PSU's lack of the 'It' factor

[butzopower]

... or maybe it has too much "it" factor.

Before I start off, let me say that I'm very addicted to PSU and enjoy the gameplay very much. But holy shit is it missing something that PSO had.

A few minutes ago I was messing around with my personal settings on here and was looking at some of the old headers. Look at some of the old fan art, it REALLY hit me that PSU can not compare with the "tight" style that PSO had. Style wise, everything in PSO is very different, yet fits together in some unexplainable way. While PSU everything is either grossly similar or grossly out of place.

Try it yourself. Look at header1, header2, and header3. You have the RAmar with the sort of weird body armor and strange square collar. Next, you have the FOnewm with her wide, made up face, excited expression, and interesting accessories. Then the somewhat average looking HUmar who seems to be conveying animosity and maybe even sadness for whatever it is he has to do. All these characters give off a sort of anonymous appeal, that this is there job, (that you're not the ONLY hero).

It's not just the character designs, either. PSO's story was told through logs and through the struggles of pioneers who were never intended to set ground in the first place. It was a setting that developed, rather than a character. PSU, you follow around some twat generic character and his twat generic comrades on their twat generic sci-fi adventure.

And how about emotion, man. When Alys dies in Phantasy Star 4, it really hits you. And if you played any of the story of Episode III, you know what this series is capable of. So why is that in PSU, when the stupid ass doctor dies from some cliche nano virus I find myself saying, "thank fucking god I don't have to see him anymore".

I know, I know, PSU ISNT PSO, but... it is a Phantasy Star game. The earlier Phantasy Star games had style. PSO had style. PSU just reminds us all that this is a game made by Sonic Team (see Sonic Adventure style).

Blah, I guess I'll just go play Hundred Swords and be satisfied...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: butzopower on 2006-12-17 22:31 ]</font>

[butzopower]

Do I even need to make the point that almost every song sounds like it's from a Sonic Adventure game as well?

WHO the hell made this game?

(Though I guess you can't afford an orchestra for every game...)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: butzopower on 2006-12-17 22:35 ]</font>

[ABDUR101]

http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=130305&forum=11&3

Yup, I agree. I got to chapter five in the storymode and I just could'nt go any further, I could'nt take the cliche of everything. It was all just, well, absurdly mind numbing to play, I could'nt relate to the characters, and everything seemed really out of place and just tossed in for the "in the moment-way to kill time and make it look like effort was made."

Personally, too often in the game did I get ripped out of what I was doing, but some stupid pop-up cut-in conversation that makes you stop and read through everything. I'd have preferred a decent cutscene as opposed to making me read through a page worth of conversation. Most often it was all angsty or stupid conversations anyway.

Honestly, I don't even think teenagers who play this game could relate to the "wanna-be badass hero" that Ethan kept trying to be. Too much angst, I was expecting him to slit his wrists or eat a bullet, or even sit atop a clocktower and shoot people; and a part of me was hoping he did so I could take on a better character role. Oh wait, there weren't any! Not a single character that I could see and go "Thats a pretty cool character."

Inconsistency too. Casts are supposed to be logical and unfeeling, thats where the racism comes from on Parum. Well then how come Maya or whoever manages to seduce a Cast? Sure, breasts the size of watermelons(gee another cliche'd character!), but I don't think Casts are really going to care.

Just alot of silly things. And it's not like they spent all their time coding the game to be so excellent, or making amazing textures, because everything is very mediocre. Textures, coding, graphics, they could'nt even handle the story.

Sure, it's primarily an online game, but you know what, so was PSO and atleast that story had tid-bits much like breadcrumbs, and guess what, WE WERE ALWAYS HUNGRY FOR THE NEXT CRUMB! They could have just ignored all the Ethan bullshit, let you create your own character ala PSO and go through the game as a voiceless character that you COULD atleast relate to, because it did'nt say anything, it did whatever came up, and you did it because YOU wanted to.

Every action sequence, they could have put your character in it, no voice, no text, you just react to what others say and do and in the end it would have been more interesting and less mind numbing than putting up with Ethan Wanna-ber.

