PSO is now an MMO and it sucks

[SELENNA]

After playing more than 15 hours of PSO2' closed beta test, I can definately say the good old Phantasy Star Online has been lost. Even though I enjoy the combat system and map randomness, I feel this game is only the shadow of what it could have been. Being F2P, it's more like an MMO than its predecessors. Let me explain why this sucks :

- One of the worst quest systems with repetitive tasks (kill X monsters, bring me that, etc.). We didn't need that with PSO, we already have WOW, Tera, Guild Wars 2, etc.

- Few weapons choices, you'll use a weapon for so long it gets boring. I thought they'd add more weapon types, but it seems not.

- No challenge. The entire game feels like a cakewalk, except maybe some bosses. The A.I. isn't aggressive enough.

- Level design is average. I know maps are semi-random but they only take like 10min max to explore and clear. I miss PSO days when caves could take 30min+ to explore because there were a lot of different routes. Now it just feels empty and boring.

- At first I thought being F2P would be great but seeing how they implemented Ark Cash it is just bad. My Room? Pay. Another character slot? Pay. I think they should have made PSO2 a paid game, something like $49.99 and give us all the features.

- Boost monsters aren't fun. Why are there no rare mobs?! That's what made hunting fun in the PSO days.

- Feels more like PSU than PSO. Thank god mags are back and not Partner Machinery though. On the topic of mags, I think it's stupid to have to complete a client order to have one. I also miss being able to just warp into a zone without completing dozens of quests.

Overall I think PSO 2 is boring, but it has an excellent combat system and cool visuals. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure I'll invest money once the full game is out unless there are signifiant changes to the game flow, which I don't see happening anytime soon. Being closer to an MMO is disgusting and kinda makes it a deal breaker for me, and I've been playing PSO since the Dreamcast days. Feel free to rant or argue.

[Sonic646]

*shrug* I'm enjoying it. Could be more difficult though...

[Randomness]

There is a rare mob in the beta, actually. It's just not crazy rare, and isn't dropping OMG RED BOX AWESOME. It's a chibi rappy variant that likes to sing.

[SELENNA]

There is a rare mob in the beta, actually. It's just not crazy rare, and isn't dropping OMG RED BOX AWESOME. It's a chibi rappy variant that likes to sing.

I saw it but since it doesn't drop anything valuable I forgot about it.

[Triple_S]

I definitely disagree. I can't exactly bring to words why, but a lot of your points are highly exaggerated and do not take into account the fact that this is a closed beta test which is lacking a LOT of content.

Wait for the full game to judge it, and stop expecting PSO1 with better graphics because that's not going to happen. Gameplay is too dated. PSU went in the wrong direction with updating it, but PSO2 is going the right way.

[Ceresa]

- One of the worst quest systems with repetitive tasks (kill X monsters, bring me that, etc.). We didn't need that with PSO, we already have WOW, Tera, Guild Wars 2, etc.

So don't do them? Elimination codes are where the exp is. The progression quests from Kofi are things you'd do anyways, you know actually running the mission and not sucking. The other quests are just bonus exp that you get from running the missions you already were going to run, with an npc to talk too when you go back to the ship while waiting on someone else to spend skill points or something.

I rather like steamrolling volcano on a capped force and finishing all the repeatable quests, swapping to ranger and getting the exp there and skipping being a low level bitch.

- Few weapons choices, you'll use a weapon for so long it gets boring. I thought they'd add more weapon types, but it seems not.

There's like 5 PAs per weapon, that you can mix and match. 5-6 elements for forces that all behave differently...

- No challenge. The entire game feels like a cakewalk, except maybe some bosses. The A.I. isn't aggressive enough.

Because it's Normal mode yes. Who are these mythical peons that had trouble with PSO or PSU on the first difficulty? And how do I unlock the entire game?

- Level design is average. I know maps are semi-random but they only take like 10min max to explore and clear. I miss PSO days when caves could take 30min+ to explore because there were a lot of different routes. Now it just feels empty and boring.

