Sega and Phantasy Star

GatorCountry

GatorCountry

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I never ever played any PSO beyond the original Dreamcast release prior to this PSOBB trek I am on currently. I've seen some lamenting here over what Sega has done with the PSO series, and while I agree, I wonder ... have you guys played the Master System and Genesis traditional PS RPGs? Those were pretty brilliant. I don't mind Sega going back to the PSO formula, it's a great game. They once make one once a decade (I know I am exaggerating, no need to correct) so the chances they ever make a menu based traditional J-RPG with the PS-IP is pretty dang slim, but it would be brilliant to play a new game with heavy focus on character development and story. One can dream.


If you like games like the Final Fantasy series, Breath of Fire, and Chrono, and have never played the PS series give them a go. I passed on them for years because I didn't care for the battle animations myself but that was a mistake. It's a wonderful series.

Also, Sega needs to bring Shining Force back to form. Amazing tactical.
 
Hi, I almost completed Phantasy Star I on the GBA collection but had a gamebreaking bug though I don't remember what that was, I just remember I could not get a key item that granted access to what I thought was the last dungeon !
Phantasy Star II I played a bunch but never got really far, it's brutal.
Third game I played only the first generation (did not really like it) and fourth game I know my brother loves it but I don't think I played it much myself.
 
I like IV. It could have been even better based on the original developer plans, but uncle Sega wanted that shit out the door and wasn't too privy to good business decisions at the time. Hasn't aged very well but would still recommend one play through.

The rest of the titles have aged like milk if I'm being real tho.
 
I am almost finished PSIV on the switch emulator. There are some moments that are super fun. My only problem is that it is extremely linear without having a lot of interesting stuff to make up for it, so there are a lot of points where you're just roflstomping random encounters between interesting moments.
 
More seriously,
I have many difficulties being objective with the old Phantasy Star serie since they are very tightly related to my childhood/teenage years.
Nevertheless, when you compare them to their contemporary competitors that are Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest,
they are just not as good.
The most obvious example being FF6 and PS4 that were released the same year.
 
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I like 1-3 for their atmosphere and characters but gameplay wise they're a huge slog. And 2's red flashing and PEOW PEOW PEOW every time an enemy attacks you gives me a headache. Of those three I've only actually finished 1, which I felt was a solid dungeon crawler but it pissed me off how there's basically never anything good in chests. Even near the end of the game you're still finding crap like monomates and flashlights, and a few meseta.

4 though, man 4 is one of the best JRPGs ever. Compared to the above poster, I like it far more than FF6 (then again I'm not a big FF fan, I only really like 1, 5 and Tactics). 1-3 were good for the time but 4 still stands up as a game today. I wish Phantasy Star stuck with 4's anime Star Wars setting rather than going full generic anime after PSO.

Also, if you like Shining Force and haven't heard of FEDA, you might want to check that out. It shares some of Shining Force's staff including character designers but in a darker kinda war-movie-y setting with an alignment meter. It's not an amazing game but it's got some cool ideas.
 
I never got into Dragon's Quest to be honest. I don't have a good reason why. It has all the right elements to be one of my favorite series but I just always found it boring. Same with Lufia. I can't blame stuff like grinding or encounter rate when I'm a huge BoF and PS fan. I should like those games and trust me I've tried but DQ and Lufia are two legendary RPG series that I have no love for.

The internet has taught me my tastes in RPGs are usually minority. I like Cross more than Trigger, 8 is my favorite Final Fantasy, and Ys 5 is actually the best A-RPG on Super Nintendo ... Not A Link to the Past. Which, trust me, I know now are all fightin' words. So, I'm not terribly surprised people don't have as fond memories of PS as I do. Which is fine, but, all y'all're wrong. ;)
 
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