Poll: So How DID all of you get into Phantasy Star or PSO in [Archive]

Sinue_v2

Oct 10, 2006, 05:54 PM

I had an old GamePro Magazine that had a walkthrough of Phantasy Star I in it, and it looked interesting. So when I saw it over at a friend's house, I decided to give it a whirl. I loved it... so I had to ask for it from my parents. Later I got a Sega Genesis for giving up a family vacation to take care of some kittens which almost died one winter - so I got Phantasy Star II, III, and IV. On that....

PSO was only the next step. I wasn't even really planning on buying a Dreamcast until I heard that PSO was comming out - which I'm glad I did because the DC turned out to be a great console - and PSO was just icing on the cake.

Oh... Here's a scan of the walkthrough's front page (http://www.camineet.net/camineet/ps1images/ps1-gamepro.jpg) I found on Camineet.net.

Bleemo

Oct 10, 2006, 05:57 PM

I've never played any of the Phantasy Star series of games, except for the obvious PSO. I will most likely never play any of the old Phantasy Star games because they just don't interest me.

I started PSO the day V1 hit the shelves. A few friends of mine were anticipating it and got me into it, when it was released we all signed online together.

Ah, memories. Simply the best time I've ever had on PSO.

Xx3of19xX

Oct 10, 2006, 05:58 PM

I must have been in the 4th grade or so, I bought a guide book for some Sega Master System games. It also contained a walkthrough for Phantasy Star 1. The game sounded so exciting from reading the walkthrough, I decided to buy the game, not even knowing what an RPG was, not even being able to read English (I'm a member of the Danish minority in northern Germany and we didn't start with English until 5th grade).
Loved the series ever since.

Jasam

Oct 10, 2006, 06:04 PM

I was just randomly game shoping one day, saw the game, had heard a little about it.. tryed it... loved it... and before you know it, almost all my friends owned it ^-^'

I also like the Phantasy Star agmes... but I bought those after PSO I think, on the GBA

Pikku

Oct 10, 2006, 06:07 PM

On 2006-10-10 15:58, Xx3of19xX wrote:
I must have been in the 4th grade or so, I bought a guide book for some Sega Master System games. It also contained a walkthrough for Phantasy Star 1. The game sounded so exciting from reading the walkthrough, I decided to buy the game, not even knowing what an RPG was, not even being able to read English (I'm a member of the Danish minority in northern Germany and we didn't start with English until 5th grade).
Loved the series ever since.

Heh when I 1st read the 1st part of the sentence I thought you meant you were in 4th grade for PSO and was thinking "Wow PS/PSO/ST Really touching lives of many ages huh o.O?"

Yago2

Oct 10, 2006, 06:11 PM

I played all the phantasy stars since the begining. I always enjoyed these games and probably always will. Long live Phanytasy Star http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Flamingo99

Oct 10, 2006, 06:22 PM

wow.... I was going to make a topic like this eariler. Any way... I voted other. Me and my brother saw an add in GI advertising PSO for DC. We bought it, played it, and have been hooked every since.

Calamity

Oct 10, 2006, 06:26 PM

i was at the mall one day and i was lookin for a cheap xbox game adn there it was so i got it and it was like a drug

F-o-x

Oct 10, 2006, 06:35 PM

When I was younger (around 8 or so I believe) my dad picked up a few Genesis games for me when he went on a business trip. Among those was a copy of Phantasy Star 2. After that I was hooked on the series. Even today PS is still my favorite classic RPG series (Next to Shining Force... eh I still can't decide which I like better).

As for PSO, once I heard about it I obviously had to check it out. Like Cojiro, I've never really had a decent enough PC to be a PC gamer, so being able to play an online RPG on a console got me really excited. And of course once I started playing it was a whole new level of addiction.

tomkat492

Oct 10, 2006, 06:37 PM

Misc/Other, I'm an rpg fan and one day I was lookin on xbox.com for new games commin out and I learned all about PSO 1&2 that I could, I wound up buying it launch day.

Parn

Oct 10, 2006, 06:54 PM

Phantasy Star IV was my introduction into the series, and console RPGs in general. I basically received a Sega Genesis on one particular Christmas with Sonic 2, Mortal Kombat, and several other games... think it was Christmas of '93. I also happened to have a subscription to EGM magazine, and caught a glimpse of import coverage on Phantasy Star IV. The artstyle and concept was intrigueing to me... I had been exposed only to the Ultima series and AD&D goldbox games for RPGs, and here we had a game with these comic book style pictures featuring characters melding futuristic technology alongside medieval scenery. The graphics in general just wowed me, since all those PC RPGs at the time were pretty uh... barren as far as art direction is concerned.

The following Christmas, through a lot of convincing, my folks forked over the $100 that the game was retailing at. I was quite the happy gamer, and I've been a console RPG fan since that day. The graphics, storytelling, soundtrack, everything just blew away any other RPG I had ever played. I eventually played the earlier games in the series, but not after spending nearly a whole year just doing every little thing I could in Phantasy Star IV, such as discovering the level 99 glitch, taking Alys to level 54, and so forth... I was definitely a lot easier to please back in those days. How I managed to play the game for a year straight still boggles my mind.

I imported Phantasy Star Online for my imported Dreamcast and had much fun with it, despite numerous bugs and having my entire inventory wiped over and over again. I know some of you were annoyed how not selecting quit game would have your unequipped items deleted, but just imagine if it deleted ALL your items, ALL your meseta, and ALL your bank equipment too... that's what the Japanese had to put up with until PSO Version 2 released! I was quick to buy the US release of PSO, only to jump back to the import side of things for a short while as PSOV2 reared its head, then back to the US version when it got a stateside release. Imported Episode II for GameCube, got fed up after week 3 when cheating became extremely rampant, then said goodbye for a year, importing Final Fantasy XI and playing that for awhile. Came back later, played the US version of Episode II on both GameCube and Xbox for a short time. Quit for awhile and went back to Final Fantasy XI, later gave PSO Blue Burst a short run for Episode IV, got burnt out quickly and then cancelled that and went back to Final Fantasy XI yet again.

As far as Phantasy Star Universe goes, I was one of the first lucky 2000 selected to participate in the closed beta test of the game in Japan (first time I've ever won anything in my life), and had a lot of fun recording videos and delivering any kind of info I could to board members here, even though half of my speculation was wrong. Imported the retail version and did a few more videos, but primarily focused on exploring more of the game since my beta time was really limited due to the hours that it ran. My pre-order for the domestic release is already paid in full at the local Gamestop, and I'm just waiting for release day.

That pretty much sums up my experience with the series.

Ensong

Oct 10, 2006, 07:07 PM

Sega Master System growing up.

http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

DizzyDi

Oct 10, 2006, 07:08 PM

I've known about PS since PSO on the DC, played it a little bit but never extensively. PSOGC was the one that hooked me. Never got online with it but I remember staying up 3 days in a row playing it nonstop with my friends almost every weekend.

adamgnome104

Oct 10, 2006, 07:09 PM

Those subliminal posters of PSO in the Sonic games bored their way into my subconcious so I bought the Gamecube game. I remember knowing about PSo for dreamcast though.

ghaleonreborn

Oct 10, 2006, 07:15 PM

my dad was a gamer (god rest his soul) and got me a sega genesis and we had golden axe 2 and phantasy star 2 we would play ps2 will we turned blue same with golden axe 2 which i think should have some sort of remake somehow but thats another post.

Waber

Oct 10, 2006, 07:21 PM

Some guy at my dad's work showed me the game, then I got more interested init, so I picked up a copy and fell in love with it, this is also were I met one of my best friends, we lost contact for a while but recently we got back together and are going to PSU together.

