-
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Genre: RPG
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 30 Oct 02
User Rating
9.6 (28 votes) -
Overview
Ever played one of those games that you just can’t stop playing? If you have not, then this is definitely the game to start that experience. Ever since Phantasy Star Online was released for the Dreamcast, thousands of RPG gamers have joined the party and the fight for the freedom of Ragol. Though this is the only online game for the GameCube at this time, it is an excellent start to GameCube's online franchise. Hunters, are you ready? Let us start…
Gameplay
Phantasy Star Online, or PSO as most call it, starts out as any online RPG for the PC. You will be prompted to create a character the first time you boot the game up. Creating a character is simple and the detail goes as far as giving the ability to change your character's proportions, clothes, hair, and skin. You are able to hold up to four Main Characters on a single memory card.
When you begin creating, you are given three classes to choose from. Hunter, Ranger, and Force. I will briefly explain how each class works. Hunters are more competent with close range weapons than with magic or guns. The Hunter class itself is broken up into three sub-classes, HUmar, HUnewearl, HUcast, and HUcaseal. HUcast and HUcaseal are both android characters, they are robots and therefore are unable to use Techniques, which is another way of saying cast magic. Androids do have powers that are good substitutes of Techniques, they are able to set Traps, which can freeze, confuse, or explode on enemies. HUmar and HUnewearl are both humans; therefore they are able to use techniques. HUmars are male humans, and they have the most balanced set of statistics in the game, the have high accuracy and power which let’s them hit monsters, and hit them hard. HUnewearls are female humans, and have the lowest attack power of the Hunter class but have the highest mental power in the class allowing them to cast more powerful techniques and use spells that give themselves and their teammates more power. HUcasts are male androids and mean serious business, they are the tanks of PSO, with the highest attack power in the game and the most HP of any class, and these are the most powerful characters. HUcaseals are female androids and have high attack power, middle class accuracy and high evasion power that let’s them dodge attacks with ease.
The next class would be the Rangers that mostly use guns and can dabble with swords and Hunter weapons a little. Rangers have the highest accuracy in the game so they can hit enemies from far away, though their attack power is quite low. RAmars, which are one of the human sub-classes, have the highest accuracy in the game, which allows them to almost always hit enemies. RAmarls, the RAmars female counterpart has lower accuracy but very high magic like the HUnewearl. RAcast, male androids, are a heavy set Ranger has the highest attack power of the Ranger class but lowest accuracy so they develop more slowly. RAceaseal, the android female part of the group has moderate attack power but very high defense.
The last, and most difficult to play class would be the Forces, which rely on techniques to guide them through the game. The sub-classes of the Force group are FOmar, FOmarl, FOnewm, and FOnewearl. FOmars, male Forces, have the lowest mental power of the Force class, but have high attack power which allows the to deal more damage with weapons rather than techniques. Fomarls, female human forces, can also use weapons quite efficiently, but they are mostly in the game for support-based techniques. FOnwems are newman, male Forces and are granted with ultra-high mental strength. They cast very powerful attack techniques. Finally, Fonewearls, which are female newmans, have the strongest mental strength in the game and can cast all kinds of powerful techniques.
By now you are most likely wondering how the game actually plays out. This game is an action RPG that can be either played offline or online. First of all let me tell you that to play online you must have a valid ISP (internet service provider), a Broadband or Modem Adaptor, and a Hunter's License that will cost you $8.95 USD per month to play. The monthly fee is what usually turns down gamers, though this really isn’t that large a fee because it is all well worth it. I can guarantee that you will be playing this game from months upon months and won’t stop.
In the actual game you can choose between two episodes, either Episode 1 or 2. Episode 1 is the story of people from a distant planet trying to inhabit a planet called Ragol, but when they get there they notice that something is very wrong in this peaceful place. All of its creatures are fearsome, killing beasts now and they distribute their Hunters to find out what is wrong. Episode 2 is the story after the first episode’s problems are resolved. Your character will mostly be playing through a newly designed VR Simulator that trains Hunters. When you start wither episode, you begin in a little town inside a ship. In this town there is a bank, some shops, and a gateway to the land of Ragol or the VR Simulator. During battle, you see a series of small boxes in the bottom right hand corner. These boxes represent the B, A, X, Y buttons on your GameCube controller. You can set different ‘moves’ to each button, so when you push that button on the controller the character performs the desired action. For instance you can make the A button, attack. The X button can be hard attack. The B button could be a supportive spell or a healing spell for your character. Y is always chat, this brings up a sort of keyboard on your screen that allows you input messages to other online players. Don’t fret because you think three customized actions aren’t enough. By pressing the R shoulder button, a new menu comes up with three more customizable actions and Y becomes the quick item button that let’s you use items efficiently right in the middle of battle. Battles are very simple and fun.
