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View Full Version : Lets give this game some REAL thought now shall we?



dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 08:18 AM
Ok so today we got our awesome 3 star luck along with our sweet grind boost so everything is fine and happy. Starting next week we will FINALY get the Sup Update that we have been wiating for, for over a year now. So again things are starting to look good.

The real question is "When are the 360 servers going to get closed?"

Now lets think about that for a second k?

Lets say that the servers will be closing in about a years time from now. How do you guys feel about losing all of your stuff and hard earned work that you have put into this game?

Lets face, it. Some of us are gonna be playing this game like crazy after the sup update cames out. Maxing out chars out, getting a ton of AP, getting cool rares and items etc etc.

But think about it, in about a year from now (just an example for those who didn't catch on before) the servers will be closing and we will not be able to keep anything at all. Basically all of our hard work will be for nothing really, seeing as our character data will be gone along with the PSU servers.

Thinking about it from this point of view makes me ask myself "Why am I even putting in all this hard work and time when in the end it's not even gonna matter? Seeing as EVERYTHING will be gone sooner or later" I mean like seriously what is the point of doing all this? What is the point in spending 10 bucks a month and putting all these hours in for it to all be thrown away?

I mean wow!

Doesn't that suck?

I'm asking this question straight up because I get the sense that people like to "duck" this question and just dont want anything to do with it. Not even think about it or give it thought.

It seems to me like people think that PSU will last forever and that they will always have access to their hard work and characters. That's a big ass no no obviously xD


Or maybe they try not to think about it because it saddens them to know that this is the reality of the game. But yet they love the game so much that they wish to continue playing it regardless of what's going to happen in the end.

I myself am for the later. Deep down I know that all my hard work that went into this game will get deleted sooner or later and that all the money that I spent on psu will be for nothing. Yet I love the game so much that I continue to play it and try to not think about what's coming in the future.

The more I think about this the more "down" I feel about the whole thing. It makes me not want to play anymore. Because in the end i wont be able to keep any of it. That's pretty sad if you think about it.

I played GC Pso Ep1&2 for years since it came out (online) and I do not regret paying those 9 bucks a month to play online. To this date I still have my memcard along with my main girl and all of her equipment and items from the online world. Hell even the guid cards (partner cards) are all there. Sure I never really play GC pso anymore, but it's an awesome feeling to know that I got to keep my character and that I can go back and use her again for some nostalgia if the need comes around.

So yea people don't duck (dodge for those of you who don't know any slang xDDD) the question anymore.

Anyways, I just wanna know your thoughts on this whole thing. I would really love to hear from the "hardcore" players the most. Seeing as they are the ones who actually "care" for their chars and gear. They are also the ones who put in the most time and effort into this game.

Also, those of you who migrated from PC to 360 I would love to hear from you guys aswell seeing as you guys had to START OVER and work EXTRA hard to get up and running to only find out that the servers will eventually close yet AGAIn and you will be losing all of your hard ear gear and characters.

Anyhow, that's all for now I guess. I had to get this off my chest. Thinking this way really does bother me because, in the end, it's all for nothing. The money, the time, the effort and the love for the characters one has created since you will keep nothing from it.

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart
Jul 16, 2010, 08:40 AM
Hiya,

yeah I'd say perhaps a year to a year and a half max. As SEGA has already seemingly admitted this will be the last supplemental update for xbox servers for EU/US. But it will clearly take longer to close down as the large population is still there, as opposed to the EU/US PS2 and PC servers. But i'm sure several of these players from PS2/PC who moved to xbox and again they'll face loosing hard earned work for a second time. I myself couldn't play Xbox PSU as the lag was unplayable.

Myself I lost over 2000 hours worth of game time when they shut down PC servers and I was peeved to say the least, but we all saw it coming well before SEGA announced it, the servers were dead you'd be lucky to see 2-4 stars during a big event. Yet people were outraged when SEGA announced shutting down PS2/PC. Why oh why can't they do what they did on cube PSO and have international servers?

Loosing that amount of time spent and loosing contact with friends was annoying, but all online RPG's come to a close unfortunately and it's to be expected there'll be alot of disappointment. But it doesn't deter people from playing online RPG's. These games rely on never having an official end, its set by the players. Just becuase you cap a character doesn't mean you stop playing? The only end itself is when they shut the servers down. As such people set their own limits and end, whether its elitist, collect all 50%'s aim for 10/10's etc or people just go after what looks good on their character or what they really desire. Some people play it to detah leave it and come back months later, each to their own I suppose.

Still if SEGA can get all those damned freeloaders off the demo and onto PSU proper on 360 they'd have at least double the population which really could pro-long the life of the Xbox server. It annoys me no end how there's equal or more of a population on the demo than on the full PSU on xbox. It's the same on JP PSU the amount of people playing free version is bizarre, but more understandable on JP PSU as for free you get everymsision, every weapon, all events. you just don't get a room or can pick updropped items or trade with characters, in some ways restrictive but I think it's bringing PSU to its roots, you have to hunt everything you want, you can't synth you can only carry what you can fit in your inventory. Still...I went with full game :P Still it's a shame the xbox servers will shut down but I really don't think it'll be that soon, a year plus at least seeing as how the population is thriving....ok so i didnt' play xbox PSU in the early days so in comparisson maybe its dead, but compare that to PC PSU xbox population is still huge, however compared to JP population it's still very small.

If people still wish to play PSU after xbox servers shut down move to JP servers. I recently started JP PSU on PC and i'm glad I did because its very naustalgic, and knowing the JP PSOBB servers are still online means the PSU ones are set to be operational for many years to come, also you have the option of getting GC which can in effect take thousands of hours of game time grinding (in terms of weapons and meseta earning etc). Which for me ruined the game (in some aspects) but for others might help? I'm not sure to be honest. I ended up getting more weapons and meseta in 2 weeks than 2+ years of playing PSU on EU servers. Think it's killed it for me - no need to hunt any weapons or synth as I got everything I could ever dream of having.

