Phantasy Star

I popped in my Sonic's Collection game while waiting for Windows to update, and decided to check out Phantasy Star. The game has all four entries in it, but you have to unlock the first one. I... did not like these games at all, with the exception of 4.

2 and 3 were trout. Most boring JRPGs I've played. I hate the style. 2 is a good example of what happens when you tell instead of show. And the battle system is ugly. 3 gets worse with a more cliche plot. The only game to actually make the style playable is 4, and that still pales in comparison to basically every other JRPG released around this period of time.

Discuss.

I only ever played the Online one for dreamcast. It was meh.

I tried getting into the original a few years back, still plan on beating it someday but I can say that outside of a few really cool technical aspects of it, it wasn't exactly gripping as a game but perhaps I never gave it a shot. I still want to play the whole series though.

2 was bad enough. I can't imagine how much of a regression 1 is going to feel when/if I ever get to it.

I really tried to like this series, but four was the only one that came halfway close.

IV is really good. The writing is kind of :erm:, but the game is fun. I've only played a little of the others. The first one, I believe, was originally released on the Master System.

I remember a friend of mine's brother had a Phantasy Star game. Not sure if it was II or the first one. It always looked fun.

No wonder I could never find a copy of the original. I thought it was on the Genesis for some reason.

Yep, Master System, which is why it needs unlocked on the Genesis collection, as it's not actually a Genesis game xD

But yeah, I missed the first one when it was new and good, and it was too old to enjoy when I got around to it. And while I liked the set-up of the second one, the thing that tore it apart for me was the encounter rate and/or difficulty. It was made in a time when Japan was insane and didn't like to actually play their games, they (for some reason) liked to fight their games way more

Never tried 3, even though I have that collection, it's plot and mechanics never interested me with the fantasy look and feel to it, and the generational evolution of your characters, you don't get to keep your character

4 was a guilty pleasure for me, and outside of phenomenal exceptions of the time (Final Fantasy VI comes to mind) it was one of the best JRPGs of the time. I wasn't a huge fan of the battle system, but the characters, and art style, and presentation were really good. I loved the paneled cut-scenes giving it a comic book / manga flare, and I would have loved to see the evolution of this type of presentation and what goes on in the Algol system generations away. But nope. They never developed the style further. They completely re-wrote the book and ruined the series

I tried a couple of the PSO games, but ugh. No

I'll take Phantasy Star IV

Shining Force was better, but Phantasy Star was a very worthwhile experience

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much better I'm finding 1 to be over 2. At least as far as first impressions go as I just tested it to see if it was working properly. The opening was kind of WTF worthy, but gameplay seems pretty solid. That one random encounter I ran into was crazy since we were both pretty even. Props to having a female protagonist which was pretty rare in the eighties.

Oh wow, a phantasy star thread!

I played this game ALOT (alooooooooooot) when I was a teenager; my brother had episode 1 & 2 for the Gamecube. Greatest game ever, in my opinion, I absolutely adored it. My HUnewearl was called Zelda (obviously :jess:) a redria and I got to level 150 or something - my brother, on the hand, played religiously and got his character to level 200 (and after that I was no longer allowed to play on the same memory card!)

He destroyed the Gamecube by warping so many times too for those damn rares.

Played the online BlueBurst version aswell, quite enjoyed it. Its what my photo is in my profile actually, from such a long time ago!

Ayen provides the PS goodness -nods-

I'm surprised by how much I like I over II and III, as far as first impressions go. Seeing a female protagonist in a game in the eighties was a nice surprise, and the gameplay doesn't make me want to scream for horror right out of the gate. Don't know how I feel about the battle system yet, but that first fight with a common enemy was intense. I was down to 2 HP by the end because I didn't have any money to buy anything from the stores.

pssht, what you on about, the battle system is ace!

Gosh, are you like upto the forest or something :roll:

The caves were my favourite.

https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.M...bcbo0&pid=15.1

Who doesn't want one of these chasing you in the dark?!

All I did was leave the first town. I'm talking about the original game for Sega Master System.

Phantasy Star 1 != Phantasy Star Online 1

xD

Totally different games totally different mechanics :3

This is what happens when a series resets its number.

Though not as half as confusing with the Tomb Raider reboot.