Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yet another reason to buy a GameCube, December 23, 2002
Hunting down Game Cube's only online title may be a chore that some people may not be interested in, while hunting down the broadband adapter is even worse... thankfully I found both, and had a credit card handy that day, and boy am I glad I did.
I was a fan of he Dreamcast original, and so when Episode 1&2 was announced for GameCube I was very happy. Regardless of what anybody has said about graphical enhancements in the past I cannot stress enough that there has been drastic enhancements to the graphics, to the camera, and best of all to the controller sensitivity, defending you character is so much easier because the game is a lot more responsive than its previous incarnations.
There are more character types to choose from, new strengths, new weaknesses, a few new monsters, etc, and it is plenty fun on its own without going online.
Sega also included the option for four-player action offline, which is also a blast.
There is one complaint I have for this game, and only one, the lack of a keyboard, or headset for communication. Despite the addition of hotkeys, conversation online is a big pain because typing through the control pad is too slow, and by the time I finish my sentence my comrades have already left the lobby. Nintendo needs to release a keyboard for the GameCube, even if it's only for PSO.
Be aware that this game is not out of print, its just that demand is extremely high, and during the next few months it may be difficult to find, but not impossible. Some websites are reporting that the product is discontinued, but this is not the case. The game is a lot of fun, and if you don't mind doing a little hunting for it it's well worth the price of admission. Hopefully this means Nintendo will get its act together with online games and start getting serious about an online plan.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, March 7, 2003
When the Dreamcast first hit the shelves, many of us stared longingly for several moments at that phone jack on the back of the system. It took time, but that little port has finally seen action via the Web browser, "Chu Chu Rocket," "Quake 3," "Starlancer," and Visual Concepts' 2001 sports titles. The capstone to Sega's initial online multiplayer lineup, however, is a little SonicTeam gem called "Phantasy Star Online." Although it incorporates many elements from the "Phantasy Star" series, "PSO" is a side story at best. The events in the game take place approximately 1,000 years after the end of "Phantasy Star 2." Seven years ago, the interstellar transport ship Pioneer 1 landed on the planet of Ragol to begin colonization. Pioneer 2 arrives to bring more colonists to the settlement, but as communication is established between Pioneer 2 and the planet's surface, a huge explosion rocks Ragol. The Central Dome of the colony is ground zero. Taking the role of an adventurer from Pioneer 2, your job is to figure out what happened on Ragol that fateful day. This premise is simply an excuse for "PSO" to exist; you don't get much more narrative than that. Luckily, the lack of story doesn't detract from the fun of the game. Much as in "Diablo," Gameplay consists of heading into mazelike environments, clearing areas of numerous monsters, snatching up any items they may drop, and selling said items for cash back in town. As you gain experience from kills, you become stronger, progress further, and find better weapons and armor. Eventually, you can defeat the boss of the area and move on to the next area. "PSO" differs from "Diablo" in that the game is fully 3D, with the perspective being third-person over-the-shoulder. The basic gameplay is solid, outside of some occasional camera troubles, although the battle system is a bit simplistic. Fighting boils down to "point and shoot." Strategy comes into play only when attackers swarm over your character in the higher difficulty levels. Because of this, the game can become repetitive, particularly when a character is powerful enough to make it through an area, but not quite strong enough to take on the area boss. Leveling up is tedious, but can be made relatively painless if you have online teammates with whom you enjoy playing. You create characters by choosing one of nine character types, and then customizing the appearance of your selection to suit your taste. A variety of heads, faces, colors, and outfits are available for each type, and a proportion editor lets you use a sliding scale to change the height and weight as you please. Characters can be used exclusively online, exclusively off-line, or in a combination of both. Of course, the heart of the game is the online multiplay, and "PSO" excels in this area. When you log on, you find yourself