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My Phantasy Star Online dilemma (lemmus.org)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I used to play PSO V2 regularly until my game broke, and while considering returning to the game I am considering downgrading to V1 to save money and because it’s more common on eBay than the upgraded version I still have.

I think my V2 disc is too broken to work because when I played it often, the game would crash and freeze and disconnect often and the gimmick is the extra content I used to play although everyone seems to play V2 more because of it.

I don’t know if V1 is worse than V2 and I have to save my money by not splurging on another copy of V2 nor if playing V1 will work completely fine.

Thoughts?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

The Japanese version can be played in English if you have a MIL-CD compatible system. You'll just need to burn a boot disc to a CD-R.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Assuming it's nothing to do with your Dreamcast's laser (in which case you might need to adjust it to get it going, but realistically replace it altogether), have you looked into getting the disc itself resurfaced?
If this hasn't been done before, this would likely be the first thing to attempt before considering getting a new copy tbh. Many local game shops still have the machines for it and can do that for very little money.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

V1 is missing stuff from V2 and if its like the Dreamcast version you lose all your equipped items on death. I love POS2. If you have access to any computer there are free PSO2: Blue Burst servers you can play. I'd look into it before purchasing because all the versions are different. Blue Burst contains everything the previous versions do plus a new Olga Flow boss fight at the end of episode 2.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

You can get an optical drive emulator for the Dreamcast which allows you to play ROMs from flash media. Though there is some cost associated, might be more than you're looking to pay.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Is the disc badly scratched or otherwise physically damaged? Usually, if your disc is the problem, you'll be able to tell by looking at it.

If the disc is in good condition, then the problem might lie with your console. Hopefully it's just a dirty lens, but given how long that console was released, the motor in your optical drive could be wearing out. Do you have similar problems in any other games?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It’s probably the disc. My father and I discussed it ourselves.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Well, you'd know better than I would, of course!

If it is the disc, I'd take it to my local game store and have them run it through their disc buffing machine. I guess I just want to encourage you to not blame the disc too hastily. Honestly, without visible scratches or damage, it's very rarely the disc. Like...almost never.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Re-discovered it via emulation on my SteamDeck...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can run burned games in the dreamcast. No need for a mod. If you decide to get a new copy, you don't have to use the original. Just make a copy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (2 children)

True, but that depends on the Dreamcast model.

I think not all Dreamcasts read all the discs.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Cool. Didn't know that. Never owned a dreamcast, so I'm going on information from others.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

It depends on the motherboard revision.

Assuming that you are using an NTSC console, check the label for the number next to where it says "NTSC" if it's a 0 or 1, then it can definitely play them. If it's a 2, then it depends how early it was released. The very first run of them still could, but later revisions couldn't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There's always playing on pc as well...

https://schtserv.com

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Is it legal?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Since you own the media and console, you are allowed to make a copy of your disc and play it on an emulator. If the emulator needs a Bios, there are ways to copy it from your console. That would be the legal way of doing it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

This is a very complicated question. Reverse engineering a public game server via network traffic sniffing is legal in the general sense because you're doing it without direct knowledge of the server code. However many game EULAs forbid exactly this, or even forbid playing on private servers. And you have to agree to the EULA in order to use the game client. When in doubt, read the EULA.

However, speaking practically, many game companies don't enforce this.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

As far as I know there is no issue with legality. I don't remember the specifics at this point. I believe the psobb setup was a free download for the client and what they did was rewrote the server side so it was their own software. As far as the IP art, music, etc. IDK 100%.

I will say it has been going for nearly 15 years and widely publicized and sega hasn't ever tried to do anything to shut it down. I believe it's in some kind of loop hole where running the server is legal, and using the client is legal for PSO:BB, but for v1, v2, and I & II version you would still need to have a legit copy for maximum legality. So if you just want to play the game... PSO:BB using their modified client / server setup is a good way to do it... plus it looks nice in HD. There are other servers besides schthack, that's just the one I used way back in the day and they're still around.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

It's been running for over a decade and Sega hasn't done anything to it

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Can't you just run it in an emulator?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I prefer to play the disc on actual hardware.

That’s how I’ve played it the most.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Sounds like you're stuck paying the money for the experience then. Unless you have an older DC unit, you can't play burned discs on the hardware, and if you refuse to play on other accessible forms 🤷