[Multiplatform] Phantasy Star Universe

I've got the game in my hands now. I'm working through the registration site (stinks that you can't handle all the billing and stuff in the game like with FFXI) right now, so I'll get back to you.

EDIT: Great, network error (-613). Does this have to do with opening ports?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

I heard that the US version of the game COMES WITH NO CD KEY. So all you'd really have to do is install the game on your PC using a friends DVD or downloaded copy and register a playsega account and pay the monthly fee.

Does this mean you'd have to play the game on PC, or will this work with the PS2 disc too?

If any of you can help with my problem, please check my thread in Help Desk.

EDIT: Okay, figured it out. I had to set it to DHCP (auto, not manual). But now I have to open up space in my memory card. Hope the end result is worth all this.

How ya doing, buddy?

This likely won't work with the PS2, though, since it has that DNAS check that's plagued many copied games from going online.

Well, all systems are go. I registered for 30 days (does it have to be renewed each time, or is it automatically renewed until you say so?), created a character, and went as far as the tutorial. Things are looking good so far. This whole game runs circles around FFXI in terms of shortcuts (checkpoints in dungeons=brilliant). I love the little chat boxes too.

Right now I have to start painting my room, but I'll be on later. Hope to meet up with some of you so we can learn the ropes together. Although I never played anything from the PS series, I decided to choose a name with a bit of reference, so let's see if people notice.

Name: Darius Forge
Class: Human
Job: Hunter (for now)

Catch you later.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, the logitech keyboard controller is just as handy here as in FFXI. I also joined a PT with 2 other people, but they were ahead of me, and I had no idea how to check their location. I eventually caught up, but they weren't the chatting type apparently. After we finished, the leader chose another mission but I wasn't allowed to enter (guess I needed a prerequisate).

Only thing that bugs me so far is the draw distance in the lobbies. Characters are grey shades far away, making them look like ghosts or something. Takes a few seconds before they actually appear. I've seen some cool outfits and robot parts though. There's a lot to learn, but I'm sure it won't take nearly as long as FFXI did.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Only problem I had aside from that DHCP thing was when the game searches for any updates. I get an error, and I have to hit Retry a few times before it gets going. Only takes about a minute, but it's pretty annoying. It's annoying enough that I have to manually connect every time, unlike FFXI (which automatically connects you all the way up to the main menu).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Anyone else unable to connect now? When it gets to authenticating my Sega ID, it says "Failed to recognize Sega ID. The srevers may be undergoing maintenence." It says the servers are online on the main site, though.

I'm chalking this all up to first day problems, but I expect things to be smoother later on.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Did that mod say how long the maintenence was today? I still can't get on due to the Sega ID problem.

EDIT: Game's back up. I gotta shower now, so I'll be on around 10 min. I'll be happy to talk or do missions with anyone who looks me up (Darius Forge).

The CASTs have awesome designs. I might create a seperate CAST character later.

FELIPE NO

Character Name: Darius Force
Race: Human
Battle Type: Hunter (Currently)
Game Version: PS2 Version

I'm amazed how much you can solo in this game. In FFXI, it takes five levels just to survive against a bee or worm, but here you can take on a group of aliens several levels higher than you and come out winning as long as you strafe around.

Anyway, I have several questions.

1. How do you have your portrait appear while chatting?

2. How do you find your party member's location while in lobbies?

3. So to learn new Photons, you have to attach a disc to your weapon right? So where do you find more discs?

4. Are there other forms of chat besides public and party (like the /tell command in FFXI)?

5. As a newbie, what should I focus my (currently) limited funds on? Synthesis boards, new weapons, etc?

6. What should I feed my partner machine?

7. I saw a PT member wielding two swords at once? How do I do that (or is the simple answer to buy the same weapont twice)?

That's about it for now. I'm more interested in meeting new regulars than anything else. Not everyone has been very chatty so far.

Also, I aggree with Sailor Daravon's comments in GAF regarding Story Mode; that was quite possibly the worst intro song I ever heard for an RPG. I was almost too embarrased to sit through that. And the voices are pretty blah so far. The main character's deliveries are just too extreme.

