Poll of the Day > Phantasy Star 1 is criminally underrated

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's just maximum charm

And 2, eh, too

PS4 is the one that many liked though, since it came out after the Sonic craze

PSO is life

pionear posted...

And 2, eh, too

PS4 is the one that many liked though, since it came out after the Sonic craze

I feel PS2~4 were more having to compete with the legendary RPGs on the SNES... whereas PS1 is a Master System title and was competing against things like Final Fantasy 1 (when it comes to purchasing, that is, since the time line is heavily skewed towards late era SNES and early era Genesis)

HornedLion posted...

PSO is life

Agree... I wish I didn't have an internal morality conflict about playing on pirate servers, or that my copy of PSO+ went missing.

Lokarin posted...

I wish I didn't have an internal morality conflict about playing on pirate servers,

As far as I'm concerned, if a legit server doesn't exist, there's nothing wrong with private servers. Private servers are only questionably moral when they stand to interfere with the studio making money with their legit servers, but when that revenue stream has been shut down by the studio, that problem goes away.

adjl posted...

As far as I'm concerned, if a legit server doesn't exist, there's nothing wrong with private servers. Private servers are only questionably moral when they stand to interfere with the studio making money with their legit servers, but when that revenue stream has been shut down by the studio, that problem goes away.

i know... it's entirely a problem in my head; I just can't bring myself to emu

I remember when it was the hidden gem among other similar games.

It is a unique game when compared to other JRPGs of the time. I always felt 2-4 were more traditional JRPGs and as a result never felt as interesting, even if they are solid games.

Also doesn't hurt that 2-4 have gotten tons of re-releases with just about every Genesis compilation while the first game mostly gets ignored.

I think its a really good game. One of the few rpgs I play.

3 is the most underrated of them all.

Have you played the Switch version? Has some nice QoL updates.

DeltaBladeX posted...

Have you played the Switch version? Has some nice QoL updates.

i didn't know there was a switch version

Then you will love it

The original Phantasy Star is easily the best 8-bit JRPG, but the original SMS version has some rough edges.

Fortunately, a new version just came out for Nintendo Switch as part of SEGA's Ages line by M2.

The improvements include:

-Auto-mapping of the first-person dungeons
-Options for both the original soundtrack and the FM chip soundtrack
-Ages mode, with a reduced encounter rate and more experience per battle
-A Monster Codex, where you can view parameters and the graphics for every monster
-Detailed stats and descriptions of all in-game weapons, armour and items (the original SMS version was quite obtuse in that regard)
-The Japanese version of the game

Anyways, just thought i'd share this since this rerelease isn't getting much press. I'm personally excited to replay this true classic with some modern conveniences.

Nice, I'll certainly pick that up... unless it's Nintendo Plus exclusive then I'll cry in a corner

Standard eShop game, one of those Sega updated ports they do. My personal favourite is Virtua Racing, which admittedly lacks the extra tracks of later versions, but supports 8 way splitscreen if you have enough Joy Cons.

DeltaBladeX posted...

but supports 8 way splitscreen if you have enough Joy Cons.

whoah!

The first was ok, but in my opinion did not compare/compete with Final fantasy etc. Was still cool (due to being sci fi related), but was very simple.

Phantasy Star 2 on the other hand had a way better story line, twists, a better battle system and still had the totally awesome sci fi theme. It was one of my favorite rpgs at that time, because you still didn't have alot of the really greats released yet.

The following phantasy star games up till PSO were never as good to me as PS2 was, mostly because other great RPGs had come out by then and I just didn't feel like 3/4 was much better than 2, didn't like the story as much etc.

PSO though was amazeballs and held up even through Diablo II coming out, I played it a freakton and loved that game, having it on multiple systems eventually (gave away my gamecube maybe a decade ago now and still played it up until that time).

None of the future PSO games on any of the systems (and they were on alot of systems) were ever nearly as good. I had them on the playstation systems all the hand helds etc. I tried Blue Burst as well but for whatever reason it didn't hit like the original for me as well (probably due to having to play it on my computer back in the day and it not working as well with a controller I had or something (may have even had to play with my keyboard I don't remember).

I eventually tried the MMO as well, and just was not that impressed with it. Supposedly they re-launched it and made changes a year ago or so (about a year after the US release I think) but I have not tried that, maybe I will someday but I imagine it's fairly similar to the original MMO.

Out of the whole series PSO was def my favorite followed by Phantasy star 2. One I played through once.....compred to playing through EVERY combination of characters possible for final fantasy 1. I played final fantasy 2 through maybe twice, but the US Final fantasy 3 (6 in japan) was also one of my favorite all time games. Don't remember if that came out after Phantasy star 2 or not, but by the time 3 came out there had been enough rpgs with more interesting combat systems etc, that I just didn't enjoy them enough to play more than once. I did go back though and play Phantasy Star 2 at least a few more times (Even after 3/4 was released) and eventually one more time all the way through even after PSO was released.

Miss PSO and really wish they had made an MMO that followed more along they lines of the original, but expanded on it significantly. I just didn't feel that the combat had the same skill level as original PSO in the MMO. If they had just gone with the same old formula, boosted the controls a bit and made it HUGE (which would be very easy with todays technology etc), you could have had a game that would keep people playing for decades.

wolfy42 posted...

I eventually tried the MMO as well, and just was not that impressed with it. Supposedly they re-launched it and made changes a year ago or so (about a year after the US release I think) but I have not tried that, maybe I will someday but I imagine it's fairly similar to the original MMO.

as a huge original PSO2 fan, they went too hard in on making NGS (the newer version) open-world when the entire appeal of original PSO2 was the dozens upon dozens upon dozens of incredibly fun, cinematic as hell arena boss battles

music kicked ass too. final boss of episode 3 of PSO2 has remixed versions of the final boss of PS4's theme, the final boss of PSO episode 3's theme, and whole new world, which i expect you old PS lovers to like

https://youtu.be/4p4FPUzFJow

I feel the appeal of PSO1 was the dungeon crawling and mystery weapons

Lokarin posted...

I feel the appeal of PSO1 was the dungeon crawling and mystery weapons

And that was what SEGA was trying to recreate with PSO2.. but with NG, they turned it into a more traditional open world MMO...

I mean both games has it plus/minus but for the short time I played them I kinda like the updated throwback asethics of the 1st PSO2

I semi-liked the PSO game they had on the DS... but it just didn't hold up

Ya,

Phantasy Star 2 did a lot to solidify and expand the style and theme of the Phantasy Star series... but it has among the worst dungeon design in any game ever

I bought phantasy star 1 recently because of this topic and you're right this game rocks. 4 is my favorite old rpg but I never really got around to the earlier ones

I need to play them all one day. I only played 4. I'd love a remake of it and a Phantasy Star 5.

PSO was the best. Rare weapons meant something back then. Now a days the market is over inflated with weapons that all look the same and dont do crap.

Remember the first time seeing a twin blaze or spread needle or heaven punisher? Hell even a double saber was bad ass.

So I bought that thar Sega Ages Phantasy Star 1 and... ... it's sooo goooooooood

teddy241 posted...

PSO was the best. Rare weapons meant something back then. Now a days the market is over inflated with weapons that all look the same and dont do crap.

Rare weapons have for the most part been a huge grind or an extremely low chance in PSO2 since... I think late episode 3? Granted, those extremely low chance ones DID mean something because actually only a handful of people on the server had that weapon, but due to the nature of powercreep, they were back to not being relevant after a few years.

I played a lot for years and I never had a highest-tier weapon drop since they'd started adding 14* and 15* to the loot tables. But it's not like they (usually) significantly impacted gameplay outside of numbers. I do remember a few specific weapons being pretty neat though... and Spread Needle was one of them, actually. It'd duplicate every single hit and thus restore PP much faster.

I want to play the PS2 remakes I think they were called Sega Ages or something

just... like

Ok, I know RPGs at the time were trying to take themselves seriously, but this is just hilarious...

There's a town with a mad scientist... named Dr. Mad, btw, who has been killing and experimenting on cats.

You can find his lab and talk to him and he'll go "you have a cat! give it to me" and you can be like Yes/No... if you say Yes he immediately kills your cat and then starts combat with you

:/

Lokarin posted...

just... like

Ok, I know RPGs at the time were trying to take themselves seriously, but this is just hilarious...

There's a town with a mad scientist... named Dr. Mad, btw, who has been killing and experimenting on cats.

You can find his lab and talk to him and he'll go "you have a cat! give it to me" and you can be like Yes/No... if you say Yes he immediately kills your cat and then starts combat with you

:/

What if you say no?

Lokarin posted...

So I bought that thar Sega Ages Phantasy Star 1 and... ... it's sooo goooooooood

:)

Here's something else I wanted to bring up: The dungeon music

Ok, RPGs of the time had several dungeon themes... usually 2 or 3, Dragon Quest has 1 (or 8 if you wanna get technical), and they do a good job of expressing the mood.

Final Fantasy - It's spooky and hectic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmT6-TSvoBM

Ultima - does the same
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrtsnKVdjMk

Dragon Quest - (when pitched down cuz digital is weird so it's very loud) - it's lonely and cautious, very scary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPLfeX50uBY

...

Phantasy Star? - Let's have a party!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrtsnKVdjMk