What has hurt us so far...

[SStrikerR]

Our population has taken some big hits, and I just decided I wanted to have a list of all of them.
I KNOW I'm not going to come up with all of them, I'm just listing ones of the top of my head, so feel free to add to this if you like.

1: Delays of updates/not getting new content.

2: Error 065.

3: Drop rates sucking in the original game.

4: Hackers.

5: Sega mercilessly banning anyone who they thinks hacked. (Anyone left who remembers it?)

6: Error 065.

7: Sega screwing up mag then telling us we'll probably get an extention, then delaying it, and now we probably aren't even gonna get it.

8: Impossible MAG goal with all the crap that happened.

9: Our economy back in the day made a bunch of people quit.

10: People getting tired of grinding the same shit because nobody wants to go anywhere else. You'd think even if the exp wasn't as good somewhere else people would go to it after killing the alterzgoug 1674523916453921452391 times. Not a fucking chance :D

11: Sega not giving a shit.

12: Error 065.

[Anduril]

There are two things that could save the PC/PS2 population: Merge with the JPN Servers, or Merge with the 360 servers. Both seem unlikely (and personally I think a merge with the JPN servers is more unlikely) but they seem to be the only solution at this point in the game, unless they suddenly start advertising the game, which is even more unlikely than the merge possibilities.

[SStrikerR]

Advertising won't cut it either, I'd bet my life on that. (see now they'll start advertising and we'll get like 10 unis full by tomorrow. bam dead)

But no, it's true, a merge is all that could save us. Also merging would allow sega to close down our servers which would save them money but...with their track record they'll just forget all about the servers anyway.

[Ruru]

a merge would be the best option. FFXI is a full merge on PS2/PC/360 and JP/NA/EU and its doing better than fine.

the only problem with a JP/NA/EU merge on PC/PS2 is the language barrier.
And thats not even a big deal.

[HELLBOT]

i think if they merged the 360 pc/ps2 servers that they would only support ONE group of servers and every player would be happy. the only thing i'm concerned about is how long with this merging last i mean unless they have a certain program to do it already then they have a shit load of cutting&pasting to do. and we will NEVER merge with JP servers because of language.


a merge would be the best option. FFXI is a full merge on PS2/PC/360 and JP/NA/EU and its doing better than fine.

the only problem with a JP/NA/EU merge on PC/PS2 is the language barrier.
And thats not even a big deal.

they fixed that by when you make an account you choose a language

[SStrikerR]

i think if they merged the 360 pc/ps2 servers that they would only support ONE group of servers and every player would be happy. the only thing i'm concerned about is how long with this merging last i mean unless they have a certain program to do it already then they have a shit load of cutting&pasting to do. and we will NEVER merge with JP servers because of language.

Dude Sega could fix the language barrier if they cared enough to do it, which they don't, BUT!
It really doesn't matter because everybody that plays psu would be on one server so there would be enough people who speak ANY language to find others who speak the same language to tak to/play missions with. And people who speak a different language you can either just run missions with them without talking to them or just not play with them. It really isn't a big deal. Never say never when you don't know what you're talking about.


Oh wait it's just Never say never. Oh well.

[Ruru]

like i said, language barrier is the only real problem and its not even a big problem.

it could easily be fixed or worked around. i dont see why the PC/PS2 JP/NA,EU server's were split to begin with.

FFXI and other MMO's have done just fine with international servers.

[Pipiruu]

like i said, language barrier is the only real problem and its not even a big problem.

it could easily be fixed or worked around. i dont see why the PC/PS2 JP/NA,EU server's were split to begin with.

FFXI and other MMO's have done just fine with international servers.

Not necessarily. FF11 has a lot of racism between US and JP players when I was playing. There were a lot of "JP ONLY" parties and a lot of negativity between JP and US guilds. I hope things have gotten better...

As far as a merge, I believe there was a technical reason why 360 and PC/PS2 servers are separated. It had something to do with voice chat, I think.

[Ruru]

merge between 360 and PC/PS2 is a gameguard microsoft issue mostly. too many open invitations to hack on PC servers.

as for FFXI and racism. i myself am japanese born, american raised and even i was rejected by JP because i can't write in kana/kanji. my point is it's not about JP hating NA. it's about what language you can or can't speak/type. "racism" happens everywhere, fact is this games chat log makes it hard to type while in a party anyway, so i dont see the problem lol.

and if people cant get passed the language barrier we can always make a designated NA/EU uni or 3.

also from what i've seen on FFXI lately the "JP ONLY" issue has slowed down a bit. you'll still find it but not as much as a year ago.

