Phantasy Star Online
Phantasy Star Online (PSO), released in 2000, was an online title for Sega Dreamcast. PSO was also later ported to Microsoft Windows, but this version was only released in Asia. A bugfix/upgrade edition was released the following year, entitled Phantasy Star Online Ver.2. Phantasy Star Online Episode I&II was later released for Nintendo Gamecube.It is a part of SEGA's Phantasy Star series of games that began in 1987. The game has been followed by Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II in 2002 (Japan) and Phantasy Star Online Episode III in 2003 (Japan)/2004 (Europe).
The game itself is a simple hack'n slash type Role Playing Game where you slay monsters, level up, buy new equipment etcetera. Episodes I and II differ from many previous games of this genre by offering a real-time, rather than turn-based approach to combat - and seamlessly integrating this with the exploration/plot development aspects of the game. Episode III reverted back to a turn-based combat system.
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2 Modes of play 3 Offline vs Online play 4 Episode III 5 Version list 6 External Links |
Communication between players is achieved via a combination of direct 2-line text entry, 'Symbol Chat' and 'Word Select'. As PSO online servers support international co-operative play, the 'Symbol Chat' and 'Word Select' features encouraged players to attempt communication with others, regardless of language.
'Symbol Chat' allows the player to define a collection of symbols within a speech bubble, in order to convey an emotion or simple instruction. These symbols could then be invoked via a player-defined shortcut, or accessed via an in-game menu.
'Word Select' acts as a limited phrasebook, allowing sentences to be constructed through a hierarchy of menus. Once complete, a sentence is automatically translated into the configured language of other nearby players, thus bridging the language gap encountered in cross-cultural multiplayer games.
Keyboard users may also trigger a number of gestures during chats in the online lobby.
Despite the 'online' in the title, all games in the Phantasy Star Online series may be played offline, allowing the player to develop their character in between online sessions. Some versions (GameCube PSO Episodes I&II) also support split-screen offline multiplayer modes.
A third chapter in the PSO saga, Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution was released for the Nintendo GameCube.
The battle system in this episode differs from that of first two episodes, and reverts to the traditional turn-based battles common in games such as the Final Fantasy series and originally popularized as a major video game genre by Dragon Quest. However, the turn-based battles are presented in the form of a dice/trading card game similar to YuGiOh or the Pokemon trading card game.
Episode III includes the same monsters and characters of episodes I and II.
Communication system
Modes of play
The first two episodes of PSO (excluding the original Dreamcast version prior to the Ver.2 revision disc) offered the following game modes:
This is the plot-driven bulk of the game, in which a player or group of players fight through a number of levels spread over four distinct areas. Each area has a boss at the end. Upon defeating the final boss, the credits roll and in some cases, an extra feature will be unlocked.
Challenge mode resets all participants back to level 1, and requires the team to reach a predefined point in a series of specially-designed levels. Players may only die once, so teamwork is encouraged, since if one player is disqualified, the entire team also fails the challenge.
This is a deathmatch mode.Offline vs Online play
Episode III
Version list
External Links
Official Phantasy Star Online homepage
Official PSO fan site 'Minhiro'
Sonic Team homepage
SEGA of Japan homepage