I think when the next PSU comes out for PC/consoles i'll be going to the JP servers immediately. Sure its daunting, alienating to some extent but it means you can start the game properly and keep your hard earned work many more years than people in EU/US servers.

Tifa

Aeris the techer
Jul 16, 2010, 08:43 AM
Your post is something that I think everyone has thought about at least once. For those who have actually quit this game know how hard it is not to try and come back. I myself quit about a year ago and came back about 2 months ago. But to answer your question, I think that as gamers, we just have to realize that this IS NOT reality, and IT DOES get better than this. No matter how much time you put into something, you always eventually lose it, it's just a fact of life, nothing lasts forever.

I consider myself to be pretty hard core. I only play on weekends now that I'm in college, but I used to be on this thing 24/7. I'm aware of the 2500+ hours that I've spent getting everything I could want in the game. Not to brag or anything, because I worked my ass of for the stuff I have, but I made sure that I was one of the first people to get every spell to 50 asap, but it didn't stop there, I also went out to get a full palette of 10/10 psycho wands and acquire the best armors in the game. Why? Because I felt the need to make sure that I accomplished something worth my time in the 3 years that I've been playing. Now my character just sits there LOL.

Ultimately, we sacrifice for the game with money and hours of our lives, but it's best that we don't take things to an extreme.

So to ultimately answer your question: when PSU dies, I'm done with PSU and that's all it means to me. I'll be angry for a day and then move on to the next big thing. It's no big deal.

Tetsaru
Jul 16, 2010, 09:10 AM
Well, umm... if you *cough* knew about a, umm... *hack* certain OTHER server *wheeze* that I'm not at liberty to *BARF* discuss in detail here, the whole losing your online data thing might not have been a problem...

<_<

>_>;

o_o

*scurries off*

.

.

.

*comes back*

But yeah, knowing that all your stuff and progress that you worked so hard to accomplish will suddenly go *POOF* at the pull of a plug is the ultimate buzzkill when playing an online RPG. It kinda makes me wish that more games of this genre would implement an offline mode that you could take your equipment to, once the game's online lifetime fizzles out... similar to what PSO did, but without the exploits. Otherwise, you have to resort to, umm... *cough* "alternate" methods... ^^;

Another thing that a friend of mine brought up that a lot of people (including me at the time) don't realize about online RPG's is that character customization in terms of stats and abilities is often times a BAD thing, believe it or not. When teamwork and cooperation is required, people start getting the mentality - the "elitist nature," if you will - to only want "pure" or "maxed out" characters in their parties: the maxed out warrior who can dish out tons of damage, the maxed out healer to keep everyone alive, the maxed out tank who can keep an enemy's attention and take little to no damage from them, the maxed out magic user who can nuke an entire wave of monsters with a single spell. People who try to multi-class or "branch out" into other areas are often shunned out due to low performance in all their areas, rather than the best performance in a single area; it's much akin to how people on PSU tend to play master classes the most, while hybrid classes like Wartecher and Guntecher don't mean shit anymore. Unless "branching out" SPECIFICALLY allows the player to do something COMPLETELY unique, that NO OTHER CLASS CAN DO (Protranser's EX Traps, for example), it only screws you over in the end, which really sucks because it's not really the player's fault for speccing their character the way they did - it's the GAME'S fault for being designed so poorly. And it's not just PSU that suffers this problem; even WoW and FF11 give their players different options of customization, but unless you're needed by the community to fulfill a certain role in the party, you're pretty much screwed and have to go around soloing tough monsters for loot and experience points with your gimped abilities. :confused:

Sinue_v2
Jul 16, 2010, 09:14 AM
I'd guess about a year a half, thereabout. I'd say the real variable is whether or not there's going to be a new Phantasy Star game announced for the PSO 10th anniversary, and if so - how long the 360 servers last will depend a lot on when the game is released, and how the population averages from then until release. The 360 version isn't doing all that well, despite it doing much better than the PS2/PC servers prior to their shutdown.

I'd say they'll probably stop supporting the 360 version altogether somewhere between four months prior - to six months post new game release - and just let the servers coast on bare minimum (casino rotation, gbr, etc) until shutting down six months to a year after support stops.

If the 10th Anniversary Surprise is a release of PSO for the XBL Arcade (which it may well be - considering their push to put Dreamcast games on XBL), I doubt there will be a monthly fee attached to playing it. Be that the case, I could see PSU staying online for the 360 for two more years... since it's still a viable source of income. However, in either case, I don't see the issues surrounding content release delays and such getting any better in that time.

PSU is still viable, but it's a pretty low priority venture for them outside of Japan... and I can't really see Sega either allowing PSU have compete with future product lines, nor can I see the 360 PSU population sustaining a viable population by the end of the next two years. It's pretty much run it's life cycle, and the supplemental update is just the fuel to keep it going that final few laps.

BIG OLAF
Jul 16, 2010, 09:14 AM
I'll be pretty dumbstruck when the 360 servers shut down, I think.

PSU has been a big part of my life for the past three or so years. As in, when I wasn't at school, work, or hanging with friends on the weekends, I was playing it (actually, it's still that way). It's going to feel very strange when it all goes away. I'm not really going to know what to do. Hell, I probably won't even feel like playing my Xbox anymore, seeing as PSU is in the disc tray 90% of the time, at least.

It's kind of a scary thought for me, actually, seeing as playing it is my main form of entertainment.

Yunfa
Jul 16, 2010, 09:21 AM
Regarding to OP's problem with not having nostalgia, my solution is to take screenshots of literally everything. EVERYTHING. Everything from my charactesr in different poses, to the rooms, to the 500/500 items i have in my bot, and of course, pallete. Maybe go to every lobby and take pictures. That way years into the future i can look back at the screenshots and have the nostalgia.