FFXI player since day 1 btw lol. still play very occasionally.

[Pipiruu]

merge between 360 and PC/PS2 is a gameguard microsoft issue mostly. too many open invitations to hack on PC servers.

as for FFXI and racism. i myself am japanese born, american raised and even i was rejected by JP because i can't write in kana/kanji. my point is it's not about JP hating NA. it's about what language you can or can't speak/type. "racism" happens everywhere, fact is this games chat log makes it hard to type while in a party anyway, so i dont see the problem lol.

and if people cant get passed the language barrier we can always make a designated NA/EU uni or 3.

also from what i've seen on FFXI lately the "JP ONLY" issue has slowed down a bit. you'll still find it but not as much as a year ago.

FFXI player since day 1 btw lol. still play very occasionally.

I see. Well, I'm happy to hear the issue is getting better. I played for a few months and just couldn't take it. My experience with the community was simply horrid.

I know PSU isn't great, and the company behind it is more than just a little incompetent. But no matter how many times I quit, I find myself missing it. <3

[Ruru]

yeah this game has a sort of flair to it that keeps me playing.

i'm sorry your FFXI experience was that bad btw. i'm not sure if it's a server wide thing but when i quit (on ifrit server) the JP ONLY thing was getting a bit better, and when i went back (paid to move to seraph server) the JP on there were even more accepting of non JP(speaking/typing) people.

[Pipiruu]

yeah this game has a sort of flair to it that keeps me playing.

i'm sorry your FFXI experience was that bad btw. i'm not sure if it's a server wide thing but when i quit (on ifrit server) the JP ONLY thing was getting a bit better, and when i went back (paid to move to seraph server) the JP on there were even more accepting of non JP(speaking/typing) people.

I see. I guess the server really makes the difference.

Well, no worries. I'd rather play PSU anyway. ^_^

[HELLBOT]

i think what they could do is set it when you join party what language is going on there like it would say Mission:... Party name:... Language:EN,JP,FR,GR, etc...

[Omega_Weltall]

ya i was on the Diabolos server and those assholes called me a gaijin in my own goddamn house... needless to say they did without a BLM/WHM. Though my friends who play FF11 say they only ran into cool JP players... guess retards are just drawn to me >_<.
NA <-> JP server merge = JP players would BAWWWWWWWWWWW (or バーァァァァァァァァァァァァ ).

[Ruru]

*fixed*
disregard this.

[Omega_Weltall]

shit.. ya i edit it out

[DAMASCUS]

The one thing that would help alot is if they advertised the next expansion AND promoted a free month to start. Since for some idiotic reason the PC/PS2 version did not see a demo there is no easy way for people to 'try before they buy'. If it were easy and free then I'm sure a ton of people would sign on to play especially since the last expansion will have the remaining content. Advertising, of course, would cost money and SEGA may not be willing to make that investment; although they should but have not.

Merging has issues but if they made US-Universes on the JP server than we would just live next door but not necessarily cross that barrier. Merging with XBOX sounds like its forbidden by microsoft so that sounds impossible.

Does anyone have screenies from the height of PSU's popularity? I don't remember there being much of a population even then but its definitely gone down.

All I know is that new people love this game and they didn't even know that it existed. THAT is a problem.

[Ruru]

when i FIRST started i saw 4 stars on uni 1, 2 stars on uni 2 and a half star on the rest like nowadays.

[TrekkiesUnite]

Well, us PC players can help spread the word by lending friends our discs and getting them into the game.

[DAMASCUS]

Well, us PC players can help spread the word by lending friends our discs and getting them into the game.

In terms of a 'grassroots' promotion of PSU that is a great idea. For us Playstation users we have a PSU vanilla disc just laying around and since they aren't locked like PSO we can just loan it out to people to try and then they can just buy AOTI if they like it.

I'm sure people are already doing this but its worth stating.

[Middle]

How much i like the idea merching the JP and US/EU PC/PS2 servers ...
I'd hate it that i cannot read what weapon I have equipped ...

if someone would ask me "... hey what wep is that?" ... i could only answere: " It's that 10* %&$§$§$§%&%$%%-Rifle!" For example ...

that would make me mad ...

