Phantasy Star Universe stuff.

[rubenxce]

http://www.playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.showGamePage&Game_ID=335

Online Interview about PSU, I think it comes out on the new play magazine but am not sure, since am no longer suscribe.

[Dade]

I've done some running around to different gaming sites over the past twenty minutes or so and I cant come up with an answer to something I am really wanting to know:

How is PSU different from PSO? Other than the technical side of better graphics, newer systems, etc.......why make a brandnew game that seems almost exactly like PSO was and that will probably die off as quickly as it did when PSO v.3 came out?

[Superflat]

I think the main reason PSU is different is that it has an actual storyline in addition to the online mode. PSO's storyline was very basic and overall not very exciting, but PSU is suppposed to change that, and that gives people an incentive to buy the game even if they don't have an internet connection to their console or don't want to pay the monthly fee.

[Eusis]

I think the gameplay's overhauled dramatically Dade, probably to the level of one of the better action games that are out.

I think a lot of what really killed PSO however was the console jumps. People had to abandon their characters, then were split because of different GC/XBox/PC servers, and the GC version lacked a readily available keyboard for a decent price and required buying a modem /just/ for it, the XBox probably didn't appeal to the vast majority of the fans of the game in the first place, and the PC... Well, Blue Burst just came too damn late for people to give a shit.

All in all, I think that combined with cheating and the lack of ability to update the game with new content easily lead to PSO's fade to irrelevance; I know that it stopped /me/ from returning after the DC died.

[Superflat]

Gamespot has a new preview up covering the first few chapters of the single player game:

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/phantasystariv/news.html?sid=6156141&tag=topslot;action;1

[Ryos]

Boo, sounds like Sega went with a lackluster voice acting crew for the English version. :\

[Eusis]

Boo, sounds like Sega went with a lackluster voice acting crew for the English version. :\

Normally I'd blow this off  until I actually heard the game, as I've seen dubs I thought were great get trashed, and most that weren't abominations were serviceable. Still, this called the VA 'retro' and likened it to so-so anime dubs, so... While it'll probably be better than something like RE1 or MM8, I guess we know that Sega did blow it afterall. Sigh.

[Dade]

Wait? A Sonic Team project got fucked up?!

SHOCK

[Hidoshi]

Well, dubbing is hardly a make or break issue. I just hope we can turn it off (or hey, even better, go back to the Japanese with subs... Yeah right). Sonic Team's not the most respectable developer, but PSU definitely looks like a quality product.

I have to admit I wasn't impressed when I first played it at E3 back in 2005. It met expectations for me, but didn't do anything 'special'. I guess in that I became a bit disappointed, but coming back to it at 2006 certainly helped me get past my initial worries. It's definitely a polished game (and looks tons better on PC than PS2 btw). Plus it's action-oriented, something not nearly enough online RPGs focus on.

[Parn]

Pff, the voice acting is of the same caliber as Xenosaga Episode I, Star Ocean 3, Tales of Symphonia, or any of the other more recent RPG releases.  Sega didn't blow anything off.

Also, the Sonic Team commentary doesn't apply given that the team functions much like Square does, and there are multiple groups of programmers and designers that work on their own respective projects.  PSU's had dedicated development for 3+ years under Takao Miyoshi's lead and has been delayed for over a year purely for the sake of squashing bugs.  That's not the sign of a half-assed project, and what they've put together is pretty damned amazing given the resources that were at their disposal.

[Akanbe-]

Some questions I couldn't find the answers to:

How is loot based?  Do crates just appear after you kill a boss and you just smash and hope you're one of the ones who gets a box full of goodies?

Are the pvp problems that were in PSO gone?  I didn't really play PSO so I'm unclear, but couldn't people kill you in the world and take your stuff?

Do you lose your stuff when you die like you did in PSO?

[Parn]

Loot is like it was on PSO, with one difference... there are now loot options.  You have a choice between PSO's finder's keepers, even distribution (how the game determines what's even is unknown), and random distribution.

PvP is currently non-existant, and I hope it never rears its ugly head.

And death results in no loss of anything you currently have.  All combat takes place in missions, and death incurs a penalty to your ranking that's given at the end of a mission.  Rather than take away what you have, the game penalizes death by lessening the rewards.  You have character XP and job XP, character XP going up by simply killing monsters, but job XP is only gained through completing missions, and getting a lower rank at a mission's completion results in less awarded job XP and a smaller meseta bounty.

[Hidoshi]

Well hey, I've been enjoying this so far. I desperately need a gamepad for my PC, but other than that it's been a blast. Played about an hour last night with Parn and killed a lotta stuff.

I'm frequently amused by various things, including the emotes. Never, ever have I seen such gay dancing as Parn's dancing. He truly is too sexy for his man's man shirt.

One thing that's bugging me is a slight delay in motion from other people's characters, although I think that may be a problem with my machine or connection. Anyone else get that problem?

But yeah, having fun.

[Parn]

The delay is based entirely on latency with regard to the servers hosted in Japan.  The delay is minimal on my end, so I see little to no character "bouncing", which I saw a lot of during the closed beta test months ago.

[MeshGearFox]

PSO was boring not because of a lack of story but because of multi-hour dungeons that you can't SAVE in, along with lameish combat. Was this fixed at all?