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Hiya - New player(s) here with some questions?


TheHangedMan

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Hi there,

A friend of mine and I just made the spontaneous decision to play this - we are both around 31 now, but when we were kids, we played the US release of PSO on Dreamcast every other day after school and we even imported "Version 2" when the Japanese one came out because my mother worked at a local video game store at the time, and we had a blast for a long, long time. Unfortunately, we never really made it too far into the Gamecube "Episode 1 and 2" that came out, so a ton of the content in this game that was part of that version was lost to me, but I still remember some of the things I loved, which is mostly summed up in Last Survivor turning into a giant combat knife, and the updated combat animations for some weapon+class types (I hated the sword attacks the male hunters used in PSO DC, but I liked how it looked in the GCN one) - all of that stuff was cool.

So fast-forward around....14 years, and we're trying to figure this out.

On that note, I'd like to first express my gratitude to whomever it is that makes this possible, since after reading various forum threads and guides, I've come to learn that a good deal more than just hosting a server is going on here, and for that I salute you.

Second, I tried looking for one, but I couldn't find like a good, definitive, terms-defined guide for completely ignorant new players. Now I don't mean clueless about the game or the basic mechanics and buttons (still can't get my wireless elite controller to work, but that's for another day) but some of the server features and other things.

So, I noticed there's a boosted xp rate - is that just always on and it doesn't matter how you're playing/what episode/or "one-person" mode?

Two, what content exactly is in this version of the game, is it up to the Dreamcast "Version 2" or does it contain the Gamecube release's content too, or was there some completely different set of content for the PC version?

Finally, I somewhat recall how to progress through the game and unlock the additional areas, but I can't exactly remember the game-flow, is there somewhere I can read all of this or is any guide of general applicability from the past usable?

Thank you all for forming a community around this and my gratitude to anyone who has any information, I do apologize if I'm just blind and missed an obvious "completely clueless new player" post.

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There's a terminology guide somewhere on the forums, but I'm not entirely sure how comprehensive it is as I haven't checked it yet myself.

The base is Blue Burst so presumably it would have the same official content as that, which I believe is Gamecube + some extra. 

Boosted XP rate is always-on regardless of circumstance as far as I know. Apparently it rarely becomes x5, though it drops from x3 to x2 once you hit a certain (very high, you won't need to worry about it for quite a while even if you play a lot) level. Might have been 120? It was 100+, at least.

Progress through the game is probably a bit funky compared to the console versions. Someone else could probably explain it better as I've only just started, but you seem to have access to every area off the bat without needing to actually unlock anything (besides certain missions for item crafting functionality stuff.)

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Thank you my friend, I'll look around for the terminology guide.

I appreciate the response, I feel a little better equipped now - but then I started playing, looked at some info, remembered the importance of Section ID and am now trying to come up with the right name for the character I made.

On an unrelated note, what is that avatar? I had a thought, but the eye isn't what I expected so I think I'm wrong.

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Fellow DC player back in the day.  I've only been on the server for a little over a year (after a similar 15 year absence) but I'll answer what I can.

I'm not sure about wireless pads.  I use a wired 360 myself with no issues.  I think I've heard folk mentioning joy2key and xpadder as some workarounds if you're not able to get it working.

As a general rule of thumb if you're not sure about anything just put a message in the shoutbox.  Chances are there will be at least 1 person on that can help you out but failing that you can always post here: 

The default xp on server is 3x to 160 then 2x to 200.  5x gets turned on randomly so when that happens you'll see a lot of rooms marked CCA show up.  These are quick runs in episode 2 central control area as the boss there gives most xp in game.

This server runs PSO Blue Burst which was released for PC back in the day.  It has episode 1, 2 and 4 (so it has everything except the weird card game version on GC)  There are lots of user made custom quests as well.

If you're just wandering around in game all areas are available to you but if you want to unlock all the missions in one player mode first you have to play through the goverment quests in multiplayer.  You can do these on any difficulty by talking to Momoka (the girl in the pink dress in the principals office) these government quests are basically the "story mode" of the game.

