Current Events > C/D: Phantasy Star 1 is an underrated classic

(+) Yeah! (+)

- It came out two days after the original Final Fantasy, and it looks/functions better than it does. It's almost an entire generation removed from that original Final Fantasy title.

- It's a gorgeous game for its time. The spritework holds up to this day - the cutscenes are a bit dated, but the visuals are fantastic for 1987.

- This game has cutscenes, period. And while they are a bit dated as previously mentioned, they're pretty good as well.

- The 3D dungeons look fantastic. Phantasy Star's first-person dungeon crawling is incredibly immersive, though a bit tough to navigate.

- The grinding is pretty manageable! If you like a good RPG grind, i.e. Final Fantasy 5, this game has a satisfying grind loop.

- Alis is a cool character. She's not an entirely blank slate, she's arguably the strongest character in the game and her motivation is moreso revenge with any greater-good stuff sprinkled in after the fact.

- It's one of the earliest sci-fi RPGs, and it does a good job mixing cheesy sci-fi and cheesy swords-and-sorcery into one setting. It might just be the first sci-fi RPG that gets it right.

As far as old school RPGs go, Phantasy Star holds up. It's a very cohesive RPG for its time, it's mechanically and visually sound, and it beats the shit out of its contemporaries that released around the same time. I think it deserves more love.
---

I love it.

The pixel art is great, the music is fun and catchy, the grinding isnt too bad, the story does some cool things...

But Im a nerd whos biased towards 8-bit RPGs for some reason lol
---