I’m not a PSO player or a fan of RPG’s but I love my Dreamcast, and for the support of the console I want to get online. I’m looking into getting a DreamPi soon. 😎
Damn straight I still have the demodisk Back in the day and it still had the teaser trailer on it with the main theme in the intro... amazing To have an orchestral rendition of edition of the fantasy star one theme Blue... my mind.
This is the best game ever created. So many memories forged playing this with my brothers, cousins and friends. Looking back I think it was the best era of my life
PD: I just bought a GameCube and started playing it again, but this time alone since we´re all grown. Still the best game, full of memories and experiences. Sending love to the PSO community that still rocks with this
it's always so weird to see someone with a pfp you used to use from a screenshot of a random video you took like 10 years ago.. ahaha anyways, hope ur doing well man!
Just played it for the first time yesterday. Me and my best friend didn’t even realize we spent like 6-8 hours on it. (I wasn’t counting.) Maybe a bit dated, but still great fun.
This game is honestly perfect. The atmosphere, the osts, the aesthetic oh my god that aesthetic is priceless. I have played many other ps games, the portable ones (very good and can be played in a phone!), the ds one (also very nice i love it :D), and also pso2 and ngs (i loved 2, new genesis... meh..). Still, out of all of those, theres something in Ep I & II that is unique to it. Its simplicity, i think its more like "enoughness". It does everything it has to do, in its own clunky, but so special way, and its really worth experiencing. I didnt grow up with it, sadly. But i love it a lot and it will always have that special place in my heart.
I think part of the enjoyment for me is how lack luster our move set is. Because of it, I feel like teamwork is more essential especially at lower levels. I was having trouble solo this certain level as a level 20 HUnter. I had another level 20 hunter join and we dusted it together simply by synchronizing attacks and healing each other properly. The games emphasis on teamwork is immense
very true. I feel like the guy in the video down talks the combat a bit and I know where he is coming from but it does have intricacy and a ton of information to know
@@soldatheeroreminds me of monster hunter. All the nuiance has been shaved off in newer games because people who don't play or enjoy it call it clunky. When actions are deliberate and there are bad choices you can make a few seconds before the consequences hit you. Dealing with that gives you strategy based action combat instead of reactionary action combat. The latter of which rarely gives you a challenge when you find the jack of all trades defense button they put in all games today and can do whatever you want so long as you remember to react to attacks with the defend button. Instead of needing to have proper positioning or timing to be able to use defensive actions at all to save yourself. "Clunky" combat isn't bad it just asks you to strategize and be deliberate with your actions instead of being so over powered that i doesn't quite matter.
We played this when it came out in 2000 on gamecube. The music is so enchanting its like being in an alternative universe. The makers were interviewed for the 20 year anniversary and the menus and chat were made without tools it was painstakingly made pixel for pixel. And the person that made the music was so absorbed with phantasy star before online, they hired him to unleash the legend he was dreaming in music
I grew up with this game, it was just so damn honest and whimsical. It's would've been weird to label an MMO as honest back then but after how the genre unfolded it sure is a wholesome little piece of the past. The PvE was fun, the PvP was fun, finding a hacker who could create whacky loot was fun! It almost felt like the earliest stages of VR lobbies, some random guy running around as Tails and Sonic yelling nonsense into a microphone... ahh man
In my experience, the hackers didnt create the loot, they hacked the game to always drop the rare item from enemies. A backup server I went on had an actual hacking tool as a quest which let you create rare weapons, armor, mags/etc, auto level you to 200. Said mags were what I called "steroid mags" no PB, but every stat was level 307.
The way you described what made PSO so unique and special is THE PERFECT way. Could never put it into words before. Thank you. I remember it more fondly over all the heavyweights like Diablo, WoW (I put over 1500 HOURS into this damn game), FF, etc. and the music is otherworldly. Pure musical Nirvana.
It's crazy how so many of us seem to have this same sort of magical ephemeral memories from the game. It completely absorbed my imagination I absolutely loved the atmosphere and the areas I used to imagine so much of my own lore/backstory because the game told a story through the environment
PSO was my first MMO on DC. 20yr later I found the private server Ephenia and I got to relive the joy and them some all over. Highly recommend playing this game in 2022.
I also play on ephinea but yeah pso has and almost always had one of the best if not the best community in any online game ever. The only one that can compare it's maybe ff14 community, but PSO's is even better.
I'm sitting here right now logged into a very early work in progress server for a defunct MMORPG on PS2 called EverQuest Online Adventures. I just chatted with 2 guys who haven't logged in since Sony shut us down in 2012... TEN YEARS folks... they were absolutely blown away with nostalgia and probably happier than they have been in years, even for just a bit. Remembering the old towns, camps, mobs, all the friends, hearing the music it overwhelms people. Nostalgia baby! It's delicate, but potent! I pray that someday soon the people working to reverse engineer this absolute GEM of a game are successful, and i mean QUICK with how sideways the world is going. We all agree that we can't go back to how it was, we can't go back to 03 again and live it all afresh no... BUT, when they shut down your first MMO (one i met my wife in btw) man it sucks... IT SUUUUUUCKS lol. PSO was a fantastic game, and i fondly remember playing the last few weeks on xbox before they shut that down as well. It's great that the game has private servers, i think ALL MMO's deserve their own private server when they shut down. EQOA is unlike anything ever attempted before and we hope that brings in more interest from potential devs. Just having a server at all to run around in, even with extremely limited functionality is incredible. Great video man, thanks for sharing!
I recall making a Bard named Barred on Frontiers, getting my first bloodstone gem, and so happy to make something on the auction house with it, over in newport.. We'd group up and fight undead, or some crocs, cracktooths maybe.. DM is Darvar Manor on EQ, another hotspot I recall, for higher lvls, as I only reached 44, haha..
My biggest goal in life is to make the true successor to PSO. I miss PSO, but I know that I can’t simply just duplicate it. As much as I love PSO, there are several things I would change (like the combat system. I loved the simplicity but not the 1-2-3 rhythmic timing). - More loot of course, but also each piece of equipment would change the appearance of your avatar. Simple player housing for a way to customize and decorate. - Themed dungeons like from classic WoW (imagine something iconic like Scholomance in PSO style without the need for tanking and dps bullshit). - Special events like a 10 player raid. Just things like that that would help modernize it just a little for a richer experience.
Greetings from CptDoom on original DC version. Everything you said is correct. Although the game did kinda fall apart with the exploder cheat disc and memory card nothing has ever captured that era ever again. And my god, the phone bills.
Me and an old buddy decided to restart our characters again, from level 1. So we start in the Forest, and the very first Booma I kill drops a red box saying "Booma's Right Arm". I never cheered so hard in my life at a game, lol.... my buddy got a little jealous, both of us being at level 1 and all... I think it's actually because our combined LUCK level being 20 (level 10 at base for both of us). With 2 people playing, it doubled the chance of better drops.
Hehe sorry but no, it doesn't work like that the drop rate does not double based on players count, you just got lucky. Also the luck stat you are referring to is called luck but it is actually the critical hit rate.
@@officiallion9288 Yeah, "luck" is always 10 and you can max it out at 100 with some equipment and the use of "luck materials", but that has nothing to do with the actual luck of finding rare items, it's just the critical hit rate, at 100 your attacks have a much higher chance of a critical strike (double damage). If you did find booma's right arm at normal tho, you have pretty good luck yourself! The chance of it dropping is like 1on 8300!
I was there too bro. And it was phenomenal. My first online gaming experience. what a blast. I’m 40 now and my best gaming memories are related with PSO.
Still playing online today (recently back online). This game has had almost a spiritual impact on my life 😅. So many great memories and still a goto for guaranteed simplicity and fun! It’s the perfect game to jump in and out of as an adult with kids and a job and so much busyness because it’s so simple to get back in the groove and to step out of.
Something that you didn't mention about this game is this game that was a big pull for me was the aesthetics. The colorful futuristic look and soundtrack were amazing to me. I only had Nintendo consoles growing up. I bought PSO for GameCube and I hadn't experienced anything that sounded or looked like it. Later I got F-Zero GX which had a similar aesthetic that I also loved.
I never played it online but i had it on gamecube and played it with my brothers. Played into the morning all the time. There was a skill to the game though in manipulating the enemy behavior and dodging enemies
You said it! Nothing else has come along that scratches that itch. As TINY of a game as this is (re-used enemies, basically 4 levels per episode), the simple gameplay loop had me hooked for over a decade and even now I come back to it every now and again.
I think PSO's combat was 'deeper' than people give it credit for. It seems simple on the surface but that's because the real meat of it isn't on the players, it's on the enemies and I find that infinitely more interesting than the standard we have now of having 50 odd abilities but killing almost all enemies in the same way. You had to learn by playing and observing. That's how you'd find out that you can walk on a hildebear's right to have its punch swing over your head leaving them open to some back attacks. That's how you know you can't do a 3 light combo on an evil shark unless you want smacked in the face: gotta do 2 and move to avoid the counter attack or have enough ATA to land a heavy attack for that 3rd hit and knock them too far away from you for them to retaliate. Admittedly this is only if you bothered with melee... I felt like guns kind of bypassed most of the more interesting parts of the game :o Techs kind of at least required you to learn monster resistances so you knew which element to use on what. Then again I suspect I was almost playing a different game from a lot of other folk in PSO. I had one of my palettes set to non-attack items so I could run full speed in combat (if you have an attack the targeting slows you to a walk when there's an enemy in range) and the idea of getting hit at all was abhorrent to me :P I often had people confuse my FOnewearl for a hunter due to me killing things with a soul eater for the most part and never dying (people told me they were used to FOnewearls ending up dead, can't say I noticed it myself but they did have the lowest HP in the game I guess?) That said, that was back on original PSO before the stat changes so FOnewearls could actually hit the side of a barn with non-techs :P My favourite moment I think for me was in PSOv2 when I beat Ultimate De Rol Le with my massively underleveled FOnewearl. It took half an hour and if I'd been hit even once I would've instantly died and had to start again but the worm fell and then I got a set of violent adrenaline shakes that made me drop the controller XD I think I beat ultimate Falz at level 85, which in PSOv2 was absolute lunacy (I think the standard level to beat it was 110 or higher) Not such an amazing feat in EPI&II or later as they smoothed out the difficulty curve quite considerably (funniest part about v2 was people kitted out in top v1 gear not being able to hit basic Bartles in the forest... just a stream of misses and single digit damage until you find your first red weapon XD ) Massive tangeants aside though... I miss combat being about the enemies. I feel like in PSO2 and NGS I just slap them with whatever my class combos are regardless of what they are, unless it's an event boss of course. Those bosses were where PSO2 kind of came alive for me again.
Tbh, I think the best way to describe PSO now is a really cool VR chat that happened to have an RPG attached to it. Since it's stupid easy, it's more for folks to just hang out and connect and get up to shenanigans, but the bonus is that the shenanigans will level up and sometimes reward you with interesting loot.
One thing I always regretted about Phantasy Star online was never learning all of challenge mode. I could never find enough people who knew what they were doing to teach me what I needed to do (private servers). I could read guides and all that stuff online but people always had these extra tips that weren't in the guide. Edit: although I will say, West Tower and quests like those could be difficult compared to the rest of the game
id say sea beds on ultimate is still a challenge and so is most of the game if you set it up that way and don't play with duplicated items or with someone higher level than you. I actually get more out of the offline mode sometimes
@@kevlarAK I've already settled with the fact that I'll never go back to play Phantasy Star Online again because I'll just be sad that it's not the same feeling as when I was a kid with all my friends and stuff. Challenge mode will always be something of a mystery to me, but that's , enjoyed my time either way.
I just got schtserver for gc set up yesterday on my steam deck. So glad cus I’ve always wanted to play this game. I had blue burst for a bit but I like being able to play offline with my character. Great video dude!
You made some great points about an interesting topic. PSO seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. If you look at each aspect they might seem weak: simple combat system, lack of difficulty, section id drop system etc. But somehow they all create a very unique and appealing experience. I also find it annoying when people say "you only like this because of nostalgia." I played PSO for the first time last year and I loved it. It's exactly what I want in an online RPG experience. And as you said, there's really nothing like it.
how is the section ID system a weak point for the game? I think it's really fun and encourages trading and collaboration. (something PSO2 sorely lacks)
@@pixxellie Specifically how its communicated to you in the game. I agree the system is cool and promotes trading, community, alts etc but it is somewhat obtuse. Without online drop charts and guides it would be pretty indecipherable.
Man this is perfectly said as well, just like the video. PSO2 has no earthly idea what made PSO special in the first place. It looks like complete garbage with awful lazy modern graphical design with no style or unique visual identity. For gods sake PS Zero on the DS has more charm. And everything else you said I agree completely.
@@enshk79 it looks nice at some spots tbh but its just too hallow. my main problem is it has a more "arcade" like feelt to it while the original PSO had more serious fantasy vibes that would tickle the imagination and make you feel like your really in this atmosphere. new genesis is too cheap
@@enshk79 to be fair Base game PSO2 did respect the first game a lot and you can see it in the first 3 episodes (which was originally suppose to end at ep 3) Especially the music/ bosses and how much the game references each EP of pso1 It wasn't until episode 4 where it changed directors, tried to be its own thing with the gameplay, going too anime (if that's the right way to say it) and went NGS route with the scion classes.
they wont sadly most of them are too worried about fasion and gacha. they are also obsessed with the numbers and power creep and playing their favorite anime protagonist or playing alone
I think it's so awesome you can actually play crossplay between GameCube, Dreamcast and PC Online on the same server at the same time in Phantasy Star Online.
