(DC) Phantasy Star Online 2 [NTSC-U] [XXXMB]

[Valencia]

Valencia celebrates her 1500th post with....

Originally Posted by Anthony Chau

The idea of a online console RPG where thousands of players throughout the world can meet up and organize games online is one that nearly no one wants to touch because of the magnitude of such a project... well, except for Sega legend Yuji Naka. The creator of Sonic and several other landmark Sega titles wowed the world when he introduced Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast and for the first time, online console gaming was no longer a joke - just head over t our dedicated Phantasy Star Online Message Board and you'll see all the dedicated folks that have enjoyed the fruits of Sonic Team's labor. That's not to say the game is the perfect online console RPG - there are definitely flaws in terms of longevity with PSO especially since, beyond playing together in teams, there weren't any modes to play against other players. Of course, the problems of cheating and hacking came along because there are always people that have to rain on a party.

In comes Phantasy Star Online Version 2, the highly anticipated upgrade to PSO. New battle modes, new options, lots of new rares items, and added protection against hackers and cheaters. All of this is wonderful but as PSO was a first of its kind, so comes in the first online payment option for a console game. To play PSO Version 2 online, you're going to pay $15 dollars for three months of unlimited online play. This is a big question mark that all gamers must answer: are all the additions to Phantasy Star Online Version 2 really worth the additional cost that players must pay to play online?
If it's going to be worth paying extra costs to play online, the first thing we have to look at is to see if the game has changed much in its one player state. Gameplay and visuals remain virtually the same in the single player experience of PSO Ver. 2. The game looks as wonderful as it has always, with some of the best textures in any video game. Additions have been made to the gameplay so that you'll find items that are much more useful; when you beat the first boss, you'll get upgraded items that are well-fitted to your character. For that matter, most of the rares you find offline will be ones that your character can use, and meseta seems to be much more plentiful in the offline game. One change that will benefit the gamer is the quick select. Press and hold the R Trigger and press Y, and it pops up the quick item/equipment screen. Of course, there's the big addition of Ultimate mode that is available for characters level 80 and above. I HIGHLY recommend you wait until you're above 95 or so before jumping in to this insane difficulty level - the enemies moves extremely quick and some of the bosses aren't the pushovers they used to be. I personally had a lot of trouble with Dal Ra Lie, the Ultimate version of the second stage boss (the sea serpent). Difficulty is doubled when you take in the fact that if you use a Scape Doll after you die in Ultimate Mode, you only get back 1 HP! For the most part Ultimate Mode are the normal levels remixed with new time settting visuals and buffed out representations of the normal level monsters and in that sense, there aren't any new levels to the single player mode. One last addition that you can perform is to change costumes though it can be a bit of a hassle since you need to have at least 100,000 Meseta on your character before you can change costumes.

So, a bit more balance in the single player game, a tough new difficulty, and additional rares are the sum of the changes in the single player game. But as we all know, you really can't enjoy PSO unless you get online. That's the case with PSO Ver. 2 and that's where you'll find all of the significant additions to the PSO universe. Like PSO you can setup the just normal team games where players join up to form a team of four and go crazy on the world of Ragol. You also have the option of allowing all players from PSO and PSO Version 2 join a game or just PSO Version 2 players. Of course, we've been there and done; that is why Sonic Team added six battle modes to see who is the greatest hunter in the world of Ragol. Each battle mode has their own set of rules so players at any level can enjoy playing battle mode. Whether it's just a no-holds barred deathmatch with no regards to the difference in abilities or levels of each player or the Palace battle that puts each player at Level 1 where you have to find items to gain the advantage, everyone will find something to their liking. One of the more interesting things about battle mode is the ability to lay down traps for all the characters instead of just only just android characters having this ability. If you get tired of getting beat up, gather a team and try Challenge mode where a certain level needs to be completed within a time limit without dying (well, so long as you have a Scape Doll to revive you). Challenge mode is really fun as the levels are filled with traps and puzzles. The puzzles can be a pain, as most of them are the "find the switch that opens this door" puzzle and the doors will close once you activate the switch.

Finally, there's the very humorous soccer mode called Go Go Ball. There's really no special technique involved here - just get your character to charge at the "ball" and it will move accordingly. You don't kick the ball into a goal. There's a circular hole where you have to put the ball on to score a point. There are some hilarious animations when you score a goal and those that have seen the Chu Chu Rocket version of Go Go Ball know exactly what I mean.

For all these great additions, there's that black cloud of worry when the concerns of lag, timing out, and cheating come into the equation. Additionally, now that players can engage in online battles against each other, character balance is an issue. Personally, when playing the deathmatch mode where everyone brings their best stuff to the table, Forces (the magic-user class) really have the advantage with their long range spells and especially spells like Megid that can kill with one successful hit. Here's a hint to all rangers and hunters when going to battle online: don't join a deathmatch battle game with three other Forces. Although you don't lose any weapons or Meseta in this battle mode, the humiliation of getting ping-ponged by lightning, fireball, and ice spells is pretty embarrassing. Lag still occurs with enough frequency to annoy me and while I'm sure it'll get less laggy as Sega streamlines the PSO Ver. 2 servers (just like they did with PSO), playing soccer is even more laggy than the battle modes at this time. With the new payment system and Sonic Team paying much closer attention to the servers, cheating and hacking haven't been a factor yet and there are now warning messages that will state any "illegal activities" will have you banned. Hopefully, the improved safety guards and the vigilance of Sonic Team will be enough to keep those party crashers from casting healing spells that drain health in PSO Ver. 2.

For all the great additions they've made in PSO Version 2, there are some changes that I think should've definitely been made. For example, the trading system in PSO Ver. 2 still remains the same - both of you drop an item in order for the other player to examine or, whether you like it or not, grab. Furthermore, when we interviewed Yuji Naka at the launch of PSO, he originally had over 16 different characters to select from... couldn't he just added three or four of them to PSO Ver. 2? But we can always gripe about what could've been and rather than do that, we should concentrate on what we have. Sure, you have to give up $15 bucks for three months of unlimited online play in order to enjoy all the new additions to PSO Version 2. And you know what? I can think of a thousand worse ways to waste $15 bucks. The thought of teaming together with some old PSO friends in a game of Chu Chu soccer, or blasting some rival website editor in a battle mode game is well-worth the experience.

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NOTE: If you are experiencing difficulty downloading or playing this game, use our Download Difficulty subforum. Do not post such issues in this thread, as they will be deleted. Yeah....because I'm sure I won't be able to help you. But someone else might at that subforum! Copy the URL of this page by selecting the entire address and pressing Ctrl+C, as you will need to reference it by pressing Ctrl+V on an entry box when seeking assistance.

Download links....

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EF6JWGTR
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4NYO93PE

Archive password....

http://snesorama.us

Serial number....

17DFA62B

Account number....

Any 8 digit combination of numbers

Mirror from Tech Romancer here:
http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.p...8&postcount=54

Mirror from NCPSXFIEND here:
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Mirror from Mrhappyasthma here:
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Mirror from Sick_Kicks:

http://files.filefront.com/PSOv2+DCzip/;9746220;/fileinfo.html

Mirror from Tigg:
http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.p...&postcount=122

Mirrors from Dannyslr81:[oRARs]
http://www.snesorama.us/board/showpo...&postcount=129
http://snesorama.us/board/showpost.p...&postcount=132

Uploaders Note: I only post mirrors for files that I have burned and tested on the Dreamcast with DiscJuggler and work perfectly. Any problem in the ISOs performance will be noted.

[tigg]

nice up, its about time! :P gratz on 1500.

[That Guy]

does it play offline?!!

[Valencia]

Yeah....I provided a serial number so that you can access both Offline and Online play....except that you can only use one serial per account....but that doesn't really matter considering there is no longer any more Online play supported. Hehe....actually....I didn't know but this is exactly like Episode 1 of the Phantasy Star Online game for the Gamecube. Hehe....I owned that game (not literally)!

[:: Ð ::]

congratz on 1500.... i'm going to celebrate my 800 in this post...hahah :028:


back on the upload scene Val...awesome..and what a splendid game

[GameDude]

Fianlly this game was uploaded, I've been waiting for a long time and now its fianlly up, thanks Val

[brawin]

this game is usa or jap ???????

[Valencia]

The words are in English....although you find Japanese symbols all over the game. It's probably been translated that way. But yeah....even in the GameCube port, they still had Japanese characters around, but all conversations and stuff are in English. It shouldn't impede in anyone's gameplay.

[brawin]

thanks my brother !!!!

[Valencia]

Anyways....don't mind the screenshots! I guess they're kind of confusing with the Japanese characters and all.