PSP2 Honest impressions.

[SquashDemon]

So My wife and I were old PSO buffs from the 'cube era, and we still played together today, trying to relive the glory days of the online servers, Yes, they had their problems, but we had an incredibly fun time.

When PSU came out, we played through the entire story mode, and were severely turned off by it. (Ethan and his Shounen Brigade had a lot to do with it) That alone prompted us never to go online.

A few years after that, we decided to try PSP2 after a high recommendation from a co-worker.
So we rented it, liked it, now willing to look past the steaming pile that was the story, and in favor of the superior gameplay from PSU, decided to buy a couple copies for ourselves

So we're playing AD HOC, trying to gear up for when we do go online. When my wife Finds a Soul Eater. 'cool' I think, 'that's a welcome piece of nostalgia!'
So we go to trade it over to my character.
Then we discover that, much like PA/Tech disks, (which already irked us) we could not trade it over.

Saddle up kids, it's raeg time.

Hello? Sega? Have you ever even PLAYED an MMO?

What the hell was the point of that!?

Why would you REMOVE THE ENTIRE RARE ECONOMY!?

What is the point of giving EVERY Player in the team, a notifier that so-and-so has found a rare weapon, WHEN THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO TRADE IT IF ASKED!

Why would you make different Rares Class-specific?!

None of this so-called 'feature' makes any sense, even from a security standpoint.

I know the economy of PSO (and probably PSU) was ruined by cheaters, so I can guess that is how this idea took root, but really, a damaged economy is better than no economy at all. part of an MMO's replay value comes from the fact that there is an ever-changing rare economy that can be played for profit. Especially considering that a LARGE percentage of MMO parties are complete strangers setting out with a similar goal, that usually being, to obtain a rare item.

Sega, do you SEE why this was a bad idea yet?

Now, you may be thinking: "But they can't simply IGNORE the cheating and item hacking/duplicating" Well, fear not, I have a solution to that as well:

Hire.

A.

Moderation.

Team.

It works! Trust me! I've run small communities in games where cheating ran rampant, If you put them in their place, they actually do stop affecting the community! People learn that folks that associate with them get banned, and they -don't- risk it. Eventually, the cheaters grow bored, and, get this, LEAVE.

Now, yes, it works -better- with a small community, but if you hire -many- moderators, to a decent scale of how many players there are, you ought to achieve the same effect.

...Okay, rant over.

That said: Finding out about this particular feature of the game has changed my mind about a future purchase.

Originally, after hearing of all the new content, I was going to buy PSP2I when it was released here in the US.

But now, I think I'll stick with what I've already bought. Sega has lost the money they would have gained through my and my wife's re-purchase of this game, by allowing such a horrible design flaw to make it to the final version of the game.

Saying they remove this asinine feature from PSP2I or simply from online play, via a server patch. I might reconsider this stance. But as such, my faith in Sega has plummetted even further than previously. I now even Dread hearing news of PSO2, for fear of hearing how they've managed to muck up one of my favorite games this time.

People of PSOW, Do you think I am being too hard on them? Or do you have your own issues that you wish to take up here? I'd be interested in hearing your impressions.

[Ceresa]

It's not an mmo.

Being able to obtain the best shit by farming an obscene quantity of trash is retarded.

Monster Hunter doesn't let you trade and it's 5x as successful. Even PSU is moving more and more to making the good stuff untradable. Even the real MMOs (which this isn't) make all the best gear untradable. Sack up and earn stuff on your own.

It tells you when other people get rares because it's assumed you have the decency to say congratulations to your comrades.

Soul Eaters are common as hell, to think that trash of all things spurred your rage is pretty funny.

Not playing PSU because of the story mode that most people don't even play is even more judgmental than writing off infinity because they disallowed trade.

Btw is your crack moderation team going to track me giving my entire inventory over to someone over ad-hoc, then replacing that save with the backup I made 5 minutes ago on my pc?

[Kurosu]

This is not an MMO.
And in the few MMO's I've played, many of the good items were bound to your character upon pickup so you couldn't even trade them, so how is that much different from here?

Not to mention that the end game content in this game is already relatively limited, and the US version has greatly boosted drops over the original.
So if you added trading for high rank items on top of that, the total time you would spend on this game would be even less.

If it's just the two of you playing together, I understand that you would like to share or trade items that you've found, but online it would just be bad for SEGA since it would kill the game even faster.

[Temprus]

So My wife and I were old PSO buffs from the 'cube era,


Why would you make different Rares Class-specific?!

Hmmm... So you were use to PSO and can't understand why rares are class-specific? There are 4 classes in this game. You are freely able to change your type in this game at any time. In PSO, you were stuck to your Section ID. If the letters in your name became Purplenum, then you were stuck finding most of the Mechguns and had to deal with it; forever.

