MEIERLINK
Vampire Gothic Lolita ADN Mutated
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Hi all >^w^<
This thread continues & complete the one I left here about hacking on PSO DC online era : the "Bad Hackers" & the "Good Hackers".
I only did a copy/paste of what was interesting in a full guide here (@Gamefaqs.com) : Cheating/Stealing FAQ (DC) by Jones.
Author's aim was to warn players of the dangers on PSO Online and give advice/techniques to avoid them !
Background: It was a time of absolute terror and mischief. A time or if you did not have a Scape Doll in your inventory, mesetas and equipped weapon were droped on ground, and could be picked up by another player. A time or terrible rumors circulated on corrupted VMU and deleted characters were the terrible truth.
It's was the Dark Ages of PSO ! >"w"<
Disclaimer : I have never done or support any of the things listed below.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE CHEATING AND STEALING TECHNIQUES
------> Player Kill #1 <------
Another player kills party members using Resta. The player is dead (0 HP, body on ground) but is still able to move around. Even if you go back to the ship, you can still be killed from there. Basically a person somewhere got the brilliant idea to change God/Technique++ (a legitimate item) into God/Technique-- (a GameSharked item). Alternately, Devil/Technique-- is another item used which is similar. Thus, with the double negative, Resta level 15 becomes Resta level 17 or 18 (depending on Devil or God) but NEGATIVE, which then performs the OPPOSITE of what it's supposed to, along with some strange stuff in the process.
------> Player Kill #2 <------
Player enters game, joins party, and begins casting healing and/or offensive spells. Party member(s) life meters drop and/or they die. Player need not be a high level character or use gameshark to do this -- it is a bug in the game. Yes, I know how to perform this, but hopefully those who also do will remain silent so as to not risk ruining games all over the PSO community.
------> Player Kill #3 <------
Party member enters room and engages in battle against enemies. Player stays in doorway and sends you their guild card repeatedly. The prompt "Accept guild card [YES/NO]?" appears on the party member's screen, and they are UNABLE TO BATTLE while it is there, thus killing them.
------> Chat-Kill <------
A party member enters a game and takes a pipe down. Their screen is immediately filled up with empty chat balloons from the other three players, the party member cannot see anything, and either hit some bombs are are surrounded and killed by enemies. Someone takes your weapon and money and laughs manically. This is similar to the telepipe trap trick, but the variation here is that three "buddies" all have a macro with 75 spaces (a full, large, empty chat balloon) which they are continuously streaming to your (and their own) screens so that you cannot see. They are in a safe place, you are not; you die.
------> Deleting your Character on VMU <------
Players with GameSharks and Xploders perform magic and drop items IN THE LOBBY, and this has been verified. For example, a player might drop 7 million meseta in the lobby, or cast Resta on lobby players. One player (Bazzam) corrupted his save file picking up meseta from the lobby (AKA black money) and as a result lost his character, and if you were the recipient of the Resta spell, you could lose your character too.
------> This is the BSOD, Freeze! <------
A player is in a game with only one other party member. The party member is an obvious vet of PSO and familiar with both the BSOD and BSOD warning signs (reference: see Black Screen of Death BSOD FAQ on gamefaqs.com). Near a room with treasure, the player suddenly and inexplicably stops moving, just stands there. The player does not respond to the party member when the party member talks to them. The party member, fearing the worst (BSOD) instead of the best (disconnection or doorbell), exits the game immediately. The player is then
reanimated (it's a miracle! I can walk again!) and goes to the room with the treasure, claiming exclusive dibs.
------> Player Kill not in PSO1? Don't Need it! <------
The party has made it through the Ruins on hard or vhard and is about to take on Dark Falz. Player joins party and offers to help. All goes well until the final form. Suddenly Dark Falz performs the attack where he borrows a party member's soul for a while. Rather than leave him alone, player pelts Dark Falz with everything they've got, damaging party member in the process. Inevitably party member died, player takes their weapon, beats Dark Falz, claims all the items too, and buggers off. If the player's soul happens to be caught, they simply unequip their weapon so that party can't return the favor of killing them and stealing their weapon.
------> Your DreamCast no Longer Plays Games <------
You are playing PSO offline. You are buying some dimate when another character approaches you and threatens to ruin your game if you don't give them money. You refuse, explaining that it's impossible for them to do that since they don't exist. They then cast a spell on you ON THE SHIP! Suddenly your screen goes black and text appears on the screen, in green monotype: "Hello, Neo. Follow
the white rabbit." Your DreamCast unit then shuts off and and will only allow you to play Barry White CD's backwards. You walk to your kitchen, and your microwave will no longer fully re-heat burritos, and scorches every bag of popcorn. Your phone rings and on the line a voice asks "What's your favorite scary video game, Sydney?" You run outside screaming and your dog has been killed in a freak ping-pong ball accident.
------> Frozen Water Pipes <------
A player leads the party into a room with slimes. Instead of attacking them, the player freezes them on purpose, which causes them to split in two. While the rest of the party now wastes time ridding Ragol of the watery pests, the player runs back and grabs treasure in an unexplored room.
------> Freezing Up A Team's Game <------
A player enters a team's game, then returns to the lobby, then re-enters the same game, then returns to the lobby, and repeats until desired effect is achieved (which is of course immediate). Team members playing the game are completely "frozen" while their screen says, "PLAYER is joining game, please wait a few moments". The motivation for this can range from "revenge" for something a character did (like having a double saber +20 stolen) to just plain adolescent mischeif.
------> Joining a Password Protected Game <------
A player joins a password-protected game despite knowing nobody in the party and not being invited.
------> Leading Party Members Down the Wrong Path <------
A player, having a map of the level from a magazine or strategy guide, or from knowing the level variations by heart so well, knows that there is a sweet pile of unopened chests in a nearby room. The player then says something such as "follow me", or, being the sheep that most players are, party members just follow the player without them saying anything. The player will lead party away from the treasure, then suddenly (without stopping) double back, run to the boxes, if they're smart use a Zonde-series technique to open them all at once (thus reducing the time party has to realize what happened), then grab the goods and run back to where party is, sometimes adding, "sorry got lost".
