Phantasy Star Online
From Sega Retro
- For the PC game of the same name, see Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2.
| Phantasy Star Online | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Dreamcast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Sega | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: Sonic Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peripherals supported: Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Jump Pack, Dreamcast Keyboard, Visual Memory Unit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: RPG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Phantasy Star Online (ファンタシースターオンライン) is an MMORPG developed by Sonic Team for the Sega Dreamcast. It was the first Phantasy Star game released in six years, following Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, and makes extensive use of the Dreamcast's online features.
The game was re-released and improved on extensively. This article covers the original Dreamcast release. For the Dreamcast update, see Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2. There are four episodes in the series, however only the first exists in the Dreamcast game. This first episode was re-released for the GameCube and Xbox as Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II in 2002 with an additional secondary Episode added in and with new features such as local multiplayer. The third can be seen in Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution for the Nintendo GameCube and the fourth, Phantasy Star Online Episode IV: Blue Burst was released for Microsoft Windows.
The game itself is a typical RPG, where you slay monsters on the field, find items, upgrade your equipment, and of course, level up. Episodes I, II and IV differ from many previous games of this genre by offering a real-time, rather than turn-based approach to combat - and seamlessly integrating this with the exploration/plot development aspects of the game. The game still retains a cult folowwing and can still be played through private servers with the Dreamcast Broadband Adapter, Modem and can be used with the DreamPi[2]
Contents
Story
Unlike the rest of the Phantasy Star series, PSO's prologue starts on the planet of Coral (possibly a splinter colony from the Algol star system). Coral was becoming unsuitable for life, so a pair of colony ships, Pioneer 1 and Pioneer 2, were sent to the planet Ragol, thought to be uninhabited by intelligent life, to colonize it. Pioneer 1 reached Ragol safely, and constructed a colony there. But when Pioneer 2 arrived seven years later, a sudden explosion engulfed the Pioneer 1 colony as they attempted to communicate. The Player (s) take the role of Hunters, mercenaries/bounty hunters/troubleshooters sent down to the source to determine the cause of the explosion, and find any survivors.
History
Release
To promote the game, Sega "bought" a star and named it "Ragol"[3].
Sonic Cameo
Lots of times, on the online servers, there would be cameos with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Eggman. The game also contains a few cameo items, such as Opa Opa from Fantasy Zone, Maracas from Samba de Amigo, even a gun created by Dr. Eggman, aptly called the Egg Blaster.
Versions
- Phantasy Star Online Network Trial Edition (Dreamcast) 2000 (Japan)
- Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast) 2000 (Japan) / 2001 (USA and Europe)
- Phantasy Star Online Ver.2 (Dreamcast) 2001 (Japan and USA) / 2002 (Europe)
- Phantasy Star Online Beta (Windows) 2001 (Japan)
- Phantasy Star Online (Windows) 2001 (Japan) 2001 / 2002 (rest of South-East Asia)
- Phantasy Star Online Demo (Windows) (Japan) 2001 / (UK) 2002