Would'nt have even needed "Extra" mode, it would have all been one nice package. Want to advance in the game? Do the main-quests, want to just lvl up your character? Do some side quests. As it is now, you have to muck through the story just to get everything unlocked for Extra-mode, and by the time you do that, do you even FEEL like going through Extra mode? Doesn't that feel redundant? I'd have rather taken my own, voiceless character through storymode, would have enjoyed it alot more than enduring Ethan Whiner.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ABDUR101 on 2006-12-17 22:55 ]</font>

[butzopower]

I almost wonder if PSU's offline being ruined by there being party members with you. PSO (Episodes I - III at least, never played IV) gave you a sense of aloneness, sort of like a Metroid game. You were following people who went alone to figure out the truth and learn the story as they became corrupted by the immense power of darkness. Even in Episode III where there were team battles and you were usually facing other people, the final plunge against the darkness was done by yourself.

I know that's really Phantasy Star-esque, but I think there was something to it.

[PJ]

On 2006-12-17 22:34, butzopower wrote:
Do I even need to make the point that almost every song sounds like it's from a Sonic Adventure game as well?


I LOVED how the Moatoob Mountains sounded like you came STRAIGHT out of Knuckles Red Mountain Stage. PSU has GREAT music.

Weird. At first people complained that PSO had no Story. Now people like the, "Bit by bit," set up?

That thing took like 5 years and STILL didn't finish. I mean, I liked what story PSO had too, but just not... to say it had a better one than PSU.

[Sinue_v2]

We wanted an offline storyline mode. We got one. Honestly, did anyone REALLY think Sonic Team was up to the task? What we should have been asking for, is a offline storyline mode by Rieko Kodama and Tohru Yoshida. They've proven time and time again through the previous games in the series - as well as modern classics like Skies of Arcadia, that they ARE up to the task. Have them handle the art design as well.

But oh well... on a side note, the storyline isn't nearly as painful the second time through.

And honestly.. damnit... was Ethan REALLY any worse than CHAZ?!?

[butzopower]

I, personally, never complained about the bit by bit story, and totally embraced it. I really liked how everything moved through quests. Granted, it is sort of convoluted the first time through. Look back on some of those logs, and some of the text dumps and maybe the story will make a little sense.

And anyone who complains about the series not having character development and the like, DID NOT play Episode III.

Compared to a lot of games PSU has alright music, but when compared to the PSO series and PS4, the music is total crap. The only thing I've found standable so far is the music in Lab Recovery. Otherwise it's awful power chords or solos on a spanish guitar.

I guess I'm just bothered by the fact that over the 5 or 6 different versions of PSO, Sonic Team managed to maintain a sort of quality that few games had (in everything but the coding http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif), whereas this has dropped substantially to the quality of, as I said before, a Sonic Adventure game.

[drizzle]

The thing that gets me the most is how the heroes in these games are always kids. 17 year old? wtf go back to school http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif
Still this one's better than 16 year old Chaz though http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[butzopower]

Everyone's focused on this main character...

Sure Ethan and Chaz are equivalent in being bothersome, but PS4 (and the other PS games) had characters to make up for it. PSU has twat dates-too-much, twat blue-haired-girlfriend, and twat-titties.

Games these days? That's how it's been for the past... 15 years?

[zimmk2vgc]

On 2006-12-18 11:49, butzopower wrote:

Compared to a lot of games PSU has alright music, but when compared to the PSO series and PS4, the music is total crap. The only thing I've found standable so far is the music in Lab Recovery. Otherwise it's awful power chords or solos on a spanish guitar.




Personally - I think that it is absolutely awesome!

[Ruby-chan]

On 2006-12-18 07:31, Sinue_v2 wrote:
What we should have been asking for, is a offline storyline mode by Rieko Kodama and Tohru Yoshida.


I'm still convinced that Sega has them locked in a room somewhere trying to clone them or turn them into robots or something.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

The original post has started an internal conflict that is hurting my brain. I could not agree more, and I could not disagree more...vive la difference I guess...

[Careful]

To much stuff going on in the story mode. I gotta save my sister! I have no feelings http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif I want to become a guardian like you! http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Look at me im some eye candy who is smart to... Hey how you doing? May the divine light be with you. Don't hurt my dads cow! I know the truth. I understand, let us be on our way. I hate my grandpa! Don't talk to me. *Dies instantly* My pupils.

[butzopower]

On 2006-12-18 20:03, Fleur-de-Lis wrote:
The original post has started an internal conflict that is hurting my brain. I could not agree more, and I could not disagree more...vive la difference I guess...



I wrote it and that's the response my brain gives, so imagine how I feel...