The ui is actually literally held in high regard as design Inspo actually ha. It’s not that rough it’s actually just overly stylized in a way that’s still referenced in art or graphic design. All through the y2k revival pso has always been at the top of net artists creative inspiration so calling it rough around the edges is maybe the only thing I disagree with. Love this game tho glad the community is still alive
This game was the first MMO I ever played in 2001. I have made so many friends from that game that I still talk till this day! There will never be another game like PSO and plus it has some of the most amazing OST of all time. EDIT: But man.. when SEGA shut down its server... it was an awful feeling.
I mean yea simple quick interface but everyone knew the best players were GOATed on the quick menu select for techs and healing items. I never got to do online as a kid, didn't go online till BB on private servers but we had the Gamecube port. Our PSO experience was 4 player split screen dungeon crawling and I would trade everything I have to go back to playing with my brothers and friends in that dungeon crawling madness. Finally getting past Dark Pfalz at 2 in the morning during a sleepover was the GOAT gaming experience of the early 2000s.
@@soldatheero the fact that they had a way to manually sort your quick menus accessible by a controller is amazing and that it could be intuitive like that. I had muscle memory for exactly how many buttons and stick movements I needed to hit all buffs, debuffs, rez, ryuker and pop a few techs if they weren't quick menued or for weapon swapping on my HUNewearl. Are you really playing pso though until you get a pair of Hit 55%+ Hell/Chaos/Arrest Vulcans and never need to switch weapons again?
Reminds me of when Monster Hunter Tri came out and I stayed up all night forgetting that my parents needed me out of my room the next day to get new windows installed so I wandered around outside with a pillow looking for shade to sleep under. Good times
Veteran of the Ultima PSOBB server here, this man gets it! There are scant few games I have played online over the years and only this one have I put in thousands of hours into over roughly 10 years. (4 lvl 200 chars with 4 more above lvl 160!) If it wasn't for PSO2 / PSO2NGS, I would probably still be playing it. I do have to give a shout out to the Clementine PSU server though too, it's almost as fun and has a similar charm to it too.
This is the definite online game. They can never bring back the game music gamecube graphics. This entire package is perfection. In the VR ruins i had a flashback at the 90s like deep forest music etnic world music and dance combined. But then internet came. But pso came out at the end dying breath of the 90s and the start of the millennium. I remember the feeling the hope of the indigo 90s and the hope for the technological future. This game embodied all of that, its a product of its time, but also an alternate universe. The music just transports me to another world right from the start. Diablo and starcraft was very grim it fueled addiction but also nightmare. Pso had this nightmare section too, but it stays profoundly magical thats impossible to pindown.
not to mention the unique music and atmosphere. there really is no other game that has a feel like it. still play it online to this day. private servers are still active.
Even though the combat was simple IMO its still way better than a ton of games today because of the simple fact you could still die. too many games now are so easy, pso was easy with good gear but playing offline or without duped items wasn't always easy there were some long battles and timing was important for attacking/spells dodging enemy attacks and managing all the menus at once and changing weapons constantly to be as efficient as possible
@@michaeloffgrid actually sometimes I just go check out videos about phantasy star 1 for nostagias sake. I know phantasy star online’s main draw is online play though
One of the great games on The Dreamcast and first game to play online for me. Now 20 years later or so, I just started playing Phantasy Star online 2 on PS4 that's a great game too.
I feel like the reason this game keeps me captivated so much is because everything I do in this game is an accomplishment purely because I alone put the time in and put the effort in to get everything I have. Even with trading in the game, you have to grind hard to get the currencies people want to pay for the stuff you trade for. No other game makes you understand without a doubt that you earned what you got.
Great job balancing critiques of its shortcomings with its charms as a “fun little time sink.“ I think this sums up playing PSO perfectly, even now. Keep up the positive vibes!
1:27 ehhh... You actually CAN dodge in PSO, you just have to know the right angle to walk relative to the enemy when you're being attacked, and not be attacking when the enemy attacks. It's a game of timings, like Dark Souls is today, albeit far less punishing. There's also an invulnerability window right in the middle of Resta if you time the animation to the attack (This mechanic in particular carried over to PSO2 unchanged, so it's clearly intentional). I actually got really good at playing PSO like that on PC back in the day, and still play like that when I hop on Ephinea. It's way more satisfying than PSO2's dodge system, and it's always funny watching a top rank party get Pig Ray'd while I just causally walk 45 degrees towards the opposite corner and the attack completely whiffs. Or heal-canceling Final Dark Falz's Grants attack, it's hard to time, but when I pull it off, it always gets a surprised "Hwat?" from anyone I haven't played with before.
Dude the intro of this video. I have the almost exact same memory. Brother went to his friends for a sleepover so I decided to try PSO online on his Dreamcast. Think I was 12 at the time. Anyway, it was the first time I ever stayed up all night. Played with a party to get to the boss, beat it, then we all just hung out in the main lobby chatting for hours on end. Was mind blowing as a kid never playing any online games. I still go back and play on private servers on PC. Nothing will ever beat the soundtrack this game had.
One of the best online games I've ever played. I still play it to this day from time-to-time. I feel like this game really had lightning in a bottle. It was simple with a simple design but it was all effectively done. The new PSO2 is a complicated mess! I legitimately tried to give it a shot for weeks and it was a hot mess, do you know that PSO2 is 100GB?! It's like Sega decided throw everything into that game, including an entire apartment of kitchen sinks and it's just one giant mess; a giant mess in gameplay and an even more complicated mess with its UI. The original PSO was simple yes, but through its simplicity, it was extremely effective! kind of like the Apple world of thought - effectiveness through simplicity of design.
kinda like how counter strike is one of the most played games in the world and it hasn't really changed its core mechanic of 5vs5 bomb plant in 20 years. solid foundation
I played pso ver.2 offline only as a kid on my Dreamcast my aunt bought me. I mostly played a Redria Humar for hundreds and hundreds of hours. Little did I know how important section ID’s were to drop rates. I never once looked up anything online for the game. I kinda got stuck in Ultimate Caves because my two best drops “Ancient Saber” and the “Red Handgun” simply couldn’t carry me lol. Beautiful game even completely alone. I was truly immersed in a beautiful world.
I played the heck out of this on Gamecube. I agree with everything you said, but will add that the couch co-op defined a lot of my relationship with my brothers. We could play together for hours: adventuring, exchanging loot. Then we could still take that same character and continue the adventures online with others. It was just so fun and wholesome. I still come back to the game every now and then for a "comfy playthrough" and I hope to introduce it to my son soon so we can play co-op as well.
