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This comment was a lot to go through, so will keep it as short as possible. When people don't have 3000 hours to grind out, quest clear speed matters. It's important to tell new players that the unarmed fast cast bonus and tech boosts of FoNewman are extremely hard to compete against for both solo and multiplayer clears. FoNewman even offers ATP flexibility and still has great ATA for support --- This means he can beat common minibosses that Tech only strats would struggle to clear. Others Forces can also use Excalibur, which is a fantastic clear option for when the enemy has extremely unforgiving resist spread (which is common across all Episodes, but in particular EP2). FOnewearl unfortunately doesn't have the ATP to do this, but does have great accuracy for some support weapons (Demons). Forces have the luxury that other classes don't by being flexible with how they deal damage --- It's not great to purposefully ignore your clear options or really understand the level of resistances that impact your basic ability to beat waves with Techs. Most players would not want to deal 60-100 damage to a 4k+ HP Target in Ultimate when they have options to cut the target HP by 3/4 (Demon's like with Bringer's Rifle) or switch to ATP (including slicers) and deal 5-15x that amount per swing. There are multiple enemies in every Episode that takes extremely limited tech damage even to their weakness, even more so if playing multiplayer. Most players would not want to spend time casting 30-60 techs on a single wave of enemies with these kinds of resistances. I could not even fathom how long a tech only clear would be on a boss like Olga Flow in solo or multiplayer. I cannot dissuade to do so, but I will not encourage others to think that this is a good pace / good idea to help in multiplayer public rooms. It's more weird to me that you would push only using techs when you can barely harm enemies in Tower / CCA / Seabed, not to mention all the numerous enemies and mini-boses with 80+ tech resist in multiplayer. Simply put: There are some quests that are still great to Tech spam, and some that either need a little assistance (Demons) or a lot of alternative clears to not spend whole minutes clearing a single room (Berserk / Spirit options, etc.) Strong, fast, solid quest play does not bother using Jellen. Even with Jellen, you can still get knocked down when enemies strike you due to her low HP and defense. Being knocked down instead of flinching can ruin GIFoie stacks, leave you you unable to stunlock, etc. EVP doesn't help survive set damage, which is the most common thing as you become experienced that is still relevant as you play harder quests / common quests used to level (Falz, Episilon just a few instances of unavoidable damage). EVP only really matters in casual play and should not be relied on for any serious end game runs, which is the focus on helping players make a choice they won't regret when they reach difficulty that a majority of the hours will be played on. People should be aware that she is just a lot weaker and generally slower than FoNewman in almost every quest you play. People that expect to be able to only use techs to clear Episodes is not realistic based on the time spent clearing a quest. Yes, she can clear parts of E1 and E2 well. No, she cannot really deal with mini-bosses /end game enemy that well with only techs or without getting hard carried by others. She is great in Challenge Mode, and even level progression towards Ultimate, but it's not being honest to say anything other than she is just not as good as FoNewman at tech clears.

