PS4... the RPG

[Ruldra]

This Phantasy Star 4 thread inspired me to spend the whole day playing Phantasy Star 1. It's like bashing my head against a brick wall, but I think I like it regardless.

You'll need to grind a bit before you go out exploring. Alisa is really really weak when you start out and even the weakest monsters will murder her.

One of the houses in the first town will heal you for free. Go out, fight one or two monsters, go back and heal, repeat for a while. I did that until I was level 7 or 8, at this point the wilderness is safe.

[MX7]

I've been paying on an emulator, which means I get to benefit from the luxuries of not only a much better retranslation (the official English translation sucks) but also from fast forwarding, which makes grinding relatively pain free. Was talking to JDE earlier who says he beat the game when he was six or something, the nutter. I now have a talking cat and a guy with an improbable haircut, so things are looking up.

[EmperorIng]

It's not as bad as PS II, where you have to grind to level 15 or so before you can confidently beat the first dungeon.

[drauch]

This Phantasy Star 4 thread inspired me to spend the whole day playing Phantasy Star 1. It's like bashing my head against a brick wall, but I think I like it regardless.

You'll need to grind a bit before you go out exploring. Alisa is really really weak when you start out and even the weakest monsters will murder her.

One of the houses in the first town will heal you for free. Go out, fight one or two monsters, go back and heal, repeat for a while. I did that until I was level 7 or 8, at this point the wilderness is safe.

Yeah, will take a good hour or two. I was playing this about 2 years ago but wound up stopping. Despite all the grinding, it's an enjoyable experience.

[Kaiser]

How about we get back on topic you buffoons?

[mesh control]

PS4 rumors?
What is there to discuss besides the fact it's PC hardware.

[drauch]

But it says PS4! Phantasy Star IV, right?

[trap15]

PS4 = Phantasy Star 4, Kaiser. Duh. You stay on topic

[BryanM]

My favorite character has to be the girl with the kitty ears. She murders the hell out of everything, and gets that heal spell that heals the shit out of your entire party.

My least favorite character is the space pope from Futurama. In a game where half the characters are already loaded up with healz, he's overkill. Would have been nice not to have a designated healer and just have everyone be DPS of a sort. Plus: His jokes were probably translated into the wrong kind of terrible. You belong in a worse game space pope.

[Kaiser]

PS4 = Phantasy Star 4, Kaiser. Duh. You stay on topic

I played phantasy star 4 before and I enjoyed it (same with first one), errrm... YOU STAY ON TOPIC! Eh... bang it let's talk whatever is going on.

[MX7]

It's not as bad as PS II, where you have to grind to level 15 or so before you can confidently beat the first dungeon.

Really? I remember grinding a lot in PS2 but not that much... Great game, very underrated. Another one to abuse fast forward on. The later dungeons are absolute nightmares. Worth playing for the soundtrack and character design though.

PS4 gets off to a cracking start, gorgeous to look at, great music etc, but I've never managed to finish it for whatever reason. Same with Final Fantasy 6. The story goes off on one, and it just becomes a matter of hopping from planet to planet. Could really do with being a bit harder.

Still holding out hopes there will be a fith numbered game in the series.

[Ruldra]

Yeah, will take a good hour or two. I was playing this about 2 years ago but wound up stopping. Despite all the grinding, it's an enjoyable experience.

You only need to grind a bit in the beginning. I never had to grind again afterwards.

My least favorite character is the space pope from Futurama. In a game where half the characters are already loaded up with healz, he's overkill. Would have been nice not to have a designated healer and just have everyone be DPS of a sort. Plus: His jokes were probably translated into the wrong kind of terrible. You belong in a worse game space pope.

Space pope can keep the party healed while everyone is dishing damage. Much better than having your main damage dealer waste a turn healing someone else. He was my character of choice at the end.

Still holding out hopes there will be a fith numbered game in the series.

The plot was resolved at the end of PS4. A spin-off is more likely than another entry in the main series.

[sjewkestheloon]

I might get the gba phantasy star cart and give my gba sp some loving.

[EmperorIng]

"The sadness" of the PS cart for the GBA is that the music sounds like total garbage. And that it has PS2 and PS3, and not PS4.

PS4 may be a bit easy at some points, but it makes up for it by being the most interesting story-wise, the best-looking graphically, and having some of the best music out of the whole shebang.

PS2's story can be a bit chuckle-worthy.

THOSE RASCALS DESTROYED THIS TOWN WITH DYNAMITE. NOW WE ARE JUST WAITING TO DIE.

MY NAME IS RUDO SHORT FOR RUDOLF STEINER

DARUM, FATHER
-dead-
NO WHY DID I KILL MY DAUGHTER I BETTER KILL MYSELF
-dead-
WELP I GUESS WE CAN GO TO THE NEXT AREA GUYS

[shmuppyLove]

PS2's story can be a bit chuckle-worthy.

