                         PHANTASY STAR ONLINE VERSION 2


               +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
               |  Platform: Dreamcast                          |
               |  Release: June 7, 2001 (Japan)                |
               |           September 25, 2001 (North America)  |
               |  Price: $40 USD                               |
               |  Publisher: Sega                              |
               |  Developer: Sonic Team                        |
               |  Players: 1 (1-4 online)                      |
               |  Genre: RPG                                   |
               +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


PSO Ver. 2 FAQ/Walkthrough v1.3                        by: miffo (Michael Paul)

                                                             Created: 6.10.2001
                                                             Updated: 9.12.2001

                           Copyright 2001 Michael Paul
                       See Section 2 Legal Info for more.
     +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
     | http://igamingnetwork.tripod.com | Email: miffo007@yahoo.com  |
     +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
               

             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                              Table of Contents:

                              *Hint: Press Ctrl+F*

                    i.  Revision History

                    1.  Introduction
                    2.  Legal Info
                    3.  Starting Out
                      a. Making a Character
                      b. Main Menu
                    4.  Playing
                    5.  Areas and Enemies
                    6.  Getting Online
                      a. Internet Connection
                      b. Starting Out
                    7.  Playing Online
                    8.  Talking Online
                    9.  Battle
                    10. Challenge
                    11. Offline
                    12. Quests
                    13. Weapons and Items
                    14. Tips
                    15. Other Questions
                    16. Final Words
             =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
         
Revision History:

v1.3 (9.12.2001)
Due to the very tragec incident in the US yesterday, I worked on this to take 
my mind off it. Everything is complete except for the Challenge and Enemies 
sections, which still need adding.

v1.23 (9.05.2001)
The FAQ is coming together slowly, and more information is being added. Almost 
all the reformatting is done, and now I just need to add the Quest/Challenge 
walkthroughs.

v1.2 (9.02.2001)
It's been a while, but the update has come. I completely redid the layout, 
changed the table of contents and sections to something easier to navigate, 
plus I rewrote a few things. Hopefully the new look will be less sloppy.

v1.1 (6.17.2001)
I added missing sections, and changed some things to reflect this particular 
version of the guide like the forward.

v1.0 (6.16.2001)
I gave it a general makeover to feel more complete.  I added a lot to the rares 
section (which is new) but there is still a lot to add to that as well.  The 
site I got the info from is in Japanese so it may be longer before I have a 
better description of them.

v0.9 (6.13.2001)
I did some finishing touches, but still have quite a bit to work on.

v0.8 (6.12.2001)
I added info on how to get online with the import, and a few other questions 
and stuff related to the import version.

v0.6 (6.11.2001)
Section 6 is complete and now I will think of anything else I need to add.  I'm 
pretty much done with everything I can write at this time. (I don't have Ver 2 
yet, I started this FAQ based on Ver 1 knowledge.  I still have a couple days 
before I'll be getting Ver 2!)

v0.4 (6.11.2001)
I got permission to use information on rare items and section IDs.  I will add 
that which should be helpful.

v0.3 (6.11.2001)
The majority of section 5 is complete except for Battle and Challenge mode 
information. I'll move on for now.

v0.1 (6.10.2001)
Section 4 is complete!  I know that I will have to add a lot more, but for now 
I will move on.  I found an old "Playing Online FAQ" for PSO that I wrote, I'm 
going to use that to help me complete section 5.

v0.09 (6.10.2001)
I've progressed quite a lot on this, and am through 4a. and 4b.  I'm close to 
completing section 4 (of course I'll have to add more later).  I'm shaping the 
Table of Contents to its complete form as well; I have a better idea of what 
the final FAQ will look like.

v0.04 (6.10.2001)
I'm slowly making my way down the list in creating the different section, 
despite and incomplete Table of Contents.  I need to think of anything else I 
can add which I'll do later on.  Most of the Character Creation section is 
finished and now I'm moving on.

v0.03 (6.10.2001)
I modified the Table of Contents a bit, but it's still not done.  I also 
finished the Introduction and Why Upgrade sections.

v0.01 (6.10.2001)
I started it and added the Table of Contents (part of it).




--1
-=-  I N T R O D U C T I O N




NOTE: THIS IS WRITTEN FOR THE JAPANESE VERSION OF PSO VER. 2 AS THE US VERSION 
HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED YET. SOME OF THIS INFORMATION MAY CHANGE AND DOES NOT 
REFLECT THE US VERSION. ALSO BE AWARE THAT THIS IS *STILL* VERY MUCH INCOMPLETE 
AND MANY OF THE SECTIONS ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. EXPECT THEM TO BE FIXED WITHIN 
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~

The "Pioneer Project"
-- A plan born of desperation,
conceived in response to
the imminent destruction of their home world.

As plans for evacuation began,
unmanned probes were sent into deep space
to find a habitable location.
When a potential site was discovered,
the first interstellar transport ship, Pioneer 1,
was sent to establish a colony.

Pioneer 1 confirmed that the planet Ragol
was a suitable location,
and the initial colonists started preparing
the planet for the main wave of refugees,
beginning with the constructin of the Central Dome.


7 years later...


Pioneer 2 completed it's long voyage
with the main wave of refugees aboard.

But as Pioneer 2 entered orbit and opened
a communications link with the Central Dome, 
an enormous explosion shook the planet.

All contact with the thousands of
men and women of Pioneer 1 was lost...

=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~-=-~


The original Phantasy Star Online was one of the most revolutionary games in 
recent times. Being the first online multiplayer RPG, it allowed gamers from 
across the world to team up and fight together. Despite the overwhelming amount 
of monotony and cheater-filled servers, it drew thousands of people to it and 
sucked countless hours out of our lives.  Not to mention it came with a Sonic 
Adventure 2 demo (which is out now.)

For those that haven't got into PSO yet, your chance is here with the release 
of PSO Ver. 2, the follow-up game to the original PSO. And for those who have 
tired of PSO but want to get back in the online world, you can do so now.


But the biggest question on everyone's mind is...Is it worth it? 

Well, that question can have more than one answer. Here's a breakdown of all 
the new features:


 New "Ultimate" difficulty allows for a much higher level of difficulty, and a 
challenging experience for low and high levels alike

 Cosmetic changes to the current areas, so they look different in Ultimate

 New enemies in Ultimate mode, they look much tougher and provide for a harder 
challenge (such as the Megid-spitting plants of the Cave)

 You can now go up to level 200 instead of the 100 for PSO

 There's a new mode called Battle Mode which let's you fight against three 
other players rather than playing with them-two new areas are present in this 
mode

 A Challenge Mode allows you to take on a series of challenges with set rules, 
and special weapons as a prize upon completion

 Added lobbies, 11-15, are present for a 12-player soccer game

 Many new weapons, MAGs, armor, shields, and items

 Other minor, but useful changes


So basically, there's enough stuff for the person who already has PSO, and 
because PSO then becomes useless, you can sell it off to help pay for this new 
version. Then again, the gameplay itself is very similar, and it won't make you 
suddenly addicted again if you're extremely bored of PSO1.

*Bottom Line*: If you don't already own PSO, get PSO Ver. 2. If you have PSO 
and think it's a great game, then get PSO Ver. 2. If you think PSO is really 
boring, then PSO Ver. 2 might bring on the same boredom.


Ready to begin reading? First, take this test:

                             WMWMWMWMWM##%~MM
                             ili!1!llIiI,`!i!
                             abcdefgh12345678

Are all three lines the same length? If not, set the font to something where 
all characters are the same, such as Courier New, otherwise some diagrams, 
charts, and tables will not look correctly.

Please read through this FAQ/Walkthrough and make sure any questions you may 
have are NOT in here before emailing me. If there IS a question you have that 
is NOT answered in here, THEN you can contact me.

My email address: miffo007@yahoo.com
My website: http://igamingnetwork.tripod.com




--2
-=-  L E G A L  I N F O




The following sites have my permission to use this FAQ:

 GameFAQs            <http://www.gamefaqs.com>
 Videogame Source    <http://igamingnetwork.tripod.com>
 Neoseeker           <http://www.neoseeker.com>
 Cheat Code Central  <http://www.cheatcc.com>
 GameSpot            <http://www.videogames.com>

The latest version can always be found at GameFAQs.

This is all, for now. If you would like to use this FAQ on your site, email me 
and you MUST have my permission first. See Introduction (1) and Final Words 
(16) for my contact info.


This guide is Copyright (c) 2001 Michael "miffo" Paul. It belongs to the original 
author (me) and all other copyrights and trademarks have been credited. This 
document can be used for personal use ONLY and distributing this for profit in 
any way, shape, or form is prohibited. That means that you cannot sell this, or 
even give it away as a gift-printing this out and saving it on your hard drive 
are the only things you can do with this.

Reproduction or distribution of this FAQ, physical or electronic, is not 
allowed, and I will find out. You cannot place this on any web site, book, 
magazine, or any other publication without my permission, and if you do have my 
permission, you must give me full credit for my work.  This FAQ must remain in 
its original, text-only form, and cannot be altered in ANY way; this includes, 
but is not limited to, reformatting to HTML (with the exception of my own site) 
or directly translating to another language.

I wrote this FAQ for GameFAQs <http://www.gamefaqs.com> and Videogame Source 
<http://igamingnetwork.tripod.com> (my web site) only, and it cannot be used 
outside of that without my permission. Stealing this and claiming it as your 
own work is illegal. Everything in this document is protected by International 
Copyright Law and the Berne Copyright Convention of 1976. 

Using this outside of these guidelines is at your own risk!!! If you feel that 
you contributed this and have not been credited, notify me via email. Do the 
same thing if you have any other questions.




--3
-=-  S T A R T I N G  O U T




When you first start a new game, you will go to the character creation screen 
after watching the opening sequence.  Choosing the right character is 
important, so make the right choice.  And make a unique costume, this is what 
makes you look unique in the online world...

To start a new game, select NEW GAME from the main menu, then you can continue 
with an old character by selecting CONTINUE.



--3a=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
|-     Making a Character    -|
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


You can use your character from ver.1 on ver.2, however the saves from the US 
version aren't compatible with the Japanese version, and vice versa.  If you 
made a character with the US version of ver.1 it won't work on the import 
ver.2.  It WILL work on the US version of ver.2 though.

To use your old character from PSO1, you'll need to have both v1 serial numbers 
AND numbers from v2.  US serial numbers won't work on the import.

As it converts your PSO character to PSO Ver. 2, it will automatically delete 
any hacked items.  Duped items and certain hacks still make it through however.  
Any experience past Lv 100 will be reset back to the initial value of 2.1 
million.


If you don't have a PSO character, you can just make a new one.

