Offline Mode Proposal / Idea

[xBladeM6x]

Before I start, I'd like to mention that I don't believe this would happen in a million years, even if I worked in SoJ and suggested it right to the executives of the game development, but I'd like to hear your opinion on this idea.

A mode separate from online mode, in the main menu, like PSO / PSU offline. Obviously people wouldn't be allowed to upload character data from offline to online, because of hacking concerns, but what about making everything that is available online, to be available offline. While in the server you could save your character data like you do when saving an NPC of yourself for others to use, at one of the terminals. Once the data is "saved" as a character server side you could download it from SEGA's server, based on log in. (Obviously so people can't just download anyone's characters). Once downloaded, that's your offline save, and be overwritten at any point by repeating this process.

I feel this would be best for an overall experience, so that people can still enjoy the game offline, and also play once the servers go down eventually. This way you don't get a PSO / PSU situation where your years of hard work, are deleted into thin air.

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, or just seems obvious to do, but I'm curious to know what everyone thinks about this. :-)

Inb4SEGAwontdoitbecauseofpeoplenotspendingARKScash offline

[Seany1990]

This way you don't get a PSO / PSU situation where your years of hard work, are deleted into thin air.

I can't speak for anybody else but I would be finished with PSO2 if this feature existed or not. It's not a game that I would enjoy if there weren't other people aound to play with.

[Vintasticvin]

Thread is nice and Im sure this belongs in the sega forums. We're just a fan community :X Try posting in soa or soj's forums.

[xBladeM6x]

Like I said:


Before I start, I'd like to mention that I don't believe this would happen in a million years, even if I worked in SoJ and suggested it right to the executives of the game development, but I'd like to hear your opinion on this idea.

This is more just an idea that I was wondering if people cared to see, or if it's just "meh".

[UnLucky]

Didn't I see this thread before? Including the fine print.

It would be nice, I guess, if all you want to do is waste some time accomplishing nothing of importance (like playing video games).

But some people would exclusively play offline, splitting up the playerbase, the character data would be freely available to be tinkered with, and of course there's less incentive to buy AC.

[pso2love]

If there would be an offline mode, either make it split screen to allow 4 players on the same screen, or even be able to play by LAN, like Borderlands 2 does.

MY ideal solution, would just to be able to host our own server to keep the game up, not to outright manipulate stats like another known private server does.

Make it to where we could host a lobby of up to 12 players, no need for elevators for different blocks, and search for other players like through STEAM or something.
It would require less resources for PC's, and would still maintain the open world aspect of the current release. Also, allow player's PC's to make their server available to host PS Vita users as well. SEGA would still update content when connected online, and still be able to sell AC items. Though my solution may seem complicated and/or unreasonable, I would like to hear others comments about this.

Just dropping my two cents.

[xBladeM6x]

It would be nice, I guess, if all you want to do is waste some time accomplishing nothing of importance (like playing video games).
Some people just like ownership / like knowing that what they've put time into, they can keep.


But some people would exclusively play offline, splitting up the playerbase, the character data would be freely available to be tinkered with, and of course there's less incentive to buy AC.
I doubt people would play exclusively offline. Especially if they limit what's actually in offline mode, at the time that online mode is running. For example, they could always have mission availability always one update behind.

[Magus_84]

S For example, they could always have mission availability always one update behind.

That's a better deal than the online NA server's likely to get. ._.

[Sp-24]

Some people just like ownership / like knowing that what they've put time into, they can keep.

Well, corporations are now legally people, and it just so happens that they like ownership, too. These days, even purely single-player games that should logically be available offline can be dependent on the internet connection to a certain server, so you'd better get used to respecting other people's rights and not getting what you like.

Making PSO2 available offline would cause some problems, too. Since Sega can't even protect the game from hackers now, when a large part of it is in Sega's hands, you bet that having the whole service available client-side would make hacking an even bigger, maybe even an actual (as in, one that you would seriously mention even if you aren't a prejudiced PSO geezer), problem. Go on, spend millions of meseta on your 6☆ to get Power III and Quartz Soul on it when you can just buy an Alystine+10 with an unlocked special ability and Power V / Spirit V / Ability V / Poison V / Quartz Soul / Stigma / Spirit Boost / Lucky Rise affixes for 1050 meseta, and a bottle of every element and an extra sword if you don't like the 50% Light that it comes with. You'll even have enough money left to buy that new AC outfit, since it's also sold for 1050! You bet those people who cried about the game's economy being "ruined" after Sega's adjustments to meseta's value would feel silly after seeing actual ruin.

So yeah, I'm absolutely against this game being available offline. And not only for the above reasons, too. I wouldn't elaborate, but since I am now obliged to list every single thing I don't like about something in order to lower the chances of my opinion being ridiculed for being overly specific (and I have proof of that claim, too), here's a full list:

1. Hacking
2. It's fucking BORING when alone
3. Some emergency codes are impossible to complete without help
4. The game depends on other people's presence for everything, not just gameplay. Deserted lobby with absolutely nothing to do, repetitive missions with the exact same "avoid - use the only PA or tech worth using for your class - flinch - die" routine and extremely, violently, furiously, blood-pumpingly SLOW level gain, coupled with no other indication of you making any progress whatsoever (since you have already bought that Alystine if you've been online, or will never, ever get a good weapon that your (most likely ruined after the last update) main class can use if you haven't) is bound to cause depression (and suicidal tendencies after a prolonged exposure if left untreated) even to people who are sexually aroused at the thought of fully owning PSO2. Don't ask how do I know, by the way.
5. Did I mention that it's boring? Because it is.

[UnLucky]

Some people just like ownership / like knowing that what they've put time into, they can keep.
But any time you go back online, all your offline progress is lost. Or if you choose to keep your offline data, all online progress is lost, forcing you to choose one over the other.


I doubt people would play exclusively offline. Especially if they limit what's actually in offline mode, at the time that online mode is running. For example, they could always have mission availability always one update behind.
So you crack the game wide open for all to see just for a crappy version no one would want to play unless they had to (or wanted to fiddle with the data for possible (mis)use online).

Yeah I don't think it's worth it, for anyone involved, unless the servers were being shut down for good. Even then there'd be no good reason for Sega to do that unless they really loved their fans and felt especially charitable that day.

[untrustful]

This is something that should only happen when the servers hosting the game close down.

[xBladeM6x]

This is something that should only happen when the servers hosting the game close down.

This was something I was thinking about, too. This seems more like a feature that should be added at the end of the lifespan of the game.

[Seany1990]

This was something I was thinking about, too. This seems more like a feature that should be added at the end of the lifespan of the game.

You would still play if it meant you were always by yourself?

[Rien]

I have no idea why I'd bother with RNGs in a single player game...

[Meji]

Needs more offline split screen.

[MetalDude]

You would still play if it meant you were always by yourself?

If we could host our own server for LAN parties, I'd be totally down with an offline mode in the future.

[Seany1990]

That would require extra development beyond reskinning mobs/ maps. It ain't happening.

[Noblewine]

I would be okay with an offline mode so the repetitiveness would not bother me at all.

[The Walrus]

Say that after a thousand hours of this crap

[Coatl]

I have no idea why I'd bother with RNGs in a single player game...

This.

[BWS-1]

If there would be an offline mode, either make it split screen to allow 4 players on the same screen, or even be able to play by LAN, like Borderlands 2 does.


While I've always seen PSO (and PSO2) as nothing but a third-person RPG which, in a sense, could be a sort of Diablo clone of its own... so is Borderland, well, except as a FPS. And it's free (well, except the initial price of 20~50$). And you can play offline, online, in LAN. Freakin' great, if you ask me. Thing with PSO2 is that it has something Borderland doesn't: an economy. Without it, hell, it could be simple to not care so much about hacking and whatnot. On top of that, it had to go as a F2P model... which doesn't help the cause. I remember one of the guys at SEGA said on their blogs that, since it was free to play, we'd have to hold out on having too many expectations. I mean come on, Free to Play is a business model that makes money if done right which, I guess, one of the way to ''do it right'' is to succeed at convincing people they shouldn't have expectations for something that ''trust me, will turn out to be more expensive than a non-F2P game if you compare what you'd PAY for premium that would only be close to match what you'd used to have for a game you bought full-price, feature-wise''.

It's like having both a demo and a full game within reach. AT THE SAME TIME. You never have to pay for it, hence, why it stays free* *but will have as many features as a freakin' demo. And if you want to pay for it, you'll unlock EVERYTHING** **though it will end up costing you more than what you'd bargain for in the end. The beauty of it is that they no longer sell you a product, they sell you a service which at any moment, can end. And it will end. So after you played your demo/full-game, they'll take it away from you. Whether you paid 0$ or 1000$ for it over the years. How that shit's legal is beyond me, but I guess ''it's people's choice! Let it all beee'' so... so long as people will pay to get robbed, they'll have no incentive to stop!

I mean, the best part is, knowing SEGA's trend to kill PSO over and over again, I wonder how they expect people to have forgotten about previous installments. Why would I have any desires to put more money in a PSO game that I have ever put before to barely get as many features and, on top of that, see everything go after a couple years because ''they gotta shut the game off to make money on the other one. Thanks for your support! trollololololol''.

*ahem*

Enough with the bitchin' on the IP, now with some... CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM SUGGESTIONS!

Regarding the splitting up of the playerbase, I wonder, how would it really split the player base? If PSO2's current playerbase with no offline mode is n, wouldn't you think that adding people getting PSO2 to only play it Offline would lead it to be n+x, where x is the number of added players to the franchise which have no desire to be part of n anyway, hence, not separating the playerbase from someone WITHIN n since - had it not been of the Offline option - x players would have never gotten into PSO2 in the first place! Sure someone within n might decide to make a character offline, and the time spent there isn't spent online... but in the long run, you don't lose people from the online community unless you're a masochist which would rather play alone and grind a slow deat- I mean, character. So in the END, would it separate it all that much? The opposite might equally happen too wherein someone got PSO2 only to play offline and ''decides to give Online a try''. All in all, it doesn't look like it would come close to hinder the playerbase in any way.

I can see SEGA capitalize on the idea as well, given that hey, if you can have all the AC content available for offline too, where's the loss? Just gotta go purchase it online first before transferring it to your ''offline'' character, that way offline characters don't miss out on content, and SEGA doesn't miss out on the whole idea behind PSO2 being Freemium.