A quick and personal review.

[Miphesto]

the beta is awesome....the game is everything i thought it would be and more... the thing that bothers me is the grinding system though...i can just see clearing the same area hundreds, possibly thousands of times....

i like wow's endgame system...i'd love to see some aspects taken from it and incorporated in psu

[DrewSeleski]

Please just don't put any 20+ people raids in PSU http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

[AlphaMinotaux]

iono mostly everyone here ran the Forest, Caves, Mines, and Ruins thousands of times. This time its just better http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Skyly]

The first 2 levels are very quick. I love the beta/demo

[Saigan]

I've noticed a pretty varied amount of enthusiasm about this game on the board since the 360 beta started. Some of it due to newbies who haven't played PSO; some of it due to connection problems. I just wanted to give the game a quick review based on the 7-something hours I spent on the beta yesterday.

Graphics- Pretty; but so far nothing to write home about. It doesn't look TOO much better than the PS2. The framerate is quite solid though.
Community- It seems over half the people I've played with had never even heard of Phantasy Star before. The responses from those people concerning the fact that these games have been around for over a decade has ranged from "oh cool! I think I'll try to find a copy of PSO" to "has it always sucked this bad?"
The good news is that EVERY SINGLE PSO vet enjoys the game minus the standard problems of a beta. They also bring Moon Atomizers.
Lag- Yup, it's a beta and the servers are packed. Expect lag in a party of 5-6. Unfortunately since all the information about the action is done server side it's possible to get killed and not notice it until your connection catches up with the server; frustrating... but again, this is a beta to test the servers.

My personal opinion? The game rocks, plain and simple. They improved EVERY aspect of PSO except for maybe the menus which you navigate with the d-pad, so running and menu surfing has returned to the fine art it was in the dreamcast days. Carpal tunnel anyone?

Did this quick review do you any good? Let me know =D

[A2K]

Your thoughts are always welcome, but I'm still rather concerned, myself. The game does rock, but I find that far too many people have no idea what the hell to do because of that tutorial bug. It's just necessary for any first time player since it covers the basics and clears up some points on how the game is different from PSO.

[xzeekzx]

i'm sure as the game progresses, more updates will come that will expand our leveling capabilities and will make it seem less like a grind and more like not a grind....

well, probably not, but its pretty looking, so who cares http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Fleece]

Flamey Flame flame......ive been on offline for a while on the PC. It gets borign after a bit running round on me own http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif Cant wait for US release.

[Ecstasy]

I haven't gotten chance to play yet sense im going the PC route. But people seem to be saying the gameplay is just as good, if not better then in PSO. I think i am going to be njoying this game for along time to come.

[Yoiyami]

Same here, Ecstasy.

I'll be getting the 360 version, though. Just because I'm sick of being on my computer and PS2 all the time. Besides, my comp can't run it. XD

[Enderes]

PSU is fun no doubt, but PSO was better. I will not be buying it and instead purchased FFXI (where the monthly fee is actually worth it). I don't see this game having much longevity.

[Arcturus]

Longevity? PSO had only four main levels for a while that were repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. That certainly didn't stop many.

[Veldrane]

PSO was definately better. The camera was awkward but with some tweaks I got used it. The graphics, the maps look really nice but the char and enemy models are blah. The targeting is bad. The block maps are super small, with a small party it is not noticeable but with a full party it's way to fast to get thru them. The enemy AI is horrible, very easy to dispatch them. I personally think FFXI is the best way to go but I might get PSU if my friends I play with on a daily basis do. Which I hope not.

[MoonSblaise]

I quit FFXI, and this is the next step lol, oh dear.

[Enderes]

On 2006-10-14 09:32, MoonSblaise wrote:
I quit FFXI, and this is the next step lol, oh dear.



A huge step down. Have fun.

[Foxix]

On 2006-10-14 09:35, Enderes wrote:


On 2006-10-14 09:32, MoonSblaise wrote:
I quit FFXI, and this is the next step lol, oh dear.



A huge step down. Have fun.



I played FFXI fore a few months and thought it was great, then I realized just how crappy the game was once I realized I had done all of the jobs and all of them were as boring as the last.

Besides when I left a year ago the inflation had gotten so bad i could hardly play, good luck on trying to buy something.

Oh also on the combat, have fun pressing making all those sandwiches watching your character attack and waiting 3+ hours just to find one party that disbands in 5 minutes.

[tyler2zelda]

I still have no idea how PS2 users will get updates...

[Foxix]

updates will be very small and under 8 megs for the ps2 users. That and they will be releasing expansion packs somewhere down the road. Don't forget that almost all of the online game is actually on their servers so if they have to fix something they do it on their end not yours.

