Mobile Suit Gundam Online: Battle Operation for the PS3

Earlier this morning I decided to look into a Gundam game I had read about a couple of years ago. That game, as the title of this post suggests, is Mobile Suit Gundam Online: Battle Operation. I was bummed to find that the game is restricted to Japan. Or that's what I thought, anyways. Further reading proved that it was quite possible to easily play the game from North America and that there was even a decent English-speaking community.

Flailthrough's videos were quite helpful when figuring out the game!

I'm not the biggest fan of Kotaku, but they did have a detailed guide (with pictures!) on how to set up your very own Japanese PSN account. No VPN is required, either, which is great. The gameplay of MSG:BO is essentially what I look for in a Mech game. First and foremost is what I call 'weight.' I absolutely hate it when a mech feels like there is no weight behind it. If I'm piloting a massive mechanical monstrosity, I want it to feel like it.And MSG:BO provides that feeling.

After that is "cockpit" view. This is where, at least as far as I can tell, MSG:BO falls short. It's a third-person shooter. There may be an option to play in a "first person cockpit" view, but I haven't been able to figure it out. If you read this and you know how, please tell. Anyways, MSG:BO doesn't meet expectations in this area, but this is about the only real disappointing thing in terms of game mechanics.

Next is customize-ability. You're able to customize various components of your mech and you can even paint it how you like. I've seen some videos of more advanced players that have some really odd looking mechs. There are also decals you can get, such as a "Sieg Zeon" sticker. I haven't messed with this part of the game yet, but the options are there.

One feature I always look forward to seeing in mech games is the ability actually get out of the mech and walk around as a person. This is the reason I loved MechWarrior: Living Legends (An extensive mod for Crysis Wars) so much. However, it's also a feature I rarely see. In MSG:BO, you CAN get out of your mobile suit and it is GLORIOUS! You can run around and make use of a jetpack. You will have several useful pieces of equipment at your disposal. Such as a rifle for taking out other pilots out of their suit, a bazooka for helping out against mobile suits and other armored units, flash grenades, and even a repair tool to repair your mobile suit. 

While you're out of your suit, you can also get in other vehicles. For example, there's a hover-bike type vehicle that comes with rocket launchers and a machine gun that is very maneuverable. I've also seen (and piloted) tanks. I'm not sure if there are more, as I've only played on a couple of maps. You can eject out of your mobile suit if it's taking heavy damage. The mobile suit is also on a different respawn timer than yourself. So you might eject out of your mobile suit, get stepped on immediately, and then respawn and find yourself without a suit for a little bit.

I know there are various game modes you can play, but so far I've only played a sort of Deathmatch-capture the point mix. Getting a fair fight can be difficult at the beginning as the basic suit you start out with is essentially trash. So your first few battles may not be very fun. Thankfully the "OH WOW!" factor should still be in play, so you can probably stick through it. It's last me about five games so far. And, as I watch videos and read guides, I'm learning more and more on how not to get completely destroyed by the pink laser-sword wielding Federation mobile suits.

I suppose I can say that I'm not a big fan of the games F2P Model. The biggest issue is the "Credit" system. Each match takes one credit. You can either buy credits for real money, sometimes get them from in-game means, or you can use the free credits. One free credit takes two hours to generate and you can have up to a maximum of three free credits at any one time. That means as a completely free-to-play play, you'll be able to play a maximum of three matches per six hour period. So, essentially, you'll play three matches, go to sleep, and then when you've come home from school/work/whatever, you'll play three more and that'll be it.

So far, though, the game seems like it may be worth investing in. It's kind of old (it originally came out in 2012), but the game play is very solid so far as I can tell. And between Dragonball Xenoverse, Mobile Suit Gundam Online, and SkyForge, I've gotten addicted to this sort of style of play. Speaking of Xenoverse, I may make a post about it soon. I haven't played much recently but I do have a character at about level 50. 

That's it for now. I'll more than likely make another post in a week or so that gives a better overview of the game. Also, the lack of pictures is because I currently do not have a way to take screenshots with my PS3. Other than my phone, anyways, and that wouldn't look that good.

Mobile Suit Gundam Online - Account Creation and Game Installation Guide

Hello. In the past I made a MSGO Guide video that got something like 30,000 views over two years. It still gets a decent amount of daily views and a handful of questions/comments (mostly about it being outdated and expressing interest in a new guide)  daily. I've recently made an updated video guide and today I will also be making a written guide.

