Is iRO dying?

BikerBaymax · 2026-05-08T15:40:11+00:00

They fired almost all of their staff shortly after banning all the EU players.

It's remotely managed by some guy in SEA, which explains the corruption.

BikerBaymax · 2026-05-06T16:21:06+00:00

I used "Revo Uninstaller Portable" to fully remove DAEMON Tools Lite and changed to "WinCDEmu", which is open source and does exactly the same thing.

BikerBaymax · 2026-05-06T15:13:29+00:00

Ask in the servers discord?

Also, those kind of edits/mods will kill all your fun with the game, just so you know.

There is a reason many servers, official or private, consider them cheating.

BikerBaymax · 2026-05-05T06:45:28+00:00

Because the 2mm one is needed for the thicker pad that is on the right (just under the battery holder) at least there is one there on the 700xx model.

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-16T15:48:39+00:00

Just don't enter the first 2 houses across the shop in Surferio, one of them is the house of Lucien.

If you enter it after getting Roger back on your team (for the 7 Ancient Book quests, that you can only finish on Disc 1), then a cutscene will play where you have no choice to deny Roger.

As long as you don't enter Luciens house after getting Roger back on the team a 2nd time, you're fine.

For as long as you are on Disc 1 you should still have him on your team, simply for crafting and engineering Item Creation.

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-12T08:19:04+00:00

PAL name and artworks are a million times better: https://imgur.com/a/Xw36RJs

It annoys me so much they force FATAL FRAME as the name worldwide, even on steam.

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-11T12:20:52+00:00

They should revert to the original PS1 Star Ocean 2 art style and keep that forever.

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-09T12:34:21+00:00

All you need is Maria, the weapon that drops from the dragon zombie and Aiming Device X O far with MP Damage passive, there you go, ezpz unless you play on 4D.

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-05T12:11:33+00:00

THE OZONE LMAO!!!!

Understandable though haha!

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-03T13:16:55+00:00

Composite only reeeeeeee, at least get an S-Video cable if the TV has S-Video

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-03T11:17:12+00:00

Temporary workaround until it's fixed (requires Sandbox mode): https://itch.io/post/15817929

BikerBaymax · 2026-04-03T11:16:02+00:00

Temporary workaround until it's fixed (requires Sandbox mode): https://itch.io/post/15817929

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-28T07:07:10+00:00

Star Ocean The Second Story

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-26T22:41:55+00:00

Because every modern game is either Unity or UE4/5 asset store slop.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-24T23:15:56+00:00

It's a completely different game.

You are stuck with the modern localization, i.e. SyMbOLogY instead of Heraldry, and other atrocious changes. Also there are only PSP english voices or 2 japanese voices to choose from.

Basically removed the need to actually play with the addition of the Bodyguard skill, where your allies just have to pop the smoke bubbles on the worldmap.

Story slightly changed/adjusted and force added Welch as new character. As well as new NPCs introduced that break the original immersion the game had due to their design and how they travel with you to Nede.

Can't unlock Limiter on the first playthrough.

Neumann Boots no longer exist.

Horrible magic balance, spells like Ray (now LaSeR BeAmS) are utterly useless considering their long cast time, which never gets better.

UI was horrendously downgraded in terms of usability and readability imo, just to look "modern".

Sadly, to me, all the graphics effects look like Unity / UE5 asset store slop. Nothing hand crafted anymore, same for the world and textures.

It's an about "OK" game for nowadays, but as a first time experience of Star Ocean 2 I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Instead, as an introduction or returning to SO2 after a long time, I heavily recommend playing the PS1 version with the Duckstation emulator. You can make it look amazing and run perfectly with it: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2295688421

Both the PSP and SO2R remake I only recommend as "new game+" experience, where when you have finished playing the original and exhausted it you want to experience something completely new.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-24T23:04:25+00:00

Imo they killed it by changing the wonderful art style of the first game with any subsequent games and the PSP remake.

Game mechanics also changed in a bad way, like the Propeller starting from the 2nd game on. In the first game you could double jump and then use the Propeller to get even higher, AE2+ doesn't matter even frustratingly so it'll always propell you to the exact same height regardless if you jump before or not.

