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View Full Version : Phantasy Star Collection: Old School is freakin hard!



Coran_Horn
Dec 30, 2002, 07:21 PM
I like a hard game, but I wasn't ready for the old Phantasy Stars. Gamers sure have gotten soft in the past decade http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif In both PS1 and PS2 I had to spend my first hour or two leveling up for the first dungeons. Maybe I just suck or something. Anyway, I have a question. What am I supposed to do at the begining of Phantasy Star I? I figured out that you need the flash thing to see in the Medusa cave, but I don't know what to do now. I've been through the entire thing several times. I found the guy turned to stone, I got the treasure chests, and I checked the dead ends for secret doors or something, but I found nothing. Someone here must know what to do.

Oh, does anyone else find the quasi-3D dungeons in PS1 to be a little confusing?

Ness
Dec 30, 2002, 07:50 PM
I found PS@ to be hard as well. There really wasn't any hints or leads to where you were supposed to go, but then again I was too young to play all those old school games.

Rotis
Dec 30, 2002, 07:59 PM
On 2002-12-30 16:21, Coran_Horn wrote:
Anyway, I have a question. What am I supposed to do at the begining of Phantasy Star I? I figured out that you need the flash thing to see in the Medusa cave, but I don't know what to do now. I've been through the entire thing several times. I found the guy turned to stone, I got the treasure chests, and I checked the dead ends for secret doors or something, but I found nothing. Someone here must know what to do.


If you talk to the people, they'll give you vague hints... there are two people who mention the creature that was with Odin (the man turned to stone), and I think they're both in Scion...
One says something to the effect of "Odin has a strange catlike animal with him. It has a bottle of medicine around its neck, but I don't know what it's for." and the other says "I was in the cave where Medusa is, and I found a talking animal! I sold it to a trader from Paseo." Yeah. :x

Paseo is the capital of Motavia. To get to the spaceport to get there, you need a secret item... the person who sells it won't give it up at first, so keep trying.

CajunSamurai
Dec 31, 2002, 12:43 AM
Man, post FF4 RPGs are ALL so damn easy, with maybe one or two exceptions (Lufia 2 and its puzzles from hell, ow).
I also find it funny how people complain so much about random encounters. It made me LAUGH back when Skies of Arcadia was released and so many people griped about its random encounters. Those people obviously have not played through LUNAR 2 on Sega CD; THAT game had some random encounters, YO!
Man, the old PS games were amazing. 'Cept for PS3 which is still the black sheep of the bunch, we could all do without it and not lose sleep at night. My favorite by far is PS4, though. The story isn't that great, the dialogue is LAUGHABLE and the pacing is sometimes a little awkward, but man, the gameplay is unsurpassed. So many fond memories of that game, as well.

Kent
Dec 31, 2002, 12:54 AM
I've only played PS2 and 4 (2 on the Smash Pack and 4 on Genesis) and I agree, some games back then were (excuse the expression) hard as f*ck.

I forgot where I was in PS2, but in PS4 I'm in the Sky Castle (I think that's what it was called), characters around level 24, killing all the monsters in the area with ease... except those three bosses, they totally decimate me.

CajunSamurai
Dec 31, 2002, 01:14 AM
Ugh, that damn Sky Castle! That's where I left off on my last game, actually. Monsters were easy... bosses came from the depths of HELL. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif
Amazing game, that.

Coran_Horn
Dec 31, 2002, 10:16 AM
On 2002-12-30 16:59, Rotis wrote:

the person who sells it won't give it up at first, so keep trying.



IT never occured to me I had to get into the spaceport somehow. I must have read that one guy wrong....I'm guessing it's the second hand store guys I have to bug to buy the road pass? Or maybe it's one of the guards....I guess I wandered around in that cave with Odin turned to stone for nothing http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Whatley
Jan 1, 2003, 03:12 PM
On 2002-12-30 22:14, CajunSamurai wrote:
Ugh, that damn Sky Castle! That's where I left off on my last game, actually. Monsters were easy... bosses came from the depths of HELL. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif
Amazing game, that.



Grand Cross works good on the three bosses. So does Shooting Star.

sword_maker
Jan 1, 2003, 04:02 PM
BOY DONT GET ME STARTED ON THE PS GAMES i just got the GBA game too still havnt reached a high enough lvl.... I was also wondering if they wer gonna release the others (ps4 including) on gba too?



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: sword_maker on 2003-01-01 13:03 ]</font>

Sune_Walsh
Jan 2, 2003, 09:03 PM
I hate to be insulitng, but you guys suck. But maybe that's because I grew up on old PS and I think PSIV is the best RPG EVER. I wish they'd come out with a sepeate collection with PSIV and maybe gaiden for the GBA.