------> PSO Gleaning <------
A player connects to PSO, selects a ship/block, and upon viewing the list of available teams to join, selects the furthest one to the top of the list, which means it has been played for the longest amount of time, and thus all or most of the levels have already been defeated. After entering the game, when the other players say "take red pipe, ruins 3", the player instead does not reply (or pretends to be Japanese -- classic!) and instead goes to Forest 1. The player then goes from level to level picking up all the items that the other players didn't pick up, didn't want, or missed, occasionally having to fight an enemy or two, and telepiping back and forth between "their" level and the ship to sell items.
------> Walking Straight Through Walls <------
There is a locked door (whether red or with four red circles) and a player either unequips their weapon so they are punching/kicking, or equips a double sabre, then walks straight through the locked, unopened door, leaving the other members behind and grabbing the goods for themselves (if applicable).
------> Walking Through Beams <------
A player sees some boxes protected behind some beams, and WITHOUT turning off
the beams first by using the switch walks straight through the beams and grabs
the treasure.
------> Telepipe Traps <------
You are told to "take the green pipe" and when you go down, you are either immediately ambushed by a multitude of enemies, whacked by a piston, blown away by traps, or trapped behind beams or a dead end room locked on both sides with no way out but the pipe.
------> Always Sharing The Chests ... But What's the Catch? <------
Player opens chests, and seems to only take their share of things per the size of the party. They always leave money for you to pick up, and rather take items which you probably couldn't have used anyway. Sounds fine, right? Well, your average amount of money in a box is usually a few hundred AT BEST, whereas the average price of an item sold in the shops can be upwards of a few thousand AT WORST. Additionally, if they die and haven't picked up any money, they won't lose any money if someone decides to steal it -- and they'll keep all the items to sell later. Thus, at the surface level, it seems that they're not taking EVERYTHING, but money-wise (and especially in the case of SPECIAL WEAPONS, item-wise) they're getting far more than their fair share.
------> Wow, That Player NEVER Takes Any Items! <------
What a swell guy! Player always goes ahead to treasure rooms and opens all the boxes, but when party members get there, nothing has been taken. In fact, there seem to be LESS empty boxes than usual, but it's normally money or healing items in them. What the player is doing is opening the boxes, TAKING the good stuff, then DROPPING items of money of a less value so that it APPEARS that they didn't take
anything by the time you get there.
------> Treasure Island <------
Following a player, a party member enters a room. Upon entering, the player is no longer in this room, but there is a huge pile of money in the center. The party member walks to the pile of money and takes it, but they are all only one meseta. Often the party member will stop and say, "What the heck? What's all this money?" When the party member catches up to the player, the player is in a room with treasure chests, the contents of which are now gone. The player knew there was a treasure room nearby, so to get all the boxes to themself, they purposely DROPPED many 1-meseta boxes on the other side of the room, so that when the player entered the room they go and take the low-value meseta instead of following the player to the potentially higher value boxes.
------> Setting Down Telepipe Near Treasure <------
A player, having a map of the level from a magazine or strategy guide, or from knowing the level variations by heart so well, knows that there is a sweet pile of unopened chests in a nearby room. The player then says something such as "let's go to the ship to buy supplies and heal" and will open a telepipe. The player will then wait for everyone to go up, then they will go up, but they will GO BACK SECONDS LATER. This, of course, closes the telepipe so that they have no competition when they go to grab the treasure. They will then set up a SECOND telepipe in the same place, and because party members are busy in the shops, nobody will notice it was missing for a few seconds.
------> The "Bravest" Player <------
A player runs into a room full of enemies without fear (or being slowed down by walk/blocking), busts open treasure boxes, then returns to the doorway to fight with you (all without breaking the run). They are able to do this by pressing the ^ START button while running (or by pressing the trigger while having no "attacks" mapped to secondary keys), which keeps you from walking slowly (and can also save you in many situtations, especially the first spikey form of Falz!).
------> Fighting the Boss Alone <------
A player runs to the boss pad alone, and answers "YES" to "ARE YOU READY?". The player does this only if they know they can beat the boss alone. The player then recieves all the treasure without having to share it, which is a quantity greater than if they played a single player game.
------> Boss Box Greed <------
Once a boss is defeated, the player will use a Zonde-series technique to open ALL the boxes immediately, then sprint the area pressing the "A" pick-up-item button as quickly as they can, indiscriminately taking items.
------> False Confidence <------
A player encourages a fight against the level boss despite the fact that the other party members are dangerously under-leveled to and inadequately prepared to fight the boss. There are reassurances from the player to the party of "don't worry, I'll heal and res you". The player sets up a telepipe before the boss portal, unequips their weapon (making sure that all money is in the bank), then immediately upon fighting the boss commits suicide and returns to the ship. Once at the ship, they take the telepipe back down to in front of the boss portal and wait for the other teammates to die. Once all party members are dead (and have cursed thoroughly), they return to the ship thinking they can just take the telepipe back down to the portal to get their weapons, however, discover that the telepipe is no longer there (because the player went down). The player then enters the boss portal alone (weapon unequiped), grabs everybody's weapons, then dies again and returns to the ship to either sell the weapons, bank them, or bribe the teammates if they want them back.
------> Boss Weapon-Stealer <------
Player enters boss arena with either no weapon or a throw-away. Player makes no attempt to fight boss, but rather protects just themself. Player does not cast RESTA as that will (at higher levels) give life to teammates -- player only uses the -mate family to increase life as that only heals them. Player then waits for anyone -- ANYONE -- to die, and steals their weapon, sometimes even getting away with all three other players' weapons. Player then DISCONNECTS the line and immediately dissappears, or unequips weapon and commits suicide in order to return to the ship and then the lobby.
------> Boss Invincibility, Guaraunteed <------
Party is at the 2nd, 3rd, or final boss portal waiting for player to get down. And waiting. And waiting. Player keeps insisting, "on my way", "just a sec", etc. Eventually player comes down, but when they do, they are invincible as evidenced by spinning mag and colors on character. Player joins you in boss portal and is invincible for beginning of boss. Some mags have a chance of making their owner invincible during boss fights. However, even for a level 200 mag with a 200 IQ and 120% synch level, getting invincibility is far from guaraunteed during a boss fight. This tends to be most critical for the first form of Falz, those annoying spikey things. In order to GUARAUNTEE invincibility, what the player did was leave a pipe in front of an OLD defeated boss terminal, then took that pipe (dropping another one in its place), went to the empty boss room which then made them invincible, then took the teleporter back to the ship, then the telepipe back down to where the party is. If however, they weren't made invincible during the first attempt, they repeat: telepipe down to old boss portal, drop pipe in its place, take boss portal, take teleporter back to ship.
------> Don't worry, I'll Resta you all! <------
A player (usually Force) tells party members who are androids to not worry about healing themselves with -mates, since the player will cast Resta on them whenever their life drops. The player then is faithful to their word by casting Resta repeatedly on the androids whenever their life drops, such that the android party members no longer heal themselves. The player then waits for a large group of enemies to surround the android and purposely DOES NOT cast Resta and allows the party member to die. The player then takes the party member's money and weapon.
------> May the Force of Suicide be with you <------
Player, usually a force, will unequip a weapon and commit suicide by running into a group of enemies without attacking. A party member will then res them. When the character is res'd, not only is their life bar filled (obviously), but they have all of their technique points back (so they don't have to spend it on a -fluid) AND their photon blast will be more charged up. So basically, they get a free power-up at the expense of your own TP to res them (not to mention the life you risk getting to their dead body). This WOULD be a great technique against bosses where TP is very critical and you can easily run out of -fluids, because you are esentially filling another character's TP completely at the expense of your own, but they can then turn around and do the same to you. Fairly pointless tatic, except perhaps for Forces who are too cheap to buy -fluids or use TP draw weapons.
------> Helping New Players Kill ... Themselves <------
A player in a lobby finds a character near the breaking point between normal/hard, or hard/vhard. In other words, they find a player in the low 20's or in the low 40's, and convince that player to join them in a hard or very hard game respectively. The player then goes straight to the Ruins where the party member has no chance and the party member dies immediately. The player grabs the party member's weapon and money, then leaves.
------> Free: Double Saber, Cost: Guilt <------
Player enters game, asks if anyone has a double saber. One party member does, but says that they only have one and that they're using it so it's not for sale. The player then joins the party, and fights exclusively with the party member with the double saber. If the party member should happen to die, the player immediately snaps up the saber and leaves.
------> Free Holy Ray +30, No Strings Attached <------
A player is giving away unbelievable items: Holy Ray, Real Agitos, Double Sabers, Mag Cells, and tons of money. They ask for nothing in return, and in fact leave after dropping the items.
------> Follow the Yellow Brick Road ... of Doom! <------
Upon walking into an area, a party member sees what appears to be a "road" of yellow meseta. They grab each meseta and follow the road, grabbing each 1 meseta as the go along, possibly uttering "what the heck?" as they're doing so. At the end of the road lies a hallway with multiple bomb traps which kills them, or, leads them into the dead center of a room where enemies spawned while they were too busy counting the money and then kills them. The player then comes into the room and takes the party member's weapon and (ironically) meseta.
------> Experience Points "Theft" <------
Ahh yes, the old "experience points theft" trick. One that we're all guilty of, knowingly or not. The way the game was designed, if one player inflicts 10 points of damage onto an enemy, and another player inflicts 950 points of damange onto an enemy, they both recieve an equal number of experience points when the enemy dies. Thus, you can have two players, one who does 95% of the work, the other who does 5% of the work, at the exact same level. This tends to occur naturally with Force characters through no fault of their own, due to their weaker HP total. It will also tend to occur in a game where there are one or more players WAY out of their league in a level, and again, this isn't neccessarily cheating. What *IS* cheating, however, is purposly entering a room, striking every enemy ONLY ONCE, then returning to the safety of the doorway while the other party members do the real work, for the specific intention of getting the experience points.
------> A Present With Six Claws and Your Name on It <------
A player will enter a room, usually with the "Booma" series enemies in it, and lure them all into one huge group following them. When another party member enters the room, the player will then run STRAIGHT INTO the party member (graphics clipping their bodies) and into the doorway -- the party member will then be surrounded by all of the baddies, and if even a moderate level character, will have a high probability of dying if they can't ward them off. If this happens, the player then snags the party members weapon and money, then leaves.
------> Playing As Someone Elses's Character <------
A player notices a "friendship" between two players, and notes both of their names and physical descriptions ("tall skinny HuMar, red hair, black clothes"). A player then creates a character with the same name and physical description and goes to the same ship/lobby to find his "friend". When he finds the "friend", (being careful to make sure the "real" one is not online), he explains that he lost all of his items, his character, etc. The "friend", being the nice person they are, then gives the player plenty of money, items, and other goodies. The player thanks his "friend" then leaves.
------> Getting Free Items from Traders <------
A player goes online and notices a recurring room on a specific ship/block called something along the lines of "ItemTrader" or "WeaponsForSale". The user enters, notes the weapons dealer's description and name, then leaves. A period of time later, on the same ship and block when the "weapons" game does NOT exist, the user creates a new character with the weapons dealer's name and physical description and creates the game with the same name. Most of the people entering the room "know" the dealer and have established trust with them. When the person puts down the weapon or money, the "fake" dealer takes it and leaves.
------> I can use ANY Weapon! (God/Equip) <------
Player claims to have God/Equip and says that they can use any weapon (force could use hunter/ranger weapons in addition to force weapons). Another party member says "prove it". Player says, "No problem, let me see your weapon". Party member drops their weapon. Player picks it up and leaves. Whether or not the player HAS god/equip (or for that matter whether or not it even exists!) doesn't matter -- the player is hoping to challange the party member ala calling McFly "chicken".
------> I work for SEGA! <------
Level 100 player enters game, equips a very rare weapon (ie Glass Sword, Sonic Knuckles) that most people haven't seen and joins party members. Once togeather, party members ask what rare gun/sword/weapon player has and how player aquired it. Player offers the information that they are employed by Sega of America (SOA) or Sega of Japan (SOJ) and have access to the PSO servers; thus, player claims that they "made" the weapon themselves and that it is an entirely unique weapon which nobody else has. Party member may say something to the extent of, "since you work for PSO, you must have everything", and the player the proceeds to show everyone what he/she has has (most likely other stolen items). Party is impressed and starts asking player questions and about rare items. Player answers all questions authoritatively. Player then offers to make VERY rare item for party members if they give player something speical. Party members go to bank, get the best items they have, and give to player. Player then takes items and leaves.
------> Snatch! <------
Party member #1 says to party member #2, "Do you want ITEM? I have extra ITEMs or cannot use." Party member #2 responds in the affirmative, and party member #1 drops said item. Player then runs between the two party members and picks up item. If it is something such as X MATERIAL, they will use it immediately so that it cannot be given back. If accused, they deny that they "got" the item and that it is not in their inventory, or if material, apologize but regret that it cannot be given back.
------> Telepiping Ups and Downs more Frequent than the Stock Market <------
A player joins your party, then telepipes up, is gone for about a minute, comes back down, but then goes back up immediately, gone for a minute, comes back down, repeats. Since special weapons, special armor, and special items (scapes, grinders) appear in the shops with about the same probability as appearing in item boxes, the player is "resetting" the odds every time they go back to the ship, "spinning the wheel" if you will.
------> 3, 2, 1...Rip-off! <------
A person who wants to trade items decides that he wants to do it in a manner of counting down from 3. On zero, you are to drop your item and it's an even exchange. Sounds fair, doesn't it? Not only is this the *worst* trading method in the game, I've seen millions of people try to rip me off from it. They either haven't dropped thier item or dropped something that isn't it, or dropped a legit copy of the item and then, when trading with the person, drop something else. I've caught so many people trying this one it's unbelievable.
------> Buying A Double Saber at Used Car Prices <------
A player offers to sell their double saber for a set amount of money, or to trade it for an item that a party member has. The party member wants to see it on the ground before they drop their money. When the party member sees it on the ground, it says "?SPECIAL WEAPON" with the sword icon. The player assures that it is a double saber because they have seen it equipped, the party member drops the money and takes the weapon. The player takes the money and leaves. The item is actually a common DB saber after being tekked.
------> Buying a Level 200 MAG for the Price of a Pack of Ragol Gum <------
A player offers to sell their level 200 MAG to a party member. The party member agrees. The player drops the MAG, the party member sees it on the ground, drops the money, then picks up the MAG. The player takes the money and leaves. The MAG turns out to be a low-level MAG. There is an incredibly easy way to accumulate MAGS for free in this game, though it is someone tedious. Simply create a new character, enter a game with a friend, drop the MAG, quick, come back as your "real" character, and take the MAG. The new character is then deleted and the process is repeated for up to six mags, after which they mysteriously disappear when dropped on the floor. Therefore, since this is within reach of all people to do, they don't care about "losing" a low level MAG despite the relatively infrequent "in-game" finding of one, because they have an endless supply of them anyway.
------> Getting The Sweets From the Newbies <------
A player asks a group of mid-level characters (20's, 30's) if anyone has a rare item such as a DelSaber's Arm, which most people don't know what to do with. When somebody who doesn't know what it is says yes, the player offers to give them a low-level special item (Varista, DB) in trade for it. The player agrees, but asks what the Arm does, since Tekkers won't tell you. They are told that the arm is, "a lame item, it's a green box item so you need two of them and it will then act as Trimate and Trifluid combined but you can only use it once", or something to that extent so as to downplay what it really is. The party member agrees, and makes the trade happily, feeling they got the better end of the deal. Well, perhaps this isn't so much a game cheat as it is just outright lying, but nonetheless I feel the neccessity to warn new users against this. There are many items that cannot be Tek'd which are FAR more rare than ?SPECIAL WEAPON items -- DelSaber's Arm is one of these, of course, but there are others. If you DO want to get rid of it because you don't want to go through the trouble of an offline quest to change it into the cool weapon it is, make sure you understand the true market value of it and be sure to get the best deal possible -- a Del's arm is worth at MINIMUM a DragonSlayer or Crush Bullet.
------> Waaah, Someone Stole my Double Saber! <------
This trick is even older than the "stealing someone's double saber" trick. Player enters game with other party members who tend to be of a higher level. Player then moans to the party members that they had just gotten their one and only double saber (or insert weapon here) STOLEN by a neferaous user. The high level party member, feeling sympathic, gives the user a double saber and tells the user to join them down below. The player then leaves. The player, of course, never had a double saber let alone had one stolen, and is merely prying on people's sympathy and generousity to manipulate one out of them.
Variation : whining that BSOD took the item from them instead of another player, and for finishing touches equip a water pistol (handgun, to show that you can only do 7pts damage) and low-level mag, or no mag/weapon at all. It's a tough call, you can never really tell if they lost one or not unless you saw it with your own eyes. If you've got tons of said weapon, offer a fair trade that tips to their side slightly, but I'd reccomend against outright donations unless you're just unloading extra DBs and Varistas.
------> So Long and Thanks for the Handgun <------
High-level player enters game with low-level party members. Player then steals party members' weapons when they die (as low-level characters inevitably do). The weapons are not valuable -- handguns, sabers and the like -- but to the low-level character it is all they have.