I fired this up last night for the first time in 20 years and started a new game. Ran straight through the forest and killed the dragon on my first attempt. Yeah it's easy but damn, the feels.
I feel like i've been chasing the feeling I got from this game for all these years since it came out. I know there are sequels, but nothing has really hit the same spots for me. Monster Hunter is probably the closest series, and Dragon's Dogma kind of reminds me of it, but...there's nothing quite like PSO still.
We played it back in the day offline on Gamecube with my two brothers and cousin. Best time we had the music really ingrained in my brain such a nice game
This game was so amazing. I started it on Xbox way back in the day. Had so many good friends, and so many great memories. Trying to get my wii set up to let me play this online because I can't afforda broadband adapter for my gamecube.
Awesome video! Very informative. I'm looking to pick up the Gamecube version of PSO to get a Tails chao in SA2B but I also want to experience this game too. Even if it lacks online it still looks good to me and seems like fun to sink some time into like you said.
Me and a friend played this game for months back in its original day. We had a Dreamcast keyboard, so one of us would play and the other would type. We had a GREAT time, but then the hackers came. There was a PK mod that allowed people to drop teammates and take their stuff. Losing our gear sucked, but losing our Mag...it was like the death of a friend. At lvl 130, we never went back. The game world had been raped and the joy was gone. :(
1 of only 2 games that I ever had to stop playing completely. One day I was doing a solo run through the ruins on Ultimate. Made it to the 3rd area, it took me about 3 hours. Suddenly, power went out. All progress of that run was lost. I was so pissed. Angrier than I thought I could be about such a thing happening with a game and that was a problem. I was struck with a moment of clarity, that this game had a hold on me like no other game had before, and I couldn't allow that. This game is just too addicting. For anyone curious what the other game was that I had to stop playing completely, it was Civilization. Of course.
I didn't grow up with PSO but this game Is still impressive that In 1999 we had what Is essentially a mini MMO running on dial up as a comparison this was a year after the first metal gear solid and the same year the first pokemon stadium released SEGA were way ahead of the game
I missed out on this. My family never had internet until 2004 and that was a wifi modem placed in a spot where it was impossible for me to do wired connections but even if I could I never had the broadband thing for my dreamcast and i never even owned a Gamecube or Xbox. I only had a PS2. Never even knew about Phantasy Star Universe. I would have got that and played offline until I got my PS3 and finally with wifi console I would have been able to play it. Possibly could have had the PC version of PSO had I known it existed.
To expand on the combat, it may be simple but it's not like early MMOs where you stand in front of an enemy and trade unavoidable hits until one of you falls over. You actually move around, avoid hitboxes and can reliably flinch enemies. Your positioning combined with the rhythmic attack combo the game gives you means you actually have satisfying ways to manipulate the fights that are much more interesting than a static exchange of damage numbers, and it allows you to punch above your statistical weight. Lots of weapon types gives more tactical options. The hits/flinches are extremely satisfying, too. It's such a simple grind but gives the player just enough mechanical control in battles to keep it engaging.
I've always been interested in the game, even at the time that the game was new. Mostly, I like the look of the game (especially the Dreamcast version, for some reason). But I'm not really a fan of RPGs or online games. I'm tempted to try it now, but I'm not sure it would be worth it.
I'm too young to have played PSO when it first came out, but for me I feel like when I first started playing PSO2 was a very similar experience. Watching the intro to Episode 4 and playing the Battleship Yamato UQ was just fun, and don't get me wrong it still is, but it'll never be as fun as first experiencing Episode Oracle.
To this day PSO has that addictive formula were you can't help but get giddy when an enemy drops a rare item 😬 then realising It wasn't the rare drop you wanted 🥵 after grinding an area for hours fun times 😅
I wish they'd port PSO:BB+Episode 3 C.A.R.D. to modern consoles and PC. PSO, PSU, PSO2 and PSO2:NGS will always have chill community. Lvl up! Loot! Farm!
Playing this game online contemporarily must be very melancholic. I want to buy a dreamcast idk why everything about it just is so cool.
I’m not a PSO player or a fan of RPG’s but I love my Dreamcast, and for the support of the console I want to get online. I’m looking into getting a DreamPi soon. 😎
@@PedrosGarage cool
They’re becoming rarer and rarer. They’ll be over 200 in about 5 years so grab one now!
quite the opposite - it's been a salve for me on in 2022.
Damn straight I still have the demodisk Back in the day and it still had the teaser trailer on it with the main theme in the intro... amazing
To have an orchestral rendition of edition of the fantasy star one theme Blue... my mind.
This is the best game ever created. So many memories forged playing this with my brothers, cousins and friends. Looking back I think it was the best era of my life
PD: I just bought a GameCube and started playing it again, but this time alone since we´re all grown. Still the best game, full of memories and experiences. Sending love to the PSO community that still rocks with this
it's always so weird to see someone with a pfp you used to use from a screenshot of a random video you took like 10 years ago.. ahaha
anyways, hope ur doing well man!
I remember vividly when a Musashi first dropped for me. Seeing that red drop had me freaking out.
Just played it for the first time yesterday. Me and my best friend didn’t even realize we spent like 6-8 hours on it. (I wasn’t counting.) Maybe a bit dated, but still great fun.
That was your first time in 2022? LOVE IT!! Warms my heart that PSO is still captivating new players to this day.
I just played the first mission offline now (never had played this game before) and I didn't knew what I was missing back in the day 😧its so good!!!
This game is honestly perfect. The atmosphere, the osts, the aesthetic oh my god that aesthetic is priceless. I have played many other ps games, the portable ones (very good and can be played in a phone!), the ds one (also very nice i love it :D), and also pso2 and ngs (i loved 2, new genesis... meh..). Still, out of all of those, theres something in Ep I & II that is unique to it. Its simplicity, i think its more like "enoughness". It does everything it has to do, in its own clunky, but so special way, and its really worth experiencing.
I didnt grow up with it, sadly. But i love it a lot and it will always have that special place in my heart.
I think part of the enjoyment for me is how lack luster our move set is. Because of it, I feel like teamwork is more essential especially at lower levels. I was having trouble solo this certain level as a level 20 HUnter. I had another level 20 hunter join and we dusted it together simply by synchronizing attacks and healing each other properly. The games emphasis on teamwork is immense
very true. I feel like the guy in the video down talks the combat a bit and I know where he is coming from but it does have intricacy and a ton of information to know
@@soldatheeroreminds me of monster hunter. All the nuiance has been shaved off in newer games because people who don't play or enjoy it call it clunky. When actions are deliberate and there are bad choices you can make a few seconds before the consequences hit you. Dealing with that gives you strategy based action combat instead of reactionary action combat. The latter of which rarely gives you a challenge when you find the jack of all trades defense button they put in all games today and can do whatever you want so long as you remember to react to attacks with the defend button. Instead of needing to have proper positioning or timing to be able to use defensive actions at all to save yourself. "Clunky" combat isn't bad it just asks you to strategize and be deliberate with your actions instead of being so over powered that i doesn't quite matter.
