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Sorry if this has been posted before.
Magicbox-
Sega AGES 2500 Vol. 6 Virtua Racing
- remake of Model 1 3D racing game
Sega AGES 2500 Vol. 7 Last Bronx
- remake of the Model 2 arcade fighting game
Sega AGES 2500 Vol. 8 Phantasy Star 2
- remake of Mega Drive RPG
Sega AGES 2500 Vol. 9 Phantasy Star 4: The End of Millennium
- remake of Mega Drive RPG
In order:
Blech.
Hmm...
Yay!
HO-KAY!
Now, are we ever going to get these in English?
...er... again?
Virtua Racing? I'm sold. Last Bronx- Wahoo! PS 2 anf PS IV- meh.
'Meh' to PSII and IV? You'd better just hate RPGs in general or you're a woefully misguided boy.
I've just never found those games to be all that interesting. The plots in them were fantastic, but the characters just didn't jive with me.
Phantasy Star II came out in 1989. I guess I missed those RPGs you were playing then with a rich tapestry of wonderfully developed characters engaged in heart-wrenchingly complex situations. Oh wait, there weren't any.
I'd love to see a Model 1-perfect VR on PS2 (which I hope is the route they take, or at least that they provide a flat-shaded mode - it wouldn't be the same with textures). As for the others, I'm excited to see how they turn out. PS4 on Genesis still looks good to me, so the remake should be stunning.
Decent choices, 'cept for Last Bronx. I wonder how they're going to turn a strictly average brawler into something worth having on PS2.
I wasn't playing RPGs in 1989, hell, I didn't even get seriously into gaming until 1991. I played through both Phantasy Star II and IV and found them to be great RPGs, but the characters just didn't click with me for whatever reason.
Wasn't Ultima 4 released in 87? It was a much better game than PSII. As someone has pointed out in another thread, PSII plays worse than the first DW in many ways.=\ PSIV was pretty neat though.
So why are you booing games you thought were great?Quote:
I played through both Phantasy Star II and IV and found them to be great RPGs
Anyways, its funny how they just skipped right over Phantasy Star 3. What are there, 6, 7 more games left? I hope the rest of the games are all announced in the same batch~
Fuck YES on Last Bronx.
Yay for Phantasy Star II. Thats an RPG I would play again these days if only it weren't so damn hard (I remember it being easier..).
rezo, i'm not "booing" it, I'm fairly indifferent to it. I enjoyed most of the time I spent with those PS games, I just didn't like the characters in them.
Ok......:confused:
Shir in PS2 is the coolest character ever in an RPG. Yes I'm extremely biased.
Virtua Racing is cool and all, but what about OutRun?
Well that's just the thing. They were great for their day, but they have aged alot.Quote:
Originally Posted by thray-walsh
Beleive me, it took me a long time to admit that to myself. Phantasy Star means alot to me. I hear where you're coming from, but the RPG genre has made huge advances and very few if any of the RPGs before 1990 really hold up as a well-rounded package,
I'd say PS4 probably does hold up though.
Anyhoo, I'd buy any one of these. Virtua Racing in particular sounds great.
Yu Suzuki is making a real Outrun sequel. You really need som cheap AGES thing too?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucas Barton
Hope they don't skim on the battle animation in the PS games. *-neo
Last Bronx wasn't that great, but I've always had a soft spot for it.
It's cool news, but unless they get a US release I'll never get around to playing them.
So far the choices have been rather interesting: Golden Axe, Space Harrier, Virtua Racing, Last Bronx, and three Phantasy Stars? I very much hope that Sega plans to release the better stuff as well. For instance, given the genres represented...
Bare Knuckle > Golden Axe
Daytona USA > Virtua Racing
Virtua Fighter > Last Bronx
Shining Force > Phantasy Star (though I recognize the slight genre mismatch here)
I'd also love to see House of the Dead, Sega Rally, Manx TT, Revenge of Shinobi, and many, many others.
I enjoyed Phantasy Star II back in the day, but it was still a daunting task to complete. The thought of playing it again is a little intimidating. Also, what they have in their posession is one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time: do not screw it up.
Phantasy Star IV remake sounds great too. I never did complete the Genesis one.
somehow they did with TTT and Tekken 4 :)Quote:
Originally Posted by BenT
*rimshot*
im so funny.....
I would rather they port Virtua Racing than remake it since it never got anything close to an arcade-perfect port.
I don't think they should skip on Phantasy Star III since they're doing the rest of the series. I enjoyed it more than part 2.
Isn't there a Gain Ground remake in the works?
