Nice stuff:
archive.gamespy.com/landing/phan … runiverse/
Some new info about PSU if you all didn’t hear. There will be a short (about a week) open beta for the 360 version. It will be available to download on the xbox marketplace for two days after it shows. So if any of you have a 360 give it a shot.
Link to full details.
boards.sega.com/psu/viewtopic.php?t=3
I’ll be getting the XBOX 360 version some time when I can afford it.
Well I haven’t had a chance to play it much this weekend, and I’ve already lost a couple hours to “failure to connect” time. I’m disappointed by things I never could have expected, like other players spazzing around all the time, something PSO hid better than anything before or since so it’s especially surprising that this game is worse than most. The UI seems shockingly obtuse at first, once again an element that was inspired in PSO, and as far as I can tell the chat and mission functions are locked to the triggers while other combat functions are on the bumpers which is just stupid IMO. There’s just NEVER any excuse for withholding button config options in the first place, Sega has been one of the worst offenders about that lately.
I wont comment on the story mode, I played the first chapter and… well I’m so tired of brats with “attitude” but ehh… I got it for online anyway. But there’s essentially no story kicking things off in online, which makes things feel very dry. In general it’s almost the antithesis of the cool factor PSO had right off the bat, but the action is fun enough, totally familiar but still different. I’m probably enjoying it more on the basis of nostalgia at the moment, and given how prone to disenchantment with these kind of games I am in general, I’ll be surprised if it seems worth paying for this ‘privelage’ more than a few months but it’s entertaining enough for now.
Actually, the story in the online mode is a continuation of the offline story…
I know that Abadd, but to start things off the only personal narrative is… OK you’re a Guardian now, go do some missions or something, we’ll tell you more sometime after that". And you’re virtually forced to re-grind areas immediately just to power up, unless maybe you had a full party of good players that stayed together. Like I said the initial impression is just very dry, and also obstructive in some ways.
I’m having fun with PSU, I don’t want to make out like I think it’s bad or anything, it’s just very comprehensively… underwhelming.
The online story is not present yet. As of current, there are only free for all missions to play in. The Japanese are on chapter 2 of Episode II (Episode II being the online mode storyline) with another part releasing this week.
When the updates will commence on the US/Europe side of the house is completely unknown. I’m expecting they’re going to hold off on chapter 1 of Episode II until the third or fourth week, to give people time to play through the offline mode. We’ll see.
Notice how I didn’t comment on the implementation of said story? 
Just wanted to clarify as you made it sound like there was none. There is a connection and story, but as of yet, it is still really thin (at least until the quests are made available).
Well I’ve actually played a lot more of Story Mode, mainly cause I lost the internets a few days… it’s not bad but, it just comes across as a bad idea as it’s implemented, being essentially the same format as online with the only system differences seeming arbitrary and misleading, and spending all this time on a character that isn’t yours; I can never stop feeling deja vu of how much more interesting the story came across in PSO.
But the whole grind was almost worth it when I got this message:
“Ability to change clothes received!”
It truly seemed to mark a turning point in Ethan’s development…
I’m really really trying to stay positive about this game… but I’m looking in on the forum precisely because I can’t get on PSU. I know it’s early going still but two weeks out and things haven’t changed at all, my chance to connect on a given first try has been about 40% so far, and the first try is all that seems to matter since retrying - even for over an hour a couple times - has never once yielded success. It’s like the game already has you in a dead-end connection and wont change that unless you exit and reload.
For what amounts to a pretty lightweight experience by current standards, and for being $60 (for 360) and $10 more right up front just to play online, this is a truly abysmal showing. If things don’t improve by the end of this first month then this may be the final nail in the coffin containing the already gaunt remains of my love for Sega as a company… 
So do you think this game is worth getting, Heretic? I’d been planning on getting it once it comes out in NZ, but I don’t know if I can face playing through the 40 hour single player mode if the story is no good. If the multiplayer makes up for it, then I guess it would be worth it… but, well, after reading your comments it’s making me think twice, especially when there are lots of other games I’m interested in that are coming out in the next few months (Gears of War, Twilight Princess, Red Steel, etc).
I’m not sure if I can answer that objectively or even subjectively just yet, but PSU hasn’t shown me that it’s worth it yet either. This is coming from someone who never played the original Phantasy Star games, but I just can’t imagine the Story Mode satisfying anyone who was hoping for a new classic PS fix. The voice acting when present is middle of the road, the narrative is lacking an epic sense of progression, partly because it’s still roped to the same primary ‘towns’ and arena like mission locations and structure as online. And while some of the characters are engaging enough the main one is particularly hackneyed, which becomes all the more objectionable if you were a fan of PSO and remember how well this same basic story presentation worked with your character being center.
