Reviews

Posted by: jkdmedia

Let’s cut to the chase for those gamers who spent countless hours with the Dreamcast version of Phantasy Star Online like I did. Is Phantasy Star Zero (Zero) a worthy portable edition of the classic online game? Almost. The same core gameplay remains intact with you grinding it out for hours and hours. You’ll have your hunter trying to get to that next level before you call it quits for the night. You’ll find yourself picking over items looking for the next piece of rare loot. While Zero keeps some elements untouched (in a good way) other pieces of the game fall a little short of letting Zero completely shine.

For those that never played Phantasy Star Online (PSO) the basic gameplay premise will probably remind you of a massive multiplayer online game. In most MMO games the real goal usually boils down to a couple of elements: item collection and leveling up. You spend hours and hours playing away just to level up your character and finding rare items you can sell or use in your inventory. Phantasy Star Zero follows the same ideology where upgrading your character is always more important than actually following the storyline.

Yet Zero seems to try really hard to focus on the story in the single-player game. There are plenty of cut scenes and text for you to sit through as you’re progressing in the game. Depending on the character you select at the beginning of the game the storyline will adjust and change as you progress. The game pops up Japanese animated style avatars for all the characters, except your hunter, each time a key “event” in the game’s story needs to unfold. The events will occur while you’re in the city before a quest or during a quest as you are moving from area to area. There is a dialogue tree that you can select from to get different reactions from the characters in the game. Honestly, for me it was way too much story and dialogue for a Phantasy Star online game. The earlier Dreamcast versions still had a story but it was never as upfront as Zero.

The overall core gameplay remains virtually intact, even shrunk down to the DS system. The game plays out as a quasi-hack and slash game where you’re clearing out wave after wave of enemies before you move on to the next area in your quest. You have a total of six action buttons that you can assign various moves to using the A, B and Y buttons. You have a default of three moves to assign but by holding down the Right Trigger button you can access the additional three moves.

The attacks are broken up into a normal or heavy attack but you can combo the attacks if time them just right. For example, pressing the normal attack button, normal attack again and then the heavy attack at just the right moments should unleash a combo. I say 'should' because you will probably have to try several times just the right timing to pull off the combo. That was always one element that bothered new players in the earlier PSO games, finding just the right pattern during combat to pull off the combos repeatedly. The game also includes an evade move that comes in handy to get out of close quarters but your character will pause briefly once you finish the move. There is also a charge attack you can unleash by holding down the attack button for a certain amount of time. But that will leave you vulnerable for an attack so be prepared to charge again and again during real heavy battles.

The rest of the action buttons (called palettes in the game) can be customized to use almost any healing item or spell you learn/find in the game. You can have one action palette assigned to use a low healing item while another palette can be assigned to use your most powerful healing items. Or if you wish you can have your palettes assigned to cast spells and replenish your magic points in the game. Pressing the start button brings up the menu screen which allows you to swap out your palette assignments, change your equipment or use other items not assigned to your palettes. Choosing your palettes wisely is a must because the game doesn’t have a pause feature at all. Even in the single-player mode the game will keep on going when you press the start button. I’ll never forget my paranoia when I first tried to pause my first PSO game years ago.

The same quest layout from the earlier PSO games is also included in Zero. The quest counter will list a number of quests that are available for you to accept. The main quests must be completed in order to keep the single-player experience moving along. However, there will be side quests that will pop up from time to time that are optional. The quests are usually very similar to each other as you’ll travel down to the planet’s surface and have to clear out all the monsters in a certain area. As you keep progressing on the particular quests you’ll eventually come to boss encounters that are usually huge monsters that can be extremely difficult at times to defeat. Remember the core gameplay is all about raising your characters level and finding more items. So to translate that to someone that has never played this type of game that means you’ll probably have to replay certain quests over and over again before you can finish them.  

