Phantasy Star Thread

[Sinmenon]

Phantasy Star taught me to save often and in different slots. And to make sure to have grid paper for maps. This game is fascinating in many levels, there was nothing like it at the time iirc. There was a sense of freedom even if the story was somewhat linear.

Phantasy Star II is a classic, full stop. And can be hard, but it is so rewarding when you finally get comfortable. I still need to play the remake, but only because they added the possibility of saving Nei.

Phantasy Star III....Good ideas, some of the stories have potential...But the execution was bad. The map was useless, the dungeons repetitive - and you had to traverse the same one dungeon many times to get anywhere- and because of how complex the story was (and there wasn't enough drafts to revise the story) there was a bunch of holes. I recall seeing a fan remake that wanted to iron out those, but it was... 10 years ago? No clue if it ever concluded.

Now, Phantasy Star IV is exactly what people nowadays expect from a RPG. Cutscenes, banter, side-quests and all that. I always recommend to anyone who wants to get into retro RPGs along with at least one Final Fantasy game (usually FF9).

I have to admit that I have the softest soft spot for Phantasy Star Online. I played it very young, and I actually analyzed its meta information and compiled an analysis on it. Do you know that meme scene of the crazy dude with the wall full of papers doing analysis? That's me.
I also got a Red Ring Rico statuette in storage. Ops

Ofc, I'm also big on Phantasy Star Universe, AotI, PSP, PSP2 and PSZero. But, somehow, haven't tried PSO2 yet.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

There was a sense of freedom even if the story was somewhat linear.

True, even if DQ and FF were released around the same time I think the great thing about the game is how you can swap planets as you wish.

On the other hand it also means more time exploring to continue the story but that's for all RPGs around.

 

[Yuki Senoue]

my greatest dark evil sin that lurks behind in my shadow is that phantasy star on the master system is one of my favourite rpgs ever, and phantasy star online is one of my favourite games ever, but i have not played ~any~ of the mega drive phantasy star games

You really should play Phantasy Star The End of The Millennium for Mega Drive. It is incredible. I cried so much at its ending - I loved the characters so much, I didn't want to say goodbye. It is my favorite RPG of the 16 bits.

I started my Phantasy Star career with The End of The Millennium, which I found inside a CD with lots of Mega Drive roms and an emulator (GENS). I had a Pentium 133mhz, I believe I was 15 years old back then? Then I went backwards (PS1, PS2, PS Gaiden) then forwards to PSOPC, (a PC port of DCv2, which I played back in 2005, when I got a Pentium D PC), PSOBB (when I got internet connection), PSU, PSU AOTI, PS Zero (Zero is part of the Online 1 series!) PSPortable 1, PSPortable 2, PSO2 ( l play PSO2 since 2012, started in the JP open beta) and finally, PSO2NGS. I looooove all those games, but if you ask which ones are my favorites, they're Phantasy Star The End of the Millennium and Phantasy Star Online.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

You really should play Phantasy Star The End of The Millennium for Mega Drive. It is incredible. I cried so much at its ending - I loved the characters so much, I didn't want to say goodbye. It is my favorite RPG of the 16 bits.

I started my Phantasy Star career with The End of The Millennium, which I found inside a CD with lots of Mega Drive roms and an emulator (GENS). I had a Pentium 133mhz, I believe I was 15 years old back then? Then I went backwards (PS1, PS2, PS Gaiden).

Phantasy Star IV is quite the quintessential entry in the whole franchise, a bit of a shame we'll never see Phantasy Star CD ever (unless someone created an MSU-1 style SCD romhack)...

I thought there were only 3 Classic entries because of the GBA compilation (PS Collection) from the early 00's but I've discovered about IV The End of the Millennium with the PSP Genesis compilation which contained 2 - 3 - 4.

Which makes me still wonder why Sega hasn't ever made a full Classic Collection containing all 4 entries, the two Game Gear spin-offs as well as the Text Adventure that served as a prequel to Phantasy Star II on consoles and PC... I know they made it for the PS2 under the Sega Ages 2500 Collection but it was Japan exclusive and honestly I don't feel like doing them in another language than English.

There were remakes of 1 and 2 but they were quite low-cost and I understand why they haven't made it for 3 nor 4.

