The PSO Formula Must Die – Editorial/Review of Phantasy Star 0
Phantasy Star 0
Published and Developed by: Sega
For: Nintendo DS
I’m gonna do something very different with my review of what might just be the worst game of this year: Phantasy Star 0. I’m really not going to talk about the game so much because the game is Phantasy Star Online made very sloppy and ugly.
Much like it’s PSP reiteration Phantasy Star Portable, Phantasy Star 0 attempts to shoehorn the PSO legacy into a handheld game with poor controls, camera and with the same battle system that the game has had since the Dreamcast days almost a decade ago.
Next to nothing has been changed since the original PSO: Phantasy Star Universe completely disappointed fans of PSO with a horrible story mode and very lackluster multiplayer mode. The addition of paying an extra $10 along with the money you have to spend on XBOX Live also left a bad taste in the mouth of gamers, especially when they realized how abhorrent the game has become.
This year, two portable iterations of the series hit and both have glaring and unfortunate weaknesses. Like Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star Portable doesn’t even have internet servers to allow players to play with others. This severely hampers the experience of playing the game as it should be. On top of that, the limitations of the controls on PSP makes this version unwieldy to play. Around that time, Phantasy Star 0 was announced and many thought that would finally be the game that made PSO relevant again.
Instead, it only further cemented the painful fact that PSO fans from yore now have to realize: PSO must die.
Phantasy Star Online was the first game to have a sustaining, burdgeoning community within a console. Being the first console in the United States with its built in online infrastructure, the Dreamcast did many things that were soon replicated in another generation of hardware and on PC’s. PSO was a brilliant mix of dungeon hacking, MMORPG and Japanese role playing conventions, three things that were hugely popular in the 90’s.
Riding that wave, PSO gained cult status amongst gamers. In fact, when the Dreamcast is often remembered with gamers in the 90’s, Phantasy Star Online is usually the first thing that they mention in memorable games. It’s this feeding in nostalgia that PSO has been able to soldier on from this day.
Phantasy Star 0, the game that is a prequel and is supposed to take the game into a new direction, ends up being exactly like PSO, but worse. The graphics and sound are horrendous, while the battles are nowhere near as captivating or interesting.
The reason why the battles aren’t that interesting is mainly due to the archaic combat. Sega has been using the same types of level ups for years: You get incrimental boosts to your stats and that’s it. Sure, you can buy abilities and weapons to create, but leveling feels like it’s nowhere nears as rewarding.
This type of RPG has steadily made improvements over the years: Why Phantasy Star 0 decided to phone it home is beyond me. It’s honestly about time for the PSO franchise to take a leave of absence or to find a way to drastic impvove itself.
In a gaming world where PSO-like games are a dime a dozen, Phantasy Star 0 seems like a crotchety old bugger who refuses to accept that time has moved on and things improve. The developers need to find a way to improve the game….or just let it die.
