Phantasy Star Online (Sega Dreamcast)
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Phantasy Star Online was released for the Sega Dreamcast in January 2001. Unlike previous entries in the series, combat was real-time vs. turn based. This was also one of the first console games designed to be played online. It was both a critical and a commercial success.
Nearly a year later, Phantasy Star Online ver. 2 was released. It was mostly the same game but it added the ability to battle against other people, added a new difficulty level and increased the maximum level a player could reach. Version 2 was also released for Windows.
The Dreamcast did not have a long commercial life and Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II was released in 2002 for Xbox and GameCube. A slightly enhanced version called Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus was released in 2003 that fixed some bugs and added some quests for offline use that were previously online only. This was later ported to Windows as Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst with an additional episode.
What is sad about this and many other online games is that the servers eventually shut down and all official servers for Phantasy Star Online shut down long ago. However, all is not lost, at least in the case of Phantasy Star Online, as others have figured out how to create and run their own servers.
