Game features and storylines you'd like to see

[Picchi]

Something I wanted to post just for fun. For PSU, I my main gripe with the series has to be the fact that the player revolved around the story and not the other way around. Because of that, it was a little difficult to connect with what was going on or at times, with the characters. Therefore, I thought of several ways things could be improved upon for next game:



1) Bring back the side quests: In the event people aren't grabbed by the main PSU storyline, I think it'd be wise to provide other avenues in order to keep them around every month. Side quests could be obtained based on how well or poor a characters' relationship is with an NPC, meeting people through others, or by participating/showing reliability in certain community activities (ex: Club Room).



2) Allow for multiple partner machinery and improved levels of interactivity:

This one was inspired by the chao raising feature in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. The first one comes automatically, but you can buy another one or find them in the various stages. You can raise your Partner Machinery by feeding them the many items you find on your missions. Your partner machinery can interact with you and other ones, and also gain the opportunity to compete against them in athletic minigames or combat. The stats you give them dictate how well they do in these feilds, and winning them could possibly win them new moves and abilities. Also, a more varied amont of evolvable paths and items to accessorize them like you would your OP may play a part in a players' ability to personalize with them a little more. Partner machinery, if their bond is strong enough with you could eventually provide you with sidequests of their own. Exactly which missions you get may be based on what kind of personality
your PM has.

3) More purpose and things to do in the adventure feilds:

Places like the club for example. They just feel like an extended place to sit around in at the colony; unless you want to talk someplace private with your buds, there's not much incentive to go to places like these because there's not much to do there.

Why not hold contests there to help people win meseta? For instance, allow a jukebox containing a variety of music to choose from, while your player and potentially others can dance to it on the stage. The players could dance using engines seen in games like Bust A Groove to dance off against computers or other players. Proefficiency in this area may give players an opportunity to meet new people, and take on more quests.


4) More versatility in clothing/parts and hairstyles:

This one I feel, is important especially for the cast group as they have the least variation in design than of all the four races. I'll break this up into categories:

Hair: SEGA allows us to customize the color of our hair, but how about customizing other features? I doubt it'd be difficult for them to orginize it a little so that the length and width of the hair could be changed. Also, things like the bangs and head accessories should be put in other categories. It takes a lot longer to flip through for one, and there might be times where there's a head accessory that a player likes, but its on the wrong hairstyle. Accessories should also have the hue option that the hair does so that if in case its not in the color a player wants it, then they can change it to suit them better.

Clothing: I think that clothing needs to be organized into separate parts too. Pants go in one area, leggings in another, tops, boots and so forth. Also allow the color hue option for clothing so that fans can customize clothes based moreso on a style that works for them, and not so much as simply having to wear something because its the only thing that might have matched with the shirt, shoes, etc. that they wanted. This also allows for more herogeniety in what people are wearing. Anyone remember a time, when you bought a shirt and wore a pair of pants because it was the only thing other than the set that matched, only to find someone else in the same outfit as you?

Parts: If casts aren't going to be allowed an opportunity to the same outfits as the other races, then SEGA needs to invest more time in making more parts to compensate that problem, instead of making slight variations at best to the same part. If not, then casts should at the very least be given a body type (potentially humanoid in appearance) options that allows for them to wear the clothing that people. Also, again, COLOR HUE. Unlike with PSO, casts in this game have a very
limited number of colors to choose from.


5) Broader interactivity between the players and NPCs:

Again, one of my gripes with PSU is that the story revolves more around the plot than it does the OP; in short, despite having a character of your own, there's a very good chance in this instance, that a player might not feel very involved with the characters and how things will turn out. To help improve this issue, I'd suggest a ranking system. A player can be given a breif questionare in the beginning of the game asking questions about a character and their personality (are they short tempered, cheerful, aloof etc?). Based on the answers you give, the computer generates a series of things you can say to an NPC during the game, which may allow your ranking with them to increase or decrease. The more it increases or decreases, the more or less likely you are to receive things like sidestories and quests---potentially even a romantic relationship. Some characters may not approve of you having relationships with other NPCs, and affiliating with one may cause conflict that may affect your ranking with them.


