Phantasy Star Online v.2: Houston, We have a problem

You know what? The people who work at Funcoland kept telling me that I was degrading myself by buying a Dreamcast, and kept insisting that I buy an X-Box(the current cash cow), GC, or PS2. But really, I think I’ve upgraded myself. I’ve already found a good game on the Dreamcast that I clocked over 18 hours in the first couple days of having it, and there are many more that I want to get. The PS2, GC, and X-Box all have some good games, but some of the replay value isn’t really high and so you’ve shelved a fifty dollar game within a week(depending on your play level). Sure the PS2’s got Final Fantasy X, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Metal Gear Solid 2; sure the X-Box has Halo, Dead or Alive 3, and Project Gotham Racing; and sure the Gamecube has Super Smash Bros Melee, Star Wars: Rogue Leader, and Sega Soccer Slam.

But what do they have to look forward to(in terms of replay value)? Well, the PS2 has Virtual Fighter 4, Tekken 4 and Mortal Kombat 5 on the horizon; the X-Box has...well none that look interesting to me at this point; and the GC has Eternal Darkness, Star Fox: Dinosaur Planet, Soul Calibur 2, and (hopefully) Mario Sunshine. I know I’ve got a Gamecube and PS2, and I love them, but right now there’s a sort of dry spell and the only games that are giving me replay value right now is Final Fantasy X, Super Smash Bros Melee, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and SSX Tricky(GC).

Ok I got a tad off track there, but the whole point of that was Funcoland trying to tell me what I wanted when they have absolutely NO clue of what I want. This game I’ve clocked in about 300-500 something hours now, is called Phantasy Star Online v.2, an online Role-Players/Action/Adventure game that has such a high replay value, I hated going to school because I wanted to go home and level up my character up some more and play with people through the 56 k modem online.

Offline
I’m going to break up the rest of the review in two parts: offline mode and online mode. Each one will have 3 to 4 sub-sections(including the story).

Plot/Story
When desperate measures cause a population of people to leave their planet, and find a new planet suitable for life, a ship called Pioneer 1 was sent to a planet called Ragol. When they send back a message to “The Principal” about the planet being safe, but then when they landed, a huge explosion occurred and thousands of people were lost.

.....7 years later......

The leader of the principal’s daughter was on that first ship, Red Ring Rico, and now he’s sent Pioneer 2 to the surface of Ragol to find out what the explosion was, why it happened, and most importantly...what happened to Pioneer 1. That’s what your mission is, should you choose to accept it.

Characters
Before you get started on ANY mission, you need to choose a character. There are three different character classes, with each individual having his/her/its strengths, weaknesses, HP, Attack, Defense, TP, etc. The three classes include Rangers(RA), Hunters(HU), and Forces(FO). Each one excels in a specific kind of combat, and some can use TP(Tech Points).

For each class(RA, HU, and FO), there are three different types of that character that have different strengths. For example, a HuCast could excel in HP and high strength, while a HuMar can have more TP.

Hunter’s include three different characters including: HuCast, HuMar, and HuNewral(or something like that, it’s kind of a weird name). The HuCast have higher HP and attack power, the HuMar has some more TP points, and Hu(whatever) is varied between. The hunters excel in close range combat using weapons like swords, blades, etc.

Rangers also have three different characters in its class including RaCast, RaMar, and Ra(something). I’m not sure how they differ between each other because I use a HuCast, but I’m sure they’ll differ in some relation to the way the hunters do. Like the hunters excel in close combat, the Rangers excel in long range combat using guns and other long range guns.

The same with the forces, they include FoCast, FoMar, and Fo(something). Like the Rangers, I’m sure they differ in stats in relation to the Hunters do. Forces have high amount of TP points, which let them excel in using magic attacks, a serious advantage over other classes, but I personally think the magic is way too over rated. So what if it costs more for Hunters to buy the power-ups that Force and Rangers can use as a Tech, Meseta isn’t that hard to find.

We will. We will...Rock You!: The Battling Experience
Instead of having random battles AND turn based fighting, all the action is individual and you can actually see the enemies on-screen. Do you remember Chrono Trigger anybody? You could see the enemies and you could choose to fight them if you wanted to. That’s how Phantasy Star Online is, only it’s sort of hack n’ slash type, so you don’t go into any kind of a battle scene like in Final Fantasy games.