This is for the Japanese version and requires a VPN. 

If you would prefer the video guide, scroll to the bottom of this post!

Account Creation
1) First, you will need to make an account. You will do that by click HERE.
-It should be in English, however it will sometimes appear in Japanese. If it DOES appear in Japanese, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and there will be a small bit of English text that says "International Portal" click that and you'll be taken to the English page.

2) Creating your account is extremely easy. The only important thing is that you Select Asia/Japan as your Country/Region of Residence, as shown in the image below.

Game Downloading and Installation
3) Now you will need to download the Installer. Do that by clicking HERE.


4) Installing is incredibly easy. It'll be in Japanese (or in a strange random string of symbols if you do not have Japanese language packs installed). Simply look for the option with 'N' in it and left-click it.

5) Once you have the BNO_Launcher downloaded and installed, open it in Administrator mode by right-clicking its shortcut and selecting "Run as Administrator." 

6) Ensure that the correct game is selected in the Launcher. This image will help you determine which one is correct:

7) Click the large Orange Button to begin the initial file downloading. This will be short and will only take a moment.

8) Once the initial files are done downloading, press the large Orange Button button once again. This should download and install the bulk game files.

9) Once the bulk files are downloaded and installed, you should be ready to play.

10) If the following Orange Button is displayed (check the symbols) then you are ready to play.

-If that image above is not what you see, you have more files to download. However, before downloading further files, FIRST close and re-open the Launcher. It is possible that you do in fact have the game up-to-date but the Launcher may be experiencing a common bug where it attempts to re-download the same thing over and over.


VPN Set-up and Playing
11) I use Mudfish VPN and so this guide will use it too. So far it has proven to be the easiest, most userfriendly VPN I have experience. However, this comes at a price. You will need to put in a minimum of $1 USD credit to use the Japanese VPN servers. This $1 should, if you use the VPN sparingly and only while playing MSGO and not while downloading files, last you for several weeks or even months.

12) Create an account for Mudfish VPN (linked above) and download the installer. Install the VPN - click Yes to everything and install the optional stuff as it is required for the VPN to work.

13) Once you have downloaded Mudfish VPN, set up your account, and implemented your $1 of Credit (which actually comes out to $1.08 USD), head to the Mudfish VPN Dashboard.

14) In the Dashboard, navigate (using the Left-side Menu) to Setup > Program.

15) Once in the Program Setup, click on the "Full VPN" tab and select a "JP Asia" server from the drop-down list. Click 'Save.'

Remember, you can right click on these images and select 'View Image' to see a larger version of the image!

16) Close the current Mudfish VPN Webpage and then, on your desktop, Right-Click the Mudfish shortcut and choose "Run as Administrator." This will cause a new Mudfish Webpage to open and will automatically configure and start the VPN. 

17) Visit WhatIsMyIP.com and ensure that you are connecting from a Japanese server.

-If it says you aren't connecting from Japan, you need to do the following

--Temporarily disable your Virus/Malware protection as they may be blocking the VPN from working. I use AVG and SpyBot Search & Destroy and I have no issues, but other programs may cause conflict and disabling them may help.

--Make sure that the virtual adapter ("TAP-Win32 Adapter V9") is NOT disabled (it needs to be enabled!) in your Device Manager (Search for it by going to the start button and typing "Device Manager" in the search bar).

--If neither of those works, you need to contact Mudfish support. It is possible to run Mudfish using one of the free VPN servers to make sure the program will work for you! Download and try the VPN for FREE before making any purchase!

18) If it tells you that you are connecting from Japan, open the Launcher and then click the large Orange Button. This will launch the game. You can Left-Click to skip the intro cinematics.

19) At the log-in screen, enter your Bandai account info. You will then be presented with a pop-up giving you two options. Click the LEFT option as shown below.

20) On this new page, re-enter your Bandai account information and hit ENTER. This will load you to a User Agreement page. Click the RIGHT option.

--If for some reason this does not work for you, go back through step 18-19 and select the LEFT option on the User Agreement.

21) After that, you will be taken to a new page with a pop-up window. Click OK and close the browser page as you are ready to play.

22) Re-enter your account information in the game and you will be taken to the character creation process which is very straight forward! Watch the video if you need help with that.