Will the game be limited in size and lack depth?

[Nuclearranger]

There are really two questions here lets start with the first one.

The DS can only hold somewhere around 1Gb (128MB) there are 2Gb cards (265MB slower loading though) of memory so do you think the game will hit that?

On a good side to this! PSO the entire game episode 1 2 and 4 was only a little over 500MB or for those who don't know that's about half of 1GB. So with decreased graphics they should be able to fit it in. Id also assume they wound not have all of the episodes worth of areas. Especially for the first game.

With time file sizes generally are getting bigger though so fitting the same data down in the size less than PSO might be a problem?

Discuss-

On to the second question.

One of the main reasons people ever complain about PSU is the lack of depth in level development.

Yes PSZ will have dungeons but will they be multi level PSO dungeons that look different on every level? OR....

Be like PSU where you have a single floor that's about 1/10 the size of the first area in PSO and just replay it 4 times. AKA Blocks.

Those who play or vividly remember PSO will know what im talking about.
Example the last area of episode 1 was called the ruins. In the ruins there was ruins 1 2 and 3 all were about 20 rooms and it was more like a maze than a strait line.

LASTLY

Scape Dolls..... IMO RUINED PSU

OH PSU IS TO EASY!?! Well... you can buy endless lives and no one tends to mention this but I think it breaks the game.

I think that is it lol

-discuss

[Segya]

Personally i have no clue about how big 3d models are, but considering the low resolution the two screens have, the textures will be way smaller than the textures of PSO.

On the other hand, the storage capacity of NDS cartriges is really small (128MB max).

But metroid prime hunters had a pretty big and varied world so it's probably just a design descision in the end.

Perhaps they go with something in between and create a large number of unique and/or easily customizable rooms... it would still loose some of it's charm then though, since it is nice to know the areas by heart to some extent.

[Nuclearranger]

I believe the NDS can hold 1 GB as I said in the first post let me see if I can find a link or some creditable information on this.

AH! You are correct.

Although there are 2Gb cards.

I read it wrong the first time. I saw GB and not Gb and that is a huge difference.

1 GB is 1024MB but 1 Gb is 128MB lol

The DS currently supports up to 2 Gb cards being 256MB but they are slower in response than the 1Gb.


128MB is the target for faster loading and
256MB is the MAX the game can be.

Sorry for the miss information let me edit my main post.

Continue Discussion

[Hucast-Kireek]

So basically this game will be less than 1/4th of what PSO was? it is 64bit so that explains it.

[Saphion]

As long as it has - at a minimum - the same level of content offered by the original PSO, I will be happy.

Ideally, I'd love it to have around the same content as PSO Ver.2.

As much as I'd like it to have Episodes I & II levels of depth, it's far too implausible - for now, anyway.

The online mode, however, guarantees a gargantuan level of longevity and replayability.

[Hucast-Kireek]

Yeah if it has around the same lenght as PSO ep1 I'll be happy.

If not well...atleast you can draw lol.

[Saphion]

It does look like it'll have an Episode I style depth to it. We've already seen three levels - it's a Phantasy Star Online tradition to keep the final level hidden until near or after the game's release - which will put us on a par with Episode I's 4 levels.

But what we need to see now are;
- Offline Quests
- Online Quests (I'm not entirely sure these will be possible, but then I know next to nothing about the technology involved)
- Variations on the levels we've seen (In PSO, these were more or less texture swaps, with the exception of Caves 1, 2 and 3). This is more of a cosmetic change than anything, though.

I could live without them... but the above is what PS Zero would need to be on a level with PSO.

An Ultimate Mode would be nice as well.

[Nuclearranger]

Online Quests are possible on the NDS just to clarify.

[Hucast-Kireek]

Variations on the levels we've seen (In PSO, these were more or less texture swaps, with the exception of Caves 1, 2 and 3). This is more of a cosmetic change than anything, though.

Yes, there will be variations.

Like the first level the wasteland, will have dawn and daytime, The Swap will have cloudy sunset and night raining, The Snowlevel will have clear night and snowy night.

So yeah, I think it is confirmed.

This game included level designs I wanted to see like a Wasteland a Swamp and specially a SNOW level at NIGHT!

[Nuclearranger]

They better have more content than 4 areas.... unless they are more like PSO areas because honestly 4 PSU areas will take you... an hour?