What Would it Take to Return to PSU?

[Dhylec]

This! I'm sure many of the other things said already would help, but this is needed the most by far. And also..
QFT, lol. I don't expect to be coming back anytime soon without one of those. =P

Heh, perhaps having SoA controlling the content is the miracle everyone's talking about?

[Ezodagrom]

All missions with enemies 30+ lvls higher than the lvl cap.
Regular updates.

[biggabertha]

Probably the biggest problem I have with PSU is just how my PS2 can't keep up with the game but that's really about it. I like the game the way it is - I'm pretty anti-social as it is and pretty unconfident in real life so soloing missions that can be played through solo is more or less okay with me.

Having other people are a great distraction from what you should be doing but it's really strange how the main thing tying us into PSU is either faith in the series or the visuals. That's really upsetting since I've loved visuals in games but PSU's got a very nice visual base to begin with (for a PS2) and I cannot even begin to imagine the technical difficulties associated with programming for a PS2 - let alone for online gaming without a hard drive.


I'm not sure merging all of the servers would be such a great idea... but it can definitely done with some effort. Merging the servers would be a huge problem for localisation - it means we'd be delaying content that's already natively Japanese. That's not really fair to the Japanese at all...

If Sonic Team/Sega didn't manage the game anymore, it's very likely that the game will "feel" different - for better or for worse.

Just like people that take criticisms to heart, if Sega did nothing but listen to their fans then it'd be a fan's game - not Sonic Team's game. There's ups and downs to it but the real underlying problem is that as fans, we have nothing to lose while Sonic Team have time and money to lose by just listening to those players who have nothing else better to do than criticise... on an unofficial message board at that.


Giving all content that's already on the disc probably presents other problems too - that'll mean there's little to do online anymore. Just like how it was on PSO - Wouldn't the argument just turn into: "Why aren't there anymore items..?" Because they were all unlocked off of the disc and the PS2 can't handle new ones.


As frustrating as the synth system is, I would not like to revert back to the PSO system of obtaining weapons/items. Anyone who's ever gotten a 40%+ weapon will always be extremely happy that it's occurred because it's a really rare sight (mostly..) - getting a 50% weapon's even better. Granted - TECHNIC and Ranged weapons may benefit from just dropping made... but what they did with Melee orientated weapons and RCSMs is probably the most fair way to do it - if a little bit frustrating...

A similar thing with the grinding system - being luck-based is part of the fun but I would have really liked a skill factor introduced rather than it being a random number generator. Making it skill-based could help but then there'd just be people complaining that it's too hard/easy.


Balancing's difficult to do through all levels of play without a rather large testing group. Just simple tweaks such as making such and such an attack stronger weaker/might open up other points of weaknesses. Granted, Forces really OUGHT to be the strongest damaging class in the game as a general rule but it'd just cause complete bawwing from the larger melee/gun based players out there. How many people do you know have never even touched a Force's class before..?


This is so contradicting of me but allowing you to attach other PAs to the same weapon or allowing for macros would make things more convenient - i.e. easier. Do you REALLY need to do that? I'm on a PS2 so I just use a second similar weapon on the palette or change it myself - I can only see it being useful for Time Attacks.


How creative can a group of people be..? Look at Pokémon - 493 Pokémon and most of them are generally the same... it's not easy to come up with something completely new, program the model for it, create all of it's attack animations AND come up with the music that needs to be associated with it. It's possible, yes but it requires an incredible amount of resources. Seeing as how all gaming companies aren't making games for gamers anymore, it's perfectly plausible to see that there is no revenue at all for making games for gamers.

SO many things just keep going back to comparisons...

"Make things more like PSO! Make more Sega things for memory's sake! I want my memories! I liked how it was back in the good ol' days!" That really just says how much things have changed over the times and that you're getting old now.


But yeah - granted, the billing issues are something I can't really come up with some kind of argument for - but issues make sense if communications are not exactly prominent - besides, there's a LOT of other things that could be affecting it too - maybe they're just unlucky, like their random number generators are with us most of the time.


Race specific things would be a welcome addition but it'd also promote a real form of elitism that's already much greater than it already is now.


No... actually, my only complaint with the game is how a puny laser fence that's barely any higher than my knees/thighs (probably stomach or shoulders for some characters) stops you from progressing any further... Maybe some sort of visual representation of a line shield wall to obstruct further access would be suitable... but most things that sound easy usually aren't.

[The_Brimada]

Plain and simple. Content.

[Tyreek]

Finish your storyline SEGA. When was the last time we continued EP3? December of '08? (I'm not counting the sidestory missions) Let's put an end to this saga.

But seriously, everything that people mentioned sums it up. And I think SOA may make capable hands if SOJ would just relinquish their hold on this content. We have almost everything. 1 event, 1 GBR, 2 story missions, and some party mission updates + Desert Arms updates are all that's left.

[Amherst_Wind]

Hmmm... if the game was free I might come back.

Then again it looks like I'll be getting everything I wanted from PSU from PSP2 instead, so even if PSU became free I'd probably stick with PSP2.

