Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II - Review

Added August 11th, 2003 by EminaZ

Introduction:

Sega’s online RPG finally arrives to the RPG-hungry Xbox. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II is one of the few RPG’s available for the Xbox and the only online RPG. First to début on Sega’s own console, the Dreamcast, the Phantasy Star Online franchise gets one more, and probably final, update for the Xbox. With this update, Sega’s Sonic Team have added voice chat, an Xbox-exclusive feature, updated graphics, updated sound, and allowed for multiplayer while offline.

Perhaps, though, the game is beginning to show its age. While Episode II is a brand new experience, it is still based on the same engine of the original Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online. Being so, it is limited to the abilities of the Dreamcast. When compared with the Gamecube version, the Xbox version is identical; the only true difference the voice communication which the Gamecube lacks.

Gameplay:

Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II is an online RPG. It is meant to be played online and that is why this game requires you to have Xbox Live and an Xbox Live Gamertag to play offline. In order to play online you would require everything to play offline, Xbox live and an Xbox Live Gamertag, and a Hunter’s Licence. A Hunter’s Licence is required to play online, without it you can not play online. The Hunter’s Licence requires you fork over $8.95 a month in order to play online. This render a few disappointed, so on the up side Sega does allow you to play online free for the first 2 months. The $8.95 you are paying will allow Sega to create more online quests that you will be able to play with your friends, maintain the servers, and add more weapons. It is a pretty expensive investment, but does allow the game to have a high replay value.

The Phantasy Star Online series is a world of its own, literally. Whether you are playing online or offline, there will always people playing an online game, experiencing levels, finding weapons, and playing quests. Which is a pretty cool feature that was free on the first Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast. This game is, like any other online RPG, very addicting, so you might find yourself paying that $8.95 even if you pledged you won’t.

You begin the game by choosing a character type. There are 3 available to you:

· Hunters- can wield huge sword, daggers, knives, sabers, and many other weapons. Including
some gun-type weapons. They also have the greatest HP (hit points) potential.

· Rangers- can wield guns, shots, rail guns, snipers, and many other weapons, including some basic Hunter weapons.

· Forces - these are the magicians, they have the lowest amount of HP (hit points), the have the
most TP (used to cast magic), the can wield both basic hunter and rangers weapons, and they can use canes, wands, strikers, and many more. Can’t use armor.

After you choose a character, you get to choose a class, there are three classes:

· Android - Robots, HP gradually heals. Can set traps, but can’t use magic.

· Human - Can use magic, can’t set traps.

· Newman – Elf-like creatures, can use magic, can’t set traps.

After you choose your desired character type and class you will be prompted with a screen to allow you to make your character the way you like. Here, you will be able to change the skin tone, hair style/shape, costume, and you even get to choose how skinny or fat, tall or short your character gets to be. You get to name your character and then begin the actual game. Before doing so, you will be given a Section ID. Each ID has some exclusive weapons, armors, and frames.

You will start the game by having to talk to the leader of the ship that you are living in. He will tell you to go investigate the forest. This game has no true story, there are lights that could be found while play the forest, or any other level, that will tell you what the story is, but only true fans of the Phantasy Star series will go to the trouble of finding the lights and reading them.

There are a total of 8 stages throughout Episode 1 and 2, 4 stages in each episode. In each stage there are at least 2 sections, and a maximum of 3 sections. For example, when you play forest, you have to finish Forest 1, then you will go to Forest 2 and finish that section. After each stage there is a boss, usually a huge boss that will allow you to experience some awkward camera angles. Take the boss down, talk to the guy that you met in the beginning and advance to a new a stage.

Each enemy is also given an attribute, if you find a weapon with an attribute ranking for that enemy then your weapon will deal more damage to that enemy then any other enemy. There are four attributes throughout the game.

Graphics:

Graphics, as outdated as they are, are impressive. True, gamers who have played games like Splinter Cell or Halo will recognize that this is a step down. But the graphics are simple, and believe it or not the simple graphics allow the gamer to be attracted and pulled more into the game. For the gamers who play both episodes will notes a graphic shift for the better from Episode 1 to Episode 2, that is because Episode 2 has been created for the Gamecube which could handle much more then the Dreamcast. Character models for the enemies look extremely similar, however. A Booma, the most common enemy in the first stage, looks extremely similar in general shape to the most common enemy in the last stage.

The worlds are colorful and alive, there are lava, waterfalls, and a mechanical world that are all animated in the very simple, yet attractive Phantasy Star Online way. There are also flying worms and butterflies that are just there to add for the look. The graphics of this game are pretty straight forward and are attractive

But one can’t help notice that the graphics and texture are outdated and running at an unimpressive 30 frames per second.

Audio:

The sound is also polished. The sound has been updated to all in-game Dolby Digital support. But still it is a rehash from the previous titles on the Dreamcast. Sega should have allowed the Xbox owners to add custom soundtracks to their game since the average player will be forced to play a stage, probably forest, about a 100 times.

The sound even gets too annoying at times, when playing the male android ranger, for example, there would a constant heavy sound with ever footstep. Gets extremely annoying, Sega should have allowed the user to turn off Sound Effects from an option menu will keeping the music playing.

Controls:

At the lower right hand corner you are give a HUD. There are 5 commands you could do in the first set. By pressing “Y” you will bring a virtual keyboard for typing messages to a friend if you don’t feel like talking. The HUD is very cool because you could customize almost all aspects of it. Since there are 3 levels of attacks (normal, hard, and special) it would probably be a good idea for you to customize the HUD to have the 3 levels of attacks in the first set and have support in the next set (You access the next set by holding the right trigger. ) Support varies from healing potions, to magic healing potions, poison curing, and many more.

You could also Telepipe, or teleport, back to the city. In the city, you could buy or sell items, heal, play a mini game, but money and items in the bank, and even talk to the locals of the city; even though they might not have anything new to say.

When you want to open a door or pick up an item you simply walk near that item or door button and press the “A” button (Most doors in the game will open automatically). You are allowed to carry a maximum of 30 items on you and store 200 items in the bank. If you die, your money disappears, which is why you put your money in the bank because that way you won’t lose it.

The camera can be hectic at times, but usually, pressing the right trigger will fix it; an exception on the last boss.

Replay:

Even though it is hard to start over again, because you will get attached to your character, you probably will have a secondary character. Since there are basically infinite character looks, it is doubtful that you will ever see a character that looks exactly like yours online.

By starting over you will be given a new Section ID that will give you access to new things in the game that you probably haven’t seen before.

You could meet many new people and make many new friends and enemies online. You will find yourself playing this game for a total of 200 hours before you even know it.

Summary:

This game is a gem in the very short list of Xbox RPGs, and the only online RPG for both the Xbox and GameCube. While this game, just as any other game, have their own problems, Xbox RPG fans will be happy with this addition to their short list of RPGs. You will find yourself addicted to this game in a very short time. And with downloadable quest, infinite people to meet online – this game is the perfect game for Xbox Live owners.