Face it. PSU is better than PSO.

[Magus_84]

That, the lack of mags, ... are the reasons I could never have fun with PSU.

I don't see how "lack of mags" is a bad thing. Is it "lack of something floating behind you?" Use a TCSM or RCSM. Done.

Is it "lack of ability to further customize my stats"? That's a game balance thing. Any time you have the ability to spend (relatively worthless) money to gain several dozen levels worth of growth in stats that generally aren't efficiently boosted by equipment OR LEVELS, you have to rebalance the enemies to match that. Money as a balancing factor isn't a good check on abuse of the system, as is evidenced by the abundance of Charge-heavy builds. When the best option for your hard-earned currency is to burn it to cause more damage, you have a problem.

This is why there's such a HUEG gap between Very Hard and Ultimate enemies, and why ATA becomes so disproportionately important on Ep1 and 2. And why people are so anal about "max stat plans" and the like.

The game is balanced around the assumption that you make use of the tools you have to increase your stats, and it ends up pigeon-holing you to where you have to build a certain way or you can't really compete.

Please explain if your "lack of mags" was referring to a different aspect of them, as they cover several things.

But from a gameplay balance point of view, Mags were atrociously horrible.

[Solstis]

I don't get the point of the topic. The majority of rabid PSO fans won't claim that PSO was/is fun. It wasn't. PSOBB isn't. It was immersive and addictive, though, and the only game of its kind (on consoles) when it was released.

PSU is considered garbage now because MMORPGS are far more common (and less hardcore) than they were when PSO came out. PSU is mediocre, and, agreeing with Outrider, it's ridiculous that Sega charges a monthly fee for a game that they didn't create additional content for. Hah-hah, let's lock content that's on the disk. Rubbish. I don't care what Sega has done lately, they still made people waste, I believe, the full cost of the game in monthly fees before any real events.

That said, If PSU had gone the way of Guild Wars, I'd probably be playing it, and happily. Would I play PSO? Hell no! I'm not stepping backwards into clunky-interface land. Nostalgia only goes so far.

[Edit]: Not to mention that the only reason I even stuck around with PSU for the, what, two months I tried, was character customization. That was the most fun I had playing that game.

[OrangeTippedGun]

inb4close

[deso123]

stop hating on psu im about to waste my money on it you buttholes

[Weeaboolits]

You trollin' or really so defensive as to want to prove that PSU is better than a game designed to be played over dial-up?

[Vanzazikon]

Nice thread, Jshazbot.

[SStrikerR]

Love me some trollin' threads in the wee hours of the mornin. So let's just lock this now, shall we?

[W0LB0T]

Just in case

Pathetic Troll is Pathetic

[Kent]

To say that all of the changes made to PSU from the PSO formula were for the better is just folly. There are things that were not problems with PSO that ended up being changed for PSU, just for the sake of making it different. Things like requiring specific weapons to be equipped for casting techniques, flimsy dual-wielding mechanics, and everyone's favorite... Grinding.

None of these really benefit the game much. In fact, they pretty much all hurt the game in most peoples' eyes. Looking at things from the perspective of people who were fans of Phantasy Star Online, gameplay-critical things like this actually make the game much worse to them. Of the few design decisions and changes made to the formula that are good, almost none of them are executed well. Therefore, your statement of your opinion's factuality is incorrect, on a degree other than purely principal. Bad design decisions aren't just good because they're different, you know - if a game becomes successful, it's not because there are things wrong with it.

I think it'll be interesting to see if people are still playing PSU ten years after its original release. People will still probably be playing Diablo II, since Diablo III probably won't make it out by then.

[SStrikerR]

I think it'll be interesting to see if people are still playing PSU ten years after its original release.

I can barely imagine 5.