[Chris28]

Release everything...it'll keep me busy for 2+ years or so

[Zorafim]

That's a pretty tricky question, actually. I think the best way to answer would be to list everything I'm uncomfortable with, and go from there.

The PA system, I pretty much dislike how this works as it stands. In order to do damage, you have to wind up a huge length (yet beautiful) PA. Some may argue that PAs aren't really that slow, but contrast them with normal attacks. That's the kind of speed I want to play at.
If it were up to me, normal attacks would be the norm, while PAs would add something special. Finishers, crowd control, or what have you. To balance this, of course, melee PP would be nerfed by a huge amount, but regen at a decent enough rate, so you would be encouraged to use PP wisely. And of course, enemies would have to get more aggressive on average to warrant a hit and run gameplay style, instead of this trading hits we have now. Aggressive, but with the ability to dodge their attacks with enough skill.

As someone else said, more exploration based gameplay. However, I disagree on how they said it. I don't mind the lobbies; in fact, I encourage them. They're great for socializing. However, the maps themself I have a problem with. If you play a map once or twice, you pretty much can memorize the pattern the map has. And even if you don't, the map is made in such a way that even on the first try, one can find all the enemies easily unless there's a secret you don't know about. I'd be much more interested in seeing a more mazelike area to fight through, where you have to think a bit to get to the end instead of just follow the path. And of course, this would have to change the ranking system. The reason the maps are like they are now is because of this ranking system. To encourage exploration instead of just kill quests, ranking would have to be saved for special occasions.

And, as another person said, beef up forces. I think it's ridiculous that a class has high survivability and damage, while another has low survivability and low damage. Force damage should be high, but difficult to control. I think, while melee combat should be about reflexes, dodging and weaving and all that, magic combat should be more about placing your spells, and reward you for doing it well. Not to mention keeping aggression off you, and having ways to combat enemies defensively once you do have aggression on you.

Side stories, and main stories. I love them. I crave them. I love not knowing anything about the game when I start, and delving into the secrets of the game via quests. I sort of like how ST managed the main story progress, though I think it should have one level range as opposed to three, so you feel like you have to work to get it (and of course, be rewarded properly via both story and unique items you can only get by doing this. Which, again, they do fairly well). And just the same, having smaller scale quests where you have to do something in particular, and instead of delving into the main story, fleshes out the story we already know. HSM and Bruce are examples of this, but I'd like to see more "Rescue the civilian" things where you're graded only on getting to an NPC and getting that NPC out, and "Escorts" (Screw you, I like these) where you have to get an NPC to a particular place, where that NPC's health at the end determines your grade, and of course "Massacre" quests where you have to kill/survive against huge amounts of enemies with little regard to other points of gameplay.

More rewarding, less luck based systems. For instance, as another person said, grinding. It feels silly to have to spend all this effort to buy a weapon, then buy items, and still not be able to power it up. But at the same time, I don't like PSO's system of just buying items and powering up your weapon that way, though I do prefer it. I think I'd prefer a system where a weapon gets stronger based on how many times you attack with it. I suppose, like leveling a PA, only it's just the weapon that gets stronger.
Also, synthing. You spend a week powering up your PM to max, yet it still can't synth wands any better because you focused on strength. And even if you did, you still have enough of a chance to fail the synth, being stuck at ground zero. I'd much prefer a system where, yes, you level up your PM's synthing skill. However, instead of success rate, this leveling up is required to synth an item of a particular value. Once your PM gets to a particular level, it goes from not being able to synth an item, to having a 100% chance of synthing it.
Then there's elemental percentages. You spend who knows how much time finding an armor board, spend your fortune buying the materials for it, and yes, it succeeds. But it's less effective than even lower level item that was much easier and cheaper to get anyway. Personally, though I like the idea of having elemental equipment (yay ice and light), I think it loses its value once you realize you have to get every single element anyway (boo ground and dark). But besides this, I think elemental bonuses are too strong. I think the concept is fine for bullets and techs, since those aren't luck based. But I think being rewarded at random isn't a good strategy.

And for the ever important character customization, I think we should have more styles to choose from for each race (sans caseal, they have a lovely selection). Male fleshies look like a less inspired version of the main characters of the final fantasy series, no matter what you do with them. And females either have too much flesh showing, or are bubbly and cute (if not a combination of the two). Now, I think this is perfectly fine if this is the kind of character you want to go for. But if you want a strong, mature female? Or a smart male? Perhaps you want a casual cast? You're out of luck. And if you aren't, you may not be satisfied with the only selection you can make with this combination.


I suppose what I'm saying is, it'll take alot for me to get back into the game. Alot more than I expect Sega to give me. Yes, I did get a good run from the game, but I always felt like I was holding out for something better. That, around the corner, something great was going to happen. And it never did. I never expected to quit PSU, but I quickly saw that my break was never going to end.

[Arika]

Do everything that they did in PSP:2 in online mode and advertise, that is all they need.

[Zorafim]

That works too.