Does it bother u that Sega makes new games instead of improving our PSU Experience?

[ZeronechaosX]

I always feel like Sega takes our money and develops other games with it instead of giving us a stellar PSU experience. I mean use to love PSU but now I find my self playing Phantasy Star Portable more because it's a far better gaming experience. I mean why pay $10.00 a month for PSU when it's not as good as PSP. I mean and now they talk about PSP2 and it's like why doesn't sega care about PSU players. It seems to me they only care about developing for other Phantasy Star games than actually delivering a good amount of content for PSU. I mean PSP 1 has far more content than both PSU and AOTL in my opinion. I just wanna know if I'm the only one who feels this way about how Sega treats PSU players.

[unicorn]

Sega doesnt care about its players. It cares about money.

PSU wasnt raking in the dough, so they had to expand their horizons. Sega took a risk by trying out a handheld version of PSU, and it worked (probably better than the home console version). So they're obviously going to do it again.

Honestly, I'm quite excited for PSP2 (its weird....I was excited for PSP, more excited for PSZ, and the most excited for PSP2!). However, its sad to know that we could have had a 2nd expansion on a next-gen console if Sega just put more effort into the console version. But really now, who would a PSU expansion besides current PSU players? With the handheld versions, they are reaching another population of players (and if they're already playing a handheld game, they probably dont care what they're buying anyway as long as it looks cool).

[Apone]

Im glad sega is making more phantasy star games but Im upset about the platform...
portable gaming really isn't my thing. I have no reason to stare at a teeny tiny screen to play any game when I have a perfectly good TV. But then again I drive everywhere so portable gaming for me is hardly practical...

If there was a way to display PSP on TV however...

[Squirrel3D]

I think Sega isn't putting enough effort into PSU at all. Someone suggested they combine the servers from PS2,PC, and Xbox 360 into one big active server.

I say they do it...because right now it's their only hope in even making people give a damn about this game.

[Gunslinger-08]

Meh. It doesn't really bother me, because when you look at it, Sega has done so much wrong with this game that it may be better to make something new and similar just so they can start with a clean slate and move on.

I'd be content either way.

[Ethateral]

I do wish they'd put far more effort into PSU, however at this point it seems like that's not happening. I'm enjoying PS:P more right now, have been for a while. I'm excitedly awaiting PS0 as well. I'm ecstatic however now for PS:P2! If PS:P2 is as great as it already sounds... I might just go to that. Which I'm surprised to actually hear myself say after all this time.

Even with me being busy with life and work, PSU has become.. Dull to me. I'm really waiting for the supplemental update to see if that keeps me. :/

[Waki Miko Syamemaru!]

I'm glad they aren't really somewhat going to screw up PSP:2. I mean, at least it gives me another reason to pick up my PSP. The only games I got for it are Lumines I & II, Castlevania Dracula Chronicles, and PS:P.

[Ethateral]

^Don't forget about getting Dissidia. ;o <3

I don't see any of the "Emergency Roll" or the charged hit for guns, etc coming to PSU, ever. ._.

[Katy]

Maybe this will help build up the franchise before they decide to take the next big step onto the current Gen of consoles.

[Tetsaru]

OP, I've been trying to get people around here to realize this for a LOOOONG time.

Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me a lot. It bothers me that Sega/Sonic Team hardly ever advertises their games anymore. It bothers me that they seemingly stopped putting effort into some of their main franchises (mainly Phantasy Star and Sonic). It bothers me when they hastily crank out new sequels within a few months between each other, only to raise hopes and then ultimately disappoint their old fans! This is NOT the Sega I remember, and it infuriates and depresses me whenever I think about how much better their current games could have been!

I know they ended up making a lot of bad marketing decisions down the line, but it STILL doesn't explain to me why their developers had to go all HERP-DERP lately... I guess they were desperate for employees once Yuji Naka and a lot of their other big staff members left. I don't know how else to explain it. =/

I would LOVE to see PSU become as successful as WoW or FF11 or Everquest, but there's gotta be a kickass team behind it, and Sega has yet to deliver such quality to its consumers. I hope PSP2 gets released outside of Japan, and I hope it's all it's cracked up to be, but lately Sega has forced me to be extremely skeptical...

[Zarode]

Know what bothers me? The amount of complaining this forum goes through.

[Tetsaru]

Know what bothers me? The amount of complaining this forum goes through.

Inorite? Because all serious discussions are full of happy people who get along just fine. Especially when it comes to the economical and health care crises going on right now. :3

[Ruru]

Know what bothers me? The amount of complaining this forum goes through.

i love it when people complain about people complaining. oh the irony.

as far as sega goes. all i can say is, i wish they put more effort into PSU than they've shown us. this game has the potential to be zomgorgasmic but sadly the people behind it just dont seem to know wtf they're doing these days.

[AzureBlaze]

Only people who care about an issue complain.
And yeah, it does bother me that it's another PSP PSU thing. I was hoping for a console new Phantasy Something. I don't use portable systems much, I agree with the other poster in that my TV may be CRT but I do like it and have no need to game on tiny screens while not leaving the house. Though it's not about the individual. But why?

1 - Portable games have lower expectations than consoles (by the consumer)
PSPPSU was a raging success because it was reaching out to the portable audience, people who weren't tainted by their trashy treatment of console PSU. Also, you don't expect 94267 hours of content or MMORPGS to be on portable. They can get away with a shorter game with less stuff in it. The 'lifespan' is also shorter = no loads of slow release content which they're apparently really bad at.

1a - If you DO happen to put amazing content into a portable, people still get really impressed and go ga-ga over it where if it was on a console they might scoff instead.

2 - The PSU console fumbling timeline of mess-ups around the globe. It must be understood WHY they're treating it bad:
a. game launches without moatoob so magazines/sites/reviewers trash it for having 'hardly any content'
a.a. nill advertising (as you mentioned) and bum reviews taint the public against it at the get-go lowering any 'from the start' population it might of had/been able to gain
b. repeated server screw ups, most notably the one that killed the first MaxG and eliminated most of the non-xbox non-jp population
c. actual competition. PSO didn't have much of that unless you went running away to the PC Halo wasn't around then and Monster Hunter was still a fledgling thru most of it. It seemed like they wanted to treat PSU like PSO but you can't get away with that when the competition's around.

By this point, ST's written us PSU'ers off.
The fate was sealed after the first big pop-drop back in the day. Minimal team devoted to miserly penny-pinching out the *still on disk from day 1* content like...years later. Butterfingers on every server rack ensuring weeks of 060 and 066 and whatever the flavor of the day is. The cycle began ages ago and won't stop until they ditch the game and start over.

Try to make game > Screw up > do ok for a while > mess it up again > most players abandon > can't afford to do anything else for it but devote 1 low-level guy hoping to shake a few pennies out of the people who stuck around > do this until everyone abandons and it's no longer profitable > fire single amateur employee and bin the game > start fresh

The catch is, that we're spiraling around in the top few ">" of that list up there because that can apparently be repeated for years.

Howevaaar:
I don't know how "Dev Money" works. ARE they taking our 10/mo and handing it to people and say "make psppsu2"? Or is there a separate budget granted based on the success of the first one only? ARE they maliciously trying to terminate PSU by doing bizarre experiments on it like a cash shop in a paid game? Certainly it wont win hearts but it'll sure get you market-will-bear data--which is vital if you want to try some shenanigans with a game you actually care about/profit from/etc in the future. Hell, I'd do it--it's vicious but if something's on its barely-profitable population declining last legs it's a perfect candidate for hard testing because if the tests kill it, so what?

The horrible thing?
I actually hope they DO ditch psu in favor of something better...on a console! And PCs too. Cross console all of it, prove you can make something fun, support it nicely and the favor's always returned.

[Volcompat321]

I don't mind them making other games rather than put time into PSU, because it's not the same people working on both.
Yes, it's still SEGA doing both, but not the same people.
I love PS:P and I'm sure I will love PS:P2.
SEGA needs to treat us PSU players better, but let's face it, if they were ever going to, they would have a long time ago, like after 1up Cup.
I already got past the fact that SoJ hates Americans, and the Europeans get "stuck" with our hate for being on the same server.
We are "second rate" players to them, so why should they put more into us?(I'm sure that's what they're thinking)
I got over it, nothing will change, and you guys should realize that too.


Know what bothers me? The amount of complaining this forum goes through.

Logic at it's finest right here.
Complaining about complainers only makes people complain about the complainers that complain about the complainers complaining.
At least everyone else posted something other than only complaining. Unlike you.

[Zarode]

Inorite? Because all serious discussions are full of happy people who get along just fine. Especially when it comes to the economical and health care crises going on right now. :3


No, but it sure shows what unappreciative little shits you guys can be.


i love it when people complain about people complaining. oh the irony.

Complaing about complainers who complain about complainers who complain about complainers.


Oh dear, its a never ending cycle. :roll:

[Volcompat321]

The difference with you is people add on-topic posts, while you just throw in a complaint.

[WHlTEKNIGHT]

Psu is on its last legs, some people think thats its not but the population is falling across all 3 servers and seeing as its 3 years old now there is no point in advertising a old niche' game.
They have to try and keep the franchise alive and by doing psp and ds versions they are succeding.
I also wouldnt be surprised if they didnt do another pc/ps3/xbox360 version as they have not really been a big money spinner for them and imo a wii version of some sort seems far more likely.

[hunterseifer]

First I'd like to say hello to everyone! Ive been gone acouple monthes from psu and the internet and now im back, now onto the question, its not surprising sega is making other games instead of improving psu, alot of other companies tend to do that(squaresoft,capcom etc.) but PS:P is a real bad idea, in alot of ways more enjoyable than the console version, which is pretty much pulling a pin on a grenade without throwing it ^^; they should've focused more on the console game itself. I was reading up on some updates on what has happened while i was gone(S3 mishes, nice), but then the 065 (>_> again...how?!) and I read on pso-world that IGN says to avoid psu since its a RPG to avoid compared to others, idk why that was put up on here but I did have a good laugh. Bad publicity is better than none I guess:???:

[milranduil]

No, but it sure shows what unappreciative little shits you guys can be.