"OWWWWW I HIT MY LEEEEEEGGG OWWWWWWW!!!!!"

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I certainly do, and that becomes a pretty big problem for FFXI in the end. If you can't find anyone worth PT'ing with, especially to take care of your objectives (a huge amount of people in the game are permanently stuck in the lower missions), then there's really nothing worth doing in the game.

That's why I'm in love with PSU's emphasis on quick playing. It doesn't take hours to form PTs, dungeons have checkpoints, missions barely equal 30 minutes, etc. I also love how there's no real penalty for dying (de-leveling....an evil game design) aside from exiting the dungeon and going back in.

That said, I'm not sure how interested I'll stay in this game. I'm glad I didn't sign up for 6 months. It's fun, no doubt, but it also doesn't feel like an endless adventure like FFXI does.

Quote:

2 - Press Ctrl until character names appear above heads. Look for the names with coloured party symbols next to them, they're your partymates.

I discovered this myself, but what I'm referring to is if the PT member is either too far away to spot the symbol or if he's on a different floor. The map will tell you what area he's in, but it doesn't actually point to his location.

Quote:

6 - No idea... I want to know also. You can feed him any item, but I haven't been willing to offer up my goods yet.

I gave him a couple of my medicines, to which he said "didn't taste very sweet" and got a small boost in synthesis or something. When it reaches a certain level, you can use it for dungeons, right?

Quote:

1 - Hold Tab while you press enter on the text entry. Also, if you hold Shift, you'll shout. Hold Ctrl and you'll do a thought bubble. Shift and Ctrl can be combined with Tab as well.

Thanks, that was driving me crazy, and no one in the game was willing to answer. Can you control the facial expressions?

How ya doing, buddy?

I had my first real mission today in Parum, joining a six man group in an area with lvl 16 enemies and a boss. It was pretty intense, but definetely fun. I was quite underleveled, but still contributed nicely, and leveled up twice (lvl 7 now).

Some new comments and questions.

1. The game suffered serious slowdown when the area crowded with enemies and six party members. Any chance an update could fix this later on?

2. I also dislike the lag in having characters appear (they start of as greyish dolls that later materialize after 10 seconds or so). Can an update fix this too?

3. Is there a way to keep Party Chat on after each text entry? I would switch it to party chat, say something, but then it's back to Public Chat after.

4. When making chat macros, can you save the cut-in feature for each macro (ie. always have an angry expression when bringing up a saved sentence)?

5. When joining a mission already in progress, is there a way to find out how far ahead the group is before joining the mission? I hate having to catch up, then have the mission end before I even get to attack anything.

6. When synthesizing materials, does the PM's stats/rank increase with each successful synthesis?

7. Do synthesis boards dissapear after being used once, or can they be used repeatedly?

8. What's a good way to make money (one person told me to get high ranks in the missions)?

9. What is the purpose of mission poitns?

10. How do you upgrade weapons? Do you go the upgrade shop or can you upgrade yourself via synthesis?

11. How do you open the shortcut for items (healing items, etc)?

12. I purchased a technic, and then "learned" it. Is that all I need to do, or do I have to equip it to something?

That's it for now. Sorry for all the questions, but the manual isn't very concise and I don't know the best community for this game yet.

I hope we can arrange a get-together soon. I'm enjoying the game now, but I know it would be a lot more fun to go dungeon-hunting with regulars.

Most amazing jew boots

Thanks for the help, Miles. And doubly thanks to Cobalt Katze for pointing out a much easier method for adding cut-ins during chat. I can certainly make it on at 10pm est (universe 16 right?), if that's okay.

Quote:

This is just the PS2 version. I experience no lag when playing on my PC. I don't think there's any real way to fix it unless you played the game on a PC. If your PC is good enough you could download it and play with lag free battles.

I don't have a PC graphics card, and I mostly prefer to play the bulk of my games on my TV. I'm hoping the slowdown isn't commonplace in every area, because it was pretty horrible where I last battled.

