Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

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Preface:
One of Phantasy Star 0's greatest play aspects, and one of its best selling points, is cooperative online multi-player mode through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection server(s).
Sadly, it's also the least described aspect of the game. Discussed only in a mere three paragrapghs in the official strategy guide, published by Brady Games, and covered by
three pages which leave out crucial details within PS0's own instruction booklet. This guide is intended as a supplement to fill-in for the inadequacies of both the official
strategy guide and the insruction booklet.

Hopefully this guide will clear up any frustrations regarding the online play aspects of PS0.



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Table of Contents

I. Friend Code Roster Explained!

II. Friend Code Roster Color Code Status

III. Free Play Explained!

IV. Free Player Ratings

V. Yes, PS0 is dial-up compatible!

VI. How to play PS0 over a Dial-Up ISP.

VII. Limited Communications

VIII. Credits

IX. Legal Stuff


*********************** I **********************

Friend Code Roster Explained!

Thankfully you can add up to 64 Friend Codes to your roster. But, just because you've added someone to your Roster doesn't mean you can see them online! The only way you can truly see the status of another person online is if they've also added you to their FC Roster! Unfortunately an offline person and a person who hasn't added you both appear with the same grey colored icon next to the nickname.

In order for someone to join a team you're forming both you and the joining party must already have each other on your FC Roster's. Now here in lies the beauty of this, the team mates who join up with you needn't have each others FC because they can exchange FC's once in the team automatically by pressing start and then selecting the second option from the bottom of the menu that comes up. It's a two way street though so both persons wishing to exchange FC's in this manner must select to do this elsewise the automated FC exchange will not take place.



********************** II **********************

Friend Code Roster Color Code Status

Blue - Online, has selected to form a team. You may join this person's team.
Green - Online, available, but hasn't selected to either join or form a team.
Red - Online, but already in a team.
Gray - Offline, or they don't have your Friend Code added to thier Roster!



********************* III **********************

Free Play Explained!

There is an up to five minute waiting period cap on getting assigned into a team from the moment you select the Free Play option. This is entirely dependant on the number of other people who are choosing to play Free Play mode during the same time perior that as you are and which areas they have selected to play in. The server will literally wait until there are either four players assigned to the team, or five minutes if there isn't four players assigned before starting the game for the team. And if you get stuck with no one else joining then it's an error code for you!

There is a certain variable that also plays a major role in Free Play. The further you progress in Story Mode the more areas you unlock to play in online. Which means, a higher level person selecting Free Play may not choose to have any of the initial three default areas checked off for play that a new player would be restricted to. And therefore the server wouldn't even consider assigning either of you to the same team unless you also had those areas unlocked and checked off as areas you're willing to play in.

When playing free play you will only get to play through one area. Once that area has been cleared all team members will need to save and exit the game as Free Play restricts the team to only getting to play one area together at a time. The downside to this is that you likely will not get reassigned to a team with the same players again, which could be viewed as either a good or bad thing.



********************** IV **********************

Free Play Player Ratings

Triangle = Poor.
Player has been smacked with more Poor ratings than Good.

Circle = Neutral.
Player has either received no ratings yet, or their Poor and Good ratings are in equal balance.

Circle within a Circle = Good.
Player has been rewarded with more good rating than Poor ratings by others.



*********************** V **********************

Yes, PS0 is dial-up compatible!

You read that correctly, PS0 works perfectly over a dial-up fed Wi-Fi connection.

A couple of days after getting PS0, I finally got around to hooking up an old Linksys Wireless Access Point (WAP) that's been laying around for a few years. I was stunned at how stupidly simple it was to setup Windows XP to do internet sharing over it.
Needless to say I've been playing PS0 online a good bit ever since.

Now, in all fairness, not all dial-up connections are made equal as anyone else who's stuck using it is no doubt quite aware. My connection speed ranges anywhere from 38k to 44k. And for those not in the know, your connection speed is locked in at the
time the connection is established with dial-up. So, at moment of typing this, my connection speed is at 40k and PS0 is working perfectly online. I have multiple AIM chats going and a couple of web browser windows up as well. I've successfully played
in this configuration with multiple instant messaging chat windows active and a couple of web pages going and have only noted the game to lag if I'm waiting for a paticularly slow loading webpage to load.



