Topic: Phantasy Star Online Request

[Grey Ninja]

I read Rick's review, but I really want a second opinion on this.  I can pretty much guarantee that I will be buying the game at some point regardless, but I just really want an idea of what I have to look forward to.  A summary of what makes the game so enjoyable would be great.  

[KnowsNothing]

Enjoyable?  First, I assume that you'll be playing 1P online most of the time, correct?  Well, I haven't spent too much time in this mode, but I'll tell you what I think.

Meh.

That's what i think.  It's loads of fun to go around talking to people, and playing all over the world, but some things take ALOT of fun out of it.
1) there's lag.  not too much of it, but it's there, don't think it's not.  Apparently in Europe they all use modems or something (I heard)  so if you go over to the Europe ships everything takes longer.  don't quote me on this.
2)  Frozen Screen of Death.  Apparently this is not a problem for alot of people, but in the past week it's happened 4-5 times.  If this happens, one must restart the Gamecube, and lose everything that person has accomplished after last save. Bah.
3) Corruption.  This has happened 2-3 time in the past week.  That's right, lose all of your PSO character data in one fell swoop.
4)  Duping.  Everybody just gives away rare and powerful items.  It takes alot of fun out of the game, especially since most of those items are duped.  You don't HAVE to take these items, but there is a high temptation.

I heard that the Japanese ships are much bigger than the US (Europe is tiny).  Since you know (some) Japanese, well, there's a plus.

I've been very frustrated with this game right now.  Mostly bad things come to mind, but...

Good things?  The weapons and armor.  There are TONS of weopons and TONS of armor.  More than I've ever seen ever.  You can level up your wepons, too.  The mags.  Mags are like little..things...that float beside you that boost stats and help you in battle (not fight, but give you extra defense, power, etc.)  They do have photon blasts, which are devistating attacks that look cool.  You feed mags to boost their stats, which raises their level, which can make them evolve in to anything from a devil's tail to a dreamcast (the system).  Very cool.

The battleing could be better, because it consists of three hit combos, for everything.  A bit more variety would be better.  More areas would have been welcomed, also, seeing as there's only forests, caves, mines, and ruins for episode 1, with multiple levels for each area.

Seeing as this was a dreamcast game, the graphics are so-so.  I don't mind the blockiness or anything, but could they have done away with the HUGE pop-ups?  What about the HUGE slowdown in 4P multiplayer?  The camera could have been fixed, but it's not terrible or anything.

You can use your current PSO online account for the upcoming episode three.  Yay.

All-in all, as I was writing this post, I have changed my mind from "meh"  to "good"

I give PSO an A-  

[GCNMasterX]

Graphics: 8

The graphics to this game could've been smoothed out, or better yet, upgraded. But not bad..Levels are kinda blah, characters look alright

Sound: 9.5

The sound in this game is captivating...excellent music.

Gameplay: 9

Meh, I could go both ways with this. The selection of classes are good, and the selection of weapons are astounding. The battling is okay, but kinda slow. Customization could've been better.

Fun Factor: 10

One word: Damn. You could dedicate so much time on this game if you get caught into it (I did) Multiplayer offline is pretty fun..but i havent tried online yet (probably never will.)

Overall: 8.8

[KnowsNothing]

Kinda generous with the scores, GCNMasterX, IMO.

The music is good, but as the rest of the game, VERY repetitive.  Online (not sure bout offline), you can get tracks, which give you the ability to change the music.  Now some music can be entertaining, but other tracks are just plain annoying, so if sombody feels the need to bother a buch of people (yes, everyone in the room or level can hear it), they can make everybody listen to some crappy piano tune that everybody hates.

Graphics.  I know it was a dreamxast game, but the popups are still too large and frequent to deserve an 8.

Gameplay.   The battle system is too slow.  3-hit combo, get hit, 3-hit combo-get hit, so-on, so-forth.  It works, but it could've been better.  But the slowdown and drops in framerate during multiplayer really take fun out of this game, bringing the score from maybe an 8-8.5 down to a 7-7.5.

It's still a great game, but I believe episode 3 will be better worth your money.  Episode 1 and 2 is still 50 bucks, and Episode 3 is sure to have improved graphics and sound, longer levels and longer games, and the new card battle system is sure to improve the gameplay.

[rpglover]

i had the game on my dreamcast before it started the priceing plans for playing online
i thought the game was alright- it isnt the best game out there, but it can be fun when online- offline there is just not enough story- also the game was very tough alone- i do like a challenge, but some people do not- basically the enemies are strong, and there are a lot of them when you play offline- and the problem comes as knowsnothing pointed out- the combat is slow- doing a strong attack takes too long and doesnt hit very often, and the weak attack is too weak- the game is definately meant to be played with people online or not- i have not played the gamecube version yet so i dont know if my opinion matters as much as some others since i only had it on the dreamcast