*Note to importers:  If you have US serial numbers saved on your Dreamcast 
(i.e. you played PSO1 online with your Dreamcast before) then it will prompt 
you to enter them.  However...it will not accept US serial numbers; only 
Japanese ones.  To get around this, you must either have the Japanese PSO1 or a 
Dreamcast without numbers registered on it.  To erase the numbers from your 
memory, pop in the Planetweb Broswer v1.0 (it MUST be 1.0 or this will not 
work).  Plus a controller into Port B and nothing else.  Turn on the Dreamcast 
and continuously press X+B until the start-up screen.  Voila!  It should have 
erased your PSO1 serial numbers and you are ready for Ver. 2!* 

You get to choose between 9 different character, each is in 1 of 3 classes: 
hunter, rangers, and forces.  Hunters deal with close range combat and use 
swords, etc.  Rangers deal with long range gun types, while forces rely mainly 
on magic.  Also keep in mind that some of these are andriods who can't do magic 
at all.  The advantage to androids is that they can see traps and aren't 
affected by spells.  Androids can also lay traps!  Also remember that forces 
are very weak and it can be challenging to play at low levels, especially 
offline.  Remembering all that, you first need to decide what class you'll be, 
then pick a character:


HUNTERS
Hunters deal with close combat weapons, such as swords and sabers. They 
generally do the most damage, and have the highest ATP.


Humar:  He's an overall good character who can do a little bit of everything.  
Great for solo play.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1670  1043  1404   506   713   161   702

Hunewearl:  She's about the same as Humar, only with different looks.  Another 
well balanced character.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1558  1146  1150   433   986   164   799

Hucast:  He's an android, so he can't do magic, but he is the most powerful 
character in the game if you don't care about magic.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           2012  0     1611   601   0     181   818

RANGERS
Rangers use long-ranger guns. They are weaker, but can attack from far away. 
They have the most ATA.


Ramar:  Another well balanced character, dealing with weapons.  Another good 
choice.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1770  954   1037   431   756   210   737

Racast:  He's an android, so count magic out of the question.  He's still a 
powerful ranger and can see traps!
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           2214  0     1267   606   0     222   751

Racaseal:  Another andriod ranger, but this one's female.  A good alternative 
for someone looking for something more unique.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           2140  0     1214   558   0     230   830

FORCES
Forces deal with magic, and are the only class that can use spells above lv 15. 
MST is their thing.


Fomarl:  Not as strong of a magic user as the others, but this force has better 
attack power with weapons.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1496  1766  865    421   1274  158   616

Fonewm:  The most powerful magic user (along with Fonewearl)...he rules at high 
levels!
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1431  1949  735    490   1421  141   637

Fonewearl:  She is just as powerful as Fonewm, and another excellent character 
at higher levels.
Max Stats: HP    TP    ATP    DFP   MST   ATA   EVP
           1398  2182  579    401   1607  148   688


- Stats found at: http://www.bitspy.com/pso/display.php?file=characterstats_v2


Once you choose a character, you can customize the costume, face, hair color, 
etc., and of course the name.  Some characters are more customizable then 
others.  Just remember that it's better to have a unique character.


Section IDs:

The name you choose determines your section ID.  Different Section IDs can find 
different rares (see Section 7).  Read the Section ID FAQ to see what section 
ID you get with different names.  I also found a calculator to find Section IDs 
at <http://www.mamak-int.com>.  I hope that is of some help.


Changing costumes:

One of the cool features about Ver. 2 is that you can change your character's 
costume for a price.  It's at a price though...100,000 Meseta to be exact.  
This feature is nice for higher level characters who have money to waste and 
are getting bored of their current costume.  If you have 100,000 meseta with 
you at the character select screen you can change your outfit.

To change costumes, you must have 100,000 meseta on you (it has to be on you, 
not in the bank).  Then when you go to the character select screen after 
pressing CONTINUE it will give you the option to change costumes.  It will 
prompt you saying that you have to pay the cost.  There is no turning back now, 
if you hit YES then you will pay...now once you're here you can change your 
hair style, color, and your costume.  That is all you can change!  Click OK 
when you are done remodeling your character.


Special costumes:

For each character, type in the code you see below in the Name for your 
character.  This will give you two additional costumes to choose from.  If you 
do it right, you should hear a "pleasure" sound.

Humar=KSKAUDONSU 
Hunewearl=MOUEOSRHUN
Hucast=RUUHANGBRT
Ramar=SOUDEGMKSG 
Racast=MEIAUGHSYN
Racaseal=NUDNAFJOOH
Fomarl=DNEAOHUHEK
Fonewm=ASUEBHEBUI 
Fonewearl=XSYGSSHEOH



--3b=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
|-         Main Menu         -|
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


After pressing Start, you have four options on the main menu.


NEW GAME
Select this to begin a new game. Select which memory card to start the new 
character on, then you'll go to the character creation screen. After building 
your character and everything, the Online/Offline screen will come up.

You can only have 1 character for memory card.

CONTINUE
To continue playing with a previously made character, select this. It's the 
default option, but cannot be selected if no characters are detected on any 
memory cards. Choose the memory card which has the character you want to play 
as, then hit A. You can go on or offline from here, and access the dressing 
room (to change costumes) if you have 100,000 meseta currently with you.

OPTIONS
Here you can change various game options including the language. The default 
language is English.

WEB SITE
Here you can use the in-game browser to view Sonic Team's website as well as 
surf the Net.




--4
-=-  P L A Y I N G




              L Trigger                      R Trigger
              (on back)                      (on back)
                  |                              |
                  |          _________           |
    Joystick      |    ___/-*    @    *-___    Y Button
         \        |   /     |   @$@   |    \     |/
          \     __|__/      |Dreamcast|     \____/__
           \  /    /        | || |      \  /   \
            \/ /\       | |     | |       \/     \
            |\|      |      | |_____| |     /\|     |   X Button
            |  \____/        \       /   /\_/||
            |    \            \_____/   /\    |/\  |   B Button
            |     \                     \_/    /\_/|
  D-pad-----|------\||                     /\      |
            |     |   |                   \_/\     |
            |      |_|                    /   \____|   A Button
            |          \                   /         |
            |           \                 /          |
            |           /*___   /\   ___*\           |
            |          /     --/__\--     \          | 
             \        /_______/____________\        /
              \      //      /             \\      /
               \    /      /               \    /
                \  /     Start                \  /
                 \/     Button                 \/ 


Joystick - This moves your character.  Pushing it has your character walk and
           then develope to a run after a few seconds.

D pad - If you assign chat shortcuts to these, they message will pop up. 
        Otherwise these buttons do nothing.  See Section 4biv for more.

A/B/X - These are all custom.  See the note below.

Y - This brings up the chat window.  You can use the "virtual keyboard" to type
    messages.  Press X once to see a list of premade phrases.  These phrases 
    are translatable and anyone will be able to read them in their own 
    language.  Press X another time to see a list of Symbol Chats that you have
    made or were premade.  Press X again to return to the original keyboard.

L - Press this to center the camera behind your character.

R - This does nothing by itself, but can do something when pressed at the same
    time as another button.

R+A/B/X - These are also custom.  See the note below.

R+Y - This brings up a quick weapon select feature new to PSO ver. 2!  This 
      let's you easily change weapons.  Press R when this menu is open to go
      through other menus to change your item, techniques, etc.

Start - This brings up the main menu.


*Costum buttons*: Open up the main menu while playing and select "Customize."
                  From here you can set up to 6 actions for the A, B, and X
                  buttons. The actions can include attacking, using items,
                  and spells.


For menus, the controls are fairly simple. A selects, B cancels, and the 
joystick scrolls through them.



Because pausing the game online is an inconvenience to others, you can't pause 
the game online.  You can't pause it offline for that matter, but it's not a 
big problem.  Instead, pressing start brings up the main menu where you can 
control many aspects of the game.  Here are the sub menus of the main menu:


ITEMS

--Equip
You can equip weapons, armor, and MAGs here.  Press Y+R to quickly change 
weapons.

--Items
There are many items to collect in the world of PSO!  Selects 'Items' to see 
your inventory.  Each item you pick up, takes up 1 slot and you can hold 30 
slots.  But recovery items such as Monomates or Sol Atomizers can have up to 10 
and only take up 1 slot (it will say Monomate x10) so that gives you plenty of 
space.

If you are full, you can deposit items in the bank.  Go up to the bank in 
Pioneer 2 and press A.  You can then choose to deposit or take items.  The bank 
can hold up to 60 slots.

If you run out of room or simply don't need an item, you can sell it to the 
shops for money.  Go up to one of the shops and you can buy or sell.  Select 
'sell' and you can choose which item to sell.  On the right it shows how much 
money you will get for that item.  In PSO you get money called Meseta.  You can 
hold 999,999 meseta in your inventory and 999,999 in the bank.  If you go to 
sell an item that would give you more money than you can take, you will not be 
able to sell it. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a list of every item you can get (excluding weapons or armor):

Monomate                Restores HP by 70
Dimate                  Restores HP by 200
Trimate                 Completely restores HP
Monofluid               Restores TP by 70
Difluid                 Restores TP by 200
Trifluid                Completely restores TP
Antidote                Cures a player of all adverse effects
Antiparalysis           Cures a player from paralysis
Moon Atomizer           Revives a fallen player
Sol Atomizer            Removes all adverse effects from the body
Star Atomizer           Completely restores your HP and HP of a nearby teammate
Scape Doll              If a player has this in his inventory then he will not 
die
Monogrinder             Adds +1 to the equipped weapon.  Will not go past the 
max.
Digrinder               Adds +2 to the equipped weapon.  Will not go past the 
max.
Trigrinder              Adds +3 to the equipped weapon.  Will not go past the 
max.
Materials               Add to a users stats.
Others...               There are other special items to be found.


Weapons:

I'm not going to list all the weapons (at this time) but just note that each 
weapon you pick up has certain traits.  Each has its own percentages for 
different species - the higher the percents, the more damage it will do.  Each 
weapon is + something as well.  The higher the +, the more damage it can do.

You will occasionally find weapons with ??? in front of the name, or even see a 
?SPECIAL WEAPON.  If you find one, take it to the Tekker to find out what it 
is.  Beware that each weapon has only one true tekker and other tekkers may 
give it lower percents... Also note that common weapons such as DB'S SABERs 
don't need to be tekkered, they are no longer marked as special weapons.  So if 
you see a special weapon, PICK IT UP!!!  See Section 7.


Armor:

There are 2 types of defensive gear you can wear: frames types and barrier 
types.  Frames are armor that has slots to equip items to.  Barriers are 
reefforcing units that you also equip.  Each has it's own stats and are more 
protective than others.  Frames can have 0-4 slots which you can equip units 
to.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See Items and Weapons Section 13 for a more detailed list of everything.

--MAG
What's a MAG?  It's your robot friend that floats behind you.  Your MAG can 
evolve depending on how you raise it.  Select 'MAG' to feed it, change it, see 
your photon blasts, and drop it (note: you only get one MAG, unless you find 
another one, so you probably don't want to drop it).  It has four stats:  DEF, 
POW, DEX, and MIND; each affect a different stat of the actually player.  For 
example, if your MAG has 100 POW, your character would have 200 ATP (attack 
power).  When you feed it an item, the some stats will raise, others might 
lower, plus it can affect it's IQ and Synchro!  This can be confusing, so watch 
carefully what items change what stats - try to focus on raising one stat at a 
time, while keeping it's IQ and Synchro fairly high.

Some special things your MAG can do if it's IQ/Sync are high enough:

- Cast Shifta/Deband when you enter a boss
- Cast invincibility on your player
- Revive your player when he/she falls

You start out with a MAG that is lv (level) 5.  It has no photon blasts nor a 
photon meter.  Each time you completely raise a stat, your MAG will go up one 
level.  At level 10 it evolves for the first time gaining a new photon blast as 
well as the photon meter.  The MAG evolves again at lv 35 and 50.

Your photon meter is a yellow ring next to your HP and TP bars.  When it gets 
to 100% you can cast a photon blast (PB) by pressing R and on of the 
corresponding buttons.  Sometimes your MAG will also cast invincibility when 
your PB meter gets full.  Your PB goes up everytime an enemy hits you.

--Area Map 
This shows you a map of the area.  See Areas and Enemies Section 5 for more.

--Quest Board


This gives you a description of your current quest.  See Quests, Section 12 for 
more info.


COSTUMIZE

On the bottom right hand corner of the screen are four buttons represting the 
A/B/X/Y buttons for the controller.  The Y button is always the chat/quick-
select button, however the other three are customizable.  Go to 'Customize' on 
the main menu to set actions to these buttons (called the Action Palette).  You 
can set anything you want, from spells to attacks to recovery items.  

If you are using something that attacks another enemy (an attack or spell) you 
will lock onto the enemy.  The lock icon will either be red, yellow, or blue - 
this color corresponds with the color of the buttons.  If it's a red icon, hit 
the red button (A) and you will have a better chance of landing your attack.  
You can pull off three consecutive attacks at a time with a little practice.  
PSO virgins may need some time to learn this, but most of you know how it goes 
- as soon as you finish the attack, hit the attack button again and again.  You 
can attack three times before pausing.


TECHNIQUES

*Note*: This option will not appear on the screen if you are an andriod.

Techniques, or magic spells, or powerful weapons in the game.  Forces 
specialize in using them, but all characters can learn spells with the 
exception of androids.  You can learn spells from buying or finding disks.  Use 
the disk and your character will learn the spell.  But it's not as easy as it 
sounds - each disk requires your character to have a certain amount of MST 
(magic power) in order to learn it.  Forces have high amounts of it, but other 
characters will have to level up a lot to gain more MST.  You can raise your 
magic ability by equipping any x/Mind units to your armor where x is the 
different rankings of units (Priest, Angel, God, etc.).  Each disk is level 1 
to 30, although only forces can use disks about level 15!  Each spell you use 
requires a certain amount of TP which depends on the level of the spell.

Here are the different techniques:


SIMPLE ATTACK
Foie:  A simple fire attack that can hit one enemy. 

Barta:  A linear ice attack that hits multiple enemies in one line. 

Zonde:  A simple lightning attack that strikes one enemy from above. 


NORMAL ATTACK
Gifoie:  Creates a ring of fire and burns nearby enemies.

Gibarta:  Shoots ice projectiles and can freeze enemies at higher levels.

Gizonde:  Hits multiple enemies with lightning in a chain reaction.


HARD ATTACK
Rafoie:  Makes a huge fire explosion and hits nearby enemies.

Rabarta:  Launches ice and freezes enemies.

Razonde:  Hits all surrounding enemies with lightning.

Grants:  A very powerful light attack that hits one enemy. (rare)

Megid:  A powerful dark attack that has a chance of killing in one strike. 
(rare)


HEAL
Resta:  Completely restores a player's health.  You can heal others at higher 
levels.

Anti:  Revives a player of all adverse effects.  You can heal others at higher 
levels.

Reverser:  Revives a fallen player.  There aren't any different levels for this 
spell.


SUPPORT
Shifta:  Boots a player's attack power.  Can help others at higher levels.

Deband:  Boots a player's defense.  Can help others at higher levels.

Jellen:  Attack weaking technique for enemies.

Zalure:  Defense weaking technique for enemies.

Ryuker:  Creates a telepipe to the city.  There aren't any different levels for 
this spell.


*Tips*

- Techniques that strike a single enemy tend to be more powerful at high 
levels.
- Lightning is very efficient on robots.
- Grants is rare, but usually found in the Mines.
- Megid is rare, but usually found in the ruins.
- A force is very helpful and almost neccessary if you want to live!
- In Ultimate, level 15 disks and higher can be found. 16+ disks can ONLY be 
found in Ultimate.


CHAT


Blah blah blah; yada yada yada.  Chatting makes the game worth playing so you 
might wanna know a few tips.  Press Y to bring up the chat window and use the 
virtual keyboard to type something.  Press X once (with the chat window open) 
to see the Word Select options.  Press X again to see the different symbol 
chats.  But of course, getting a keyboard makes talking MUCH easier and I 
highly recommend getting one to fully enjoy the game.  Whenever you type 
something it comes up in a bubble above the player's head.  Remember that foul 
words are censored.

--Shortcuts
You can assign words, phrases, or symbol chats to the D-pad buttons as well as 
the F1-12 keys on your keyboard (which you WILL buy...=P).  Here's a few 
helpful phrases that you may want to use:


For importers:

- I live in U.S.A.. (word select - TOPIC: LOCATION)
- Nihongo wakarania.  Daijobou desu ka. (Set the language to Japanese and type 
this. It translates to "I don't understand Japanese.  Is that OK?".  Thanks to 
EGM for pointing that out.)
- Eigo o hanashimasu ka. (translation: "Do you speak English?")


For those without keyboards:

- No keyboard!
- I can't type fast.


Other helpful ones include simple things like "OK" or "lol" that you say 
frequently.

--Symbol Chat
In addition to using Word Select, you can also use "Symbol Chat" - this 
involves making a face to have a certain meaning.  You can also choose from a 
few words to go along with your face.  For example, you can have a smiley face 
with the word 'Hi' next to it, accompanied with a sound effect.  You can also 
choose face parts and match them up to spell out words - that's especially 
useful when trying to bypass the language censor.  I'm not going to encourage 
using foul language, but it doesn't even let you say 'idiot'!!!  That's 
annoying.  A good thing to do is make a face that says "lv up" or something to 
congratulate people whenever that happens.

--Guild Cards
Every player has his or her own card, which works a lot like a business card.  
You can give your card to people you meet online.  Cards can be used to find 
people the next time you play.  You can search for a person and mail a person 
as long as you have their card.  With guild cards you can now search people by 
their sex, class, and age.

You can now sort cards on Ver. 2 (another fault in v1).  To do this, highlight 
the card and select 'Sort' the find another card and hit A.  The two cards will 
switch places on your list.  You can have up to 15 pages of cards that can each 
hold 7 names.  The guild card file is the one that takes up 45 blocks on your 
memory card.

--Simple Mail
It's just like email!  As long as you have a person's card, you can mail him or 
her.  It's like a private chat room, but you can't type much at a time.  When 
you press A to someone's message you can either delete it, reply to it, or 
search for the person who mailed you.  Press B to cancel.

--Log Window


If bubble chats get too confusing, open the log window to few text more like a 
normal chat room.  You can also check this to see what conversations you missed 
while you were idle.


QUIT GAME

When you finish, select Quit Game to save and quit.  

*IMPORTANT*:  YOU MUST SAVE YOUR GAME AFTER YOU FINISH OR YOU WILL LOSE ALL 
INFORMATION INCLUDING ANY ITEMS YOU MAY HAVE!!! Only equipped items and items 
in the bank will be saved if you do not quit through Quit Game.




--5
-=-  A R E A S  A N D  E N E M I E S




As you progress through the game of PSO, you'll come across four different 
areas, each with their own unique environments and cast of enemies.  Only 1 is 
available from the start, but all become open as you beat them.  You can access 
the areas via the main transporter on Pioneer 2.  By successfully passing the 
boss of one area, the next area will be unlocked. This only works on Offline 
mode, however, and only the areas the team leader has unlocked offline will be 
available online each time.

Throughout each main area, there will be two or three subsections (i.e. Forest 
1, Forest 2) and then a boss, which are connected with transporters. Boss 
transporters are easily distinguishable from the others, because of their size. 
To activate a boss transporter, hit A and it will leave within 10 seconds or 
when all players have stepped onto it-whichever happens first. If it is 
activated without everyone being there, someone may be left behind.

The basic structure of your progress is like so:


Pioneer 2 > Area 1 > Area 2 > (Area 3) > Boss > Pioneer 2 > Next Area


Only the first subsection of each area is available when you start. For 
example, if you beat Cave 2 and unlocked Cave 3, but did not unlock the Mine, 
only Cave 1 is available for your next turn.


The order of areas and their bosses are as follows:

Area:
 Forest 1 > F2 >  Cave 1 > C2 > C3 >  Mine 1 > M2 >  Ruins 1 > R2 > R3
Boss:      > Dragon            > De Rol Le    > Vol Opt            > Dark Falz
Boss(Ult): > Sil Dragon        > Dal Ra Lie   > Vol Opt ver.2      > Dark Falz


With the exception of Dark Falz, each boss has been slightly altered in 
Ultimate mode from its original form. The area's enemies are also different.



+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
|-    Areas    -|
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


--Forest       Subsections: 2
               Difficulty: Easy
               Boss: Dragon/Ice Dragon

The lush, green trees and grass fill the beautiful planet of Ragol and you can 
explore it in this stage. Being the first area you come across, it's fairly 
simple and easy, but there are a few challenging surprises.



                               Normal/Hard/Very Hard


ENEMIES (Forest) 


Booma: This slightly resembles a bear, and attacks with its sharp claws. They
       are a dark brown color.

Gobooma: The next step up from a Booma is a Gobooma, as they are slightly 
         stronger and take a little more damage to take down. These guys have
         a lighter brown color.

Gigobooma: Watch out for Gigoboomas, which are the most powerful creatures in
           the booma-series. Their color is a brownish-purple.

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                   STRATEGY                    |
            |            Booma, Gobooma, Gigobooma            |
            |                                                 |
            |  They can't attack as fast as you, especially   |
            |  if you have some sort of Battle unit equipped. |
            |  Take advantage of this fact, and try to hit    |
            |  them before they can hit you. They will always |
            |  attempt to strike at you whenever and wherever |
            |  and it's usually in a pattern-to avoid being   |
            |  overwhelmed, don't let them hit you several    |
            |  times in a row. And most importantly, _never_  |
            |  let yourself become surrounded by a group of   |
            |  these things. The easiest way to die is to     |
            |  lose control over what is happening.           |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Monest: This plant can't attack you itself, but the bugs it spits out can be
        dangerous. Kill it as soon as it drops from the sky!

Mothmant: Like real mosquitos, these virtual bugs can become deadly pests. They
          come out from the Monest plant.

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                   STRATEGY                    |
            |                Monest, Mothmant                 |
            |                                                 |
            |  Look and listen carefully. Generally in a      |
            |  large, open area one of these will drop down   |
            |  from the sky. It's not without warning,        |
            |  however, and their shadows can be seen in time |
            |  to prepare yourself, along with the quiet      |
            |  buzzing noises it makes. As soon as the Monest |
            |  lands, start to chop it up. It can't hurt you, |
            |  but the Mothmants it spits out _can_ hurt you, |
            |  so be careful. Kill the bugs as they come out. |
            |  They won't regenerate once you take the plant  |
            |  out.                                           |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Barbarous Wolf: Just like a real wolf, it likes to work with it's friends.
                Beware of the pack.

Vicious Wolf: The next step up from the Barbarous Wolf. Slightly darker in
              color.

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                   STRATEGY                    |
            |            Barbarous Wolf, Wolf                 |
            |                                                 |
            |  Avoiding their attack is a fairly easy task.   |
            |  "How so?" you ask? Well, they generally attack |
            |  only from behind, meaning that they will never |
            |  leap onto you if you are facing directly at    |
            |  one. But this isn't so easy when five of them  |
            |  are surrounding you-working together is their  |
            |  thing, just like real wolves. So try to kill   |
            |  all of them quickly to avoid being surrounded. |
            |  Once you kill one of them, all the others in   |
            |  the pack automatically power-down and cast     |
            |  Jellen/Zalure on themselves, making fighting   |
            |  somewhat easier for you.                       |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Rag Rappy: These things are an annoying combination of chickens and
           penguins (or something). Look out for this yellow bird's beak!

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                   STRATEGY                    |
            |                   Rag Rappy                     |
            |                                                 |
            |  While they're not the most intimidating        |
            |  creatures, Rag Rappies will deliver quite a    |
            |  damaging blow to lower level characters. They  |
            |  will approach you quickly, and jab at you with |
            |  their beak. Try to knock them out before they  |
            |  can do the same to you! Being very timid, the  |
            |  rappies will occasionally run away before you  |
            |  even attack. Most of the time though, you'll   |
            |  have to kill them yourself, until they fall    |
            |  down on the ground-once they fall down they're |
            |  officially "dead" and you earn the experience. |
            |  But in actuality, these tricksters like to play|
            |  dead and will run away after a period of time. |
            |  Try to hit one while it's running and it will  |
            |  drop an item.                                  |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Hildebear: Near the end of Forest 2, the Hildebears will jump down from
           above. Slightly resembling a gorilla or bear, these things are
           powerful, and dangerous.

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                   STRATEGY                    |
            |                   Hildebear                     |
            |                                                 |
            |  High levels players need not fear Hildebears,  |
            |  or any enemy for that matter. But these guys   |
            |  can kill low level players with one blow, so   |
            |  approach them very careful. They attack in one |
            |  of two ways: by punching with their large arms |
            |  or spitting Foie (fire) at you. The easiest    |
            |  way to attack one without being killed yourself|
            |  is to circle it, and strike from behind. This  |
            |  is a slow process, but the safest way to go.   |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


Boss (Forest) 

The forest boss: Dragon

When you enter through the transporter, you're greeted with a cinematic of it 
flying down from above.  Once it crashes down, set out and start attacking it 
any way you can. After a certain amount of damage (to the legs) it will fall 
down for about one minute. In this time, try to hit his head because it takes 
away more damage. Once he gets back up, he'll attempt to take off. Try to 
attack him more to prevent him from taking flight; otherwise he'll lift off.

In the air, he'll do one of two attacks. One of those is to spit fire down onto 
you from above. This is less common, but easier to avoid. What he usually does, 
though, is dive down into the ground, then speed across the area underground. 
Use the radar to avoid being hit, or you might just get killed.


*Tip*  Hide behind the holes he makes because he usually doesn't come as close 
to those as in open ground. Just don't touch the holes because you will get 
hurt!


Soon enough he'll land back on the ground, and attempt to fly away yet again. 
Hit him down, and aim for the head. Repeat until he dies.

In the end, you'll see him fall down and then he drops an item. On Hard and 
Very Hard there's a chance he'll drop a special weapon called DRAGON SLAYER. 
There are several other crates to open up, containing other goodies. The pipe 
back to the city is around here too.



                                   Ultimate


ENEMIES (Forest) 


Bartle: (Booma) It looks more like a turle than a bear, and is much, much
        bigger than a booma.

Barble: (Gobooma) A slightly different color from the Bartle.

Tollaw: (Gigobooma) The looks like a praying mantis of some kind, and it very 
        fast.

Mothvist: (Monest) Basically the same as a Monest.

Mothvert: (Mothmant) These guys are A LOT stronger than they look.

Gulgus: (Barbarous Wolf) These look like warthogs.

Gulgus-gue: (Vicious Wolf) A slightly different color than the Gulgus.

El Rappy: (Rag Rappy) Mexican rappies? Not quite. They look just like white Rag 
          Rappies.

Hildelt: (Hildebear) They look like Hildebear's, and spit Zonde.


Boss (Forest) 

The forest boss: Sil Dragon

It will charge at you and follows basically the same pattern as the normal 
Dragon. Things to know:

 If it touches you, you will freeze
 If it breathes on you, you will freeze
 If you touch a hole it makes, you will freeze
 A State/Maintenance is very helpful, obviously

Fire spells are the most effective.


THE GUIDE FOR THE CAVE, MINE, AND RUINS IS COMING SOON!




--6
-=-  G E T T I N G  O N L I N E




Phantasy Star what?  ONLINE!!!!  That 56k modem on your system is what makes 
the Dreamcast fun and you should take advantage of it!  Get ready to have 
countless hours sucked out of your life because it will happen...online play is 
about to take over you.



--6a=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
|-    Internet Connection    -|
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


If you don't already have an ISP set up on your Dreamcast, then you will need 
to set it up on your browser.  The only important information you need to get 
connected is your username, password, and phone number (these should be easy to 
find).  DNS numbers, calling waiting numbers, etc. can usually be left blank.

For those of you who don't have a dial-up ISP, you can use a free ISP instead.  
Keep in mind that in order to use a free ISP, you need to "decode" the password 
to get it to work on your Dreamcast.  And also keep in mind that NetZero 
charges if you use it for more than 40 hours a month - which isn't good for 
PSO.  


DreamcastFun.com lists the information on how to set up many different free 
ISPs on the Dreamcast. Here's how to use BlueLight, and if it doesn't work, try 
a different one from Dreamcast Fun's listings.


BLUELIGHT - This free ISP works best on Dreamcast, so to use it all you have to 
do is go to <http://www.bluelight.com/freeinternet/localaccess.jhtml> to find 
local numbers.  Once you have found enter, enter the following settings:

Username: 004pbreguser@spinwaysignup
Password: 4ml8WWH
Phone Number: Enter the one for your area
DNS1: 255.255.255.255
DNS2: 255.255.255.255

*The password/username is case sensitive so be sure you have entered everything 
correctly.  If you are have trouble getting that to work, try using all dialup 
numbers given to you.  If that still doesn't work try this:

Username:  004briannaxxx@mpspinway
Password: 4ml8WWHWYQ
Phone Number: Enter the one for your area
DNS1: 255.255.255.255
DNS2: 255.255.255.255

Hopefully this will work and you can enjoy free online gaming (outside if the 
pay-to-play fee).  Enjoy!


To those with broadband:
Although the Broadband Adapter with PSO is unofficially supported by Sega, it 
is still possible to use.  It will not enhance the experience at all because 
PSO doesn't have a lot of action, but it is still good for people without a 
dial-up connection.  


Getting online with the import version:
The following instructions were found at 
<http://superspecialed.tripod.com/pso.htm>  I don't take any credit for it, it 
was written by xPridEx, I just cleaned it up a bit.  If you email me with 
questions about this, I may not be able to help you.  I had someone make a 
dricas account for me (thanks to kilikmaster) so I don't know anything about 
using Chabsign...if you have a question about that there's a 99% chance I won't 
know the answer.  But anyway, I know most of the other things, so here's what 
you do:


Downlaod the registration program at 
<http://superspecialed.tripod.com/CHABSIGN.exe> and download the Japanese Word 
Processor and CJK Viewer from <http://www.njstar.com/>.  Open up the word 
processor and CJK viewer.  On the system tray click on the CJK Asian character 
symbol, check Japanese Auto-Detect.  Right click on the same icon and click 
options.  Under my windows system change that to Japanese.

Open up the word processor and CHABSIGN.exe.  On the first part of CHABSIGN 
make sure the isao.net thing is highlighted and the in the combo box, choose 
<LAN>.  Click (N).  A bunch of stuff will show up, click the button where (N) 
was before.  Now you're at a screen where you must fill out information.  You 
must put Katakana characters in the first two boxes.  To make these, go to your 
word processor and in the bottom right corner of the program, gray out all the 
icons except for the one on the left.  This should set the program to Katakana.  
Type is random stuff that doesn't matter, the copy & paste it into the program.  
It probably won't show up as Japanese in Chabsign, but it doesn't matter.  

The two boxes below need to be Kanji.  To set the word processor to Kanji, gray 
out the button that made it Katakana and click the two buttons to the right of 
it.  Type more random stuff and put it in Chabsign.  Put in a birthday, then 
the next one is to choose male or female.  Choose anything, it doesn't matter.

For the three boxes directly below all that, type in anything.  These are bars 
from address 1, 2, and 3.  Put in random numbers from the next three boxes that 
go in a straight line with '-' separating them.  For the three boxes that go in 
a straight line, these are to request your user name.  Put them in order from 
most wanted to least wanted.  You can leave the other boxes blank.  Click (N).  
You should be able to figure out the rest of Chabsign because I don't know the 
rest.  You should get a username@xxxxx.dricas.com, xxxxx varies between each 
registration.

Pop in the DC web browser.  Set the account settings to


Username:  username@xxxxx.dricas.com (whatever you got)
Password:  whatever your password came out to
DNS1 & 2:  0.0.0.0
Phone number:  Leave this blank


You may also have to enter email settings otherwise PSO will not recognize that 
you have an account.  Now pop in your copy of PSO v2 and open up the WEBSITE 
section.  If you get an error message saying that you do not have an Internet 
setting, this is most likely because you do not have any email settings.  Go to 
the email settings in the web browser and enter random stuff.  It may be a good 
idea to use the real dricas email settings if you have them.

Once the WEBSITE thing is loading, press L trigger or S1 on the keyboard.  
Press down 2 times, then press A or Enter.  This should take you to an options 
menu with music.  When here, press down twice and right twice so you're in the 
bottom right option.  Press A.  In this menu, go down to the second option and 
press right.  Press A or Enter to enter in your ISP data.  (NOTE:  You are 
entering your REAL ISP data, NOT the dricas account).  On the first screen in 
the first line put your dialup phone number in.  If you only have 1 number, 
leave the other 2 lines blank.  On the next screen put in your username and in 
the next line, your password.  Once you're on the next screen, put in your 
Primary DNS, Secondary DNS, and Proxy.  (For the DNS numbers, 0.0.0.0 and 
255.255.255.255 usually work best.  Most people do not need to enter in a 
Proxy, leave BLANK if not needed.)  You can leave everything else blank, just 
hit OK to get through the next few menus.

Once you get through it all, hit B a few times, then hit L trigger.  Select the 
very button option to reboot PSO.  You should then be able to play online!  
Have fun!!!


Big thanks to xPridEx for posting that information at 
<http://superspecialed.tripod.com/pso.htm>


You have two free days to play online.  After that, you will need to buy a 
HUNTER'S LICENSE in order to continue playing.  To buy one, go to 
<http://pso.dricas.ne.jp> and move your mouse over the bars on the left into 
you see one called "license.html"  Click it to buy one, then select the 90 day 
option.  Go to <http://www.mamak-int.com/pso_e/licence.html> for the page 
translated into English.

On the next page, you buy the License.  In the first blank, put in your 
username (i.e. username@xxxxx.dricas.com).  In the second blank, enter your 
password.  Now hit the gray button on the left (the one on the right clears the 
form).  You should be at the next page.  There should buy a drop-down menu to 
select the type of credit card.  Belong that, enter your credit card number in 
the four boxes connected with a '-'.  Below that write the expiration date, and 
below that put in the name exactly as it appears on the credit card.  Now hit 
the left button (the right one clears the form) and you should be all set!  If 
you get a page with a black background and a picture of a fireball, that means 
the server is buys...try registering again later.  The confirmation screen has 
a white background and a picture of a fish.


Translated by KILIKMASTER with help from MATEK.  
<http://www.mamak-int.com/t1.htm>



There is a fee to play online, and it's $8 for 90 days (import) and $15 for 3 
months (US version). I'm not sure how the US pay-to-play service will work yet.



--6b=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
|-        Starting Out       -|
+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


Once you connect to the servers (assuming you don't get any error notices) 
you'll have one or two options:


Ship Select
Download (this might not always be up)


Ship Select allows you to join a server, and download let's you download a 
quest (see Quests Section 12.)

The game online is divided into different "ships" which are divided into 
different "blocks".  In each block there are ten different lobbies.  Once 
you've picked a place to go, you are ready to begin. If you ever have problems 
with the server being full, you can still join.  You just need to find someone 
on your guild card list who is in that server, then select "meet the user" - it 
will still let you get in.

If you are using the import, the default is the Japanese servers and if you 
have the US version the default is the list of US servers.  Scroll down to the 
bottom to change continents (go to the JP, US, or EU ships).  In case you are 
wondering, the ships are named after the moons of different planets.  The 
Japanese servers are named after Jupiter's moons, European servers after 
Saturn's moons, and the US ships are named after the moons of Uranus.

After joining a block, you'll automatically go into the first open lobby 
(usually lobby 1.) Find the transporter and you can move to another lobby. 
Lobbies 11-15 are for the soccer game.

              +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
              |                   Lobby Soccer                    |
              |                                                   |
              |  Lobbies 11-15 can hold up to 12 people, should   |
              |  that many ever wish to play soccer. After a short|
              |  period of time, one of five balls will appear in |
              |  the center of the room, where you must kick it   |
              |  to either the red or blue goals on the two sides |
              |  of the room. Simply run into it to kick it. This |
              |  is pretty boring if you ask me, but some find it |
              |  fun. The score is kept track of on the screen,   |
              |  and you can switch lobbies or join a team in the |
              |  room. After a few minutes the ball will leave    |
              |  and a new one will come out in another minute.   |
              +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

Each lobby is a little area that is basically like a 3D chat room.  Whenever 
you type something, a little bubble will come up above your character's head.  
In the center of the lobby are four computers at the main desk.  Go up to one 
of them and press A.  This will then let you join/create a team, transport to a 
different ship or block, and find out information on server maintainence, etc.

To change lobbies, go the the transporters in the corners and select with lobby 
to go to.  Lobbies 11-15 are new to Version 2.  The ball will appear in the 
center every so often for a short period of time.  Go to the counters in the 
far corner to change teams, etc.

Go to the desk to join or create a team.  The person who creates the team acts 
as the team leader.  When you create a PSO Ver. 2 game you have the option of 
making different modes (Battle/Challenge/None); on a PSO game you only have the 
options from PSO1.  All areas they have unlocked offline are available online 
and their section ID determines what items you will find.


When you beat a new area (i.e. the ENTIRE area, not just a section of it) 
offline you can play the new area online.  That doesn't work vice versa though, 
if you beat anything online you will not have it for next time online OR 
offline.

Offline you get new difficulties by beating all the areas.  Online, you can 
play Hard as soon as you become level 20, and you can play Very Hard (V-Hard) 
as soon as you are level 40.  Ultimate mode is new to Ver 2 and you can only 
play it when you reach Lv 100.  You can go all the way up to Lv 200 in 
Ultimate.  Ultimate I hear is VERY hard (I haven't gotten to it yet) and the 
enemies run faster than you!  So it's fight or die...




--7
-=-  P L A Y I N G  O N L I N E




Once you join a game, get ready. See Section 4 Playing on how to play 
basically, but here are some things to know specifically for playing online:

              +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
              |                  Online Courtesy                  |
              |                                                   |
              |  If you want to have a fun time online, you will  |
              |  need to get people to like you.  So here are the | 
              |  DOs and DON'Ts of playing:                       |
              |                                                   |
              |  *DO*                                             |
              |                                                   |
              |   Help lower level characters; don't let them    |
              |    die and don'thog experience.                   |
              |   If someone needs money and you have extra,     |
              |    give it to them!                               |
              |   Give away items you don't need                 |
              |   Give tips to newbies                           |
              |   Be polite to people (Say "Thank you." and      |
              |    "You're welcome.")                             |
              |   Congratulate people when they raise a level.   |
              |                                                   |
              |                                                   |
              |  *DON'T*                                          |
              |                                                   |
              |   Take all the items                             | 
              |   Grab items before all the enemies are killed   |
              |   Hog experience points                          |
              |   Steal or cheat                                 |
              |   Be disruptive or offensive                     |
              |   Be rude to people                              |
              |   TYPE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS MAKING IT VERY     |
              |    DIFFICULT TO READ                              |
              |   TypE EvERyThINg LiKE ThIs MaKINg iT eVen       |
              |    HaRdER To rEaD                                 |
              |   Lie                                            |
              +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+


Quests:
If you go to the Hunters Guild and do a quest, you won't be able to do the same 
ones as you can offline.  Once everyone is in the Hunters Guild, the team 
leader can start a quest. See section 12 Quests.


Beats (PSO time):
In the world of PSO, time is measured in a system called beats, this way 
everyone can understand the time in whatever time zone you live in!  A 24-hour 
day is divided into 1000 beats.  Here is a chart of beats to other times:


| US Eastern | US Central | US Pacific | UK London | Japan | Beats
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| 1 am       | 12 am      | 10 pm      | 6 am      | 2 pm  | 250   |
| 2 am       | 1 am       | 11 pm      | 7 am      | 3 pm  | 292   |
| 3 am       | 2 am       | 12 am      | 8 am      | 4 pm  | 334   |
| 4 am       | 3 am       | 1 am       | 9 am      | 5 pm  | 375   |
| 5 am       | 4 am       | 2 am       | 10 am     | 6 pm  | 417   |
| 6 am       | 5 am       | 3 am       | 11 am     | 8 pm  | 459   |
| 7 am       | 6 am       | 4 am       | 12 pm     | 9 pm  | 500   |
| 8 am       | 7 am       | 5 am       | 1 pm      | 10 pm | 542   |
| 9 am       | 8 am       | 6 am       | 2 pm      | 11 pm | 583   |
| 10 am      | 9 am       | 7 am       | 3 pm      | 12 am | 625   |
| 11 am      | 10 am      | 8 am       | 4 pm      | 1 am  | 667   |
| 12 pm      | 11 am      | 9 am       | 5 pm      | 2 am  | 708   |
| 1 pm       | 12 pm      | 10 am      | 6 pm      | 3 am  | 750   |
| 2 pm       | 1 pm       | 11 am      | 7 pm      | 4 am  | 792   |
| 3 pm       | 2 pm       | 12 pm      | 8 pm      | 5 am  | 834   |
| 4 pm       | 3 pm       | 1 pm       | 9 pm      | 6 am  | 875   |
| 5 pm       | 4 pm       | 2 pm       | 10 pm     | 7 am  | 917   |
| 6 pm       | 5 pm       | 3 pm       | 11 pm     | 8 am  | 958   |
| 7 pm       | 6 pm       | 4 pm       | 12 am     | 9 am  | 1000  |
| 8 pm       | 7 pm       | 5 pm       | 1 am      | 10 am | 42    |
| 9 pm       | 8 pm       | 6 pm       | 2 am      | 11 am | 84    |
| 10 pm      | 9 pm       | 7 pm       | 3 am      | 12 pm | 125   |
| 11 pm      | 10 pm      | 8 pm       | 4 am      | 1 pm  | 167   |
| 12 pm      | 11 pm      | 9 pm       | 5 am      | 2 pm  | 209   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If your time is not on the list, check <http://www.timezoneconverter.com> to 
find out what time it is by you.


So, it all sums up to this:

Have a good time online! Just don't be annoying.




--8
-=-  T A L K I N G  O N L I N E




Talking amounts your teammates can be done with a simple press of a button. Hit 
Y to bring up the on-screen keyboard to type in any phrases. Press X to scroll 
through the Word Select and Symbol Chat options as well. Or if you want to 
invest in a keyboard, that's a dandy idea for a game such as this.


Word Select:
You can choose from a list of preset words and phrases by pressing Y and then 
X.  Find a catagory and pick the phrase.  The cool thing about using Word 
Select is that they are all phrases that can be translated into other 
languages.  So if you say "Help me!  I'm being overwhelmed!" in English, your 
friend from France reads "Aidez-moi, je suis submerg!" while your German 
friend sees "Hilfe, ich werde berwltigt!"  Although I've noticed that most 
people speak some English even from other countries, this is useful for saying 
more complex phrases.


Using Shortcuts:
You can assign words, phrases, or symbol chats to the D-pad buttons as well as 
the F1-12 keys on your keyboard (which you WILL buy...=P).  Here's a few 
helpful phrases that you may want to use:

For importers--

 I live in U.S.A.. (word select - TOPIC: LOCATION)
 Nihongo wakarania.  Daijobou desu ka? (Set the language to Japanese and type 
this. It translates to "I don't understand Japanese.  Is that OK?".  Thanks to 
EGM for pointing that out.)

For those without keyboards--

 No keyboard!
 I can't type fast.

Other helpful ones include simple things like "OK" or "lol" that you say 
frequently.


Symbol Chat:
In addition to using Word Select, you can also use "Symbol Chat" - this 
involves making a face to have a certain meaning.  You can also choose from a 
few words to go along with your face.  For example, you can have a smiley face 
with the word 'Hi' next to it, accompanied with a sound effect.  You can also 
choose face parts and match them up to spell out words - that's especially 
useful when trying to bypass the language censor.  I'm not going to encourage 
using foul language, but it doesn't even let you say 'idiot'!!!  That's 
annoying.  A good thing to do is make a face that says "lv up" or something to 
congratulate people whenever that happens.



Keeping track of your friends is just as easy as it is to express yourself. 
Every player has his or her own card, which works a lot like a business card.  
You can give your card to people you meet online.  Cards can be used to find 
people the next time you play.  You can search for a person and mail a person 
as long as you have their card.  With guild cards you can now search people by 
their sex, class, and age.

And if you have someone's card, you can Simple Mail them--It's just like email!  
As long as you have a person's card, you can mail him or her.  It's like a 
private chat room, but you can't type much at a time. Look at your messages 
through "Chat" on the main menu, where you can read, delete, and search the 
user who sent it.




--9
-=-  B A T T L E




FIGHT! In PSO Ver. 2's Battle Mode, you pit yourself against one to three 
others, and actually fight. Using the same combat style as you do against 
normal enemies, you turn against each other instead of relying on team work.

When you join a Battle game, all areas are open that you have unlocked for 
whatever difficulty you've done. You can choose whatever difficulty you want 
for a battle game, and the items you find throughout the stage depend on what 
difficulty it is. Normal is generally the best thing to do, because all level 
characters can use the weapons, and most battle modes have you start at a low 
level.

If you enter one of the areas, be warned: Other players CAN attack you, and if 
you die, your money and weapon are free to be taken. So don't so I told you so! 
It's kind of fun though, if you fight with friends, because it's just like 
PKing from Ver. 1...only better.

To start an actual battle game with rules, everyone in your party must go to 
the Hunters Guild and the team leader, who created the game, will select which 
rule to play. (Note: There must be at least two people to start.) When the game 
first came out, there were 4 modes, now there are 6. New ones may be added in 
the future.

Once the leader selects a rule, the game will be loaded into the Dreamcast's 
memory and it will start after several seconds. If you have four players, teams 
will automatically be formed in some rules. Other rules will have it so it's 
every man for himself.


After the time is up, the score will be shown and the leader can select to 
restart the battle with the same rules, or return to the lobby. Your score will 
be added to your memory, and is kept track of in the main menu--press start, 
then R a few times to get to it.

In the end, all original items you had and your original level WILL be returned 
to you, even if they were taken during the battle. 


Here's the breakdown of all the different rules:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Battle 1  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Spaceship
             Type: Normal

Synopsis: 
It's in the Spaceship area, with no special rules. All items, techniques, and 
weapons you had before the match started are kept intact, and the amount of 
HP/TP/Your_level will remain the same. Nothing is different about your 
character, but you go up five levels each time you die. A Delsaber appears 
halfway through the battle, and can be deadly if you're not careful...

Strategy:
Well everyone has their own advantages and disadvantages. The best thing to do 
is get the most powerful weapon you can so you'll give a lot of damage in a 
single hit. The reason being is that players can heal themselves. And watch out 
for Megid, it's nasty.


-- Battle 2  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Palace
             Type: Normal

Synopsis: 
All players start at level 1 and have no starting items. The only thing you can 
use are the things that you find in the area. Level 5 levels after each death.

Strategy:
Because each player has a limited TP, do not rely heavily on techniques. They 
are useful for weaker players, though, but weapons are the most important. Try 
to find recover items as well. Attack players that have already taken damage 
from another player, because they will be easier to kill.


-- Battle 3  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Spaceship
             Type: Warp Battle

Synopsis: 
The entire area is divided into smaller areas by warps. Jump around from room 
to room while trying to hide from your opponents. Everyone starts at level 1 
with no items or mag. Level 5 levels after each death.

Strategy:
The best thing to do is to not die once you have the lead to avoid losing 
points. Quickly hop through the maze, but beware of the enemies. About halfway 
through, enemies will begin to appear and can be quite deadly. A good attack 
would be to place a trap near an enemy--that way, a player will be stuck and 
most likely die from the enemy.


-- Battle 4  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Palace
             Type: Meseta Battle

Synopsis: 
Everyone starts at level 1 with no items, mags, etc. Level 5 levels after each 
death. The player who is holding the most meseta in the end will win.

Strategy:
Money $$$ Try to find meseta and a lot of it. Just be careful not to die, 
becaues you will drop your money and leave it open for another player to 
collect.


-- Battle 5  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Spaceship
             Type: Normal

Synopsis: 
Everyone starts at level 20 and levels five levels after each death. You don't 
start out with any items, though. 

Strategy:
The entire area is filled with barriers and walls. Unlock the door to get to 
opponents and hide behind them to avoid damage. Zonde goes over walls, so use 
that to your advantage. 


-- Battle 6  Time: 10 minutes
             Area: Palace
             Type: Meseta Battle

Synopsis: 
Everyone keeps their current level and items. There person to collect the most 
meseta in the end wins.

Strategy:
Just like battle #4, the important thing is to not die. Doing so will cause you 
to drop your money and leave it open for another player to snag.




--10
-=-  C H A L L E N G E




One of the modes new to Ver. 2 is Challenge. To start a challenge game, select 
Create Team from the lobby and then choose to make it a Challenge game. There 
are no difficulty choices for this mode.

When you enter a Challenge game, Pioneer 2 is in the daylight setting similar 
to the way it is in Ultimate mode. You cannot access the main transporter to 
other areas, and the stores are also closed down. The other thing you need to 
do is to start the challenge from the Hunters Guild. All items you had _before_ 
the game started will be returned to you after the challenge is over, and you 
cannot earn any new items likewise.  

To start the actual challenge, the team's creator must do so from the Hunters 
Guild. When the person selects what challenge to do, it will be loaded into the 
memory, just like it does in an online quest. No one else can join once the 
challenge begins.

            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
            |                What IS Challenge?               |
            |                                                 |
            |  In Challenge Mode, you go through a series of  |
            |  challenges which generally consist of passing  |
            |  through the area alive. You all start out at   |
            |  a certain level (level 1 for the first         |
            |  challenge, then you eventually move up) and    |
            |  all players start with a fixed amount of       |
            |  certain items. You'll begin the challenge and  |
            |  your team must work together to level up a few |
            |  levels and eventually make it to your          |
            |  destination in the target amount of time. If   |
            |  one member of your team dies, the challenge is |
            |  failed and you all must try again.             |
            +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+

The players will load in, and you must complete the challenge within the given 
amount of time. It's best to complete it as fast as possible, because you have 
a better chance of earning an S-rank.

Each challenge you complete gives you a new rank. If you complete ALL 
challenges within 7 hours, you'll earn an S-rank. Upon earning the S-rank, you 
are awarded with one special weapon which you can name yourself. (see Weapons 
and Items Section 10.)


TIPS FOR CHALLENGE:

 This is a team game, so use teamwork. If one person dies, the entire group 
fails so make it your goal to keep everyone alive. Donate monomates, etc. if 
necessary.

 The more players you have, the better. It's best to wait for 4 players before 
starting the challenge otherwise your team will have a much harder time.

 It's a good idea to have at least one Force and one Hunter, the other two can 
be any class. Having three people from the same class isn't recommended.

 Be courteous and do not disconnect during a Challenge game. It makes it 
harder for the rest of the team and no one can join after you all have started.

 Long-range weapons and spells are safer to use.

 Not all enemies need to be killed. Try to pass enemies that are unnecessary 
to kill, because it will be faster and safer for everyone.


Once you complete the challenge, you can return to the lobby. If you fail the 
challenge, you all will return to Pioneer 2 and the leader will determine if 
you should retry or go back to the lobby.

After all challenges have been completed, your character is done. Only 1 S-rank 
per character can be awarded.



Challenge Walkthroughs: Below is a guide for completing all 9 challenges.


--Challenge 1   Area: Forest
                Stages: 1-3
                Target Time: 40 minutes

WALKTHROUGH COMING SOON. THE INFO/WALKTHROUGH FOR THE OTHER EIGHT CHALLENGES IS 
ALSO COMING SOON.

The reason for the lack of any strategy is simply because I suck at Challenge, 
and haven't beaten the first one yet. I know, it's sad. Anyway, I promise you 
that I WILL beat them soon enough and write about them in the near future.




--11
-=-  O F F L I N E




So playing offline isn't the best part of the game, but it's still fun (I 
guess) when you're bored.  Some of you may even prefer playing offline!

When you beat a new area (i.e. the ENTIRE area, not just a section of it) 
offline you can play the new area online.  That doesn't work vice versa though, 
if you beat anything online you will not have it for next time online OR 
offline.  When you beat Forest 2 and get caves, you will not have Forest 2 next 
time you play.  You will only have Forest 1 and Cave 1 available.  Why?  
Because you can only start out with the main areas each time you play.  
Subareas are unlocked only for one game.  To get to the ruins you first must 
beat the Mines boss.  Then go back to the previous areas and activate the totem 
pole switches.  Now go back to the Mine and beat the boss again...the Ruins 
should be unlocked!  Enjoy.

Go up to the desk of the Hunters Guild to choose from the available quests.  
You can earn rewards by completing different quests.

Outside of that, there really isn't much to playing offline. See Section 4 for 
the main mechanics of playing, and it's just like that offline, only solo. Each 
time you beat Dark Falz (Ruins boss) you get to unlock the next difficulty.

The difficulties are:  Normal > Hard > Very Hard > Ultimate




--12
-=-  Q U E S T S




COMING SOON




--13
-=-  W E A P O N S  A N D  I T E M S




As you play through the game, you'll find a lot of items, some of which are 
rare--and a lot that aren't rare. But randomly dropped by enemies, certain 
items are considered "rare" and are fun to hunt for! (IF you find anything, 
which you probably won't.) The following is a list of rare items and which ID 
can find them.  Only certain IDs can find certain items, so here is the list.
  
As a side note, common rares such as DB's Sabers are no longer considered 
'Special Weapons' and do not need to be tekked.  They can also be bought at the 
shops in Ultimate once you reach level 100.  Ver. 1 rares are very common in 
Ver. 2 on Ultimate, and some can even be found in crates!  


