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Standards Guide for Smooth Online Play&Meet in Phantasy Star Zero
Yes, I am thinking, that we should have some not-in-rule-book standards that should be in place, because it's hard to get into a game without knowing what people want to do.So I am writing a guide, for all of us to follow so that we ALL can have a great experience with this game.
Problems we need to get-around:
- Not being able to drop in a game in play
- Not being able to send invitation to a current game
- Not being able to message someone if you have to go but are in the menu (we would have to join, to let them know we have to go, and then go)
- Not being able to check on a friends status while in field (Have to tele out and check with the lady everytime)
- Not being able to tell friends you are making a game either for them or for others
- Not being able to decide which party you should join.
- Not being able to add a friend while in game or in party.
Some rules new PSZ players should go by, and if they follow them, they should be doing fine in combat:
- No running ahead, unless you know what you are doing. Only blame yourself if you die... (Sometimes you may die even when with friends, but that just happens. It might happen more if you are alone though)
- Wait for others, they probably need your help. If they tell you they can handle it, than it's fine. Basically it depends on what you all say before hand.
- No going a different path than the others, unless previously discussed that you wanted to split paths to clear rooms faster, or just solo but still be together in a way? : ]
- Try not to chat spam, while in combat.
- Don't skip rooms, unless previously discussed by the group.
- Always carry moon atomizers, just in case.
- Try to bring Scape dolls if you can.
- Do not be afraid to tell your party you need to buy items, it is a smart move to re-stock when you are low on supplies.
*Rules credited to: Cruciarius
Communication:
Well, one thing that would help us play smoothly is communication. We ALL have to be willing to wait for others, because if not, how are you sure others will wait for you? This is a two way street, or even four, so we all have to COMPLY with each other in order to survive in this community as a player who plays games.
If there is a will, there is a way. We are all here to play together, aren't we? : ] So naturally, we'd want to prevent misunderstandings.
Basically, if we can communicate, we can exchange ideas, and express what we are doing and what we can and can't do, and many many things. We can accept to play with each other and know what really is going down, or let them know what is going down. If we aren't online, (while being online on your PSZ) and have no other way of contacting our friends, we have to have assumptions.
Our Assumptions must always be positive ones, if we want to be able to play with friends . For example, you see your friend online. You want to play with him/her, but you aren't at the computer, nor do you have any other way to contact that person. How can you play with that person? Only thing you can do, is make a party, and hope that person joins it.Moral of the story is, we should always -
Join parties when there is one, and then can ask if there are people expected to come. If not, then wheee! If so, we politely should leave. Of course, vice versa, making parties ourselves and hope someone joins. For this we must be patient.
Four ways to go:
There are four ways to go in this game:
Online (Menu), Online (Party), Online(in game), and Offline.
Offline also is counted with the menu, wireless party, and in-game, so if you want to technically count them, then there would be five.Of course, only four count, since offline doesn't count as much, but online does. We could all three parts of online individually, and offline all as one. We would do that because people can't see you in offline, or in any part of offline.
Offline:
Offline doesn't count as much, but it is still there. Only thing that would matter is changing from that mode, and as soon as possible. You will see in the next paragraph why it would only matter to change.Sometimes you get disconnected or your host get's disconnected, so you would probably be back at the start menu, with the pillar of light in the background, and sadly offline. It is easier to communicate in party and in game, than offline and in menu. So, if you go offline, others can't really know what your intentions are now. Most would assume you had to go. What if you didn't?
Online (Menu):
The online menu, can only show your status to your added friends, but that is a good thing.That is the reason why moving from offline to online is the only thing you can do from offline to let your friends know of your status.You can also see your friends statuses as well. Every time you log off, and log back on to online, your green icon would show up on your friends screen. They can also see if you make a party. But sadly, they won't be able to see any status changes after that. Keep that in mind.
