Beta Impressions and reviews

[hollowtip]

I know it's a day early, but I wanted to get this up before a barrage of other similar posts follow.

What are your impressions of the beta on a 1-10 scale (I just grouped 1 and 2 together because I only have 9 options for the poll)? Also, any tidbits or a full blown review just post below.

If you want to be specific and use a decimal, just put it in your post (i.e. 9.2 or 4.5 ect)

I will be posting an extensive impression after at least a day with it.

[Blenjar]

It was great.

-- Blen

[Belts]

I won't be able to play the beta until thursday afternoon. I also have all friday off. I will probably write a review then, as I will be playing it ALL day. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[CpwninOBrien]

man u guys r so lucky knew i should have gotten X360 http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

[hollowtip]

I will also be putting the most common positive and negative aspects in summarized form (voiced by the entire PSO community) in my first post, so others don't have to keep sifting through multiple pages and relying on other resource sites.







<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: hollowtip on 2006-10-10 10:19 ]</font>

[hollowtip]

I just played a portion of a mission with a guy from D.C.

Lobby looks good, but the start of the mission I first played was really drab but it's extremely early still. What are your guy's thoughts?

[darthplagis]

well ive been on the PS2 offline JP since release and the 360 urinates ALL over it!!!!! no slowdown (just lag from crappy ADSL) smooth as hell graphics, language i can read!!!! PANNON JELLY being dropped 3 TIMES in one run. just a shame the server is nackered at the mo



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: darthplagis on 2006-10-13 06:57 ]</font>

[Yoiyami]

You guys are lucky. You can play!

I'm glad to hear that so far, it's pretty good. Can't wait to see more feedback~ <3

[Nester]

Well I got up this morning started the d/l and after it finished logged in rushed through my char went into the tutorial and it froze up while she was showing me the second floor... *sigh* It's been to long since a new PSO game has been out...

One thing I noticed about the game though is you are forced to use the digital pad to select options as the analog does not work here which I thought odd when you are in menu only systems but makes sense if they are going to have you access your inventory like the old PSO's.

Umm wow it completely froze my xbox couldn't do a shut down or nothing from the controler menu button...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Nester on 2006-10-13 07:11 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Nester on 2006-10-13 07:12 ]</font>

[linkzone]

darn loading screens take forever.

[Chaobo99]

People are actually able to get on?

[Mattlock]

I think the game is amazing but I think Im always in the wrong place to kill stuff. Should the monsters be level 15 right out of the gate? Its hard to kill stuff XD

[Funkwell]

oh man this is the coolest thing ive seen in a while, the worlds are really cool, the battle system is awesome and the voice chat in the parties is a huge improvment over ff11, still getting used to it but Im definately going to being playing the beta nonstop over the weekend and will be buying the game wehn it releases. One thing I was having difficulty with was staying together with my party, maybe because they were running offby themselves, and I once got stuck in the asian looking planet's city and couldnt find my way out...lol, are there more detailed maps somewhere to be found and do you guys think there will be a guide released for the game, i hope so!

[-Crokar-]

mine froze up in the tutorial and i cant kill anything i think im going to the wrong place stuff kills me in 2-3 hits while im doing like 12 damage

[krika]

Great to hear all this. Hopefully we may se some screenies from the 360 very soon http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif.

[Tystys]

How are you even in the game, from what I hear people can't even log into the game.

[Funkwell]

On 2006-10-13 08:31, Tystys wrote:
How are you even in the game, from what I hear people can't even log into the game.


yeah i got disconnected halfway through the tutorial and then it took me a few tires to get back in...smooth sailing since though

[RaienSwiftwoo]

Where do you even kill stuff? I've been wandering around trying to kill stuff and I Can't seem to find anything. Other than that i'm quite impressed with the graphics and aside from that, I haven't had issues...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RaienSwiftwoo on 2006-10-13 09:07 ]</font>

[watashiwa]

Okay, well, as much as I was for the 360 version.. I'm not so much for it now.

There are a few annoying things about it..