@@tbc1880 exactly, well said
This game needs to be back. I just started the game over again offline. Still great.
Ephinea PSO is online and free.
Been playing the game for 20 years and you nailed it. I never thought too much about it, but the gameplay really is simple and breeds a good community
We played this when it came out in 2000 on gamecube. The music is so enchanting its like being in an alternative universe. The makers were interviewed for the 20 year anniversary and the menus and chat were made without tools it was painstakingly made pixel for pixel. And the person that made the music was so absorbed with phantasy star before online, they hired him to unleash the legend he was dreaming in music
man staying up playing PSO all night as a teen was awesome. I'd play that and THUG 1 on PS2 online til 4 am
I grew up with this game, it was just so damn honest and whimsical. It's would've been weird to label an MMO as honest back then but after how the genre unfolded it sure is a wholesome little piece of the past. The PvE was fun, the PvP was fun, finding a hacker who could create whacky loot was fun! It almost felt like the earliest stages of VR lobbies, some random guy running around as Tails and Sonic yelling nonsense into a microphone... ahh man
In my experience, the hackers didnt create the loot, they hacked the game to always drop the rare item from enemies. A backup server I went on had an actual hacking tool as a quest which let you create rare weapons, armor, mags/etc, auto level you to 200. Said mags were what I called "steroid mags" no PB, but every stat was level 307.
Go Flyers!
May this season be a good one!
I grew up with the GameCube version and its my favorite game. Ever.
The way you described what made PSO so unique and special is THE PERFECT way. Could never put it into words before. Thank you.
I remember it more fondly over all the heavyweights like Diablo, WoW (I put over 1500 HOURS into this damn game), FF, etc. and the music is otherworldly. Pure musical Nirvana.
It's crazy how so many of us seem to have this same sort of magical ephemeral memories from the game. It completely absorbed my imagination I absolutely loved the atmosphere and the areas I used to imagine so much of my own lore/backstory because the game told a story through the environment
*Looks at TV... Looks outside*
God I love this game
Most devoted private servers I have ever seen.
PSO was my first MMO on DC. 20yr later I found the private server Ephenia and I got to relive the joy and them some all over. Highly recommend playing this game in 2022.
Also want to point out - PSO is the most non-toxic playerbase I've ever played with
I also play on ephinea but yeah pso has and almost always had one of the best if not the best community in any online game ever. The only one that can compare it's maybe ff14 community, but PSO's is even better.
Today I got into PSOBB, absolutely amazing. Wow. I fully get it dude. Your wording is perfect in this video.
I'm sitting here right now logged into a very early work in progress server for a defunct MMORPG on PS2 called EverQuest Online Adventures. I just chatted with 2 guys who haven't logged in since Sony shut us down in 2012... TEN YEARS folks... they were absolutely blown away with nostalgia and probably happier than they have been in years, even for just a bit.
Remembering the old towns, camps, mobs, all the friends, hearing the music it overwhelms people. Nostalgia baby! It's delicate, but potent!
I pray that someday soon the people working to reverse engineer this absolute GEM of a game are successful, and i mean QUICK with how sideways the world is going. We all agree that we can't go back to how it was, we can't go back to 03 again and live it all afresh no... BUT, when they shut down your first MMO (one i met my wife in btw) man it sucks... IT SUUUUUUCKS lol.
PSO was a fantastic game, and i fondly remember playing the last few weeks on xbox before they shut that down as well. It's great that the game has private servers, i think ALL MMO's deserve their own private server when they shut down. EQOA is unlike anything ever attempted before and we hope that brings in more interest from potential devs. Just having a server at all to run around in, even with extremely limited functionality is incredible.
Great video man, thanks for sharing!
I recall making a Bard named Barred on Frontiers, getting my first bloodstone gem, and so happy to make something on the auction house with it, over in newport.. We'd group up and fight undead, or some crocs, cracktooths maybe.. DM is Darvar Manor on EQ, another hotspot I recall, for higher lvls, as I only reached 44, haha..
My biggest goal in life is to make the true successor to PSO. I miss PSO, but I know that I can’t simply just duplicate it. As much as I love PSO, there are several things I would change (like the combat system. I loved the simplicity but not the 1-2-3 rhythmic timing).
- More loot of course, but also each piece of equipment would change the appearance of your avatar. Simple player housing for a way to customize and decorate.
- Themed dungeons like from classic WoW (imagine something iconic like Scholomance in PSO style without the need for tanking and dps bullshit).
- Special events like a 10 player raid.
Just things like that that would help modernize it just a little for a richer experience.
Greetings from CptDoom on original DC version. Everything you said is correct. Although the game did kinda fall apart with the exploder cheat disc and memory card nothing has ever captured that era ever again. And my god, the phone bills.
Once you survived falz’s slap,on ultra you were the man.
Lol once you survived that slap, you knew you made it as a PSO player. (except fonewearl, RIP always)
So true! That’s how you see if you can even challenge him or not 😂
Me and an old buddy decided to restart our characters again, from level 1. So we start in the Forest, and the very first Booma I kill drops a red box saying "Booma's Right Arm". I never cheered so hard in my life at a game, lol.... my buddy got a little jealous, both of us being at level 1 and all... I think it's actually because our combined LUCK level being 20 (level 10 at base for both of us). With 2 people playing, it doubled the chance of better drops.
Hehe sorry but no, it doesn't work like that the drop rate does not double based on players count, you just got lucky. Also the luck stat you are referring to is called luck but it is actually the critical hit rate.
@@MajoraKamen64 fr? didnt know that.
@@officiallion9288 Yeah, "luck" is always 10 and you can max it out at 100 with some equipment and the use of "luck materials", but that has nothing to do with the actual luck of finding rare items, it's just the critical hit rate, at 100 your attacks have a much higher chance of a critical strike (double damage). If you did find booma's right arm at normal tho, you have pretty good luck yourself! The chance of it dropping is like 1on 8300!
I was there too bro. And it was phenomenal. My first online gaming experience. what a blast. I’m 40 now and my best gaming memories are related with PSO.
The naming/ badge system still great and this was when rare drops were very rare
Still playing online today (recently back online). This game has had almost a spiritual impact on my life 😅. So many great memories and still a goto for guaranteed simplicity and fun! It’s the perfect game to jump in and out of as an adult with kids and a job and so much busyness because it’s so simple to get back in the groove and to step out of.
