Phantasy Star Universe first impressions...

I sat down with PSU for about 3 hours this afternoon, hit level 8 and
finished the first 2 missions.

So far it's pretty simplistic. It clocked me as taking out the first
boss in 30 seconds with an S rank. Game play is action RPG style so
there are no turns or anything.

The single player off line game is split up into 12 chapters that feel
like episodes of an anime series, complete with opening and closing
credits and music for each chapter and a "Next time: on Phantasy Star
Universe" voice-over.

That was kind of unique, but after spending 60 hours with a genuine
next gen RPG (Enchanted Arms), most of things in PSU feel lacking. My
biggest complaint is that the cut-scenes seem to be done with the PS2
version of the graphics engine and they are severely lacking. Poor
models, poor lip synch. It doesn't feel like a next gen game. If you're
playing it on a PS2 and that's the only system you have then you
probably won't tell the difference. But for people who have played next
gen games? "IT STINKS!"

I don't know about online yet, I'm going to finish off line first
before going online. Looks like it will only last about 20 hours off
line which is a shame.

- Jordan

I sat down with PSU for about 3 hours this afternoon, hit level 8 and
finished the first 2 missions.

So far it's pretty simplistic. It clocked me as taking out the first
boss in 30 seconds with an S rank. Game play is action RPG style so
there are no turns or anything.

The single player off line game is split up into 12 chapters that feel
like episodes of an anime series, complete with opening and closing
credits and music for each chapter and a "Next time: on Phantasy Star
Universe" voice-over.

That was kind of unique, but after spending 60 hours with a genuine
next gen RPG (Enchanted Arms), most of things in PSU feel lacking. My
biggest complaint is that the cut-scenes seem to be done with the PS2
version of the graphics engine and they are severely lacking. Poor
models, poor lip synch. It doesn't feel like a next gen game. If you're
playing it on a PS2 and that's the only system you have then you
probably won't tell the difference. But for people who have played next
gen games? "IT STINKS!"

I don't know about online yet, I'm going to finish off line first
before going online. Looks like it will only last about 20 hours off
line which is a shame.

- Jordan