I've been looking at lists of the best games of all time,

1, 2 and 4.

3 is literally unfinished. 90% of the rooms you walk into are empty and there's like 6 NPCs per town. Some people apologize for it, but naw dawg

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>>2834524
PS4 is basically Sega's FFVI and is one of the best period JRPGs. Great visuals, OST, characters, story. Definitely a must play.

PS1 is good and actually holds up better than FFI in my opinion. It's basically Wizardry and Might and Magic meet Dragon Quest, a solid classic graph-paper dungeon crawler. If that sounds up your alley, give it a play, but you might find it a little dated.

PS2 is a transitional game between I and IV and is supposed to be great with a good story, but I haven't played much of it.

PS3 is the black sheep of the series with some good ideas but incredibly broken execution, delivered by an entirely different team in a rushed development period and as a result plays, looks and sounds like a fever dream. Only play it as an oddity.

3 is bad, not even by the same team

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1 is charming and a really fun set of worlds to explore. If you plan to play it be sure to use the translation patch with FM sound, it makes the experience so much better. I'd go as far as to say that it's the best RPG of the 80's, beating out DQ3 and it's own sequel, PS2.
2 is a bit of a step down, the music and environments are much less memorable but it's got some cool ideas and genre innovations.
3 is all right. Cool ideas, but the execution could have been a lot better. Pretty standard RPG for the time. I wouldn't bother playing it unless you're a completionist or just really like RPGs from the period.
4 has the best storytelling method a non-voiced, non-FMV game could possibly have, fun characters, good music and worlds to explore. It's overall the best, though it's quite easy. The difficulty is on par with a 90's Final Fantasy game.

You could start with 4 if you want the cream of the crop right away or 1 if you're a bad enough dude to handle it. I would not recommend starting with 2.


Oh, there's also a bunch of text adventures for super completionists, still haven't done the Game Gear one myself, and PS Gaiden. The less said about Gaiden the better. At least 3 can be fun if you're an old fart like me, but Gaiden is just crap no matter how you look at it.

play the ps2 ports of 1 & 2. they're translated now and play well on lowend systems.
4 is undoubtedly the best of the series. i played it for the first time a few months ago, and it holds up even today.

PS 1 is my favorite rpg of all time. I feel that in certain aspects it still holds up graphically. It has one of the most coherent and interesting story llines of any rpg and has three worlds and a floating castle to explore. A perfect melding of real world myth, sword and sorcery and science fiction.

PS 2 is a solid game and continued the storyline. I definitely recommend.

PS 3 is definitely the odd man out in the series. It's more of a side story but still worth playing.

PS 4 is another really good game and picks up the story again from 1 and 2. It kind of gets back the feel of PS 1.

If you play them definitely play in order 1, 2 and 4 but I would also just play 3 to if your at it.

>>2834690
>play the ps2 ports of 1 & 2.
If they were ports maybe this wouldn't be as horrible a suggestion. (Although the redone art and music would still be shit) but they're from-scratch remakes and play very differently.

I cannot disagree with this recommendation hard enough. I wish I could disagree it out of existence. It's just gonna ruin your experience.

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

PS 1 was such a comfy little RPG. Definitely worth a play.

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1069/
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/72/

or

http://pscave.com/psg1/download/PhantasyStarG1.Lutz.edition.v2-10.zip
http://pscave.com/psg2/download/PSGEN2-beta_0_8.rar

>>2834712
you can stop being autistic now

>>2834524
Just to add a bit onto what other people have said:

PS1 has a pretty brutal start, but seems to even out later. It's also really easy to get lost since there is no automap and the dungeons can get fairly big.

PS2 has a lot of dungeon crawling, and surprisingly few bosses. If you already know you aren't going to run into one of the 4 or 5 bosses in the game, it might be easier to deal with. It also has a really strange feel about it, which makes it unique even when you compare it to other PS games.

PS3 is a little closer to PS2, but the battle system is so odd that there's pretty much no strategy. You just put it on autobattle and heal sometimes.

PS4 is a good game as mentioned, but since there are a ton of references to previous games, it's tough to start there first.

>>2834712
The PS1 remake seems really different, but isn't the PS2 one mostly a graphical update with some added super moves? It seemed like they did some stuff with party member and monster stats too, but is there that big of a balance change?

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>>2834807

>>2834810
PS1 was a total rebuild, PS2 was just a port with the added super-moves as you call them. The other changes aren't a big deal.

>>2834810
Phantasy Star 2 has three bosses, not including the unwinnable one, and all are mandatory.

all are worth a play.
just play 1 with FM

>>2835481
Yeah, but you technically fight Neifirst twice even though you aren't supposed to win the first one, and there's the unwinnable boss battle against the sentries that arrest you and take you to the satellite.

>>2834524
All of the games are pretty good.

PS1 is a little grindy at the start, but after it gets going the game is pretty well-balanced. It's almost always better to keep Odin equipped with guns instead of axes or swords, to spread the damage out a little better. The remake is okay, but it makes some serious changes to the story and completely changes the combat engine. It's worth playing if you're a fan of the series, but I wouldn't really recommend it otherwise.

PS2 is pretty heavy on the 3rd-person dungeon crawling. Your combat ability is mostly dependent on your gear, so it takes a little while to get over the part where everyone is ineffective at the start of the game. Story-wise it's a bit sparse, and what plot is there is kind of depressing.

PS3 is essentially a side story, with some odd combat gimmicks (attacks never miss, for example). You can skip it and not miss much, plot-wise. Personally, I've found that the game has a lot of replay value in making different plot decisions or trying for a low-level or solo character run, but you can get nearly everything there is from the game by playing through it twice (once for Ayn's quest, and once for Nial's).

PS4 is hands down one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and even though the story is pretty stereotypical, the execution is nearly flawless. There aren't any real low points to the game - my only complaint is that some parts are perhaps a little too easy.

The text adventure games are all pretty fun, though they sometimes pull some shit out of the left field that even a creative player might not expect. I will give them points for making it difficult to make the games unwinnable, though (Shir's and Kain's are my favorites).

>Phantasy Star II Text Adventures
>USE SHOTGUN ON WATERFALL

>>2835841
>but it makes some serious changes to the story
What changes does it make? I thought it was the remake of II that made a semi-big change relating to a single character.

>>2839065
Can't speak for PS1, but the change in 2 is just Nei, and from what I heard barely anything was added regarding her. She gets an appearance in the ending cutscene, though.

>>2834524
1 and 2 are alright.
3 isn't as good and is tedious thanks to frequent random battles, though the generation system is kind of neat.
Play 4. It's a masterpiece.

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>>2834807
Glorious.

>>2840990
I know this feel. At the arcade/bowling alley after winning big.

>>2841173

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oomCIXGzsR0

then you cash in a million tickets for a plastic lizard.

>>2840990
>>2841173
>>2841178
>you never won big in Chuck-E Cheese
I went there with my nephew recently and it seems they're going through an odd inflation phase. Things cost much more tickets than they used to

>>2839065
>>2839083
The PS1 remake removes pretty much all of the non-linearity of the game (by forcing you to do everything in a specific order), and it gives all of the bosses a pretty stupid story about being "evil guardians" or whatever.

The PS2 remake lets you resurrect Nei but only if you jump through some particularly absurd hoops - you have to see every line of dialogue in the entire game up to Climatrol. It's more of an easter egg than a serious change to the way the game plays.

>>2842025
>you have to see every line of dialogue in the entire game up to Climatrol
*And have a completed save file from the PSI remake, and possibly one or two other things.

I'm playing PSII remake and they definitely rebalanced it because Amia is bad compared to her original version and now I don't even know who will end up 4th permanent party member.

But damn, the game comes across even heavier than before. For example, after you rescue Tiem don't go straight to Darum and just walk around the towns and talk to NPCs. It's a bit cheesy but also sad.

>>2834807
Does the first link contain the FM patch? I started PS4 a little while ago, but might as well start from PS1 and get the best experience possible.

>>2835841

The depression of PS2 is what makes it so awesome. It's classic sci-fi in its nihilism.

1 and 4 are the best.

Also tip for people who liked 1: go play Lagrange Point for the NES right now. It's pretty much Konami's Phantasy Star.

I wish that Sega CD one came out.

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Imo this is the greatest JRPG of all time. I've never had this might fun playing one. It could get really challenging, but unlike PSII (which i think is quite overrated, if still enjoyable), it isn't this ridiculous constant stop-start mess of difficulty. In II you'd be shit until you fought like a trillion enemies and constantly kept having to return to town with escapipe or you'd be KO'd by the ENTIRELY TOO AGRESSIVE RNG, and then you'd be the right level hours later, and then you had to navigate the bullshit mazes the game called dungeons (namely via chutes with uncertain destinations), and solve puzzles without a single clue.

There are positives about II but IV felt a lot better and could be reasonably beaten.
I STILL have not beaten II, and I'm using the hint book and annotating it to navigate dungeons.
Oh and the Visiphone is a very essential item to make the game easier and there's absolutely no explanation in game or the hint book on how to get it.

Basically the PS games are awesome, but understand that II gets the most hype from the press, and don't expect it to be your absolutely favorite . play them all at least a little bit and form your own opinion.

>>2835841
>>2843053
PS2's ending is fucking amazing, especially with what the localization team did to it.

>>2841372
They all are to stay competative. There is a KDB where and a ps3 costs something like 500,000 tickets. We did the math and it would be over $800 even if you won maximum tickets at the highest paying game.

>>2843082

The story in it was impressively ahead of its time.

>>2843082
What did they change?

>>2843173
the ending in the japanese version pretty much says you triumphed over the earthlings, but no one knows for sure what happened to rolf and his gang, the localization makes everything completely ambiguous, the last thing you see is rolf and his friends preparing to fight the earthlings

You just don't see that a lot in games.

So I started playing PS1 with the translation patch thanks to this thread. I really like the presentation and the FM audio. The animation in the dungeon crawler sections is spot on and somehow better than most other console dungeon crawlers.

There seems to be a shitload of grinding at the start though. It's a good thing that you're allowed to save wherever you want, but I've neglected doing so and wiped a couple of times. Whats a good level to start exploring at? I got alisa up to level 4 and then died a couple of times.

Is there anything other than 50 meseta in that dungeon in the first town?

>>2843215
Last time I got up to 7 or 10 I think. After you get going there's not a lot more grinding to do, just what you'll get from exploring was adequate as I remember. Dungeons get crazy, you'll need pen and paper.

>>2843221
okay thats good, someone was saying earlier that it's got a rough start, so I'm just getting the grind work out of the way.

>you'll need pen and paper
I've been having some serious issues concerning this. I live in a small country town and there is no fucking place to buy exercise books, so grid paper is fucking hard to come by.
Could you recommend a program for my netbook thats good for map making? Everything I find on google is really complex shit for D&D. maps

>>2842883
>Does the first link contain the FM patch?
Hmm? It's just a translation patch, but it's for the Japanese version of the game. So yes, playing that version will give you the FM sound if your emulator or real hardware can do it. For emulators be sure to check your audio settings, FM my be disabled by default.

>>2843237
>>you'll need pen and paper
>I've been having some serious issues concerning this.
Yeah, no worries. The whole pen & paper thing is bollocks. All you need is a basic sense of direction and you'll do alright. Getting lost is half the fun.

I 've managed to finish the game more than once without looking at or making maps. My memory is shit and my sense of direction mediocre. If I can do it, you can!

>>2843389
Yeah I sorted it out. Using GenesisPlus on a wii so I can play on a crt without having to spend $50 on an hdmi to composite converter.

Had to go into audio settings and make FM default to on. Sounds great. Honestly a whole lot better than without the FM.

I beat PS1 on the GBA PS Collection with the help of some graph paper. It was fun, and surprisingly grindless after the notorious initial hump, which is only a tiny fraction of the overall game length.

I started PS2 and got up to when the biologist mage guy joined your team. It was definitely trickier and required multiple trips in the dungeons like a dungeon crawler in order to survive. Mapping it was also much tougher thanks to the lack of a grid system and the field of vision being so small. Basically my maps were less accurate and more interpretive. In a way this kind of mapping proved to be kinda fun seeing as how my janky ass maps could still get me where I needed to go. I still have the maps so I would like to go back to continuing the game.

>>2843651
Also...

>>2843392
For what it's worth there's no way in hell I'd have been able to mange the game without PnP. I was able to do a couple of the earlier dungeons while getting lost and relying on directions, but later the dungeons get bigger and have 6 or 7 stories. I suppose the fact that there's barely any good treasure on the map helps, but I'd highly recommend PnP if it gets worse for OP.

>>2843237
My suggestion would be to just print graph paper out if you have access to a printer.

http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/square.html
I suppose managing some loose leafs would get a bit cumbersome, but it's a free option that wouldn't use up a crapton of ink. You could put them in a 3 ring binder or something.

>>2843660
Thats a pretty good suggestion on just printing some graph paper out myself. I used a program called Grid Cartographer which is pretty nice and has good keyboard controls for just popping down grid squares. I got to the dungeon to the east of the first town, it's like three or four floors deep from what I can tell so far and after falling down some holes and climbing some stairs, my maps started to get senseless, I could have just fucked up at one point but now for where I am the map is basically useless.

So I've abandoned the map, run out of magic and healing items, and the item I thought would teleport me to the entrance does nothing, so I'm a battle or two away from my party dying. It's a shame, I got so many levels and found a nice weapon for Myau. Oh well, all part of the fun.

And I wiped. God fucking damnit, I think I even got back to the ground level but I encountered a pack of 3 bat men with my back against the wall with only Alisa left alive.

Lesson learned, keep well stocked with items and don't fuck up your map.

>>2843734
Were you mapping doorways and stairs properly? I don't have my old maps on me but from what I remember, a doorway counts as its own square and stairs down and stairs up are on the same square on the next map. I would kind of make an indentation with my pencil so I could see where the stair is supposed to be on the next page. Same with holes. T

There's maps online (like in this very thread) but now I kinda want to find my map book and take some pictures of some of my PS1 and PS2 maps.

>>2843750
The program handled stairs pretty well, you place a down stairs tile on the map and then it places an up stairs tile on the same coordinate for the floor below.

I think it may be the doors which messed me up. I was doing it this way (# = floor, | = door):
#|# so the space before traversing the door and the space after make up two spaces. Are you saying that it's like this: #D# making it three spaces?

Printing out that graph paper right now, I'll prefer to have physical pages for later.

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>>2843760

I think it may be the doors which messed me up. I was doing it this way (# = floor, | = door):
#|# so the space before traversing the door and the space after make up two spaces. Are you saying that it's like this: #D# making it three spaces?

That's exactly what I mean. Here's a picture of a map from my graph book that I found. I did the same mistake you did early on and it messed with me too, so don't feel bad. Those concave lines I have on my map are how I represented doorways (conveniently placed in front of a bunch of pitfalls, what a fun dungeon!)

Also, if you print your maps, you may want to consider making the lines more translucent/gray instead of straight black, and having them be thin. I remember that when I switched to another book (ran out of paper in the first), the 2nd book had thicker lines which made drawing walls a bit more tedious. It'd probably be even worse if the lines are black ink lines instead of the thin blue lines you see in notebook paper. I suppose you could also use a thicker pencil, or even a pen if you're daring. But it'd probably be easier to just print out thin/faded lines from the start. Plus it uses less ink.

>>2843795
Awesome, thanks mate. That's a big help. I used the free online graph paper link and got it to do some nice 5mm square grid paper. I also used the option to have a thicker line represent the center axis so multi floor maps should be easier to manage. Got it all printed out in draft mode so the lines are extra thin and faint.

It would be nice to know whereabouts on the paper to start each map, but that's been a part of dungeon crawling since it's birth so I can't really complain.

Despite my tragic wipe I'm really enjoying Phantasy Star so far. I like how in the translation Alisa really casually just tells people she's going to assassinate the ruler of Palma.

Are there easymode patches for any of the games other than 2?

I don't have time for the grind, but I'd like to go through the journey.

>>2844116
There's the PS2 collection which has options to speed up your progress.
It allows you to switch between Japanese and English text.

>>2843053
>>2843082
Oh, I absolutely agree, but it's a bit unusual for RPGs, so I figured I'd mention it for the OP.

>>2843215
I usually go up to 4-7 or so before I start exploring away from Camineet. It's really whatever you're comfortable with, but the RNG can't still screw you over if you're stupid or unlucky until closer to 10, I think.

