleashed. Awesome looks, awful game.

[RemiusTA]

Sonic Unleashed was FAR removed from awful, i dont know why on earth that game got such a bad rap.

Daytime sections of that game were amazing. Nothing beats time-attacking while blazing through beautiful cities at 300MPH. If i was going to rate a game for its boring ass side-sections, then Kingdom Hearts 2 would be the absolute worst game on earth, with God of War's little "lets push/climb shit" gimmicks falling close behind.

Critics are what kill games these days, IMO. A simple grade from IGN/Gamestop WILL alter the sells of games drastically if they arent a 9 or an 8. And they will also alter the mindset of the developers as well, by trying to please them, which is also becoming evermore apparent today. Sonic Unleashed definatley was not a "bad" game. Flawed, but every game has its flaws. The critics just butchered the fuck out of it, and after playing it with an absolutely open mind i cant for the life of me find out why. Yeah, they do it for a living, but nothing is without Bias. If a reviewer just plain doesn't like what hes forced to rate, its going to get a bad score.


But yeah, i was just saying. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were huge graphical achievements of their time. Sonic Team used to be on Squaresoft's level of graphical achievement and game design back in the day. (They blew the genesis titles away as well.) As of late they've been screwing up, but i believe Sonic Unleashed was a fair comeback from their dry spell of good titles. They completley phailed with that gay werehog gimmick, but the actual "sonic" sections were great fun to me.


Hopefully, the next Phantasy Star game will take advantage of their new technolog. Unleashed moved at retarded speeds, yet had almost CG-quality-looking graphics and a huge draw distance to boot. Nothing too WTFAMAZING, but visually its up there.

[ShonagarACE]

Sonic Unleashed was FAR removed from awful, i dont know why on earth that game got such a bad rap.

Daytime sections of that game were amazing. Nothing beats time-attacking while blazing through beautiful cities at 300MPH. If i was going to rate a game for its boring ass side-sections, then Kingdom Hearts 2 would be the absolute worst game on earth, with God of War's little "lets push/climb shit" gimmicks falling close behind.

Critics are what kill games these days, IMO. A simple grade from IGN/Gamestop WILL alter the sells of games drastically if they arent a 9 or an 8. And they will also alter the mindset of the developers as well, by trying to please them, which is also becoming evermore apparent today. Sonic Unleashed definatley was not a "bad" game. Flawed, but every game has its flaws. The critics just butchered the fuck out of it, and after playing it with an absolutely open mind i cant for the life of me find out why. Yeah, they do it for a living, but nothing is without Bias. If a reviewer just plain doesn't like what hes forced to rate, its going to get a bad score.


But yeah, i was just saying. Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were huge graphical achievements of their time. Sonic Team used to be on Squaresoft's level of graphical achievement and game design back in the day. (They blew the genesis titles away as well.) As of late they've been screwing up, but i believe Sonic Unleashed was a fair comeback from their dry spell of good titles. They completley phailed with that gay werehog gimmick, but the actual "sonic" sections were great fun to me.


Hopefully, the next Phantasy Star game will take advantage of their new technolog. Unleashed moved at retarded speeds, yet had almost CG-quality-looking graphics and a huge draw distance to boot. Nothing too WTFAMAZING, but visually its up there.

I hate critics for the same reason. I do think that Unleashed was an improvement over recent games, but at times the speed was just too much. Yes, it's a Sonic game, but sometimes trial and error shouldn't be the only way to pass a level.

"Whooo fasttttttt oh shit what happened I lost let's do it again!"

[RemiusTA]

I hate critics for the same reason. I do think that Unleashed was an improvement over recent games, but at times the speed was just too much. Yes, it's a Sonic game, but sometimes trial and error shouldn't be the only way to pass a level.

"Whooo fasttttttt oh shit what happened I lost let's do it again!"

BATTLETOADS.

Games used to always do bastard crap like that. Whip out your NES for old times sake, and watch how bad you curse trying to beat those mario/contra/ninja turtles/megaman games.

I just beat Gunstar Heroes last week and was reminded how horrible of a difficulty curve it had. One minute your killing stuff, next thing you know you can barely survive with more than 25% HP left to fight the damn boss. (that have upwards of 3000 HP per FORM.) I know thats not the same thing as unleashed's level design flaws, but older games used to be so difficult it was almost impossible for them to be that way on purpose. 0.x



These days, designers are too scared to make games difficult anymore. (I salute you, Capcom.) Instead of taking it like a man, people like to scream "DESIGN FLAW" and cut at the throat of the designers very job. And now people are complaining why games are so fucking easy, lol. Sometimes you need an unfairly placed pit, or to be jumped by 5 more enemies than you can reasonably deal with. Anyone who thinks a game can only kill you if your "PURE SKILL" is compromised is a pussbox. You deserve to die every now and then. Its what you play for.


Not to say random pit deaths dont piss me the fuck off.

[gratefulgriz]

well put Sinue_V2 I really liked what you wrote! I agree to that the franchise should try to keep up the PS and split it into an online and offline experience. I would like to see more PS titles on the ds because I think that would increase PS awareness for people cause handhelds are popular now

[ShonagarACE]

BATTLETOADS.

Games used to always do bastard crap like that. Whip out your NES for old times sake, and watch how bad you curse trying to beat those mario/contra/ninja turtles/megaman games.

I just beat Gunstar Heroes last week and was reminded how horrible of a difficulty curve it had. One minute your killing stuff, next thing you know you can barely survive with more than 25% HP left to fight the damn boss. (that have upwards of 3000 HP per FORM.) I know thats not the same thing as unleashed's level design flaws, but older games used to be so difficult it was almost impossible for them to be that way on purpose. 0.x



These days, designers are too scared to make games difficult anymore. (I salute you, Capcom.) Instead of taking it like a man, people like to scream "DESIGN FLAW" and cut at the throat of the designers very job. And now people are complaining why games are so fucking easy, lol. Sometimes you need an unfairly placed pit, or to be jumped by 5 more enemies than you can reasonably deal with. Anyone who thinks a game can only kill you if your "PURE SKILL" is compromised is a pussbox. You deserve to die every now and then. Its what you play for.


Not to say random pit deaths dont piss me the fuck off.

I have no problem with games being difficult, and I agree with what you're saying here. That was just my point about Unleashed, it's not that the game is hard, it's that the game doesn't give you a chance to do things right the first try.

[Sinue_v2]

These days, designers are too scared to make games difficult anymore.

You console gamers had it easy. At least you weren't berated and mocked by the developers when you died.

http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/sq5/pictures/goliath4.gif
http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/sq2/pictures/lift2.gif

It's one thing to die in a game due to some strategically placed bullshit. It's a whole 'nother matter to have the developers openly mock you for it.

Tho to be fair, Space Quest was a comedy series, and it's jabs meant to be taken in good humor. Still, you pretty much NEVER see anything like that in today's game. They're too mass market, and anything potentially offensive to the player must be sanitized to ensure a contented happy player who always wins and is completely awesome in every way and sure to buy the sequel.

[ShonagarACE]

You console gamers had it easy. At least you weren't berated and mocked by the developers when you died.

http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/sq5/pictures/goliath4.gif
http://tmd.alienharmony.com/rw/sq2/pictures/lift2.gif

It's one thing to die in a game due to some strategically placed bullshit. It's a whole 'nother matter to have the developers openly mock you for it.

Tho to be fair, Space Quest was a comedy series, and it's jabs meant to be taken in good humor. Still, you pretty much NEVER see anything like that in today's game. They're too mass market, and anything potentially offensive to the player must be sanitized to ensure a contented happy player who always wins and is completely awesome in every way and sure to buy the sequel.

I like that. A lot.

"It's very dark."
>Turn left.
"You were eaten by a grue. Game over."

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

You console gamers had it easy. At least you weren't berated and mocked by the developers when you died.
While I doubt it was intentional, I always got a good chuckle out of "You are all dead." from...whichever old PS game had that.

