Am gonna buy PSU, need tips!

[Dr_Odin]

im gonna buy PSU this week, so any tips or tricks of what I should do when I start off the game? im very excited to play it.

Help out a newbie

[Thanatos]

I'd say pair up with one of us, where we can take you to earn quick experience, meseta, and mission points to choose your profession, then you can seek out friends of your own to do missions, or catch up to us and kick arse.

[Del_Ian]

Tip #1: Don't get PSU. XP

But, uh, I'm probably the wrong person to ask about that, since I think PSU is a horrible abortion that spits on what little dignity the PS name has left after being beaten senseless by Sega for the last ten years or so. >_>

[BenoitRen]

Says the one who imported PSU: Ambition of the Illuminus from Japan.

[Lord Khyron]

Haha... Point for Benoit!

Score: 1-0!

What will his comeback be?

[thriwren]

im gonna buy PSU this week, so any tips or tricks of what I should do when I start off the game? im very excited to play it.

Help out a newbie

A quote from various on the PSU forums on their website: "What system?"

[Del_Ian]

I imported AoI because I was ready to quit PSU and knew if I waited for the US release I'd be already gone by then. Plus, I wanted to see if having faster, non-fucked up updates and a larger playerbase with a better economy would make the experience better.

It does, in fact, accomplish that - JP AoI was a much much better experience than vanilla, improved combat system etc and an economy you didn't already have to be rich to make it in, but PSU still, in the end, leaves me with that same original feeling of 'Jesus Christ this really does suck' that I first got playing Ep1 story mode offline.

And thus I quit back at the beginning of this month.

It was PSO that did it, really. I got on the private PSOBB servers and got going a bit to see if it was really just nostalgia making the game so great in my memory like everyone who insists that PSO is dead and sucked keeps saying while fapping to PSU... And it wasn't nostalgia. I really did love PSO that much. So I quit PSU and I now play PSO and it is a lovely, happy thing that brings me great joy. (And since it's the private server and I'm not paying for it, I don't feel guilty if I don't feel like playing for several days in a row, either, rofl. I just play when I want to play and have a good time with the game I still love after five years.)

But yes, I do have a high tolerance for some kinds of annoyance. I gave PSU a chance originally when I bought it, then gave it more when I got online, then gave it even more with AoI, but in the end it just never did it for me. PSO I was addicted to within hours. I've forgotten(And still remember) more about the game than a lot of people ever knew. PSU I never really cared. So... Yeah.

Well, here, fine. Get PSU if you want, play it. If it's for you, go for it. If it's not, don't do what I did and keep playing it across two versions for a year in the hope that 'It'll get better!', because it really won't.

[Seizaku]

If it's not, don't do what I did and keep playing it across two versions for a year in the hope that 'It'll get better!', because it really won't.

You know what's funny? A friend said the same thing about PSO when it was released, and now he loves it (and keeps playing the offline mode on his Dreamcast. He also said the same thing when they released Lineage II and now he keep playing it to the point of obsession.

Of course, you may be one of those that love a game so much that will keep playing it after 10 years they have stopped to be supported. But you have to remember that not everyone may share that nostalgia feeling of PSO that makes it more pleasant or fell superior for you.

Now, replying the topic creator.... avoid the Xbox 360 version, really, I've seen my friend try it on the demo server and the amount of kids abusing the voice chat with the completely lack of etiquette e respect make the experience really unpleasant. Prefer the PS2 and PC version that lacks voice chat.

[Abominae]

Wow... it's so great that I'm capable of making decisions for myself or I might have allowed utterly incompetant people to make decisions for me. Can't imagine what my life would be like if I only ever played the latest release of Rainbow Six and Madden 2008.9

This is why I never pay attention to game reviews. I've found hundreds of games that I have and still enjoy the hell out of despite their reviews. PSO is at the very top of this list. SO EAT IT!

[janejana]

If it's not, don't do what I did and keep playing it across two versions for a year in the hope that 'It'll get better!', because it really won't.

You know what's funny? A friend said the same thing about PSO when it was released, and now he loves it (and keeps playing the offline mode on his Dreamcast. He also said the same thing when they released Lineage II and now he keep playing it to the point of obsession.

Of course, you may be one of those that love a game so much that will keep playing it after 10 years they have stopped to be supported. But you have to remember that not everyone may share that nostalgia feeling of PSO that makes it more pleasant or fell superior for you.

Now, replying the topic creator.... avoid the Xbox 360 version, really, I've seen my friend try it on the demo server and the amount of kids abusing the voice chat with the completely lack of etiquette e respect make the experience really unpleasant. Prefer the PS2 and PC version that lacks voice chat.

the demo servers have no GM oversight whatsoever....if you have the actual game, they are much cleaner (the threat of banning really helps in weeding out jerks xD ). i have had very few problems with people being rude over the mic in my experience.

though there are other reasons you might not want to pick up the 360 version, mostly related to the offline mode. if you want to play both the original and the expansion offline, you need the PS2/PC version. the downloadable expansion for 360 is online-only.

online play is not too different across the two versions, aside from population sizes.

i would hold off on going online right now though since recent updates have been plagued with serious technical problems. a lot of long-time players have quit (though some only temporarily) because of them. it might be better to wait until SoA starts the Max Attack G event in April -- supposedly they are focusing their efforts on making sure everything runs smoothly and will have more staff on hand to deal with technical problems. x_x

though it sounds like the TC was looking for in-game guidance, not 'which server is the best' so here goes:

-it is much easier to play a CAST or a beast than a human or newman
-if you are going to buy something, ALWAYS check player shops first, unless it's synth materials. especially when you're just starting -- 'beginner' equipment sold in player shops is almost always cheaper and better than what is available in NPC shops.
-if you are looking to start a group online, i find it's easiest to just start a mission and put something like 'all welcome/please join' in the comments. as long as you're in a hotspot, people will join.

if you've played other MMOs, though, PSU is relatively easy, and despite what people may say, you can play very 'poor' race/class combinations and not have too much trouble completing missions or finding parties.