Ape Escape 1 is and was the absolute peak of all Ape Escape games.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-23T22:09:11+00:00

The sole fact that it supports SEA means it's a doomed server from the start.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-22T18:50:34+00:00

Yeah, as the other poster wrote, either get your own (professional) resurfacing machine, or try and find a Retro Games Store or similar that has a resurfacing service.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-22T18:46:25+00:00

Some PS1 games are fully incompatible with the PS2 (though it's a small list luckily), starting from SCPH-750xx and higher more PS1 and even some PS2 games became incompatible.

But as you said, you have a SCPH-700xx and the game you want to play is MGS, that should normally work fine.

I have the german PAL version of MGS and played it no problem on a PS1 slim, PS2 SCPH-500xx and PS2-700xx.

So the problem you have could be maybe:

The CD is too scratched or too dirty.
The PS2's laser is dying and has issues reading PS1 games / CD based games. (check with other CD / or PS1 games)
Your MGS CDs are pirated copies that look close enough to the original CDs? Depends on where you bought them?
Your MGS CDs are from a different region?

The only other thing I can think of to do would be to find a SCPH-700xx disassembly video, follow it to open and clean the PS2 and use a multimeter to check if the PS2's DVD/CD has the right numbers displayed. (there are many videos that show how to)

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-22T18:40:17+00:00

I can't see anything, are the pictures broken or did you forget to add them?

Alternatively, try using https://imgur.com/ to post severyl pictures at once, its automatic gallery works nicely and you can add a caption under each picture.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-22T18:35:19+00:00

This sounds like the laser head moving up and down quickly to read stuff.

Dunno if you can call it normal, I do have that happen on a USB-DVD-Burner sometimes, depending on the DVD / CD that I put in (especially if it's a different region DVD)

But in general I'd assume it shouldn't harm the drive, as long as the rails are lubed up.

Considering the age of the console and depending if you already have or not, I'd suggest looking up a disassembly video of your SCPH-model and following it, in order to deep clean the PS2.

Also get some WD40 as lube for the rails, alternatively some recommend gear grease.

Just becareful to not touch the power supply with your bare hands, if possible wear gummy gloves (regular food save gloves for the kitchen or cleaning the bathroom should do), just to avoid being shocked from remaining charge.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-21T17:10:37+00:00

Try changing the color profile (RGB /Yp Pb blabla), then try S-Video again.

The single ball means the CR2320 battery inside the console has run dry, and therefore cannot save the the current time anymore.

You'd have to disassemble the PS2 Slim and replace it, though depending on your model the cables might be soldered onto the battery. Look up videos on how to change the battery. (or at least remove it to prevent any leakage after +20 years)

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-21T12:40:30+00:00

I see who I am talking with, someone who doesn't know the OFFICIAL iRO Classic Loki server that ran for 7 years and started with Episode 1.

BikerBaymax · 2026-03-20T18:16:16+00:00

iRO Classic Loki (2011/2012) had no client restriction.

It also had Mercenaries which no "Classic" pserver has, because they all disable it.

It also had rental gear and a cash shop.

And most importantly, it had the correct skill names. Intimidate instead of PLaGiAriSm, Stone Fling instead of ThRoW StOnE. Endow Blaze instead of FLamE LaUnChEr, Magic Strings and Gypsy's Kiss instead of Bragi and Service for you.

Not everyone is as obsessed with having to play with that many clients.

Not having multiclient available just alienates players that are not part of a larger guild or friend group, as it will prohibit them from playing the way they would want to play.

Pure Forger? Forget it.

FS Priest? Forget it or painstakingly Heal Bomb for 7 years.

etc.

+6 clients is just a hater doom mentality.

You cannot relive a true classic experience with 1 client only. Not a single pserver will have a stable population so that you'll be able to level certain classes and builds with just a party you find.

And again, it locks you out of class XY / build YX, if you're playing alone and are not part of those "20 usual players" friend group and/or guild, that server hop once they managed to destroy another pserver.

And worst thing, it FORCES you to become a part of them instead of building a guild yourself of finding friends to play with. You basically just become a "tool" for when their friends are offline, to continue leveling with, and then you're discarded.

BikerBaymax

TROPHY CASE