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Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 10:43 pm
by MobiusX
I've been a Dreamcast owner since 9/9/99, but I never got into PSO. Now that I've discovered DreamPi, I have a USB Modem and a sealed copy of PSOv2 coming my way in the mail. But the thing is, PSO confuses me. What's with all the different versions? v1, v2, Episode 1&2 on other platforms, Blue whatever on PC... Plus the different homebrew servers. Can someon give me a newbie breakdown? How does this game work, exactly? And what is the best way to experience it today?

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:25 pm
by Bob Dobbs
Ok, the PSOv2 game works very well online and allows you to get to level 200 and features a forth level known as Ultimate (as opposed to the previous DC version). As far as BlueBurst (BB), this is a PC only version and any GC version is basically the same as PSOv2 except there are minor "differences" in which unfortunately do not allow them to play with PC and DC players at least on Sylverant. So, PC and DC players can play together without any problems. I have not seen a Xbox player, so I have no knowledge of them but I do know they had to have a Xbox Live account.

As far as online goes, do not forget to go to Dreamcast-Live.com to download the patch disc. If you did not know, this is the only way you can successfully connect online no matter what method of connection you use.

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:19 am
by Retrojaner
And register at Sylverant and play on ship Vega... :)

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:02 am
by pcwzrd13
Bob Dobbs wrote:As far as online goes, do not forget to go to Dreamcast-Live.com to download the patch disc.
*dreamcastlive.net :)

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 9:49 am
by SEGA RPG FAN
Bob Dobbs wrote:any GC version is basically the same as PSOv2 except there are minor "differences" in which unfortunately do not allow them to play with PC and DC players at least on Sylverant.
Content wise the Xbox and GC versions have much more. Episode I is basically PSOv2 but Episode II turns some battle levels from V2 into actual levels and introduces some entirely new levels.

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:41 am
by itsthinkingstill
Ver2 was also very useful back in the day for hacking, i never managed to get online back in pso's heyday but i heard from people that the amount of hacking in ver 1 got to a sickening level so ver 2 helped bring it down. The people that play on the servers now are generally good people so so the necessity to get ver 2 instead of ver 1 is not as big as it used to be.

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:49 am
by MobiusX
Bob Dobbs wrote:As far as online goes, do not forget to go to Dreamcast-Live.com to download the patch disc. If you did not know, this is the only way you can successfully connect online no matter what method of connection you use.
Ah, okay, I was wondering what that was all about!
Retrojaner wrote:And register at Sylverant and play on ship Vega... :)
That raises another question. If I start playing on one server and ship, can I also play on others with my same character? Basically, I just want to go where ever I have the best chance of actually finding other people to play with. I'm not clear on the difference between using the Dreamcast-Talk server or Sylverant.
SEGA RPG FAN wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote:any GC version is basically the same as PSOv2 except there are minor "differences" in which unfortunately do not allow them to play with PC and DC players at least on Sylverant.
Content wise the Xbox and GC versions have much more. Episode I is basically PSOv2 but Episode II turns some battle levels from V2 into actual levels and introduces some entirely new levels.
Cool, that's something I was confused about.

I figure if I really get into the game, I'll switch to the PC version. But for now, I'm mostly looking forward to the novelty of enjoying some online play on my Dreamcast again. :)

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:13 pm
by SEGA RPG FAN
itsthinkingstill wrote:Ver2 was also very useful back in the day for hacking, i never managed to get online back in pso's heyday but i heard from people that the amount of hacking in ver 1 got to a sickening level so ver 2 helped bring it down. The people that play on the servers now are generally good people so so the necessity to get ver 2 instead of ver 1 is not as big as it used to be.
There was still plenty of hacking on Ver2. Most of the "anti-cheating" measures put into place just made it easier for your save to get corrupted or your inventory wiped if you were a legit player. If that happened to a hacker, they would just recreate all the stats and weapons they had, but legit players were SOL.

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 12:17 pm
by itsthinkingstill
MobiusX wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote:As far as online goes, do not forget to go to Dreamcast-Live.com to download the patch disc. If you did not know, this is the only way you can successfully connect online no matter what method of connection you use.
Ah, okay, I was wondering what that was all about!
Retrojaner wrote:And register at Sylverant and play on ship Vega... :)
That raises another question. If I start playing on one server and ship, can I also play on others with my same character? Basically, I just want to go where ever I have the best chance of actually finding other people to play with. I'm not clear on the difference between using the Dreamcast-Talk server or Sylverant.

Yeah you can use your same character to go to any server like sylverant or schthack. Its just the way of connecting might be different

Re: Educate me on Phantasy Star Online

Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:21 pm
by BlueCrab
MobiusX wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote:As far as online goes, do not forget to go to Dreamcast-Live.com to download the patch disc. If you did not know, this is the only way you can successfully connect online no matter what method of connection you use.
Ah, okay, I was wondering what that was all about!
Or, you could get the patch disc directly from the source, of course. ;)
MobiusX wrote:
Retrojaner wrote:And register at Sylverant and play on ship Vega... :)
That raises another question. If I start playing on one server and ship, can I also play on others with my same character? Basically, I just want to go where ever I have the best chance of actually finding other people to play with. I'm not clear on the difference between using the Dreamcast-Talk server or Sylverant.
Sylverant is the server software that I wrote, as well as the server that the Dreamcast-Talk ship (Vega) is a part of. All of the ships on Sylverant are running the same server software and all work together, although some are running potentially different revisions of it. Iselia and Altimira (the two ships that are hosted on my actual server machine) are always kept up-to-date (not that it matters in most cases, since most revisions recently have been relatively minor).

Basically, each ship has it's own set of quests and maybe a few other tweaks here and there... Here's what you can expect on each ship:
Iselia - Mostly unmodified from Sega's original setup. Has all of the original Sega quests, follows mostly the same rules as Sega's old server (including what's considered legitimate and what's not). Has some new quests, but they are clearly marked as homebrew and are separated out from the normal (Sega) quests, so that you can avoid them if you want a completely "legit" experience.

Altimira - Ship run by Aleron Ives. Contains many new quests, along with slightly modified versions of some of the Sega quests. Geared especially toward those who use Aleron Ives' Enhancement Pack for PSO, but this is by no means a necessity to play there.

Vega - Ship run by Dreamcast-Talk and hosted separately from Iselia and Altimira. Seems to have issues with Gamecube players connecting for some reason. Mostly unmodified Sega rules/quests, like Iselia. Does not contain as many new homebrew quests, as far as I'm aware.

Palmacosta - Ship run by the Brazillian/Portuguese crowd. Mostly unmodified Sega rules/quests/etc.

Anyone's welcome on any of the ships (unless you've managed to get yourself banned from one of them), and any disruptive hacking is not allowed at all on any ships.
MobiusX wrote:
SEGA RPG FAN wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote:any GC version is basically the same as PSOv2 except there are minor "differences" in which unfortunately do not allow them to play with PC and DC players at least on Sylverant.
Content wise the Xbox and GC versions have much more. Episode I is basically PSOv2 but Episode II turns some battle levels from V2 into actual levels and introduces some entirely new levels.
Cool, that's something I was confused about.

I figure if I really get into the game, I'll switch to the PC version. But for now, I'm mostly looking forward to the novelty of enjoying some online play on my Dreamcast again. :)
The PC version (that is compatible with the Dreamcast one, i.e, not Blue Burst) has its own interesting sets of quirks and issues, largely stemming from the fact that it was written for Windows 98. ;) You might actually find it more enjoyable (especially if you're going through the trouble of setting up a DreamPi anyway) to just play on the Dreamcast full-time.