Or

Suck it up, just like when your girlfriend leaves you. Time moves on, moping around isn't really time efficient.

dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 10:15 AM
Your post is something that I think everyone has thought about at least once. For those who have actually quit this game know how hard it is not to try and come back. I myself quit about a year ago and came back about 2 months ago. But to answer your question, I think that as gamers, we just have to realize that this IS NOT reality, and IT DOES get better than this. No matter how much time you put into something, you always eventually lose it, it's just a fact of life, nothing lasts forever.

I consider myself to be pretty hard core. I only play on weekends now that I'm in college, but I used to be on this thing 24/7. I'm aware of the 2500+ hours that I've spent getting everything I could want in the game. Not to brag or anything, because I worked my ass of for the stuff I have, but I made sure that I was one of the first people to get every spell to 50 asap, but it didn't stop there, I also went out to get a full palette of 10/10 psycho wands and acquire the best armors in the game. Why? Because I felt the need to make sure that I accomplished something worth my time in the 3 years that I've been playing. Now my character just sits there LOL.

Ultimately, we sacrifice for the game with money and hours of our lives, but it's best that we don't take things to an extreme.

So to ultimately answer your question: when PSU dies, I'm done with PSU and that's all it means to me. I'll be angry for a day and then move on to the next big thing. It's no big deal.

I really want to say "you didn't get the point" but you obviously did. Your answer to my question is, you just don't care that much for your PSU char and stuff the same way i do as nerdy as that sounds xD So it's cool. I for one think it's a waste of money now, you know? This is one of the reasons why I stay away from MMO's eventhough they look so awesome. I really want to play Aion but it's like 12 bucks a month and it's just like PSU in the end it's all for nothing. It's rather unfair don't you agree? We pay them all this money yet they don't allow us to keep our chars for offline play and to well just make the char "ours".


I'll be pretty dumbstruck when the 360 servers shut down, I think.

PSU has been a big part of my life for the past three or so years. As in, when I wasn't at school, work, or hanging with friends on the weekends, I was playing it (actually, it's still that way). It's going to feel very strange when it all goes away. I'm not really going to know what to do. Hell, I probably won't even feel like playing my Xbox anymore, seeing as PSU is in the disc tray 90% of the time, at least.

It's kind of a scary thought for me, actually, seeing as playing it is my main form of entertainment.

Haha I agree with ya man for sure :)

90% of the time PSU is in my disc tray. I hardly ever play other games. Everyone on my list is always like "wow you are always on that psu game!" once in a while I pop in SSF4, but other than that it's all psu.

BIG OLAF
Jul 16, 2010, 10:22 AM
Haha I agree with ya man for sure :)

90% of the time PSU is in my disc tray. I hardly ever play other games. Everyone on my list is always like "wow you are always on that psu game!" once in a while I pop in SSF4, but other than that it's all psu.


Yeah, I get a lot of flack from other people on my friends list, and even some of my face-to-face friends. I get made fun of because I'm playing that "stupid Phantasy Star game", instead of something "cooler" like Modern Warfare 2 (lolz) or Halo 3 (even more lolz).

Fact of the matter is, PSU is exactly the type of game I love. I'm not a a big fan of shooters, as I generally suck at them. Like, not absolutely horrible, but I can't win without my friends. Same thing with RTS games, and practically every other genre besides RPGs of any sort. So, I stick with my strength.

Hopefully Monster Hunter Frontier will be out by the time PSU goes down, or I'll be one sad dude, and probably not even want to play my Xbox, as I said before.

AOI_Tifa_Lockhart
Jul 16, 2010, 10:33 AM
Hiya,

I agree the COD and FPS generation are annoying, kids who don't realize shooting games have been on PC for decades and is a stale format, but tart it up with grpahics and you'll attract kids. Its all my friends play on xbox and I never go round there's as that's all they'll be doing guaranteed. but if ever friends see me playing PSU they always ask that something else is played :P

Tifa

zombiemoshpit84
Jul 16, 2010, 11:17 AM
as someone who put 2000+ hours into the PC servers then quit, and then another 1500+ hours into the xbox 360 then quit. i can say its not as bad as some of you think it is. sure i had to give away every item just to make sure i wasnt tempted to return, but i dont really miss my gear all that much as i miss the game itself. i still have all my pso GC data 5000+ hours worth and i dont find myself logging on to marvel at my gear. there will be new/better games sooner or later. if you really care about the gear you can always play PSP as the rares are easy but still fun to hunt and you can keep em on your memory stick.

SolomonGrundy
Jul 16, 2010, 03:00 PM
I think there won't close the servers down until enough people STOP paying the $10 a month.

In other words, it will get shut down when WE fail (the community)

xBladeM6x
Jul 16, 2010, 05:11 PM
If you want to get really philosophical here, I could say why do we strive to do anything in our lives? We're all going to die one day, and some sooner than others, but we do it just for the fun, experience, friends, etc etc. Everything is pointless unless you give it some meaning. I know that's going way to far into it, and way over analyzing it, but it's true.

Long story short, we all know this data we have put our time into will be gone at some point, however by then we will have another Phantasy Star to get obsessed about. It's all about who you have met, what experiences you've had, and how much you enjoyed it, and what you're looking forward to enjoying on the game, and honestly, same could be said with a lot of things that happen in life. I agree that it is sad to think about, and even angering, but there is going to be something to replace it down the road so we can keep the addiction rolling. :wacko:


"Why so serious?"

