Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2
From Sega Retro
| Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Dreamcast, Windows PC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega
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| Developer: Sonic Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported:  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Network RPG (ネットワークＲＰＧ)[1][2][3], RPG[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 (ファンタシースターオンライン Ver. 2) is not a new game but rather an updated and refined version of the original Phantasy Star Online. The game was released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2001 and would later be used as the basis for a Windows PC port released in that same year exclusively to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
The game can still be played through private servers with the Broadband Adapter and DreamPi.[9]
Contents
Changes from Ver. 1
- The game's level cap is increased from 100 to 200. As a result, many characters had their stats rebalanced.
- A new difficulty mode is added for characters level 80 and above called "Ultimate". In this difficulty mode, the enemies spawned in each area are replaced with new enemies and each area's appearance is changed.
- The maximum level for Techniques had been increased to Level 30. This level cap is only available to Force characters however as Hunters and Rangers still have Level 15 as their Technique Level Cap.
- Ver. 2 introduces various new Weapons, Armor, Shields and Mags.
- A shortcut menu can be accessed in Ver. 2 during gameplay by holding
and pressing 
to equip or use items. Pressing with the menu up will change to different item types. - Android characters can now set traps similar to the ones that can be encountered ingame.
- New game modes were added to the game's Online Mode called Challenge Mode and Battle Mode. Challenge Mode is a mode that emphasizes puzzle solving and team work with other players as they try to complete specially made versions of each stage as quickly as possible. Battle Mode is the game's "PVP" mode. Players can either traverse each area as normal but with the risk of friendly fire or play through preset "Battle Rules.
- Accessible online by Ver. 2 players are Lobbies 11-15. These lobbies contain a soccer minigame called "Go-Go Ball".
- Players can add a "Whistle" sound effect to their Symbol Chat artwork. In addition, a new "Capture" command had been implemented which lets players save other player's Symbol Art.
- Players can search for other players in their current block from the Guild Card menu using various parameters such as the player type and level.
- The option to search the ingame location of a Simple Mail's sender has been added.
- Ver. 2 lets players customize their character's appearance later on by accessing the "Dressing Room" from the character selection screen. This option becomes available for 100,000 Meseta.
- Unlike its predecessor, Ver. 2 supports the Broadband Adapter.
Compatibility with Ver. 1
Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 is essentially an update to its predecessor, released in the form of a separate standalone disc due to the Dreamcast lacking a large storage medium for patch updates. As a result, barring the new features and bug fixes, the game is identical to the standard Phantasy Star Online. Furthermore, save data from the original release could be permanently transferred to Ver. 2.
As a result of Ver. 2 being an 'update', players from Ver. 2 and the standard Phantasy Star Online played together on the same servers with the only distinction being Ver. 2 players having orange names while players from the original version of Phantasy Star Online 2 had white names. With that said, features introduced in Ver. 2 such as the new Lobbies, Challenge Mode and Battle Mode were not available to players of the original Phantasy Star Online.
History
Development
The initial version of Phantasy Star Online was rushed to meet its intended 2000 release year after an initial delay. As a result, it shipped with several bugs, exploits and unfinished features that couldn't be addressed due to the Dreamcast's lack of a large enough storage medium for patch updates.
In April 2001, Sega announced that an updated version of the original game with new content and improved features would be released as Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2. This new version of the game would be completed in six months.
It is believed that the original intention for Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 was for it to be be released alongside and have the same content as Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II with cross-platform multiplayer support but the discontinuation of the Dreamcast lead to active development on the Dreamcast version to be stopped in favour of the Gamecube and Xbox version.
Release
Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 arrived very late in the Dreamcast's lifespan and was unable to recreate the same levels of success as its predecessor. This is likely due to new conditions imposed on consumers; in North America and Japan, a paid "Hunter's License" subscription was required to play Ver. 2 online. In the US the charge was $5 a month for a minimum of three months.
Conversely, in Europe no charge was placed on online play, however users required a copy of Dreamkey 3.0 for the game to work - a disc only available directly from Sega. Sega chose to shut down their entire online service for those not using 3.0 (or 3.1) discs prior to the release of Ver 2., meaning it was not actually possible to order a 3.0 disc through a Dreamcast[10].
PC Version
Following the release of Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 on the Sega Dreamcast, Sonic Team ported this version of the game to the PC as simply "Phantasy Star Online" (often dubbed in the fanbase as simply "PSO PC"). This version of the game was exclusive to Japan, Korea and Taiwan and lacked any form of cross-platform multiplayer with its Dreamcast counterpart. Despite this, the game offered the same language options as its Dreamcast counterpart, enabling the game to be playable in English. The quality of the port was seen as very poor as the game's ridden with graphical glitches and poor design when it comes to the game's PC interface. Furthermore, although this version of the game offered patch updates unlike its Dreamcast counterpart, the game would not receive any of the new features, bug fixes, classes and areas introduced with the release of Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II on the Gamecube and Xbox.
On January 1st, 2004, Sonic Team announced that servers for this version of the game would be closed on January 8th and that a new PC port of Phantasy Star Online was in development, this time being based on Phantasy Star Online Episode I & 2 on Gamecube and Xbox. Players of this version of the game would be able to register 25th to the 31st of March to participate in a Closed Beta of this new version of the game. This port would later be announced as "Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst" on April 4th in order to emphasize a fresh experience.
Production credits
- Producer: Yuji Naka
- Director: Takao Miyoshi
- Art Director: Satoshi Sakai
- Program Director: Akio Setsumasa
- Battle/Enemy: Yojiro Ogawa, Kenichi Fujiwara
- Field: Shintaro Hata
- Assistant: Masaya Amano
- Item/Technique: 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: Tomoyuki Hayashi, Michio Abe, Kenji Odaka, Akiyoshi Fushimi, Yonosuke Miki
- Character: Masanobu Yamamoto
- Enemy: Kouichi Toya, Yasuhiro Takahashi, Akihiko Shinya, Masakazu Miura
- Sound: Kouichi Toya
- Character Design: Yasuhiro Takahashi
- Battle/Data Saving: Akihiko Shinya
- Technique/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
- Character/Item: Wataru Watanabe, Yuki Takahashi
- Assistants: Akiyoshi Fushimi, Yonesuke Miki
- Character Motion: Tomonori Dobashi
- NPC: Ai Ikeda
- Field: Kosei Kitamura, Sakae Tabata, Michio Abe, Hideaki Moriya, Akira Mikame, Kaori Hitsuda, Kenji Odaka
- Enemy: Satoshi Sakai, Yoshinari Amaike, Masatoshi Yasumura
- Technique/Sequence: Takanori Fukazawa
- Symbol Chat: Haruka Haginoya
- Character 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: Tomohiko Akiyama (AAC), Motoko Nagino (AAC)
- Sound Director: Fumitaka Shibata
- Sound Creator: Hideaki Kobayashi, Fumie Kumatani
- Orchestra Recording Producer: Kotaro Kamada (Band Power)
- Orchestra Arranger: Daisuke Okamoto, Toshiaki Iida
- Conductor: Yasufumi Tokito
- Main Orchestra Play: Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
- Orchestra Chief Manager: Hiroyuki Tominaga (Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra)
- Musician Co-Ordinator: Ayako Sato (Witchcraft)
- Recording Engineer: Hirokazu Akashi, Yoshitada Miya, Hirofumi Sako
- Assistant Engineer: Sawako Sogabe, Kazunori Yoshida (Sound City), Satoshi Nakazawa (Sound City)
- Recorded At: Wave Master Recording Studio (June-Oct 2000), Sound City Studio (Sep 2000)
- Vocal: Loren
- Recording Co-Ordinator: Shiro Sagisu (Ro-Jam)
- Recording Director: Kan Hashimoto (Jail House)
- Recording Engineer: Philip Bagenal
- Recorded At: Eastcote Studios London U.K. (Oct 2000)
- Sound Co-Ordinator: Yukifumi Makino
- Sound Created By: Wave Master Inc.
- Executive Management: Hideki Sato, Tetsu Kayama
- System R&D Dept.: Kenichi Iwanaga, Jiro Terakawa, Masahito Nishimatsu, Yuki Yamanaka, Takuji Konuma, Masahiro Sato, Akihiro Etori
- Product Management Dept.: Masanao Maeda, Seijiro Sannabe, Yasushi Yamashita
- Team Manager: Yoshihiro Sakuta
- Designer: Youichi Yakahashi
- Editor: Chieko Nakamura
- International Business & Product Development: Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Shinobu Shindo, Hitoshi Okuno
- Team Manager: Akira Nishikawa, Hideki Yohkaichiya, Yoshimitsu Wakai
- Quality Assurance Dept.: Takaaki Jindou, Dan Baker, Sunao Murayama
- Sales Promotions: Takayoshi Ohuchi, Naoko Ohoka, Kazuhiro Asami
- Licensing Director: Masahiro Nakagawa, Toshiki Izawa
- General Manager: Hiroshi Nakanishi, Game Business Dept.
- Manager: Keiichiro Suzuki
- Producer: Akihiro Itoh, Takeshi Hotta, Rikiya Katagai
- Communication Server Development: Akito Osame
- General Manager: Kunihiko Hayashi
- President & Coo: Peter Moore
- Executive Vice: Shinobu Toyoda
- Localization Producer: Jason Kuo
- Localization Manager: Osamu Shibamiya
- VP of Localization: Jin Shimazaki
- Lead Tester: Gabrielle Brown
- Assistant Leads: Tom Fong, Shaheed Khan
- Product Manager: Rich Briggs
- Associate Product Manager: Noah Musler
- Director of Product Marketing: John Golden
- Creative Services: Bob Schonfisch, Angela Santos
- Public relations: Gwen Marker
- CTO: Muwaffa Lahham
- Network Producer: Ryan Hurth
- Marketing Project Manager: Bee Yinn Low
- Lead Network Analyst: Jason Nolen
- Sega Europe Chief Operating Officer: Kazutoshi Miyake
- Director of Product Development: Naohiko Hoshino
- Assidtant Director of Product Development: Kats Sato
- Localization Producer: Kuniyo Matsumoto
- Test Manager: Jason Cumberbatch
- Lead Tester: Nick Bennett
- Language Co-Ordinator: Caroline Ruiz
- European Product Marketing Manager: Jim Pride
- European Product Marketing Executive: Mark Fisher
- Public Relations Executive: Stuart Turner
- Manual/Packaging/Senior 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, Mutsuhiro Fujii, Masahiro Wakayama, Yasuko Maruyama, Cord Smith, Every Hunters of Pso
- Executive Supervisor: ISAO OOKAWA
- Presented by: Sega
- Created by: Sonicteam
Magazine articles
- Main article: Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Wallpapers
The following wallpapers were included as extras on the installation disc of the PC version of Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2.