How much is it nostalgia... how much is it actually PSU not having something. I think what makes it hard is that I can't exactly quantify what made PSO sooooo good/interesting.

[Bleemo]

On 2006-12-18 22:40, butzopower wrote:
I wrote it and that's the response my brain gives, so imagine how I feel...

How much is it nostalgia... how much is it actually PSU not having something. I think what makes it hard is that I can't exactly quantify what made PSO sooooo good/interesting.
This is my opinion on the matter:

I believe the lack of "it" factor PSU has, quite simply, is the lack of clear goal. The lack of something to ultimately do.

Let's begin listing the goals possible in PSU:


1) Grinding to level 60+.

Quite a long grind indeed. However, there is nothing waiting for you at endgame. All of that effort will only merit you one true benefit, which is simply better kill ratio.


2) Farming. Have to get those amazing rares!

"Rares" in PSU are an utter JOKE compared to PSO's itemization. The rare items here are not only weaker than grinded B ranks, harder to find, much less in abundance, and have very low actual success rate in crafting them, they are very limited in use due to needing an arsenal of weapons, especially if a 38% dark Mukfet will do loads more damage against dark monsters than your 14% dark new leet S rank weapon.


3) Raising a PM. Synthing gives lots of money, and can craft my weapons!

It's obvious to craft your weapons, but money in this game will only really be used for three things: getting higher elemental % weapons, raising another PM, or equipping an alt. There is virtually nothing other than this to spend money on. Nothing interesting, just these basic things.


4) Raising PA/bullet/tech levels, and your PM's battle level. What else is there to do to kill time?

Most games have a certain skill that is needed to level. However, grounds for leveling these are virtually the same as leveling to 60, but take longer to cap everything. It simply adds to your kill ratio. Later, we get nifty new PA's, techs, and bullets. But, no matter what anyone really says, that will do nothing to change the current entertainment PSU's provides.


PSO didn't have much in terms of content, especially not as much as PSU. PSO, as I have stated before, is also six years old and it's chemistry worked well back when we only had Everquest and Diablo 2 as online RPG's. However, that doesn't defeat the point that PSO actually had a fundamental goal, and that was clearly itemization. There was always something to hunt, or to find. It was about how many rare items you could find, and what rare items you could find. This didn't get old because it was fun and exciting to find all of these rare items, and for them to actually be very useful. Sega began to add special combos for weapons, special abilities for these weapons, looks, and always added more and more items.

This was the chemistry of PSO; the "it" factor, in my opinion. PSU has no chemistry. It feels, quite simply, like you're running around in circles.

[Sinue_v2]

However, that doesn't defeat the point that PSO actually had a fundamental goal, and that was clearly itemization.

Itemisation has NEVER been a goal of mine in PSO/PSU. I've never had this same dread facination with "ZOMGRARZ!" that everyone else seemed to have. It's like many people were crippled from playing the game entirely unless they had a rare... and not only that, it had to be a "elite" rare like the TJ, Spread Needle, or Pyscho Wand.

Perhaps, PSU is simply just not meeting up with YOUR goals. Perhapse PSU simply just doesn't have the same "Itemisation" goal that PSO had - and thus, when those who wanted itemisation migrated over - they felt at a loss. I, however, am in it for the storyline. Even if it's a bad storyline... that's what I enjoy most about it. I want to be a decent level, with decent gear, so that I can tackles these quests more easily.

I also enjoy playing the game, simply for the gameplay. I don't need a goal to go into an area and blast everything within my line of fire with Status Effect bullets, poke them with my Durandal, or my favorite - keeping my party healthy and well buffed so that they can move quickly and efficently through the areas. The actual combat mechanics of this game are still quite good, even without the "IT" factor.

Honestly, the only "IT" factor I really see Phantasy Star Universe lacking is a clear sence of inspiration and art direction (on many levels, design, writing, music, ect). It looks and sounds like, exactly what it is - a project a bunch of people drug themselves out of bed one day and came to work to complete so they could collect a paycheck. Again.. this could easily be remedied on my end of the spectrum by simply bringing Rieko and Tohru back. Skies of Arcadia proved that she still has what it takes to "Wow" me and create a game with a lot of soul behind it. That's what PSU is missing to me.

[Kevino]

i dunno because i've never played psu but from what i read it dont sound too interesting. but then again the story pso had was ... too short and there were 2 of them that i can remember. and then something like sub stories. although i did kind of like the dr.montegue stuff.