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Trial Edition (GameCube) 2002 (Japan)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (GameCube) 2002 (Japan and USA) / 2003 (Europe)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Version "1.1" (GameCube) 2002 (Japan)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (Xbox) 2003 (worldwide)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution Trial Edition (GameCube) 2003 (Japan)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution (GameCube) 2003 (Japan) / 2004 (USA and Europe)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus (GameCube) 2003 (Japan) / 2004 (USA)
- Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst Beta (Windows) 2003 (Japan) / 2004 (USA andEurope)
- Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst (Windows) 2004 (Japan) / 2005 (USA and Europe)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode IV Beta (Windows) 2004 (Japan) (Released along with Blue Burst in NA and EU)
- Phantasy Star Online Episode IV (Windows) 2005 (Japan) (Released along with Blue Burst in NA and EU)
Production credits
- Producer: Yuji Naka
- Director: Takao Miyoshi
- Art Director: Satoshi Sakai
- Program Director: Akio Setsumasa
Game Design Section
- Battle/Enemy: Yojiro Ogawa, Kenichi Fujiwara
- Fleld: Shintaro Hata
- Assistant Fleld: Masaya Amano
- Item/Technque: Kenichi Fujiwara
- NetWork/Word Select: Kenjiro Morimoto
- Sequence/Sound/Manual: Daisuke Mori
- City/Quest/Script Writer: Akinori Nishiyama
- Quest Script: Atsushi Kanno, Hidenobu Hasebe
- Assistants Quest Script: Tomoyuki Hayashi, Michio Abe, Kenji Odaka, Akiyoshi Fushmi, Yonosuke Miki
Program Section
- Chartacter: Masanobu Yamamoto
- Enemy: Kouichi Toya, Yasuhiro Takahashi, Akio Setsumasa, Masakazu Miura
- Sound: Kouichi Toya
- Chartacter Creation: Yasuhiro Takahashi
- Battle/Data Saving: Akihiko Shinya
- Technioue/Camera: Shinya Matsunami
- Field/City/Quest: Masato Nakazawa
- Word Select: Masakazu Miura
- Menu Window: Ryuichi Ishiguro
- Sequence: Nobuo Nakagawa
- Item: Makoto Suzuki
- Network: Akio Setsumasa, Kazuhiro Tonogi, Junichi Takeda
Graphic Design Section
- Chartacter/Item: Wataru Watanabe, Yuki Takahshi
- Assistant: Akiyoshi Fushimi, Yonosuke Miki
- Chartacter Motion: Tomonori Dobashi
- NPC (City Chartacter): Ai Ikeda
- Field: Kosei Kitamura, Sakae Tabata, Michio Abe, Hideaki Moriya, Akira Mikame, Kaori Hitsuda, Kenji Odaka
- Enemy: Satoshi Sakai, Masatoshi Yasumura
- Technique/Sequence: Takanori Fukazawa
- Symbol Chat: Haruka Haqinoya
- Chartacter Illustration: Akikazu Mizuno
- Motion Capture: Kazuhisa Nishimura (Ldw/Sakuratei), Kazuhiko Mino (Ldw/Sakuratei), Akihito Okimura (Ldw/Sakuratei), Shigeru Ohata (Ldw/Sakuratei)
- Action Cordinator: Mitsuo Abe (AAC)
- Motion Actors: Akira Gohashi (AAC), Jun Yamashita (AAC), Kazuhiko Shinyako (Katsugekiza), Tony Hosokawa (Katsugekiza)
Sound Section
- Sound Director: Fumitaka Shibata
- Sound Creator: Hideaki Kobayashi, Fumie Kumatani
- Sound Designer: Tomonori Sawada
Tokyo Recording Unit
- Orchestra Recording Producer: Kotaro Kamada (Band Power)
- Orchestra Arranger: Daisuke Okamoto, Toshiaki Hda
- Conductor: Yaufumi Tokito
- Main Orchestra Play: Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
- Orchestra Chief Manager: Hiroyuki Tominaga
- Musician Co-Ordinator: Ayako Sato (Witchcraft)
- Recording Engineer: Hirokazu Akashi, Yoshitada Miya, Hirofumi Sako
- Assistant Engineer: Sawako Sogabe, Kazunori Yoshida (Sound City), Saroshi Nakazawa (Sound City)
- Recorded At: Wave Master Recording Studio (June-Oct. 2000), Sound City Studio (Sep. 2000)
London Recording Unit
- Vocal: Loren
- Recording Co-Ordinator: Shiro Sahisu (Ro-Jam)
- Recording Director: Kan Hashimoto (Jail House)
- Recording Engineer: Phlip Bagenal
- Recorded At: Eastcote Studios London UK (Oct. 2000)
- Sound Coordinator: Yukifumi Makino
- Sound Created By: Wave Master Inc.
