Rag Rappy Ad Astra

June 25, 2017 12:42 PM

"One of the biggest things I can think of off the top of my head is when my grandfather died. It was a Thursday in winter. I was living at school at the time. When I got the phone call, I needed to be alone at first, so I went home and cried. It sounds weird, but after that I needed to hear people talking. So I logged onto the voice chat here, and just sat in and listed to the banter and bickering. I logged in and did a run or two with some friends. And by the end of the night when I went to sleep, I was feeling much better." | Wes Fenlon writes about Phantasy Star Online and the people still playing SEGA's first MMO nearly 17 years later.

Your Options in 2017:
Ephinea
Ultima
SCHTHack
Eden
Sylverant
PSO Subreddit

PSO2 Arks Layer English Patch
PSO2 Subreddit

Panoramic Landscapes from PSO
Phantasy Star Cave - an old fansite with loads of information, images, etc. spanning the entire series.

Trailer to Get You Hype

Music!
Can Still See the Light from Sega Piano Nocturne
World With Me (Remix)
Series Medley for Sympathy 2013 25th Anniversary Concert
Ragol Weather [Image of Hero Remix] by Zircon
Chaotic Bar Remix by Syllix
A Lush Load (Title Remix) by Master Jace
Can Still See the Light (GonZealous Remix feat. Jenny)
Entry into the Crater Remix by Master Jace
(Another) Can Still See the Light cover for guitar by Peviclm

posted by byanyothername (7 comments total)

I notice a Phantasy game just showed up on iOS.
posted by Artw at 12:47 PM on June 25, 2017

PSO is a strange game in the sense that everyone I knew that played it online absolutely loved the community. Most of those reluctantly left because they moved their home connections to cable and network adapters were hard to find.

I never played it online, but spent a disturbing number of hours on Phantasy Star Universe for the PS2. Disturbing.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:02 PM on June 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I loved the hell out of PSO. Its gameplay was kind of pickup/co-op, an unusual thing for an MMO. In a way it had more in common with Rocket League than a MUD-based MMORPG like EverQuest. There's not really a world, it's all just lobbies and pick up games.

I wished it had developed more of a world, and I also wished that other MMOs would have more structured and mission-oriented gameplay instead of farming/collecting oriented gameplay.
posted by fleacircus at 5:14 PM on June 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think the arcade-like emphasis on distinct levels and missions is a big part of what makes PSO fun and easygoing. It's a very casual and unstressed game, sort of the antithesis of the standard MMO. People are free to come and go, and generally want to be helpful and nice.
posted by byanyothername at 5:44 PM on June 25, 2017

Yeah it was a great game to just get into a zone. You were always moving; you'd sort of fall in and out of sync with other players and adjust to what they were doing without needing to be lockstep with them all the time.

It didn't really have a community back when I played it. At that time it was Dreamcasts, modems, and no keyboards. It was hard to talk to people. On top of all that I played a lot on Japanese servers because they were busier at the time of day I played. So I didn't really get to know anyone from the game. OTOH I spent a lot of time making my "hurrah" graphical emote as disgustingly cute as possible. I also liked to assemble absurd pre-translated sentences about my love for jazz dancing.

Ironically the one time I played with someone I already knew IRL, he turned out to be kind of an asshole treasure hog.
posted by fleacircus at 6:33 PM on June 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

I logged an almost shameful amount of hours in the original Dreamcast version. I still have distinct memories of grinding through the Mines, Zonding wave after wave of robots while listening to Cave In's "Jupiter" (which felt like a great alternative soundtrack for whatever reason). Never really got a chance to play it online with anyone, sadly.

The boss battles definitely made me sweat... especially Dark Falz on the harder difficulty levels. Nothing like slogging for more than an hour through the Ruins just to get one-shotted because you didn't have the right resists or high enough HP.

Good times, though. Thanks for this post!
posted by tehjoel at 5:17 AM on June 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Every now and then I'll hear a particular musical phrase and have a pang of PSO nostalgia. I barely remember anything specific about the rest of the game, but the music kind of stuck with me.
posted by Kyol at 7:21 AM on June 26, 2017