[DA_SHIZZLE_IG]

Back int he gc dc and BB days i was a HUGE PSO player and when PSU released i was up and ready to kick ass. But was shot down by disapointment. Its not that PSU is a bad game its just so much diffrent it makes the gameplay less appealing to me. Anyway i was wondering if this would be the last PS (online based) game? i really wish they would go back tot he roots of PSO and just build on it.
LOL us dreamcast and gamecube players all feel that way. this game is taking waaaay too long to release stuff. also none of the weapons are truly unique like they were on pso. With all the crappy new weapons of psu damn near everybody is still talking about "I wish they brought(insert weapon here) back" lol. my clan got feed up on how much slower they made this game so we took it into our hands to to make it fun like pso. Guess what, that still didn't work and this game still didn't have the same feel!

where's my damn

heavens Punisher
Snow queen
red scorpion
REAL spread needle
C bringers rifle
egg blasters
REAL guild milas
M.K.B
B.M.K.B
TS J SWORD
Double cannon



Nobody knows. Except perhaps for the higher-ups in Sega, assuming a sequel isn't already in development.

Considering precedent, I wouldn't be surprised to see another PS game by 2011.
I think we're going to hear about it October this year and it's probably gonna drop october 2010. psu aoti has been out long enough now and they just released a hand held version sooo... I think it's bout that time.


I would ideally want Sega to split the Phantasy Star franchise into at least two separate lines. One to expand and focus on the online experience, and one to expand on the traditional single-player offline RPG roots. Whether or not the stories of the two new lines overlap, connect, or otherwise have anything to do with each other - that would have to be up to Sega.

I only say this because Phantasy Star is still Sega's flagship RPG franchise and there's still a LOT of potential for the series as a traditional RPG experience. The online portion is a no brainer, of course. Made popular by a "new generation" of fans who grew up with PSO, that's the only Phantasy Star they know - and perhaps want to know. There's, again, lots of potential for online sci-fi action RPGs which can be milked for a monthly fee.

I think the franchise could still stay profitable splitting like this. However, it would avoid one major pitfall which PSU fell into - trying to do too much, with too little budget, and with too diverse a fanbase. In the end, it only served to lose the focus of the development team and created both a mediocre offline RPG, and mediocre online RPG. It CAN work - and I applaud Sega for taking the risk... but it's a monumental undertaking and you have to really have the confidence and drive to ensure it's success and budgeting. I get the feeling that doubt and suspicion caused focus to shift quite a lot during development. You can't do a project like PSU half-assed and expect it to be successful.

Further, since PSU's storyline pretty much fell on it's face and is more a object of ridicule than a selling point - keeping the franchise in a single line such as this forces Sega to stick with that storyline for so long as they want to keep the servers operating. If we get a bad story, we're stuck with it till the servers shut down. That's basically ONE Phantasy Star title per generation... whereas falling flat with the fanbase in a offline single-player RPG can be a temporary affliction, as it was in PSIII's case, since they're finished when the development cycle ends - and they can start fresh and correct fundamental problems the next time out without trying to hobble things together like a hillbilly truck or have their creativity limited by keeping consistent with a currently active storyline.

Phantasy Star classic managed to mitigate this by keeping only a few central plot-points and locations... but the 1,000 year gap between games allowed for them to make vastly different games with original storylines within the same over-arching storyline, which was more of a sub-set to the immediate story. In a game like PSU or PSO, your options are more limited since players will keep a single character throughout whatever storyline you write.
zzzzzzZZZZzzz!!! Long time no see. I see you still on here acting like you know everything. Are you still stalking us? trying to figure out what we're behind? still think you know all about us huh? do you know bout the secret server........ I bet you don't lol!!!!!(waits for the "S.K" word EVEN THOUGH NONE OF US ARE KIDS ANYMORE LOL))


This. Couldn't have said it better myself, really.


Now, replace Sonic in that last picture with a RANGER holding a giant GUN made of glowing photon. Tell me you wouldn't go fucking crazy.



FIXED IT LOL.

[Chuck_Norris]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I THINK IM KOOL KUZ I KAN USE ACTION REPLAY

This fucker really isn't banned yet?

[ShonagarACE]

This fucker really isn't banned yet?

NO INFAMOUS GAMERZZZ IZ TO KOOL

:disapprove:

You'd think someone who likes PSO so much would actually know the names of weapons.