>When people don't have 3000 hours to grind out, quest clear speed matters. People are gonna need either a ton of time, or a ton of carrying to reach the level that this efficiency is even remotely relevant. Not everybody is going to start, brand new, with a maxed out MAG, maxed out materials (specifically to minmax!), and every single item they need to be efficient. All of those items took time to farm, so even WITH handouts, it's not like that time wasn't invested by somebody at some point unless the items were literally gen'd by an admin. >Most players would not want to deal 60-100 damage to a 4k+ HP Target in Ultimate I just categorically reject that any enemy in the entire game is taking 60-100 from Techs in Ultimate, even in multiplayer. Either they redid resists for PSOBB, or specifically Ephinea, or this is hyperbole. Also, if this problem presents itself only in multiplayer, what are the other people doing? Watching it happen? Why is the onus on a FO to bring all of these answers when each class can bring its own strengths to a group. This whole meta being boiled down to bugging out enemies by permanently stunning them with Gifoie or trapshooting or everybody and their dog having Excalibur defeats the purpose of the game. If all you want is the journey to be over, I hear Ephinea has sandbox mode, just cheat everything in and pat yourself on the back because you skipped the entire meat of the game. >Strong, fast, solid quest play does not bother using Jellen. Yeah I guess if you just bug out enemies so everything is a target dummy that spits out a paltry amount of XP after they die, why would you? For regular players, that aren't hyper optimizing, Jellen is a godsend. It single-handedly changes the outcome of almost any fight early on for a FO that doesn't involve set damage. The odds of being knocked down are almost nothing, it requires an enemy to deal an absurd amount of damage with Jellen, maybe a critical from a Delsaber in Ultimate Ruins, or a punch from Gibbles, or a handful of other enemies can deal enough damage to knock down after an adequately high level of Jellen is applied. But I guess when every single Ephinea page reads like propaganda for Big Berserk, and everybody runs around with 10% hp so they can whip out their Dark Flow (which I guess everybody just has? despite it being exceedingly rare, from a difficult boss for non-hyper-optimized groups to even beat) and slap a whole room with its special, it makes sense why you downplay the ludicrous amount of effective DR that Jellen provides. Set damage is definitively the minority damage you take in the game - every enemy deals damage, only a handful (or less) per zone deal Set damage. >No, she cannot really deal with mini-bosses /end game enemy that well with only techs or without getting hard carried by others. Similarly to before regarding any enemy that allegedly is taking only 60-100 in multiplayer - you aren't being "hard carried" because other people are filling a deficit that they fill if you can provide other benefits. There's a reason there were only 1 or 2 actual examples of this occurring in your stream, it's not a widespread concern and only people who are trying to play at the 99.99th percentile or higher will ever care about this. Like I inquired before, are people actually going to be disqualified from party play for not playing the way your videos say? Every class has to have X weapons with X units and X abilities +50% hit or it's just not optimal enough to just - oh, I don't know - play the game? Lastly, I find it ironic you would say people don't have 3000 hours to grind out - I would be shocked given that just your VOD guides alone probably add up to hundreds of hours that you haven't spent even more time playing PSO than I did back on the GameCube. So anybody who is genuinely enamored by the game is going to put the time in, whether they get boosted to holy hell by vets or not. Using the argument that "not everybody has 3000 hours" is pointless - because somebody somewhere is gonna put the time in. If they want a level 200 char, that's gonna take a bunch of time, even with the generous XP boosts on Ephinea. If somebody wants a Prophets of Motav, or Psycho Wand, or any of the extraordinarily rare items in the game "legitimately", it will take a bunch of time. And if they don't, and they just want to putz around and slap some Boomas one day, then 95% of the info in your guides isn't gonna be things they seek out in the first place.

There it is, the "I have played more than you so you don't know what you are talking about". I'm not sure why you have come onto a guide for recommended starter characters and get upset at character strength / weakness observations that are almost universally agreed upon in the server. People are allowed to play with playstyles not recommended for character classes, but the whole point of the guide is to highlight what newer players should consider. It's clear you have some big issue with Ephinea that extends far beyond the guide itself and it's not worth going into discussion further on the topic with you. I will leave your massive comment up so people can go back and see the casual disregard of common items on Ephinea, basic mechanics, monster resists, enemy damage knockdown problems for FOnewearl, and team strategy. If you don't want to acknowledge how bad it is to just use techs only as damage for places like Tower multiplayer, that's on you. Edit: Deleted the above user's nasty comment to this one since they just can't help themselves. I will try to preserve this comment chain unless they really can't control themselves.

