Above: Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II boxart for GameCube
Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II was the first game in the Phantasy Star Online series I've ever played, it was created by SONIC Team, also the only game with an online-multiplayer compatibility on the GameCube system. It was a very early released GameCube game like Melee was, though it isn't as "well known" as Melee is. I first played it when I was about 5 and my brother and I would always bring our GameCube controllers there and play co-op. And in my opinion, it was the best game to ever launch on the GameCube system, followed by Melee as my second favorite. You can also to lengthy quest in this game, which were updated a lot back on the official Sega servers.
Gameplay - 5/5
Above: Some gameplay in Forest 1.
Overall, the gameplay was fantastic. You can go alone, splitscreen multiplayer, or even online-multiplayer and venture several areas with friends, scavenging weapons, items, or anything that could assist you on your adventure. There were three classes you could pick from, and each class excelled at something another class didn't. Example, a Hunter couldn't use a Frozen Shooter (a powerful gun that was meant for the Ranger), and the Ranger couldn't use a Black King Bar (a weapon only the Hunter can wield).
Above: all the playable classes in the game. On the left are Rangers, in the middle are Hunters, and on the right are Force.
• Hunter (HU)
Hunters excel in close-range combat. They have the ability to use sabers, swords, twin blades, and more. They're more of a "beginner" class, as in used by new players.
•Ranger (RA)
Rangers excel in long-range combats. They have the ability to use handguns, mech guns (machine guns), snipers, and more. They're a class for more experienced players.
•Force (FO)
Force is considered the most difficult class to play as. They have the lowest amount of health in the game. Though they're powerful magic techniques can render them useful in combat, they're actually a pretty good class.
Section IDs
After creating your character, you would be given a section ID. There are 10 section IDs in the game. Section IDs pretty much determine what items you'll find, example if you get the section ID SKYLY you'll be finding Hunter weapons.
0=VIRDIA
good for finding shots such as Spreaders, and partisans
1=GREENILL
good for finging daggers and rifles
2=SKYLY
good for finding swords and rifles
3=BLUEFULL
mostly partisans and rods
4=PURPLEENUM
great for finding mechguns
5=PINKAL
best for canes, wands and tech discs
6=REDRIA
good for armour, but can find most items
7=ORAN
mostly daggers also wands
8=YELLOWBROZE
finds a little more meseta than the others
9=WHITILL
mostly slicers and some mech guns to.
Section IDs are given based on how many letters are in your character name (example, 4 letter name character will always have WHITILL.
Graphics - 5.5
Above: more gameplay, splitscreen-multiplayer.
For being a GameCube game released in 2002, the games graphics were overall good. With a few graphical glitches here and there, the graphics were insanely impressive in my opinion.
Music - 3/5
Music is probably the one thing this game lacked in. There were 2 pieces in each area that would play, not including boss music. One I call is the "Calm theme", which plays when you aren't fighting any monsters, then the other being the "Battle theme" which would play when you're fighting monsters. Then finally the boss theme, which would play when you fight a boss.
Below is some of the game's music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbN9LSm32nE&list=PL46529D5C64979C93 The opening theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUG3OOAV-OA Jungle area, or "A lush load"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_lHWjLLCk Forest area, or "Mother of dishonesty"
Overall rating - 5/5
The first time playing this game, it really impressed me. It's graphics were excellent, it's gameplay was great, it's lack of music was kind of annoying, but the music it had was enjoyable. Not to mention some of the exclusive Sega server songs it had (I remember it playing City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2 when I was doing an online quest). And believe it or not, it is actually still possible to play online by using a private server, just google "PSO private server".
Thanks for reading!
