/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.9058352]

How do you rate the Phantasy Star games?

[Anonymous No.9058358]

IV >>>>>>>>> II > I >>>>>>>>>>>>> IIi

[Anonymous No.9058406]

>>9058352
IV >>> I > II >>>> III

[Anonymous No.9058445]

>>9058352
10/10

[Anonymous No.9058483]

1 > 2 > 3 > 4

[Anonymous No.9058485]

>>9058483
Justify this

[Anonymous No.9058554]

SEPARATED AT BIRTH???

[Anonymous No.9058786]

4 is the only one that's actually good. I is shallow and derivative, II is a poorly designed and tedious slog, III is legit dogshit.
>>9058358
I agree with this except swap II and I.

[Anonymous No.9058790]

UGGGARRGHH WHICH ANIME GIRLS ARE BETTER
MUH WAIFU
MUH DIK
*FAP*FAP*FAP*FAP*

[Anonymous No.9058795]

>>9058352
Online.

[Anonymous No.9058938]

>>9058352
1>4>2>3>everything else doesn't really count although the first PSO on dreamcast was fun

[Anonymous No.9058952]

Are there any other games with a similar fantasy/sci-fi mix? Crystalis is one of the only ones that readily comes to mind.

[Anonymous No.9058980]

>>9058952
Maybe try SaGa Frontier. To be honest I'm playing through PSII and it's a very different vibe from other JRPGs I've played, and I've gone through Crystalis on GBC.

[Anonymous No.9058987]

>>9058352
IV > 1 >= 2 > 3
I like them all though

[Anonymous No.9059079]

>>9058980
>and I've gone through Crystalis on GBC.
poor bastard

[Anonymous No.9059085]

I'm going to have to try these again soon. I've only walked around for a bit in 1, but it seemed obtuse and like I would need a guide for everything as the game wasn't intuitive and kept info from me. I'm working my way through DQ1 and was surprised at how it doesn't feel dated at all and it came out BEFORE Phantasy Star.

[Anonymous No.9059094]

>>9058952
I want to say Star Ocean but the first three were like 80% fantasy setting and 20% sci-fi trappings. Oftentimes because the sci-fi aspect gets pushed aside for ye olde traveling a medieval-like alien world.

It's not retro, but there's an indie title called Cosmic Star Heroine released a few yeas ago that was inspired by the Phantasy Star series for its setting, Chrono Trigger for its sprite makeup, with a battle system not unlike Grandia's. Might be worth checking out, it's pretty cheap these days.

[Anonymous No.9059112]

>>9058790
PS1 has Alis so if that's your criteria then it wins.

[Anonymous No.9059124]

>>9059094
>new game
Nah

[Anonymous No.9059231]

>play an improvement hack version of 1 for the master system
>just use a guide the whole way through
>basically just doing chores
>by the end of the game, I was just happy it was over
>confirm to myself that I do indeed hate jrpgs after about 12 hours gone
and that's how I realized I am not a special zoomer, and am an insufferable faggot like everyone else

[Anonymous No.9059237]

1 > 2 > 4 > 3

Don't get me wrong 4 is a polished as shit game and it mogs the fuck out of FF6, but at the same time it's very much traditional and lacks the WRPG dungeon crawler influence that 1 and 2 had.

[Anonymous No.9059240]

>>9059231
Yes, if you take a game where the main gameplay is exploring and figuring things out yourself and use a guide the whole time it does feel like you're just doing a chore. What did you expect?

[Anonymous No.9059253]

>>9059112
PSO2 ruined the character for me

[Anonymous No.9059359]

>>9058786
Having played 4 and 2, Im inclined to agree.
Don't get me wrong, I have incredibly fond memories of 2, but I wouldn't touch it now without a xp and money multiplier hack.

[Anonymous No.9059486]

>>9058352
Phantasy Star 1 is for my money the best truly old school (pre-90s third gen) RPG you can play. That's not to say it's AMAZING, but it's got varied aesthetics, an involved overworld, challenging but reasonable mapping, and great spritework. Stuff like old D&D sims, IE Intellivision Tower of Doom, are too archaic to rec; they're just super compromised approximations of what devs tried to convey, without real identity of their own - while old NES rpgs like OG FF or Dragon Quest, while good with polish, are glitchy, ugly, nigh impenetrable messes in OG form. And while later system releases - DQ4's a personal favorite - would reach a point that stands the test of time, PS's an actual old guard title I feel holds up.