Obligatory Castle Shikigami II mention

[Mortificator]

There's actually no game named Phantasy Star IV. Someone put a number on the boxes for the localized release, but the title screen in every region says Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium. It would have made more sense for Sega to give it the number 3 and leave the previous game with just a subtitle, but whatever.

The first three games are awkward, through they're older than they look. I sometimes forget PS3 was contemporaries with Final Fantasy III and Dragon Quest IV. It's too bad that the remakes of the first two games weren't released outside Japan, and that that third game didn't get a remake.

[BryanM]

The beginning is more entertaining; the end game starts to feel like a slog. But the random battles at the beginning happen in a flash - in a couple rounds all the monsters are dead or all your guys are dead. It's hardcore.

The plot was resolved at the end of PS4. A spin-off is more likely than another entry in the main series.

I guess they have some of the guys and could scramble up a dev team to do a decent one. But along with the violated corpse of Shining Force, optimism is in the toilet. All their resources seem to be poured into this free to play Phantasy Star Online 2 game. Which doesn't even have scientists as a playable class.

As with too many old games, seems like we're better off building our own moon base. With hookers. And blackjack.

Someone put a number on the boxes for the localized release, but the title screen in every region says Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium.

Semantics fairy!

[moh]

PS2's story can be a bit chuckle-worthy.

Obligatory Castle Shikigami II mention

HAHAHAHAHAHAQ!!!!!!!

FINALLY, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN

[MX7]

SHE IS LITHE AND AGILE LIKE AN ANIMAL. SHE HATES CARRYING HEAVY LOADS.

[Ganelon]

PSIV is one of the games I'd consider the very pinnacle of traditional JRPGs. The epic story, interesting characters, colorful visuals, captivating music, and sci-fantasy setting all combine together to form a magical setting. And the mechanics are flawlessly simple with just the right amount of combination attack variety.

It's interesting how up until ~5 years ago, the online PS fan base was divided almost evenly between PSII and PSIV. But then all the re-releases came out and PSIV is now pretty much the undisputed exemplar of the PS series. Regarding PSII, there's no grinding necessary if you let yourself get somewhat lost and never run away from battles. There are a lot of random encounters and trips early on back to town for healing, but I wouldn't consider that grinding.

I'm a big fan of the Phantasy Star Complete Collection on PS2. Pretty much every major issue anyone had about the games is gone. Is the game too hard? Lower the difficulty on-the-spot for more experience and meseta. Is the walking speed too low? Bump it up on-the-spot without affecting music. Do you want to not worry about reaching level 99 in PSIV? Then turn on the fix. Do you want to switch versions? Nobody's stopping you; all versions are included. A fantastic collection that almost makes up for the fact that we lost a PSIV remake.

The plot was resolved at the end of PS4. A spin-off is more likely than another entry in the main series.

I'm actually happy that the series ended when it did. Early on, I certainly wished for another game but now, I doubt Sega could've done any justice to its legendary RPG series. Better to leave Phantasy Star with an amazing finale.

There's actually no game named Phantasy Star IV. Someone put a number on the boxes for the localized release, but the title screen in every region says Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium. It would have made more sense for Sega to give it the number 3 and leave the previous game with just a subtitle, but whatever.

Sort of. The press referred to the game as Phantasy Star IV since the very beginning. There actually is an official Japanese "Phantasy Star IV" logo that was used during early previews (I believe it's one of the gallery images in the SS and/or PS2 collections) but it was somehow scrapped later on favor of the later subtitle. However, that doesn't mean the game itself is free of its PSIV status: the end of the credits refers to the developing team as "Team PSIV" in both US and JP versions.

I agree that the no-number idea would've worked a lot better for PSIII but hindsight is always 20/20. I'm actually a big PSIII fan, but it's clear the developers' full ambitions weren't close to realization and that the atmosphere is quite different from the rest. One reason to view PSIII positively is that it's possible the backlash over PSIII's place in the series caused Sega to become more brand aware and later on decide to responsibly label Phantasy Star Online as such instead of "Phantasy Star V."

[GaijinPunch]

It's not as bad as PS II, where you have to grind to level 15 or so before you can confidently beat the first dungeon.

I like Ganelon's take on PSII and the "grinding". Note the Japanese release didn't have the guide book. Meaning you had to explore those painful dungeons. Generally, you didn't have the grind, as you'd surely get lost more than few times. It opens up the issue of the difficult dungeons dictating the pace though.