Sega Corporation
- Executive Management: Hideki Sato, Tetsu Kayama
- System R&D Dept: Kenichi Iwanaga, Jiro Terakawa, Masahito Nishimatsu, Yuki Yamanka, Takuji Konuma, Masahiro Sato, Akihiro Etori
- Product Management Dept.: Masanao Maeda, Seijiro Sannabe, Yasushi Yamashita
- Management Team Manager: Yoshihiro Sakuta
- Management Team Designer: Youichi Takahashi
- Management Team Editor: Chieko Nakamura
- International Business/Product Delvelopment: Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Shinobu Shindo, Hitoshi Okuno
- Consumer Product Dept. Manager: Akira Nishikawa
- Consumer Product Dept.: Hideki Yokaichiya, Yoshimitsu Wakai
- Sales Promotion: Takayoshi Ohuchi, Nako Ohoka, Kazuhiro Asami
- Licensing Dept. Director: Masahiro Nakagawa, Toshiki Izawa
- Network Contents Division General Manager: Hiroshi Nakanishi
- Game Business Dept. Manager: Keiichiro Suzuki
- Game Business Dept. Producer: Akihiro Itoh, Takeshi Hotta, Rikiya Katagai
- Communication Server Development: Akito Osame
- Technical Support General Manager: Kunihiko Hayashi
Sega of America Dreamcast Inc.
- President & COO: Peter Moore
- Executive Vice President: Shinobu Toyoda
- Localization Producer: Jason Kuo
- Localization Manager: Osamu Shibamuya
- VP Of Localization: Jin Shimazaki
- Soad Test Lead Tester: Gabrielle Brown
- Soad Test Assistant Leads: Tom Fong, Shaheed Khan
- Soad Marketing Product Manager: Rich Briggs
- Soad Marketing Associate Product Manager: Noah Musler
- Soad Marketing Director Of Product Marketing: John Golden
- Soad Marketing Creatives Services: Bob Schonfisch, Angela Santos
- Soad Marketing Public Relations: Gwen Marker
- CTO: Muwaffa Lahham
- Network Producer: Ryan Hurth
- Marketing Project Manager: Bee Yinn Low
- Lead Marketing Analyst: Jason Nolen
Sega Europe, Ltd.
- Chief Operating Officer: Kazutoshi Miyake
- Director Of Product Delvelopment: Naohiko Hoshino
- Assistant Director Of Product Delvelopment: Kats Sato
- Localization Producer: Kuniyo Matsumoto
- Test Manager: Jason Cumberbatch
- Lead Tester: Nick Bennett
- Language Coordinator: Caroline Ruiz
- European Product Marketing Manager: Jim Pride
- European Product Marketing Executive: Mark Fisher
- Public Relations Executive: Stuart Turner
- Manual/Packaging/Serior Designer: Ross Mcleish
- Network Manager: Ryusuke Ito
- Network Engineer: Stephen Tan
- Network QC: Teruo Yabumoto
- Special Thanks: Sonic Team USA, Tadashi Takezaki, Toshimasa Kubo, Tsuyoshi Sawada, Ayako Hino, Ikuo Ishizaka, Takayuki Ohta, Masahiro Wakayama, Yasuko Mariyama, Cord Smith
- Cooperation With: MPEG Sofdec, ADX
- Created By: Sonic Team
- Presented By: Sega
Magazine articles
- Main article: Phantasy Star Online/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
JP flyer
- PSO DC ES PrintAdvert.jpg
ES print advert
BR print advert
Print advert in GamePro (US) #150: "March 2001" (2001-0x-xx)
also published in:
also published in:
- Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) #12: "March 2001" (2001-01-28)[4]
Print advert in GamePro (US) #151: "April 2001" (2001-0x-xx)
Print advert in Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) #18: "April 2001" (2001-03-08)
Print advert in Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2001-02: "2001-02 (2001-01-19,26)" (2001-01-05)
Print advert in Dreamcast: Le Magazine Officiel (FR) #8: "Mars/Avril 2001" (2001-xx-xx)
Artwork
- PSO logo.jpg
- PSO DC Art WAKUSEI.jpg
Physical scans
 |
91 |
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| Based on 32 reviews | |
| Dreamcast, US |
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  Cover
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| Dreamcast, EU |
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  Cover
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 Disc |
| Dreamcast, JP |
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   Cover
|
| Dreamcast, JP (Limited Edition) |
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 Cover
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| Dreamcast, BR |
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  Cover
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 Disc  Disc 2  Manual  Inlay  Inside |
Technical information
VMU Features
| Name | File Name | Comment | File Size | Icon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSO/MAIN_DATA | PSO______SYS | PSO/MAIN_DATA | 15 blocks |
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| PSO/GUILD_CARD | PSO______GCD | PSO/GUILD_CARD | 30 blocks | 
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| PSO/SCREEN_IMAGE | PSO______IMG | PSO/SCREEN_IMAGE | 195 blocks | 
|
External links
- Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast
- Phantasy Star Online section at Phantasy Star Cave
- Official Phantasy Star Online homepage
- Official PSO fan site 'Minhiro'
- Official Phantasy Star Universe Website
- Unofficial PSO and PSU fan community, PSO-World
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:CVG UK 232.pdf, page 78 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:CVG UK 232.pdf_p78" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ http://www.dreamcastlive.net/games.html
- ↑ File:ODM UK 18.pdf, page 21
- ↑ Official Dreamcast Magazine, "March 2001" (US; 2001-01-28), page 22
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 File:ConsolesPlus FR 109.pdf, page 74 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:ConsolesPlus FR 109.pdf_p74" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ File:DCM_JP_20001229_2000-41ex.pdf, page 22
- ↑ File:Dorimaga_20021011_JP.pdf, page 32
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:Edge UK 095.pdf, page 70 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:Edge UK 095.pdf_p70" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 9.0 9.1 File:GameplayRPG FR 06.pdf, page 56 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:GameplayRPG FR 06.pdf_p56" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ File:Playbox FR 03.pdf, page 36
- ↑ 576 Konzol, "Február 2001" (HU; 2001-xx-xx), page 30
- ↑ Bonus, "2/2001" (YU; 2001-03-25), page 38
- ↑ DC-UK, "March 2001" (UK; 2001-02-15), page 42
- ↑ Digitiser (UK) (2001-02-15)
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-41 extra (2000-12-29ex)" (JP; 2000-12-15), page 22
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 19" (UK; 2001-02-22), page 46
- ↑ Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 32
- ↑ Dreamplanet, "Marzo 2001" (ES; 2001-02-15), page 34
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 2001" (US; 2001-02-06), page 111
- ↑ Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 155
- ↑ Famitsu, "2000-12-29" (JP; 2000-12-15), page 34
- ↑ GamePro, "April 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 106
- ↑ Game Station (UK) (+0:00)
- ↑ Game Informer, "March 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 76
- ↑ Gamers' Republic, "March 2001" (US; 2001-xx-xx), page 64
- ↑ Hyper, "May 2001" (AU; 2001-03-21), page 56
- ↑ MAN!AC, "03/2001" (DE; 2001-02-07), page 52
- ↑ Neo Plus, "Kwiecień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 38
- ↑ Neo Plus, "Kwiecień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 64
- ↑ Next Generation, "April 2001" (US; 2001-03-20), page 82
- ↑ Official Dreamcast Magazine, "March 2001" (UK; 2001-02-08), page 8
- ↑ Playbox, "Février 2001" (FR; 2001-0x-xx), page 37
- ↑ Play, "Maj 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 30
- ↑ PSX Extreme, "05/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 65
- ↑ Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 9, Nummer 3, Maart 2001" (NL; 2001-0x-xx), page 32
- ↑ Revista Oficial Dreamcast, "Marzo 2001" (ES; 2001-xx-xx), page 32
- ↑ Silicon Mag, "March 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 30
- ↑ Strana Igr, "Fevral 2001 1/2" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 46
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