Phantasy Star Universe -- A Full Offline Phantasy?

So in the last PSU entry I said I'd cover the combat next. Well, I lied it seems. The biggest change in turning Phantasy Star Online into Phantasy Star Universe has to be in offering up a supposedly full-fledged offline game. I have completed the offline portion of the game. It took me roughly twenty-three hours. If you're expecting a Phantasy Star IV experience you're going to be disappointed. The offline game uses the same engine as the online game of course. And although they're trying to give people a full offline game, the engine is clearly designed for the online aspects of the disc. A lot of people would say Phantasy Star Online didn't even have a story. I would say it had a great story. A story you had to pull out of the game. A great story for those willing enough and thorough enough to find one. The story in PSO was entirely found online. In this regard, Phantasy Star Universe is a true improvement. The offline story is simple and easy to follow and is clearly presented. There are some caveats though. It's half told through voiced in-game scenes and FMV, and the text bubbles of Phantasy Star Online. The characters use pantomime and their text is almost of an 8-bit style. This is going to turn off a lot of people. The story is also very Japanese anime. In other words, if this were subtitled in English with spoken Japanese, it would be considered awesome. But since it's dubbed in English it's suddenly crap. The story isn't going to set the world on fire. It is however good. It messes around with Phantasy Star themes in general. The story definitely feels like Phantasy Star. The Gurhal System isn't Algo nor is it Ragol. It's a new universe which allows them to mix things up and reintroduce characters in different form from the original Phantasy Star games. You have characters from the first four Phantasy Star games re-imagined. The standard Phantasy Star themes of nature Vs. science and technology, corruption, religion, racism, and light and dark are all put into play in Phantasy Star Universe. I like how they mixed things up and repositioned the players. Some of the plot twists are straight out of the classic Phantasy Star games. There is one aspect I wish they'd focused more on. The darkness is left pretty much untouched. The story is supposedly only partially told in the offline game. It's supposed to go on in the online portion of the game. I have my theories on the dark aspect of the story, but I'd like to seem them proven true. The story is broken up into chapters, just like an anime television show. It even features the same opening and ending to each episode as if it were the opening and closing of a show. It's a very cool way of telling the story. They also title and preview each episode just like anime shows. You should be able to get a Phantasy Star Online level tale out of it. The re-imagining aspect of it keeps it separated from the others beyond the general way that the darkness spreads throughout existence. Overall I'd say the story is well worth playing through the offline game. The offline story is not an afterthought, but it's not a true stand alone effort either.