So, where to begin. Your rant offers no information as it relates to what is being discussed in the video. From what I am reading in your comment, the underlying tone is " I played for 3000 hrs, but never learned to play the game and let my friends carry me". Also, the deep aversion you have for ATP on a FO shows that you only have a 1 track mind. Your entire existence in the game is then reduced to be a SDJZ mule for the people 'willing' to carry you (From the way you word your comments, you sound very irksome and finding a consistent party must be hard for you), while you do pure MST damage placeboing yourself into thinking you are actually contributing something other than buffs. its laughable. The guide is clearly listing the pros and cons of each class, but your limited vision and low versatility show your lack of genuine understanding of basic concepts. But hey, its not your fault. You probably had a few friends who made you play a FO, you chose poorly, and now feel the need to lash out as you slowly come to the realization that you wasted 3000 hours of your life, being a buff mule. I don't have any way to help you, other than to offer you a cookie...

Sorry, no, being that I played offline the whole time any co-op was good old fashioned split screen. There also weren't any quests, no TTF or even Episode 4. I played solo for the majority, so this notion that I was a mule or getting carried is just you being upset that my gameplay wasn't pre-trapping rooms and mowing down frozen enemies with Berserk weapons. It's obvious you aren't refuting anything I've said, you're just here to attack because somebody spoke up against your streamer and you're a little in your feelings. Very cute, equally pathetic. A wiki should be for information, any time a comment reads "widely regarded" or "widely agreed upon" its just editorializing and not presenting facts. I don't have a problem with Ephinea prior to watching these "guide" videos - I actually made an account and downloaded the client in earnest. But after hearing how Ziggy, and now you regard just playing the game to play it rather than shamelessly optimizing any sense of fun out of the game, I don't know why I would ever log in if all it is is shaming classes, and forcing gear and playstyles so you can be ultra efficient.

To the above points --- I only really go over set damage break downs vs raw ATP of monsters as a personal choice since it is possible to manipulate mag blast triggers with them / you can get basic resists to survive a few / can sometimes be unavoidable depending on enemy type (Episilon) and party comp / gear (ex. lacking paralysis / Gifoie / demon vs Dorphon). Otherwise, I would have to stop to mention some of the unrealistic to be struck by ATP damage done by certain enemies (E4 Rare Rappy) even if it is not likely to come up into a run. Generally speaking, all the Sinow ATP attacks are avoidable and not worth gearing towards + lose to freeze traps / frozen shooter. For Olga Flow --- If you play the quest well, even with low level characters, you shouldn't be hit by that set damage in Ephinea. With the new damage cancel fix, often the boss is dead within the first 10-15 seconds of phase 2 just using Charge Vulcans with 50Hit (an item which is recommended in part 2 of the guide for basically every ATP class). Meta quests for the boss also allow you to build a consistent 3-4 man photon blast (RT / Seabed runs), which further adds to the near one shot of the boss across both phases without really requiring anyone to be max ATP (though it helps). It's generally not worth tanking phase 2 at any point in PSO Ultimate, if it somehow does happen, over very basic damage upgrades to prevent it in the first place.

@@cupcaketyrantdar2483 Phase 2 is mostly a knowledge check. Solo play you can just swap what side of the arena you are on each time it winds up for fire / ice to avoid all hits and then hold forward to dodge spinners and get more or less a 3 hit combo on the boss. Sometimes it can be a waiting game if the boss decides to move a lot between attacks, but it is most vulnerable during the divine punishment (where one of these is easily 50-100% of the boss's HP depending on gear and class) / soul steal phases. If you are having trouble beyond that, you just may be too low stat'd (Being sub 130, not capped on power mats / not max mag) to go through it efficiently.

@@ziggypigstervods Thank for the advice. I'm fully power and HP matted, I'm around level 97 though so I guess I could do with more stats. I'll stick with dragon runs for a bit until I can equip a crimson coat and then try to fix my positioning on p2...