Typestatic
Jul 16, 2010, 05:13 PM
Marry me Blade ;;

xBladeM6x
Jul 16, 2010, 05:17 PM
Marry me Blade ;;
Maybic. :-P

HAYABUSA-FMW-
Jul 16, 2010, 05:27 PM
Long story short, we all know this data we have put our time into will be gone at some point, however by then we will have another Phantasy Star to get obsessed about. It's all about who you have met, what experiences you've had, and how much you enjoyed it, and what you're looking forward to enjoying on the game, and honestly, same could be said with a lot of things that happen in life. I agree that it is sad to think about, and even angering, but there is going to be something to replace it down the road so we can keep the addiction rolling. :wacko:


"Why so serious?"
Need USB keyboard support though, its 2010 - not handhelds that aren't really feasibly possibly, console! And the return of Symbol chat custom artistic builds by anybody - not stylus type touch only a few people can be artists with pixel pictochats.

Voice Chat hasn't 100% caught on, even with ST in game support in two MicroSoft XBOX attempts.

ORB TEXTER - we were not worthy. :p
HEL YEH

*hits another symbol chat prompt*

dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 07:14 PM
as someone who put 2000+ hours into the PC servers then quit, and then another 1500+ hours into the xbox 360 then quit. i can say its not as bad as some of you think it is. sure i had to give away every item just to make sure i wasnt tempted to return, but i dont really miss my gear all that much as i miss the game itself. i still have all my pso GC data 5000+ hours worth and i dont find myself logging on to marvel at my gear. there will be new/better games sooner or later. if you really care about the gear you can always play PSP as the rares are easy but still fun to hunt and you can keep em on your memory stick.

It's not really about keeping the gear. Is about keeping the char you created yourself. I guess the reality hit hard for me already. That's why I asked myself this question. Why pay all this money when in the end you will not keep a single thing? That's why I made that GC pso example. I did not feel "meh" about paying them because I knew the "char" was mine to begin with.


If you want to get really philosophical here, I could say why do we strive to do anything in our lives? We're all going to die one day, and some sooner than others, but we do it just for the fun, experience, friends, etc etc. Everything is pointless unless you give it some meaning. I know that's going way to far into it, and way over analyzing it, but it's true.

Long story short, we all know this data we have put our time into will be gone at some point, however by then we will have another Phantasy Star to get obsessed about. It's all about who you have met, what experiences you've had, and how much you enjoyed it, and what you're looking forward to enjoying on the game, and honestly, same could be said with a lot of things that happen in life. I agree that it is sad to think about, and even angering, but there is going to be something to replace it down the road so we can keep the addiction rolling. :wacko:


"Why so serious?"

Lol, what you're saying makes sense, but comparing life to psu is a bit overdoing it xD

Usually those things that we work hard for IRL have more meaning and value for us and they are things that we can actually keep and hold that belong to us. I know that when I die I wont be able to "use" this things anymore, but atleast people can say "oh these things belonged to Dias when he was alive"

In a way you are making an "excuse" for Sega by saying "oh hey bro it's cool, you're gonna die anyways..sooner or later" xD Imagine if EVERYONE thought this way? Then we as humans wont be able to keep ANYTHING.

It's like I wanna buy a brandnew house but the retailer says to me "Oh no sir why buy a house and make it your own when you are just going to die in the future?" Yea I think you can see how silly that sounds already.

I have a big Lunar video game collection. It's an awesome RPG that I love and I have many things and all the versions of the game itself, sure i'm gonna die in the future but as long as I live those Lunar items belong to me and ONLY me. No one can come and say "Oh your Lunar collection time is up we are gonna take it from you now" the only way anyone can take it away from me is by stealing it hahaha but you dont wanna do that cuz i'll find out and kill you :)

The same cannot be said about our PSU characters that we have put so much time into. Like I said before thinking about this stops me from "throwing" money at these other games seeing as I cannot keep anything. I really want Aion but I cannot do it.

You say that we should be getting something better than PSU, but I must say that is not the point here. Even if something better than PSU comes along I still want to keep my character, I mean is that so hard to understand? =P

Basically in the end we are just throwing money away huh? If anything this IMO is the worse problem at Sega not the low update rate not the crappy service, but the simple fact that we can't keep the stuff we worked for so hard all these years. Again GC pso was perfect I love the fact that I could hold that tiny memcard in my hand and love the fact that the char I payed for is there along with everything else inclusing the memories of that game online.

xBladeM6x
Jul 16, 2010, 08:17 PM
It's not really about keeping the gear. Is about keeping the char you created yourself. I guess the reality hit hard for me already. That's why I asked myself this question. Why pay all this money when in the end you will not keep a single thing? That's why I made that GC pso example. I did not feel "meh" about paying them because I knew the "char" was mine to begin with.



Lol, what you're saying makes sense, but comparing life to psu is a bit overdoing it xD

Usually those things that we work hard for IRL have more meaning and value for us and they are things that we can actually keep and hold that belong to us. I know that when I die I wont be able to "use" this things anymore, but atleast people can say "oh these things belonged to Dias when he was alive"

In a way you are making an "excuse" for Sega by saying "oh hey bro it's cool, you're gonna die anyways..sooner or later" xD Imagine if EVERYONE thought this way? Then we as humans wont be able to keep ANYTHING.

It's like I wanna buy a brandnew house but the retailer says to me "Oh no sir why buy a house and make it your own when you are just going to die in the future?" Yea I think you can see how silly that sounds already.

I have a big Lunar video game collection. It's an awesome RPG that I love and I have many things and all the versions of the game itself, sure i'm gonna die in the future but as long as I live those Lunar items belong to me and ONLY me. No one can come and say "Oh your Lunar collection time is up we are gonna take it from you now" the only way anyone can take it away from me is by stealing it hahaha but you dont wanna do that cuz i'll find out and kill you :)

The same cannot be said about our PSU characters that we have put so much time into. Like I said before thinking about this stops me from "throwing" money at these other games seeing as I cannot keep anything. I really want Aion but I cannot do it.