Oh, and as far as macro's go, BlackHole and Destruct reign supreme.

Maybe you don't suck. Maybe you just need a decent game to unleash your potential. All it takes is dedication , perserverence, and a diet that prohibits canned meats of any kind. (thanks, posty!)

And yes, games (and gamers) have gotten soft over the years. That's definitly a point that I just can't seem to get past.

RuneLateralus
Jan 3, 2003, 01:39 AM
Welcome to old school fun. PS I-III are hard games (especially 2).

PSIV is the easiest of the four. It is also my favorite.

The advice for the games is:

PSI: learn how to make maps

PSII: level up...a lot.

PSIII: Haven't really gotten that far in this game...the one I played the least

PSIV: Star and Sol dew will save your ass in the final battles.

dude3282
Jan 3, 2003, 06:48 AM
Well, call me a major WUSS 'cause Metroid Fusion has me PISSED! Whoever designed that Spider Boss in the Auxiliary Reactor and the SA-X clone right after it was EVIL.

SuperSpeedy
Jan 4, 2003, 04:36 PM
On 2003-01-03 03:48, dude3282 wrote:
Well, call me a major WUSS 'cause Metroid Fusion has me PISSED! Whoever designed that Spider Boss in the Auxiliary Reactor and the SA-X clone right after it was EVIL.


Ehh, they we're easy.
Now Ridley, he's tough.

rena-ko
Jan 6, 2003, 02:21 PM
ps-collection oh i so love it - golden sun was kinda disappointing (just unequipp all the little pokemon-like thingies and summit big monsters for no tp)

back to ps-c - i try my luck at ps2 atm and the leveling at first is fun - also going through the dungeons (i'm at the first one) without any map-support is good training for the brain.
today's games are really way to easy or simply mean. but ps-c is hard but fair imho.

edit: ascii? hm...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rena-ko on 2003-01-06 11:22 ]</font>

Omega_Weltall
Feb 26, 2007, 12:29 AM
For the release of Phantasy Star 2, it came with a 210 ( i think) page hint book for it. And OH is it needed. Ya I actually had the original cart when it was released... goddamn i'm old >_<

Ryna
Feb 26, 2007, 09:49 AM
On 2007-02-25 21:29, Omega_Weltall wrote:
For the release of Phantasy Star 2, it came with a 210 ( i think) page hint book for it. And OH is it needed. Ya I actually had the original cart when it was released... goddamn i'm old >_<


I still have my Phantasy Star II hint guide. I started using it a lot as soon as I hit the dams on my first run-through.

Omega_Weltall
Feb 26, 2007, 11:13 AM
oh man dont get me started on the dams >_<

Ryna
Feb 26, 2007, 11:17 AM
On 2007-02-26 08:13, Omega_Weltall wrote:
oh man dont get me started on the dams >_<


Go ahead and make a new topic about them. They're a great topic for conversation. Relive your agony in trying to get through them!

JAFO22000
Feb 26, 2007, 11:25 AM
Yes, you will need maps for PSI, especially Lassic's Tower. You NEED to map out exactly how many steps you have to take until Myau has to cast TRAP.

It did take me a long time to figure out the Garbage Dump in PSII. That was pretty sneaky of them!

Saffran
Mar 1, 2007, 06:55 AM
Oh come on...
Back then it was pretty normal to map things out. The younger players just aren't used to it, but it doesn't make the game any harder. Try some of the dungeon crawlers from the C64, now those were badass...
PS2 had some really tricky maps, I kind of understand why the game came with a hint book. The later jp reprints of the game had the US hintbook included, btw. Surprised the hell out of me.

PS2 was clearly the harder one. It was longer, more complex, more chars, and ennemies could actually mop the floor with you - quite like the ennemies in the last part of PS3. Plus power leveling was very tedious.

Saigan
Mar 1, 2007, 06:11 PM
On 2002-12-30 16:21, Coran_Horn wrote:
I like a hard game, but I wasn't ready for the old Phantasy Stars. Gamers sure have gotten soft in the past decade http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif In both PS1 and PS2 I had to spend my first hour or two leveling up for the first dungeons. Maybe I just suck or something. Anyway, I have a question. What am I supposed to do at the begining of Phantasy Star I? I figured out that you need the flash thing to see in the Medusa cave, but I don't know what to do now. I've been through the entire thing several times. I found the guy turned to stone, I got the treasure chests, and I checked the dead ends for secret doors or something, but I found nothing. Someone here must know what to do.

Oh, does anyone else find the quasi-3D dungeons in PS1 to be a little confusing?



Go buy yourself some graph paper and map those dungeons out. You'll save yourself alot of trouble. As far as direction in the early game?