[Ruru]

lol language barrier.

yeah on FFXI my friends would just call kana/kanji "squigly"

[DAMASCUS]

How much i like the idea merching the JP and US/EU PC/PS2 servers ...
I'd hate it that i cannot read what weapon I have equipped ...



We would still have the english version of the game so game generated text would still be readable. The big problem is that we can't communicate with Japanese players unless they 'choose' to speak the Otaku.

[Zaft]

I'd like to see all servers merged to be honest. No reason not to have it like that in my opinion. What's the big deal?

Also, if they do that, I'd like to see some auto-translate. For example, ffxi had the auto translate system for common words and phrases, and Age of Conan auto translates anything you click to your clients language (so I post a sword in JP, you click it, it shows the details in EN).


Does anyone have screenies from the height of PSU's popularity? I don't remember there being much of a population even then but its definitely gone down.

I might still have a pic of the first few weeks. Uni 1 was always full, Uni 2 was usually full, Uni 3 had like 3 stars and Uni 15 usually had 2 or 3. I don't remember the others.

[Uncle_bob]

Sega.



Well there's your problem.

Honestly. It's not something Sega will be able to fix. They just don't seem to be able to manage a game like this.

[Seority]

What is this supposed to accomplish besides more flame to the old Sega team?

[darkante]

I'd like to see all servers merged to be honest. No reason not to have it like that in my opinion. What's the big deal?

Also, if they do that, I'd like to see some auto-translate. For example, ffxi had the auto translate system for common words and phrases, and Age of Conan auto translates anything you click to your clients language (so I post a sword in JP, you click it, it shows the details in EN).



I might still have a pic of the first few weeks. Uni 1 was always full, Uni 2 was usually full, Uni 3 had like 3 stars and Uni 15 usually had 2 or 3. I don't remember the others.

Bah, i miss the old times where partys were every fucking where on PC/PS2 side. :S
When people didn´t care about rares and just did whatever mission.

[darthplagis]

any one really remember the old auto translate system in PSO? where you had a few set phrases and they were universally translated. i found that system worked fine as i used to hit the JP servers ALL THE TIME back on the DC. even the quick chat emoticon system worked fine if you were in a fix and needed help badly, people could see you needed a fluid or a heal as it was plain and clear.

but alas WoW will be getting my ££££ now bye bye PSU

[goldbrease]

There are two things that could save the PC/PS2 population: Merge with the JPN Servers, or Merge with the 360 servers. Both seem unlikely (and personally I think a merge with the JPN servers is more unlikely) but they seem to be the only solution at this point in the game, unless they suddenly start advertising the game, which is even more unlikely than the merge possibilities.

a merge with the jp servers could save us or make us worse.

a merge would be the best option. FFXI is a full merge on PS2/PC/360 and JP/NA/EU and its doing better than fine.

the only problem with a JP/NA/EU merge on PC/PS2 is the language barrier.
And thats not even a big deal.
not realy.


any one really remember the old auto translate system in PSO? where you had a few set phrases and they were universally translated. i found that system worked fine as i used to hit the JP servers ALL THE TIME back on the DC. even the quick chat emoticon system worked fine if you were in a fix and needed help badly, people could see you needed a fluid or a heal as it was plain and clear.

but alas WoW will be getting my ££££ now bye bye PSU

the set chats that auto translated were nice.

to all the problems with merging with the jp servers is, yes they would have to update faster for us but they could also do what they did in pso gc. US/eu players may partake in all events however no prizes will be awarded to us/eu players, thou most of the prizes then were irl items this didn't change the fact that we were knocked over and just used to help the jp players who easily on there own met and blew their mile stones out of the water. i believe one they were like 35 mil over the final mile stone.

also we got updates months after jp. and many of times our quests were modified. (aka the Halloween quest.)

now if things were done well and organized right everything would be equal.

a problem that keeps the 360 servers from merging with the ps2/pc is the voice chat. which in reality you could fix this. its not that hard to give the ps2 voice chat! there are head phones yah know. think socom!

ow and the set commands would help alot to for simple communication.
in pso gc once thou my text messed up and everything i typed was in Japanese. freaky lol. ran around the lobby saying stuff with the text poping up in Japanese lol. dunno what happened there.

