Anime Sunday: PSO2 Episode 01 Impressions

This week for Anime Sunday I’m covering a series I didn’t have lots of hope for coming into the season. It’s the Phantasy Star Online, or PSO2 Episode 01 Impressions!

Plot Synopsis: Itsuki is a student at Seiga Academy, a place where everywhere you look everyone is playing this game called PSO2. But one day he get’s called to the Student Council room by the president unexpectedly. An event occurs that changes his outlook on life.

Plot: I don’t even know where to begin with how bad this is. It’s possibly one of the worst Anime I’ve ever watched, and that’s saying something. The premise of the series is so terrible that even I can’t suspend disbelief to believe it. The student council submits reports to the school board via PSO2? Seriously no one in that position gives a rat’s ass about what the students do in their free time as long as it’s not illegal, regardless of how popular this game is. Include all the various nods to Sega, there’s a Sonic head shaped water feature in the freaking school grounds, and Seiga (drop the “I”) Academy, and it looks like Sega just spent a bunch of money on something completely unnecessary considering how freaking popular the game is in Japan.

Characters: Bland, dull and I can’t stand writing about it anymore! The characters are terrible. I’ve seen better characters in tasteless trashy romance novels in the Elder Scrolls games or World of Warcraft.

Art: Nothing even decent here either, it uses a blend of 3DCG and traditional Anime art, and I can’t say I’m a fan of the 3D portion. I’ve never liked series that choose to use it in a way that is inherently obvious compared to the rest of the series.

Music: Needless to say it’s pretty bad.

Overall: Please don’t watch this piece of crap, and save your eyeballs from watching the Anime equivalent of Twilight in terms of biohazard danger.

For those who like: …, you know what there is nothing good to note about this series. So skip to the next line.

For those who don’t like: Having their brain cells tortured by watching such a piece of crap that it permanently damages them.

Retro Game Friday: Phantasy Star Universe

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering the “sequel” to Phantasy Star Online. It’s Phantasy Star Universe!

Plot Synopsis: At the start of the game, Ethan Waber, the main character, and his little sister, Lumia Waber, are at the celebration of the 100th year anniversary of the Alliance Space Fleet on the GUARDIANS Space station. The celebration is interrupted when a mysterious meteor shower almost destroys the entire fleet. During evacuation, Ethan and Lumia split off of the main evacuation route and collapsing rubble separates Lumia from Ethan.

Plot: The plot isn’t that great, in fact it’s terrible compared to most other RPGs. Ethan wasn’t that likeable a character and the rest of the cast was only so so.

Gameplay: The gameplay is just like Phantasy Star Online, with a few additions like the ability to dual wield a sword and gun. This was probably the only reason I even borrowed the game from my friend, because I remembered the good times I had with PSO and wanted to see if this was at all like it. It was, but it also wasn’t that great after having played a real MMO on a computer.

Art: The art was pretty much just like an updated version of PSO. There is nothing wrong with that however and the game looked nice.

Music: The music for the game wasn’t as good as PSO, which is a shame because the opening themes for PSO episodes 1 and 2 were amazing.

Overall: Skip this game, unless you had a case of nostalgia like me.

For those who like: Phantasy Star Online, Dead MMOs.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above, or a medicore plot and cast.

P.S. Sega hurry up and freaking release PSO 2 here in the west please.

Retro Game Friday: Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2 [Gamecube Review and Offline Mode review only]

This week I’m going over the first MMO game I ever played, Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 and 2, although since I played it on the Gamecube and could never find the network component I never got to play online. I still had lots of fun although looking back the gameplay sucks.

Plot Synopsis: In response to destruction of the home world, the “Pioneer Project” is begun in order to search for a new planet to settle. Unmanned probes locate a suitable location, and the ship “Pioneer 1” is sent to investigate. After confirming the suitability of the discovered planet, Ragol, construction is begun on the surface, including the Central Dome. Seven years later, “Pioneer 2” arrives at Ragol with the majority of refugees aboard. However, as Pioneer 2 establishes a communications link with the Central Dome, a massive explosion shakes the planet’s surface, and no sign remains of the people of Pioneer 1 on the planet.

Plot: It was okay, although it was mostly discovered in quests in the online only mode, which made understanding the story rather difficult for me.

Gameplay: I played as a Newman Hunter, essentially a battle-mage, that focused on healing myself while mowing down any and all mobs that came close to me with my swords. I even found a pair of twin swords which I loved. My best friend, Eric, played a Newman Hunter as well while he was focused on healing the rest of us he could and would wade into battle and wreck absolute havoc. My younger brother would play as a Cast Hunter, a straight up warrior with no magic capabilities, and he would wade into battle using his greatsword to mow down enemies. We thoroughly enjoyed playing through the story mode and while we completed all the quests, it was annoying as hell not to be able to play online.

Music: I really enjoyed the opening themes for this game, as they were very sci-fi and uplifting that contrasted heavily with the plotlines. The actual music in game I have little memory of, because our TV we used to play the game was in my mother’s office and we couldn’t use the music.

Art: For it’s day it was pretty amazing.

Overall: If you can find a copy of it and want to try it, it’s worth the play through in offline mode. If you don’t mind the grind so you can solo things.

For those who like: MMO’s, Hack and Slash games, Sci-Fi, Phantasy Star games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.