Phantasy star II's got a great aesthetic, but the thing came packaged with all the maps in a strategy guide for a god damn reason; it's wholly impossible to play without it. Just massive fuckoff teleport mazes from the first dungeon through the end; stuff like Strange Journey's Eriadnus has nothin' on it. It's also lacking in unique assets, even when what's there is tops; the art and story's great, but you only get like maybe six actual points where the plot progresses - and while https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZpbDDdMGcQ&t=47s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWacjSk52pA&list=PLvK9pRNXoVoMsIZbnysxWvOR11Nhtm7u7&index=19 are some of the all-time great battle themes IMO, its battle system only really uses the former, even on bosses, and without any custom area backgrounds for battles all gets old really fast.

Phantasy Star III is unironically one of the worst games I've ever played. I'd elaborate, but honestly every time I think about time wasted on it I get mad. This game should be forgotten, 100%.

Phantasy Star IV, meanwhile, is a bit overrated, but ultimately good; its best ideas, like bounties and its manga-style custscenes, just end up underutilized. Those cutscenes are something I wish had equivalents today, though; super well made.

[Anonymous No.9059498]

>>9059486
So I shouldn't feel bad a out using a hint guide with Phantasy Star II? I only resorted to one because I didn't know how to progress after flooding the planet. I wouldn't have figured it out because I never found the part of the town to the left with the control tower to delve into to access the dam keys. Got through the red dam. It's been a few days but I've been chipping away at the yellow dam but that teleport maze is a bit more devious than the previous ones. I remember my first filter was in the second dungeon that you needed dynamite to enter. One of the floors had Blasters that came in pairs and can rip through your parties HP like nothing. Even worse when they ambush you and it was too risky to just run from them if you fail escaping.

[Anonymous No.9059505]

>>9059498
You see this? I dunno about JPN release, but *every* copy of western PSII came with one of these bad boys. Don't feel bad.

And hey, you know what? Make like Retro Game Challenge and replicate the 80s for yourself. https://archive.org/details/phantasy-star-ii-hint-book/ has the whole thing scanned and uploaded, no download required. Though if memory serves you're at like the 60-70% point of the game; strap in for some REAL fuckin tedious machine scrapping on Dezoris

[Anonymous No.9059538]

>>9059505
Thanks. I have actually been pulling up PDFs of games I don't have manuals of. Honestly if I didn't do that with PSII I wouldn't have known going home makes it so you can recruit people visiting by. I was just trying to make sense of spell names in the manual.

I'll check out the hint book then, I eventually want to get through the yellow dam. On the other hand with all my wandering I've accumulated a decent amount of levels and Mesa for items.

[Anonymous No.9059591]

>>9059505
I had this when in high school. It was the 69.99 or 79.99 version with that hint book. Dungeons were still a nightmare.

[Anonymous No.9059847]

>>9059359
>I wouldn't touch it now without a xp and money multiplier hack
>>9059486
>the thing came packaged with all the maps in a strategy guide for a god damn reason; it's wholly impossible to play without it
I think there may be a connection between "used walkthrough maps instead of exploring and mapping it yourself" and "ended up underleveled and had to grind in circles"
Maybe Sega should have changed the XP and money requirements to match the abbreviated game experience of playing with that book they included with the English version

[Anonymous No.9059972]

>>9059847
Possibly true. Would never recommend without using the hintbook at any rate. If you want to make a game about exploration, then don't punish the player with tedium in the form of random encounters.

PS2 was an exercise in tedium, and I can't imagine the exploration of largely samey- looking dungeons would have been all that fun without the hintbook even if they turned the encounter rate way down. Maybe I just don't like JRPGs, whatever.

[Anonymous No.9059980]

>>9059972
I can't think of a single open world jrpg that has exploration that isn't a miserable slog of constant interruptions and tedious battles.

[Anonymous No.9060079]

>>9059972
>I can't imagine the exploration of largely samey- looking dungeons would have been all that fun without the hintbook
I enjoyed mapping it but it did get a bit monotonous since there's not really much to spice up the dungeons like you see in more complicated PC dungeon-navigating games (Wizardry, Bard's Tale)
Phantasy Star 1 got away with it because the dungeons weren't as big or labyrinthine until really late game

[Anonymous No.9060107]

>>9058352
Why is Chaz so pathetically girly?
Why is Alys so damn ulgy?