You say that we should be getting something better than PSU, but I must say that is not the point here. Even if something better than PSU comes along I still want to keep my character, I mean is that so hard to understand? =P

Basically in the end we are just throwing money away huh? If anything this IMO is the worse problem at Sega not the low update rate not the crappy service, but the simple fact that we can't keep the stuff we worked for so hard all these years. Again GC pso was perfect I love the fact that I could hold that tiny memcard in my hand and love the fact that the char I payed for is there along with everything else inclusing the memories of that game online.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled about losing my character either. I was just trying to make the point that they're going to be gone at some point no matter what we think / say. Yes, it's a problem, but they won't do anything about it. I think I was more or less giving reasons why I can "live" with knowing that, and putting all that time into it, while knowing I'm going to lose it all.

Trust me, I would love to be able to hold onto this character and everything involved, but I know that won't happen and so I'm pretty much just saying that I am playing for the experience, the friends, and the fun of doing it, and it's enough for me. :-) For others this might not be the case, and that's fine. I'm more or less just speaking for those who think / feel the way I do about it. (And apparently I have Typestatic wanting to marry me for it, lol.)

HAYABUSA-FMW-
Jul 16, 2010, 08:21 PM
(And apparently I have Typestatic wanting to marry me for it, lol.)

Wedding lobby in every game, now we know (who else) for whom.

Wish I could have another symbol chat for that one. Experienced a packed lobby for a wedding on PSO Dreamcast, "invited into guest list," had to be seen to be believed. Person even ran up to greet me as I loaded char.

pikachief
Jul 16, 2010, 08:52 PM
almost every one's post is TOO LONG.

Do think too much. Keep life simple.

It's gonna end someday no matter what. It's been known since day one. So? Who cares just paly to have fun.

xBladeM6x
Jul 16, 2010, 09:00 PM
almost every one's post is TOO LONG.

Do think too much. Keep life simple.
TOO SIMPLE! BLASPHEMY! DOES NOT COMPUTE!

*Dies*

NiceOnes
Jul 16, 2010, 09:06 PM
almost every one's post is TOO LONG.

Do think too much. Keep life simple.

It's gonna end someday no matter what. It's been known since day one. So? Who cares just paly to have fun.

This.

Here's the scoop.

All good things in this life, living or otherwise will inevitably come to an end.

This is a statement that people only need to realize as the truth. By no means is this a good enough reason to not enjoy all these wonderful things life has to offer. If you spend your life clutching to things in fear of losing them then they will be gone before you've had a chance to truly enjoy and appreciate them.

Carpe diem!

pikachief
Jul 16, 2010, 09:09 PM
TOO SIMPLE! BLASPHEMY! DOES NOT COMPUTE!

*Dies*

you died without correcting my spelling. what if now forever I spelt play as "paly" cuz no one was there to correct me? Why am I talking to a dead person? *cast necromancy spell"

Thats better now I'm talking to an undead person ^.^

Hiero_Glyph
Jul 16, 2010, 09:26 PM
I think there won't close the servers down until enough people STOP paying the $10 a month.

In other words, it will get shut down when WE fail (the community)

Is this a joke? No seriously.

When a company closes due to not having enough revenue the product failed, not the consumers. Don't be an idiotic fanboy. Besides, there were still players on the PC/PS2 servers when they were closed so your entire theory has already been proven wrong.

Yuicihi
Jul 16, 2010, 09:29 PM
Having your data client-side was a double-edged sword. You could use it offline, but it also led to the infamous shenanigans that I'm sure everyone who's played PSO online remembers quite well.

But, as said before, all good-things must come to an end. It's the fate of all online games. Enjoy it while it lasts.

dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 09:45 PM
It's obvious that some people here really just don't care and I respect that.

In reality I guess it wouldn't be so hard to put up with this fact if the game was lets say free to play online. Then I wouldn;t have much to bitch about seeing as well it's free and I don't get to keep it which makes PERFECT sense. But the fact that i'm paying for something every month that isn't really there makes me think and feel this way. It's all for nothing. It's a harsh thing to say, but i'm the kind of guy who speaks his mind and doesn't run from the truth. I'm also the kinda guy who hates working for nothing. I guess I just expect things to come from my work you know?

If you look at it blunty it's just as I said. Now it may seem like i'm leading towards the 'whining" side now, but not really. This just makes me sad is all. maybe to other players not getting the content quick is the biggest problem for this game. But not for me. In my eyes this is by far the biggest problem the game has. Atleast for those who love the game and trully care about the time that was spent on the game itself.

If you just play this game casually and just get on to sit in the 4th floor and chat or whatever then I don't expect you to care very much since you don't really care much to begin with.

But for those of us who really put the time and effort into it. It is a big deal to us. Some of us really like our chars as well we put time and effort to make them lok perfect to us. I know I did. I spent like 2 hours working on my main girl when I made her just on her looks alone redoing her back to back only cuz she didn't look "perfect" I know that sounds real nerdy but that's just an example. There's plenty of us who do this as nerdy as it may be to some of you =P

BIG OLAF
Jul 16, 2010, 09:55 PM
Some of us really like our chars as well we put time and effort to make them look perfect to us. I know I did. I spent like 2 hours working on my main girl when I made her just on her looks alone redoing her back to back only cuz she didn't look "perfect" I know that sounds real nerdy but that's just an example. There's plenty of us who do this as nerdy as it may be to some of you =P

Guilty. Oh, by the gods, am I guilty.

pikachief
Jul 16, 2010, 09:56 PM
before the game came out they announced that the game had an expected 5 year life span :P Everyone should know before they pay the monthly fee that your character will eventually be gone. its not a surprise. I will be very very upset when my Female beast one day poof! gone into! Dissapeared into fat air (lol sry flinstones joke D: )

If you really care that much about your character dissapearing you can save yourself the trouble, time, and money and cancel now :P

I put sooo much time and money went into my gamecube. guess what happened? I stopped playing it. All that time and money is now gone cuz I no longer play it. Maybe I should've saved myself the trouble and never got it in the first place >.> lol

TL;DR
Its a fun game. Embrace the fun while its there :)


