I understand completely why Phantasy Star III has its reputation as the black sheep of the Phantasy Star series. To reduce it down to that, however, would do a disservice to a truly wonderful game.
The main draw of the game, as its subtitle Generations of Doom would imply, is that it is the story of not only one hero, but also of his children and his children's children. At the end of Rhys' story, he has the choice to marry one of two women; the game then follows on with his son (Ayn or Nial). At the conclusion of their own quest, the same choice can be made, leading to four possible choices for the third generation.
It's a very ambitious concept — each successive generation doubles the number of stories that can be told. As a result, each generation has a fairly short story. It's no wonder that the third generation gets the short end of the stick, given that it had to be four distinct stories leading to similar conclusions. The end result is that, while the second generation drastically differs between the two possible protagonists, the third generation basically consists of "get the crew together, get the legendary weapons, beat the bad guy". The first time through the third generation is an honestly great story (unless you pick Aron). The next three times? Less so. They only really differ in terms of the introductory cutscene and the final cutscene. The most frustrating thing is that the intro and ending cutscenes for the third generation are all wonderfully evocative and deserve to be fully explored. Alas, due to technical and time limitations it was not to be.
That said, what is there is great. Things are seeded in the first generation that won't come to fruition until the third. Some worlds that go unvisited in one story are central to others. Depending on who Rhys marries, the third-generation character Kara will be either a sheltered princess or a hardened warrior. As ageless androids, Wren and Mieu are constants, participating in all three generations. The villain of Nial's story only appears once in the stories of Ayn's children, and the villain of Ayn's story only appears once in the stories of Nial's children: it is clear in both cases that their stories played out in some capacity even if we didn't see them onscreen. There are many games that feel like setting sourcebooks more than they do narratives, and I feel like Phantasy Star III is somewhere in the middle. The narrative had to step back to make way for the generational concept, and the generational concept served to more deeply explore the setting.
Phantasy Star III, like its predecessor, was developed in six months with very few internal resources devoted to it. Notably, the team that worked on it was not the team that worked on the other titles, including the later Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millenium. This is immediately apparent from the visual style, which seems to be allergic to outlines. The style is jarring coming from Phantasy Star II, but you quickly get used to it. I find it gels nicely with the game's tone: it lends it a more painterly quality, to go with the more melancholy music.
Gone are the chipper ditties of Phantasy Star II. Phantasy Star III's soundtrack is much more down to earth, fitting for a game about a multi-generational struggle to finally end a centuries-long war. It's contemplative. Of particular note is the overworld theme, which is dynamic in a way I have never seen anywhere else. At the beginning of the game, when it's just Rhys venturing on his lonesome, there is only the melody and bassline playing. When a party member is recruited, a harmony is added; the next brings an ostinato; the fourth a countermelody; the fifth a snare drum with a marching beat. As more people join your cause, the music slowly transforms from lonely and melancholic to hopeful and almost triumphant. Listening to all of the variations back-to-back is a magical experience I wish I could experience for the first time again. I was surprised when playing to see that the overworld even has a variant for when the main character is dead! Supposedly, the game was to have each individual character affect the overworld theme in different ways. I can see how that was infeasible, but I would love to see what that could have been.
The overworld theme is not the only standout in the soundtrack, although it is by far my favorite piece. The prelude, Laya's World, Lashute, and Dark Force are all outstanding tracks. Similar to the overworld theme, the battle theme will change depending on how you're faring in the fight: there are three songs that can play depending on whether you're winning, losing, or on even ground. The song for when you're winning is particularly upbeat: a friend noted that it's kind of similar to the Chao Race theme from Sonic Adventure 2's Chao Garden. One of my few real issues with the game is how going into a battle will reset the map music to the beginning — you will get very used to hearing the first several bars of many songs.
Phantasy Star III's gameplay feels like an iteration on that of its predecessor, Phantasy Star II. Combat now has the option to automate a single turn instead of just running completely on autopilot. You can finally target individual enemies. You now have a maximum of five party members instead of four. The magic system is one I haven't seen in other games: instead of gaining new spells as you level up, party members know all of their spells from the get-go. Spells are categorized into groups of four spells, and you can choose to prioritize certain spells over others. It's an intriguing system that is only hampered by the fact that the game is in no way difficult. There is little reason to use any spell that isn't Gires. The only time when the game is really challenging is at the very beginning, when you have no party members and no health, and at the very end of the game, when the game remembers that it can have enemies hit hard. Using a spell in and of itself needs to compete with the base desire to just spam the auto-battle button, which defaults to melee attacks.
Walking into Phantasy Star III, I expected a mess of a game, an idea without execution. What I got is a game I am surprised to say that I love. It's not a perfect game by any means, but it's a perfectly serviceable sequel. It follows up on the consequences of Phantasy Star II in a more indirect way than series fans might like, but fortunately Phantasy Star IV exists to fill that gap.
The main draw of the game, as its subtitle Generations of Doom would imply, is that it is the story of not only one hero, but also of his children and his children's children. At the end of Rhys' story, he has the choice to marry one of two women; the game then follows on with his son (Ayn or Nial). At the conclusion of their own quest, the same choice can be made, leading to four possible choices for the third generation.
It's a very ambitious concept — each successive generation doubles the number of stories that can be told. As a result, each generation has a fairly short story. It's no wonder that the third generation gets the short end of the stick, given that it had to be four distinct stories leading to similar conclusions. The end result is that, while the second generation drastically differs between the two possible protagonists, the third generation basically consists of "get the crew together, get the legendary weapons, beat the bad guy". The first time through the third generation is an honestly great story (unless you pick Aron). The next three times? Less so. They only really differ in terms of the introductory cutscene and the final cutscene. The most frustrating thing is that the intro and ending cutscenes for the third generation are all wonderfully evocative and deserve to be fully explored. Alas, due to technical and time limitations it was not to be.
That said, what is there is great. Things are seeded in the first generation that won't come to fruition until the third. Some worlds that go unvisited in one story are central to others. Depending on who Rhys marries, the third-generation character Kara will be either a sheltered princess or a hardened warrior. As ageless androids, Wren and Mieu are constants, participating in all three generations. The villain of Nial's story only appears once in the stories of Ayn's children, and the villain of Ayn's story only appears once in the stories of Nial's children: it is clear in both cases that their stories played out in some capacity even if we didn't see them onscreen. There are many games that feel like setting sourcebooks more than they do narratives, and I feel like Phantasy Star III is somewhere in the middle. The narrative had to step back to make way for the generational concept, and the generational concept served to more deeply explore the setting.
Phantasy Star III, like its predecessor, was developed in six months with very few internal resources devoted to it. Notably, the team that worked on it was not the team that worked on the other titles, including the later Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millenium. This is immediately apparent from the visual style, which seems to be allergic to outlines. The style is jarring coming from Phantasy Star II, but you quickly get used to it. I find it gels nicely with the game's tone: it lends it a more painterly quality, to go with the more melancholy music.
Gone are the chipper ditties of Phantasy Star II. Phantasy Star III's soundtrack is much more down to earth, fitting for a game about a multi-generational struggle to finally end a centuries-long war. It's contemplative. Of particular note is the overworld theme, which is dynamic in a way I have never seen anywhere else. At the beginning of the game, when it's just Rhys venturing on his lonesome, there is only the melody and bassline playing. When a party member is recruited, a harmony is added; the next brings an ostinato; the fourth a countermelody; the fifth a snare drum with a marching beat. As more people join your cause, the music slowly transforms from lonely and melancholic to hopeful and almost triumphant. Listening to all of the variations back-to-back is a magical experience I wish I could experience for the first time again. I was surprised when playing to see that the overworld even has a variant for when the main character is dead! Supposedly, the game was to have each individual character affect the overworld theme in different ways. I can see how that was infeasible, but I would love to see what that could have been.
The overworld theme is not the only standout in the soundtrack, although it is by far my favorite piece. The prelude, Laya's World, Lashute, and Dark Force are all outstanding tracks. Similar to the overworld theme, the battle theme will change depending on how you're faring in the fight: there are three songs that can play depending on whether you're winning, losing, or on even ground. The song for when you're winning is particularly upbeat: a friend noted that it's kind of similar to the Chao Race theme from Sonic Adventure 2's Chao Garden. One of my few real issues with the game is how going into a battle will reset the map music to the beginning — you will get very used to hearing the first several bars of many songs.
Phantasy Star III's gameplay feels like an iteration on that of its predecessor, Phantasy Star II. Combat now has the option to automate a single turn instead of just running completely on autopilot. You can finally target individual enemies. You now have a maximum of five party members instead of four. The magic system is one I haven't seen in other games: instead of gaining new spells as you level up, party members know all of their spells from the get-go. Spells are categorized into groups of four spells, and you can choose to prioritize certain spells over others. It's an intriguing system that is only hampered by the fact that the game is in no way difficult. There is little reason to use any spell that isn't Gires. The only time when the game is really challenging is at the very beginning, when you have no party members and no health, and at the very end of the game, when the game remembers that it can have enemies hit hard. Using a spell in and of itself needs to compete with the base desire to just spam the auto-battle button, which defaults to melee attacks.
Walking into Phantasy Star III, I expected a mess of a game, an idea without execution. What I got is a game I am surprised to say that I love. It's not a perfect game by any means, but it's a perfectly serviceable sequel. It follows up on the consequences of Phantasy Star II in a more indirect way than series fans might like, but fortunately Phantasy Star IV exists to fill that gap.