jeremy1456's Full Review: Phantasy Star Online: Episode I and II for GameCub...
From the dawn of the first video games some companies were destined to fail, and some were destined to succeed. Nintendo and Sony are two of the companies that have had few to no failures, and thus were destined to succeed in the console business. On the other end of the spectrum, Sega and Atari doomed themselves to nothingness, and just couldn't hack it in the industry. Atari managed at least one success with the original Atari console, while Sega has never been number one in the console race, even though they did come close with the Genesis, but it was Nintendo's own SNES that came out on top when all was said and done. After the Genesis, Sega went downhill fast, with their next console, the Sega Saturn coming in a very distant 3rd place despite having better games than both the Nintendo 64 and Playstation at the time. Well after this Sega gave it one more go, but by the time the Dreamcast was released they were too far in debt to continue producing it, and alas they threw in the towel for consoles and began developing games for the competition. When this happened most of Sega's development teams got lazy on us and simply began releasing enhanced ports of their older dreamcast titles on the newer consoles. One of these such titles was one of my favorite Dreamcast games, but Sega did more than just port, they actually added in a slew of new gameplay elements. Enter Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II...
It was a surprise when Sonic Team first announced their plans to bring a new version of Phantasy Star Online to Nintendo's Gamecube, because Nintendo as a company had yet to comment on any online plans at all, whereas the competition was very public about their desires to take players online. Although this game was completed long before it's release Sega couldn't push it out of the gates until Nintendo got there stuff together, but when they did, Sega readied their servers and gave Gamecube owners a solitary reason to purchase the add ons required to take the Gamecube on the world wide web. The only bad thing about Gamecube going online is the fact that Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II is thus far the only game for the console that was made to officially go online, and the only other planned game is Phantasy Star Online Episode III.
Story
The Pioneer 1 ship was sent out to look for a suitable home for the human civilization after the destruction of their home planet. This spaceship was sent to colonize an unknown planet known as Ragol. Years passed, but as the second Pioneer begins getting ready to bring aboard a new host of beings to help colonize the planet, something goes wrong and a violent explosion erupts. It's your custom made character's job to find out exactly what happened on this planet.
The original Phantasy Star Online used the same storyline, and let me be the first to tell you that it hasn't gotten better with time. Not only is the storyline pretty much non-existant in the game, but I couldn't care less about what happens to the people. What's worse is that you can go hours and hours of playing the main game and never encounter anything that is even related in the simplest nature to the story. You have to kind of imagine what the game would be like if the storyline were high caliber, you can fill in some of the blanks by speaking with NPCs, and by watching the beginning cinematics, but beyond that you won't find too much else plot related. The closest to an RPG style storyline is followed in the hunter's guild, and it's actually a semi-interesting one at that.
Episode II has a different story than the first one that I've been describing thus far in this review. Although I've played through Episode II with about four different characters, I've always had a difficult time paying attention to the story so I'm not even sure what's going on. What I got out of it was that you are in search of a scientist and are under the command of the Pioneer 2. The last boss for episode II is a doozie though. It's still the hardest boss in the game for be to beat, even though I've searched for it's weakness as a hunter, ranger, and even force. Episode II is an excellent addition to the game, and I would have summoned the legions of angry fans myself to rain fire down on Sega had they only included Episode I, which is basically everything the dreamcast edition had.
Gameplay
Although Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (I'm gonna call it PSO from now on) isn't as deep as you standard online RPG, it's still got every bit of depth that it needs to keep you captivated. Unlike your standard MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game), PSO allows players to play both on and offline. Some view offline as simply a mode to earn experience, items, and money (or meseta as it's called in the game) and that's pretty much what it was mainly for in the past incarnation, but Sonic Team has added in a new offline multiplayer mode that is much more fun than simply playing the game by yourself, and it gives people who don't have the net a good reason to get the game.
Being an RPG, PSO utilizes many elements from the genre. Strength, magic, defense and all of that good stuff is determined by numerical character statistics. Keep in mind, PSO is more of an action RPG than anything else, and unlike the RPGs we all know and love, this one isn't turn based. As soon as you start a new game you are brought to a character creation menu. From here you choose a class from the list of 3 which include the hunter, ranger, and force. Each character class has it's own weaknesses and strong points, and they each contain specific character types that you can choose to play as. Each of these characters has it's own sub weaknesses and strong points, and so there are plenty of different options you have while playing. Further choices involve the customization of each character's appearance, including their face, hair, body, and body proportions. The level of customization is just perfect for this game.
So after creating your character you'll want to go explore and possibly find out what has happened on Ragol. There are four levels that you can travel to in episode I, and they are the familiar ones from the first version of the game. Four levels may not sound like too much, but they are each quite long and all feature a boss at the end that is unique to each level. These boss fights are proportioned into epic size and they have their different battle strategies and attacks. Personally I wish episode I contained more levels than just the original four, because you'll be forced to play through the same ones over and over while earning levels. What's unique in this game is the fact that the levels have more than one arrangement, meaning that different doors will unlock as you play through, but there are also differences in the monsters that appear and the location of item boxes. After beating the game on normal mode, hard mode will be opened up where the enemies move faster and are much stronger. After hard mode comes very hard, and then ultimate.
