- Massively multiplayer RPG action over a worldwide network. Play with people from America, Japan, and Europe!.
- Collaborate with other players to slay monsters and achieve goals in a real-time battle system..
- Advanced chat feature allows conversation without language barriers..
- Swatch's BEAT system unites the world with a single time zone..
- Designed by Sonic Team..
- A Visual Memory Unit (VMU) required to play Phantasy Star Online.
Irgendwann in ferner Zukunft ist die Menschheit auf der Suche
nach neuen Welten für irdische Siedler. Ein Sondenschiff entdeckt
den Planeten Ragoul, der anscheinend optimale Lebensbedingen
bietet und unbewohnt ist. Ragoul wird von Hunderten eifriger
Emigranten kolonisiert. Sieben friedliche, glückliche Jahre
später trifft die zweite Welle von Siedlern ein. Als die Schiffe
in den Orbit des Planeten eintreten, unterbricht plötzlich eine
unvorhergesehene Explosion auf der Planetenoberfläche die
Kommunikation mit Ragoul.
Der Spieler übernimmt die Rolle eines der Neuankömmlinge - er
muss hinunter auf die Planetenoberfläche und herausfinden, was da
geschehen ist. Dabei hat man die Wahl zwischen verschiedenen
Charakter-Typen (Nahkämpfer, Magier, Scharfschütze) - es können
männliche und weibliche Figuren mit Unmengen anpassbarer
Eigenschaften erstellt werden. Online bildet man Gruppen von vier
Spielern und besteht im Team Kämpfe und Abenteuer auf Ragoul.
Dabei ist es kein Problem, wenn die vier Spieler aus
verschiedenen Ländern stammen - ein ausgeklügeltes Symbolsystem
erlaubt die Verständig über Sprachbarrieren hinweg. Also, auf
nach Ragoul!
FEATURES:
- Komplett in 3D
- Bis zu vier Spieler kooperieren in einer Gruppe
- Drei unterschiedliche Charakter-Typen
- Internationale Symbolsprache
- Benutzen Sie das Keyboard (separat erhältlich),um mit anderen
Spielern zu chatten, während Sie PSO spielen
- Neue Missionen können aus dem Internet heruntergeladen werden
INFO:
- Bitte beachten Sie, daß sie PSO nur mit Usern spielen können,
die dieselbe Frequenz (50 oder 60Hz-Fernsehereinstellung) gewählt
haben, mit Usern außerhalb Europas können Sie nur im 60Hz-Modus
spielen
- Es ist nicht möglich, PSO ohne Speicherkarte zu spielen!!!
- Bei Fragen zum Spiel können Sie sich an die Sega-Hotline
wenden: 0180/3000410 (Ortstarif).
Review
------
The arrival of one of the most anticipated titles
of the past few years seems to be something akin to a gaming
epiphany, so to speak. Amid rumor, bad news and confusion, Sega's
strange week in the videogame industry spotlight reveals nothing
except that this is one company that knows games and gamers, even
if everything else is up in the air.
What game are we talking about? Phantasy Star Online, of course.
With its ambitious goal of taking console gamers to places that
only PC players had been previously (online), developer Sonic
Team has gloriously succeeded in full 3D -- with vibrant,
colorful textures to boot. Taking an obvious page from the
premier dungeon-crawling, multiplayer antics of Blizzard's Diablo
series, Phantasy Star Online, in fact, more refines a formula
than redefines a genre.
While countless previews have hit the web and print magazines
outlining its general mechanics and gameplay, for the
uninitiated, PSO is a role-playing game that can either be played
online or offline. At the outset, you'll choose one character
from nine different choices, then customize their costumes, hair,
etc. to suit your liking.
Class Wars: The different characters all hail from three
different "classes:" Rangers, Forces and Hunters. Each class has
its weaknesses and strengths that range from power to weaponry.
Forces are magic users with a good ability to gain TP (the term
for the usual Magic Points in most RPGs), but are slower to gain
hit points with every successive level. Rangers, on the other
hand, can be equipped with the heavy artillery and pack much more
power than the spell casters. Hunters have a slightly balanced
compromise between the other two classes, and can be used for
hand-to-hand combat as well as magic.
The balance between the different classes gives players a good
choice to suit their preferred fighting style. Though there's
definitely room for complexity and variety in character selection
that hasn't been fully explored in PSO, the bases are adequately
covered. There's just enough disparity in gameplay and strategy
between the types to keep you wondering what exactly it would be
like to play as a Ranger if you've been using a Force all along.
Alien Resurrection: For those who've read every story about PSO
since its announcement, the concern for fans has been whether or
not the game remains true to its Phantasy StarAlgol System roots.
The answer is mixed, to say the least. Because of its online
functions, the chances for a strong, coherent storyline are
strained. Because of the number of players and the non-linear
structure that is the focus of online gaming, the difference
between PSO and, say, Skies of Arcadia is a rather large gap
filled with plenty of monster-killing and the odd offhand
reference to PS series stes like Dark Falz and Monomates.
