Love or hate it, the original Phantasy Star Online will go down in the history books as one of the first home console games to allow players to play co-operatively online (and in the case of hackers, competitively), as well as one of the most successful ones.
Amassing over a quarter of a million players on its free based play, Sega really did a bang up job proving that they can create successes even on a dying console that never really caught on in any territory. An amazing feat to be sure, and one that’s not likely to be repeated anytime in the foreseeable near future, as with an indebted company that lay on the brink of financial destruction, Sega’s update to the massively popular first game, Phantasy Star Online Version 2, forgoes the ability to play online for free as to help salvage some profits for one of gaming’s greatest contributors.
It’s true that the original was never much of your traditional RPG, online elements aside. Combat took place in realtime, the story was a convoluted, jumbled mess tied together only by non-playable character chatter and a vague introduction movie. Sega certainly avoided the RPG path that Squaresoft so adamantly adheres to, where story and character development arguably lay supreme. But for what it was, and still is, the original PSO is a great game, with a still healthy user base and confessions from hardcore game players freely admitting to spending neither days nor weeks on the game, but months. With numbers exceeding over 500 hours, Sega definitely knew they were onto something.
Visuals:: The graphical difference between PSO2 and the original is virtually undetectable. Aside from some redesigned enemies (many of which are far more menacing looking) and some superficial touches to the levels, such as a setting sun in the forest, the game looks just the same. Of course, players with careful eyes will see some redone textures on Pioneer 2 and that the automatic door textures have been redone to a more hand drawn appearance, but the cleaning up of the segments that haven’t been redesigned will largely go unnoticed.
Gameplay/Control:: So it’s with such a past, that the company looked to entice gamers with what, initially appeared to be a sequel, although the very title of the game, with the Version 2 suffix, does a good job of serving up precisely what it is: an upgrade. For Dreamcast owners that don’t own the original, avoid it. Purchase the Version 2 instead, as the entire original game is very much intact, and still free if you choose to play only the original part of the game. Indeed, all Version 2 consists of is the Ultimate difficulty setting, which redesigns the level’s appearance a bit as well as the enemies, and adds all new weapons, armor, and items to be used, as well as increasing the difficulty of the A.I. Certainly, enemies are faster, take more damage, and inflict more as well, but the A.I. decisions themselves, such as how the enemies attack and move, is the same verbatim as the original. Enemies will still be limited to rooms and not chase players outside of them, and they will still at times get stuck behind each other so that, even though there may be 5 enemies in a room, only one will attack you at a time.
PSO2 also has a few quirks that aren’t present in the original, obviously. Character files for PSO2 cannot play the original PSO once converted, forcing players to have to acquire the Hunter’s License from Sega, which for $10 a month, allows gamers to play PSO2 online for an unlimited amount of time in the month (along with any other online Dreamcast title for that matter). Hardcore PSO addicts will have no problem paying the fee, but some inevitably will, and this makes the PSO2 online world, substantially smaller than the original. Furthermore, hackers are still present, although that would be expected, considering the dedication of a few rotten apples to spoil the fun. This is safely remedied by merely password protecting your games, something that nearly 90% of all PSO2 players do. The downside is, of course, players will have to meet people in the lobby or already know people to get a full game going.
Each Android player now has three types of mines: damage, freeze, and confuse (with 10 initially available of each kind) that can help out in damaging or creating strategies in how to attack enemies. Also, holding down the R trigger and hitting Y provides a quick shortcut to accessing weapons, items, and equipment that doesn’t require pausing the game, and thereby minimizing the screen while the game goes on. A great touch to be sure.
But PSO2’s largest changes aren’t in the Ultimate mode and the insane ability to go up to Level 200, which is a far more challenging goal than reaching Level 100 was. Amassing enough points is incredibly daunting this time, as even though some creatures yield as many 240 EXP points, it’s barely a chink in the armor of the next level. The real changes come from a few new modes of play, including Battle and Challenge, as well as the ability to play Lobby Soccer with others. The latter is simply an amusing go at soccer, where players have to kick the ball into a hole for a point. No items are lost or gained, but the animations and ease to pick up and play, make it a nice time killer rather than just waiting idly in a lobby just waiting around for a friend to come online and play.
Extras::Battle is probably the most anticipated feature, as up to 4 players can deathmatch things out in a variety of scenarios, where you can have enemies or none, play on the same Exp. level or at whatever level players are at, to be able to win and use items in inventory or not, and so on. This adds a great deal of options, but because of inevitable lag, some of the delays seen in hand to hand in combat can be disorienting and the level design isn’t particularly entertaining, even with the a new castle oriented level intact. There are some good ideas here, and players will undoubtedly get some amusement from here, but ultimately, it’s not as rewarding as one would initially think.
The Challenge mode however, is surprisingly better. Players begin as Level 1s and armed only with a single weapon and a handful of Monomates, as they attempt to solve puzzles and defeat enemies in as little time as possible. The game plays through like the original largely the same, but divided into multiple segments. There’s also a greater catch; players are only granted one life per player. So if there are two players, each player can die once or one player can die twice; similarly, it works the same with four players albeit with four lives available. The challenge is in how to approach and engage enemies, as well as how to solve some quite baffling puzzles. It’s also here that players will witness graves to mark where and how players died, as well as a lot of rich Sega allusions and references, so Burning Ranger and Samba de Amigo fans alike, all have something to enjoy here. This mode is further driven by surprises awarded once completed, and the ability to save your progress at the last completed segment, makes this a great alternative to the regular mode of play, although the experience and items gained here have no real effect on your leveled up character.
Overall:: In the end, PSO2 offers a substantial amount of changes to hardcore PSO players, although it’s not worth necessarily purchasing the Dreamcast version of the game when even more changes are being made to the respective forthcoming GameCube and Xbox versions. If you’ve never played the original PSO and are looking to own it, definitely go for this version instead as you’ll get the more complete package and you can always play for free online on the original PSO network, but as to whether PSO2 is really worth purchasing, it’s entirely up to how much you valued the original. If you truly enjoyed the original don’t hesitate, but if you weren’t much of a fan of it, you’re not missing much by skimping out on this one. It’s a great game to be sure, but it’s more of an update than a true full blown sequel. Nonetheless, a great DC game if not one of the last ones.
Score:: 8.0/10
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