[Raba]

So far the game is pretty fun, I'll wait for the release version to come out to make a solid decision on how good the game is. I still prefer the depth of a game like FFXI but this game so far is at least as fun as PSO. Now if I could just log on... I hope the servers booting people is just for the beta/stress-test and not the finished game. It gets a bit annoying when you are playing through a mission and get booted because someone else needs to take your place on the server.

@Foxix - If you only gave ffxi a few months you didn't see anything of what each of its many jobs are capable of. There is little difference between most of those jobs until at least the 20's of levels and it takes into the 60's for each respective job to shine.

[Saigan]

I enjoyed the hell out of FFXI but it's an entirely different style of game... that FORCES you to party to get anything of consequence done. Also, it's very difficult to experiment when everyone you see says; "your subjob sucks, you suck, you'll never get a party."

[tyler2zelda]

On 2006-10-14 10:43, Foxix wrote:
Don't forget that almost all of the online game is actually on their servers so if they have to fix something they do it on their end not yours.



Good point. I thought that they would have to shove stuff on your disc.

[Bleemo]

On 2006-10-14 11:06, Saigan wrote:
I enjoyed the hell out of FFXI but it's an entirely different style of game... that FORCES you to party to get anything of consequence done. Also, it's very difficult to experiment when everyone you see says; "your subjob sucks, you suck, you'll never get a party."



*Puts invite flag up.*
/shout Lv57 DRG LFP

...

/shout Lv57 DRG LFP

*Three hours pass by.*

/shout Lv57 DRG LFP

[Foxix]

@Foxix - If you only gave ffxi a few months you didn't see anything of what each of its many jobs are capable of. There is little difference between most of those jobs until at least the 20's of levels and it takes into the 60's for each respective job to shine.

Actually in almost all of my jobs I got to at least level 20 or 30 sometimes higher, I only enjoyed 2 classes, dragoon and ranger. I would have liked summoner if it wasn't such a carp to get the summons. I eventually had to give up because I couldn't afford the cost of the items to support my job, that and it just got boring. Trying to get any decent piece of armor or weapon seemed to require a large party or WAY too much time to get to even make it seem worthwile. The game was just a massive time sink requiring you to do really tedious crafting/rare monster hunting for hours on end for a few brief moments of gameplay.

The reason I have always loved the PS series so much is because unlike other games they use the worst parts of an Online game and take to their advantage. Almost every MMO developer knows that their game is just a massive time sink and they try to cover it up with extra features and doodads to make it pretty while leaving the core of it rotten and old, following the same formula MMO's have been following for years. PS games on the other, hand started off differently following a gauntlet legend/diablo like game play method. They started off with a solid core gamepley method that was fun and new and then threw new elements on top of it to make it better.

Take it as an analogy, your standard MMO is like a nice shiny apple. Looks delicious right? Well it's only skin deep, once you actually bite its old, got a worm in it, and it's moldy. Now your problem is you took off more than you could chew and now you have a rotten apple stuck in your mouth.

PS games are the exact opposite, if you come and look at the apple it's exactly what you get. It's shiny and its is very juicy and fresh, mostly because it has taken the time to ripen, develope, and evolve. You bite it only a small bit at a time and it gets better with every bite. You come to apreciate it for what it really is and then you have another bite and then another.

People that don't like PS games tend to be people that still have a rotten apple stuck in their mouth and can't figure out a way to get it out. They just keep chewing and hoping it will simply go down easier with every bite.

Well anyway, this is just how I see it after playing a few MMO's... and now I forget what the topic is about, oh well I think I did a good job of expressing myself http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I hope you enjoyed reading my wall of text http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Foxix on 2006-10-14 11:15 ]</font>

[Drayma]

I'm not liking what I have read about PSU except that the battling seems to have really fun aspects to it like some of the attacks are really something to watch. PSO is still so darn fun and I've just discovered offline multiplayer because I thought splitscreen would suck. (PSU = no splitscreen) If there are major jaggies in PSU that will really kill it for me.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Drayma on 2006-10-14 12:31 ]</font>

[Raba]

On 2006-10-14 11:14, Foxix wrote:

@Foxix - If you only gave ffxi a few months you didn't see anything of what each of its many jobs are capable of. There is little difference between most of those jobs until at least the 20's of levels and it takes into the 60's for each respective job to shine.