Chris28

Oct 10, 2006, 07:23 PM

My brother forced me to play it when it first came out. I thought nothing of it. Two years later I started to play again and I had a whole new view on the game and became godly!!!

NiteOwl

Oct 10, 2006, 07:25 PM

A friend of mine bought me the game for the XBox and we still play it online sometimes together. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif Now we'll be playing PSU together, too. Woo!

Ecstasy

Oct 10, 2006, 07:30 PM

Saw it in Dreamcast magazine, and seen that there would be a SA2 demo with it aswell. So i picked it up day of release, and it just kinda sucked me in:P

[ This Message was edited by: Ecstasy on 2006-10-10 17:30 ]

Celethalion

Oct 10, 2006, 08:19 PM

Christmas of '89 I received Phantasy Star for the Sega Master System. I played each of the games as soon as I could afford them. I regret though that I did not buy a Dreamcast to play PSO at launch. I didn't even get PSO until the Ep I & II Plus version came out. So I am really excited to see PSU on day one, online.

Katrina

Oct 10, 2006, 08:37 PM

I saw a friend playing on Dreamcast, but wasn't into games at the time. My ex got me playing EQOA, and hooked on gaming. When I heard PSU was coming, I remembered seeing PS on Dreamcast, did some research online, and was excited in giving PSU a try.

Xeraphim

Oct 10, 2006, 08:38 PM

I really wanted an online game to play. I'd never tried the concept of a massively multiplayer online game before, and PSO was the first one that came to my attention in a Nintendo Power advertisement. I bought it the day it came out, but didn't go online until Christmas of that year. I feel in love, but kind of fell out of it for other games (and because hacking was just getting out of control.) Eventually, I was scrolling through E3 '05 junk, and I notice PSU. 'nuff said?

Genobee

Oct 10, 2006, 08:41 PM

Well when i was younger, me and my friend used to play it on dreamcast on his birth dya and I realy liked the game. The when it came out for xbox he bought it not knowing you needed Xbox live to play it and he was to cheap to sign up for it. So I had xbox live and he kinda just gave me it and I have been playing it ever since.

ANIMEniac

Oct 10, 2006, 08:42 PM

well with me, i used to subscribe to Dreamcast mag, and they came with demo disks. i saw the gameplay trailer and thought it looked interesting. but i never got it 4 DC cause as all of the other games prices where dropping to 10 bucks, PSO stayed at 35, which was a little steep for my 12 year old pockets. i finaly got it for GC the x-mass it cam out, then switched to PSOX cause i already had Live, and the rest is Ragolian history <(^_^<)

Numnuttz

Oct 10, 2006, 08:44 PM

i was looking for a mmo and this game's art got me hooked before anythign else. next thing i know it, im hooked on the gameplay instead of the art. glad i decided to take a chance on this game long ago.

AnamanaAU

Oct 10, 2006, 08:46 PM

The promise of a Dreamcast online RPG was enough to warrant interest.

Slitz

Oct 10, 2006, 08:53 PM

I actually had just been looking for an online game to play... and it was the 1st one I seen. So I thought "meh, wtf ever.. this'll do." and it turned out to be pretty fuckin' cool. ;D

VanHalen

Oct 10, 2006, 08:57 PM

its funny how i got into PSO i hated star wars and this game reminded me of it when i started fighting. though after playing for awhile i thought this is way better than star wars.

Openget

Oct 10, 2006, 09:07 PM

PSOBB beta

ProfessorZ

Oct 10, 2006, 09:13 PM

On 2006-10-10 15:38, Rizen wrote:
My brother introduced it to me and I fell in love with PSO

Amazing!! Same with me

phunk

Oct 10, 2006, 09:35 PM

I had Phantasy Star IV for my Genesis, but I didn't really grasp the concept of an RPG at the age of 6; back in '93.

I know a lot of people won't admit it, but I got PSO for the Sonic Adventure 2 demo; it was the first thing I played. My cousin was the first to try it and I was on the game ever since then.

Later on I made the connection that it was from the same Phantasy Star series for Genesis =O.

Cigaro

Oct 10, 2006, 10:01 PM

I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

However, when my friend came to me with a PSO demo video, it looked pretty awesome, so I started playing it.

For the record, I still think Phantasy Star III has the absolute worst music in any video game ever.

EDIT: Phantasy Star IV was the only one I enjoyed playing.

[ This Message was edited by: Cigaro on 2006-10-10 20:05 ]

Shawnathon

Oct 10, 2006, 10:24 PM

The first phantasy star I played was phantasy star IV, it was shortly after christmas and I had just got my genesis, my friend and I saw the game at the video store, I'm not gonna lie it was love at first sight. Every friday we would venture off to the store right after school using our allowance to rent the game and buy lots and lots of candy haha we did this fairly consistently for about year in that time finishing the game several times through. Finally the owner of the store realized we had rented it enough times to have paid for it 4x over and he then just gave us a copy of the game ahh the good old days.

phunk

Oct 10, 2006, 10:27 PM

On 2006-10-10 20:01, Cigaro wrote:
I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

However, when my friend came to me with a PSO demo video, it looked pretty awesome, so I started playing it.

For the record, I still think Phantasy Star III has the absolute worst music in any video game ever.

EDIT: Phantasy Star IV was the only one I enjoyed playing.

[ This Message was edited by: Cigaro on 2006-10-10 20:05 ]

There's no way a sane person will play PSIII.

Haruka-sama

Oct 10, 2006, 10:44 PM

On 2006-10-10 19:13, ProfessorZ wrote:

On 2006-10-10 15:38, Rizen wrote:
My brother introduced it to me and I fell in love with PSO

Amazing!! Same with me

Me too =D but then my brother got sick of it after a couple weeks and quit, so I went and bought my own copy and played it for a couple years lol o.O Actually, PSIV was the first RPG I ever played ^_^

(edit: fixed grammar)

[ This Message was edited by: Haruka-sama on 2006-10-10 20:49 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Haruka-sama on 2006-10-10 20:49 ]

Natrokos

Oct 10, 2006, 10:47 PM

PS2>PS1>PS4>PSO>PSU

My Phantastic journey. PS2 is still one of my favourite rpgs.

Chaobo99

Oct 10, 2006, 10:48 PM

I don't really know. I was only 5 and I was pretty good at this game that seems complicated to some...I just tried it and I had fun.BEST GAME EVA..I think (^_^)

Cigaro

Oct 10, 2006, 10:48 PM

On 2006-10-10 20:27, phunk wrote:

On 2006-10-10 20:01, Cigaro wrote:
I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

However, when my friend came to me with a PSO demo video, it looked pretty awesome, so I started playing it.

For the record, I still think Phantasy Star III has the absolute worst music in any video game ever.

EDIT: Phantasy Star IV was the only one I enjoyed playing.

[ This Message was edited by: Cigaro on 2006-10-10 20:05 ]

There's no way a sane person will play PSIII.

I remember the battle music giving me nightmares as a kid.

I don't really want to call it music, though. It's more like a lo-fi wax cylinder recording of hundreds of robots clusterfucking all at once.

Then someone pissed on the cylinder, doused it in gasoline and lit it on fire for two minutes, putting it out with rusty nails and sandpaper.

CpwninOBrien

Oct 10, 2006, 10:49 PM

i got baned from Diablo2 for haxing supposedly, saw PSO and played on my bros DC, rest is histry

Skye-Fox713

Oct 10, 2006, 10:52 PM

I was looking for a game where you could create your own character, pso ep 1+2 had that so i bought it to try it out. the rest is history, indeed.

Sinue_v2

Oct 10, 2006, 10:56 PM

I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

I don't understand... Alis Landale fighting to avenge her brother's death was less intimate than "Fighter", fighting for no apperant reason?