YEah there are a bunch of others coming, like Tant-R, Gain Ground, Streets of Rage, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
I really wish that they'd remake the entire MW series all over again. Is there any news on the new Westone?
I think they put up a WebCam or something. They're still verymuch around, but they're probably keeping quiet until they have something to show.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
hell yeah. it's OutRun. crap, for some reason, im sure that the new one will be awesome as hell, but i get the feeling that it might not be as good as the first.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
and even then, it'll be OutRun with nicer graphics, what's not to want? im a big fan of the game, so i'd love to get my hands on that.
I remember seeing it for the first time when it was released. Any game that included a free 110-page hint guide couldn't be easy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sl1p
I still shudder at the thought of people trying the four damns or the Nei weapons without the guide. :xx:
And what system is these titles being released on?
I'm thinking DC but I may be wrong.
*Is seriously out of the loop here*
PS2.
I always thought it was amazing how much more advanced (interface and gameplay-wise) FFIV was compared to PSII, with less than two years between them. As a result, FFIV seemed like the first of a new era of console RPGs to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
FFIV was definitely a turning point for console RPGs, where they became faster-paced and more story-driven. I agree with it being the start of a new era.
I don't consider it necessarily better than the Phantasy Star games before it though. FFIV was certainly more accessible than PSI-III before it but on the downside it felt much more childish than the PStar games. PStar gets points for atmosphere.
FFIV and a few other 16 bit RPGs have aged pretty gracefully, but I really think that they will be made obsolete in the next few generations. Hell, even stuff like Panzer Saga might look moldy by then.=\
Panzer Dragoon Saga has already aged a lot graphically but I think its unique gameplay will make it stand the test of time quite well.
Last Bronx wasn't that great, but the characters and weapons were cool as hell. Plus atleast the game was 60 fps. Soul Blade had the exact same problem, yet it turned into Soul Calibur. I think a Last Bronx remake would be great if the right people were making the right changes.
Since AM3 made Fighting Vipers 2, they should let AM3 make Last Bronx 2. That would rock.
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Originally Posted by Jeremy
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Originally Posted by Jeremy
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Originally Posted by Jeremy
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Originally Posted by Jeremy
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Originally Posted by Jeremy
Wait, so you think the plots were fantastic, and you enjoyed your time with them, because you think they're great RPGs, but they're not interesting and you're indifferent to them?
You sir, are a tool.
*backhands Jeremy*
:cry:
Rich im so proud of you
your learning well
you should have ended that with a nice backhanding though
Edited for backhanding.
It just pisses me off then whenever someone says ANYTHING concerning Jeremy's "opinions" he goes and changes them. People oughtta just ignore him, and realize that his opinions aren't opinions but just ways to get higher post counts.
AM3 has always made LB.Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Canuck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
your backhanding skills are coming along nicely
*sniffle* they grow up so fast
The fuck? I'm trapped into a corner with that whole thing. I think they're great games, however, they didn't leave any lasting impression on me, barring the music. I found the characters to be forgettable, and the plot to be great, despite me not really liking the characters in it. The core plots were just that strong. Rich, I don't see you putting your opinions forth on ANYTHING regarding Sega games in this thread, why don't you do that before calling me a tool. Also, as I have said time and time again, I don't care about post counts.
Excuse me if this has already been posted:
http://asx.pod.tv/sega/free/movie/ages1-5_cm_500.asx
Go here for a video of the first five Sega Ages games (ie. Phantasy Star, Monaco GP, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier and Golden Axe), all of which look pretty good, considering they are priced so low.
graphics PSII >>>> FFIVQuote:
Originally Posted by BenT
music PSII > FFIV
character designs PSII > FFIV (you can see them !!)
Phantasy Star II: Kare Razaru Toki no Owari Warini Sega 03/21/89 JP
Final Fantasy IV Square Enix 07/19/91 JP
2.5 years is a pretty big difference in time in a dev cycle for a game, especially at that time. i think that PSII was the first real modern RPG, and FFIV was the real vanguard of what RPGs could be after that.
there are so, so many things that PSII does right and does better than RPGs for years after it.
and PSIV is fucking awesome and holds up so swell. like sega is doing on PS2, digital eclipse/THQ should have skipped PSIII and opted to put PSIV on the GBA cart. though, i've had fun playing though PSIII on GBA. really.
Owned by Rich. Ouch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
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Originally Posted by Frogacuda
I meant AM2.heh heh Typo
My bad on the dates -- I thought PS2 was later in 89. I'll disagree on the graphics and especially music, though, much as I enjoy PSII's.Quote:
Originally Posted by ferricide
You're trapped into a corner because of your inability to form an opinion. You're a natural follower, and as such you deserve to be chastized.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
Speaking of forming an opinion, are you going to contribute one about the Sega games featured in this thread, or are you just going to bash me endlessly?
