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Great online RPG fun for the XBox

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: April 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Phantasy Star Online is out for XBox Live. You can play single player and enjoy the challenges, or go online and play with up to four other players. The plot is pretty simple - refugees from a dying planet head out to join a colony on a distant planet. When they get there, the colony has been wiped out, and you have to figure out why.

To start with, this can be played like a single player RPG. You can choose to be human, newman, or a robot. You can be male or female, and of three classes - the 'hunter' swordfighter, the 'ranger' distance fighter, or the 'force' magic users. You've just begun to customize!

You can customize everything from face look, hair style and color, outfit, skin color, and body proportions. You can't actually choose clothing styles like in many other RPGs - you just change the color and look of it. Still, your character is pretty tweaked to your own style before you enter the world.

The aim in local play is to build up your character. You can play in "Episode 1" - where you roam the planet looking for clues as to what happened to the original colonists. You can also play "Episode 2" which is sort of a parallel timeline, where you work for the government and try to contact a hero from the original colony.

Like most RPGs, you build up experience by killing the enemies, and gather money ("meseta") so you can buy bigger weapons ... so you can go kill bigger things. You have a little robotic buddy, "mag", which also gains experience and power as you go.

Once you've gotten the hang of things, it's time to head on line and join up with a party! This is sort of a mini-MMORPG, a training ground for those not quite online yet. You go through the lobbies to find a group of people to play with. You can start a new group or join a group already questing. And then it gets fun!

The XBox live microphone makes it easy to coordinate attacks without the clumsy typing-while-fighting system that most MMORPGs require. Simply call out "I'm hurt!" to get healing, and coordinate attacks with ease. Since XBox Live is only for high speed connections, we haven't run into any lag while playing. Gather up experience, explore new worlds, and make fun friends in the process!

Highly recommended for XBox RPG fans who enjoy console-based RPGs and want to take it to the next level.

Highly Addictive...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 21
Date: April 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

12:30pm 4/16/2003.....was my 1st day sitting down with this game, fresh from the game store and into my XBOX ready to go. Took less 3 min to get online. Your 1st 2 months are free, so there isn't no charge to your credit card until then. It's an easy set up because it charges the card you set up your XBL with. Another 10 min to set up my fighter(a ranger)and 15 minute more in the lobby intruducing myself to everyone, learning the tricks & message system(you got a headset now, the typing isn't needed).....I was ready to battle

7 hours later (seriously.....I shocked myself I was on it that long), I had manage to reach level 12 and called it a night. I'm at level 31 now......my lady is upset (all those with significant others and XBOX Live, share my pain), my dog sniffs me for recognition, my phone is turned off. The addiction gets worse when you log on and you see one of your friends has manage to get a higher level than you. I'm hooked for now....
THIS GAME IS WORTH THE MONTHLY FEE. Any head who played the Dreamcast(r.i.p.) version, this game didn't miss a step, only gotten a lot better.

oNe

Say No to Extra Fees!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 21 / 38
Date: February 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I love my Xbox and I have Xbox live but there is no way I will be paying extra fees for this game. I bought Xbox Live and was told that it would be one fee for the year. Now they're telling me that some games will have extra fees like this one. It's a joke! What's even worse is that you need Xbox Live even if you plan to play only offline. You may be thinking why would you do that? It's not right that they are forcing you to pay for Xbox Live even if you only plan to play offline with some friends. Don't forget that this version of the game will not allow you to play with people in other regions thereby limiting the number of total players. I'm a big PSO fan but I'm not getting this game for the Xbox. The only Live games I'll buy will be ones without extra fees. I've already decided to pick up a GameCube so that I can play this game and play it with people all over the world.

Best.Game.Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 17
Date: January 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Come and enter a world of Phantasy...

Quite a few years ago SEGA made an RPG named Phantasy Star for their Genesis console. I can't remember much about it but I do remember something about a hot chick with horns and something about an epic storyline. The game was apparently successful enough to spawn a few sequels that by my recollection, were actually quite good. A decade or so passed until SEGA finally decided to resurrect their seemingly defunct series and thus Phantasy Star appeared on the Dreamcast. There was a twist though, the game would be far more epic than the previous entries, so epic that it could only be contained in the online realm. Interestingly enough the game was successful despite the unpopularity of the Dreamcast console and thus a sequel was born. A year or so has passed and the game has found a home a next generation console. Now that it's actually on a system that sells, the world will be able to discover what so many people already know, that Phantasy Star Online is in fact one of the most impressive and addictive titles to hit the scene in quite some time.