This thread continues & complete the one I left here about hacking on PSO DC online era : the "Bad Hackers" & the "Good Hackers".
I only did a copy/paste of what was interesting in a full guide here (@Gamefaqs.com) : Cheating/Stealing FAQ (DC) by Jones.
Author's aim was to warn players of the dangers on PSO Online and give advice/techniques to avoid them !
Background: It was a time of absolute terror and mischief. A time or if you did not have a Scape Doll in your inventory, mesetas and equipped weapon were droped on ground, and could be picked up by another player. A time or terrible rumors circulated on corrupted VMU and deleted characters were the terrible truth.
It's was the Dark Ages of PSO ! >"w"<
Disclaimer : I have never done or support any of the things listed below.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE CHEATING AND STEALING TECHNIQUES
------> Player Kill #1 <------
Another player kills party members using Resta. The player is dead (0 HP, body on ground) but is still able to move around. Even if you go back to the ship, you can still be killed from there. Basically a person somewhere got the brilliant idea to change God/Technique++ (a legitimate item) into God/Technique-- (a GameSharked item). Alternately, Devil/Technique-- is another item used which is similar. Thus, with the double negative, Resta level 15 becomes Resta level 17 or 18 (depending on Devil or God) but NEGATIVE, which then performs the OPPOSITE of what it's supposed to, along with some strange stuff in the process.
------> Player Kill #2 <------
Player enters game, joins party, and begins casting healing and/or offensive spells. Party member(s) life meters drop and/or they die. Player need not be a high level character or use gameshark to do this -- it is a bug in the game. Yes, I know how to perform this, but hopefully those who also do will remain silent so as to not risk ruining games all over the PSO community.
------> Player Kill #3 <------
Party member enters room and engages in battle against enemies. Player stays in doorway and sends you their guild card repeatedly. The prompt "Accept guild card [YES/NO]?" appears on the party member's screen, and they are UNABLE TO BATTLE while it is there, thus killing them.
------> Chat-Kill <------
A party member enters a game and takes a pipe down. Their screen is immediately filled up with empty chat balloons from the other three players, the party member cannot see anything, and either hit some bombs are are surrounded and killed by enemies. Someone takes your weapon and money and laughs manically. This is similar to the telepipe trap trick, but the variation here is that three "buddies" all have a macro with 75 spaces (a full, large, empty chat balloon) which they are continuously streaming to your (and their own) screens so that you cannot see. They are in a safe place, you are not; you die.
------> Deleting your Character on VMU <------
Players with GameSharks and Xploders perform magic and drop items IN THE LOBBY, and this has been verified. For example, a player might drop 7 million meseta in the lobby, or cast Resta on lobby players. One player (Bazzam) corrupted his save file picking up meseta from the lobby (AKA black money) and as a result lost his character, and if you were the recipient of the Resta spell, you could lose your character too.
------> This is the BSOD, Freeze! <------
A player is in a game with only one other party member. The party member is an obvious vet of PSO and familiar with both the BSOD and BSOD warning signs (reference: see Black Screen of Death BSOD FAQ on gamefaqs.com). Near a room with treasure, the player suddenly and inexplicably stops moving, just stands there. The player does not respond to the party member when the party member talks to them. The party member, fearing the worst (BSOD) instead of the best (disconnection or doorbell), exits the game immediately. The player is then
reanimated (it's a miracle! I can walk again!) and goes to the room with the treasure, claiming exclusive dibs.
------> Player Kill not in PSO1? Don't Need it! <------
The party has made it through the Ruins on hard or vhard and is about to take on Dark Falz. Player joins party and offers to help. All goes well until the final form. Suddenly Dark Falz performs the attack where he borrows a party member's soul for a while. Rather than leave him alone, player pelts Dark Falz with everything they've got, damaging party member in the process. Inevitably party member died, player takes their weapon, beats Dark Falz, claims all the items too, and buggers off. If the player's soul happens to be caught, they simply unequip their weapon so that party can't return the favor of killing them and stealing their weapon.
------> Your DreamCast no Longer Plays Games <------
You are playing PSO offline. You are buying some dimate when another character approaches you and threatens to ruin your game if you don't give them money. You refuse, explaining that it's impossible for them to do that since they don't exist. They then cast a spell on you ON THE SHIP! Suddenly your screen goes black and text appears on the screen, in green monotype: "Hello, Neo. Follow
the white rabbit." Your DreamCast unit then shuts off and and will only allow you to play Barry White CD's backwards. You walk to your kitchen, and your microwave will no longer fully re-heat burritos, and scorches every bag of popcorn. Your phone rings and on the line a voice asks "What's your favorite scary video game, Sydney?" You run outside screaming and your dog has been killed in a freak ping-pong ball accident.
------> Frozen Water Pipes <------
A player leads the party into a room with slimes. Instead of attacking them, the player freezes them on purpose, which causes them to split in two. While the rest of the party now wastes time ridding Ragol of the watery pests, the player runs back and grabs treasure in an unexplored room.
------> Freezing Up A Team's Game <------
A player enters a team's game, then returns to the lobby, then re-enters the same game, then returns to the lobby, and repeats until desired effect is achieved (which is of course immediate). Team members playing the game are completely "frozen" while their screen says, "PLAYER is joining game, please wait a few moments". The motivation for this can range from "revenge" for something a character did (like having a double saber +20 stolen) to just plain adolescent mischeif.
------> Joining a Password Protected Game <------
A player joins a password-protected game despite knowing nobody in the party and not being invited.
------> Leading Party Members Down the Wrong Path <------
A player, having a map of the level from a magazine or strategy guide, or from knowing the level variations by heart so well, knows that there is a sweet pile of unopened chests in a nearby room. The player then says something such as "follow me", or, being the sheep that most players are, party members just follow the player without them saying anything. The player will lead party away from the treasure, then suddenly (without stopping) double back, run to the boxes, if they're smart use a Zonde-series technique to open them all at once (thus reducing the time party has to realize what happened), then grab the goods and run back to where party is, sometimes adding, "sorry got lost".
