Lets give this game some REAL thought now shall we?

[dias_flac_0g]

Ok so today we got our awesome 3 star luck along with our sweet grind boost so everything is fine and happy. Starting next week we will FINALY get the Sup Update that we have been wiating for, for over a year now. So again things are starting to look good.

The real question is "When are the 360 servers going to get closed?"

Now lets think about that for a second k?

Lets say that the servers will be closing in about a years time from now. How do you guys feel about losing all of your stuff and hard earned work that you have put into this game?

Lets face, it. Some of us are gonna be playing this game like crazy after the sup update cames out. Maxing out chars out, getting a ton of AP, getting cool rares and items etc etc.

But think about it, in about a year from now (just an example for those who didn't catch on before) the servers will be closing and we will not be able to keep anything at all. Basically all of our hard work will be for nothing really, seeing as our character data will be gone along with the PSU servers.

Thinking about it from this point of view makes me ask myself "Why am I even putting in all this hard work and time when in the end it's not even gonna matter? Seeing as EVERYTHING will be gone sooner or later" I mean like seriously what is the point of doing all this? What is the point in spending 10 bucks a month and putting all these hours in for it to all be thrown away?

I mean wow!

Doesn't that suck?

I'm asking this question straight up because I get the sense that people like to "duck" this question and just dont want anything to do with it. Not even think about it or give it thought.

It seems to me like people think that PSU will last forever and that they will always have access to their hard work and characters. That's a big ass no no obviously xD


Or maybe they try not to think about it because it saddens them to know that this is the reality of the game. But yet they love the game so much that they wish to continue playing it regardless of what's going to happen in the end.

I myself am for the later. Deep down I know that all my hard work that went into this game will get deleted sooner or later and that all the money that I spent on psu will be for nothing. Yet I love the game so much that I continue to play it and try to not think about what's coming in the future.

The more I think about this the more "down" I feel about the whole thing. It makes me not want to play anymore. Because in the end i wont be able to keep any of it. That's pretty sad if you think about it.

I played GC Pso Ep1&2 for years since it came out (online) and I do not regret paying those 9 bucks a month to play online. To this date I still have my memcard along with my main girl and all of her equipment and items from the online world. Hell even the guid cards (partner cards) are all there. Sure I never really play GC pso anymore, but it's an awesome feeling to know that I got to keep my character and that I can go back and use her again for some nostalgia if the need comes around.

So yea people don't duck (dodge for those of you who don't know any slang xDDD) the question anymore.

Anyways, I just wanna know your thoughts on this whole thing. I would really love to hear from the "hardcore" players the most. Seeing as they are the ones who actually "care" for their chars and gear. They are also the ones who put in the most time and effort into this game.

Also, those of you who migrated from PC to 360 I would love to hear from you guys aswell seeing as you guys had to START OVER and work EXTRA hard to get up and running to only find out that the servers will eventually close yet AGAIn and you will be losing all of your hard ear gear and characters.

Anyhow, that's all for now I guess. I had to get this off my chest. Thinking this way really does bother me because, in the end, it's all for nothing. The money, the time, the effort and the love for the characters one has created since you will keep nothing from it.

[AOI_Tifa_Lockhart]

Hiya,

yeah I'd say perhaps a year to a year and a half max. As SEGA has already seemingly admitted this will be the last supplemental update for xbox servers for EU/US. But it will clearly take longer to close down as the large population is still there, as opposed to the EU/US PS2 and PC servers. But i'm sure several of these players from PS2/PC who moved to xbox and again they'll face loosing hard earned work for a second time. I myself couldn't play Xbox PSU as the lag was unplayable.

Myself I lost over 2000 hours worth of game time when they shut down PC servers and I was peeved to say the least, but we all saw it coming well before SEGA announced it, the servers were dead you'd be lucky to see 2-4 stars during a big event. Yet people were outraged when SEGA announced shutting down PS2/PC. Why oh why can't they do what they did on cube PSO and have international servers?

Loosing that amount of time spent and loosing contact with friends was annoying, but all online RPG's come to a close unfortunately and it's to be expected there'll be alot of disappointment. But it doesn't deter people from playing online RPG's. These games rely on never having an official end, its set by the players. Just becuase you cap a character doesn't mean you stop playing? The only end itself is when they shut the servers down. As such people set their own limits and end, whether its elitist, collect all 50%'s aim for 10/10's etc or people just go after what looks good on their character or what they really desire. Some people play it to detah leave it and come back months later, each to their own I suppose.

Still if SEGA can get all those damned freeloaders off the demo and onto PSU proper on 360 they'd have at least double the population which really could pro-long the life of the Xbox server. It annoys me no end how there's equal or more of a population on the demo than on the full PSU on xbox. It's the same on JP PSU the amount of people playing free version is bizarre, but more understandable on JP PSU as for free you get everymsision, every weapon, all events. you just don't get a room or can pick updropped items or trade with characters, in some ways restrictive but I think it's bringing PSU to its roots, you have to hunt everything you want, you can't synth you can only carry what you can fit in your inventory. Still...I went with full game :P Still it's a shame the xbox servers will shut down but I really don't think it'll be that soon, a year plus at least seeing as how the population is thriving....ok so i didnt' play xbox PSU in the early days so in comparisson maybe its dead, but compare that to PC PSU xbox population is still huge, however compared to JP population it's still very small.

