"Not much new from PSOI&II, but I still like it"

Now before I say anything, I just want to say I'm going to rate this game on its own, meaning apart from Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II. I'll still compare the two a little, but the ratings for this game are not dependent of the original.

Alright, so Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II Plus is a bit of an upgrade from just plain Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II. It came out about a year or two after the first one, with an additional quest for Episode I (which was only available for the Xbox version of the game), three additional quests for Episode II (which were only available online), a brand new challenge mode for Episode II, the removal of the much despised double save feature for online gaming, and a bunch of other little things. Other than that, they are pretty much the same game. Not to say that it's a bad thing though.

Story- 10/10
The story of Phantasy Star Online is really good. It has stayed the same from PSO to PSO+, but whatever, it's still a good story. The basic story is like this. First of all, the PSO world takes place in a futuristic space environment. So the overlying story is that the planet that all these people are living on is about to be destroyed or blown up or something. They want to look for a new planet to inhabit, so they send this spacecraft, called the Pioneer 1, with a lot of people from the planet to look for a new home. They find a beautiful new suitable planet, called Ragol. They land and they prepare the planet and all, building a bunch of stuff including this huge structure called Central Dome, and about seven or so years go by. All the other people still on the old planet are coming to Ragol in another spacecraft called the Pioneer 2. On the way there, like when they are just outside of Ragol's atmosphere, they see a huge explosion and they lose contact with the people of the Pioneer 1. And, to make matters worse, when they get to Ragol, it seems as if no one is there and they find the Central Dome has been destroyed. So the guy in charge of the Pioneer 2 asks you, a warrior, to beam down to Ragol to find out what happened, as well as find his daughter, who was on the Pioneer 1. That's just the main story, when you get into it, like all games, there are a lot of side things. And it becomes really good and really makes you wonder what really happened.

Gameplay- 10/10
Where to start with this… The gameplay is excellent. When you first start the game, you create a fully customizable character, with things such as height, build, eye color, and clothes color. There's just one specific outfit for each person though. But that's a trivial flaw. There are three types of fighters you can make, which are Hunters, who specialize in bladed weapons, Rangers, who specialize in guns (nothing that you have to collect bullets for, all the weapons use some laser-photon technology), and Forces, who will mainly use canes and Techniques, or magic. Under each category, there are four classes that you can choose from, which is different from the Dreamcast version where there were only three. So that brings the grand total of characters to twelve, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, which leads to hours and hours of replaying.

Now, onto the battle system. It's really simple to use and get the hang of, but all of the real pros can master and manipulate it to their advantage. There's more ways than one to use it is what I'm trying to say I guess. There are only three types of melee attacks, but you can mix and match them in a combo to your liking, in strings of three button-pushes. But, each weapon has its own way of attacking, like for example, a Sword-type weapon will attack once with a slash with each push of a button, but a Twin-Sword type weapon will attack once with a slash on the first push, twice with a step and slash on the second push, and a spinning slash on the final push of the attack button. The action buttons are customizable too, so you can use whichever commands you need the most. There are also other types of attacks, like Traps, which only Androids can use, and magic Techniques (which all characters except Androids can use). There are around 20 weapon categories, each containing their own set of weapons. Then, there are a lot of weapons that don't fit into any category at all. The choices are endless. Oh, and the fighting is done with an automatic targeting system. It can be a bit troublesome at times, like targeting the wrong enemy, but it isn't that big of a problem, and there are a lot of weapons that allow you to hit more than one enemy so it is never enough to really make you want to scream. It mostly only happens with Techniques.

The game takes place on either Pioneer 2 or Ragol. Pioneer 2 is where you start your quests and shop and stuff, the city basically, and Ragol is where all the real action takes place. There are only four locations in each episode, which are divided into two or three areas. They all look a lot alike, and it can get really confusing with all the forks and dead ends, which is really the game's major problem. If you can get past that, then you'll be fine. It's not that bad. Oh and by the way, you don't have to start on Episode I, it's just a lot easier and highly recommended.