Each enemy has a pre-set amount of HP that can be low(easy mode), medium(hard mode), High(very hard mode, or Very High(Ultimate Mode, for v.2 users only). Some enemies are harder than others, depending on your level. After you kill an enemy, most will drop an item, meseta(the currency in PSO), or different kinds of weapons(you’ll find different weapons on each difficulty and the harder the levels get, the better the weapons get).

You can find different items that will help you on your quest, including Telepipes(a transport from the level you’re in to the Pioneer 2); Monomate, Dimates, and Trimates(which give you 70, 200, or all your health back); Monofluids, Difluids, and Trifulids(which give you 70, 200, or all your TP back); Sol Atimizers(which I think revives a teammate, useful in online mode); and other useful items.

You can equip different weapons, armor, and MAGs to help you on your quest, some being common and weak, while others being Rare and Strong. MAGs on the other hand, are little characters that hover around you and they have their own level, stats, and can even heal you or revive you if you feed it enough and it’s IQ is high enough. MAGs can be found almost anywhere in the harder difficulties and vary by shapes and sizes.

In the bottom right of the screen, you‘ll see three little circles. The left and bottom circles will most likely be your attack and super attack, and the right one is empty so you can put any time you want there. By the way, those buttons refer to the “A”, “B”, and “X” buttons on the controller. When you press the right trigger and hold, another set will come up. You can customize that set with helpful items such as Telepipes, Dimates, Sol Atimizers, etc.

Every time you beat a monster(or whatever you want to call them) you’ll gain a certain amount of experience points that when you get a certain amount, you’ll level up. Every time you level up, all your stats will increase, including the ones that are most important; ATP and ATA, which sand for Attack Power and Attack Accuracy. You have to have a certain amount of ATA in order to equip weapons. The stronger the weapon, the more ATA you’re going to need in order to equip it.

An explorer’s gotta do what a explorer’s gotta do
Although the battle system is fun and addictive, sadly, there are only FOUR areas that can be explored. That may be a turn off to some, but once you go up in difficulty levels, the enemies will be more challenging and so you’ll have more stuff to do.

The forest and mines are the only two areas with two levels each, while the Caves and Ruins have three separate sections each. The levels are in this order: Forest 1 and Forest 2, Caves 1, 2, and 3; Mines 1 and 2; and Ruins 1, 2, and 3. You can’t get to the next area or level without working your way through each area until you find the next area through a warp or to the next LEVEL without beating a boss. Unless you’ve already beaten them and “Save and Quit”, then the next time you go to the transporter, the levels will reset to Forest 1, Cave 1, Mines 1, and Ruins 1.

Once you get to the end of each level(yup, you guessed it), you get to fight a big bad boss. When I very first got the game, I was up till 5:00 that morning, trying to beat that darned Dragon(yes that’s the first level boss, and I also was getting use to the game so that’s why it took me so long). Other bosses as you progress get more challenging, including the last boss. However, on Ultimate Difficulty(v.2 players only), you’ll have a run for your money in the first area of the first level(which on normal mode is easy as pie).

Online
Ok, now all that up there was just the prelude to the game, the real game itself is here in the Online Mode. While offline single-player may be lacking, making use of the CD’s internal 56 k modem for online play isn’t; in fact, it’s a whole different ball game. Anybody who has judged this game by the way off line mode is, well...just try it again, only online this time and see what you think, I’m betting you’ll love it just as much as I do.

Once you get online, you can first choose a Ship you want to go to(Oberon, Miranda, Ariel, Puck or Japan and Europe servers), and then you choose a block 1-16(11-16 v.2 players only), and then in each block, there’s between 1 and 8 lobbies to choose from.

When you’re in a lobby, there’s an information counter in the middle of the room, where you can join or create a team, and transport to another ship or block. When you join a team, there’s six different kinds you can join. There’s normal, hard(20+), very hard(40+), Ultimate(80+), Battle, and Challenge(both Ultimate, Battle and Challenge are only accessible by v.2 players). The normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Ultimate are the main game, and specify what the challenge is going to be(the higher the difficulty, the harder the levels).

