Well, the beta just came out today, and I think we've had enough time to start forming opinions on it. This thread is where I'd like any and all discussion about the 360 Beta of the game.
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PSU 360 Beta Impressions
Submitted by sam on Fri, 2006-10-13 21:10.
Well, the beta just came out today, and I think we've had enough time to start forming opinions on it. This thread is where I'd like any and all discussion about the 360 Beta of the game. |
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Tabke's Final Take
Okay, so the Beta is over, here's my impression of the game.
* I really did like the game play. At first it seems like this button masher, but as soon as you realize you can have all these hot-swappable weapons and have "photon-arts" (weaponskills) associated with each, you start seeing a lot more depth in the battle. By the end of the demo, I was level 5-9 in the photon-arts for each weapon I had and I was chaining combos like mad. Many a stranger made a comment that they didn't realize you could do with the weapons what I was doing with them lol!
* I got really into item synthesis! As soon as I could solo missions, I'd return to them just to farm items. Farming in PSU is so much less boring than farming in other games (like FFXI, which I think we all have come from here at ClanAM). What I really liked to find were those special synth items that had the [???] slots where you could pick an item from a list to include in the synthesis. This is especially useful for weapons as you can make different weapons each time you use the same synth-board. And the weapons have new abilities which rock. The first time I showed up in a party with a purple (lightning) Sabre I was a huge hit, and my ice hand-gun's freeze attack is very useful when fighting groups of relentless enemies!
* I got into messing with the p-machine. I fed him a lot of stuff before I figured out how to focus on specific stats (I went with ranged attacks). My P-machine never got to a point I could take him out on parties during the Beta, but I can see how he will be very cool and how everyone can have drastically different p-machine buddies. This is something I really look forward to in the final hgame.
* More missions! Sadly, the missions included in the beta were very short once you figured them out. They were fun though and left me wanting more. For example, I really want to see where you go after the "Fight For Food" ones on the colony. Also, if you explored the 2 planetary cities you will have found a lot of mission counters that weren't active in the beta. I really can't wait to see all the fun areas that will be in the full version.
* Play with no mic! I found that if I ever played with my headset while in a party with stranger I really didn't have a good time. However, if I unplugged my headset I had a blast. I think I'll save the headset and serious missions for when I can do them in the clan. Otherwise, I'm going to be a deaf mute in the game lol!
Stuffies
Honestly I was turned off by it at first, but once I got into it, I found it to be kind of fun. I also was able to make pretty non-green weapons with cool stats. As soon as I was, I started noticing the elemental stats on the mobs and found that using the opposite stat generally gave me the best results in my fights.
In fact, what I'm the most sad about is that this Beta will be over before I even get a chance to find the last missing piece for a cool [???] gun I just found.
I am sad that they were all pretty short in the Beta, but I wasn't surprised by this. I really wont mind going back through them again at the launch.
Man can this make some people angry, so I try to at least play with it plugged in and turned on until I find out if the people I'm playing with are tools or not. I found that the vast majority of people were shy and not wanting to use the mic too much anyway, it was just this very vocal minority that would get on and spam with irritating and insulting chatter. Those people, however, you can just blacklist :-)
Sam/Maior's impressions
Well, first of all, I want to say that the interface has a moderately steep learning curve. It seems simple enough, but when you're in the middle of battle and just want to find the map to figure out where your teammates are, it really feels counter-intuitive.
Once you break past the counter-intuitive interface, you find the game itself is actually pretty fun. It's a bit of a button-masher, but there's some depth to the moves and counters you can pull off. The divorcing of player level from "job/type" level is refreshing and makes me curious what role this will play in the as of yet unknown advanced jobs.
Right now, the biggest problem I have with this game is the same problem I have with every MMO or MO game: The other players. In the 2 days I've been playing this, I've encountered more abusive people than I have in FFXI in the last year. Some of this has to do with the fact that here we have voice chat, but the general nastiness of the players astounds me.
I mean, here's the deal, in most MMORPGs or MORPGs there's all sorts of penalties for not inviting people a) in your level range, b) with decent gear, c) who know their jobs. However, the one biggest strength that PSU has over other games is that there's very little penalty for inviting/partying with people of different levels, with crappy gear, or even haven't the first clue of the game. There's no EXP penalty for wildly different levels, players who suck and die can instantly rejoin the group, and crappy gear can generally suffice. So why do we have a need to be so nasty?
I'm still not 100% sold on the game. Honestly, the rest of the asshat players I've encountered in the game thus far has been a pretty big turn off for me. They have this uncanny knack of draining all the joy out of what should be a fun game.
That being said, if I can get a ClanAM community like we have over in ClanAM FFXI, this game will instantly be more fun.
Bah kids!
Ya, I'm having a blast with it, but those dammed kids really make it hard to enjoy.
One nice thing is that most missions can be done by one or two people. There's very few that I've played where a bit of leveling wouldn't have made it soloable. This is a pretty good alternative for those of us who left our teenage years behind us.
I think one problem is that most people don't understand yet how to lock down parties. A lot of the ones I've found where people are assholes to me are usually because they are a group of friends and didn't want strangers joining. They just didn't realize how to password lock the parties.
I suspect the real game will have some of these problems, but that you will be able to avoid them easily enough by just blisting the idiots and setting up your parties the way you like.
And what's with all the stupid names?
The Beta has been out for 1 day and yet everyone has fucking numbers in their names! WTH?
"Necromonger", that's a fine name, run with it... But OH NO, people can't be content with just that. Every name is cooler with fucking numbers tacked on...
"04Necromonger89" .... woot! Now that's better!
GAH
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phear the axe
Bah!
Yeah, I know. What's worse is when stupid-number-name-man starts harrassing you over something.... It's like being insulted by someone who's mentally challenged.
Some dickwad with a normal name and "2000" tacked on the end was harrassing me over my knuckles I was using (in spite of the fact I had a level 2 skill with them, while he didn't have *any* skills associated with any of his weapons).
*Click!* Unplugged the headset.
Headphones
I found that I typically enjoyed the game a lot more with strangers with the headphones unplugged.
I really liked the beta, and I do plan on getting the full game, but I think for all non-clan games I'm just going to play without any headphones.
Party options
I think most people just start the mission without even noticing the party options.
One party I was in the leader and his friend were mad when other people were getting the items. They wanted them. Now, they could have set up some item distribution schemes before the mission, but it was set to the one where you pick it up, you get it.
I don't know.... maybe it will be better once the game is out... Like I said, for me, the verdict still isn't in.
Ya after the first couple
Ya after the first couple days, a lot of the n00bs left and it seemed many people got this. I assume we will see people re-learning it all again when the game comes out but it shouldn't last long.