------> PSO Gleaning <------
A player connects to PSO, selects a ship/block, and upon viewing the list of available teams to join, selects the furthest one to the top of the list, which means it has been played for the longest amount of time, and thus all or most of the levels have already been defeated. After entering the game, when the other players say "take red pipe, ruins 3", the player instead does not reply (or pretends to be Japanese -- classic!) and instead goes to Forest 1. The player then goes from level to level picking up all the items that the other players didn't pick up, didn't want, or missed, occasionally having to fight an enemy or two, and telepiping back and forth between "their" level and the ship to sell items.
------> Walking Straight Through Walls <------
There is a locked door (whether red or with four red circles) and a player either unequips their weapon so they are punching/kicking, or equips a double sabre, then walks straight through the locked, unopened door, leaving the other members behind and grabbing the goods for themselves (if applicable).
------> Walking Through Beams <------
A player sees some boxes protected behind some beams, and WITHOUT turning off
the beams first by using the switch walks straight through the beams and grabs
the treasure.
------> Telepipe Traps <------
You are told to "take the green pipe" and when you go down, you are either immediately ambushed by a multitude of enemies, whacked by a piston, blown away by traps, or trapped behind beams or a dead end room locked on both sides with no way out but the pipe.
------> Always Sharing The Chests ... But What's the Catch? <------
Player opens chests, and seems to only take their share of things per the size of the party. They always leave money for you to pick up, and rather take items which you probably couldn't have used anyway. Sounds fine, right? Well, your average amount of money in a box is usually a few hundred AT BEST, whereas the average price of an item sold in the shops can be upwards of a few thousand AT WORST. Additionally, if they die and haven't picked up any money, they won't lose any money if someone decides to steal it -- and they'll keep all the items to sell later. Thus, at the surface level, it seems that they're not taking EVERYTHING, but money-wise (and especially in the case of SPECIAL WEAPONS, item-wise) they're getting far more than their fair share.
------> Wow, That Player NEVER Takes Any Items! <------
What a swell guy! Player always goes ahead to treasure rooms and opens all the boxes, but when party members get there, nothing has been taken. In fact, there seem to be LESS empty boxes than usual, but it's normally money or healing items in them. What the player is doing is opening the boxes, TAKING the good stuff, then DROPPING items of money of a less value so that it APPEARS that they didn't take
anything by the time you get there.
------> Treasure Island <------
Following a player, a party member enters a room. Upon entering, the player is no longer in this room, but there is a huge pile of money in the center. The party member walks to the pile of money and takes it, but they are all only one meseta. Often the party member will stop and say, "What the heck? What's all this money?" When the party member catches up to the player, the player is in a room with treasure chests, the contents of which are now gone. The player knew there was a treasure room nearby, so to get all the boxes to themself, they purposely DROPPED many 1-meseta boxes on the other side of the room, so that when the player entered the room they go and take the low-value meseta instead of following the player to the potentially higher value boxes.
------> Setting Down Telepipe Near Treasure <------
A player, having a map of the level from a magazine or strategy guide, or from knowing the level variations by heart so well, knows that there is a sweet pile of unopened chests in a nearby room. The player then says something such as "let's go to the ship to buy supplies and heal" and will open a telepipe. The player will then wait for everyone to go up, then they will go up, but they will GO BACK SECONDS LATER. This, of course, closes the telepipe so that they have no competition when they go to grab the treasure. They will then set up a SECOND telepipe in the same place, and because party members are busy in the shops, nobody will notice it was missing for a few seconds.
------> The "Bravest" Player <------
A player runs into a room full of enemies without fear (or being slowed down by walk/blocking), busts open treasure boxes, then returns to the doorway to fight with you (all without breaking the run). They are able to do this by pressing the ^ START button while running (or by pressing the trigger while having no "attacks" mapped to secondary keys), which keeps you from walking slowly (and can also save you in many situtations, especially the first spikey form of Falz!).
------> Fighting the Boss Alone <------
A player runs to the boss pad alone, and answers "YES" to "ARE YOU READY?". The player does this only if they know they can beat the boss alone. The player then recieves all the treasure without having to share it, which is a quantity greater than if they played a single player game.
------> Boss Box Greed <------
Once a boss is defeated, the player will use a Zonde-series technique to open ALL the boxes immediately, then sprint the area pressing the "A" pick-up-item button as quickly as they can, indiscriminately taking items.
------> False Confidence <------
A player encourages a fight against the level boss despite the fact that the other party members are dangerously under-leveled to and inadequately prepared to fight the boss. There are reassurances from the player to the party of "don't worry, I'll heal and res you". The player sets up a telepipe before the boss portal, unequips their weapon (making sure that all money is in the bank), then immediately upon fighting the boss commits suicide and returns to the ship. Once at the ship, they take the telepipe back down to in front of the boss portal and wait for the other teammates to die. Once all party members are dead (and have cursed thoroughly), they return to the ship thinking they can just take the telepipe back down to the portal to get their weapons, however, discover that the telepipe is no longer there (because the player went down). The player then enters the boss portal alone (weapon unequiped), grabs everybody's weapons, then dies again and returns to the ship to either sell the weapons, bank them, or bribe the teammates if they want them back.
------> Boss Weapon-Stealer <------
Player enters boss arena with either no weapon or a throw-away. Player makes no attempt to fight boss, but rather protects just themself. Player does not cast RESTA as that will (at higher levels) give life to teammates -- player only uses the -mate family to increase life as that only heals them. Player then waits for anyone -- ANYONE -- to die, and steals their weapon, sometimes even getting away with all three other players' weapons. Player then DISCONNECTS the line and immediately dissappears, or unequips weapon and commits suicide in order to return to the ship and then the lobby.
------> Boss Invincibility, Guaraunteed <------
Party is at the 2nd, 3rd, or final boss portal waiting for player to get down. And waiting. And waiting. Player keeps insisting, "on my way", "just a sec", etc. Eventually player comes down, but when they do, they are invincible as evidenced by spinning mag and colors on character. Player joins you in boss portal and is invincible for beginning of boss. Some mags have a chance of making their owner invincible during boss fights. However, even for a level 200 mag with a 200 IQ and 120% synch level, getting invincibility is far from guaraunteed during a boss fight. This tends to be most critical for the first form of Falz, those annoying spikey things. In order to GUARAUNTEE invincibility, what the player did was leave a pipe in front of an OLD defeated boss terminal, then took that pipe (dropping another one in its place), went to the empty boss room which then made them invincible, then took the teleporter back to the ship, then the telepipe back down to where the party is. If however, they weren't made invincible during the first attempt, they repeat: telepipe down to old boss portal, drop pipe in its place, take boss portal, take teleporter back to ship.
------> Don't worry, I'll Resta you all! <------
A player (usually Force) tells party members who are androids to not worry about healing themselves with -mates, since the player will cast Resta on them whenever their life drops. The player then is faithful to their word by casting Resta repeatedly on the androids whenever their life drops, such that the android party members no longer heal themselves. The player then waits for a large group of enemies to surround the android and purposely DOES NOT cast Resta and allows the party member to die. The player then takes the party member's money and weapon.
------> May the Force of Suicide be with you <------
Player, usually a force, will unequip a weapon and commit suicide by running into a group of enemies without attacking. A party member will then res them. When the character is res'd, not only is their life bar filled (obviously), but they have all of their technique points back (so they don't have to spend it on a -fluid) AND their photon blast will be more charged up. So basically, they get a free power-up at the expense of your own TP to res them (not to mention the life you risk getting to their dead body). This WOULD be a great technique against bosses where TP is very critical and you can easily run out of -fluids, because you are esentially filling another character's TP completely at the expense of your own, but they can then turn around and do the same to you. Fairly pointless tatic, except perhaps for Forces who are too cheap to buy -fluids or use TP draw weapons.
------> Helping New Players Kill ... Themselves <------
A player in a lobby finds a character near the breaking point between normal/hard, or hard/vhard. In other words, they find a player in the low 20's or in the low 40's, and convince that player to join them in a hard or very hard game respectively. The player then goes straight to the Ruins where the party member has no chance and the party member dies immediately. The player grabs the party member's weapon and money, then leaves.
------> Free: Double Saber, Cost: Guilt <------
Player enters game, asks if anyone has a double saber. One party member does, but says that they only have one and that they're using it so it's not for sale. The player then joins the party, and fights exclusively with the party member with the double saber. If the party member should happen to die, the player immediately snaps up the saber and leaves.
------> Free Holy Ray +30, No Strings Attached <------
A player is giving away unbelievable items: Holy Ray, Real Agitos, Double Sabers, Mag Cells, and tons of money. They ask for nothing in return, and in fact leave after dropping the items.
------> Follow the Yellow Brick Road ... of Doom! <------
Upon walking into an area, a party member sees what appears to be a "road" of yellow meseta. They grab each meseta and follow the road, grabbing each 1 meseta as the go along, possibly uttering "what the heck?" as they're doing so. At the end of the road lies a hallway with multiple bomb traps which kills them, or, leads them into the dead center of a room where enemies spawned while they were too busy counting the money and then kills them. The player then comes into the room and takes the party member's weapon and (ironically) meseta.
------> Experience Points "Theft" <------
Ahh yes, the old "experience points theft" trick. One that we're all guilty of, knowingly or not. The way the game was designed, if one player inflicts 10 points of damage onto an enemy, and another player inflicts 950 points of damange onto an enemy, they both recieve an equal number of experience points when the enemy dies. Thus, you can have two players, one who does 95% of the work, the other who does 5% of the work, at the exact same level. This tends to occur naturally with Force characters through no fault of their own, due to their weaker HP total. It will also tend to occur in a game where there are one or more players WAY out of their league in a level, and again, this isn't neccessarily cheating. What *IS* cheating, however, is purposly entering a room, striking every enemy ONLY ONCE, then returning to the safety of the doorway while the other party members do the real work, for the specific intention of getting the experience points.
------> A Present With Six Claws and Your Name on It <------
A player will enter a room, usually with the "Booma" series enemies in it, and lure them all into one huge group following them. When another party member enters the room, the player will then run STRAIGHT INTO the party member (graphics clipping their bodies) and into the doorway -- the party member will then be surrounded by all of the baddies, and if even a moderate level character, will have a high probability of dying if they can't ward them off. If this happens, the player then snags the party members weapon and money, then leaves.
------> Playing As Someone Elses's Character <------
A player notices a "friendship" between two players, and notes both of their names and physical descriptions ("tall skinny HuMar, red hair, black clothes"). A player then creates a character with the same name and physical description and goes to the same ship/lobby to find his "friend". When he finds the "friend", (being careful to make sure the "real" one is not online), he explains that he lost all of his items, his character, etc. The "friend", being the nice person they are, then gives the player plenty of money, items, and other goodies. The player thanks his "friend" then leaves.
------> Getting Free Items from Traders <------
A player goes online and notices a recurring room on a specific ship/block called something along the lines of "ItemTrader" or "WeaponsForSale". The user enters, notes the weapons dealer's description and name, then leaves. A period of time later, on the same ship and block when the "weapons" game does NOT exist, the user creates a new character with the weapons dealer's name and physical description and creates the game with the same name. Most of the people entering the room "know" the dealer and have established trust with them. When the person puts down the weapon or money, the "fake" dealer takes it and leaves.
