Phantasy Star 4

Phantasy Star 4 is one of my favorite RPGs! Though made for the (shudder) sega genesis, it's still a great game! It was the first traditional RPG that I played, and one of the hardest, unlike some RPGs you see today. Suikoden, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, they're all too easy. The hard thing about Phantasy Star 4 is you can't save inside of dungeons. This means that if you work your way through a dungeon, gain several levels, learn lots of new spells, find tons of cool items, but lose to the boss (this game has some HARD bosses!), you have to start ALL over. Sometimes you find yourself struggling with the random battles. In one of the earlier dungeons of the game, I had to replay a dungeon more than once because the enemies were extremely hard for so early in the game. I am making the game seem harder than it really is, but it is pretty hard. It also has great graphics for the 16-bit genre. It sort of has anime scenes, except they aren't full motion like Xenogears or Lunar, they're more like comic strips. It has also has some GREAT music, some of the greatest music i've ever heard. It's right up there with Chrono Trigger and Suikoden. It also has a great story. I think they should make a Phantasy Star for the playstation. There were also two other Phantasy Star's for genesis (PS2 and 3). The original Phantasy Star was released on the very old sega master system. A fifth phantasy star was released for the gamegear, but it never saw the united states. You probally don't care, but I thought I'd just give you some brief history of Phantasy Star. The character development in Phantasy Star isn't superb or anything, but its fairly good. The anime-style drawings of the characters are awesome, and some of the first to hit the RPG market.

The music in Phantasy Star 4 was excellent, some of the best I've heard. I only wish I could find some mp3s of it. (Uhh..if your an FBI agent i *do* delete them after 24 hours...heh...heh...heh?). And after you beat the game, you can listen to all the music in the game during the little intro scene of the game. The music ranges from jolly, hearty music to very sad, emotional music.

The graphics were good for the genesis, with little comic-like scenes of anime pictures which detail the current scene. The in-game graphics are alright, for a 16-bit game, but the fact remains they're still 16-bit, and seem terrible after playing the newer nintendo64 or sony playstation. So if you're the type that only plays games for the eye candy, and automatically rule off any thing that's below 32 bits, than don't even bother playing this, unless you can search deep down inside and accept a game for a great story, great music, and the good character development.

The story can get complicated, but not too complicated. It's not some huge epic story like Final Fantasy 7 or Xenogears. You play the role as Chaz, a hunter. He was raised and trained by his partner, Alys. You take on a job from a principal in a near-by academy. Monsters have supposedly overrun the basement, and he wants you to exterminate them. You complete the job, but find out the principal has not told you everything he knows. Then, you meet Zio, the villain of the game. The next few hours are getting new memebers and advancing in the story untill you finally meet up with Zio. After you defeat him you find out your journey has only begun! And further your quest to fight the real cause of all the evil, Dark Force. The plot keeps moving and twisting and holds you all the way till the end.

The characters were pretty good in this game. WARNING SPOILER!! When one of your team mates is killed, you feel much remorse for the person, and could even cry. Character deaths in games rarely put too much emotion in you, only phantasy star 4, suikoden, and xenogears have moved me. Not even the death of a certain character in FF7 seemed to be much of an impact on me (END SPOILER!). And one of the characters, Rune, would give Magus a run for his money if only the game itself was as popular as Chrono Trigger, and it probally would be if it weren't for the...genesis.

The gameplay is very fun. The battle system is nothing new, except for Macros. What a macro is, you choose an option for each character, whether it be a spell or attack or the use of an item. Then, just select the macro during battle, and your characters will automatically do their assigned attacks automatically. And like chrono trigger, this game has combination attacks with 2-3 characters. Except, you have to figure the combos out yourself.

The game has some replay value, but not very much. You never get to choose who is in your party, (Except for the last boss, when all the characters return, but you can only choose 1 of the 5 people who go with you.) The game also has pretty long dungeons, and repeating long dungeons is never fun. But it is fun and has a great story. I think I completed the game 2 or 3 times..

So saying, if you have a genesis, you should first kick yourself in the ass for having one, then go out and buy PS4!! With great music, story, and characters, which are the 3 main elements of an RPG (in my opinion), there's no reason for you to NOT buy this frequently overlooked game!

Black's Reviews
Phantasy Star 4 Reviews


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