(uggghh too long of a post lol)

xBladeM6x
Jul 16, 2010, 10:21 PM
But for those of us who really put the time and effort into it. It is a big deal to us. Some of us really like our chars as well we put time and effort to make them lok perfect to us. I know I did. I spent like 2 hours working on my main girl when I made her just on her looks alone redoing her back to back only cuz she didn't look "perfect" I know that sounds real nerdy but that's just an example. There's plenty of us who do this as nerdy as it may be to some of you =P
I am with you on this one just for the simple fact that I have put in wayyyy more time in PSU than I should have. I have just come to terms with the fact that it's going to happen. I know you're not whining, you just wished you could keep your hard work, which is completely understandable.

dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 10:23 PM
before the game came out they announced that the game had an expected 5 year life span :P Everyone should know before they pay the monthly fee that your character will eventually be gone. its not a surprise. I will be very very upset when my Female beast one day poof! gone into! Dissapeared into fat air (lol sry flinstones joke D: )

If you really care that much about your character dissapearing you can save yourself the trouble, time, and money and cancel now :P

I put sooo much time and money went into my gamecube. guess what happened? I stopped playing it. All that time and money is now gone cuz I no longer play it. Maybe I should've saved myself the trouble and never got it in the first place >.> lol

TL;DR
Its a fun game. Embrace the fun while its there :)


(uggghh too long of a post lol)

Lol, that time and money did not go to waste seeing as you still have it. The fact that you decided NOT to play it is something COMPLETELY different. Don't get the two mixed up now for the sake of being "cute" now :)

This isn't a surprise to me either. I knew our chars were gonna go "poof' the time the servers went down. But like many others I "ignored" that fact and just played the game without thinking about it. However I never forgot it. It's always been something that has been in back of my head just waiting to come out. Obviously it already came out =P

Again, I like to receive "things" from my work. In this case my work and my money xD

Hell even graduating lets you keep something. A diploma. You put in all that work just to get it. By putting in that work you learn skills as well that belong to you as well. In the end you get a diploma which almost acts like a "save file" letting you know you achieved it.

I can also say the same thing about my "Perfect Save Files" for many of my PSX RPG's. I worked ultra hard to get one in FF7 everything maxed out etc etc as perfect as it can get. Did the same for FF8 and many others. Imagine if those were all time based as well? **** that **** o.o

lol

The reason I worked so hard for them is because I was going to be able to keep them in that little memory card. It's been many years now since i've last played them yes, but the fact that they are there sitting on my memcard makes me happy.

I can fire up my PSX put in that mem card and show off to my friends "Wut you thought you were beastly in FF7? check out my save file :D"

and yes my save files are that beastly =P Every side quest, every item, every secret max stats etc etc. You name it. No game shark or anything like that was used either all legit baby ^_^

See? Just thinking about my acomplishments in these old games makes me excited already and to know that I can physically show them off is a really great feeling <3

I was a beast at JRPG's and my save files show why :)

I know this has little to do with PSU but again it's another perfect example. Though the PSU "save file" would have hold a different kinda meaning than my JRPG files. It would be a different meaning because it was something you made and that something you made (your char) was something unique that only you had. That is why you spent all those hours making that char get it?

I didn't really want to bring this up because I don;t wanna get to personal here, but just to give you guys an example, one of my chars is based off my first GF ever in high school so obviously that char itself holds meaning to it because of that fact. That's just one example.

I've heard guys tell me online that their chars have meaning to them because in their eyes that's their dream girl to them haha. So yea many reasons as to why people actually care about their chars.

Sorry for the long posts, there's just so much to say, that I just cannot sum up in a few sentences.

Lolitron
Jul 16, 2010, 10:48 PM
Is this a joke? No seriously.

When a company closes due to not having enough revenue the product failed, not the consumers. Don't be an idiotic fanboy. Besides, there were still players on the PC/PS2 servers when they were closed so your entire theory has already been proven wrong.

What? He has a point. The PC/PS2 servers probably cost SEGA more money to maintain than they got from the players.

Hiero_Glyph
Jul 16, 2010, 11:09 PM
What? He has a point. The PC/PS2 servers probably cost SEGA more money to maintain than they got from the players.

Alright, and SEGA spent how much money on advertising or regular updates to keep the players interested in paying the subscription fee? Again, it's not the customer's fault when a products fails. Anyone who thinks that PSU failed on the PC/PS2 due to the players/community is a naive fanboy.

pikachief
Jul 16, 2010, 11:12 PM
The point was, all things come to an end. The amount of time, money, and effort put into something does not change that, although it may prolong the inevetable (more subscribers keep it from getting shut down early)

Hiero_Glyph
Jul 16, 2010, 11:19 PM
The point was, all things come to an end. The amount of time, money, and effort put into something does not change that, although it may prolong the inevetable (more subscribers keep it from getting shut down early)

I agree although when a company establishes a business model and then fails to deliver on their promises that is never the consumers fault. If a product remains profitable there is no reason to stop supporting it so why did SEGA stop supporting the 360 servers as often as they did the Japanese ones? The summer of MAG was the start of a horrible trend that continues to get worse week after week. PSU deserves to fail due to SEGA's neglect, at least for the 360. The fact that it has survived for this long is a testament to the players or proof that SEGA has a contractual obligation to Microsoft.

dias_flac_0g
Jul 16, 2010, 11:25 PM
The point was, all things come to an end. The amount of time, money, and effort put into something does not change that, although it may prolong the inevetable (more subscribers keep it from getting shut down early)

Not all good things come to an end. If you actually read my response to you, you would see what I mean by that. The only way those good things I mention can come to an end is if I decide to do so myself. Meaning something like throwing away those save files or me just simply dying.

"I am with you on this one just for the simple fact that I have put in wayyyy more time in PSU than I should have. I have just come to terms with the fact that it's going to happen. I know you're not whining, you just wished you could keep your hard work, which is completely understandable."

