Does anybody else find it difficult getting friends into this?

[Squire Grooktook]

Maybe it's just that I hang out with too many casuals, but it seems like a really uphill battle trying to get people into this game.

I think the main problem (besides the players themselves) is the forest, and the fact that the games complexity doesn't spike until right about level 10. The first friend who I tried to get into the game was NOT HAVING FUN AT ALL during the first 10 levels of the game. He kept talking about how it was too slow paced, and the combat was too simple. I had to talk him out of uninstalling it. Then finally he got out of the forest, played an emergency mission, fought some bosses...and became addicted. Now he regards it as one of the top ten games of this generation, ranking it just below freaking Demon's Souls.

It's the same story with many of my other friends. Either they are same level as me, or they are stuck at level 6, constantly procrastinating about playing the game. Right now, the main challenge is getting them to level 10, getting them to the city emergency mission, or getting lucky enough to have one of those rare REALLY AWESOME challenging sequence of codes (fang banther + avoid code or some shit like that).

Now, when I first played Blue Burst on pc, my friends took me all the way up to Ruins to be wowed by all the cool stuff and I immediately decided the game was awesome. I can understand Sega not wanting this to be possible since new players would inevitably just power level through the game and end up skipping half the content. But I still think there needs to be something veteran players can do to just "WOW" newbie friends to give them a taste of what's in store.

Maybe if party leaders could take the party to anything that was half their level (for example, level 30 party leader with 3 level 1 party members can take entire party to a quest with level 15 level lock). Or maybe if players took exp and loot penalties for running quests they had not yet unlocked. I dunno.

[Fox2Tails]

Most of the people who I think would be interested either don't want to play it because it's not in English or are too busy with WoW. And for some it's both ._.

[EvilMag]

I'm trying to get my friends into this game but they would rather wait for the (soon to be) watered down US version.

[gigawuts]

I've tried forcing friends into games. In the end they only spite you for it, even if you wound up 100% right and they utterly adore the game.

If they don't want to play they don't want to play.

[Squire Grooktook]

Only about 2 or 3 of the 11 or so people I'v convinced to play the game have quit to wait for English. Really, for them I think it boils down to not wanting to abandon their character once English servers start (though personally I can't fathom that. I'll probably be using both just for the free extra character).

*edit*

I've tried forcing friends into games. In the end they only spite you for it, even if you wound up 100% right and they utterly adore the game.

If they don't want to play they don't want to play.

Most of my friends are fairly enthusiastic about the game when I first pitch it to them/we first start. It's just that around level 6 they start procrastinating about playing it, and just kinda get side tracked by other stuff.

The worst example is my one friend who is level 6 with Ranger. Every time I ask him to join me, he says he has no time......then starts farming hats in Tf2 for the next 5 hours. Ugh.

[BIG OLAF]

Pretty much all my friends play it already, and the ones who don't are stuck in their "grass-is-greener" mindset regarding the US/EU version, and refuse to play the JP version.

[Shirokami]

1) Not english
2) All the problems with the client
3) Freezing.

[Squire Grooktook]

Of the 13+ people who I know who play this game, I'm the only one who had the GameGuard crash issue.

:(

[Noblewine]

I have the worse luck with trying to invite people to play anything that's made by sega. They either can't deal with simple combat or manage to figure out how to defeat a boss or enemy. I usually just try to use the forums or in-game encounters as a better way to enjoy the game.

[-ZaNtH-]

I'm the same way with waiting for the US version. No interest in playing on the JP servers, really. Even if they do get more content, I would still rather play on US. Hopefully they don't make that mistake again tho, and make both sides equal. Just have to wait and see.