Newman: Various Newbie Questions!

[Pomale]

Hello! I just purchased PSU today, and I had some questions about online play. I have been playing the Story Mode for a bit to see how I like the battle system and such, and so far I find it pretty nice. However before I jump into online play for $9.99 a month (with no trial--how disappointing) I had a few questions about it:

1) Do you move faster in online play? The main character along with everyone else moves like a SNAIL. This factor alone is one of the big reasons I'm wary of online play (and I play FFXI, which has notoriously slow movement).

2) How's the community? I know every battle area is instanced, so when you go into one of the "main cities" are there still many people to interact with or are they barren?

3) Is it newbie friendly? That is, if I go into the game will I be completely lost and be unable to find anyone to help me?

4) Is it party-oriented or does everyone prefer to play by themselves? If it revolves around parties...will it be relatively easy for me to find a party at low level? If not, when do normal parties begin?

5) LAG. I have a high end computer (relatively speaking; I can play Half-Life 2 on full settings perfectly) and the main game lags like you wouldn't believe during battle. Does the online play suffer from this unfortunate affliction?

6) What is the game's longevity? Every MMORPG has a point at which there is a pause in things to do--and with this being a relatively new game, there probably isn't a plethora of content. At what point does the game come to a standstill, and approximately how long will it take to reach?

Thanks in advance for any answers http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif I'm eager to play online, and I hope to see you all on very soon!

[ChocoboChad]

Uno) Nope, same speed.
Dos) There's really not a ton of people, but I like that.
Tres) You'll probably find someone to help you out. There's the good, and the bad. o_O
Quatro) Yus, party mostly. Some solo at higher levels for items/money. You'll probably start off solo'ing the first couple hours, but that's not too bad.
Cinco) Never really seen lag, but slowdown occasionally.
Seis) Uh, prolly around 200 hours?





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ChocoboChad on 2006-12-13 17:06 ]</font>

[Gamemako]

1. Turn down your graphics settings if you move slowly. Ten bucks says you're lagging. Frameskip is your friend.
2. I play on Uni 15, which is more tight-nit (PSOW community adopted it). Universe 1 is filled with people like other MMOs, but it suffers from the same problems: they're mostly 12-year-old douchebags who just figured out that the internet offers anonymity.
3. You can always find people to help, but it's really not all that nub-friendly. Just ask people here for help.
4. Parties if you ever want to get anywhere. Solo if you hate yourself.
5. There's real lag online, not graphics lag. Turn down your settings.
6. Depends on how much you do. Theoretically speaking, 1200 hours if you want to get 4 chars to two level 10 expert classes each. But I pity the fool who does.

[Pomale]

Holy crap, Gamemako. You must be my guardian angel! I changed all the graphics to Normal and Frameskip 1...and everything moves perfectly! You've no idea how happy that makes me, thank you http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif