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Post by Ex on Jun 29, 2020 14:48:44 GMT -5
I think it would have been different if it were a shorter game. Absolutely. If I could have beaten PSO in 12 hours or less, I'd have it finished by now.* In reality I'd need to invest 20 hours to actually finish Episode 1. This game is not worth six more hours of my life. *For example, I bothered to finish this game years ago: And the reason I bothered finishing it, is because it only took six hours to finish. If this game had taken twenty hours to finish, no way I'd have done it. Although honestly FtA was funner than PSO in single player. I'm there now too. I don't mind sampling a wide range of RPGs. But I am not going to put in the amount of time it takes to finish an RPG, unless said RPG is consistently good to great. Life is too short for so many mediocre/bad RPGs that last 20+ hours. Especially when you get into the disc-based JRPGs that last 40+ hours easy. I'm not a 14 year old with zero responsibility and a wide open schedule anymore, desperately looking for something to fill the time void. Nowadays to beat RPGs I have to make them a serious commitment over a considerable amount of evenings. They need to be legitimately good to be worth it. I won't argue against that. Though I have to keep in mind you've beaten a whole lot more JRPGs than I have. I probably haven't beaten even a 1/5th of the JRPGs you have! I understand how you personally are burnt out on the genre now. That's over 60 hours invested into the theme, not shabby. I wouldn't steer you wrong man.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 29, 2020 14:52:47 GMT -5
I really like how these themes force me to try games I've been meaning to put time into for what seems like forever. QFG would likely still be languishing in my backlog otherwise. The one thing I've noticed on the PC side is that the learning curve at the beginning is usually pretty steep. I've been playing console games for so long that they just "make sense", even most of the obtuse ones.
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Post by Ex on Jun 29, 2020 14:54:40 GMT -5
I really like how these themes force me to try games I've been meaning to put time into for what seems like forever. Variety is the spice of gaming.
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Post by paulofthewest on Jun 29, 2020 15:41:18 GMT -5
I think it probably would have still happened, but who knows what evolutionary path it would have followed? paulofthewest : Apparently the second game is a lot worse - you grind and grind and grind for gold, which is used for pretty much everything. Ultima III: Exodus is apparently when the series really becomes "Ultima", even if it's the next game that codifies the whole Avatar and virtues bit. Some day I might hit it up, although I'm not sure if I'd want to roll PC or NES in that case. I know I'd rather play the NES version of Ultima IV, though - I've always been pretty obsessed with it, despite not putting in much time. Ultima has been on my list as well. I've played 8, 9, and 1 (in that order.) Both 8 & 9 were solid Ultima--style games. One, sadly, dissuaded me from going through the rest. Maybe I should do them in reverse, 7 then 6 then 5, ... I agree. Especially since PSO probably doesn't have a proper ending, which would be a complete let down for me.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 29, 2020 15:53:35 GMT -5
Yeah, it seems like it would be worth starting with something else other than Ultima II at this point. I think Ultima VII is the most universally lauded.
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Post by Ex on Jun 29, 2020 15:53:48 GMT -5
Especially since PSO probably doesn't have a proper ending, which would be a complete let down for me. I read the player gets a single splash screen like "You Won" or something trivial as that. My advice to anyone considering playing original PSO, is to only do so via online multiplayer. However the merit of offline single player in the rest of these: Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution Phantasy Star Universe Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus Phantasy Star Zero Phantasy Star Portable Phantasy Star Portable 2 Phantasy Star Online 2 Phantasy Star Nova Idola: Phantasy Star Saga
Remains to be seen...
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 29, 2020 15:55:54 GMT -5
EDIT: I missed a new page like usual...
Sarge : The best part about Deus Ex is how replayable it is and even though it sounded like you were very thorough, you'll probably discover some new cool things another time through, or hear new dialogue along the way with different choices. The game that keeps on giving! That said, I think you'll like the sequels a decent amount too. Too bad bone and dunpeal aren't around to back up their thoughts on PSO... like I said myself earlier in the thread, I think I'd have a similar reaction to Ex if I were to tackle it in 2020. But it came at the right time and right place when I played it back on the Cube. It was probably one of the first looter games I played too, so that concept wasn't really trite to me at the time. I actually still think I like its aesthetic a lot from afar, along with the awesome music, but I can also easily see from glancing over the original PS1-4, that yeah, longtime fans were probably pretty irritated that PSO doesn't seem to really have much connection to them, if at all. As for myself, I finally finished up the HUUUUGE Sanctuary of the Scion level in TRA. It was pretty cool but tested my patience. Though I think that's just because of the bad timing with my move and all. Ideally I wanted to finish TRA before moving, but that didn't happen, so I was stalled in the games largest level and jumping back into the middle of that was a bit odd. Anyways, I think that's for the most part the last of the major "tomb/labyrinth" levels and the rest will be quicker. I'll hopefully wrap it up within a week or so.
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Post by Ex on Jun 29, 2020 16:20:13 GMT -5
the right time and right place when I played it back on the Cube If I'd played PSO back in 2002 at say age 10-12, I probably would have liked it. I am legitimately interested in trying PSO's sequels though. If they just fix the main issues I had with the original PSO, they'd be decent dungeon crawlers.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 29, 2020 18:39:21 GMT -5
the right time and right place when I played it back on the Cube If I'd played PSO back in 2002 at say age 10-12, I probably would have liked it. I am legitimately interested in trying PSO's sequels though. If they just fix the main issues I had with the original PSO, they'd be decent dungeon crawlers. Let's be real... have you researched them or anything? Are they any less-multiplayer/online driven? I'd wager not.
I'm not saying I've looked into them myself or anything, but the PSO and its first episode you just played, is the beginning and the end of myself ever hearing about PSO single player/offline content.
I guess you'll have the report a few years for us to find out.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 29, 2020 19:30:41 GMT -5
Supposedly Phantasy Star Universe has a more involved single-player mode, but that game wasn't as well received. Don't know what that means, though - could be it made changes vets didn't like, or it might be that it's just a worse game.
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