Few Questions I Have Regarding Dreamcast PSO (Version 2)

This is regards to the Dreamcast version 2 game.

1) I heard you need keys to access the game even offline. If you have a new copy, will there be any problems using the keys due to the fact the servers have been offline for years? I am only interested in playing offline.

2) Are all the offline quests available on-disc in version 2, minus the obvious small handful of online quests and can the higher difficulty levels be unlocked offline?

Thank you very much.

The first time you insert the game into the system, it asks you for your serials. If you bought a used Dreamcast and the previous owner played PSO, then it's likely that the system already has serials saved to the flash memory, which would allow you to play offline without having any serials. If you've erased your flash memory or otherwise don't have any serials saved, then you will need to enter some. If you have no intention of ever playing online, you could locate a set of shared serials online and bypass the serial check that way.

As for quests, all of the offline story quests exist on V2, except for Soul of a Blacksmith, Letter from Lionel, The Retired Hunter, Soul of Steel, and Central Dome Fire Swirl, which you have to download from the server and save to your VMU. Offline quests generally have low enemy counts and unhelpful NPCs that accompany you during the mission. Difficulties are unlocked by defeating Dark Falz in the previous difficulty.

There is more than a handful of online quests, and those quests are where the best experience and challenge of the game lie, but you can play the game offline exclusively. Perhaps the biggest limitation of playing offline only is that it's impossible to transfer items between your characters, so each character has to find his own stuff. If you find an item on one character that you can't use but would be very useful to a different character, then there's nothing you can do about it.

Thank you very much.

One more odd question.

I've seen some videos where there are ghosts with faces hovering around the last area where you fight Dark Falz. Some videos show them and some don't. It seems to exist in all versions of the game and doesn't seem to have anything to do with difficulty. What's up with that?

Also, is it me or did the DC and GC versions change the color designs of dungeons? Ruins 3 on DC has a different color then Ruins 3 on GC.

In V1, the ghosts appear in all difficulties. In V2, the ghosts only appear on Ultimate. In V3, the ghosts are missing entirely. Areas get reskinned in Ultimate, but V2 is too dark in many places, so Sega raised the game's brightness in V3.