Phantasy Star OnlineReleased in 2000Object of the Game: To gain levels in online mode so you can complete everything in offline mode.
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Which way do we go now Gusman?
This game is magic. I first read the previews and thought that the game would rule. I never bought it though as the thought of a boring offline mode and lack of a real story did not seem interesting to me. If not for Mizar, I don't even think I would even have the game. First, the offline mode. The offline mode is somewhat boring if you are used to the online mode. Here is where you can advance in the "story" which is not much. Here is the story. The destruction of the weird peoples home world came. I would think this would be Earth but I don't know anything. Anyway, after the destruction they sent unmaned probes to search out another planet. They found one and named it "Ragol". So they sent a huge ship, Pioneer 1, to establish a colony. Things went well for 7 years untill a huge explosion happened and all contact with Pioneer 1 was lost. So along comes Pioneer 2 and now you must discover what happened. There is also some person named Rico. The Principal (why the principal? why not the Head Honcho or Fat Leader or uh... nevermind) always yells out "Rico!!!" and then tells you that he did not say anything. Riiiiiiight.... You have a choice of 3 types of characters. Your Hunters, your Rangers, and your Force. Hunters: There are the ones who excel in close range combat and use blade weapons like swords and daggers. Good for first time users. And my charatcter, who is a Hunter, is different from the standard guy despite what everyone says. Rangers: There are the guys who use "guns". In the world on PSO, guns are weak inacurate things. These people may have good accuracy with "guns" but their only advantage is that they can attack from a distance. Boo I say. Force: These are the magic users. They have the highest TP level and you can tell. TP is Technique Points or what magic is called. The only problem with these guys is that they have lower HP and, from what I am used to, always have to recharge thier TP. Ack Mizar! I don't wanna have to restore your TP again! After selecting a character, you are off to the world of PSO. You travel around 4 areas fighting monsters, gaining experience and levels. That is about it. It sounds boring but is not. There is also a way to sort of find out more about Ragol and Pioneer 1 and what happened on it by completing quests. Quests are just a mindless distraction from the rest of the game. Some can be fun, while others can be hard. They all end in you getting paid for your work in money called Meseta. Some quests are just plain odd. There is one where you have to locate something sweet in the caves and find a cake shop down there. As much as I would have liked to have made that up, I did not. You also can raise a little robot buddy that always follows you called a Mag. Raising Mags is pointless unless you want some inpressive photon blasts, which are attacks that look like they do more damage that they actually do. Raising Mags is sort of like raising Chao is SA and SA2 except you feed them items, instead of Chaos Drives and animals, and you don't race them. Whats that you say!?! There is no online Mag race feature? Yes, it is true. Brought me to tears... Last, but in no way least, the online mode. Welcome to the real world of PSO, people who spend their life on PSO. You also get your fair share of newbies, PKers, and Gameshark lamers. Not to mention plain annoying people. The online mode is not without problems however. There sometimes is lag, and the very annoying disconect. Arg... You can also create your own emoticons such as the Gusman one I created in pic 1, and the "I need sleep" one in pic 3. The online mode also has such features as guild cards which allow you to search other users online. Provided that you have their guild card of course. Simple mail works as a private message system. Cool. And the last thing I have to say is the language filter. You can't say any profanities, but you can't also say words like screw and crap and more words that should not be censored. Saturday come out "Sa@#$%ay" Uh, whatever.... |
I Can Honestly Tell You That I Have Never Died Ever In This Game
Graphics: These graphics are quite good for a DC game. They are not bad or anything and wont hurt your eyes when compared to anything newer. There is really nothing more to say about these graphics. Photon Blasts also look good, but even better when you are dead. Uh... thats from what I have heard... not that I ever died or anything... 9/10 Sound: There is no piece of music is this game that I really like. Thats not to say that the sound is bad or anything, but sometimes it gets annoying. The hospital theme is flat out bad. And some tunes are boring. The music that fights during the second boss makes you want to kill him faster just so the music would stop. Other music however is good. The fight with the final boss is okay. The "Bwee!" sound effect that plays when you feed your mag or give yourself a helpfull item is annoying though. 7/10 Control: I remember when I first played this game. The controls do take a little time to get used to. But after you know them then you wont have a problem with them anymore. You can assign different items and attacks to different buttons which works well. Moving whatever freak of nature you have selected takes about a short day to get used to. 9/10 How Fun is it?: Having many late nights playing this game I can tell you that the online mode is like nothing you have ever played. However, if you only play offline then I would say that this game is no fun at all. Its the online that really matters and without it then you should not even be playing this game. The online mode has lots of fun to be had, but only if you stay away from the dangerous world of PKers and other players who live for the sole purpose of making your online PSO live miserable. Avoid them and you will have a good time. Offline, I would give this a 3. Online though, it gets a perfect 10. 10/10 The Fruit: Making you own emoticons has lots of fruity fun. That is, you can make whatever fruit you want. But in the real game, there is hardly any fruit at all. This makes if frustrating when you want to play the mines but have a sudden craving to see some fruit in the game. There is fruit, but not enough. 3/10 Final Score: 9/10 |
Yes, I am a level 86. My name is NOL.
While playing online mode make sure you have a keyboard. Those are word of wisdom. Trust me... Now if you excuse me, Mizar has to beat the caves in offline mode and I have to meet him online later. Yes, thats how old this reveiw is |