PDA

View Full Version : Your Favorite classico phantasy star games



MrNomad
Jul 17, 2007, 12:00 AM
Hey yall Nomad here, decided to make a topic about our favorite PS games and why, OR talk about our least fav and why. I'll go:
I haven't finished any PS games because I've been playing PSU all the time, but thanks to my SEGA genesis collection I can get to it. I intend to finish PS 2-4 in that order. PS2 and 4 are my favorites of those rpg games, they both have great gameplay, with the 2nd having more challenging difficulty and the 4th having more refined gameplay, tactics, graphics etc. God, I just can't stand PS3 though =/ Whenever I see it I think "Were they trying to make it medieval looking?" Plus its graphics and audio feel downgraded compared to PS2

HUnewearl_Meira
Jul 17, 2007, 11:40 PM
My favorite is Phantasy Star 2. By my own opinion, it has the best story of the bunch, hands down. Plus, it has the original Newearl, at that-- Nei.


As far as Phantasy Star 3 goes, I think it has the best and worst of the entire series. It has some of the best music, as well as some of the worst music. It has the best graphics, but the worst animation. The opening theme, for example, must be the single best piece of music from the entire series, to date (so good, in fact, that my wife decided she wanted it as her wedding march http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif). The overworld music and such is quite good as well, and builds upon itself as more characters are added to the party. The battle music, however, leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Nai_Calus
Jul 18, 2007, 04:41 AM
PSIV. Best character interaction, obviously. (The plot of a game can stink to high heavens and I'll still eagerly play it as long as the characters capture my interest. PSIV might have a fairly cliched plot, but I liked the characters, damn it, and they could have spent half the game sitting around in that bar in Aiedo yakking and I would have played it.) Plus the plot didn't suck, the graphics and music were good, and the battle system didn't annoy me in any way.

PSII is the most godforsakenly depressing game ever made. The entire game is like this massive ball of misery and angst. This doesn't make it suck, but it is a pretty big downer. XD;;;

HUnewearl_Meira
Jul 18, 2007, 11:56 PM
I like the nobility of the heroes' actions at the end of PSII, myself. That's what sets it at the top of my list.

Myphys
Jul 19, 2007, 02:12 AM
PSIV! Everything was executed perfectly in that game.
Did anyone else notice how PSIV was almost like a remake of the first 3 games mashed together? I mean that in a "improved remake" kind of way.

Eg.
PSI's story---->The whole Zio arc
Nei---->Rika
Medieval "worlds" (PSIII)---->Low tech Motavia (PSIV)
Talking Dark Force----->That man (you know who I'm talking about...)

Yes, I know there are more obvious references (Air castle, etc), so no need to mention them.

Blame Sega for assigning a new team to produce PSIII. Basically, that team bit off more than they could chew.

Sinue_v2
Jul 19, 2007, 02:35 AM
I'm not sure... PS1, 2, and 4 are all extremely good for different reasons. PSI was my first PS game, and it set the mold for basically the entire franchise. Phantasy Star II had perhaps the single most mature and moving plot in any console RPG. I'm a sucker for bitter-sweet endings. Phantasy Star IV, had the most developed storyline and best character interaction - which really made the game come to life without having to look up a bunch of details and backstories in various printed materials.

PSIII, though, is probably my least favorite - though still a very good game with excellent music.

Weeaboolits
Jul 19, 2007, 04:51 PM
I like four, it's not as hard as one and two and the menus are easily navigated, I'm too spoiled by newer RPGs to not have trouble with the menus of the first 3, I hated 3's battle menu, text would be nice guys, the hell does this wind-up key mean? :/

Four looks nice, has nifty cut scenes and is fun to play, two is my second favorite, but it's too damn hard.

Saigan
Jul 20, 2007, 11:26 AM
I still to this day adore PS1 and rank it next to DQ1 and FF1. I just enjoy playing it the most. I'd like II more but it's too frustrating to play on a regular basis and I think 4 was absolutely brilliant and showed me another 16bit RPG that could hold up to the RPG mega-giant FF6.

But lord- I can play PS1 over and over.

Myphys
Jul 20, 2007, 11:32 PM
I think the wind-up key means to run.
eg. Winding up a toy car, release and off it goes.