>>2843237
The only dungeon that really helps to map yourself is Baya Malay, and that's at the end of the game. You'll be fine if you don't do anything retarded (I've gotten stuck in a few places on Dezo because I wasn't paying attention).

>>2844291
*the RNG can still screw you over

>>2844291
But can't you save anywhere in Phantasy Star? at least I could in the GBA version. Saving in the middle of a map, coming back, and expecting to head memorize the directions you've gone down in those featureless dungeons...mapping just seems easier. Then again I like mapping after my time with Etrian Odyssey. It's cathartic.

>>2844291
Yeah I ended up grinding to level 7 and now the wilderness is a lot more manageable. Also, I'd say that the cave near scion is worth mapping, as I got hopelessly lost there with all of the pitfalls and died. Luckily for now there was other stuff to do so I went to the cave north which was much easier and had cake at the end.

>>2843679
>Mindlessly Wandering while mindlessly battling endless hordes of random encounters for hours isn't my idea of fun,
Aye and that's where the sense of direction comes in really. If you bother to map the dungeons then I can guarentee you spent more time 'mindlessly wandering' in them than I did.

>>2844743
Oh, I never bothered to map that cave. Just wait until you've got someone who can cast Exit (both Myau and Noah learn it), fall to the bottom floor and nab the Iron Claw, then magic your way out. It's not really worth walking through unless you're desperate for exp/meseta.

>>2845291
sense of direction is useless when you don't know on which floor you are, which spaces you haven't explored on so on. A couple dungeons in PS1 are simple enough that you can navigate them simply by going right each turn until you reach your destination, but I going through something like Baya Malay or any PS2 dungeon from Climatrol on without mapping is maddening. I really doubt that you've been faster than me, who took a couple minutes of mapping to save hours of pointless going in circles.

>>2846128
Mapping in PS2 is ass because of the top down perspective. You draw one line slightly too long or too short and suddenly the areas overlap in the wrong way and your map is ruined.
I haphazardly managed the Climatrol but ultimately gave up in the dungeon with the countless holes and just used a complete map.

>>2846048
I ended up smashing it later, when the scientist building your spaceship says to piss off and kill slimes or something. It was a pretty sweet dungeon once my map made sense.

Favourite dungeon so far is the one where Lutz has a fucking wizard duel with his master holy shit!

Really, thanks to the OP for starting this thread and getting me interested in this game.

>>2842883
>FM/PSG switching (press Pause on the title screen)
YES

>>2846128
>I really doubt that you've been faster than me
Doubt all you want, but not using maps does not neccessitate getting hopelessly lost. You're seriously overestimaing the difficulty of going mapless if you have to make the assumption that I frequently ended up going in circles.

>>2848525
Didn't know you could do that. That's groovy.

>>2848878
I never used maps either. Marueira island and Dezolis were a bit of a brain exercise, but it's not impossible.
I did sometimes curse myself for not doing it tho.

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Not only Phantasy Star II invented dead heroines, it also invented blue haired swordsmen.

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>>2850397
>it also invented blue haired swordsmen.

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>>2846147
I didn't get far in PS2 before I got distracted, but I did eventually have a system for mapping PS2 dungeons. I would draw them to scale with 4 steps equaling a square The maps were not nearly as neat as my PS1 ones were >>2843795 but they did get the job done.

If it got to complex later on, I think I'd do a mixture of rough mapping and written directions.

>>2851032
Aw, did they go for a top down view instead of awesome first person dungeon crawling for PS2?

>>2834773
Love this so much.

>>2851159
I'm afraid so.

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>>2848902
I mostly avoided using maps (but I definitely did wander around hopelessly), but I gave up and used a map for Ikuto.

Best dungeon ever, though.

>>2851159
As disappointing as it is for those of us that like 1st-person dungeon crawling, trying to traverse the giant nightmare mazes that masqueraded as dungeons in PS2 in 1st person perspective would have made them so much harder. I can't imagine trying to do Ikuto in 1st-person.

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>>2834524
yes you should play these games OP, buy them digitally, emulate them I don't give a shit. JUST PLAY THEM

>>2851396
Speaking of PS carts, I swear PS4 cost something like $70-80 when it was released for some reason. This is compared to other Genesis carts that were like 50-60 tops.

>>2851396
Which prince was that supposed to be on the cover? The rest of the image (a pink moon and Alisa 3 in the background) makes me think this is Siren and Ayn, but Ayn has bright blue hair and a white cape.

Obviously it could just be a case of "the artist didn't know shit about the game", but I was wondering if there was any official (or more thought-out) explanation than what I can come up with.

>>2851410
I know PS2 was in about that price range (though it was sold with a strategy guide and maps), but yeah, most of these games were pretty expensive.

>>2851263
>>2851372
That's a shame, half of the fun I'm having right now with the first game is drawing my own maps. I think it's pretty amazing how a master system game has the best looking dungeon crawling I've seen in an rpg from that era.

>>2851372
>I can't imagine trying to do Ikuto in 1st-person.
I don't really see extra problems. The main issue is keeping track of which hole leads where and that wouldn't change with the perspective.

I really want someone to make another phantasy star game like they use to make them before the MMOs. Imagine a real follow up to 4.

>>2851565
Nope, just a case of the artist not knowing shit about the game.

>>2851812
There's Star Ocean 5 coming out soon. Similar setting but different battle system.

So what is the best versions of these games? I'll be playing them on a PSP with cfw.

>>2852319
Playstation 2 Phantasy Star Complete Collection
Maybe Generation 2 if you feel like it.

>>2852319
Really recommending the Picodrive emulator with Phantasy Star 2. Phantasy Star 2 is slow as molasses, so the frameskip will eliminate tedium

>>2852336
Is that also on the psp? I'm looking for a new game to play while I commute to work.

>>2852365
I'll do that then. Ty anon. Is the original rom ok or is there a better hack/translation.

>I've noticed some Phantasy Star games make it onto the lists
What a waste

>>2834524
Dude, you can go to different planets! King of 8bit rpgs, without a doubt.

>>2852804
Ultima 2 did it first.

>>2852821
Ultima 2 was timelines though, not planets.

And it was a bad game.

>>2852858
In the aftermath timeline you can travel to the other planets of the solar system by hijacking a rocket in the KGB spaceport.

>>2851263
>>2851792
Pretty much all the dungeons minus the first couple and certain the last half pretty much need maps. Total mazes.

>>2843053
This. Thank you.

>>2834524
I didn't realize Phantasy Star 3 was so bad. I remember in Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst (my only exposure to Phantasy Star too) they remixed PS3's title theme in some of the BGM. Why would they pay homage to a shit game? Either way the music was nice at least.

>>2854373
>Either way the music was nice at least.
There's your answer. It's perfectly possible for good games to have bad music and for bad games to have good music.

>>2854373

I look at it as being a drastic change from the rest that kinda screwed its chances. A new team doesn't help matters.
That being said, I don't think it's a *BAD* game, even despite the laundry list of problems/possible improvements. I still play through it at least once a year, through all endings.
Even despite the shit artwork and stuff they used for the first two, I would have loved to see an upgrade done for PS3...

>>2854373
I don't think SEGA are ashamed of PS3. They wanted to include PS3's Wren in PSO and PSO2 has some references like NPCs named after 1st Gen MC and his possible wives. They just treat it like some gaiden game.

>>2854373
The music was simply the best part of PS3.

I'm pretty sure they re-hired the same composer for PS4.

It had a neat twist too, but that's not enough to make a game good.

>>2834524
tl;dr for everything else in this thread:
everything but 3 dude ( different design team and glossing over entire lifetimes at large points in the story. its kind of the highlander two of the series in that most ignore it ).
the first phantasy star came out around the same time as dragon quest or dragon warrior one and before final fantasy and was amazing for its time as well as holding up well. two came out in north america eith a strategy guide i would advise finding before pplsying it. four is the most accessable one and definitely eorth the thirty hours or so of game play :3. though there are some translation changes in the names which make some callbacks to the old games confusing if youre unaware of them

So I think I'm pretty close to finishing PS1, I'm the anon who started playing back here >>2843237
Going through Baya Malay tower and having a blast with all of the map making. Thanks for getting me on to this fantastic fucking game /vr/


>>2855713
Also it allows for more characters in item, character, spell and menu names.

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FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-

Will you just fucking hit the guy, Alisa?! Is that so much to ask?!

Cool, just finished the first game, on to the second one!

>>2858007
No worries, you saved right in front of him right? Right, Anon? Right in front of his room, a save?