Something that you didn't mention about this game is this game that was a big pull for me was the aesthetics. The colorful futuristic look and soundtrack were amazing to me. I only had Nintendo consoles growing up. I bought PSO for GameCube and I hadn't experienced anything that sounded or looked like it. Later I got F-Zero GX which had a similar aesthetic that I also loved.
I never played it online but i had it on gamecube and played it with my brothers. Played into the morning all the time. There was a skill to the game though in manipulating the enemy behavior and dodging enemies
You said it! Nothing else has come along that scratches that itch. As TINY of a game as this is (re-used enemies, basically 4 levels per episode), the simple gameplay loop had me hooked for over a decade and even now I come back to it every now and again.
I think PSO's combat was 'deeper' than people give it credit for. It seems simple on the surface but that's because the real meat of it isn't on the players, it's on the enemies and I find that infinitely more interesting than the standard we have now of having 50 odd abilities but killing almost all enemies in the same way.
You had to learn by playing and observing. That's how you'd find out that you can walk on a hildebear's right to have its punch swing over your head leaving them open to some back attacks. That's how you know you can't do a 3 light combo on an evil shark unless you want smacked in the face: gotta do 2 and move to avoid the counter attack or have enough ATA to land a heavy attack for that 3rd hit and knock them too far away from you for them to retaliate.
Admittedly this is only if you bothered with melee... I felt like guns kind of bypassed most of the more interesting parts of the game :o
Techs kind of at least required you to learn monster resistances so you knew which element to use on what.
Then again I suspect I was almost playing a different game from a lot of other folk in PSO. I had one of my palettes set to non-attack items so I could run full speed in combat (if you have an attack the targeting slows you to a walk when there's an enemy in range) and the idea of getting hit at all was abhorrent to me :P I often had people confuse my FOnewearl for a hunter due to me killing things with a soul eater for the most part and never dying (people told me they were used to FOnewearls ending up dead, can't say I noticed it myself but they did have the lowest HP in the game I guess?) That said, that was back on original PSO before the stat changes so FOnewearls could actually hit the side of a barn with non-techs :P
My favourite moment I think for me was in PSOv2 when I beat Ultimate De Rol Le with my massively underleveled FOnewearl. It took half an hour and if I'd been hit even once I would've instantly died and had to start again but the worm fell and then I got a set of violent adrenaline shakes that made me drop the controller XD
I think I beat ultimate Falz at level 85, which in PSOv2 was absolute lunacy (I think the standard level to beat it was 110 or higher) Not such an amazing feat in EPI&II or later as they smoothed out the difficulty curve quite considerably (funniest part about v2 was people kitted out in top v1 gear not being able to hit basic Bartles in the forest... just a stream of misses and single digit damage until you find your first red weapon XD )
Massive tangeants aside though... I miss combat being about the enemies. I feel like in PSO2 and NGS I just slap them with whatever my class combos are regardless of what they are, unless it's an event boss of course. Those bosses were where PSO2 kind of came alive for me again.
I'm a Vanilla WoW player and you made me want to play PSO
Its pretty fun I play both vanilla and pso so i would say its worth a shot.
@@VideoScruub I'm having the hardest time making it work though, it just doesn't load :/
@@Nielsfest ephinea server?
@@VideoScruub I don't think i've even been able to pick a server yet.
@@Nielsfest Oh are you on the actual dreamcast? I just play on pc through the ephinea server you just download the client
Nothing is as wholesome as PSO
I loved this game so much.
So excited for pso2 finally coming to playstation next month. I waited 10 years for it 😭
Tbh, I think the best way to describe PSO now is a really cool VR chat that happened to have an RPG attached to it. Since it's stupid easy, it's more for folks to just hang out and connect and get up to shenanigans, but the bonus is that the shenanigans will level up and sometimes reward you with interesting loot.
One thing I always regretted about Phantasy Star online was never learning all of challenge mode.
I could never find enough people who knew what they were doing to teach me what I needed to do (private servers).
I could read guides and all that stuff online but people always had these extra tips that weren't in the guide.
Edit: although I will say, West Tower and quests like those could be difficult compared to the rest of the game
id say sea beds on ultimate is still a challenge and so is most of the game if you set it up that way and don't play with duplicated items or with someone higher level than you. I actually get more out of the offline mode sometimes
@@Rain1 I beat Ep I and Ep II C mode on both Xbox and GameCube back in the day. Tons of fun. Hope you get to experience that thrill.
@@kevlarAK I've already settled with the fact that I'll never go back to play Phantasy Star Online again because I'll just be sad that it's not the same feeling as when I was a kid with all my friends and stuff. Challenge mode will always be something of a mystery to me, but that's , enjoyed my time either way.
This is one of those game I sincerely miss playing. Too bad the Dreamcast died
I just got schtserver for gc set up yesterday on my steam deck. So glad cus I’ve always wanted to play this game. I had blue burst for a bit but I like being able to play offline with my character. Great video dude!
I played this on the first Xbox. Best experience of my life. I even downloaded the sound tracks on my iPad mini to listen at work
Spent so many nights playing this and Mechassault online
You made some great points about an interesting topic. PSO seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. If you look at each aspect they might seem weak: simple combat system, lack of difficulty, section id drop system etc. But somehow they all create a very unique and appealing experience. I also find it annoying when people say "you only like this because of nostalgia." I played PSO for the first time last year and I loved it. It's exactly what I want in an online RPG experience. And as you said, there's really nothing like it.
how is the section ID system a weak point for the game? I think it's really fun and encourages trading and collaboration. (something PSO2 sorely lacks)
@@pixxellie Specifically how its communicated to you in the game. I agree the system is cool and promotes trading, community, alts etc but it is somewhat obtuse. Without online drop charts and guides it would be pretty indecipherable.
Man this is perfectly said as well, just like the video. PSO2 has no earthly idea what made PSO special in the first place. It looks like complete garbage with awful lazy modern graphical design with no style or unique visual identity.
For gods sake PS Zero on the DS has more charm.
And everything else you said I agree completely.
@@enshk79 it looks nice at some spots tbh but its just too hallow. my main problem is it has a more "arcade" like feelt to it while the original PSO had more serious fantasy vibes that would tickle the imagination and make you feel like your really in this atmosphere. new genesis is too cheap
@@enshk79 to be fair Base game PSO2 did respect the first game a lot and you can see it in the first 3 episodes (which was originally suppose to end at ep 3)
Especially the music/ bosses and how much the game references each EP of pso1
It wasn't until episode 4 where it changed directors, tried to be its own thing with the gameplay, going too anime (if that's the right way to say it) and went NGS route with the scion classes.
This game actually had a great atmosphere to it, very nostalgic for me
This is great. I feel like New Genesis players ought to take a look at this to better understand what it's ultimately all about.
