Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (1993)

That's a wrap! It's really a pity there weren't more Phantasy Stars (minus the weird portable spinoffs that really had nothing to do with anything, and PSO), it seemed like a whole world of possibility opened up with this.

For those that have played this, who do you take as your fifth teammate in the end? I always choose Hahn, this time was no exception. He's just so good at the end.

So just sunk 5 unplanned hours into this game and I'll say it's been alot of fun! Personally, I've never heard of this game before and decided to check it out since it was on the Sega catalogue on the Nintendo Switch membership and boy it did not disappoint. It feels like a casual RPG, I did have to grind here and there but it wasn't alot at all compared to other games I've played. I was able to progress from town to town and through alot of the story line pretty naturally without stopping and taking years to grind cough Ni No Kuni cough I love all of the characters and the storyline, it has a lead woman Huntress who's kickass (people are either scared of her or flirt with her, or both) There's some random humor in here for sure. Story reminds me a little of Trigun. Not sure how much left I have of this game, I'm assuming alot more but finally got to a moment where I could not surpass a 'mini' boss. All in all I'm enjoying it and hope the rest of the game is as fun as it's been.

I will say one thing I cannot stand about it is every time you click (to talk to people, or on random items in the environment) if you don't click exactly right in front of it there's a dialogue box that pops up saying "There's nothing there, We don't have time for this" and good god does it happen all the time. I'm a serial clicker I'll admit, but it had to be too precise especially if the person is running around and it's hard to get right in front of them. I'm a patient person though so I could deal with it, but I'm sure that's a deal breaker for some.

I think I maybe first discovered this game from the Sega Visions magazine or maybe I saw it in a store but that box art was definitely intriguing to me. It was the first RPG I ever played before I even knew what an RPG or JRPG was. I rented the game, which didn't come with a manual so I didn't know what HP or MP meant but somehow I managed to get to one of the first dungeons where I would die before the boss because I didn't know how to heal. I liked the graphics, music and the sci-fi world building in the game even though I barely scratched its surface.

I could never get into other RPGs after that game and I pretty much never bothered with the genre for some time. But I always remembered Phantasy Star IV in a positive light. What brought me back was actually Final Fantasy VII. I would never have even considered playing Final Fantasy VII without my experience with Phantasy Star IV. Final Fantasy VII would eventually become the first RPG I beat and from that learning experience I would eventually make another attempt at Phantasy Star IV. Despite having played more contemporary JRPGs, it did not disappoint. Sure I could tell it wasn't as deep or sophisticated but even playing it so long after it was released, I enjoyed it for the same reasons as when I first played it. I really liked the characters and world building. The little manga cutscenes that told the story were nicely done and were still effective even after having experienced FMVs in RPGs. The macros and team-up attacks were also fun to pull off. I did find it to be very difficult with a lot of random encounters but that seemed to be the norm for RPGs back then. I just barely managed to beat the final boss.

I wish Sega would remake this as they did with the first two Phantasy Star games. This is another Sega franchise that I'm sad to see remain dormant.

I had kind of meant for this play session to be my last hurrah for the game, but then the story went and started getting mildly interesting. The encounter rate and grindiness is still tiring, but I'm definitely starting to see the charm behind it all.

This isn't to say I suddenly love Phantasy Star IV or anything...

The nondescript spells and items is still a major bother, and does a lot to make me not want to bother learning the intricacies of combat. I think for next I'll break down and keep a cheat sheet nearby to try and get some more use out of my abilities. It's earned another night or two of my time.

I had wanted to make more progress today than I actually ended up making. While I'd intended to move the story further along I just ended up spending the night in a side dungeon doing even more grinding. At least Rika is up to par now.

I have a better appreciation for the game as it is, and I really do like its means of telling its story. The problem is that I'm just completely uninterested in the story itself, and that makes it difficult to get excited about playing. I'm hoping to finish out this section of the game I'm on next time I play.

I tried to progress further into the game, only to get demolished in the next dungeon. This is somewhat upsetting as I didn't have any trouble in the previous dungeon, so having to grind out levels seems really arbitrary. Things got a little easier when, only after consulting an online guide, I found the weapon and armor shops in the town I was in... With some financial goals set I went off to grind in the previous dungeon until I gained a couple levels and had enough money to buy all the best gear available for all my characters.

That done, the next two areas were pretty easy and I'm actually finding myself enjoying the story more than I did last time. Maybe this is because I'm not playing with a headache, maybe it's because Rika's awesome... I don't know. Speaking or Rika, can't say I'm too happy about getting her at level 1, but hopefully getting her up to speed won't be too bad.

I'm also taking the time to learn to actually use my techs and abilities which smooths things out a bit.

Hm...

I had a bit of a headache so I only put an hour into the game tonight, but I've got to say I'm not feeling it. Like, it's hard because I can really see how this game could have been appealing to Genesis owners back in the early 90's, but let's be honest, Final Fantasy IV was out years before this game.

From a technical standpoint it just feels a little sloppy. Movement is a touch too fast and seems a little inaccurate. Pressing the action button when nothing's in front of you prompts the ever-annoying "There's nothing here!" message. Items and abilities are completely cryptic with no descriptions, save for items and only in a shop. The dialogue is totally cheese ball thought I really do appreciate the efforts put into giving the characters some sense of personality.

Still, I'm feeling no attachment to any of them, and very little interest in their quest. The game is functional enough that I don't feel like it's a burden to be playing it (yet) but its flaws are definitely frustrating.