From: belpowerslave@ev1.net   
      
   Hehehe, I just sent you an invite asking for some thoughts. ;)   
      
   Kendrick Kerwin Chua wrote:   
      
   > In case you've just joined us, Sega made the Phantasy Star Universe demo   
   > available on Xbox Live. Only Gold users are allowed to play, but so far it   
   > looks like every function of the game is available for testing. The server   
   > goes up and down without warning, but you can generally interact, fight,   
   > and level up at will.   
   >   
      
   Sounds like Sega-quality!   
      
   >   
   > So far, very beta.   
      
   Man, that sucks...I mean, it's *supposed* to come out Oct. 24th.   
      
   > For combat lot of the old PSO mechanisms are still in   
   > place (left button centers the camera, select button calls up a chat   
   > keyboard, right trigger calls up a weapon select) and the fighting is very   
   > nice. On the other hand, the network lag is such that every action taken   
   > and item touched has to be validated by the server. This is nice in theory   
   > to prevent cheating. But in practice what you have is a situation where a   
   > saber hit on a monster doesn't register damage later. PSO used to handle   
   > all the combat math locally and then sync up at the server later on, which   
   > is a better experience for single players.   
   >   
      
   Good call.   
      
   >   
   > The newly expanded lobby area is very impressive looking, but not very   
   > inviting. It's like a giant shopping mall, where you have escalators   
   > separating floors for shopping, getting missions, and special events. If   
   > you can't figure out how to get into the mission portion of the beta, look   
   > for a door on the fourth floor of the station called 'Linear Line.'   
   >   
      
   Do they have a DMV Line? ;)   
      
   >   
   > That's all for now. So far, my impression is that the Xbox Live overhead   
   > adds so much extra baggage that I'm better served by the PS2 version.   
      
   Yeah, if they can't get that stuff on the US server and Xbox Live cleaned up,   
   the PS2 is going to be the way to go. I just *cannot* believe...actually,   
   nevermind, scratch that, I *can* believe that Sega just now started the US   
   beta test on the fucking 13th...11 days from the game's release.   
      
   >   
   > We'll see if this ends up being worth ten bucks a month   
   >   
      
   How many people does this one allow in a game? If it's still just 4...man...   
      
   Bel   
   --   
   Whip Ass Gaming: http://www.whipassgaming.com/   
      
   "I love collecting big guns! It looks so Unreal!"   
    - Sam Stone, Serious Sam II   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)