If you have nothing nice to contribute to the discussion, keep it to yourself. The topic of this thread is valid and on-going, so there is little point for your little poking and prodding.


Complaing about complainers who complain about complainers who complain about complainers.

Actually you're complaining about him complaining that you're complaining. You put way too many complains in there.

On-topic: It bothers me a bit that they're seemingly putting forth a great effort to release a sequel to PSP. However, if it can ultimately help introduce new players to the PSU base, then not all hope is lost perhaps. I personally am holding out for the supplemental update because I'm probably one of the most excited people to see it come to the servers if/when it does, and to hopefully bring back older players to the wide variety of possibilites, conditional missions, etc.

[AngelofEnders]

Imo, they should pull a SE and make a sequel to PSU like FFXI to FFXIV.

- They can put this version on PS3, PC and X-Box 360 for the purpose of downloadable content and still keep the original PSU as not to alienate people who can't afford to upgrade.
- Either update the friend card system or put a guild system in place.
- Get rid of PSU's mission system or actually balance missions so everyone isn't spamming the same one. Maybe put a Guardian's Boost road system permanantly on all the missions to reward players with like money modifiers or exp modifiers that build for choosing different missions which decrease when the same mission is spammed a certain number of times. It's frustrating when you can't find anyone to play with and I think it discourages new players from really wanting to give this game a chance when you're playing alone most of the time until you're higher level.
- Put it all on the same server instead of separating everyone. Sega seems to have forgotten we live in a global economy now. No reason why two different groups of people should be getting different shit. I'd gladly take a delay in content for everything to be translated and released for everyone.

I could go on and on but my biggest gripes in the same isn't so much the gameplay itself but the system that restricts a really enjoyable experience unless you manage to find a static group of people to play with. Like a lot of people, my friends moved on to play more enjoyable games which pretty much killed the little enjoyment I had left in this game.

[Lacen]

I'm actually thinking that since PS:P2 is supposed to take place 3 years later, there may be room for another expansion that follows up with PS:P2 on PSU Servers. Like that 2nd expansion everyone has been talking about. I suppose it'll all depend on how well this game does when it's released. They did actually put in a lot of effort into this game it seems... With all the new characters, storyline and whatever else they're adding. Maybe if people from the states would actually "Buy" the game from local stores instead of "Mod their PSP's and download everything" then PS:P would've done a heck of a lot better in the U.S. I mean people are doing whatever it takes to save money with the economy and all... But by doing so it also causes problems for the gaming companies such as Sega. If this sh*t keeps up they're gonna be bankrupt. =/ I know PS:P didn't do nearly as good internationally as it did in Japan... But...One final expansion for PSU using PS:P2 Gameplay additions and what not!! =P PS3 out of text. See ya!

[Volcompat321]

I have a modded PSP, and I actually bought the JP version, and EN version of this game.
Most likely, I'll do the same with PSP:P 2, I like to have the box of games I love.
I pretty much only download games I want to try, most of the time I end up not liking them.
As of now, PS:P and MH are the only games I play for PSP for long periods of time.
Anyway, I really cant wait for the game. I'll buy the JP one the day of it's release, same with the EN one.

[DAMASCUS]

Everything that they've done since MAG+ came out in Japan says to me that they're just biding their time. The big question is for what reason? They still have a few dollars to make(milk) from the PSU populace but that isn't going to hold much longer. Venturing into the portable market doesn't seem a prudent move either.

The optimistic spin on this is that they are currently working on the next online Phantasy Star game for consoles and some of the new ideas in the portable games are being 'tested' for use in the full game later.

[Volcompat321]

Do you guys really think SEGA would make a NEW PS game, when they did so horribly bad with the current one? (US/EU servers of course)
I don't think anyone would even consider buying a new PSU type game unless SEGA shows they are trying to make up for lost time(and make it FREEEEEEE to play). You know they cant do that either because not many people are forgiving.
I don't think SEGA will make any type of new Phantasy Star Universe game.
PSU is SEGAs last console MMORPG, IMO, Simply due to the fact this one went so horribly wrong towards the end(the present).

[pinkace]

Know what bothers me? The amount of complaining this forum goes through.

What ticks me off is when an update or an event or some other good thing is announced and then some Debbie fucking Downer chimes in to complain about it. Yes, ST has plenty of work to do to fix the non-JP servers, but bottom line is so far 2009 has been an excellent year for us.

Other than that, I am used to Tetsaru's hateful rants :P


Do you guys really think SEGA would make a NEW PS game, when they did so horribly bad with the current one? (US/EU servers of course)
I don't think anyone would even consider buying a new PSU type game unless SEGA shows they are trying to make up for lost time(and make it FREEEEEEE to play). You know they cant do that either because not many people are forgiving.
I don't think SEGA will make any type of new Phantasy Star Universe game.
PSU is SEGAs last console MMORPG, IMO, Simply due to the fact this one went so horribly wrong towards the end(the present).

I would say to you that although things did not go "well", to say they went 'horribly wrong' outside of japan is really stretching it. The game is nowhere near 'horrible' and never was, even at its least-cared-for period. 2009 has almost erased all those memories though, hasn't it? :)

If they made the game completely free, it would do extremely well. But lets take baby-steps; make the next game $5 a month, just to store your character and maintain a hack-free environment, while giving the players the entire content on the disc free right from the start.

[Volcompat321]

Even with what you said, a new game entirely is not plausible.
I still don't think ST has enough "trust" or fanbase (anymore) to make a new successful game.
Period.
Until people see ST changing PSU for the better, I doubt any new console game will be in the works. It would be an unwise business decision.

[panzer_unit]

Even with what you said, a new game entirely is not plausible.
I still don't think ST has enough "trust" or fanbase (anymore) to make a new successful game.
Period.
Until people see ST changing PSU for the better, I doubt any new console game will be in the works. It would be an unwise business decision.

um...
Who's going to "see" PSU changing for the better?
Who cares about Sonic Team at all?
People who are still playing PSU.
Pretty much nobody.

Fast forward a couple of years and they'll have a completely clean slate for PR to launch a new online Phantasy Star game... minus a handful of ghosts on the forums who are still clinging to PSU with bloody fingertips and complaining mightily about absolutely everything like always.

Sega did a good job launching PS:P between releases of Monster Hunter Portable... PS appeals to the same people (and that's a lot of people) while still feeling quite different. Fills the gap between releases nicely.


Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me a lot. It bothers me that Sega/Sonic Team hardly ever advertises their games anymore. It bothers me that they seemingly stopped putting effort into some of their main franchises (mainly Phantasy Star and Sonic). It bothers me when they hastily crank out new sequels within a few months between each other, only to raise hopes and then ultimately disappoint their old fans! This is NOT the Sega I remember, and it infuriates and depresses me whenever I think about how much better their current games could have been!

I love the rose-colored glasses... I doubt the Sonic Team you remember ever existed. I can't be assed to finish Phantasy Star II because of all the wandering and ridiculous random encounters, and I'm in no rush to re-start 3 or 4 after a curiosity-play, they're just not that good except for nostalgia.
I don't touch any of the copies of Sonic I've got on game collections. I loved 'em when I was ten. Apparently I had pretty poor taste in videogames, except for Fantasy Zone... awesome? check.

I'm sort of glad now Sega never re-made Zillion games. It would be a shame to see that in the bright light of day too.

[Volcompat321]

You don't necessarily have to play PSU to see changes. You just have to keep up with the forums, which is what Tetsaru is doing.
I highly doubt SEGA will change for the good anyway :( unfortunately.

[GlowSticks]

Im glad sega is making more phantasy star games but Im upset about the platform...
portable gaming really isn't my thing. I have no reason to stare at a teeny tiny screen to play any game when I have a perfectly good TV. But then again I drive everywhere so portable gaming for me is hardly practical...

If there was a way to display PSP on TV however...

Vouch!

[MadDogg]

What ticks me off is when an update or an event or some other good thing is announced and then some Debbie fucking Downer chimes in to complain about it. Yes, ST has plenty of work to do to fix the non-JP servers, but bottom line is so far 2009 has been an excellent year for us.

Other than that, I am used to Tetsaru's hateful rants :P

This man, friggin' this. Sega actually has been on the ball this year with the constant updates and whatnot, and people still bitch and complain. There is no winning with these fucking people lol.

I think when people get a little fed up with PSU, they just need to take a break and find something else to do, or find another game to play in the meantime, but naaaaaaaaaah that takes too much common sense to think of. Lets sit in the forums and bitch endlessly EVERY DAMN DAY.

[xSTx Andy]

I really feel like. "SEGA" messed up alout of things in PSU. There is so many people that are extremely rich in it. But yet SEGA keeps putting easy drops. Witch messes up the market. I really loved when everything was at the prise it should have been. Ex. BlackHeart 30% used to be 10mil now 1mil maybe.And other things like that. It srews up the people trying to gain money.
What do you think?

[Ruru]

This man, friggin' this. Sega actually has been on the ball this year with the constant updates and whatnot, and people still bitch and complain. There is no winning with these fucking people lol.

I think when people get a little fed up with PSU, they just need to take a break and find something else to do, or find another game to play in the meantime, but naaaaaaaaaah that takes too much common sense to think of. Lets sit in the forums and bitch endlessly EVERY DAMN DAY.


once again more people complaining about people complaining >.> gotta love the irony in this.

and sure this year has gone by great! . . . . . if you're on the 360 servers. PC/PS2 has seen error 57/60/65 quite a few months out of this year so far. so you cant really mush us all in on the same equal billing here since depending on what server you play, this could be a great year or just another same old year we seem to always get when it comes to segas *start sarcasm* professional service and awesome quality. *end sarcasm*

there are so many small problems and big problems in this game, people have a right to complain about the quality of gaming experience they're recieving, just for the simple fact that they pay to play this game. maybe your expectations arent as high as some others, but you cant deny them their right to bitch and moan when something they paid for doesnt happen how its supposed to. if you dont like the complaining simply ignore them, or do what you tell them to do and go find another forum ("find a different game to play") amirite? its the pot calling the kettle black in this situation.

