Why Phantasy Star I-IV is the most important JRPG series ever

I LOVE the original Phantasy Star series and have a majority of memorabilia, re-releases etc. I've been studying why they're so important to the development of RPGs, so here's why each is very important. Phantasy Star I was released on 12/20/1987 for the Sega Master System and Sega Mark III. It was released 2 days after Final Fantasy, and let me tell you, its much more advanced than either the original Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest/Warrior that was out around the same time. Some comparison screenshots: Phantasy Star I http://i.imgur.com/C2goSDO.png http://i.imgur.com/Q1Hj37q.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Z7py5VN.png Final Fantasy http://i.imgur.com/XAxSLw5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/DisgGdm.png Dragon Quest/Warrior http://i.imgur.com/SSq4t40.png http://i.imgur.com/ymAVDi8.gif You can see that Phantasy Star, from a technical standpoint, looks better and believe me, it plays better too. The first Phantasy Star was a landmark RPG, using more of a Space Opera setting with a sprinkling of Greek Mythology to create a unique game world. By comparison, Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior/Quest, while good games, didn't really break out of the typical medieval RPG mold. Next segment we'll be moving to the Sega Mega Drive and discussing Phantasy Star II, the much loved sequel of Phantasy Star, and comparing it to late NES RPGs since it came out in 1989, 2 years before the SNES hit the scene, and by that time, Phantasy Star III was already released.

So, with Phantasy Star I being a critical success, Sega had some pretty big shoes to fill. Well, with their sucessor console, the Mega Drive/Genesis, they did just that. Phantasy Star II was released on 03/21/1989 and was critically acclaimed. It was much different from its predecessor with an adventure twice as big and with much better graphics, gameplay, drama and tension. For the record, almost 8 years before FF7 was released, it featured a tragic death of the main heroine of the story, under very similar circumstances: http://i.imgur.com/DXgadIp.gifv The heroine, Nei, heroically dies defending her friends from Neifirst, her evil clone, similar to how Aerith dies in FF7 to protect Gaia from Meteo. Some photos of the art, gameplay etc, with Phantasy Star 2: http://i.imgur.com/ob4PWXi.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ADxaQic.jpg http://i.imgur.com/H3ONFON.jpg With Ys for Famicom, released a year earlier: http://i.imgur.com/VXWll0z.gif http://i.imgur.com/eOzL7ot.jpg With Dragon Warrior/Quest 4, same year: http://i.imgur.com/nQjV61N.png http://i.imgur.com/diHBixT.jpg And with Earthbound Beginnings/MOTHER 1, released same year: http://i.imgur.com/Th7Ol4t.jpg http://i.imgur.com/7hZ2o3u.jpg Some advancements Phantasy Star II brought to the table were the size and scale of the adventure, the ability to see your character, enemies and attack animations all at once with more than a plain black background, more advanced FM sound due to the Mega Drive's improved sound hardware, and the automated battle system which allowed you to set and forget it and watch your characters autofight until you interrupted it.

So, by the time of 1991, the SNES rolled around and Sega popped out Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom. This game is definitely a black sheep, being that it was released UNFINISHED, its only about 70% done but budget cuts, other RPGs by AM7 competing for funding and project deadlines meant a lot of bugs, problems and other things plague this RPG. But, by far, it is still worth mentioning for its innovations in the story dept and the generations system, which adds a total of 8 different replay scenarios. Some photos of the game: http://i.imgur.com/YsmYpYx.jpg http://i.imgur.com/k9Z2xlc.jpg And of FF4, released around the same time: http://i.imgur.com/NHRTdbH.png http://i.imgur.com/0q5kMDm.gif http://i.imgur.com/GIuCDtG.gif Right away, the art style, and battle system of Phantasy Star III is a step back - you don't see your characters and the enemies only have attack animations. The medieval/cyberpunk setting, though, is good, as is the story and game mechanics. From a technical standpoint, FF4 gets the point here. But from a graphics standpoint, Phantasy Star II and Phantasy Star III look more vibrant, but still, at this point, Phantasy Star II still takes the cake for graphics, for me at least. Final stop on the original series train is Phantasy Star IV, released in 12/17/1993, 2 weeks after I was born! We'll cover that last.

Finally, in the last weeks of 1993 Phantasy Star IV, the masterpiece and keystone of the entire series was released. Here, everything is perfect, the music, graphics, gameplay and story all cover any plotholes of the previous games, the English translation is nearly spotless and the game is fun to play over and over and offers the perfect mix of challenge and fun. It added the macro system, and again twice in a row, 3 years before FF7 landed, it did the tragic death trope again of a heroine. And the execution couldn't be better: http://i.imgur.com/XDBVWN7.gif http://i.imgur.com/y5Li1Zr.jpg Here's some more screenshots of the gameplay: http://i.imgur.com/1qeiLYB.png http://i.imgur.com/JjESY6b.png http://i.imgur.com/jC3Lf8t.gif And comparison to Final Fantasy VI/III released a few months later: http://i.imgur.com/aKuWSw2.jpg http://i.imgur.com/nA8e3mf.jpg Anyone notice how on the SNES and NES most of the RPGs have this fucking drab colour palette that just is gross? Anyways, as I said, Phantasy Star IV is one of Sega's best RPGs ever, its got everything in just the right amounts and is a supreme demonstration of the Mega Drive's capabilities. The music has aged so much better than RPGs on the SNES which suffer from this muffled and overly sampled feel, and the graphics and manga style are vibrant as ever. Phantasy Star contributed so much to modern JRPGS including mechanics, tropes, and style in such a way that I think everyone should play the game and respect its important contributions to the genre. I'm also going to go on record that no, I don't hate Final Fantasy or any of the other RPGs I bashed on here, simply, compared to Phantasy Star, they didn't do enough in the department of breaking new ground to really deserve the hype they have.

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!!! Phew....got that out of the way. I'm a big fan of this series, and I am optimistic that at some point...before I die...we will get another old school single player Phantasy Star....I think....I really do hope. Phantasy Star I was a great title, and for it's time really well put together. There were not a lot of anime aesthetic RPGs in the west at that point.

Wow. :o I didn't know Phantasy Star went THAT far back. The only Phantasy Star game I ever played was Phantasy Star Universe. I'm gonna have to check on this game again.

You're welcome mr_ambig. I'd like to design one myself as I have some really neat ideas for the future of Algol. And yes, BubbleSparkle, the RPG and MMO series are related by name but not otherwise overly related other than some recurring monsters, names of items and spells etc.

Only Phantasy Star IV is paced in such a way that grinding is unnecessary. I recommend playing Phantasy Star IV, and there's also remakes of 1 and 2 that are faithful ( Phantasy Star Generation 1 and 2, and yes, Gen 1 has the 1st person dungeons, with maps and such ) and they have english translations. Check pscave.com as they have the translated games on there.