The Phantasy Star Online Ragol Saga: Episodes I, II, and IV all in one handy package!*This is totally free, no fees or anything related to actual cash*Installation Instructions:
Basically everything you need from the client install file, to how to get yourself an account is here.Also make sure to use the "Online.exe" to launch the game if you have trouble accessing the options menu for Graphics and Audio.
A controller with an analog stick or two, works best for the game, however you can still manage to get by using keyboard controls. I personally use the PS3 controller.
The Gamecube version connects to the same servers and can play with people from DC, PC (PSO Episode 1), GC (PSO Episode 1 & 2) and people on PC (Episode 1, 2, & 4). You can't play Episode 4 stuff, though.
There are some slight glitches when playing with GCN users, but for the most part it works (can't transfer items, weird random glitches). It probably wouldn't be considered "ideal", but if you still have your older characters I'm sure you could hop on with them.
Schthack and the gang did an amazing job on the servers -- they're pretty fun. Don't forget about the new text commands that were implemented:
What are the server commands?
DC/PC Ver. 2 Only Lobby commands:
/save password Type this to save your character data to the server. Replace password with a password of your choosing.
/restor password Type this in to restore your saved character. You must type in the same password that you used to save your character, and your Guild Card number must match the number of the character you saved on.
Lobby and in game commands:
/addfriend playername Type this to add a friend to your friendlist. Insert the name of your friend for playername
/delfriend playername Type this to remove a friend from your friendlist. Insert the name of your friend for playername
/friendlist Type this to show your friendlist. Whoever is currently online will show in green in the online portion of the list, offline players show in red in the offline portion of the list.
/ignore playername Type this to block all chat, Word Select, and symbol chats from the selected player, so you cannot hear anything they say except by mail. You can't block an infinite number of users, so you need to either remove them from your ignore list with the next command, or use the Ship Transport to clear them from the list.
/unignore playername Type this to unblock the chat, Word Select, and symbol chats from the selected player. You can either do this or change ships to allow blocked users to talk to you again.
DC/PC/GC only In game commands:
/legit Type this in a team to turn on legit mode. This mode tries to detect players who may be using hacked equipment and block them from entering your game. The detection is not very good currently, so don't rely on it to really keep people out. This mode changes your team name to green.
/hack Type this to turn on hacked mode. This mode removes all level restrictions and uses no legit detection. It's pretty much a warning to players in the lobby that people in this team are cheating. This command changes the team name to red.
/normal Type this to remove either the /legit mode or the /hack mode, and set the game mode back to normal.
/setlvl # Type this to change the minimum level to enter your team. For instance, typing /setlvl 10 would allow players as low as level 10 to enter your game, but no lower than that. This command CANNOT be used when /legit mode is active, because doing this IS NOT LEGIT.
In game only commands:
/setpass Type this in a game to remove the password from the game, thus setting it as an open game.
/setpass xxx Type this to set a new password for your game. You can set any password you wish, typing "/setpass hello" without the quotes would set your game's password as hello. If you use "/setpass" without a password as described in the earlier command, it will remove the current password from the game and set it as an open game.
There are a LOT of people playing (peaks at ~500 players) and you'll always find a free game to join. I'm surprised at how fun and addicting the game still is. I played the game for about 8 hours yesterday (level 20 HUmar). lol