That's just how RPG's of the day were - and you can't fault Phantasy Star for that when Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were also extremely spartain. Final Fantasy didn't hit it's storyline stride until the SNES years - at which time the Phantasy Star series was pretty much over with. PSIII launched in JP before Final Fantasy I even made it to US shores. The last one to come out was End of the Millenium - and RPG's across the board were really strengthening their storyline and characters. Even then, PS was ahead of it's time for using pre-rendered cutscenes while most everything else was using in-game scripted scenarios.

(and it would have been FMV Anime cutscenes had the SegaCD version finished development)

zemog

Oct 10, 2006, 10:56 PM

Phantasy Star Lover

Warshipped PS3 and PS4... finished PS3 every way possible, and owned PS4 which I played through several times and completed all side quests. PS2 was a lost wish which I played several years before and could never find again until I purchased the PS Collection on GBA. However, I sadly find it too old school to finish... (Same for PS1, that just won't happen, sorry...)

Then there was that glorious day that PSO was released and the DC dropped to $99. I couldn't resist, and my online PSO obsession began. Then the free server went down... Several years later I paid a friend $90 for the GC version because I was despirate for it (played it for about 15 hours tops before I traded it away for about $10 lol I still own my DC and my DC version btw).

Then 2 weeks ago I heard that the PSOBB liscence can be used for PSU (which is not confirmed untrue) so I signed up for a means to kill the next 4 weeks and here we are. That's my tale.

Cigaro

Oct 10, 2006, 11:00 PM

On 2006-10-10 20:56, Sinue_v2 wrote:

I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

I don't understand... Alis Landale fighting to avenge her brother's death was less intimate than "Fighter", fighting for no apperant reason?

That's just how RPG's of the day were - and you can't fault Phantasy Star for that when Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were also extremely spartain. Final Fantasy didn't hit it's storyline stride until the SNES years - at which time the Phantasy Star series was pretty much over with. PSIII launched in JP before Final Fantasy I even made it to US shores. The last one to come out was End of the Millenium - and RPG's across the board were really strengthening their storyline and characters. Even then, PS was ahead of it's time for using pre-rendered cutscenes while most everything else was using in-game scripted scenarios.

(and it would have been FMV Anime cutscenes had the SegaCD version finished development)

I am talking more along the lines of PSII/III/IV vs. FF4/5/6 here. The PS storyline is great, but the atmosphere the games generate through graphical style, music, sprite animation and so forth really pushed me out of immersion. I never liked the Genesis sound chip and never will.

That's just my opinion. Sorry.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not saying Phantasy Star wasn't a well-developed SERIES, all I'm saying is that I did not like the way the games felt to me. 90% of this is the music the games had, and that's solely the fault of the system used, not the games themselves.

Although there is NO excuse for PSIII's battle music. NONE.

[ This Message was edited by: Cigaro on 2006-10-10 21:02 ]

Sluggette

Oct 10, 2006, 11:10 PM

I was expecting a hetro thread

Diverdan86

Oct 10, 2006, 11:24 PM

I read a small article in some magazine a long time ago saying that "Dreamcast gets an online rpg". The only online influence i had was an old school mmo called Nexus so i grabbed it and fell in love.

Neflite

Oct 10, 2006, 11:54 PM

My dad got me a Genesis and PStar2 when i was a kid.
Events of that game so strong I got a master system for prt1 and played everyone thereafter since.

kazuma56

Oct 11, 2006, 12:06 AM

I bought PSO solely on the fact that PSIV was THE game that brought me into the RPG genre (so by the PS name alone) and progressed from there.

