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The prophecy in Phantasy Star IV.

Naked Lunch

Member
The recent release of Phantasy Star Online 2 put me in the old school Phantasy Star mood. So ive been playing Phantasy Star IV during this current shut in - a game ive been wanting to play for over twenty years now and never got around to it. PSIV has been fantastic and lived up to all of the hype. A legendary title. Keep in mind Phantasy Star IV of course came out in 1993 in Japan and 1995 elsewhere.

Anyways im a decent way into the game, and I run into a town where an illness has spread thru the population - people are sheltering in place - even converting other businesses like inns into make-shift hospitals - while they are searching for a cure. Sound familar? The real kicker - the objective in this area is to find a dungeon called "Corona Tower".
Crazy.
5638c184-3185-49da-aca6-c1eb6f18dd14.PNG
 
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Hawk269

Member
Yeah I made a post earlier this week of finally beating the original PS after 32 years and 8 months after buying it. I would love a remake of the original game but with modern graphics etc. Would be epic. PS is still my GOAT and the series itself is one of the best.
 
Someone tell me which is better Phantasy Star 1 or 4? I played 2 & 3 and loved both.

thinking about getting phantasy Star on Switch. Please let me know your thoughts!
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I only played PS2 and 4. PS4 was good, but I have to put on par with PS2. PS4 looks, sounds and has a few extra gameplay tweaks to it.

BUT, it was so easy. As long as you grind through the game playing an old school JRPG, it's almost impossible to die. I don't think you can even die in the first hour or two of starting fights.

I plowed through the game. The problem is they gave you a 5th character, but enemy encounters seemed the same as PS2. So it made it easier. Boss fights were easy as hell.

They should have reduced the party to 4 characters and increased the number or difficulty of enemies.
 
I only played PS2 and 4. PS4 was good, but I have to put on par with PS2. PS4 looks, sounds and has a few extra gameplay tweaks to it.

BUT, it was so easy. As long as you grind through the game playing an old school JRPG, it's almost impossible to die. I don't think you can even die in the first hour or two of starting fights.

I plowed through the game. The problem is they gave you a 5th character, but enemy encounters seemed the same as PS2. So it made it easier. Boss fights were easy as hell.

They should have reduced the party to 4 characters and increased the number or difficulty of enemies.
Come on now, the story boss the tough as nail when it was 95/96 with no guide. I swear i die to Zio, every single dark force for first encounter. And don;t get me started with those 3 hahahaha dude in Air castle.
 
Come on now, the story boss the tough as nail when it was 95/96 with no guide. I swear i die to Zio, every single dark force for first encounter. And don;t get me started with those 3 hahahaha dude in Air castle.
Not sure how you did it, use the RES techniques when you need them and you'll be fine! I recall plowing through the game over a couple of days - doing barely any grinding. It disappointed me, there was barely any challenge, after PS 1 & PS 2 that was disappointing (I can't recall how hard or easy was PS III, to me it did not feel like phantasy star).
 
The term corona virus probably existed in the 90s and the name of the tower is probably an intentional reference to that.

Still an interesting bit of synchronicity though.
 

cireza

Banned
The recent release of Phantasy Star Online 2 put me in the old school Phantasy Star mood. So ive been playing Phantasy Star IV during this current shut in - a game ive been wanting to play for over twenty years now and never got around to it. PSIV has been fantastic and lived up to all of the hype. A legendary title. Keep in mind Phantasy Star IV of course came out in 1993 in Japan and 1995 elsewhere.

Anyways im a decent way into the game, and I run into a town where an illness has spread thru the population - people are sheltering in place - even converting other businesses like inns into make-shift hospitals - while they are searching for a cure. Sound familar? The real kicker - the objective in this area is to find a dungeon called "Corona Tower".
Crazy.
5638c184-3185-49da-aca6-c1eb6f18dd14.PNG
Corona Tower is actually part of the lore of PS4, but you don't visit it there. It is visited in PS1.
Great parallel though, thanks for reminding us of this. The PS series is my favorite RPGs series of all time :)
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
A good way to play on Vita is buy the Genesis Collection for PSP on PSN>transfer it with Content Manager via PS3 to your Vita. It has Phantasy Star IV.

I started it on my phone (ad free) and that works too. The Save system sorta worries me. It’s very poppy, relies on the Game Center, and the reviews of earlier builds talked about their data being corrupted. I bet it’s stable, but the handheld version sounds safer.
 
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Sorcerer

Member
Yeah I made a post earlier this week of finally beating the original PS after 32 years and 8 months after buying it. I would love a remake of the original game but with modern graphics etc. Would be epic. PS is still my GOAT and the series itself is one of the best.