>>2858214
Haha, yeah mate. Just got away with a win the next attempt. I'd had to go back to town and heal after my first few tries because I didn't have enough MP left over for the fight. Going through two long fucking dungeons trying to conserve HP was pretty stressful, but as illustrated in this post >>2858074 I just fucked up Dark Force and am on to PS2 now. It's kind of a shame going from a really nicely translated game to the original release. It's not even the dialogue I care about, its the character limit for menu entries and character names.

Overall, fantastic fucking game. Would play again, though it won't be as fun now that I've got a notebook full of maps.

>>2858243
There's a retranslation of PS2 as well, but it's not near as well done (and won't run on hardware). Still it clears up a few story things that the official translation got wrong. Can't remember what it did for names. I think it uses the Japanese names but I'm pretty sure the 4 character limit remains. (So Eusis becomes Usis)

>>2858256
>and won't run on hardware
what? i've played generation using hdloader and it worked fine

>>2858507
He's speaking about a re-translation of the Megadrive original for Phantasy Star 2.

1 is great, but it was intended as a rival to Dragon Quest and so it's full of grinding. Get an experience patch if you don't feel like wasting your time.

2 had a good story and nothing else. Combat is somehow worse and the dungeons are bullshit, not to mention the awkward edge-scrolling.

3 is weird. It's like a completely different team just wanted to rip off DQ5 and forgot to finish it. I'd skip it.

4 is incredible and must be played by everyone. Best RPG on the Genesis and a worthy rival to RPGs on the SNES.

>>2859029
For a moment I thought I was reading somebodys thoughts on FF1-4 until you mentioned Genisis

>>2859029
>Get an experience patch if you don't feel like wasting your time.

It's only a grindfest for the first 7 or so levels. After that it's smooth sailing.

>>2859029
>Get an experience patch if you don't feel like wasting your time.
You have to be kidding. There is no grinding for levels at all once you're strong enough to walk from the first town to the second. As it is you hit the level cap well before the final dungeon, speeding up exp gains would only make those fake level up messages come quicker.

>Some twits keep grinding for exp at max level because the game makes them think they're still gaining levels. They then claim this grinding is mandatory.

>>2859029
>2 had a good story and nothing else. Combat is somehow worse and the dungeons are bullshit, not to mention the awkward edge-scrolling.
How are the dungeons bullshit? You're expected to map them just like in 1, and I think you could disable the attack animations for the combat to be fore fluid. Or was that 4?

>3 is weird. It's like a completely different team just wanted to rip off DQ5 and forgot to finish it. I'd skip it.
It's the other way around, PS3 came out two years before DQV. But yeah, it's definitively the most forgettable of the main series.

>>2834524
I have only played 4 on the genesis and I thought it was one of the best RPGs I had ever played (I liked it way better than Shining Force) The only downside is that the spell names are confusing as fuck and it is hard to tell what it is they do without looking it up online.

>>2861818
>You're expected to map them just like in 1
We've already gone over this map thing. You're not expected to do anything. Plenty of people don't need maps.

I say that but I totally caved in and looked up a map for Ikuto. Still, that was my own weakness. Maps aren't at all necessary.

>>2834524
>I'm wondering what of the non-MMO games are worth playing?

The first one, preferably with the retranslation patch if you feel like messing with it.

The second one is censored to hell and back, and in ways that make me question Sega's personal ethics.

The third game and onward just rehash existing formulas and ideas, so innovation goes out the door at this point. Also, really poor translation quality.

tl,dr - Just give the first game a spin. That should give you a sufficient idea of what the non-MMOs were all about.

>>2861908
Dunno, for me mapping is an integral part of the dungeon crawler experience and I would argue they were designed with that in mind, but I guess you're right and it's a matter of personal tastes. But don't go and blame the dungeon design if you get lost then.

>>2861935

>The third game and onward just rehash existing formulas and ideas, so innovation goes out the door at this point. Also, really poor translation quality.

Dude, could you invalidate your opinion even MORE? I get that everyone has their own, but...DUDE!

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>>2861935
>The third game and onward just rehash existing formulas and ideas, so innovation goes out the door at this point.
PS3 did everything BUT rehash existing ideas. That's why it's the black sheep of the series - because it doesn't really fit in. The plot wasn't focused on the main story at all (it's not even set in Algol), and you only get to see how it tied back to the main series by talking to some people in a town you didn't even have to go to. The multi-generational game made PS3 the only game that really played significantly differently for multiple playthroughs, and the way it handled techniques was unique (if not particularly good).

The only one you could really consider a rehash of anything at all was PS4 (the plot itself is a bit stereotypical for an rpg), which is easily the best-executed game in the series, and it brought plenty of new ideas to the series too - battle macros, bonus dungeons, and sidequests, off the top of my head.

>Also, really poor translation quality.
I'll give you that for 3, but you've clearly never played 4. Also, that's hardly unique to PS3, either.

>>2861908
The game manual tells you over and over to take notes and draw maps. I think the developers expected you to make maps.

>>2862056
I'd have to agree with this. PS3 just really felt different. There were a lot of small things that made it pretty quirky. The world music adding an instrument for every party member you had. The weird battle music that also changed depending on how you were doing, along with the even stranger animated enemy sprites. The androids that were pretty rare as party members at the time, with one that could transform into vehicles that were somehow big enough to fly around. I think it's one of those games that it's hard to praise as "good", but that had enough interesting elements to make you glad you played it.

As far as PS4's translation goes, I got a good laugh out of them quoting "I have the knack" in one of PSO's missions.

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>>2862075
>the developers
The localisers at Sega of Your Country, maybe. If we're talking about the English language release of PS2 you are provided complete maps out of the box, right? (pic related) Making maps under such circumstances seems a bit redundant.

>>2863902
Well, if you rented it you wouldn't have had a map either. But I know they weren't basing games rented at the time on that.

>>2834546
>sounds like a fever dream
the music, story and lore of PS3 were GOD TIER

>>2843053
I loved the contrast between the themes and plot turns of the game with the jolly sci-fi music. But the music from the dungeons is what tells you shit can get real.

>>2843180
Is it safe to asume Rolf's party lost but somehow managed to cause the destruction of the earthlings? None of them are mentioned at all in PS4 as heroes, only Alis.

>>2865802
Even if they survived and returned they definitely couldn't live their life normally because it was technically them who destroyed Mother Brain and sped up the process of Motavia's climate going back to desert. Even if the Motavia government clear them of all charges they still will be despised by the majority of surviving population. Maybe they moved to Dezolis or something.

It's also very fucked up if Lutz saved Rolf only to send him on suicide mission 10 years later.

>>2865871
But still, we got zero references to them, except when Chaz sees them in his vision but that doesn't count.

>>2854373
Sega's less ashamed of PSIII than Nintendo is of Fire Emblem 2, Other M and Virtual Wario Land. They, as a company, care more about making weird shit than good shit.

>>2866298
I don't think Intelligent Systems are ashamed of FE2 in any way because they constantly reuse some of its ideas and shove the music everywhere including Codename STEAM.

Also how bad is Phantasy Star Gaiden? Because I've got the impression that Sega disliked to talk about it.

>>2834524
I always recommend Segas Shining Force games.

>>2834524
I cant speak for 1,2,3 as i tried playing those but boy the learning curve on those is skullgirls high

But i did play 4 and there is some learning but theres more story at the start i found and it keeps you going, and ya 4s is probably up there with some of the top early rpgs, dont know if its ff6 good but it would be in the same group, its on steam, been playing the port. its pretty good and cant really tell the differnce between it and the cart

>>2851410
PS1 was at least $70, maybe $80 when it came out. It was 4MB which was absurdly huge at the time. PS2 was also $70-$80, depending on where you bought it. PS4 retail was $100, maybe $90 if a discount store carried it. I bought PS4 new, the sticker price was $89.99, I got it on a 33% off sale at Venture (store was going out of business) plus my brother worked there, so I got an additional 10% off, even with all the discounts it was $54 + tax. Totally worth it though.

>>2866594
Pier Solar was clearly influenced by PS4 in that way. Too bad it's bloated and very much the retroactive Golden Sun of the Genesis.

>>2866594
>4MB
512 Kilobyte, still big compared to other ROM cartridges of the time.
Phantasy Star 4 is 3 Megabyte, 2 and 3 are 768 Kilobyte.