And for all you young pussies that don't remember PS1: It is about the only non-linear J-RPG I can remember on any console. Nothing like PSII where everything is in a straight line. PSIII sort of alleviated that with those story branches, but it is (of course) the weakest of the bunch. Lots of wandering around. You could even do some dungeons out of order if you leveled enough.

Despite all the grinding, it's an enjoyable experience.

You can play the Sega Ages 2500 PS Collection, and put it on easy. Makes for a faster experience. It even has frameskip!

. It's too bad that the remakes of the first two games weren't released outside Japan, and that that third game didn't get a remake.

Have you played them? It's probably a good thing. They weren't awful or anything (other than the drab character designs) but they WERE grind fests... and a little annoying at times. They were worth about $20 new, which is what they charged.

[Obiwanshinobi]

It is about the only non-linear J-RPG I can remember on any console.

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song felt pretty non-linear to me. The story isn't given to you only because you deign to play the game; you must search for it.
Hmmm... I feel like revisiting it for the sake of getting lost in a jRPG.

[Strider77]

I reclaim this thread in the name of Phantasy Star 4..... the people have spoken.

[CMoon]

Sorry to toss some new bullshit into a classic RPG thread, but any thoughts on the PS Zero game for the DS?

[ED-057]

Regarding PSII, there's no grinding necessary if you let yourself get somewhat lost and never run away from battles. There are a lot of random encounters and trips early on back to town for healing, but I wouldn't consider that grinding.

In PS2 I recall getting my ass kicked during every battle even after doing some grinding. In PS4 you could get 16383 exp in the Bioplant by slaughtering Gicefalgue (sp?) for an hour, or later in the game kill some sandworms on the eastern continent, and then you would be strong enough that the enemies wouldn`t bug you too much. I finished the other three games multiple times each but when I got almost to the end of PS2 I stopped giving a crap. Although I think it was the last one that I played so maybe I was just spoiled by that time.

I'm actually happy that the series ended when it did. Early on, I certainly wished for another game but now, I doubt Sega could've done any justice to its legendary RPG series. Better to leave Phantasy Star with an amazing finale.

Supposedly PS4 was originally targetting the Sega CD until they changed their minds and went to a cartridge because of meh Sega CD sales. It`s too bad that was never finished/resurrected.
P.S. sony sucks, sega rulez (ruled?)

[shmuppyLove]

Back on topic:



I want this console.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I want four triggers. There was, like, NOTHING wrong even with the DS2's not-so-digital ones... and they spoiled the mood with DS3.

[null1024]

I still hate the analog buttons on the PS2/3 controller, mainly because it kills the d-pad sensitivity.

Also, that PS4 [the system] mockup is too sexy to exist.


As for PS4 [the game], I still need to play it. I just haven't felt like playing a JRPG in ages.

[Ganelon]

In PS2 I recall getting my ass kicked during every battle even after doing some grinding.

I can't tell from that statement whether you're getting killed because of being underleveled or not. PSII definitely has the most dangerous battles in the series; a series of unlucky attacks could destroy your party even with levels in the 40s. I don't know any tricks to make the game easier but death isn't really a big deal in PSII though because once you get the Visiphone so early on, you can just savescum the rest of the way through.

Anyway, outside of my first time through PSIV, I've never had any reason to grind in that game. But there are now enough PSIV low level tactics available online that it's easy to see what skills the game involves. My favorite is definitely the Shadow Blade stat rollover glitch.

Supposedly PS4 was originally targetting the Sega CD until they changed their minds and went to a cartridge because of meh Sega CD sales. It`s too bad that was never finished/resurrected.
P.S. sony sucks, sega rulez (ruled?)

Yeah, having the game on the Mega CD would've been amazing in terms of cutscenes and music. Another well-known interesting fact after the Mega CD phase is that the earliest MD PSIV concept had 1st-person perspective dungeons. It's interesting that Secret of Mana was another repositioned CD candidate (for the stillborn SFC CD) and both games have really colorful graphics. I've always wondered if the palette had a connection with the CD platform origin.

[GaijinPunch]

act after the Mega CD phase is that the earliest MD PSIV concept had 1st-person perspective dungeons.

I believe there's a single screenshot somewhere in one of the official books. Would have loved this. I remember not playing PSIV until I could afford it in emulation (I know, I suck). It came out basically when I first started college and all my money went to weed & hookers. A few years later, I moved to Japan and was poor as a mofo. So, to kill entire weekends (in the winter) I played that, and then Quake 2 on my rockin' 486! Oh, the memories. I had to dual boot that bitch NT/Win98, and then boot into Dos to load the emulator.

I did replay End of the Millenium on the Saturn some time later, which is now a good almost 10 years ago. Replayed the first one on easy/fast mode on the PS2. Should do the others for nostalgic purposes.