Retro Game of the Month December 2017: Phantasy Star IV (Genesis)

Tanoomba · Nov 30, 2017

Hope you're not too busy getting ready for Christmas, 'cuz we're RPGing it this month with what is commonly considered the best game in its series...

Phantasy Star IV

phantasy-star-iv-virtual-console-20081222084448054-2693237_640w.jpg

Wikipedia blurb:
Phantasy Star IV, released in Japan as Phantasy Star: The End of the Millennium (ファンタシースター千年紀の終りに), is a role-playing video game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in Japan in 1993 and Europe and North America in 1995. It is the fourth and final game in the original Phantasy Star series, concluding the story of the Algol Star System. The game was also made available on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan on June 24, 2008, in the PAL regions on November 14, 2008, and in North America on December 22, 2008, for the price of 800 Wii Points.[1] Phantasy Star IV is also part of the Sega Genesis Collection on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Phantasy Star IV kept many of the gameplay elements of the previous game, including turn-based battles, overhead exploration, and magic spells. The game met with mixed reviews upon its release, but has been subject to very positive critical retrospectives.

Have at it!

Sinzar · Nov 30, 2017

I don't have a whole lot of time to play through this again right now, but my avatar probably shows that I loved this game. Hope you all enjoy it!

yimmien · Nov 30, 2017

I like the box art. This is going to be fun because even though I had a genesis, I never played the RPGs on it. Not sure why, I played tons on SNES and early ps1. They always just looked inferior to the square stuff. I hope this proves my childhood bias wrong.

Szlia · Nov 30, 2017

Szlia · Dec 1, 2017

It was a good idea to track down the japanese cover for the game, because it made me realize that there is no IV or 4 on it. So I re-checked my Megadrive collection and found out that I actually do have the game! So... to play it on original hardware on a CRT in lush RGB or to play it on the official emulator in a language I understand at 100% instead of 10%? Or play both at the same time?????

Rezz · Dec 1, 2017

You may have too much free time on your hands....

To play great games.

Siliconemelons · Dec 1, 2017

Never actually played a Phantasy Star game other than a little bit of PSOnline with a friend at their house one day.

So this should be fun - also I randomly thought of what I want to propose for next month, if we are not breaking off RPGs - Wild Arms

Siliconemelons · Dec 1, 2017

Intro done:

Its hard as I am a FF grown RPGer so the names and whatever are all crazy - my intro screen didn't say IV it said the title - so maybe I dont have the USA version- but the item names and spells are harsh to understand as I am used to "potion" "cure" etc.

SEGA 3 buttons are annoying, but that's not the games fault

Buying 1 item at a time...sucks...but memories, as buying 99 potions was "my job" when I was little any my brother was playing FF1 lol - i would sit there any press B over and over and over, so a little memory there from this game

I like the anime cutscenes in the dialog so that is cool.

Off to the valley of birth!

McCheese · Dec 1, 2017

Got some cold beers and some warm, wooly socks. About to dive into this. Really excited since I've never played a Phantasy Star game.

yimmien · Dec 1, 2017

Sweet it opens just like Chrono Trigger. RPG trope of black screen with someone getting you out of bed.

Tanoomba · Dec 1, 2017

Got the ball rolling tonight.

Overall I'm pretty impressed. When I saw a few screen shots before playing, I thought the overworld character sprites looked a bit cheesy with the black outlines and the cutesy faces, but they've grown on me. I think a lot of the background tile work looks really good, too. The comic panel cutscenes look fantastic and definitely add impact to the plot.

Speaking of which, the writing is really good. The localization is on point and the plot progresses at a nice pace. There are nice touches like varying descriptions of copy-pasted terrain elements (some people keep cleaner kitchens than others).

The most difficult thing about getting started was replacing my Final Fantasy vocabulary with an all-new set of items and spells. Monomate? That's not remotely intuitive. I also haven't figured out a better way to determine what your spells do than trying them out in battle, but I think I'm nitpicking here since there are a lot of modern commodities that weren't commonplace back then.