Glad to see you understand where i'm coming from with this. I know things will not change just as I know things will not chnage no matter how many whining topics people make about the lack of updates. I just made this topic to share my feelings on the subject at hand and I wanted to see how others felt about it. I'm glad i'm not alone in this. This isn't just about psu in reality, however I love psu and I love my two chars that I made on here for the reasons I mention before. This type of "management" has turned me away from other great MMO's or atleast they look pretty great xD

Lolitron
Jul 16, 2010, 11:49 PM
Alright, and SEGA spent how much money on advertising or regular updates to keep the players interested in paying the subscription fee? Again, it's not the customer's fault when a products fails. Anyone who thinks that PSU failed on the PC/PS2 due to the players/community is a naive fanboy.

Democrats - Moderates - Republicans
Fanboys - Neutral - Haters

You are on the Haters' side of the spectrum which is no better than the Fanboys' side. Do try to look at it from more of a neutral POV.

The PC/PS2's 5-6 star population was slashed in half in less than a month thanks to the meseta/item hacking. There was a mass exodus because of this.

The majority of hackers lost the incentive to hack PSU once Ebay banned the sale of online gaming currency, however it was already too late. The population was down to 2 stars daily and 4-5 during events. Ironically SEGA fixed the hacking incident around when the Ebay ban took place. Afterward, the whole monthly updates and crappy service kicked in cutting the population in half once again to a meager 1 star (2-3 during events).

Many of the players were the hackers. The community gave up because of the hacking. SEGA couldn't stop the hackers so the hacking prolonged much longer than it should have, and the players didn't give SEGA much time to fix this problem before they just quit.

As far as advertising is concerned, the main player base and market is in JP. The US has WOW (which has constant updates because the headquarters is in the US) and other games to fulfill any mmo desires. Sega simply isn't capable of beating Blizzard, especially on Blizzard's home turf.

Bitzen
Jul 17, 2010, 12:05 AM
Well, to say you got absolutely NOTHING from playing PSU seems sorta...false. When you go to the movies and pay 5 bucks, you leave with exactly what you came in with. So why do we go to the movies? The experience of the movie, entertainment, something to talk about the next day with others who shared said experience. Whether or not the experience is a good one is up to the viewer.



Me personally, I liked PSU during the Firebreak days. Fortetechers were pretty good if you worked on 'em, and I was meeting friends left and right. After AotI came out, the new stuff was fun, but things started getting monotomous. Even the events outside of the Lightning Carnival. It was run this mission, earn points, get stuff, new mission, spam that, get more stuff. Too bad the whole "Free" subscription option never came stateside for PC/PS2, because after awhile all I did was lobbywhore.

Esther Reagan
Jul 17, 2010, 01:41 AM
I'm sure most people do care about their time and efforts spent on this game. I know I do and did. I spent countless hours getting 3 characters to max on the PC/PS2 servers only to have lost it all. Now that i'm on X-Box, I just don't put forth as much effort as I did back then. It's not because I think about this question constantly to remind myself that the X-Box servers will end too, it's because I want to make this fun for me while it lasts.

Let's be honest, if you truly dreaded the day this game ends, you wouldn't still be paying the $10/month. The reason you all still pay is because something about this game is still fun for you. I set goals for myself everyday that I play. Today it was max out acrofighter and fightmaster which have been lingering at lvl 19 and 18 respectively. I gain a certain sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that I've reachd my goal for the day. It can be anything too. I change Esther Reagan's outfit everyday I log on because nobody should wear the same clothes multiple days in a row.... that's just icky ;]

I guess what I'm trying to say is we all do things on this game that make it fun for ourselves and that's why we all still play and enjoy it. And I know you're just bringing it up because you're curious of what other people think or if they have thought the same but why linger on something that's such a downer and even worse, think so much into it that you're starting to regret stuff? It'll just make you more upset. Live for the moment and enjoy it while you have it because when it's gone you can't enjoy it anymore (unless of course you take massive amounts of picture like someone suggested earlier xD).
I like to go by this theory: The past is history, the future's a mystery but today is a gift and that's why we call it the present.

Professor Xavier
Jul 17, 2010, 02:00 AM
OK! for me its simple. If you hear an announcement form Microsoft that they are releasing a new XBOX 720 or something like that then maybe you should worry. I don't feel Microsoft will let them shut down the servers. Besides why should we expect SEGA not to milk a cash cow as long as ther are people playing. What you have to look at is how long will it take them to roll out all of the updates. Then how much longer will it take to max out on everything. And also how many more updates will the Japanese players be getting. I think they are a long ways from closing down the servers. Unless they come out with anoher console Phantasy Star game. Theres no real reason to believe SEGA will close down anything. THeres always a chance no matter how remote that as long as the Japanses are getting updates. We could potentually get those updates. A lot of what is said here is assumptions. Most of what we think will probably never come to pass. But my best guess on when the servers will close is maybe 2 to 2 and 1/2 years. ANd thats only if the 360 population dwindles to nothing. I am actually thinking if they dont offer PSU on XBOX live for sale as a download. Then any used copy of PSU may be worth a lot of money. If this update come in at regular intervals without many interuptions. Theres a really good chance a lot of former PSU players will want to come back. Given the availablity of used discs. They will sell out fast. If they do offer it on XBOX live marketplace. Then the game will last at least two years, maybe longer!!

One final thought before I stop for the night. It would be resonable to ask Edward at SEGA if there is any chance for SEGA to save all our character data just in case. If they ever decide to let someone buy a license from SEGA to run a server. Or maybe SEGA will someday reopen a server for us to play on. Or possibly allowing us to use that data for the offline verion of PSU. If thats even possible? There are many forms this could take the idea has merrit for one reason only. If SEGA does archive our data. It would give us the chance to be loyal to them. Understanding this is a business. And that our data is there if the oppurtunity ever presents itself gives me peace of mind. Even if there is a small chance to come back someday. Or even maybe just one month per year they can turn it all back on just for fun. If they bulid it we will come!!