[Bleemo]

On 2006-12-19 03:04, Sinue_v2 wrote:
Itemisation has NEVER been a goal of mine in PSO
Most online/MMORPG's have a standard goal they all really relate to, and that would be what we call, universally, "loot". It's seen in just about every online/MMORPG to date. PSO followed this same route. Loot is solid progression point. There is always more to get, you can't get enough of it, and the more you have the stronger your character is.

It's pretty evident just looking at the most successful MMORPG's currently released. Everything in most of them are based around loot and some sort of character progression system at endgame. I'm throwing World of Warcraft out as an example: upon reaching endgame there is an utter load of "content" that if played merits an utter load of "loot". Depending on the "content" that is played, depends on the rarity of "loot" you find. The whole point is to get this "loot" so you can play more "content" in order to get more "loot". Again, this can be seen in just about every online/MMORPG. This is what drives the majority players of an online/MMORPG to continue playing the actual game.

PSU is severely lacking in this section, making it lack a fundamental key in order to make an online/MMORPG successful. PSU's loot is quite simply pathetic. As I described in my previous post, there is no reason to even hunt for these items. Hidden, but I believe loot is a key cause as to why so many players left, and players lose interest.

Some people don't play for loot, but for the majority of players, even when they don't realize it, play for a solid goal(Especially after endgame.) and that is to further progress their character with loot.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Bleemo on 2006-12-19 08:56 ]</font>

[Sinue_v2]

Some people don't play for loot, but for the majority of players, even when they don't realize it, play for a solid goal(Especially after endgame.) and that is to further progress their character with loot.

Well that was a wasted post. You didn't have to reitterate your point, because reguardless of how many people do play the game for that goal - I'm not one of them. My post reflected that lack of the "It" factor as I see it, as it applies to me. And I'm sure I'm not the only one...

Honestly, hunting for rares was a dispicable thing in PSO. Hours upon hours of mind-numbing tedium just for the split second elation of finding the item - and the going back to mind numbing tedium hunting for the next rare. And that's if you play solo. Playing in a party, many times, would see that "rare" ganked out from under you without a proper loot system to distribute the items. Usually by some duper jackass who already has a stack of the rares he just picked up with better stats.

Speaking of which.. that does prove a bit of the point that not everyone was into PSO simply because of the itemisation. Dupers had access, and made sure everyone else had access, to basically every single item in the game - and even unreleased items. Once you have every item in the game, where's the point in hunting for rare weapons and itemisation? When you're already at the top, what's there to keep you continuing?

Many people just liked the concept of hanging out with friends and killing monsters. Even without the rares, PSU provides this in spades. The only difference is now, it's not as much of a social atmosphere since (while PSU is still quite easy) it requires a lot more effort on the part of the player than PSO did.

[Bleemo]

On 2006-12-19 10:04, Sinue_v2 wrote:
Speaking of which.. that does prove a bit of the point that not everyone was into PSO simply because of the itemisation. Dupers had access, and made sure everyone else had access, to basically every single item in the game - and even unreleased items. Once you have every item in the game, where's the point in hunting for rare weapons and itemisation? When you're already at the top, what's there to keep you continuing?

Many people just liked the concept of hanging out with friends and killing monsters. Even without the rares, PSU provides this in spades. The only difference is now, it's not as much of a social atmosphere since (while PSU is still quite easy) it requires a lot more effort on the part of the player than PSO did.
The point isn't necessarily to find these items, it's to have them. Many players played to simply have these items, one way or another, even if they were duped/hacked/whatever.

Not everyone plays a game for one specific reason, but most will play a game for the reason Sega designs the game around. Sega clearly had itemization in mind as being a fundamental goal players will seek to achieve, because everything else was simply leading up to rare hunting, looking at it from a progression standpoint. Unfortunately, online/MMORPG's will not be "successful" if they design their game as just another way to hang out with your online friends. The JP know this well, just look at their stereotypical roleplaying games(Including online.). Everything is mainly about progression and grinding to the top.

But, if you notice, PSO was only a "popular" online RPG just before hacking got out of hand. Once hacking peaked in V2, PSO's popularity plummeted throwing the game down the ranks of a budget online RPG. The game itself, even before PSU, was an unpopular RPG. It didn't have hardly a player base compared to successful online RPG's, it pretty much just consisted of one, small community. This was due to rare items no longer being rare, and the game's reason for progression was lost. The reasons for PSO:BB's unpopularity was simply that it was outdated and not advertised enough.

