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View Full Version : Ya know, the story ain't half bad....



ShinMaruku
Sep 5, 2006, 01:51 AM
Ethan is a yardie fo sho.

but some of the events seem to be thoughtfully put in. Now if only they'd try to make some true talent cross over...

Saner
Sep 5, 2006, 01:59 AM
um um this would be nice to include in my 12 chapters story topic. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

tank1
Sep 5, 2006, 02:04 AM
Yardie huh i had him peg more as a emo jk.

kyori
Sep 5, 2006, 02:34 AM
Eh.. for the most part the story is really poorly writte. There are some shocker moments and I'll give it that. It's definitely way too cliche/contrived/episodic.

A2K
Sep 5, 2006, 03:01 AM
Curious... what cliches precisely do you think it hits on?

Natrokos
Sep 5, 2006, 03:26 AM
Lots of rpgs are cliched....And Ethan as a character doesn't do much for me.....But that doesn't necessarily mean it's poorly written. I personally think it's fairly original.

Cross
Sep 5, 2006, 06:03 AM
I'd give you 'cliched' and 'contrived', but I thought the Episode format really helped the game, and gave it a unique feeling. Most JRPGs are basically seamless from beginning to end, and basically feel like you take a character from being a farmboy (or whatever) through to uncovering some grand epic world-shaking plot to saving the universe in the course of half a week. In PSU, it seems more natural that time is passing and that Ethan actually gets a chance to grow in a realistic timeframe.

My gripes with Story Mode is that it's just too short. Most of the characters are interesting, the setting is really cool and original, and there's a lot of potential to put in some good character interaction and long-term plot threads, but there's just not enough time spent developing much of it. Hyuga is given one introduction scene to show his character as a bit of a womanizer, but that's never really mentioned aside from a scene here and here where he says he has a date or when Ethan is worried about Lumia. Eventually he just becomes a generic 'not the main character' character. Karen's inability to use techniques is, as far as I can remember, basically introduced in one scene, resolved in another, and then mentioned once more later in passing. I thought the idea was fairly intriguing when I read it on the official site's character descriptions months ago, and hoped that it would actually be used in the plot, and it really wasn't. A lot of characters that could have been interesting basically only showed up for cameo roles: Hal and Kurtz come to mind. Of course, not all the characters need to have recurring roles - I thought that the kid and the Cast from the second Episode were just fine even though they were confined just to those scenes (and cameos in stores later on) - but overall there's just very little development and it's disappointing.

Granted, I'm only halfway through Episode 10 and the story has been ramping up a little lately, but the majority of the game has still already passed and there isn't enough room in two and a half episodes to properly end the game, set up the plot for online mode, and resolve various hanging plot threads, all while sticking in more character development.
Story Mode is basically a 20-25 hour game, when it was advertised as a 40-hour game. If they'd done it to a full length (or just to give it that real 'anime' vibe, 26 Episodes) I think I'd have enjoyed it much more because they could have really gone all-out and made an in-depth, original story. It's not bad now (I'd say it's definitely better than the vast majority of other JRPGs out there), but it's still disappointing.

kyori
Sep 5, 2006, 06:21 AM
I think the episodic format, as neat and original take as it is, hurt it a lot more than it helped. It contributed to the whole lack of development. Instead of normal pace where things develop overtime, we're treated to brief intro/middle/climaxes within an hour. I agree that the setting and characters (minus some certain bits where I do start slashing it as cliche) are decent. But the lack of air time and development on them makes it all null and void. I seriously think PSO 1/2/3 had more of a plot in the end than what PSU has currently. I was seriously going at PSU negatively until chapter 7 caught me off guard. Then I started to give it a tidbit benefit of a doubt. I think it was personally a waste that PSU turned out like this, especially since it had such an A+ voice cast. It probably doesnt help that I've played JRPGs like the Tales series that really flesh things out in comparison. In the end though, 12-13 episode format isn't bad but it's just quite simply too short for PSU or at least how they handled it. There's a lot out there in the anime world that executes it well for having such a short run. Maybe if they had leaped a bit into the plot around 3-4 vs messing around until 7 to toss a twist at you, it might have been better.

But perhaps with things like that, maybe the official sourcebook sometime in the future will shed all the light on this and retcon some material into a proper form.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kyori on 2006-09-05 04:22 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: kyori on 2006-09-05 04:23 ]</font>

ShinMaruku
Sep 5, 2006, 09:44 AM
On 2006-09-05 00:34, kyori wrote:
Eh.. for the most part the story is really poorly writte. There are some shocker moments and I'll give it that. It's definitely way too cliche/contrived/episodic.


Contrived eh? I see no reaosn why ST would fuck up their own story conciously. That word has meanded from it's true meaning....

Sure the story is basic becuase all these devs are pussies and won't try to really take somthing and make it brilliant.

But it's decent does the job.

Natrokos
Sep 6, 2006, 02:32 AM
To be honest having focussed so much on online/offline i'll be impressed if it's half as good as they say, I won't feel let down...Plus, it's the first offline PS game in god knows how long.

Nodachi
Sep 6, 2006, 02:51 AM
For a game where basically everyone purchases it for online purposes, this offline story mode really isn't bad at all from what all I've been told/seen/and read here. I'm actually surprised they added cutscenes to it all lol. I expected a series of whack missions modled off of those from the old offline missions of Episode 1.