by Neo48 » Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:40 am
As far as combat goes...I feel it completely blows PSO out of the water. Its just got more style and variance.
Not sure what version you bought...but some people do have issues with latency, as Benoit had mentioned. I am on the other side of that wall though fortunately. I have smooth gameplay everywhere. My system specs are way above the minimum however (if that will matter).
The single player is a good experience. Its easy to experiment with different weapon classes and the Photon Arts level extremely quickly.
The unfortunate part about online mode is that once again it has become a grinding game. That isn't to say the actual grinding of weapons is bad. Grinding has improved I think, it takes some common sense, and a bit of luck/guts. But if you want to get to level 140 fast then you are going to have a lot of repeat killing.
If you bought Ambition of the Illuminus you will have the opportunity to play Episode 2 online and 5 Chapters of Episode 3 so far. Also, there are a lot of locations to check out. I wont say different quests because like in PSO, the only thing that really changes is the enemies/locales. It will all still be killing and going from A to B no matter where you are.
There are however some "challenge mode-ish" missions (three I think?) that are available at the Guardian Branches. However you need a party to do them. Thats where your version comes into account. If you have the PS2/PC version then you will be hard pressed finding a group to do these missions (or any missions in particular). Since the community is small, the only place to really find a party is at the hot-spots (places where the newest weapons can be found or where the most EXP is available). If you have the 360 version then you should be in good news. I was just over at PSO world and the recent statistics show that the 360 has the highest population.
Thats the meat and potatoes of the whole experience. Of course, since this is Phantasy Star, there is a lot of toppings on the whole meal. Its that appeal that keeps people sticking around. You would learn within a month or two whether or not the PSU food is for you.
Too much metaphor, later folks.
PSO (GC) - NEO: HUcast LV 176
PSOBB Schthack (PC) - Redrian: HUcast LV 25
PSU (PC) - Neo: Male Cast Acrofighter LV 161 R.I.P.
PS0 (DS) - Neon: HUcaseal LV 82