Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst Panorama Collection

[Umran]

Hi All,

Just want to share some of my PSO:BB panorama's I made a while back, I've been a PS fan even since I was given PS1 for the master system as a 8 year old.....in total for about 24 years (crap I sound old).

I'm currently undertaking a PhD in Virtual Natural Environment design in games, and one part has been creating a visual chronology (3 volume book called Virtual Landscapes) of some amazing natural landscapes in games, I couldn't leave out the Phantasy Star Universe!....

I remember playing PSO EP2, listening to (Jungle-A lush load), standing near the cliffs and looking at the amazing skies and thinking the game was simply stunning(music matched the visuals perfectly), and then thinking there must be something in these virtual natural landscapes worth discussing and sharing.....

Anyway, You can download them in full Ultra HD res of minus.com either individually or as a full zip..... Anyway hope you enjoy!

Full folder: http://umran.minus.com/mTm36lhIJ/1g

Examples....












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[Zipzo]

Not enough praise in this thread. Amazing job with the panoramas and good luck with your PhD =)

[DC_PLAYER]

God Damn that looks amazing.
I did something similar a while back, but never thought of doing something for triple screens or anything, good job.
The angles changes are a bit drastic and i saw that the forest screens have 2 reflexions, still a really nice set of unique screens, never saw anything similar to this.
Also, great blog btw, loved the idea.

If you like to check them: http://kireekpso.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Umran]

Cheers both! Yeah I had a few issues with PSO:BB, removing the HUD/character etc.. proved to be a real pain, and when I did finally figure it out, and generated all the images for stitching, it took alot of work to remove distortions, fix fov/erros/ etc... to finally get what you see above....

DC_player : The seaside at night pic is great! (we also took a few similar shots i.e cave), blog has just started really, so please keep reading!

[T0m]

Awesome. And the panoramic aspect makes these great as wallpapers too!
Sounds like a fantastic PhD you are undertaking. Apart from PSO, re there any other games that stand out to you for their virtual natural environment?

[Aki_Yoruno]

Oh wow, you're amazing. This makes me want to go back and play it again...

[Mystic_Nessly]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing all this with us.

Also, I think it's funny how you've been a member almost 12 years and these are your first two posts. Props to remembering your account information! haha

[mctastee]

Those panoramas somehow look better than the actual game.

[Umran]

Awesome. And the panoramic aspect makes these great as wallpapers too!
Sounds like a fantastic PhD you are undertaking. Apart from PSO, re there any other games that stand out to you for their virtual natural environment?

Oh god lots!

The Witcher 2: stunning, interesting , well designed environments, the attention to detail is amazing when you study and dissect the environment, the rock formations, the terrain, the weather system, you have to play and see this game if you're a natural landscape fan!

Oblivion: First game that actually used Geology to inform the design of the environment(which was stunning....)

Morrowind: Whilst not as technically brilliant as Oblivion/Skyrim, it had an amazing atmosphere, and really felt like a alien/familiar natural world...

Crysis: Still think the jungle environments were stunning, rich and well designed...

Populous: Not many games in that era(or indeed this) could let you actually shape the landscape in real-time, a truly seminal game....

List is endless! I've covered most in my book Virtual Landscapes..... (will give it away free as an ebook probably...)

I spent months trying to figure out PSO (EP1) it was such a difficult game to extract screens from, but after having spent £400/month on dial-up charges when it was released on the DC, I knew it had to make it in the book no matter what....thanks for the compliments, it's a tough job trying to convince non-gamers how amazing and rich these game are, and trying to tell the world we need to accept the medium as more than just cheap, disposable form of entertainment.....

@Mystic_Nessly lol, sorry bit of a lurker! made a start though!

Also in case anyone is interested I have also given PSU: AOTI the same treatment...pics to be posted soon......

[T0m]

Cool. Let us know if you release your Virtual Landscapes book as an ebook! (Or is it already out there?)