@cupcaketyrantdar2483 Just as an FYI: Falz generally will not be improved by a very niche armor upgrade (this is only really used by FoNeweral in the meta, and that is for Vol Opt). Instead, you should be focusing on either mechguns with charge and/or ranged weapons with high ATP to overcome Falz's defenses. Rangers: Charge Vulcans (ATP > 1100, even better with Zalure) and Heaven Striker (ATP < 1100, Dark% preferred, and/or no Zalure) are preferred options to get through Falz's increasing defense. Hunters: Charge Vulcans (same as above), otherwise Red Handgun / Charge Raygun with Hit% if desperate and low stats. Both Hunter and Ranger classes can later move to L&K38 Combat if you happen to find one with Hit%. Debuffing the boss is incredibly important, so if you are a solo RaCast / RaCaseal (and to a lesser extent RaMar without stats) this is going to be a hard match-up for you. HuCast is kind of an exception to the rule, where there stats can scale completely out of control through levels alone (even before S-Red Blade, highly recommended). This is one of those scenarios where a Zalure Handgun from challenge mode can easily improve you from two digit damage to 5-8x that amount depending on just how low your stats are, but it's not something you can afford right away / you shouldn't be grinding the boss solo for that class with your gear level.

@@TheMadHatter56 You can do it any difficulty for meseta / techs, but generally run in Ultimate to aim for Diska of Braveman / 90% hit calibers.

@@snaggletut Good question. A very large majority of the time it is a menu error on my part. It's easy to get distracted while making the game while interacting with chat / input the directions too quickly before being on the right menu option. It doesn't make a difference on Normal Mode at all when using fully optimized gear. There is minimal impact on non-GiFoie stack waves in H --- to the point I don't find resetting or remenuing worth it. Usually it takes me a few waves to notice since all the early waves die instantly to GiFoie anyway --- it's usually not worth bailing at the 1-2 min mark of a quest by that point, since the time save (1, maybe 2 casts a wave) wouldn't justify the reset time loss (20-25 second or so remenuing, walking back to quest start). I only feel it is worth resetting entering VH or above if I happen to notice since their HP + Resists make a difference (2-4 casts). Otherwise, GiFoie stacks basically handle everything on their own.

@@aj_mints8973 Hey there. All add-ons come from the Ephinea Forums and/or a mix of MapItems.txt and the new Advanced Config file (miss text) available to everyone. I have a video going over installing / updating all but the brand new advanced config here, including the links to add-ons, below: th-cam.com/video/7jQZijmb5xU/w-d-xo.html

@@nopewontyou I haven't played PSU, sorry.

@ziggypigstervods ok well thank you for posting these vids :) I have been falling asleep to them for the past week!

@@TheMadHatter56 Can't say I have experienced that. I have steam open all the time when I stream and game on PSO, but also don't launch non-steam games through steam. Maybe there is some kind of controller set up you have active on steam? This would probably be a better thing to ask in the Ephinea discord #help section.

Glad you were able to resolve it. For those looking at this comment in the future, the input mapper is still available in the description of the video / pinned comment.

A majority of my materials come from Forest quests with high monster density I run during events (Tyrell's Ego / Rescue from Ragol) or EP4 boss quest runs (MAE:E4). There is naturally a high mix of Power / Mind materials in most common areas on Ultimate, but they are easiest to obtain during drop rate up and/or quests involving Rappies with guaranteed drops. It's not uncommon to end up with 200+ POW/MIND material just playing during events.

F12 / Main Menu -> Item Pack -> Trade Window. Be aware that you cannot trade once a quest has been activated.

Actually everything about this game is ugly

@@megabyte5726 Cool story bro.

Almost like this game is over 2 decades old and design and graphics have evolved a lot. Gameplay loop is good thats all that matters. Back in the day we used to play games because they were fun not because we had to conplete a season pass

It really depends on what you are looking to get out of the game. If you want to experience the side stories available, that is solo only. Story mode / government missions are multiplayer only. Otherwise, it's a game to be taken at whatever pace you want (including trading vs self-found approaches). Generally people that have played before tend to rush XP any manner possible, which usually involves multiplayer. But it's probably for the best to find a balance of single player and multiplayer that you enjoy.