Now it's all about seeing other players as big booby naked female avatars. 😂
they wont sadly most of them are too worried about fasion and gacha. they are also obsessed with the numbers and power creep and playing their favorite anime protagonist or playing alone
I think it's so awesome you can actually play crossplay between GameCube, Dreamcast and PC Online on the same server at the same time in Phantasy Star Online.
The ui is actually literally held in high regard as design Inspo actually ha. It’s not that rough it’s actually just overly stylized in a way that’s still referenced in art or graphic design. All through the y2k revival pso has always been at the top of net artists creative inspiration so calling it rough around the edges is maybe the only thing I disagree with. Love this game tho glad the community is still alive
This game was the first MMO I ever played in 2001.
I have made so many friends from that game that I still talk till this day!
There will never be another game like PSO and plus it has some of the most amazing OST of all time.
EDIT: But man.. when SEGA shut down its server... it was an awful feeling.
leveling a fomarl now offline. got it to 44 so far, what a blast
I mean yea simple quick interface but everyone knew the best players were GOATed on the quick menu select for techs and healing items.
I never got to do online as a kid, didn't go online till BB on private servers but we had the Gamecube port. Our PSO experience was 4 player split screen dungeon crawling and I would trade everything I have to go back to playing with my brothers and friends in that dungeon crawling madness. Finally getting past Dark Pfalz at 2 in the morning during a sleepover was the GOAT gaming experience of the early 2000s.
so true about the quick menus, i was a beast flippin around those
@@soldatheero the fact that they had a way to manually sort your quick menus accessible by a controller is amazing and that it could be intuitive like that. I had muscle memory for exactly how many buttons and stick movements I needed to hit all buffs, debuffs, rez, ryuker and pop a few techs if they weren't quick menued or for weapon swapping on my HUNewearl.
Are you really playing pso though until you get a pair of Hit 55%+ Hell/Chaos/Arrest Vulcans and never need to switch weapons again?
Reminds me of when Monster Hunter Tri came out and I stayed up all night forgetting that my parents needed me out of my room the next day to get new windows installed so I wandered around outside with a pillow looking for shade to sleep under. Good times
Veteran of the Ultima PSOBB server here, this man gets it! There are scant few games I have played online over the years and only this one have I put in thousands of hours into over roughly 10 years. (4 lvl 200 chars with 4 more above lvl 160!) If it wasn't for PSO2 / PSO2NGS, I would probably still be playing it. I do have to give a shout out to the Clementine PSU server though too, it's almost as fun and has a similar charm to it too.
This is the definite online game. They can never bring back the game music gamecube graphics. This entire package is perfection. In the VR ruins i had a flashback at the 90s like deep forest music etnic world music and dance combined. But then internet came. But pso came out at the end dying breath of the 90s and the start of the millennium. I remember the feeling the hope of the indigo 90s and the hope for the technological future. This game embodied all of that, its a product of its time, but also an alternate universe. The music just transports me to another world right from the start. Diablo and starcraft was very grim it fueled addiction but also nightmare. Pso had this nightmare section too, but it stays profoundly magical thats impossible to pindown.
its impresive you still love it.
i still play ragnarok online a 20 year old mmorpg
not to mention the unique music and atmosphere. there really is no other game that has a feel like it. still play it online to this day. private servers are still active.
Even though the combat was simple IMO its still way better than a ton of games today because of the simple fact you could still die. too many games now are so easy, pso was easy with good gear but playing offline or without duped items wasn't always easy there were some long battles and timing was important for attacking/spells dodging enemy attacks and managing all the menus at once and changing weapons constantly to be as efficient as possible
Dated games with chill people? Sign me up
Took the words out of my mouth! Lol
@@michaeloffgrid actually sometimes I just go check out videos about phantasy star 1 for nostagias sake. I know phantasy star online’s main draw is online play though
Come play with us on Ephinea PSOBB if you would like :)
@@MajoraKamen64 I want to badly. Just need the right set up of computer or laptop:/
@@mdot102 this runs on any potato pc
I spent soooooooooooo many late nights playing this on Dreamcast. It was a major addiction. The music is still stuck in my brain.
One of the great games on The Dreamcast and first game to play online for me. Now 20 years later or so, I just started playing Phantasy Star online 2 on PS4 that's a great game too.
I miss this game so much I want to play it on my Xbox series s/x
Simple. Fun. Social. Too many modern games overcomplicate things at the cost of fun and social connection.
I feel like the reason this game keeps me captivated so much is because everything I do in this game is an accomplishment purely because I alone put the time in and put the effort in to get everything I have.
Even with trading in the game, you have to grind hard to get the currencies people want to pay for the stuff you trade for. No other game makes you understand without a doubt that you earned what you got.
Great job balancing critiques of its shortcomings with its charms as a “fun little time sink.“ I think this sums up playing PSO perfectly, even now.
Keep up the positive vibes!
I played this game for a weekend when I was in elementary school visiting a friends father. I still love it from those 2 days of playing.
@All In my bad I see the error of my ways there. Was with said friend, parents divorced. Fuck I gotta read shit over.
Im just playing the Dreamcast version for the nostalgia.
Might boot up blue burst again once im done with it.
1:27 ehhh... You actually CAN dodge in PSO, you just have to know the right angle to walk relative to the enemy when you're being attacked, and not be attacking when the enemy attacks. It's a game of timings, like Dark Souls is today, albeit far less punishing. There's also an invulnerability window right in the middle of Resta if you time the animation to the attack (This mechanic in particular carried over to PSO2 unchanged, so it's clearly intentional).
I actually got really good at playing PSO like that on PC back in the day, and still play like that when I hop on Ephinea. It's way more satisfying than PSO2's dodge system, and it's always funny watching a top rank party get Pig Ray'd while I just causally walk 45 degrees towards the opposite corner and the attack completely whiffs. Or heal-canceling Final Dark Falz's Grants attack, it's hard to time, but when I pull it off, it always gets a surprised "Hwat?" from anyone I haven't played with before.
Its the music. You'll never forget the music
Dude the intro of this video. I have the almost exact same memory. Brother went to his friends for a sleepover so I decided to try PSO online on his Dreamcast. Think I was 12 at the time. Anyway, it was the first time I ever stayed up all night. Played with a party to get to the boss, beat it, then we all just hung out in the main lobby chatting for hours on end. Was mind blowing as a kid never playing any online games.
I still go back and play on private servers on PC. Nothing will ever beat the soundtrack this game had.