I speak of unpopularity in an economic sense, comparing it to other successes. Usually when players seek to play an online RPG, they expect there to be some goal for them to achieve in the game they choose. When they learn PSU has no solid goal, they become uninterested and leave. Some people get their fun from simply playing with friends, but unfortunately time has shown that most online gamers don't share that mindset, and that most is where the money lies.

PSU is falling further and further down the western market because of many reasons, some of which I have listed earlier. It, quite honestly, is saddening to see such potential lost due to incompetency of a design team.

[Alielle]

OP could've come straight out of my mouth, if I wasn't so apathetic and tired of talking about it.

PSU's style doesn't hold a candle to PSO, at all.

[ShinMaruku]

The only good damn thing Sonic Team can do is put some subcontext in their games and yet they did nothing of the sort in this. Atleast in them damn Sonic games I can see the DBZ knockoffs the Shadow is ST's concept of black people.... Rouge is a tube top wear..... you get the picture. What I always suggest to these bastards is hire tlaent form Sega or hire a real damn writer and make him help constuct a story with ya rather than the crack inspired Anime rape fests....
Now that's just the story. The demand they get for wanting one to pay them for online is another crime they hatched seriously after these sets of fuck ups Sopnic Team needs reshuffling all the main dudes from the Genisis era can stay but all the other fuckers need out. We need a new Sonic Team. Sega be like Eidos and like when Core wasen't kickin it, dash the the fucks away.

[IceBurner]

Perhaps it's the lack of ambient sounds, background scenery beyond a skybox, uniquely modeled "rooms" in playing stages, and lighting aside from the ambient and global directional light? Is strafing and more freedom of movement any better when collision detection is now affected by lag, enemy attack hitboxes are always bigger than what's visible, and both enemy melee and magic "home" in on their targets? The few improvements in PSU lose their luster rather quickly in light of the surprising number of steps back. While one could say this simplifies some of the technical problems in PSO there are too many areas where this falls flat as a shallow and obvious excuse for serious under-achievement.

Even the long-overdue word wrap feature finally introduced in PSOBB didn't make it to PSU. Why do average games of today typically strive for more than PSU, even if they don't quite reach the goal or achieve it badly?

There's one reason I play, and it's the community. PSO isn't going to get it back, and PSU has it. However PSU does lack something ... many things. Unlike the 2,000 hours it took for me to become tired of soloing in PSO, I'm tired of solo PSU after only a hundred or so hours. I may never be able to say exactly why, but I've been trying http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[HUnewearl_Meira]

On 2006-12-17 22:34, butzopower wrote:
Do I even need to make the point that almost every song sounds like it's from a Sonic Adventure game as well?

WHO the hell made this game?



*cough*http://www.pso-world.com/images/st.jpg*cough*




On 2006-12-18 12:17, drizzle wrote:
The thing that gets me the most is how the heroes in these games are always kids. 17 year old? wtf go back to school http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



Actually, all the heroes in Phantasy Star games have been orphans (with the possible exception of Phantasy Star III, depending on which 3rd generation you ended up with). For example, Alis' parents were long since dead (she was being raised mostly by her "brother", Nero), Rolf's parents were killed in an "accident" with a starship heading outside of the Algol solar system, and I'm sure we're all aware that Chaz' parents were somehow missing, as he was being raised by Alys, who is of no relation to him. Meanwhile, Aron, of Phantasy Star 3, loses his home to the moon being destroyed, which they were unfortunately living on at the time.

[butzopower]

Yes, but I don't think the same exact people making the Sonic games were the same exact people who made PSO. Hence why they felt different before (Sonic VS PSO), but now have a lot of the same media (music style, lack of character design, overall annoyance of retarded cut scenes, voice actors). Wait a second. My bad, these are just all the flaws of modern games.

[Alisha]

im sure some wont agree but one thing i dont like about psu is the you scratch my back ill scratch yours style of teamwork. in pso each class just kind of did its own thing and by doing so you were inadvertantly supporting your team mates. now you have to put supporting your team mates above all else. i absolutely abhor how rangers play in psu. another thing i miss is the lack of identity. i miss thedays when i could tell what someone was just by looking at them.