>>2843215
which translation patch?

>>2858007
>Alisa
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??? HER NAME IS ALIS!!!

>>2866701
And her companions are Nyaa, Tyrone and Lutz

>>2866713
And her final battle is featured in Eusis' dream

>>2866736
and in Rudy's vision

>>2866713
Dammit I knew I knew the name Tyrone from somewhere before it became a niggermeme

>>2866701
Translation patch, brah. Improves audio, increases character limit in certain text strings, changes some item and character names around and fixes some dialogue.

You can grab a pre-patched rom at emuparadise.

>>2867251
Is that the thing that changes character's names to their japanese names?

>>2867485
I guess so, you get Alisa, Myau, Tylon and Lutz.

It's worth it alone for the sweet FM audio.

>>2866404
>Also how bad is Phantasy Star Gaiden?
Quite bad. I played through early this year and I can't recommend it to anybody who doesn't have a 'gotta play 'em all' obsession. People complain about the frequency random encounters in PS2 and PS3. These people are babies and they are without testicles. After having said that you should take me seriously when I say PS Gaiden has too many random encounters.

>>2866667
http://www.smspower.org/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN

>>2866667
>which translation patch?
see >>2834807

>>2834807
What's the point of playing these fan translations over the official English releases?

Are the official translations really bad or something? It seems even the reviews on those romhack pages are even confused why it was retranslated

>>2869898
The PS1 translation is pretty bad, and has awful music.

Never touched the other ones.

Do these games have automaps (like brandish and eotb) or do I have to draw my own (like dungeon master)?
I like dungeon crawlers like these but I tend to
enjoy the ones with automaps significantly more

>>2869979
Nooooope. Gotta grid that shit yourself. Or look up the umpteen versions someone else did

>>2869979
Generation 1 has an expendable item to create an automap.

>>2869898
>Don't even play the original translation anymore
>Reviewed By: Animation Guru on 05 Mar 2012
>
>This is so much better than the original translation. Just put that old Master System cart away and find some way to patch this one into a cart instead.
>
>Other reviewers have commented on the FM sound. I’m not going to waste much time on it. Yes, it does sound much better than the Phantasy Star you’re used to, providing you have have FM synth capability.
>
>The translation is the main focus of this review, and boy oh boy, is it a goodie. To quote Shane Bettenhausen, the original translation of Phantasy Star was “beyond garbage”. This one freshens up the game a bit in ways that will (for the most part) line it up more accurately with your other Phantasy Star games.

>>2870163
>There are a number of more prudent localization choices that I appreciate here. The mad scientist from whom you acquire the Laconian Pot for the second time is no longer called “Dr. Mad”. Your first encounter with Dark Force is called “Nightmare” as opposed to “Succubus”, thus removing the awkward sexual connotation from the encounter. Burgers and sodas are gone. Noah is now called Lutz. Dark Force is no longer called Dark Falz. And best of all, all of the character interactions have been freshened up and read much more conversationally.
>
>There are a few forgivable hiccups in the translation. Odin has been renamed Tylon. Apparently, it’s supposed to be Tyrone, but invoking the Tina-is-Terra rule from Final Fantasy VI, I actually accept the name Tylon, because it sounds much more alien. And it’s CERTAINLY better than calling him Odin.
>
>There’s even one amusing case of Engrish in the game, in which Alis’ spell “Translate” has been misspelled as “Transrate”. However, again I had to forgive it, because it preserves the charm of early 90s translation authenticity.
>
>The best-looking 8-bit RPG is now even better than before. If you’ve never played the original or want to play it again, you MUST play this version.
>
>So worth it!


didn't really look at those reviews long, huh?

PS2 has one of my favorite soundtracks ever. I'd rank it up with Chrono Trigger on top of the comfy scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqPuN9n-lw0

>>2870291
>that fucked up western version

>>2870325
Post the superior version. I'm American, I've only heard the one version.

>>2870327
it can be found at project2612

they fucked with some instruments for some unknown version, that or it's an unintentional bug

>>2870291
I fucking love the soundtrack. I love how it contrasts the jolly upbeat tech sounds with the depressing reality of the story (I think I said this before lol). Mistery and Death Place are masterpieces imo

I got the ending of phantasy star 3 spoiled for me the fact that you were in a spaceship the whole time
should I even bother playing it at all now?

>>2870464
yes. If you love the series you will like it anyway. And knowing that you are in a old stranded spaceship the whole time makes it better, gives it that melancholic feel that the music evokes.

>>2870464
I was thinking you found that out during the first generation, especially since one of the girls you pick starts the next character on a satellite. The stuff that is supposed to be the mystery is what the Orakians and Layans are up to.

More surprising than it being a colony ship was that the ship has weapons, and that there is more than one of them.

I WONDER WHAT THE PEOPLE WILL SEE IN THE FINAL DAYS?

>>2870585
http://youtu.be/4KD6Y1tnSY4

;_;

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Say what you want about PSIII, but Toyo Ozaki's character designes are gorgeous.

>>2870329
Why the fuck does the japanese songs have those annoying drums throug them??

>>2871574
They're not as annoying as the fucked up lead instruments in the Western version.

It's like they fucked up the cutoff.

>>2871579
I listened to it and it was the same thing, the only difference were the drums in the japanesse. And I listened to the other songs and they all have some weird sounds in the middle, unlike the other clean versions I've been listening to. Even youtube has it better.

>>2871582
Just compare both VGM packs, specifically Rise or Fall.

English version clearly has it worse. They fucked up the lead instruments and mistakes like this show up throughout the English version.

>>2870291
Yes. Truly one of my favorite OST's overall. I actually rank it higher than Chrono Trigger despite being a huge Mitsuda fanboy.

>>2870291
Death Place is one of the best boss themes ever.

It's an appropriate mix of sadness and action.

>>2871608
This is why I love it. It's the song that plays in the battle against Mother Brain, when you know you have to destroy it even if that means dooming humanity to a long dark age of centuries. And at the same time MB is kicking your ass and your friends are dying left and right to the tune of this music.

>>2834807
Those links keep localized character names, correct?

>>2854436
>>2854373
PS3 is only bad because they had a lot of inexperienced designers on the team and rushed them to finish it. It's one of those games that was bad because it wasn't properly finished, not because of design choices.

>>2870647
The people will see feels.

>>2872927
I wish they remade it properly or at least fixed it. How much time and money could that task take?

>>2873232
I don't think there is any interest. Sega outright said they didn't plan to remake it when they were working on PS Generation 1.
Also, I don't think there is any interest among japanese enthusiasts.

>>2834807
what are the differences between all of those?

>>2870291
You wanna talk comfy? Try this fucking shit out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNp0kihEsb8

>>2872758
The MS/MD originals? Unless they're different patches than what I played, and I don't think they are, no. Why would they? No point retranslating something if you're just gonna get it wrong again.

>>2873340
The first two links are for the original two games and the latter two are for the PS2 reimaginings.

>>2874606
>>2834807
for some reason my computer doesn't let me open that website. Could you provide another link for the PS1 ones?

>Look up PSIII music because it's the odd one I haven't played.

Oh wow. Now I'm disappointed that I blew my load listening to all of the tracks. I bet this would have been really great if it was a situation where you were a kid and it was one of the 10 games you owned.
It still has an air of mystery to it to me. The title and what little I played makes it seem like a really depressing game... in a good way. Like here you are with a knife and the whole planet is dying and it's probably because of a giant computer the size of a planet trying to kill all of you.

>>2834524
I wanted to play this game but my emulator didn't open it so I moved on, I was using gens. Which emulator do you recommend me?

>>2874914
>a giant computer the size of a planet trying to kill all of you.
are you talking about PS3? I don't remember that from the game, sounds more like Mother Brain

>>2874914
I played it when I was like 15 years old after playing PSIV and I absolutely loved it. The mix of lore, story and music made me question if I liked it better than PSIV despite all of it's flaws. And as you say, it's incredibly sad, depressing and interesting at the same time, and all of that thanks to the music. If you feel really invested in the PS universe you should definitely play it. People give it shit for being a "side story" but I think that is what made it so unique.

>>2875069

Kega Fusion is pretty damn good, and that's the one I preferably use.

>>2875069
Gens is SHIT. Use Genesis Plus GX or Kega Fusion.