in a lobby area, which serves as both a chat lounge and a gateway to the actual game. From the lobby you can link up with up to three other players and jump into a quest. "PSO" uses an innovative Symbol Chat system that lets you communicate with player-designed face icons. You can also construct chat sentences from preset phrase menus. Any phrase you chose from a preset menu will automatically be translated for the other players. Japanese players will see your message in Japanese; French players will see it in French. In practice, most communication is done through old-fashioned typing, but Sega's bold attempt to break down language barriers is worthy of note. Lag is almost non-existent. Where it does crop up, the game hides it exceedingly well. The most prominent display of lag is a delay in picking up an item or a teammate slashing at thin air but still hitting an enemy. This does not affect gameplay, and not once was lag anything more than an occasionally amusing quirk throughout the 60 or so hours I spent online with "PSO." Indeed, the online play is so smooth that sometimes it doesn't feel like the game is being played online. The environments you hack, blast, and cast your way through are packed with gorgeous detail. The Forest where you begin the quest is one of the most visually stunning pieces of work on a console to date. Animation is excellent, and the Forest's dragon boss gives the impression of a truly fearsome creature. Yet somehow SonicTeam managed to make all of this run buttery smooth for four players on 56-Kbps modems. Sound is less stellar than are graphics. While the music is excellent, incorporating some of the old "Phantasy Star" themes into new compositions, sound effects tend to fall flat. Granted, there can only be so much variety in sword slashes and bullet hits, but more distinct sounds would have been nice. Additionally, a number of monster sounds are taken from existing Dreamcast sound libraries. They're fine sounds for monsters to make, but it did seem a bit odd to hear the Poison Lilies laugh at me with the voice of the first boss from "House of the Dead 2." If you are looking for an online RPG in the same vein as "Ultima Online" or "EverQuest," or if you are a "Phantasy Star" fan expecting an in-depth continuation of the classic RPG saga, then you will be sorely disappointed. "PSO" is not massively multiplayer, and the story is scant, handed out in tiny parcels in the form of a breadcrumb trail of data storage devices. Sharp-eyed "Phantasy Star" veterans will spot a number of connections and references to the previous games, though. None of the aforementioned shortcomings ruin the game by any means. "PSO" is an attempt to move console gaming further into the realm of online play, and it has succeeded in what it was designed to do. In the process, SonicTeam created an undeniably addictive game in the great tradition of multiplayer dungeon crawling. "Gauntlet" and "Diablo" fans will feel right at home, and anyone who has a craving for hacking up Locustas with a few friends will undoubtedly find a few dozen hours of enjoyment in "Phantasy Star Online." This title is a solid gaming experience, a tremendous technical feat that overcomes the limitations of a dial-up connection, and a welcome return to a Sega franchise that has been gathering dust for far too long.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Game, March 7, 2003
When the Dreamcast first hit the shelves, many of us stared longingly for several moments at that phone jack on the back of the system. It took time, but that little port has finally seen action via the Web browser, "Chu Chu Rocket," "Quake 3," "Starlancer," and Visual Concepts' 2001 sports titles. The capstone to Sega's initial online multiplayer lineup, however, is a little SonicTeam gem called "Phantasy Star Online." Although it incorporates many elements from the "Phantasy Star" series, "PSO" is a side story at best. The events in the game take place approximately 1,000 years after the end of "Phantasy Star 2." Seven years ago, the interstellar transport ship Pioneer 1 landed on the planet of Ragol to begin colonization. Pioneer 2 arrives to bring more colonists to the settlement, but as communication is established between Pioneer 2 and the planet's surface, a huge explosion rocks Ragol. The Central Dome of the colony is ground zero. Taking the role of an adventurer from Pioneer 2, your job is to figure out what happened on Ragol that fateful day. This premise is simply an excuse for "PSO" to exist; you don't get much more narrative than that. Luckily, the lack of story doesn't detract from the fun of the game. Much as in "Diablo," Gameplay consists of heading into mazelike environments, clearing areas of numerous monsters, snatching up any items they may drop, and selling said