Man I loved this game. I still love this game. I remember the first time I got a rare drop. It was a crazy feeling
No game has ever done it better since, and no game ever will
I love planning builds in this game, its the best part of the game
One of the best online games I've ever played. I still play it to this day from time-to-time. I feel like this game really had lightning in a bottle. It was simple with a simple design but it was all effectively done. The new PSO2 is a complicated mess! I legitimately tried to give it a shot for weeks and it was a hot mess, do you know that PSO2 is 100GB?! It's like Sega decided throw everything into that game, including an entire apartment of kitchen sinks and it's just one giant mess; a giant mess in gameplay and an even more complicated mess with its UI. The original PSO was simple yes, but through its simplicity, it was extremely effective! kind of like the Apple world of thought - effectiveness through simplicity of design.
kinda like how counter strike is one of the most played games in the world and it hasn't really changed its core mechanic of 5vs5 bomb plant in 20 years. solid foundation
This video makes me so happy. A colleague of mine reminded me today why I love this game so much to this very day.
I played pso ver.2 offline only as a kid on my Dreamcast my aunt bought me. I mostly played a Redria Humar for hundreds and hundreds of hours. Little did I know how important section ID’s were to drop rates. I never once looked up anything online for the game. I kinda got stuck in Ultimate Caves because my two best drops “Ancient Saber” and the “Red Handgun” simply couldn’t carry me lol. Beautiful game even completely alone. I was truly immersed in a beautiful world.
I played the heck out of this on Gamecube. I agree with everything you said, but will add that the couch co-op defined a lot of my relationship with my brothers. We could play together for hours: adventuring, exchanging loot. Then we could still take that same character and continue the adventures online with others. It was just so fun and wholesome. I still come back to the game every now and then for a "comfy playthrough" and I hope to introduce it to my son soon so we can play co-op as well.
I fired this up last night for the first time in 20 years and started a new game. Ran straight through the forest and killed the dragon on my first attempt. Yeah it's easy but damn, the feels.
I remember playing this online, Quake 3 arena and NFL 2K. It surprisingly ran well on the Dial up 56K.
I feel like i've been chasing the feeling I got from this game for all these years since it came out. I know there are sequels, but nothing has really hit the same spots for me. Monster Hunter is probably the closest series, and Dragon's Dogma kind of reminds me of it, but...there's nothing quite like PSO still.
I missed out on the online experience way back in the Dreamcast days but i played this game solo and loved it!
We played it back in the day offline on Gamecube with my two brothers and cousin. Best time we had the music really ingrained in my brain such a nice game
I grew up watching my father play this game for hours on end and when pso2 came out I showed him the game and he's just as hooked on it as he was pso1
This game was so amazing. I started it on Xbox way back in the day. Had so many good friends, and so many great memories. Trying to get my wii set up to let me play this online because I can't afforda broadband adapter for my gamecube.
thanks keeping the love alive!
I was terrified of PSO combat as a child. Love the clunky, slow, deliberate combat.
Awesome video! Very informative. I'm looking to pick up the Gamecube version of PSO to get a Tails chao in SA2B but I also want to experience this game too. Even if it lacks online it still looks good to me and seems like fun to sink some time into like you said.
play offline its worth at least being the game.
I’m new to playing pso1 but I love it so far, it brings me peace
Me and a friend played this game for months back in its original day. We had a Dreamcast keyboard, so one of us would play and the other would type. We had a GREAT time, but then the hackers came. There was a PK mod that allowed people to drop teammates and take their stuff. Losing our gear sucked, but losing our Mag...it was like the death of a friend. At lvl 130, we never went back. The game world had been raped and the joy was gone. :(
I remember playing offline at my cousins house. Was still really fun solo.
One of the games that reminds me of simpler times as a kid,. Loved the soundtrack. My mates hated it lol.
this was the first very game that i played online until the disc cracked:(
1 of only 2 games that I ever had to stop playing completely. One day I was doing a solo run through the ruins on Ultimate. Made it to the 3rd area, it took me about 3 hours. Suddenly, power went out. All progress of that run was lost. I was so pissed. Angrier than I thought I could be about such a thing happening with a game and that was a problem. I was struck with a moment of clarity, that this game had a hold on me like no other game had before, and I couldn't allow that. This game is just too addicting.
For anyone curious what the other game was that I had to stop playing completely, it was Civilization. Of course.
I didn't grow up with PSO but this game Is still impressive that In 1999 we had what Is essentially a mini MMO running on dial up
as a comparison this was a year after the first metal gear solid and the same year the first pokemon stadium released SEGA were way ahead of the game
I missed out on this. My family never had internet until 2004 and that was a wifi modem placed in a spot where it was impossible for me to do wired connections but even if I could I never had the broadband thing for my dreamcast and i never even owned a Gamecube or Xbox. I only had a PS2. Never even knew about Phantasy Star Universe. I would have got that and played offline until I got my PS3 and finally with wifi console I would have been able to play it. Possibly could have had the PC version of PSO had I known it existed.
To expand on the combat, it may be simple but it's not like early MMOs where you stand in front of an enemy and trade unavoidable hits until one of you falls over. You actually move around, avoid hitboxes and can reliably flinch enemies. Your positioning combined with the rhythmic attack combo the game gives you means you actually have satisfying ways to manipulate the fights that are much more interesting than a static exchange of damage numbers, and it allows you to punch above your statistical weight. Lots of weapon types gives more tactical options. The hits/flinches are extremely satisfying, too.
It's such a simple grind but gives the player just enough mechanical control in battles to keep it engaging.
I've always been interested in the game, even at the time that the game was new. Mostly, I like the look of the game (especially the Dreamcast version, for some reason). But I'm not really a fan of RPGs or online games. I'm tempted to try it now, but I'm not sure it would be worth it.
I never experienced the mmo version, but my friend had this for the xbox and we would play split screen all through the night.
I played on my dream cast as a kid I still have my name Tukino as my gamer tag even today that's what I still go by
still leveling a new twink hucast on ultima bb server and like you said better fun no toxicity and pure to its core this day
dreamcast keyboard day 1! took a 2 hour bus ride just to buy one from sears at a mall, of all paces, that had one left.
I'm too young to have played PSO when it first came out, but for me I feel like when I first started playing PSO2 was a very similar experience. Watching the intro to Episode 4 and playing the Battleship Yamato UQ was just fun, and don't get me wrong it still is, but it'll never be as fun as first experiencing Episode Oracle.
To this day PSO has that addictive formula were you can't help but get giddy when an enemy drops a rare item 😬 then realising It wasn't the rare drop you wanted 🥵 after grinding an area for hours fun times 😅
I wish they'd port PSO:BB+Episode 3 C.A.R.D. to modern consoles and PC.
PSO, PSU, PSO2 and PSO2:NGS will always have chill community. Lvl up! Loot! Farm!
Because it's the GOAT and we need a remaster!
Hopping in fresh tomorrow night. Or 26 hours from now. I’ll probably be “Not Sid”
My favorite game Hands Down, nothing else compares in my opinion.
I met so many friends back in the day pso xbox