Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2

Overview

Phantasy Star Online Version 2 was an updated version of the original Phantasy Star Online. It contains new modes and content in addition to all the original content that was in in the original PSO game on the Dreamcast. It was also the first version of PSO to charge for online play ($4.99 a month but players had to pay for 3 months at a time). When the SegaNet servers were terminated in June of 2003, all PSO Version 2 subscribers were no longer able to play online, however within the game itself (via the WEBSITE menu) its is possible to setup a separate means of connecting to any server online. This allowed PSO players to continue playing in spite of SegaNet's downfall. Free private servers exist for those who wish to play online.

Changes

• The maximum character level was increased from 100 to 200.
• An online battle mode with several different rule variations was added.
• A challenge mode was added, requiring players to work together as a team to solve each area. If the player finished all nine stages under a certain time limit, they were given the opportunity to choose a weapon and name it.
• The "Ultimate" difficulty was added with considerably stronger monsters and altered stages.
• The previous difficulties were all rebalanced to insure players level up to level 100 faster.
• All of the classes' stats were rebalanced and some classes had the ability to use some weapons and techniques removed.
• The addition of many new weapons with considerably higher stats in contrast to those available in the original PSO. It was very difficult to do substantial damage to Ultimate level monsters with the older weapons in the online mode where enemies were considerably stronger (as opposed to the offline mode).