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Phantasy Star Online A Video GameReview by Shad |
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First of all, let me start off by saying that I am not a PSO veteran. I kinda missed the PSO craze on Dreamcast by about 2 months, because I bought my used Dreamcast way late when I was finally making enough money to buy stuff. However, I did play it version 2 game offline on the Dreamcast for a few months, so I am familiar with the game itself, and I’ve watched and/or helped out Xero a few times when the game was in its prime. Now, it has been resurrected to Gamecube and Xbox, opening a new online possibility to new gamers and bringing back old fans of the first online console RPG with a new and improved cult following. My choice of consoles for the next-gen systems was the Xbox, mainly because of its online ability, voice chat, graphics, and the few games coming out this year that I was certain I would be buying. So, I had to wait several months after the release of the Gamecube version of this title in order to play it on my Xbox. Was it worth the wait? Well, check out the details…
One change is the requirement of having Xbox Live in order to play the game – whether it is online or offline. That’s right, if you don’t have Live, you can’t even play this game offline by yourself. This is a rather strange and unexplained tactic, but one that will only have a few lonely gamers up in arms, since most of the people who will be playing PSO on Xbox will have already purchased Live and will be playing it online within an hour of opening the box. However, this requirement has caused most reviewers, n00b’s and gaming sites to generalize an additional $50 for the Live kit when discussing the monetary investment needed to play this game. I think that’s unfair to the system, because you could say that in order to play online on Gamecube you would also have to purchase the additional hardware, even though you can still play it offline without purchasing anything besides the game (and the Gamecube, duh!). But why anyone would want to play Phantasy Star Online without online capability is beyond me, the game is just way too much fun online with other people to sit around by yourself with it. To me, it’s a non-issue, and could be seen as a pretty clever way to push some of the undecided potential Live buyers to finally drop the $50 to get a great deal – the communicator (microphone and headset), software, and a year’s subscription to Live – to add online gaming to their ‘box.
Graphics: 8 out of 10 – it’s not the prettiest, but pretty good looking for a 3-year-old port of a game from a previous generation system Sound: 6 out of 10 – music still sucks, but sound effects aren’t too bad. Gameplay: 10 out of 10 – although, if this game were offline, it would only get 7 out of 10, because of the weak, almost irrelevant plot. Re-Playability: 9 out of 10 – you’ll be playing this game until True Fantasy Live, Galaxies, or (in your wildest dreams) Final Fantasy XI comes out (this would be 10 out of 10 had it not been a time issue with the delay). Internet Connectivity: 9 out of 10 – with virtually no load time and speedy connections, this is a great example of what online console gaming should be…however, the lag time with the voice chat is undesirable and prevents this from getting a 10. Overall: 8.5 out of 10 - This game will get you addicted, and keep you there every night for many months. However, playing the same four levels (even though there's two whole episodes of that) and the substandard graphics will eventually wear you down to play other MMORPGs such as Star Wars: Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, and True Fantasy Live. |
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PSO Episodes I & II on Xbox includes the same content as provided on the Gamecube version: The original game of PSO ported from Dreamcast with supped-up graphics to take advantage of next-gen hardware, plus an all-new episode II with new quests and areas to explore, made specially for Gamecube. The version on Xbox is simply a direct port of the Gamecube game. There are only two noticeable changes between the Gamecube version to the Xbox version. 
The second change (this one for the better) is the enhancement of adding the voice chat capabilities of Xbox Live into PSO. This is a welcomed and extremely useful addition to the game. Last night (April 16th, 2003) I came home with the game, and about 4 hours flew by as I talked to players and ran through with my team, collecting items and experience and slaying the native creatures I met in my travels, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without the voice capability. PSO offers 5 different voice masking options for your preferred voice effects. The first can change the normal rang of your voice or can turn the pitch lower, the second changes the pitch higher, the third gives you a child’s voice, the fourth changes it to a raspy voice, and the fifth gives you the robot voice. I haven’t heard any voice masking yet except for the child, but I tested all of these out on myself, and I can honestly say that I hate the fourth and fifty voice masks. They might have been cooler if they weren’t difficult to understand, but I suppose you could tweak it until your voice sounds about right, so maybe someday I’ll come across an android in the game that has a robot voice I can actually understand. Also, it should be noted that if you join a team, and go into a new game in PSO, no matter where you are in the game you can talk to each other. Someone could be on the ship purchasing items while you’re down in the forest killing the dragon, and you can still communicate. I think that kicks ass.
There are two things I was expecting to see added to the Xbox version of the game, especially because of the 6 months delay between the release of the Gamecube to the port of the Xbox version, and the fact that the dated was changed 3 times in that 6 month period. First, the (obvious) addition of custom soundtracks via your Xbox hard drive was not considered. In my opinion, there’s no reason why every game on the ‘box shouldn’t use this feature, since it’s built right into the damn system. PSO is a perfect candidate to use this feature because, let’s face it folks, the music hasn’t changed since the Dreamcast version of the game, and it’s still just as shitty and repetitive as it always was. After I looked around for this feature and did not find it, I went into the options and lowered the music to 50% of my SE volume, all but drowning it out for a little bit of background noise if I’m standing around doing nothing. I would have loved to run around to Duel of the Fates while wielding a laser sword and casting lightning in the caves, but unfortunately that is not to be. I’ll just have to wait for the release of Star Wars Galaxies to do that, but that was supposed to have been release on PC two days ago (April 15th) and now it’s scheduled for June – and not coming out on Xbox until 2004. The second thing that I was really hoping to see on Xbox was really superb graphic enhancement. Alas, none to be found, so here is another game that doesn’t take advantage of everything that Xbox has to offer, the console with the most advanced graphic capabilities on the market today. I will say, however, that the graphics are indeed adequate for this game, and actually hold their own compared to many of the lesser quality games on Xbox right now, as well as most games on PS2 because of the antialiasing issues. But against True Fantasy Live come November, I doubt PSO will be able to last. Oh, camera angles? Yeah, they still suck, sorry. Especially on the boss levels. Yeah, I know.
One other gripe, the manual…nay, the pamphlet included with the game tells you nothing about how to play, where to go, what things mean, and doesn’t explain all the combinations of buttons you can use in the game. A full manual is available for download from Xbox’s site here http://www.xbox.com/press/files/Microsoft-Games/pso-manual.zip, but still doesn’t include a few tidbits that you’ll have to learn for yourself if you’re not a hardcore veteran of the game.