Also if you are trying to figure out what ID a name will give you can use this handy calculator :Dhttps://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/calculators/section-id/

Any other questions just give me a shout and I'll try to answer (or direct you to more learned fellows :P)

Welcome back to the game :cr-happiness:

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2 hours ago, TheHangedMan said:

Thank you my friend, I'll look around for the terminology guide.

I appreciate the response, I feel a little better equipped now - but then I started playing, looked at some info, remembered the importance of Section ID and am now trying to come up with the right name for the character I made.

On an unrelated note, what is that avatar? I had a thought, but the eye isn't what I expected so I think I'm wrong.

Urgh, I had the same experience with the section IDs. It's clunky, but since the game doesn't display more than 9 character, you can go [Name][Spaces up to 9]['Invisible' Characters to Adjust for the right section ID] if there's a specific name you really wanna use. 

No, it's Touka alright (who I'm assuming you thought it was), the eye color change is a hue shift. It's actually a shrunk and cropped version of a larger piece.
Here's a (sadly downvoted) Imgur gallery of a bunch of my stuff, as well as an explanation on how they're made and which parts you can and cannot attribute to me.
Full-size version is about 3/4 to the bottom. Original drawing.

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9 hours ago, TheHangedMan said:

Hi there,

A friend of mine and I just made the spontaneous decision to play this - we are both around 31 now, but when we were kids, we played the US release of PSO on Dreamcast every other day after school and we even imported "Version 2" when the Japanese one came out because my mother worked at a local video game store at the time, and we had a blast for a long, long time. Unfortunately, we never really made it too far into the Gamecube "Episode 1 and 2" that came out, so a ton of the content in this game that was part of that version was lost to me, but I still remember some of the things I loved, which is mostly summed up in Last Survivor turning into a giant combat knife, and the updated combat animations for some weapon+class types (I hated the sword attacks the male hunters used in PSO DC, but I liked how it looked in the GCN one) - all of that stuff was cool.

So fast-forward around....14 years, and we're trying to figure this out.

On that note, I'd like to first express my gratitude to whomever it is that makes this possible, since after reading various forum threads and guides, I've come to learn that a good deal more than just hosting a server is going on here, and for that I salute you.

Second, I tried looking for one, but I couldn't find like a good, definitive, terms-defined guide for completely ignorant new players. Now I don't mean clueless about the game or the basic mechanics and buttons (still can't get my wireless elite controller to work, but that's for another day) but some of the server features and other things.

So, I noticed there's a boosted xp rate - is that just always on and it doesn't matter how you're playing/what episode/or "one-person" mode?

Two, what content exactly is in this version of the game, is it up to the Dreamcast "Version 2" or does it contain the Gamecube release's content too, or was there some completely different set of content for the PC version?

Finally, I somewhat recall how to progress through the game and unlock the additional areas, but I can't exactly remember the game-flow, is there somewhere I can read all of this or is any guide of general applicability from the past usable?

Thank you all for forming a community around this and my gratitude to anyone who has any information, I do apologize if I'm just blind and missed an obvious "completely clueless new player" post.

To be honest, I thought we had a "acronyms" thread, but I can't find it now.  Were there any in particular you wanted to know?  Most people will be more than willing to explain any that you don't know.  But here's a short list off the top of my head that you'll see quite often.

  • DF - Dark Flow (weapon)
  • DM - Dark Meteor (weapon)
  • TTF - Towards the Future (quest)
  • TTFU - Towards the Future Ultima (quest [custom])
  • RT - Respective Tomorrow (quest)
  • CCA - Central Control Area (area)
  • PTS - Path to Salvation (quest [custom])
  • WOI - World of Illusion (quest [custom])
  • WOF - Wrath of Forest (quest [custom])
  • PD - Photon Drop (item)
  • DTS - Donation Ticket (donated currency, roughly equivalent to 6.6pd.  Or 15 USD = 15 dts = 99 pd if that helps)
  • PC - Photon Crystal (item)
  • PS - Photon Sphere (item, equivalent to 99 pd)
  • PB - Photon Booster (item)
  • POST - Proof of Sonic Team (item [custom?])
  • FS - Frozen Shooter (weapon)
  • FT - Freeze Trap (trap)
  • IF - Iron Faust (weapon)
  • DLS - Daylight Scar (weapon)
  • STA - Sonic Team Armour (armour [customish])
  • WD - Wedding Dress (armour)
  • RR - Red Ring (shield)
  • ep# - episode # where # is 1,2 or 4
  • PPP - Power Plant Plight (quest [custom])
  • BBB - Brutal Barnz Blight (quest [custom])
  • TTT - The Tentacular Truth 9Quest [custom])
  • CCC - CAL's Clock Challenge (quest [custom])
  • R# - Battle Rule Set #

