/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1219553
>that feel when Episode 3 implies that every single party who played through Episode 1&2 was canon and actually happened, and Alpham Umbra was just regenerating Dark Falz stronger each time.

Oh wait I forgot I'm the only person who actually likes episode 3. My bad.

>>491845
Phantasy Star Online has a pretty good story but you really have to go out of your way to see it, there are a lot of hidden things hidden in certain quests and talking to people in the right order because the game was designed to be played multiple times. The gameplay might bore you a bit without another player to play with, but I've met some people who never EVER played multiplayer and loved the game anyway. I personally feel that once you play with a group you can't go back. You can play offline split screen on the GameCube or on the PC with the still somewhat active SCHTHACK private server. There are also other private servers with increased level up/drop rates around sometimes for people who just want to experience the game without wait.

Also make sure to play Episode III, CARD Revolution for Gamecube, it has different gameplay (card based) but the single player is still good, and the story is very reminiscent of classic Phantasy Star and builds on PSO.

Phantasy Star Universe can be played in an offline story mode on the PS2 but I say skip it, it's pretty bad and has no bearing on any other game in the series. Phantasy Star Portable 1 and 2 are sequels to Universe, they are a little better but I'd say skip them also.

Phantasy Star Zero is a light version of PSO, it is almost an unrelated side-story but is revealed to have connection at the end. It was nice to have a PSO equivalent on a handheld but I found the story/gameplay a little subpar for the standard of the series.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is brand new, it is an evolution of PSO's action combat which is good if you like PSO but it will only be more alien to a classic PS player. It's a fun game but I don't think the story is told as artfully as PSO1. The tone doesn't really resemble classic Phantasy Star much any more.

And there you go that's my opinion. PSO and Episode III are worth playing if you can have fun with the gameplay and thus appreciate the time investment.