If you’ve been following this series, you can probably tell that I’m not a huge multiplayer fan. So when I say I still get the urge to play “Phantasy Star Online” all these years later, you need to fully understand how much this game changed my brain chemistry.

My main character was a FOnewm for optimal offensive magic, but I had an inordinate amount of alternate characters. I played through the same maps over and over again in hopes of seeing a red box drop, and I would sometimes even dream about playing the game. It was a problem.

Back in ye olde days, I bought a dial-up modem to plug into my Gamecube. This was not a pleasant experience, and it even once ended up accidentally corrupting my save data. You see, back in the day, characters were stored locally. If you lose your memory card or your save breaks… you’re screwed.

Of course, this also meant that duplicating items was extremely easy. Sure, there were in-game tricks to dupe items, but simply copying the save data with a USB interface could net you an infinite supply of high-end weapons. Once you’ve burned hundreds of hours doing things the normal way, your attention might just turn to “nefarious” strategies to get that good shit.

There are still fan servers that will allow you to play the PC version of “Phantasy Star Online,” and I’m thrilled that they’re still around so I can quench my thirst from time to time. However, you’re not going to have a good time with this decades-old video game if you don’t already have nostalgia for it.

You could try the free-to-play “PSO2” if you really wanted to, but it’s not really the same experience. It’s fine, but it doesn’t deliver the same brain chemicals as the OG.

However, I do suggest that you listen to the soundtrack. Whether it’s the YouTube embed above or your streaming service of choice, the music holds up to this very day. The track “Growl, from the depths of the earth” stands out as a particular banger. Trust me on this.

The story is mostly a shrug. It asks hundreds and hundreds of hours to fully complete. It’s basically unplayable to modern audiences. It’s not what you might traditionally think of as a Grant Game, but it might be the most Grant Game of them all somehow. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

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Image credit: TarkusAB (Creative Commons)