One thing I particularly like about this release is the fact that they've evened out the characters a little more. In the past humans could learn all the magic spells in the game irregardless of class, while now forces can only learn the two most powerful spells in the game. Androids used to be very mismatched because they couldn't use magic, no matter which class you played as. Now robotic characters can set traps which can damage, confuse, or freeze enemies, and they also regain HP from standing still.
Episode II is a different story. This mode has two "fake" levels that are just considered training, and it features four other new levels. All of these except for the spaceship level and seabed are too short, but it's not too big of a problem. It seems as though Sonic Team slacked off a bit while designing the monsters, as the mountain, seaside, and jungle levels all have the same monsters. Each level looks different enough from each other, and I especially love the graphics on the seaside level, just look at that water! It's very nice that Sonic Team included Episode II in the package, because well, it's very different from the first episode and makes a very nice addition to the Phantasy Star Online world.
Collecting equipment and other items is one of my favorite parts of the game. It is easy to spot a rare item, as their icon is in red. Most of the time you'll need to take the item to the shop to have it identified by your local tekker back onboard the Pioneer 2. The mag raising system is also very fun in the game. Basically a mag is a small creature that flies over your shoulder. Mags grow when they are fed, and as they grow they make your character stronger in the specified field that they grow in. Mags also have intelligence, which allow them to revive or power your character up when you're in trouble. One of the main features of having a mag is the photon blast, which your mag will learn more of as it continues to grow.
Every level is outfitted with numerous simple puzzles. These aren't really puzzles though, as they are too simplistic to puzzle anyone most of the time. They usually involve unlocking doors by either hitting a switch, or by killing all the enemies in a room. Sometimes things get a little more complicated, for example sometimes the room will be pitch black, or will be filled with poisonous gas and you'll need to hit a switch to make things normal. Some enemies can only be destroyed by destroying a switch, so be on the lookout for them.
Now for the meat and potatoes of the title; online play. You can go online with your Nintendo Gamecube and play this game with players from around the country. One problem is that people often have a difficult time taking the game online if they use the broadband adapter. I haven't heard of any problems with the 56k modem for the console, but you never know. Playing online costs money though. You'll need to pay Sega around $9 each month for what they call a "hunters license". This grants you permission to play online through their servers. $9 is a little much when you compare it to the $15 for three months play that Sega charged for Version 2 on Dreamcast. At least they give you the first month free though.
While online you can play on a team of up to four characters. The biggest problem I have with online play is that I cannot find a keyboard for the Gamecube, and therefore communicating with other members is a bit of a chore. Also getting disconnected is one of the worst things that can possibly happen, as it will kick you off of your current game and send you back to the title screen. The absolute worst thing though is the fact that you cannot pause the game. I understand that it wouldn't be a good thing to be able to pause while playing on a team, but they could have at least left a pause option for offline mode, at the very least. Thankfully enough monsters cannot travel between any of the different zones.
For those of you who do not have online play, Sega has added offline play with up to four players, split screen style. The tiny screens may be a little hard to go off of sometimes, but they get the job done well enough. My major problem with offline mulitplayer is the fact that ever character has to be in the same area, you can't go through the zone warps without each character presently standing on the same one. This gets a little stressful, especially if you're playing with someone who is constantly messing around and doesn't want to progress. Another bad thing about offline multiplayer is the fact that if someone dies and selects to return to Pioneer 2 than all the characters are dragged back too.
Graphics, Sound, Control
The graphics in this game are certainly dated, but does that matter? No, because the art style fits the world like a glove and changing it in any way could possibly ruin the overall effect the presentation has on the players. The graphics have been slightly enhanced since the Dreamcast version. The most notable enhancement is real shadows on the characters, and mags also cast their tiny shadows on the ground. Another new addition are the swirly effects on the telepipes, while it looks interesting it's only a minor effect.
The music and sound effects in Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II are moody to say the least. The music is very fitting for all of the levels, and the music that plays while fighting each of the bosses works perfectly to give you a set mood. My favorite song in the game is the track that plays as the credits roll in episode I. The sound effects don't sound too close to what you'd expect, besides footsteps, but they are integrated so nicely that it doesn't even matter.
Control is hardly an issue in this game, but there are a few problems with it. First and foremost the "walk and then run" system is very annoying. Basically when you press a direction to move your character will walk for a few seconds before running, no matter how far you press the joystick in. The camera can be a problem at times (especially while playing offline multiplayer), but you can flip it back into place with the press of a button whenever it starts going haywire. Besides these two problems, everything else is a cinch.
Final Recommendatin
If you're looking for an online experience but own only a Gamecube than this is your only chance. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II may be the GC's only online game, but it's a mighty fine one.
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