Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus
Written by Craig Stewart, 2004.
| Release date: |
2003/2004 on GameCube
|
|
| Also released on: |
Dreamcast as Phantasy Star Online (2000/2001)
Dreamcast as Phantasy Star Online Version 2 (2001/2002)
GameCube Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (2002/2003)
Xbox as Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (2003)
PC as Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (2004/2005)
|
Phantasy Star Online (PSO) was released on the Dreamcast in 2000 and was one of the first online games for a console. PSO version 2 was released in 2001 and offered more characters, items and features compared to the original. Version 2 also had some really amazing visual effects like realistic looking water and lens flare.
The Story
The planet Coral where many people lived finally ran out of it's natural resources. The Pioneer project was launched to find a new planet. The Pioneer 1 and Pioneer 2 spaceships set out the find a new planet to live on. The Pioneer 1 found the planet Ragol and the people built the Central Dome on it. Once the Pioneer 2 arrived in Ragol's orbit it contacted the Central Dome. A huge explosion followed soon after the contact between the Central Dome and Pioneer 2. This shook the entire planet and the people from the Pioneer 1 appeared to be missing.
In Episode I you're a bounty hunter on the Pioneer 2. Your job is to find the Principal's daughter Red Ring Rico. She was aboard Pioneer 1 and disappeared along with all the other people. In Episode II you're hired by the ship's laboratory to investigate Gal Da Val Island in the Central Control area. Before you do you must complete two VR stages to prove you're good enough to survive on Ragol.
Episode I
There are four main environments in Episode I, Forest, Caves, Mines and Ruins. The levels are split up into sub-levels with each having a unique look. When playing Episode I it seems like the levels are more like a dungeon rather than a open area. There are quite a lot of rooms to each level, but they're all rather small and you feel a bit restricted in where you can explore.
Most people who have this game spend most of their time playing Episode I. Episode II may seem to have more wider and open areas, but it just doesn't have that special something to keep you playing it.
Episode II
There quite a lot more environments in Episode II compared to Episode I. These are VR Temple, VR Spaceship, Mountain, Seaside, Jungle, Central Dome and Seabed. The levels are also split up into sub-levels and there are lot more of them in this episode. The levels are a lot more open compared to Episode I so you do actually feel you can explore the areas rather than being forced in a certain direction.
Both VR levels have most of the enemies from Episode I. All the level after that have their own enemies. Episode II is also a lot harder than Episode I because the enemies seem to be stronger and have a lot more health. It is also recommended that your character is at level 20 before you attempt Episode II.
Controls
The controls for this game are really simple. The analogue stick is used to control your character and the A button is used to pick up items. Most of the controls can be customized to anything you want. By holding the R button you get an extra set of controls that can also be customized. If you hold R and press Y it brings up the quick weapon equip, item use and magic use menus.
Items Boxes
Everything you pick up is in its own coloured coded box. This let you easily know what you're going to pick up before you do. Weapons are in orange, armour is in blue and items are in green boxes. Rare items come in red boxes that look slightly different compared to standard boxes. Money comes in a diamond shaped box that's bright yellow.
Weapons, Items and Armour
There are loads of different types of weapons to choose from. These include pistols, shotguns, rifles, swords, wands, rods and double sabres. Each weapon has a different colour to tell you how powerful it is. The weapons can have added special properties. Examples of these are fire, ice, confusion and hp drain.
Loads of items can be found in PSO. These range from healing items to stat increasing materials that increase your hp, magic or luck. Also there are materials that increase that stats of your weapons.
Armour also plays a major role in your characters success. There are hundreds of different types of armour and they all require a different level to equip them. They can have up to 4 slots that you can equip different things like cure/poison, hp/revival and god/mind. Slots can be added to armour by using the item AddSlot.
Differences in Characters
There are three different character classes and they all have their own unique advantages and disadvantages. The types are Hunters, Rangers and Force. The Hunters are better at using close combat weapons like swords, they can use magic, but they can't use certain types of guns. The Rangers are better at using guns and rifles, they can use magic, but they can't use certain types of close range weapons. The Force use wands and rods and are extremely weak at physical attack, their magic is really powerful and they can't use most guns and swords.
The Hunter and Ranger classes have android characters that are a little bit different compared to the human characters. The androids are immune to all status elements like poison, paralyses and frost. They can also see traps, set traps and restore their health if they stand still. Androids can't use any type of magic. They're physically stronger and have more health than the humans.
MAGs
MAGs are small comma shaped robots and they're critical to your characters success. It can cast spells and perform special attacks. The best thing about MAGs are that they boost your characters stats. In order to level up your MAG you'll need to feed it. As your MAG levels up it will increase your attack power, defense and just about everything else.