[landman]

The "Shining" saga is the actual offline RPG flagship for sega (and the new one is a multyplayer action RPG lol), shame they are all crap and camelot is making shitty sports games for nintendo, and Phantasy Star will provably continue it's MMO series. I think Sonic Team can handle this, the only problem I see with PSU is it's graphics, it's a PS2 game and it was bashed for it's graphics, but yet a lot of people play it only because it's an unique experience, at least on 360, let's hope there are not much MMO in consoles in the future and Phantasy Star can have this great piece of cake.

[zandra117]

When is the multiplayer online prequal to Phantasy Star I coming out that is also the sequal to Shining Force revealing that Parmecia is Palma and Dark Dragon is Dark Falz? It starts with the Earthmen arriving and bringing high technology to Parmecia.


http://sf2.shiningforcecentral.com/images/map_towns.jpg
http://www.phantasy-star.net/psi/maps/palma.gif

[Overlord Zenon]

I really doubt it will be the last, they'll likely have another one since dark falz no matter how many times is beaten returnsplus sega knows that the phantasy star online games are good revenue for them the only way PSU would be the last is if sega disbanded completely, even then microsoft or nintendo would likely buy the franchise.

[Sinue_v2]

I see you still on here acting like you know everything.

Oh I never claimed to know everything. For instance, I don't know who the fuck you are or why I should care.


Are you still stalking us? trying to figure out what we're behind?

If I ever did, I'm long since past the point of caring. The only time I recall trying to intentionally stir up any shit was when I was trying to see if I could get my PM bombed so I could remake it without losing the BA stat.


do you know bout the secret server........ I bet you don't lol!!!!!

k. I can barely make it 10 minutes into the game before crashing out, regardless of how tired I am. I could probably strap a belt across my sack and shoot concentrated methamphetamines into my balls - and I would still somehow manage to pass out before getting out of the first block.

It's worth keeping the subscription active as a sleep-aid alone.

So unless the secret server has comfy pillows and you're giving handjobs at the door or something, again, I simply cannot muster the ability to give a shit.


And I believe that about wraps it up. Unless someone can recommend a good non-allergenic coverup to hide the tracklines in my sack. I try to switch off from left to right every so often, but they're still showing and the stuff I snagged from my friend's makeup case is giving me a rash. Ain't nothin worse than itchy methbals.

[Kylie]

I'd like to see the series live on. Say what you will, but PSU is really the only game of its kind right now. It's really the only recent MMORPG that's not "point and click" or "hack and slash," has great customization, and allows you to play on a console (FFXI doesn't count :-P). These are the things that originally drew me to it, and I'd like to see the series get new installments in the future. Whether or not SEGA will do it is another story though; I really can't say.

[DreXxiN]

I'd like to see the series live on. Say what you will, but PSU is really the only game of its kind right now. It's really the only recent MMORPG that's not "point and click" or "hack and slash," has great customization, and allows you to play on a console (FFXI doesn't count :-P). These are the things that originally drew me to it, and I'd like to see the series get new installments in the future. Whether or not SEGA will do it is another story though; I really can't say.

Huh? I'm entirely confused. You're trying to point out the exclusivity of Phantasy Star while clearly listing another source of being capable of the same thing.

FFXI does that but that's not it, Monster Hunter was a fun MMO like PSU/O that you could play on the PS2. Not only that, but Champions will be cross platform as well.

Everquest Online Adventures was also a console MMO.

[Magus_84]

PSU's the only one that does what Kylie mentioned in a setting that isn't lolgenericfantasy, though. And FFXI's still "point and click", sorta. Champions does look awesome though.

[DreXxiN]

Agreed, and I understand now. I applied for beta, hope I get in. Looks pretty sweet.

[MadDogg]

Man they need to just keep PSO blue burst style exactly as is, take PSU's character customization with the outfits and whatnots, up the graphics to 360/high end pc standards, and the photon art/bullet/technic system, slap it on the PSOBB system, and put this bad boy on a system that will not have hacks in droves, and bam you got the best PSO ever.

[pinkace]

We have had this argument so many times... PSO is better because of X, PSU screwed up on Y and Z, blah blah blah...

You bore me. I'm gonna go play PSU, my beast bitch has good luck today.

[Kylie]

PSU's the only one that does what Kylie mentioned in a setting that isn't lolgenericfantasy, though. And FFXI's still "point and click", sorta. Champions does look awesome though.Yeah, and I meant recent as in the official servers are still up.

