Phantasy Star IV The End of The Millennium: A 30th Anniversary Retrospective Gaming Documentary

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Phantasy Star IV has turned a little over 30 years old (in Japan). Here's an interesting retrospective documentary.

A part of me always considered Phantasy Star (IV specifically) better than most JRPGs on the SNES.

Too bad Sega has completely abandoned it in recent years (decades)

 
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Solid game on Genesis. But way too easy. With 5 party members, instead of 4 like PS2 it was pretty hard to get killed. I dont think it's even possible to get killed in the first few hours as long as you pick a logical attack sequence.

But awesome production values. Graphics, sound and ending farewell cut scene were all top notch.
 
My thought process from this thread:

-What's the easiest way to play Phantasy Star IV
-Go to Google
-Hey, it's on Steam
-Click link

phantasy.jpg
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Solid game on Genesis. But way too easy. With 5 party members, instead of 4 like PS2 it was pretty hard to get killed. I dont think it's even possible to get killed in the first few hours as long as you pick a logical attack sequence.

But awesome production values. Graphics, sound and ending farewell cut scene were all top notch.
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I respectfully disagree. Without grinding Zios, Dark Force 1,2,3 and Lazar will most likely kick people ass easily.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Solid game on Genesis. But way too easy. With 5 party members, instead of 4 like PS2 it was pretty hard to get killed. I dont think it's even possible to get killed in the first few hours as long as you pick a logical attack sequence.

But awesome production values. Graphics, sound and ending farewell cut scene were all top notch.
Click to expand...

It also had some pretty good homages to the first game. I don't recall exactly right now but I think there was also fan-service for the second and the much maligned third game as well.
 
adamsapple said:
It also had some pretty good homages to the first game. I don't recall exactly right now but I think there was also fan-service for the second and the much maligned third game as well.
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Never played PSIII. I was turned off by the lousy graphics seen in mags and a demo at a game store. The visuals were somewhere between NES and Genesis like a step backwards from PS2.
 
The video doesn't seem to be any sort of documentary but just some basic information about the game's release and development and then some kind of retelling of the whole story for most of the video? I don't get it I guess.

Despite these games' (and Shining Force 1 & 2's) renown when I finally played them I found the mechanics and storylines way too simplistic to be engaging, I was just going through the motions with them. Some really nice art though. You could have an interesting story with the same core beats perhaps (ancient civilizations and technology are cool in Panzer Dragoon) but it's presented so simple and surface level like a child wrote this after playing other RPGs. Maybe it's partlially the fault of the localizations, I wanna try a retranslation but it doesn't seem to be considered definitive either.

It's just so juvenile. Go in temple to rescue scientist, turns out it's some kind of ancient lab or whatever, find the grandpa, ask him how he managed to survive and reach that safe area.

- This person saved me!

Out pops an elf ear chick like she was hiding behind him all this time so they didn't see her, they all go WHO ARE YOU.

- I'm Rika! Come talk to Seed!

- Who's Seed?!

- He's in front of you (the computer)!

- I'm Seed, hi, this lab and others like it are keeping your planet's ecosystem and climate in check but it's old and malfunctioning so you better destroy it or it'll do more harm than good hence the monsters around.

You can do this by destroying that central structure but you need this other android for it and this Zio character kidnapped it.

Also take Rika with you, she's my daughter made of 1000 years of improvement and evolution on the bioengineering systems.

- Ok we'll take her!

Go back out. Seed self destructs.

- Rika you have to look ahead and fulfill Seed's wish!

- Ok!

Meet random character in other village.

- Zio killed my parents, take me so I can take revenge!

- Ok!

Etc. Just lol. I guess this might as well be Panzer Dragoon Saga's setting and plot but yeah, it's so badly done here.
 
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SlimeGooGoo said:
And it's for the best.

A modern Phantasy Star would be full of generic modern anime characters and tropes. Not to mention all the fan service and bland shounen story.
Plus, they would try to appeal to the Phantasy Star Online crowd, which would ruin everything.

Unfortunately we live in the Dark Age of JRPGs.
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The developers of the 1st four Phantasy Star knew it was time and exited the stage gracefully. I can respect that.
 
If any team could bring it back, maybe Monolith Soft would have potential.. But tbh, I'd rather they just remake them in the 2DHD fashion or something. The stories were more than solid enough and simply should be retold. But keep the older style of anime please.
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
And it's for the best.

A modern Phantasy Star would be full of generic modern anime characters and tropes. Not to mention all the fan service and bland shounen story.
Plus, they would try to appeal to the Phantasy Star Online crowd, which would ruin everything.

Unfortunately we live in the Dark Age of JRPGs.
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I think with Sega's refocus on their classics something is brewing with Phantasy Star, but no need to announce it in this wave as it would get lost in the shuffle. I just hope they can recapture the magic of the original games.
 
MLSabre said:
The developers of the 1st four Phantasy Star knew it was time and exited the stage gracefully. I can respect that.
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I think at the time Sega stated that the story was told and that was the end. Pretty brave at the time for a company to make a declaration like that and not even try to keep slyly keep the door open. PSO was a different beast entirely of course.
What I did find interesting is that the DS game Phantasy Star Zero is a retelling of Phantasy Star 2 mixed with PSO and PSO Universe mechanics.
 
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Rieko Kodama also found new projects quite quickly, so it's not like she wasn't busy after finishing Phantasy Star IV. She proceeded to work on Magic Knight Rayearth and then Skies of Arcadia.

I do hope that Phantasy Star is also part of Sega's "Let's take old-ass IPs and do something with them"-initiative they've recently announced.
 
Sorcerer said:
I think at the time Sega stated that the story was told and that was the end. Pretty brave at the time for a company to make a declaration like that and not even try to keep slyly keep the door open. PSO was a different beast entirely of course.
What I did find interesting is that the DS game Phantasy Star Zero is a retelling of Phantasy Star 2 mixed with PSO and PSO Universe mechanics.
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You don't see Zero brought up, which is a shame because it was an excellent game, I have fond memories of that game. It was like what Monster Hunter was to my PSP, truly an excellent entry for the DS.

I kind of wish SEGA would have anouther crack it at it... PSO2 NG is just a gatcha skinner box.
 
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Sega should release a meaty physical anniversary edition with behind the scenes documentary, ost, posters and artwork. I would buy that in a second.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Solid game on Genesis. But way too easy. With 5 party members, instead of 4 like PS2 it was pretty hard to get killed. I dont think it's even possible to get killed in the first few hours as long as you pick a logical attack sequence.

But awesome production values. Graphics, sound and ending farewell cut scene were all top notch.
Click to expand...
The game is actually quite challenging. You have to heal after every single battle and some dungeons are quite long and a test of endurance. To anyone new to the game, it is definitely going to be quite challenging. Pretty sure Hahn is going to die a lot in the first part of the game...

I'd recommend Nintendo Switch Online to play it with the rewind feature.

I was planing on replaying 4, I completed 2 recently and halfway through 3. I love these games. 4 is a timeless masterpiece.

Even though I appreciate the effort, that video wasn't that interesting for me. Probably because I already know most if the stuff behind the series.
 
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Masterpiece.
PSIV is among the very best RPG released for the 16-bit generation and I said it as someone that always leaned more toward Nintendo.
PC Engine CD too had some excellent RPG on it. Ys Book 1 & 2 is incredibly good (snappy combat, terrific CD quality music, animated cutscenes with good voice acting, epic journey) and probably my favorite RPG from the '80s.
 
Celine said:
Masterpiece.
PSIV is among the very best RPG released for the 16-bit generation and I said it as someone that always leaned more toward Nintendo.
PC Engine CD too had some excellent RPG on it. Ys Book 1 & 2 is incredibly good (snappy combat, terrific CD quality music, animated cutscenes with good voice acting, epic journey) and probably my favorite RPG from the '80s.
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Ys 1 & 2 are the best Ys games, imho. Because the bump-combat makes them feel like some melee-Shmup.
 
PSIV is one of my favorites.
The cutscene story scenes are FFVII moments years before that game dropped. Those Ninja Gaiden like interludes were jaw dropping back in the day. SNES Final Fantasies didnt have those.
The colors, character designs, music, quick snappy gameplay. All peak Sega.

There was a brand new PSIV Gen4 re-translation released by fans just a few weeks ago.
 
I have quite fond memories of the first two games, even though 2 can be a grindy slog.
Third game was crap and I never got a chance to play 4.
I fired it up when it popped up on Nintendo's online service and the brief time I spent with it was promising. I'm gonna have to use a guide just to figure out the techs and items with their weird naming conventions.
 
adamsapple said:
Phantasy Star IV has turned a little over 30 years old (in Japan). Here's an interesting retrospective documentary.

A part of me always considered Phantasy Star (IV specifically) better than most JRPGs on the SNES.

Too bad Sega has completely abandoned it in recent years (decades)

Click to expand...

Phantasy star is my favorite RPG of all time.
 
adamsapple said:
It also had some pretty good homages to the first game. I don't recall exactly right now but I think there was also fan-service for the second and the much maligned third game as well.
Click to expand...
Phantasy Star 3 is directly referenced by the wreckage near the village of Nalya. It's the remains of one of the many worldships that were launched to find new habitable worlds outside of the Algo solar system before Palma was destroyed.

I played way too much Phantasy Star 4 growing up. Enough to the point where I once grinded Alys to level 55 and it turns out she gets high level techniques like Nazan. I also leveled characters to 99 which was never bug-checked and it causes massive glitches where characters' stats and abilities get screwy. Like, Wren started getting TP and could cast Res.

cireza said:
Pretty sure Hahn is going to die a lot in the first part of the game...
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I always gave Hahn, Rune, and Raja two shields. Rune and Raja can't do squat for physical damage anyway and Hahn can do alright damage with two knives instead of just one but he becomes even more vulnerable that it's not worth it.
 
I wish I had the same experience with this series that others did. My fist sega console was the dreamcast, which would also turn out to be my last, sadly. Don't do PC or steam, so these games sadly were not on my radar. I need to watch a youtube longplay for them at the very least since there are no rereleases to other consoles for these 4 rpgs.
 
Meicyn said:
I always gave Hahn, Rune, and Raja two shields. Rune and Raja can't do squat for physical damage anyway and Hahn can do alright damage with two knives instead of just one but he becomes even more vulnerable that it's not worth it.
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This is a solution indeed. Ordering the party correctly is also important. Front characters are targeted more often.
 
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-Zelda- said:
I wish I had the same experience with this series that others did. My fist sega console was the dreamcast, which would also turn out to be my last, sadly. Don't do PC or steam, so these games sadly were not on my radar. I need to watch a youtube longplay for them at the very least since there are no rereleases to other consoles for these 4 rpgs.
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These games are available on a lot of modern devices. On Switch, PS4/5 or Xbox One/Series, you can play 2, 3 and 4 with the Sega Genesis Classics.

I am not sure if any collection has the first game, there was a PS2 HD/2D remake, which is pretty easy to emulate on PCSX2 and has an English translation patch, but you already said you don't do PC stuff so that might be out of question.

-

This thread is really making me want to get into them again.
 
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cireza said:
The MegaDrive/Genesis collection on PS360 has it. It is also available on Switch as a separate SEGA Ages game, best way to play it on modern devices.
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Interesting, it's not on the PS4/XBO collection but *is* on the PS3/360 one.
 
adamsapple said:
These games are available on a lot of modern devices. On Switch, PS4/5 or Xbox One/Series, you can play 2, 3 and 4 with the Sega Genesis Classics.

I am not sure if any collection has the first game, there was a PS2 HD/2D remake, which is pretty easy to emulate on PCSX2 and has an English translation patch, but you already said you don't do PC stuff so that might be out of question.

-

This thread is really making me want to get into them again.
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is it a lack of advertising/marketing for these four games? I would buy a collection of the 4 of them on a disk/cart on ps5/switch in a heartbeat. People keep calling this era the era of remasters and remakes, yet none or very little of the games I actually want remastered/rereleased ever get that treatment unless it's digital only or some sort of yearly rental service.
 
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adamsapple said:
Interesting, it's not on the PS4/XBO collection but *is* on the PS3/360 one.
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Yeah... The recent collection is 100% MegaDrive while the older one they put some MS and maybe System16 games as unlockables.

These collections don't scale properly either, so I don't like them much. I'd rather stick with M2's work, so basically SEGA Ages for PS I on Switch and NSO for PS IV (on Switch as well).
 
adamsapple said:
Phantasy Star IV has turned a little over 30 years old (in Japan). Here's an interesting retrospective documentary.

A part of me always considered Phantasy Star (IV specifically) better than most JRPGs on the SNES.

Too bad Sega has completely abandoned it in recent years (decades)

Click to expand...

What about Phantasy Star Universe??
 
cireza said:
The MegaDrive/Genesis collection on PS360 has it. It is also available on Switch as a separate SEGA Ages game, best way to play it on modern devices.
Click to expand...
The Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star on the Switch is excellent. The quality of life features like auto mapping of dungeons and slightly faster leveling make it very enjoyable.
The grind of going out into the overworld from a city, getting in a few battles and the returning to the city to heal up and doing it all over again numerous times is reduced by half 😎👍

Edit: BTW, I loved Phantasy Star Universe, including all the portable offshoots like Phatasy Star Portable (PSP), PSP2 and Phantasy Star 0. PSU actually had a meaty 60 hour-ish single player campaign as well that I found enjoyable.
 
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cireza said:
The MegaDrive/Genesis collection on PS360 has it. It is also available on Switch as a separate SEGA Ages game, best way to play it on modern devices.
Click to expand...
From what I remember you had to do something weird to unlock it, Something involving Sonic and Tails, and two controllers. The Switch version seems really nice with a mapping feature. Then there are the remakes of 1 and 2 which have translations available.
 
Havoc2049 said:
The Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star on the Switch is excellent. The quality of life features like auto mapping of dungeons and slightly faster leveling make it very enjoyable.
The grind of going out into the overworld from a city, getting in a few battles and the returning to the city to heal up and doing it all over again numerous times is reduced by half 😎👍

Edit: BTW, I loved Phantasy Star Universe, including all the portable offshoots like Phatasy Star Portable (PSP), PSP2 and Phantasy Star 0. PSU actually had a meaty 60 hour-ish single player campaign as well that I found enjoyable.
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As much as people complain about the grind in Phantasy Star 1, I believe the characters max out at level 20. I am pretty sure in subsequent playthrough I just took a few hours to grind to Alis to the maximum level, before starting the game in earnest. As other characters join the party, just take them with you to harder areas and they will jump multiple levels at a time.
 
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Sorcerer said:
From what I remember you had to do something weird to unlock it, Something involving Sonic and Tails, and two controllers. The Switch version seems really nice with a mapping feature. Then there are the remakes of 1 and 2 which have translations available.
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Wasn't it that you had to beat one of the bosses with 2 players to unlock PS1?
 
Phantasy Star IV was absolutely amazing as RPGs go. I remember it being pretty tough though, I might give this a watch just to remember the story. The final boss was a complete wtf moment :D
 
Havoc2049 said:
Phantasy Star Universe
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Yeah, PSU was awesome. And that's mainly because it was a subscription model. So we had a quality game-design, not some F2P game-design trying to force you into buying inventory space and shit. Content was of great quality, and the expansion was excellent as well.

Nowadays we are stuck with F2P and this is the worst.
 
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