Can't decide on a Phantasy Star game to play...

[Ninjamohawk]

I've got all four but I'm leaning towards either 2 or 4. You decide! (because I can't seem to)

[SpaceHarrier]

IV is amazing. I'd recommend it. You don't need to have played the others first to understand it, the plot is sort of like The Legend of Zelda: similar tale repeating throughout the ages. There are some little references to the other games in there, but nothing that will leave you lost. It is extremely fast-paced and the difficulty is very well balanced. I find many RPGs to be mostly difficult in the beginning and the very end, but this one will keep you on your toes constantly. That said, it doesn't require extreme grinding between dungeons..

Music is great, graphics are awesome, and you are always meeting new and interesting playable characters.

[recorderdude]

I only own #2, and I can safely say it has NOT aged well. Go with four.

[Buyatari]

Go with IV

[Ninjamohawk]

I should have said replay as I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole trilogy and even 3 which I just got (I finally own the set!)

I loved 4. It was my first ever Ebay purchase as I was a nintendo kid and never experienced much sega stuff let alone anything outside the realms of sonic games, altered beast, what have you. So it was thrilling to play an RPG like PS4.

2 hooked me on RPGs as a kid because one of the neighborhood kids and his brother had it for their genesis. I didn't even know what it was called but seeing the sci-fi setting in a game like Dragon Warrior had me intrigued. I wouldn't play it again until I bought my Genesis 3 in 2000 and picked up my loose cart from Gamestop.

So those two are the ones I have attachment to. I'd say The plot in 2 is more interesting, and the music is (as repetitive as it is) catchier than 4. 4 on the other hand has a modernity and richness to it that is unmatched in the series. The characters have much more meat to them and the areas are a lot more varied.

I'm going to play both, but I can't decide which to start with.

[o.pwuaioc]

I wish I knew which you wanted to start with, rather than just play. I'd say start with the first, and end with the last. PS MARATHON! W00T!

[Cloud121]

Play them in order.

Phantasy Star is the single greatest JRPG ever made.

Phantasy Star II's story is absolutely incredible and makes you think a bit. Also hard as hell, but a damn good feeling when you beat it (Not too mention the ending is phenomenal). Took me four months to beat the game back in 2003, and that was with a walkthrough.

Phantasy Star III was innovative for its time, and a lot of fun. I like to think of it as if Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest got together and had a baby.

Phantasy Star IV is the most accessible, easiest, and most "modern" of the series. But you appreciate it much more, and the storyline is much more enjoyable as it ties everything together.


You must play them in order.

[Ninjamohawk]

Might be the best idea.

[M.Buster2184]

Play them in order.

Phantasy Star is the single greatest JRPG ever made.

Phantasy Star II's story is absolutely incredible and makes you think a bit. Also hard as hell, but a damn good feeling when you beat it (Not too mention the ending is phenomenal). Took me four months to beat the game back in 2003, and that was with a walkthrough.

Phantasy Star III was innovative for its time, and a lot of fun. I like to think of it as if Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest got together and had a baby.

Phantasy Star IV is the most accessible, easiest, and most "modern" of the series. But you appreciate it much more, and the storyline is much more enjoyable as it ties everything together.


You must play them in order.


I totally agree. They all have their strong points, and I personally recommend the original Phantasy Star. Though playing them all in order seems like the best bet.

[ALAKA]

If you do decide to play Phantasy Star II, I'd recommend you seek out the eight Phantasy Star II Text Adventure games. They give you background stories for each of the characters that join your party. It fills in the missing gaps of why the heck these characters keep showing up at your house wanting to join you.

[chrisbid]

if you have a way to play japanese playstation 2 games, pick up the sega age phantasy star collection. you get all of the games (in japanese and english) and can adjust the difficulty and walking speed. phantasy star ii becomes a much better game when you don't have to grind nearly as much and can walk super fast through the dungeons.

the slight drawbacks are the lack of an english translation for the sega cd PS text adventures, and no fm sound option for english phantasy star 1

[xelement5x]

Phantasy Star III was innovative for its time, and a lot of fun. I like to think of it as if Phantasy Star II and Dragon Quest got together and had a baby.



And then you used that baby for another generation of questing, and so on, and so on ;)

[Ninjamohawk]

I've always felt that 3 is tedious. Great concept, awful execution. The music is pretty grating, the dungeons are repetitious as ALL hell, and the endings range from okay to downright ridiculous if memory serves.

I mean I'm still going to play it but man.. I'm going to have to be careful planning my generations.

[kainemaxwell]

I've finished IV many times and love the fantasy and sci-fi themes of it most out of the rest of the series. Need to go back and play I again sometime, maybe next emulation run), least on the Sega Classics for PS2 I have 2-4.

side note, isn't the grinding needed in PS2 as bad as Dragon Warrior?

[Edmond Dantes]

Play then in order. Seems like the most logical choice.

Personally, the first Phantasy Star was the only one I could really get into.

[Ninjamohawk]

I've finished IV many times and love the fantasy and sci-fi themes of it most out of the rest of the series. Need to go back and play I again sometime, maybe next emulation run), least on the Sega Classics for PS2 I have 2-4.

side note, isn't the grinding needed in PS2 as bad as Dragon Warrior?

it's not quite that boring but it is a lot of grinding, yeah.

but I'm of the rare type that enjoys heavy grinding. I'm weird.

[Edmond Dantes]

it's not quite that boring but it is a lot of grinding, yeah.

but I'm of the rare type that enjoys heavy grinding. I'm weird.

I honestly don't get people who say the original Dragon Warrior had a lot of grinding. Every time I played, I just tried to brute-force my way to the next town or wherever, and usually I wound up being strong enough to handle anything.

I do that in a lot of RPGs, in fact. Just usually in Dragon Warrior I'll let myself die since you keep your EXP, while in others I'm conscious of the possibility that I might need to run back to an inn.

I do remember Phantasy Star II being kind of boring though.

[InsaneDavid]

Phantasy Star II... *shudder*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDW4D7a3Bp4&t=34m50s

[Alianger]

4>1>2>>>3

[M.Buster2184]

Despite the graphics, it's nice to see that so many people still hold the first Phantasy Star in high regard.

[recorderdude]

but I'm of the rare type that enjoys heavy grinding. I'm weird.

*immature snicker*

I'm actually surprised the original gets such praise, too. I fig.ured it'd be more dated than II, but, taking a closer look at it, it's quite interesting...plus probably the only game in the SMS library that saves (or at least I hope it does) I'll have to check it out sometime.

[Tanooki]

The only one I could ever get into was the original of the first three, never played the last one. I didn't find much fun with the third, and the second while it handled alright just felt slow and boring to the point it jut didn't inspire me to keep playing it beyond maybe 1/2 way into it ever on a few attempts and with age it got worse. The original still to me is the most fun and still is highly playable too.

[Graham Mitchell]

Am I the only one who thinks Phantasy Star II is kind of awful? It's got sooo much potential, but the game really shows you all of its' cards in the first couple of hours. And those dungeons are horribly complicated, and they all look the same.

3 is interesting. It's by a different team so it has a unique feel to it. It's also got a gorgeous soundtrack. However, the game design is a little obfusticated, and it makes you run back and forth between areas quite a bit to extend play time. The world as a whole isn't that large.

The first one is probably the most impressive 8-bit game ever designed, even when compared to PC-engine stuff. You absolutely must play it. Get some maps of the first person dungeons online to reduce some of the confusion. Either that or get out your graph paper, because you'll need some sort of guide.

IV is the best of the 16-bit games. It feels like a logical extension of the first one in terms of quality and depth.

So, definitely play 1 and 4. Try 2 and 3.

[Ninjamohawk]

I'm starting to think my love for 2 is largely nostalgia glasses, heh. Oh well that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Drixxel]

Despite PS2's tedious dungeons, awkwardly compartmentalized overworld and clunky interface, I've always felt the sci-fi look & style of the game was cool enough to keep playing. The monster designs and animations are all rather interesting and add a lot of spice to the otherwise bland "game grid" battles, and it's certainly a more visually appealing game than the more-detailed-but-drab PS3.

I say start up a file in PS2 to shake the foundations of your nostalgia and see what you really think of the game.

[Gunstar Hero]

IV is fantastic. Best enemies and battles and a great story line behind it.

[kainemaxwell]

IV is fantastic. Best enemies and battles and a great story line behind it.

Great music too!

[BlastProcessing402]

Despite the graphics, it's nice to see that so many people still hold the first Phantasy Star in high regard.

Despite the graphics? PS1 is one of the best looking games of the entire 8-bit era.

[Graham Mitchell]

Despite the graphics? PS1 is one of the best looking games of the entire 8-bit era.

It looks better than a fair amount of genesis games, too.

[TheRedEye]

If you're willing to play something other than the original cartridge (i.e. emulator or flash cart) I recommend going through the first one again, but through the retranslated version:

http://www.smspower.org/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN

It has:

-Better sound thanks to the Japan-only FM chip
-Easier to read text (Upper and lowercase, four lines per page instead of 2)
-Less unnecessary button presses to get through after-battle text (I think we got it from 4 to 2?)
-A richer script that re-adds subtleties lost in the official translation (and fleshes out the world a little more using information from official literature)

[Drixxel]

That's awesome, TheRedEye! I've been meaning to give PS1 a go for a long while, I think I'll take the plunge with this extra swanky version you've lent your talents to.

[Graham Mitchell]

If you're willing to play something other than the original cartridge (i.e. emulator or flash cart) I recommend going through the first one again, but through the retranslated version:

http://www.smspower.org/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN

It has:

-Better sound thanks to the Japan-only FM chip
-Easier to read text (Upper and lowercase, four lines per page instead of 2)
-Less unnecessary button presses to get through after-battle text (I think we got it from 4 to 2?)
-A richer script that re-adds subtleties lost in the official translation (and fleshes out the world a little more using information from official literature)

Wow I didn't know you had done that. I'll give that a try! Phantasy star is a game worth perfecting.

[BlastProcessing402]

If you're willing to play something other than the original cartridge (i.e. emulator or flash cart) I recommend going through the first one again, but through the retranslated version:

http://www.smspower.org/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN

It has:

-Better sound thanks to the Japan-only FM chip
-Easier to read text (Upper and lowercase, four lines per page instead of 2)
-Less unnecessary button presses to get through after-battle text (I think we got it from 4 to 2?)
-A richer script that re-adds subtleties lost in the official translation (and fleshes out the world a little more using information from official literature)

I dunno, I have trouble taking some of the retranslation seriously. I mean LaSheic? Maybe that's closer to the name in Japanese, but it just sounds stupid in English.

As for the music, it's not really better, just different.

[Ninjamohawk]

Awesome! I will definitely give this a go.

I just beat 2. Marathoned it for the last week-ish.