History YMMV / PhantasyStarOnline

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Phantasy Star Online'' not only brought the action RPG genre ala ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'' to consoles properly, it also popularized lobby systems and online play in console gaming all by itself enough to the point that it is cited as the source of inspiration for the entire ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series. Playing it nowadays after over twenty years of three separate successors directly iterating off of it, never mind the entire rest of the industry taking what it set down and running, the awkward lack of camera control beyond CameraLockOn, stiff attacks and movements with a combat system that plays more like a clunky beat-em-up, and the PlayTheGameSkipTheStory nature of its rather laser-focused, minimalist design to questing can make it a very rough sell for those looking to see what really kicked these games off. That said, it's also a downplayed case, as those who can get past those hurdles still [[FirstInstallmentWins quite vocally]] cite how it's still probably one of the best and purest entries in the genre around.

** The Spread Needle, which is either one of the most loved or [[TierInducedScrappy most hated]] weapons in the game. Which one it is depends on whether or not you had one. As a weapon with the range of a mechgun but with the capability of hitting up to five enemies at once and firing speed of a rifle, it can clear out entire rooms of enemies, even on higher difficulty levels, in absolutely no time at all, and could be used by any non-Force class, even Hunters that had no business wielding one (though this was changed in later versions of the game to allow only Rangers to use it). The reason it's so hated is because the game's experience system would only grant shared experience for a kill if a player actually hit the enemy. Since Spread Needles could (and often did) clear out entire rooms before anyone had even a chance to get a hit off, the result would often be the guy with the Spread Needle getting ALL of the experience. Needless to say, pulling out a Spread Needle is a very good way to make enemies. While it was nerfed for the Gamecube release on (and ''hard'', only being about half as powerful as before), it remains a very dominant weapon.

** You will rarely find anyone doing anything other than playing the BossRush quest "Towards the Future" over and over again, as it's the fastest way to gain experience, and the easiest way to farm a particular boss for their rare drop.

* Gal Gryphon is mostly just a DamageSpongeBoss, but has a dread stomp/shockwave attack which covers a huge area (about a 50 foot radius), and does more damage the closer you are to him (getting hit by it while standing right next to him is pretty much certain death), as such, he's especially dangerous to hunters. Even worse, it's often hard to predict when he will stomp (usually he stands still for several seconds beforehand, but not always.)

** Episode 1 had De Rol Le, who gives Hunters and Casts hell and has a strong attack that strikes the platform you're on at random ''in the dark''. There's also Vol Opt, who will occasionally raise a series of blue lit pillars from the floor, along with a lone red lit pillar. Landing an initial strike on any of the blue pillars will prompt an immediate and often lethal (or, if you survive, debilitating) attack on the party, and has an array of very strong attacks in his second form. And then there is Dark Falz, whose attack are ''extremely'' strong, some being undodgeable.

** The Spaceship from Episode II is a weird example. Not because it's particularly hard, but because there are NO QUESTS offline or online that are primarily set there (even private servers often have little-to-nothing in terms of Spaceship quests). Thus, if you happen to be hunting a seldom-spawning enemy from the Spaceship (like Gran Sorcerers or Baranzs), you have no way of improving your hunt yields; you just have to go through the vanilla level over and over and over and over...
* WakeUpCallBoss: The De Rol Le, which doubles as ThatOneBoss as detailed above. The Dragon was a very tame first boss, having very straight forward and easy to avoid attacks. You were probably more likely to be killed by having it step on you. The De Rol Le is an entirely different story, having multiple hard hitting attacks, limited windows for the player to deal damage, and new mechanics such as needing to clear out its tick bombs on the platform so you don't blow up. If you haven't been leveling your Mags for the stat boosts or upgrading your equipment set, you will struggle.

** Garanz/Baranz: Basically MacrossMissileMassacre in enemy form. When playing online, without the benefit of MercyInvincibility, every attack from these things is basically an undodgeable OneHitKill. Facing two in a single room virtually requires someone in the party who can freeze; three or more virtually guarantees at least one player death and at least a 50% chance of a total party kill. Arguably the most dangerous enemy in the game (online, at least...)

** Sinnows, of all flavours. Combined strong attacks with buffs, heal spells, TeleportSpam, invisibility, and/or freeze attacks. Even worse, thanks to their [[DynamicEntry hideously damaging leap attacks]], Forces and Rangers can't fight them effectively at range.

** Dark Falz's third phase (which, fortunately, only appears on hard or harder difficulty) has a grants technique which works pretty much just like the player's (it's {{Hitscan}} and does massive light damage) as such, your only defense is high light resistance. Furthermore, if your character's hp is low enough to get one-shotted by the grants, it will likely be [[{{Unwinnable}} straight up impossible to win.]]