Battle and Challenge however, are only open to v.2 players. Battle lets you fight against actual other players, and Challenge sets you at a certain level, certain items, and certain weapons and you have to complete the challenge under a time limit to get something special.

To create a team, choose “Create-a-team,” pick the team name, password(if you want), which players can join(v.1 and v.2 or just v.2) the difficulty, battle or challenge, and you’re set.

Up to four players can play in a game, no more, yes you can have less(however when four people are playing, it’s much funner and faster to beat all four levels, then once you get done, you can play in quests or create a new game and do challenge or something).

All while playing online, with the use of a special Dreamcast Keyboard, you can talk to your fellow teammates. As I said before, PSO’s fun and replayability lies in its online mode, so if you’ve judged it according to single player offline mode, trying out the online mode would be much respectful to the game.

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Graphics
Even though the Dreamcast was KIND of a degrader form playing all those PS2, X-Box, and GC games, I was still impressed with the graphics. They might not have been the purdiest graphics, but coming from a “deceased” system, it's pretty durn’ good. The characters look cool and with the option to change outfits, you can create some pretty cool lookin’ characters.

The environments are for the most part, big and lush with lots of colors in the forest, sort of dull atmosphere in the caves, kind off light/dark effects in the mines, and an older feeling in the Ruins. There are hardly any jaggies and the ground, walls, etc. all look extraordinary.

The frame rate in offline mode never dropped once and stayed a pretty constant 35-40 fps(which is good on the Dreamcast so don’t be bashing it). However, sometimes in online mode you get a bunch of LAG, and so the frame rate drops down tremendously, making the action really annoying cause it feels like you’re p[laying in slo-mo.

The weapons all look REALLY cool, especially the Sniper guns that the Rangers can use, those are really cool. The swords(or sabers) look like the Sabers used in the Star Wars movies. Including the double saber, which looks an awful lot like Darth Maul’s double sided-saber in the Phantom Menace. But oh well, all in all the weapons were made nicely and added a feeling to the game that I can’t really describe(ok ok that sounds corny, but I’m so addicted to this game it’s not funny).

Control
I was pretty new with the Dreamcast controller, so I didn't know what to expect for control layout, but thankfully it was pretty good. Every button on the controller is used in Phantasy Star Online. The analog stick is used for moving, the “A” button is used for command selecting and to use your equipped weapon, the start button is used to bring up the menu(however it won’t “Pause” the game, everything still goes on, so you can still move around with the Joy Stick, and use the D-Pad for selecting whatever in the menu), and the “L”, “R”, “X”, “Y”, and “B” are all used for various reasons.

When first starting out, the menus, equipping, etc. will probably be confusing, but once you start playing, you’ll get accustomed to it and it'll feel almost second nature. I played 18 hours the first day or two I got it; after about the 5th or 6th hour, I became very accustomed and was flying through menus in no time with ease. Now, if I can do that in 5 or 6 hours, then anyone could do it in about 2, 3, or 4 hours(I’m slow at things, I don’t know why).

When controlling your character, when you push on the Analog Stick, you’ll ALWAYS start walking before you run and it gets annoying after a while as if you’re in a really tight spot being surrounded by enemies, you’ll have a hard time getting out before getting hit(and that hit could be your final HP left). Other than that slight annoyance, if you’re addicted to PSO as I am, the walk before run will be nothing.

Sound
I don’t know who did the music on PSO, but I admire him greatly. The music is great, especially the beginning movie, and the ending theme after beating Dark Falz. I wish I could find the soundtrack somewhere, because I’d have it in my CD player at all times.

Other than the music, the sounds and sound effects are average, however if you’re like me, you won’t even realize there’s even sound effects in the game, because the game totally immerses you into some other world.

Overall
Phantasy Star Online v.2 is a must buy for anyone with a Dreamcast. Even with the 15 dollar charge for a 3 month Hunters License, the game is SO worth it. If anyone wants to play with me, leave a comment. All comments are welcome!

Next Game in Dreamcast Month: Jet Grind Radio

~Happy Gaming