The music is also pretty darn good. The Genesis has a pretty limited sound card but clever and talented devs and composers can squeeze some great tunes out of it.

I thought this was hilarious.

The cut scenes...

Seriously, they look great!

Tanoomba · Dec 1, 2017

Yeah, you pretty much gotta start from scratch to figure out what SANER, SHIFT, and FOI do. There aren't any real clues in the names. (Also, this game features some really testicular enemies.)

Apparently the Japanese didn't have much respect for academia even back then!

The portraits look quite nice.

McCheese · Dec 1, 2017

I'm enjoying it, but a couple things irking me a bit:

- When you try to move into an object, if you're near the corner it automatically makes you walk around it. I've had several instances where I want to inspect a cabinet or whatever, but I end up accidentally auto-walking past it.
- I love that you can inspect stuff and get flavor text, but I often find myself having trouble talking to moving NPCs. Instead of talking to them, I get the "You're wasting time" or whatever from my party members because I'm inspecting the air.

I think the textures look nice, but the overworld characters and NPCs are pretty bad looking. That said, I love the graphics during battles, and I think the monster design is really creative.

I'm definitely looking forward to working my way through this as the month progresses.

Melvin · Dec 1, 2017

If anyone is playing a Phantasy Star game for the first time, and you want to hit the ground running full speed, RPGClassics.com - Phantasy Star IV is a great source for the details about which spells and items do what (and also pretty much everything else there is to know about the game too). I'd like to specifically point out the page called Combination Spells. Finding those combos on your own by accident was pretty awesome back in 1995, but ain't nobody got time for that in 2017.

Edit: My favorite memory of this game was the first time I beat it, the finishing blow on the final boss was Grand Cross. The sprites and animation lined up so perfectly that the devs had to have done it on purpose.

Siliconemelons · Dec 2, 2017

Pros: "Talk" command, I am not far in (basement/store room) however as I play here and there during work I know I am going to forget a specific small objective sometime and this "what am I to do now" button is great, FF needs these lol

Battle system visuals growing on me (btw does anyone bother with a shield vs 2 weapons?)

The anime-ness is hilarious at time lol esp the tropes like her age is ?? And the dude that's like "her measurements are ... BAM!" Lol

Con: the place I am at now had a big enemy curve - may need to grind some...

Spell names, as said - they are odd and no "hint" at least you can inspect items to see what they do - when I got a new dude in my party and was like "maybe this is his heal spell..." and ended up being teleported back to the start of the game...fuuuuu. Lol

OU Ariakas · Dec 2, 2017

Goddammit guys, it sounds awesome but I don't think I'll have time to play it.

ronne · Dec 2, 2017

There any way to see stats of equipment in stores before you buy? Kinda annoying just buying shit blind =\

Combo attacks + macro are perfect for grinding if you need levels. Just set up outside a town, set the first macro to triblaster or whatever to clear all the enemies and grind until TP is gone, then hit the inn real quick.

Gavinmad · Dec 2, 2017

when in doubt, use efess+crosscut

Tanoomba · Dec 3, 2017

Szlia said:
It was a good idea to track down the japanese cover for the game, because it made me realize that there is no IV or 4 on it. So I re-checked my Megadrive collection and found out that I actually do have the game! So... to play it on original hardware on a CRT in lush RGB or to play it on the official emulator in a language I understand at 100% instead of 10%? Or play both at the same time?????

What did you end up deciding on?

I found some fan service in school book shelves:

...And was wondering if they did something similar in the Japanese version.

Noodleface · Dec 3, 2017

I'll get started on this soon, maybe tonight.

I agree that you should look at the reference guide for spell effects, items and stats, and combos.

They stuck with a lot of the same names throughout the series, but I can't imagine trying to figure that out now.

The funny thing about this game. Because it was so big for a Genesis game it actually cost me $100 at release which I think was absurd

Retro Game of the Month December 2017: Phantasy Star IV (Genesis)

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