I linked to this thread in my previous post, but I felt that it was special enough to deserve its very own blog posting!
It looks like somebody didn't get the memo about STD rewards, despite the fact that two or three threads had already been created regarding the subject.
The funny part about this particular thread: not only is the author unable to form coherent sentences, he feels the need to write out (poor) responses to each of the posters that replies to him (in some cases, more than once).
message to author.
learn to write and spell correctly.
Despite all this, there are actually some serious replies. I'm surprised that people actually took the time to do that!
UPDATE: The thread has since been merged into another thread. Check out the link above to see the contents of the original thread.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Shred the Darkness Ends
Shred the Darkness came to an end early this morning, with the community racking up a grand total of over 144 million creatures killed.
Now, it's back to reality. This morning's update included a lobby change on Parum as well as the delivery of the Phantasy Star Portable launch event prizes (Real Handgun+ and Moatoob Collectible) to players that participated.
Delivery dates for the STD rewards have not been announced yet, although GM Edward hinted in this post that information is on the way soon. (And although it had been pretty clear before the event ended that we wouldn't get the rewards immediately, apparently some people weren't paying attention...)
In the meantime... back to White Beast, I guess?
Now, it's back to reality. This morning's update included a lobby change on Parum as well as the delivery of the Phantasy Star Portable launch event prizes (Real Handgun+ and Moatoob Collectible) to players that participated.
Delivery dates for the STD rewards have not been announced yet, although GM Edward hinted in this post that information is on the way soon. (And although it had been pretty clear before the event ended that we wouldn't get the rewards immediately, apparently some people weren't paying attention...)
In the meantime... back to White Beast, I guess?
Friday, May 22, 2009
Server-Side Frustration
It's no secret that PSU has a lot of minor problems that annoy players every once in a while (check out this old post for one such example). However, if I had to choose one annoying aspect of PSU to change, it would have to be the server-side checking of data.
For some reason, the server insists on receiving and checking just about every action a player takes in Network Mode. If it's switching weapons, doing (and receiving) damage, dying, using recovery items, or any other similar action, you can be sure the server is checking it.
I happen to think that this is one of the game's biggest design flaws. Constant server-side checking is incredibly slow and inefficient. For example, I live on the east coast of the United States -- my PSU client has to send all of my data across the country to San Francisco to be validated, and the server has to send the validation result all the way back to my client. The delay caused by this exchange can be anywhere from a half-second to two seconds. It makes the gameplay incredibly staggered at times. I imagine that players in Europe have it far worse, since their data has to travel across the Atlantic Ocean for validation.
This design probably works fine for players in Japan, since no player is ever very far away from the servers. It doesn't work in the United States and Europe.
The delay caused by server-side validation of data causes other problems, too. In battle, for example, enemies are free to attack while the server is determining if they should die or not. Here's a personal example: I was attempting to kill a Gaozoran in one of the Shred the Darkness event missions. I eventually delivered the killing blow, but while the server was determining if my attack killed the enemy or not, the enemy attacked and killed me instead. Can you say "frustrating"?
Unfortunately, the server-side checks will probably never go away. It's too bad, because they weren't really necessary in the first place. Phantasy Star Online's battle system was fast and never caused any of these frustrations. Why fix something that wasn't broken to begin with?
For some reason, the server insists on receiving and checking just about every action a player takes in Network Mode. If it's switching weapons, doing (and receiving) damage, dying, using recovery items, or any other similar action, you can be sure the server is checking it.
I happen to think that this is one of the game's biggest design flaws. Constant server-side checking is incredibly slow and inefficient. For example, I live on the east coast of the United States -- my PSU client has to send all of my data across the country to San Francisco to be validated, and the server has to send the validation result all the way back to my client. The delay caused by this exchange can be anywhere from a half-second to two seconds. It makes the gameplay incredibly staggered at times. I imagine that players in Europe have it far worse, since their data has to travel across the Atlantic Ocean for validation.
This design probably works fine for players in Japan, since no player is ever very far away from the servers. It doesn't work in the United States and Europe.
The delay caused by server-side validation of data causes other problems, too. In battle, for example, enemies are free to attack while the server is determining if they should die or not. Here's a personal example: I was attempting to kill a Gaozoran in one of the Shred the Darkness event missions. I eventually delivered the killing blow, but while the server was determining if my attack killed the enemy or not, the enemy attacked and killed me instead. Can you say "frustrating"?