If you really want them to know that you are there, sign off again, and then sign in.(at least around 3 times, 4 max if you really want to alert your friends) just as a signal to let the host know that you wanted to join in the fun. Hmm? What do you think? Sure other people/parties might also see that and get annoyed, but what else can we do? Of course, we shouldn't do it ten times or something, now that is just really annoying. 3 or 4 seems enough to let your friend know that you want to play with them, or someone at least.
So, you get online. You see 3 friends, but they are in-game. That would be the red icon. They would see you, but runs take a while to do before they can re-host. It would be in your best interest, to be patient. If you want your friend to abort a game for you, be patient. Don't leave. Sometimes I would check the friend status from in game, to see if that friend is still there to check if it would still be worth it to abort the current game. So stay online, and be patient. It'll be worth it, I promise. Then, hopefully, you'll see a room get made. Join it and ask them if the spot is free, if it is, yay, if not, aww. Then your options would be to be patient, or to get offline. (and come back, as I said before in the first paragraph)
Online (Party-Room):
Luckily, if your friends see you, they might make a party because they saw you online, or because they saw another friend online, or both. That, doesn't matter, just join. That is the only way you can be able to communicate if you join. So join Asap, before the hoster presses A or others join before you. Sometimes, I try to join an online party, and if the hoster gets disconnected, it sends me back offline. :/ So, let us say, that if you got sent offline, the party host would probably start without you. You'd want the host to get a signal of some kind to let him/her know that you were trying to join, and that hopefully he/she would re-host.
Joining:
Now, there are also challenges in this area: Joining. Before we are in a party, we have to join it. Yes, common sense. But, we can possibly have problems connecting to the party of the host. For some reason, having another person host helps. People have a tough time joining me, and I don't really know why. I put on frameburst mode on my router, and it helped a bit. I have Hi-speed internet, but I don't know what the problem really is. I suggest everyone to check the error codes they get and seriously investigate! : ] I do myself. I try to test what could be the problem. Or maybe it's just how wifi is?
Purposes of joining could be:
Letting them know that you wouldn't be able to play with them, for a certain reason. For example, you wanted to bring a friend you were playing with (meaning you got out of a game because you saw a 2/4 room host icon) but learned that one of you friend's friend was about to join (setup, "appointment"). You would then say that you wish you could play, but would have to leave because you were already playing with that friend, it's rude to ditch friends like that. No friend left behind act. : ] Or join to to communicate about other things.
Maybe if a person completely fills the party, don't start it because you have a full party now. You are thinking that there isn't a reason to wait anymore, but there still is. You don't know if that person came to just tell you an apology for not being able to play with them yet. That is the only way you can clarify a situation when you are weren't with them for some reason. I'd come in and yell "WAIT NO" to confuse everyone and go "Huh?" And I'd had time to explain. Then I'd explain whatever was needing clearing up, and we would say good bye and hope to play later.
There can be problems if it takes you longer to connect to a friend. For example if you try to join a room, 3/4, but keep getting an error that says the hoster isn't there, when he/she is there in reality, then they start not knowing that you had problems. Of course, you'd be a little sad and wished you could play, but you could go offline and online again to let them know you aren't playing with anyone else. You could make a party and they could see you made one. Although, they wouldn't know if you made it for them or for others. Hmmm. That is why if we are in game, we should give your friend the benefit of the doubt, and try to join. Of course, that friend was supposed to be joining with you, so I would be sure that it would be ok for you to join your friend.
Clarify that you didn't know if your friend was coming. Sometimes misconceptions can happen, and that friend might have thought you started without him and didn't know if you'd rehost for him/her, so they went online to ask a friend to play with them. Uh oh, now you guys can't play. This might happen, and remember it would be due to connection problems.So don't be peeved if this happens, sadly without communication we won't know anything, so sometimes people won't be sure of what you would be doing. Yes we can assume, but we can only assume to a certain extent. That is why both sides must be patient. I will say it again, both sides must be patient. Meaning the two different groups who were supposed to play together. This could be either 1 and 3, or 2 and 2. Some people aren't as patient as others, but still try as best you can. Sadly it isn't as easy to play with friends as it is in XBL, but it is well worth the work to play with your friends.
