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Phantasy Star Universe from Sega of America, Inc.
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Rating:  
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Our Editorial Review
Product Description Phantasy Star Universe offers a suspenseful single player adventure that fans have been clamouring for. Players will get two completely different experiences for use in both online and offline play. It boasts more than 40 hours of single-player exploration -- with a character-intensive storyline and plenty of cutscenes. The game follows a 17 year-old military cadet named Ethan Waber, a man that's determined to rescue his kidnapped sister from a mysterious life force known as THE SEED. Player-controlled vehicles eliminate the need to travel by foot Incredible multiplayer online action via Xbox Live Additional downloadable content
Customer Reviews
Tedious at best Posted 28 March 2007
Tedious is about all this is. Imagine a hack'n'slash and add a futureistic Star Wars look-a-like story and you got Phantasy Star in a nutshell. I have owned this game since November. I feel so guilty it sits there and sits there just taking up space. I pick it up now and than to play it, [...] you know what? The tediousness just gets worse. First chapter, you have to run around a subway station, see a cinematic and then hack some penguin wannabes. Then there is the long and boring task of putting on these goggles to see weak spots in rubble, than taking them off hacking. Move to the next rubble thing and do it again. Chapter three you have to use the goggles again, then you have to use a laser thing to kill these plant spores, then you pull out a sword and slice'n'dice a plant into chewable pieces. Chapter three is the farthest I have gotten so far.
As for online, it is annoying! Most people don't speak English on there. You also have to type to people to talk, and the vast majority don't know that once you join a party you can talk, so they just type in the party, annoying as hell! Plus you have to pay 10 dollars for it.
Thank Microsoft you can play the demo version Posted 08 February 2007
If you're looking for the next World of Warcraft breaker game, this definately wont be it. What Phantasy Star Universe DOES give you though is a decent offline story, but a grind-fest for online play.
Offline mode is where most people who are starving for another RPG besides Oblivion for the 360 will want to look. I personally didn't finish the story but got about 30 hours into it. The characters in the story are paper thin, but give you an accurate portrayal of how the online mode universe will be when you head into it. The combat system is exactly the same offline as it is online. Attack move, attack again till death, clear the area of mobs, get the key for the door, move to the next area. Your teammates AI is pretty decent, and provides adequate cover in areas. Sometimes they get swamped and killed really quickly, but this can be taken care of with a raise spell. The mobs are dreadfully slow and are easy to run from, so don't fret about being overwhelmed unless you back yourself into a corner.
Online mode is exactly like Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst. You pick a mission to do, you go into an instance to fight the mobs, and when you're done, you collect your money and sell your items. What do you do after that? You go right back in and do another one. Rinse and repeat until your at the max level of 200.
In online mode, you will run into single instance over and over to finish a different objective. You CANNOT go in and finish multiple objectives, only the ones on the conditions set. This got really boring, as I would walk into an area I just cleared just to clear it again, and maybe go to the second or third level of the map, which looks exactly the same as the first level, only with more mobs to kill. After doing this repetitive motion for 30+ hours in offline mode, I wasn't willing to build up another character online in the same way.
Whats worse is in order to play online, you have to pay 10 dollars up front. You don't get a 30 day trial period to see if you like it. Thankfully Microsoft has a demo version of the online mode you can play for free, and I tried my online mode that way.
The community I saw in the online version was very limited. You had a few characters that were high level but weren't responding to tells for help, and those around my level had a serious issue with not using their xbox communicator to speak. I don't know what it is with people playing online MMOs and not wanting to use mics to talk, but would rather type.
This game is rapidly dropping in price, so if you feel you need an offline RPG to tide you over till Fable or another Oblivion expansion, this may be worth picking up for 30 bucks. If you're looking for an online game that will knock your socks off and replace online giants like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars, I encourage you to play the free online demo version of this game on xbox live before you buy. This is a change of pace though if you're used to playing other MMOs, and I can say I semi-enjoyed the experience and simplicity of gameplay. It never held my attention though beyond a few weeks though.
A decent upgrade to an old titile Posted 15 January 2007
I've only played this game for a short period but so far the stand alone story is slightly better than the original form Dreamcast. The graphics are slightly improve as well as the game mechanics. If you liked the previous installments, this one hasn't changed very much, but I'd still give it a try. Playing online was also fun, though I feel the scription cost is a bit too steep for this old game.
Fun but Highly Repetitive Posted 08 January 2007
This game is very fun on your first go through story mode, and the storyline makes me think of a bad anime. But after that, I saw nothing else to do but try to and repeat missions for meseta(PSU's form of currency)for the best weapons and armor, and after doing that, there is absolutely nothing to do but the missions which you will no longer need to do unless you are bent on achieving the maximum level.
I did all this in the offline mode, and online mode may be different in good ways. But making a game which is basically like Diablo 2 in space pay-to-play, I found to be very idiotic. In short, if you enjoy games that have an easy story mode, and require you to spend large amounts of time to get the decent weapons, and enjoyed PSO, then you will most likely enjoy this game.
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