[MadDogg]

there are so many small problems and big problems in this game, people have a right to complain about the quality of gaming experience they're recieving, just for the simple fact that they pay to play this game. maybe your expectations arent as high as some others, but you cant deny them their right to bitch and moan when something they paid for doesnt happen how its supposed to. if you dont like the complaining simply ignore them, or do what you tell them to do and go find another forum ("find a different game to play") amirite? its the pot calling the kettle black in this situation.

Now your complaining about the people complaining about complaining........friggin' dumb ass logic...

But here is the million dollar question.......What do complainers hope to accomplish complaining about sega on a game's fan site forums? In the whole grand scheme of things WHAT IS THE POINT? Answer me this, please go right on ahead. I can't wait to hear the answer by the way.

[Ruru]

Now your complaining about the people complaining about complaining........friggin' dumb ass logic...

But here is the million dollar question.......What do complainers hope to accomplish complaining about sega on a game's fan site forums? In the whole grand scheme of things WHAT IS THE POINT? Answer me this, please go right on ahead. I can't wait to hear the answer by the way.


what does it matter if they complain or not? what do you gain from getting angry over their posts? aside from a tumor and a vein popping out of your skull. i dont see the reason for you to pop on here and complain about people complaining.

and no i wasnt complaining about your post i was simply showing the irony of it.

if you really have nothing to put into this topic of if you feel sega cares about PSU or not i suggest not even posting in this thread cause all you'll accomplish is a post count reduction or the lock of this thread if it gets out of hand.

[Volcompat321]

Sega actually has been on the ball this year..

That's where you're wrong. This is August, you know, the 8th month into the year.
On the ball wouldn't be the correct term.

Also, the reason to complain is to be heard. To vent. Eventually, if you make a big enough stink, more people will too.
Hopefully, someone (like Ruby Eclipse, Edward and others) will see EVERYONE complaining, and begin to do something.
Do you really think that SEGA all of a sudden decided to give us updates every 2 weeks or so. Starting with StD, then boosts, the summer event thing, then GBR on Moatoob without people complaining?
NO, people complained big time, so SEGA thought they should give us a little something something so we would stop.
Had no one complained, you honestly think we would have gotten those in such close proximity? NO.

[MadDogg]

That's where you're wrong. This is August, you know, the 8th month into the year.
On the ball wouldn't be the correct term.

Also, the reason to complain is to be heard. To vent. Eventually, if you make a big enough stink, more people will too.
Hopefully, someone (like Ruby Eclipse, Edward and others) will see EVERYONE complaining, and begin to do something.
Do you really think that SEGA all of a sudden decided to give us updates every 2 weeks or so. Starting with StD, then boosts, the summer event thing, then GBR on Moatoob without people complaining?
NO, people complained big time, so SEGA thought thy should give us a little something something so we would stop.
Had no one complained, you honestly think we would have gotten those in such close proximity? NO.

First of all, yeah, I think we all know what today is, why exactly did you point that out again?

Second of all, you can't be serious, thinking bitching on a game's FAN FORUM from whining fans that is so damn irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, from like the same what, 8 or so people that makes up like, 80 or so dollars from their TOTAL SALES FROM ACROSS THE WORLD, made sega go up and at'em, and all the sudden made them give us constant updates this year.....

Maybe the reason we been getting our updates on schedule lately is because they changed the management around in the U.S. sega department...........nah, that can't be it.

Not only was the answer to my question a stupid one as I expected it to be, but I was thinking common sense should again kick in, and maybe, just maybe, the whiners would consider complaining at, gee I don't know, the game's OFFICIAL FORUMS if they wanted to be heard.

What better way to stick it to the man and get your message across than posting in the main forums..........................sitting around bitching in fan forum's where nearly every poster here are ordinary fans apparently......

I'm done saying whats on my mind. I'm sorry, but I just hate stupidity in general. Carry on your ingenious plans to help make change in a game's fan forum.

[pinkace]

That's where you're wrong. This is August, you know, the 8th month into the year.
On the ball wouldn't be the correct term.

Also, the reason to complain is to be heard. To vent. Eventually, if you make a big enough stink, more people will too.
Hopefully, someone (like Ruby Eclipse, Edward and others) will see EVERYONE complaining, and begin to do something.
Do you really think that SEGA all of a sudden decided to give us updates every 2 weeks or so. Starting with StD, then boosts, the summer event thing, then GBR on Moatoob without people complaining?
NO, people complained big time, so SEGA thought thy should give us a little something something so we would stop.
Had no one complained, you honestly think we would have gotten those in such close proximity? NO.

I should dissect your post to clearly point out everything I agree/disagree with but I am too lazy. So...

1. How about On the ball so far? will that be ok with you? *rolls eyes*

2. I second your answer to MadDogg; complaining is cathartic.

3. The guys you mentioned that read these boards in the U.S. are not responsible for game updates, that would be ST in Japan, so if you want to raise some stink, do it on the japanese boards. Yuji Naka never comes to pso-world, and never will.

[Volcompat321]

Ruby and Edward help get word to the "higher ups", how do you think they can come on here and the official site and say and do the things they do?
They both work for SEGA.
Complaining to them in masses, would most likely get them to raise a stink to their bosses.
I know the JP side controls out updates, and I know none of those guys come here, or even the official forums, and that's the problem. (the bosses I mean)
That's why those bosses of Ruby and Edward, have them come to these forums.
I obviously don't know exactly what's going on, and neither do you, so we cant say for sure what goes on, but I can tell you that if no one ever complained about us not getting any sort of update, they wouldn't have given us a lot so close together.

[Tetsaru]

I am used to Tetsaru's hateful rants :P

At least my rants are usually insightful. =P If you REALLY want to improve upon something, you be able to take harsh criticism, plain and simple. You have to nitpick and find inherent flaws that need to be improved upon one way or another. As a music major, I have to deal with this sort of thing all the time.


This man, friggin' this. Sega actually has been on the ball this year with the constant updates and whatnot, and people still bitch and complain. There is no winning with these fucking people lol.

I think when people get a little fed up with PSU, they just need to take a break and find something else to do, or find another game to play in the meantime, but naaaaaaaaaah that takes too much common sense to think of. Lets sit in the forums and bitch endlessly EVERY DAMN DAY.

Updates don't mean much unless they FIX things. If you haven't noticed, a lot of people just weren't impressed with the Moatoob GBR and S3 missions because they weren't challenging enough and didn't provide many new items. Also, THEY DIDN'T RELEASE THE NEW MOATOOB MISSION ALONG WITH IT - give me one good reason why we didn't get it when Japan did. Hell, if Sega suddenly released an "update" that made all Fighmasters have 0 ATP, would you be happy about it?? Also, I still don't see this supplemental update thing coming anytime soon... I hope it's as epic as everyone hypes it up to be.

And as far as playing other games, well I've had my new sig up for a while now, and if you've actually read any of my recent posts, I refer back to FF11 a lot... put 1 and 2 together, lol. Of course, I've just started college back up, so I don't have a lot of time to invest in it like I did over the summer. Whereas posting here... doesn't usually take that long at all. =P

People bitch about things because they're unhappy about them and want people who have the power to fix them to do so - again, criticism. This happens everywhere you look, from a friend telling you how he or she likes or dislikes your new look, to the US government trying to appropriately reform our health care system. You can either face these problems, run away from them, or just stay complacent and oblivious to it all... but I can promise you, the people who face these problems and openly discuss them often tend to fix them.

If you're happy with the way PSU is right now, that's your call... but I say, why settle for mediocrity? DEMAND BETTER.

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

Also, I still don't see this supplemental update thing coming anytime soon... I hope it's as epic as everyone hypes it up to be.It isn't.

Also, there's nothing appropriate about the current healthcare reform proposals, but that's a matter for another topic.





Also, I can provide more than enough pessimism for this entire forum, all you need do is ask.

[biggabertha]

Back on topic:

Regardless of what Sega makes for a new game along the Phantasy Star series, it's highly likely that there will be many core followers to play it. Dress it up as much as you like, it's highly likely that any game released by them in any format will always merit some trial.

For instance, there are many members of this forum that repeatedly and openly criticise the way things are being handled at the moment from a few games claiming that they "know how to run a game."

They offer up what they would do if in a position of power and they suggest modes or methods where the game will certainly be improved.


Similar to food, art and music, you will almost always get negative criticism no matter what you do and wherever you go. Arrogant peers or critics that "know how to say/write" things will claim things that they themselves cannot accomplish.

Since everyone on the internet has been given a voice, it allows people to post whatever feelings they may feel without any regard to any other user with relatively little consequence.


Bottom line is, unless you can make it better, what right have you got to decide what's "good" and what's "bad" when you've never even created such a large-scale product for the masses?

But then again, my post here boils down to pointing out to the irony in each post beyond the first in this thread. Bawwers bawwing about something fairly pathetic and offering it up as a discussion because there's very little else to do but baw.

[MissCelsiusX]

Sega doesnt seem to care about the players of PSU and there are soooooo many more things that they could have improved on or add into this game

Ive been playing since the beginning of June 2007 and PSU has come a long way since then, but theres so many more things they could have done. About 70% of the people that play the game just sit around on the 4th floor while the other 30% is actually doing missions and playing the game. When I started the game it was the other way around. It really dissapoints me. They dont update us with new things enough to grasp our attention and keep us excited about things. Its just the same boring shit

[panzer_unit]

You don't necessarily have to play PSU to see changes. You just have to keep up with the forums, which is what Tetsaru is doing.
I highly doubt SEGA will change for the good anyway :( unfortunately.

lol I don't think Sega cares about our beloved forum trolls any more than they do the handful of people still populating the western PSU servers.

