How DID all of you get into Phantasy Star or PSO/U?

[captainhappy]

Thanks youtube HAPPYCONSOLEGAMER, for bringing me into the Phantasy Star world.

By the way, is Johny Millennium a member of this site?

[Keilyn]

I started Phantasy Star by playing Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium. Then I played all the others. It was when I owned a Genesis back in the day when all the rave was Nintendo vs Sega and people chose Nintendo for Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy and Sega for Phantasy Star.

PSO was a strange story. A friend of mine had bought the game and told me to get into it when I had purchased a dreamcast. Originally I was against the idea because I had gotten my share of Online Experience in Shooter games.

Then I dealt with an Op.

I was asked to go to a bar because that friend was getting into trouble. I had arrived near 1AM and he was smashed out of his mind. It turned into a fight and knowing we could not win directly, four of us pulled his smashed ass. They were like "shug a drink down" and I was like "you nuts? I'm driving and get a load of this one" and one of them said "you know, you're the only one who can keep him under control" and I said "I'm not his father, don't throw this on me"

I stayed in town and drove home the next day. Had things to tend to, but then when I finally got home to my console, on my desk there was a copy of Phantasy Star Online with one of those yellow Sticky notes that said

"Trust me, Its Good. I'll see you there."

It was like the first week it was out and I remember staying up nights walking around with a HUnewearl named Nei because we had a RP group. The idea was to roleplay our characters, but more like a joke.

Then a few months passed and most of the group had left, trouble in the real world and it was during the time I was going to leave I found some interesting people which kept me there.

*laughs*, I remember the most innocent cheating ever.

I was ignorant about the strength of mags and I found an open room in Puck - 5. I went there, turns out that players had left the room as I was entering. First drop I picked up was a Level 999 hacked mag and I said "woah cool, nice to see a game that isn't afraid to go triple nines!" then I got a rude awakening when everyone was like "200 is the max!"

Yeah, dumb me! but hey!

[Ce'Nedra]

Got PSO GC + BBA from my bro as a birthday gift.

[VangardCaptainZero]

when i was playing the gamecube pso ep 1&2 then i played the dreamcast one and i was hooked on pso eversince.

[EvilMag]

lol bumping a thread thats 5 years old.

Anyways I got into PSO because I heard PSOv1 had a Sonic Adventure 2 demo and being the Sonic fag I was back then, I bought it.

[Anon_Fire]

Thanks youtube HAPPYCONSOLEGAMER, for bringing me into the Phantasy Star world.

By the way, is Johny Millennium a member of this site?

This is a very old thread, you know?

[hbmizzle10]

long time ago i read a review of the classes of the game in an old egm magazine. years later my friend bought the game for the gamecube.( oh yah when i read the review it was on dreamcast at the time) he invited me, started the game and when the title screen came on, my eyes lighted brightly. i already knew i was going to instantly love this game.(and believe me i know a good game when i see one) we played for hours without stopping. i was seriously addicted to the game. it is by far the best game ive ever played and my favorite. i love that game more than i love fallout 3 for having a character with my name in there

[Ezodagrom]

Back in the Dreamcast days, I went to a store to buy a VMU and I wanted to buy a new game, I checked what was available and saw PSO ver. 2 there, so I just randomly bought it. It was the best impulse purchase I've ever done. ^^

[Noblewine]

I played pso at a party with a few people I knew from High school and disliked it due to dying alot and being around uncooroportive party members. Later, I read an issue of Playstation Magazine and saw a reveiw on Phantasy Star Universe and wanted to try it. I loved Universe combat mechanics and kept playing.

[ZER0 DX]

Managed to get an NES, Master System, and a Genesis from my uncle when I was about 7 since he decided to give up on gaming. Included were a bunch of games for all 3 systems including all 4 Phantasy Stars. Fell in love with the series at a very early age as a result and now my collection has expanded rather well over the years. I've spent a lot of time on the series on pretty much every iteration now. Probably more than I should have.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o30/ZER0_DX/Photo02090153.jpg

Not pictured are PC v2, PSOBB, PSU & AotI PC both English and JP, and PSO 2 Alpha 2.

[darkante]

My brother for showing PSO v2 to me.
And then me trying it out with his Dreamcast.

I doubt i would know anything about the serie if it weren´t for that.
Or that i would appriciate it as much.

Ironically, he haven´t touched it besides that version and the little he played it.

[LK1721]

My dad played the original Phantasy Star games, which I wasn't around to see/don't remember. Then by PSO v1 I used to watch him play it ALL THE TIME and by PSOBB I was also playing (That game stole at least 2 hours of my 3rd grade life per day). We continue playing the PS franchise now, including GC gaming sessions on the weekends with my mom, dad, and myself.

[Vintasticvinn]

I discovered the franchise when I was looking at a Gamecube game Season release booklet and saw Phantasy star. When looking at the page I was like HEY this looks pretty awesome even without online. Fun fact, Pso ep 1&2 graced the cover of Nintendo Power Magazine :D

[captainhappy]

This is a very old thread, you know?

yeah, I guess it is . . . but it's one of those topics that could almost be a "sticky". Sorry, still getting used to the navigation on this forum compared to others I've been on.

It's a timeless question though, nice to see half a dozen other new stories to go with it

[Ami Star x]

I played the psu demo for about a week,then a year later i got my own credit card and decided to finally get the online membership,then it turned into an addiction xD lol,which later brought me to psobb.

[AOI_Tifa_Lockhart]

I remembered reading about the first console MMO in a dreamcast magazine then a few months later I saw PSO in the shops. I was going to buy unreal tournament, but I remembered the magazine article about PSO and decided to ditch unreal tournament and bought PSO instead. Alas my dad limited me to 2 hours online a week (thank god for offline mode). Then I bought PSO on the gamecube. I bought PSU about a year after it was released. After the servers closed I moved to PSOBB on private server and then I joined JP PSU about a year and a half ago. I never bothered with the handheld console versions but i'm looking forward to PSO2 although I have a major gripe with every single character costume thus far making everyone look like casts... I think, considering how much content JP PSU gets that I will stick to playing PSO2 on Japanese servers instead of waiting for the EU/US server because i'm positive the update backlog for PSO2 EU/US will end up being as bad, and outdated as PSU currently is.

Tifa

[Fox2Tails]

A friend of mine was playing ver2 one time when I was over and he let me play. I was hooked after that and begged my mum to find me a copy lol

[WiZ1988]

I never discovered Phantasy Star until it was on the xbox, so it was Phantasy Star Online Ep I and II. Ended up importing Blue Burst and next thing I knew I was playing PSU, PSP and a few more. Great games.

[Mystic_Nessly]

I first heard about Phantasy Star Online from my brother. How he heard about PSO, I have no idea. The funny thing is that I saw him playing it and instantly thought it looked bland. I gave it a go for a couple hours and desperately struggled in Forest (It probably didn't help that I chose a force the first time playing). Honestly, I found it boring. The only aspect of the game that really caught my interest was the online play. I simply could not fathom the idea of chatting and playing with people all over the globe. Only for this reason, I looked over my brothers shoulder as he played online.

After watching him play in online parties, I knew I needed to give it a second chance. We were both hooked!

Of course after playing PSO for so many years, we both then became very interested in anything Phantasy Star. As soon as Universe came out, he and I both got copies, starting the whole cycle over again.