[Anonymous No.9060112]

>>9060107
Alys looks good, what are you talking about?

[Anonymous No.9060115]

>>9060107
Unless you mean Chaz and Rune (rather than Alys) in the OP image

[Anonymous No.9060119]

I've replayed PS2 this year. Half of dungeons are actually almost linear and most of the rest are easy to figure out. And then there is Ikuto.

[Anonymous No.9060134]

It hilarious how the staples of Phantasy Star like DF being a force of darkness that returns to haunt humanity once in a millenia (rather than a random giant space flea out of nowhere) and rappies both come from a game that most fans pretend doesn't exist.

[Anonymous No.9060170]

>>9060112
>>9060115

[Anonymous No.9060187]

>>9060170
Oh I meant Alis

[Anonymous No.9060229]

>>9059359
Yeah, 2 has some great ideas for its time, but it's a bit too "old school" if you know what I mean. It has an MSX/NES kind of flow to it, in that it's heavy on grinding, and the story, while good, could be told effectively and with great nuance in less than 30 minutes.

[Anonymous No.9060235]

Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.9060243]

I like Phantasy Star 2 because Nei is cute.

[Anonymous No.9060256]

Why does everyone shit on 3? It looks like more of the same from 2

[Anonymous No.9060287]

>>9058952
Aren't most Japanese roleplaying games science-fantasy?

[Anonymous No.9060289]

>>9060256
It's very obviously rushed and unfinished, which is especially noticeable since it tries to do an epic multi-generational story.

[Anonymous No.9060291]

>>9060235
PSO1 was very different from "classic" Phantasy Star but it at least understood that Phantasy Star was a dungeon-crawler at heart. I think they started to lose the plot a little with Universe and then PSO2 absolutely lost it with it's 10-minute long missions

[Anonymous No.9060293]

>>9060235
The handheld sequels were better

[Anonymous No.9060294]

>>9060256
The combat is Cosmic Fantasy-tier bad, and it drags down the whole experience since you naturally spend most of your time in combat

[Anonymous No.9060302]

>>9060287
Technically, yes. BUT, very few of them feel like it. Personally sci-fi for me is very much attached to that 80s/90s chunky gadget, wires and buttons look.

[Anonymous No.9060315]

>>9060291
PSO was a pure dungeon crawler that all but ejected actual plot or story for pure gameplay. The story they left was pretty poignant precisely because there was so little of it.

PSU kept the dungeon crawler approach... but covered it with the most generic, boring anime trappings they could possibly copy. From the music to the character designs to the dialogue to the plot. If you told someone to make up a fake anime for characters to pretend to watch in a real story, PSU is probably close to what you would come up with. If you took all that away, you would still have a half decent dungeon crawler though.

PSO2 was built completely around whaling and button mashing. They kept everything bad about PSU, ramped it up to 11, then removed the only good part, the dungeon crawling, in favor of just overdesigned boss rushes by the end.

[Anonymous No.9060335]

>>9060315
You're wrong entirely about PSO2 and PSU and you're a massive faggot.

[Anonymous No.9060358]

>>9060291
because the series evolved beyond its rudimentary form. games like ps1 and ps4 already exist, they don't need to keep being remade well into the new era where there are things like internet and mass online multiplayer to take advantage of. you could still dungeon crawl on pso2 if you wanted to, it just wasn't the most efficient way to get xp. it evolved the formula in a way that was worthy of both ps and pso as a sequel.

[Anonymous No.9060359]

>>9060287
There's quite a bit of difference when you compare Phantasy Star, where the brave heroine in the first game lives across the street from a spaceport and your party in later games has wizards casting spells alongside androids wielding laser rifles, and other JRPGS where it's basically a straight fantasy setting with a couple high tech dungeons and some robot enemies here and there.

[Anonymous No.9060378]

>>9060358
>it evolved the formula in a way that was worthy of both ps and pso as a sequel.

If you consider making an RPG into essentially a pure action game with minimal RPG elements an "evolution" then sure

[Anonymous No.9060380]

>>9060256
sloooow
high encounter rate
visually poor dungeon design
dynamic battle theme gimmick is annoying
the plot of 4 supplants 3 as the third part in a trilogy so 3 might not even exist
is responsible for the rappy menace

[Anonymous No.9060382]

>>9060335
Cry more zoomie

[Anonymous No.9060384]

>>9060315
I think you wouldn't like NGS.

