Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus

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Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus

Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	11/27/2003 (Japan), 09/15/2004 (North America)
Genre(s)	Online hack and slash RPG
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube

Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus is a video game released for the Nintendo GameCube. An online hack and slash RPG, its focus is online gameplay rather than storyline. Offline mode is also available, for single player and multiplayer. Multiplayer split-screen mode can be played with up to 4-players, though the framerate and visibility range is much lower than offline single-player and online modes. Check Phantasy Star Online on "See also" for more details.

[edit] Improvements and additions not in the Dreamcast and PC versions of Phantasy Star Online

This installment of PSO features an entirely new episode that includes 5 new regions to explore: Temple, Spaceship, Central Control Area (consisting of the Control Area, Jungle, Seaside and Mountain), Seabed, and Control Tower (Control Tower is available in Online mode and in the offline Episode II Plus version quests). This installment also adds 3 new character class/race combinations, many new items, many new creatures, and some added cheat protection (however, cheats and glitches were still found and exploited, rarely being addressed by Sonic Team). You can also play online with the Gamecube if you have a broadband adapter or modem adapter. Data between the previous Gamecube version and the Plus version is completely (and instantly) transferable.

[edit] Differences Between Phantasy Star Online I & II and the Plus Version

Early in the effort to run unsigned code on the GameCube, people found that when playing PSO and connecting to a server using the GameCube Broadband Adapter (one of the very few games that use this technology), a regular PC could be made to pretend it was a server, thus fooling the game. After making the connection, data could be streamed back to the GameCube. Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus was released to fix this problem.

The other incentive to getting this version was the inclusion of exclusive content in the disc, while beforehand this data was only in a downloadable form.