RANGER 01
Jul 17, 2010, 02:51 AM
what is the point of living? you're eventually just going to die amirite?

RemiusTA
Jul 17, 2010, 03:31 AM
Ok so today we got our awesome 3 star luck along with our sweet grind boost so everything is fine and happy. Starting next week we will FINALY get the Sup Update that we have been wiating for, for over a year now. So again things are starting to look good.

The real question is "When are the 360 servers going to get closed?"

Now lets think about that for a second k?

Lets say that the servers will be closing in about a years time from now. How do you guys feel about losing all of your stuff and hard earned work that you have put into this game?

Lets face, it. Some of us are gonna be playing this game like crazy after the sup update cames out. Maxing out chars out, getting a ton of AP, getting cool rares and items etc etc.

But think about it, in about a year from now (just an example for those who didn't catch on before) the servers will be closing and we will not be able to keep anything at all. Basically all of our hard work will be for nothing really, seeing as our character data will be gone along with the PSU servers.

Thinking about it from this point of view makes me ask myself "Why am I even putting in all this hard work and time when in the end it's not even gonna matter? Seeing as EVERYTHING will be gone sooner or later" I mean like seriously what is the point of doing all this? What is the point in spending 10 bucks a month and putting all these hours in for it to all be thrown away?

I mean wow!

Doesn't that suck?

I'm asking this question straight up because I get the sense that people like to "duck" this question and just dont want anything to do with it. Not even think about it or give it thought.

It seems to me like people think that PSU will last forever and that they will always have access to their hard work and characters. That's a big ass no no obviously xD


Or maybe they try not to think about it because it saddens them to know that this is the reality of the game. But yet they love the game so much that they wish to continue playing it regardless of what's going to happen in the end.

I myself am for the later. Deep down I know that all my hard work that went into this game will get deleted sooner or later and that all the money that I spent on psu will be for nothing. Yet I love the game so much that I continue to play it and try to not think about what's coming in the future.

The more I think about this the more "down" I feel about the whole thing. It makes me not want to play anymore. Because in the end i wont be able to keep any of it. That's pretty sad if you think about it.

I played GC Pso Ep1&2 for years since it came out (online) and I do not regret paying those 9 bucks a month to play online. To this date I still have my memcard along with my main girl and all of her equipment and items from the online world. Hell even the guid cards (partner cards) are all there. Sure I never really play GC pso anymore, but it's an awesome feeling to know that I got to keep my character and that I can go back and use her again for some nostalgia if the need comes around.

So yea people don't duck (dodge for those of you who don't know any slang xDDD) the question anymore.

Anyways, I just wanna know your thoughts on this whole thing. I would really love to hear from the "hardcore" players the most. Seeing as they are the ones who actually "care" for their chars and gear. They are also the ones who put in the most time and effort into this game.

Also, those of you who migrated from PC to 360 I would love to hear from you guys aswell seeing as you guys had to START OVER and work EXTRA hard to get up and running to only find out that the servers will eventually close yet AGAIn and you will be losing all of your hard ear gear and characters.

Anyhow, that's all for now I guess. I had to get this off my chest. Thinking this way really does bother me because, in the end, it's all for nothing. The money, the time, the effort and the love for the characters one has created since you will keep nothing from it.


Well, to be absolutely fair, you can apply your "PSU is gonna end eventually anyway" logic to life itself. Yeah, sort of makes your entire life look immediately pointless, eh? You're going to die anyway, and when you do, none of it is going to matter. And even if it does, this planet wont be here forever, and even if we migrate, our species wont exist forever. When all humans in the universe are wiped out, it instantly makes everything we gained pointless if nobody knows about it.

Im going off topic into stupid stuff, main point is, people do it for fun. I personally dont do shit on these servers, because like you've explained, its all pointless anyway, but not because the servers are on their final breaths. This game is a watered-down, toilet seat of ugly retarded stepchild to the JP servers. It never gets updated, it just sits and ferments. People dont seem to understand. The death of these servers are rooted far deeper than just us not getting updates and having no population.


The fact that we rarely get updates or events means that we are essentially a car stranded in the desert with the engine still running, stuck in a ditch. MAYBE we could have driven out at some point, but we've dug ourselves so deep from trying its not likely we'll ever get out. Everyday new sand is blown on top of us, and our situation looks even more bleak. And to top it all off, we only have a finite amount of gas in the car -- eventually, that's gonna fail us too. Worst part is, we cant even die happy, because we're stuck with the same recreation material we got stranded with. You know, those SUPER AWESOME magazines that we brought out here? Yeah, they're old as sin now, outdated. Up there at the Oasis they get new material every week, but we're stuck with the same shit. Occasionally they'll feel sorry for us and toss some old used ones down, but we've been anticipating it so much by the time we finally DO get new stuff, we instantly tear it apart and have to wait again for another fix.



...Okay, that was a really long winded metaphor, but the point stands. We have no content, and have been living off no content so long that new content really loses its edge because we have already milked the game for everything BUT the new content. PSU is really pathetic compared to PSO, where instead of looking around for new stuff, your goal becomes to get multiple 10/10 copies of the same weapon.


I keep saying it. I see no future for this game. If they announce another PS Online title and they treat us the same way, then once again we will have no hope. As long as sega treats its American fanbase like Wendys at 12 AM then we will never keep a server, and we will never have that old PSO feeling replenished. (of course that wasn't happening anyway. Sonic Team of 2010 is a shitstain compared to Sonic Team of 1999.)

pikachief
Jul 17, 2010, 04:21 AM
I think its funny about how this isnt as big of a deal as everyone is making it seem :P

And people arent even make it seem to be that big of a deal in the first place lol XD

such huge posts. I refuse to make or read such large posts as eventually this thread will be gone so I will not waste time on it :P lol