AlphaMinotaux

Oct 11, 2006, 12:46 AM

XD i couldnt read all this post. sorry if its alreay been adressed but didnt PSO come with a demo of Sonic Adventure 2, and not the other way around? actually posting this post i checked. PSO came w/ demo of Sonic Adventure 2. Also my sonic adventure 2 came with no demo of PSO :/

ChibiMyu

Oct 11, 2006, 12:52 AM

Phantasy Star 2 was in one of the Sega Collection packages I got for my PC, so that's where I first learned about the series. Then one day my neighbor called me over because his friend was over and they were playing the Sonic Adventure 2 demo that came with PSO. Seeing the PSO game, I went "ooo, 3d RPG... online?" The rest is history.

Losodo1976

Oct 11, 2006, 01:33 AM

I've been enjoying Phantasy Star since I was a kid. I had a Sega Master System and everything else right up to the DC.

Phantasy Star had 3D dungeons on the SMS all those years ago on an 8-bit system, lol.

It's an old series from the roots of console gaming. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Sinue_v2

Oct 11, 2006, 01:55 AM

The roots of the roots. It was the first console RPG released in the US, IIRC.

bleyzwun

Oct 11, 2006, 04:42 AM

I originally wanted to play True Fantasy Live but when I found out that wasnt coming out I decided to play PSO. I never actually got to play though... My friend got me onto FFXI before I could buy it =X. Maybe I should've just went with PSO. FFXI was fun for a while but then you realize just how much work it is. This is gonna be my first Phantasy Star game.

tank1

Oct 11, 2006, 04:50 AM

Saw an article on PSO ep1&2 in CUBE magazine and it all went from there.

Nani-chan

Oct 11, 2006, 05:04 AM

I remember buying the dreamcast version for <$10 during the decline of the dreamcast.
It's funny but I can vividly remember a time when Hucaseals, Ramarls and Fomars didn't exist.

BluCast20xx

Oct 11, 2006, 05:27 AM

Yea i was interested in a magazine ad for PSO for DC. I never had the chance to buy it at the time dreamcast was still doing well (high school and no money) but i was able to buy it from a friend for like 20 bucks. Tried it and i was a total newb. I played it as much as i could till PSO GC was announced. Still wasnt able to buy it till PSO+ was released, and i began to enjoy it since i got much better at playing.

Strider_M

Oct 11, 2006, 09:54 AM

I never even heard of PSO until Dreamcast...

I didn't even know what a MMO was then... I didn't know what WoW was about I knew that you had to pay monthly fees to play that game online so I was like "psh whatever" and didn't even look into it...

But when I read about PSO I saw that it was free to play with other people online! So I just tried it out and I loved it!

Can't say I've been hooked ever since... I didn't play ver.2 but I played Episode II on GC and now I'm going to get PSU!

wildstar

Oct 11, 2006, 10:06 AM

One of the demo discs that shipped with ODCM had a short video of PSO you could watch on your DC.

I still remember the camera panning around a fight in Caves 1, and someone dodging a poison spit from a lilly. I was hooked from that moment: an rpg where you can actually - with your own actions not just stats - dodge things.

The next month of ODCM (one of the last ever printed) had a massive spread on PSO and that just sealed the deal.

parabolee

Oct 11, 2006, 11:58 AM

I was a hard-core Dreamcast lover and a big fan of Sonic team, so when I read that they were working on an online RPG I was very excited to play it.

I went and bought the game the day it came out and then played it for about 8 hours straight. At first it wasn't what I expected, but very soon I was obsessively addicted and I have played every single version from then onwards. To this day I consider it my all time favourite game.

Zarbolord

Oct 11, 2006, 12:00 PM

A friend showed me, I was like, WTF is this game? Then I tried a bit of it solo and I became fanatic. I was more used to Solo adventure and platform from nintendo, but as soon as PSO came in my life I was happy about it aswell and played it loads, also a fan of EPIII.