Forgive me if you are already aware and mean you want something even more modern and up to date, but Phantasy Star 1 and 2 were remade for the PS2 in Japan. Fan translations are available. As a huge Phantasy Star Fan, I recommend them. Too bad 3 and 4 never got the remake treatment. Yes I know, I like 3 despite the hate it gets. Phantasy Star remake 1 is a cakewalk, so that's cool if you want something easy compared to the original. Phantasy Star 2 remake is just as brutal as the original, in fact so brutal in a certain spot I had to give up. Have to get back into it someday. I wonder what the developers thought process was to make the first remake one so easy and the second remake so hard. Maybe trying to make the first one too hard would scare off anybody from trying the second game?
 
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Hawk269

Member
Forgive me if you are already aware and mean you want something even more modern and up to date, but Phantasy Star 1 and 2 were remade for the PS2 in Japan. Fan translations are available. As a huge Phantasy Star Fan, I recommend them. Too bad 3 and 4 never got the remake treatment. Yes I know, I like 3 despite the hate it gets. Phantasy Star remake 1 is a cakewalk, so that's cool if you want something easy compared to the original. Phantasy Star 2 remake is just as brutal as the original, in fact so brutal in a certain spot I had to give up. Have to get back into it someday. I wonder what the developers thought process was to make the first remake one so easy and the second remake so hard. Maybe trying to make the first one too hard would scare off anybody from trying the second game?

I have not looked into them as of yet but will.

Looking back when I got PS2 I was so shocked that they did not have the 3d dungeons. The game in-itself was still really good, but I really wanted the 3d dungeons that the first game had. Too bad 3 & 4 followed the same dungeon/cave style versus going back to the original Phantasy Star dungeons/caves.
 
I have not looked into them as of yet but will.

Looking back when I got PS2 I was so shocked that they did not have the 3d dungeons. The game in-itself was still really good, but I really wanted the 3d dungeons that the first game had. Too bad 3 & 4 followed the same dungeon/cave style versus going back to the original Phantasy Star dungeons/caves.
Yup, back then I felt the 3D dungeons were part of the essence of Phantasy Star and that if they had more megs they would have put them in (in 1989 a 6Mbit game cart was pretty big).
 

Sorcerer

Member
I have not looked into them as of yet but will.

Looking back when I got PS2 I was so shocked that they did not have the 3d dungeons. The game in-itself was still really good, but I really wanted the 3d dungeons that the first game had. Too bad 3 & 4 followed the same dungeon/cave style versus going back to the original Phantasy Star dungeons/caves.
The Dungeons of Phantasy Star 2 are hell. Everybody thinks that Phantasy Star 1 dungeons are hard but they are very easy, if you use the compass properly, they are no problem. I never had to map them out. Not bragging, if I can do it a 5 year old could do it better than me LOL!!!. I've beaten that first game 5 or 6 times. Phantasy Star 2 dungeons follow no logic I can come up with. Panels on the floor seem to take you to different parts of the dungeon and it's all trial and error, all the while you are getting your ass kicked by really super tough enemies. They really toned down the dungeons for 3 and 4 they present no challenge as far as navigating them. I wonder if they got rid of 3D dungeons due to fan complaints? If that is the case, little did the fans know what they were asking for. LOL!!!
 
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SpiceRacz

Member
The Dungeons of Phantasy Star 2 are hell. Everybody thinks that Phantasy Star 1 dungeons are hard but they are very easy, if you use the compass properly, they are no problem. I never had to map them out. Not bragging, if I can do it a 5 year old could do it better than me LOL!!!. I've beaten that first game 5 or 6 times. Phantasy Star 2 dungeons follow no logic I can come up with. Panels on the floor seem to take you to different parts of the dungeon and it's all trial and error, all the while you are getting your ass kicked by really super tough enemies. They really toned down the dungeons for 3 and 4 they present no challenge as far as navigating them. I wonder if they got rid of 3D dungeons due to fan complaints? If that is the case, little did the fans know what they were asking for. LOL!!!

I started PS2 for the first time about a month ago and this was my primary issue with the game. So much so, that I gave up on it.
 

Sorcerer

Member
I have not looked into them as of yet but will.

Looking back when I got PS2 I was so shocked that they did not have the 3d dungeons. The game in-itself was still really good, but I really wanted the 3d dungeons that the first game had. Too bad 3 & 4 followed the same dungeon/cave style versus going back to the original Phantasy Star dungeons/caves.

When and if you are ready, check out http://www.pscave.com/. Almost everything you need is there. What is strange is that the site only shows the French translation for PS2, but if you do a search a link will come up with the English translation on the same site. Bizarre, don't know how that works. LOL!!! They also have the text adventures for every character for PS2. Your mileage may vary on these, but I love them. They give the full story of every character in PS2. Amazing and well written. Lots of fan games I have yet to check out and other cool stuff.

Warning:
Some are very critical of the remakes for being budget games. Perhaps, but as a Phantasy Star fan, I appreciated them very much. So, don't feel bad if they don't live up to your expectations. I wish Sega would do Phantasy Star anything besides just Online, but all I ever expect from Sega is to never do what i want LOL!!! I have enjoyed Online and Universe the PSP games as well, basically everything expect some online only Universe content, and Phantasy Star Online 2. But I need to play Phantasy Star 5 before I die. LOL!!!
 
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