...then forwards to PSOPC, (a PC port of DCv2, which I played back in 2005, when I got a Pentium D PC), PSOBB (when I got internet connection), PSU, PSU AOTI, PS Zero (Zero is part of the Online 1 series!) PSPortable 1, PSPortable 2, PSO2 ( l play PSO2 since 2012, started in the JP open beta) and finally, PSO2NGS. I looooove all those games, but if you ask which ones are my favorites, they're Phantasy Star The End of the Millennium and Phantasy Star Online.

PSO PC is quite a rare version I think because it was meant for the Asian market (thus why they've added Korean and Chinese languages exclusively to that version, not even Episode 1&2 got them).

When I was younger I assumed that Episode 2 existed in standalone and that Episode 1&2 was a compilation but it's just Sega being confusing with the naming of their enhanced versions. I think that either internally or from fans it's dubbed as "PSO Ver.3" (to include both the GC and original Xbox ports).

Blue Burst is the most complete version of Online so far but the issue is that you'll need online connection to a private server and some of them may change the rules (maybe a bit too much like Destiny and Ultima) so you'd go for the more purist approach like Ephinea (despite some QoL improvements).

Ultimately you'd have to download and host your own private Blue Burst server to simulate a single player game but then again it'll mean you couldn't play with other people unless they can connect to your server.

PSU is a bit of a mess to me because I'm not fan of being forced to play as Ethan even if I appreciate seeing a fully fledged single player story mode. Extra Mode is basically like Online but in solo where you have your custom Guardian but you'll only unlock it after completing the fourth Chapter of the main game (why Sega, why?). Ambition of the Illuminus is a tricky one, it's both an extension like PSO Ver.2 but also a sequel (which is basically Episode 2). I liked the slight political story about human supremacists in this compared to "the evil SEED alien invading the Ghural system" which is a bit too cliche imo but in the same time the solo campaign felt so much cheaper and almost like an afterthought.

 

[Leon]

Phantasy star 4 is my second favorite game of all time, sadly it was the last of the single player games.

 

[MajesticSiN]

Love the Phantasy Star series. Of the non online versions I think Phantasy Star 4 is the best. I've given like a million hours of my life to Phantasy Star Online in all it's various releases.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Phantasy star 4 is my second favorite game of all time, sadly it was the last of the single player games.

Technically speaking PSO Episode 3, PSU, the PS Portable games and PS Nova all had a single player story.

 

[shadowcat]

Phantasy Star 2 is one of my favorite RPG games. While the segments that unfolded the story were few and far between (especially with those labyrinthian dungeon layouts!), what we got was a very intriguing sci-fi story that was probably the darkest RPG game plotline of its time. It's one I replay every few years, and the ending really caught me off guard the first time I played through it.

I love the idea of Phantasy Star 3, but every time I sit down and play it, I burn out by the 3rd generation. One day I'll get the game out and finally finish it. All the back tracking drags it down a bit, but I did really enjoy the first portion of the game.

I have yet to play 1 or 4, but I've heard nothing but good things about them, so I need to stop keeping myself from missing out and play them already.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I really wanna do Phantasy Star II for good. Like maybe using a romhack but the Genesis Mini 2 version already fixed several flaws (namely the flashing).

I love the idea of Phantasy Star 3, but every time I sit down and play it, I burn out by the 3rd generation. One day I'll get the game out and finally finish it. All the back tracking drags it down a bit, but I did really enjoy the first portion of the game.

And I need to remember doing a save state for each major events because it splits in two twice.

I have yet to play 1 or 4, but I've heard nothing but good things about them, so I need to stop keeping myself from missing out and play them already.

For Phantasy Star 1 you could do the Switch Sega Ages version (with a minimap) or use the SMS Power translation patch.

For 4 I don't know, it's no longer on Steam unfortunately.

 

[Leon]

And I need to remember doing a save state for each major events because it splits in two twice.


For Phantasy Star 1 you could do the Switch Sega Ages version (with a minimap) or use the SMS Power translation patch.

For 4 I don't know, it's no longer on Steam unfortunately.

And each of the 4 last generation's has a different ending.

As for phantasy star 4, 4 really doesn't need any mods, the maps aren't too complicated (outside of 1 specific dungeon, but there are maps on the internet if you get lost) and the game is not hard enough to need a balancing patch, the only mod maybe worth getting for a first time player would be the bug fix mod, but even then the bugs in the game are hard to get to under normal play.

Phantasy star 4 is my second favorite game of all time and probably the game i've played the most.

 

[PhaseJump]

Sega really needs to port the Switch version over to other platforms.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Sega really needs to port the Switch version over to other platforms.

Agreed. I still don't understand why we didn't get the full collection of the Switch Sega Ages physically in a cartridge.


I find it interesting that they had included Phantasy Star as a bonus game in the Ultimate Genesis/Mega Drive Collection.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Okay, so, asking the Phantasy Star thread a question as I’m new to the game.

This is my current party.
Alis -
Level 13
Crc. Sword
Lth. Armor
Lth. Shield

Myau -
Level 10
Irn. Fang
Thck. Fur

Odin -
Level 9
Needlgun
Irn. Armor

Mst. - 3035

With this information, what should I do next? Is there any equipment I should really get for the cash I have with what I can access at this point in the game? Storywise, this is technically right after we meet and free Odin. I went on a massive grind session and took a pit stop in a dungeon to mess up some Skeletons to get the Iron Fang for Myau.
What’s next, basically?

Post automatically merged: May 20, 2025

(Btw, I’ve been having an AMAZING time with this game. It’s not often I play RPG’s, and so I only really get invested in one I truly love. It’s been a great time of exploring, leveling, grinding, and staring at Myau’s walk cycle.)

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

With this information, what should I do next? Is there any equipment I should really get for the cash I have with what I can access at this point in the game? Storywise, this is technically right after we meet and free Odin. I went on a massive grind session and took a pit stop in a dungeon to mess up some Skeletons to get the Iron Fang for Myau.
What’s next, basically?

If I remember correctly you have to

Spoiler

get your personal ship and get the mirror shield?

In https://phantasystar.fandom.com/wiki/Walkthrough_for_Phantasy_Star they say (spoiler alert for the link)

Spoiler

Go to Eppi, and visit the houses there to learn of the dungeon key

Recommend: Buy a needlegun for Odin. Odin should always equip himself with guns (Needle, Heat, and Laser) whenever possible (except during final boss-battles) since guns attack every enemy in a group at once.

Funfacts: there was a java phone semi remake of Phantasy Star called Phantasy Star Deluxe

 

[Duke_11037]

And during the E3 of the year 2000:

Huh that's really interesting, the Pioneer 2 music is pretty much the same. Looks like HUmar are much faster with attacks, I wonder if it's because they didn't implement saber combos yet

 

[Darklink]

I've still only ever played Phantasy Star 1. I did a small marathon of JRPG firsts. Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Mother.

The sheer jump from 1986's DQ1 to 1987's FF1 and PS1 is astounding. Heck, PS1 was probably the game I was most impressed with of the four.

I've been meaning to play the rest of the OG Phantasy Star series, I have them all set up and whatnot. I am just bad about starting JRPGs I've never played before. I've heard good things about PS2 and *amazing* things about PS4.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Huh that's really interesting, the Pioneer 2 music is pretty much the same. Looks like HUmar are much faster with attacks, I wonder if it's because they didn't implement saber combos yet

P2 was also probably meant to be the hub both for Online lobbies and solo mode.

They've separated the lobbies and the hub at release but then PSU went back to the idea of having the hubs being the same in Offline and Online.

As for the OSTs I see that there's no Calm/Battle variations/transitions yet (kinda like Multi Mode in Episode 1&2 that only gave the Battle variant).

I know that in the first trailer of PSO they've played the theme of the first boss, (Growl, from the depths of earth) but then they've added a The Whole New World variant at the end (almost like PSO2's Dark Falz theme becoming the main theme when they were almost defeated).

Then there was a trailer with a prototype version of From seeing the Rough Wave (De Rol Le's theme) which may sound like a MIDI instead of using actual instruments.

I kinda wish we got to hear the clean version of that trailer.

 

[Yuki Senoue]

@Ikaruga Prolly the e3 demo didn't have the music variation because the music system used to crash the Dreamcast a lot and was called "The Crasher" by the devs

 

[PhaseJump]

I've still only ever played Phantasy Star 1. I did a small marathon of JRPG firsts. Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Mother.

The sheer jump from 1986's DQ1 to 1987's FF1 and PS1 is astounding. Heck, PS1 was probably the game I was most impressed with of the four.

I've been meaning to play the rest of the OG Phantasy Star series, I have them all set up and whatnot. I am just bad about starting JRPGs I've never played before. I've heard good things about PS2 and *amazing* things about PS4.

For an even more impressive jump, play Ys Book 1 and 2 on the Turbo CD. The presentation completely destroys the other games that were out at the time.

Phantasy Star 2 and 3 are a slog by today's standards, but still worth playing if you can emulate and fast forward, save state, etc. You can also play fan translations of Generation 1 and 2 on the Playstation 2.

4 is absolutely great, but with cutscenes and audio enhancements, it could have been another Sega CD game like Lunar 2, better than most of what was getting all the attention on SNES.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I've still only ever played Phantasy Star 1. I did a small marathon of JRPG firsts. Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Mother.

The sheer jump from 1986's DQ1 to 1987's FF1 and PS1 is astounding. Heck, PS1 was probably the game I was most impressed with of the four.

I've been meaning to play the rest of the OG Phantasy Star series, I have them all set up and whatnot. I am just bad about starting JRPGs I've never played before. I've heard good things about PS2 and *amazing* things about PS4.

Big thing is you’ve gotta come prepared. That’s what I did for PS1 here. But, I’m telling this to you as a secret between us…

…the Phantasy Star fandom is one of the best that you’ve never heard of.

 

[Darklink]

For an even more impressive jump, play Ys Book 1 and 2 on the Turbo CD. The presentation completely destroys the other games that were out at the time.

To be fair, while while I'm sure that Ys 1 and 2 on Turbo-CD are a great jump, I was specifically playing the OG versions of those old school games. Of course a remake like the Turbo-CD version. If I wanted to compare it to the others I played, I would have played the original PC-88 version from 1987.

Really the jump in game graphics from 87 to 89 is the crazy part, but then that makes sense, that was the console generation transitional period.

Phantasy Star 2 and 3 are a slog by today's standards, but still worth playing if you can emulate and fast forward, save state, etc. You can also play fan translations of Generation 1 and 2 on the Playstation 2.

4 is absolutely great, but with cutscenes and audio enhancements, it could have been another Sega CD game like Lunar 2, better than most of what was getting all the attention on SNES.

From what I've heard PS2 is a pretty good "of the time" JRPG, so yeah, grinding and some annoyances. Whereas PS3 I've heard almost nothing good about lol. With PS4 I've heard that if it was on a the JRPG machine of the time, the SNES, it would almost always be the same kinds of conversations Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Dragon Quest V are.

 

[PhaseJump]

To be fair, while while I'm sure that Ys 1 and 2 on Turbo-CD are a great jump, I was specifically playing the OG versions of those old school games. Of course a remake like the Turbo-CD version. If I wanted to compare it to the others I played, I would have played the original PC-88 version from 1987.

Really the jump in game graphics from 87 to 89 is the crazy part, but then that makes sense, that was the console generation transitional period.



From what I've heard PS2 is a pretty good "of the time" JRPG, so yeah, grinding and some annoyances. Whereas PS3 I've heard almost nothing good about lol. With PS4 I've heard that if it was on a the JRPG machine of the time, the SNES, it would almost always be the same kinds of conversations Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Dragon Quest V are.

3 is still good, or at least better than some of the bad stuff of the era. It's not full of memorable character development, and the consequences of choosing and going through different generations in the game is over sold as something important, but it really isn't.

It gets shit on because it doesn't tie into the other games in the series too well, the music kind of sucks, the gameplay is tedious like 2. It's setting is also more medieval fantasy than sci-fi until you get late in the game.

I played the shit out of it back in the day because it was still different. I think playing 2 on OG hardware is harder to go back to, too archaic. Last time I did it was with the Xbox 360 port for the achievements. It was rough, but you could save state and walk away.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I think I'll play Phantasy Star 2 with a x4 XP romhack.


But then again the Genesis Mini 2 version is also great.

 

[Felipe]

From what I've heard PS2 is a pretty good "of the time" JRPG, so yeah, grinding and some annoyances.

A HUGE annoyance, the dungeons are HUGE and hard to memorize, had to develop a strategy to go through them.

 

[Lokgamer]

I just start playing phantasy star universe yesterday, my first phantasy star. What are your thoughts with this game? (No spoilers please).