6) Multiple Endings:

To add to the replay value of the game I'd suggest this as the objective is for people to have an incentive to keep their game, not to toss it out when they're done. Multiple endings can also provide a player with a sense of personalization; that they're the ones responsible for making this story the way it was, instead of them just being dragged into it a.k.a: but thou must.


7) Voice Acting:

We're allowed our own grunts and noises, so why not VAs? Why not let players select a VA for their characters to speak through?


What about you though? If you could change some things about the game, what would it be?

[Cooljames2186]

Don't know bout the voice acting...but the Clothes and styling would be awesome...along with improved AI for the PM...I mean I love all my PMS Catsup, Sauerkraut, Mayonnaise, and Mustard...but let's face it what's a condiment without brains...ya know...i mean where's the meat..where's the meat....lol

[zandra117]

I'm going to list five things that I want to see in the next non-handheld online Phantasy Star game.

1) More versatile fighting system.
Hack and slash is good, it can stay hack and slash, but add more depth to the combat. For example in a similar game, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, if you hold the B button and move the control stick to the side while an enemy charges at you you can do a special blindside attack. The timed combos and counter attacks in PSU is good for a start but it still really needs more depth. Combat needs to look something like this

2) Hidden Side Quests.
This is one of the things that I really enjoyed about Phantasy Star Online. The coolest one in PSO in my opinion is the one that starts in Gallon's Treachery and ends in a totally different quest, Rappy's Holiday, and you get the Heart of Poumn. That was just awesome. All the quests in PSO had hidden stuff in them. What happened?

3) Overworld.
I would love to see an expansive overworld in the next Phantasy Star. It doesnt need to be a persistant overworld. You could have towns act as lobbies but when you leave the town borders you enter an instanced overworld with your party and roaming monsters. Then you can decide if you want to explore the caves in the north, the tower in the west, or go to another town in the east. It would put a real touch of classic phantasy star into the game instead of just those lame references that PSU pulls.

4) Hunter's Guild.
There needs to be a central point in town for all quests to be started from for convenience. At the same time when a quest starts the party shouldnt immediately be teleported to the quest location. Have them manually travel to the quest location. If it is far away supply them with a vehicle like a Landrover or something that they can use to get there faster. This at least gives an illusion of a persistant world and makes the game world more interesting.

5) "You are not the only hero".
The worst idea that PSU implemented in my opinion is the online story mode that was single player only. And even then Ethan Waber was still the real hero. What the hell SEGA?! PSOBB had multiplayer story mode through the Governmental Quests and everybody was the hero through a collaberative effort.

[gratefulgriz]

[QUOTE=zandra117;2300096]I'm going to list five things that I want to see in the next non-handheld online Phantasy Star game.

1) More versatile fighting system.
Hack and slash is good, it can stay hack and slash, but add more depth to the combat. For example in a similar game, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, if you hold the B button and move the control stick to the side while an enemy charges at you you can do a special blindside attack. The timed combos and counter attacks in PSU is good for a start but it still really needs more depth. Combat needs to look something like this

I disagree about the combat, yah its lacking stuff but geez i dont want it to be anything like that star ocean game. what fluffy combat with them jumping all over the place, slowing down motion, flopping around...no thanks. Just give standard combat in my opinion, I hate all the 'lets jazz it up' combat sequences and cutscene while in battle. Fighting some mobs shouldn't be an epic battle everytime.

[springLcd]

It sounds like very well. I want to play this game. Can you tell me where it's? hair accessories

[ShonagarACE]

It sounds like very well. I want to play this game. Can you tell me where it's? hair accessories

This one's not bad, guys!

[Arika]

I would like to see a story continue from Ragol and explain how did it turn out like what happened on PSU.

[Picchi]

I would like to see a story continue from Ragol and explain how did it turn out like what happened on PSU.

I was kind of hoping they'd go this route with Maximum Attack G. The guardians search through this digital world with the hope they'll find more clues about how to defeat Falz while also trying to defend their homeland. I suppose they could still do that in the next game though, depending on how this title ends. Its very likely that Falz won't die and what can they do if he comes back?

5) "You are not the only hero".
The worst idea that PSU implemented in my opinion is the online story mode that was single player only. And even then Ethan Waber was still the real hero. What the hell SEGA?! PSOBB had multiplayer story mode through the Governmental Quests and everybody was the hero through a collaberative effort.