[butzopower]

Yea, there's something I didn't completely find as interesting about the whole system, either. Rangers should be able to play multiple roles besides SEing. There should be nonelemental bullets that do more damage and have more accuracy then the other bullets. But, then I guess there'd be no reason to not have a bullet equipped, though players are going to want to level up some sort of skill. I don't know, SE just feels like a forced job. Balance the game, yes, but don't balance it by making the character only have a single purpose.

While I like the teamwork brought about through S-Ranking missions by not letting a team member fall, it feels like forced teamwork. Though, I guess that's the only way you are going to get people to work together. Otherwise, you just solo.

[ShinMaruku]

On 2006-12-22 01:18, butzopower wrote:
Yes, but I don't think the same exact people making the Sonic games were the same exact people who made PSO. Hence why they felt different before (Sonic VS PSO), but now have a lot of the same media (music style, lack of character design, overall annoyance of retarded cut scenes, voice actors). Wait a second. My bad, these are just all the flaws of modern games.


It's the same people. Both this iteration and PSU are shit. Could have been better but nah and then the saem bullshit decisions and the like. If you want better games you have to kill or remove the current team. Elitist bastards not worth the money going into their hands.
Capcom should get it... Then we see Ethan do some DBZ level shit and go over board...

[Alisha]

On 2006-12-22 19:45, ShinMaruku wrote:

On 2006-12-22 01:18, butzopower wrote:
Yes, but I don't think the same exact people making the Sonic games were the same exact people who made PSO. Hence why they felt different before (Sonic VS PSO), but now have a lot of the same media (music style, lack of character design, overall annoyance of retarded cut scenes, voice actors). Wait a second. My bad, these are just all the flaws of modern games.


It's the same people. Both this iteration and PSU are shit. Could have been better but nah and then the saem bullshit decisions and the like. If you want better games you have to kill or remove the current team. Elitist bastards not worth the money going into their hands.
Capcom should get it... Then we see Ethan do some DBZ level shit and go over board...



no... most sonic games are made by sonic team usa. to my knowlage the last sonic game made by sonic team japan was sonic adventure 2.

[butzopower]

Well obviously whatever sect did the old SA games did PSU. I'm sure there've been all sorts of staff changes in between SEGA going third party, and teams banding and disbanding left and right. Oh well, when it comes to video games, the good old days don't necessarily have to die.

As far as Capcom goes, have you played Monster Hunter? I'd say that is actually a pretty interesting piece of work. Not without it's flaws, but definitely an experience that gives off a certain appeal that PSO had. Maybe it's the way you almost fall down when you swing the sword that's twice your character's size.

[Sgt_Shligger]

When I think about it, PSU may seem better then PSO if PSU came out first.

The thing is, PSU didn't introduce new things. Change the gameplay mechanics, added new weapons, and other things. The story. . . I liked it. It wasn't bad. Just a generic story, nothing special.

PSO. . . You struggled to "find" the story. What makes PSO's story and PSO in general so great is that they developers left so much out. You're left to figure it out and you're the one who fills in the blanks.

PSU's music is really bad. . . I love the PSO music and I have tons of it on my PC. PSU not so much. Seabed music, outstanding. Some of the Linear Line music, good. The rest is pretty bad. PSO's music had an ambiance to it. It didn't drive you crazy.

Also, PSO had a more "party friendly" system. Go to universe one and see what happens when you die on your team. People are complete dicks. It gives purpose to surviving a mission but at the same time, it ruins it.

PSU needs more rare weapons. Sure, you can get "custom" weapons that you make yourself or bartered for but that's not the same. Rare weapons in PSU are just modified versions of your standard weapons. PSO's rare weapons were twisted and warped versions of your weapons. . . You could barely tell what a Final Impact was.

All in all, I'd say PSU is more fun to play but sacrificed its story. Again, PSO's story was amazing since it was so open. You were the one doing all the work and it had a real purpose. I have yet to hear why Guardians have to purge the Gurhal star system of all non-humanoid life.

[Schubalts]

I have one thing to add:

Y HALO THAR OPINION!

[ShinMaruku]

On 2006-12-23 00:17, Alisha wrote:

On 2006-12-22 19:45, ShinMaruku wrote:

On 2006-12-22 01:18, butzopower wrote:
Yes, but I don't think the same exact people making the Sonic games were the same exact people who made PSO. Hence why they felt different before (Sonic VS PSO), but now have a lot of the same media (music style, lack of character design, overall annoyance of retarded cut scenes, voice actors). Wait a second. My bad, these are just all the flaws of modern games.


