New online account for PSO GC and accurate number of current

[ZeroFive]

Hello, I am a long time player of pso and long time psoworld user (old account from years back got lost amoungst the confusion, dont ask). I had pso all the way back to the origonal DC version and have always loved it, but have yet to ever go online with the game.
I was wondering just how many people do still play on GC (a number, not people saying they do like in other threads asking) and do you think it is worth it for me to go buy a broadband adapter now (USD $35) and begin to play the game online. Are there sufficient users to get a party of good, non-irritating non-hackers?

[ShadowChao]

... I just did the same thing you're thinking about.

Just don't try to go into Altair 4. **sigh**
I'll miss my Demo Comet... and whatever else I didn't have equipped...

[ZeroFive]

On 2004-12-05 08:05, ShadowChao wrote:
... I just did the same thing you're thinking about.

Just don't try to go into Altair 4. **sigh**
I'll miss my Demo Comet... and whatever else I didn't have equipped...



Is there a known glitch in the ship?

Also... I'm considering starting up (finally) the clan I was considering making when I first wanted to get online with PSO. If anyone is interested feel free to PM me.

[rena-ko]

a known glitch called 'moron'.

some people claimed this block with AR-force because the "cool people" used to hang out there.

so you'll find the pimplefaced/singledigit-aged scriptkiddies in alt4, and the "cool people" elsewhere (just not on vega *laughs*).


for precise numbers of given HLs, active HLs, playerpeaks you'd have to contact sega themselfes. i dont know of a site where they give out this kind of information.
the only thing closely related was some newspage that posted something about... 600k HLs... no word about active or not, used or not and what system.

besides this, taking the "worldwide"-factor into account, PSO GC prolly has the highest playercount.

[ShadowChao]

I hope you're referring to those hackers as the morons... I've only been online with PSO for 1 day and never really paid attention to posts pertaining to the online aspect of the game :


... If there's anything else I, or ZeroFive, or anyone else new (or hopefully new, *hint hint, Zero*) to PSOnline should know, please let us know. I really don't want to hear that insane screeching again, mimicing my own as I realized I got FSODed on my first day online.

[Elmaed]

yah Altair 4 is awful now. Whats another good block to hang out on? Deneb 9 is also dead.

[ZeroFive]

Yes, agreed. Things to watch out for if your a new player would be very helpful since the online game is seemingly full of hackers etc. Is there any good guidelines you could give to avoide such?

[rena-ko]

i think you'd stumble over lots of topics like that if the search option would work (no clue right now, didnt try it lately).

oh and not the hackers are the morons, but the scriptkiddies using what they googled up on the net with their 1337 ARs. get mah drift?


alright...

things to watch out if youre new:
-there are two reasons why you could fsod now.
first one would be that the server chocked your data up. happens sometimes on crowded places or with a crummy connection or if your ISP has an issue for a second. v3 is kinda more unstable than v2 was. at least back then there werent that many routine-based fsods afaik....
when do you fsod: usually while changing ships or leaving a game. rarely ingame while piping or shortly after loading.

-if you fsod in lobby before you entered a game, then youre fine. if you fsod after you entered a game, you'll have lost all unequipped stuff.

-its rare but may happen that you fsod or bsod (black screen) ingame. bsods usually happen after piping (or at least mine happened then). if youre lucky it only was a bsod. if not... well, that later.

thus:
never carry around more than one precious weapon which you'll want to have equipped each time you use a warp that loads a new area.
always bank your second mag/additional rare weapons and whatever you carry around in the bank and make sure you save your last equipment status by checking the shops or whatever.

if you arent fond with the gamble each time you leave a game (after playing cmode for example and scoring a neat srank weapon or stage time), you may unconnect your network/modem cable off the cube while you warp to the lobby which will manually disconnect and save your status. on reconnect, you'll be in the 'never entered a game before and thus safe'-status.
hitting the reset button or forcing a softreset (start+b+x) is doing the same.


this results in some basic rules:
have a precious mainweapon, say... a red sword+52 with 30 hit (which is a really sweet rare). additionally you, as a hunter in this example, will need mechguns - get some neat with 50 hit from the shops. buy a dozen if you happen to find charge mechs with 50 hit there.
this is what people call expendable weapons.
mighty usefull as well as no need to cry a tear after them.

other stuff you want to check the shop each time for are:
handgun 50h (for falz form 3)
sword 50h (if you use another rare-type)
partisan 50h
mechgun 50h (those are the most interesting rares)
shot 50h (for rangers - frozen shooter and this is a good team)

anything i missed? well, you'll see.


the pso issue no.1:
fsod-x. aka memcard corruption.
this can happen if your memcard is worn out (got saved too much - its a flash rom and those age with usage), this also can happen if you get a power-off by saving. it even can happen if you get a server disconnect at certain points ingame but those are really rare and you shouldnt worry about it.

how to prevent / work against it.
nothing really you can do... minimize the chances you fsod. dont play on too crowded servers. dont play from lobbies where scriptkiddies run around. dont move your character/go into the menu until youre fully saved.

if you happen to corrupt, there are several subforms (since there are three essential files on the memcard). guildcard file corruption is only happening when you fsod while writing something in that file. the obviously usual form is the worst one. if your character file is broken, youre most likely doomed to erase it.


system issues:
never ever enter a game from lobby 1 unless you dont mind fsoding while leaving.
its likely to happen when you burst back into a full lobby or if the server needs too much time to forward you to lobby 2. its also likely when several players burst the same lobby the same time.


human issues:
stay away from vega. only scum there.
stay away from alt4 for the time being. AR scum there.


net lingo and social contacts:
if you google a bit, you'll prolly stumble over a neat list with everything useful.
what brb afk lol lmao rofl and wtfroflolbbq means...

pso-own shorts are mostly for weapons... if you have a nice person with you, just ask.

FS = frozen shooter (since shooter gets censored and its a rather long name for an often used weapon, everyone calls it only FS)
SQ = snow queen
etc...

pso censoring:
lots of ridiculous words are fully or partly censored, since the game has 4 latin based languages and japanese. so you cant say shoes or saturday or basement... work your way around it with dots or abbreviations.


social skills:
be polite. especially when youre on the japanese servers. if their culture is a mystery to you, dont try to interact with them.
dont highjack games as in entering and forcing them to do a certain quest/cmode stage/etc
dont beg, demand, see as standard.
a 'thanks' or even better the wordselect equivalent of it is a nifty shortcut which you can activate each time you get a status boost and or resta.

basic politeness requires, thanks when getting, please when asking, proper grammar if the other is speaking proper grammar to you too and overall being nice. hi there, how are you, see you around, bye. the usual as in real life.

abbreviations and netspeak, slang and all that stuff is ok if the other one is using it too.

always keep in mind, youre playing with human beings, not some bots or NPCs.


items that drop...
difficult issue. depending on the team there are several ways to handle it.

some people just fight side by side of eachother and grab what they find. you wont make any friends that way.
better is to see what might drop in whatever map youre going to and call it before you start / before it drops.
you could also ask around if anyone needs a drop... say.. a luck mat for example.

ways to settle double claims:
meseta gamble:
it bases on 1<2<3<1 and resembles stone scissors paper / jan ken pyon games. two or three claimers drop either 1, 2 or 3 meseta and then check the others. depending on which way the rules where set before the game (1<2<3<1 or 1>2>3>1), the winner gets the prize.
alternatively make jan ken pyon symbol chats.

meseta guessing:
a third is needed for this. that one drops a random ammount of meseta and the two claimers guess if its odd or even, then check. resembles flipping a coin.

the japanese do it different.
they collect everything of worth and drop it at the shops/infront of the bank after the game. everyone asks if he/she can have a certain item and takes it then. roundabout until everything is gone or noone wants the rest.



advanced playing:
photon blast chains.
its in the guides somewhere...
you can chain two up to four PBs together getting an awesome boost if one happens to be M&Y (SD).
the point is to hold your blast back until everyone else hit 100. then distribute on who does what.
one M&Y is necessary, and for the others, the main rule is, never follow a blast with the same blast.

M&Y, farlla, estlla, farlla is ok, but
M&Y, farlla, farlla, estlla isnt.

also, the one with 120 sync should begin the chain.
order doesnt matter.

when shouting out what you gonna use, use either the name or some unique and identifyable discription:
estlla, dolphin, fish...
milla & youlla, M&Y, twins
golla, bullwinkle, elk, ikea *laughs*
pilla, sorcerer
farlla, snake


hm... so, thats it i guess.
the rest comes with exp... and if i forgot an aspect.. ask/add > everyone

after all, its a game, nothing more, meant for fun



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rena-ko on 2004-12-06 04:37 ]</font>

[Auracom]

Nice post rena-san. XP
Not much else to be said... hmmm the quests are nice, most of them. ^_^

Checking out the Online Users today I saw.... 3people on vega, 0 people on antares, 8 people on deneb and... 72 people on altair.

Our once peaceful Altair 4 was once an escape from the everyday jerkass and alot of close psow friends and legits could play in peace... now it's fock. Abandon ship once again.

[RadHaz]

I just took my 78 FOmarl on, and saw around 180 JP, 30 EU, and 100 or so US online.

[darkholemind]

WTF? Did all the Vega move to Altair 4? And now Deneb 9 is shit aawwww.........when I get back online where do all the legits play I have a feeling there aren't many left......

[shinobu_seta]

I'm still at a loss as to where to go. Isn't there a way everyone at PSOW can unite?

I find myself just drifting back to Deneb 9, to the European servers (yeah, like you'll meet anyone there), and the Japanese servers. Word select gets old fast though.

We're letting the AR brats beat us....can't we unite?

[ForceOfBrokenGlass]

See that's the problem. You'll have to thin out your numbers across a large area. FSODers prefer to FSOD legits since hackers/dupers/other FSODers are relatively unaffected by FSODs in game or in the lobby. Since they know how to back up their items or get revenge it's not so smart of them either.

They swarm legit areas like flies on a fresh kill. It happened to Antares 8, Deneb 9, Altair 2 & 4, lower numbers over a large area are harder to recognise.

[Seval]

That last post is sick, but true. From my expeariance, try using europe servers. From what I have seen, people are alot more well-behaved across the pond.

[shinobu_seta]

It's true, the Japanese and European servers are worlds different.

Overall they seem to have the most maturity/skill level/and attitude required to play this game without cheating.

The level of stupidity on the US (the FSODers) servers is astonishing. It definitely shows that ST doesn't pay attention or simply does not care about the US customers who do want to play this game fairly.