===> Wind-up key=make the battle run/proceed

Both PSII and PSIII didn't have very intuitive battle menus, in my opinion.

Also, PSIV's controls felt speedy, which I like. Made me feel like I was in control.
Actually, PSIV felt speedy in many ways.

Most games these days feel sluggish, and dragged out.
Developers like to promise 60+ hours gameplay, yet most of those times are spent holding the control stick in one direction because you're moving at a snail's pace, extremely long/pointless summons, long pointless conversations and the loading times...geez!

Weeaboolits
Jul 21, 2007, 04:34 AM
wind-up key was attack, caR was full go attack or sommat and I forgot thwe others, still dumb, looked stupid too. :/

Saffran
Jul 22, 2007, 04:23 AM
I adore PSII. This is one of the RPGs that just dragged me down into video games - the first pull being Y's.

I have been ridiculised on a regular basis back then for drawing chars from that game. I have worked on a Nei Armor following the designs of the jp cover. (never finished it). I loved the whole Nei plot, actually - I couldn't believe the scene in Climatrol!
The scenario is complex, poignant, the game is hard on you, the maps are killers when you don't have the hint book, and you just cannot level up too much - even at lvl 50, DF and MB are definetely no push over. The characters are cute, the game looks good, the music is great, and the game is huge. What's not to like??? And the battles. The monsters were *animated*, which was rare back then, but they also all had a kind of "special move" which was *specific* to their sprite, which was basically unheard of...
No really, PSII is my favorite.

The topnotch quality of the battle is what threw me off PSIII at first. The battles in PSIII are just meh... the scenario was cool (the true meaning of those "linked worlds" was a shock) and the generation thingie was neat. Still, it's not THAT long and it doesn't keep you glued to your pad. The music track IS fantastic though. That opening screen march.... WOW.

I played the 4th and I liked it, but I never came back to it. I should redo it one of these days.
I also played the original, but on the Saturn (thanks for that buying impulse when I saw the Collection....). It was truly a great game. It must have been a bomb on the market back then, and it explains the cult status of the franchise.

DezoPenguin
Jul 22, 2007, 11:22 AM
PSIV is one of my four all-time favorite games (w/ Lunar: EB, FF7, Shadow Hearts). Everyone's already mentioned most of what makes it interesting: it was the first game I'd played at that point that actually developed the story via interaction with the various characters. PSIII had hinted that there were interesting people on the quest, but PSIV actually came out and showed it to us. Because Chaz wasn't some blank slate whose longest dialogue line was "... ... ..." I could see his story as a story and not just as a gaming objective to be overcome. PSIV also remains, to date, the only game I know in which the writers man up and show that the "we must seal away the ancient evil for another 1000 years" theme is no solution to anything. Darn it, go kill off the Ultimate Evil already and get on with our lives, darnit!

Better, all this was set to great music. And the game looked good. Beautiful graphics, especially for its time. The "on-screen" walking figures of the characters weren't SD, but normally proportioned (shared by PS2 and PS3). In-combat visuals just enough to get the point across of how cool (or not) certain attacks were without getting in the way of playability (I'm talking to you, Squaresoft!). The manga-style stills for the story scenes were actually more effective than most of the animations of the day, both because they didn't look forced or clunky (i.e. "animation" in which only the mouth moves? What's the point?), because they were well-drawn, and because they appeared on the screen in ways suited to tell the story instead of just being slapped up there.

Best, the game plays smooth as silk. No ugly load times. Fast walking speeds. Intuitive combat menus. A reasonably deep battle system with regard to elemental affinities and such. Programmable combat macros that actually allow you to select the order in which your characters act (explain to me again why this was such a difficult concept that I've never seen it again?). The only real flaw in this game is that the difficulty level needs a slight uptick.

PSIII is my second favorite--despite its clunky points (weird battle animations, utterly broken magic system, slow walking speed) I liked its characters and found its multigenerational story fun and intriguing. This is the PS game I most want to see a remake of, because its story really deserves developing out with modern technology. And because Sari is cool.

