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Phantasy Star 1-4

 
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Phantasy Star [ 1 ]  [50.00%]
Phantasy Star II [ 0 ]  [0.00%]
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom [ 0 ]  [0.00%]
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium [ 1 ]  [50.00%]
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Posted: 25th July 2016 08:00

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In the last couple of years I've been playing the original Phantasy Star series on Master System and Genesis/Megadrive.
After finishing IV I looked back and said "Man, what a journey." Especially as they've a mostly continuous story.

CoN being the hotbed of rabid 16bit jRPG fandom it is, I reckon many of you would enjoy Phantasy Star. It felt like a different take on the format than Square's was, at least.

I'd recommend beginning with 1. It's a good balance, similar difficulty to FF1 NES maybe. I drew my own maps for the dungeons, something I haven't done before, it was pretty fun.

2 is brutal. The most challenging jRPG I've ever played. I looked up maps and hints online from time to time and will never forgive myself. unsure.gif
An interesting thing to note about 2 if we want to do comparisons is the release date: 1989. This places it alongside FF2 and 3, rather than FF games on the SNES.

3 sucks. I may elaborate if anyone has an interest in this game.

4 stands shoulder to shoulder with FF6/CT. I said it.

So has anyone finished any of these games and have thoughts on them?
If not, I lay down the challenge now!

This post has been edited by Blinge Odonata on 25th July 2016 08:02

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Posted: 27th July 2016 05:53
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I've played through 4 and loved it. It still doesn't beat FFVI and CT in my opinion, but it certainly comes close. Chaz, Alys and crew are to this day among my favorite RPG characters.

I tried playing 2 and 3, but in 3 I kept running into I-don't-know-where-to-go-next syndrome, and in 2 I couldn't stomach the grind. I gave up on each after a couple of hours, but I might be willing to give 2 a second shot if the EXP curve were adjusted or somesuch. I hear the story is among the best for old-school JRPGs.
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Posted: 27th July 2016 11:42

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Ah yeah. The thing with 2 is you have to approach it quite differently than most 16bit jrpg's. Once you're beefy enough to make it to the first dungeon you're good to go. Then you have to keep enough MP to warp back to town when needs be, or have a couple of telepipes ready for that purpose.
The time spent exploring/mapping out the labyrinthine dungeons removes the need for directly grinding.

I'd recommend 1 as the difficulty curve is more forgiving. I like the first person dungeons too.

The plot for 2 is decent. It's much darker than usual jRPG fare.
However story comes through more in world-building/lore than the characters themselves. Dialogue and character building is somewhat thin, but I give it a pass considering the game is contemporary with FF2.

The general lack of text is seen as a strength by some - considering the difficulty and characters defined by their classes/traits rather than dialogue. I've heard it likened to oldschool pc RPGs, with the control benefits of a console.

Animated enemies are nice.

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Posted: 27th July 2016 18:01

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I never have owned any Sega console, unless you count a Dreamcast I snagged for free a few years back and can't test because it has no power supply. So, I missed out on all of these games and have never circled back to them. I've heard excellent things about them, especially IV, but I just don't see me taking on an entire series, especially now knowing that the storylines progress throughout.

That said, CoNchat has long been a collective fan of wonky Phantasy Star localizations, so that's a big plus.



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Posted: 28th July 2016 01:45

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I got all 4 of 'em. PS1 on Wii VC, and 2-4 on Steam.

Phantasy Star was the first rpg I was ever introduced to. It literally taught me what Hit Points were. I ended up getting into Final Fantasy when I got older and started getting consoles of my own, but back when I was 5-6, the neighbor kids' Phantasy Star and Phantasy Star II playing was what really informed me that there was this other genre of games where twitch actions were not as important as math skills and reading.

Phantasy Star 3 is a steaming load of elephant feces and should be ignored. I didn't get it by choice, it was just part of the Mega Drive Classics Pack that had 2-4.

Phantasy Star IV just barely fails to match FF6/CT, in my opinion. It is good, fantastic even, but those games (FF6/CT) have Ted Woolsey localizations...PS4, not so much.

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Posted: 28th July 2016 17:55

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Quote (Spooniest @ 28th July 2016 01:45)
Phantasy Star 3 is a steaming load of elephant feces and should be ignored. I didn't get it by choice, it was just part of the Mega Drive Classics Pack that had 2-4.

