Ahead of its time and yet also so arcane, this futuristic roleplay adventure has a splendid presentation with a grueling difficulty. That first-person traversal is some of the smoothest style that 8-bit has ever seen. Additionally, the Sega Ages version allows for a large cushion against its grinding systems, while also making the labyrinthine dungeons a lot clearer.
The final stretch is still mean-spirited and makes a walkthrough mandatory, being full of divination and spikes in encounters, which makes this otherwise grand journey a little more outdated.
The final stretch is still mean-spirited and makes a walkthrough mandatory, being full of divination and spikes in encounters, which makes this otherwise grand journey a little more outdated.
Sega Ages Phantasy Star shows the perfect way to bring a game up without compromising the actual game itself with just the right amount of quality of life changes.
First, let's look at the original Phantasy Star. Within its own manual, you were told about every item, the world, and all the mechanics, and at the end, you were given two very important tips: Note everything down and draw out maps for the dungeons. Luckily enough, it came with maps for the overworld to show where dungeons should roughly be. With those two tips and the lack of story, Phantasy Star comes off as a single-player TTRPG experience, with SEGA acting as the dungeon master. Doing those things was not only essential to getting through the game but also added a lot of time to a play-through. When the game was originally released, it cost adjusting for inflation, roughly 180$ so yeah, I'd hope I got my money's worth out of it.
The Sega Ages Remaster comes with a lot of quality of life changes, such as an auto map, increased experience and money per battle, and you're able to take a look at every item in the pause menu, see what they do, who they're for, and how much they cost. Lastly, it comes with a modern manual that even warns the player of potential issues like locking a run that you could run into since they kept this true to the original. These changes make the game more digestible without inherently making it easier, which makes for a quicker and more enjoyable experience. These QOL changes are also purely optional, allowing the player to enjoy the original experience. With the auto map feature, the player has a better understanding of where they are and doesn't have to get graph paper out just to enjoy the game, as it still offers plenty of exploration with the auto-map enabled. The increased experience and money do more than you would think on a surface level. Sure, you have a lot less grind, where essentially, near the beginning, one level would be 10–12 encounters in the original, but now it's only 3–4 encounters. With this cut-down on grind, you don't need to keep notes on what everyone says nearly as much, as interacting with the NPC's and seeing what they say is easier to keep track of in your head because those long gaps of time spent grinding are now miniscule.
On the actual game itself, Phantasy Star has very little story, and that's not why you would play this game at all. Where Phantasy Star shines is figuring out what you need to do and doing it just for the main goal established during the intro of the game. 90% of NPC's have something useful to say, regardless if you know it yet. You're constantly going back and forth, doing new things, and accessing new areas as you slowly make progress in the games world. It's a large puzzle begging to be solved one step at a time, and with SEGA only putting in essentially useful information, you never feel like you weren't told something. If anything, you just can't remember what you were told or didn't note it down and need to look over your notes, items, or maybe even spells. All this brings Phantasy Star together more than any story they could have possibly told on the Master System's 8-bit hardware. Combat is pretty basic and does nothing particularly interesting, but it isn't bad, just not noteworthy.
Phantasy Star is an easy yet very enjoyable game with the right approach, regardless of whether you play the original or the Sega Ages version. Definitely check it out if any of this sounds interesting in the slightest and I hope Sega not only ports but makes more of these remasters.
First, let's look at the original Phantasy Star. Within its own manual, you were told about every item, the world, and all the mechanics, and at the end, you were given two very important tips: Note everything down and draw out maps for the dungeons. Luckily enough, it came with maps for the overworld to show where dungeons should roughly be. With those two tips and the lack of story, Phantasy Star comes off as a single-player TTRPG experience, with SEGA acting as the dungeon master. Doing those things was not only essential to getting through the game but also added a lot of time to a play-through. When the game was originally released, it cost adjusting for inflation, roughly 180$ so yeah, I'd hope I got my money's worth out of it.
