Ralph Wiggum

http://www.gamers.com/news/1248980

As a big RPG fan I was very excited to play this game since I sold my DC before I had a chance to play the original, but now I think I'm most likely going to skip it entirely.

Even with downloadable levels this price seems excessive. Is this what it cost before? Is this game worth it?

FWIW, I generally prefer story driven RGPs and have little interest in MMORPGs.

jeffdsmith

ouch. I'll pass.

Flay

Wow, $107.50 a year to play PSO I & II on the Cube plus $34.99 for the modem adaptor.

I'd like to know the pricing structure for the XBox version of I & II.

zig

It's not bad compared to PC MMORPGs(almost always 10 bucks or more/month).. but considering it was 5 bucks a month on the DC, it's not exactly great.. I wasn't looking forward to the game, and this news didn't exactly perk up any interest..

Still, I might give it a try.. It's not a horrible price, and some people I've talked to said they got hundreds of hours of play on the DC version.

darkside

I don't see the problem. You always have to pay to play these MMORPGs on the PC. Even the DC version of II charged. Why should Sega do it for free on the GameCube?

People who love these games will pay way more the $107.50 a year and the price of an adaptor. Believe me, I have a sister in law addicted to online RPGs and there is no price to high for her.

Flay

Nobody ever thought it would be free. I think the people that are cancelling thier preorders are pissed because the former charge was a little under $15 every 3 months for the Dreamcast version.

I forgot to mention you have to buy the price inflated keyboard/controller if you plan on communicating since no keyboard alternative exists for the Cube as of yet.

jeffdsmith

Yeah, but it was cheaper, it had the modem built in, and well, it was cheaper.

I don't think it's a HUGE deal, but it's just to rich for my blood.

Get Me Coffee

Smart move... offer one game and high monthly fee (107.50/per yr). Yea that's smart! Knock them dead tiger!

I could understand why the price is so high.....LACK OF VOLUME....a handful of peeps will be playing this sucker!

Wonder if Nintendo will support other online games ?

Gallant Pig

If they had a few other killer apps for online play, like say Smash Bros. Online, Monkey Ball Online, Mario Party Online, etc., I could see a reason to justify owning the modem and possibly even getting this game (although I wouldn't, but if I was into Online RPGs I mean). This is going to flop big time.

Anyone here any rumblings about future games to use with the GCN modem?

jeffdsmith

<--- Waiting for online Mario Kart

w/national ranking system

Ralph Wiggum

I'm a console gamer through and through so a pricing structure like this is prohibitive to me:

$50 - PSO
$35 - Broadband adapter (which has no other function as of yet)
$9 - each month I want to play the game online

From what I know of the original PSO there is no story to speak of and the offline play is pretty bad. It might be worth it to PC gamers, it just does not apply to me at all.

This seems like a pretty lousy way to roll out the online capabilities of the GC. I can understand Nintendo being cautious about online play, but compared to what MS and Sony are doing this is just pitiful.

Sega's made this game almost as expensive as Steel Battalion.

Mattalos

You shouldn't factor in the cost of a broadband adaptor on Sega. It wasn't Sega who didn't release one with the system.

Get Me Coffee

And it's not even as fun as Steel Battalion going to be

darkside

Great then I would have to pay more for the GameCube to get an adaptor I would never use.

PSO is a niche title. Let the people who want to play it buy the extra stuff. A small number of gamers will be playing it anyway and you have to pay to play these.

Its a dollar cheaper than most of these online RPGs, so at the very least people should be happy.

Believe me anyone concerned about the cost, is probably not part of the target audience for this game anyway.

Stoolie

Hopefully Nintendo will at least announce future games that are confirmed and will utilize the online adapter and how. If they just throw PSO and the modem out there with no other information, then I can definitely see it flopping. Here's an idea: a demo disk.

Nintendo rep: "What's a demo disk?"

stoolie

dgmayor

Lol 8.95 a month and you guys are whining? When I played EverQuest I was dishing out 9.95 a month and then later 12.95 a month x 3 (3 accounts). Before that was Ultima Online for 9.95 a month (back in 96-98). And after I stopped EQ I tried out Dark Age of Camelot for 12.95 a month.

Don't expect entirely online games to be free. Expect most to be 9.95/12.95, and be happy when they're cheaper. The Consoles are catching up even quicker now with PC's in regards to various game genre's due to the broadband adapters of the systems (multiplayer sports, deathmatches, MMORPG's, Squad based Tactical Shooters, etc). Along with online play many times comes a fee.

Groucho

Nintendo has announced that they are going to start releasing demo disks here in the U.S. However, if they're distributed as poorly as that free Air Hockey game, nobody will get their hands on one unless they want to pay some gouger on ebay $20.

As for online games, if Nintendo really wants to make money hand over fist, I got two words for them: Pokémon Online. I imagine the rumored Mario Kart Online and Animal Crossing Online would be fairly successful as well if they are indeed coming out.

Anyway, I'm not going to shell out money for game, keyboard, and online adapter to play PSO when I can just play Diablo 2 for free on my PC.

alexkat

Well this game has 4 player offline. It is just as good and you don't have to spend time typing on a keyboard. That's where I spend most of my time anyways. The japanese import came with 30 days of online for free, not sure if US will do the same. My 30 days is up on Oct 17, so I'll let you guys know the costs for the japan version. They do 1 month and 3 month billing so maybe the 3 month billing will be cheaper.

Darknight

Why are you even comparing it to a MMORPG? It's not even the same thing. Everquest has a persistent world that lives on the servers. With PSO you're more or less paying $9 for a matching service that finds and connects you to three other people. PSO is a lot more like Diablo than it is Everquest.

fujishig

Huh? I thought PSO had a persistent world too? When did they announce that it just connects you to three other people? Isn't that much different from the DC version?

dgmayor

I'm with Fujishig, I was under the impression that it was a persistant world as well.

alexkat

It's not a persistent world like everquest of FFXI, so I wouldn't call it a MMORPG.

Darknight

fujishig: No, it's the same as the DC version but that didn't have a persistant world either. The world does not evolve or exist unless you're playing it in PSO. The only thing that is remotely persistant is the lobby. Other than that, once you find all your people, you are then connected and it's just like playing a four player networked game. If PSO had a persistant world, you wouldn't be able to play it offline.

fujishig

Ah, I had no idea. Even though I love my Dreamcast, I never did get either PSO because I had no desire to use the modem to connect. I had thought that you meet in the lobby and get to explore and run across other parties and stuff. Thanks for the clarification...

So FFXI is a persistent universe?

Darknight

FFXI is a persistent universe.