It's the same people. Both this iteration and PSU are shit. Could have been better but nah and then the saem bullshit decisions and the like. If you want better games you have to kill or remove the current team. Elitist bastards not worth the money going into their hands.
Capcom should get it... Then we see Ethan do some DBZ level shit and go over board...



no... most sonic games are made by sonic team usa. to my knowlage the last sonic game made by sonic team japan was sonic adventure 2.


Sonic Team USA is part of that whole set who made SA2 so it's sstill the same guys, if were not think they'd let Sonic slip?

[Nai_Calus]

QFEing most of the thread without actually quoting.

Whatever it was PSO had, PSU doesn't have it for me. It may very well be the character dichotomy - I don't care enough about Ethan & co to suffer through their stories and after finishing chapter 7 never did start chapter 8. And since I have dialup and no interest in going online, that leaves Extra mode... Which is utterly pointless. :-/ It's story mode without any story at all.

PSO's 'story mode' had your own character going through and doing things. The story was there for you to discover or not depending on your tastes. If you just wanted to kill shit, you never needed to read a single message pod or do a single offline quest; you could just button mash through talking to Tyrell at the end of each area and continue. Or you could do the full set of quests, the subplots, read everything, piece things together on your own. PSO never just gave you what was going on in a handy convenient cutscene that explained everything - Even quests like Seat of the Heart, you still had to know some things from the story to make sense of things. It's not going to make much sense in some dialogue if, for example, you've never played Knowing One's Heart to know WHY Elly and Calus have feelings for eachother in the first place.

PSU just kind of shoves things at you and you're not really ever given a reason to care. I mean... When Nei dies in PSII, or Alys in PSIV, you care. They were major party members. Nei's story is tragic, Alys was the main character's mentor and an amusing member of the party. When Mirei dies... Uh, we hardly knew ye? Bye? And ST's questionable decision to have her look so similar to Nei ripped me out of caring further, and actually pissed me off. It just... Doesn't work.

Heh, people are comparing Ethan to Chaz here, but if you ask me Chaz was actually more mature than Ethan. Chaz at his most childish still feels like less of a stupid prat than Ethan.

So yeah, that pointless extra mode. Uh... I get to level my own characters! ...In the same environments I was just in playing story mode, except with even less point. Uh... Practice for online? ...Nope, characters don't carry over and the stats aren't even close to the same, nor are class abilities.

Uh... Online! Yeah, that oughta be great! Except unlike PSO you can't use dialup, which excludes a still significant portion of the population who aren't in urban/swanky suburban flatland areas. Ask me how available broadband is in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. Oh yeah, it isn't. >_> And whoops, apparently it isn't any better than PSO's. And whoops, reading the fanboy wank on the board sure makes it look like the community is shit if these are the people you're dealing with.

...Which leaves us with not much. Except stale environments that could have come from any damned game, questionable character design and music I personally find exceedingly bland. There isn't a track I've encountered yet that I'd listen to outside of the game. Half of PSO's soundtrack, most of PSIV's, most of PSII's and most of PSI's are on my playlist. But not a single PSU track.

We've established that I'm a PSO nut and a fan of the original PS games, so it's clearly not that I hate PS.

I really hate being right sometimes, you know that? I thought before PSU came out that there were a lot of things that I wouldn't like at all. All of them... I haven't liked at all. It's not like I didn't give it a chance, I bought it, I played it, I wanted it to surprise me and give me the same reaction I had to PSO, which I also thought I'd hate. But... No dice.

And this isn't even going into the gameplay mechanics which are a whole other layer of bleh... Yeah. PSU just kind of... Really fails for me. I'll leave it for a while and come back to it and maybe I'll like it better, but for now? Eh.

[CupOfCoffee]

Not to stray completely off-topic, but Ian, if you want to try PSU online, there's a trick to using a dial up connection. I was doing it at school when the dorm broadband couldn't get past PS2's DNAS stuff. If you're interested you can PM me and I'll try to explain it to you.

On topic, I feel pretty much the same way as most of this thread. PSU, while not completely unappealing to me, simply didn't impress. I never walked away still thinking about the game or the atmosphere or how fresh and interesting and fun PSU feels, which is something I often felt after playing PSO. I don't like synthing as much as finding rares, I don't like PSU's bland and economical rares as much as PSO's stylish and personality-filled rares, and I don't like the art direction at all. Grr. I don't feel sorry for saying any of this, though, because I really did give PSU a chance, and it just really didn't stick. No biggie, I guess. Not like I have a lot of time to be spending on games these days anyway.

