It feels strange to say this (considering how big a fan I am now) but Phantasy Star Online was my first exposure to the franchise. Since then I’ve played every mainline installment. When Phantasy Star Online launched I didn’t know how an online RPG would actually work. Truth be told I had never played a web enabled video game before. I eagerly picked up the game and was immediately immersed. It’s fair to say that Phantasy Star Online became a huge part of my life. In the Summer following its release, and even the subsequent year I put hundreds of hours into it both off and online. Some time ago I connected to a private server to revisit the magic. Honestly it’s still one of the best Dreamcast RPGs ever. Today we’re going to take at Phantasy Star Online all over again. Let’s check it out.
Fans of the original Phantasy Star series were probably shell-shocked when Online hit the scene. Before it this series of games consisted almost entirely of 2D traditional turn based Japanese style RPGs. Phantasy Star had four installments across the Sega Master System and Sega Genesis. Although it skipped a generation fans never forgot it. Then we got Phantasy Star Online. This is, as I’ve already mentioned, an online action RPG with a focus on multiplayer for up to four players. There’s an overarching story but it’s mostly relegated to the background with almost no plot development. Instead the focus is entirely on the gameplay.
I know I just said the plot is basically irrelevant, but let’s cover it anyway. The biggest disappointment is that it’s completely unrelated to the main franchise but shares names, items, the same antagonist, themes, etc. Phantasy Star Online takes place in a fantasy based version of the future. With their home planet on the verge of destruction humans have sent a series of probes to the farthest reaches of space to find habitable planets. They discover one called Ragol. A ship called Pioneer 1 is sent to Ragol to settle its surface. A second expedition is sent via the Pioneer 2, but while trying to establish contact with the settlers a huge explosion is witnessed. With all communication cut off a team is sent to the surface to determine the fate of Pioneer 1.
Phantasy Star Online was the first fully 3D installment in the franchise. It’s a third person action RPG where attacking foes causes the numerical damage to spill out of them. At the top of the screen you have your health, and when it runs out you’re sent back to the Pioneer 2 leaving behind your weapon and money. Speaking of which this is basically the hub of Phantasy Star Online. It’s the only town/village in the game. Here you purchase items/weapons, heal, start missions, interact with NPCs, etc. It is also here that you choose your destination on Ragol. Basically you’ll spend a fair amount of time aboard the ship. It’s helpful to return because shops cycle through inventory as you become stronger.
As with most online RPGs you begin your adventure by creating a character. You have quite a few options at your disposal. At least there’s more than in most RPGs from this time. There are three basic species of character. Humans, newmans, and androids. Humans are all-rounders generally sitting around the middle as far as proficiency goes. Newmans are weaker physically but excel in magic, and androids cannot use magic at all but are the most physically strong of the three. You also have three classes. These include hunters (most adept at hand to hand combat), rangers (who focus on ranged attacks) and forces (which are weak physically but excel in magic). You’re given eight different characters to choose from (all of which belong to the aforementioned species and classes) and you can customize their appearances based on preset options.
Customization is a little weak by today’s standards. Back then it was fine though. While people who chose the same character would mostly look pretty similar no matter how much you alter them the color and hair styles make a fair difference. Unfortunately new armor doesn’t change their appearance, and there are only minimalistic costume differences between the bunch. I’m willing to be lenient on this fact considering the year in which this was released. Phantasy Star Online wasn’t particularly impressive in this respect back then, but it also wasn’t underwhelming compared to others. In terms of character customization it just, was.
The game is divided into kind of a mission based structure with four different stages. All of these settings are on Ragol, and they’re quite different from one another. You have the forest, caves, mines, and ruins. Progression through these is a little basic. It’s blocked off into room and hallway shaped corridors. There are a lot of barriers that can only be unlocked either by hitting a switch, or more commonly by defeating all of the enemies in the given area. The game only throws so many foes into the game at a time. More spawn in as you defeat each wave. If I’m being honest I always thought the structure was a bit too rigid. The level designs are very linear. You’ll have the occasional optional area to explore but for the most part it would be really hard to get lost in any of these stages.
Combat is a bit simplistic by action RPG standards. Strikes with weapons (regardless of type) can be strung together in three hit combos. Thing is you have to get the timing just right. It doesn’t take long to master, but in the heat of battle it’s pretty easy to accidentally mash the attack button. There’s also a more powerful charged attack, but there’s some cooldown for it which hinders its usefulness. Spells can be cast and items used by accessing the menu which is highly inconvenient in the midst of battle. Thankfully Sonic Team included shortcut keys with which you can set six different spells and items to. This is highly useful for quickly firing off a healing spell, or using a monomate to recover health. When playing online you may even want to set a moon atomizer to these for reviving downed allies. It’s a great feature.
Boss fights however are amazing. The attack patterns may be pre-determined, but the open arenas and environmental factors make them feel dynamic enough. These boss characters are huge, and wreak tons of damage on your party. There’s also a nice flare of cinematics during them. These are where long range characters (such as rangers and forces) really shine. In each encounter there are times where the boss is completely out of reach from melee weapons and so having a few distance fighters helps take down these menacing foes faster. This party dynamic is really interesting and gives characters defined roles during these large scale encounters. That’s a big part of what makes Phantasy Star Online really tick as a multiplayer game.
What’s great is the fact that PSO’s content is the same both on and offline. You have the same four stages and difficulty settings. The only real difference is in the difficulty modes. To unlock harder versions of each level (with stronger enemies, and better rewards) you have to complete the main game on each difficulty when playing offline. While online however you just need to reach a specific level threshold. Offline play is decent, but online is really where its at. Teaming up with three other players is a real treat. There’s a software keyboard built into the game, but what you’re really going to want is the official Sega Dreamcast keyboard. Trust me on this one. I still have it after all these years.
Phantasy Star Online was a really great looking title at the time of release. It didn’t push the Dreamcast hardware as hard as something like Shenmue, but it was definitely a clear step above wh at was on the other consoles at the time. Even today I think it looks pretty good. Environments are highly detailed with good architecture, character designs, and animations. Spell effects are particularly pretty here. The game also runs at a steady thirty frames per second. If there’s one complaint I have it’s that the environments tend to look too similar to one another. There just isn’t a lot of variety in each individual stage. The soundtrack is also pretty decent. It kind of follows the atmosphere of the original games in terms of audio. There just isn’t enough different tracks however. I do love the vocal main theme though.
