Dig out those old Sega cartridges, gamers! (Or Playstation/XBox Store files, or emulator ROMs, or bookmarked Sega archive sites, or…) Starting on Monday, December 21st, author Peter Tieryas will be replaying the classic RPG Phantasy Star II here on Tor.com!
Peter previously went seriously in-depth on Chrono Trigger here on the site, so we’re super excited to have him back. Peter will be arguing why Phantasy Star II is one of the best RPGs of the 16-bit era, and why it’s so unique in choosing to begin its story after everything in its fantasy world has been “fixed.”
Let’s play from the beginning to the tragedy imposed upon Neifirst. We’ll check back with each other on Part 1 of the replay, starting at 11 AM EST on Monday, December 21st. (That page won’t be live until 11 AM that day, FYI.)
That’s harsh, Amy. Harsh.
Well I’ve got phantasy star 1 on a ps3 genesis collection so I could try that but for a boxed copy of PSII I’d need to shell out £40 on Amazon.
Maybe after I’ve read the replay…
It was a great game, but there is no chance it was better than Final Fantasy III (SNES) / VI (Super FAMICOM).
I think I played one of the Phantasy Stars waaay back on the Genesis, but my memory could be flawed; if so someone correct me.
You ended up playing 3 generations of characters (and their friends, to fill out your party), with your “main character” of each generation being based on whichever of your previous generations’ party members ended up hooking up after their adventure (there was one possibility where your 3rd generation could be twins even).
I ended up trying one of the more recent Phantasy Stars based on those memories and found it a lot more lackluster. Perhaps nostalgia got in the way or possibly my memory is of some other game I’ve accidentally cross-wired with that title :)
Either way I’m looking forward to the replay!
Awesome. I only finished replaying this a few months ago, so it’s nice and fresh in my memory. Curious to see who you use for the later stages :)
I still have the original carts for these in a box back home somewhere, plus the IOS version for killing time on the way into work. Hopefully Sega brings it back – they pulled the mobile port from the app stores six months ago.
@anthony
True, but that’s a bit of a harsh comparison, FF3/6 being a game made 5 years later. PS2 is more like FF2/4 – an early look at what would be a masterpiece.
Phantasy Star IV is the best of the series by a fair margin, same as FF3/6 was the pinnacle of the SNES side, and both are among the best on their relevant platforms.
(I still rate Shining Force 2 as the best for megadrive, with FF3/6 as best on SNES and Secret of Mana second. Sorry Peter, I put Chrono Trigger third)
Phantasy Star 2 does have one of the most unusual endings in RPGs that I know of though, will be fun when we get there.
@Brian_E
You’re thinking of Phantasy Star 3, which as you say had a changing roster of main characters for each act depending on who married who. It is definitely one of the weakest in the series, but since it was the first one I ever played I have some fond memories. The multiple endings gave a certain replayability, but it hasn’t aged well.
I remember the art in this game blew me away. These days it’s whatever, but it was the first time I had ever seen manga-like drawing. By limiting the actual movement of the characters, they managed to make the sprites better looking than anything I’d ever seen before.
I never finished this one or PS3. I did play and beat Phantasy Star 4, which is a blast.
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I was just commenting on the OP saying it was one of the best RPGs of the 16-bit era. It may have been one of them, but it was no where near as good as the best, in my opinion, game ever, which was FFIII/VI. I liked III/VI more than VII. Although I’m excited to play the VII remake.
PSIV is the best in in the series but PSII has alot more nostalgia value and remains my favorite. I hope Peter has a copy of the guidebook. Some of the later dungeons on Dezo are impossible without it. The one with the multiple pits that you have to fall through comes to mind, the Tower of Niedo maybe?
Phantasy Star is one of the best RPG franchises from that day, and 1-4 will forever overshadow Final Fantasy for me in that time. FF clearly had more longevity, but I would stack PS 1-4 against any of their contemporaries.
I think Ultima is the only other franchise that good me as giddy as a new PS release, with the recent exception of wasteland 2 making me throw money at the screen.