Get the laconian pot in that first town.
Save up money and go to Scion (short walk east).
Buy a "secret" from I think the second hand shop.
Go to the space port and head to Motavia.
Trade the pot for a cat.
Go to medusa's cave and get Odin.
Head north of scion to Naula cave and buy a cake inside (this is where you probably WANT to start mapping).
Take the cake to the govenor on motavia.
Head north to another cave (map map map) and get Noah (cough Lutz).

Grats- you're done with the opening.

I am working on a guide for this game as time permits

Obscenity
Mar 2, 2007, 09:02 AM
On 2007-03-01 15:11, Saigan wrote:


Go buy yourself some graph paper and map those dungeons out. You'll save yourself alot of trouble. As far as direction in the early game?

Get the laconian pot in that first town.
Save up money and go to Scion (short walk east).
Buy a "secret" from I think the second hand shop.
Go to the space port and head to Motavia.
Trade the pot for a cat.
Go to medusa's cave and get Odin.
Head north of scion to Naula cave and buy a cake inside (this is where you probably WANT to start mapping).
Take the cake to the govenor on motavia.
Head north to another cave (map map map) and get Noah (cough Lutz).

Grats- you're done with the opening.

I am working on a guide for this game as time permits




You have to buy "Secrets" three times before you get the Road Pass.

Saigan
Mar 3, 2007, 10:27 AM
On 2007-03-02 06:02, Obscenity wrote:

You have to buy "Secrets" three times before you get the Road Pass.



Woops, how right you are.

DezoPenguin
Mar 16, 2007, 05:19 PM
On 2007-02-25 21:29, Omega_Weltall wrote:
For the release of Phantasy Star 2, it came with a 210 ( i think) page hint book for it. And OH is it needed. Ya I actually had the original cart when it was released... goddamn i'm old >_<



I got my original cart at a used-game store and the hintbook was missing. ^_^ I have every dungeon in PSII mapped out on ten-squares-to-the-inch graph paper (hey, at least it's not Bard's Tale, with first-person view dungeons and two-dimensional walls on the edges of the squares!). This may well play into why PSII is by far my least favorite of the series. ^_-

DezoPenguin
Mar 16, 2007, 05:22 PM
On 2007-03-03 07:27, Saigan wrote:

On 2007-03-02 06:02, Obscenity wrote:

You have to buy "Secrets" three times before you get the Road Pass.



Woops, how right you are.




Luckily you only have to pay for them the third time, considering how hard you have to grub for money in PSI!

Weeaboolits
Mar 31, 2007, 04:03 AM
I was playin' PSII and I was completely blasting every enemy in the first dungeon, but I go to the next floor and promptly get pwned most fully by the first random enemy, I'm like WTF?!
I got frustrated with it and haven't played it in a while...

DezoPenguin
Mar 31, 2007, 10:51 AM
PSII is brutal early on, between the encounter rate, the difficulty of the monsters, the crappy meseta flow, and the size of the dungeons. The worst offender is level 3 of Nido, though. If you happen to blunder into a three-Blaster random encounter in which they get a round of surprise, they can actually wipe out your entire party at full HP before you even get the chance to run away or get off an attack. And given how big Level 3 is and how much of Levels 1 and 2 you have to go through just to get there... *shudder*

Saffran
Apr 1, 2007, 01:05 AM
oooh yeah
The three Blasters are kind of a boss for this dungeon though.
I remember hating them with a passion back then (screwed me twice on teh same day,I lost a lot of time...)

Jife_Jifremok
May 29, 2007, 10:43 AM
Ahh, PSII...I used to play it as a child, I was able to get some of the NEIweapons on Dezo, but I think I was missing one at the time, cause I was stuck. I had no access to hints or guides. Over fifteen years later I play it, still without access to hints or guides (or willingness to use the internet for hints prior to finishing a game), I was able to beat it, without needing even half the patience that I once had.

Here's a tip: Just go play PSII on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PS2. It is a LOT easier, but the only real effet in this difficulty reduction is a significantly reduced need to be patient. The dungeons are still hard as fuck, but you won't have to worry about being wiped out by Blasters since you can just save state (like on an emulator XD). So dying from something beyond your control means significantly less time lost.

Oh, PSI..I think that one's my favorite of the classic series. The first-person dungeons, for their time, are just so badass. I don't need no stinking map! And only in the beginning was there a need for patient grinding bullshit. I thought the dungeons would be harder though, simply because I've been spoiled by the full 360-degree movement and sidestepping in the King's Field and Shadow Tower series for Playstation and PS2. <_< I'm surprised I could go back to tile-based movement.

