noiseredux vs.

Posted on Mar 30th 2010 at 03:17:56 AM by (noiseredux)
Posted under Phantasy Star, Game Boy Advance



If you've been following this blog at all then you're probably aware of the Together Retro game club that I follow that's curated by the folks over at http://www.racketboy.com. The game for March was the original Phantasy Star, a game that I never got the chance to play prior. Thankfully a cart containing the first three games of the series was released for the GBA in 2002. Though I did have a Sega Master System years ago, I didn't adopt it until around the time that the Genesis was released and toy stores threw Master Systems into a bargain bin. Unfortunately, Phantasy Star was never one of the games that found its way into the same bins. I do remember trying Phantasy Star II on the Genesis for a short time, but  the entire series was one that I was always aware of -- and mildly interested in -- but just never found myself curious enough to give it a go. And I had no idea just what I was missing out on.



What immediately became apparent to me was that Phantasy Star was a game that was far ahead of its time, bearing in mind that its contemporaries were Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES. Of course those two titles tend to epitomize what we think of as 8-bit RPG classics -- and they're the first two RPG's I ever played myself -- they actually come off as quite shallow in comparison to Phantasy Star.

The game begins with our main character, Alis as she slowly ventures out from one little town and grinds (for at least an hour!) until she can venture to the next. Pretty basic stuff. But over time you will pick up three more varied characters to add to your party and explore not only the planet that you started out on -- but two others as well!



Indeed the world of Phantasy Star soon becomes amazingly large and complex. There are deserts and tundras; robots and slimes; hovercrafts and landrovers! There's elements of Star Wars, Dune, and Greek Mythology. It was truly a game that was ambitious in its scope in every department -- be it the story, visuals, or music.

Unfortunately, one such ambition also leads to the games one true detriment -- its absolutely brutal-to-navigate 3D dungeons. My understanding is that upon its initial release in 1988, the Master System cartridge of Phantasy Star sold for $80. To put that it into perspective, it cost nearly as much as the Master System itself. I suppose that perhaps the 3D dungeons were a way to force the player to stretch a lot more gameplay out of the already enormous game, forcing you to eventually resort to making your own maps (or if you're playing it today instead of 1988 simply finding some online, which is exactly what I resorted to midway through my own playthrough). Of course as frustrating as the dungeons may be, they are certainly interesting and well... ballsy for a game of its time.



After spending the month grinding, and exploring and cussing my way through Phantasy Star, I can firmly say that the series has gained a new fan.




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Comments
 
I was just playing Phantasy Star II on XBLA just the other day, I must say I was impressed with my first playthrough. I am thinking it might be my next XBLA game to play through Smiley
 
I've been a fan of this series since the first PS back in the day. I remember spending way too much time with graph paper to map out those dungeons, which was practiclly mandatory. It was simply in a league of it's own in comparison to other 8-bit RPGs. Since then I was hooked and played through them all to the end. I'd highly recommend 2 and 4. The third one is probably best left for the dedicated fan, but I played through every possible outcome to see all the endings.

Glad to see a new fan is born! Oh, and watch out for Dark Phallus LOL
 
also, I forgot to mention in my post that this was the first RPG I've beaten in a long time. So that was also very exciting. There's something awesome about sticking to a game and following it to the end.
 
I had Phantasy Star Collection. The original Phantasy Star wasn't really that hard at all, I never really had much problems with the dungeons-- it was the save glitch that was unbelievable. You could lose hours of progress thanks to that thing.

Phantasy Star 2 on the other hand... now that game was impossible to find your way around the dungeons. At least the ones in the original PS were relatively small. If you are lucky enough to even make it to Dezo, be prepared for dungeons that are nothing but mazes (which was the case with the first half of the game), but 50x too big. That's the only RPG I legitimately cannot beat because I can't navigate the dungeons. And, even with dungeon maps online, it's still ridiculous.
 
@yassassass: I've heard others complain about the save glitch, but I only hit it once in my entire playthrough of the game myself.
 
It was Sega Pro that made me aware of this brilliant series. Their review of Phantasy Star IV featured in their 'The Complete A-Z of SEGA Games' made it a must have at the time. Until Snatcher on the Mega-CD this was my very favourite game. Still such an incredible game and still one of my very favourites 'til this very day.

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