Jasam

Oct 11, 2006, 01:23 PM

Oh i remember, when I head you could get a tails chao from PSO:GC.... My mind went from considerig to bought ^-^

Zabrio

Oct 11, 2006, 01:47 PM

I was at my local community center and they had it i played it and loved so me and my friend played for about 4 hours befoe poeple started asking to play with us

myserysyn

Oct 11, 2006, 02:04 PM

Played the Sega series of Phantasy Star one through four, and needed to keep the tradition going. PSO was a Christmas gift, so my brothers and I stayed up for at least two or three nites playing it! Oddly enough.. we all already bought PSU.. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

phunk

Oct 11, 2006, 02:11 PM

On 2006-10-10 20:48, Cigaro wrote:

On 2006-10-10 20:27, phunk wrote:

On 2006-10-10 20:01, Cigaro wrote:
I actually hated Phantasy Star on the Genesis. I always felt it lacked the intimacy and warmth of Final Fantasy.

However, when my friend came to me with a PSO demo video, it looked pretty awesome, so I started playing it.

For the record, I still think Phantasy Star III has the absolute worst music in any video game ever.

EDIT: Phantasy Star IV was the only one I enjoyed playing.

[ This Message was edited by: Cigaro on 2006-10-10 20:05 ]

There's no way a sane person will play PSIII.

I remember the battle music giving me nightmares as a kid.

I don't really want to call it music, though. It's more like a lo-fi wax cylinder recording of hundreds of robots clusterfucking all at once.

Then someone pissed on the cylinder, doused it in gasoline and lit it on fire for two minutes, putting it out with rusty nails and sandpaper.

Thats the Genesis for you.

Akaimizu

Oct 11, 2006, 02:14 PM

I would say, it had something to do with being a Sega gaming fan. I basically was an early adopter to much of what Sega put out, at the time. They were really getting inventive. I also tended to love every Sega RPG they put out, through that time. I didn't even hesitate to pick up the Japanese PSO, when it came out; even if it was just for the offline play. By then, I was convinced it would own me. That, and considering, I concidered Skies of Arcadia, and Panzer Dragoon Saga, as two of my favorite RPGs of all time. Sega and especially Sonic Team have this really cool theme in their games. That whole "let's run away and be free" kind of message which also adds in the message of "We'll fight no matter the odds to make sure everyone can enjoy that same level of freedom.". It's sometimes cheesy, but it's always genuine. It's part of that Sega-magic for me.

I figured PSO would have that Sega/Sonic-Team magic, from the time I knew it was coming out.

[ This Message was edited by: Akaimizu on 2006-10-11 12:20 ]

CherryLunar

Oct 11, 2006, 02:16 PM

I was doing a group assignment back in my freshman year of highschool and we couldnt think of a topic to do. So one guy (whos name I cant remember...) decided to steal the plot from PSO for the project. The game seemed interesting, but I didn't really start looking into it till a few weeks later when I saw it in a backissue of Animerica. (Yeah. I used to be one of those hardcore otaku kids) So I tried out V1 back on DC and got addicted. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Ri0T

Oct 11, 2006, 02:17 PM

The first Phantasy Star game i played was Phantasy Star III, which was a real borefest... if you guys want to play any old Phantasy Star RPGs definitely don't play that one first. It's a continuous dungeon crawl, with mazes and teleporters galore, not a lot of fancy graphics.

I played Phantasy Star II next, which was tons more fun. I never got to play the first Phantasy Star yet, and the 4th installment I didn't get around to playing until real recently (which is frickin awesome).

Truthfully I wasn't a really big fan of Phantasy Star when PSO was being hyped, but i was still really excited about it since I was big on MMOs and other online RPGs at the time. I was working at Software Etc at the time of launch, so I was able to begin playing the game from day one as it was released on the mighty mighty Dreamcast.