[Anonymous No.9060394]

4>3>2
Never played 1.
Some of the best JRPGs ever made.

[Anonymous No.9061453]

Finally opened up all the dams and now I have to figure my way around the docking station to properly traverse the planet. There has been plenty of super armor enemies that are mostly susceptible to energy guns compared to bladed weapons.

[Anonymous No.9061730]

>>9061453
IIRC damage mechanics in PS2 are very simplistic. There is a defense stat (which is high for robot enemies) which reduces physical damage. Guns and technics ignore defense.

[Anonymous No.9061769]

>>9061730
There seems to be two types of robot enemies. The humanoid police, R2D2 looking ones, the long human ones, and the ones with a head and a bunch of wires are all susceptible to slashing. Then there are ones that have the flat armor plating design that gives them the damage reduction. I came across my first mammoth as well which is the first biological enemy that has that damage reduction type as well.

[Anonymous No.9061805]

>>9059253
How? PSO is gay so I've never played them.

[Anonymous No.9061815]

>>9060112
Alys is fine but she's in the same game as Kyra, Rika and Demi so she loses out visually.

[Anonymous No.9061863]

>>9058554
I love capturing Antaran ships for Xentronium armor, damper field, and particle beams early on in MOO2. Everyone eventually hates me on the impossible setting.

[Anonymous No.9061865]

>>9059253
Not only is it not the same character, it is not even supposed to be the same character. PSO2 and PSU both reuse character names from classic Phantasy Star games, never did they pretend to be the same characters.

[Anonymous No.9061903]

>>9059253
PSO has no relation to to the rpg series besides recycled names.

[Anonymous No.9061912]

>>9058352
I rate PSIV the highest because although I haven't played it, it has the highest number in its name. I rate PSIII the second highest because although I haven't played it, it has the second highest number in its name. I rate PSII the third highest because although I haven't played it, it has the third highest number in its name. The first game is obviously just a primitive enterprise that established the series but accomplished little else and so is the worst of the four (which isn't too bad a thing I imagine, even though I haven't played it) in that it doesn't even exhibit the series' signature feature of including a number in each game's title.

[Anonymous No.9061921]

I really want to shoot PSO2 shills

[Anonymous No.9061936]

>>9061912
You are a very silly person with no ability to recognise standard patterns. Without playing any given game series you should obviously assume that the first is the best and the last is the worst. It will always be closer to the truth than your backwards pattern!

[Anonymous No.9061952]

>>9061865
Her outfit is the same though, if you don't count the part thet cut to make a chest window.

[Anonymous No.9061959]

>>9061912
You are onto something, but with Phantasy Star it works this way:
PS2 is the first part of the trilogy, raw but solid
PS4 is like PS2, but refined and better
PS3 is live Zelda 2 where they tried to explore new groun, failed and had to go back
PS1 doesn't count.

[Anonymous No.9061969]

>>9058358
Ya exactly this

[Anonymous No.9061973]

>>9058485
1 is obviously a flawless gem.
2 has incredible atmosphere, but the dungeons are a slog.
3 is outrageously bad in every way.
4 is so bland and boring that punching yourself in the face (playing PS3 basically) is more fun.

[Anonymous No.9061974]

>>9058352
IV > III > I > II

[Anonymous No.9062156]

>>9059486
intellivision more like incellivision! haha
I'm surprised to find a pretty in-depth RPG on the intellivision though

[Anonymous No.9062171]

>>9058352
I think they're all pretty poor in retrospect of 30 years time, but I enjoyed every one of them.

2 is my favorite, but I like them all.

[Anonymous No.9063393]

I replayed and cleared PSII for the first time in ~25 years, mapping it myself this time.
a lot easier than I remember it
maybe because young me didn't realize you could use certain pieces of equipment as items in combat for no-cost healing

flawed game, but I still love the high-tech future rpg style

[Anonymous No.9063424]

>>9058358
Exactly this.

[Anonymous No.9063438]

>>9059085
>DQ1
>not dated at all

[Anonymous No.9064137]

>>9061973
>3 is outrageously bad in every way.
It's got good music. Dark Force's theme is at a minimum tied with Laughter as the best boss theme and the intro is probably the single best song in the entire series. I like the progressive overworld theme too and the idea of the battle theme changing depending on how you're doing.

That kind of gets into the big problem of PS3 though. Cool ideas implemented questionably at best.