These aren't always capitalized, and some rarely are.  You'll pick up on most of them just from talking with people, but never be scared to ask.  Most people would rather type a little more to be understood than to talk to someone who isn't really listening.

As for content, PSOv2 had up to ep1, PSO I&II had up to ep2, and they introduced ep4 in PSOBB which this server hosts for.  Episode 3 was it's own game on the gamecube.  There are tons of new weapons that you'll never have seen before that appear in Sega's PSOBB.  The server also offers tons of new features on top of that such as custom items (3 more were just added last event), server commands (accessible via the top bar at ultima > toolbox > commands) to change how you interact with the game, and custom quests to keep things fresh (CCC was just added like a week ago).  The best way to learn about in-game content is to play.  The more you explore beyond what you'd normally do the more you'll learn about the game it's content.  On the forums, my advice is to go through the top bar and look at all those pages.  There's lots of good stuff up there that most people don't bother to find, and are worse off because of it.  For example, the complete drop table is up there.  There's a max stats calculator is up there.  There's a tool to let you view your bank and inventory offline up there.  There's a full list of in-game items and what they do.  And lots of other cool things.

The boosted exp rate is global, and will apply to any game you made.  That being said, you can use the server command "/exp #" to reduce the exp rate if you wish to level at a lower rate than the max for your level.  Those limits were outlined earlier by @JanenbaDMS.  See the server commands link above for the # values you can enter and what they do.

I think the best advice I can give you is to become part of the community.  You only get out of something as much as you put into it.  The more you play and make friends, the better time you'll have here.  Don't be a stranger! (There are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet)

 

Also, thanks for the salute.  We put a lot of volunteer hours into trying to make this place the best place to play, and it's really nice to have that acknowledged.

Edited by Lemon
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16 hours ago, JanenbaDMS said:

Fellow DC player back in the day.  I've only been on the server for a little over a year (after a similar 15 year absence) but I'll answer what I can.

I'm not sure about wireless pads.  I use a wired 360 myself with no issues.  I think I've heard folk mentioning joy2key and xpadder as some workarounds if you're not able to get it working.

As a general rule of thumb if you're not sure about anything just put a message in the shoutbox.  Chances are there will be at least 1 person on that can help you out but failing that you can always post here: 

The default xp on server is 3x to 160 then 2x to 200.  5x gets turned on randomly so when that happens you'll see a lot of rooms marked CCA show up.  These are quick runs in episode 2 central control area as the boss there gives most xp in game.

This server runs PSO Blue Burst which was released for PC back in the day.  It has episode 1, 2 and 4 (so it has everything except the weird card game version on GC)  There are lots of user made custom quests as well.

If you're just wandering around in game all areas are available to you but if you want to unlock all the missions in one player mode first you have to play through the goverment quests in multiplayer.  You can do these on any difficulty by talking to Momoka (the girl in the pink dress in the principals office) these government quests are basically the "story mode" of the game.

Also if you are trying to figure out what ID a name will give you can use this handy calculator :Dhttps://www.phantasystaronline.net/forum/index.php?/tool-box/calculators/section-id/

Any other questions just give me a shout and I'll try to answer (or direct you to more learned fellows :P)

Welcome back to the game :cr-happiness:

Thanks for the information, I appreciate your response - I'm starting to get the hang of it, but I've noticed that at around level 32, I've hit a bizarre place where I can't really do Hard, because boomas can three shot me, and even with a +6 buster, I take a while to kill them, but normal doesn't really yield much in the realm of experience to get me higher. I'm trying to level a MAG, but it's slow going where I'm not wealthy to just buy a shit ton of Trimates to feed it.

15 hours ago, Uxie said:

Urgh, I had the same experience with the section IDs. It's clunky, but since the game doesn't display more than 9 character, you can go [Name][Spaces up to 9]['Invisible' Characters to Adjust for the right section ID] if there's a specific name you really wanna use. 

No, it's Touka alright (who I'm assuming you thought it was), the eye color change is a hue shift. It's actually a shrunk and cropped version of a larger piece.
Here's a (sadly downvoted) Imgur gallery of a bunch of my stuff, as well as an explanation on how they're made and which parts you can and cannot attribute to me.
Full-size version is about 3/4 to the bottom. Original drawing.

I thought it was, but yes, I was looking for a proper kakugan in black+red, looks neat though.  I recently did a full-blown nose-dive into Tokyo Ghoul, having watched the animated production in January and from there going a little bit extreme with it, but now I'm current.  I love Furuta/Kichimura the most, and I am just in love with Sui Ishida's cover art, he is very talented.  Looks good on your end though!

10 hours ago, Lemon said:

To be honest, I thought we had a "acronyms" thread, but I can't find it now.  Were there any in particular you wanted to know?  Most people will be more than willing to explain any that you don't know.  But here's a short list off the top of my head that you'll see quite often.

  • DF - Dark Flow (weapon)
  • DM - Dark Meteor (weapon)
  • TTF - Towards the Future (quest)
  • TTFU - Towards the Future Ultima (quest [custom])
  • RT - Respective Tomorrow (quest)
  • CCA - Central Control Area (area)
  • PTS - Path to Salvation (quest [custom])
  • WOI - World of Illusion (quest [custom])
  • WOF - Wrath of Forest (quest [custom])
  • PD - Photon Drop (item)
  • DTS - Donation Ticket (donated currency, roughly equivalent to 6.6pd.  Or 15 USD = 15 dts = 99 pd if that helps)
  • PC - Photon Crystal (item)
  • PS - Photon Sphere (item, equivalent to 99 pd)
  • PB - Photon Booster (item)
  • POST - Proof of Sonic Team (item [custom?])
  • FS - Frozen Shooter (weapon)
  • FT - Freeze Trap (trap)
  • IF - Iron Faust (weapon)
  • DLS - Daylight Scar (weapon)
  • STA - Sonic Team Armour (armour [customish])
  • WD - Wedding Dress (armour)
  • RR - Red Ring (shield)
  • ep# - episode # where # is 1,2 or 4
  • PPP - Power Plant Plight (quest [custom])
  • BBB - Brutal Barnz Blight (quest [custom])
  • TTT - The Tentacular Truth 9Quest [custom])
  • CCC - CAL's Clock Challenge (quest [custom])
  • R# - Battle Rule Set #

These aren't always capitalized, and some rarely are.  You'll pick up on most of them just from talking with people, but never be scared to ask.  Most people would rather type a little more to be understood than to talk to someone who isn't really listening.

As for content, PSOv2 had up to ep1, PSO I&II had up to ep2, and they introduced ep4 in PSOBB which this server hosts for.  Episode 3 was it's own game on the gamecube.  There are tons of new weapons that you'll never have seen before that appear in Sega's PSOBB.  The server also offers tons of new features on top of that such as custom items (3 more were just added last event), server commands (accessible via the top bar at ultima > toolbox > commands) to change how you interact with the game, and custom quests to keep things fresh (CCC was just added like a week ago).  The best way to learn about in-game content is to play.  The more you explore beyond what you'd normally do the more you'll learn about the game it's content.  On the forums, my advice is to go through the top bar and look at all those pages.  There's lots of good stuff up there that most people don't bother to find, and are worse off because of it.  For example, the complete drop table is up there.  There's a max stats calculator is up there.  There's a tool to let you view your bank and inventory offline up there.  There's a full list of in-game items and what they do.  And lots of other cool things.

