The coziest I've ever felt in my entire life was when I entered that cave filled with cute kitten O_O
Imagine walking through a park and triggering a battle every time you step on an ant. That is what this game feels like. Would have been great otherwise
Imagine walking through a park and triggering a battle every time you step on an ant. That is what this game feels like. Would have been great otherwise
Es increíble el cambio que ha dado esta entrega de Phantasy Star respecto a la segunda y la tercera entrega. Se nota que tomaron nota de todo lo que no funcionaba para hacer las cosas mejor.
Para empezar, el worldbuilding. En anteriores entregas de esta saga, los pueblos y ciudades por las que pasábamos eran solo lugares de paso con poca cosa, con el propósito de hacer lo que tocaba puntualmente en ellos (y no todos tenían algo obligatorio) y pasar por sus enfermerías/posadas y tiendas. En Phantasy Star IV, el mundo está tan lleno de vida y atención al detalle que este se ve afectado por nuestro avance en los acontecimientos del juego. Esto se nota, por ejemplo, cuando revisitamos los pueblos y vemos cómo los diálogos de los personajes con los que hablamos van cambiando, o directamente podemos ver cómo aldeas que estaban en ruinas pasan a estar en reconstrucción. Aparte, si nos empapamos bien de lo que nos ofrecen los sitios que visitamos, podremos ser hasta testigos de eventos que posteriormente pasarán a formar parte de misiones secundarias a elegir en el gremio de cazadores.
La progresión está tan bien llevada que se nos informa bien sobre los objetivos que llevaremos a cabo en el juego, dándonos así una indicación aproximada de en qué lugar se encuentran. En caso de habernos olvidado de lo que tenemos que hacer, siempre estará disponible el comando de hablar en el menú para que los personajes jugables tengan una breve conversación a modo de recordatorio. Además, los entornos por los que navegamos a lo largo del juego son lo suficientemente buenos como para no resultar pesados.
En cuanto a los personajes, se nota una evolución enorme si los comparamos sobre todo con los de la segunda entrega, en la que tenían poco y nada que decir. En esta ocasión, han conseguido presentar unos personajes carismáticos y con desarrollo, aunque también hay otros que solo están presentes en momentos concretos de la aventura, pues luego tienen motivos personales por los que tienen que abandonar el grupo. Aun así, el hecho de que algunos personajes vayan cambiando cada ciertos puntos de la historia es algo que aporta frescura continuamente y modifica nuestras estrategias en los combates. Gran parte de las escenas que protagonizan están presentadas en formato comic, lo cual es muy original dentro de lo que eran los juegos del género de la época y, mediante estas, se expresa con gran acierto lo ocurrido en los momentos clave de su narrativa.
El sistema de batalla está mucho más pulido, y seleccionar los comandos no es tan soporífero, pues ahora elegimos las acciones de los personajes por orden uno tras otro. Además de esto, se ha añadido un sistema de macros que nos permite programar hasta 8 slots con movimientos a establecer para evitar seleccionarlos manualmente a cada turno, por lo que es una medida que agiliza mucho los combates, aunque lo negativo de esto es que los personajes se lanzarán a atacar a los objetivos que les dé la gana en caso de haber programado una acción que afecte a un solo enemigo.
También es cierto que aún carga con asignaturas pendientes de los juegos anteriores. Una vez más no hay información sobre cómo afectan a las estadísticas de los personajes las armas y armaduras de las tiendas antes de ser compradas, y tampoco hay explicaciones de lo que hacen las técnicas y habilidades de los personajes, por lo que toca mirar el manual del juego para saber cuáles son sus efectos. A esto, se une un problema relacionado con una novedad jugable, la cual es la posibilidad de usar habilidades combinadas. Si seleccionas durante los combates técnicas específicas con varios personajes, estos podrán hacer movimientos conjuntos, y sí, esto no se explica en absoluto en el juego ni hay indicación de cuáles son las posibles combinaciones, por lo que, una vez más, toca mirar el manual. Tampoco da información sobre en qué se basa para que se lleven a cabo con éxito, pues a veces seleccionaremos las técnicas para ello y no funcionan. Esto es debido a la velocidad de movimiento de los personajes, de manera que, si un enemigo lleva a cabo una acción entre los turnos de dos personajes que van a realizar una técnica conjunta, esta se anula y, en cambio, realizará cada uno la suya por separado.
Con sus más y sus menos, debo decir que jugar a este juego ha sido una gran experiencia llena de momentos memorables y toda una sorpresa, de lejos el mejor de los 4 juegos principales de esta saga.
Para empezar, el worldbuilding. En anteriores entregas de esta saga, los pueblos y ciudades por las que pasábamos eran solo lugares de paso con poca cosa, con el propósito de hacer lo que tocaba puntualmente en ellos (y no todos tenían algo obligatorio) y pasar por sus enfermerías/posadas y tiendas. En Phantasy Star IV, el mundo está tan lleno de vida y atención al detalle que este se ve afectado por nuestro avance en los acontecimientos del juego. Esto se nota, por ejemplo, cuando revisitamos los pueblos y vemos cómo los diálogos de los personajes con los que hablamos van cambiando, o directamente podemos ver cómo aldeas que estaban en ruinas pasan a estar en reconstrucción. Aparte, si nos empapamos bien de lo que nos ofrecen los sitios que visitamos, podremos ser hasta testigos de eventos que posteriormente pasarán a formar parte de misiones secundarias a elegir en el gremio de cazadores.
La progresión está tan bien llevada que se nos informa bien sobre los objetivos que llevaremos a cabo en el juego, dándonos así una indicación aproximada de en qué lugar se encuentran. En caso de habernos olvidado de lo que tenemos que hacer, siempre estará disponible el comando de hablar en el menú para que los personajes jugables tengan una breve conversación a modo de recordatorio. Además, los entornos por los que navegamos a lo largo del juego son lo suficientemente buenos como para no resultar pesados.
En cuanto a los personajes, se nota una evolución enorme si los comparamos sobre todo con los de la segunda entrega, en la que tenían poco y nada que decir. En esta ocasión, han conseguido presentar unos personajes carismáticos y con desarrollo, aunque también hay otros que solo están presentes en momentos concretos de la aventura, pues luego tienen motivos personales por los que tienen que abandonar el grupo. Aun así, el hecho de que algunos personajes vayan cambiando cada ciertos puntos de la historia es algo que aporta frescura continuamente y modifica nuestras estrategias en los combates. Gran parte de las escenas que protagonizan están presentadas en formato comic, lo cual es muy original dentro de lo que eran los juegos del género de la época y, mediante estas, se expresa con gran acierto lo ocurrido en los momentos clave de su narrativa.
El sistema de batalla está mucho más pulido, y seleccionar los comandos no es tan soporífero, pues ahora elegimos las acciones de los personajes por orden uno tras otro. Además de esto, se ha añadido un sistema de macros que nos permite programar hasta 8 slots con movimientos a establecer para evitar seleccionarlos manualmente a cada turno, por lo que es una medida que agiliza mucho los combates, aunque lo negativo de esto es que los personajes se lanzarán a atacar a los objetivos que les dé la gana en caso de haber programado una acción que afecte a un solo enemigo.
También es cierto que aún carga con asignaturas pendientes de los juegos anteriores. Una vez más no hay información sobre cómo afectan a las estadísticas de los personajes las armas y armaduras de las tiendas antes de ser compradas, y tampoco hay explicaciones de lo que hacen las técnicas y habilidades de los personajes, por lo que toca mirar el manual del juego para saber cuáles son sus efectos. A esto, se une un problema relacionado con una novedad jugable, la cual es la posibilidad de usar habilidades combinadas. Si seleccionas durante los combates técnicas específicas con varios personajes, estos podrán hacer movimientos conjuntos, y sí, esto no se explica en absoluto en el juego ni hay indicación de cuáles son las posibles combinaciones, por lo que, una vez más, toca mirar el manual. Tampoco da información sobre en qué se basa para que se lleven a cabo con éxito, pues a veces seleccionaremos las técnicas para ello y no funcionan. Esto es debido a la velocidad de movimiento de los personajes, de manera que, si un enemigo lleva a cabo una acción entre los turnos de dos personajes que van a realizar una técnica conjunta, esta se anula y, en cambio, realizará cada uno la suya por separado.
Con sus más y sus menos, debo decir que jugar a este juego ha sido una gran experiencia llena de momentos memorables y toda una sorpresa, de lejos el mejor de los 4 juegos principales de esta saga.
In my opinion the best classic JRPG ever made
I really dug this game and it's aesthetic, if you're looking for a retro RPG then look no further. Now I want to play the first three games~
There's virtually no grinding, and the pace is consistent, with no real low points or tedious sections. As a result, we have a 12- to 15-hour game that's a blast from start to finish, especially the last hour.
We need more RPGs to copy this formula.
We need more RPGs to copy this formula.
I missed out on pretty much every 16-bit JRPG, I am more of an action game guy and I had a Genesis, that sealed my fate. There was one big RPG series on Genesis, Phantasy Star, I rented one of the games, could have been 2, hated it and had it returned quickly, thus my experience with JRPGs pre FFVII ended there. After FFVII I have gone back and played many of the classic RPGs of that era but I never returned to Phantasy Star (even though I am a massive PSO fan). I heard Phantasy Star 4 is easily the best of the series and one of the better RPGs of that time and hey its in my Genesis collection so why not try it. I am very happy I did as Phantasy Star 4 is still to this day an immpressive game filled with memorable characters and a thrilling story.
Like most every JRPG of the time the game is top down view as you navigate a world map that takes you to various towns and dungeons. Random encounters happen anywhere outside towns at a rate that is borderline annoying, thankfully this version of the game comes with a fast foward button so I sped through most of the garbage fights. You gain exp, level up, gain new powers, buy new gear at the latest town and so on. Clearly the mold wasn't broken with this game, its as traditional as it gets, where it succeeds is how well executed all aspects are.
The most compelling reason to play PS4 is definetly the story and characters that accompany Chaz throught the adventure. During cutscenes comic book style windows tell the story. They aren't real time animated or anything but it feels like reading a well draw comic book. Seeing the party members close up during these scenes adds a nice layer of connection to them as they have a face, you can see their emotions, they arent just a tiny sprite you see from above. While I didn'y play the previous Phantasy Star games I did do a quick summary to catch up, which is important because Sega managed to create a 4 part epic where each game is a subsequent generation of heroes battling the same malevolent force that dooms their solar system. A few long living characters survive across multiple games, stories are told in this one about the heroes of the past games and the impact of a major moment in PS2 has changed the way all species living in this solar system has lived for a hundred years. I didn't see many interconnected storylines back then, I was hugely impressed how this grand finale to the story managed to incorporate those storylines into this and have it work for new comers and those who played the entire series.
I love world maps in these older games, I always feel like I am on a grand adventure if I hop on some airship and explore a full world. Go town to town, discover strange new species and customes. Phantasy Star takes it a step further as you visit multiple planets, sure its just a swap of a map screen but the game feels huge in scope even though it isnt. It takes the usual 30 hours or so to beat this game and do most side stories, maybe today that sounds short but back then that was a massive game.
Sense of adventure is key and so is the push to keep the quest moving and being interesting location after location, this game excels in both of those areas. Its so well paced with big story beats coming after every new dungeon or new party members jumping in or out of your party. I love a large varied cast in these RPGs and this has a bunch of great characters, all well realized with small yet impactful story arcs. One of the most shocking story moments comes about a third in and is something another very famous RPG is known for, well here is this game doing that same scene many years earlier, now I feel this game was the bold one. It is not all drama, this game has a great sense of humor, there is this underlining sense of poking fun at RPG tropes throughout. Certain townsfolk will say the most cliche sayings and a nearby NPC will comment and make fun at how cliche that person is being. There will be observations of the absurdity of breaking into homes and just stealing peoples items. It never takes itself super seriously and yet still hits the right tone for all the heavy emotional stuff. I loved the characters, story and world of Phantasy Star 4.
The gameplay is where I found it lacking compared to a FF or Chrono Trigger. For one there is basically zero party customization, not until the literal end of the game do you get to choose a party member, and even then its just one. The party is always picked for you, characters come and go and level up on their own when they are away. With no space to customize the party there is no real room to develop unique combat strategies. Instead you will fall back to the usual using of the strongest attack, healing when needed and using support spells for bosses.
The presentation of the fights is extremely well done with large sprites filling the screens and some good attack effects. I wish there was a way to know what order the party and enemies will go in, instead you pick which action every party member will do and then it plays out however it decides to play out. So sometimes an attack you think would be helpful to hit multiple enemies at once ends up useless as that becomes the final attack in the turn and most enemies died from the other characters attacking. One of the more unique gameplay elements is the ability to combine spells from different characters to have a combination attack. The game never tells you these, you are supposed to discover them by experimenting, problem is these spells have to be chosen in a specific order, and since you dont always know the order of the attacks its almost random if the combo attack works or not. I used a guide to see the different combos, I would have never found them out... also they arent really needed.
Speaking of guides, I needed one just to understand what every spell and technique in the game does. The words used for these skills might as well be random jibberish and nowhere in your in game menu is there a "description" option. You learned "saner"! Great what in the hell is Saner and what does it do?! At least when you cast it it tells you, that doesnt happen with many attacks as you will use a power and many times nothing happens. I come to read from a guide that some attacks are instant death attacks that have a lower success rate, some are status attacks that only effects certain types of enemies. Does the game tell you any of this, nope. Now I know every game had a manual back in the day, but i also had the manual up and not every spell or skill is in the manual so that didn't help.
Like every JRPG of the time the game suffers from boring trash fights that serve as grinding tools. I never had to grind because I explored nearly every inch of the world which meant so many random battles. At least dungeons had a few enemy combinations that made me think, break up the bordom of hitting attack attack attack. Boss fights of course is where actual strategy comes in but rarely did they really require any interesting process to take them down, it was usually just use your strongest attack. When I compare this game to Final Fantasy V, which I recently just played, its extremely apparent how basic the combat character building is, so because of that I cant say this game ever reaches the highs of that franchise.
I am glad I got around to playing this so called forgetten gem, I wish i gave it more of a chance back in the day as I could have used more variety in my Genesis collection. Do I think its an all time classic, no, maybe for its time, I could see an argument but it shows its age where the true best from back then still offer plenty of quality gaming even today. It's the presentation, story and well paced adventure that really made this a hugely enjoyable experience.
Overall Score: 7.7
Like most every JRPG of the time the game is top down view as you navigate a world map that takes you to various towns and dungeons. Random encounters happen anywhere outside towns at a rate that is borderline annoying, thankfully this version of the game comes with a fast foward button so I sped through most of the garbage fights. You gain exp, level up, gain new powers, buy new gear at the latest town and so on. Clearly the mold wasn't broken with this game, its as traditional as it gets, where it succeeds is how well executed all aspects are.
The most compelling reason to play PS4 is definetly the story and characters that accompany Chaz throught the adventure. During cutscenes comic book style windows tell the story. They aren't real time animated or anything but it feels like reading a well draw comic book. Seeing the party members close up during these scenes adds a nice layer of connection to them as they have a face, you can see their emotions, they arent just a tiny sprite you see from above. While I didn'y play the previous Phantasy Star games I did do a quick summary to catch up, which is important because Sega managed to create a 4 part epic where each game is a subsequent generation of heroes battling the same malevolent force that dooms their solar system. A few long living characters survive across multiple games, stories are told in this one about the heroes of the past games and the impact of a major moment in PS2 has changed the way all species living in this solar system has lived for a hundred years. I didn't see many interconnected storylines back then, I was hugely impressed how this grand finale to the story managed to incorporate those storylines into this and have it work for new comers and those who played the entire series.
I love world maps in these older games, I always feel like I am on a grand adventure if I hop on some airship and explore a full world. Go town to town, discover strange new species and customes. Phantasy Star takes it a step further as you visit multiple planets, sure its just a swap of a map screen but the game feels huge in scope even though it isnt. It takes the usual 30 hours or so to beat this game and do most side stories, maybe today that sounds short but back then that was a massive game.
Sense of adventure is key and so is the push to keep the quest moving and being interesting location after location, this game excels in both of those areas. Its so well paced with big story beats coming after every new dungeon or new party members jumping in or out of your party. I love a large varied cast in these RPGs and this has a bunch of great characters, all well realized with small yet impactful story arcs. One of the most shocking story moments comes about a third in and is something another very famous RPG is known for, well here is this game doing that same scene many years earlier, now I feel this game was the bold one. It is not all drama, this game has a great sense of humor, there is this underlining sense of poking fun at RPG tropes throughout. Certain townsfolk will say the most cliche sayings and a nearby NPC will comment and make fun at how cliche that person is being. There will be observations of the absurdity of breaking into homes and just stealing peoples items. It never takes itself super seriously and yet still hits the right tone for all the heavy emotional stuff. I loved the characters, story and world of Phantasy Star 4.
The gameplay is where I found it lacking compared to a FF or Chrono Trigger. For one there is basically zero party customization, not until the literal end of the game do you get to choose a party member, and even then its just one. The party is always picked for you, characters come and go and level up on their own when they are away. With no space to customize the party there is no real room to develop unique combat strategies. Instead you will fall back to the usual using of the strongest attack, healing when needed and using support spells for bosses.
The presentation of the fights is extremely well done with large sprites filling the screens and some good attack effects. I wish there was a way to know what order the party and enemies will go in, instead you pick which action every party member will do and then it plays out however it decides to play out. So sometimes an attack you think would be helpful to hit multiple enemies at once ends up useless as that becomes the final attack in the turn and most enemies died from the other characters attacking. One of the more unique gameplay elements is the ability to combine spells from different characters to have a combination attack. The game never tells you these, you are supposed to discover them by experimenting, problem is these spells have to be chosen in a specific order, and since you dont always know the order of the attacks its almost random if the combo attack works or not. I used a guide to see the different combos, I would have never found them out... also they arent really needed.
Speaking of guides, I needed one just to understand what every spell and technique in the game does. The words used for these skills might as well be random jibberish and nowhere in your in game menu is there a "description" option. You learned "saner"! Great what in the hell is Saner and what does it do?! At least when you cast it it tells you, that doesnt happen with many attacks as you will use a power and many times nothing happens. I come to read from a guide that some attacks are instant death attacks that have a lower success rate, some are status attacks that only effects certain types of enemies. Does the game tell you any of this, nope. Now I know every game had a manual back in the day, but i also had the manual up and not every spell or skill is in the manual so that didn't help.
Like every JRPG of the time the game suffers from boring trash fights that serve as grinding tools. I never had to grind because I explored nearly every inch of the world which meant so many random battles. At least dungeons had a few enemy combinations that made me think, break up the bordom of hitting attack attack attack. Boss fights of course is where actual strategy comes in but rarely did they really require any interesting process to take them down, it was usually just use your strongest attack. When I compare this game to Final Fantasy V, which I recently just played, its extremely apparent how basic the combat character building is, so because of that I cant say this game ever reaches the highs of that franchise.
I am glad I got around to playing this so called forgetten gem, I wish i gave it more of a chance back in the day as I could have used more variety in my Genesis collection. Do I think its an all time classic, no, maybe for its time, I could see an argument but it shows its age where the true best from back then still offer plenty of quality gaming even today. It's the presentation, story and well paced adventure that really made this a hugely enjoyable experience.
Overall Score: 7.7
Outstanding manga-styled cutscenes made the half of it that I played absolutely riveting. The combat and story failed to hook me after the first big villain was defeated, but I still enjoyed the time I spent with it.
This game really gets elevated by the way it animates it's cutscenes. I saw nothing like it in other games on the Genesis/SNES. I thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it really helps with the immersion. I would give this game half a star just for those alone. Just imagine Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games having them like this. I wonder why they don't do these kind of cutscenes on snes based indiegames these days, it really is a lost art.
It also reminds me of Dragon Quest 3 in the ways it connects with earlier Phantasy Star games and the lore of those games (except 3, they want you to forget that one). PS 1 wasn't really that loreheavy, but 2 was and it is great to see the characters rediscover what happened in the millennia before. It does it in a way like the Trigun anime, with advanced technology lost, and people trying to make the best with what they still know of it. I love that kind of setting, and while the year it came out holds back it's full potential, the story was interesting throughout.
The gameplay is the regular JRPG experience of the time (turn based, high encounter rate, some grinding required), with the added annoyance of having to try out and remember what each spell and skill does, because the names of them are not intuitive and there is no description what they do. Hated it in Lufia and hated it here.
This definitely is the best JRPG on the Genesis, and better than a whole lot of those on the SNES. Highly influential with the way it does party chat and develops it's cast. I'm pretty sure this is a game the developers of games like Tales of Phantasia and Legend of Heroes looked at. The whole hunter association and how you can complete jobs for it is really familiar to the adventures guild Legend of Heroes came up with not much later, and that eventually evolved in the Bracer guild from the Trails series.
It's a shame there never was a PS 5, there was potential to chase the darkness in other solar systems. I guess some later PS titles go into that (the PSP ones which i didn't play), but i heard it was not on a level a good main line title could have. And PS online is a MMO.
It also reminds me of Dragon Quest 3 in the ways it connects with earlier Phantasy Star games and the lore of those games (except 3, they want you to forget that one). PS 1 wasn't really that loreheavy, but 2 was and it is great to see the characters rediscover what happened in the millennia before. It does it in a way like the Trigun anime, with advanced technology lost, and people trying to make the best with what they still know of it. I love that kind of setting, and while the year it came out holds back it's full potential, the story was interesting throughout.
The gameplay is the regular JRPG experience of the time (turn based, high encounter rate, some grinding required), with the added annoyance of having to try out and remember what each spell and skill does, because the names of them are not intuitive and there is no description what they do. Hated it in Lufia and hated it here.
This definitely is the best JRPG on the Genesis, and better than a whole lot of those on the SNES. Highly influential with the way it does party chat and develops it's cast. I'm pretty sure this is a game the developers of games like Tales of Phantasia and Legend of Heroes looked at. The whole hunter association and how you can complete jobs for it is really familiar to the adventures guild Legend of Heroes came up with not much later, and that eventually evolved in the Bracer guild from the Trails series.
It's a shame there never was a PS 5, there was potential to chase the darkness in other solar systems. I guess some later PS titles go into that (the PSP ones which i didn't play), but i heard it was not on a level a good main line title could have. And PS online is a MMO.
Oh this game fucks
Strong vibes, excellent narration and solid 16 bit jrpg adventuring with an overall difficulty curve just on the right spot..for the most parts.
Personally I feel like the story started of stronger than it ended up with, but the cartoon styled cutscenes were super cool and plentiful, while the pacing never dropped throughout its 20 or so hour run.
The inventory menu is easily the weakest aspect with zero item/ gear stat or spell descriptions, and there are A LOT of spells and skills to keep track of, so holding a sheet with descriptions on the side is absolutely essential to play through this.
While dungeons are a lot easier to traverse than Phantasy Star II, they still have no checkpoints, so if you game over it's straight back to the title screen.
Phantasy Star 4 also loves throwing gimmick bosses at you, so be ready to suddenly get wiped because you didnt use a requisite item or weapon.
Even with its share of flaws and less intuitive design choices, it's still a fantastic jrpg worth the trouble.
Personally I feel like the story started of stronger than it ended up with, but the cartoon styled cutscenes were super cool and plentiful, while the pacing never dropped throughout its 20 or so hour run.
The inventory menu is easily the weakest aspect with zero item/ gear stat or spell descriptions, and there are A LOT of spells and skills to keep track of, so holding a sheet with descriptions on the side is absolutely essential to play through this.
While dungeons are a lot easier to traverse than Phantasy Star II, they still have no checkpoints, so if you game over it's straight back to the title screen.
Phantasy Star 4 also loves throwing gimmick bosses at you, so be ready to suddenly get wiped because you didnt use a requisite item or weapon.
Even with its share of flaws and less intuitive design choices, it's still a fantastic jrpg worth the trouble.
This game is in a tie with Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne as my favorite game of all time. Everything about this game is great: The story, characters, gameplay, visual presentation, and soundtrack are phenomenal and really stand out in the Sega Genesis library. Phantasy Star IV masterfully ties in story elements from the previous three games and provides an incredible ending for the ongoing story in the series. You'll find adventure, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, tragedy, and horror in this story and that is one of how the Phantasy Star series seemed to be ahead of its time, mixing in elements of different genres into an RPG and having them all fit very well. The combat system is also one of my favorites in a turn-based RPG, which includes combination attacks and a macro system where you save a set of actions for each character in your party for convenient access when encountering different kinds of enemy parties to target their weaknesses or to protect your party from their attacks. I really can't praise this game enough, it's one of the best RPGs of its era and still stands strong today.
Surprisingly more fast-paced and awesome to play than expected. Very great classic.
A great, though somewhat simple JRPG. It might not be as difficult or complex or even as memorable as some SNES RPGs that were coming out at the time, but it's pretty fun, and has great graphics and music.
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium holds up to this day as a timeless, fun JRPG. The characters are great, and I LOVE the comic panel style they use for story-heavy segments. The combat is pretty engaging too. I did not find the energy to complete this game, as I do with a ton of RPGs, but I enjoyed my experience with the game as a whole. Easily my favorite Genesis/Mega Drive game as of this date.
I give Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium an 8!
I give Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium an 8!
Honestly i don't even care too much about trying the other 3 games because this one's already fire
As heartbreaking as it's been for Sega to abandon the OG Phantasy Star series, it's hard to imagine a better send-off for it. Phantasy Star IV somehow integrates the story threads from all three preceding games - with a particular focus on the beloved first and second - into a cohesive story, and then builds upon that story to a tremendous climax and satisfying conclusion.
The story is sprawling and filled with adventure, tragedy, romance and a strong feeling of foreboding as as the depth of the threat Algo is under becomes clear. The cinema scenes still pop with great art panels, writing and pacing, and there are a couple of real gut-punch story developments.
As a fan of the earlier games, it's a lot of fun to revisit this and see how well this game references them, from characters and locations to remixes of classic PS1 dungeon themes. But beyond all the references, this is a rock-solid RPG with a well designed world, long and engaging quest, great characters and a steady challenge throughout.
One of the very best Genesis games and among the best RPGs of the era. Still holds up brilliantly.
Played on Genesis Mini.
The story is sprawling and filled with adventure, tragedy, romance and a strong feeling of foreboding as as the depth of the threat Algo is under becomes clear. The cinema scenes still pop with great art panels, writing and pacing, and there are a couple of real gut-punch story developments.
As a fan of the earlier games, it's a lot of fun to revisit this and see how well this game references them, from characters and locations to remixes of classic PS1 dungeon themes. But beyond all the references, this is a rock-solid RPG with a well designed world, long and engaging quest, great characters and a steady challenge throughout.
One of the very best Genesis games and among the best RPGs of the era. Still holds up brilliantly.
Played on Genesis Mini.
This review contains spoilers
On its own, Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium is one of the finest JRPGs of its era. After having played through the rest of the series, I would elevate it to one of the finest JRPGs, period. I would recommend the prior games in the series only with caveats. I recommend Phantasy Star IV without caveat and without reservations.
I am continually surprised at how early in the lifespan of the genre the Phantasy Star games are. Phantasy Star released within days of Final Fantasy; Phantasy Star II about a year after Dragon Quest II and a couple months after Final Fantasy II; Phantasy Star III within a couple months of Dragon Quest IV and Final Fantasy III. By the time Phantasy Star IV released, JRPGs were truly in their golden age — contemporary to Phantasy Star IV are such legendary titles as Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Quest V, Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and Secret of Mana. Walking into the first three Phantasy Star games, I always had the feeling, conscious or otherwise, that these were early titles in the genre and gave them some leeway accordingly. Phantasy Star IV immediately hit me with the fact that the kid gloves were off. The minimum stakes for the genre had been raised, and Phantasy Star had more than kept with the times.
The Phantasy Star games have never been truly "typical" JRPGs. The setting is the most obvious measure of this, being sci-fi in a sea of medieval fantasy, but being different than the competition was a stated design goal of the series as far back as the first Phantasy Star game, which took pains to be as different from Dragon Quest as possible. That tradition of uniqueness is upheld: Phantasy Star IV's visual style, sound design, and combat system are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere in the genre.
I absolutely love how Phantasy Star IV tells its story. The comic book panels do a masterful job of setting the scene and the tone, and the way that the panels are timed to the narration add so much depth to scenes. Nowhere is this more present than the finale, where control over the text speed is fully taken away from the player, allowing the designers to fully control the exact pace of the visuals. The effect can be somewhat goofy when panels start piling on top of each other, but the game knows when to do that and when to keep the screen sparse.
Phantasy Star IV has been lauded for how it tells its story not only through its cutscenes, but through its gameplay and its battle system. Chaz's growth as a person is demonstrated not only through his dialogue, but literally in how he plays as he finds his own purpose and niche, his abilities being a direct outgrowth of Alys' advice. Hahn's increasing ineffectiveness in the combat leads to him leaving the party as he discovers that he's simply not cut out for that kind of adventure. Alys' loss is never really filled: as much as Kyra wants to be a big sister figure to Chaz, she can never truly replace what Alys meant to him, and their similar kits only serve to highlight how she cannot act as a stand-in for Alys. Gryz's meathead nature is reflected in how his stats prioritize strength, and his near lack of skills and techniques reinforce this. All of Seth's skills are skills used by enemies associated with Dark Force, a small foreshadowing of his true nature. Raja being an utter goofball would fool people into thinking he's washed-up if his kit didn't reveal him to be the single best healer in the game, joining the party with a massive variety of healing skills and techniques, showing how knowledgeable he truly is. Rika, a newborn, starts with no experience (combat or otherwise) and levels up quickly to reflect how much she's learning about the world.
The combat system itself is a wonderful evolution of the systems present in II (and, to a lesser extent, in III). In addition to the standard Techniques, which cost TP, there are now Skills which can now be used a certain number of times between rests at an inn. By being given specific numbers of casts, the use of skills is heavily encouraged — I've got 20 uses of whatever the hell HEWN and TELELE are, I may as well use them. The macro system provides what is probably the single greatest flexibility in turn order of any game that I've seen — I think the only way to improve it would be the ability to create macros on-the-fly in combat. The fact that Macro A is preset to "everybody attacks" is the icing on top. Items that cast spells aren't nearly as useful as they were in Phantasy Star II, and I would say that it's for the better given how much of late-game Phantasy Star II is using the items that can cast Gires. I love how the vehicles have their own battle mode with a unique interface and music.
The soundtrack is, as always for the Phantasy Star games, absolutely stellar. This game may have the distinction of "Most Obviously a Genesis Game," with that sweet crunchy bass. The title theme immediately sets the tone, and its reuse for the credits is perfect. Motavia Field is one of my favorite overworld themes of all time. For dungeon music, Cave sounds straight out of Super Metroid. Behind the Circuit is a fantastic "tech dungeon" theme, especially when contrast with the upbeat Machine Center. The remixed dungeon themes from Phantasy Star are excellent, and my only wish is that they also included the Air Castle theme from that game for when that dungeon is revisited here. The combat themes are no slouch either: Meet Them Head On immediately gets into the action, while Defeat at a Blow encourages a more measured response to the boss encounters. Abyss and Ooze sell the sheer menace of the final boss, and I would argue that Laughter is one of the all-time greatest JRPG boss themes. Dezolis Town 2 has no right to be as much of a bop as it is. Pain and Her Last Breath elevate an already effective death scene and make it absolutely heartrending. The music for the final cutscenes mixes perfectly with the visuals, even including the rare bit of silence.
Phantasy Star IV is the grand finale of the series, and that fact shines through every facet of the game: from the obvious direct usage of things from earlier titles to the more subtle thematic throughlines, there is little in Phantasy Star IV that is not built upon in some way from the earlier entries. The brilliance is that it doesn't come off as fanservice, the common pitfall of this kind of story.
That said, I absolutely will gush over all the callbacks and continued elements. How the spaceship, the Landale, is named after Alis Landale, who also literally has a shrine (with Myau!) in Termi. The gift shop in Termi sells "perolymates", which were in all the food shops in the first Phantasy Star as "Cola" in the US. The final dungeon of the first game, the Air Fortress, is revisited with the exact same dungeon layout and final boss, who is somehow even more difficult than in the first game. At least you can't accidentally softlock in this one. Alis herself appears in a vision when Chaz first picks up the Elsydeon. As in Phantasy Star II, Noah/Lutz once again has a speaking role as Rune. The fourth planet that had to be cut from the original for space reasons is brought back as the mysterious hidden planet Rykros. The party once again stores massive vehicles in their pockets, with the Land Rover and Ice Digger making a triumphant return.
The events and fallout of Phantasy Star II are related to Chaz within the first minutes of the game by an NPC in the academy. Much of the game's plot is a direct continuation of the events of II: at the end of II, the party destroyed Mother Brain, who was keeping the environmental systems in place. These same environmental systems finally failing drives much of the early plot of IV. Rika herself is a reference to Nei — the story goes that the character designer Toru Yoshida wanted her to literally be Nei, but the rest of the staff objected so they went with making Rika a blatant copy. The vehicle combat that couldn't make it in to II was finally implemented here. An entire town on Dezolis serves as a grave and memorial to the one guy who sprung you from space jail in II.
A sidequest dungeon near the end of the game consists entirely of the basic bird enemies from Phantasy Star III. Androids of both Siren's and Wren's make and model are common enemies in the tech-based dungeons. The wreckage of one of the Alisa III's sister ships is explored, and it's even laid out like a typical Phantasy Star III dungeon. The scene upon the conclusion of that dungeon where the party learns of the colony ships meant just about nothing to me on my first play of IV. Now, having played III, it meant everything. Even now I'm tearing up thinking about it.
The core party members are each representatives of the games in the series: Rune is Noah/Lutz, Rika is a stand-in for Nei, and Wren is the best non-Sari party member (don't @ me) of Phantasy Star III. Gryz and Raja are the first playable native Motavians and Dezolisians (respectively) in the series. Alys is clearly meant to mislead the player into thinking she's the protagonist, and her name being a clear reference to I's Alis aids in that endeavor.
Overall, Phantasy Star IV: the End of the Millenium is the perfect end to not only the millenium but to the Phantasy Star series as a whole. Seeing Chaz and Rika in casual clothes in the credits roll nearly broke me. The final image of the statue of Alis had me sobbing. Now, a full day later, I'm crying all over again thinking about it.
I am continually surprised at how early in the lifespan of the genre the Phantasy Star games are. Phantasy Star released within days of Final Fantasy; Phantasy Star II about a year after Dragon Quest II and a couple months after Final Fantasy II; Phantasy Star III within a couple months of Dragon Quest IV and Final Fantasy III. By the time Phantasy Star IV released, JRPGs were truly in their golden age — contemporary to Phantasy Star IV are such legendary titles as Final Fantasy VI, Dragon Quest V, Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and Secret of Mana. Walking into the first three Phantasy Star games, I always had the feeling, conscious or otherwise, that these were early titles in the genre and gave them some leeway accordingly. Phantasy Star IV immediately hit me with the fact that the kid gloves were off. The minimum stakes for the genre had been raised, and Phantasy Star had more than kept with the times.
The Phantasy Star games have never been truly "typical" JRPGs. The setting is the most obvious measure of this, being sci-fi in a sea of medieval fantasy, but being different than the competition was a stated design goal of the series as far back as the first Phantasy Star game, which took pains to be as different from Dragon Quest as possible. That tradition of uniqueness is upheld: Phantasy Star IV's visual style, sound design, and combat system are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere in the genre.
I absolutely love how Phantasy Star IV tells its story. The comic book panels do a masterful job of setting the scene and the tone, and the way that the panels are timed to the narration add so much depth to scenes. Nowhere is this more present than the finale, where control over the text speed is fully taken away from the player, allowing the designers to fully control the exact pace of the visuals. The effect can be somewhat goofy when panels start piling on top of each other, but the game knows when to do that and when to keep the screen sparse.
Phantasy Star IV has been lauded for how it tells its story not only through its cutscenes, but through its gameplay and its battle system. Chaz's growth as a person is demonstrated not only through his dialogue, but literally in how he plays as he finds his own purpose and niche, his abilities being a direct outgrowth of Alys' advice. Hahn's increasing ineffectiveness in the combat leads to him leaving the party as he discovers that he's simply not cut out for that kind of adventure. Alys' loss is never really filled: as much as Kyra wants to be a big sister figure to Chaz, she can never truly replace what Alys meant to him, and their similar kits only serve to highlight how she cannot act as a stand-in for Alys. Gryz's meathead nature is reflected in how his stats prioritize strength, and his near lack of skills and techniques reinforce this. All of Seth's skills are skills used by enemies associated with Dark Force, a small foreshadowing of his true nature. Raja being an utter goofball would fool people into thinking he's washed-up if his kit didn't reveal him to be the single best healer in the game, joining the party with a massive variety of healing skills and techniques, showing how knowledgeable he truly is. Rika, a newborn, starts with no experience (combat or otherwise) and levels up quickly to reflect how much she's learning about the world.
The combat system itself is a wonderful evolution of the systems present in II (and, to a lesser extent, in III). In addition to the standard Techniques, which cost TP, there are now Skills which can now be used a certain number of times between rests at an inn. By being given specific numbers of casts, the use of skills is heavily encouraged — I've got 20 uses of whatever the hell HEWN and TELELE are, I may as well use them. The macro system provides what is probably the single greatest flexibility in turn order of any game that I've seen — I think the only way to improve it would be the ability to create macros on-the-fly in combat. The fact that Macro A is preset to "everybody attacks" is the icing on top. Items that cast spells aren't nearly as useful as they were in Phantasy Star II, and I would say that it's for the better given how much of late-game Phantasy Star II is using the items that can cast Gires. I love how the vehicles have their own battle mode with a unique interface and music.
The soundtrack is, as always for the Phantasy Star games, absolutely stellar. This game may have the distinction of "Most Obviously a Genesis Game," with that sweet crunchy bass. The title theme immediately sets the tone, and its reuse for the credits is perfect. Motavia Field is one of my favorite overworld themes of all time. For dungeon music, Cave sounds straight out of Super Metroid. Behind the Circuit is a fantastic "tech dungeon" theme, especially when contrast with the upbeat Machine Center. The remixed dungeon themes from Phantasy Star are excellent, and my only wish is that they also included the Air Castle theme from that game for when that dungeon is revisited here. The combat themes are no slouch either: Meet Them Head On immediately gets into the action, while Defeat at a Blow encourages a more measured response to the boss encounters. Abyss and Ooze sell the sheer menace of the final boss, and I would argue that Laughter is one of the all-time greatest JRPG boss themes. Dezolis Town 2 has no right to be as much of a bop as it is. Pain and Her Last Breath elevate an already effective death scene and make it absolutely heartrending. The music for the final cutscenes mixes perfectly with the visuals, even including the rare bit of silence.
Phantasy Star IV is the grand finale of the series, and that fact shines through every facet of the game: from the obvious direct usage of things from earlier titles to the more subtle thematic throughlines, there is little in Phantasy Star IV that is not built upon in some way from the earlier entries. The brilliance is that it doesn't come off as fanservice, the common pitfall of this kind of story.
That said, I absolutely will gush over all the callbacks and continued elements. How the spaceship, the Landale, is named after Alis Landale, who also literally has a shrine (with Myau!) in Termi. The gift shop in Termi sells "perolymates", which were in all the food shops in the first Phantasy Star as "Cola" in the US. The final dungeon of the first game, the Air Fortress, is revisited with the exact same dungeon layout and final boss, who is somehow even more difficult than in the first game. At least you can't accidentally softlock in this one. Alis herself appears in a vision when Chaz first picks up the Elsydeon. As in Phantasy Star II, Noah/Lutz once again has a speaking role as Rune. The fourth planet that had to be cut from the original for space reasons is brought back as the mysterious hidden planet Rykros. The party once again stores massive vehicles in their pockets, with the Land Rover and Ice Digger making a triumphant return.
The events and fallout of Phantasy Star II are related to Chaz within the first minutes of the game by an NPC in the academy. Much of the game's plot is a direct continuation of the events of II: at the end of II, the party destroyed Mother Brain, who was keeping the environmental systems in place. These same environmental systems finally failing drives much of the early plot of IV. Rika herself is a reference to Nei — the story goes that the character designer Toru Yoshida wanted her to literally be Nei, but the rest of the staff objected so they went with making Rika a blatant copy. The vehicle combat that couldn't make it in to II was finally implemented here. An entire town on Dezolis serves as a grave and memorial to the one guy who sprung you from space jail in II.
A sidequest dungeon near the end of the game consists entirely of the basic bird enemies from Phantasy Star III. Androids of both Siren's and Wren's make and model are common enemies in the tech-based dungeons. The wreckage of one of the Alisa III's sister ships is explored, and it's even laid out like a typical Phantasy Star III dungeon. The scene upon the conclusion of that dungeon where the party learns of the colony ships meant just about nothing to me on my first play of IV. Now, having played III, it meant everything. Even now I'm tearing up thinking about it.
The core party members are each representatives of the games in the series: Rune is Noah/Lutz, Rika is a stand-in for Nei, and Wren is the best non-Sari party member (don't @ me) of Phantasy Star III. Gryz and Raja are the first playable native Motavians and Dezolisians (respectively) in the series. Alys is clearly meant to mislead the player into thinking she's the protagonist, and her name being a clear reference to I's Alis aids in that endeavor.
Overall, Phantasy Star IV: the End of the Millenium is the perfect end to not only the millenium but to the Phantasy Star series as a whole. Seeing Chaz and Rika in casual clothes in the credits roll nearly broke me. The final image of the statue of Alis had me sobbing. Now, a full day later, I'm crying all over again thinking about it.
This is one of the best JRPGs I've ever played. It has an amazing artistic direction (unlike PSIII) and it's fun to play too! The story never got boring and I'd defend the cast with my own life.
If you gotta play a Phantasy Star game just play this one. It is almost self-contained and it's the absolute best. Truly a phenomenal game.
If you gotta play a Phantasy Star game just play this one. It is almost self-contained and it's the absolute best. Truly a phenomenal game.
Phantasy Star 4 is one of the most well-paced JRPGs I've ever played that can be comfortably beaten in under 15 hours. So how and why did I stretch it to an experience that was over 30 hours long? Hey, let's talk how it really drew me into its world in every way imaginable for the 2nd or 3rd or phantillionth (number of copies it sold) time.
Gameplay:
Phantasy Star 4 seems like standard JRPG affair at first glance. Everybody can use attacks, items, techniques/magic, and defensive positions. However, it builds on the familiar mechanics of the genres in ways that make it accessible to newcomers while also having surprising QOL to veterans such as myself.
I'm just going to say straightup I think the macro system should be in every JRPG. The player is given 8 command prompts to fill out where they can use a combination of inputs for every character in their party with a single click. Want everybody in the party to just attack? Set that to macro A? Want everybody in the party to guard? Macro B! Healing spells in C, status ailments in D, strongest techs in E, combos in F....
Oh that's right, not only are status ailments in this game actually useful (to the point I would have never beaten bosses like the castle owner without barriers or speedup) but there are combination attacks and different types of special moves. Skills can be used so long as the character has a pool of shared TP resources, while techniques can only be used a set number of times without resting. This helps to encourage the player saving their resources for boss fights or truly tough random encounters rather than just mashing their strongest attacks endlessly, especially since TP restores are practically non-existent outside of Ataraxia and the inventory space is limited as is.
The combination attacks are never really brought up in the game sadly but they look quite cool and ones like tri-blaster, blizzard, or grand cross proved to be immensely useful across the game while also looking immensely badass. My favourite is the Black Hole, which has a massive chance to absorb enemies into nothingness (yes, a JRPG where instadeath spells are actually useful, crazy right?) and can be seen here https://youtu.be/gI54FwiI6kQ?t=8
Unfortunately, the combination attacks are rather... clumsy. In a way it's unfair to compare this to Chrono Trigger since CT came out over a year later, but fuck it Sega's a big boy and I feel the comparison is warranted. CT's interface with combination attacks was incredibly intuitive; simple press the combo button and there would be a 100% chance of a combo coming out. In Phantasy Star 4, it is a dice roll if a combination attack comes out or if the characters simply perform their individual attacks. This wouldn't be such a problem, except resources in this game are extremely limited. This creates an almost unfair amount of RNG, but the game is still perfectly manageable even with this in mind so it's not a huge knock. I feel there was greater potential for the combo system, but it's still ultimately a net positive in my eyes.
Exploration is rather one of a kind as well. Every vehicle feels like real thought was put into it. The player can use an ice digger or airship, but they have notable limits; the airship cannot fly above the tallest mountains in the world and both vehicles have unique sets of weapons and sensors that render the battles looking entirely different from within their cockpits. The polish is simply unreal. Just be careful not to fight giant enemies without a vehicle, or suffer the same fate as me here
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129254943530950738/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-08_00-52-59.mp4
Overall the exploration is always fresh, and like all the 16-bit JRPG greats it has several world maps to explore with their own sets of sidequests and memorable dialogue. I also appreciate how characters use their spells in cutscenes (such as GiRes after the Zio battle) since it makes for a dope way to intertwine gameplay with story, which brings me to my next section.
Story:
Phantasy Star 4 may be a grand interstellar war epic, but it's really the little moments that make it. It may just be the earliest JRPG I can think of with party chat, which is of course hilarious when Chaz and Rune get into pissing contests like an old married couple over and over again.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129256255286956113/image.png
The NPC dialogue hardly feels like some by the books "thou shalt visit the town northeast of here!" On the contrary, so many NPCs feel alive. Basically every NPC in the game has new sets of dialogue depending on whether something happens in the world such as an earthquake in the city over in one cutscene. There's even a city that gradually gets rebuilt after the player finds it destroyed. The main characters and NPCs alike also sound very human with their jokes or concerns, with some of the following lines being favourites of mine
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129256817470484531/image.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129257068512157696/56.png
Further, the game tackles some pretty serious issues in surprisingly grounded ways. At one point, a city is closed off, so the NPCs go full "fuck capitalism" mode after the merchants use this to their advantage to raise the prices of essential goods. It's rather stunning to see this handled so competently in a space fantasy game.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129257521761222787/image.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129257521983528970/53.png
Then of course there are the doomerpilled NPCs worrying about climate change, all while the player slowly gets to see the world fade to shit.
But more than the serious issues, it's the tiny touches in the game that make the characters feel humans. Just about every house in the game has items like stoves, bookshelves, and so forth. Not only can the player decorate their house with souvenirs while Chaz gets called out for his tacky taste in furniture, but the description of things like the bookshelves actually change depending on the NPC's house. The NPC who is obsessed with birds has books about animals, the outcast in the village is noted for not cleaning his dishes for days on end, etc. There's even an easter egg where Chaz will attempt to open someone's cabinets without permission and get scolded for it after constantly telling the player it's rude to steal from the houses of other people.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258464103903262/21.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258464418463785/22.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258464720465940/23.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258464993087528/24.png
I can't mention the bookshelves without mentioning all the lovely Sega easter eggs too. The game does a pretty great job establishing my boy Chaz the chad as a geek with moments like him having no idea a prostitute is hitting on him, but I think what really sells it is his enthusiasm to stop saving the world for a detour to play Game Gear games. He just like me for real for real.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258980422717561/41.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258979827142787/19.png
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129258980129112094/20.png
When talking about Phantasy Star 4's story, plenty of people have mentioned how it's this solar system spanning story about saving the universe and how shocking several moments are (it's one of the only JRPGs I can think of where a particular death scene feels long and dragged out rather than some fantastical "going out in a blaze of glory" style scene) but for me, again, it's really all the tiny things that just add up. The flames in one village just being ordinary flames instead of religious candle lights to signify which civilizations worship a particular religion... sometimes less dialogue truly is more.
All around, the story is not only a fantastic adventure, but also a comfy simulator for the life of a traveler. And it's one hell of a great tribute to Sega as a whole, especially the older Phantasy Star games. Endless tributes exist in the form of cool flashback scenes, remixed music, Alis' sword being equippable, the cat cave, returning bosses, some expy characters like Rika, etc. But to me the coolest tribute has got to be that if the player slips past the bounds of one village and travels all around the outskirts, they can find a hidden shop with the shortcakes from the first Phantasy Star. Simply epic sauce.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129260815577518190/image.png
Visuals:
The Phantasy Star series has always set itself apart with anime styled cutscenes and extremely expressive characters. 4 is no exception in that regard. Which Chaz reaction image are you today?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129261758310256790/image.png
Is Phantasy Star 4 sakuga? Discuss!
Be it in dialogue boxes or extended cutscenes, every character in this game is full of various expressions. And this includes the enemies as well. Every attacked is fully animated with characters performing unique animations for casting moves as mentioned earlier, but what I didn't mention was... the Rappy's sick fucking dance moves? Cus that's totally a thing
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129262231029293117/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-13_23-01-14.mp4
Every world looks visually distinct and there's simply a plethora of unique sprites. One world may look snowy while another is earthlike. All sorts of alien species' coexist, with Raja being a favourite character of mine for his unique appearance of being a green alien dude who is also a priest. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/phantasystar/images/d/df/Raja_portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20151204000221
He's also 85 years old, which makes him the oldest playable JRPG character in existence by a solid 60+ years
Obviously it's not quite as visually stunning as something like Tales of Phantasia due to the lack of mode 7 or proper transparency support on the Genesis, but damn does it try its best and honestly it's so well stylized with its anime approach that I can't see it as anything but a visual masterpiece for the system.
Audio:
Hands down, Phantasy Star 4 has one of the best soundtracks in the medium due to its sheer variety of new songs and remixes. I'll never forget how flashbanged I felt by Sega going "what if we put the best remix of Opa-Opa's theme in an optional dancing scene 5 hours into this JRPG?" (Yet another based Sega homage!)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1124870893936578640/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-01_00-47-42.mp4
Shoutout to the sound effects, the random penguin with Ristar's voice stealing my expensive ass food out of nowhere still gets a smile out of me too.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129263979710140437/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-09_05-35-30.mp4
Anyhow, the main thing that sets 4's soundtrack apart to me is its variety. Not one but 2 crazy remixes of the dungeon theme from the first Phantasy Star, 3 unique world map themes, some of the most unconventional boss themes of all time... oh and the drums aren't fucked up in the NA version like with Phantasy Star 2! Just a W all around.
Remember kids, you can't spell slaughter without laughter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao2LP75E7ac
TLDR
Phantasy Star 4 is a game that's well worth anyone's time, be they general JRPG fans or just Sega enthusiasts. Even if one didn't enjoy the first 3 Phantasy Stars, 4 has a level of polish with its NPC dialogue and battle QOL that makes almost any other JRPG pale in comparison. It's not quite simple but not quite complex, it's constantly keeping things fresh, it does things with the genre that are unique to this day, and it's the ultimate JRPG love letter to Sega and the sci-fi genre. Also Chaz is my son and Rune is my boywife. That is all.
Gameplay:
Phantasy Star 4 seems like standard JRPG affair at first glance. Everybody can use attacks, items, techniques/magic, and defensive positions. However, it builds on the familiar mechanics of the genres in ways that make it accessible to newcomers while also having surprising QOL to veterans such as myself.
I'm just going to say straightup I think the macro system should be in every JRPG. The player is given 8 command prompts to fill out where they can use a combination of inputs for every character in their party with a single click. Want everybody in the party to just attack? Set that to macro A? Want everybody in the party to guard? Macro B! Healing spells in C, status ailments in D, strongest techs in E, combos in F....
Oh that's right, not only are status ailments in this game actually useful (to the point I would have never beaten bosses like the castle owner without barriers or speedup) but there are combination attacks and different types of special moves. Skills can be used so long as the character has a pool of shared TP resources, while techniques can only be used a set number of times without resting. This helps to encourage the player saving their resources for boss fights or truly tough random encounters rather than just mashing their strongest attacks endlessly, especially since TP restores are practically non-existent outside of Ataraxia and the inventory space is limited as is.
The combination attacks are never really brought up in the game sadly but they look quite cool and ones like tri-blaster, blizzard, or grand cross proved to be immensely useful across the game while also looking immensely badass. My favourite is the Black Hole, which has a massive chance to absorb enemies into nothingness (yes, a JRPG where instadeath spells are actually useful, crazy right?) and can be seen here https://youtu.be/gI54FwiI6kQ?t=8
Unfortunately, the combination attacks are rather... clumsy. In a way it's unfair to compare this to Chrono Trigger since CT came out over a year later, but fuck it Sega's a big boy and I feel the comparison is warranted. CT's interface with combination attacks was incredibly intuitive; simple press the combo button and there would be a 100% chance of a combo coming out. In Phantasy Star 4, it is a dice roll if a combination attack comes out or if the characters simply perform their individual attacks. This wouldn't be such a problem, except resources in this game are extremely limited. This creates an almost unfair amount of RNG, but the game is still perfectly manageable even with this in mind so it's not a huge knock. I feel there was greater potential for the combo system, but it's still ultimately a net positive in my eyes.
Exploration is rather one of a kind as well. Every vehicle feels like real thought was put into it. The player can use an ice digger or airship, but they have notable limits; the airship cannot fly above the tallest mountains in the world and both vehicles have unique sets of weapons and sensors that render the battles looking entirely different from within their cockpits. The polish is simply unreal. Just be careful not to fight giant enemies without a vehicle, or suffer the same fate as me here
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129254943530950738/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-08_00-52-59.mp4
Overall the exploration is always fresh, and like all the 16-bit JRPG greats it has several world maps to explore with their own sets of sidequests and memorable dialogue. I also appreciate how characters use their spells in cutscenes (such as GiRes after the Zio battle) since it makes for a dope way to intertwine gameplay with story, which brings me to my next section.
Story:
Phantasy Star 4 may be a grand interstellar war epic, but it's really the little moments that make it. It may just be the earliest JRPG I can think of with party chat, which is of course hilarious when Chaz and Rune get into pissing contests like an old married couple over and over again.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129256255286956113/image.png
The NPC dialogue hardly feels like some by the books "thou shalt visit the town northeast of here!" On the contrary, so many NPCs feel alive. Basically every NPC in the game has new sets of dialogue depending on whether something happens in the world such as an earthquake in the city over in one cutscene. There's even a city that gradually gets rebuilt after the player finds it destroyed. The main characters and NPCs alike also sound very human with their jokes or concerns, with some of the following lines being favourites of mine
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Further, the game tackles some pretty serious issues in surprisingly grounded ways. At one point, a city is closed off, so the NPCs go full "fuck capitalism" mode after the merchants use this to their advantage to raise the prices of essential goods. It's rather stunning to see this handled so competently in a space fantasy game.
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Then of course there are the doomerpilled NPCs worrying about climate change, all while the player slowly gets to see the world fade to shit.
But more than the serious issues, it's the tiny touches in the game that make the characters feel humans. Just about every house in the game has items like stoves, bookshelves, and so forth. Not only can the player decorate their house with souvenirs while Chaz gets called out for his tacky taste in furniture, but the description of things like the bookshelves actually change depending on the NPC's house. The NPC who is obsessed with birds has books about animals, the outcast in the village is noted for not cleaning his dishes for days on end, etc. There's even an easter egg where Chaz will attempt to open someone's cabinets without permission and get scolded for it after constantly telling the player it's rude to steal from the houses of other people.
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I can't mention the bookshelves without mentioning all the lovely Sega easter eggs too. The game does a pretty great job establishing my boy Chaz the chad as a geek with moments like him having no idea a prostitute is hitting on him, but I think what really sells it is his enthusiasm to stop saving the world for a detour to play Game Gear games. He just like me for real for real.
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When talking about Phantasy Star 4's story, plenty of people have mentioned how it's this solar system spanning story about saving the universe and how shocking several moments are (it's one of the only JRPGs I can think of where a particular death scene feels long and dragged out rather than some fantastical "going out in a blaze of glory" style scene) but for me, again, it's really all the tiny things that just add up. The flames in one village just being ordinary flames instead of religious candle lights to signify which civilizations worship a particular religion... sometimes less dialogue truly is more.
All around, the story is not only a fantastic adventure, but also a comfy simulator for the life of a traveler. And it's one hell of a great tribute to Sega as a whole, especially the older Phantasy Star games. Endless tributes exist in the form of cool flashback scenes, remixed music, Alis' sword being equippable, the cat cave, returning bosses, some expy characters like Rika, etc. But to me the coolest tribute has got to be that if the player slips past the bounds of one village and travels all around the outskirts, they can find a hidden shop with the shortcakes from the first Phantasy Star. Simply epic sauce.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129260815577518190/image.png
Visuals:
The Phantasy Star series has always set itself apart with anime styled cutscenes and extremely expressive characters. 4 is no exception in that regard. Which Chaz reaction image are you today?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129261758310256790/image.png
Is Phantasy Star 4 sakuga? Discuss!
Be it in dialogue boxes or extended cutscenes, every character in this game is full of various expressions. And this includes the enemies as well. Every attacked is fully animated with characters performing unique animations for casting moves as mentioned earlier, but what I didn't mention was... the Rappy's sick fucking dance moves? Cus that's totally a thing
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129262231029293117/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-13_23-01-14.mp4
Every world looks visually distinct and there's simply a plethora of unique sprites. One world may look snowy while another is earthlike. All sorts of alien species' coexist, with Raja being a favourite character of mine for his unique appearance of being a green alien dude who is also a priest. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/phantasystar/images/d/df/Raja_portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20151204000221
He's also 85 years old, which makes him the oldest playable JRPG character in existence by a solid 60+ years
Obviously it's not quite as visually stunning as something like Tales of Phantasia due to the lack of mode 7 or proper transparency support on the Genesis, but damn does it try its best and honestly it's so well stylized with its anime approach that I can't see it as anything but a visual masterpiece for the system.
Audio:
Hands down, Phantasy Star 4 has one of the best soundtracks in the medium due to its sheer variety of new songs and remixes. I'll never forget how flashbanged I felt by Sega going "what if we put the best remix of Opa-Opa's theme in an optional dancing scene 5 hours into this JRPG?" (Yet another based Sega homage!)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1124870893936578640/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-01_00-47-42.mp4
Shoutout to the sound effects, the random penguin with Ristar's voice stealing my expensive ass food out of nowhere still gets a smile out of me too.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1094162928644653057/1129263979710140437/Phantasy_Star_IV_USA_patched_Genesis_-_BizHawk_2023-07-09_05-35-30.mp4
Anyhow, the main thing that sets 4's soundtrack apart to me is its variety. Not one but 2 crazy remixes of the dungeon theme from the first Phantasy Star, 3 unique world map themes, some of the most unconventional boss themes of all time... oh and the drums aren't fucked up in the NA version like with Phantasy Star 2! Just a W all around.
Remember kids, you can't spell slaughter without laughter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao2LP75E7ac
TLDR
Phantasy Star 4 is a game that's well worth anyone's time, be they general JRPG fans or just Sega enthusiasts. Even if one didn't enjoy the first 3 Phantasy Stars, 4 has a level of polish with its NPC dialogue and battle QOL that makes almost any other JRPG pale in comparison. It's not quite simple but not quite complex, it's constantly keeping things fresh, it does things with the genre that are unique to this day, and it's the ultimate JRPG love letter to Sega and the sci-fi genre. Also Chaz is my son and Rune is my boywife. That is all.
An interesting classic JRPG.