My Phantasy Star Universe thoughts

GregN · Oct 27, 2006

NeoSneth said:
my initial impression involved a shit ton of swearing.
Photons?

the weapon system made me feel like i was play FFTA on the GBA....

I am getting into now, but fuck. The endless tutorials, and lack of direction....

i still dunno where to go to play the game, rather than doing these missions... Is there still a main plot line that you can do in multiplayer, or is it all missions?!?

I didn't think the tutorials were bad. What confuses me is to get around to different planets, and where to go for missions. Item synthesis baffles me too.

Average Joe · Oct 27, 2006

PSU confusion solution(s):

http://www.psupedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://www.pso-world.com/

Anyway, I got my 360 version yesterday.

I was counting on my PC being decent enough to handle the game, but I guess it's way more dated (and crappy) than I thought.

Jumped on last night only to find that I couldn't log in.

Guess the servers were being bombarded by more players trying to join than Sega had anticipated... not a big deal though since I won't be able to play for an extended peroid of time until this weekend (not to mention the three days I off from work starting November 1st.)

Did get to make my character this morning though, so that's something.

Maybe it should be time make a new thread for gameplay discussions and meetings, seeing as this one was orginally a thread about impressions.

Kirk Foiden · Oct 27, 2006

I got on late last night, before they actually decided to do maintenance. Magican and I got to work together a while until I hit level 5. After that, I kind of needed to go to bed. Ahh, to have the widescreen PSU gaming back, how I missed you.

I also landed some nice Twin Guns that are better than the standard Twin Guns in every way. However, what I liked the best about them is that they had a whopping 640+ maximum PP. They even recharged at a fairly decent rate. Not sure how fast the drainage is with Freeze bullets in them, but I did purchase and learned then Freeze Bullets, before I left. I guess with my next outing, I'll see how they fare then. Still, with that much PP they were like the Energizer bunny. Those guns were always left with plenty of juice by the end of a mission. The cost to refill them also stayed nice and cheap. I like them.

complexz · Oct 27, 2006

ive got it too and been playing alittle today, up to lvl 6

and while its a neat game..im really hating having to play the same first mission over and over. the next mission on the list is wayyy to hard for my weak character...and ive already beat the first mission like 3 times.

i guess it has more replay value than PSO for that reason, but i dont like that

GregN · Oct 28, 2006

The first tier mission you blow through without any trouble, but the lvl 5 cap mission is hard. Takes alot of effort to kill lvl 20 mobs at lvl 6. You spend almost all the money you make buying monomates.

Average Joe · Oct 28, 2006

This is why you join or create a party people.

You're not meant to be taking those mobs on by yourself at your level.

Average Joe · Oct 28, 2006

Also, if anybody is interested, here's my character bio:

System: 360
Name: Lucio
Race: Newman
Type: Force (future Fortecher)
Play style: Support Force (me heal you good)
Current level: 8

I'll probably be playing on and off this weekend, but I've got crap to do so I won't be playing as much as I'd like.

But I'll be on vacation starting the 1st of November, so I plan to put in some serious hours come that time.

complexz · Oct 28, 2006

i actually take back my last complaint

I was just confused

once you beat that first C mission in the main city, goto the next planet..the forest one (name escapes me atm) and play the first mission there.

Kirk Foiden · Oct 30, 2006

There are two planets easily available that do happen to have forests on them.

Parum is typically the next planet you go to. It's a CAST run planet, but outside of Holstes City, there are a lot of forest areas.

Neudiaz is another planet, which is the planet of the Newmen. It has an Eastern Japanese/Asian mix theme to it. It also has areas of forest, but the types of trees seem different and there's more areas appearing to be Fall in season.

Not to mention, you'll generally be travelling to different parts of the planet by doing a mission to get to a new Lobby area, with which you have different missions open from there.

Though all planets have a variety of level styles between them. Parum has a good bit of Relics sites as well, plus another underground system accessible from the subway.

Neudiaz would generally be the combination of Fall forest with Cave systems and Temples.

I believe the Beast-run planet of Moatoab is not open yet, online. That is to come later.

Ghost-Dog · Oct 30, 2006

Remember, Sonic Team is releasing more content. They released new missions about a month after launch in Japan, so we can expect a similar arrangement. They plan to release content on a regular basis. There are currently three areas to explore with at least two "trees" of missions (Colony, Parum, Neudaiz). Between those missions and working with your PM, there is plenty to do for a month.

As for the learning curve, yeah it's there. It's not as steep as other games though, and if it were exactly like PSO, people would be complaining. I was a little confused about some things as well in the beginning, but part of the fun of a new game like this is the learning experience.

Average Joe · Oct 30, 2006

I had no idea that the Expert Classes had not yet been added.

I got my Force to level ten yesterday and was all ready to go Fortecher...

Kind of lame, but I guess that will just give me time to build my PM and do some other random stuff while I wait.

360's Voice Chat seems to be buggy/glitchy too.

It only seemed to work in like two out of the seven groups I was in yesteday.

Which is really annoying seeing that I don't have a keyboard to type with as a backup.

Ghost-Dog · Oct 30, 2006

Average Joe said:
I had no idea that the Expert Classes had not yet been added.

I got my Force to level ten yesterday and was all ready to go Fortecher...

How I wish this were the case.

To get to the advanced classes, you need to level up your job's rank. The missions points you get from successfully completing missions with an "A" or "S" rank help you level up. It's not based on your regular level unfortunately, that would be too easy I guess.

I assumed the same thing at first, when I hit level 10 I was thinking "Fortegunner here I come!", but I'm actually only job rank 3. Prepare to spend a lot more time running missions. Some of them pay out 8 points for an "S" rank though, so those are the ones to grind. I've seen people at rank 5 and 6 already, so it's not as bad a grind when compared to MMO's.

Average Joe · Oct 30, 2006

Wow.

I had no idea.

None of the guides I read seemed to make that clear (more than likely though I'm just lacking in reading comprehension skills.)

Always thought it seemed a bit too easy to get those Expert Classes and now I know why...

Not a big deal though, I'd actually prefer it to be that way.

Kirk Foiden · Oct 30, 2006

Yup. For now, the C-grade level 20 Dragon mission, in Parum gives up to 8 Mission Points towards your chosen class, for an S-rank finish. After that, it's back to the city.

The C-grade Sleeping Monsters mission gives up to 6 Mission Rank Points for your chosen class, but leaves you in the Lobby Area where you can do it again, or go for the Dragon.

B-grade versions of these missions require everybody in your party to be above a certain level. Then there's the A-grade versions with even higher requirements.

Technically, think of C-grade missions are normal mode, B-grade Missions as Hard mode, and A-grade missions as Very Hard mode.

So if I wanted to be a Gun techer, I need to raise my Ranger rank to 5, and then my Force rank to 3, before I can become one.

That takes some time. I believe Magician attained his Hunter rank 5, last night. We played for hours, and I actually had one of my local friends join in the party. Good times.

Ghost-Dog · Oct 30, 2006

There's a neat little bug that lets you keep running the same mission as many times as you want without starting from the beginning. After you complete a mission, say killing De Ragan, don't leave the level. Access your results page that pays out your meseta and mission points. Then, before leaving the area have the party leader cancel the mission.

You still get the points, but it spits you back outside the level, which you can then repeat again. I'm not sure if Sonic Team is planning on fixing this or not though, so use it while you can.

Average Joe · Oct 30, 2006

Looks like the game has more of a learning curve than I thought.

Oh well...

I should finally get to spend some quality time with it come the middle of the week and this weekend.

Kirk Foiden · Oct 30, 2006

Nah. I don't know if they will. Mainly because it's not really a bug. Actually quitting will always put you back at the Lobby you came from. The diamond is only for access to the Boss Lobby, which you can't access any other way.

I guess, if you're planning on heading back to town, might as well go through the gate and access the lobby and the store while you're at it. Now if it really is Sega's intention of only allowing you to head back to the city, from a boss battle, then so be it. For now, I'd like to call it a 'feature'.

But definitely make sure everybody collects the points first.

Logicdustbin · Oct 30, 2006

Average Joe said:
360's Voice Chat seems to be buggy/glitchy too.

It only seemed to work in like two out of the seven groups I was in yesteday.

Which is really annoying seeing that I don't have a keyboard to type with as a backup.

I wasn't even sure if it worked at all, nobody seems to be using it...

I don't even bother plugging the headset in anymore :rolleyes:

Kirk Foiden · Oct 31, 2006

Well, interesting enough, things just got a little different. Thanks to this morning's update, 360 owners now do have the best resolution option. 1920 x1080 widescreen. However, there's one small problem with me running it that high. I don't have a monitor that can go that high in resolution.

So, I'm stuck at 1360x768 until I get a monitor or TV set that can handle it.

Kirk Foiden · Oct 31, 2006

Still, my Ranger is now at level 17. Magician has been shooting up the ranks, though. We basically decided to make several runs through the Sleeping Warriors mission. I think I'm about halfway to to being a Rank 4 Ranger after that

moosey300 · Oct 31, 2006

hi can anyone confirm for me whether a us version of phantasy star universe on the xbox 360 will work on a jap console? thanks so much!!!

Kirk Foiden · Nov 1, 2006

I only heard it was region free. However, I hear that it's tougher to get a Sega PSU account out of territory. I also don't know what other software/online plans Sega has which *might* make that disk an offline-only experience.

moosey300 · Nov 1, 2006

thanks i dont mind only playing offline if i have to however i dont wanna get it until someone can give me a definate that it'll work ok with my jap console. i cant get the jap version as i dont speak the language!

Magician · Nov 1, 2006

Taking to eat some grub and post my progress.

Running continuously through Sleeping Warrior C, solo.

Character Level = 32
Hunter Level = 7
PM Level = 67

Tonight I'll hit hunter level 8, and I just maybe will get my PM level 80 and get my GH-410 lollicon. If not tonight then definitely tomorrow morning. When I do get my lollicon then perhaps I can do some 25+ levels solo? We'll see.

Time spend, 65hrs.

Ghost-Dog · Nov 1, 2006

I make strange decisions sometimes. I picked it up for 360 so I can play with some friends, and some of the NG.com people. Gamertag is in my sig, if you're not already on my friends list.

I will be splitting time between this and the PC version though, so I will probably be better pairing up with the more casual crowd of 360 players.

My Phantasy Star Universe thoughts

aka The Grinch

Be water, my friend.

James Tiberius,

Rosa's Tag-Tea,

aka The Grinch

Be water, my friend.

Be water, my friend.

Rosa's Tag-Tea,

James Tiberius,

Presented by the Florida Department of Economic Op

Be water, my friend.

Presented by the Florida Department of Economic Op

Be water, my friend.

James Tiberius,

Presented by the Florida Department of Economic Op

Be water, my friend.

James Tiberius,

Sieger's Squire

James Tiberius,

James Tiberius,

n00b

James Tiberius,

n00b

A simple man who simply loves gaming.

Presented by the Florida Department of Economic Op