Moving on to leveling your character up. You will start at level 1 and the maximum level is 200. Yes, I know that this is a lot of game time, but you will enjoy every second of it. On average it takes about 1500 hours to get to level 200 and I have only seen 3 people that have actually done this task. Leveling up is simple; you have a set number of points to receive until you get to the next level. Every monster you kill will give you a number of experience points ranging from 5 to 450. Bosses can give anywhere from 2,500 to 40,000 points. Every level up you gain points that add to your characters stats. This is useful for using new weapons and armor. For instance, once you have 200 attack power without a weapon equipped, you can use a new more powerful weapon. Using armor works the same way but you have to have a set level to use a certain armor. So if you are level 1, you need to be level 10 to use a stronger armor…so on and so forth.
Playing online is quite simple. You have to have all the required items, then plug in your cable/phone cord into the GameCube and start gaming. When you arrive online for the first time, you are allowed to choose a ship to hang around in, and then a block on the ship where you can make friends and look for rare items. From the block you can go right into a game. A game is actually a PSO team consisting of four players exploring Ragol at the same time. I know it is sad for all you guys that thought you could see hundreds of other people fighting the same monsters as you, but four players at once is actually quite enough. For the first 20 levels you are only allowed to play on the Normal difficulty. Once you are level 20 you can play on the Hard difficulty setting. Reaching level 40 obtains the Very Hard setting, and getting to level 80 unlocks the Ultimate difficulty setting. After reaching Ultimate there is no more going up, the monsters give you the most experience of any difficulty and you will be around the best players on PSO. Overall, the gameplay is solid in this one.
Graphics
PSO has impressive graphics for an online game and its ability to handle so many players online at once is astounding. Though the graphics could be better, I have no complaints toward this game in the graphics section. The level designs are very nicely done and although they can sometimes seem choppy, are still very good for the type of game this is. Of course, when you are in a room full of players and monsters the game does slow down and get somewhat choppy, you are still able to depict the images and mash the buttons to attack all those enemies. There aren’t exactly many cut-scenes in this game and of course no voice acting.
As far as music goes, it gets somewhat repetitive and can really piss people off sometimes. The music isn’t bad at first, but for players who have spent hundreds of hours playing this game is can be pretty annoying. They did throw in something nice to get a break from Ragols sounds. Through a special quest you are able to purchase music discs and add various tunes to your gaming, anywhere from Wedding Music to Japanese Pop Music. This adds a nice twist to the dull sounds that will drive you nuts.
Overall, the graphics are not that bad but can get laggy and choppy. The music is very repetitive and gets annoying fast, but using music discs in the game makes it enjoyable and somewhat humorous as well.
Fun Factor
You really can’t get more fun than this. This is a true MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) that will last hundreds or thousands of hours and you will always be chasing the level 200 spot. Even though seeing the same levels over and over again, there is nothing more fun that making internet buddies and taking on those monsters with an elite team of Hunters. Bosses are creative, items are great, weapons are astounding, techniques are a lot of fun to use; games just don’t get much more fun than this one. Trust me, you will be playing it for a long time and having fun in the process.
Overall
So how does PSO all come together? From the online side this game is an immense world for you to explore at your own free will or with a bunch of friends. This game excels in fun factor and graphics than any other MMORPG on any system, and arguably the best online RPG ever…even better than the PC ones. Though the gameplay is linear and repetitive, the online quests and hidden secrets make this game an extremely addictive experience. The battle system is clever and the weapons/techniques are nicely presented. If you want a serious MMORPG, check this one out. Make some new friends even if you live inside your room
- Gameplay
10.0 - Graphics
8.0 - Fun Factor
10.0 - Overall
9.0