One of the most exciting trailers I've seen and certainly the BOLDEST. (too bad Universe didn't follow up by having the global community or in-game translation shortcuts):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyEnJCgTZds"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyEnJCgTZds


Needless to say, the past 11 years have been an amazing joy ride! ^^

[fatelinka]

How I found out about Phantasy Star....well im not like alot of the people who found it on the original consoles, the best console I had was the Gamecube an that didnt help since im a zelda nerd. Around the times I finally got a PS2 I was at the rental store, picked up since PSU im also a fantasy nut....Didnt really get into it that night. Then I got the Xbox 360 and after playing all the games at the rental store they got another copy of PSU, rented it and actually had the time to enjoy the story, never knew about the online until I played Xbox Live at my friends...Downloaded the PSU online demo and loved it. Then my Xbox Red Ringed me lol
Later after getting a PSP my brother told me about Phantasy Star Portable, played it, enjoyed it. Then I Bought Phantasy Star Portable 2 last week lol. Been a fan since.

[RedRaz0r]

I was at gamestop looking for a new game for my original xbox...when PSO popped out...it looked interesting so I bought it. Been a big fan ever since.

[DPShiro]

Started playing PSO (ver 1) on DreamCast on release day and been going with every version since. My wife started on the PSO Xbox version.

I dont play on PC, so i don't know how/if we willl play PSO 2.

[Magic Meister Ragion]

friend made me play pso for gamecube loved it play it all the time now

[Burnsyzero]

I was first captivated by the previews in whatever Dreamcast magazine I was reading in those days, bought PSO version 1 on release day and fell in love. There was something very special about those early days online, it was a whole new experience playing with people from across the globe.
I've played many online games since those times, but nothing has touched it as far as I'm concerned.

IMO Phantasy Star Online was a bold, visionary and global experience. Something I feel Sega and Sonic Team drifted away from in follow-up titles, especially PSU. The global thing was all part of the PSO magic.

Hopefully.... PSO2 will bring that all back again and it turn out a great experience for Phantasy Star fans across the world.

[Foxkoun]

when i was playing the gamecube pso ep 1&2 then i played the dreamcast one and i was hooked on pso eversince.

Same here though mine was gamecube. I was still in high school, played mostly solo offline and i'd say 1/3 my total playtime on my main with my bro's in splitscreen. Good times.

[Lumpen Thingy]

Played PSO on dreamcast then took alot of time playing the PSU beta. After that I've been playing any and every PS game I could play lol

[Sammickk]

Played PSO on the Dreamcast, a friend told me it was coming out and we actually reserved are copies knowing that this was the first time a MMORPG was Gonna be on a console, we just didn't know how big it was gonna be. And now years later here I am Excited waiting the PSO 2 english release... just as i did years ago.

[Akaimizu]

My first Phantasy Star was PSO on the Dreamcast (The japanese release). Then I got the US version, which was the first one I played online. That would be followed by the original Phantasy Star re-releases starting with Phantasy Star 1 and the Xbox version of PSO. Those were my starts, but by far, not the only ones I got.

[Lumpen Thingy]

Played PSO on the Dreamcast, a friend told me it was coming out and we actually reserved are copies knowing that this was the first time a MMORPG was Gonna be on a console, we just didn't know how big it was gonna be. And now years later here I am Excited waiting the PSO 2 english release... just as i did years ago.

why wait the english patch is out and lots of English speaking players play it

[HIT0SHI]

I got introduced to Phantasy Star Online Ep.1 & 2 on the XBOX1 back around in 2003 or so. It was a present that I got in X-mas as a "starter" game with like 3 others.

[gigawuts]

Tails chao.

[Totori]

Trying to hang out with people I knew, because of where I lived. We didn't have much to do (I live with very protective parents) so one day we were looking at a gaming magazine and seen the early segment about PSO ver 1. It looked interesting so I got it, and then shortly I got my friends addicted to it.

Later once one of my friends told me about the GC getting PSO with split-screen I bought that the day it was released, good times... For PSU, I guess it was just instinct I because an PS fan so, no doubt I would try PSU. Although I didn't get onto network mode, until about a whole year.

[Darki]

PSO ep I&II seemed like an interesting game back then in my Gamecube days. It simply attracted my attention and I bought it in christmas, birthday or summer, I can't really remember (only that I spent a whole summer playing it a lot in offline mode).

I never liked PSO to the point to follow all its versions/updates, in fact I got bored of it pretty fast, but I liked the concept so I kept an eye on it from time to time, and at some point I got notice that they were making a sequel. I forgot about that for a couple years, I guess, then one day found PSU in a local game shop, so I looked in internet and really liked the concept of hybrid classes and the futuristic theme, so I bought it. I don't remember all the details, but I bought the game in the middle of my last year of institute, and played the offline mode until I started college. There I got my first "real" bank account with a debit card and I decided to try the online mode. That would be not too far from the game release (less than a year, more than 6 months).

Then got a group of friends, played really hardcore for the first years, but got bored of it a bit before the US servers got nuked (due to some... eh, kinda massive argument between pretty much all the people I used to play with). But I decided to try the JP servers, and then my girlffriend moved in with me, got hooked to the game and in tun I got re-hooked for a while. Then I stopped playing definitively about a year ago.

Then PSO2.

[LutzRune]

Remember my first Phantasy Star experience, went shopping with a new girl friend (8th Dec 1995) bought her a ring, bought myself Phantasy star 4 simply because the box looked amazing!

Said bye to her, got home started playing and never see that girl again lol.

i managed to play ps3 but got stuck right at the end, 1 and 2 i could never bring myself to play through, shame really.

PSO come out on the Dreamcast and my modem abosultely killed my parents phone bill, didnt stop me though lol. met soo many cool friends and no game other than ffxi has come close to it imo.

PSO2 come out so i got that on the GameCude, but without my original character i lose interest too quickly.

PSO3 was ok, didnt get far into it, Card games never really did it for me.

PSU and portable i have played but never completed, i have just picked up PSU on pc so gonna play that until PSO2 comes back out, which i am SOOO happy about.

simply cannot wait, i did install the japanese version but its not worth getting into it now while the EU version is pending.

i just hope alot of people are going to play it and we get to relive our original experiences of the world.

Luzz

[Keilyn]

I got into PSO because a friend of mine at the time asked me to play with him. I said no and he got so addicted to PSO on dreamcast that in order to talk to him, his father had asked me to get through to him. I bought the game and after meeting him in-game he tried to give me a pep-talk about males playing female characters being taboo.

Of course I was a HUmar, and I said "oh by the way your father wanted to spent time with you" then he said "what? he didn't say that" and he introduced me to some people he had met. A week later he was expelled from school and he logged in to give me another speech about playing female characters because I switched to HUnewearl.

He then left the game unannounced and for the first 2 weeks I played with his other friends before they left. What kept me in the game was finding and meeting players, not to mention the crazy hacks and weapons.

As for PSU, I thought of creating a more Modern version of Nei and wanted some independence. Back in PSO we did Roleplaying in characters, and did a near-perfect Nei in there but had been picked apart because of the additions I made to her that were not part of the original's personality.

So, when I played PSU, less than half of the roleplaying group came PSO to PSU, and I made a female newman (Keilyn) as my main and continued the roleplaying group. After playing and getting gear and being utterly bored, we left for two years because we were playing other games and came back later. Thats when I capped four characters up.

I had Erin as my experimental character as well as Phoebe and made Selene later.

What drew me to PSU-Japan was that a year came where we had no xmas event and I was getting mad at SEGA. I went to PSU Japan and managed to get into the server. Back then, I had a very small group I played PSU-NA with for a year.

I was extremely happy when Red* (Kaylee) came into PSU Japan, though I was sad to see DarkStar go, but I was able to talk to Darkstar in Guild Wars. I was also sad to see all the stuff that transpired when players switched versions. I remember, just like PSO....less than half the people I liked playing with tranferred over and of the ones that came over, most had their established groups but the PSU-JP economy was so much better.

Unfortunately, I know from PSO and PSU experience that it takes around 2 - 3 years for a Phantasy Star game to actually get really good. I have no idea what will draw me into PSO-2 or if I would be drawn to it again, but I have no real plans to play outside of character building out of curiosity since its F2P and most players can not afford to play F2Ps :)

I've never been more afraid of the word "FREE" when I see an F2P.

