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Ophelia
Nov 11, 2002, 10:13 PM
I'm more or less a symbol of the old guard here at PSO World. It's been over a year since I've been really active in the day to day events of this website. I don't post unless I deem it absolutely necessary and only drop by every once in awhile to find out some information on a mag, or character ID, or check my inbox, or read some of the fan fictions. I guess I have become a bit of a lurker, but constant college-related activities can do that to you.

I guess I wanted to comment on the attitude of this message board. It's downright terrible! Like an eternal complaints department, people come in with their cheating gripes, or connection gripes, or "ohmygod I actually have to pay NINE WHOLE DOLLARS A MONTH to play online" gripes, or X-Box is better than Gamecube gripes, or Gamecube is better than X-Box gripes, or "there isn't a keyboard available RIGHT WHEN I WANT IT the whole world is ruined" gripes, blah dee blah dee blah. I'm sick of it! There are fewer things more depressing than scrolling down the threads only to see every other one reveal some new hybrid complaint people have amassed.

A long time ago, some wise person here once said: "Shut up and play the game!" I think that both the old and new communities could use another lesson in the ways of swallowing one's pride and just enjoying that game we know and love.

Many newcomers at first glance would assume we PSOWers actually hate Phantasy Star Online and delight in picking it apart, targeting Sega or Sonic Team or Barubary or Santa Claus as the veritable PSO antichrist. But I know it goes much deeper than that. I think it's because so many people LOVE this game, that it somehow manages to penetrate our psyche as no previous game had ever done before. I think that is why when any threat to our full playing experience comes within range, no matter how small or insignificant, we immediately take the knee-jerk reaction and blame mysterious outside forces as our reasons for contempt.

Many regulars here spend so much time venting their adolescent anguish upon the message boards, I wonder where they find the opportunity to actually play. I think it's because that PSOW the community and PSOW the website have somehow become two separate entities.

The other night Cube, DangerGirl and myself were hunting through Caves. We were on the subject of PSOW reunions on the GC version (thankfully both were very patient with me as I do not have a keyboard), when the ever-perceptive DG made the point that there was nothing wrong with the PSOW community itself. Everyone I've met online so far has been very generous, nice and helpful to me. It's never hard to find a game with the regulars on Altair 6 or Antares 8. And people always courteously greet me when I join their game. Rather, as DG noted, the problem lies within the message boards, where people take the time to endlessly rant and bicker with one another without actually changing anything. During the games themselves, I never see two HUcasts complain that the new GC version doesn't give them enough HP and they're going to cry about it. But then again, the people I see here don't translate whatsoever into those I have fun with playing online. Snapple, Cube and Danger Girl are the notable exceptions.

I know what I say here will most likely not affect the attitude of this board in general, and I can hardly say that PSOW has never been an online complaints department (you should have seen the quality of posts around the release of Version 2. Hoo boy). But this does serve as a reminder and restatement to all of you who can't seem to get out of your PSO depression: Shut up and play the game! I have, and I'm having a blast with my 55% machine Gladius in the mines. I don't need things with gold text to make me happy! It's more fun than ever playing challenge mode with people I actually care about, as opposed to the helpful but impersonal players found in Miranda 7. I'm at level 55 with my hunewearl (poor HP and low attack withstanding), which I know is comparatively low for the hardcore PSOWers, but I don't care. I'm taking my time and thoroughly delighting in every step of the way. I get nine dollars an hour working part-time at a coffee shop when I'm not in class, but so what! I like to imagine that every hour of work is another full month of PSO in the bank.

Now I need to wrap this up before I start to contradict my entire purpose. So one more time...repeat this with me...

Got a problem? SHUT UP AND PLAY THE GAME!

Thank you.

-Oph

Agent_Reav
Nov 11, 2002, 10:23 PM
So lemme get this straight... You are complaining about complainers? Wow. Alot of people here are pissed because, to be quite frank, PSO sucks the big one on Gamecube. I'm really glad you are happy to be screwed over with an inferior product and thanks to you we can always hope SEGA will treat Americans like garbage! Sho! Sho!

Riel
Nov 11, 2002, 10:28 PM
I understand what you mean Ophie and i agree on most of your points.There's a few things that people complain about though and they have a right too in a way.Take me for example,i rarely complain but i have a problem with the BBA and it's really forcing me to play the game differently and not in a good way.It happened again earlier,i lost all unequipped weapons..i'm a HUcaseal,online one of my roles is to warn others of traps,so i need to carry 2 kinds of weapons...with the constant disconnects,i lose that weapon all the time,it's a pain so i mentionned this once,you know to let the frustration out.But i still love this game...as for playing and shutting up,it's easier now online without the keyboard,heh http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Ian D
Nov 11, 2002, 10:29 PM
Wow, I couldn't agree more. Fanboyism has been at a high lately.

[Edit: I've just posted and two people have already whined above me. Take a hint from Ophelia, PLAY THE GAME AND SHUT UP!]

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ian D on 2002-11-11 19:36 ]</font>

Cube
Nov 11, 2002, 10:37 PM
Wow, that was nicley put.

Stop bitching and just play the damn game.

If you dont like it, dont play. We don't really want to hear your nitpicking.

SuperSubZero
Nov 11, 2002, 10:55 PM
Sounds kinda like a rant to me. Isn't there some kind of forum here for that kind of thing?

Parn
Nov 11, 2002, 10:56 PM
Says the crybabies who go diving into posts with complaints about the game. Oh yeah, complaining about complaints is REAL constructive.

I doubt anyone is putting you in a headlock and forcing you to look at the screen while another person navigates your browser to said posts in question.

If you don't want to hear my nitpicking, well, the feeling's mutual regarding your nitpicking of my nitpicking. Sorry we don't all chime in and say "PSO GCN is perfect, everything's great, yay yay yay." It's a discussion board. People tend to talk about the negative along with the positive. People also tend to have differing opinions. Deal with it.

Quick, now's your chance to make a team called, "LETSCRYABOUTIT", Episode II mode, Normal difficulty. Or maybe "IAMAHYPOCRITE", Episode I mode, Hard difficulty.

Dangerous55
Nov 11, 2002, 10:58 PM
Do you know why people complain about PSO on here and not actually on PSO? Its because it would take them 5 days to write as much as you did with the controller. I am complaining about PSO. Why? Because version 1 kicks EPI and II's ass. I had SOOO much more fun on it.

LollipopLolita
Nov 11, 2002, 11:31 PM
dangerous55 is funny!

i think ophie's got some really good points, veyr valid points. some people here nitpick too much because it's too easy. i thought i was the only one feeling like that.

ABDUR101
Nov 11, 2002, 11:38 PM
I think alot of people just hyped the game too much for their own good. Yeah, it has it's problems, just like the former versions had their problems, but we still enjoyed it.

We even logged on and stood around in lobbies for hours on end, even though we could have had our characters corrupted. We joined games with strangers, even though they could have pk'd us, taken our meseta and currently equipped weapon.

We played with people that could have played with us just to wait until we died so they could nab our rare weapon and disconnect.

But we still enjoyed it. =)

I notice alot of people rushing to find the uber-rares, but I remember days when someone would gleem over holding a Railgun +15 and 25% Dark.

Does this make the game any less enjoyable? Not at all, everyone can play it and enjoy it as they wish, thats it's purpose. If you want to do a mad dash and find every gold lettered weapon/item in the game, by all means, go ahead, you paid for the game.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, this thread was more a remembrance of how PSO was when we first logged onto the servers and started with the fun, even with all the risks that were involved.

I'll move this to rants, but just don't flame. =)


And for the people who hyped the game beyond beleif, or played the originals constantly up to the release of the new versions, well, what did you expect?

You are PSO'd out, like I was 8 months ago. I did'nt even want to look at my game disk anymore, but I sat it aside and waited, played other things to tide me over, so that when I did get the new releases, it'd feel like a cool refresher.

And as pixel says below, posting here and complaining about it just runs the forum and the game deeper into the gutter. This is a site based on the game, and it's fine to discuss to good and bad about it, but it's like everyone is blatantly staring and pointing at all the faults instead of just sitting down and enjoying what it is.

It's never going to be more than that, which is what it's supposed to be. Hate it or enjoy it, it's entirely up to you, but if you don't like it, and you feel it's a waste of time and money, then don't keep repeating what you've always said.

Staying here and griping isn't solving anything, infact it's making things worse. This site is dedicated to helping PSO players and getting new players involved, just like the majority of you did when you first bought your copies of Vers 1 and 2 and teleported down to Ragol for the first time, we want others to experience that.

The nostalgia has wore off for alot of people, and thats fine, it happens to most things. But please, don't ruin it for those who have yet to even begin their hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of hours worth of fun in PSO.

If we can run through four areas repeatedly for upwards of 2k hours, why mar the experience for first time players? =)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ABDUR101 on 2002-11-11 20:56 ]</font>

pixelate
Nov 11, 2002, 11:44 PM
Yea, people will complain. People are lazy. Complaining doesn't lead to much of anything. Imagine the joy you could get out of something if you spent your time trying to enjoy it rather than bitching about flaws. Nothing's perfect; don't expect it to be. Learn to deal with flaws by doing something other than mouthing off.

