/vr/ - Retro Games

>>10183809
There was nothing like it. The art was an anime style the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive didn't have much of besides its sequel and like, El Viento, it was a damn hard challenge that had the classic dungeon-crawling RPG style down to a sadistic T, and good luck getting relatively dark sci-fi adventures in the genre at the time that wasn't the JP-only Star Ocean (which is still only partly sci-fi). PSII is still probably one of the most distinct games in the entire library that managed to stand out even compared to its sequels.

>>10183809
isn't it the first 16-bit RPG ever made? i think that's part of it

>>10183809
>at the time
>1999 is a decade after PS2 released

>>10183809
It may have been just one of the very few jap rpg's that were actually known in the west.
I remember being a stupid kid who didn't even have any consoles and I knew about this game. I remember watching a friend play it on his mega drive. I think this and Shining Force 2 were the only JRPG's I knew about.
Remember, FF7 blew a lot of peoples minds. It was a pretty unknown genre.

>>10183809
Literally came out before the first Final Fantasy in the West despite the difference in generations.

>>10183836
>There was nothing like it.

it's literally uglier than the first game

>>10183809
NEI!
PSIV was way better btw

>>10183809
This guy >>10184380 is right.
I beat PS2. It's your typical dungeon crawler-style RPG (with top-down view I mean), but it has hellish mazes. I had to map them all out after the first half of the game.
the original hasn't aged that well though. first off, every time you get hit, the game pauses for a few seconds while the screen flashes bright red. second, the walk speed is atrociously slow.
it is still great if you like this kind of game, the challenge is what makes it good. BUT, you really want a patch for it that fixes the 2 issues mentioned above. it has surprisingly good depth for an early RPG, there are many good class and equipment combinations, and generally tactics do matter in combat. (alas, Phantasy Star 4 completely misses that part, though it's an improvement in most other directions)

>>10184627
>NEI!
I hate that I shifted into this reality from my original reality where I distinctly remember as a kid when the game came out I used Shir to steal everything including a Moondew prior to fighting Neifirst. So I was able to keep Nei alive for the rest of the game and use the Neibar that also doesn't exist in this reality that you found in late game that normally you can't use because Nei died in the beginning.

I hate that the closest you can get to my reality in this one is some stupid patch that still breaks the game because in this reality Nei is supposed to die and there are still no Neibars.

>>10185565
>nooo not the neierino nooo
I was happy when I got a free party slot. Nei nah neh nah, bitch

>>10183809
Not only that but when IV came out, many publications said it was a disappointment compared to II.

>>10186194
lmao. but personally I'd agree, it's a bit disappointing. starts out extremely strong, gets really bland and lazy after around the middle. no tactics to the combat whatsoever, just spam skills. no real challenge. short and easy dungeons, like they were apologizing for PS2. can't change your party. still decent game, but the gameplay is just not on the same level.

>>10183809
This is the second time I've seen someone mistake the Text Adventures for the actual game lol. The JP cover of this game looks great.

>>10183809
Having played it at the time of release (admittedly too young to properly appreciate it, and unable to save due to it being on Sega Channel) it made smallest impression on me out of 2, 3, and 4 which were also available. I got the GBA collection later on in life and honestly enjoyed 1 and 3 significantly more.
It’s mostly the dungeons and the encounter rate. All of the games are guilty of this to some extent but I stand by 2 being the worst about both.
In the last 2 months I’ve actually gone back and beaten all 4 for their original consoles. I literally beat 4 last night. I’m still stewing on my feelings a bit, but as I sit now 2 was probably my least favorite. It had charm, but the dungeons just truly suck a lot of the fun out of it. 3 only edges it out on it’s interesting ideas.
Admittedly 2 had a cool ass ending though.

>>10186317
Strong legs:torso ratio

>>10186317
why is her ass so flat

>>10186782
It was an error in production, they fixed it with Rika.

>>10186818
still too flat

>>10186818
WHORE!!!!

>>10186818
>becomes even sexier
many such cases

Bump for Mei

>>10186818
time to post Fal/Rika

>>10186818
God I hate PSO. Soulless cashgrab garbage. I will keep saying that PS ended on the IV. Everything ahead was just soulless cashgrab.

>>10190886
Nah PSO is fun and was a creative change to 3D. I like reading up on how PSO was originally going to continue off being PSIII sequel with Wrens model type almost making an appearance and Ragol looking exactly like the planet from Crys ending.

>>10190992
PSOII is dogshit and now is filled with trannies in the staff.

>>10191006
Pso2 had fantastic boss battles and great combat. EP1-3 and Ep 6 were great.

>>10191014
Tranny opinion doesn't matter.

>>10191006
Are you referring to base PSO2 or NGS? Because PSO2 was a blast. I only played it with my friends so idgaf about the community.

>>10191048
sounds like a (you) problem

>>10191160
Join the 53%, troon.
>>10191125
NGS is even worse.

>>10191248
impotent rage

I wish PSII got a better remake.
>>10191251
>already thinking about genitalia
See? And don't project your self mutilation on me. Leave this thread.

>>10191267
>still seething

>>10191248
Rent free

>>10191310
>white males
so, trannies?

>>10191328
UR A FUCKING WHITE MAIL

>>10191328
You tacitly called yourself a tranny, gotem

>>10185565
Where's the reality where you're not a faggot?

>>10190886
PSO is a great game and earns it's place with it's genesis entries, it's PSO2 where things really went off the rails, even if I actually quite liked the base game.

>>10183809
its fine

oh fuck

>>10193770
Frankly, you could just get Neishot / Neislasher and leave. There isn't much more interesting stuff there. I beat Ikuto on my own by mapping it, after that I was quite overleveled, so the last area of the game was too easy.

For me it's Kyra.

>>10183809
Because it's really fucking cool for about an hour or two, and the atmosphere and music sticks with you forever.

I wonder how painful PS II is on the GBA with its small screen and the game's hellish dungeon design.

>>10195174
its not any different. the potential to have your save file wipe bug out and wipe for no fucking reason is something i worried about much more often.

>>10194920
>Sailor Mercury design
>feels like a rushed / filler character that hasn't been fleshed out much
>annoying and plays the "big sister of the group" (what)
>fucks off after couple dungeons
nah

>>10196505
Don't care, still would

>>10190992
If you fanwank hard enough Ragol is Algo and Pioneer is the ship that first bought human beings to the Algo system... so it is a prequel to the original games. The Motavians were uh just in hiding or something.

>>10183836
As someone who played it in the early 1990s in Europe, I can confirm this. I had had no prior exposure to anime or manga (it would be quite a few years before dubbed anime movies started appearing on VHS video) and all of a sudden there was this gigantic Megadrive game that took months and months to complete, with an adult story and an AMAZING heretofore unseen aesthetic... Blew my tiny mind as a kid, like a whole new world opened up.

>>10190734
Wow, nice butt

>>10184627
When PSIV remake on Switch? Mario RPG format or FFVII remake format?

>>10190886
>>10190734
>>10190992
Too bad lead designer pass away. V wouldn’t exist…

>>10198873
If they ever make a PSV they need to have a shota Alisa descendant protagonist who romances a newman girl with huge fucking titties and their needs to be a grumpy talking perverted Rappy as the animal mascot. This is a series about bio engineered cat-girls designed to be breed for the sake of mankind. Dont like it? fuck you.

>>10198898
I'd want it

Have you noticed how they keep completely changing Newmans in each game?
original series: cat people
online: space clowns
universe: japanese
zero: anime-haired aliens
online 2: no difference from humans

>>10183809
Because good games like FFX and FFIX weren't out yet

>>10202034
>FFX
>good
It's the worst FF game that is still actually Final Fantasy

it was the biggest cartridge size at the time, not even close. phantasy star 2 was a behemoth game. should have been given more than 4 months of dev time though.

>>10184683
>generally tactics do matter in combat. (alas, Phantasy Star 4 completely misses that part
From what I remember, combat in PS2 is rudimentary. There are a total of two types of damage: physical attack, that is affected by defence and everything else, that bypasses it. When they making PS4 they went in the opposite direction and overcomplicated it. Here's a rundown:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/genesis/563334-phantasy-star-iv/faqs/23221
And then there are unique monster mechanics like when there's only one infant worm left it triggers the big worm.

>>10202605
you got it wrong. first, 2 types of damage are pretty important. they make you think twice how to attack instead of just hitting with your tank all day.
second, PS2 allows for a lot of cool tactics. i.e.: give a character double shield and put him in the first row. you think this sounds lame, but Kain gets some crazy defence rating like this with the right equipment. he tanks the damage, while other chars in back row attack.
then there are the items like Snow Crown, Storm Gear, healing items, etc., that are a bit broken but allow for even more cool stuff. example: Shir is considered useless, but in reality she has the highest speed in the game. she can start any fight by casting Deban and halving the damage for the whole party.
>When they making PS4 they went in the opposite direction and overcomplicated it.
it sounds complex on paper. in reality, turn order is way too random to have real tactics. you can't choose your party. you are almost always given only 1 best option for equipment. elements may matter, or may not. 90% of time they won't change much, enemies don't take long to kill anyway with skill spam. and while there was one cool element (instakill vs dark enemies, Holyword), you lose Raja way too quickly to make any use of it.