My maps are frequently quite full with Dark Ragne invasions, perhaps I just attract misfortune... It's not like they can't save larger maps for higher difficulty modes. Diablo 2 does that and as we all know, it's the finest pc game ever made.

- At first I thought being F2P would be great but seeing how they implemented Ark Cash it is just bad. My Room? Pay. Another character slot? Pay. I think they should have made PSO2 a paid game, something like $49.99 and give us all the features.

For 50$ you will most assuredly be able to buy 4 char slots and probably +50 inventory spaces for at least a couple of them. For 10$ or less a month you'll be covered on your room and shop, and there's a chance of 3 day room rentals from goodjob points for the stingy.

- Boost monsters aren't fun. Why are there no rare mobs?! That's what made hunting fun in the PSO days.

The Rappy seems quite rare to me...there's also only two areas present out of seven in a beta.

- Feels more like PSU than PSO. Thank god mags are back and not Partner Machinery though. On the topic of mags, I think it's stupid to have to complete a client order to have one. I also miss being able to just warp into a zone without completing dozens of quests.

That client order to get your mag takes 10-20 minutes if you beeline for the boss. Out of hundreds of hours of gameplay, think it'll be ok.

[Shadownami92]

I for one prefer having smaller areas, well overall that is. Am I the only guy that remembers skipping the Caves during level runs in PSO?

And I'm pretty sure they are still adding more weapon types, they are just spending time making each weapon more interesting. Just look at the difference between cards from PSO and PSO2, they are much more useful and fit to create a Force playstyle.

And to be honest PSO's quests weren't exactly that fancy either, weren't they all pretty much...

kill enemies in rooms->move forward->npc talks a bit->repeat

And since there seems to be story quests with npcs I don't see too much of a problem, and there are hologram things that say stuff. But honestly I can't read Japanese so I can't say much about how interesting the dialogue all is.

I find the AI to be a lot more aggressive than most other games in general, maybe not as aggressive as the big monsters in Monster Hunter but I think that's a given since those are basically bosses.

I personally prefer the cash system I think. I was never the biggest fan of monthly fees, and since I'm not really interested in the My Room feature and I like playing the game at my own pace I'll end up spending a ton less money on the game. Furthermore when this game gets localized I feel like updates will be required in order for Sega to make money, so it shouldn't be like PSO or PSU where english players got no updates really at all.

Overall I'll probably just buy a trading ticket and be good to go.

As for mags I get the idea of doing a quest first to get a mag. I had friends who played you didn't know what mags did and just dropped it or sold it, and then when they found out what they did they either had to make a new character or go without it until they were lucky and found one in the Mines or something. So an intro quest that explains it first can help a bit I think.

And knowing the developers I think the rares will probably work similar to PSZ, a mix of the harder versions of the same enemies, as well as rare enemies.

And who knows, maybe the whole thing about buying Scape Dolls through cash shop will make those who don't pay for that to be more reliant on Forces for casting Reverser, I play Force so being more useful is always great.

[Triple_S]

Also, boosted monsters -are- fun. More challenge, better EXP and drop potential, etc..

Also I wouldn't consider the Rappy to be rare. I run into them very often.

EDIT:

I for one refer having smaller areas, well overall that is. Am I the only guy that remembers skipping the Caves during level runs in PSO?

This.

[Ryudo]

- No challenge. The entire game feels like a cakewalk, except maybe some bosses. The A.I. isn't aggressive enough.

You've played the entire game? Holy shit, where?

[Dokudoku]

I do agree with it being a cakewalk – the early levels in PSO (at least online) were a struggle, and the AI were definitely prone to attacking more often. But what can you expect with a F2P title? I hope there's an ultimate difficulty with different monsters though (like in PSO).

Boost monsters seem extremely easy to me – almost no difficulty difference between regular ones. Maybe it's because I'm only level 10 and haven't experienced higher level ones, but still..

Edit: I'm also disappointed with the shorter areas, as well as being forced to be doing a quest to go to any area. Maybe they should make so quest areas are shorter (at least lower level ones), and you can go to the area freely to experience the "full length" one.