[etlitch]

On 2006-12-22 02:05, Alisha wrote:
teamworkwhat? I thought you posted that you're using dual claws?

[-Shimarisu-]

On 2006-12-22 02:05, Alisha wrote:
im sure some wont agree but one thing i dont like about psu is the you scratch my back ill scratch yours style of teamwork. in pso each class just kind of did its own thing and by doing so you were inadvertantly supporting your team mates. now you have to put supporting your team mates above all else. i absolutely abhor how rangers play in psu. another thing i miss is the lack of identity. i miss thedays when i could tell what someone was just by looking at them.



I fucking love the teamwork in PSU, love how rangers play, love the whole game and yes, I think it's a vast improvement on PSO.

PSO sucks in comparision.

Just to rain on the self-pity parade.

[Solstis]

PSO sucks in comparison to a lot of things. At least it was free for a while. Now, as for PSU, I probably could have eaten well for a week and a half. Food > PSU.

The people that love PSU have fallen into a cliche, or don't mind soloing/dualing. When I'm playing EVE and I'm all alone I think: "Wow, there's no one out in this patch of space." When I play PSU and I'm sitting in an empty Universe 15 lobby I think: "Hey, time to cancel my account." Then I did.

I can see why people like PSU. I mean, hey, it's got

[Alielle]

One good thing PSU has going for it is that it helps me appreciate PSO from a new perspective.

[-Shimarisu-]

On 2007-01-04 14:07, Solstis wrote:
PSO sucks in comparison to a lot of things. At least it was free for a while. Now, as for PSU, I probably could have eaten well for a week and a half. Food > PSU.


You can eat well for a week and a half on the cost of PSU, or the HL?

Either way, where do you live? Because it ain't anywhere in the modern world.

[Solstis]

$70 at the grocery store? Though my definition of "well" might be different.

Also, assuming that a person, say, has stores of food in the freezer, a sudden budgetary increase of $70 would allow that person to eat out more often. Now, if you have no refridgerator, no cooking utensils, and spend all of your money on videogames... er... Dollar Menu?

I spend about $30-40 at the grocery store weekly. If I really needed to, I could spend less, but I like having room to splurge (up to $50, and I still have that hypothetical $20) Are the prices drastically marked up in Japan?

Bluh bluh bluh, mass edits.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Solstis on 2007-01-04 16:07 ]</font>

[Mwabwetumba]

Wierd thing really..
I started playing online on the 24th of November, met a bunch of great(!) people that I played with almost daily, and just generally enjoyed PSU alot.
Then, on the 21st of December, when I woke up, I felt absolutely NO desire whatsoever to play it at all.
And so has it been for the past three weeks.
On christmas eve, for old times sake, I made a run through Seabed with my FOmar.
After that, I was hooked on PSO once again.
I've got parts of the old PSO crew back together again, and we play about 2-3 times a week.
And I love it more then ever before.

PSU made me appreciate PSO so much more.
Just a shame that I won't play with all the cool people I met on PSU http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

I mean, at first I loved the combat system in PSU.
Smoother movements, strafing, dual wielding.. but that was just superficial.
After a month of playing PSU quite vigorously(sp?), I got past all those shiny things that seemed oh-so-cool and awesome, and under that..I found nothing.

PSO was the other way around.
At first it seemed really wierd and uncomfortable, but I gave it a chance.
I was almost about to give up on it when I played through Seabed on normal with a higher leveled pal.
After seeing Olga Flow for the first time, my addiction for PSO grew, as I had found something I thought was cool.
Today I love it, everything about it.
Even the greatest flaws seems negligable, for I love the core.

Like the way I play with my friends on PSO offline splitscreen..
It's every man/woman for him/herself.
We all run around in different areas on the map, sometimes trying to get each other killed by leading ranged attacks or charging enemies into the others, sometimes denying assistance and just being general assholes.
Especially when we decide to take on Vol opt in his second form:P

I dont think that would be such a smash hit on PSU:/
.......
Wow, that became longer than I originally planned!

Oh ofcourse, all I wrote is In My Opinion.

Edit: Whoops, forgot one of the most important things..Offline multiplayer!
This is what gives PSO pracitcally eternal life, whereas PSUs offline is so stupidly easy http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mwabwetumba on 2007-01-04 16:01 ]</font>