Every three and a half minutes you can feed your MAG any item you have in your inventory. Different items can effect your MAG in various ways depending on their type and level. Also once your MAG reaches level 10, 25, 50, 100-200 it will change its appearance. The MAG may get bigger, smaller or even split into 2.
Difficulty Levels
Each time you complete either episode another difficulty level is unlocked. There are four difficulty levels in total and these are normal, hard, very hard and ultimate. When playing ultimate on Episode I all the enemies look different. The enemies are a lot bigger and have different names as well.
Single Player
The storyline for the single player game isn't up to much. There are basically three different types of missions. Escort someone somewhere, find something or find someone. These types of missions may not sound that appealing, but they're usually quite fun.
Playing Online
To play the game online there is a monthly subscription fee of $8.95 and you'll also need a 56k or Broadband adaptor. There is no fee to play offline. Online play is where most of the fun is. You can play with up to three other players at the same time. You can also download new quests when playing online.
Communication in essential when playing online. If you don't talk to other players you won't get very far. Chatting is easy and there are two ways to do this. You can either press Y to manually type your message in or type you message in with a keyboard. Once the message screen is open you can press X to bring up picture messages. Press X again and there are pre-made questions and answers on just about everything to do with the game.
For the Xbox version of the game you need Xbox Live. You can't play either online or offline without registering your character online. Both versions are exactly the same, it's just you don't need to pay to play offline on the GameCube version.
Split Screen Mode
The split screen mode is for 2-4 players. You can't do missions on split screen mode which is a bit of a disappointment. When doing split screen mode the enemies are a lot harder and there are twice as many for them. This mode isn't really good for much apart from helping each other out to level up or trading items.
Challenge Mode
The challenge mode involves 2-4 people working together trying to complete one of the stages with their character at level 1. Everything you've collected in the offline and online game doesn't count towards the challenge mode so you'll have to pick up weapons, items and armour as you go. You're given a Scape Doll (brings you back to life if you die) and 3 Monomates (restores a small amount of your health) each so you really need to work together to get as far as you can. The first few stages need you to complete the level and defeat the end of level boss. This is extremely hard because it's usually one or two hits and you're dead. Another thing which makes the challenge mode hard is that if one of your team mates dies it's game over and you'll need to retry the mission.
Soundtrack
Like in the original games the music quite memorable and in some cases it plays an ambient role. The music doesn't seem to become annoying even if you listen to the same track over and over again. Dolby Pro Logic II is supported so this might make playing the game that little bit better.
There are two different soundtrack CDs available to buy. PSO Original Soundtrack (21 tracks) and PSO Songs of Ragol Odyssey - Soundtrack Episode 1 & 2 (35 tracks). If you put the soundtracks into your PC there are some sound effects from the game and a few wallpapers.
GBA Minigames
There are a total of four minigames that you can download to your GBA or GBA SP. These are;
Chu Chu Rocket - A port of the Dreamcast's first ever online game. The aim of the game is to try and get the mice into the rockets without the cats getting you. You have to use arrows to direct the mice around the various courses.
NiGHTS Score Attack - Fly into rings to get highest score passable in this port of the Sega Saturn game NiGHTS: Into Dreams.
Puyo Pop - Another port of a classic Sega game. It's also a cut down version where you have to try and get the highest score possible while the game gets faster.
Tiny Chao Guarden - Try to collect as many rare Tails Chaos for use in either Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut or Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
All these games are only available online in the standard version of PSO. On the plus version you can get Chu Chu Rocket, NiGHTS Score Attack and Puyo Pop offline. All you need to do to get them is get a key item from a Chao in the quest "The Fake in Yellow". Chu Chu Rocket is still only available online, but having three out of four isn’t too bad.
Conclusion
People who've played the original PSO on Dreamcast may not find this game that appealing. It offers a lot of new features compared to the Dreamcast version like the GBA minigames. Your save can be used in both episodes and there are more quests. Sega has also updated the game in other ways for the plus version but hasn't disclosed what these changes are.
This is probably the most additive RPG I've ever played and I highly recommend you at least rent this game or borrow it from a friend. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus costs around £25 and you'll get at least 100 hours game play out of it. The only thing that lets this game down is the fact the Sega didn't update the games graphics in any way.
Overall Rating: 88%
Links
Sega (http://www.sega.com)
Sonic Team (http://www.sonicteam.com)
Official Website (http://www.sonicteam.com/pso)
PSO World (http://www.planetdreamcast.com/psoworld)
PSO Quest (http://www.psoquest.com)
Ragol.co.uk (http://www.ragol.co.uk)
Copyright
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.