Actually in almost all of my jobs I got to at least level 20 or 30 sometimes higher, I only enjoyed 2 classes, dragoon and ranger. I would have liked summoner if it wasn't such a carp to get the summons. I eventually had to give up because I couldn't afford the cost of the items to support my job, that and it just got boring. Trying to get any decent piece of armor or weapon seemed to require a large party or WAY too much time to get to even make it seem worthwile. The game was just a massive time sink requiring you to do really tedious crafting/rare monster hunting for hours on end for a few brief moments of gameplay.

The reason I have always loved the PS series so much is because unlike other games they use the worst parts of an Online game and take to their advantage. Almost every MMO developer knows that their game is just a massive time sink and they try to cover it up with extra features and doodads to make it pretty while leaving the core of it rotten and old, following the same formula MMO's have been following for years. PS games on the other, hand started off differently following a gauntlet legend/diablo like game play method. They started off with a solid core gamepley method that was fun and new and then threw new elements on top of it to make it better.

Take it as an analogy, your standard MMO is like a nice shiny apple. Looks delicious right? Well it's only skin deep, once you actually bite its old, got a worm in it, and it's moldy. Now your problem is you took off more than you could chew and now you have a rotten apple stuck in your mouth.

PS games are the exact opposite, if you come and look at the apple it's exactly what you get. It's shiny and its is very juicy and fresh, mostly because it has taken the time to ripen, develope, and evolve. You bite it only a small bit at a time and it gets better with every bite. You come to apreciate it for what it really is and then you have another bite and then another.

People that don't like PS games tend to be people that still have a rotten apple stuck in their mouth and can't figure out a way to get it out. They just keep chewing and hoping it will simply go down easier with every bite.

Well anyway, this is just how I see it after playing a few MMO's... and now I forget what the topic is about, oh well I think I did a good job of expressing myself http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I hope you enjoyed reading my wall of text http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Foxix on 2006-10-14 11:15 ]</font>

I completely understand where you are coming from, and yes, you did a good job of articulating your response. Thats why I quoted the massive wall of text haha!

I suppose i'm just more into the story of the games I play instead of the 'action' which takes a backseat for me. I'm still not sure how the story of PSU will go and keep me entertained. One thing I did enjoy about the couple MMo's i've played is how much a story can be woven into a game that encompasses hundreds of NPC's individual stories relating in larger and smaller ways to eachothers stories and to the main story of the game.

[Shadow_Wing]

FFXI is a boring, crappy game that takes way too long to do anything. If this was 3 years ago, I'd support FFXI as a pretty fun MMO, but how the community is turned out, and how things are becomming, I would never suggest anyone to go to it in this day and age. PSU, was for sure a breath of fresh air.

To Raba, I really love how they did the Chains of Promethia story, it's really good. Too bad ToAU is meh, that pretty much was the nail on the coffin for me.

I'm enjoying PSU thus far, the battle system did indeed win me over and I'm glad that the game is this fun. I know I'll have more fun once I get my friends over here, as I always said, the success of any online game will purely end up in your experience of the community.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shadow_Wing on 2006-10-14 13:01 ]</font>

[Raba]

On 2006-10-14 12:59, Shadow_Wing wrote:
FFXI is a boring, crappy game that takes way too long to do anything. If this was 3 years ago, I'd support FFXI as a pretty fun MMO, but how the community is turned out, and how things are becomming, I would never suggest anyone to go to it in this day and age. PSU, was for sure a breath of fresh air.

To Raba, I really love how they did the Chains of Promethia story, it's really good. Too bad ToAU is meh, that pretty much was the nail on the coffin for me.

I'm enjoying PSU thus far, the battle system did indeed win me over and I'm glad that the game is this fun. I know I'll have more fun once I get my friends over here, as I always said, the success of any online game will purely end up in your experience of the community.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shadow_Wing on 2006-10-14 13:01 ]</font>

I definatley agree ffxi has gone downhill, and that they did an awesome job with CoP as far as story, getting people to do the missions is another story. And I left it about a month or so before ToAU came out so I didn't get to try any of that lag-fest hehe.

I'm happy with the PSU fighting system. I just hope that at the least we won't have to do the dungeon crawl in the exact same places dozens of times. It gets pretty boring even back on PSO going through the exact same forest or cave constantly. I just hope they get more areas other than what I have been in.

[BioWarrior]

On 2006-10-14 13:06, Raba wrote:


On 2006-10-14 12:59, Shadow_Wing wrote:
FFXI is a boring, crappy game that takes way too long to do anything. If this was 3 years ago, I'd support FFXI as a pretty fun MMO, but how the community is turned out, and how things are becomming, I would never suggest anyone to go to it in this day and age. PSU, was for sure a breath of fresh air.

