It all sounds and looks as good as always but one thing in particular caught my attention. The “Extra” single player mode of play. phantasystaruniverse.com/game_extra.php
I only really wanted this for the single player so I was a bit worried that the main story mode would be short and possibly on purpose in order to make you want to subscribe and play the multi player.
The “Extra” mode I think shows they are paying attention to the solo gamer and try to add value for him too. From the description it sounds like you can experience the online game in single player form and using characters from the story mode as companions. Not bad at all and it should expand the title’s value much further than the standard single player mode. Of course it’s hopefully more involved than the DULL single player modes of PSO but with the added variety of the game it should be much nicer.
The website is a bit disapointing on the screenshot side, there are very few and mostly of the multi player mode. But the various information pages are pretty nice.
But I’ve pretty well made up my mind to try this out as soon as it’s released. Too much nostalgia for PSO even though I felt like ritually burning it at one point, I’m keeping my expectations very much in check but I am looking forward to it now.
No worries there. I’m actually not too familiar with a lot of the additional modes in the game, but there is a full-blown single-player RPG in PSU, in addition to whatever other modes there are.
While I’m not a big proponent of 40-hour games, PSU does have about 40 hours of single-player gameplay. So, if you’re looking for a lengthy single-player experience, it won’t disappoint
Well I’m not necessarily looking for something that will last 40 hours one-time through but something that will last long overall. Either by being long in itself or by offering replay value.
And yeah, I wouldn’t mind if it was short but AMAZING like PDS (for example…) but I seriously doubt that it will have a story/setting/development as gripping as that in order to justify the cost for a short game, that’s all. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised though, who knows.
So, anyway, good to hear that it’s long and see that on top of that they also try to add replay value. Thanks.
Any news on the fee 360 users are going to have to pay? .
I have no trouble with the ?50 price tag for what is in effects 2 games in one , just wondering how much 360 will need to play online.
Hope it’s not too much and this time the servers are worldwide (unlike PSO X-Box)
Now to hope that Sega will not dub this game. >.>;; Or at least have optional japanese voices. There are many A-rank anime voice actors in there and it’d be a waste to not use them outside of Japan. =D
The game is dubbed. They finished the localization late last year. They hired some professional voice talent for the game, though how good you find it to be is a matter of personal preference. In the case of Phantasy Star Universe and watching the same cutscene in two languages, they both came off as equally silly. The voices picked for the dub seemed to match up fairly well.
Xbox 360 users are seperated from the PlayStation 2 and PC users. Europe and the US will be sharing servers while Japan gets to be in their own little universe.
Offline mode handles like a cartoon series… each chapter opens up with an intro (with cheesy vocals), lots of interactive segments that you sit back and watch, a large chunk of gameplay, then closes off the chapter with cutscenes, some credits, and a preview of the next chapter. Based off of those who’ve completed the game, it clocks in at around 20-30 hours based on your playstyle.
They cleaned up a lot of the latency issues that were present during the closed beta test for network mode… the retail release runs really nice, and Sonic Team’s keeping up with maintenance on the client side and the server. We’re already up to v 1.005 with the 1.006 patch due out sometime tonight. They’re going through typical online RPG launch troubles, though they’re doing a good job of steadily ironing things out. Today’s huge server maintenance is supposed to address the bulk of the problems.
When you play the offline story mode, don’t go in expecting a Panzer Dragoon Saga type storyline… go in expecting something akin to Phantasy Star IV, with lots of play on nostalgia (despite not taking place in Algo) and some great character interaction amidst stereotypical characters. You’re not going to find a complex storyline here, heh.
Shenmue II was a bit poor onthe X-Box (as was the western version of part 1 onthe DC ), much like 99 Knights, Grandia (PS) sometimes a real lack of emotion inthe speech . That said there are those that will always say the ‘original’ Japanese dub is better, just because its Japanese, and that automatically means it better. That?s not always the case to me the English dub of Metal Gear Solid suited the game far better (with its western look) , and Lunar on the Mega CD had a great USA dub with the White Dragon in particular , having a much better voice more suiting to his bulk and so on .
I also think SEGA did a fantasic job onthe USA Dub’s of D II( shame about the lip synch) and the O.TO.GI series , though I did play with the Japanese dub onthe O.TO.GI games . For some Unknown reason I loved the male voice over in the original , I was a bit gutted he didn?t voice the 2nd game :anjou_embarassed:
I’m already considering giving PSU a chance since I’m searching for new adventures to sink my teeth into rather than recycled grind-athons. I must admit that the most fun I had in WoW was teaming up with likeminded people and uniting against a more powerful foe. However, I now feel as if I am just repeating a cycle (you gear up in one raid instance to prepare yourself for another, and so on and so forth). If it wasnt for PVP, I would have quit WoW a long time ago. The game catered to a small minority of players (namely, those who had the time to take part in constant 40 man raids) for far too long, and the raid or die mentality frustrated a lot of players who were almost content with 5-10 man dungeon content. Blizzard were too hardcore for their own good (which is ironic considering how saturated with casuals the industry has become now).
Blizzard made a lot of mistakes with WoW like making under-used classes (and the Horde to some extent because they are currently outnumbered on many servers) overpowered in order to encourage more people to play them (I bet you had fun tearing this apart Abadd), but I’m still enjoying the social aspect for what it is most of all, and I’ve always had a fondness for Phantasy Star’s science-meets-sword-and-sorcery theme.
I think I just want to lose myself in an unfamiliar world again (I found myself more lost in PS3 than PS2) and explore everything there is to explore with a few friends tagging along for the ride. So many games. So little time. Sigh.
My brother and his girlfriend actually work for Blizzard, so yeah, I’ve had the pleasure of having many, many long design debates
They really know what they’re doing over there (duh), but as with any huge and dynamic system, it’s impossible to make things completely balanced. It’s all a matter of keeping the system tilting in different directions, and hopefully you can prevent it from tilting too much toward any one side.
I stopped playing a while back, but it sounds like they’ve fixed a lot of the PVP problems they were faced with before.
My first biggest beef with WoW is that they weaked it up and homogenized the classes functionally. Instead of having to choose a character based on how you like to play and living with the tradeoffs inherent to that choice, they tried to make every class roughly equivalent in their offensive and defensive options.
In the end it just made the remaining exceptions that much more egregious and unfair feeling, like Rogues having all purpose damage output that shames a Warrior on top of sneak attacks, or Undead being singularly advantaged against Priests and Warlocks without any converse drawback.
IMO a mage should have to deal with the fact that one good hit from a fighter might be the end, but a fighter will also have to deal with the fact they may get turned to stone or something if they try it. Guild Wars is much better in that one respect, any profession and build can end up something else’s pathetic biotch according to logical tradeoff’s in ability.
Ehh anyway, I’d be interested to know who if anyone might be getting the 360 version of PSU. I want to play it on 360 but sadly it seems I’d have no chance to find anyone from this board if they were on PC or PS2.
I was planning on getting the 360 version as well, this would be my first Phantasy Star game so I don’t know exactly how much I will get into it; but from the previews and info I have read it definitely sounds like something I could see myself getting drawn into over the long run.
Wow, seems some of the people here will be getting this game. I will be likely getting it as I’m currently addicted to PSOBB still and its more of the same but better. Though as I don’t own a 360 I will have the PC version.
