Does anyone know if a Live account is required to play PSO in OFFLINE mode?

yes, it is

With a little patching it can be done (patch can be found at xbox-saves)

I wouldn't think it'd be that fun without being online though.

i assure you it's fun offline
then again i only had the dreamcast pso version 1 and played it online so there were always new people and new codes when it got dangerous lol
but since this xbox one, ive played it offline for over 37 hours and had it less than a week now
i of course didn't use the cheat shit on this one, i prefer to earn the rares, not make em as common as meseta drops
only cheat of any kind that i've applied to this game was the god equip cuz i like some weapons from all classes...(not sure bout force weapons i guess)
the game takes forever to complete on all difficulty settings then yer on to episode 2 which is completely different
maybe i like it so much from my dreamcast days but it seems fun

i'll admit i've used the NOL code on people before but it's always for good reasons like they steal my shit when trading or they attempt to PK, CK, NOL, or do any other annoying thing to me
i really did start out legit
now this xbox version, i can't really cheat to my liking so earning stuff is tough but makes the game more entertaining for longer
i did hear they cheat on xbox pso while online but i dunno

Live detects "cheaters" on PSO on Live, and they get banned. For example, these players have items that lower leveled characters can't achieve.

QUOTE (shanafan @ Oct 11 2003, 09:54 PM)

Live detects "cheaters" on PSO on Live, and they get banned. For example, these players have items that lower leveled characters can't achieve.

yea i figured that
but what if someone trades it to em?

like for instance if a friend gave another friend a really cool weapon to use later when he has the exp to equip it