------> I can use ANY Weapon! (God/Equip) <------
Player claims to have God/Equip and says that they can use any weapon (force could use hunter/ranger weapons in addition to force weapons). Another party member says "prove it". Player says, "No problem, let me see your weapon". Party member drops their weapon. Player picks it up and leaves. Whether or not the player HAS god/equip (or for that matter whether or not it even exists!) doesn't matter -- the player is hoping to challange the party member ala calling McFly "chicken".
------> I work for SEGA! <------
Level 100 player enters game, equips a very rare weapon (ie Glass Sword, Sonic Knuckles) that most people haven't seen and joins party members. Once togeather, party members ask what rare gun/sword/weapon player has and how player aquired it. Player offers the information that they are employed by Sega of America (SOA) or Sega of Japan (SOJ) and have access to the PSO servers; thus, player claims that they "made" the weapon themselves and that it is an entirely unique weapon which nobody else has. Party member may say something to the extent of, "since you work for PSO, you must have everything", and the player the proceeds to show everyone what he/she has has (most likely other stolen items). Party is impressed and starts asking player questions and about rare items. Player answers all questions authoritatively. Player then offers to make VERY rare item for party members if they give player something speical. Party members go to bank, get the best items they have, and give to player. Player then takes items and leaves.
------> Snatch! <------
Party member #1 says to party member #2, "Do you want ITEM? I have extra ITEMs or cannot use." Party member #2 responds in the affirmative, and party member #1 drops said item. Player then runs between the two party members and picks up item. If it is something such as X MATERIAL, they will use it immediately so that it cannot be given back. If accused, they deny that they "got" the item and that it is not in their inventory, or if material, apologize but regret that it cannot be given back.
------> Telepiping Ups and Downs more Frequent than the Stock Market <------
A player joins your party, then telepipes up, is gone for about a minute, comes back down, but then goes back up immediately, gone for a minute, comes back down, repeats. Since special weapons, special armor, and special items (scapes, grinders) appear in the shops with about the same probability as appearing in item boxes, the player is "resetting" the odds every time they go back to the ship, "spinning the wheel" if you will.
------> 3, 2, 1...Rip-off! <------
A person who wants to trade items decides that he wants to do it in a manner of counting down from 3. On zero, you are to drop your item and it's an even exchange. Sounds fair, doesn't it? Not only is this the *worst* trading method in the game, I've seen millions of people try to rip me off from it. They either haven't dropped thier item or dropped something that isn't it, or dropped a legit copy of the item and then, when trading with the person, drop something else. I've caught so many people trying this one it's unbelievable.
------> Buying A Double Saber at Used Car Prices <------
A player offers to sell their double saber for a set amount of money, or to trade it for an item that a party member has. The party member wants to see it on the ground before they drop their money. When the party member sees it on the ground, it says "?SPECIAL WEAPON" with the sword icon. The player assures that it is a double saber because they have seen it equipped, the party member drops the money and takes the weapon. The player takes the money and leaves. The item is actually a common DB saber after being tekked.
------> Buying a Level 200 MAG for the Price of a Pack of Ragol Gum <------
A player offers to sell their level 200 MAG to a party member. The party member agrees. The player drops the MAG, the party member sees it on the ground, drops the money, then picks up the MAG. The player takes the money and leaves. The MAG turns out to be a low-level MAG. There is an incredibly easy way to accumulate MAGS for free in this game, though it is someone tedious. Simply create a new character, enter a game with a friend, drop the MAG, quick, come back as your "real" character, and take the MAG. The new character is then deleted and the process is repeated for up to six mags, after which they mysteriously disappear when dropped on the floor. Therefore, since this is within reach of all people to do, they don't care about "losing" a low level MAG despite the relatively infrequent "in-game" finding of one, because they have an endless supply of them anyway.
------> Getting The Sweets From the Newbies <------
A player asks a group of mid-level characters (20's, 30's) if anyone has a rare item such as a DelSaber's Arm, which most people don't know what to do with. When somebody who doesn't know what it is says yes, the player offers to give them a low-level special item (Varista, DB) in trade for it. The player agrees, but asks what the Arm does, since Tekkers won't tell you. They are told that the arm is, "a lame item, it's a green box item so you need two of them and it will then act as Trimate and Trifluid combined but you can only use it once", or something to that extent so as to downplay what it really is. The party member agrees, and makes the trade happily, feeling they got the better end of the deal. Well, perhaps this isn't so much a game cheat as it is just outright lying, but nonetheless I feel the neccessity to warn new users against this. There are many items that cannot be Tek'd which are FAR more rare than ?SPECIAL WEAPON items -- DelSaber's Arm is one of these, of course, but there are others. If you DO want to get rid of it because you don't want to go through the trouble of an offline quest to change it into the cool weapon it is, make sure you understand the true market value of it and be sure to get the best deal possible -- a Del's arm is worth at MINIMUM a DragonSlayer or Crush Bullet.
------> Waaah, Someone Stole my Double Saber! <------
This trick is even older than the "stealing someone's double saber" trick. Player enters game with other party members who tend to be of a higher level. Player then moans to the party members that they had just gotten their one and only double saber (or insert weapon here) STOLEN by a neferaous user. The high level party member, feeling sympathic, gives the user a double saber and tells the user to join them down below. The player then leaves. The player, of course, never had a double saber let alone had one stolen, and is merely prying on people's sympathy and generousity to manipulate one out of them.
Variation : whining that BSOD took the item from them instead of another player, and for finishing touches equip a water pistol (handgun, to show that you can only do 7pts damage) and low-level mag, or no mag/weapon at all. It's a tough call, you can never really tell if they lost one or not unless you saw it with your own eyes. If you've got tons of said weapon, offer a fair trade that tips to their side slightly, but I'd reccomend against outright donations unless you're just unloading extra DBs and Varistas.
------> So Long and Thanks for the Handgun <------
High-level player enters game with low-level party members. Player then steals party members' weapons when they die (as low-level characters inevitably do). The weapons are not valuable -- handguns, sabers and the like -- but to the low-level character it is all they have.