Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution (Japanese: ファンタシースターオンライン エピソード3 カード レボリューション) is a video game that is part of the Phantasy Star Online series released for the Nintendo GameCube on November 27, 2003 in Japan. It was also released on March 2, 2004 and June 10, 2004 in the United States and Europe respectively.
Unlike Episodes I, II and IV, Episode III is uses a turn-based card system instead of the typical hack and slash of the other action RPGs. In the timeline of Phantasy Star Online, Episode III takes place 21 years after the events of Episodes I & II.
Plot[]
21 years have passed since Pioneer II first set off to colonize Ragol. Pioneer II has since gained independence from Coral and the government is within turmoil about exploiting Ragol's resources which would prevent colonization. One of the resources in debate is a mysterious "germ" which the government found on Ragol and used to create the C.A.R.D. technology. The C.A.R.D.s are small, card shaped items that can hold data of various items and monsters and could be summoned upon using the C.A.R.D.
After creating a character, the player could choose to join either one of two sides: "Heroside" and "Darkside".
- Heroside: Joining the Heroside will put the player in command of the Hunters, a government run organization created by Pioneer II to research the mysterious germ and C.A.R.D. technology. They are also employed in order to capture the terrorist organization, Arkz. The Hunters main goal is to maintain the peace and stability of Pioneer II.
- Darkside: Joining the Darkside will put the player in command of the Arkz, an anti-government organization who oppose the exploitation of resources Pioneer II is doing with Ragol. They believe that the people of Pioneer II should finally colonize the planet and are extremely against the use of the germ technology used in C.A.R.D.s. Still, they use C.A.R.D.s in order to battle the Hunters and Pioneer II.
Depending on the characters used, both the Heroside and Darkside have various storylines for the player to complete as each character has his or her own goals. Still, both organizations push towards a similar goal: the search for the Great Shadow, which is believed to be the source of the germ.
Gameplay[]
- See also: Weapons, Shields, Monster Cards, Action Cards, and Assist Cards in PSO Episode III
Unlike its predecessors, Episode III abandons the hack and slash RPG gameplay for turn based card combat. Another important difference is that the player does not play with the character they created at the start of the game. Instead, the character created by the player is called a Commander. The players avatar is used outside of battle to wander around the base and structuring your deck.
The commander could choose between a set group of twenty four different characters (12 for each side) to go down to Ragol and battle with the C.A.R.D.s. Both sides have their own style of playing and their own special powers. The two sides are:
- Hunters: Can use weapons only and must attack directly. (Swords, Mags, ect)
- Arkz: Summons monsters from Ragol to attack their foe. (Savage Wolf, ect)
Each card in the game has its own health points, movement spaces and space requirements. The stronger the card, the more space it requires and the less cards you can summon.
Once a player has made a deck and sent down their chosen character, the battle will begin against either a computer controlled NPC or a human controlled character. There are five stages to each turn starting with the roll of Dice. Depending on the roll you get you can use that number to do various things. There are two dices that are rolled, one is your ATK and one is your DEF. The highest number a player can naturally roll is 6, although cards and bonuses can increase it higher. If your DEF is higher then your ATK it automatically will switch.
After the dice phase you move onto Set phase where, depending on how much free space, you have you can either equip armor and weapons or set and summon a monster up too or less then the number you rolled. Each monster and item has their own number required to be set. Once it is set, your ATK will be reduced by the number it took to summon the weapon/monster. You can set more then one monster at a time and hold more then one weapon at a time.
The third part of the turn is the Move phase. Each character can move a certain amount of spaces on the board (shown by their MV attribute). You can move up to that many spaces as long as you have that much ATK left. For example, if your character moves three spaces and you have two ATK left, you can only move two spaces even though your character has movement of three.
The fourth stage is Action. Normally, in order to attack during Action phase you need at least 1 ATK (some may require more). If you attack, your ATK will be reduced by as many as it needs to attack. You can continue to attack as long as you have ATK to spare. If you are on the defending end of the attack, you will be given the choice to use a card in your hand to defend. If you use a card to defend or help yourself during the Action phase, your DEF will be reduced by however much the card cost. If you have no cards in your hand that can stop an attack, it will automatically skip this phase and the game will go through with the attack.
The final stage is Draw. During this stage you can get rid of as many cards as you do not want. Once you rid yourself of those cards, the game will deal you the same amount of cards from your deck, giving your hand a total of five.
A character will lose the game with their chosen character runs out of HP.
Game Mode[]
Like most Phantasy Star Online games, Episode III offers both Offline and Online options. Offline mode will follow either of the story lines chosen by the player. While Online, a player could compete against other players in tournaments to win Meseta to buy other packs of cards. Offline, there is also a multiplayer option for up to four players, two on each team.
Ratings[]
The Japanese rating board, CERO, gave Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution a rating of 全年齢対象 for all ages,[1][4] while the American Entertainment Software Rating Board, ESRB, rated the game T for Teen for Fantasy Violence.[5] The game received a rating of PEGI 12 from the Pan European Game Information for Violence.[3]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sega Retro. Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. Retrieved from https://segaretro.org/Phantasy_Star_Online_Episode_III:_C.A.R.D._Revolution
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wikipedia. Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasy_Star_Online_Episode_III%3A_C.A.R.D._Revolution
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pegi. Phantasy Star Online III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. Retrieved from https://pegi.info/search-pegi?q=Phantasy+Star+Online+III&op=Search&filter-age%5B%5D=&filter-descriptor%5B%5D=&filter-publisher=&filter-platform%5B%5D=&filter-release-year%5B%5D=&page=1&form_build_id=form-wkYIL6rBGK7UpRkayrmwkLylNzD7WqBL9Clnv0z99YE&form_id=pegi_search_form
- ↑ CERO. Retrieved from http://www.cero.biz/search/search.cgi?name=%A5%D5%A5%A1%A5%F3%A5%BF%A5%B7%A1%BC%A5%B9%A5%BF%A1%BC&txtCP=
- ↑ ESRB. Phantasy Star Online III C.A.R.D. Revolution. Retrieved from http://www.esrb.org/ratings/Synopsis.aspx?Certificate=9627&Title=Phantasy+Star+Online+III+C.A.R.D.+Revolution
| Arkz | Break - Lura - Creinu - Endu - Hyze - KC - Reiz - Peko - Ohgun - Memoru - Rufina - Rio |
|---|---|
| Hunters | Sil'fer - Orland - Relmitos - Ino'lis - Glustar - Guykild - Kranz - Kylria - Viviana - Teifu - Stella - Saligun |
| Antagonists | Leukon Knight - Castor - Pollux - Amplam Umbla |
| Locations | Ragol - Pioneer II - Mortis Fons - Lupus Silva - Tower of Caelum - Ravum Aedes Sacra - Molae Venti Morgue - Nebula Montana - Dolor Odor - Via Tubus - Unguis Lapis - Tener Sinus |