A list of assorted tricks that can be done in Phantasy Star Online. Archived, for your convenience.
Shop won't sell those expensive-as-hell Star Atomizers for your kick-ass Mag? Gotta' pipe back and fourth to town in hopes of getting the shop to sell them? No problem! Go to an area (Forest Caves, etc.), set up a pipe, and ask another player to set another one up next to yours. You can use his over and over without it ever dissapearing (saving time and money, especially if you're an android).
Smacking other players around
This trick allows you to hit other players with magic (so androids can't do this). It does no damage, but it sure is funny. First, you must to go 'Customize' in the start menu and put the Resta spell to any button on the R menu. Next, put either Zonde, Gizonde, Grants, or Megid on any non-R key. Exit from menu and head to an area with an unsuspecting pal. When there, hold down your R button, your friend should be targeted. Let off of R button and hit the button that your Zonde, Grants, whatever is programmed to VERY QUICKLY (WITHOUT casting Resta). If done correctly, you will trick the game into targeting your pal with an offensive spell, instead of Resta, and the spell will hit him, making that amusing "SMACK" sound. The whole process requires VERY precise timing (and thus tons of practice). When mastered, you can use this trick to build up people's Photon Blast, which can be very helpful.
"They spin! Woah!"
As far as I know, most people don't know this one. During the win screen after Dark Falz (the "You are a hero" thing) The game shows a seemingly 2D image of everyone in the room. Next to everyone's name is a picture of their character, who is striking a pose. Press the L or R triggers to rotate the character models. Cool, eh? Not really.
The Escape from the stupid ass Ceiling Trap
I figured this one out the other day, and after many rigourous (well not really) tests, found that it worked. Basically, if you're in ruins and you get clomped on by one of those annoying ass ceiling traps, just go to your inventory quickly, drop an item, any item, and hit start again to get out of the inventory. Then you are able to move freely, out of the trap. Attack the trap to destroy it, or wait for it to blow up, then pick up your item, or whatever you dropped. Meow!
Lobby Fun
Lobbies can be seriously boring sometimes.. But if you think this trick will ease that boredom for more than 30 seconds at a time, you're sadly mistaken.. But I'll tell you anyway =) First, you must have a Dreamcast keyboard (if you don't have a DC keyboard you're a l4m3r anyway :)) Press and hold the ALT key and press any F-key (F1, F2, etc) to go into one of twelve (one for each F-key) battle animations.. It's fun, but it ain't no lobby soccer, that's for sure. :)
Wall-Sliding
Okay, this one's a little tricky. It allows you to walk through walls and laser fences. Before I begin, take note that THIS TRICK DOES NOT WORK WITH FOMARLS because none of their fight animations have backsteps. Okay, now find a locked door and unequip whatever weapon you're using (so you're bear-handed). What you want to do is shimmy yourself into the nook between the door and the wall on either side of the door so that YOUR BACK IS TO THE DOOR at a slight angle. Now, if you go into a three-hit attack combo from this angle, you should NOT be moving forward. At the end of the third stroke, your character should do a small backstep, which will allow you to "slide" into the door a little. Reposition yourself next to the wall again (WITHOUT stepping out of the door) and repeat what I just told you. After you've repeated a few times, you should be about halfway into the door By now you can usually wiggle the rest of the way through. It's not really super-helpful, but it comes in handy every now and then. Also note that there are a few doors in Ruins that have no walls next to them, amd thus can't be wall-slid.
Activating those stupid pillars in offline mode? Psh.
Sucks, huh? Using the method above, you can wall-slie through the blocked door at the ends of Mines 2, going directly to Ruins. You can shove those pillars where the sun don't shine, buddy.
Spectator mode
note: To do this trick, you must have two controllers.
Insert a second controller into port B, hold down the L and R triggers, and press up on the d-pad. You will now be in spectator mode. Watch as your friends make fools of themselves! See what it's like to get owned from Nei's P.O.V.! See how stupid you look from OTHER people's eyes! It's all good!
Snapshots!
note: You must have a second controller, a VMU that is COMPLETELY EMPTY, and a DC web browser to do this. For a list of compatible browsers, click here.
So, you've met a bunch of people on PSO.. You've had hundreds of journies with them, and want a picture to cherish forever. Insert a controiller into port D and a completely empty VMU into it's REAR slot of that controller. Get your buds together, stike a pose for the camera, and press A+START (for a full-screen shot) or X+START (for a closeup of the center of the screen) on the controller in port D. After saving, you should have a huge save file on that VMU that is completely usless at this point. Fire up a DC web browser and go to http://pso.donut.dhs.org to have the save file turned into a jpg picture file and e-mailed to whatever e-mail address you choose. The picture can then be uploaded to the net and shared with your friends. Enjoy!