So... What is Phantasy Star Online? It always confused me since these games have all sorts of technology in them that I thought the name could just be a fancy word they use to be like, "It's Phantasy Star in the future!" But there's been so many of these that I have a hard time believing that they're MMOs.

Can someone give me a quick rundown?

>>2875620
>I have a hard time believing that they're MMOs.
It's called Online for a reason.
Are you underaged or what

>>2875681
I just didn't understand how you take PS and make it online.
So what's the deal? Are you hunter's guild members or something?

>>2851410
I remember buying it for over $100 when it came out. Thats like $156 today =|

I loved the hell out of it though, my favorite right after PS1.

>>2874852
That's weird. Maybe you're using some sort of shit proxy or internet filter software that blacklists anything with the word 'hacking' in it. How about this link?
>>2867771
That's the proper website for the patch.

>>2875069
I don't think Gens does Master System games, so that was a pretty daft thing to do.

Kega Fusion is the most commonly used one but if you're an accuracyfag (and why wouldn't you be?) try TwoMbit. It doesn't do Mega Drive but it's an accurate emulator for Sega 8-bit machines.

>>2875687
>I just didn't understand how you take PS and make it online.
It's not really Phantasy Star but online at all. It's a new game with the PS brand slapped on.
The Hunter's Guild does appear (in name only) in the first PSO as do a few classic monsters but that's just fluff and they disappears in later games.

>>2875620
It's an action-RPG dungeon crawler. Closest comparison is probably Blizzard's Diablo franchise. It's not really a traditional MMO in that there's no shared, persistent world. You meet other players in he lobby to make a team of up to 4 and go in a generated dungeon together.

The storyline doesn't connect to previous games at all (until Phantasy Star Zero, years later tried to link them), but the story and dungeon crawling focus are thematically similar to the classic tetralogy.

Honestly I think Online 1 gets too much of a bad-rap from classic fans. I understand if you want to hate on Universe and Online 2 which went into full blown action games, but at the time of release PSO felt like a natural extension of PS1-4's dungeon crawling. It's one of my favorite games.

>>2875751
I wasn't able to open those translated ROMs in the kega fusion :(

>>2876701
>Phantasy Star Zero, years later tried to link them
WHAT? HOW?

>>2876746
It's only briefly mentioned in the post game but the "Earth" of PSZ is Planet Coral from PSO's backstory, and it's also the Earth which built Mother Brain.

Though it has been a while and it's hard to tell if the mother brain thing is supposed to literally be the same thing or just a re-use of the plot.

>>2876752
I thought Mother Brain was built by the earthlings but after they escaped. And I thought that Earth from PSII was our Earth. Is Planet Coral supposed to be our Earth too?

>>2876741
I use the genesus plus gx core in retroarch and it works for me

>>2876820
does it also work with PS1?

>>2876827
all 4 games work for me in it

>>2876752

SHIIIIIIEEEEEEEET.

now I have to dig out PS0 and actually finish it this time.

>>2876741
What can I say, bro? You're doing something wrong, because there's no reason it wouldn't work. Are you opening the patched rom or trying to run the patch itself? Because the patch is not a rom.

>>2876746
I don't know where he got that from, there is nothing to suggest a link to classic PS at all. There is no mention of Mother Brain anywhere in the game, Mother Trinity serves a similar role but it's clearly not the same thing, it's just reuse of a plot point.

PS0 is only barely connected to PSO itself by discovering that the true name of the planet is Coral (the planet that the Pioneer ships came from) But it's set so far in either the future or past that the connection might as well not exist.

>>2877551
how do you run the patch on the game in Kega?

>>2834807
why are the melodies so different in the japanese version? The sound is more clear and less annoying but the notes are totally different. And PSII has drums non stop in every song, how can people stand them?

>>2878421
You don't patch from the emulator, you need an IPS patcher. If you can't into command-line stuff then just try this prepatched rom.
http://pscave.com/dow/rom/ps1english.zip

Took several precious seconds of my life to look for this for you, just saiyan.

>>2879561
isn't that the original english translated ROM?

>>2880505
It shouldn't be. Why don't you just open it up and check? It's only 512 kilobytes and it will be blatently obvious if it's the right one or not if you enable FM sound.

Are the dungeons different in the Japanese version of Phantasy Star 1 than they are in the official English version?
I started playing the fan translation after seeing it recommended in this thread, but none of the maps I look up online seem to correspond with what I'm seeing in game.
I tried making my own maps with mspaint, but I can't fucking do it man. I need grid paper for this shit, but I don't have any

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>>2881780
Pretty sure the dungeons are identical in both versions. Some dungeons share physical mapspace with other dungeons though, so you may be seeing parts of other dungeons on the maps that arr inaccessable from the dungeon you're actually in, if that makes sense.

Example: part of this dungeon map is the place in Camineet where you found 50 meseta at the start of the game and part of it is another dungeon in another town.

>>2881859
turns out I was just getting confused because turning left while facing south makes you head right on the map

>>2881859
>>2881865
Not being able to check your location on an in game map is what killed that game for me

>start out on graph paper
>start one square too far to left to finish map
>taping pieces of paper together
>somehow still get turned around and lost
>have to savescum just to make it out alive

No thanks. I dont feel like Im missing that anything 2-4 gave me

>>2882028
I'll never understand mapbros. Having to make educated guesses about your current postion in relation to the exit or goal adds thrill to a mechanically mundane game.

Using or making maps would ruin the game for me.

>>2881871
Not /vr/

>>2882028
I just put the entry point at the center of a page of grid paper. I found that they all seem to be about 14x14, and accounting for a blank space around the map that makes 16x16, so each floor is 256 squares. If you start in the center of the page you wont run out of squares.

I just beat P.S. 1, took me over 20 goddamn hours
and that was with using maps
Are the sequels' dungeons easier to navigate? I wanna beat the next games on my own but if they're all like this then I don't think I can

>>2881571
how do you enable FM sound in the Kega Fusion?

>>2884401
The sequels are worth your time trust me (even PSIII, depending of how much you like the series overall). The dungeons in the rest of the game are in third person and the ones from PSII are posibly the hardest mazes in any RPG. But in PSIII and IV they are okay. PSIII is kinda slow and has a lot of empty rooms, while everything in PSIV is 10/10.

>>2879561
Is that a literal translation from the japannese version or is it one of those where the fans add studff of their own? Also I can't get past of different the music is from the american version

>>2884572
you delete it and get genesis plus gx instead

>>2884572
IIRC, you don't have to - if it's a japanese master system rom with the FM data on it, and you set the country to japan, you should be able to just play it without changing anything.

I didn't really like the FM arrangements for PS1 (they were nice to listen to a few times, but I'm too used to the US music to play through the game with it).

>>2841178
I work at a arcade, and you're particular brand of pessimism is the bane of my existence.
Some kid will play nothing but skee ball but is specifically playing for tickets and when I point out a dozen machines that give huge ticket payouts they ignore my advice and get upset when they only have thirty because skeeball only gives out 6 per game.

And when it's not that it's a kid that has like a million tickets and their cynical parent pulls them away from the prize counter because "you can't get anything" when our most expensive prize is 5000 tickets (easy enough to get if you play the right games).

Maybe I should just blame chucke cheese for poisoning the well.

>>2884679
if it's the same fan translation I played, you can switch it back to the american music by pressing start on the title screen

>>2885272
I decided to go along with the american music since I'm used to the songs and they have this retro 8 bit feeling to them. But how is it possible that the japannese version is so different to the american? why the changes?

>>2851565
It's Rhys. I always thought.

>>2874241
Its rather comfy. Makes those cold dezolis winters a little warmer

>>2885464
technical limitations of the time

>>2834524

I'd wreck that 8-bit pussy, dude

Who's with me?

>>2885583
i'd beat

>>2867251

http://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Master_System_ROMs/Phantasy_Star_%28Japan%29_%5BEn_by_SMS_Power_v1.02%5D/89145

Is this the droid I'm looking for?

Question: what's the point of those treasure chests you find when you defeat a monster that explode or shoot an arrow before giving you the mesetas? were they supposed to deal damage or what?

>>2885637
They do deal damage. Check your status after one explodes, you have less health.

>>2885630
yea that's the latest fan patch according to http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1069/

Also bypass makes you exit from dungeons. I dunno why the fan translators changed the spell name from "exit" like it was in the official version to "bypass", shit makes no sense.

Fuck Dezorian liars
>tell me I need a crystal to make laerma berries grow, spend hours wandering around the other planets looking for it before I realize I actually needed the torch
>Tells me to go the wrong way in a dungeon and I fall down a hole and get stuck, end up having to reset cause I can't find my way out
I should have listened to my Motavian bros who told me not to trust Dezorians
I killed every Dezorian I had the chance too. But I spared all my Motavian bros.
FUCK Dezorians

Another question: Can I equip Alis and Odin with shields if they are holding swords, guns or axes? or is it like in PSIV where they actually count the items your hands are holding? you know what I mean

>>2885738
also "troop" warps you to the last church you visited. Fly made more sense, I don't understand why they changed it

really, the spell names in the fan translation are just retarded. but the character names in the official version were changed, so references in later games don't make sense.
it's a lose-lose situation no matter which version you play

>>2885754
Eeach character can equip 3 items: weapon, armor, and shield
Some items don't work on some characters though. Myau for example only has 2 weapons, 1 armor and 1 "shield" in the entire game that he can equip, and only 1 shield works for Lutz/Noah and he only has 2 different weapons as well

>>2885765
yes but my question is if Alis or Odin can equip a shield if they already are holding a sword/axe with both hands

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>>2885758
>Character is the embodiment of aryan master race
>Retarded japs give him a nigger name
>murricans somehow make the great desicion pf changing Tyrone to Odin, which fits better
>weebs defend "muh original version" and call him Tyrone again in their fanslation AKA fanfiction

>>2885771
yes they can

How the fuck is anyone supposed to beat the first game without maps? Seriously.
It took me a week to beat it and I was using fan-made maps the whole time.
I don't think I ever would have beaten it at all if I had to make my own maps. And I've beaten first person dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master without maps before. PS is on a whole nother level.
Maybe if the encounter rate was lower I could manage it, but damn the game really could have used a minimap

>>2885785
have you played PSII? It's on a whole new level of difficulty

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help /vr/, what do I name him
what's his official name

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>>2885808

>>2885809
lel
thanks bro

>>2885808
EUSIS in the jap version. ROLF in the english version

>>2885765
I don't think Myau can equi shields

>>2884572
Just look in the sound settings or one of the menus. It's there, I'm sure of it. You ask a lot of questions about easily solvable things.

>>2885751
To be fair bro, you are warned about the Deozlians by another NPC. Don't trust their lies. Except for that bunch on one side of that one village, they're okay.

>>2885758
>spell names
They'd be just transliterating the Japanese spell names. You don't think they just make this stuff up, do you?

>>2885870
That's why I put shield in quotes. His "shield" is a glove

>mfw you can actually kill motavians and dezolians

those were darker times for racial issues

Did earthlings erradicate Palma's native inhabitats when they landed there?

>>2885926
Huh? The humans you see are the native inhabitants of Palma. The Earthmen from PS2 are new arrivals who have only been in the system for a few decades or so.

>>2885935
I didn't understand their agenda tho. They said they escaped earth because it was dying and built Mother Brain. But then Mother Brain was making everything easier so they sabotaged, ruining their new home platet so what the fuck were their motives?

>churches resurrect party members

Jesus christ.

>>2885969
it's a holdover from the dragon quest days

>>2885969
I always liked the mix between fantasy ans science fiction of the series. Resurrection is supposed to work by some king of powerful holy magic, but in PSII you get cloned. I guess they found how to combine magic with technology in order to bring your spirit to a new body or something. Oh and in PSIII we get back at being resurrected in churches, since the population of the ships is descendant from parmanians and they either kept their ancient magic practices or lost their cloning mechanism when they reverted to a dark age.

>>2885969

Don't worry Anon, at least I got it.

>>2885865
that reminds me too much of isis so I'm sticking with rolf

>>2885980
The creepy part is that everyone in PS2 was canonically cloned at least one.

>>2886374
What was the excuse for not being able to revive Nei again?

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>>2885969
>a minute into the first playthrough
>is there anyone you'd like to resurrect?
>nope

My exposure to the series came from the Sega Mega Drive collection on PSP, which had 2,3 and 4 on it. My favourite was 4, then 2, then 3. Never really though about playing 1 until looking at this thread, but it seems very highly recommended so ill get the rom downloaded and give it a whirl

>>2886679
I guess they must have a method to completely terminate someone's life different than just dying from your wounds after a monster attacked you.

>>2886679

Alis secretly hated Nero and wanted him dead. She simply used his death as a weak excuse to fight the man.

>>2886439
Her life force or whatever was tied to Neifirst's, so when you kill Neifirst, it's impossible to bring Nei back, or some shit like that.

>>2886679
They have an explanation for it later. You eventually learn that evil Lord Lashiec is able to steal men's souls.
So I guess that's what he had done to Nero.

>>2887123

I guess you could say it was a burning hatred.

>>2887498

Perhaps the same could be said of all religions?

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Should I play the Phantasy Star II adventure games before or after I finish the main series?
I was thinking of playing them after I finish PSII

First PS game is surprisingly fun. The graphics are very refreshing, makes grinding much less exhausting

>>2885961
Dunno, really. No version of the original has a decent enough translation to really explain that. I guess they were softening the Palmans and Motavians (who gives a fuck about Dezo scum, amirite) up by making their lives so easy that they don't know how to resist them.

So I guess they were going to sit up at the top of society while the locals served below them? (or were killed off, but that would be villainy for the sake of villainy) I don't think many of them ever got off the ark, their colonisation plan was still a ways off. Fuck I'm doing a lot of guessing here.

>>2887307
I thought it was just that she couldn't be cloned due to not being a normal human.

I know she can be cloned during gameplay but after Neifirst would be the only canonical time they ever tried to clone her.

>>2885961
Dark force did it.
That's pretty much what all the PS games come down to

>>2887627
>I was thinking of playing them after I finish PSII
That would be wise.

>>2887914
>at the end of phantasy star 3, they seal dark force
>in one of the endings Alisa 3 warps to the solar system and makes contact with friendly earthlings
>eventually dark force influences them and this leads to phantasy star 2
>part of the series is a time loop
that's my theory anyways

>>2887956
PS3 and 4 are supposed to take place around the same time.

>>2887914
But Dark Force was already beaten when they confronted the earthlings and they kept being evil despite of it.

>>2888028
Dark Force is something of a behind the scenes puppet master. They weren't possessed, just influenced. The Earthmen would have thought all those plans were entirely their own ideas and have no reason to suddenly switch gears to non-evil.

>>2887907
I didn't really grind much in the first game. And I used maps too, so I wasn't getting overleveled from wandering around either. I think people really over exaggerate its difficulty

Though now I'm playing Phantasy Star II, and I had to grind for hours to beat the first boss. That combined with the fact that you can't save everywhere makes it a lot less forgiving game

Now I'm seeing people are starting to post too many spoilers without spoiler tags. This thread was fun while it lasted. I'll see you all in about a fucking month when I finish the rest of the games

>>2888456
we will keep a phantasy star general ready for you to visit when you finish

>>2885806
PS2 came with a guidebook and maps. The game was intended to be played with maps, you still had to note how to get to chests and the objective.

>>2885785
You draw your own on graph paper.

The game is going on 30 years old, automapping was not a thing back then.

>>2888456
> Can't save everywhere

Once you get shir, get to level 10 and steal from the command tower.

>>2888494
Brandish came out only 2 years later and it had automapping

Now I feel kind of bad, I got past getting Noah/Lutz in the original PS1, but got lost somewhere with a hovercraft. The Generations remake rekindled my love for the series though, and I managed to get through nicely.

For both though, leveling to 8 to survive anything past the first town at the beginning seemed so silly, I loved it.

>>2889327
Bards Tale 2 came out in 1986 and had an automap.
Ultima 3 from 1983 already had a feature that let you see the map.

>>2874603
Well don't later games in the series use their localized names?

>>2885785
I managed to beat it without using or making maps way back when. It was enjoyable but the main thing that really irked me about the game was the lack of money, and the sheer amount of money needed for certain things.

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How do I get under the ant lion on the cactus island?

>>2890306
you're not supposed to

just use search on all the cactuses and you'll find the shield

>>2890546
Oh thanks
Old man in the poison village mislead me

>>2891115
I played the fan retranslation and he blatantly said it was buried under a cactus

dunno what he says in the original

>>2890119
I can deal with PS4 forgetting the second A in Alisa in the one single optional text she is mentioned in. There's absolutly no confusing moments. Can't imagine why you'd care about such insignificance anyway. If anything the new translations are now consistant with more of the Phantasy Star refrences in PSU.