[Ruru]

a merge with the jp servers could save us or make us worse.

not realy.



the set chats that auto translated were nice.

to all the problems with merging with the jp servers is, yes they would have to update faster for us but they could also do what they did in pso gc. US/eu players may partake in all events however no prizes will be awarded to us/eu players, thou most of the prizes then were irl items this didn't change the fact that we were knocked over and just used to help the jp players who easily on there own met and blew their mile stones out of the water. i believe one they were like 35 mil over the final mile stone.

also we got updates months after jp. and many of times our quests were modified. (aka the Halloween quest.)

now if things were done well and organized right everything would be equal.

a problem that keeps the 360 servers from merging with the ps2/pc is the voice chat. which in reality you could fix this. its not that hard to give the ps2 voice chat! there are head phones yah know. think socom!

ow and the set commands would help alot to for simple communication.
in pso gc once thou my text messed up and everything i typed was in Japanese. freaky lol. ran around the lobby saying stuff with the text poping up in Japanese lol. dunno what happened there.

all you say is "not really" to my post, elaborate. the only bad point you stated is us not getting real life prizes. I'd like to know how often you've obtained a real life prize while playing this game. if THAT is your ONLY gripe with a server merge then... "not really"

[Ezodagrom]

A merge between US/EU PC/PS2 and JP PC/PS2 wouldn't work. For that merge to happen we would have to catch up the JP version on updates, if we got all updates at once that JP got for the merge, we would lose 2 events and 3 GBRs.

[Abashi76]

a merge would be the best option. FFXI is a full merge on PS2/PC/360 and JP/NA/EU and its doing better than fine.

the only problem with a JP/NA/EU merge on PC/PS2 is the language barrier.
And thats not even a big deal.

They merged PC/PS2 with 360 on another game? If they did that there, they can do that here, couldn't they?

[SStrikerR]

A merge between US/EU PC/PS2 and JP PC/PS2 wouldn't work. For that merge to happen we would have to catch up the JP version on updates, if we got all updates at once that JP got for the merge, we would lose 2 events and 3 GBRs.

From what I read around when the first GBR was there is that the GBR's are going to continue to keep cycling around, but I guess sega ditched that idea as well as a mag extention. And as for 2 events, if merging would save this game a for a few more tears, I'm willing to lose them.

[Kylie]

Gollie. The mood here lately is so negative; it's starting to hurt.

Not that I blame you.


5: Sega mercilessly banning anyone who they thinks hacked. (Anyone left who remembers it?)
Yup, they still wrongly ban people and then unban them after seeing indisputable evidence that they were wrongly banned. My friend was banned and never contested it because it pissed him off, and I know he didn't do anything. At any rate, I'm not so much bothered by lack of content or whatever, but what bothers me is the incompetence and lack of care that everyone involved with SOA shows again and again.

[goldbrease]

all you say is "not really" to my post, elaborate. the only bad point you stated is us not getting real life prizes. I'd like to know how often you've obtained a real life prize while playing this game. if THAT is your ONLY gripe with a server merge then... "not really"

you don't seem to understand what i said.

i may be complaining there were not getting equal shares on the prizes but thats not th point. im saying sega could pull what they did to us on pso gc if we merged with them.
this was that we gain access to the missions of the event and nothing more. our hard work in those missions goes to these Japaneses players to help them reach their goal quicker. meaning we wont even get 2 weeks of 3 star luck. they did this to us in pso gc they could do it to us again.

the reason we can't merge the 360 servers into the pc/sp2 is the voice chat. sgea would likely have to re release a mandatory psu and expansion for ps2 to handle the voice chat upgrade.

i would love for the full merger but i don't think it will happen because basically sega isn't that smart.

[Noblewine]

The missed updates and how the economy is now. The hacking problems is another issue though it has calmed down so the game isn't to unbalanced.

[Ruru]

you don't seem to understand what i said.

i may be complaining there were not getting equal shares on the prizes but thats not th point. im saying sega could pull what they did to us on pso gc if we merged with them.
this was that we gain access to the missions of the event and nothing more. our hard work in those missions goes to these Japaneses players to help them reach their goal quicker. meaning we wont even get 2 weeks of 3 star luck. they did this to us in pso gc they could do it to us again.

the reason we can't merge the 360 servers into the pc/sp2 is the voice chat. sgea would likely have to re release a mandatory psu and expansion for ps2 to handle the voice chat upgrade.

i would love for the full merger but i don't think it will happen because basically sega isn't that smart.

i really doubt that if it was a full merge that non jp would be excluded in getting in game rewards. they COULD possibly do it but i dont see it happening. not only that but once again we get just as screwed over on our version so i dont see a big difference.

as for merging with 360. its not JUST the voicechat. its the fact that microsoft doesn't want to be involved with the pc/ps2 version because alot of our data isn't server side and can be easily hacked by someone with enough time and a fairly good computer.

if it was a voice chat thing there wouldn't have been such a big issue with 360 starting up in the first place. not to mention 360's censor is about 10 times worse than the PC/PS2 censor and that would have to be changed around as well.

