Do You Think Top Tier Gear Should Be Customizable?

[Lance813]

This part might be hard to justify, due to already-released games: PS0 takes place on Coral, long after the death of the civilization that launched the Pioneer projects. Or at least, its heavily implied in the final level.

PS0 may take place after the PSO era has come to an end... BUT lets not forget that Coral was supposed to be in a decaying state during the time of the Pioneer project. Coral, as a planet suitable for life, (as far as the AUW timeline goes) should have been almost, if not, inhabitable around the time Pioneer 2 landed on Ragol.

Yeah, most of the characters that caused what happened in Ep. 1&2 were dead before you even get to the surface of Ragol... But that should have some influence on a game titled "PSO2" which SoJ is calling the sequel to PSO.

Hell, the only story in PSO was in the side-quests. The side-quests made PSO epic! If you take the plot holes from Episodes 1 & 2, then mix that with Ep. 3 and the events of Ep. 4 you have a HUGE story-board to work with.

If you want me to call it like I see it, then listen up:

PSO2 can't afford to be anything other than a direct (in some way) sequel to PSO. More-so than PSU was at least...

Ragol was in its birthing stage as a civilized planet where they left off... And by civilized I mean that monsters were still an issue in places that were built by the men and women of Pioneer 1.

Lets be real for a second... The great evil, Falz, was destroyed in Ep. 1. There is no reason to bring him back via Dark Fish reskin like the reincarnation in PSU.

Now of course this game needs a final being or boss; that's how PS games work. Please for the love of all things living and deceased give us some originality. Episode 2 was all about the monstrosity that one man became if you did the back-story... That was fucking cool!

Heathcliff Flowen was certified dead... This was something that made PSO so dark and interesting.

I don't want to have the SEED even be mentioned in this game... So far they are one of the worst central enemies of any game I've played. Sure, Helga made them alright, but you got to admit that a giant, lab specimen/Caves boss injecting enemies with a sap via many stinger-like protrusions( for lack of better knowledge as to what 'exactly' they are...) to make the monsters its drones and enrage them is a far better idea than just throwing in re-skinned SEEDlings...

I'm just saying... Dark Falz is dead. I've killed IT so many times in the past 10 years to strive for some creativity...

Back on the topic of equipment... I didn't realize how far off topic I was until I looked at the topic...

S-Ranks would be very nice and would also bring back a beloved game mode. (C-mode) PSO2 could really use a weapons system reminiscent to that of Borderlands. Sure there would be the rares that would be the same for everyone but having randomized percentiles be given to a weapon that drops from a certain enemy would make hunting less grind and more find. (It rhymes...)

I'm not saying add a generator into the game that would give you "OVAR 17 BAZILLION" weapons... but a small one would be nice.

[ANIMEniac]

it was always my understanding that Falz was never 1 entity, but the idea of darkness throughout the universe, similar to Sin from Final Fantasy 10. he has been the center evil since the genesis PS games i thought, and even in PSZ. in PSU, the fact that the final boss was Falkis, and Not Falz, clued in to it being a side story or alternate universe.

that being said, Heathcliff's story would be the result of falz switching ultimate hosts from RR Rico to Heathcliff. and in turn, Falz is now free to find a new suitable host [in PSO2] now that heathcliff has been defeated in Ep.2, and this sub-carnation in Ep.4

again, thats just how i took the story, and i may be off cause i havent actually played the original PSes in great detail

[MAXrobo]

it was always my understanding that Falz was never 1 entity, but the idea of darkness throughout the universe, similar to Sin from Final Fantasy 10. he has been the center evil since the genesis PS games i thought, and even in PSZ. in PSU, the fact that the final boss was Falkis, and Not Falz, clued in to it being a side story or alternate universe.

that being said, Heathcliff's story would be the result of falz switching ultimate hosts from RR Rico to Heathcliff. and in turn, Falz is now free to find a new suitable host [in PSO2] now that heathcliff has been defeated in Ep.2, and this sub-carnation in Ep.4

again, thats just how i took the story, and i may be off cause i havent actually played the original PSes in great detail

this was kinda my understanding of the story.
i would actually like to see dark falz return in some other twisted form like in ep1&2. i enjoy seeing how he warps and mutates his hosts body from game to game (now that im re-reading this, it sound rather grusome).

back on topic...
i never had the chance to play PSO online. could someone explain what was special about the S-rank weapons and how they worked?

[Lance813]

it was always my understanding that Falz was never 1 entity, but the idea of darkness throughout the universe, similar to Sin from Final Fantasy 10. he has been the center evil since the genesis PS games i thought, and even in PSZ. in PSU, the fact that the final boss was Falkis, and Not Falz, clued in to it being a side story or alternate universe.

that being said, Heathcliff's story would be the result of falz switching ultimate hosts from RR Rico to Heathcliff. and in turn, Falz is now free to find a new suitable host [in PSO2] now that heathcliff has been defeated in Ep.2, and this sub-carnation in Ep.4.

Dark Falz =/= Olga Flow

Falz was destroyed for the first time in Ep. 1 and made no appearance in Ep. 2. The thing that Heathcliff Flowen mutated into was a genetic experiment. Flowen had come into contact with the parasitic gene during his trek down Ragol. When the main party of Pioneer 1's task force opened the doors to the underground spaceship, or the Ruins, Falz had killed the entire party minus Flowen who managed to excape with his life and wounds that would eventually kill him. The wounds that Falz left him with were "life-like" and seemed to mutate and grow on their own. What made the wounds act like this were actually the influence of D-Cells in his body. D-Cell were the darkness of Falz and how IT created ITs personal bodyguards aka the hostile creatures on the face of Ragol. The D-Cells had mutated his body and Dr. Osto Hyle used him as a petri dish of sorts. He created biological weapons, and the various species of monsters inside the Seabed lab using the gene that was mutating Flowen. As Flowen's life came to an end, (as he knew it...) Osto had merged the Artificial Intelligence "OLGA" with Heathcliff as a last ditch effort of trying to control him. This failed...