At the start, your character is chosen as a hunter to chase down
the cause of a giant explosion on Ragol, a planet that your
civilization is hoping to inhabit. An earlier crew that had
previously been inhabiting the surface of Ragol has now strangely
vanished, along with all communication from your ship to theirs.
A cool premise, but the actual thread of story within the game is
almost pushed off to the side in favor of actual gameplay.
Phantastic Voyage: Prepare for an overload the minute you plunge
into an online room filled with PSO-obsessed folk speaking every
language (including the long-lost international tongue of "smut")
and eager to level up their characters just like you. Navigation
and signing up for game is amazingly easy for first-timers, but
you'll have to contend with some strangely delayed character
rendering and the annoying habit of speech "bubbles" clogging up
your screen if there are tons of people in the lobby.
Once you enter a game with as many as three other characters,
the fun really begins. The structure of the game is this: Clear a
dungeon and gain access to the next one. The more characters you
have in your party, the more monsters will inhabit each room of
every dungeon. Therefore, the more people in your party, the
better chance you have of scoring large as of experience
points in order to level up your character (which is the basis of
any good online RPG). Having more players in your party can also
be a brilliant way to swap items and take down big, bad bosses
more easily. There's always someone to revive you if you die, as
well.
But there's a downside to every group experience, virtual or
physical. The distribution of items gained from killing monsters,
boss fights or treasure chests are always a source of tension in
a low-level group of explorers. Grabbing items to sell or equip
sometimes boils down to who gets to them the fastest, but this is
also part of the strategy in PSO.
So, what does the offline game mean in any of this? Answer: a
few different things. Your offline game is played alone, with you
going solo against the exact same monsters in the exact same
dungeons as online. But, once you clear a dungeon in the offline
game (you'll start the offline game on Normal difficulty), you'll
be able to bypass it in an online game of the same difficulty
level if you are the leader. Therefore, if you clear the Forest
on Normal offline, when you sign on and start a Normal online
game, you'll automatically be given access to the next dungeon,
the Caves. Also, besides the fun hijinks of online, the real
point of PSO is to beef up your character enough to take on all
three difficulty levels of the offline quests (Normal, Hard and
Very Hard) to receive the game's "real" ending. Not an easy feat
by any stretch of the imagination.
But the camaraderie of the online quests is plenty good enough
to keep gamers enthralled for the long run, if simply for the
"Diablo factor" of wanting to get your character to the next
level or to find that ridiculously rare item. Plus, you get to
dish dirt with all your friends online in different ways.
Chat Boom: Sonic Team has done a commendable job giving gamers
all sorts of ways to communicate with one another, be it simple
mail, guild cards or universal "translators." While the universal
bit doesn't work as smoothly as we'd hoped (it makes gamers
scroll through a clumsy network of preset phrases), the effort is
definitely there and makes asking someone who doesn't speak
English "Where are you from?" easier than breaking out a
foreign-language dictionary.
Players are also able to swap Guild Cards, which work like ICQ
numbers or business cards. Once you have someone's Guild Card,
you can seek them out online, no matter which server they're
gaming on. As creepy as it might sound, if you use discretion in
who you hand your card to, the feature is a blessing if the
server is crowded and you can't seem to find your friend no
matter how hard you look.
There's also the inclusion of "simple mail," which allows you to
send limited email to a friend online, granted you have their
Guild Card on you. The entire chat and communication system in
PSO is geared to make each player's online life much, much
easier, and even enhances the entire experience. Kudos to Sonic
Team.
The Minus Points: Though Sega has pulled off the unthinkable
feat of placing a high-quality online RPG on Dreamcast, the
project doesn't come off without a few hitches. Yes, PSO does
have a lot of slowdown that occurs during big brawls in rooms
with loads of beasties and players running around. Yes, there is
lag that will really confuse players who see their friends
appearing and reappearing at odd locations on the screen. Yes,
there are instances of hard ces and soft ces that will
boot you off the server so you'll have reconnect. Yes, broadband
compatibility is officially "unsupported" by Sega. Yes, the game
could use more diversity in its dungeon designs and more
brain-work in its overly simplistic "step on this switch and have
a friend step on the other" puzzles. And finally, yes, this is a
dungeon crawler with the emphasis on killing things rather than
exploring themes of love, death and loyalty alongside a salty
lead character who has more angst and anguish than a typical
Final Fantasyhero.
BUT (and it's a big "but") this is a game that's so expertly
constructed in its pick up 'n' play controls, mechanics, simple
but well-plotted systems and painfully gorgeous graphics (Sonic
Team clearly gets something out of the DC that loads of other
third parties can't seem to figure out) that it's best to keep
your opinions to yourself until you've kicked much alien butt
online. Then, make up your mind whether you want to t the
game (probably not) or keep playing so you can test out that
Dragon Slayer and get your character to level 62. For most
gamers, the answer is the latter. With a high addiction factor
and groundbreaking console design, this isn't a game that any DC
owner should pass up. And it stands as a testament, flaws and
all, that Sega, no matter what it decides to do in the future or
how it's gonna do it, is delivering the content that will dictate
what most gamers will see on other systems for years to come. The
Bottom Line: Brilliant. --DailyRadar.com -- DailyRadar.com