Unfortunately, the server-side checks will probably never go away. It's too bad, because they weren't really necessary in the first place. Phantasy Star Online's battle system was fast and never caused any of these frustrations. Why fix something that wasn't broken to begin with?
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dulk Fakis: Hard or Just Cheap?
The final Shred the Darkness event mission, The Fourth System, has now been available on the US/EU servers for a week. In this mission, players must run through areas infested with dark enemies and defeat a boss monster at the end.
Overall, the highest difficulty of the mission is not terribly hard. However, it seems to have sparked a little bit of discussion on the official PSU forums about whether the boss, Dulk Fakis, is difficult or simply cheap.
One of the attacks used by Dulk Fakis throughout the battle is a large "tail" swipe. It basically covers the entire room and has the potential to do massive damage to all players in its path. In fact, many times the attack does so much damage that it's a guaranteed KO -- even with dark armor equipped.
Therein lies the question: does this make the boss difficult? Hardly. Dulk Fakis isn't difficult at all -- for the most part, the boss has specific attack patterns that are easy to avoid or defend against if you know what you're doing. The "tail" swipe attack is where the Dulk Fakis boss fight crosses into unfair territory. The attack is almost unavoidable. You can stand virtually anywhere in the room and still get hit. "Difficult" bosses use clever attack strategies and combinations to fight (read: clever AI). How is there any strategy involved in using an unavoidable attack?
Some players insist that lazy one-shot kill attacks like this do contribute to the game's difficulty. Take this comment from the official forums:
Many people fail to realize the difference between difficult and unfair. Difficult is an avoidable attack that can cause major damage when it connects (i.e. Dark Falz's soul steal attack in PSO). Unfair is an unavoidable attack that always causes major damage when it connects (i.e. Dulk Fakis's "tail" swipe attack). Unfair bosses are not always difficult. Dulk Fakis is one such example. If Sega were to take away the "tail" swipe, would this boss be so "difficult"? I doubt it.
Overall, the highest difficulty of the mission is not terribly hard. However, it seems to have sparked a little bit of discussion on the official PSU forums about whether the boss, Dulk Fakis, is difficult or simply cheap.
One of the attacks used by Dulk Fakis throughout the battle is a large "tail" swipe. It basically covers the entire room and has the potential to do massive damage to all players in its path. In fact, many times the attack does so much damage that it's a guaranteed KO -- even with dark armor equipped.
Therein lies the question: does this make the boss difficult? Hardly. Dulk Fakis isn't difficult at all -- for the most part, the boss has specific attack patterns that are easy to avoid or defend against if you know what you're doing. The "tail" swipe attack is where the Dulk Fakis boss fight crosses into unfair territory. The attack is almost unavoidable. You can stand virtually anywhere in the room and still get hit. "Difficult" bosses use clever attack strategies and combinations to fight (read: clever AI). How is there any strategy involved in using an unavoidable attack?
Some players insist that lazy one-shot kill attacks like this do contribute to the game's difficulty. Take this comment from the official forums:
I love that he can one shot us. It reminds me of the good old days where the game was actually hard and having scapes was a Must. now people are crying in game and out that he's Hard omg he needs to be fixed the list go's on and on. I say Bring it on Sega !! I enjoy the challege !
Many people fail to realize the difference between difficult and unfair. Difficult is an avoidable attack that can cause major damage when it connects (i.e. Dark Falz's soul steal attack in PSO). Unfair is an unavoidable attack that always causes major damage when it connects (i.e. Dulk Fakis's "tail" swipe attack). Unfair bosses are not always difficult. Dulk Fakis is one such example. If Sega were to take away the "tail" swipe, would this boss be so "difficult"? I doubt it.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sega's on a roll: Updates have been delayed an additional week
Well after Sega trolled the PSU community with Preta/D, GM Edward@Sega posted that STD and it's GBR has been extended an extra week from May 22nd to the 29th. Nice one Sega you got us twice in one day.
I don't know about you guys but 6 weeks of STD seems a bit too much.
Also were any PSOBB players reminded of the yahoo mag from MA2 when Preta/D was revealed? I know I was; at least this time they saved the most disappointing prize for last instead of making it the first prize which essentially killing off the whole event after the first week.
I don't know about you guys but 6 weeks of STD seems a bit too much.
Also were any PSOBB players reminded of the yahoo mag from MA2 when Preta/D was revealed? I know I was; at least this time they saved the most disappointing prize for last instead of making it the first prize which essentially killing off the whole event after the first week.
All STD Rewards Unlocked
For possibly the first time ever, US/EU players managed to complete an in-game event (within its original allotted time). The one hundred millionth kill came earlier today, and no additional reward panels have been revealed.
The final "mystery reward" that the community was shooting for seems to be somewhat of a letdown to most. According to the event site, the final prize is Preta/D, an S-rank RCSM. If you don't play the Guntecher or Acrofighter classes, odds are you won't care very much about this.
I admit that I am a little confused by this choice of "mystery" prize. After great prizes like the synthesis, grind, and PA boosts, this final reward is a dud. It's probably a good thing the community didn't know what the prize was!
The final "mystery reward" that the community was shooting for seems to be somewhat of a letdown to most. According to the event site, the final prize is Preta/D, an S-rank RCSM. If you don't play the Guntecher or Acrofighter classes, odds are you won't care very much about this.
I admit that I am a little confused by this choice of "mystery" prize. After great prizes like the synthesis, grind, and PA boosts, this final reward is a dud. It's probably a good thing the community didn't know what the prize was!
Friday, May 8, 2009
STD's New Name
It looks as if Sega has inadvertently changed the name of the current US/EU in-game event known as Shred the Darkness.
In this morning's update announcement on the event site, Sega referred to the event as "Pierce the Dark".
This doesn't make much sense to me. How does one screw up the event name when it's displayed correctly in big letters in the site banner? It's even shown properly in the two announcement posts directly below this one! Obviously this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it really makes me wonder what goes on over at Sega sometimes.
In this morning's update announcement on the event site, Sega referred to the event as "Pierce the Dark".
This doesn't make much sense to me. How does one screw up the event name when it's displayed correctly in big letters in the site banner? It's even shown properly in the two announcement posts directly below this one! Obviously this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it really makes me wonder what goes on over at Sega sometimes.
WTF is a "twitter" and WTF should I care?
So apparently Sega is doing some giveaway for PSU-related prizes (in after crappy inflatable partner machines and wristbands) . What I don't get is that they're using this thing called "twitter" I don't really see what's so special about it; it seems really useless compared to a blog. Not to mention I don't feel like signing up for some site that I'll forget about in a day which would defeat the whole point of registering for it.
I don't really understand why they choose to use this, especially when they have a blog and a forum to do something like this.
So yeah use those. Oh and get better prizes too.
I don't really understand why they choose to use this, especially when they have a blog and a forum to do something like this.
So yeah use those. Oh and get better prizes too.
Oh wow a new forum mod!
Looks like I am a little late to the party but the official PSU forums have a new mod.
This brings up a very important question: WHY? Seriously we don't need any more people policing the forums.
Oh hey anyone remember when the people chosen as mods weren't there to clean up the forums?
Those were the days...
This brings up a very important question: WHY? Seriously we don't need any more people policing the forums.
Oh hey anyone remember when the people chosen as mods weren't there to clean up the forums?
Those were the days...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
STD Gets Update Friday
After a week off, Sega resumes regular maintenance this week with a major update to Shred the Darkness.
According to the Sega of Japan PSU site (untranslated), the US/EU game servers will be receiving an update to the item exchange mission Dark Crystal Seeker. The update adds a number of new weapons as well as the highly anticipated Dark Wing armor slot item. The final major event mission will also be added.
In addition, the next GBR will be added to the servers. It runs through the three event missions and will last for two weeks.
As Shred the Darkness reaches its halfway point, players have racked up over 70 million kills. The next two prize panels have been revealed on the event site, with the 100 million kill prize remaining a secret for now. With two and a half weeks to go, we'll probably find out what that is before long.
According to the Sega of Japan PSU site (untranslated), the US/EU game servers will be receiving an update to the item exchange mission Dark Crystal Seeker. The update adds a number of new weapons as well as the highly anticipated Dark Wing armor slot item. The final major event mission will also be added.
In addition, the next GBR will be added to the servers. It runs through the three event missions and will last for two weeks.
As Shred the Darkness reaches its halfway point, players have racked up over 70 million kills. The next two prize panels have been revealed on the event site, with the 100 million kill prize remaining a secret for now. With two and a half weeks to go, we'll probably find out what that is before long.
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