If people still wish to play PSU after xbox servers shut down move to JP servers. I recently started JP PSU on PC and i'm glad I did because its very naustalgic, and knowing the JP PSOBB servers are still online means the PSU ones are set to be operational for many years to come, also you have the option of getting GC which can in effect take thousands of hours of game time grinding (in terms of weapons and meseta earning etc). Which for me ruined the game (in some aspects) but for others might help? I'm not sure to be honest. I ended up getting more weapons and meseta in 2 weeks than 2+ years of playing PSU on EU servers. Think it's killed it for me - no need to hunt any weapons or synth as I got everything I could ever dream of having.

I think when the next PSU comes out for PC/consoles i'll be going to the JP servers immediately. Sure its daunting, alienating to some extent but it means you can start the game properly and keep your hard earned work many more years than people in EU/US servers.

Tifa

[Aeris the techer]

Your post is something that I think everyone has thought about at least once. For those who have actually quit this game know how hard it is not to try and come back. I myself quit about a year ago and came back about 2 months ago. But to answer your question, I think that as gamers, we just have to realize that this IS NOT reality, and IT DOES get better than this. No matter how much time you put into something, you always eventually lose it, it's just a fact of life, nothing lasts forever.

I consider myself to be pretty hard core. I only play on weekends now that I'm in college, but I used to be on this thing 24/7. I'm aware of the 2500+ hours that I've spent getting everything I could want in the game. Not to brag or anything, because I worked my ass of for the stuff I have, but I made sure that I was one of the first people to get every spell to 50 asap, but it didn't stop there, I also went out to get a full palette of 10/10 psycho wands and acquire the best armors in the game. Why? Because I felt the need to make sure that I accomplished something worth my time in the 3 years that I've been playing. Now my character just sits there LOL.

Ultimately, we sacrifice for the game with money and hours of our lives, but it's best that we don't take things to an extreme.

So to ultimately answer your question: when PSU dies, I'm done with PSU and that's all it means to me. I'll be angry for a day and then move on to the next big thing. It's no big deal.

[Tetsaru]

Well, umm... if you *cough* knew about a, umm... *hack* certain OTHER server *wheeze* that I'm not at liberty to *BARF* discuss in detail here, the whole losing your online data thing might not have been a problem...

<_<

>_>;

o_o

*scurries off*

.

.

.

*comes back*

But yeah, knowing that all your stuff and progress that you worked so hard to accomplish will suddenly go *POOF* at the pull of a plug is the ultimate buzzkill when playing an online RPG. It kinda makes me wish that more games of this genre would implement an offline mode that you could take your equipment to, once the game's online lifetime fizzles out... similar to what PSO did, but without the exploits. Otherwise, you have to resort to, umm... *cough* "alternate" methods...

Another thing that a friend of mine brought up that a lot of people (including me at the time) don't realize about online RPG's is that character customization in terms of stats and abilities is often times a BAD thing, believe it or not. When teamwork and cooperation is required, people start getting the mentality - the "elitist nature," if you will - to only want "pure" or "maxed out" characters in their parties: the maxed out warrior who can dish out tons of damage, the maxed out healer to keep everyone alive, the maxed out tank who can keep an enemy's attention and take little to no damage from them, the maxed out magic user who can nuke an entire wave of monsters with a single spell. People who try to multi-class or "branch out" into other areas are often shunned out due to low performance in all their areas, rather than the best performance in a single area; it's much akin to how people on PSU tend to play master classes the most, while hybrid classes like Wartecher and Guntecher don't mean shit anymore. Unless "branching out" SPECIFICALLY allows the player to do something COMPLETELY unique, that NO OTHER CLASS CAN DO (Protranser's EX Traps, for example), it only screws you over in the end, which really sucks because it's not really the player's fault for speccing their character the way they did - it's the GAME'S fault for being designed so poorly. And it's not just PSU that suffers this problem; even WoW and FF11 give their players different options of customization, but unless you're needed by the community to fulfill a certain role in the party, you're pretty much screwed and have to go around soloing tough monsters for loot and experience points with your gimped abilities.

[Sinue_v2]

I'd guess about a year a half, thereabout. I'd say the real variable is whether or not there's going to be a new Phantasy Star game announced for the PSO 10th anniversary, and if so - how long the 360 servers last will depend a lot on when the game is released, and how the population averages from then until release. The 360 version isn't doing all that well, despite it doing much better than the PS2/PC servers prior to their shutdown.

I'd say they'll probably stop supporting the 360 version altogether somewhere between four months prior - to six months post new game release - and just let the servers coast on bare minimum (casino rotation, gbr, etc) until shutting down six months to a year after support stops.

If the 10th Anniversary Surprise is a release of PSO for the XBL Arcade (which it may well be - considering their push to put Dreamcast games on XBL), I doubt there will be a monthly fee attached to playing it. Be that the case, I could see PSU staying online for the 360 for two more years... since it's still a viable source of income. However, in either case, I don't see the issues surrounding content release delays and such getting any better in that time.