Think of it like dating. Things go horribly wrong, but you learn your lesson and try to do things right with someone new. That's going to be what Sega does with their next online PS game. There's no point going back to the old girl because it's really unlikely that she's gotten over it and is ready to come back with no prejudice... never mind when you know for a fact that years later she's living in a commune with all your other psycho former girlfriends and they're all throwing knives at picture of you tacked to the wall (that's PSOW in a nutshell btw).

[Akaimizu]

An interesting analogy. For me, I'm a straight sucker for the good ol' dungeon crawl. I think one big thing about Sega is that they were able to craft online games, with a sci-fi theme, and character classes with which you can roam around, fight, etc with, and have it survive. No other Sci-fi based online game has been able to claim this ability. (They've always died painful deaths). But for Sega to craft a game resurrected by fans (PSO), and to have a community exist for the sequel after 2 years, is a big thing.

However, I tend to travel, when Sega releases their next big thing, I tend to go with it. And while I don't play any 1 single PS with the same amount of total hours as some people, I do tend to love the series. The teams under SEGA are pretty much console developers. Even though they've cultivated online games with a degree of popularity; their general forte is crafting new games than making improvements to currently existing games.

Still, PSU players do have this particular *point* system to look forward to, which may do a lot for end-game players. For me, while I've been giving my other games a chance, lately; I haven't really given up on PSU. I still have an account, and will likely come back in time.. refreshed and a long time from burning out on it. I just can't play any one game for hundreds of hours, without breaking from it to play other things, from time to time.

PSP is quite nice, and I even enjoy PSZ (though I've been playing it less and less knowing that I'll have to start over when the US release happens). For me, I kind of look forward to PSP2 with infrastructure. It looks like it would be another nice portable time-sink that plays like a full-on console game. Still would seem odd that many of us would feel they could rip out infrastructure for Western releases. (It's a feature I even take with a grain of salt, even knowing that infrastructure *mainly* serves the folks outside of japan. So why make a feature exclusive to a country that, in particular, doesn't promote it? But that's just me thinking.)

[panzer_unit]

That's the thing... barely anyone else does sci-fi dungeon crawls at all, and nobody else does it the awesome where it's just a fantasy game dressed up with neon and rocket ships. It's right there in the name even: Fantasy + Star.

It's not surprising that people are concerned about a core CORE feature like Infrastructure Play being pulled from the western version of PS:P2 after the continual burn of content delays and drops from the current crop of PS localizations.

For me the upside of portable gaming is that I've got a family full of people wanting the TV for this or that and I don't have to line up and take turns. I barely ever get a chance to sit and play my PS3 but that hardly matters if I've got some good portable games.

[Zeek123]

You know, I've looked over this thread thus far and have been thinking this to myself pretty much the entire time I've been playing PSU and really only have this to say:

Sega has lost their balls.

I absolutely hate that they have something unique like PSU, and would rather ignore it entirely and shell out "safer" games on portable systems because they're more profitable.

Mind you I liked PS:P a lot, and I'm sure I'll enjoy PS:P2 even if ST screws us over (again) and leaves out infrastructure play, but the console games are supposed to be what really defines an IP, and PSU is associated with mediocre service.

What really irks me though: that PS Zero is on DS. I guess the 0 stands for "no downloadable content". That game will be home to spammers and 12 year olds for the whole year the servers are up. Enjoy.

[Akaimizu]

Nah. It doesn't mean that, since the Western release of PSP also had "no downloadable content". :) :)

For me, I want ST to succeed in this because they're kind of the sole survivors of this sub-genre. It also possibly helped that the environment is a high fantasy/sci-fi cross-over to entice folks who just don't get into Sci-fi-only online games. (Not so sure why straight Sci-fi hasn't got the draw like high-fantasy games do; perhaps people fall in love with old-flair more than futuristic) However, it could be just how they are as developers, as I mentioned above. They're general style is *produce a game*, *produce a better follow-up if demanded*. They just aren't the kind of folks who do well to support 1 game as opposed to making another.

That, in itself, takes a certain kind of development team that works. Now before people go mentioning Blizzard, it's easy to understand because they are a team that shines supporting a released game more so than designing multiple games and followups. So in a way, even since before they went and did WoW; they treated their previous games like MMOs. They make a game, and then spend the next 6 years upgrading, and servicing it. However, unlike ST, they wont make another cool game for eons. :) It's like whenever they make a game announcement folks go, "Woah! They're producing another game?"

[panzer_unit]

I was thinking elsewhere that the PS:P DLC might have been removed because it wasn't that great an idea to start with, instead of being some punishment for western players.

What came out and when? I got my PS:Perfect title around the 120 hour mark (that's like a month and change of playing pretty seriously) and started playing a lot less hard from there. Only a serious hardcore would have kept playing to see all the downloads come out, I'm guessing. Worse yet were there complaints about yet more Sega "content" that's just waiting months and months for someone to tell your game to unlock some more content on the disc?

[Akaimizu]

Well, true. Japan's DLC was pretty easy to swallow because they would release something every two weeks, up to a certain point. It wasn't like months and months of waiting. So by the time you got one character to max character level, you'd probably already have seen 4 to 6 downloads arrive.

Fortunately, the US version of PSP got the lion's share of collectables, so there wasn't much missing for them alone. The special missions, themselves, were the main nice exclusives that the DLC added. I did love both releases, but I definitely miss those DLC-only missions on the US version. They were not only the most challenging fights, but they also had some cool aspects such as mid-mission challenges or trials for players to attempt to open hidden areas.

That's not to say the US release wasn't good. However, a couple of included missions could've definitely brought it up to PSP JPN standards.

[Powder Keg]

You know....a lot of "improvements" are considered improvements in opinion anyway. Unless we're just talking about straight content.

[panzer_unit]

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that we missed out on the high-level DLC missions for PS:P even if we got most of the collectible items.

[ZeronechaosX]

First of All Let me clarify some things so that some people will understand where I am coming from.

1. Why do u think I'm complaining? Lets see I'm actually a PSU Veteran. I was playing PSU since before Operation Firebreak and aside from the AOTI Expansion, how much has PSU truly progressed. Not much. Face it. U can ask any veteran but this games progress can be described as minimal at best.

2. Please Use your head for a minute and ask yourself why do people complain. I know I complain in the hopes that one day they will be heard and that changes CAN happen to this game. It's entirely possible for PSU to end it's lifespan as a truly great game. But this ain't gonna happen unless people COMPLAIN so that our voices can be heard.

3. Proof about this games actual lack of progress?

A. Voice Chat is one topic. When 6 people party together, and try talking very rarely is it clear and good. You would think that maybe Sega would have fixed this long before 2 years later, Xbox Live answered our prayers with Party Chat.

B. Sega's actual efforts with non-JP Servers. When PSU first started, Users could look to the JP servers as something to come. That's of importance because we originally were 3-4 months behind them when it came to content updates. We now at least have to be 6 months if not more behind them now.

C. A Cash Shop inside a game we pay monthly for? That's just ridiculous. Just another way to try to get MORE REVENUE out of PSU PLAYERS. ARE U SERIOUS? THAT'S JUST WRONG.

D. Has Sega Seriously forgotten how much praise they got for the PA's that came with AOTI? It's gonna be AOTI 2-year Anniversary and we still haven't gotten any new ones? I'm sorry but for someone who maxed out all my PA's and Spells and currently only has 20% of my bullets to max out yet. I'm seriously bored with the game.

E. As fun as GBR missions can be, am i the only one to realize that this is Sega's way of getting players to focus on other missions instead of White Beast? But in the end, you wanna know the truth. Since they use GBR's as a way to change our focus on new missions, they can get away with using them instead of giving us new missions. They may choose to add a new mission to the GBR but it is not truly giving us what we deserve.

4. About lack of PSU Supporters? This is false. I know this because a couple of months ago, something was going on, I can't exactly remember what it was but when I logged in, Almost 7 Universes were Full. It was the most I had ever seen PSU populated. That means that people who quit, came back to play for some substantial reason. That proves that even people who quit still support this game.

[Genoa]

Hold on hold on
http://psupedia.info/AOTI_supplemental_update
http://psupedia.info/index.php?title=GAS
I voted for the last one

[DreXxiN]

OP, I've been trying to get people around here to realize this for a LOOOONG time.

Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me a lot. It bothers me that Sega/Sonic Team hardly ever advertises their games anymore. It bothers me that they seemingly stopped putting effort into some of their main franchises (mainly Phantasy Star and Sonic). It bothers me when they hastily crank out new sequels within a few months between each other, only to raise hopes and then ultimately disappoint their old fans! This is NOT the Sega I remember, and it infuriates and depresses me whenever I think about how much better their current games could have been!

I know they ended up making a lot of bad marketing decisions down the line, but it STILL doesn't explain to me why their developers had to go all HERP-DERP lately... I guess they were desperate for employees once Yuji Naka and a lot of their other big staff members left. I don't know how else to explain it. =/

I would LOVE to see PSU become as successful as WoW or FF11 or Everquest, but there's gotta be a kickass team behind it, and Sega has yet to deliver such quality to its consumers. I hope PSP2 gets released outside of Japan, and I hope it's all it's cracked up to be, but lately Sega has forced me to be extremely skeptical...

I've been a hardcore Sega fan since the Mk. III. Which begs the question, what's the "Old sega that you knew" that you speak of so highly? I'm just confused because last I knew, my family was one of those let down starting with the overpriced overyhyped 32x that ultimately lost everyone's faith in Sega LONG before the "Segac" trend started.

[pinkace]

I've been a hardcore Sega fan since the Mk. III. Which begs the question, what's the "Old sega that you knew" that you speak of so highly? I'm just confused because last I knew, my family was one of those let down starting with the overpriced overyhyped 32x that ultimately lost everyone's faith in Sega LONG before the "Segac" trend started.