You’ll find that your character just isn’t strong enough to take out the boss during the first trip on the quest. But once you’ve started the quest over again you’ll level up a couple more times, increasing your overall attack level, making it easier to take out the boss. It’s called the grind. Grinding it out for hours at a time just to level up is just part of the overall appeal to the game. It’s hard to honestly describe why grinding is so much fun but Zero will have you grinding it out in order to take out the next boss. The game tries to help you in the single-player mode by giving you party members to play along with but you have limited control over them. You can issue commands to them to stay by your side, all out attack, focus on healing and other simple commands but I never felt really any big connection to them while playing. Their help just felt insignificant during most of the quests. 

Online is where Zero will really shine especially for veterans of the series. The game supports both DS Wireless play (multiple cards are required) and Nintendo WiFi wireless play. The game supports Friend codes, Free Play or Solo Play. Free Play allows you to play with other gamers near your current level in online specific quests. Free Play lets you go it alone online if you so desire, which plenty of you will probably enjoy. The online difficulty is much higher than the offline single-player mode which makes online more rewarding from an experience point perspective.  Just like the Free Play mode all the quests in Solo Play are online specific so you will get plenty of different challenges than the single player mode.

Now one last item I should mention is the chat feature built into the game. You can scribble away to draw messages or write messages for the other online players. Granted that is a nice concept the overall functionality of it might not be used that often. Remember there isn’t a pause feature in the game so if you’re drawing a message for someone you’ll probably be getting pummeled. I found that using the built-in quick chat function was much easier. Simply select a statement and your character will pop up a word balloon with the statement for everyone to read. But hey, I might be missing the overall appeal of sitting around the city drawing and chatting away with the chat feature, instead of actually grinding away looking for more levels and loot.

Phantasy Star Zero is a welcomed addition to the expansive DS library. The core gameplay is still a compelling experience that shouldn’t be missed for veteran PSO players. Just be prepared to sit through a bunch of text and avatars in the single player mode before you can keep grinding away. For multiplayer Zero does a great job of keeping the almost legendary PSO experience together. Granted you don’t get a true lobby system to select who you’re playing with but the Free Play mode is still solid. If you’re craving a grind heavy, hack and slash RPG action game then you should make sure to give Phantasy Star Zero a try.

Gameplay: 8.5
The palette control system works great even on the DS and the grinding gameplay still stands out even today. However, aiming can be a bit cumbersome since the game lacks an analog stick for the controls.

Graphics: 6.5
Unfortunately the visuals are a blurry mess that really does the game a disservice. The city, characters and quest maps just look out of focus with hardly any detail to be found. The DS isn’t the most powerful platform for a 3D engine and Zero is another example of the system’s lackluster performance.

Sound: 7.0
Nothing too impressive with the music but it was nice hearing some of the vintage PSO sound effects still intact in Zero.

Multiplayer: 9.0
This might be as close as we’ll get to a true MMO for the DS. Up to four gamers can play in a group at one time or you can go solo online just to boost your stats. I never experienced any slowdown or dropped connections when I played solo or in a group via WiFi.

Concept: 8.0
Squeezing PSO down to a DS really does work. Almost everything from the early PSO games are included from the multiple character classes to the Mags. I just wish the single-player mode wasn’t as story driven with all the cut scenes. 

Difficulty: Medium
Jumping in and playing really isn’t a big deal for almost anyone. Yet getting use to some of the finer details such as the combo’s and not having a pause system might be a little much for newer players. 

Overall: 7.8
Phantasy Star Zero is one of those games that some will fall completely in love with while others just won’t get it. If you’ve played PSO years ago and were disgusted with Phantasy Star Universe then I must say that Zero deserves your attention. Play the single-player mode for five to six hours and then jump online. The online portion is really where the game will shine since you’re skipping all of the story mode elements. But you’ve got to be wearing some rose-colored glasses because the visuals definitely don’t impress. For anyone else that loves to level up and play online, Zero should be on a short list of games to check out this year.