*** Dark Falz's third form was a nightmare for android players, particularly [=HUcasts=] and [=HUcaseals=]. He [[TeleportSpam jumps around the arena]], rarely sticking in melee range for long, and flickers between semi-invulnerability (he's still vulnerable to techs - which androids don't have - and weapon specials - which runs off of MST, something Androids don't have) and vulnerability every 5 seconds or so. Since android hunters lack any weapon that has a range longer than a handgun (and aren't particularly accurate with ranged weapons either), this made damaging him extremely difficult. Add into this that Dark Falz is a MarathonBoss and androids have limited capability to heal themselves, and it basically meant that androids often had to be 5-10 levels higher than anyone else before they could solo Falz and move onto the next difficulty.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: You will rarely find anyone doing anything other than playing the BossRush quest "Towards the Future" over and over again, as it's the fastest way to gain experience, and the easiest way to farm a particular boss for their rare drop.
** By the same token, if you happen to be hunting a very rare item, get used to playing the one quest that spawns the most enemies it drops off of over and over and over and over...
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Sonic Team is behind this game, so it's a given. Not only that, but an unofficial "Premium Edition" for Part 2's soundtrack was done by some of the biggest musicians in video game music because it was that awesome.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The De Rol Le, which doubles as ThatOneBoss as detailed above. The Dragon was a very tame first boss, having very straight forward and easy to avoid attacks. You were probably more like to be killed by having it step on you. The De Rol Le is an entirely different story, having multiple hard hitting attacks, limited windows for the player to deal damage, and new mechanics such as needing to clear out its tick bombs on the platform so you don't blow up. If you haven't been leveling your Mags for the stat boosts or upgrading your equipment set, you will struggle.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The De Rol Le, which doubles as ThatOneBoss as detailed above. The Dragon was a very tame first boss, having very straight forward and easy to avoid attacks. You were probably more like to be killed by having it step on you. The De Rol Le is an entirely different story, having multiple hard hitting attacks, limited windows for the player to deal damage, and new mechanics such as needing to clear out its tick bombs on the platform so you don't blow up.

** The Spaceship from Episode II is a weird example. Not because it's particularly hard, but because there are NO QUESTS offline or online that are primarily set there (even private servers often have little-to-nothing in terms of Spaceship quests). Thus, if you happen to be hunting a seldom-spawning enemy from the Spaceship (like Gran Sorcerers or Baranzs), you have no way of improving your hunt yields; you just have to go through the vanilla level over and over and over and over...

** a glitch with Vol Opt (in both his normal to very hard and ultimate versions) the boss of the mines level renders technique attacks against it's first form to read off the physical attack stat ATP instead of MST as intended this applies to all techs even ones cast from weapon special attacks and weapons like Maser Beam and it's upgrade the Power Maser and it's possible to actually spam these attacks fast enough to prevent Vol Op from even attacking in it's first phase making this a big time saver for players in a hurry this bug makes the normally worthless maser weapons which fire pathetically weak gizondes for their attacks a key weapon for Android rangers when dealing with Vol Opt has this bypasses their goose egg MST stat and uses their ATP instead which is the highest for the ranger classes which allows them to solo Vol Opt first phase.

* NightmareFuel: The final boss starts off in an open meadow with an obelisk. Once you get near it, look at the floor.
* TearJerker: The ending of ''Episode I'', and the realization [[spoiler:that you just killed Rico]]. That, and [[spoiler:the fact that you were ''minutes'' behind her the entire time.]]

** Ultimate difficulty Dark Falz's second phase Rabarta and Rafoie chain attacks gain a element of cheese from speeding up super fast that makes them more hard to avoid than they were on lower difficulty levels. On top of this the Darvants that show up before his first phase and that he spits out in his first phase spawn in threes next to every player a little after these attacks end. If you got frozen by the Rabarta wave version unless you had super high HP you'd get hit by all 3 at once and die and you can't do anything about it making it a really frustrating attack that can easily end a game run.

*** Dark Falz's third form was a nightmare for android players, particularly [=HUcasts=] and [=HUcaseals=]. He [[TeleportSpam jumps around the arena]], rarely sticking in melee range for long, and flickers between semi-invulnerability (he's still vulnerable to techs - which androids don't have - and weapon specials) and vulnerability every 5 seconds or so. Since android hunters lack any weapon that has a range longer than a handgun (and aren't particularly accurate with ranged weapons either), this made damaging him extremely difficult. Add into this that Dark Falz is a MarathonBoss and androids have limited capability to heal themselves, and it basically meant that androids often had to be 5-10 levels higher than anyone else before they could solo Falz and move onto the next difficulty.

* ThatOneAttack: Ultimate difficulty Dark Falz's second phase Rabarta and Rafoie chain attacks gain a element of cheese from speeding up super fast that makes them more hard to avoid than they were on lower difficulty levels and on top of this the little spinners that show up before his first phase and that he spits out in his first phase spawn in threes next to every player a little after these attacks end and if not dead already if you got frozen by the Rabarta wave version unless you had super high HP you'd get hit by all 3 at once and die and you can't do anything about it making it a really frustrating attack that depends what the AI feels can easily end a game run.

* AltItis: Given that there's nine or twelve classes, depending on the version, and ten different section IDs to go through, it's almost unheard of for someone to only have a single character.