Phantasy Star Online - Legacy

Legacy

Hiroshi Matsuyama, president of CyberConnect2 and developer of the .hack series, cited Phantasy Star Online as an influence for the MMORPG world of .hack. 1UP.com ranked the game at #3 in its list of "15 Games Ahead of Their Time," due to its introduction of online gaming to consoles and for pushing console gamers "to dial up with the Dreamcast to play online and to experience a new style of play."

1UP also included Phantasy Star Online in their list of five "Essential Newcomers" of the decade, describing it as one of "five revolutionary new games" of the past 10 years, for its impact in taking "consoles online" and defining "small-scale multiplayer RPGs." It was the first console game to bring MMO gaming to consoles on a smaller-scale, paving the way for larger-scale MMORPG efforts such as Final Fantasy XI. The small-scale template established by Phantasy Star Online was later copied by Capcom's Monster Hunter series, which in turn influenced every major Japanese RPG franchise, including Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Phantasy Star Online also gave rise to "an entire pantheon of multiplayer dungeon crawlers that continue to dominate the Japanese sales charts." More generally, the game was responsible for making "both online gaming and the concept of fee-based services a reality for consoles," paving the way for the online gaming services later provided by all three of the seventh-generation consoles.