@ziggypigstervods that helps a lot thank you 😊 🙏

Right, I just started the other day got a 45 Humar myself so far. Played back in original xbox days on e1&2 when Sega servers were abandoned and left alone for a few years b4 shutdown. Game taught me how to Mod my Xbox and had a blast back in the day.

I'm still leaning towards either only RaMarl or HuCast as a first character. The former for similar reasons to the above, very beginner friendly. The later due to just how overpowered their stats are combined with traps that completely trivialize all difficulties (albeit with a learning curve).

This is the link to the github for the XP tracker: github.com/StephenCWills/psobb-kill-counter

@@phazon69 Agreed. FONewman even has the option of just barehand casting most of the best spells in the game, leading to enemy stunlocks unique to males, with massive tech multipliers. Pretty unfair how much of an advantage he is has over the other choices. Maybe one day I will see how he plays with Psycho Wand, but Magical Piece GiFoie stacking just dumpsters most of Episode 4.

You should capture one of the archers, as they are very hard to unlock normally.

@@SylkaChan Any particular quest you are requesting or is it just a generic request to run Anguish? Most of the standard quests run on stream yield less rares and overall drops on this mode and it is pretty rare that RBR lines up favorably with it.

What would setting the minimum level to 100 accomplish for Anguish? If they are going to make any changes, I think the whole mode needs an identity update. It was clearly inspired by the Diablo 3 difficulty scaling where that game intended players to play at the highest difficulty they can handle. Anything that adjusts rare / item drops will be "abused" if the difficulty raise in time is less than the perceived reward here. They have nerfed things like weapon patterns to make it less useful for doing box run style quests, but also feel it made the mode not really fun to play with less degree of control over the difficulty.

@@ziggypigstervods Anguish gives more exp right? That would be a reason to.

@SylkaChan Anguish is very rarely used for XP as is. It's not more efficient at XP/sec than other standard options due to the increased HP and stats of enemies. The only time you start to see a positive return on investment with XP requires a massive amount of base stats in easy areas to overcome the lack of traps / demons / hell / massive damage increase by enemies.

Hello there. So far the (mostly) completed guide is from a multiplayer perspective, but will see if it makes sense to use tags or create new sections for those looking to solo. Currently I have been giving everything a difficulty rating to help players judge from their own gear if they can solo it. Generally speaking, most quests are single player friendly outside of E2 Tower / CCA nonsense (and most of those quests are not in my guide to begin with).

@@PirlKnighte I think it was nice to see new options in tackling level ups. Unfortunately, a big point of learning the quest (potentially using it to help others while cookie farming) was substantially nerfed this year. Still, I may revisit more challenge mode weapons runs in 2025.

I ended up using promotion exams to reset Laharl for more stats per level early on. Though I did learn about a downside to Etna mode a bit late in the playthough, I did make a decent recovery.

Short answer - No. Long Answer - I wouldn't generally recommend the government missions in Blue Burst PSO, especially not for solo play, unless you are looking to enjoy the story. They aren't great for leveling and most of the spawns are kind of bad (with very limited exceptions not worth doing in pre-Ultimate). Ephinea only allows multiplayer government mode quests, which also means drastically reduced clear time for solo play compared to doing anything else. If you are referring to any other version of PSO other than the one in the video, this would be the wrong place to comment. Outside of your first character, where the time you spend pre-Ultimate is more dependent on Mag feeding / access to trades, generally there are a lot better value quests you can play while leveling. This includes XP / hunts / utility. Most of these are covered in detail in the video as to why they are picked over other quests (ex. Side Stories are used to unlock monster part weapon upgrades with things you can collect while playing).

Hey there, thanks for the comment. Yuzo Koshiro is a very talented composer ---- you will end up hearing a lot more from him in future PSO streams regardless if we are doing a marathon of his songs or not. SOR1 + SOR2 have a ton of great songs, glad you like them.