Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst
Phantasy Star Online (PSO) is considered one of,
if not the greatest, Sega Dreamcast games ever. The first
online RPG for consoles, Phantasy Star Online is
beloved by many a Dreamcast fan.
And I wanna know what all this is about.
Care to join me, fellow Rabbits?
So... how is this gonna work?
Since SEGA closed down all the PSO servers, fans have had
to step up and create private servers. One of them is
Tethealla, which powers the Ephinea server,
which based on the link you've probably noticed, is
exactly what we're going to use.
How do I play?
First you'll need to register for an account. Just do a Normal account, don't worry about Hardcore or Sandbox accounts (since accounts of different types can't play with each other (for a variety of reasons).
Then you'll need to download the client, which it'll
offer once you register and it lets you know about the
activation email. (Check the spam folder in case the email
doesn't show up in your inbox.) It may be slow, and the file is 600-odd megabytes, so a
download manager is recommended. (I go with Free
Download Manager, despite the somewhat sketchy
name.)
Alternatively,
I have a backup of it on MEGA.
After you download and install the client, you'll need to
let the loader update, and then the game itself once you
start it. (Keep in mind when you've updated the game
through the game itself, you'll need to restart the game
from the loader to start the game itself.)
You'll also need to create a character. That's kinda
important as well, because... y'know.... it's an RPG.
Remember to choose the ship, block, and party mentioned
in the #announcements channel on Discord.
Also, there's only four at a time allowed in a party,
so first come first served!
What are the controls?
I'd personally suggest reading the Beginner's Guide that the server has, but for the bare-bones basics...
F12 - menu during play (where you can set up
options for the game, chat, and also quit the game)
WASD - move around (unless you changed the
settings)
Mouse - well, you can use the scroll wheel to move
the camera closer to or further away from you; outside of
that, not much else
Spacebar - talk to other players via your keyboard,
also this is where you do that /help thing the
game tells you about in the lobby. (would prefer using the
chat functions