EGM's Game of the Month is almost here! No, not MGS: Twin Snakes, PSO Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution! While we wait, let's revisit Episode I & II, which are nothing like part 3.

We all remember playing Phantasy Star Online back on Dreamcast in early 2001. Good times. I had avoided the "enhanced" version on GameCube, but with Ep. III coming out, and constant nagging from one "H. II" (not to mention a free adapter), I figured, what the heck. There are a lot of new additions that make this game still fun three years later.

New characters. New quests. New items and weapons. Weapons that actually look different (and cooler) this time. When you die, you no longer drop your weapon so there's no fear of losing a good item. Rare items are now in red boxes for all to see. A VERY convenient short cut window to quickly change weapons or cast a spell. New lobbies with a ton of 'fun' character animations (remember the F-keys, now every key is an action). New modes like Battle and Challenge. Of course there's a whole new adventure in Episode II. And so much more.

Episode II doesn't seem like it gets much use. But I like it simply because it's not the usual Forest-Ruins. The problem is while it's much harder than Ep. I, the amount of experience points you get doesn't reflect that so you level slower. Plus the first two levels arn't as good as the last two (or so I'm told), and unless you play through them offline, you can't skip them online. D'oh. Those two things kept down what could of been a great addition, but I still plan to play it.

After only a short time back online, you discover a number of other trends besides the lack of Ep. II play. So many people just seem to care about leveling-up (as I hinted at already). Which is why you see so many people playing, or asking to play, "TTF" (Towards the Future). This is a quest where you basically play each boss one after another. Bosses = LOTS of experience points. It gets tiring hearing about it so much though. TTF is a fun "sampler" quest, but do other things too people! Of course "dupers" still exist and ruin the experience for themselves, but most people seem to be friendly "legits". Another problem though are what are termed "spammers". I caught onto that term fast. These people just stand around in the lobbies saying the same thing over and over and over... How nice. Change lobbies whenever this happens (since there is a small chance it can freeze your game!). It often seems to be clan related. How cute. A GameCube "clan".

This week brings us Episode III. Sure it's card based, but it might be a nice complement to Ep. I & II. If you enjoyed PSO or like card based games (ewwww), it has been getting good reviews. Though I've seen some say, "It's not the cards I don't like, it's the turn-based play," (umm, how can you have a card-based battle system that's not turn based?) but that's actually what I find intriguing about it. It might be fun to play a more "tactics" like strategy game. Well, I'll find out soon enough.

Before I go, here are a few links to past articles here on NBrid about our DC PSO playing days (if you search for 'PSO' or 'Phantasy Star Online', you'll see it's mentioned quite often). Enjoy!

One reason it has been fun again is because I'm no longer a Force. On Dreamcast, my FOnewm sucked! Now the characters are much more balanced. Only Force have the best spells like Megids and Grants, or even Reverser. Plus if you're a Newman, you can regain TP just by standing still. If I wasnt't stuck with just a Varista on DC, maybe NBonestorm would of reached level 80...

And with that, if you ever feel like playing, drop by Altair 8 and look for my RAmarl, IgNigNokt (or Hybrid's FOmar, I guess;). Brilliant!

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