To Raba, I really love how they did the Chains of Promethia story, it's really good. Too bad ToAU is meh, that pretty much was the nail on the coffin for me.

I'm enjoying PSU thus far, the battle system did indeed win me over and I'm glad that the game is this fun. I know I'll have more fun once I get my friends over here, as I always said, the success of any online game will purely end up in your experience of the community.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Shadow_Wing on 2006-10-14 13:01 ]</font>

I definatley agree ffxi has gone downhill, and that they did an awesome job with CoP as far as story, getting people to do the missions is another story. And I left it about a month or so before ToAU came out so I didn't get to try any of that lag-fest hehe.

I'm happy with the PSU fighting system. I just hope that at the least we won't have to do the dungeon crawl in the exact same places dozens of times. It gets pretty boring even back on PSO going through the exact same forest or cave constantly. I just hope they get more areas other than what I have been in.



FFXI has gone even more downhill after ToAU, now since they added a new signet system that adds 15% EXP buff all Warriors and Monks do is TP spam Tough monsters that repop in 2minutes 30seconds since a single WS can kill them pretty much for Chain 200+, unless your BRD WAR NIN MNK or RDM your never going to get a party in FFXI anymore.
They also added chocobo raising which I thought would be enough to pass the time until PSU... but nope its just a cutscene spam that costs millions of gil and after 50 days they are still slower then the rental chocobo for 200g. PSU is going to be a very welcome change.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BioWarrior on 2006-10-14 13:14 ]</font>

[jnblz316]

So far I'm blown away by this game. I've tried to play other games (WoW, Guild Wars, FFXI, etc.) and always went back to PSO. I finally feel this is the game to have me leave PSO completely.

[Saigan]

Yeah, PSO has always been the constant game, with breaks to try out others.

[Arcanum]

I have to disagree... FFXI is far from fun. It only brings drama in the end.. plus all the jobs in the game are broken. I look forward in PSU... FFXI just consumed my time too much and brought me too much bad memories as a PLD75...

[Xeraphim]

I've heard alot of mixed things of PSU, but I doubt it'll stop me from grabbing it. FFXI was fun in the beginning, but I think it was the gimic of it all. Hey, Final Fantasy, great RPG series. Throwing it online?! Wow, that sounds great!

....

Doubt it. You have to party to get anything done, and if you aren't the right job, no one will pick you up. For instance, Dragoon! I levelled a Dragoon to 75 despite this, and to this day I still wonder why I even bored. It's more of a chore than an actual fun experience. Customization doesn't go very far at all considering you had to be what the servers wanted or you could go no where. The community wasn't very good at all, and the botting japanese gil farmers just got annoying. Wow, I never realized how much I hated that game.

[Foxix]

On 2006-10-14 20:18, Xeraphim wrote:
I've heard alot of mixed things of PSU, but I doubt it'll stop me from grabbing it. FFXI was fun in the beginning, but I think it was the gimic of it all. Hey, Final Fantasy, great RPG series. Throwing it online?! Wow, that sounds great!

....

Doubt it. You have to party to get anything done, and if you aren't the right job, no one will pick you up. For instance, Dragoon! I levelled a Dragoon to 75 despite this, and to this day I still wonder why I even bored. It's more of a chore than an actual fun experience. Customization doesn't go very far at all considering you had to be what the servers wanted or you could go no where. The community wasn't very good at all, and the botting japanese gil farmers just got annoying. Wow, I never realized how much I hated that game.



yeah, just like my analogy http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif it's funny how every FFXI player realizes just how much they hate the game, even if they thought they liked it, ha!

[Illumiatus]

A huge step down. Have fun.

FFXI is only fun if you like stuff to happen at a god awfully slow pace. It takes forever to level up, to find a party, to SWING A WEAPON, and to have fun. At least I get to actually press buttons instead of watch my character auto-attack.

And yeah, how can you enjoy a game if you can LEVEL DOWN for christ sakes!

Oh and you don't have to worry, we will have fun. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
Currently rocking a level 8 Hunter on the Beta.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Illumiatus on 2006-10-14 21:43 ]</font>

[Arcturus]

I hope that PSU retains that element of "WTF, why do I want to play again after I swore I would permanently quit 3 months ago?"

[Cause_I_Own_U]

On 2006-10-14 01:51, DrewSeleski wrote:
Please just don't put any 20+ people raids in PSU http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif



actually why not, atleast in this game people are self sufficient and dont rely on others healing them 24/7 so it might not be so bad

[Xeraphim]

This game will be very fun, I've got no worries despite mixed reviews. A good friend of mine will be carpooling to the mall the day it comes out after school to pick it up.