The Sega Ages Remaster comes with a lot of quality of life changes, such as an auto map, increased experience and money per battle, and you're able to take a look at every item in the pause menu, see what they do, who they're for, and how much they cost. Lastly, it comes with a modern manual that even warns the player of potential issues like locking a run that you could run into since they kept this true to the original. These changes make the game more digestible without inherently making it easier, which makes for a quicker and more enjoyable experience. These QOL changes are also purely optional, allowing the player to enjoy the original experience. With the auto map feature, the player has a better understanding of where they are and doesn't have to get graph paper out just to enjoy the game, as it still offers plenty of exploration with the auto-map enabled. The increased experience and money do more than you would think on a surface level. Sure, you have a lot less grind, where essentially, near the beginning, one level would be 10–12 encounters in the original, but now it's only 3–4 encounters. With this cut-down on grind, you don't need to keep notes on what everyone says nearly as much, as interacting with the NPC's and seeing what they say is easier to keep track of in your head because those long gaps of time spent grinding are now miniscule.
On the actual game itself, Phantasy Star has very little story, and that's not why you would play this game at all. Where Phantasy Star shines is figuring out what you need to do and doing it just for the main goal established during the intro of the game. 90% of NPC's have something useful to say, regardless if you know it yet. You're constantly going back and forth, doing new things, and accessing new areas as you slowly make progress in the games world. It's a large puzzle begging to be solved one step at a time, and with SEGA only putting in essentially useful information, you never feel like you weren't told something. If anything, you just can't remember what you were told or didn't note it down and need to look over your notes, items, or maybe even spells. All this brings Phantasy Star together more than any story they could have possibly told on the Master System's 8-bit hardware. Combat is pretty basic and does nothing particularly interesting, but it isn't bad, just not noteworthy.
Phantasy Star is an easy yet very enjoyable game with the right approach, regardless of whether you play the original or the Sega Ages version. Definitely check it out if any of this sounds interesting in the slightest and I hope Sega not only ports but makes more of these remasters.
Genuinely loved my time with this version of the game. They added just enough to make this classic RPG palatable to modern tastes without compromising on it feeling old. The expanded UI kinda makes it look like a PC RPG and I love it for that.
It's decent for 8-bit RPG standards. This changes in this version make it a bit more digestible.
Fun little game! Very impressive stuff considering it came out two days after Final Fantasy I. You can tell that they were trying to be as different as they could be from Dragon Quest. Story-wise, it's nothing really special. It's more important historically than anything else.
When comparing to some of the RPGs that came out afterwards, it's easy to see just how influential Phantasy Star is and was. This was the first RPG to have the party consist of named characters with defined histories and personalities, rather than having the party be blank slates defined by their job. The combat archetypes here — the all-rounder main character, the support/healer, the dedicated offensive mage, and the bruiser who can't use magic — would go on to be repeated in many later games (the Lufia series comes to mind).
It's interesting to think that this came out the same year as Metroid and didn't save the "protagonist was a woman all along" thing for the credits screen. Alis is a woman and you learn that when you look at the boxart (or the first cutscene, where her brother is murdered by the cops for being a revolutionary and she swears revenge).
The Sega Ages version adds some much-appreciated quality of life features: a constant overview of the party's status on the sidebar, automatic mapping for the dungeons, and the on-demand item and skill gloassary. Most importantly for me is the ability to use the FM chip version of the soundtrack: with the FM chip, the soundtrack is striking and smooth; without it, the soundtrack is kind of grating. The tower theme is probably one of my all-time favorite video game songs.
When comparing to some of the RPGs that came out afterwards, it's easy to see just how influential Phantasy Star is and was. This was the first RPG to have the party consist of named characters with defined histories and personalities, rather than having the party be blank slates defined by their job. The combat archetypes here — the all-rounder main character, the support/healer, the dedicated offensive mage, and the bruiser who can't use magic — would go on to be repeated in many later games (the Lufia series comes to mind).