Dreamcast period. Although some people on these boards, whom I will not name out of sheer shock, have never owned this system. But I did, and the stuff that Sega released for it... my god.

The first games that came out of Sega when they first went third-party are arguably the best they have made ever, and of course they started development as exclusive Dreamcast games.

Dreamcast was... no, is, Sega's highest achievement, and not only creatively. The marketing cooperation and general business savvy that brought the DC to the world has out-done everyone. Sega still holds the record for most hardware sold in a week, after all these years. Did you know that?

[ZeronechaosX]

So what does GAS Have to do with actually making new content for the game? What does it have to do with my original complaint that in December, It's gonna be the second year since we've had new photon arts?

What does GAS even Fix?
Well one thing is for sure is that it gives maxed out players something to do and it allows for deeper customization.

But what does that have to do with failure to deliver content and quality content at that?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Adding ATP to certain PA's may make people wanna use some of the older ones that don't have the attack power to compete with some of the newer ones. But what does rebalancing have to do with improving the game? If anything it could make things worse. I know giving Cross Hurricane more attack power isn't going to help out.

Oh and Talk about a bad rebalance. Allowing the Already Overpowered Diga and Foie to hit two targets is definitely not going to help.

What about the lag issues and billing issues. Are they over going to get those fixed. I don't have that problem but I know people who do and it makes them very unhappy.

Oh and to top things off. Guardian Cash Shop is RIDICULOUS! WE ALREADY PAY FOR PSU. It's not about benefits, it's about Sega trying to get more revenue out of players and in return not doing much for us at all.

[DreXxiN]

Dreamcast period. Although some people on these boards, whom I will not name out of sheer shock, have never owned this system. But I did, and the stuff that Sega released for it... my god.

The first games that came out of Sega when they first went third-party are arguably the best they have made ever, and of course they started development as exclusive Dreamcast games.

Dreamcast was... no, is, Sega's highest achievement, and not only creatively. The marketing cooperation and general business savvy that brought the DC to the world has out-done everyone. Sega still holds the record for most hardware sold in a week, after all these years. Did you know that?

I loved the Dreamcast; it was my favorite system. But marketing? What matters is long-term sales. Sega would still be making systems if it weren't for their Genesis/MegaDrive expansion scandels.

Face it, Every time Sega released a system (Saturn, then Dreamcast accordingly), they were basically playing into Sony's hands, as they waited to release something to 1up Sega and kill it each time.

I don't really think Dreamcast outdid anything corporately...I mean it certainly was better than their past, but if I recall correctly they had a HORRIBLE time keeping up production for the system, so they shipped in smaller doses than they should have.

Don't get me wrong, Dreamcast is the most revolutionary system of all time, in fact Sega prior to 32x was in general: creating the first 3d Game, setting the first virtual RPG down for the world (Phantasy Star 1), the release of Sonic obliterating Mario in every way with the release of the Genesis, and making their extremely successful "Periscope" Arcade games in the 60's.

It just doesn't have that flare anymore.

EDIT: Also lol at the OP Foie and Diga comment above me.

[pinkace]

I loved the Dreamcast; it was my favorite system. But marketing? What matters is long-term sales. Sega would still be making systems if it weren't for their Genesis/MegaDrive expansion scandels.

Focusing on work done mostly outside of Japan, the Sega name had NEVER been more popular. Just looking at pure numbers, the DC was mentioned in more non-gaming publications than any system before it. In japan sega also did a great job, but Sega of America and Sega of Europe set new standards. It was insane. Part of the reason they did not go back to the sega scream and the 'welcome to the next level' campaigns was to wipe away their history and start anew. and they were successful. and when you say that what matters is 'long term sales', you are so wrong it is not even funny. Initial impact is KEY. they lost in the end for entirely different reasons.


Face it, Every time Sega released a system (Saturn, then Dreamcast accordingly), they were basically playing into Sony's hands, as they waited to release something to 1up Sega and kill it each time.

where did you get this from? Playstation had already been in development since before sega CD came out! Sega ignored them because frankly Sony posed no threat to them as the new kid on the block. And in the end Playstation LOST to the Saturn in Japan. Years after losing money and being third place, it was saved by FF7. Had that one single game been on Nintendo 64 (where it belonged) there would be no SCE today, end of discussion. The saturn outside of Japan would have lost to a poodle, thats how poorly that launch was planned.


I don't really think Dreamcast outdid anything corporately...I mean it certainly was better than their past, but if I recall correctly they had a HORRIBLE time keeping up production for the system, so they shipped in smaller doses than they should have.

This is not true as far as you are concerned. In the US and Europe, DC were never ever sold out. Millions were in stock by 9/9/99, and every single day Sega shipped more to retailers. In Japan, systems were in short supply because Nec screwed up the manufacturing process. had Sega of Japan gone with the Voodoo system SoA wanted in the first place this would never had happened. :-x :argh:

When I wrote of Sega's corporate goals, I excluded marketing and publicity. let me explain:

Bernie Stolar envisioned a western console, with western games, developed and published outside of japan, marketed to western audiences. he reached out to developers and publishers in Europe and the Americas that never worked with consoles because since that market was dominated by the Japanese, and many still remember the quasi-Nazi regime from Nintendo, they just stuck to PC game making. he envisioned an alliance in console gaming that would strengthen each region without the need for Japanese support.

and this is what we have today with the most popular brand in gaming right now, XBOX

The problem with bernie's plan was that he was being to obvious about it, and since he was working with money that came FROM the japanese, it was all the more offensive to his bosses. which is why he was fired just a month before DC was released.

Had he not been fired I am sure that this man's genius would have us playing Dreamcast 2 and 3 and 4. :etongue:


/rant

[Zeek123]

I know we got screwed over with the whole no DLC thing for PS:P. But it's also an offline game... for the most part. You have to download stupid X-Link Kai or whatever to play online. I'll be sorely disappointed if PS:P2 doesn't have DLC. But the DS title is supposed to be an MMO, right? Just a weak platform for this kind of game is all I'm saying.

[DreXxiN]

Focusing on work done mostly outside of Japan, the Sega name had NEVER been more popular. Just looking at pure numbers, the DC was mentioned in more non-gaming publications than any system before it. In japan sega also did a great job, but Sega of America and Sega of Europe set new standards. It was insane. Part of the reason they did not go back to the sega scream and the 'welcome to the next level' campaigns was to wipe away their history and start anew. and they were successful. and when you say that what matters is 'long term sales', you are so wrong it is not even funny. Initial impact is KEY. they lost in the end for entirely different reasons.



where did you get this from? Playstation had already been in development since before sega CD came out! Sega ignored them because frankly Sony posed no threat to them as the new kid on the block. And in the end Playstation LOST to the Saturn in Japan. Years after losing money and being third place, it was saved by FF7. Had that one single game been on Nintendo 64 (where it belonged) there would be no SCE today, end of discussion. The saturn outside of Japan would have lost to a poodle, thats how poorly that launch was planned.



This is not true as far as you are concerned. In the US and Europe, DC were never ever sold out. Millions were in stock by 9/9/99, and every single day Sega shipped more to retailers. In Japan, systems were in short supply because Nec screwed up the manufacturing process. had Sega of Japan gone with the Voodoo system SoA wanted in the first place this would never had happened. :-x :argh:

When I wrote of Sega's corporate goals, I excluded marketing and publicity. let me explain:

Bernie Stolar envisioned a western console, with western games, developed and published outside of japan, marketed to western audiences. he reached out to developers and publishers in Europe and the Americas that never worked with consoles because since that market was dominated by the Japanese, and many still remember the quasi-Nazi regime from Nintendo, they just stuck to PC game making. he envisioned an alliance in console gaming that would strengthen each region without the need for Japanese support.

and this is what we have today with the most popular brand in gaming right now, XBOX

The problem with bernie's plan was that he was being to obvious about it, and since he was working with money that came FROM the japanese, it was all the more offensive to his bosses. which is why he was fired just a month before DC was released.

Had he not been fired I am sure that this man's genius would have us playing Dreamcast 2 and 3 and 4. :etongue:


/rant

I never said it was Sega's fault, they had their bad stream of luck. I knew about the NEC screwups, and yes the Playstation was in development long ago, but that's only because Nintendo was thinking about implementing a CD deal with Sony, which they basically "betrayed", causing Sony to go off and make their own "Playstation" out of it.

Also, you think FF7 Saved the Playstation? Sega Saturn didn't even have any games to boot with (aside from Virtua Fighter, which I owned when I got the Sega Saturn), and Sony waited to launch their console intelligently after the Saturn. Not only that, but they did it 100 dollars cheaper, which alone was enough for people to rather buy the playstation ($299 vs $399).

Playstation 2 was announced not long after Dreamcast was actually LAUNCHED (Which was delayed too, as the Dreamcast was announced in 1998), and basically had..well everything better than a Dreamcast for the most part (Opinionated, but it still sold better, despite me liking the dreamcast more, PS2 had a DVD player. What was the most played thing in the first fiscal year of the Playstation 2 Launch? Not a game, but Matrix the Movie

Final Fantasy VII would have been horrible if launched on the N64 due to cartridge capabilities, so Squaresoft looked to Sony. (Have you actually seen the tech demos of VI and VII on the N64?) Sega had trouble getting 3rd party developers for most of their systems and Sony was definitely a threat, mainly because of intimidation factor that this big company that makes other electronics is coming out with a system.


With all that said, all that matters is Sega is not successful now, and completely abandoned producing gaming hardware. This enough says it all, and there's obviously a reason as to why that is happening.

[Tetsaru]

I've been a hardcore Sega fan since the Mk. III. Which begs the question, what's the "Old sega that you knew" that you speak of so highly? I'm just confused because last I knew, my family was one of those let down starting with the overpriced overyhyped 32x that ultimately lost everyone's faith in Sega LONG before the "Segac" trend started.