The boosted exp rate is global, and will apply to any game you made.  That being said, you can use the server command "/exp #" to reduce the exp rate if you wish to level at a lower rate than the max for your level.  Those limits were outlined earlier by @JanenbaDMS.  See the server commands link above for the # values you can enter and what they do.

I think the best advice I can give you is to become part of the community.  You only get out of something as much as you put into it.  The more you play and make friends, the better time you'll have here.  Don't be a stranger! (There are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet)

 

Also, thanks for the salute.  We put a lot of volunteer hours into trying to make this place the best place to play, and it's really nice to have that acknowledged.

You're very welcome, I truly can't express to you already (my friend and I played over five hours straight this morning and we spent nearly the whole time reminiscing about playing the Dreamcast version) how much of a great nostalgia trip this has been.

I vaguely remember some of these more intricate things, like the tricky process of getting Kireek's scythe, the Orotiagito, and in the GCN game, making Sange and Yasha, but I can't recall all of that stuff.

Is there a good, efficient, or otherwise recommended way to level? I googled and found the praise for the whole Towards the Future thing, which I'm guessing is effective because of the "Diablo" factor - in that it's very enemy-dense, so you can get a lot of experience in short order if you can clear quickly. Also, what's the difference between the Ultima/server version of the quest and the original?

Thanks again for all the responses, and for keeping this going!

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TTF is run a lot to level because it takes you to the bosses fairly quickly, and thus has a good exp/time ratio.  TTFU is the same as TTF but with about 5x the small monsters between the bosses. Its nice if you can clear large waves of enemies safely and has more exp than TTF, but is more dangerous.

wof and pts are other quests that people like to do to level.  They have sole rather large waves that aoe attacks can clear quickly.

about the hard mode thing; try uphrading your armour.  If you're still using a frame at level 32  then that might be why.

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TTF Ultima has way more enemies in each stage.  If you're just wanting to do a boss rush I would stick to the regular TTF as it's way faster.  Generally if I'm powerlevelling a character I will use TTF Ultima when I first enter a difficulty but only fight until the second boss (as mines will take to long to be worth the increased xp) but I've amassed a lot of gear so I can make a level 1 char pretty deadly :P

Honestly though, with my first char here I just played though all the story mode of episode 1 first and did all the one player quests.  I also made sure to get the Soul Eater from Kireek.  It was my first rare weapon haha.  By the end of that I was breezing through vhard then I started joining random games which got me to about level 130 or so.  I would just take my time and enjoy the game.

With regards to meseta the GMs (game masters - people with purple names on forum) regularly throw up rooms with piles of money in them for free.  You'll see a banner flash across the screen when this happens.  If you need some cash just now I can give you and your friend some so making mags isn't an issue :)

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So is my best bet for trying to help my buddy AoE down in TTF (he's playing a RAmar) just a sword? I tend to have trouble hitting them all, and I don't have a high enough polearm to justify using it.

For context as to my ignorance in this area, the last time I leveled, Hunters could use spread needle.

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I remember those days well haha.  I only played HUmar on the DC.  For hunters here doing AoE I would probably use a diska of some kind at long range then switch to partisan when they get closer.

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Ok, I'll give a diska a try, though it pains me to do so.

I played Cast mostly in the DC one, but I'm fond of the HUmar so that's what I went with, as I like to be able to heal (we both run mars, so we can heal one another) and whatnot.

So on another note, is it still possible to have a higher level player grab things like "GOD POWER" to lowers? Like, I have four slots and even found a rare but I am nowhere near enough ATP to use it.

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On 4/11/2017 at 3:25 PM, TheHangedMan said:

Ok, I'll give a diska a try, though it pains me to do so.

I played Cast mostly in the DC one, but I'm fond of the HUmar so that's what I went with, as I like to be able to heal (we both run mars, so we can heal one another) and whatnot.

So on another note, is it still possible to have a higher level player grab things like "GOD POWER" to lowers? Like, I have four slots and even found a rare but I am nowhere near enough ATP to use it.

 

Yeah, high level player can easily farm those units (and even better, the heavenly variants). You should try to collect a few PDs and trade them for a basic set of those units if you want to go through the game faster/easier. But that can also take away part of the fun :P

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