Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst Review

Phantasy Star Online BB

Ephinea Server Review

(Pictures provided from Chadstar (@chadexcuse) also known as Chad Nub on the server)

PSO Ephinea Server is a revival of the servers Sega has shut down some time ago, and is completely free to play.

The holy grail of reviews is here, my favorite series being PSO (not to be mistaken for PSO2)

PSO is a MMO that started out on the dreamcast and is highly regarded as one of the best games of it’s time. However, calling PSO a MMO by today’s standards may be a slight stretch but for those of you whom never heard of it or know much about it, I’ll provide the basic details.

Jump In - Jump Out Teams

PSO has a certain shine to it due to the community. What Ephinea offers in particular is a small niche of devoted players that are essential to your hunt on Ragol. The foundation of the game revolves around a 4 man team that may enter or leave the game at any point without penalty. Due to this mechanic you often may find new players journeying with you quite often. You start with making a “Game” from the lobby where the others can join you, then the carnage starts.

Chadstar observes the honor of games being made in his name.

The charm about PSO allowing team jumping so leisurely is that you can really meet some nice people (often the ones who will stick it out with you through your entire hunt or provide support to you until they have to go) where as other MMO’s of today (mentioned here in my FFXIV society scope analysis) are more shrewd with thousands of people that don’t really see you as anything special. The community in PSO is and always has been applaudable and that has not changed, almost 15 / 16 years later on Ephinea.

The Purpose:

PSO is broken up to a few episodes featuring select stages, Ep1,2, and 4 (3 was a card game and for some reason is not included or hardly talked about.)

You are thrown into researching (combating) a planet which was once peacefully known as Ragol, where the main protagonist HQ called Pioneer noticed some disturbances. You follow the small story of Red Ring Rico, a explorer who went ahead to research and never came back. This foundation is just enough for players to be happy with but while allowing you to - at your choosing, do the main games quest line which is also intriguing.

The Thrill:

PSO quickly engulfs the player into its streamlined system of kill & grab foundation with your squad. You will quickly find addiction when surfacing among the small areas fighting hordes of enemies gaining new weapons and while satisfying, your taste buds tingle for more. Any player of PSO knows the adrenaline pumping thrill of racing to the infamous “red box” where back in the day (Dreamcast, GC, Xbox,PC) you would have to be the first one to get it otherwise you would feel the sorrows of your wit fail you. Luckily Ephinea server introduced PSO2 drop mode, where you and your team can all get their own drops through the game. These so sought after red boxes are something only seen in rarity as you watch the monster in front of you drop and yield a beautiful bright red box flagging that there is some sort of rare item waiting for you to get your blood soaked hands on. Think of it as christmas but only that you played a game for hours looking and pushing your blood lust for something as bright as the blood of your foes, and that folks summarizes why PSO is so addicting.

One of my favorite rare weapons, the Chainsawd.

The System:

You get a choice of 3 types of playstyle based on what the game wants you to believe. Others will argue.

Beginners: Hunters whom are considered swordsmen, they wield sabers, great swords, javelins, double sabers, some small pistols, boomerang type swords, daggers.

Intermediates: Rangers which use primarily pistols, rifles, shotguns, canons, mechguns (dual wield uzi’s basically)

Experts: Forcers are the mages of the game. They are the essential key to many teams as they provide a flagship of maaany spells, which require knowledge of enemy weakness, as well as buffs, debuffs, healing. These are critical roles as some instances you will come across mobs that are resistant to physical attack or times where healing is necessary.

These three types of classes are broken among races of robots, elves, and humans.\

Combat is ranked in real time with active commands for slashing or shooting, you will need to time your attacks to continue a combo, so beware, if you don’t like timing (it’s usually an interval like this 1..2...3) then this game may not be for you!

Progression - Pokemon??:

One of the coolest things about PSO if not THE coolest is the MAG system. Mag’s are little companions that assist you in your journey as you scavenge through heaps of enemies. These little robots are responsible for providing attack bonuses, magic, or accuracy and defense at the cost of feeding it items and leveling it up. As you level them up, they - guess what? EVOLVE! There are also - you guessed it, rare mag cells that you feed to your mag that make it something pretty cool. Check out

this hunter with a dreamcast mag.

Other progression milestones include hitting level caps for hard mode, very hard mode, and finally ultimate mode. Ultimate mode is what players are now considering main game and in some cases just the start, so until then you are just a nub! (Hence Chad’s nickname)

Chadnub having a ...meaningful conversation with the NPC.

Graphics & Sound/OST

For length sake of the article I chose to combine the categories. Graphics have aged somewhat gracefully considering the time span that’s gone by (15/16 years folks!) however all things considered, when released it was still as nice looking as I envisioned it today.

Sound is very well mixed with the game’s graphic and design giving the game an over all flawless feeling. The soundtrack is killer and absolutely one of my favorites (sometimes I listen to it before bed) whenever I hear that PSO song opener when I boot the game up I know automatically I’m in for a good time. The soundtrack sports a futuristic appeal mostly of techno foundation, however it’s so well done that it’s most unlikely anything you ever heard before. A marvel of it’s time is the ambience the music creates, while providing a slow downed version of the combat music, often justifying a moment of peace and respite, but at the sight of combat that tune will pick up and suddenly fit what feels to be a fight for you life. (The Forest being one of the best instances)

Chadstar partaking in a boss battle with friends & company

Summary:

What can I say? PSO will forever be my gemstone of a game, and albeit the review is heavily bias, I hope you still take my honesty with my reviews into consideration. The beauty of this game is far passed nostalgia even for newcomers to the series, you will find endless hours of gameplay (easily climbing up to 200) with opportunities to make new friends, have many good laughs, and enjoy a world that has yet to be as beautifully replicated as it has in PSO, you are really missing out if you don’t give this game a chance.

Party like it’s 2000

FINAL VERDICT: 10/10

Convinced? Ephinea Server webpage: https://ephinea.pioneer2.net/