Skip Phantasy Star and Play PS2?

[Black_Tiger]

At that point I'd just load PS1 up on an emulator and use cheats to blast through it. You see the story progression, and don't waste your valuable time.

I hate playing games through emulation. But I got the SMS/GG and Genesis emulators for my Android and had a lot of fun playing through PS1 with save states and fast forwarding.

It is so cool to be waiting in line somewhere and be able to pull out my phone and zip through a Phantasy Star dungeon. :D

Each emulator was half(?) the price of what Sega was charging for iPhone versions of single Genesis games, except the official one-off games run much worse and have fewer options. I already own original Japanese and North American copies of every game I've played, as well as compilation sets like the PS2 Genesis collection and Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection.

[rbudrick]

If you don't like level grinding, just about any old-school RPG is gonna suck.

With that said, PS2 is one of my favorite games ever. The soundtrack is definitely a top 10 for me. That opening music still sends chills up my spine. Even the shop music is awesome.

I remember playing through this in 2 weeks when I was 14 back in 1992. i replayed it again about 5 years ago on the GBA and it was still awesome.

At the time it came out, the graphics really blew me away. It's hard to think in that context if you hadn't seen games past that generation, but seriously, you should play all of 2. I actually played all of 1 after 2, and though I like 1 a lot, I liked 2 far better. Never played 3 or 4.

-Rob

[wberdan]

I think Phantasy Star is brutally difficult..
It was the only rpg I had as a kid that I could not beat, and that was simply because I could not figure out what to do near the end. I do remember the dungeons being a nightmare, and leveling up was the most time consuming thing.. with that said though, I loved it. Finally finished it when I glanced a walk through 8 years ago for those final hints.

Phantasy Star II is even more insane.. this game gives me nightmares. I would not EVER want to try to finish this game without the included hint book.. I don't know how many hours I put into that as a kid, but it was a ton. It was highly rewarding though, and I thought the story was fantastic.. many elements of the game were amazing.. blew my mind.. I would just never want to pick it up to finish ever again though.. some of those multi-layer dungeons with the holes in the floors.. god I hate those.

Phantasy Star III I finally finished a month ago.. took me about 10-12 hours start to finish, but I did print off maps near the end.. the world layouts are just too aggravating, the map included with the game makes me want to rage, and sometimes you have NO CLUE (or I didn't) where you are supposed to go next in the story.
That said, it was slightly rewarding, but you can be damn sure that I just watched the other 3 endings on YouTube, and had no desire to go through that again.

I have yet to play PSIV, but I think that is going to be the one.. I've heard it is the easiest in the series (which would be a good thing- at least for me, at this point), and the whole system of gameplay looks ideal (for PS).. I especially like the fact that the party moves at a reasonable pace, instead of slug speed.
hope to be playing that soon..

So, I think you should decide how much frustration you are willing to put up with, and then... prob just skip to IV and try that first..

With that said- the first and second ones have stories that .. perhaps you had to play them back then.. but those stories were amazing, and SO rewarding. To play the original back when it came out was just mind blowing- there is no other way to describe it. I feel very close to saying that about the second.. it was absolutely amazing in the time it came out...
The first and second also have music that was among the very best at the time, and they both have many tunes that are classic.
but, the third one- that one is definitely the easiest of the three, but feels like it isn't finished.
there are even caves you can't ever get into.. it is just weird.. it has the vibe of something that was rushed in areas... plus, you could beat that one in a day if you tried.. I would not say that about the first two.


willie

[M.Buster2184]

It might be tough but I say if you're interested in the storyline I'd tough it out and finish Phantasy Star. It'll be that much more rewarding when you start PS2.

[kainemaxwell]

I've often wondered this myself, but for PSIV. I really want to play it and the screenshots look amazing, but I don't really want to have to go through 1,2 & 3. Do you need to?
PSIV is really good and worth it.

[segagamer]

I agree that PSIV is definitely the easiest game to complete in the series. However, for pure fun and challenge, I would say PSI is the game to beat. I was really engrossed in that game, and the first person perspective in the dungeons really make it fun and challenging to play. Even though the translation was not great, the entire game really pulled me in from the start and I never gave up on completing it. It was one of the games that I called the SEGA hotline for tips to complete it. PSII is also challenging, but the hint book sort of ruined it (even though I only used it when necessary). I still have not completed PSIII, partly because of the presentation; it felt like a step or two backwards from PSII. Maybe one of these days, I would like to complete it.

[LynchJustRules]

The first two Phantasy Star games were amazing! PS1 had great graphics and gameplay while PS2 had a truly great and compelling story.

Hated PS3, didn't feel like a Phantasy Star game at all.

PS4 was good but didn't like it as much as the first two in the series.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Which game out of the first two actually had the right planet and town names? Just when I started really liking the names in the first game, they come and shorten them up for the sequel. Which is right?

[kainemaxwell]

Likely play and get around to finishing PS1 next time I do SMS emulation via my DC. Never did finish it the last time around.

[rbudrick]

Which game out of the first two actually had the right planet and town names? Just when I started really liking the names in the first game, they come and shorten them up for the sequel. Which is right?

Part one had the correct names. Part 2 I think just tried to use the same amount of space the original katakana used. However, some may argue a 1000 year difference may change language a bit. ;)

-Rob

[chrisbid]

if you have a way to play import PS2 games, the way to enjoy phantasy star games today would be the import-only phantasy star complete collection

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-43-49-en-70-2giu.html

you have to option to play the original genesis games in english. the options help quite a bit. you can turn off the battle intro graphics on phantasy star 2, speed up the character walking speed, and by turning the difficulty down you get more exp and meseta per battle.

[NayusDante]

Or you could just get Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and play all four with savestates. You don't get the text adventures, but were those even translated?

[chrisbid]

Or you could just get Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and play all four with savestates. You don't get the text adventures, but were those even translated?

i dont remember those versions offering any of the in-game options i described

and no, the text adventures were not translated by sega. i do believe there is a fan translation floating around though.