I don't really feel the love for PSII. The uber-angsty story isn't the problem (hey, I'm a Xenosaga fan), but the fact that the actual game itself is a horrible grind (hm...just like the second Xenosaga game, come to think of it. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif ). Whether it's running around in the same spot for hours on end to try and earn enough money to upgrade my weapons, or spending hours mapping out the exceptionally long dungeons (mind you, they weren't particularly tricky dungeons, except the one with all the holes in the floor you had to jump down and figure out your landing spots, they were just very big mazes), the boredom factor had me by the throat. The quirks of the battle system (Hello? Can I please pick a target for my attacks?) didn't help at all. It's a testament to my love for Phantasy Star that I actually played through this one three times.

PSI, of course, rocks the world. Only the technological limitations of the SMS hold it back. I loved how inevitably I would run out of MP right at the very end of nearly every dungeon, it was as if I always had exactly enough resources to get through every dungeon and no more, which speaks of excellent game balance. Obviously, the story is nothing to write home about and the characters desperately need development, but you could say that about every RPG of its age. And it's just plain fun to play!

Alis-Landeel
Jul 31, 2007, 06:47 AM
1) PS3
2) PS1
3) PS2
4) PS4


PS3:
Pro: sense of freedom, good story, best music, original system of generations, best graphic palette and world design.
Contro: combat system, animations, story-telling, frustrating spawn of enemies.

PS1:
Pro: best freedom on quests, exploration system, good music, it IS the JRPG, first person dungeon.
Contro: combat system, simplicistic story.

PS2:
Pro: best story, good music, best sci-fiction style, good battle system, difficult.
Contro: no background on battle, linear, too and frustrating spawn.

PS4:
Pro: best story-telling, good story, great graphic, best combat system, more actual.
Contro: too much linear, not so original, I don' t like the music.

Piper_Maru
Aug 5, 2007, 01:59 PM
PS4 is one of my favorite games, and my favorite Phantasy Star game. I just loved the story and the writing.

I probably would like PS2 as my second favorite, if it wasnt so damned hard. So, I liked PS3 better.

I have to say though, I really didnt like the first one. I don't know why, maybe its because I played the others before I played the first one, but I didnt get into it.

Saigan
Aug 8, 2007, 02:07 AM
On 2007-08-05 11:59, Piper_Maru wrote:

I have to say though, I really didnt like the first one. I don't know why, maybe its because I played the others before I played the first one, but I didnt get into it.



Blasphemy you blaspheming blasphemer XD

Aumi
Sep 7, 2007, 06:17 PM
I just began playin the games, but already the first day, i startet lookin for lots of information.
I liked PS II best from the beginning, the whole story is just nice, and I really like Nei's plot, she's also mu favourite chara of PS now, and it's nice that you can revive her in the remake PS Generation: 2 xD

Mysterious-G
Sep 11, 2007, 07:10 AM
PSI was something new, a whole new experience.
But the caves were really annoying and I had no clue where to go most time. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

I loved PSII for it`s story. It was nothing very special, but I liked the way it was presented.
But it was really hard... When you had to find that gum on that mountain, I really got frustrated.
The enemies got harder and harder.

PSIII is my personal worst one, I really couldn't play it. I hated the story, the animations and the world design. And it kinda reminded me of FF. That wasn't a really PS in my opionon!

PSIV I loved at all. The story was nothing special, just like in PSII, but I really loved the characters and their own personal stories. The fights were just awesome, most notably the music.
"Laughter" and "King of Terrors" are master pieces of music! You had a enormous variety of spells you could use, and each character really was different.
That was something I kinda missed in PSII.
There were many sidequests and beautiful animations.

Yeah, PSIV is my favorite.

Thwyter
Oct 8, 2007, 07:15 PM
I'm have say PS2, it was the first rpg that I remember and like others before me, it has Nei.

UnholyBlood
Dec 5, 2007, 08:58 AM
Phantasy Star 2 is my favourite because:

1) As far as I am aware it was the only serious sci fi anime rpg available in the west
2) Beautiful anime designs
3) Dark storyline
4) extremely original ending
5) great music
6) revoultionary animated fight scenes
7) - Nei- shes great aint she:)
8 ) games atmosphere - heroes are investigators rather than typical saviours,heroes of light etc



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: UnholyBlood on 2007-12-05 05:59 ]</font>