Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II

The Darkness Has Returned

JP release: 12th September 2002
NA release: 30th October 2002
EU release: 7th March 2003
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
NGC Magazine Score: 90%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Phantasy Star Online is a difficult game to look back on. It was a big deal at the time, being an online RPG for home consoles, providing a way for non-PC gamers to socialise with others online for the first time in a video game. With online gaming being a new thing for consoles, and requiring additional purchases of modems, Phantasy Star Online came with online and offline modes, so you can still play the whole game (with a properly adapted difficulty) without connecting to the internet. The GameCube version of Episode 1 & 2 took this an extra step further with 4 player split screen.

For this playthrough, I played the “Plus” version, which added online-exclusive content to the offline mode.

In Phantasy Star Online, you’re a ship taking refugees from Earth to a new habitable planet, arriving after the first ship set up the start of a colony. An explosion happens and you lose contact with the colony, and you’re sent to investigate. The main story is intriguing, but it never really goes into much detail, and could have done with some tutorials and more dialogue. I beat the final boss of Episode 1 and it just cuts to credits, saves then sends you to the title screen.

The combat in Phantasy Star Online is fine. It works in a very similar way to modern console MMOs, with a hotbar that lets you place your abilities, and holding down a button to access some extra ones. That said, it takes a long time to gain new abilities, so you’ll be stuck with a few basic attacks to begin with. There is a lot of weapons and items you can find, although a lot of what you can find will be locked to other classes.

There’s also surprisingly few levels in the game, and they’re all made up of smaller rooms connected by corridors. That said, there are some really nice looking areas and some nice detail in these areas. It’s typically a case of killing all the enemies, finding buttons and moving on, sometimes encountering a dead end (usually with loot) and trying a different direction. There are lots of extra quests you can go on, but these use the same few maps.

In Episode 2, the graphics get significantly better, with far nicer and more natural looking environments. The final area of the game – an underwater lab – even has lovely reflections of yourself, but also enemies. Some enemies now turn invisible, yet their reflections still show for you to be able to react to them. It’s a shame that graphical effects only apply to certain areas.

Even in singleplayer mode, there’s something oddly charming about the whole thing. In a way it’s a fairly simple hack n slash game with repetitive levels, but there’s a really interesting world and the enemies all feel unique, acting in different ways and requiring different tactics to beat, which helps to keep you on your toes as you need to adjust your strategy on the fly.

It all feels like a remarkable time capsule as well. It was the early days of online gaming on consoles, yet as it had to provide singleplayer functionality, it’s all easy to play right now, without having to faff with unofficial servers and the like (although you can do that if you want to play it online).

Fun

Ordinarily, we’d deride a game that, structurally, was as dull as what we’ve just described. With Phantasy Star Online, however, it’s simply not justified. It’s an entirely different breed of game from just about anything else out there. It’s not so much an RPG, more a beautifully realised version of Gauntlet.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #78

Remake or remaster?

A remastered version would be great, with the additional stuff form the PC version (Blue Burst). It’s still an interesting game..

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II.