If I were Japanese, I'd be very excited. Also, I like the PS games, and I still will 5 posts from now. In other news, you suck. Now, make that opinion yours too, caboose.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
*Sighs
Let's see here... I get bashed because I say "meh" to the PS games. Why? In part, because, to me, remakes of them aren't as exciting to see as remakes for Last Bronx and Virtua Racing. Did I like the PS games? Yes. I liked them for their music, their atmosphere, and the fantastic plots. The only thing notable that I did not like about these two PS games were the characters, which I found to be a bit forgettable.
Sure they were deep, but in this instance, or instances as the case may be, that wasn't enough. The characters simply didn't click with me, while nearly every other part of the games did. Had I been given a chance to voice my opinion without having it torn apart immidiatly, things in this thread probably would have turned out differently.
You mean you needed more than your first post in this thread to say "meh" about the PS games? Did you expect people to give you a few days of space before they told you that they disagreed with you? Stop crying like you're the victim every single time someone doesn't share your ever-changing point of view.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
Yes, I needed more than one post in my thread to ADD ONTO the "meh", not to reiterate it. Hell, my initial post didn't go into any real detail about any of my opinions on any of the games. If I'd been given an adequate opportunity to revise the post, and give more backing and justification to why I felt that way about the REMAKES, not the core games mind you, this thread, as stated above, but revised here just a little bit, could have, and probably would have, turned out differently.
"I think Super Mario Sunshine is kind of "meh." By "meh" I mean that I love every single aspect of the game like it's my only child except for this one palm tree in the third level. That's what I should think though, right? Right...?"
TNL should add a rule to the rules page stating that "Jeremy's opinions cannot be adequately stated in just a singular post, for that is not nearly enough for him to completely elaborate his position on the subject. Please be kind and give him multiple post opportunities before disagreeing with him, despite the fact that everyone else on this forum is more than capable of creating complete thoughts in just one post. Thank you."
AFX, that's a heavily distorted view of what I was trying to get across, and by "heavily distorted" I mean completely bastardized and raped of all meaning.
I know you're replying now Jeremy, so I will go to sleep for the night and hope that by the time I awake you will have had more than enough time and posts to tell me what you really mean to say to me.
Sort of like what you do to the English language, except that it can't roll into a fetal ball in the shower and cry afterwards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeremy
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Originally Posted by ferricide
Not on PSII best day and FFIV's worst
imo FFIV's graphics are really nothing special, and it's one of my favorite games.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shin Johnpv
LOL! I've also noticed that there are drastic changes in Jeremy's opinion every 5 minutes or so.
And FFIV had much better dungeons than PS2 IMO.
I give it the nod for the pretty colors and awesome (at the time) use of Mode 7 effects. The SD sprite thing was also rather new to me, then, so I liked that too.Quote:
Originally Posted by ferricide
One one hand we have spectacularly animated enemies, artful cut-scenes, and a cool sci-fi aesthetic.
On the other we have squatty sprites, bright colors, and some mode 7.
Watch your back, Turner! I know where you live.
i would say that the non SD sprite thing was actually more original and interesting overall. the animated enemy sprites in battle in PSII are leagues and leagues beyond the tackily colored, blockily-outlined FFIV battle sprites. no contest on the anime-style cinematics either.Quote:
Originally Posted by BenT
overall i think PSII definitely has more refined and interesting graphics, although FFIV has more variety. IIRC, FFIV has more variety than FFVI, even. (FFV wins the SNES FF variety stakes, though, in my totally informal poll of myself based on somewhat vague memories.)well, no, you don't ... but i do, and i'm not afraid to tell you.Quote:
Originally Posted by thray-walsh
FFIV had an infinitely superior sound track to PSII. The main problem with the latter was that it was insanely awful in the gameplay department, tripe like Legend of Alon Dar(or whatever its name is) or Beyond the Beyond even play better than it.
The remake looks pretty neat though, I hope that they clean up the dungeons and the battle system.
xS, after that post you are so going to be on a last-name basis with thray-walsh.
(Welcome to the club!)
Phantasy Star II is the one game that I've always believed needed a remake. It was an amazing game, and yet still had the potential to be even better. Scenes like the Darum and Tiem bit have yet to be equalled in an imaginative sense, and contribute to it being one of the most well thought out RPGs ever - I still think it has a better story and setting than 90% of its genre, even if I'd count PSIV as my favourite.
However, they'd better not fuck up the ending, the music and, of course, Nei (see sig and av. One life, one death. If they mess that scene up then it'll be sad).
Phantasy Star IV I'm less excited about, because I don't really think it needs a remake. The music, art and script are pretty much as good as they can be already in my opinion, and I'd have serious reservations about anyone but the original team changing them. But, I'm willing to give it a chance if it gives these brilliant games a new lease of life.
I'm all excited now. PSII and IV are FAR superior to the first one if you ask me. Any word on a projected release date?
Phantasy Star 1>Phantasy Star 2. And stood more to gain by the remake too.
And I still disagree. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
Next time on TNL...People with Phantasy Star related avatars Versus the losers who don't.
I'm talkin' to you, Ben!!!
Ultimately, though, you probably 'had to be there' to truly appreciate the glory of PSII. Kids these days, sheesh.
The same applies to Phantasy Star 1 even moreso. It was beyond ground-breaking and easily blows away any other console RPG from the 8-bit era yet so many people playing it years later wonder what was so great about it.
It's the nature of the genre and the way it ages.
Yeah, the Phantasy Star series meant alot to me, and they really were the best of their kind in their day. Put I think the day Tales of Phantasia came out, it was clear that a new breed of RPGs were on the way. It's come a long way, the RPG genre.
Still, I really want to play these remakes, especially 1 and 2.
Oh, I was. It was my second Genesis game, and I was an early adopter. I wrote all over the maps of the Dezo dungeons to try to figure out where the damn pitfalls went. And the day after I got it, I missed a catch in a little league game because I had the opening theme repeating in my head ad infinitum and couldn't concentrate.Quote:
Originally Posted by thray-walsh
I just happen to appreciate FFIV more.
Freak.
I've always thought that this scene would have been cooler if they hired a better artist.=\
www.camineet.net/ps2images/ani-nei.gif
And Starflight was released 2 years after PSII, it's probably deeper than the whole PS series combined(yes, including that shitty diablo clone) and yet nobody payed attention to it. I guess this is why people think the Genny has aged... they play shitty old school RPGs like PSII and Popful Mail when they should be playing stuff like Alien Soldier.:P
Yeah, that's right. Compare Alien Soldier to Phantasy Star II. Am I even going to have to point this out?Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
Your ignorance is astounding; have you actually played PS I-IV (I don't even count PSO as part of the series any more)? Somehow, I doubt it. Either that or you just went into it expecting to hate the damn games. I mean, christ, with PSII Sega gave you some pretty good characters, a nice story and some set pieces to DIE for if you had the imagination to augment what actually appeared on your fucking screen. And that, you see, is the difference. In order to enjoy Phantasy Star II today you really need to think about what you're seeing, and look past the graphics of '89 and outdated battle system to the meanings, blah, whatever. I don't understand how people can argue that Final Fantasy VII has deeper meaning and pass over Phantasy Star II. It defies belief.
So, yes, maybe you would have found the Nei scene better if they'd hired a better artist. Quite frankly, I cared so much about the actual MEANING of the scene that they could have drawn her in stick figures and got the same emotion out of me. But, you're probably right. Stick a shitty CG movie in there and it MIGHT have been as meaningful as Aeris' death, which couldn't have moved me if it had been done in fully 3D virtual reality.
Most of time when someone says the Genesis has aged like shit it's either one of two things A) Nintendo fanboyism talking or B) they haven't even played half of the best games on the system.
Starflight has plenty of fans. They're just mostly PC gamers since that's where it originated.
Have you ever played Popful Mail? It's not an old school RPG, it's a Monster World clone. A pretty respectable one, too.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
God, talk about bad character design and worse art... FF7 was awful on both counts. PSII's artwork was good, but very 1980s.Quote:
Originally Posted by red_war_machine
I've played it briefly. I mentioned it because I remember someone bringing it up in some anti genny argument.Quote:
Have you ever played Popful Mail? It's not an old school RPG, it's a Monster World clone. A pretty respectable one, too.
FF7 is far from my favorite RPG. LOL not that I'm affraid of giving it that place so that I'll be less 133t on these boards, it's just that it is heavily flawed.Quote:
I don't understand how people can argue that Final Fantasy VII has deeper meaning and pass over Phantasy Star II.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/s...light=gameplay
I enjoyed PSII for a bit when I first got my Genesis, but it really has aged like shit. Do you honestly think that the dungeons and battle systems have aged well? And PSIII was boring as hell. PSIV was great though, but once again dozens of RPGs play better.Quote:
Either that or you just went into it expecting to hate the damn games.