It's interesting to think that this came out the same year as Metroid and didn't save the "protagonist was a woman all along" thing for the credits screen. Alis is a woman and you learn that when you look at the boxart (or the first cutscene, where her brother is murdered by the cops for being a revolutionary and she swears revenge).
The Sega Ages version adds some much-appreciated quality of life features: a constant overview of the party's status on the sidebar, automatic mapping for the dungeons, and the on-demand item and skill gloassary. Most importantly for me is the ability to use the FM chip version of the soundtrack: with the FM chip, the soundtrack is striking and smooth; without it, the soundtrack is kind of grating. The tower theme is probably one of my all-time favorite video game songs.
Somehow, I always knew Phantasy Star would be good. If we think of it as a game launched on the same year as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest II, it becomes even better.
A high fantasy setting mixed with science fiction elements already sounds amazing for a JRPG, and for a game of its era it was an extremely bold move. On top of it, we have a party of four charismatic characters, each with their own story, travelling through three distinct planets to kill (and the game reminds you constantly that you’ll not only defeat the bastard, but indeed KILL him) an evil tyrant on top of absolutely gorgeous graphics for its time. And I mean it! Super detailed AND animated (!!!) monster sprites, and faux 3D first-person dungeon crawling…
Honestly, Phantasy Star stands out as the boldest, most polished console JRPG of its time, and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been looking forward to playing it for so long.
The other reason was because of me being Brazilian. Coming from a country where the game had a huge reputation of being every boy’s first RPG, with SEGA and the MasterSystem having a massive history around here. The game was even fully translated into Brazilian Portuguese back then! Layers and layers of curiosity lead me to picking this up now.
The thing that kept me the most from getting into Phantasy Star up until now, however, was its most rudimentary aspect: its dungeons.
We are talking about first-person dungeon crawling, generally filled with traps… and no mini map of any sort. One would have to search online for these maps, or draw them by hand on graph paper. Not my cup of tea in the year of 2023.
And that’s exactly where this remastered port comes in hand!
Not only it makes the game’s difficult more accessible (a godsend by itself!) without ruining the challenge, but it also adds a map by the side of the game’s screen that fills up by each step you take inside the dungeons, making you aware of traps and always letting you know where you are going without the need of papers or having a map on your phone. It also shows the stats of party members at all times, which is also quite handy. Also, by pressing the + button, you can check descriptions for every spell and item in the game.
ALSO, it has a fast-forward feature that, with the press of a button, makes everything run quite a bit faster WITHOUT distorting the game’s sound!
Definitely, without a single doubt, this is the definitive and best way to experience the first Phantasy Star. I only wished they could redone the game’s translation for this release, but the original English localisation is already good and far better than its peers from the time.
All in all, I’m glad I took this small history course and finally got to play one of the coolest JRPGs of its era. So, I highly recommend that you grab your burgers, jump into the Luveno space ship and save the Algol solar system from the evil Lassic for an epic retro trip!
A high fantasy setting mixed with science fiction elements already sounds amazing for a JRPG, and for a game of its era it was an extremely bold move. On top of it, we have a party of four charismatic characters, each with their own story, travelling through three distinct planets to kill (and the game reminds you constantly that you’ll not only defeat the bastard, but indeed KILL him) an evil tyrant on top of absolutely gorgeous graphics for its time. And I mean it! Super detailed AND animated (!!!) monster sprites, and faux 3D first-person dungeon crawling…
Honestly, Phantasy Star stands out as the boldest, most polished console JRPG of its time, and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been looking forward to playing it for so long.
The other reason was because of me being Brazilian. Coming from a country where the game had a huge reputation of being every boy’s first RPG, with SEGA and the MasterSystem having a massive history around here. The game was even fully translated into Brazilian Portuguese back then! Layers and layers of curiosity lead me to picking this up now.
The thing that kept me the most from getting into Phantasy Star up until now, however, was its most rudimentary aspect: its dungeons.
We are talking about first-person dungeon crawling, generally filled with traps… and no mini map of any sort. One would have to search online for these maps, or draw them by hand on graph paper. Not my cup of tea in the year of 2023.
