i am new and just have some basic questions

[Lord_Data]

i am thinking about getting this game for gamecube and my first very large question is is pso ok single player? everywhere i go the stores tell me the modem/broadband adapters have been discontinued...so i will only have sp until it either comes out for xbox or the adpters are released again...second am i being lied to about the adapters? is there somewhere i can get one? if so great please let me know that would be killer...next is there a release date for xbox yet? if it is in the near future i might just get it for my xbox...

then i am just curious how single player compares to games like final fantasy or kingdom hearts or evolution worlds...things like that...i hear really good stuff but i always worry about buying new games and i like to get as much info as possible

anyhow any help on these questions or anything else you might like to say about stuff in general is much appreciated thanks in advance

[Sunaj]

On 2002-12-22 22:39, Lord_Data wrote:
i am thinking about getting this game for gamecube and my first very large question is is pso ok single player? everywhere i go the stores tell me the modem/broadband adapters have been discontinued...so i will only have sp until it either comes out for xbox or the adpters are released again...second am i being lied to about the adapters? is there somewhere i can get one? if so great please let me know that would be killer...next is there a release date for xbox yet? if it is in the near future i might just get it for my xbox...

then i am just curious how single player compares to games like final fantasy or kingdom hearts or evolution worlds...things like that...i hear really good stuff but i always worry about buying new games and i like to get as much info as possible

anyhow any help on these questions or anything else you might like to say about stuff in general is much appreciated thanks in advance

1. PSO is crap-good offline, dependingly on who you ask. It was mainly designed to be a Online game and it shows, there's about 12 levels offline, not including 25 quests, but the story is done mainly through quests, and a few cutscenes and optional items in each level.
It ultimately doesn't compare to an FF, KH, Evolution, Grandia, Lunar, Skies etc. OFFLINE, but online is one of the most addictive things ever. Something like KH or Grandia 2 I beat in about 30 hours, had some fun, but I've put over 1400 hours into the different PSO versions, and many of the people here have too.

2. You've been partially lied to about the adapters. What happens when any product is NOT actively shipping, it just plain shows up as "discontinued" which is why games like Rez or JSRF are called discontinued while they technically weren't. Nintendo is not stopping production of something they went into some effort to effortlessly intergrate into the GC after a month, so expect more adapters soon.
What DID happen is Nintendo greatly underestimated the popularity of PSO, as well as has plain never been excited about online gaming, so very few were made with little promotion. They will prolly be some more out sometime next month I'm thinking, but their focus is prolly more on making Metroid Prime copies or GBA units for now.

3. There's no single specific place that has them or not, but many people have had luck getting them at Walmart since they got their shipments the latest. Some people say thier local EB has several of each, and some cant find any in a 30 mile radius. If you really want one, you can eventually get it tho. Try some online sites, or even...Ebay.

4. There is NO official date for a US version of PSO, and very little offical information regarding a US release. The official Japan release is Jan 14th or around there as free with Xbox Live, and beta testing is currently being done online i heard. Some people think we'll get it then too, but it hasn't shown up on any release date list. If it does release, I'd personally expect it either in March or May.

Another thing you might want to consider is that the GC version can support 56k and BB, and has no keyboard. Xbox Live would be BBA only, and have voice support, and possibly keyboard support.

hope that helps.

[CajunSamurai]

Well, SP is basically the MP game, just... single player. There's nothing special like an offline campaign, and if you're hoping for a complex story... yikes. PSO isn't exactly the deepest game, in terms of story.
While I enjoy offline quite a bit (playing on my own time, getting all the items...), the online game is really what the game is all about. If you have a few more controllers though, the multiplayer offline game isn't too bad. Takes some time to get used to the tiny screens though. :/

Far as the network adaptors being discontinued? Bah, I don't believe it for a second. Maybe they've stopped production momentarily, but discontinuing production entirely would be the stupidest thing Nintendo has ever done. I wouldn't say the clerks are lying to you... I'd say they just don't know what they're talking about.

And the Xbox release date is still very much in the air. Until MS even mentions the US release again, I wouldn't speculate. ... Okay, I will. Spring 2003, I'm betting. I'm thinkin' April, maybe May... Let's see how accurate my gaming ESP is.

[CajunSamurai]

Gah, responded too slow. Sunaj summed it up better.

[Kayumi]

A lot of people say the quests and the storyline aren't really that deep, but I kinda get a lot out of them. It's a different method of getting the story out of it than usually occurs, but I love the way each quest plays out and adds up just little fragments of various different background details, getting one bit of information in a Forest quest that comes back into play in a Ruins mission...


And...I personally love it offline. The offline multiplay is quite fun, once you get used to it and figure out how to access everything you can get at in solo mode, and I've devoted hundreds of hours to solo play, too.

[Lord_Data]

ok thats good enough for me...i will continue looking for the bba but will play sp for now...oh and i only have broadband both here at home and when i am at school...as for your guys speculation i am going to agree completely...especially looking at the trends for xbox...nothing good is coming out till march-may lol so i am gonna go ahead and side with you all that it will come around then...which just means one more game to buy lol

anyways thank you very much it is definately appreciated to hear several different opinions...and very quickly i might add...lots of my gaming forums don't have people that respond so quickly...but thank you much and i will definately have to stick around here as well