Physical scans
Dreamcast version
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| Dreamcast, EU |
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 Disc |
| Dreamcast, EU (White) |
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PC version
| PC, JP |
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 Cover
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| PC, KR |
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 Cover
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Technical information
VMU Features
Character Data from Phantasy Star Online can be converted to be used in version 2. Once it is converted, the character can no longer be used by the previous version.
| Name | File Name | Comment | File Size | Icon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSOV2/MAIN_DATA | PSO______SYS | PSOV2/MAIN_DATA | 15 blocks | 
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| PSOV2/GUILD_CARD | PSO______2GC | PSOV2/GUILD_CARD | 30 blocks | 
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| PSO/SCREEN_IMAGE | PSO______IMG | PSO/SCREEN_IMAGE | 195 blocks | 
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| Name | File Name | Comment | File Size | Icon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSOV2/Soul of a Blacksmith | PSO______004 | PSOV2/Soul of a Blacksmith | 8 blocks | 
|
| PSOV2/Soul of a Blacksmith | PSO______005 | PSOV2/Soul of a Blacksmith | 64 blocks |
|
| PSOV2/Letter from Lionel | PSO______004 | PSOV2/Letter from Lionel | 11 blocks |
|
| PSOV2/Letter from Lionel | PSO______005 | PSOV2/Letter from Lionel | 47 blocks |
|
| PSOV2/Soul of Steel | PSO______004 | PSOV2/Soul of Steel | 27 blocks |
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| PSOV2/Soul of Steel | PSO______005 | PSOV2/Soul of Steel | 64 blocks |
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| PSOV2/Central Dome Fire Swirl | PSO______004 | PSOV2/Central Dome Fire Swirl | 25 blocks |
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| PSOV2/Central Dome Fire Swirl | PSO______005 | PSOV2/Central Dome Fire Swirl | 27 blocks |
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| PSOV2/The Retired Hunter | PSO______004 | PSOV2/The Retired Hunter | 10 blocks |
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| PSOV2/The Retired Hunter | PSO______005 | PSOV2/The Retired Hunter | 26 blocks |
|
| 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 |
|
Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments |
|---|
External links
References
- ↑ File:PSOV2 DC JP Box Back.jpg
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://sega.jp/dc/010517/ (Wayback Machine: 2008-10-28 15:40)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://sega.jp:80/pc/pso/ (Wayback Machine: 2008-09-09 07:08)
- ↑ https://sega.jp/history/hard/dreamcast/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-11-04 11:07)
- ↑ http://www.sega.com:80/games/dreamcast/post_dreamcastgame.jhtml?PRODID=770 (Wayback Machine: 2003-10-09 01:42)
- ↑ http://special.reserve.co.uk:80/listings/releaseschedindex.php?ma=Dreamcast (Wayback Machine: 2002-02-27 15:13)
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 33" (UK; 2002-03-28), page 4
- ↑ http://sega.jp/search/result.php?page=6&pf=11 (Wayback Machine: 2017-03-03 23:30)
- ↑ http://www.dreamcastlive.net/games.html
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 33" (UK; 2002-03-28), page 9
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Edge, "March 2002" (UK; 2002-02-27), page 95
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 32
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Dorimaga, "2001-02 (2001-06-08)" (JP; 2001-05-25), page 36
- ↑ BGamer, "Maio 2002" (PT; 2002-0x-xx), page 102
- ↑ Consoles +, "Août 2001" (FR; 2001-07-27), page 90
- ↑ Consoles +, "Avril 2002" (FR; 2002-0x-xx), page 127
- ↑ Digitiser (UK) (2002-03-11)
- ↑ Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 25" (UK; 2001-08-09), page 48
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 2001" (US; 2001-10-02), page 215
- ↑ GameNOW, "November 2001" (US; 2001-10-16), page 94
- ↑ GamePro, "November 2001" (US; 2001-1x-xx), page 158
- ↑ MAN!AC, "05/2002" (DE; 2002-04-03), page 48
- ↑ PSX Extreme, "07/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 49
- ↑ SuperGamePower, "Agosto 2001" (BR; 2001-xx-xx), page 37
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