I played V1 and V2 on DC, briefly played the Gamecube version, and finally Blue Burst. Even though I played so long, I never ever got a character to level 200 or even close... I only had one character that broke 100 actually. The best rare I ever remember getting was a Twin Brand... and oh, I wanted that thing bad. XD

Anyway, that's my story. Frothing at the mouth for more Phantasy Star still after all these years. This is going to be the longest 2 weeks of my life. My preorders better get the game to me on the day of release or there will be hell to pay~! *shakes fist*

Yoiyami

Oct 11, 2006, 02:20 PM

When I bought my Dreamcast, I saw Phantasy Star Online on the shelf. It was really an impulse purchase. I was excited about playing a game online, it was my first MMO.

To make a long story short, my best MMO days were on DC PSO. I didn't play the GC version and got bored with PSO:BB very quickly. So...three's the charm!

Coxy

Oct 11, 2006, 03:02 PM

I think I read a bit about it, saw a few reviews etc etc

After racking up a few hundred hours with my first character I realised i was hooked

I never looked back afterwards

l3iohazard

Oct 11, 2006, 03:14 PM

yea my girlfreinds dad introduced me into phantasy star so i got the gamecube version of pso and the pso collection for gba... great games

BlueDagger

Oct 11, 2006, 03:14 PM

I seriously just don't know how I got into to this... My dad bought PSO episode 1&2 for me when I was like.... 5?... I don't what happen to that, then about 5 and a half years later I bough the xbox version, since I had xbox live back then...... http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_confused.gif

DreamLocke

Oct 11, 2006, 04:08 PM

I was a Dreamcast fanatic and pretty much bought every online game that came out. I bought PSO and v.2 on their release dates. Remember Outtrigger and Alien Front Online? Ah...memories...

LocGaw

Oct 11, 2006, 05:19 PM

I traded in my playstation for a DC, 2 VMU and PSO!!!! I got that system just for that game. That is still the only game I got for it(lol V2 as well)... At this point I am trying to find a controler local because mine stoped working.... http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

Zeota

Oct 11, 2006, 08:33 PM

I remember a friend of mine giving me a "catalog" (I guess you could call it that - one of those folded pieces of paper that came with some games showing off a bunch of others made by that company) with a few genesis games, and one that caught my eye was PSIII. I thought to myself "this looks kinda like Final Fantasy!" I didn't own a Genesis at the time, and this friend didn't know I was a staunch Nintendo fan, but whatever. The next year I'd get a Genesis for my 13th birthday, and I would rent PSIII at a video store a couple weeks later. I remember getting stuck somewhere toward the beginning and just gave up on it (since we didn't have the internet at the time). Later that year, I got an issue of GameFan that had a spread on PS4, and it aroused my curiosity. Of course my SNES still got much more love than my Genesis ever did, and I couldn't find PS4 anywhere. A few years later I got into emulation, and played the PS games on a Genesis emulator.

CrazySwayzee

Oct 11, 2006, 09:27 PM

PSO is just an extremely unique game, there's nothing that really feels anything close to PSO, or been as freakin' addictive.

I mean who in their right mind could spend 100 hours going through the same 4 levels without it being PSO!?
Seriously, the only type I could think of is people with alzheimers, and everyone knows how much alzheimers love futuristic videogames.

Naes_Siwel

Oct 11, 2006, 09:37 PM

I remember way back when, my cousin had just Re-Brought a genesis (1.0) from Funcoland one day. I was looking though his small game collection and saw that he had Phantasy Star II and III. I started a new game and was like: "Wow... This isn't bad for an RPG!" I also tried out III which I personaly though: "Good... But it's missing somehting..." Years later I heard about PSO... Like way too late from a friend... Like Servers about to close down late http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif. Of course by doing some searching, I was able to find out about a PC version (which I won't get into since it's against fourm rules). I also learned about Phantasy Star IV which is (techicaly) the last game of that particular storyline. Years later, the scene with Phantasy Star quiet down... Untill I was watching an epdisode of Cinimatech (before G4 Tech TV became G4... Ugh...) and they showed what appeared to be a beta of Phantasy Star Universe. I was nontheless hyped and I still am http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif. So there you have it. My story of how I got into Phantasy Star http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif.