Ade
;3
The East Tower
Objective / Mission Bumper:
“Eliminate all the monsters that have inhabited the Control Tower on Gal Da Val Island.”
Client: Lab Chief Natasha Milarose
Reward: 40,000 Meseta on Ultimate difficulty
Author: Sega / Sonic Team
History / Tidbits:
1. The East Tower quest was first released on PSO Episode I & II on May 27, 2003.
2. Prior to this quest, the only way to legitimately explore the Tower area was by reaching the end of the single player quest Seat of the Heart. It took a long time to reach the Tower segment due to the SOTH’s lengthy and stringent objectives. In Ultimate difficulty, the NPC Elly Person was notorious for getting herself one-shot-killed by the dangerous Tower enemies, which caused mission failure and starting over from the beginning. It was nearly impossible to keep her alive without Traps, Frozen Shooter, or Snow Queen, and I was a HUmar main at the time. (It was possible to get the HUcast Kireek as your NPC partner if very specific things were done in the Offline Story Quests, but he wasn’t much more helpful.) Needless to say, receiving a more reliable way to explore the Tower area was welcome.
3. The East Tower was one of the additional pieces content added to the Offline Mode for PSO Episode I & II Plus for GameCube. Prior to this, it was playable in Online Mode only.
Enemy / Box Counts:
Source: https://wiki.pioneer2.net/w/The_East_Tower
Gimmick / Theme:
In addition to your standard-fare “defeat most or all of the enemies” objective that is the entirety of PSO, this quest has a side objective: By interacting with a specific computer terminal in the East Tower and bringing the data to Paganini on Pioneer 2, you gain the ability to add special attacks to S-Rank Weapons in Gallon’s Shop (at the cost of significant Photon Drops). Although this is a key ability for players throughout their entire PSO existence, the objective itself isn’t a significant value-add for the quest since you only do it one time. Furthermore, because there’s no real difficulty in interacting with a computer and then talking to an NPC, the ability to add S-Rank specials probably could have simply been added to the game without this unceremonious “going through the motions.” I won’t go as far as deducting points for “intentionally wasting the player’s time” since you literally only have to do this ONE TIME, but it’s just silly.
Once this is done, The East Tower becomes a “defeat enemies” quest. This doesn’t detract from the score at all. Defeating enemies is the core gameplay of PSO, so no complaints there.
Section Score: 20 out of 20 possible points
Mob Density / Placement / Pacing:
This quest was the first time players could explore the lower platform in CCA in a party (in addition to the inside of the Tower). You start outside of the Tower in Central Control Area, work your way to the lower area, and then enter the East Tower. This was a cool “lead up” in 2003, but since there are now plenty of Tower quest alternatives that start you directly in Tower, this initial CCA part is a comparative waste of time in present day.
(At least this time we don't have to jump down here!)
The mob density seems to start really well in the first room with two very memorable and iconic waves of Meriltas and a couple of decent Ul / Zol Gibbon waves in the second room, but it tapers off immediately. The rest of the outdoor CCA rooms are fairly weak, and one of them can be outright skipped.
(This LOOKS promising...)
(...sadly, this is one of the most dangerous waves in the entire quest.)
Once in the Tower, it’s more of the same. There are only two or three dangerous or chunky waves.
I want to be clear: This quest did nothing wrong and was simply phased out by the power creep of far superior quests that boast better pacing, higher mob density, and more fun. Sadly, there are no longer any “best” hunts in this quest, and there’s little reason to play it outside of Hunter’s Boost Road, save for one saving grace… more on that in the Reward for Effort section.
Being able to see more than one of each mini-boss without replaying Jungle, Mountain, Seaside, Max Attack 2, or SOTH; The East Tower was revolutionary for its time. However, I have to score it here and now. The mob placement is memorable and well done, but The East Tower has not aged well in terms of mob density and pacing.
(The moment every Sealed J-Sword hunter waited for. Well...prior to Phantasmal World # 4...)
Section Score: 10 out of 30 possible points
Challenge / Fairness:
A well-geared Ranger can cheese this entire quest, and save for one dangerous moment where you have to evade a Merikle’s instant-death projectile before turning around to freeze it, you’re never in any danger. I soloed this quest as a HUmar hundreds of times in Online Mode on PSO GCN after figuring out how to “fool” the dangerous spots, so even the worst solo classes in the game can handle it.
(Fence cheese!)
(More fence cheese!)
The quest is lacking in challenge, but I can’t think of a single spot that is unfair or designed to waste the player’s time.
Section Score: 16 out 30 possible points
Reward for Effort:
PSO Blue Burst has several quests that pay less Meseta than their Episode I & II counterparts. For example, Lost Heat Sword on Ultimate difficulty pays a whopping 15,000 Meseta on I & II, but only pays a fraction of this on Blue Burst (I think maybe 2,000 or 3,000, but I’m too lazy to check). One saving grace of The East Tower is it still pays the same MASSIVE 40,000 Meseta reward it paid in older versions of the game. So, if you’re looking for an easy and chill Tower experience that pays a boatload of cash, this is your quest.
Another “reward” is gaining the ability to add specials to S-Rank Weapons, but again, I think it was silly this wasn’t simply unlocked from the get-go in Gallon’s Shop. Seriously, the “objective” is just “press a button here” and then “talk to someone here.” Not exactly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. (Once again: No point loss since this is a one-time thing.)
(A few containers tucked here and there doesn't hurt anything for the reward section, either!)
Section Score: 20 out of 20 possible points
Overall:
I chose The East Tower this month because I was a bit disappointed with the HBR lineup, and I already know this quest inside-out and backwards. I have a lot of fond memories running this with friends on PSO GCN. (Yes, I had, and still have, friends.)
Unfortunately, The East Tower simply fell out of relevance after Phantasmal World # 4 and other Ephinea-made Tower quests with superior mob density and challenge were released. It’s a fond footnote in the history of PSO, but there’s little reason to play it outside of HBR nowadays. I would not miss seeing this quest removed from the HBR list for far-superior alternatives. I know HBR is designed to get people playing lesser-played content, but that shouldn't be at the expense of adding a quest that is inferior to other quests in almost every single way, in my opinion.
Overall Score: 66 out of 100 possible points
6.6 / 10
Explanation of review / why I am I doing this: Every month I want to review one quest from HBR. I really enjoy being creative. I used to like drawing and writing, but my current profession does not provide a lot of creative outlet. I hope these reviews are enjoyable and create discussion.
All reviews are going to be done on Ultimate difficulty since 98.5% of the game takes place there.
I’m taking next month off because I don’t want to miss out on any Anniversary Event hunting time. See you on Ragol!
Thanks for reading!
Objective / Mission Bumper:
“Eliminate all the monsters that have inhabited the Control Tower on Gal Da Val Island.”
Client: Lab Chief Natasha Milarose
Reward: 40,000 Meseta on Ultimate difficulty
Author: Sega / Sonic Team
History / Tidbits:
1. The East Tower quest was first released on PSO Episode I & II on May 27, 2003.
2. Prior to this quest, the only way to legitimately explore the Tower area was by reaching the end of the single player quest Seat of the Heart. It took a long time to reach the Tower segment due to the SOTH’s lengthy and stringent objectives. In Ultimate difficulty, the NPC Elly Person was notorious for getting herself one-shot-killed by the dangerous Tower enemies, which caused mission failure and starting over from the beginning. It was nearly impossible to keep her alive without Traps, Frozen Shooter, or Snow Queen, and I was a HUmar main at the time. (It was possible to get the HUcast Kireek as your NPC partner if very specific things were done in the Offline Story Quests, but he wasn’t much more helpful.) Needless to say, receiving a more reliable way to explore the Tower area was welcome.
3. The East Tower was one of the additional pieces content added to the Offline Mode for PSO Episode I & II Plus for GameCube. Prior to this, it was playable in Online Mode only.
Enemy / Box Counts:
Source: https://wiki.pioneer2.net/w/The_East_Tower
Gimmick / Theme:
In addition to your standard-fare “defeat most or all of the enemies” objective that is the entirety of PSO, this quest has a side objective: By interacting with a specific computer terminal in the East Tower and bringing the data to Paganini on Pioneer 2, you gain the ability to add special attacks to S-Rank Weapons in Gallon’s Shop (at the cost of significant Photon Drops). Although this is a key ability for players throughout their entire PSO existence, the objective itself isn’t a significant value-add for the quest since you only do it one time. Furthermore, because there’s no real difficulty in interacting with a computer and then talking to an NPC, the ability to add S-Rank specials probably could have simply been added to the game without this unceremonious “going through the motions.” I won’t go as far as deducting points for “intentionally wasting the player’s time” since you literally only have to do this ONE TIME, but it’s just silly.
Once this is done, The East Tower becomes a “defeat enemies” quest. This doesn’t detract from the score at all. Defeating enemies is the core gameplay of PSO, so no complaints there.
