Is Phantasy Star Online still relevant, especially on the PC?
I've been playing PSO off and on for the last 8 years. On the Dreamcast, it was an amazing revolutionary RPG. On the Gamecube and Xbox, with episode II, it was a decent sequel. Here we finally are on the PC, with the fourth and final episode of Phantasy Star Online.
The great thing about this version is that it completely reorganizes the Episode I and II content, to make it easier to access, and much more fun to play. Unlike previous versions of the game, the main single player campaign has been split into mission based gameplay, which makes playing the Episode I & II levels much more interesting, and really helps the pace of the single player campaign. That's right, everything you are assigned from the principal's office now comes in shorter, compact missions. Of course you can also get a number of mission from the guild counter as well. It makes for alot of variety in each episode, which is good, because you're going to be retreading the same environments alot.
While not much has been added in the way of character classes since Episode II, there are a myrad of special weapons to be discovered. They are varied and strange, and have a variety of different effects on the enemies.
The real draw to this version is Episode IV. Don't be fooled though. Episode III is a Gamecube exclusive, and not included in this version. That gives you three episodes with roughly four stages in each episode, which is twelve stages. Episode IV's environments all have a desert theme, so unless you really think that the desert is a beautiful environment, they are all very bland. If fact, most aspects of episode four are lesser than episodes I & II, from the drab design of the environments, to the simple content of the missions.
The online component of the game is just as addicting as previous versions. It's never difficult to start a party, or join from the game's lobby. The only difficulty you may have is finding players in the lobby. There is not much a player community for this version of the game, and it may have to do with the worst part of the game, the reqired Hunter's License. At an extremely expensive $9.95 USD, it's difficult to recommend the game at all. Especially since there is no offline mode in this version, you must log in to the online servers in order to play the single player campaign. The trade off is improved security, this version doesn't have the security problems that the console versions did.
While PSO Blue Burst is a solid and marginally improved experience from it's latest console counterparts, the mediocrity of Episode IV along with the monthly fee makes this game hard to recommend to anyone who hasn't got a nostalgic bone in their body for this game. If you remember Phantasy Star Online from the good old days, and really want to play it again, this is the best version, and the only version that is still online. Eight years ago this game was revolutionary, now it's extremely solid, but the price of admission is a little steep.