Forget everything you know about the Dreamcast endeavor because those days of instability and shakiness are long gone. Let's say this as bluntly as possible, Phantasy Star Online is [highly addictive]. ... Your sessions will usually start out as "hey let's just play for a while to kill some time" and will evolve into "dammit, I need to level up just one more time! I'm so close!" Six hours later and you'll be wondering to yourself exactly where your day went.

Much of the game remains unchanged with the main change coming in the controller layout. You still have three primary buttons, two attacks but the communication button will not be in the Xbox version due to the Xbox Live headset.

As stated you have the two attacks, one is a quick attack while the other is a more focused attack. When you begin you select your character class (which basically boils down to easy, medium and hard difficulty). The easy class features warriors proficient in close quarters, medium has rangers that fire projectiles while the hardest features wizards. Obviously beginners shouldn't jump into the game with the third class as they will have their proverbial asses handed to them.

Are the extra fees really worth it?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There is something special about this game. Not just in the game itself, but in the community you are drawn into when you play online. You meet incredible people with the same intrests as you have.
I'm sure by now you have heard all about the money that will be needed to play, online or off. But if you are like me, you will do anything to play this game again. I dont currently have a highspeed connection to play online, but i am getting one soon. If there is no way you can get a high speed connection to play online, I say pass, because honestly, the game itself is not worth both the combined purchase price of the X-box live starter kit and the game:$... But if you are even considering getting a high-speed connection some time in the near future, pick this one up fast.This is going to be a special online community that will last a very long time to come. See you online (in about a month when i finally get DSL)

Best Game Ever CREATED

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Millions of weapons. Make your own character. CO-OP and Counter-OP play. Great with 4 people online or offline. I've played the game for over 4,000 Hours and it's great. A complete and total must buy. One player is also fun.

Simply the best game available on the Xbox, hands down.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 11
Date: April 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Try it for the two month period (free) and I assure you (maybe I should say WARN you) that you will get hooked. I became an addict in the first 8 hours and have played it as often as possible, going without sleep even, since I got it. Amazing, simply amazing. It has given me a whole new way of looking at video games. I have about 20 games for the xbox and i haven't had ANY interest in playing the others (including Mech assault, Splinter Cell, Ghost recon and Halo ... all top shelf titles) since I met PSO. I am embarrased to tell my close friends (who don't have xbox's) how much time I spend playing Phantasy Star Online. Before PSO, I never, ever even played an RPG. Now, I AM HOOKED ... and lovin' it.

You're kidding.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: April 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Youre kidding me that PSO is finally coming out for XBox? do you even have the slightest idea what good gaming is?!? This game is the single greatest game i have ever played, and i will get it and pay all the fees regardless. If i could, i'd give it 100 stars. This game will have you turn it on right after school, and suddenly you'll have your mother stomping into the room at four o'clock the following morning saying, "What are you doing up?" as you think to yourself... 'where did the day go?!' yeah thats right. PSO ALL THE WAY!

crappy game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well I think this game would be cool if you didnt have to pay to play online. man I already payed for the game once. Im not going to pay to play it online. thats just bull crap.

WTF was I thinking?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: April 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I recently reviewed this game and gave it one star because you had to pay to just play off-line. What a JACK... I was. But then I thought for a moment, gee if this was a perfect world every game would be free. I mean you have to buy any game to play it. But this isn't a perfect world. All you need is XBOX LIVE to play off-line, which should be no problem because there cannot be anyone who only wants XBOX LIVE to play one game online. Plus this game is $, $10 less than games normally cot brand new which makes paying a little to play online even smaller.

Now to the game itself. Whoever missed playing PSO and PSO version 2 back in the Dreamcast days sure missed a lot. The first PSO game is extremely addicting. Heck, I had to play it off-line all the time I played it because my connections were screwed up and still had loads of fun going through the levels to gain experience to level up and to get more money to buy weapons. PSO version 2 on DC is even better. It had sweet new levels, more enemies, harder enemies, the Ultimate Level, a ton more rare items, and much more useful stuff that your character needed as well as loads of meseta (the currency in PSO). PSO version 2 is much more addicting as the first and I still play it a lot, still off-line and still having loads of fun. The XBOX version includes all of the things that made the Dreamcast versions so fun and addicting and expands it. The online version is still better than ever, the levels are still just as fun and often times more fun that the DC ones and leveling up is easier with more enemies and more to combat online. The off-line mode is great too and includes some quests for each time of character that earn you a lot of meseta. Forget what I said before, THIS GAME IS WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY TO PLAY ONLINE!!!!!

Go out and buy this game. If you enjoyed the Dreamcast versions, you will LOVE this!

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