Oh, and here's a fun fact: The end of the Air Castle in PSI is the very same as the end of the Air Castle in PSIV! Ahhh reverse nostalgia...(then again, THAT layout isn't very hard to replicate in a top-down dungeon design!)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jife_Jifremok on 2007-05-29 08:46 ]</font>

Nai_Calus
May 29, 2007, 04:44 PM
It kind of bothers me that they aren't entirely the same. Then again, if Motavia and Dezolis are allowed to almost completely change their geography every thousand years, I suppose La Shiec/Lassic is allowed to redecorate while he's waiting for Rune & co to show up. Though next time he should hire an interior decorator to make the place a bit more home-y.

UnholyBlood
Dec 5, 2007, 01:58 PM
The harder the games the more gameplay you get I guess. PS 4 was very easy compared to 2 and I found 3 so boring I gave up on it.

As far as difficulty goes its all about neiitem dungeons in dezo during phantasy star 2 - too many fight scenes.... oh and of cause dark force in pandoras box --harder than the final boss I think.

TurkishRoyal
Dec 14, 2007, 03:02 PM
I think PS1 is my favorite. It was such an awesome game when it came out, and it still is to me. I absolutely love the opening theme music and the dungeon music kicks much ass. Man, talk about hard too, the dungeon you have to navigate to get to the air castle was brutal. 14 or 16 floors IIRC complete with pit traps. Then if surviving that hell isn't bad enough, your reward is fighting Lassic. Memories.....

kadosho
Dec 17, 2007, 01:10 AM
Interesting to see mixed opinons regarding the original PS series. And I definitely agree, the classic adventures were right on the mark. Both challenging, and compelling. It all depended on how well you took care of your team (literally).

Along with the different decisions you made, they became critical key parts to the story. Maybe you might gain a new ally or an enemy. Whatever you did, it was motivated by pure choice.

Plus the difficulty level varied, PS1 (that is a challenge starting out, but you'll get used to it). PS2 (a bit more varied & balanced, although it takes awhile to level up. Keep alot of health items handy, enemies dont play nice in this world). PS3 (Kinda the cousin you forgot during a party. A bit of a snack really, it didnt feel like a core PS entry).
PS4 (This is by far the best entry. Cross generations, unlocked different paths. In some ways, its like 3 games in one.)

I can't disagree, current gen games aren't as difficult with what we grew up playing. And that's a a real shame. RPG's are meant to be a compelling adventure, bold stories, and gameplay that makes each title unique. Everyone's honestly lost their originality, but a few stand out (which is a great sign).

Maybe there will be a day when PS makes an even bigger comeback. Some day.

gurmlk
Dec 20, 2007, 12:31 PM
I am constantly complaining about the fact that games are way too easy nowadays, even the really hard ones, and my argument for it still stands. When I play an action game nowadays for example, sure it may take about 10-20 hours to beat while an older one may take about 30-60 minutes, but I can still end up spending a greater amount of time trying to clear the older game in total because I'm constantly dieing where as in almost all games made nowadays I usually deliberatly get myself killed once just so I can see what the gameover screen is like because it's impossible to actually get killed. Granted that's not true with all games, but it's definately true for most, and it's because the games are getting too advanced. In an oldschool 2-D game, if an enemy fires a barrage of bullets at you, all you can do is duck and jump through them, but nowadays all you have to do is run to the side. I hate newer games in comparison to older ones, and 99% of that is because they are just too easy to keep me interested in them for long enough to get through their countless hours of gameplay. Heck the only reason I'm still playing PSU is because it's multiplayer and that significantly increases the level of fun I can have with a game. Anyway, about the classic Phantasy Star games in specific, the hardest one for me is difficult to say. Probably the 2nd one, but I haven't beaten either the 1st or 3rd so I can't say for sure about those ones. The 3rd one I just stopped playing shortly after reaching the second generation because I got distracted by other games, and I just simply got stuck in the 1st one and didn't feel like looking up what I needed to do at the time. Heck, now that I think about it, the only reason I made it through half of the dungeons in the second one I believe was because I was using a faq. I do remember laughing it up though when Dark Force started making my party members evil, causing them to do random evil stuff. Oh, that reminds me, I hear that there's a way to keep Nei alive in PS2, and if that's true, I was curious about whether or not they show a shot of her in the ending when they go through all of the shots of your other characters.

Sinue_v2
Dec 20, 2007, 11:58 PM
The only way to keep Nei alive in PSII is to use a hacked gamesave. However, she doesn't play a part in the storyline. In the Sega Ages remakes though, if you meet certain prerequisites on PSG1, there is a way to save Nei - and the ending does change. Not dramatically I hear, but she does play a role.

Personally, I don't like the idea. Nei needs to die as it's one of the most defining moments of the game and of her character. To take away her sacrifice, in a way, destroys her very character in favor of a slightly more "happy ending".