How To Play Any Version Of Phantasy Star Online For Free

As of January 9th, 2008 all Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst servers were taken offline. This PC version of the online game, which was originally released for the Dreamcast, was the last iteration that still had servers up and running. With so many many PSO addicts out there a solution was bound to be found and this solution manifested itself in the form of SCHTHACK Private Servers.  Thanks to a community of hackers the freely available Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst setup file has been hacked to allow for free play on SCTHACK’s and other free private servers. I only mention SCHTHACK in particular because their forums have an large amount of information on how to get started and they seem to have a large userbase that’s constantly playing. Last I checked there were around 550 players online.

Along with the large userbase, a hacked SCTHACK exe is available which updates new patches made by the community. These patches can add quests, items, and other neat additions. Not only additions but you can also play any console version of the game on their servers as well. The currently supported version of the game are:

• Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online
• Dreamcast Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2
• Gamecube Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II
• Gamecube Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II Plus
• Gamecube Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
• PC Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2
• PC Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst

Some really cool hack additions added to PSO BB are:

• Fully unlocked teams – No need to register points to unlock dressing room and other features.
• Balanced Episode IV drop rates – We’ve balanced all enemy drop rates to be fair to all Section IDs. You can find a chart of what each monster drops here.
• Rare item sharing – Similar to PSO’s young brother, Phantasy Star Universe, you can set your game to share rare items in order or in a random order.
• New Japanese content – You can obtain new mags and other equipment on our server.
• Multiple version server – Our server allows multiple consoles to connect to the same server as PC users. You can chat in the lobbies together, however, you cannot play together.
• Language support – PC Ver. 2 supports Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish and Korean. Gamecube supports English and Japanese. Blue Burst supports English only, except for untranslated Japanese quests.

Ok so now that you know the skinny on what PSO BB for free offers, here’s how you get up and running.

Click On This Link

Then either download the fully patched game from the links provided or download the game and then apply patches and you like. My favorite patch of them all is the keyboard support for Vista that finally allows me to play again.

You then register a hunter id:

http://www.schtserv.com/bbregister.php

and you’re good to go.

When you start the game with the special exe for SCTHACK for the first time it will download all updates, then all you have to do is login, create a character, and you’re off and running!

For more guides and information on the servers check here.

Ok so you’re up and running, leveling up, getting items and meseta, and you remember how hacked the console versions of PSO were. How could a hacker driven PC version be any different. That’s really where SCTHACK servers shine in that they do not tolerate any hacking and GM’s can and will ban people. Check out the rules here.

So with a level hack free playing field, free servers, and a better version of the game than Sega’s original I can now see many many hours of my life fading away. See you online!

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