PSU is still viable, but it's a pretty low priority venture for them outside of Japan... and I can't really see Sega either allowing PSU have compete with future product lines, nor can I see the 360 PSU population sustaining a viable population by the end of the next two years. It's pretty much run it's life cycle, and the supplemental update is just the fuel to keep it going that final few laps.

[BIG OLAF]

I'll be pretty dumbstruck when the 360 servers shut down, I think.

PSU has been a big part of my life for the past three or so years. As in, when I wasn't at school, work, or hanging with friends on the weekends, I was playing it (actually, it's still that way). It's going to feel very strange when it all goes away. I'm not really going to know what to do. Hell, I probably won't even feel like playing my Xbox anymore, seeing as PSU is in the disc tray 90% of the time, at least.

It's kind of a scary thought for me, actually, seeing as playing it is my main form of entertainment.

[Yunfa]

Regarding to OP's problem with not having nostalgia, my solution is to take screenshots of literally everything. EVERYTHING. Everything from my charactesr in different poses, to the rooms, to the 500/500 items i have in my bot, and of course, pallete. Maybe go to every lobby and take pictures. That way years into the future i can look back at the screenshots and have the nostalgia.

Or

Suck it up, just like when your girlfriend leaves you. Time moves on, moping around isn't really time efficient.

[dias_flac_0g]

Your post is something that I think everyone has thought about at least once. For those who have actually quit this game know how hard it is not to try and come back. I myself quit about a year ago and came back about 2 months ago. But to answer your question, I think that as gamers, we just have to realize that this IS NOT reality, and IT DOES get better than this. No matter how much time you put into something, you always eventually lose it, it's just a fact of life, nothing lasts forever.

I consider myself to be pretty hard core. I only play on weekends now that I'm in college, but I used to be on this thing 24/7. I'm aware of the 2500+ hours that I've spent getting everything I could want in the game. Not to brag or anything, because I worked my ass of for the stuff I have, but I made sure that I was one of the first people to get every spell to 50 asap, but it didn't stop there, I also went out to get a full palette of 10/10 psycho wands and acquire the best armors in the game. Why? Because I felt the need to make sure that I accomplished something worth my time in the 3 years that I've been playing. Now my character just sits there LOL.

Ultimately, we sacrifice for the game with money and hours of our lives, but it's best that we don't take things to an extreme.

So to ultimately answer your question: when PSU dies, I'm done with PSU and that's all it means to me. I'll be angry for a day and then move on to the next big thing. It's no big deal.

I really want to say "you didn't get the point" but you obviously did. Your answer to my question is, you just don't care that much for your PSU char and stuff the same way i do as nerdy as that sounds xD So it's cool. I for one think it's a waste of money now, you know? This is one of the reasons why I stay away from MMO's eventhough they look so awesome. I really want to play Aion but it's like 12 bucks a month and it's just like PSU in the end it's all for nothing. It's rather unfair don't you agree? We pay them all this money yet they don't allow us to keep our chars for offline play and to well just make the char "ours".

I'll be pretty dumbstruck when the 360 servers shut down, I think.

PSU has been a big part of my life for the past three or so years. As in, when I wasn't at school, work, or hanging with friends on the weekends, I was playing it (actually, it's still that way). It's going to feel very strange when it all goes away. I'm not really going to know what to do. Hell, I probably won't even feel like playing my Xbox anymore, seeing as PSU is in the disc tray 90% of the time, at least.

It's kind of a scary thought for me, actually, seeing as playing it is my main form of entertainment.

Haha I agree with ya man for sure

90% of the time PSU is in my disc tray. I hardly ever play other games. Everyone on my list is always like "wow you are always on that psu game!" once in a while I pop in SSF4, but other than that it's all psu.

[BIG OLAF]

Haha I agree with ya man for sure

90% of the time PSU is in my disc tray. I hardly ever play other games. Everyone on my list is always like "wow you are always on that psu game!" once in a while I pop in SSF4, but other than that it's all psu.

Yeah, I get a lot of flack from other people on my friends list, and even some of my face-to-face friends. I get made fun of because I'm playing that "stupid Phantasy Star game", instead of something "cooler" like Modern Warfare 2 (lolz) or Halo 3 (even more lolz).

Fact of the matter is, PSU is exactly the type of game I love. I'm not a a big fan of shooters, as I generally suck at them. Like, not absolutely horrible, but I can't win without my friends. Same thing with RTS games, and practically every other genre besides RPGs of any sort. So, I stick with my strength.

Hopefully Monster Hunter Frontier will be out by the time PSU goes down, or I'll be one sad dude, and probably not even want to play my Xbox, as I said before.

[AOI_Tifa_Lockhart]

Hiya,

I agree the COD and FPS generation are annoying, kids who don't realize shooting games have been on PC for decades and is a stale format, but tart it up with grpahics and you'll attract kids. Its all my friends play on xbox and I never go round there's as that's all they'll be doing guaranteed. but if ever friends see me playing PSU they always ask that something else is played :P

Tifa