I don't even remember the Mk. III unfortunately, lol... I guess I was too young at the time. However, other than a Game Boy, the Genesis was my first console, and soon after, I received a Sega CD and 32X to go with it. I also got an NES and SNES later on, but I didn't really get into Nintendo that much until the N64 came out. Most of my friends and my cousins at that time had a Genesis, so I guess I kinda followed suit, lol. I wasn't even familiar with the Saturn or Dreamcast until much later. =x

Nevertheless, I played the main Sonic games religiously lol, before I even heard about the Internet or regularly bought gaming magazines and player's guides. I was always hellbent on trying to get those Chaos Emeralds one way or another, lol... fun times. I remember I also had Rocket Knight Adventures, X-Men 2, Toy Story, and few other obscure titles...

And then, I saw Super Mario 64, in all its new 3D glory, and suddenly I switched gears. I guess I was a sucker for platformers. :3 Then, I found out about Goldeneye, Zelda, Smash Bros... all those cool games. I guess at that point, I would've called myself a "hardcore gamer," because suddenly I was trying to learn more and more about new games, how to beat them, getting to the rental store to try them out as soon as they hit the shelves.

Then, I progressed to PS2 and Gamecube. By that time, I learned that Sega had gone bankrupt, and wasn't making consoles anymore. However, PSO was out on Gamecube, and my friends starting getting into that game, thus ultimately leading me to play PSU for a good 2 and a half years or so.

I guess I'm not so hardcore towards the old Sega as some people, but I fucking LOVED the old Sonic games and PSO. Seeing the state they're in now just crushes all my old childhood memories... ;_;

[DreXxiN]

I agree with you on the Sonic bit, Tets. I'm thinking of renting Unleashed for the graphics engine alone to see how it runs, but other than that I fear I'll be disappointed (But who knows?).

I especially miss a lot of the sonic games that were still good even on older failed platforms (Knuckles Chaotix on the 32x, Sonic CD Etc.)

Man..that Sonic CD tune was catchy..and it was cool having an anime intro on a 16 year old console, lol.

Also raise your hand if you think Sonic Shuffle pwns Mario Party hard ;P. *raises hand*.

>_>...

[Tetsaru]

I agree with you on the Sonic bit, Tets. I'm thinking of renting Unleashed for the graphics engine alone to see how it runs, but other than that I fear I'll be disappointed (But who knows?).

I especially miss a lot of the sonic games that were still good even on older failed platforms (Knuckles Chaotix on the 32x, Sonic CD Etc.)

Man..that Sonic CD tune was catchy..and it was cool having an anime intro on a 16 year old console, lol.

Also raise your hand if you think Sonic Shuffle pwns Mario Party hard ;P. *raises hand*.

>_>...

OMG, I LOVED the Sonic CD intro. I had never seen anything like it on a video game before at that time. That game had a great soundtrack too... I've even got it on my Zune, lol. I fucking LOVED the boss fight music... it had such a unique, twisted flavor to it, lol:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoszpq4afPM

As for Knuckles' Chaotix, I'm surprised they haven't ported that game yet. It was fun being able to play as different characters with unique abilities, and there was even some 2-player co-op involved, as far as Sonic games go, anyway. =P I never did get all the Chaos Rings on that game... those bonus stages got pretty damn crazy. =x

I think I saw someone bring Sonic Shuffle to one of our anime club meetings one night... I only saw a little bit of it, but it looked a lot like Mario Party, lol. I remember the characters were moving around on some board where they had to go underwater in some places and couldn't stay down there for too many turns without something bad happening.

[Volcompat321]

Am I the only person that liked Sonic 3D Blast?

lol :D

[Tetsaru]

Am I the only person that liked Sonic 3D Blast?

lol :D

I thought it was alright. :3 The controls were kinda awkward at times, and chasing down those Flickies got annoying if you got hurt a lot, but I liked the level designs. I remember the bonus stages being pretty easy for the most part, lol... then you got to fight that one Dr. Robotnik robot thing once you got all the emeralds. Not the hardest boss in the world (most Sonic bosses aren't though, lol), but I thought it was pretty cool.

[Volcompat321]

I just thought the game was amazing when it came out.
I remember playing for hours and hours as a kid, and still never beating the game.
I have this knack for not beating games. :(
Also, even though it's not a SEGA game, I loved and still love Paperboy.
Amazing game, never gets old!

[Tetsaru]

I just thought the game was amazing when it came out.
I remember playing for hours and hours as a kid, and still never beating the game.
I have this knack for not beating games. :(

Here ya go. It's a pretty drawn-out boss fight, but I still thought it was kinda cool:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3smOAFKAuqY

[Volcompat321]

Thanks Tet, you ruined it for me! /lol
Doesn't seem too hard, dood did it without rings for the most part.
I'm really not sure why I never beat this one. I've beaten all the other SEGA Genesis/CD/Saturn whatever games.
The older games, not the games they think is Sonic nowadays.

[DreXxiN]

Thanks Tet, you ruined it for me! /lol
Doesn't seem too hard, dood did it without rings for the most part.
I'm really not sure why I never beat this one. I've beaten all the other SEGA Genesis/CD/Saturn whatever games.
The older games, not the games they think is Sonic nowadays.

Oh I loved Sonic 3D Blast, primarily because it literally made one of my friends sick when watching..Ok that sounds awful, but it's kind of funny. (I of course never played it extensively :P)

And yeah Tets, that boss music was CREEPY AS SHIT When I was a little kid, lol.

[Volcompat321]

Haha, I've had only one friend get sick over a game.
I never really believed the warnings about taking a break after an hour, if you feel sick, stop playing, or the multiple epilepsy warnings, until my friend got sick.
It was pretty funny. Though I bet he didn't think so.
Even now with all the HD games, I guess it's getting worse for people with epilepsy. HD epilepsy attacks! Oh noes!

[DreXxiN]

Haha, I've had only one friend get sick over a game.
I never really believed the warnings about taking a break after an hour, if you feel sick, stop playing, or the multiple epilepsy warnings, until my friend got sick.
It was pretty funny. Though I bet he didn't think so.
Even now with all the HD games, I guess it's getting worse for people with epilepsy. HD epilepsy attacks! Oh noes!

Try playing the progressive scan version of Sonic Heroes on a huge HDTV in multiplayer...those camera angles that are programmed would give any normal person a seizure as well.

[Tetsaru]

I remember one time I tried to get my mom to play Mario Kart 64 with me. She said her stomach would jump every time she had to ramp off something, like she was actually falling. Simulated motion sickness, I think is what that's called.

Wow, we're getting off-topic, lol...

[Volcompat321]

Lmao. I have this one friend, he has CP(Cerebral Palsy) and epilepsy.
He cant even play Halo, Call of Duty, MGS4, or anything good really.
For some reason, he bought a 360 and PS3 too.
He's a rich son of a bitch too since the doctors messed him up at birth.
Doctors should make some sort of laser eye brain corrective surgery to fix epilepsy.
lolyarite.


I remember one time I tried to get my mom to play Mario Kart 64 with me. She said her stomach would jump every time she had to ramp off something, like she was actually falling. Simulated motion sickness, I think is what that's called.

Wow, we're getting off-topic, lol...
Yea, we are. Oh well, it's somewhat about SEGA anyway.
Also, I've gotten a feeling playing Monster Hunter and few other games where I jump off high places, cliffs mostly in MH, and my stomach does that.
Never enough to make me physically sick or anything like that though, just a minor "whoooooo".

[Arika]

Sadly, it seem that PSPo just sold too well, and now all they care is portable game.

still, there is a hope that they will make PSP2 as online downloadable supplement content anyway. but.. at a snail walking speed..

[pinkace]

Also, you think FF7 Saved the Playstation? Sega Saturn didn't even have any games to boot with (aside from Virtua Fighter, which I owned when I got the Sega Saturn), and Sony waited to launch their console intelligently after the Saturn. Not only that, but they did it 100 dollars cheaper, which alone was enough for people to rather buy the playstation ($299 vs $399).

You are mixing up the markets. In Japan, Saturn reigned supreme. Even when the N64 launched with Super Mario 64, Saturn still outsold Nintendo. Sony was a distant third. In the US, the market was much different only because Sega fucked up very badly with the Saturn launch. They are different markets, different strategies.

You can be a success in one part of the world and a titanic failure in another. Look at SNK.


Playstation 2 was announced not long after Dreamcast was actually LAUNCHED (Which was delayed too, as the Dreamcast was announced in 1998), and basically had..well everything better than a Dreamcast for the most part (Opinionated, but it still sold better, despite me liking the dreamcast more, PS2 had a DVD player. What was the most played thing in the first fiscal year of the Playstation 2 Launch? Not a game, but Matrix the Movie

No, PS2 was announced, spoken about and tech demo-ed before DC launched anywhere. It was common knowledge that PS2 was coming; just because you didn't see a hunk of plastic doesn't mean it was a secret. The first glimpse we the consumers got of either system was after it had already been in the hands of developers for many months, probably years. It was at this stage that many companies, especially western companies, were siding with Sega.


Final Fantasy VII would have been horrible if launched on the N64 due to cartridge capabilities, so Squaresoft looked to Sony. (Have you actually seen the tech demos of VI and VII on the N64?)

No, the game would have been better, it would have played better and looked better. The only reason Square wanted CD was for the cut scenes. In hindsight, isn't it ridiculous that they changed gaming history because their stupid cut scenes would have had to be compressed?


Sega had trouble getting 3rd party developers for most of their systems and Sony was definitely a threat, mainly because of intimidation factor that this big company that makes other electronics is coming out with a system.

Firstly, Sega had legendary support with Master System and Genesis. Hell, Sega INVENTED third party support. Sega CD was the same story. Many publishers even released games for both CD and Genesis! Saturn suffered mostly because of it's haphazard launch, and because many publishers were lied to about the plans for 32X. With Dreamcast, every single major studio except EA pledged major support (EA stock plunged because of that). How is it that you see they had trouble with "most" of their systems?