So... why is the class-specific rares bad again?

[MOHFL]

The following is all my opinion. Deal with it.
PSO= best game ever

I doubt any game will ever be as good. We can't hold modern games up to the greatness of PSO. They will always disappoint if we do. I won't lie, PSU and PSPo1 were complete and utter FAIL. Sega is making a huge comeback however. PSPo2 is an amazing game. It's one of the best games since the PSO series and easily the best PSP game (VC2 and P3P are also in my top 3). Sakai was part of the team that made PSO what it was, and he is now leading the Phantasy Star team. He aims to gear as much towards PSO as he can while still offering new and exciting modern gameplay. He has progressed well since Yuji Naka left, and I'm proud of his hard work. It's not easy to make a comeback after the horribly cheap PA system and bad acting of PSU. Phantasy Star is my favorite series and it always will be. I will continue to show my support, because I know Sega of Japan tries their best. Sega of America needs some serious help translating, but that topic is for another day. I look foward to US versions of both PSPo2i and PSO2.

Also: PSO was an online action rpg, not a crappy MMO
don't insult the best game ever :\

[Evegodenraven]

It's not an mmo.

Being able to obtain the best shit by farming an obscene quantity of trash is retarded.

Monster Hunter doesn't let you trade and it's 5x as successful. Even PSU is moving more and more to making the good stuff untradable. Even the real MMOs (which this isn't) make all the best gear untradable. Sack up and earn stuff on your own.

It tells you when other people get rares because it's assumed you have the decency to say congratulations to your comrades.

Soul Eaters are common as hell, to think that trash of all things spurred your rage is pretty funny.

Not playing PSU because of the story mode that most people don't even play is even more judgmental than writing off infinity because they disallowed trade.

Btw is your crack moderation team going to track me giving my entire inventory over to someone over ad-hoc, then replacing that save with the backup I made 5 minutes ago on my pc?

i lawled.

it's honestly pretty sad that your getting annoed by soul eater when there is a Soul Pheonix in the game thats just as weird as soul eater, and soulbanisher.
yes it is nice to have as a cellectable but it's not worth using.

items drop easy on this unlike pso/psu and lvling isn't hard if you know what your doing.

if your wife wants a soul eater so bad. then keep doing the run you did and she will get one.

plus.
it's fun picking on your friends when you get something they want =P
and they can clown on you for something they have but you want.

[Broken_L_button]

I find the lack of trading not much of an issue, since, with how the game is designed, trading is far from necessary. In PSO, you couldn't get all rares unless you created at least 4-8 characters, each with a different ID. And even then, hunting in PSO could drive you mad before you found whatever you were searching for (lol...hunting syncestas from Torrs or hunting SJS, anyone?). Since in PSP2, you can get every single rare on a single character, and that stuff drops like candy, trading ends up being a waste of space on the UMD/DD file. But that's just my opinion, don't get offended by it, please.

[Jorry]

Yes, it is kind of sad you can't trade, but as already said, it is unnecessary.

Old news is old news.

[d19xx]

I know the economy of PSO (and probably PSU) was ruined by cheaters, so I can guess that is how this idea took root, but really, a damaged economy is better than no economy at all. part of an MMO's replay value comes from the fact that there is an ever-changing rare economy that can be played for profit. Especially considering that a LARGE percentage of MMO parties are complete strangers setting out with a similar goal, that usually being, to obtain a rare item.

They actually got the idea from Monster Hunter. Encourage grinding instead of trading. Also, applies for blocking and dodging...

[Mike]

@OP
Go out and find the rares yourself. That's what they want you to do.

They actually got the idea from Monster Hunter. Encourage grinding instead of trading. Also, applies for blocking and dodging...
I don't know if you can say that with any certainty, especially trading. Blocking and rolling are similar though.

[d19xx]

Well if it wasn't for mh's success, we wouldn't see PSPo on the PSP. Also, previous PS games didn't have such heavy trading restrictions.

[Zarode]

Oh no, not something you will replace when the next piece of gear drops!!!1

[Alexandria]

The following is all my opinion. Deal with it.
PSO= best game ever

I doubt any game will ever be as good. We can't hold modern games up to the greatness of PSO. They will always disappoint if we do. I won't lie, PSU and PSPo1 were complete and utter FAIL. Sega is making a huge comeback however. PSPo2 is an amazing game. It's one of the best games since the PSO series and easily the best PSP game (VC2 and P3P are also in my top 3). Sakai was part of the team that made PSO what it was, and he is now leading the Phantasy Star team. He aims to gear as much towards PSO as he can while still offering new and exciting modern gameplay. He has progressed well since Yuji Naka left, and I'm proud of his hard work. It's not easy to make a comeback after the horribly cheap PA system and bad acting of PSU. Phantasy Star is my favorite series and it always will be. I will continue to show my support, because I know Sega of Japan tries their best. Sega of America needs some serious help translating, but that topic is for another day. I look foward to US versions of both PSPo2i and PSO2.