- You cannot voice chat in public. You MUST be in a party. If you want to communicate to anyone standing around town or in the colony, you must have a keyboard or use the software keyboard.
- Even though this game IS running at 60fps on the XBox360, slowdown on this game is pretty much the same as the PS2 version. This is unacceptable (to me)..
- It appears Sonic Team did NOT compensate for television overscan (5% on each side of the screen) when adding the widescreen mode. This makes it so text or cut-in chat (sometimes) does not fully appear on the screen.
- I cannot rearrange my strafe or left-hand action button. (I preferred them on the triggers and not the buttons >_<)

So, yeah, this is enough to push me off not having the 360 as my primary platform..

I'd be hoping it would be optimized for the release, but I highly doubt it will be. =P

Well, I'll still enjoy this Beta. Going to cancel my 360 pre-order and order PC tho'.

[Yoiyami]

Wata, this is beta testing. Slowdowns are to be expected and not all features are added yet.

As for no voice chat in public... Thank. God. <333

[watashiwa]

On 2006-10-13 09:27, Yoiyami wrote:
Wata, this is beta testing. Slowdowns are to be expected and not all features are added yet.



No, that's bullshit. The slowdown has nothing to do with the fact that it's a beta.. it's because it's a lazy port.

This is the same slowdown that was in the PS2 version's Beta AND Final game. The slowdown has to do with the engine of the game and the fact that it wasn't optimized for the 360 appropriately.

This slwodown will be present in the retail version as well. You can kid yourself and pretend it won't be.. but that's just being retarded.

Anyway, I also noticed after I finished the tutorial and got my tech disk and NPC card.. my NPC card didn't save. =D So I will probably have to do the tutorial again.. if it doesn't save this time, then it's a bug.

[Yoiyami]

I was thinking slowdown as in lag, so that was my mistake. No need to haul off on me. Well, whatever. Your investment, your decision. Sorry you're upset.

But if that's true then it doesn't really matter what version you get if you're trying to get away from slowdowns.

[watashiwa]

Uh, yes it does?

I have the full PC import version and I've played it online at high-resolution at a solid 60fps with NO SLOWDOWN. (You can take a look at some of my videos in the screenshot and movie thread at the top of the forum..)

[Yoiyami]

You can only speak for yourself. I have several friends that imported the PC version as well and they said they DID experience slowdowns and a few of them met the spec requirements. So it must vary.

I already said "Your investment, your decision". O.o;

[watashiwa]

That's the thing about the PC version, though. It only performs as good as your machine is.

XBox360 and PS2 versions are machines with specs that don't change, so there's no combatting the slowdown.

Your friends who get slowdown on the PC version have poor or maybe medium PCs, dunno. I have a high-end PC and the game runs just fine with no slowdown.. I was merely responding to your "doesn't really matter what version you get if you're trying to get away from slowdowns" because you can get away from slowdown on the PC version. Just depends on your system.

[Yoiyami]

Ahhh, I understand now. I'll tell them that. Thanks. ^_^

As for me, I'd be better off with a console version. My PC is SO mediocre it's not even funny. >.>;

[Lovejuice]

On 2006-10-13 09:24, watashiwa wrote:
- I cannot rearrange my strafe or left-hand action button. (I preferred them on the triggers and not the buttons >_<)
Agree with this! Having to use the left button over the trigger to strafe is a pain in the ass. It's just a tad fiddly for my liking.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things it means very little (and I'm going PC regardless), but it's a bit daft that you can have more freedom with the options on an entirely different platform with the same microsoft hardware (although that is using unofficial software, but, still, bah humbugs). Using the triggers just feels smoother than the CLICKCLICKCLICKY button on the X360 controller. Perhaps it will have more customisation in the final.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lovejuice on 2006-10-13 09:50 ]</font>

[Saigan]

I've had no problems whatsoever; of course I had only finished the tutorial and started soloing before I had to go to work... which is where I am now...

Missing PSU *cry*

[McLaughlin]

I'm just glad you can only Voice Chat with people in your party.

This puts to rest any claims of having to hear people blaring their music in the lobbies.

On a side note: I havent figured out what the 'Y' button does yet...O_o I haven't had any slowdown though, and have been in a 6 man team the entire hour and a half I was on (and never got DC'd).

I love it.

[sulfate]

lucky bastard.....i added u

[watashiwa]

On 2006-10-13 10:11, Zeta wrote:
On a side note: I havent figured out what the 'Y' button does yet...O_o I haven't had any slowdown though, and have been in a 6 man team the entire hour and a half I was on (and never got DC'd).


This is either a big lie or you really aren't that good at observation.

[McLaughlin]

I'm not lying, although I could be missinterpreting lag (my team mates skip ahead of me occasionally) for frame rate issues.

EDIT: Or, it might just not be a big enough deal for me to notice. The game is perfectly playable(IE no weapon switch lag or enemies skipping all over the place).

If you're referring to my not being DC'd, then I suppose I'm just lucky?


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Zeta on 2006-10-13 10:17 ]</font>

[McLaughlin]

Oops.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Zeta on 2006-10-13 10:17 ]</font>

[parabolee]

When you keep saying "slowdown" do you mean framerate drops? Because they are not the same thing. Is there any lag in the online games?





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: parabolee on 2006-10-13 10:20 ]</font>

[b3n]

Betas are made to lag and have lots of bugs. Thats the whole point of it. So you should be rating the game beyond all the bugs and things that need to be fixed, because thats what the games gona be like when it comes out.

[Firestarter2k]

On 2006-10-13 10:20, b3n wrote:
Betas are made to lag and have lots of bugs. Thats the whole point of it. So you should be rating the game beyond all the bugs and things that need to be fixed, because thats what the games gona be like when it comes out.

i was waitin for someone to say this, well said.

[Weak]

He isn't talking about lag.

He is talking about framerate slowdown. As in, the game itself slowing down completely, from character movement, to effects, to button response.

[parabolee]

Sorry b3n but your wrong on this one. This paticular Beta is far too close to release to give them time to fix these things. Online lag and server issue's are the only things they can fix. The Beta is only to test the online servers, they can't fix other bugs.

The slowdown/framerate drops (or whatever it is they actually mean) can not be fixed at this stage because they don't have time to fix it before the game goes gold.

[parabolee]

On 2006-10-13 10:23, Weak wrote:
He isn't talking about lag.

He is talking about framerate slowdown. As in, the game itself slowing down completely, from character movement, to effects, to button response.



That's what i was asking, because framerate drops and slowdown are different. I believe that the PS2 suffers from framerate drops as apposed to slowdown (which he said was the same as the 360 version) and although I may be wrong that is why I thought that framerate drops would be more likely to slowdown.

Especially as the PS2 version would have a serious problem if it was slowing down on the PS2's but the PC players playign with them were going at normal speed. Of course this would not be the case if it was framerate drops.

So which is it? Framerate drop or actual slowdown?

Also LAG is completely different to the other two aswell.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: parabolee on 2006-10-13 10:29 ]</font>

[b3n]

On 2006-10-13 10:24, parabolee wrote:
Sorry b3n but your wrong on this one. This paticular Beta is far too close to release to give them time to fix these things. Online lag and server issue's are the only things they can fix. The Beta is only to test the online servers, they can't fix other bugs.

The slowdown/framerate drops (or whatever it is they actually mean) can not be fixed at this stage because they don't have time to fix it before the game goes gold.





They probably can do something to fix the game before it comes out, but even if they cant they can start working on a patch to fix the problems. So even if they cant do anything theyll probably have a good patch very soon.

[Weak]

They're synonymous...

Framerate drops, slowdown, whatever you want to call it.

Any time a game is going at a decent speed and then slows down because of the amount of stuff on screen. I believe that's what he's talking about.

If I'm completely wrong, then explain.

[Tystys]

On 2006-10-13 10:13, watashiwa wrote:


On 2006-10-13 10:11, Zeta wrote:
On a side note: I havent figured out what the 'Y' button does yet...O_o I haven't had any slowdown though, and have been in a 6 man team the entire hour and a half I was on (and never got DC'd).


This is either a big lie or you really aren't that good at observation.



And why is that? There could be something wrong with your 360 for all we know.

Seriously, why exactly are you trying to get people AGAINST the 360? Sure it has slow down but from some of the responses I've read as of now, it seems it's not bad enough to truly interfere with the gameplay. I think you just notice it more because your Framrate almost never drops when you play the PC version, and that's fine. I'm not exactly sure how bad the slow down is, so you MAYBE right. I am going to be checking out the beta soon for myself. Busy at the moment

[Weak]

He's just frustrated. He's not on an anti-360 crusade.

[Yoiyami]

Frustrated and disappointed. Don't take it personally.

[parabolee]

On 2006-10-13 10:31, Weak wrote:
They're synonymous...

Framerate drops, slowdown, whatever you want to call it.

Any time a game is going at a decent speed and then slows down because of the amount of stuff on screen. I believe that's what he's talking about.

If I'm completely wrong, then explain.



Yes you are wrong, allow me to explain -

Framerate drops - In this case the game is running at 60FPS, now if it suffered from a framerate drop (see Tomb Raider Legend in 720p or Quake 4) it would drop below 60FPS resulting in a more "choppy" appearance because you are seeing less frames per second, this DOES NOT mean that the action has slowed down. For instance if it takes 3 seconds to do a combo it will still take 3 seconds during the framerate drop, it just won't look as pretty. For instance the PS2 version runs at 30FPS but is not half as fast, just half as smooth.

Slowdown - If a game is locked at a framerate and too much is going on in the game for the processor to handle (in this case because of bad programming) then instead of dropping the framerate it will actually slowdown the game. So the 3 second combo would take longer as everything will run in slo-motion for a small amount of time (but enough to be VERY annoying).

Lag - Lag is when you are playing an online game and server code is not up to par or 1 or more peson has a bad connection, this leads to a delay in when you do something and when others see it. Sometimes you will see other players dissapear and appear somewhere else, sometimes you will shoot someone who does not get hurt or you get shot by someone you couldn't see. When lag is bad it spoils online games. See DOOM and Saints Row.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: parabolee on 2006-10-13 10:47 ]</font>

[parabolee]

They probably can do something to fix the game before it comes out, but even if they cant they can start working on a patch to fix the problems. So even if they cant do anything theyll probably have a good patch very soon.



Sorry but if the problems are due to the game code then it is HIGHLY unlikely that they will patch it to fix them. Unless they are small problems, which they would have fixed already.

Can you name one other game that had problems of this type that was patched? Tomb Raider Legend (30FPS) and Quake 4 (60FPS) suffered from framerate drops and neither were ever patched.

The only game I know of is Oblivion and the patch was only for in-game bugs and a loading pause, plus it took them months to patch it!

[Yoiyami]

I'd say slowdowns and lag are a lot worse than framerate drops. X_x

[parabolee]

I agree, especially when you are starting at 60 frames per second. Which means even if the FR drop is 50% it will still run smoother than PS2 at al times.

I have a feeling they are all talking about frame rate drops, not slowdown. And if there is lag I expect that to be fixed, hopefully before launch. Although no one has mentioned lag yet.

[-Crokar-]

im having no problems whatsoever its running great for me it froze once during the tutorial so i just restarted skipped the tutorial and im playing great no slowdown lag issues or anything.and dont try to hassle me cuz i could care less what you have to say bad about the game. its perfect for me.

[Coxy]

I have the nice sparkles next to my name

have so far found 2 different 7 star items

very impressed with the game

[Yoiyami]

Well I'm glad to hear that there are no very serious issues. My $460 (for 360 and PSU) will be well spent. ^_^

[parabolee]

Well I am uber excited about playing this game tonight but I am REALLY annoyed by framerate drops and I notice them when others don't so I will be really fair in my judgment when I get around to posting after playing.

But as long as it doesn't spoil the game, which I doubt because I found the PS2 version to be fine so the 360 version running at 60fps will do it for me. If I had a sweet PC though I would get that version.

[Carlo210]

I can't play it because I don't have a Gold subcription to LIVE. I don't want to pay 8.00 to get 1 month of LIVE to play the demo for one week, so I'm going to have to sadly wait for October 24th. Dunno why ST won't let us play the demo solo offline...

[Yoiyami]

Well, at least you don't need live to play the official release. No time limit on that, either. And when you play, most of the bugs will have been fixed. So no worries. ^_^

EDIT: Gold live, I mean. XD

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Yoiyami on 2006-10-13 12:06 ]</font>