Many games that were in development for the DC's silver and golden years were either canceled outright or ported to another system. So every third party except EA suffered the DC's death.

Secondly, Sega was not threatened at all, and they had plenty of support, in Japan Like I have said many times, outside of Japan Sega of America burned everyone with the "it's 32X/Saturn/32X/Saturn/32X" debacle. So even if Sony had somehow screwed up badly, they would have still likely taken the US market anyways.


With all that said, all that matters is Sega is not successful now, and completely abandoned producing gaming hardware. This enough says it all, and there's obviously a reason as to why that is happening.

Actually, even before the Dreamcast launched, many people within Sega (on both sides) believed the company would be better off as an independent third-party software publisher/developer. Unlike Nintendo, Sega always had a very strong arcade presence, and that meant it was structured with a more software-centric approach. Which is why Nintendo has 4 or 5 'solid' intellectual properties and Sega has like 50.

[DreXxiN]

I can understand then, most of what I've researched I assume just refers to US data.

However, from what I've looked up, at least in a "History of playstation" video I watched, the PS2 was only speculation up until it's actual announcement to the public a few months AFTER the Dreamcast launched.

IMO Cutscenes are a huge part of RPG gaming (similarly to special effects in say, action movies), and even though Playstation 1 has less graphical capabilities, N64 cartridges are limited by a 4KB Texture cache, meaning less draw distance (Unless you want every wall to look like an undetailed square) and less detail on the screen at once.

How FF7 could even RUN on N64 I'll never know, considering that the max cartridge size is 64 MB, and FF7 is a massive game on CD's that held up to 600MB or 700MB I believe when it was released.

Either way, as I said Playstation was released massively cheaper, which I'm sure was more of the decision maker between Saturn and Playstation than just Final Fantasy VII...lol (Besides wasn't the "Original" plan of FFVII on SNES anyway?)

Regardless of how well Sega did in sales, they let their fans down, even if not so much in Japan. Even in Japan I believe Saturn only launched with Virtua Fighter, although I may be wrong on that.

But as I said, look at sega now, not that it matters who's "winning the race" since PC's just destroy consoles now anyway and anything in the past can most likely be emulated flawlessly on top end PC's

Backtracking to the old "FF7 Revolutionary blah blah" discussion, I wonder how few people actually knew that FF7 launched say...Some months after the PS1 version? XD. I suppose PC's were much more expensive back then for average ones but still..

[Genoa]

Did anyone consider that the PS2 just... can only handle so much change for psu?
I really think sega could have made less reskins and added a lot of new content if it wasn't for the PS2 version.

Just sayin.

[MadDogg]

How FF7 could even RUN on N64 I'll never know, considering that the max cartridge size is 64 MB, and FF7 is a massive game on CD's that held up to 600MB or 700MB I believe when it was released.

Square definitely could have fit FF7 on the 64 if they really wanted to, hell look at Resident Evil 2 on the nintendo 64, kept the cutscenes/ voices and all.

I have to side with whoever said FF7 made the playstation also. When Final fantasy 7 came out on the PS, that was THE turning point for sony, it was all about the commercial showing the fmv scene with the motorcycle, and everyone going holy crap wtf!!!! At the time. I was there for the first commercial, still remember it like it happened yesterday. Hell that final fantasy 7 commercial was so good, make me go out and ask my parents for a playstation and FF7 the next week. The impact of final fantasy 7 was so huge on the playstation, literally every 3rd party company followed with games like breath of fire 3, megaman x4, megaman 8, etc.

Before final fantasy 7, it was all about the saturn, for virtue fighter/daytona, die hard arcade, basically all the arcade ports that was popular at the time.

I started gaming ever since the 80s, with the nintendo and super mario brothers being my first console/game. When nintendo and the 64 got demolished by sony and the playstation with final fantasy 7 with all the 3rd party games that came afterward, it sucked as a long time nintendo fan, but that is when I learned to get over the fanboy crap, and just go to where the games go when it comes to consoles.

[Xefi]

I haven't played PSU for about 5 months and probably will continue
to not play it for a very long time until level 180 or tons of updates.
I'd like to see SEGA put more effort into PSU as well. Despite saying
that, i'm also looking forward to PSP2 just because that'll probably
have way more contents than PSU. Until then, i'll stay away from
PSU for another 5 months or so.

[landman]

I don't think PSU can be improved much more, it's a three years old game, developed for the PS2, it was outdated the day it came out, I won't ask much more improvements in a game like this, I would be ready for a next Phantasy Star experience if they decide to release a new game, but if they don't I won't expect much innovations in the actual game.

I am expecting the portable games though, specially PSP2, I want to see if it is an end to the PSU series or a new beginning to it...

[cheapgunner]

I don't think PSU can be improved much more, it's a three years old game, developed for the PS2, it was outdated the day it came out, I won't ask much more improvements in a game like this, I would be ready for a next Phantasy Star experience if they decide to release a new game, but if they don't I won't expect much innovations in the actual game.

I am expecting the portable games though, specially PSP2, I want to see if it is an end to the PSU series or a new beginning to it...

PSU can be developed further. Gunslashes, roll dodge and shields from PSZ could be implemeted here but Sega/Sonic doesn't care to add it here. The problem is are they willing to follow the demand for better content for this game or not.

[landman]

PSU can be developed further. Gunslashes, roll dodge and shields from PSZ could be implemeted here but Sega/Sonic doesn't care to add it here. The problem is are they willing to follow the demand for better content for this game or not.

They are adding dodge action and shield weapon in PSP2, but what will this mean with enemies without an AI designed to use such actions? it will just be an easier game, not a more agile action game. Gunslashes in PSU? try a sabre + crossbow, it's exactly the same as Gunslashes in PSØ. As I said, I don't consider those little additions as improving the game, just adding a little more variation in a very complete game already, in my opinion.

[cheapgunner]

They are adding dodge action and shield weapon in PSP2, but what will this mean with enemies without an AI designed to use such actions? it will just be an easier game, not a more agile action game. Gunslashes in PSU? try a sabre + crossbow, it's exactly the same as Gunslashes in PSØ. As I said, I don't consider those little additions as improving the game, just adding a little more variation in a very complete game already, in my opinion.

Fine, make enemy AI 5x better, then give enemies 3x ATP and TP and about a extra 200% boost to thier attack speed and animation. Take away flinch from every weapon expect rifles and bows with bullets 31+. 2x the # of creatures per spawn and add an extra 2 blocks to each mission in the game.

If Sega/Sonic Team did this, PSU would be my favortie game of all time. As it stands, even a 5 yr old could beat a standard S2 mission with a bit of practice.

[Ruru]

biggest thing in the way of improvements that they NEED to do, is just open up all the missions and give us higher difficulties. make this game hard already.

at least give us something to look forward to when we log on. the biggest issue with PSU is that there is just no incentive to log on anymore. there is nothing to look forward to. all the missions are boring and overplayed and give no sense of accomplishment. and finding something "rare" in this game doesnt add anything since everything is either too easy to find or so rare it doesnt exist. there's no real balance when it comes to anything in this game anymore. honestly its like they just gave up on this game after AotI came out.

also things like dodge rolls are just not needed. sure it would add some kind of spice to this game but for how long? lets not forget this game is so easy already that if dodge rolls were added there'd be even more complaints about how much more easier the game is. the problem is most people play in groups on this game and that takes even more challenge away considering this game was made to allow solo play. what they could do is make it so that the more people in your party the harder the enemies are in terms of higher hp/def/eva/atp. that would be an ok improvement. i just dont think sega cares enough to bother with that.

[DreXxiN]

PLEASE GOD NO. I'd quit ASAP. No hacked items/meseta, please.

Not that it'd effect that server whatsoever considering you can get a 42%+ FM set in about a week, if you're not completely terrible at playing the market and the game (Hell, ALPAL did it LAZILY) I'm not even going to go there with guns. (I'm basically guaranteed a 9/9 - 10/10 set of all the goodie GM guns if I switch over)

I'd also like to know who you know on the PS2 side that has hacked items anymore, please.
/roflconsolespeculation

@Dogg: Hey man, at least you get Conker's Bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64 just to list a few...they were SO awesome :P.

I was playing them last night, actually.

[Ezodagrom]

PLEASE GOD NO. I'd quit ASAP. No hacked items/meseta, please.
What about the glitched grinder S+10 on the 360 side? :>

[oO 0uTcaSt Oo]

If only sega would release a new next-gen PSU.. Oh how I would love it... to be honest dont really have many complaints as Im new to it :)

[DreXxiN]

What about the glitched grinder S+10 on the 360 side? :>

That does not matter, all that matters is that dreadful meseta hacking back in...uh...2007..

I think Meseta actually still became more plentiful on 360 within the next year from the event deflations...

[MadDogg]

What about the glitched grinder S+10 on the 360 side? :>

You mean the exploit sega patched asap, users that did the actual exploit banned with the friggin' swiftness, and the grinders that had no impact whatsoever on the 360 economy? Yeah..........

Like I said in a earlier post in this topic, big ass difference between a game exploit/actual hacking a.k.a. al rappy units in pso, whoamg wtf happened to my room in PC/PS2 psu blah blah blah yatta yatta yatta.

@DreXxiN

Yeah don't get me wrong, the multi player nintendo64 games was the hotness, I got to play all the best n64 games with my brother and 2 nephews, the epic battles we had in mario kart 64, conker bad fur day, goldeneye, perfect dark, diddy kong racing, snowboard kids 1 and 2, star fox 64, mario party, and of course nwo world tour/no mercy is still stuff we talk about even today.

Its just that, as a long time nintendo fan since the 80s, and seeing literally every single 3rd party series I followed faithfully during the nes/snes era ex, final fantasy, mega man, street fighter, castlevania, breath of fire, nearly every 3rd party company all jump ship to the playstation because of Final fantasy 7's holy crap sales, that is when I wised up, and learn that companies have no brand loyalties whatsoever, it is all about the money.