********************** VI **********************

How to play PS0 over a Dial-Up ISP.

The setup has a few requirements. Here's what you will need:
1. Computer running Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 already configured with a working dial-up ISP account.
2. An available ethernet (LAN) port either on the computer itself or on the switch/hub to which the computer's ethernet port may already be connected to.
3. An ethernet cable, preferably of the CAT5 or CAT6 variety. Any length under 100' should work fine.
4. 802.11B or better Wireless Access Point (WAP).
5. Nintendo DS with a Wi-Fi enabled game.


The Setup:

- Step One
Connect to the internet with your dial-up ISP account as usual.

- Step Two
From within the Windows Control Panel, find and click on Network Connections. On the Network Connection screen you should be able to see your Dial-Up ISP account shown as one of the icons.

- Step Three
Right click on the icon representing your dial-up ISP account and select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Next click the check box next to "[/b]Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection[/b]". Now click the "OK" button.

If you have Windows Firewall enabled proceed to Step Four. If not, then proceed to Step Five.

- Step Four
Return to the Windows Control Panel. Find and click on Windows Firewall. Click the Exceptions tab. Scroll down the list and find and check the box next to UPnP Framework. Click OK.

- Step Five
Connect the WAP to the LAN port on your computer. This how is mine is connected, however, if your PC is connected into a network you may connect the WAP to any available port on the network hub/switch and this should still work.

- Step Six
Disconnect from the internet and reboot your computer.

- Step Seven
With all settings changed and saved accordingly and the WAP now connected your interent connection should now be usable by your Nintendo DS... and any other Wi-Fi enabled devices you might have. Congratualtions.


Special Note Concerning WAP's
If you do no setup a Wireless Encryption Protocol Key (aka WEP Key), which is a ten digit numeric password, on your WAP then anyone within transmission range will be able to access it freely while your computer is on. If you do not know how to setup a WEP Key on your WAP then I strongly urge you to reference the instruction manual or installation disc for your WAP to learn how to do so. If you no longer have either the instructions or installation disk then please check the website of the manufacturer of your WAP to locate instructions on how to configure the WEP Key.



********************* VII **********************

Limited Communications

No doubt many of you have been wondering why this game has such limited communication features. Why is there no onscreen keyboard to use in game? Why no voice chat? Certainly it's not a hardware limitation for either of those. Quite so, so read on and wonder no more.

Nintendo doesn't permit keyboard or voice communication features to exist in any non-first party titles released for any of their current game systems. It's as simple as that, but why is that? To state it as simply as possible; Nintendo claims this is to protect children from unintentionally communicating with perverts. Sure, sounds reasonable enough, until you consider that Nintendo itself has at least three DS titles available which feature text and/or voice communication online. So what is the real reasoning behind their prohibition against communications? We may never know the truth.

The ability to write or draw whatever you want on the screen and share it as a chat bubble has been a huge breakthrough on Sega's part in circumventing a portion of Nintendo's game developers' contract prohibiting, specifically, voice and text based communications in a non-first party software title. With this circumvention of an established policy it is
highly likely that Nintendo will be revising their policies to prevent any future third party games from doing what has been done in PS0.



********************* VIII *********************

Credits

I'd like to thank soul21 from the Sega.com forums for his willing aid during the testing process of some of my theories.
Sega of America for bringing this incredible game stateside.
And Sonic Team for creating PS0's predecessor Phantasy Star Online.



********************** IX **********************

Legal Stuff

"Phantasy Star Online" and "Phantasy Star 0" are registered trademarks of Sega and are used here without permission.
"Friend Code" and "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection" are registered trademarks of Nintendo and are also used here without permission.

This guide is intended for personnal use and may not be republished anywhere without permission of the author.

PS0 Online Play Guide © 2009 by game player s (aka Tweeg).

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