As for online, as I mentioned it’s currently just a collection of ‘dungeons’ to run over and over again, which is what every game of this sort becomes ultimately, but it’s still hard to develop attachment to the scenario when you pretty much have to start replaying the exact same missions within a couple of hours after you start just to level up for new missions. The game seems to really encourage certain obnoxious behavior, like people immediately kicking you out of missions because you’re not close enough to their level. And XBL may be an especially bad environment to try to make new friends on, since so few people use keyboards and yet over half the people avoid talking in this game either…
That’s really it I think, while the combat seems about as fun as PSO, right off the bat it’s at the kind of grind level that is usually built up to. So you’re either wailing on the same enemy for a minute shaving off hundreds of hit points, or you’re running a lower level area that’s too easy for crap XP. The only way to get real enjoyment is with a good party of actually cool players who are all into challenging themselves. Which has been really hard to find so far.
But the other issue that seems to be looming for me is that the game kind of reeks of arbitrary gameplay inflation. Things like the irritatingly large town areas you will be walking through hundreds of times, and the need to take your weapons to specific shops just to use a damn grinder, which serves absolutely no purpose other than to make you walk through said towns even more. The whole synthesis thing may be cool, but there’s just so much crap piling up in your storage after just a few missions, and the game doesn’t even want to give stuff you could actually put to use, like ingredients for monomates even! There’s also an accumulation of small elements that add up to a sense that the game is trying to mess with you all the time, such as when you feed your partner machinery an item it doesn’t show you the effects that item has, it only shows which stats were affected in that instance, so if the item will lower a stat you wont know until you have points in the stat to lose.
I can see a lot of nice design work and production that’s been put into the game, but there’s a certain clueless undertone that’s compromising my chances to appreciate it, as it stands so far anyway. If someone likes the idea of a game that’s been reduced to the absolute nuts and bolts of leveling, acquiring, and adorning for their avatar then maybe it’s a dream come true. For me it’s starting to seem like it’s more about the things I care least about in these type of games, but I’m still hanging onto hope it may find a way to hook me once I have found more people I like playing with, which is after all the most crucial factor in any game of this type.
Since you mentioned Gears of War Solo, I just got it today actually and… really… WOW! This is truly the promise of next-gen delivered. Everyone knows it’s got the eye-candy factor, but it’s also got the eye-nutrition factor. That quality of substance and consistency that makes games like the original Halo or in some ways our fave series PD look much more amazing in the experience of them than will ever come across in screens or video. The game isn’t reaching for individual effects or set piece tricks just to impress, it sets it’s bar and then fully explores and exploits it’s capability. The game looks so good that once you’re playing it you wont even think about the fact it’s impressive, it’s just goooood.
And yes, it is FUN and a real evolution in gameplay. Almost like love at first feel, it seems like something you’ve always known, but really not quite like anything you’ve ever met before.
Dammit, these posts are ruining my PSU mood fast. XD Hope the general opinion will improve soon. o:
PSU is a disappointment, unfortunately. I was expecting so much, but it just didn’t happen. Yuji Naka should have stayed doing his worthless Sonic spinoffs, and left Phantasy Star to the people who originally created it (currently the Sega WOW Team who did Skies of Arcadia)
Wasn’t it Yuji Naka that originally created the Master System game? I think it was.
Yuji Naka did help in the creation of the original Phantasy Star, yes. But, in reality, the Phantasy Star series was created by none other than Rieko Kodama.
Yuji Naka had nothing to do with Phantasy Star Universe aside from being a figurehead during its initial stages, and he left Sega anyways. Phantasy Star is currently under Takao Miyoshi’s lead.
And Rieko Kodama is not the creator of Phantasy Star. She was part of a team just like Yuji Naka that helped make the original game. She didn’t become a lead director in the series until Phantasy Star IV, and even then, she was just one of three people directing that game.
As for the game itself, I still enjoy it a lot, though it is going to be a disappointment for anyone who plays the offline game and leaves it at that, as they intentionally left a lot of things wide open for expansion in the online mode.
Oh well, I’m at the point of admitting to myself that I hate playing this game. Ironically it was scoping out the possibility of canceling my subscription that totally sealed the deal too, the Guardians License is renewed automatically every month and the only way to stop it is to call XBL’s service line. I don’t know if that’s the way MS wants it or if it’s Sega’s own BS, but it is a despicable arrangement.
But actually playing PSU… subjectively it is a broken, hollow, soulless experience. It’s fun only by virtue of the aspects that are taken from PSO, yet in comparison every one of those aspects that are meaningful are also inferior. In some ways it might be considered better looking, the additions to the already exceptional character customization are a nice touch, and it does not seem to have any glaring balance issues like the first PSO… and there’s absolutely nothing else positive to say for me.
There’s so many individually minor annoyances, it’s not so much a matter of what’s wrong with the game, there’s just virtually nothing right about it. A paint-by-numbers effort, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is when so many of the numbers got crossed up as this. I know there’s a lot I haven’t seen, but the only motivation I had was the hope for something better, as in completely different from what I’d seen so far. Every original aspect of the design that’s come across is fluff based, empty calories.
C’est la vie…
Agreed. PSU was a total fucking disappointment. Sega should be so fucking ashamed of themselves. Me, I’m ashamed for wasting 20+ hours of my life on this drivel. What’s worse is the fact that the online aspect is even more dull and monotonous.
Why did you say you liked this game again, Parn? This is even worse than PSO by a long shot.
I actually much prefer PSU to PSO, I feel they’ve made some great improvements to the combat. It’s still no Monster Hunter though 