There are plenty of quests for you to do. They're not required, but they add to the story. They range in difficulty and length, and there's quite a bit of variety, so that's good. The “real” thing is just a run through the location, killing a lot of enemies and then the boss. There are around 15 types of enemies in each location, but a few of the enemies in the different locations can seem a lot alike. It's not that big of a deal though, really. There's like 3 enemies that seem to be in different forms in each location.

There are some changes from PSO, as mentioned before. Four new quests (and let me tell you, they are pretty tough), Episode II challenge mode, and other stuff. The Episode II quests open up a couple new areas, and with those new areas, there are also some new monsters to fight that were previously only available online. And of course, most importantly, these monsters have the potential to drop some rare items that you will want to collect.

If you have a save file from the previous PSO on your memory card, PSO+ can read it and let you continue your game from there. No changes or anything are needed to start playing PSO+, it's really simple. And if for some reason you decide you only want to play PSO, then you can go back to it without any negative side affects.

Another change I said earlier was the removal of the double-save feature. Now I haven't had the opportunity to play online, but I hear tell that that was a real bad thing. What it did was save the game twice whenever you started an online game, to somehow prevent cheating, and with hackers, cheaters and the possibility of your game freezing mid-save (a VERY dangerous thing), it was a terrible feature. So with this thing out, you can save your game with less fear in your heart.

Graphics- 10/10
This game is just plain gorgeous. Beautifully done 3-D graphics, a lot of color, very realistic and natural. And there are a lot of subtleties that the casual player overlooks, like markings on a strange pillar. The amount of detail is crazy. Episode II looks sooooo good, man. Oh man, this one beach area, it is a corneal orgasm. Words cannot describe it. It is so nice. The FMV that you see if you leave the game idle at the title screen is amazing. Not only does it show off PSO's amazing graphics, but it shows a lot of the awesome weapons and some of the bosses from the game, too.

Sound- 10/10
The in-game sound is great. It's very fitting for the game. The game is supposed to feel like a natural environment, and the sound helps with that. It's like all ambient noises. Like if your life were to have background music, and you were in a forest, then what you'd hear is the background music for the forest area of Phantasy Star Online.

But, at certain parts of the game, there are some real songs with vocals and everything. Those are awesome. Good vocals, lyrics, all that stuff. Real nice. This makes the sound for this game 10/10. Love it, love it, love it…

Play Time/Replayability- 10/10
PSO+ will keep you busy for hours. I've played that game more than any other. I've got around 500 hours on my main character, and a bunch of other characters that have somewhere between 10 to 100 hours each. There are now about 29 quests to do along with the 4 locations in each episode. There are 3 additional difficulty levels to unlock, and that pretty much is a must, because the first difficulty is a cinch and the last is almost a whole new game. There's one huge thing that keeps everyone playing though. When you first make your character, you're assigned a section ID, which determines what kinds of rare items drop from enemies in later difficulties. Some items are exclusive to some IDs, and this element of collection, I think, is what really drives people, even more so than leveling up your character and becoming the strongest, and leveling up is also a great part of the game. It takes forever to max out your level and stats. I still haven't reached the highest level, 200, yet. So to get all the rare items, you have to make a bunch of characters with different IDs. And there are a LOT of items to collect. It's really endless. I've only been able to play offline, and I love it and I always have something to do. Online though, there are more quests, more items, more people to interact with, and all that stuff. The multiplayer offline is a lot of fun, but I bet it'd be even better online. There are also two other multiplayer modes, Challenge and Battle, that really put your skills to the test. Challenge mode is a great attraction because of its difficulty and its rewards for finishing it. Both of these modes are available offline, but more rewards are available if you play it online. So if you can afford to play online, then definitely go for it, and add another couple hundred hours of gameplay.

Overall, Phantasy Star Online: Episode I and II Plus is an amazing game. It is perfect all around, in every aspect that you'd want in a game. Definitely try to look for it, it's well worth it. I think it's kind of rare now, but it is worth a long search. It's a real keeper, that one. The best game I've ever played, even. If you don't have it, then you're missing out. Even if you already have PSO, I think you should go for PSO+ if you are unable to play online. I did, and I'm satisfied. It's not too expensive, its original MSRP being only $30. Spend for online if you can, it will really improve your gaming. So I guess that's all you need to know.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/05