It’s been confirmed today that PHANTASY STAR UNIVERSE is going to be indeed an PS2 title but its also headed to the PC in Japan.
A preview in the latest Shonen Jump magazine shows new characters and
images from the game as well as ones previous seen.
PS2-bound? Damn. I almost can’t believe that Sonic Team have wasted their time developing a new game of such epic proportions for a 5 year old console. I’m guessing that it’s more single player-orientated than anything else simply because the PS2 has the biggest audience for such RPGs.
And that is different from what PDS did for the Saturn how?
I gotta say, Arcie you got Geoffrey there.
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But Sega had it’s own console back then didn’t it?
[quote=“Arcie”]
And that is different from what PDS did for the Saturn how?[/quote]
Because PDS for the Saturn was still in it’s CURRENT generation whereas the PS2 is NOT. PSU should have gone to a more current console like the Gamecube than the backward PS2. Why would Sega feel the need to put the game on the PC if it was n’t meant to use the power befitting today’s generation of consoles? Just because the Japanese are behind does n’t mean we should suffer for it and have to play it on an poor inferior backward system.
[quote=“Arcie”]
And that is different from what PDS did for the Saturn how?[/quote]
When development began on PD Saga, the Saturn was relatively new (even though it was constructed out of out-of-date parts). And for all intents and purposes, the Saturn and Playstation were almost equal to one another in terms of power (aside from the Saturn’s lack of in-built support for 3D transparency effects).
The situation with Phantasy Star Universe is completely different. Compare Resident Evil 4 or Ninja Gaiden with any PS2 title to see what I mean.
Are you really going to debate with anyone that PSU wouldn’t be in its element on any of the next generation consoles? The game’s potential is simply going to waste on the PS2. Also, while on the PS2, PSU will be forced to stand out from a very large crowd to the point where it even risks being overshadowed, whereas even on the PS3 it draws more attention to itself because the console’s early line-up won’t be quite so crowded.
If PSU turns out to be a great RPG, fine. Just remember that the game won’t even be half of what it could have been.
But that 's it is n’t it? Maybe the PC version will be the proper version. There’s this rumour going around that in america ,PSU will be released on Xbox and will be online for up to 65 players. You could say depending which market it’s released for that the game will appear on the system with the big user base.
so in Japan it’s PS2 and PC
In America it’s PS2 and Xbox.
But that’s if those rumors turn out to be true.
It’s too late in the game to release a huge online multi-player RPG for the current generation consoles whose main source of revenue comes from monthly subscription fees.
For that reason alone, I’m guessing that PSU will focus less on online gameplay and more on the single player experience.
Maybe the game will have downloadable content IE:weapons new levels and the such.
The game’s storyline is supposed to take place 18 years after the original PHANTASY STAR game.
I suppose we should be grateful for the fact that we won’t be forced to pay for a brand new next generation console in order to play PSU even if the PS2 is stopping the game from reaching its full potential.
Which opens the question what RPG have Sega got planned for Xbox2?
Btw, CVG stated that PSU is coming to the Xbox too, but I’m skeptical.
Even if PSU was ported to the Xbox, it would still essentially be a PS2 game. Sigh.
IMO, Sega would be stupid not to have already begun development on something for the next generation consoles. Condemed is the only game we’ve seen so far, and that’s not even being developed by Sega.
[quote=“Goonboy Panzer”]
Because PDS for the Saturn was still in it’s CURRENT generation whereas the PS2 is NOT. PSU should have gone to a more current console like the Gamecube than the backward PS2.[/quote]
The PS2 is still in it’s current generation. Has anything about PS3 been released outside of rumour and intregue? As far as I know, nada. Except the usual “Let’s wait for E3” response. Yeah, we’ve had some crap about the amazing new cell chip system that’s going to blow everyone away, but that’s looking the same as the emotion engine rubbish Sony spouted out before.
The PS2 has an established fanbase running into tens of millions. Let’s think about that for a second, whereas…
The Gamecube is rapidly becoming Ninty’s Dreamcast at present, in Europe at least, STILL being outsold by PS2 and XBox even though they came out earlier. The amount of units being sold in intervals is about half (off the top of my head) of PS2’s sold in the same time period.
Cancelling a game for one system for the sake of creating it anew on another does not have many good precedents. Scorcher, for instance.
[quote=“Goonboy Panzer”]But that 's it is n’t it? Maybe the PC version will be the proper version. There’s this rumour going around that in america ,PSU will be released on Xbox and will be online for up to 65 players. You could say depending which market it’s released for that the game will appear on the system with the big user base.
so in Japan it’s PS2 and PC
In America it’s PS2 and Xbox.
But that’s if those rumors turn out to be true.[/quote]
If it was going to appear on the system with the big user base then it certainly wouldn’t appear on the PC in Japan…
It would definitely appear on the PC in the rest of the world though.
As for all the PS2 being outdated stuff. I think Sega has quite a nice record of doing amazing things regardless of the limitations of the system they are working on. The difference between the current consoles isn’t that great anyway. So maybe the game won’t have bump mapping or pixel shaders, great things can still be done on the PS2. Anyone that’s seen Metal Gear Solid 3 or even Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution in motion knows that.
Also, if it’s going to appear on the X-Box as well then perhaps the PS2 version will be a degraded version of that similar to the Splinter Cell series.
Um… where did you hear that? All the news I’ve read points to a completely unrelated star system. Even if the story overlaps with the original series (pre-PSO), the technology is completely wrong to be eighteen years after the first Phantasy Star and numans didn’t exist until Phantasy Star II, which is a thousand years after the first game.
Geoffrey brought up an interesting point though, about bringing out an MMORPG this late in the life cycle of the game system. I hope that means this is an offline RPG or something in the vein of PSO (where it’s small groups of friends and you can lock out people you don’t want to play with) since I like being able to enjoy my monster-slaying without interference from random idiots.
I really hope it will have a true single player component that you could take online to dungeon crawl with friends. The original PSO was released to japanese PC’s only so I wouldn’t doubt that the PC version stays over there.
You know as well as I do that that’s not true. Graphics have simply reached a point where gamers are content with what we see in games such as Shenmue 2 and Silent Evil 3.
I’ve encountered gamers on other forums who still believe that the PS2 is just as powerful as the Xbox. Don’t tell me you’re one of them?
In my humble opinion, the PS2 will stop PSU from reaching its full potential. Graphically at least. I cannot see how anyone can deny that.
I take it you’re quite fond of the Phantasy Star series, Rune Lai? I’m willing to bet that a part of you would be more than happy with a new story-driven RPG set in the Phantasy Star universe.
I, personally, am hoping that PSU takes off for no other reason than because it may pave the way for more big-budget Sega-made RPGs. It would be nice if PSU could compete with the likes of Final Fantasy for a place in the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere.
We know for a fact that Sony plans to launch the PS3 late in the first quarter of 2006, so releasing a massively multi-player online RPG late into 2005, which by their very nature depend on subscription fees for their own survival, almost seems foolish. We must also remember that Yuji Naka expressed his contempt for online gaming in a recent interview, too, in no small part due to a few hackers ruining the experience for everyone else. I could be wrong of course, but I wouldn’t mind a new story-driven Phantasy Star game from Sega, either.