Well... Flowen's body was tossed down the "Failed Experiments Pit." The AI Olga keeping what was left of his trapped consciousness alive. Laying in wait. Just conscious enough to relay signals to Pioneer 2 in hope of someone to come put it out of its misery...



In short... (TL;DR)
Olga Flow was made by men using a gene taken from Falz. Not Falz switching host bodies from Rico to Flowen.
Falz died in Ep. 3...

[16085k]

It doesn't bother me that everyone uses the same stuff in pso. I suppose it would be cool if you could make your items look different, but not really necessary.

[Checkmate]

I'd like to see weapons that have certain traits to them, AKA Stun have a possible lightning glow/flash to them. Weapon that does poison? Green acid drop from the hilt to the tip. Chainsaw Blade? Simple chainsaw sound effect. Also, something that another MMO already does is allows you to skin your armor/weapons from other items found/created for a very small fee. Allows you to keep your OP weapon but get rid of the ugly look of it... or have it match your shoes/outfit/purse.

back on topic...
i never had the chance to play PSO online. could someone explain what was special about the S-rank weapons and how they worked?

They were "high starred" weapons you aquire as a reward from C-Mode or Challenge Mode completion and also with good rank (no easy feat in some cases). Weapons of your choice. You could customize the name of them. You could customize effects to them. They had respectable stats. You could grind them to +99. However, they looked like basic, ordinary weapons of it's class. You wanted to have one. Anyone could get them. That is all.


Oh Lance, I love the pic in your sig... it was my desktop background for a solid 9 months :P

[Lance813]

@Checkmate
Its was mine back when I made the sig. Its changed since then.

I just hope I'm happy with this game in the end and I can finally receive the thrill I've been wanting from a PSO sequel for around 7-8 years...

[SquashDemon]

I think with any online game, one of the biggest focal points should be customization. I don't really think anyone likes being shoehorned into looking exactly like everyone else. Honestly I think the best weapons in the game should not only have several different options for functionality, but also for appearance, Like an extension of the S-Rank Gear from PSO

Elective Elements, Effects, and a choice between different variations on the appearance, In my opinion, would be a HUGE boon to the game and it's immersion. People LIKE identifying with their characters, and choosing certain aesthetic values for their weaponry as well as their appearance can only help that.

Of course, PSO2 will need a lot more than that before it can be a good game, *coughcoughwritingstaffcoughcough* but that's a story for another time.

[Wayu]

BTW, there isn't just one 'Dark Falz', or 'Dark Force', the original name. According to the original PS games, Dark Falz was just one Dark Force. Olga Flow may have been another, I dunno, but chances are there might be some other incarnation. Lastly, Portable 2 Infinity's story line will, in some way, connect to PSO2. That is confirmed.

I quite like this weapon customization idea. Sort of like the Extend Codes of PSPo2, but taking that further and mixing it with the item synthesis function of PSU and doing something else. I'm not sure what that 'something else' should be, though.

For example, the Serpentes handgun and its twin version, the Obsidian, changed color completely after extension. I want to think of it as something like Army of Two, where certain upgrades to your weapons do different things. Since PSO2 will have to incorporate this into melee weapons as well, though, it would be difficult to brainstorm and design near-fully customizable weapons and gear.

I will say, though, that I'm pretty sure shield lines/weaves will make a return. That means they'll have little to no aesthetic changes to the characters besides the patterns and colors of the patterns.

-Wayu

[Crystal_Shard]

It would definitely be fun if you could get a single distinctive weapon customised for your characters after some major trial like the Challenge mode (preferably if you could solo it though) but I think having weapon slots or their like would be great to have on normal weapons as well. Extending weapons like PSPo2 is pretty fun, and we could do with more custom options.

Perhaps for the new generation of "S-Ranks", you could select a specific weapon model, even if the stats are different, and add a number of tweaks like status effects/special attacks?

BTW, there isn't just one 'Dark Falz', or 'Dark Force', the original name. According to the original PS games, Dark Falz was just one Dark Force. Olga Flow may have been another, I dunno, but chances are there might be some other incarnation.

From the little I know of the original Japanese version, wasn't the Profound Darkness the amalgamation of a race of dark beings who were contained in the Algol planetary seal by their light counterparts? The english version messed with the original story in some areas - the part about Lutz for example - and changing "race of dark beings" into a simpler Dark Force/Profound Darkness and "race of light beings" into the Great Light was just one of the more important things that was affected.

I think Lance is pretty correct in that Olga Flow is not Dark Falz part deux, but simply an overgrown D Type, like a giant Delsaber with a supercomputer for a brain. And the only return of something like Dark Falz was Amplum Umbra in Episode 3 from my understanding of it. I never had the chance to complete Episode 4 unfortunately, so I don't know much about that part of the story.

I will say, though, that I'm pretty sure shield lines/weaves will make a return. That means they'll have little to no aesthetic changes to the characters besides the patterns and colors of the patterns.

I'm keen to have Shield Lines and Weaves added to PSO2, as it means costumes will be separate from high end gear, but canon-wise, I see some potential pitfalls. We never saw such technology in the original PSO, so unless the tie in to PSPo2/PSPo2i does some kind of transfer of technology (and please have this happen many years after, Sega. It would be lame for Pioneer 2 to sudden grab Gurhal tech as soon as it arrives without several years to have it assimilated naturally), it would be odd to have it appear out of nowhere. I just hope there will be some kind of plausible explanation.