Section Score: 20 out of 20 possible points
Mob Density / Placement / Pacing:
This quest was the first time players could explore the lower platform in CCA in a party (in addition to the inside of the Tower). You start outside of the Tower in Central Control Area, work your way to the lower area, and then enter the East Tower. This was a cool “lead up” in 2003, but since there are now plenty of Tower quest alternatives that start you directly in Tower, this initial CCA part is a comparative waste of time in present day.
(At least this time we don't have to jump down here!)
The mob density seems to start really well in the first room with two very memorable and iconic waves of Meriltas and a couple of decent Ul / Zol Gibbon waves in the second room, but it tapers off immediately. The rest of the outdoor CCA rooms are fairly weak, and one of them can be outright skipped.
(This LOOKS promising...)
(...sadly, this is one of the most dangerous waves in the entire quest.)
Once in the Tower, it’s more of the same. There are only two or three dangerous or chunky waves.
I want to be clear: This quest did nothing wrong and was simply phased out by the power creep of far superior quests that boast better pacing, higher mob density, and more fun. Sadly, there are no longer any “best” hunts in this quest, and there’s little reason to play it outside of Hunter’s Boost Road, save for one saving grace… more on that in the Reward for Effort section.
Being able to see more than one of each mini-boss without replaying Jungle, Mountain, Seaside, Max Attack 2, or SOTH; The East Tower was revolutionary for its time. However, I have to score it here and now. The mob placement is memorable and well done, but The East Tower has not aged well in terms of mob density and pacing.
(The moment every Sealed J-Sword hunter waited for. Well...prior to Phantasmal World # 4...)
Section Score: 10 out of 30 possible points
Challenge / Fairness:
A well-geared Ranger can cheese this entire quest, and save for one dangerous moment where you have to evade a Merikle’s instant-death projectile before turning around to freeze it, you’re never in any danger. I soloed this quest as a HUmar hundreds of times in Online Mode on PSO GCN after figuring out how to “fool” the dangerous spots, so even the worst solo classes in the game can handle it.
(Fence cheese!)
(More fence cheese!)
The quest is lacking in challenge, but I can’t think of a single spot that is unfair or designed to waste the player’s time.
Section Score: 16 out 30 possible points
Reward for Effort:
PSO Blue Burst has several quests that pay less Meseta than their Episode I & II counterparts. For example, Lost Heat Sword on Ultimate difficulty pays a whopping 15,000 Meseta on I & II, but only pays a fraction of this on Blue Burst (I think maybe 2,000 or 3,000, but I’m too lazy to check). One saving grace of The East Tower is it still pays the same MASSIVE 40,000 Meseta reward it paid in older versions of the game. So, if you’re looking for an easy and chill Tower experience that pays a boatload of cash, this is your quest.
Another “reward” is gaining the ability to add specials to S-Rank Weapons, but again, I think it was silly this wasn’t simply unlocked from the get-go in Gallon’s Shop. Seriously, the “objective” is just “press a button here” and then “talk to someone here.” Not exactly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. (Once again: No point loss since this is a one-time thing.)
(A few containers tucked here and there doesn't hurt anything for the reward section, either!)
Section Score: 20 out of 20 possible points
Overall:
I chose The East Tower this month because I was a bit disappointed with the HBR lineup, and I already know this quest inside-out and backwards. I have a lot of fond memories running this with friends on PSO GCN. (Yes, I had, and still have, friends.)
Unfortunately, The East Tower simply fell out of relevance after Phantasmal World # 4 and other Ephinea-made Tower quests with superior mob density and challenge were released. It’s a fond footnote in the history of PSO, but there’s little reason to play it outside of HBR nowadays. I would not miss seeing this quest removed from the HBR list for far-superior alternatives. I know HBR is designed to get people playing lesser-played content, but that shouldn't be at the expense of adding a quest that is inferior to other quests in almost every single way, in my opinion.
Overall Score: 66 out of 100 possible points
6.6 / 10
Explanation of review / why I am I doing this: Every month I want to review one quest from HBR. I really enjoy being creative. I used to like drawing and writing, but my current profession does not provide a lot of creative outlet. I hope these reviews are enjoyable and create discussion.
All reviews are going to be done on Ultimate difficulty since 98.5% of the game takes place there.
I’m taking next month off because I don’t want to miss out on any Anniversary Event hunting time. See you on Ragol!
Thanks for reading!
Last edited:
