Phantasy Star Universe... Online!
So after a long wait (five and a half years...) the true sequel to Dreamcast's best time suck is upon us, and Phantasy Star Universe (PSU) makes PSO look like crap! Okay, maybe not. It's too early to tell. PSU has the same PSO feel we all love, but at the same time doesn't feel exactly the same. Really it's just another Diablo clone, that for some reason I always enjoyed playing.
The point of this post is to tell you that you need this game. Relive the glory days of the Dreamcast on your PC (or PS2). Just don't get the Xbox 360 version or else you can't play with me (or Hybrid or ConnDestn). And so what would the point of playing be?
Head over to our forum for the latest PSU news... and pictures/screenshots! That's me, Phratellee.
I will say this, once I got the damn thing to work correctly on my PC (and it wasn't running in slow-mo on my 6800GT...), I've enjoyed it for the most part so far. There are a few annoying things though. It's clearly a PlayStation 2 port so it lacks the polish I like to see in a game. (Ever hear of Anti-Aliasing Sega? Or even a mouse? Sheesh!) So here are a few reasons why PSO Ep. III is still better than PSU:
1) No more photon chairs in PSU! What a rip.
2) No jukebox to dance to. What's the point of even having a dance animation then?
3) You can't create custom symbol chat thingys anymore, which means no Ignignokt flipping the bird.
4) You need a Guardian's License to play online now. For some reason when they used to call it a Hunter's License I didn't feel quite as ripped off.
5) No tables to sit down at and play cards...
Comments
bonesquad
Sat, 2006-11-04 11:05
Permalink
So PSU a week later...
Overall I'd say PSU is a lot of fun and a definite buy for any PSO fan. It does a lot of things right and improves over PSO in many ways (especially in combat). Though I do have a number of smaller gripes, the only thing that really annoys me is that new robotic buddy (aka Partner Machine)...
I'm glad the feeding-so-everyone-stop-playing mags are gone, but feeding this thing in your room is even less fun and doesn't feel at all rewarding. Even worse is the whole synthesis process. Seriously. Sure I don't get it yet, but what I do know is that instead of finding armor or weapon drops (well weapons happen every so often) you find synthesis boards and materials EVERYWHERE. Wow. This is especially annoying when you find a rare (a 9 star rare no less) and it's a bloody synthesis board to make CANDY! It just doesn't feel right. I'm not saying this isn't a cool idea, I just wish they didn't make us rely on it for new stuff nearly as much as they do. Oh well I guess.