Phantasy Star Online (Japanese: ファンタシースターオンライン, Hepburn: Fantashī sutā Onrain) is an online role-playing game (RPG) developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Dreamcast on December 21, 2000. Unlike previous turn-based games in the Phantasy Star series, Phantasy Star Online features real-time hack and slash combat.
The game was a critical and commercial success, and was followed by three expanded versions: Phantasy Star Online ver. 2 (2001), Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II (2002), and Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (2004). A spin-off game featuring turn-based combat, Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution, was released for the GameCube in 2003. A direct sequel, Phantasy Star Online 2, was released in Japan for Windows and PlayStation Vita in July 2012.
Sega chairman Isao Okawa believed that internet gaming would come to be important. Though online play was popular in PC gaming, it had not yet become popular on consoles or in Japan. Okawa tasked Sonic Team with the creation of a console game focused on network play. Work on Phantasy Star Online began after the completion of Sonic Adventure (1998).
Phantasy Star Online 2 (ファンタシースターオンライン2, Fantashī Sutā Onrain Tsū) is a video game in the Phantasy Star series published by Sega. It was released for Microsoft Windows on July 4, 2012, and for PlayStation Vita on February 28, 2013. A spin-off game, Phantasy Star Online 2es, was released for Android on April 7, 2014 and for iOS on May 14, 2014. A PlayStation 4 version has been announced and is scheduled for release sometime in 2016. The game is currently only available commercially in Japan and Southeast Asia, but an English-language patch is available.
Upon starting the game, the player can select one of several servers, known as "ships," to play. Players create and customize their characters to be used in the game. The name, gender, race, character class, body and facial features are available for customization during the character creation process, and later, the player can acquire a number of accessories and aesthetic goods to further customize their characters. There are various races available to the players in the game, which include Human, Newman (bio-engineered humanoid elves), CAST (manmade androids), and Deuman (species that contains recessive Darker genes in them). Players also pick a starting class: in addition to the core classes Hunter, Ranger, and Force, the hybrid classes Braver and Bouncer, introduced in Episode 2 and 3 respectively, are also available. Furthermore, as of Episode 3, the advanced classes Fighter, Gunner and Techer are also playable immediately. Classes in Phantasy Star Online 2 are interchangeable; every character has access to all classes, although they all level individually, and can switch between them freely at any time from the lobby. When players are finished creating their avatar, they begin playing in the tutorial and the story's prologue stage.
Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution (ファンタシースターオンライン エピソード3 カード レボリューション, Fantashī sutā Onrain episōdo 3 kādo reboryūshon) is a video game released for the Nintendo GameCube. It has a card based play style, making it unique among games in the Phantasy Star Online series. The story of the game takes place twenty-one years after Episodes I and II.
In Phantasy Star Online Episodes I and II, the spaceship Pioneer 2 arrived at the uninhabited planet Ragol in hopes of colonization in response to the failing ecosystem of the home planet Coral. In Episode III, Pioneer 2 remains in orbit above Ragol, but still has not begun colonization. The inner strife of the government of Pioneer 2, which has since gained independence from Coral, in addition to the exploitation of the planet's resources prevent colonization.
The government of Pioneer 2 also hopes to exploit "the germ", a mysterious substance discovered on the planet, which they use to power the newly developed "C.A.R.D. technology", which is used to store items such as weapons as cards and allow them to be used much more efficiently. C.A.R.D. is an acronym for "compressed alternate reality data". The game can be played as either the "Heroside" or the "Darkside". The "Heroside" are government-appointed officials, who take orders from the government to explore, research, and capture the Arkz, an anti-government faction. The "Darkside" are the Arkz, founded by a man known only as Red. The Arkz try to intercept and destroy the government's plans for the exploitation of the planet. They also oppose the use of C.A.R.D. technology due to its unpredictability and the lack of complete understanding of the germ. They still, however, use a stolen version of the technology in order to be able to compete with Heroside. Both sides also search for the location of the "Great Shadow", which is believed to be the source of the germ.
Phantasy Star (ファンタシースター, Fantashī Sutā) is a series of console role-playing video games and other supplementary media created by Sega. The series debuted in 1987 on the Sega Master System with Phantasy Star, and continues into the present with Phantasy Star Online 2 and other extensions of the Phantasy Star Online sub-series. Each of the games in the series features a science fantasy setting featuring a cross-genre combination of magic and technology.
The first four games in the series are set in or related to the fictional planetary system of Algol, and are single-player RPGs. Later titles bearing the Phantasy Star name are for the most part massively multiplayer online games. Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe are set in other galaxies, sharing minor canonical links with the original series, mostly in the recurrence of common themes and antagonists.
The original series takes place in the Algol Solar System, which consists of four planets: Palma, a fertile agricultural world; Motavia, a desert planet; Dezoris, an ice planet; and the mysterious Rykros, whose elongated orbit brings it within visible range only once every thousand years. Players travel to all four planets throughout the series, interacting with each unique set of inhabitants and discovering the secrets to the solar system's genesis, which is irrevocably tied to an ancient conflict.
Phantasy Star 0 (ファンタジースターZERO), also known in Australia and Europe as Phantasy Star: ZERO and sometimes in North America as Phantasy Star Ø, is a Nintendo DS game in the Phantasy Star series, developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. The game was released in Japan on December 25, 2008 and in North America on November 10, 2009, and has been released in Europe on February 12, 2010. Though the official US release date was the 10th, the game was not available in stores until November 11, 2009. The official website incorrectly lists the release date as November 12, 2009, because SEGA could not guarantee the game would be available nationwide the day before. The game expands on the gameplay mechanics of Phantasy Star Online, partly by borrowing some elements from fellow online Phantasy Star title Phantasy Star Universe, such as a fully realized story mode for offline play.
Phantasy Star Zero continues the character creation mechanics from Phantasy Star Online. The player first chooses a race, each with their own strengths: versatile Humans; powerful, hulking androids called CASTs; or nimble but fragile genetically engineered Newmans. The choice affects the character's perspective on the story and what order in which the first three zones are tackled, but ultimately all three end identically. The player then chooses the character's gender and archetype. Males tend to favor physical strength and durability; females tend to favor accuracy, evasion and techniques, Phantasy Star's equivalent to magic.
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, released in Japan as Toki no Keishōsha: Phantasy Star III (時の継承者 ファンタシースターIII), is a traditional console role-playing game that was released for the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) in Japan in April 1990 and in western countries in 1991. It was also released in three different compilations known as The Phantasy Star Collection for the Sega Saturn and Game Boy Advance, and The Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, and later re-released on the Virtual Console. It was featured in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Phantasy Star III is a sequel to the previous game in the series, Phantasy Star II, although the connections to other games in the Phantasy Star series are not immediately evident. Gameplay is similar to the games before it in the series, with combat still being turn-based and battles randomly occurring. Players must explore both overworld maps and dungeons in order to progress through the game.