You might be right. I think the stories for one need to focus not only on making the player feel involved, for their friends to partake in the fun too. Perhaps the series should have both a single player story mode AND a multiplayer mode? certainly gives people more to do.

[Zyrusticae]

7) Voice Acting:

We're allowed our own grunts and noises, so why not VAs? Why not let players select a VA for their characters to speak through?

I just wanted to mention that the JP version already has exactly this - their voices actually include spoken lines rather than just grunts and noises.


I've already made a list in one of the previous threads, and so I won't repeat it here...

[Zorafim]

I've got a couple of ideas. And yeah, if anyone knows me, they know they should hit the deck when I get serious with my posts. But regardless, these are things I'd like to see, but are things I'd rather see in a future game of the series rather than in PSU.


Combat: canceling, dodging and blocking

As I came out of my teens and into the bigger levels in PSU, I realized more and more that, as awesome as PA were, they were getting to be too elaborate. The longer the PA, the less likely you were to dodge an incoming attack. Eventually, I just got into a habit of just standing still when the enemy attacked, because I knew I couldn't dodge, and I didn't want to waste any PP. And not to mention, because PAs took so long, enemy AI was adjusted to just stand there so you could get a chance to end the PA and move around. In a way, I thought the lower levels of PSU were more fun, because you could stop a weapon's attack when you wanted and get out of the way of an attack.

I think, to add depth to combat and to allow enemies to be more savage, dodging and blocking should be implemented. When used, they would immediately stop your attack, and either put you in a defensive position where you would take less damage and would suffer less knockback (blocking), or would attempt to negate all damage and either set you up for a counter attack or to be safe from a followup attack (dodging).


Gameplay: exploration and quests

These are two things I see people wanting, and is something I want too. Now this would probably be a step back, as what I have in mind is similar to how PSO handled things. There would be an exploration mode, where you had one goal in mind (thin enemy numbers, gather data, or even a variety of objectives), and where you would either play just to fight monsters, see the scenery, or perhaps complete goals given to you by NPCs at a point. And then there's a quest mode, where you would have one particular goal in mind, and rush to fulfill this goal as quickly and efficiently as you can. The quest mode would by more like PSU's missions, more fast paced, graded, etc., and be closed off versions of exploration mode maps. Exploration mode would be slower paced and would force you to get lost several times before doing what you needed to do.

The game will still use the lobby system of PSU, but only as resting points or starting points of exploration. In other words, after going through block 1, you'd appear in a lobby where you can rest before moving on with the mission. Instead of the lobby you end up in being chosen by which mission you do, it's based off of paths and exits you go through while exploring. The exact map you get will change each time you restart an exploration mission, so you don't really know which mid-lobby you'll end up in until you get to it. If you pick up a quest at either the guardian HQ or from an NPC, you or your party leader has the option of doing that instead of an exploration mission. Once a quest is completed, you cannot do it again unless you unlock the ability to do so, or unless it is a repeatable quest. Since quests are graded, many of the paths you'd see in exploration maps will be blocked off in quest maps, so you'll always end up going through the same path (minus detours) each time you do it. And because of this, you'll end up in the same lobbies every time you do the same quest.

There will be an option to look for players who want to do a certain quest, so that getting a party for one will be quick. But there will be no option to join a quest part way through. There will be no such option for exploration, so you'll need to build a party beforehand or hope someone joins part way through.

Races: drop beasts

Now I'm not saying I dislike beasts. I just think they're too similar to the other races, so they're rather redundant. Instead, sort of merge them with other races, and create a new race, the Natives. Yes, this was inspired by the original Phantasy Star series. This would be a monstrous or alien looking race that would cater to players who want to play as weird things. Right now, the only way to do this is to get creative with casts. I think a race like this would bring back the more alien feel the Phantasy Star series originally had. After all, the series is loosely based off of Star Wars.
And as for the other races... I think humans should have the option, but not the necessity, to look tougher. In other words, have the slider allow them to be more muscular, or to keep their pretty boy appearance. For newmans, let them keep the option of being elegant space elves, but also give the option for more savage customizations, such as more jagged ears, different options for their pupils (including the beast's eye slits), tatoos and scars, etc. Allow them to look prim and perfect if they want, but keep in mind that they're genetic experiments. And as for casts, I like what they did in PSU actually. It's just their clothing styles that I have a problem with, and I'll get into that later. For the Natives, allow them to look either big or thin, tall or short, hairy or scaly, all that fun stuff.