>>10183848
Lolwut

>>10202605
>And then there are unique monster mechanics like when there's only one infant worm left it triggers the big worm.
this is literally 1 gimmick in the whole game.

>>10201951
It's called character development

>>10202660
On top of my head.
Ooses fuse into big oose. Bladeright and Hakenleft combine into Pan Arms. Arthropod and Wiredine combine to Life Deleter.
Floatmine self-destructs if it survives a hit.
Xe-A-Thouls couterattack if attacked with AoE.

>>10202704
ok, those are good and all, but I just mean that they don't fundamentally change much.
the tactics here hardly matter when most enemies can be killed either with 1 "big single-target attack" skill like Crosscut, or 2 multi-hit attack skills. moreover, there's enough instakills with high % of hitting, that make clearing enemies even easier.
virtually every character in the game has these types of skills, at least 2 of them. even Rune, who is supposed to be a mage, has those, and they do about same damage as physical attacks of Chaz / Rika / etc. Rune also almost never runs out of mana, and even if he did, the dungeons are short as is, so he's not so different from Chaz / Rika who become very similar as the game progresses.
despite that, the turn order being random, enemies also do significant damage. there isn't much you can do to protect from it. sure, Rika has Deban, but with her low magic stat it's pretty weak—and hardly worth using a turn for if you could just spam attacks instead, potentially killing 1 or more enemies.
so any sort of tactics is almost pointless. even the elements don't matter too much as getting 50% more or so on a magic attack hardly matters when you have 5 characters, and likely only 1 has access to the needed element.

>>10186782
>>10186820
>burger hours

>>10202291
I am not a huge fan of X but it's still better than VIII and II.

>>10194920
>>10196863
I wish Kyra had more skills in the game. She is by far the weakest member.

>>10198898
Without Profound Darkness, what would it be issue of the next Millennium?

>>10204390
>MMO grindfest
>no overworld
>incomprehensible gook worldbuilding
>better than 8
Massively filtered

>>10196969
For me it was Ragol = Earth from the PS3 ending where the Palma worldships bring DF to earth which cause the Earthmen to leave and start the plot of PS2

>>10184627
PSIV is so fucking generic gameplay wise and doesn't have any of the interesting parts of PS I and II. The story is the only thing it has going.

>>10190886
PSO has more in common with PSI-IV than anything after PSO has in common with PSO

>>10204425
The PSIV artist, Yoshibon in the Phanta fan doujin discussed in the past the he would do a game about Rika/Chaz and Alis descendants teaming up and facing against newman racism due to the newman over population. Kodama and Tsugama discussed wanting it too also involve Alis descendant but a fourteenth generation reincarnation of Lutz would take the main lead and face off against The Great Light.

Funny enough PSU used some of the ideas from whatever concepts they had for PSV laying around. Karen is a Great Light follower and Izuma Rutsu is literally just a Lutz reincarnation.

>>10204770
I do with The Great Light had been explored more. If you really think about it, human beings are essentially just ants living on a padlock that the Light had set up, they just happen be convenient for sealing Falz, otherwise there is no affinity there.

Also not that I don't believe you, but where can I see firsthand sources for these concepts?

>>10204719
PS1-3 have nothing interesting going on in the gameplay. They're just some of the worst jrpgs.

>>10204781
I think yoshibon posted on his twitter. You might have to scroll his media tab.
https://twitter.com/yoshibon_club

>>10204781
from the Phanta doujin and the Kodama interview:
http://www.pscave.com/other/compendium/page36-40.shtml

>>10204770
>>10204781
>>10204792
>>10204793
But why the Great Light? Isn't like..the good God that went away to do whatever?

I deeply wish A LOT for Sega to make a Phantasy Star anime adaptation. Fuck that Online. I want the original ones as anime. It can be perfect!

>>10204812
Like I said, it's only a "good" God insofar as it's the enemy of the other "evil" god which threatens human civilization just by existing. The entire Algol system, people included is just an elaborate tool built to keep The Profound Darkness locked up. There's really no telling how The Great Light would feel about humankind once their purpose has been fulfilled and they start spreading to different galaxies.