Phantasy Star IV just barely fails to match FF6/CT, in my opinion. It is good, fantastic even, but those games (FF6/CT) have Ted Woolsey localizations...PS4, not so much.

Oh does the poll not let you tick multiple options?

Haha, I'm not sure I'd count his localisations as a plus.
I know 6 has a lot of love here obviously, and I'm half-reliving it through my gf atm as she plays it for the first time. However there are some ways in which PSIV has it beat.
The pace, man. The pace!
The animated enemy sprites moving in time to the awesome battle music; how god damn fast the battles and movement are in general. A lot of enemies deal big damage but aren't sponges - so it's usually over quickly, for better or worse.

The combined techs/spells are cool; and really saved my skin on multiple occasions but they're not guaranteed to come out every time like in Chrono Trigger.
These two things alone made the 'bread and butter' gameplay very enjoyable for me. It never felt like a drag.

One criticism I'd level is that I barely died at all. It's definitely easier than 1 and 2. Although, one does tend to get better at the genre after ploughing through a few jRPGs.

I'd say you can definitely play IV first, without playing the others. However some parts of the story are way more impactful after playing 1 and/or 2 first.

here's some cool dungeon music from II
https://youtu.be/gCoQKJk1xwI

https://youtu.be/BWHzlfPHFdU

III I would only recommend for freaks like me who want to complete whole series. The story is almost irrelevant to the series, although it is based in a really cool concept/reveal which I won't spoil.
It looks & plays bland in comparison, is a grind in the early game, and a complete sleepwalk later on. The different generations you can play as are too similar anyway.

This post has been edited by Blinge Odonata on 28th July 2016 17:59

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Posted: 28th July 2016 23:01

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Quote (Blinge Odonata @ 28th July 2016 12:55)
Haha, I'm not sure I'd count his localisations as a plus.

After things like "The defence of the castle must be tighten immediately" in FF4 (or II as it was called at the time), I think FF6 was fair for its time.

Woolsey did a pretty durn good job with no budget and one month. And Chrono Trigger is nearly without blemish, as well. I think the guy did his homework, at least, is what I can say for him.

I was used to absolute crap translations coming out left and right in those days.

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Posted: 1st August 2016 15:48

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I've long been curious about the PhS universe but haven't found a good way to get into it.

I tried playing Phantasy Star 1 once and I was kinda off-put by the dungeons. I'm a bit less inclined to draw my own maps (I also ran into this as a feature in Etrian Odyssey and I didn't really enjoy it that much).

But if you're telling me that the difficulty curve of PhS1 is pretty decent, I guess I'll revisit it sometime.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 1st August 2016 15:49

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Posted: 2nd August 2016 07:13

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Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 1st August 2016 15:48)
I've long been curious about the PhS universe but haven't found a good way to get into it.

I tried playing Phantasy Star 1 once and I was kinda off-put by the dungeons. I'm a bit less inclined to draw my own maps (I also ran into this as a feature in Etrian Odyssey and I didn't really enjoy it that much).

But if you're telling me that the difficulty curve of PhS1 is pretty decent, I guess I'll revisit it sometime.

If you do play it I'd like to hear your thoughts here or on steam!

If you don't wanna map then I'd suggest doing your best in the dungeons until absolutely hopelessly lost, then looking some up. I know of a decent site with relatively spoiler free maps.

It won't be a problem for the first few dungeons.

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Posted: 6th August 2016 01:40

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Played 2, 3, and 4: finished 2 and 4

PS3 I played past the first cutscene and into the town then quit because I didn't figure out how to save.

PS4 I find find analogous to FF4 in the story progression and the revolving party. It really benefits from fast walking speed and fast paced random battles. Having separate skills that don't rely on TP gives randoms more flavor to since many can be freely used without reducing resources relevant to boss fights.

Even though I find PS4 the superior entry in the original series, I seem to spend more time with the 2nd game. I use maps and the game still puts up a challenge. Clunky menus, slow walking speed, and complex dungeons make it difficult to recommend. I tried it specifically for the high difficulty.

This post has been edited by DragonKnight Zero on 17th August 2016 03:26
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