[Anonymous No.9064142]

>>9058980
Sega had a certain weird vibe going for quite awhile. It's why I love 'em so much. No one else really matched it. Maybe Quintet, but that's a different weird vibe.

[Anonymous No.9064202]

>>9060079
What software?

[Anonymous No.9064246]

>>9064202
Grid Cartographer

[Anonymous No.9064252]

>>9058352
1>4>>2>>>big fucking power gap>>>3. Never played any of the PSO games, or spinoffs

[Anonymous No.9064253]

>>9064246
Thanks man.

[Anonymous No.9064259]

>>9064137
Yeah, I love the intro theme for PSIII. For a lot of the soundtrack the compositions seem really nice, but maybe the instruments and stuff could be better. Something about the music really stuck with me anyway, it feels triggers unique feelings in me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmGy6nyduk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVIWkii5rXM

Ippo rules.

[Anonymous No.9064813]

>>9058352
I beat one last year and fucking love it I really want to start 2, is there any word on if they're going to do a SEGA AGES version of it for the switch like 1?

[Anonymous No.9064820]

>>9064813
I don't think they'll be doing so since it's already packaged on the Genesis Collection. I think they released PSI so they could all be avaliable to play easily legally.

[Anonymous No.9064847]

>>9058987
This is the correct answer

[Anonymous No.9065154]

>>9058786
Yeah, I and II are relatively interchangable and it comes down to personal taste in the matter.

[Anonymous No.9065313]

>>9064820
PSI? It's a shame if they fell back on the Genesis Collection since that collection has fucking awful emulation

[Anonymous No.9065676]

>>9064813
Sega Ages line is confirmed to be finished so no. You can play the Phantasy Star Complete Collection on PS2 to get some of the same features, but it requires a modded/japanese PS2 or piracy

[Anonymous No.9065751]

4>1>2
And I won't rate 3, because, of course, it is the weakest among classic PS (until you remember that Gaiden exists), but it has a very special place in my heart and I love it more than other three combined.
I love ambitions behind 3 and with a proper remake it would have been the best Phantasy Star installment.

[Anonymous No.9065758]

2=4 >> 1 >>>>> 3

Phantasy Star 2 is the best JRPG of the 80s. 4 has more competition for its time though. Both are great games.

[Anonymous No.9065786]

>>9058952
Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen

[Anonymous No.9065793]

>>9058352
4 is a 10/10
2 is a 8/10

[Anonymous No.9065795]

>>9058952
Super Hydlide towards the end.

[Anonymous No.9065807]

>>9065758
I wish PSII had the same first-person dungeons as 1 is all

[Anonymous No.9066657]

>>9060243
Too bad her death was a retarded asspull.

[Anonymous No.9066939]

>>9060235
>same reused recolored assets everywhere
>massive rooms without anything in it
>bland music (as compared to Online)
trash, a letdown

[Anonymous No.9067216]

>>9058352
IV > I >>> II >>>>>> III

[Anonymous No.9067392]

>>9060235
WHOOOOO SAYS WE ARE LOOOST AGAAAAIN IN THIS LOOONELY WOOOOOOOOOOORLD

[Anonymous No.9067394]

>>9066939
>>bland music (as compared to Online)
even the theme?
then shut up

[Anonymous No.9067402]

>>9060335
this

[Anonymous No.9068112]

>>9067394
>even the theme?
fuck off newfag nig, the theme is fucking mediocre dogshit pop.

[Anonymous No.9068121]

>>9060235
huge disappointment after PsoBB

[Anonymous No.9068129]

>>9066657
Too bad you had to play badly translated English version where Clone lady says something stupid, while Japanese version makes perfect sense of what happened to Nei.

[Anonymous No.9068149]

>>9068129
Where can I find the different texts?

[Anonymous No.9068352]

>>9059253
pso2 literally brought her back but ruined the design and had the worst fucking producer at the time. Luckily they didn't fuck up that many characters. Now the game is 100% dogshit and I wouldn't bother touching it.

Ep 2 and the mothership were kino but it fell completely off at ep4. Death to sega

[Anonymous No.9068356]

Phantasy Star Nova is a legit decent game.

[Anonymous No.9068434]

>>9068112
no taste
no dignity

[Anonymous No.9068582]

>>9068434
stop describing yourself, nobody cares

[Anonymous No.9068736]

PS1 best 8 bit RPG
Easily