For instance, when I was asked to be a mod, I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with what was wrong at PSOW. I didn't know if I wanted to spend time trying to clean up PSOW. Then I thought about all the people who do nothing but bitch and realized that not helping would drop me to their level. I've had an awesome year and a half here, and I wanted to see PSOW bring itself back up and past where it had been before. So instead of getting pissed about the state of PSOW and pointing the finger to place the blame elsewhere, I did what I could.

If you enjoy something, work at it to make it better. That's the only way you'll get something positive from it.

I feel like I've said this before.

And to add, I wish I could be online getting together with the members here. I'd love to be able to make it to upcoming gatherings and get some guild cards from people. Too bad I'm out of commission until around Christmas time.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: pixelate on 2002-11-11 20:49 ]</font>

RuneLateralus
Nov 12, 2002, 01:23 AM
I think Dangerous brough up the main reason why people complain here than on PSO...

Seriously, it all about how you want it to be experienced. People do not like something, what is the easiest thing to do? Bitch and complain. Instead of trying to get the most of it, they go for the easier answer.

God knows how many times I got cheated out on PSO version 1. However, I learned from the mistakes and tried to make the game more fun. I found a couple of communities to play with to make the game more fun,(although, I only really played with one...) and learned how to avoid what I thought were the problems with the game. It made the game a great time I had for great amount time (well, the number of hours were less than what most played it for, but it was more out of anything I played with in the last 3 years). So I tried to get the most out of the game after those little problems.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RuneLateralus on 2002-11-11 22:36 ]</font>

KodiaX987
Nov 12, 2002, 08:30 AM
To those who tried to use the lame excuse that this is a complaint about complaints: Find a less fuckheadish reason to bitch at Ophelia and then maybe I'll bother reading your posts.

BlackRose
Nov 12, 2002, 10:35 AM
In my experience, that's just the way people are. No sequel will be as good as the original, nothing will be good later. People say it about PSO, people say it about PSOW. And they say it about nearly everything else too.

DJ_Monkey
Nov 12, 2002, 04:29 PM
Okay, just putting my $0.02 in here.

People, if you want to complain about the game, by all means, do it. But, don't try to ruin the fun for those of us who want to play the game for what it is. I agree, Sega really fucked the launch this time, but I still think that the game is a damn fine one, and I don't care about the BSoD's, the seperation of Japanese and American servers, the small amount of rude people online(personally, I haven't met many rude people yet), and any of the other problems. I paid a good amount of money, and despite all these problems, I am still glad I forked over the 90+ dollars to play this game. I was only online with the DC version for 2 months, and I enjoyed that one. Now that I can be online with the GC version, I am still enjoying it. I played the DC versions to death, and I am playing this one as much as I can. I still find it fun.

Stop whining, and start playing. The pain goes away when you realize that, despite all the problems (every online will have them, EVEN FFXI), the game is still as fun as it ever was. When I find a rare item, I just forget about the BSOD, the large sum of money I paid to play it, the messed-up launch. Play the game...have fun.

As for you fanboys out there, STOP whining about the systems! It's not about the graphics memory, the processor, the amount of polygons the system can pump out every second...it's about the games. If you want to think that your GC is better than the Xbox, or vice versa, then go ahead. Just don't diss people who think different from you. And for those of you who think that Xbox Live is bad deal, here's what you get for 50 dollars: a whole year of service(which already makes the Xbox version of PSO cheaper than it's GC counterpart), a voice headset(which can probably make a keyboard seem less important IMO), and the most secure servers on the market(Microsoft may have problems with it's software, but it's gaming servers are no joke...MS's Gaming Zone has nearly no cheating, and when someone cheats, they are banned for life from the servers, no exceptions). 10 dollars a month after that first year, but that 10 dollars pays the fee for every game you own that can go online, which means that Star Wars Galaxies, PSO Ep. 1+2, and any other game that you would have to normally pay extra for would already be paid for.

LollipopLolita
Nov 12, 2002, 05:44 PM
yea, really what's the ophie bashing about? she has really good and valid points up there, and actually your bashing her solidifies her points. i give props to ophie for making this topic. it's a damn good topic, we should have more good topics damn it!

people should just play and enjoy the game, it's a game after all. people are always gripping about st this st that but come on. st is trying, but it seems nothing is ever good enough. maybe your expectations are running a bit too high. the game is still fun. sure it has its faults but come on now, bitching about it doesn't really get anywhere. yes there is constructive bitching and just plain ol bitching, but lately there's more of the latter going on in these boards.

with the atmosphere like it is now, new members won't want to sign up and post since they feel like everyone is so negative and putting down a game which they do enjoy.

so you've played it a million times and a million hours, you're bored yeah, there are still people there who are new to pso. don't kill it for them.

and don't kill the psow forums for them.

new members bring on fresh topics, fresh views and insight and new people for psow members to get to know and play with. it's a good thing we want to have.

it also makes it more daunting for the mods to do their job. oh boy more complaints, gee that's fun...

a board's atmosphere depends on its members not its mods. so what if we try to make it a better one huh?