Quote:

Not sure about this one. Normally I hit R2 twice to switch to party chat. I don't recall it going back to normal chat for me. I'll have to read the manual to see if there are other methods.

Well actually, what I meant to say is that in order to continue to use party chat, I have to keep the party chat log open (keeping all previous conversations saved). This takes up an annoying amount of space, so I was wondering if there's a way to keep party chat going without the log sticking out.

Quote:

I usually guess by how long the mission has been played. If it's 5 minutes into the mission it's fairly easy to catch up. Ifr the party is 30 minutes into it I assume they're close to the end or done. Sometimes I still join anyway just in case they plan on doing another run.

I've tried to judge it based on time, but usually the party is 2 or 3 blocks ahead of me, even if it's only been 30-60 seconds. I guess I have to do a better job of judging the distance by the time.

Quote:

You take them to a shop and use grinders.

I tried that, going to a shop with one grinder (said to upgrade level C weapons), but the item didn't read up when I talked to the NPC. Maybe I need more than one?

Quote:

I get really annoyed when we can't get an S-rank because some moron runs into a group of hard enemies by himself without waiting for everyone else.

I've been there. Most of the people I join missions with don't say a damn word and just keep charging thru the areas like they're on ADD.

Three more questions.

1. Is there a way to make a Universe your "default" universe? I hate logging into an empty server, even if it takes less than a minute to log to a different one.

2. Do you always end up in the first floor of the space station no matter where you log out?

3. Are the other planets/areas inaccessible because I have to move ahead in rank, or does Sega need to open them later via updates?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Quote:

synthesis is linked to your PM's stats. When your PM evolves, your success rate of synthing increases.

The question is what items are best for evolving the PM.

Also, I haven't been able to link a technic to any of my weapons. Can they only be linked to rods (which are marked X for my Hunter character, meaning I can't equip them)?

I joined a PT who concentrated on multiple relic runs. I got some some good cash with 600 mesa per run (Rank S every time), along with mission points (which it turns out go towards leveling your job. My Hunter job almost hit lvl 2). I also saw the rage move for the Beast characters, which was pretty cool.

How ya doing, buddy?

Honestly, I haven't gotten back into this game since FFXII came out. It's gotten my full attention, especially since my playtime has been limited due to the remoldeling in my upstairs and room. But I do plan to get back into the game shortly (especially since I already paid for the month), although I was around level 12 last time I checked.

Any mention when Sega will open up the other areas?

Most amazing jew boots

Not as much as "Want to play Earthbound 3? Go play Ness in Smash Bros instead".

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127238

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Okay, no more delays. I'll be on tonight, 10pm est most likely. Universe 16 is still the GFF hotspot right?

FELIPE NO

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but after the month ends, do you have to manually subscribe for another month, or is it automatically renewed for you? Also, how long a break can you take before your character gets deleted? I remember people said that characters never get deleted, but I wanted to make sure whether that claim was revised or not.

I haven't been playing in forever, as I've been very busy in real life. Could I get a brief summary of what's been going on? Has the game gotten better or worse? More players to play with? More missions? Sounds like there's a hacking problem going on....

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I haven't touched this game since the first month it's been out. I've been wanting to come back to it, but a limited budget keeps me from shelling out $10 a month. Plus, reading about glitches and cheats almost put me off completely, and now there's this expansion pack (actually it seems to be a completely seperate game). Would I have to start from scratch with the new game?

What I'm more interested in is how the game's running currently. How is the community? Is it still active? Have any bugs been sorted out? GAF seems pretty pissed about the game overall, so I'm wondering if it's worth going back or not.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So basically the community is dead in NA? And the other worlds are still locked? Wow.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Now that the board is back, I can ask those who are still playing what the status is on PSU. Last time I checked, the PS2 version was apparently barren and empty, making me regret purchasing the game in the first place.

So how are things now? I've been tempted to sign up for another month, but only if there's a big enough community to play with.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

So basically, I should wait it out, but not toss the game?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?