Why do you play pso? Options

[AC9breaker]

I was on psow today and I saw this. I felt it to be very deep and I have never realized it, but its true.

QUOTE

Its the timing. PSO is all about the timing. There's a cadence to the game. whether it's the 3-hit combo or dodging a laser, you always play with the beat. The enemies move to it. you attack to it. the delay in the combos is to meet the rythm you always stay with the beat. Which is why a two hit combo which fails to kill is so jarring. The beat makes PSO an rpg. RPG's focus on strategy not power. PSO doesn't really do that. All the strategy is in the timing, using the beat to your advantage. FPS's don't have a beat or strategy which is why they get boring quickly. The reason you love PSO is the same reason you love your favorite song.

Pso is like music I never realised that certain beat to it. Weather it be the intense drums of battle and war, or the calm sereneness of goofing of in the lobby doing animations just chilling. Its the beat of life.

[HC82]

That came from PSOW? I am amazed, yet I have my own reasons for liking PSO that are far more different from the above quote. Anywho, PSO can be a mixed bag, it is all dependant on the few aspects that make PSO shine. PSO's simple nature is both its draw and what makes it less appealing to those "rpg stat nerds".

"OMFG these characters don't have any feats, hey why can't I roll to determine if my rabarta will freeze everyone...WTF, I can't kill this NPC, rob him and steal his house, you call this a rpg?"

Like wise it are those same hardcore rpgs that are totally devoid of any intense moments, which PSO is loaded with if you play the right quest.
Despite those hardcore D&D elements, it is the simple, yet fast paced nature of PSO that makes it appealing. A simplier way of describing PSO is a more team based form of twitch gaming. PSO is using some basic play elements that are fun regardles of what game they are in, and at the same time addiciting(the rush of an intense moment). The thing is that PSO is at times very slow paced(normal mode anyone?) and at times can be a fast paced challenge(famitsu). The slow paces nature at the start turns alot of gamers off early on.

It is when PSO pushes you to the limit that it really shines. I like the fast paced nature of PSO, combined with it's emphasis on team based gameplay. The more difficult and intense a stage the more fun it is; although since it is an online game you are essentially doing the same thing over and over for hundreds of hours on end. This is why people "burn out" on PSO, as described by Kaz, yet come back later on.

I also like cmode. Cmode isn't really intense in the same manner as doing, say MU4 and your in the last room with 10 seconds on the clock, trying to finish off wave after wave before the time runs out. Cmode is totally more about teamwork, the strategy of survival and skill. Skill being, you the player playing to the best of your performance and trying to work with your teammates to do the best you can. It is cmodes "challenging nature" that causes you to focus on these aspects. Cmode IS essentially normal mode with caveman/LotL rules. Like any game you play, if you set certain challenges, you have to strategize and deal with the game on a totally new level. It's why I prefer a challenge in PSO, it pushes you to the limit to do your best and try to work with the basic strategy and gameplay elements Sonic Team has set up to the best of your ability. In a ultimate run you never have to play very well, but in Cmode you have to play your best. You can just pipe to town in an ultimate run, restock and continually do so as needed, with money being the cruch to limit your neediness of the tool shop lady. Yet in cmode you really can't do that, you gotta go straight through and live off what you have. This is another reason why I like PSO.

"HC's *BONUS* additional rant info"
I would favor games that have the intensity of famitsu, the teamwork of cmode and the strategy of a deep fighter. Sadly the deep strategy of a fighter and the simplicity of a what makes a twitch game shine have a difficult time coexisting in a fully 3D control scheme(push C-stick in a direction, and character moves that way). In many cases a deep fighter has the elements of a twitch game, fast reactions time, yet is it far more strategic. If anything this is the perfect marriage of these two elements, yet it's the control scheme that makes it difficult in game like PSO(since most fighters, 3d or not, are on a 2d plane). So there is no game out like that. Besides most developers don't even have a clue of how to properly mix the strategy and dexterity needed of a deep fighter into a fully 3D realm, in an atmosphere of a game like Dynasty warriors or PSO without the controls being a nightmare(ie. Tons of enemies on you at once, yet having the same strategy to do high low combos, counter attack, parry, with the freedom to move anywhere just by pushing in that direction). If you had to input a typical ryu fire ball motion in PSO to do a special attack, your character would move around like an idiot and probably fire off the special attack in the wrong direction, yet having to do so at the right moment adds to the intensity, pressure, and skill placed upon the player. They don't work, or do they?

[Sheik]

Very, very well said. I can totall agree with all said. Normal mode is just not challenging and too repeditive for me. I enjoy the challenge mode of the game. Limited supplies, live off what you have, and attack with strategy as not to get hit. Learning how to dodge and counter attack at the same time.

I also really enjoy the aspect of meeting the many people on here. Not just the people here, but I have met a number of nice to play with players in Alcyone.....and not all of them speak perfect English either, but that is why word select was invented although some of the translation, I have found, can be rather flakey to their true meanings...but that is half the fun...heh.

After around LV150 there comes somewhat, to me, of no point to leveing any farther. All you get is a few ATP points, some HP and ATA. Especially when you get to the higher levels gaining level 200 somewhat becomes more of a status symbol which is starting to loose credibility. The first thing I see people say to a LV200 player is..."recco box?" Players on here have gone cheap.

I can find a level 200 playing in Ultimate that STILL gets killed. that LV200 player does not have a clue how to play worth beans. If s/he actually played for those 200 levels and the 800+ hours required to get that level and maybe played challenge mode a few times though then yes....that LV200 is well earned.

One thing I really enjoy about this game is meeting people and not just "E" players either. I could not stand XBox becuase the servers are segmented. I don't know what I would do if the servers became seperated. EU was down for a few days at one point and the JP server dropped off the list for a hour or so one day...I was wondering what I was going to do. The whole server went down and DCed everyone from what I understand.....including me!!! I could search for people over there and not one would come up with a result....><.

Anyways, point being that I most likely would not be playing now if it were not for the people that I play with. Without others to play with this game would get old quick.

[Ether]

My list of ways to improve PSO...

1. More quests! As HC82 mentioned, a lot of the appeal of PSO is in the fast paced and intense missions, and once you've played for X thousand hours, having memorized all the maps and monster spawns makes things a bit boring. For me right now the only thing I can find fun on pso are the new quests, just cuz they are something different

2. Random monster spawns. The true reason cmode will never get boring to me, you never know whats going to show up next. Those sudden "Oh crap, another c-bringer!" moments are wonderful. Put some randomness into the main game and I'd be very happy

3. Nerf jellen. Maybe remove it completely. If you've ever played an android and a force in ult offline, you'll should know why.