Phantasy Star Online Ver. 1&2 and Episode 1&2 Review In early 2001 a game was born, the game was Phantasy Star Online. The game series is as old as Nintendo’s original console, but it was a game known as Phantasy Star. Originally the game was a top view side scrolling RPG much like the old Final Fantasy games. Well Sega and Sonic team have decided to take the series into a new direction, make the game a real time combat action RPG, and that game became Phantasy Star Online. Overview The games shallow story line strays away from the original series and focuses mainly on game play and the combat. The story is about the world has become useless so the people of an unnamed planet that we are given the impression as Earth decide to put everything they have got into a last chance operation. A single ship known as Pioneer 1 is sent out to find a suitable planet and Terre form it to become a livable environment. The ship comes across a planet dubbed Ragol. The planet seems peaceful at first. They begin excavation on it and call to the second ship Pioneer 2 to depart as a suitable planet has been discovered. By the time Pioneer 2 arrives the planet has been overrun by vicious monsters and all life from Pioneer 1 has disappeared; only wreckage and remnants of the ship and its passengers are left. You as a hunter, the local mercenary are to go down to Ragol and retrieve information and in doing so kill all living things on the planet at will. Game Play 10/10 You start the game with selecting a character from 9 ( DC & version ) to 12 ( Xbox and GCN version ) There are three classes, Hunter, Ranger, and Force. Hunters are proficient with bladed weapons and have a very high attack power, but they can’t use many gun type weapons and have a small variety of magic in the GCN and Xbox versions, DC versions they learn all magic techniques. Rangers are the same way, very high accuracy, Use all gun types but little bladed weapons and the magic is limited in the GCN and Xbox versions. Forces use all magic in both all versions, they are also the only characters able to use cane type weapons, although you won’t really miss out on anything. They are able to use a small amount of blades and gun type weapons, but with their low attack its best to stick with the magic. In the DC version all characters can learn all the magic techniques so there is no incentive to play as a force unless you like the goofy dressed elves and such. All in all it’s a preference issue in what you like to use, I myself chose a female hunter known as the Hunewerals. Androids are also present in the game, they can see traps and are immune to poison and paralysis, but only in Ver 2 and Episode 1&2. Ver 1 they can see traps that are scattered through out levels in the game such as Freeze traps, Fire Traps, Slow Traps, Ect. Episode 1&2 they are able to heal themselves very slowly by standing still for a long period of time, but unfortunately they can’t use magic and in the Episode 1&2 they can set small traps. The game play is simple but sweet, you have a weapon and you attack the creatures around you with automated lock-on system that works quite well. You have four basic attacks, a light attack which is quick but weak and has high accuracy, and a heavy attack that is powerful, but has low accuracy and is slower than a light attack. You also have another that allows you to use specials on a weapon, Lets say you find a fire handgun, well you are able to use the special on it that when the attack is successful, your enemy is engulfed in flames. This attack is slow like the heavy attack, and has little to no accuracy. But the best part is magic. Like in all RPG games you have magic attacks ranging from a fire ball, healing techniques, to status altering techniques. Magic always hits and can become very powerful but has a cost for your magic gauge, but it’s not a problem as health items that heal HP( hit points ) and TP ( technique points ) are easy to find and buy. In your attack sequence you have the chance to fire off an attack three times before you have to set up again, but it’s not a button mashing contest either. As a newbie I tried to hit the attack button three times as quickly as I could to kill the creatures, well I slowly found out that you have to attack and after the first attack finishes you hit it again, it takes a small learning curve but in the end it becomes second nature. Magic you don’t have to worry about it, you can hit it has much as you want, but it will only let you fire off a fire ball or something as quickly as the animation goes, so you wont be able to fire off a volley of fire toward you opponent. Each weapon has a percentage on it that it can do more damage to a certain type of creature from a certain level. Say you have a sword with 25% on A-Beasts, well it does more damage to A-Beast enemies found in the caves that a normal sword would do. You can find items called grinders to bump the power of your weapon too. Rares are also present, they are very hard to find in the DC versions but well worth it when you get them. The GCN and Xbox versions have a more constant rare drop % and certain rares can only be found by certain IDs determined by the name you give your character. You have a small creature known as a mag that you feed and raise to gain the much needed boost in the stats you have, Power, Defense, Attack Accuracy, and MST or Mind Strength. You can feed your mag certain things to raise certain aspects of its power; once it gains a level in a stat it gives you a small boost in that stat for your character. You mag can only grow to Level 200 as can you, so it is a bit strategic. Your mag also evolves at certain levels, gaining a new appearance and an attack called a photon blast. The photon blast gauge is filled by being attacked, or killing enemies, at the time the gauge is filled you can select from PB blasts that your mag knows in order to launch a powerful assault on enemies, its best to save it for a boss though. You have a bank, shops, and a mission guild inside Pioneer 2, you can ‘Telepipe’ back to town at anytime in the game with a certain item or magical technique, the only time it is not allowed is in boss fights. In the town you can deposit weapons, money, and items in the bank. Be aware that in the DC version if you die you drop your weapon and all money currently held by your character and you must retrieve it when you get back to that point, but if you turn off your game without getting it back you loose it forever. Episode 1& 2 the nurses rob you of all your cash so you loose it, but not your weapon, it jus becomes unequipped. The shops have random items such as weapons, healing items, and shields and armors and special stat raising units. You can have up to four units at a time equipped depending on how many your armor can hold, you can have one shield and one armor equipped at a time, armors and shields, as well as weapons and magic disks( You learn a magic attack with them ) require a certain level or stat level to use them. The missions are different for each level; all in all they can be a great distraction and up the replay value of the game. The levels are split up into four parts, Forest, Caves, Mines, and Ruins. Each level has its own boss and its own unique enemies. Once you beat all bosses on normal, it bumps up to hard, then very hard, then finally ultimate. Sound 8/10 The games sound isn’t anything special, the weapons sound like light sabers from Star wars, the guns sound like ray guns from old 70’s space movies, it all sounds like it should for an older game but nothing to wow you, personally I play it with no sound and the stereo on. The music has a nice beat to it, but it can be very repetitive at times. All in all it’s not anything to comment on and nothing to praise. Graphics 8/10 Nothing special here either, although it was top end when it came out, the newer games blow it out of the water. It’s acceptable on the DC because all its games are pretty much like it, but on the Xbox and GCN it’s sad, but forgivable because it’s such an addicting game. The character models look decent, they move a bit still and the shadows under them never change, but that’s mainly because real time shadows weren’t possible back then and Sega Team was too lazy to do some major revisions in the Xbox and GCN versions, although it does look nicer in Episode 1& 2. The rare weapons are a bit dull in Ver 1&2, but Sega Team did a very nice job of changing them around in Episode 1& 2, All rare type weapons looked pretty much the same in the DC versions, just had different color blades. Episode 1&2 has a nice variety, very nice models, all in all the best feature about it other than its addicting game play. All in all the graphics are forgivable. Replay 10/10 Seeing as you have to grow to level 200 this is a VERY long game, and you will most likely want to make more than one character to test the waters, Episode 1& 2 has a few more additions to the characters, one new character in each class so you have a wider selection of characters to play as and it gives more variety resulting in more game play. The game is played as you beat a level, and you beat it again, and again, and again. Sounds boring but its very fun and doesn’t get old very fast. Ending Comments If you don’t have this game, do yourself a favor and buy it. Its an amazingly addictive game that has so much replay to it you’ll wonder why they don’t have more games out like it.
Other Helpful Reviews for Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II
Whether you are starting a level 1 character or are playing your veteran 150+ character, this game is extremely addicting and somehow manages to retain that addiction even through all of the same levels that you have pla... Read Full Review
Graphics- Well, it's quite dated, since it came from the Dreamcast. Magic and special attacks aren't very great, and the faces look drawn in. It's mostly the gameplay that got me hooked. Gameplay- This is one of... Read Full Review