So, what you can do is start another party, and play with someone else, or you could wait for your friends to re-host for you, but you don't know what your friends are thinking to do. Both parties (meaning you, and the other 3) should assume that it was connection problems, benefit of the doubt. But when you could, you should definitely follow up with your friends in that party later on the computer, so that they could understand what happened.
Now, what if a friend asks you to join him/her in a party, but you had arrangements to be with another already? Well, I'd say just go with the ones you originally were going with, just to be fair. After that, just be sure to make time for your other friend who asked you to play with him/her.
Online (In-Game):
Now, on to the actual game! Now, you are in a game! You made it! Yes, but now there are more restrictions. You can still communicate with your three(or less) friends in party game, but you can't communicate with anyone else outside of your current party. Although, you shouldn't really want to communicate with others during a game, since you are committing to your party members.
You technically can leave and join another party, but how are you sure it won't be full by the time you get there? You would be in a dead end. So it would be in your best interest to keep commitments, and grieve for your friend who is waiting for people to play with him, but you have to stick to who you are with currently. Although, if you think you played enough with those friends, and there are enough to handle the situation, let them know that your friend is solo and that you would want to give him/her some company. I think that would be ok, if in such a situation, because we still only have limits of 4 people, and you don't want your friend to be alone.I also believe, that there are two different kinds of parties, meaning in the way they are set-up. Here it is:
A. Parties made that are joined without being set up to play, a "walk-in"
B. Parties that have been set up before hand, meaning "Hey Joe let's play some PSZ?" Joe: "K!" There, set up. Call this the "Appointment." Now you two are playing, but 3 more want to come. Of course, sadly you'd have to say that there is only one spot, since you have already committed to your friend. Since there are only a max of 4 people during parties, commitment is needed. You can't be running around between more than 4 friends and not be able to make a decision.
Also, we must not feel bad if there isn't a spot for us, there are only 4 slots, so it's bound to happen. There are others who want to play as well, so don't feel bad, go have fun with another friend and hopefully you'll be able to play with those friends later!
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Summary:
*There are some problems we may have, but we can overcome them, with a system.
*We need communication to function well as a team, and to be able to make a team as well.
*Always join parties, and then ask. Only place you can ask or say anything at all is Online(Party) and Online(In-game), you can ask if the spot it open and see from there.You also can make parties and hope someone joins it.
*Be fair and stick to your original parties.
*Sign in and off online to show your friends your status, but only up to 4 times. More than that is unneccessary. Also be patient, you never know if your friends might re-host since you got online.
*When making a party, be patient. People might have connection problems trying to join you. You must be patient because you don't know if a person is joining you or not. Actually you can notice. You'll notice a little lag when someone is trying to join.
*Also, don't start a party if you finally get four people. The last one who joined probably wanted to let you know he/she had to go play with someone who he/she had made a meeting with another friend, or simply to let you know he/she had to go.
*There are two different kinds of parties: Walk-in's and "Appointments"; Walk-in is just randomly joining without first contacting your friend about playing together. "Appointment" Is set up when you and other friends make a time to play together, either now or later. You must stick to your appointments.
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-Assume that you are off the computer and have no other way to contact your friends, as to which other ways of contacting help, but sometimes people can't-
Remember, this is to better our gaming, not just mine. Let me know if you have any ideas, and I'll post it up, maybe as something for new people to look at as a way of being able to set up a smooth gaming experience for themselves and others! : D
Also, if you are trying to think of ideas, just remember, what problems do you see/know of that aren't listed above? List the problem, and I'll put it up with the list. That way, others could think of a solution or round-about technique.
To find the answer, one must know what the problem is. So if you think I missed something, PM me and we could speak further about what you think should be put in.
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Standard Guide for smooth Multiplayer Gaming Online (PSZ)
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