My point is that there aren't many games out there to replace PSU with, but that's a personal thing.

[Chuck_Norris]

Man they need to just keep PSO blue burst style exactly as is, take PSU's character customization with the outfits and whatnots, up the graphics to 360/high end pc standards, and the photon art/bullet/technic system, slap it on the PSOBB system, and put this bad boy on a system that will not have hacks in droves, and bam you got the best PSO ever.

I'd have to agree. Mixing the PA system with the Mag system alone would add a level of depth to the game that would keep people interested for years. Though, I demand sega program the enemy/player interactions better. Not just the hit detection. Why can the game not comprehend a person standing under a flying bird? Why do you start teleporting around a Svaltus if you get too close to it? And if I'm in the air because of a PA, and the enemy is like 5 feet below me, their punch to thin air should not hit me, goddamnit.

[RemiusTA]

enemy/player interactions in pso were horrible. But only engine-wise. the enemies took care of this usually.

Where PSU left out the MAGs, they incorporated advanced classes and being able to mix any race/sex/class you want. However, further customization would be nice, yes.

All ST needs to do to make the next Phantasy Star Online game great is just plan ahead. nothing is wrong with the psu battle engine, except for the fact that player growth far exceeds the abilities of the enemies, to the point the only thing they can do to increase difficulty is raise HP and attack power.

Bosses should not be the only enemies that require stragety to defeat, although PSU's bosses dont require much technique, thought or stragety at all either -- they're all able to be damaged at all times as long as you can reach them.


PSU needs enemies that require more interaction from the player than just "CATCH UP AND UNLEASH FURY." Example? You have a robot enemy. It has two sets of HP and Weaknesses -- the HP of its outer-shell and its Main HP. Its shell takes severely reduced damage from Bullets and Technics thanks to its outer sheild plating, but once you damage it enough, it deactivates and a weak-point is exposed in the reactor in its back. The Weak Spot takes reduced damage from physical attacks but is highly susceptible to Bullets and Technic attacks. After the weakspot peroid is up and the robot reactivates, its outer-shell HP is completely restored.


Thats an example of an enemy type that would, by itself, help balance the roles of the class. These kind of gameplay aspects make Weapon-types worth more than just their Attack power, target amount and range. This game is simply too Stat / DPS oriented. Change up the gameplay. We need enemies that dont suck. We need fights that consist of more than simply bombarding the enemy with as much damage as we can possibly output. Good example of these kinds of enemies? Delsabers, Monests, Nano-Dragons, Pan-Arms, Gantz, reconboxes, and the carbines that all followed the leader. But one of the coolest examples would be the Sinow- class enemies. You remember how they all had really cool special moves that switch-up gameplay? Teleportation, Cloaking, Kage-Bunshin jutsu (LOL, that move where one would entrap you in a circle of illusion-clones?). PSO didn't do these enemies perfectly, but they were a welcome departure from the usual.

PSU has very FEW enemies that function like this. The Svaltus and the Tenghohgs are the only ones i can really think of. But its a true shame there are no enemies that have functions other than to shoot at / spam / ram you to death. This is the biggest problem with PSU's combat engine.

[jShazBot]

I know for a fact, if SEGA released a new PS mmo game for a new generation, I would buy it.
I wasn't too hot for the classics. But if they created a new Single player RPG based PS game like the classics I might try it out.

[RemiusTA]

Neither was I. I THINK the first RPG ive ever played happened to be either Shining Force II or Final Fantasy VII, followed by Breath of Fire III and the rest of the FF series on PSX.

So, naturally, older RPGs never appealed to me. The Phantasy Star series is the definition of "old RPG."

[Overlord Zenon]

the original phantasy stars i cant bring myself to play, its too old school for me, tho the first one play alot like zelda, lol PSO was the first real time rpg i played. and judging how much people liked PSO i could see new gen ps game with alot of PSO's stuff implimented in it, but PSU's grown on me alot mostly for character designs and spells and how the level system work it gives you more to do without buying max magic, sort of feels more accomplished when you reach the max for that class

[The Overlord]

Pso = Gold :-o
Psu = Epicfailure :barf:Oh my, yes.