[Snake Jutsu]

i dont think the drop rates are that bad.....but all the other things u said are true tho

[SStrikerR]

i dont think the drop rates are that bad.....but all the other things u said are true tho
Dude did you notice I said the ORIGINAL version of PSU? And I was talking about online.

[Sord]

Probably the biggest of them all: THEY MADE IT FOR PS2. The game system has no hard drive, so there is no chance of large, content filled downloadable updates. Only expansion disks, and even when they're released, you then have to wait for the stuff to be unlocked off the disk. Also, there's the fact PS2 is a previous gen council, combine that with Sega's poor programming, you have a game that looks like it should have come out in the middle of the PS2s lifetime with the programming efficiency of games that first came out for it. Everything has to accommodate the PS2, then it has to be ported for 360 and PC. It's unlikely they'll cut support for the ps2, and if they do, I'm sure there will be a huge crop of bawers, and people complaining it isn't fair (in reverse though, is it really fair everyone else has to suffer the PS2 limitations?)

[SStrikerR]

I'm actually glad it came out on the PS2 because that's the only system I could play it on. Although I might go over to the JP servers soon.

[Sord]

I know you enjoy having the game, and I realize that you are not the only one who's only choice is the PS2 for the game. I also had several friends on PS2 when I played, and would have hated to lose them when I was still playing. But regardless of those people's want of the game, the PS2 is what cut a major chunk of what PSU could have been out. Not having a hard drive for a massive MMO is just a great deterrent. Of course, since it did come out on PS2, that will probably never change. Depending on how many buy the disks, they can make some decent milk money, since each disk is the cost of a full game if I remember correctly (except of course on newcomers, who just buy the latest.)This would also mean that even expansions are limited. They still have to put everything on the disk for PS2s. I'm sure AoI could fit more because they cut out all the story crap (including cinemas) that was on the first disk. If they release another one, I'm sure the disk won't have any single player story on it at all, or if they do it will be significantly smaller.

[Ezodagrom]

I'm actually glad it came out on the PS2 because that's the only system I could play it on. Although I might go over to the JP servers soon.

Well, unless you have a modded PS2 or a JP PS2, you can't get the JP version :/

[Ruru]

I know you enjoy having the game, and I realize that you are not the only one who's only choice is the PS2 for the game. I also had several friends on PS2 when I played, and would have hated to lose them when I was still playing. But regardless of those people's want of the game, the PS2 is what cut a major chunk of what PSU could have been out. Not having a hard drive for a massive MMO is just a great deterrent. Of course, since it did come out on PS2, that will probably never change. Depending on how many buy the disks, they can make some decent milk money, since each disk is the cost of a full game if I remember correctly (except of course on newcomers, who just buy the latest.)This would also mean that even expansions are limited. They still have to put everything on the disk for PS2s. I'm sure AoI could fit more because they cut out all the story crap (including cinemas) that was on the first disk. If they release another one, I'm sure the disk won't have any single player story on it at all, or if they do it will be significantly smaller.

3 words, hard disc drive.
came out for FFXI, sega could have done the same or asked sony themselves to start these in production again. PS2 didn't limit this game, Sonic team did when they made it.

[Aisha379]

3 words, hard disc drive.
came out for FFXI, sega could have done the same or asked sony themselves to start these in production again. PS2 didn't limit this game, Sonic team did when they made it.

Agreed.

I understand peoples frustration with the PS2, but its not like SonicTeam came right out and said "We had to cut this and this due to a lack of space". It was a lazy thing on there part, and even if, in a magical alternate world, PSU had only came out on the 360 and PC, I doubt it there would be any (significant) differences at all.

I mean, FFS, look at the bosses...we have...what?...about 5 dragon reskins? You could give SonicTeam a whole army of awesome NASA computers and all the hardware for their customers they could possibly want, but it does not mean they are going to do shit with it.



Oh, and as for the list, don't forget the rollbacks due to them leaving in the all rare enemy mission (Might have already been mentioned, If it was I did not notice...)