items for cash back in town. As you gain experience from kills, you become stronger, progress further, and find better weapons and armor. Eventually, you can defeat the boss of the area and move on to the next area. "PSO" differs from "Diablo" in that the game is fully 3D, with the perspective being third-person over-the-shoulder. The basic gameplay is solid, outside of some occasional camera troubles, although the battle system is a bit simplistic. Fighting boils down to "point and shoot." Strategy comes into play only when attackers swarm over your character in the higher difficulty levels. Because of this, the game can become repetitive, particularly when a character is powerful enough to make it through an area, but not quite strong enough to take on the area boss. Leveling up is tedious, but can be made relatively painless if you have online teammates with whom you enjoy playing. You create characters by choosing one of nine character types, and then customizing the appearance of your selection to suit your taste. A variety of heads, faces, colors, and outfits are available for each type, and a proportion editor lets you use a sliding scale to change the height and weight as you please. Characters can be used exclusively online, exclusively off-line, or in a combination of both. Of course, the heart of the game is the online multiplay, and "PSO" excels in this area. When you log on, you find yourself in a lobby area, which serves as both a chat lounge and a gateway to the actual game. From the lobby you can link up with up to three other players and jump into a quest. "PSO" uses an innovative Symbol Chat system that lets you communicate with player-designed face icons. You can also construct chat sentences from preset phrase menus. Any phrase you chose from a preset menu will automatically be translated for the other players. Japanese players will see your message in Japanese; French players will see it in French. In practice, most communication is done through old-fashioned typing, but Sega's bold attempt to break down language barriers is worthy of note. Lag is almost non-existent. Where it does crop up, the game hides it exceedingly well. The most prominent display of lag is a delay in picking up an item or a teammate slashing at thin air but still hitting an enemy. This does not affect gameplay, and not once was lag anything more than an occasionally amusing quirk throughout the 60 or so hours I spent online with "PSO." Indeed, the online play is so smooth that sometimes it doesn't feel like the game is being played online. The environments you hack, blast, and cast your way through are packed with gorgeous detail. The Forest where you begin the quest is one of the most visually stunning pieces of work on a console to date. Animation is excellent, and the Forest's dragon boss gives the impression of a truly fearsome creature. Yet somehow SonicTeam managed to make all of this run buttery smooth for four players on 56-Kbps modems. Sound is less stellar than are graphics. While the music is excellent, incorporating some of the old "Phantasy Star" themes into new compositions, sound effects tend to fall flat. Granted, there can only be so much variety in sword slashes and bullet hits, but more distinct sounds would have been nice. Additionally, a number of monster sounds are taken from existing Dreamcast sound libraries. They're fine sounds for monsters to make, but it did seem a bit odd to hear the Poison Lilies laugh at me with the voice of the first boss from "House of the Dead 2." If you are looking for an online RPG in the same vein as "Ultima Online" or "EverQuest," or if you are a "Phantasy Star" fan expecting an in-depth continuation of the classic RPG saga, then you will be sorely disappointed. "PSO" is not massively multiplayer, and the story is scant, handed out in tiny parcels in the form of a breadcrumb trail of data storage devices. Sharp-eyed "Phantasy Star" veterans will spot a number of connections and references to the previous games, though. None of the aforementioned shortcomings ruin the game by any means. "PSO" is an attempt to move console gaming further into the realm of online play, and it has succeeded in what it was designed to do. In the process, SonicTeam created an undeniably addictive game in the great tradition of multiplayer dungeon crawling. "Gauntlet" and "Diablo" fans will feel right at home, and anyone who has a craving for hacking up Locustas with a few friends will undoubtedly find a few dozen hours of enjoyment in "Phantasy Star Online." This title is a solid gaming experience, a tremendous technical feat that overcomes the limitations of a dial-up connection, and a welcome return to a Sega franchise that has been gathering dust for far too long.
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