>>10204636
>grindfest
There is exactly one point in the game where you have to grind for like 1 hour unless you plan on doing all the dumb extra bullshit added in the international version
>no overworld
I agree with this point
>incomprehensible gook worldbuilding
You say this like square has ever had good world building
>better than 8
By a large margin, 8 might as well be an antigame it's extremely unfun to play and replaces grinding combat with grinding draw points. It has hands down the worst story in an FF game, shit is so contrived it makes a modern bethesda game look like a masterpiece. The worst part is how 8 feels like it should be a good game but completely falls apart by disc 2 then somehow manages to keep getting worse until it's finally over, you are left scratching your head wondering what kind of meth those slant eyed demons were cooking up to come up with something as retarded as a bunch of orphan college students fighting a time traveling demon witch god that is also a love story.

>>10204862
The entire endgame is a massive 100hr long super boss grindfest for mats to make ultimate weapons and armor
>better than 8
Every point you make here reeks of homosexuality, and I mean this without insult or irony. I can tell that you are gay from your shit taste in romantic adventure alone

Has anybody done a run in PSII with Amy always using the paralysis gun? Does it keep working?
I'm not sure if to go Rolf, Rudo, Anna, Hugh or Rolf, Rudo, Anna, Amy.
Or maybe even Rolf, Rudo, Hugh, Amy if Anna's damage goes to shit.

>>10205348
Anna is great for dungeon crawling portions, kinda shit for the 3 bosses though, she's better off throwing items there.
Amy is a good healer, in normal battle i'd usually just have her evoke storm gear/fire staff depending on what im fighting.
Kain's robot killing magic works against everything on noah including bosses for some reason.
Shir is really fast and will usually act first, making her good for using starmist or evoking protection magic equipment, can have problems if she steals on dezo though.
Hugh is shit.
Rudo is a tank, Rolf is required.
Easiest party I've found is Rudo, Rolf, Kain, Amy, but any combo can work with the right prep and strategy

>>10205505
>Easiest party I've found is Rudo, Rolf, Kain, Amy
No real point in Amy if you have items that cast Gires when used (Crescent Gear, Amber Robe, Aegis, Truth Sleeves)
Hugh has highest defense in game if he has his best equipment + double shield. he can use Storm Gear + Savol that similarly affects every enemy in the last few dungeons (after you get the prism) and Noah. Savol has very pretty high hit % too (I think I read it's 70%).

>>10205505
>Kain's robot killing magic works against everything on noah including bosses for some reason.
There are three enemy types: the biomonsters, the robots and the magical enemies in the late game. Kain doesn't work on the first and Hugh doesn't work in the second. The third is vulnerable to both Kain AND HUGH.

RPG fans in the early 90s liked dungeon crawlers. RPG fans today like cutscenes. That's why a game like Phantasy Star 2, which is one of the best top down dungeon crawlers ever made, was widely liked back then but newer players complain about it and say it is bad.

>>10205902
I still like dungeon crawlers which is why I prefer PSII over IV.

Though I wish they had kept the 1st person dungeons instead of top-down

>>10184380
Kind of weird how FF1 is now considered this classic whereas PS2 is very niche. PS2 is a lot better than FF1. I guess the Genesis really wasn't that big until Sonic.

>>10206340
At least SEGA beat Square in the online department.
>Phantasy Star Online 2 is estimated to have 3,701,962 total players or subscribers.
>the daily player count of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn to be 867,424, with a total player base of 45,653,879
fug

>>10205902
i fucking hate the PSII dungeons just because they're top down and MUCH harder to map. i'd like PSII better if they preserved the first person dungeons.

>>10205902
to be fair, PSII dungeons can filter anyone. even SNES RPGs rarely require you to map stuff out, unless we talk actual "dungeon crawlers" like SMT. and the walk speed is super slow.
there's a lot of more minor stuff to complain about too. the screen flashes bright red every time you take damage. weapons' atk values make little sense, it literally doesn't matter for guns too. playing it without a guide can get pretty confusing, choosing bad party members can backfire. I don't know if you'd ever find out about visiphone either.
and I don't envy anyone who beat Ikuto (see >>10193770) back in the day.

>>10183864
What? Your timeline is incorrect retard

>>10183809
I wish they spent more time on the city/town graphics. They look terrible and its one of the first things you see