Phantasy Star Online - Dreamcast going online
Eurogamer has taken a look at Phantasy Star Online, the first decent online game for the Dreamcast as they put it. The story behind the game is extremely thin but apparently of no consequence either. Here is their conclusion:

Ultimately, PSO is a masterpiece. There's just so much to it. I haven't even had a chance to get stuck into the game's sprawling locations, control system and all the fun you can get up to with fellow players. Needless to say, it's all just pretty much perfect. Get some mates involved and you will need no fixative to help keep you glued to the seat.

Growing MAGs and building up your character becomes religion, and although you can play offline, you really won't want to. The only thing that one can really take issue with is the Dreamcast's inability to support external Internet connections. Ideally, I would like to plug PSO into my ADSL line, or at the very least a modem or ISDN using an unmetered connection. Paying by the minute is going to get very expensive.

If you can stomach the costs though, do it. This game deserves the investment.

Back to Redmoon
In the previous diary I discussed my first experiences with Redmoon, the Korean online game that is currently in beta test in the USA. In it I mentioned that there was a background story and that it was a bit thin. I was contacted by one of the guys from Joy City that there is a very big background story. Well there is, but I meant that it seems to be a bit thin in the game. But nevertheless I will tell you something on the background story of Redmoon.

long time ago, far from Earth on a distant planet Signus a great civilization lives. They are very much more advanced than the people on Earth who have no knowledge of their existence. Not only their technology but also their psychic skills, which include telepathy and teleportation across vast distances (Earth). But power corrupts and evil. The embodiment of this is Aguilas, who brings a reign of tyranny, war and destruction to Signus. The planet ends in ruins and the people on Signus are praying for the savior, who is to save them according to a prophecy. In which the true "Sun" would come to sve them. The "Sun" is the only person who Aguilas fears.

In a city somewhere on Earth lives an ordinary high school student named Philar. But one they he gets into a fight and he appears to have great powers. In actuality Philar is the "Sun" but he is unaware of this at that time. Azlar, Prince to Aguilas, sends the beautiful Lunarena to kill Philar. She fails and falls in love with Philar instead.

Once he discovers the truth about himself, Philar falls from one adventure into the other. Meeting both opponents and friends who join him. His travels bring him eventually to Signus where he is supposed to destroy Aguilas and bring life back to the planet.

This is a very short interpretation of the story. A more lengthy one can be found on the Redmoon site. Go to the GamePlay section and click on the image. This will explain the story to you.

But there is more. The original story is available in Korea in 18 comic books with each having more than 250 pages. These comic books will become available in Adobe e-book format. The first chapter of it will be free to download. You will have to wait until may however for it to become available. Once it does I'm sure to download it, read it and report about it. Until that happens be sure to check our upcoming interview and preview on Redmoon here at RPGDot.

Gaming Snippets
While hunting the internet for news we found a lot of things we don't want to bother you with. However here are some of the things we thought were highlights. Do you feel we missed anything then send us an e-mail.

Anarchy Online
- A chat with the developers of Anarchy Online, hosted by AO Twister, is scheduled for this Saturday, march 25th at 3pm EST.

Asheron's Call
- A monarchy tree mapper that displays your monarchy tree on a website can be retrieved from the obsidian guard.
- Behind the scenes video interviews part 5 at now.com.

Atriarch
- An extra 15 monster parts can now be used in Creature Crucible, where you can create your own creature from chopped up Atriarch creature parts.
- Some more info on the Volcano Engine, which Atriarch is using can be found at Crossroads of Atriana.

Dark Ages of Camelot
- Beta journal part 3 on Camelot Vault.

Earth & Beyond
- An updated FAQ on Earth & Beyond can be found at the official site.

Everquest
- Twenty questions to test you knowledge about the last two years can be answered at Planet Everquest.

Horizons
Interview with David Allen at Massive Multimedia.org.

Third Dawn
- What do you do after you released a game with bugs in it? Right, you take down the beta bug board. Origin does it again. They did it after releasing the buggy Ultima IX and now they do it again with Ultima Online: Third Dawn. Apparently Origin does not want to listen to customers with complaints.

Screenshots
- 3 shots from the Anarchy Online Beta 3 at AO Basher- Mystics.
- Several Earth & Beyond screens on the Belgium site spelletjesgarnaal.
- Some artwork of the Orc model can be seen at the official Horizons site. The orc is the second playable race, next to humans, that is visualised now.
- 4 new Shadowbane shots at the official site and 9 at Gildenweb.
- A single Ultima Online: Third dawn picture at Ultima Haven.

Currently in Public Beta test
- Anarchy Online
- Lineage: The Bloodpledge (open beta test)
- Project Entropia
- Redmoon (open beta test)

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