Sedric
Nov 13, 2002, 02:12 AM
Bah! You all talk too much! Everybody, just shut up and play the game! Whacha doing here at forum, when you got free 30 days to burn! (Unless you're waiting for XBox version) Burn it! Buuuuuuuuuuuuurn it up!!! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Danger_Girl
Nov 13, 2002, 04:39 AM
We live in a noisey democracy. Its very aparent on the web, and PSOW no exception. Everyone has the right to carry on like a spoiled brat. Or in many cases have a legitimate beef with something. Another cool thing about our noisey democracy, is I don't have to listen to it. I don't have to read it, I don't have to be any part of it. God bless our right to piss and moan and bitch and whine. And just as improtantly, our right to ignore it, and our right to say shut up already.

Now about PSO and PSOW. I like the game alot. My only real complaint is the keyboard thing. Most the people I played with in version 1, I still play with now in ep2. Most of those people I met right here on these boards. People who post here I still enjoy gaming with. That hasn't changed from when I first started comming to these boards.
What has changed is the mood here. I can think of of things to blame, but in the end, it may have little to do with how PSOW is today. Complaining is just a small part of it. Maybe its just the evolution of a message board, I don't know. All I can really say for sure, is that there is a certain mood or vibe here thats just not what it used to be. But its still the premier PSO community on the web, so I come back.

Maybe Ophie is right, and the whole lot of everyones problems would be solved if you exercised your rights as memebers of our free market, and not buy Sega stuff any more. Then you will have no inferior games to complain about. As for me, I will exercise my right as a member of our noisey democracy by not listening, turning on my gamecube, and playing PSO. Happy hunting, see you on Ragol.





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Danger_Girl on 2002-11-13 01:41 ]</font>

Spy
Nov 13, 2002, 11:51 AM
Hehe.

The problem with democracies is that most everyone is all just talk; none of the complainers vote, so to speak. I'm sure that 45% of the people bitxhing and moaning don't even have PSO GC to start with, and everyone else plays for 4 or 5 hours before logging onto here to share what little pieces of their minds they have.

I am sick of hearing about the whole lack of a keyboard thing. The whole thing could have been nixed if people would have bought them in time, while they were still in stock. Thankfully, in-game, not many people have too much time to complain about that though.

DB
Nov 13, 2002, 04:25 PM
Let's see here... Alot of people that posted, have some good points. In fact, fro being me, I don't have alot to say on this subject. Ophelia had a good point. And I know how it is, playing with your friends and such, getting hyped up, every night just to go play. But, I never get my hopes up to high. It's all about expectations... And guess what, the unexpected happens, every day. Go and enjoy the game, quit complaining about its downfallings, and enjoy the savory parts of it. There is "always" a reason to complain over something. But, if you want to complain over a game, why don't you look n the mirror some time, and throw some complaints there, it might be more constructive. Instead, what do you do? You sit down in front of a video game, and notice it's flaws. And complain about them. In essence, you have no room to complain, for you have your own flaws as well. You want perfect? You go make yourself perfect, to "everyone", the whole universe. You can't, everyone has different opinions and ways to view things. Deal with it, it's part of life.

Ness
Nov 16, 2002, 02:09 PM
On 2002-11-11 19:23, Agent_Reav wrote:
So lemme get this straight... You are complaining about complainers? Wow. Alot of people here are pissed because, to be quite frank, PSO sucks the big one on Gamecube. I'm really glad you are happy to be screwed over with an inferior product and thanks to you we can always hope SEGA will treat Americans like garbage! Sho! Sho!



Well for someone who's trying to make Ophelia look bad, you sure did a good job at proving her right. You just agreed with her that fanboys are a problem here and I must say that OCCASIONALLY they are.

Like Agent_Reav here, there are many fanboys on this site, but as long as they keep quiet (which many usually do), you probabaly won't notice them.

I don't know how PSOW was when it began, but I've been here for abou 5 months and it doesn't seem that bad to me. And it could have been alot worst too. Just think about what PSOW would be like if Ambrai hadn't left.



Ophelia:
A long time ago, some wise person here once said: "Shut up and play the game!" I think that both the old and new communities could use another lesson in the ways of swallowing one's pride and just enjoying that game we know and love.


I believe it was Haterade that said such a thing. Exept it sounded more like " Shut the fuck up and play what you want!"