Designing a Phantasy Star Game

[Kion]

While PSO2 is definitely fun, it doesn't quite seem like it captures and makes the best of everything in the series. The environments are pretty generic, the characters are stereotypes and the weapons don't have as many unique abilities as one would like. If the power were in your hands what would you do? How would you implement the game?

Which console/system or platform would you have it for?
What would the story be?
What would the areas be like?
What kind of weapon types would you have?
What would the game play consist of?
What kind of costumes and outfits would you have?
Where would the game take place?
When would the game take place?
What would the main enemy or goal be?
How would you implement the game content or updates?
What style would the graphics be?
What kind of music and sound effects would it have?
How many players would be on at once?
What kind of areas would there be and how would they be separated?

[DreamState83]

-Completely open world/universe (no instancing)
-More thought out side stories
-Rich character and sub character development
-Secrets that take a lot of work to crack
-Play as side story characters in a "walk a mile in their shoes" sort of way

That's all I've got for now.

[Lumpen Thingy]

-Completely open world/universe (no instancing)

I don't mind the rest of what you suggested but this just wouldn't work for a PS game

[DreamState83]

I don't mind the rest of what you suggested but this just wouldn't work for a PS game

It could work with the proper setup, imo. Phantasy Star started as a pseudo-open world game way back in the beginning and only became an instanced crawler due to hardware and budget limitations in the jump to 3d.

[NoiseHERO]

What we have but:

-minus cash cow gimmicks
-more outfits/hairstyles for guys/casts
-more weapons
-more PAs
-more lobbies
-eternal tower.
-distinctive, memorable level design.
-leather jackets
-take out dudu (take out dudu and the rest is optional)

[Lumpen Thingy]

It could work with the proper setup, imo. Phantasy Star started as a pseudo-open world game way back in the beginning and only became an instanced crawler due to hardware and budget limitations in the jump to 3d.

I'm sorry I just prefer the lobby system it has now instead of the open world stuff almost every mmo has now a days but that's more of a preference

[DreamState83]

I'm sorry I just prefer the lobby system it has now instead of the open world stuff almost every mmo has now a days but that's more of a preference

I can see where you are coming from with your preference. I too thought of some mmo's that have done the formula to death but I didn't have something like WoW in mind - I thought of having "mini planets" to explore, while retaining the starship lobby. Just something to make the world feel more alive and interconnected than stage 1, stage 2, boss.

[Crystal_Shard]

Sounds more like you want a system like the one in the last Star Ocean game.

[Kion]

I'm sorry I just prefer the lobby system it has now instead of the open world stuff almost every mmo has now a days but that's more of a preference

For phantasy star I definitely think the instance system tends to work. Rather than an open world, a small enclosed space seems to force you into engagements and give the player strategic options for how to get past them. It's just a matter of how you implement that so it gives a sense of being in a larger whole.

[Zyrusticae]

Phantasy Star also started as a single-player RPG... I don't think you can really use that as a basis for what the Online games should be.

Personally, the underlying motivation for this topic is exactly why I play many different games depending on my mood, and even today I've only clocked some 600 hours into PSO2 (for reference: I broke the 1,000 hour mark in PSU, even starting when the level cap was 150, and I broke 1,500 hours in Aion. Yeah, I have lots of free time). PSO2 is my "be a ripped uber-badass" game right alongside Dragon's Dogma, Mechwarrior Online gives me my stompy-robot-PvP fix, Starcraft II gives me co-op vs. AI for challenging co-op gameplay (try it - it's fun!), Crysis 3 gives me my shiny GPU-melting playable graphics benchmark, and so on and so forth.

I am under no illusion that any game can be all things to all players, or that devs are anything close to infallible, and on and on. Hence my expectations are always kept low so that I may be pleasantly surprised (some exceptions, like Blade & Soul, which I am unabashedly STILL excited for despite being burned by MMOs for so long), hence I switch to other games when I get bored or frustrated with the flaws in one, etc., etc.

Despite all the flaws, I actually feel PSO2 is a remarkably competently built game, and the fact that it remains fun to play despite hundreds of hours of gameplay (there are only three games I've played in recent memory that manage to get that much playtime out of me) is a testament to this. It could be better in many ways, and if they did such improvements it would instantly get propelled into the position of one of the Greatest Games of All Time, but you know what? I'm sick of whining. Sick of reading about it, sick of participating in it, sick of just being there to hear and read people go on and on and on about this shit when they really should not be so goddamned invested in it.

Can't be helped, I guess. Nature of the internet and all that. I'm just not interested in thinking about "what-ifs", though. They're just depressing. Too goddamn depressing to consider for more than an idle thought. I'd rather go play more games.