And that’s exactly where this remastered port comes in hand!
Not only it makes the game’s difficult more accessible (a godsend by itself!) without ruining the challenge, but it also adds a map by the side of the game’s screen that fills up by each step you take inside the dungeons, making you aware of traps and always letting you know where you are going without the need of papers or having a map on your phone. It also shows the stats of party members at all times, which is also quite handy. Also, by pressing the + button, you can check descriptions for every spell and item in the game.
ALSO, it has a fast-forward feature that, with the press of a button, makes everything run quite a bit faster WITHOUT distorting the game’s sound!
Definitely, without a single doubt, this is the definitive and best way to experience the first Phantasy Star. I only wished they could redone the game’s translation for this release, but the original English localisation is already good and far better than its peers from the time.
All in all, I’m glad I took this small history course and finally got to play one of the coolest JRPGs of its era. So, I highly recommend that you grab your burgers, jump into the Luveno space ship and save the Algol solar system from the evil Lassic for an epic retro trip!
There is no way I would have beat the original release of this game. The Ages release literally triples the amount of money and xp you get from fights and it felt like if I got any less than I would have had to grind a LOT.
The addition of a dungeon map was extremely nice to have too. If I had been playing the original game I’d have been drawing the dungeons on grid paper so I don’t get lost, which may have been cool in 1987 when you had all summer to do nothing but play this game, but not so much in 2023.
It was also really cryptic sometimes when it came to acquiring certain items you need to progress with the story. I had to look up a guide several times, which is no big deal it didn’t take away from my experience I just can’t imagine playing this game pre-internet
That said, I still enjoyed myself. It’s a short and sweet classic JRPG that I think could’ve given the original Final Fantasy a run for its money if the Master System had a bigger install base. Gonna pick up the sequel right away I think.
The addition of a dungeon map was extremely nice to have too. If I had been playing the original game I’d have been drawing the dungeons on grid paper so I don’t get lost, which may have been cool in 1987 when you had all summer to do nothing but play this game, but not so much in 2023.
It was also really cryptic sometimes when it came to acquiring certain items you need to progress with the story. I had to look up a guide several times, which is no big deal it didn’t take away from my experience I just can’t imagine playing this game pre-internet
That said, I still enjoyed myself. It’s a short and sweet classic JRPG that I think could’ve given the original Final Fantasy a run for its money if the Master System had a bigger install base. Gonna pick up the sequel right away I think.
A bit rough around the ages
Let me say that the Sega Ages version of this game is great ! It's full of options and many great quality of life improvements and it's definitely the best to experience the original game.
As for the game itself, I completely see the appeal and some things were incredibly advanced for the time when it was first released...
However, I found the experience to be a bit tedious with the dungeons being needlessly mazy and full of annoying traps. I also wish we could choose the enemies to target when attacking which could have avoided some awkward situations.
I also felt a bit lost after some point in the game since the narration is quite light.
Finally I found the limitations of the inventory surprising considering the amount of key items we have to keep for the whole duration of the game.
It's definitely worth the try as it is an important part of video game history but I would only recommend this to very patient players.
Let me say that the Sega Ages version of this game is great ! It's full of options and many great quality of life improvements and it's definitely the best to experience the original game.
As for the game itself, I completely see the appeal and some things were incredibly advanced for the time when it was first released...
However, I found the experience to be a bit tedious with the dungeons being needlessly mazy and full of annoying traps. I also wish we could choose the enemies to target when attacking which could have avoided some awkward situations.
I also felt a bit lost after some point in the game since the narration is quite light.
Finally I found the limitations of the inventory surprising considering the amount of key items we have to keep for the whole duration of the game.
It's definitely worth the try as it is an important part of video game history but I would only recommend this to very patient players.
I really liked this game! Good balancing for this new release, nice video options, the included guides on what spells do and what to do on some parts of the game were so extra, loved it.
Play this if youre looking for a very solid retro jrpg experience!
Play this if youre looking for a very solid retro jrpg experience!
I wold do some heinus things to see Atlus give a similar treatment to their old SMT games
The mix of a more standard JRPG perspective for the overworld and first person grid-based dungeons is actually really cool. Some people might say the automapping added in this version casualizes the game and they're kind of right, but it's nice to not always have to dig out graph paper to play something like this or deal with getting lost in a maze every ten minutes.
RPGs usually aren't my thing, but somehow this game hit the spot for me
This was our first time playing this game, and we usually do terribly with JRPGs of a certain age, but we had a blast. Got lost a few times, but thankfully, the Sega Ages' version had a dungeon map, and there's nothing an online walkthrough can't fix! We can see why Phantasy Star is beloved by so many Sega heads.
The definitive way to experience the best 8-bit rpg.
This feels like the kind of game that was made to sell guides.
This feels like the game people who hate RPGs think all RPGs are like, but with less story and shorter attack animations.
This feels like the game people who hate RPGs think all RPGs are like, but with less story and shorter attack animations.
tbh this was better than I expected
Bem melhor que a versão original. Se você tá querendo jogar phantasy star 1 pela primeira vez, essa seria a versão que eu recomendaria, pois o jogo não é tão punitivo quanto o original e o grind é cortado em mais da metade.
Mas se você é um masoquista que quer sofrer igual o meu eu do passado, vá em frente com o original e boa sorte.
Mas se você é um masoquista que quer sofrer igual o meu eu do passado, vá em frente com o original e boa sorte.
Finally got around to playing a Phantasy Star and I really enjoyed it. This Sega Ages version has a lot of modern conveniences that help save the grind and mapping.
My main complaints with Sega’s first rpg outing are that you can’t prioritize enemies, so any fight against multiples becomes necessarily tougher. And some of the event triggers and story requirements can be pretty obtuse.
I loved basically everything else. The pseudo - 3D dungeon crawling is fun and impressive for 1987. It’s cool that the main character is a girl and you get a cat party member. Such an ambitious game for its time. Can’t wait to play the sequels.
My main complaints with Sega’s first rpg outing are that you can’t prioritize enemies, so any fight against multiples becomes necessarily tougher. And some of the event triggers and story requirements can be pretty obtuse.
I loved basically everything else. The pseudo - 3D dungeon crawling is fun and impressive for 1987. It’s cool that the main character is a girl and you get a cat party member. Such an ambitious game for its time. Can’t wait to play the sequels.
Very much a product of its time. While it's not unplayable by any means, the roughness means that it's also not very high on my priority list for RPGs, since that's a genre that's constantly vying for your attention. A fun slice of gaming history, though - the additions to the Sega Ages version are greatly appreciated.
A solid, fun, classic RPG that was honestly ahead of it's time. A mix of fantasy and science fiction make it an enjoyable experience and it still holds up well even today.
The Ages version has some nice QoL features like a map and increased XP that make it less grindy.
The Ages version has some nice QoL features like a map and increased XP that make it less grindy.
This is the first time I play a Phantasy Star game and I am pleasantly surprised with how good this was. For a game released in 1987, the same year as Dragon Quest II and Final Fantasy, this game does a lot of things right. There are 3 overworld maps to explore, each with their own style and musical theme, there is no weird impossible-to-guess-cryptic puzzles to solve in order to progress through the story (there's always an NPC somewhere giving you info on what to do), I thought it was really impressive graphically, with how detailed each monster was and how they all had an attack animation (!!!), and there was a ton of tracks for an 8-bit JRPG of the time, with multiple battle, dungeon, village and overworld themes.
Of course the added features of the Sega Ages (what a funny name) remaster drastically improved the experience I could have had if I played the original. I thought the game was a bit easy with the new pacing caused by the better rewards, but the absolute game changer was the dungeon map. My god, I could have NEVER played the original if it wasn't for that. The 1st person view coupled with the fact that every dungeons look the same make it an absolute necessity to draw the map yourself, and I don't really consider that fun. Maybe it was a bit much to spoil traps in advance though.
One thing the remaster couldn't fix though was the battle system. Spells are basically useless, making fights extremely limited and completely stakeless. Also I can't say I'm a big fan of the whole science fantasy setting, I felt like it went too much into the fantasy side of things.
If you've bought TotK on the e-shop, you should have enough gold coins to get this game for free like I did. If you like or if you want to get into old-school JRPGs, this is a really good entry for you, and if not, try it out! It's only a few bucks anyway.
PS. Also out of curiosity I tried opening the web manual included in this and it didn't work? is it just me? why must everything be online nowadays that's ridiculous?
Of course the added features of the Sega Ages (what a funny name) remaster drastically improved the experience I could have had if I played the original. I thought the game was a bit easy with the new pacing caused by the better rewards, but the absolute game changer was the dungeon map. My god, I could have NEVER played the original if it wasn't for that. The 1st person view coupled with the fact that every dungeons look the same make it an absolute necessity to draw the map yourself, and I don't really consider that fun. Maybe it was a bit much to spoil traps in advance though.
One thing the remaster couldn't fix though was the battle system. Spells are basically useless, making fights extremely limited and completely stakeless. Also I can't say I'm a big fan of the whole science fantasy setting, I felt like it went too much into the fantasy side of things.
If you've bought TotK on the e-shop, you should have enough gold coins to get this game for free like I did. If you like or if you want to get into old-school JRPGs, this is a really good entry for you, and if not, try it out! It's only a few bucks anyway.
PS. Also out of curiosity I tried opening the web manual included in this and it didn't work? is it just me? why must everything be online nowadays that's ridiculous?
Throughout Ages mode Phantasy Star 1 was mostly a nice and brisk adventure with decent enough play duration for the game not to wear out its welcome.
The item descriptions and ingame maps for the maze dungeons adds much levity to the experience and aside from a few spots the puzzles and open-structure exploration is very solid.
Although having only two inn areas bogged the pacing down a bit, with some repetitious backtracking.
I'm glad I finally got around to playing it, and really looking forward to the later entries in the series.
The item descriptions and ingame maps for the maze dungeons adds much levity to the experience and aside from a few spots the puzzles and open-structure exploration is very solid.
Although having only two inn areas bogged the pacing down a bit, with some repetitious backtracking.
I'm glad I finally got around to playing it, and really looking forward to the later entries in the series.
I can't believe how well this holds up.
The first-person dungeon crawling is primitive compared to games like Etrian Odyssey, but it is surprisingly deep for its time! The 3D effect still looks really good! Honestly, I would love to see a version of Phantasy Star 4 with these kinda dungeons.
Primitive in all the ways you would expect of an 8-bit JRPG, but the SEGA Ages port by M2 added some creature comforts that made it a pretty breezy experience! Oh! And if you do play this version, make sure to turn on the FM Synth! The soundtrack is waaaaay better with this sound chip on!
The first-person dungeon crawling is primitive compared to games like Etrian Odyssey, but it is surprisingly deep for its time! The 3D effect still looks really good! Honestly, I would love to see a version of Phantasy Star 4 with these kinda dungeons.
Primitive in all the ways you would expect of an 8-bit JRPG, but the SEGA Ages port by M2 added some creature comforts that made it a pretty breezy experience! Oh! And if you do play this version, make sure to turn on the FM Synth! The soundtrack is waaaaay better with this sound chip on!
Pretty good and interesting game. I did need a guide for directions and the start was pretty rough, still had a good time with it.
A very good and beginner friendly version of PS I - I do highly recommend this if you want the most user-friendly official version of the game.
Absolutely essential to play if you love JRPGs. This version includes a wealth of quality of life additions, including an auto-mapping function, less grinding and some other helpful inclusions. Overall, a terrific way to play the start to a series that tends to get overlooked for the Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests of the world.
Now only if there were accessible SEGA AGES versions of the rest of the series.
Now only if there were accessible SEGA AGES versions of the rest of the series.
What a fantastic game. Full of those early JRPG quirks that just make me love this era of JRPGs. It also has a very unique setting for the time, taking a sci-fi setting and mixing it with fantasy elements (kind of a reverse of what Final Fantasy was doing at the time).
Well this is obviously the version most people are going to want to play. There is significantly less grinding to be done and while I kind of miss doing the dungeon maps myself on graphing paper, its a lot more convenient to not have to. There are still a few quirks due to the age of the source material. For example, the holes in the floors that you basically have to memorize and have no chance of avoiding unless you know they're there beforehand. Also having to go into your inventory to use key at every single door is just tedious.
However, overall this is a great game. Not the last time I'll pick this one up I'm sure.
However, overall this is a great game. Not the last time I'll pick this one up I'm sure.
Jag har alltid varit intresserad av, inte bara TV-spelen i sig, utan också omständigheterna kring hur spelen skapades. Det är jättespännande att få höra om vilka utmaningar utvecklarna hade, eller vad de haft för inspirationer, eller bara vilka andra spel som samma personer har utvecklat, både före och efter.
Och på senare tid har det blivit så att jag fattat ett speciellt tycke för just Yuji Nakas spel, han som var lead programmer för Sonic the Hedgehog. Detta har lett till att jag testat på några av hans senare spel som NiGHTS into Dreams, Rodea the Sky Soldier, och Balan Wonderworld. Så då var det också väldigt intressant att gå tillbaka och spela ett av de allra första spelen Yuji Naka jobbade på, vilket Phantasy Star faktiskt är.
Men vad är Phantasy Star för typ av spel egentligen? Jo det är ett gammalt JRPG med Science Fiction-tema där man helt enkelt reser runt på tre olika planeter, slåss mot monster, utforskar dungeons och räddar världen, eller ja… flera världar blir det väl i detta fallet.
Det jag gillar allra mest med JRPG-genren är att få uppleva riktigt bra berättelser. Men 1987 så var fortfarande TV-spel ganska nytt och berättandet i JRPGs var inte alls lika utvecklat som det är idag, eller ens 10 år senare då JRPG-klassiker som Final Fantasy 6 och Chrono Trigger släpptes.
Så storyn i Phantasy Star var egentligen ingenting särskilt, men det som jag verkligen fastnade för med detta spelet var att få utforska världen och upptäcka vad man skulle göra härnäst för att ta sig vidare genom spelet. När jag förut tänkt tanken att spela ett gammalt JRPG så har jag blivit orolig för att jag trodde att det var ganska enkelt att fastna och inte veta vad man ska göra. Men när jag körde Phantasy Star så hade jag inte något sånt problem, utan det kändes bara roligt att utforska alla möjligheter tills jag till slut kunde komma vidare. Dessutom fanns det lite tips i den digitala manualen och mot slutet kollade jag faktiskt upp lite på internet hur man skulle få de sista itemsen, så att spela spelet helt blint hade jag nog inte tyckt om så mycket.
Det som är så unikt med just Phantasy Star är dungeonsen, de är nämligen i 3D, vilket kanske inte är särskilt speciellt idag men detta var ändå för 35 år sedan och då kan jag tänka mig att det verkligen var en stor teknologisk bedrift. Korridorerna inuti en dungeon ser exakt identiska ut och i Phantasy Star finns inga kartor, vilket betyder att det antagligen är i princip omöjligt att hitta om man inte själv ritar en karta eller kollar upp en karta i en guide. Men det som är så bra med Switch-versionen är att de faktiskt har lagt till en karta, som funkar väldigt bra, man kan till och med se vart det finns hemliga rum och vart alla dolda fällor finns. Så om inte denna kartan funnits med tror jag inte att jag hade varit särskilt sugen på att spela igenom det här spelet.
Hur som helst så hade jag riktigt roligt med SEGA AGES Phantasy Star och jag körde igenom spelet, som tog mig mellan 10 och 15 timmars speltid, på mindre än två dygn. Så jag tyckte verkligen att det var väldigt kul att spela, och det faktum att storyn inte var så stor var bara bra tyckte jag, eftersom då kunde jag spela samtidigt som jag pratade med mina kompisar eller lyssnade på youtube-videor.
Phantasy Star är långt ifrån det bästa JRPGt jag spelat eftersom storyn är så pass liten i jämförelse, men som ett retrospel och historisk kuriositet tyckte jag verkligen att det var väldigt underhållande att spela igenom.
Och på senare tid har det blivit så att jag fattat ett speciellt tycke för just Yuji Nakas spel, han som var lead programmer för Sonic the Hedgehog. Detta har lett till att jag testat på några av hans senare spel som NiGHTS into Dreams, Rodea the Sky Soldier, och Balan Wonderworld. Så då var det också väldigt intressant att gå tillbaka och spela ett av de allra första spelen Yuji Naka jobbade på, vilket Phantasy Star faktiskt är.
Men vad är Phantasy Star för typ av spel egentligen? Jo det är ett gammalt JRPG med Science Fiction-tema där man helt enkelt reser runt på tre olika planeter, slåss mot monster, utforskar dungeons och räddar världen, eller ja… flera världar blir det väl i detta fallet.
Det jag gillar allra mest med JRPG-genren är att få uppleva riktigt bra berättelser. Men 1987 så var fortfarande TV-spel ganska nytt och berättandet i JRPGs var inte alls lika utvecklat som det är idag, eller ens 10 år senare då JRPG-klassiker som Final Fantasy 6 och Chrono Trigger släpptes.
Så storyn i Phantasy Star var egentligen ingenting särskilt, men det som jag verkligen fastnade för med detta spelet var att få utforska världen och upptäcka vad man skulle göra härnäst för att ta sig vidare genom spelet. När jag förut tänkt tanken att spela ett gammalt JRPG så har jag blivit orolig för att jag trodde att det var ganska enkelt att fastna och inte veta vad man ska göra. Men när jag körde Phantasy Star så hade jag inte något sånt problem, utan det kändes bara roligt att utforska alla möjligheter tills jag till slut kunde komma vidare. Dessutom fanns det lite tips i den digitala manualen och mot slutet kollade jag faktiskt upp lite på internet hur man skulle få de sista itemsen, så att spela spelet helt blint hade jag nog inte tyckt om så mycket.
Det som är så unikt med just Phantasy Star är dungeonsen, de är nämligen i 3D, vilket kanske inte är särskilt speciellt idag men detta var ändå för 35 år sedan och då kan jag tänka mig att det verkligen var en stor teknologisk bedrift. Korridorerna inuti en dungeon ser exakt identiska ut och i Phantasy Star finns inga kartor, vilket betyder att det antagligen är i princip omöjligt att hitta om man inte själv ritar en karta eller kollar upp en karta i en guide. Men det som är så bra med Switch-versionen är att de faktiskt har lagt till en karta, som funkar väldigt bra, man kan till och med se vart det finns hemliga rum och vart alla dolda fällor finns. Så om inte denna kartan funnits med tror jag inte att jag hade varit särskilt sugen på att spela igenom det här spelet.
Hur som helst så hade jag riktigt roligt med SEGA AGES Phantasy Star och jag körde igenom spelet, som tog mig mellan 10 och 15 timmars speltid, på mindre än två dygn. Så jag tyckte verkligen att det var väldigt kul att spela, och det faktum att storyn inte var så stor var bara bra tyckte jag, eftersom då kunde jag spela samtidigt som jag pratade med mina kompisar eller lyssnade på youtube-videor.
Phantasy Star är långt ifrån det bästa JRPGt jag spelat eftersom storyn är så pass liten i jämförelse, men som ett retrospel och historisk kuriositet tyckte jag verkligen att det var väldigt underhållande att spela igenom.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys retro JRPGs. This game is brimming with charm, looks absolutely gorgeous, and with the balance tweaks made in the SEGA AGES release, is a pretty smooth and briskly-paced adventure. Just a ton of fun from start to finish.