Should I buy it....

[imfanboy]

Worth it? Yes. $8 is nothing. Costs more to get 2 gallons of gas, and you're not going to get 40+ hours of enjoyment out of 50 miles of drivng.

I respectfully disagree. PSII does NOT hold up to the test of time, unlike other, more classic games available on the virtual console. River City Ransom, anyone?

Phantasy Star II is more like 3 hours of enjoyment and 37 hours of grinding your characters so you don't get brutally slaughtered by the next dungeon or wandering around said dungeon, lost as hell because everything looks exactly the same. Not even the original Final Fantasy was this much of a pisser about leveling, leveling, leveling.....

I WAS wading my way through PSII on the GBA version when I got to the part where you have to climb a mountain to find a tree, and there are 5 FAKE trees, and I was sitting there, reading an FAQ on how to walk through while playing a gameboy game in my living room, and suddenly I thought,

"Doesn't this defeat the purpose of portable video gaming?" More thoughts followed. "No wonder Segac thinks grinding in PSU is fun - way back in 1989 they were forcing their players into doing it." "Why the hell am I doing this? I don't care about any of the characters."

Then I popped in the SNES Shadowrun (because I finally got my SNES working) and it was like a breath of fresh air.


I actually enjoyed the first Phantasy Star MORE, despite the shitty pseudo-3D dungeons, because it was nicely balanced between level-building and moving along the story - and Alis was a SENSIBLY-attired heroine.

So, yeah. If you REALLY want to suffer more for your Phantasy Star fandom, then pick up PSII; just be prepared to spend a LOT of time reading FAQs on making it through the overly mazelike dungeons - and don't buy ANY armor. Armor doesn't do jack shit in PSII.

[CelestialBlade]

In my opinion, it's the second-best game of the classic series, behind 4. But do expect a looooooot of level and money grinding that you find in a lot of classic RPGs.

$8 ain't much anymore, that'll get you two gallons of gas, barely.

[Aumi]

I respectfully disagree. PSII does NOT hold up to the test of time, unlike other, more classic games available on the virtual console. River City Ransom, anyone?

Phantasy Star II is more like 3 hours of enjoyment and 37 hours of grinding your characters so you don't get brutally slaughtered by the next dungeon or wandering around said dungeon, lost as hell because everything looks exactly the same. Not even the original Final Fantasy was this much of a pisser about leveling, leveling, leveling.....

I WAS wading my way through PSII on the GBA version when I got to the part where you have to climb a mountain to find a tree, and there are 5 FAKE trees, and I was sitting there, reading an FAQ on how to walk through while playing a gameboy game in my living room, and suddenly I thought,

"Doesn't this defeat the purpose of portable video gaming?" More thoughts followed. "No wonder Segac thinks grinding in PSU is fun - way back in 1989 they were forcing their players into doing it." "Why the hell am I doing this? I don't care about any of the characters."

Then I popped in the SNES Shadowrun (because I finally got my SNES working) and it was like a breath of fresh air.


I actually enjoyed the first Phantasy Star MORE, despite the shitty pseudo-3D dungeons, because it was nicely balanced between level-building and moving along the story - and Alis was a SENSIBLY-attired heroine.

So, yeah. If you REALLY want to suffer more for your Phantasy Star fandom, then pick up PSII; just be prepared to spend a LOT of time reading FAQs on making it through the overly mazelike dungeons - and don't buy ANY armor. Armor doesn't do jack shit in PSII.

Wow, that's some NICE way on putting it... Can you see the irony in my face?? -____- Oh well, no offense, but I disagree on that. I'd say it's good that the difficulty is high. It makes the game longer and thus fun for a longer time. Also, isn't it a good thing that the dungeons are confusing? Aren't they supposed to be? Come on, they are dungeons after all.

[funnymatt]

If you have a PC you can just download an emulator and the ROM and play it. I don't know how legal it is, but I don't think the copyright on PS2 is heavily litigated.

[imfanboy]

Uh, if I want to play a hard-grinding game with a decent storyline, I'll pick a Dragon Quest game any day of the week over PS2.

I mean, seriously. The DRAGON QUEST GAMES ARE LESS OF A PAINFUL GRIND THAN PS2 IS. And that is saying something that is less than complimentary about PS2. I went back to playing Dragon Warrior IV and it was like a breath of fresh air compared to PS2. "Ahhh... at least I only have to grind for half an hour before my characters are ready for the next dungeon... and I can only get lost in one or two of the dungeons, instead of EVERY SINGLE ONE..."

I have never believed "Just because it's hard, it's bad" - that's a philosophy for losers. Out of all the hardcore gaming geeks I know, I'm the only one who's beaten the NES Battletoads and done it again and again. I'm STILL struggling to beat Mother Brain on Metroid: Zero Mission in my 15% items Hard game. But 'challenge' does NOT equal 'endless grinding' - isn't that one of the main complaints about PSU?

I'm not kidding about that ratio of grinding to being lost in dungeons to storyline either. I would rather drink ground glass than play one more minute of PS2. I would rather suffer from an incurable case of gonorrhea than play one more SECOND of PS2. I would rather lick the asshole of a skunk's road-killed rotting carcass than so much as touch a cartridge that contains this game.

In case you haven't picked up on it, I have more than a mild dislike of this game now. I'm no fanboy; I can tell when a game is good and when it's bad, and man, PS2 is NOT a good game any more. Maybe it was back in 1989 when you had NO other role-playing games for your Sega system, but nowadays? Hell no.

[Aumi]

You can't really say it IS a bad game. It IS a bad game in YOUR OPINION. Also, you're exaggerating WAY too much. Many do really like the game.

If you ask me, this (in my opinion) great game is more than worth that little amount of money!

[imfanboy]

My point is that some games age gracefully, and that's what I love about the Wii Virtual Console giving access to those gracefully aged games.

Any Super Mario game is still fun to just pick up and play; Final Fantasy VI is still the height of the series storyline-wise and gameplay-wise with a wide variety of all-playable characters; Metal Gear Solid is one of the highlights of the entire Playstation library; Castlevania: SOTN still impresses to this day (which is why the GBA/NDS Castlevania's haven't varied from the successful formula discovered with SOTN and why SOTN is available for download on the 360 today); and Sonic... well, some people like Sonic, I didn't like it even back when it was new. But that's just me.

Other games do NOT age gracefully. They were fun when first played, but going back to them now and playing them again years later is a brutal punishment. Xenogears is virtually unplayable by today's standards, with an awful camera and HORRIBLY frequent random encounters; Duke Nukem is a wretched game barely saved by the humor inherent in the whole premise; and the first TMNT game... ugh.

Phantasy Star 2 belongs to the category of games that did not age gracefully. Phantasy Star 4 is great, and as long as you have maps the first Phantasy Star is playable and even engaging at times (I lol'ed when I went into a person's room, they ask, "Do you like Sega games?" I choose no, they reply "Well, why have you played THIS far?"); but Phantasy Star 2?

Let it lie in the ashheap of video game history.

[Maskim]

My point is that some games age gracefully, and that's what I love about the Wii Virtual Console giving access to those gracefully aged games.

Any Super Mario game is still fun to just pick up and play; Final Fantasy VI is still the height of the series storyline-wise and gameplay-wise with a wide variety of all-playable characters; Metal Gear Solid is one of the highlights of the entire Playstation library; Castlevania: SOTN still impresses to this day (which is why the GBA/NDS Castlevania's haven't varied from the successful formula discovered with SOTN and why SOTN is available for download on the 360 today); and Sonic... well, some people like Sonic, I didn't like it even back when it was new. But that's just me.

Other games do NOT age gracefully. They were fun when first played, but going back to them now and playing them again years later is a brutal punishment. Xenogears is virtually unplayable by today's standards, with an awful camera and HORRIBLY frequent random encounters; Duke Nukem is a wretched game barely saved by the humor inherent in the whole premise; and the first TMNT game... ugh.

Phantasy Star 2 belongs to the category of games that did not age gracefully. Phantasy Star 4 is great, and as long as you have maps the first Phantasy Star is playable and even engaging at times (I lol'ed when I went into a person's room, they ask, "Do you like Sega games?" I choose no, they reply "Well, why have you played THIS far?"); but Phantasy Star 2?

Let it lie in the ashheap of video game history.

Although I do disagree and think that Phantasy Star 2 is a good game, not just for its historical significance to the genre, but for the sheer enjoyment of it; what I really take issue with here is the bolded statement.

Original NES Turtles (yes the side view, walk off buildings because Raph didn't toss the rope when he was supposed to automatically do so, no continues one) is one of the best games for any system, ever.

[imfanboy]

I would personally rate "Castration with a rusty cheese grater" above "Play the first TMNT game again" on my to-do list, but everybody needs to fulfill their masochistic impulses somehow.

But yeah. As I said in my first post, "If you REALLY want to suffer for your Phantasy Star fandom, then pick up PSII; just be prepared to spend a LOT of time reading FAQs on making it through the overly mazelike dungeons." I just don't have it in me to suffer through ANOTHER game that elevates grinding and boredom as the challenges to playing. Bad enough that Phantasy Star Universe does it nowadays.

[Aumi]

Well, Inspector, you see there are some differences in opinion, but you can always get the game for free as ROM, and if you like it then you can buy it. My personal opinion: great, challenging game with a wonderful story.