[furrypaws]

This kind of thing interests me. What was your experience? How did you come across the game, and what did you know about it going in? I'm just curious, as it's about to be my first time through. Obviously, I'll have a different mindset than someone who played it way back in '89, and I think seeing the two experiences juxtaposed together would be fascinating. Of course, any time period of a "first play" is fine for this topic. It's fascinating!

[landman]

99-2000 maybe, emulation, I played PS4 first, that one was very player friendly, like most JRPG today. Then I started from the beginning... first contact with a true classic RPG, extremely hard and frustrating lol I couldn't handle it, and... cheated

[Bragatyr]

I was definitely a latecomer. I never played a single game in the series until a year or so ago. I started out with the first one and worked my way up. All of them blew me away in different ways, but the original was probably the most impressive in terms of its historicity and the sheer scope of it. I still can't believe they were doing that kind of stuff in 87-88.

I always thought it was awesome, for example, that both Lassic and Dark Falz had their own themes. And Lassic's theme is immortally awesome, on top of that. It was also really neat to see a female lead. Even now that's hardly the norm. Oh, and having a talking cat in the party is one of the greatest things ever.

I do have to admit that I found it really difficult, at least as far as the dungeons. I never really figured out how to accurately map them out. I did have to resort to help on more than one occasion. Which is shameful, because I've been playing RPG's all my life. But that darn lying Dezorian in that one dungeon doesn't help matters!

[Crazyleo]

I only encounter this game briefly, but I was helping a friend out who had the game to get to the final boss. (He done everything else by himself)

[RemiusTA]

I tried it jan of this year. Only reason i didnt beat it is because my save file got ruined and i had to start over.


Honestly....it's dated as hell, but oddly enough, i was very much intrigued to play it. Which is odd, because i played 2 and had no intention of beating it.


I might go back and beat I after i beat 4, which is definitely modern enough for me to enjoy to the fullest.

[Apone]

I played Phantasy Star 1 in 88' I was already a sega fan because I was always at the arcade. I saw the commercial for this game and it blew me away at the time. I rented the game 3 times in a row just so I could beat it. Im pretty sure PS1 was my first RPG, it got me hungry for other RPGS but back then there were no other console RPGs that even compared and I didn't have a PC. Its VERY hard by todays standards but back then I didn't even notice like I would today.

[Deco_Bryl]

I played it as I was entering my late teens. It was hard! I stumbled in and out of dungeons. I couldn't make maps to save my life. I got Myau killed mid-flight. I stranded my party on the Air Castle. And the Motavians and Dezorians were shockingly hostile. ;.;

Somehow, though, I made it to the end, but not without having to consult a guide to find Dark Force's hiding place. Yes, it was hard... Good times... :P

[RemiusTA]

the simplicity of that game is oddly attractive to me. Something about it.

[ShadowDragon28]

Got it shortly after it first came out back in like 1987 i think, as an X-mas present.

I was absolutely blown away by it, the tough as heck gameplay, the amazing music, the awesome 3-d scrolling dungeons. To me it was like when I saw "Star Wars" for the first time, just jaw-dropping amazed. I went from playing Atari 2600 games to Phantasy Star.

I was used to seeing games and playing games like this (since I didn't own a NES and only seen Dunk Hunt and wasnt that impressed with it at the time):


and then saw this once I put in Phantasy Star in the master system, I saw this

[Zorafim]

Soon after I got PSO for the gamecube, I saw an ad that had PS 1-3 on a GBA cartridge. I was in love with PSO (even though I only played offline), and wanted to see where it came from.
Well, I gotta say, it was a bit too painful to handle on my own. I consulted a guide for almost the entire game, and got myself stuck in the air castle (after I saved). I took a break from the game, and gamesharked myself some extra mp to go back home after I came back.

I think it's a really interesting, but highly dated, game. It has a really different style than other RPGs. It's very colorful, and some parts of the game look amazing for a game that old. To this day, the cutscene pictures look great, and the monsters look on par with SNES rpg monsters.
However, going through dungeons is just painful without a map, and even then it's easy to get lost. The balance is pretty terrible, but some may say that's part of its charm (it's neat knowing which things are good and bad, and exploiting that). The worst part is the level grinding, though. I just watched a speed run of the game, and a good half of it was spent grinding for exp and money.

I'd recommend the game, for sure. The grinding is excusable the first time playing through it, and if the dungeon design is too much for you, look up maps. It might be difficult knowing where to go, so you might also want to look up where to get certain items if you can't figure it out. And you definitely want to look up what each item does, since the game won't tell you.
But on the plus side, it has an amazing retro feel to it, it's colorful and entertaining, it has a fantastical story, and it's great seeing such old styled cutscenes.