Also: PSO was an online action rpg, not a crappy MMO
don't insult the best game ever :\

The hell does any of that have to do with this thread? If you're gonna make a random PSU hate thread, go make a new one. The PA system was great in PSU. A lot more fun than the boring gameplay in PSO >.>

Anyways, on topic, OP, you need to realize that there's a thing called "balance." Now Sega doesn't practice this very often, but when they do try, it usually ends up right. This is a case of them trying. They learned from their mistakes in PSO. It's just ridiculous to expect a modern game to use such a broken system. If we were to be able to trade, no one would ever hunt for anything. They'd just go buy all their stuff from some dipshit that duped his hacked 99% neutral Demon's Devastation. There would be no balance to the economy. You say that a broken economy is better than none? Are you serious? All a broken economy creates is laziness and results in circles of douche bags that brag about their gear they bought with RMT. (And don't even try to argue that someone wouldn't be stupid enough to pay real money for stuff in a PSP game. There's been far worse.)

tl;dr
Stop bitchin'.

[SquashDemon]

Lots of people seem to think I'm complaining over the soul eater itself.

No, no not really.

If you really believe that I'm completely missing the point. That's fine. Label me and my complaints however you will.

But I know what I do and do not enjoy. And I don't enjoy not being able to trade or share or have an online economy to work with.

I don't enjoy playing another class I have NO INTENTION of playing just to earn a drop that I can't find on my own class.

I don't like knowing that there are people who have this drop in spades and would gladly part with it for a monetary amount, but cannot as the developers have disallowed that.

If having a game that I actually enjoy ruins said game, I can't really say. But I certainly remember there being a -lot- more players on PSO than there ever were here.

[vPharaohv]

I wouldn't have minded trading. It's a B trying to get a 60% of a weapon that rarely drops. And of course there are 60% weapons drops that you couldn't care less about but are still rares. Maybe someone else with a 60% your interested is interested in yours....

[terrell707]

They could of made it so that you can drop only rares that were found in the current mission, but after the mission ends, its locked on your account. That way no hacks (unless someone can hack during a mission O.o) and people can give away the rares they dont want and get the ones they do want. :)
Also i dont think there are any rares that are specific to one class is there? I looked on PSPedia and pretty sure some rares are more common on certain classes than others and some rares dont drop at all for certain classes, but im pretty sure every rare drops on at least two classes.

[MOHFL]

The hell does any of that have to do with this thread? If you're gonna make a random PSU hate thread, go make a new one. The PA system was great in PSU. A lot more fun than the boring gameplay in PSO >.>

Anyways, on topic, OP, you need to realize that there's a thing called "balance." Now Sega doesn't practice this very often, but when they do try, it usually ends up right. This is a case of them trying. They learned from their mistakes in PSO. It's just ridiculous to expect a modern game to use such a broken system. If we were to be able to trade, no one would ever hunt for anything. They'd just go buy all their stuff from some dipshit that duped his hacked 99% neutral Demon's Devastation. There would be no balance to the economy. You say that a broken economy is better than none? Are you serious? All a broken economy creates is laziness and results in circles of douche bags that brag about their gear they bought with RMT. (And don't even try to argue that someone wouldn't be stupid enough to pay real money for stuff in a PSP game. There's been far worse.)

tl;dr
Stop bitchin'.
I was relating to the fellow "PSO buff" and giving an honest impression like he asked. Take a chill pill and stop being so hostile. By PAs being cheap I mean how you could use infinite PAs (since each weapon had its own PP meter and you could buy photon charges). I mean seriously all you had to do was Tornado Dance your way through the game. I didn't play alot of PSO online, so I didn't find the game way too easy like PSU. As long as you stuck to no hacks or cheats, PSO was a very rewarding and fun experience.\

The whole point is that PSPo2 hast VAST improvements over PSU, and everyone should be grateful.

[Bomber The Cosmonaut]

To be honest, I'd have to disagree. I'd very much rather hunt for my own gear than trade with ransoms. If it's anything like PS Zero, people would offer low Rank weapons for 15★ Weapons. And what not. As for Trading in PSO, I can't really say. I've only played online with the Xbox Version, and it didn't take long for me to get bored to death with it.

As for your situation, if you don't wanna play a different class to get a specific weapon, you could always join up with a host who's is that specific class. The drops Are based on the leaders class. (That is, if you plan on playing online often.)

