It was bound to happen sooner or later. I just wish it had been later, so I could have at least said goodbye to some of the people that used to be on the game constantly.
Recently I returned to the online portion of PSO episode 1 and 2. Not interested in PSO episode 3 after I had played it, I decided to focus my attention on the old game. This was made easy, as my wife left me again for some guy she had met on PSO, and took episode 3 with her. I got back online with it perhaps a week and a half ago, not realizing that so much time had passed since I had played it at all, and also not realizing that the PSO community had died down to about NOBODY. I figure some of this can be blamed on episode 3 screwing over the ship Antares and turning it into a battle ship. Then again, that shouldn't have made a difference whatsoever with the old episode 1 and 2.
Going into Antares in the hopes of finding some of my old friends I used to play with, I was shocked to find it a barren wasteland, devoid of any spam, FSOD, and of course, players. For the first few days I was back online, I was able to see SNK with his steady gaze upon the lobby of Antares 8, and also Deneb 9. Then he left, and I haven't seen him since. I knew full well that it would be difficult enough to even get his attention, since he had been sucked in by FFXI along with seemingly half the world population. Then again, I rarely played with SNK at all, and so I didn't let that bother me. Anteres 8-1 does seem a lot more empty without his presence though.
I figured I might be able to find some of the people I played with before in Antares 8-13, which was once about the only place to go to find people who really knew how to play the game. Well, I visited the lobby there, several times, over a number of days, and it is always empty. The Brinstar folks have all left for other interests, I suppose. Then again, I can't really blame them. With everybody leaving the game, or defecting to the lame ass episode 3, it just doesn't hold much anymore.
Settling back into my old online home of Altair 10-10, I was greeted by the silence I had once been so accustomed to. The place was still empty, which is what I had expected. It was that emptiness that had drawn me to the place in the beginning.
I did end up finding a few of my old friends online still, all moved on to Episode 3, of course, and happy to be there. In the instances of both Dark Shadow, and Lightning, kind words were passed on, and memories shared. It seems Lightning had, while I was offline for a few months, worked his old episode 1 and 2 character up to level 199, with something close to 10,000 experience left until he legitimately hit 200. His brother allowed one of his friends to borrow the game and the memory card from him without asking Lightning if it was OK. That friend promptly made new characters over Lightning's old files, leaving the 200 mark out of his reach. This left the guy known as Lightning bitter toward just about everything that had to do with PSO 1 and 2. But I was able to get him to start playing again, and decided that I was going to help him get up to that old level again. It is going to take time, but Lightning deserves it.
Dark Shadow, the guy I know as Sandro, stays primarily on episode 3, so I rarely get a chance to see him. He has become usefull in the fact that he pummels my wife online in episode 3 every night, and reminds her that she has left her husband for a guy she met off a video game. He keeps me updated during the battles with her and the guy that named his character Genki.
Back on Altair 10-10, I relax in the comfort of the cool color tones in the hope that the snowmen will eventually come back again. I haven't seen them at all since I got back online, the White's day crap was in there when I first got on, and then the fricking flag backdrop, and now the stupid easter eggs. The entire block is empty these days, not just my comfortable lobby 10. Omega and his crew, who used to always be on Altair 10-1, have moved on to FFXI. I miss the guy, because aside from the few friends I kept and played with regularly online, he was perhaps the only person around who knew of me and my online antics. He always said that my friends and I were the luckiest people on PSO, because we always stood by each other, no matter what, and that we never let anything come between us. I have found that some people still remember me on the other ships, but they are few and far between these days, and I don't recal ever playing with any of them.
Today I got online for a while, and figured I would try to find some actual humans playing the game. I was surprised to see that Antares was the least populated of the American ships this morning, and so I didn't spend much time in there. Instead, I traveled to Altair 4, noticing that there were a few people stationed there. So I get in there, and I see Rena Ko from PSOW. I forgot to congratulate her on becoming a moderator here, and I guess that pissed her off or something, because she was downright rude to me the entire time I was in there. Then again, I don't remember a time she was ever nice, so I guess that shouldn't bother me at all. I also noticed Auracom there, whom I thought had stopped playing PSO and went on to FFXI along with everybody else and their mother, brother, sister, father, grandmother, and their grandfather's sister's uncle's cousin's former room-mate. I asked if this was the real Auracom, or just some imposter (hey, they get around, and they impersonate the most unlikely people). I was assured that it was the correct Auracom, and that he had corrupted. If my memory serves me right, I am thinking that Auracom was once a legit level 200 RAcast, so I confirmed that it blew blood clotted goat chunks that he had corrupted at all, as if any corruption is good. After, and before the pleasentries were conveyed, the few of them there went on to insult and belittle me, perhaps not realizing that I didn't give a care if they did or not. If it really is the real Auracom, and if he trully had corrupted, I didn't mind acting as a backboard for his resentment, because it must be considerable these days.
Retiring from trying to find anybody nice at all online, since it seems that everybody I see online these days are not at all, I retired back to my online home in order to do some easter rappy hunting. I got bored of this quickly though, and only completed four solo runs.
I suppose the point of this message is not to simply rant, although some of it may have seemed pointed in that direction. I have come to realize, perhaps too late, that this game has changed remarkably. The level 200 code is a menace that I wish could be stopped. There are far too many level 200 characters online now that have no idea how to play the game. As a level 200, myself, I have been grouped into a lot of categories over the past eight or nine months, but this fake AR 200 is not a group I would ever want to be considered a part of. Then again, perhaps I am being too harsh. The game, after all, is a year and a half old in the US. Considering there are players whom have never been hit by corruption, and have continued playing the game, a level 200 is not out of the question for them, then again, it also doesn't mean that they know how to play well.
It is sad to think of how many of the great players have signed off for the last time, but I know my time is coming soon. As soon as I am able to help Lightning get back to his old level, I will be gone from the game, too. The group in Altair 10 is no more; Delwyn, Yuki, Blitz, Omega, Alaina, Narman, Cookie, Dark Shadow, Lightning, Burrito, and of course, the followers of Omega on his way to 200 have all gone their seperate ways. Likewise, the greats off of Antares are gone; Samus, Dark Link, SNK, Morrigan, Ass4Sale, Clovy, FireFish, Skorpius, etc... All of them, that I know of, gone the way of FFXI. Then, of course, I should also mention Zarana and her friends from Deneb, because they kept to themselves as much as I did, and I can only respect that decison.
Wherever everybody has gone off to in their lives, I have found that we are all remembered by the people online, and in the stories that somehow travel through the ships. For those who have left the game, if you ever decide to sign on again, rest assured that you will not be alone in your questing.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: trypticon on 2004-04-07 00:03 ]</font>
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