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I know this news article doesn't say anything about new things being added for the multiplayer, but there really are new missions, new cities, and new enemies. I don't have the new expansion, but don't let that information in the article confuse you. Just go to this website and read more about it.
http://phantasystaruniverse.com/illuminus_info.php

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o expect it is better tham last time, and I want one for WII

Why cant sega take out the pay per month and put in a cash shop? they would get more players and probery a bit extra money Their so damn stupid. and how can a level 1 player kill a de ragan? Your having a laugh.

OMG cant wait even thou its gonna be a pretty much point less update to non fans, but anyways sega doesn't really take their time or all their efforts to make this a truly amazing game and hopefully one day they will and this update coming out, I hope that they realize that it inst gonna get them many new fans.

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To Shadow_Fire41: The ability to play PSU off-line IS free. Players can go through the main game as Ethan or they can simulate the online game with a customized avatar but (obviously) NPC players instead of live people.

The only thing SEGA charges for is if you actually play it online..

Yes! I can't wait to have it!

? no mutiplayer add-on's?

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This is just what we needed. New boards and new enemies, new weapons and armor. I was starting to get tired of the game to tell you the truth, but now I can't wait for the expansion.

Myself and two friends picked up PSU yesterday for 9.99 so we tried it out last night for a bit I was enjoying what I played so far. It does suck paying 9.99 a month for a game that doesn't seem to have much going on.

timbydude-there are lvl restrictions or should i say stat restrictions, for instance if you dont have a high enough atp you won't be able to use a certain melee weapon

This will be great i can't wait till this comes out but i wish they would add multiplayer on the system to it.

Dude Im getting that game.

rob, only PS2 and PC players need to pay for the hunters license(i pay 10 bucks a month with pride in my heart, love this game). XBOX360 players uses points to get their subscription. Go to PSU website to know the detail s (=

I wonder why the PC is getting a stand-alone expansion rather than an add-on...

Yes I love PSU

Alright new Expansion!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the offline mode of the game, but can't help but feel I was robbed by not being able to enjoy the online portion, as I am not paying $10 a month to do so over the Live network. I paid for a gold account. I have paid for multiple MMO subscriptions so I have no problem paying, but I do not feel it is necessary for this game, especially over an already paid Live account.

I would be willing to pay an extra $10, a one time fee, to buy a Hunter's License that covers all characters and alts, but not $10 a month when updates are too few, to far between, and add too little to the game.

What is really sad Sega probably would have sold many more copies of the game if they would have simply dropped the outrageous monthly fee. Alienating customers and thus losing sales are not a way to make a successful game.

Yea, yea, its mindless but so was Diablo, and should've been free...maybe, whatever, bottomline the game is fun and quite addictive and thats all that matters. Its not a real MMO so i dont understand why ppl insist on comparing it with other MMOs like WoW. Cant wait for the expansion.

PSU was released without copy protection. My bet is the expansion will be the same way. Guess what? That means free expansions for everyone!

I made the mistake of having paid for PSU, when it was 2~3 years short of even being worth my time. Even there, why play a game that punishes you on so many levels? Synthing, job system, lack of quests, the whole game is basically "how much crap can we make them go through before they quit"...

WoW came out more than 2 years before this game, and SEGA would have been wise to take some of the pages and learned what is hot in America. Otherwise all it does is ruin what used to be a good name.

ParaLovesAyane -- You hit the nail on the head, these MMORPG are dependent on the community that plays them, and PSU's isn't that great. It's too bad Sega tock so long to update PSO -> PSU. Sega dropped the ball and now they're over chargeing for an underwhelming experience.

What they should have done is kept PSO going for free before the release of PSU and that would have given them the ability to retain the community.

its not made by the people who made the classic Phantasy Star games (which are some of the best RPGs ever made)...so dont be fooled by this imposter; the gameplay consists of tapping the enter button until everything dies. there are no lvl restrictions on weapons, so a lvl 1 guy can pwn an endboss just b/c his friend traded him an awesome weapon. not fun.

monthly subscription fee to play online? no thank you. I pay $50 for Gold Member level (which is fine considering the level of service/content it provides) but to pay on top of that and pay on top of the original game--the game itself should be free, then. Either that or charge more for the game and don't charge extra per month. I love my RPGs, but MMO with subscription fees is where you lose me....the reason most people didn't buy FinalFantasy XI.

I like the game, like it a lot actually. Not for the regular shooting crowd though. It's a cult title that I have in my collection, one to keep, if for anything else, for historical reasons. And it's allways nice to have a fairlt eccletic library in our console of choice, isn't it ?

$10 a month?
no wonder I never got into the whole MMO thing.

I have totally lost faith in Sega.

uhh .. i only beat the first boss and i thought this game was boring as ever .. never touched it since ..

waht a lame game i played the beta a while ago and bored me

Phantasy Star Universe was so boring i hope this will be good

I have to admit, I was dissapointed by PSU online at first. Not much content and more lag than PSO on dial up. But now, Im gonna return to PSU and see how things have changed. And I think I will be impressed ^_^

How does the original goes? I've anticipated it for a long time but when it came out, I coundn't care less. Sega was screwing up with every game back then, and I suppose they did it with PSU again.

why isn't it free yet.

The orginal game sucked, so why do I want to try and attempt to play it again.

itll be funny at the end of psu's cycle when all the content is out and all the add ons with all the maps and weapons are finally released people will say. 1) Oh Psu sucked at the start now its pretty good! 2) Why did we have to wait 2-3 years for it to become a full game........

I haven't beaten Universe yet, because the 3rd stage right before the last one, is freaking hard... It was basicly a swooth boat ride in the beginning, until i hit a iceburg. Man... i hate leveling building, because weapons are hard to upgrade... Plus... i need money to update that robot to make good weapons for the final stages. Which will take me along time, since money take forever to build up
Overall... i still like this game and i am looking forward to the expansion when it comes out later this year.

Wow... you people really need to shut it. This isn't PSO and as much there are things that some people liked about PSO and not in PSU, this is not PSO.

As complexity goes, if you find this game more difficult at a very noticable degree, you got to be kidding me. Its very easy to control and fight. Just run in and hit a few buttons and voila! Fighting already with the 3 hit combo system like PSO except even simpler than before (lack of weak strong attacks but one straight on attack with special attack).

There are still people who like PSU and in Japan, PSU is popular. Yes It is popular in Japan. Of course, maybe your gaming taste is not like the japanese so cry me a river.

The game is fun and easy to pick up, has depth in customization and much more areas to explore than PSO. You have a common box to share items with your own characters so you don't have players to help you transfer. You got your own room to customize. More hairstyles and character features to customize. More spells, weapons and item availablility than PSO can provide. An enhanced lobby (and more lobbies in general) to gather and socialize. And it doesn't stop there.

Heck I know there are some things that PSU can improve on but in the end, people keep going back on having PSO elements in PSU and PSU IS NOT PSO. Why not just make another expansion to PSO instead? It doesn't make sense. Why not just make PSO with PSU graphics? That's like trying to argue Xbox 360 and PS3 against the NIntendo Wii. Its STILL THE SAME GAME and not a new game overall.

As for those people actually looking for comments about AoI, AoI does more than expanding the single player mode and its story. Its pretty obvious but with so many negative comments, I'll reiterate. AoI will release (confirmed so far) new character classes, more character customization, more areas to explore, new monsters, new weapon classes, new items ranging from weapons, room decorations, general items, armour etc, new lobbies, new bosses, new ingame functions like looking for party tags and more which has not been revealled to us yet from the beta.

If you played PSU back then and was upset about the fact that there was a lack of content, try playing now and you'll see there's a lot more now.

Unfortunately there is one more problem, and that is the community. Its small, people are negative and spend 80% of their time complaining about this and that. Yet they still play but the atmosphere damages the game and people have yet to see it. If PSU still had the original community size they had at the start of the game, I bet PSU would be a lot better game as a whole if the community would do themselves a favour and shut up.

The people complaining about PSU not being as good as PSO need to come to terms that this game isn't your precious PSO 2. There never will be a PSO 2, and PSO wasn't that great of a game to begin with.

Phantasy Star Universe is it's own game in the Phantasy Star game series. It's not Phantasy Star V, it's not PSO 2, it's Phantasy Star Universe. And that's all it ever will be.

If you don't like it, don't play it, simple as that. But saying you don't like the game because it's not a direct, perfect, and nothing changed sequel to PSO is just ignorant, and downright silly.

I'd rather see a traditional RPG Phantasy Star. It's been too long...

Why the PC version can't be dwnloaded is strange, to me anyways. Maybe Sega's trying to get closer to MS. I think Seg should just go back to basics and reo the PS franchise, or at least make the older ones available on VC or Live.

i think that qualifies as a burn on the people who play it on PC or PS2

The latest Phantasy Star wasn't all that great. In fact it was kind of boring. They should not have upgraded it.

Yeah - but it's too bad that this game was pretty much a sham and adding to it is actually detracting from the value of what was the once glorious phantasy star series.

I mean - come on. I bought this day one, blew through the single player in about 3 days and the online isn't that great - especially at 9.99 a month. Not to mention it takes no strategy, I did enjoy the mag feeding of the old one, and the graphics (on 360 at least) look like something that could have been done on the dreamcast.

I'd rather renew my hunter's liscence on my original Xbox, but hackers killed that game while sega smiled and filled their pockets with a complete lack of tech support or policing. Good job Sega, you're managing to flush another grand IP down the toilet - what's next? People keep asking for streets of rage or golden axe - my question is "do you really want another sub-par game to tarnish the greats of yesteryear?"

awesome. I still wish prices were more like $5 but you get what you get

I miss the PSO on the Dreamcast. Mmm good times.

Psh these guys are simply trolls the game is great but theres a brand of gamers out there that are unclassy and cannot understand classy games. Psu was made for the pure action, however as an pso vet I say it is indeed better. The problem they ran into is it was never finished at release. I had stopped playing because of this. The game hardly sucked it was imply sega's flaws that were the problem. Its pathetic to see commenters with no idea with what theyre talking about. All I can say is flame on trollers, Flame on. (sarcasm)

Yeah, you say you all hate PSU but it must be turning a profit to warrant a major expansion. Who cares about online though? Make a new Phantasy Star story!! Those guys said it was over after 4 but you know, you can always pull a "restart" on the continuity.

I honestly can't believe enough people play this sorry excuse of a game to warrant an expansion.

I absolutely adored the DC PSO, it was brilliant. Insanely repetetive from start to finish, but somehow it really dug its claws into me and didn't let off for a long long time.

I wouldn't even know where to start when it comes to explaining why I loathe PSU so much, absolutely everything about the game was flawed (I still cant work out if it was bad programming or just plain bad design desicions) in every aspect.

The game could be absolutely free, the subscription could be totally abolished, and I still wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. I find it insulting that SEGA expect the console gaming populace to settle for this garbage.