[SupraMedical68]

I was first introduced into the series back in the late 90s when I play Phantasy Star III for the Genesis. Of course I wasn't very impressed with the game, but I received the cart for free.

Fast forward to the Dreamcast, I still remember being disappointed when I fond out that the next Phantasy Star was going to be online (Which at the time I thought was online only). I eventually purchased a Dreamcast towards the end of it's life in 2001, and purchased Phantasy Star V.1 and V.2 in Jan of 2002.

I've been hooked every since and I've spent time on Episode. 1&2 (Gamecube), Episode 3, Blue Burst, Universe (Xbox), and PSP 1 & 2. Episode 1&2 was actually one of the reasons why I picked up the Gamecube, same with PSU and the Xbox360.

[Jay6]

A friend showed me Phantasy Star Online episode I & II for the Gamecube. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I thought it was a neat game that I might end up playing some time.
Eventually, a few online friends introduced me to PSOPC. I could play online on my PSO. Huzzah! It was a private server, but I couldn't complain.
Then after a few years, I heard PSOBB had a private server now. I got right on that, and played away. I know, it's not really being that supportive to Sega to do so, but eh, I met many online friends that I still currently play with today, or even met in person.
I skipped out on PSU, and went straight into PSU:AoI when one of my online friends got me in for a month. It was fun times. Then the server died, and then I was left PSO-less for some time. I tried getting into PSU:AoI on the JP servers, but couldn't.
When news came up about PSO2, I jumped right on that. I wanted to play it. Didn't know how the game would end up, but I knew it was the revival of a long lost friend. And damn, did it ever impress me. It still does.

Randomly, I decided I'd play some of the older series games (sometime after being on PSOBB). I played through PSI first, and enjoyed it. The grindfest didn't feel too much out of the way. After that, I played through PSII. As much as I enjoyed the music, and the boss battles, most of the game is redundant grindfest. I know there's some story, but Nei dying didn't seem to affect me at all. I played PSIV, and instantly fell in love with the characters, the narrative, and just about everything in the game. It's well paced, fun, dramatic, and intense... I can say I cried when Alys died. I can easily put it on one of my top favorite RPGs. Still haven't played through PSIII due to getting bored partway in. It's like it took a step backwards after PSII. I guess it tried to do something different, and I couldn't get into it.

[Blastifyys]

I Have Played since Dreamcast my grandma took me to the store and phantasy star stood out among everyother game so i got it played it all day. once nt gamecube broke it was time for a xbox 360 and i was looking through the market place and saw phantasy star universe for 20$ brought the member ship and i mained PSU on 360 until it was closed at first i thought that was the last game but i still wanted to check so i did research and Found PSO2

[Vintasticvin]

I was browsing the seasonal nintendo release guide book and when I saw pso I was Ooo this looks fun but when I saw it say online I was like aww sad face but then I saw "Offline Mode" I was SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS this is gonna be awwwwesoooooommmme. and bam here I am cursing out at the jpso2 patcher and its mass loss of signal -_-

[AzureAsh]

Was browsing FilePlanet and saw that Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst had a beta. I played the hell out of PSO, it truly was an enjoyable game.

Ended up purchasing the Gamecube version shortly after and that was the start of my love with the series.

[_Nue]

Playing the PSU demo on Xbox 360. Despite being a demo, it was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had in an MMO.

inb4 PSU was a shitty game

[Seany1990]

Having never heard of a Phantasy Star game until only a few years ago, PSU was my first step into the series.

I discovered it whilst browsing the xbox live marketplace, saw a beta test for it and was one of the few people who were able to test it before it was brought down due to overflow.
I've been hooked ever since

[SDrift]

I got into the online portion of the series around the time of BB when that was still up, it was a fun time and brought me a bigger love for Mags. Phantasy Star in general? Got into it when I played PS IV: End of the Millennium (Yea, I played out of order but I wasn't even BORN when the previous ones were out.)