>>2892151
That hardly answers the question, and not just the main character names. side characters, extras, locations, etc

>>2892226
>main character names
Shit that's never mentioned in the sequels, except those four times when it is. And guess what, Captain Tyler, Lutz and Nyau have the same names in PS4 as they do in these translations.
>side characters,
Unnamed NPCs remain unnamed and unmentioned. Not relevant.
>extras
Like what? The Pelorymate? Shows in in PS4 but the official PS1 translation called it a cola. Retranslation wins again.
>locations
I don't think any of the reoccuring locations got hit hard with the localisation hammer. I expect they're all pretty much the same.

These retranslations make the PS4 script make more sense, if anything. Does this ease your odd fears?

>>2892256
Not really, you're coming off as an unreliable cunt. I don't have any agenda or bias, I just wanted some information. I've been playing through the fan translation though, the FM sound is nice

>>2887907
they could have worked more on the graphics. I remember a port town where the pier is made of giant grey pixels with no detail

>>2892256
desu locations names changed in every game. Palma-Parma, Dezoris-Dezo-Dezolis, Mota-Motavia

>>2843795
>TFW you actually recognize a dungeon map
This is an odd kind of feel.

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Let's talk Phantasy Star 1's ending.
Did you have Alis take her rightful place as queen, or continue living as a private citizen?

>>2892910
L vs R is a common issue in early vg translations because in Japanese there is no way to distinguish them.

The short versions are obviously abbreviations.

IV > I > II = III

>>2896757
Hmmm, nah...

II > III > IV > I

I'm certain I'll catch a bit of flak for this ranking, but that's the order I played the series in as a kid. While IV is easily the best production, the earlier genny games have an entirely different feel that IV doesn't really recapture. Though it makes up for some of that with references to the earlier titles and additions like missions and combo attacks. Lots of fun and very pretty, but never captures the loneliness of II and III.

I think the main difference is that in II and III, you never really know what you're ultimately after until the end. There is no Lashiec or Zio or even a hint of Falz until the very end; no one to play the role of the bad guy, really.

Having played FF [1], 4, and 6 before playing PS II and then III was trippy. Where was the evil bad guy? Where are all the bosses? In the end, it's that unconventional approach that I think makes these games so endearing.

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>>2896832
fuk u

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>>2896832
>II > III > IV > I

Let's keep this thread alive for OP.

What is the post limit for this board?

>>2900710
There is no post limit.

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So why isn't Alis in a Sega All-Star Racing game? Cruising as her in the Land Rover would be sweet.

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>>2901460
Sega decided it was best to abandon all of their actual good IPs so that they could spend another 20 years trying to shove the autistic wannabe mario knock off down people's throats.

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>>2901476
You mean this guy?

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>>2901476
Sonic isn't even the problem, I can handle 7 Sonic characters. What I'm really upset about is Danica Patrick, TF2 guys, Yogcast, and Wreck-it Ralph.

>>2901460
I wonder how she'd even look like in 3D.

I don't think there was ever a 3D representation of any of the Phantasy Star characters.

>>2901491

Kid Chamelon is more a Mario game than both Sonic and Alex Kidd tho

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>>2901824
According to how Alex Kidd looks in 3D, probably a bit like this.

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>>2894643
Sweet illustration - any idea where it's from? Thought it might be from here; last time I saw it on eBay it was going for over £100. Was still tempted...

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>>2902129
Yes it is, I found the scans over here
http://phantasystar.wikia.com/wiki/Gamebook

i love how long phantasy star threads last on /vr/

>>2888497
Is this anywhere anywhere, or just outside towns and dungeons? Can you save right before the final boss?

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>>2902129
>blonde alis
>no pants
>pink girl myau

>>2902272
Nevermind, googled it.

That's good, because I read about the visiphone and used save states on the final boss instead of grinding that useless character. Glad to know I didn't cheat that much.

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>>2894643
Queen, obviously. All of that fighting to go back home and be a nobody? Fuck that shit.

>>2902281
>useless character

Shir's not bad (well, except for the laconia butterknife), she's just got tough competition. That and the fact that you get her dead last doesn't provide you with much incentive to bring her up to the average party level to make her useful.

Plus, she goes for little walks between planets - how can you not love her?

>>2902530
>she goes for little walks between planets
hahaha this, this cracked me up every time. Reminded me of how Alis could teleport you to a church in another planet too.

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>>2901460

It's not that they completely forgot about her but SEGA seem to have a great aversion for acknowleding characters from classic games in post-PSO world. They still borrow names, plot point etc from older games. Same for old Shining games but there are all kind of nasty rumors about that one.

>>2901491
>30th Anniversary
>loosely based on Sun Wukong and 2016 is the year of Monkey
>still isn't acknowledged

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>>2902961
>>2902965
What a waste

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>>2902965
We're 8 days into the year, I wouldn't count out that possibility yet.

>>2902961
what nasty rumors?

>>2903041
Tsuyoshi Sawada, the guy behind the majority of new Shining games seems to have very little respect towards classic games but at the same time he's very defensive about his own games. That's it.

>>2903123
If the guy things demons and devils are uncool but 'won't you eat our fluffy bread?" is cool then I hope he chokes on fluffy bread...but survives. I'm not that mean.

Coming off of Phantasy Star, Phantasy Star II seems like it's a bit worse. Can't save everywhere, no fitting context sensitive battle backgrounds, overworld isn't as fun to explore, attack automatically sometimes in battle without a chance to strategise, art is somehow slightly worse. Hopefully it gets better soon or I might drop it and skip to III

>>2905519
Forgot to mention that enemies never, ever miss. What the fuck is up with that?

>>2905519
It gets better

>>2905519
Phantasy Star I to III were only good relative to what was available at the time. We didn't have much on the SMS and early Genesis. They're genuinely bad games overall if looked at critically compared to the JRPGs of 4th gen, and quite a few of those from the late 3rd gen too. Skip to IV unless you can *actually* benefit from the nostalgia of seeing I, II and III after you played it so many years before.

>>2905565
Nah, I just beat Phantasy Star and it was great, it holds up fine.
Don't assume I've played them before.

I just finished PS3.
I don't think this series is for me, man. I've played three so far, and I only really liked the first one. After thinking PS2 wasn't really as good as PS1, and now thinking PS3 was even worse, give me one good reason why I should play PS4. If I play it I'm just going to be disappointed again.

You guys said the first one was shit, but it's the only one I liked so far. And you said the second one was good. I don't trust you guys anymore

>>2905565
I played 1 and 2 for the first time last year and loved them. About to move onto 3.

>>2905884
4 is the best. Might as well finish what you started anonkun.

>>2905519
>attack automatically sometimes in battle without a chance to strategise
Yeah, the battle system is wonky. You have to press a button after the round starts to interrupt the auto-battle and input commands again for the next round.

I agree, overall PS2 is nowhere near as good as 1 in graphics, sound, exploration or gameplay but it's still not bad.

>>2905884
4 is so drastically different from the last two that 'I didn't like the last two' is not a decent argument for ignoring it. You will like it.

And for the record, 1 and 4 are the only two I'd ever recommend to anybody who's not already a big phan of PS. So I, personally, have yet to steer you wrong.

>>2906507
Thanks, I'll remember that.
I'm going to keep going tomorrow, my ime hasn't been bad per se, just not as good. I'm only level 7 anyway

The one thing that PS4 has going for it, is you can leave the game for a long time, and come back, have the party members "talk" to each other, and remember what the fuck it was you were doing in the first place, no matter how long since you last played

>>2905519
I don't remember which book/interview it was but I think they officially said that PSII was rushed.

>>2906880
I thought that was just PSIII

>>2905519
>Can't save everywhere
Look up the Visiphone. I'll admit it's hidden as fuck but it lets you save anywhere.

>>2907259
Nope, there was something about PS2 being made in 6 months.

>>2909313
Honestly that's a long development time for an 80's game. They must have really been dragging their feet, 'cause even so it does feel rushed. And let's not even start on PS3.

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On a bit of a tangent, anyone know if this is worth picking up? I've seen it for around £50 before, though the only copy on eBay at the moment is over £100.

Play FS4. Skip 1-3. Period.