Love and PSO Episode I & II

[apmiller]

Picked up Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II for Game Cube...

Let me just say,, I love this game. And I don't mean like love, but like :D LOVE :D !! It's cool enough that you can play it online, but to throw in such great off-line support for multi play as well...me and the boys are having a good freakin time! BOO YEAH!

I have a new reason to go on...no more will I waste time playing Sims or Counter Strike...it's all about the PSO love man! Well, until Metroid Prime comes out...then screw this crappy game and on to the next love! :P

[gear02]

hey ap? tell me why I should get PSO. What kind of game is it? Why is it so fun? Compare it to something.

PSO is one of the few games I know zilch about.

[apmiller]

AP's review of PSO Eps I & II...

Phantasy Star and Sega go hand and hand. Phantasy Star has been Sega's epic RPG for years going back to the old Sega Master system. Phantasy Star Online picks up where the PS 1 2 and 3 left off. Your home world has been destroyed by and evil force. Two fleets carrying the survivors are launched. The first fleet arrives at the hopefully new home world to take a look around and set up a base camp. The second fleet carrying the majority of the remaining population will then colonize the rest of the planet. Once the second fleet arrives and makes contact with the first fleet, there is an explosion and all contact with the first fleet is lost. Hunters are dispatched to investigate what happened and report back. This is where you come in!

Phantasy Star Online is an online/offline RPG adventure. You and four others can group together to go on quests. It's a lot like playing Gauntlet Dark Legacy where you have your various character classes and run around hacking and slashing monsters. The real kicker here is you raise your character's levels so that they can use more techniques (Magic) and you can raise a your mags (little robot buddies that can heal and fight with you).

This game was originally released on the Sega Dreamcast as two separate games. Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Episode 2. Both these great games have been combined as one game for the Game Cube with added quest, monsters, items, and all new offline feature where up to 4 players can create and play their characters in offline quests (split screen) or just battle each other.

The offline single player mode gives you a chance to make you character and level them up before going off into the online world and good for those who need the chance to learn how the game works before running around online like some rookie newbie player...which I wouldn't know anything about...heh.

Character design and background graphics a very nice and spell casting effects are cool. Sound is what you would expect. With the multi player feature you have to use your control pad to type up what you want to say to other players witch is a real drag (No keyboard yet for Game Cube though a 3rd party may have one out this year!) but you can pre-create messages and use hot keys to bring them up but still, during a battle there really isn't time to tell anyone anything...just clear out them monsters! This is where the offline feature is nice for you and your buddies are all in the same room shouting at each other over who picked up the cool unique item!

On it's own it's a great game to play in a group. Online is very nice since you can down load extra quests. You can play it offline as a single player game but might find it more entertaining with others playing with you.

For Game Cube owners looking for some RPG fun should pick this up! Keep in mind if you want to play online you will need to buy the 56k modem (recommended) or the broadband adaptor (not really needed). You get the first month free and it's $8.95 every month after. You get the option of opening and closing your account anytime for they do keep it on record. (Up to 1 year after you close it.)