Ver. 2 rares:

As Ver. 2 launches people are beginning to find more and more rares.  The 
following is a list of rare items that can only be found in Ver. 2.  Thanks to 
<http://www.mamak-int.com> for providing a list of them and Broccori Tree for 
originally posting it:


Item, Requirements, Description
-------------------------------
8 STARS
-------
Flower Bouquet, none, A beautiful flower bouquet. It smells very nice

-------
9 STARS
-------
Red Saber, ATP 620, This red saber is a prototype, so it's finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say 'He,' are carved on the hilt

Red Sword, ATP 620, This red sword is a prototype, so it's finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say 'a,' are carved on the hilt

Red Dagger, ATP 710, This red blade is a prototype, so its finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say 't,' are carved on the hilt

Red Partisan, ATP 860, This red partisan is a prototype, so its finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say "h," are carved on the grip.

Red Slicer, ATP 970, This red slicer is a prototype, so it's finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say 'Cl,' are carved on the hilt

Red Handgun, ATA 140, This red gun is a prototype, so it's finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say 'i', are carved on the barrel

Red Machinegun, ATA 175, This red mechgun is a prototype, so its finish is 
incomplete. Letters, which say "ff," are carved on the grip.

Branch of PakuPaku, MST 900, It looks like its just a cane, but on the tip 
there is a gap that you may be able to place something in.
--------
10 STARS
--------
Ancient Saber, ATP 620, Legendary sword found in the ancient ruins. It absorbs 
enemy experience

Meteor Cudgel, ATP 950, The crystals on both sides of the staff can inflict a 
lot of damage. Its special attack freezes enemies

Sealed Sword, ATP 960, An ancient sword. Its power is sealed by a mysterious 
mark, which paralyzes the person who has it 

Imperial Pick, ATP 960, The blades can kill an enemy with only one hit. Its 
special attack can take away half of an enemy's health 

Yasminkov 9000M, ATA 175, An antique model that's popular among certain 
hardcore fans. The power is as strong as the new model.

Yasminkov 3000R, ATA 160, An antique model that's popular among certain 
hardcore fans. The power is as strong as the new model.

Yasminkov 2000H, ATA 180, An antique model that's popular among certain 
hardcore fans. The power is as strong as the new model

Hildebears Cane, MST 300, Hildebear's Cane-Hildebear's skull was used to make 
this weapon. Its special attack will shoot fire.

Plantain Leaf, ATA 550, A huge leaf. When equipped, it increases your mental 
strength by 20

Broom, MST 600, This is a cleaning tool that was found in the ancient ruins. 
Something is carved on it. It increases mental strength. 

--------
11 STARS
--------
Toy Hammer, ATP 670, Once a child's toy, it has been refined over the years to 
become the ultimate toy. Its power is devastating. 

Akiko's Chinese Wok*, ATP 720, The ultimate weapon that was created from a 
wok...?

Harisen Paper Fan, ATP 720, A special weapon created from the idea of 
traditional entertainment. Its special attack paralyzes enemies

Elysion, ATP 880, The ancient characters on its blade produce magic. Its 
special attack is the fire bomb 

Wok of Akiko's Shop*, ATP 670, The excellent combination of a wok and a ladle. 
It's very useful for both attack and defense. 

Madam's Umbrella, ATP 550, Owning this high quality item proves that you are a 
true high society lady. You don't have to be afraid of the rain

Flight Fan*, ATP 670, When thrown, this fan can kill several enemies at once. 
It's special attack steals 12% of the enemies experience.

Crazy Tune, ATP 860, AUW 1985 model. Made by Kikoku.

Yasminkov 7000V, ATA 190, An antique model that's popular among certain 
hardcore fans. The power is as strong as the new model. 

Frost Shooter, ATA 150, The latest freeze gun uses latent heat energy to fire a 
freeze bomb. Its power to freeze is excellent.

Anti-Android Rifle, ATA 175, A government certified scientist created this 
high-performance rifle based on the A-35 rifle function

Samba Maracas*, ATA 135, Shaking the maracas with a Latin rhythm produces shock 
waves to damage enemies. 

Twin Psycho Guns, ATA 180, These guns convert thought patterns into a laser 
beam to destroy enemies. 

Drill Launcher*, ATA 180, This huge drill weapon can be attached to your hand. 
It is a very powerful, short-range weapon. 

Summit Moon, MST 800, The stone on this cane increases your mental strength. 
Its special attack is lightning 

Flower Cane, MST 600, This magic cane was developed for female users. It's very 
popular and can be used as an accessory

Demonic Fork, ATP 950, This evil fork brings bad luck to the person who equips 
it. Its special attack steals enemy experience 

Sigh of God, MST 580, This magic cane holds electric energy. Its special attack 
is Gizonde. 

Twinkle Star, MST 880, The star-shaped design increases mental strength. Its 
special attack causes a large shock

Marina's Bag*, MST 600, A first aid medical bag used in case of emergencies. It 
heals you if you own it.

Dragon's Claw*, ATP 650, A Dragon's claw was used to make this weapon. Its 
special attack is Foie. 

Panther Claw, ATP 650, This is only available for female users. It's a very 
popular accessory, though it's not useful as a weapon.

Cameleon Pycte*, ATP 670, This scythe is considered a work of art because of 
its intricate design. It's special attack confuses enemies

Game Magazine*, none, Secret technique Type "URAENDING" at the Title with the 
keyboard... 


-------
12 STARS
-------
Yamigarasu*, ATP 820, This cursed sword sucks HP from the person who wields it. 
Its special attack can kill an enemy with 1 hit. 

Monkey Kong Bar, ATP 670, The length of this staff can be changed. Its special 
attack can take away half of an enemy's health

Double Cannon*, ATP 1000, A mysterious ultimate weapon. Its abilites are 
unknown.

Tsumikiri J-Sword, ATP 960, Owned by Orochi Agito, the blade was made along the 
same longs as Agito, with a carved seal on the blade. 

Twin Chakram, ATP 880, This round sword was built for short-range attack. The 
attack speed is very fast and it can kill with 1 hit.

Lavis Blade, ATP 1000, A mysterious blade for use with both hands. It's very 
powerful, and if you use a certain item, it will become...

Sinow Red's Blade, ATP 930, Sinow Red's hands were remodeled into a weapon. 
Attack and defense are increased with its special attack.

Madam's Parasol, ATP 870, Only high society ladies can use this special 
parasol. It can also protect against ultraviolet rays when outside (Heals HP 
when equipped, special atk: draws TP to deal large damage)

Baldish, ATP 710, A very powerful sword. Only Android Hunters can use it due to 
it's stringent requirements 

Huge Battle Fan, ATP 970, Only certain players can use this ultimate weapon. 
Don't be deceived by its looks

Fight Cutter, ATP 820, This throwing weapon was based on the ancient ninja's 
weapon. 

Handgun MILLA, ATA 190, A small gun with "MILLA" engraved on the right side of 
its barrel. Its special attack steals enemy HP. Only females can equip this...

Handgun GULD, ATA 190, A small gun with "GULD" engraved on the right side of 
its barrel. Its special attack steals enemy TP.

Ano Rifle*, ATA ???, This rifle was used as the military Android's primary 
weapon in a certain country.

Rocket Punch, ATA 160, This weapon fires a punch bomb. It does great damage, 
but sequence attacks are not possible. 

Meser Beam*, ATA ???, A special gun that shoots lighting. Its accuracy is top 
class.

Belra Cannon*, ATA 180, Indi Belra's right hand was remodeled into this enemy 
weapon. Its special attack is even more powerful...

Panzer Faust, ATA 163, It fires a very powerful rocket bomb. Its special attack 
can confuse enemies

Guld milla*, ATA 190, A mysterious ultimate weapon. Its abilities are unknown.

Baranz Missle*, ATA 178, Baranz's parts were used to create this enemy weapon.

Windmill Cane, MST 1000, The windmill-shape gives this cane its power. In order 
to execute its special attack, hold the wind energy, and...

Evil Curst, MST 700, The eyes on top of this cursed cane can kill enemies. Its 
special attack can also kill enemies

Hildeblue's Cane*, MST 400, Hildeblue's skull was used to make this weapon. Its 
special attack triggers Gibarta.

Rabbit Wand, MST 650, The rabbit's head on the tip of this cane looks very 
cute. People often use this cane as an accessory

Striker of Chao*, MST 900, Chao, a very popular character in this world, is on 
the end of this cane. It's value is priceless.

Book of Motav, MST 1000, This magic book was found in the ancient ruins. It 
increases mental strength

Plantain Fan*, When you wave this magic fan once, it produces a stong wind, 
which blows enemies away. 

Twin Blaze, ATP 850, Flames from both ends of this magic cane will burn 
enemies. Its special flame attack is very powerful (Drains HP while equipped, 
special atk: Gifoie)

Plantain Huge Fan*, MST 650, When you wave this magic fan once, it produces a 
very strong wind, which blows enemies away. 

Heart of Powm*, ATP 620, A Laconiatask tempered with the Eclipse Torch's flame. 
Also known as "Alis' Claw"

----
MAGS
----
Most of the Mags are obvious what they are by their name, so I'll just list all 
the rare Mags this time around:

Chu Chu
Buka Buka (Kapu Kapu?)
Elnoa (RAcaseal only)
Angel's Wing (androids cannot equip)
Devil's Wing
Mark III (looks like a stereo)
Master System
MegaDrive
Sega Saturn
Dreamcast
Panzer Tail
Devil's Tail

------
S-RANK
------
By successfully completing Challenge mode and receiving an S-rank, you can 
choose from one of many items, that you can name yourself.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* - You will receive a one-day ban online for having any item marked with an 
asterick (*).  These will eventually become unbanned as items are added to the 
servers.


Rare Items by Section ID:

(note: I found this on a Japanese site, and did my best to figure out what they 
were by using AltaVista translations. It may be incomplete and inaccurate.)

Source: <http://www3.yomogi.or.jp/akio/phantasy2.htm>

Divided by class, split into sections with Weapons and Armor.


ALL CLASSES 

Dragon Claw
Sinow Red's Blades

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORAN


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VIRIDIA 

Red Daggers
Summit Moon
Twinkle Star

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SKYLY 

Meteor Cudgel
Madam's Umbrella
Harisen Battle Fan
Madam's Parasol
Huge Battle Fan
Twin Blaze
Plantain Leaf

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PINKAL 

Elysion
Flight Fan
Akiko's Chinese Wok
Baldrash
Yamigarasu

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YELLOWBOZE 

Red Sword
Red Handgun
Angry Fist
Ancient Saber
Panther Claw
Monkey King Bar
Plantain Leaf
Summit Moon

Sense Plate
Parasite Wear
Bacterial Guard (?)

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REDRIA 

Toy Hammer
Madam's Parasol
Summit Moon
Rabbit Wand
Red Mechgun

Bacterial Guard (?)

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WHITILL 

Silence Claw
Sealed Sword

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PURPLENIUM 

Red Slicer

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BLUEFULL 

Red Saber
Imperial Pick
Magical Piece
Twinkle Star

Sacred Cross

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GREENIL 

Red Dagger

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Good luck on finding rares!