I'm just mad that there was no way to know that the shift of companies was going to happen. Of course your average family won't have the internet in the 90s, so as a long time nintendo follower, I automatically assumed the nintendo 64 was going to get all the rpgs, plus all the 3rd party support snes has got. I had a gamepro that had demo shots of final fantasy 7 on the nintendo 64, so I assumed the nintendo 64 was getting final fantasy 7 also. So that christmas, I asked my parents for a 64. Boy when I saw games like breath of fire 3, megaman x4, megaman 8, dark stalkers, street fighter alpha, and finally final fantasy 7 on the psx, it was like a huge ass kick in the nuts.

So yeah, at least gamers today have the internet, you know what system your favorite genres/games will be on ahead of time. Back then, you had to assume stuff, and man did that ever suck =/ And yeah, that incident will break you of fanboy habits right away, from then on out, I just bought the systems my favorite games ended up on.

[misstigress]

I'd love to see an answer choice available for the poll such as "I don't mind seeing new games, but I'd like to see PSU receive some new content as well" or "I don't mind the creation of new Phantasy Star games" because not one of your answers truly reflects my opinion, which, as evidenced by my statements, is a bit conflicted at the moment.

Admittedly, I never felt that PSU fully reached its potential, and while I used to be one of the "PSO crybabies," I completely fell in love with PSU after AotI was released -- and I still like PSU. Still, there are some definite improvements that I'd love to see, personally, and while some of these were addressed with PSZ, that game just couldn't meet my expectations due to being a DS game (graphics, lack of character customization, lack of content, etc.).

Phantasy Star Portable 2, however, looks as if it's my dream game -- a combination of both PSU and PSO's elements, just judging by the modicum of footage we've glimpsed thus far. Even if it isn't perfect, the changes that we know for certain are going to be implemented have addressed my primary complaints that I had with PSU. (I do hope that they keep the "My Room" feature, but since it's a PSP game, I'm a bit skeptical.)

Now that the rosy-merry-sunshine crap is out of the way -- yeah, I'm not too happy about the choice of platform (and I have a PSP and Phantasy Star Portable -- both in English and Japanese). I'd love to see the game feature a cross-server platform that links the PC to the current consoles -- and not the "almost dead" consoles like they did with the PS2. (I'll never understand why Sega didn't link the PC version to the Xbox like FFXI did.)

Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that I knew PSU was going to be upstaged by a newer product when they announced the GC update (and nearly simultaneously announced their "new" RPG, which, as it turns out, is PSP2). It's obvious that Sega feels the PSP is more profitable as a platform than the PC/Xbox/PS2. That could change over time, I hope, but for now I'm choosing the weather the storm.

PSOBB was ripped away from me too soon, and given Sega's track record for pulling the servers down so quickly (compared to other MMOs, anyway), I guess, as I said before, I saw this coming.

In the end, I'll certainly be playing PSP2, but Sega is alienating a whole spate of potential players by restricting the game to only the PSP platform, some of which who are my own friends who won't be able to play with me as a result (unless I talk them into purchasing a PSP, anyway).

I'll still play PSU until it goes into maintenance mode -- just as I did with PSO on more than one platform. I may not keep my subscription up 100% of the time -- especially once PSP2 is released -- but that doesn't mean that I'll suddenly loathe PSU since it will undoubtedly retain features that won't be present in PSP2. No game is perfect, after all.

[pinkace]

I don't think PSU can be improved much more, it's a three years old game, developed for the PS2, it was outdated the day it came out, I won't ask much more improvements in a game like this, I would be ready for a next Phantasy Star experience if they decide to release a new game, but if they don't I won't expect much innovations in the actual game.

I am expecting the portable games though, specially PSP2, I want to see if it is an end to the PSU series or a new beginning to it...

I agree with this. Evades and rollslashes... that stuff would require a patch/download. and that will not work with PS2. And seeing how badly both versions of the game did on that systems sales-wise, I doubt Sega would want to publish another game disc. For 360 and PC its just a patch.

For the record, I have been against PS2 development from the beginning. It should have been 360/PS3 only. Yes, I am excluding PC. I always thought it was a bad idea to go cross-generational, and now here we are...

[Kylie]

I'd love for Sega to put more effort into PSUBut they never will. :-?

[Ffuzzy-Logik]

I agree with this. Evades and rollslashes... that stuff would require a patch/download. and that will not work with PS2. And seeing how badly both versions of the game did on that systems sales-wise, I doubt Sega would want to publish another game disc. For 360 and PC its just a patch.

For the record, I have been against PS2 development from the beginning. It should have been 360/PS3 only. Yes, I am excluding PC. I always thought it was a bad idea to go cross-generational, and now here we are...
You do realize that the JP servers have been pushing people into getting the PC version, yeah? It wouldn't be all too surprising if they just decided to stop supporting the PS2 version in terms of new content. They're already halfway there with the Supplemental Update weapons not having new visuals on the PS2.

[pinkace]

You do realize that the JP servers have been pushing people into getting the PC version, yeah? It wouldn't be all too surprising if they just decided to stop supporting the PS2 version in terms of new content. They're already halfway there with the Supplemental Update weapons not having new visuals on the PS2.

didn't know that. but isn't the PS2 version the bread and butter for ST in japan? i thought the vast majority of the PSU base worldwide was on PS2...

[Delete]

When those "New Games" deal with Sonic turning into a werewolf or whatever else they made that sucks, then no.

All jokes aside, They need to make a Phantasy Star Collection, all the old ones for either the DS or the PSP. I want a Good Sonic too, But God only knows what they will do next.

Sorry for double posting, my mouse is Messed up : /

[Ruru]

didn't know that. but isn't the PS2 version the bread and butter for ST in japan? i thought the vast majority of the PSU base worldwide was on PS2...


It is. but since PC is easier to update/upload for and cheaper they're pushing people to get PC's instead. since the only way to really add NEW content on PS2 would be making a new disc each time, and that just seems to be too expensive for them to do. i can understand not doing that because of past sales but its pretty bad when you alienate a big % of your consumer base.

[landman]

But updating a game is not a problem on 360 and PS3.

[Billy Mitchell]

psu is fucking LAME right now

i'm going to go punch myself until i pass out.

[Dhylec]

Guys, please stay on topic. Your recent discussions are way out of it.
I have already made two long threads in OT out of derailed posts from this thread. I don't think it's right to continue going off-topic again. Feel free to start a new thread where appropriate & continue your discussion there.

[Finae]

Lol, you guys still giving segac 10 bux a month eh? Well as long as 360 population is high, they wouldn't can it anytime soon :P.

At this point, the damage to psu has already been done and been done long ago so obviously, if I had to choose one of those poll answer, it be the I'd love blahblah one. Personally, shouldn't of never made it also ps2 for one. I say this because I would say, just can PSU and make a real PS MMO lol. Just make sure you bring back symbol chat from the good ol pso days and that would be perfect haha.

With that future guardian's cash thing coming this way (aka cash shop), they'll make a good killing off a lot of you probably thus they may release updates a bit faster lol.

Then again, PSU is kinda a old game lol and there is not much else they can do to the game to change it up. Thats why they should just make a new PS MMO that is PC onry or PC/PS3/360 :P. I would play it.

and many mmo companies out there don't care about their customers so thats nothing new to me.

[Shinko]

Yea it bothers me. I really do like the game but sega just don't know what they'll doing. If only some other good game company could take psu away from sega.

Heck I'll be happy if another game company made a clone version of this game. xD

[Finalzone]

I always feel like Sega takes our money and develops other games with it instead of giving us a stellar PSU experience. I mean use to love PSU but now I find my self playing Phantasy Star Portable more because it's a far better gaming experience. I mean why pay $10.00 a month for PSU when it's not as good as PSP. I mean and now they talk about PSP2 and it's like why doesn't sega care about PSU players. It seems to me they only care about developing for other Phantasy Star games than actually delivering a good amount of content for PSU. I mean PSP 1 has far more content than both PSU and AOTL in my opinion. I just wanna know if I'm the only one who feels this way about how Sega treats PSU players.

I understand your feeling. At least in North America the staff are well aware about the problem, it is the headquarter in Japan that makes most users worrisome. I always thought segregating servers is a bad ideas. For years other games were able to play multiplatform online.
I will not buy PSP:2 for the reason that the original PSU and PSU:AotI issues needed to be addressed first although PSP:2 might be a test for implementing features in possible new PSU expansion.

Franky, I don't understand Sonic Team decision these days. I thought they would have learned more about PSO but still managed to make bad decision. I would have played game like FFXI because of consistent update and the fact it equally does treat all platform equally regardless the location. So for Sonic, address the existing PSU issues FIRST.

[AlienFX]

This generation of Sonic fails. They need to stick with the Phantasy Star series :( This game has such a good community still and Sega/Sonic ignores it and acts like its dead. They also need to focus on the major consoles rather than the DS and PSP...This game has its own genre

[autumn]

Its easier for SEGA to put out handheld games and make a killing on their sales then to upgrade a dying game in hopes of attracting new players (or at least keeping its current ones from quitting) SEGA is going to work on the thing that is making money and at this point I'm afraid PSU isn't it.

[Kaiser4356]

well from what i can understand sega may be possibly doing these hand helds as a possible experiment to see if there is a chacne to some way to improve our current AOI or even develop furhter story into our online experience. though its only theory woudl be nice if they would at least create a new psu based off teh psp and psp2 series with xferable data. time will tell for all wont it.

[AlienFX]

Its easier for SEGA to put out handheld games and make a killing on their sales then to upgrade a dying game in hopes of attracting new players (or at least keeping its current ones from quitting) SEGA is going to work on the thing that is making money and at this point I'm afraid PSU isn't it.
I knew that but I wish it wasn't true :'(