[Broken_L_button]

To be honest, I'd have to disagree. I'd very much rather hunt for my own gear than trade with ransoms. If it's anything like PS Zero, people would offer low Rank weapons for 15★ Weapons. And what not. As for Trading in PSO, I can't really say. I've only played online with the Xbox Version, and it didn't take long for me to get bored to death with it.

As for your situation, if you don't wanna play a different class to get a specific weapon, you could always join up with a host who's is that specific class. The drops Are based on the leaders class. (That is, if you plan on playing online often.)

There's also the fact that a lot of rares become shared accross all 4 classes at higher monster levels, so you can still get a majority of the game's item on one class. But, with type abilities, it would be folly to limit yourself to a single class...

[Bomber The Cosmonaut]

There's also the fact that a lot of rares become shared accross all 4 classes at higher monster levels, so you can still get a majority of the game's item on one class. But, with type abilities, it would be folly to limit yourself to a single class...

This is very true. Also, you can also any weapon with any class (With Limitations, of course.) So playing as say.. a force wont suck as bad. (If you don't mind the limitations.)

[Randomness]

This is very true. Also, you can also any weapon with any class (With Limitations, of course.) So playing as say.. a force wont suck as bad. (If you don't mind the limitations.)

Go card spam! Or maybe Claw+RCSM. Longbows are drastically inferior... (Fire too slow :disappoint:)

[Zorafim]

This is hardly a critical critique of the game at large. It's just something Sega decided was a good idea, and I agree with them. Yes, it's sad when a friend gets something she doesn't want but you do (and in fact, seems to happen more often than not), but at the same time, enemies drop 4x as many items in a 4 person team, since each person has his own drops. Each person is responsible for gearing herself out, and since the game is balanced around that thought, equipment is nowhere near as difficult to get as it was before.
I'm sure once you get over the initial shock of not being able to share everything with your spouse, you won't feel as poorly about this system as you do now.

And now, you mentioned you have no intention of leveling the other classes? I would advise against this. The type skills you learn are bound to your character, not your class. Meaning, if you level a hunter class after getting all the ranger abilities, you can use some ranger abilities to boost the hunter class. This is especially useful, since each class is rather hybridized anyway. For instance, as a hunter, I find it necessary to use a ranged weapon in some fights (I use a rifle), and I find it greatly beneficial to use a tech weapon for support (Rod with resta and buffs). Thus, I would get a good use out of Ranger's double charge, and Force's faster resta, not to mention the ability Vanguards get which lowers delay when striking enemies making twin daggers much better.

As far as switching classes for a drop, I doubt it's as bad as you think. In higher levels, when drops really matter, most enemies will drop their best item regardless of what class you are. And as for PAs, well, they aren't too hard to find, so you won't be hunting long.

Try to keep an open mind about these things.

[Scejntjynahl]

So your only complaint is that you can't trade A class gear? That is it? You fear a bad economy? Interesting. Considering no real economy was introduced till PSU came out. Seriously... during the DC/GC/PC days of PSO there really wasnt a market to speak off. I certainly never "bought" gear from anyone during those days. And with the rampart amount of duping and the never ending battle between "legits vs hackers" trading for rare weapons was favourably done among close friends. And even then, most of us opted just to hunt for own gear with the occasional "you make the game we need your ID" scenario.

Oh wait... you also complained about class restricted weapons as well. But come on... even that was apparent in DC PSO V1 and V2. So why is this a problem now?

I don't know. I think you are putting way too much emphasis on some minor points. Now if you were to say the game was "boring", "too easy", "doesn't do it for me", because of mechanics, play style, music, graphics, you know... concrete stuff. I can respect that and tell you... "trade in your game" and go play something else.

I never understood people that obviously hate a game but somehow still manage to play it enough to rant about it.

[Randomness]

So your only complaint is that you can't trade A class gear? That is it? You fear a bad economy? Interesting. Considering no real economy was introduced till PSU came out. Seriously... during the DC/GC/PC days of PSO there really wasnt a market to speak off. I certainly never "bought" gear from anyone during those days. And with the rampart amount of duping and the never ending battle between "legits vs hackers" trading for rare weapons was favourably done among close friends. And even then, most of us opted just to hunt for own gear with the occasional "you make the game we need your ID" scenario.

Oh wait... you also complained about class restricted weapons as well. But come on... even that was apparent in DC PSO V1 and V2. So why is this a problem now?

I don't know. I think you are putting way too much emphasis on some minor points. Now if you were to say the game was "boring", "too easy", "doesn't do it for me", because of mechanics, play style, music, graphics, you know... concrete stuff. I can respect that and tell you... "trade in your game" and go play something else.

I never understood people that obviously hate a game but somehow still manage to play it enough to rant about it.

Class restrictions could be very severe in PSO. Like, say... Neiclaw. 1/12.