--14
-=-  T I P S




Just a few other miscellaneous tips, etc. that didn't fit anywhere else:


CHEATING

"Sonic Team maintains the servers for PSO Ver.2.  Using code not authorized by 
Sega damages the servers.  We ask that all users refrain from using 
unauthorized code.  We maintain the right to terminate access rights to our 
servers.  With this in mind, please try to conduct yourself in a manner that is 
conductive to everyone's enjoyment."

Hopefully they'll tune the English before bringing the game stateside, but the 
point is clear - DO NOT CHEAT!!!!!!  Ver. 2 detects when you have a Gameshark 
in and makes it so you can't find any rare items (not even DB's Sabers!)  Also 
they will ban you for having hacked items much faster than they would in Ver. 


GLITCHES

Many of the glitches in PSO1 have been fixed.  You can no longer cast 
zonde/grants on others; Ver. 1 people can cast it on you but it won't raise 
your PB.  The TP refill trick doesn't work either, except for v1 games where 
you can do it on PSO1ers. (although that never worked in the import PSO.)  And 
you can no longer drop an item to get out if you're stuck (i.e. something falls 
on you in the Ruins).  Walking through doors is also out of the question...you 
have to do it the right way!


BOOTING

If you want to play the import and you don't have a Japanese/Universal 
Dreamcast you'll need some sort of boot disk to play it.  Do not use the Utopia 
boot disk, the following glitches are caused from it (not to mention that it's 
illegal):

 You can't cast spells on others or heal them with any items (like a Moon 
Atomizer)
 You can't lock onto enemies with spells
 You can't cast Rafoie at all
 You can walk through things you shouldn't be able to walk through (parts of 
the city)


You will either need a Gameshark or DC-X which cost $40 and $20 respectively.


OTHER TIPS

 You can take snapshots in the game if you have a VMU with 195 free blocks in 
the second slot of a controller in Port D.  Press Start+X/A (X takes a full 
screen shot, A takes a zoomed in image) to take a picture.  A black screen 
should come up and count down.  When finished, the image should be saved on 
your VMU.  You can then go to <http://pso.donut.dhs.org> to email it to 
yourself and upload it on your computer!

 If you have a controller in Port B you can mess around with the camera.  The 
joystick rotates the angle, Y zooms out and Z zooms in.

 Press Start when you think you are close to mines or when you run down a 
hall.  If the menu is up you will run right past mines/traps.

 I'll add more as I think of them...




--15
-=-  O T H E R  Q U E S T I O N S




If you have any other questions that have_not_already_been_answered, then feel 
free to email me <miffo007@yahoo.com>. Also, check the list of F.A.Q. 
(Frequently Asked Questions) below. I will add common questions to here, 
including some that have already been answered elsewhere in this FAQ (because 
I'm nice.)


Q: So, what exactly is new to Ver. 2 that's not in PSO?
A: As explained in the Introduction, there is a new difficulty with new 
enemies, altered areas, new weapons, and more!

Q: Is there anything PSO has that PSO Ver. 2 doesn't have?
A: Nope, everything from PSO is in the second version.

Q: Okay, then I'll sell my original PSO.
A: Good idea.

Q: Hmm...But would it be possible to sell if my serial numbers have already 
been registered?
A: No, and because of this, you must call Sega at 1-800-USA-SEGA for them to 
deactivate your serial numbers and access keys.

Q: Oops, I just sold PSO and don't have my serial numbers anymore, but I need 
them to transfer my character.
A: *points and laughs* Don't make that mistake, because you will need your PSO 
AND your PSO Ver. 2 serial numbers when transferring a character from v1 to v2. 

Q: Can I have your serial numbers?
A: No.

Q: I promise, I will ONLY use them to play offline.
A: I don't care, I will not give out my numbers to _anyone_.

Q: Please???
A: NO! 90% of the email I receive about this game is from someone asking to use 
my serial numbers. No matter how much you ask, YOU CANNOT HAVE MY SERIAL 
NUMBERS!

Q: My game didn't come with serial numbers for some reason...
A: All original copies come with numbers. Buy the real version instead of 
pirating next time.

Q: Actually, I do have the real version, but where are the numbers?
A: Open up the case and take out the disk-they should be on the inside of the 
lid.

Q: Err, my country only has pirated games, what can I do?
A: You can play offline.

Q: (refers to the import version only) Okay, I entered my Dricas settings and 
went to WEBSITE to set up the real ISP, but it won't let me because it says I 
have no Internet settings.
A: You'll have to put something-anything-into the email settings for it to 
detect any form of an Internet connection.

Q: I tried to connect, but it says there was an error. I tried again, but it 
still failed to work.
A: There are three things to do:
   1. Make sure the phone line is in all the way
   2. Make sure your ISP settings are correct
   3. Make sure the phone line isn't busy
If you've tried all these, then there must be a problem with your ISP. Contact 
them, or try a different ISP.

Q: It says the servers are down for maintenance.
A: Every Wednesday morning, they close the servers for two hours due to 
maintenance. It will be down at other times for various reasons without 
warning, just be patient and wait.

Q: ! We have to pay to play online?
A: Don't fret. Like the Japanese and European versions of PSO, the Japanese and 
US versions of PSO Ver. 2 will have a system that requires you to pay to play 
online. It's not a lot of money though, and is worth the small price that is 
used to run the servers.

Q: How much does it cost?
A: In Japan, you have to buy something called a Hunters License that allows you 
to play online for 90 days for the price of 1000 yen (about $8). In the US, the 
pricing will be $15 for 3 months, which is about $5 a month. When the license 
expires, you must renew it to continue playing online.

Q: Do we get any free days of online play?
A: You get 2 free days to try it out online.

Q: gimme sum gameshrk codes111!!!1!11!!
A: No.

Q: I heard they were going to lower the amount of cheating online, is this 
true?
A: Supposedly. They've done a few minor changes, but that doesn't stop the 
cheaters. Every "rare" weapon is just as common as the Lavis Cannon of PSO. 
They're starting to do more however, so cheaters: beware! You will be 
permanently banned online if you attempt to use cheat codes online. 1-day 
bannings will also be given for minor offenses.

Q: PSO is coming out on Nintendo's GameCube...explain that.
A: GCN's Phantasy Star Online is basically a straight port of the Dreamcast's 
PSO Ver. 2, with a few changes. Two new character classes and an offline split-
screen mode (in addition to the online play, of course) will be present in this 
version. It doesn't look like something to get if you own the Dreamcast 
version, but hopefully it will reach a wider range of people.

Q: Will Dreamcast owners be able to play GameCube owners?
A: "Well, we tested it, and technically it is possible to play together. But 
    the way the PSO is being played currently, I have to say no. I would not 
    want to make an online game where there already exist tons of cheaters 
    running around ruining the game."
   
    - Yuji Naka

Q: Are there two new levels in PSO Ver. 2?
A: The only new areas are in Battle mode ONLY!

Q: Is there much of a storyline?
A: Unlike most RPGs, no. This makes offline mode boring. =(

Q: Has the story improved from PSO1?
A: Not by very much.

Q: Do you need SegaNet to play online?
A: No, any ISP will work. Actually, SegaNet is leaving for good.

Q: I tried BlueLight, but it didn't work. What can I do?
A: BlueLight isn't free anymore, and yet the universal account above still 
works for me (for free.) But some people tell me that it doesn't work, so try 
it, and if it doesn't work, use a different ISP. Go to www.dreamcastfun.com 
because they list a lot of DC-compatible free ISPs.

Q: Why do they censor so many words online?
A: Because, they don't want too many people to be offended. The censoring 
system is a bit strict, though.

Q: Why are poof, pork, and cola banned words?
A: Poof is the British term for homosexual, cola is related to cocaine (I 
guess...) and pork is an insult in some other country, I think. I don't really 
know for sure.

Q: Is there a way to bypass it?
A: While I don't want to encourage the use of foul language, it's possible to 
overwrite the censoring by placing a space or period between the letters. 
(example: poop = po.op)

Q: What do the different abbreviations mean?
A: The most common ones -
   LOL = Laugh out loud
   WTF = What the ****
   BRB = Be right back
   GTG = Got to go
   CYA = See ya

Q: You can steal other people's symbol chats in Ver. 2?
A: Not necessarily, but it is possible to capture other symbols as long as the 
creator allows you to do so.

Q: I set a hard-to-guess password on my team, but someone still got it. Why?
A: There are cheat codes to get into passworded games. If someone breaks into 
your game, leave immediately.

Q: Can I play with you on PSO sometime?
A: Probably not, I've played with a few people before but that's probably it.

Q: What's your character's name?
A: If you have my card, you'll know.

Q: I found a problem with your FAQ.
A: What is it?

Q: Um...I forgot. :-/
A: Well?

Q: What's up?
A: Go away.

Q: Are you tired of stupid and annoying emails?
A: Yes I am, please don't send them to me.

Q: I do have something to tell you that you can fix/add in your FAQ, what 
should I do?
A: Email me, and I'll try to fix whatever needs to be fixed.

Q: I've read through your FAQ and still have a question, can I email you or 
talk on AIM?
A: You can email me at miffo007@yahoo.com but _please_ make sure that your 
question can't be answered elsewhere in this guide. I posted my AIM name in 
another FAQ before, and that didn't work to well, so only talk through email. I 
read everything that lands in my inbox and will do my best to respond to every 
question. 




--16
-=-  F I N A L  W O R D S




WHAT'S TO COME
 The underfinished sections need to be finished. Mainly, the Challenge section 
along with Areas and Enemies. Not to mention the almost non-existant Quest 
section.
 When the US version comes out, I'll add details on that.


I urge you to go and buy PSO Ver. 2, especially if you liked the first one.  
Thanks for reading my FAQ, if you have any suggestions you can email me at 
miffo007@yahoo.com.  Again I remind you to NOT email me asking for me to tell 
you when it's updated, unless you are using this on your site.  And if you are 
using it on your site, be sure to give me credit.  Also tell your visitors that 
they should buy this game... ^_^

Sadly, Sega of Europe will not be bringing this out over there, so you'll have 
to import it if you live in Europe.

When the US version of this game comes out, I'll need to know anything 
different about that so I can add to this guide. If you have something to tell 
me, I'd appreciate it!


I want to thank the following people for helping me in some way:

 totalstuff, Momac*, Acid Rain, zwei, MATEK, iori kusanagi, kilikmaster, and 
the other posters of the boards at GameFAQs.

 Mamaks <http://www.makak-int.com>

 Altavista <http://www.altavista.com> Translations, because I needed it for a 
lot of Japanese stuff.

 xPridEx for posting info about getting online with the import. 

 Thank you CJayC of GameFAQs for hosting this and making one of the best 
gaming sites out there!

- And kudos to Sega/Sonic Team for making such a great game!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2001 Michael "miffo" Paul.  All rights reserved.