Clothing: less style, more types

One of my gripes with PSU is that the clothing style is too relaxed. The series always took place in a near apocalyptic world, and their cloths reflected that. However, I agree that a clothing style reflecting the more relaxed population of the world was a nice change of pace. So what I'd like to see is three different types of clothing that you can buy; casual, survival, and formal. Casual clothing would be like what we see in PSU, things you'd expect the general population to wear while relaxing. They'd be very mix and match, allowing you to wear one set with another and choose your style. Survival would be more like what you'd expect a sci-fi warrior to wear, something to survive harsh environments or fight monsters in. Full or partial armor (leather or metal), protective capes or robes, maybe even military wear. Formal wear is just that, things you'd expect rich or important people to wear. Dresses, suits, kimonos, uniforms, etc. They'd be sold as a one piece, and wouldn't allow for any mixing and matching.
I also want to see some limit on what a player can wear, based on progression. If you're a noob, you'd start off only being able to buy casual gear. After you formally become a guardian / hunter / agent / whatever, you gain a pass to buy protective gear. And after becoming important enough, you gain the right to buy formal gear. I just want to see this so that lv1s and new players aren't wearing the same things capped players are, and to give new players something to look forward to and work towards.

I also want to see each piece separated by race, but not gender. For casts, casual wear would by sci-fi robot gear, survival wear would be the typical armor (perhaps separated between mecha and medievalish), and formal would be more decorative armor (more dress like, or shinier). Newman clothing would be skimpier and lighter, being more pet-like for casual, less full armor and more partial armor for survival, and sharing with humans for formal. Native casual wear would be more tribal, their survival less refined, and... I really don't know what to do with their formal.
And, all the sets would be the same between male and female, but with some variation. For casual, this means that female versions of cloths are more feminine, but overall have the same look. For survival, there's almost no difference between male and female. None of this boobie armor garbage. Of course I'm going to have to break off this for formal, but the sets would at least match (dresses being the female versions of suits, kimonos and yukatas matching, and uniforms being the same).


Classes: race customizes class

I like the class switching that PSU has. Being able to master multiple classes on one character is very appealing. However, I don't like the idea of one race being better than another at a class "just because". I also don't like the idea of one race playing exactly like another. I was thinking one system that could be used is to let the race dictate what specifications a class would get, more similar to how PSO handled things. Newmans, for instance, would sacrifice power for speed, being more adept at dodging and smaller weapons. They would also be less adept at offensive spells, and more adept at defensive spells. Natives, on the other hand, would prefer larger weapons and blocking, and would be better at using offensive spells and worse at defensive. Casts would be good at both blocking and dodging, and be proficient with both large and small weapons, but would not be able to use techs unless they were a force.
The use of offensive spells would allow Natives to be more adaptable attackers, while the use of defensive spells allows Newmans to focus on the weapon type of their class. Humans of course will be able to adapt to any situation.

I'm hesitant to actually get rid of the whole "pure" and "hybrid" class thing, but I really don't see that working as I like in PSU. I think instead, a player is naturally a hybrid of all three, and choosing a class simply specializes them. A newman hunter, for instance, will be able to use all melee weapons (with twin weapons being their specialty), and be able to use small guns and supportive techs effectively enough to get by. A Native hunter, by contrast, will not be able to use small guns, but will be able to use big ones. They also won't be able to use support techs at all. Humans will be able to use just about anything as any class, but only well enough to barely warrant using them at all if they aren't the class that specializes in them. And Casts would be able to use any weapon as a force, but still be more useful at techs. Their offensive techs would be as useful as a Newman's, and their supportive as useful as a Native's.




Okay, maybe the whole "exploration vs quests" and "dodge and block" things are the only ones that I think would be major improvements. But hey, a fish can dream, right?
can fish dream...?