*dances in joy for Last Bronx*
It's a Sega CD game anyway. Actually it's a Sega CD remake of an old PC98 game, I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
Wouldn't you say the same things about Shin Megami Tensei?Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
I actually played the game on my C-64 and later my Amiga. It just did'nt do much for me. I bought the Amiga version in hopes of finding the game a better play, because the C-64 version had more load time, than actual game time.
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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
I played "The Bard's Tale 1 thru 3" long before Phantasy Star 1, so by then it was been there, done that.
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Originally Posted by jiji
Get the Saturn version instead.
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Originally Posted by xS
I still hum the opening tunes to PSII and the character select screen as well. PSII's soundtrack will always be embedded in my mind, as a shining moment in gaming history.
IMO, Phantasy Star II and IV were the best of that series. Even though I had owned a SMS, I never bought the first one.
PS III didn't do as much for me as IV or even II did. The graphics actually managed to be way worse than PS II with relatively bad character art, and the title screen itself is downright boring. Not seeing your party on screen during the battles seriously detracts from the atmosphere. Although you don't get the blue grid that PS II has in its battle scenes, the backdrops for the battles are hideously rendered, lacking PS II's style factor. The battle music in III is pretty crappy. The "Generations" system was not a bad idea, but this cart should've probably been bumped up to 8 Meg instead of 6.
I'll likely pass on the remakes of PS II & PS IV for now, but do hope for a reasonably quick localization.
Yeah. But it's generally aged better as the battle systems were superior to PS's back when it was released. SMT2 supposedly has a lot better interface and all.Quote:
Wouldn't you say the same things about Shin Megami Tensei?
Further proof that Nei is the raddest character of all time.
http://meteo.rydia.net/cosplay/AX/Nei.JPG
Sort of a moot point when you put it on auto battle 90% of the time just to be able to navigate a room in a timely fasgion.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
I think that III was like II, but it tried to do too much, and so failed on all counts. However, I think playing III made me enjoy II a lot more, because it really shows the second game as being the lynchpin of the series - kind of the hub from which the stories of Phantasy Star, PSIII and PSIV all have their roots.
For just that reason, I'd like to see a remake in the same graphical style as the PSII and IV remakes.
The battles are a lot less painful than those in PSII. PSII is around about 50+ hours long, with around about one hour or so of story. SMT is about half the length of that game. Battling works kinda like in Diablo where alot of time is spent builing up resources and all.Quote:
Sort of a moot point when you put it on auto battle 90% of the time just to be able to navigate a room in a timely fasgion.
It would be great if PSI, II and IV were made into one whole, so that PSIII never existed.
I played PS1 and loved it. I bought PSIV for ~$100 new and loved it. I always meant to play PSII, and heard so many good things... I now have it on GBA and intend to play it, but I'd rather play the 3D remake.
I don't see why everyone hates PSIII so much. Yes, it was made by a different team and has a different look but it was still a damn good RPG at the time. Graphically it's the most impressive of the old PS games even though the art style is different. The "generations" concept was totally cool, i.e. choosing which woman to marry results in different characters in the next generation. The game was still designed very Phantasy Star-like.
Another person who loves PS1 and thought PS2 was merely okay.... The first person dungeon > overhead dungeon. :)
Wow, couldn't disagree more... especially about the graphics. Fugly crap compared to I and II. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
I didn't like the generation system either, because it tried to make me replay a game I hated.
*tries to banish loop of PS III battle music from his head*
I can understand not liking PSIII's art but the graphics are certainly more detailed than PSII.
http://www.dezoris.hpg.ig.com.br/ps_darkforce1.gif
Well, detail and style are two different things. It might have more outright detail (though I don't necessarily think that), but III is certainly far weaker aesthetically than II.
An objective review
Phantasy Star II
Ah, the days of the Genesis. That unique little system that seemed to fit oddly between the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Back in 1989 when Phantasy Star II was released the system's graphics and sound blew away the competition, but still it was scorned. Maybe fans of that chubby plumber felt threatened by our lovable hedgehog's attitude. Or maybe their heads were too full of thoughts of Dragonlords, rescuing princesses, and of Chaos to take notice of another little RPG series called Phantasy Star.
But wait a minute, who am I talking about? I was the one too busy with the NES and SNES to take notice of the Genesis. I was the one becoming enthralled with Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy.
Let's flash forward 12 years... 2001, Sega's cult following is diminishing, right along with their profits. Their next generation system Dreamcast, though arguably has graphics and sound just as good as the PlayStation 2, is not doing well enough to keep Sega out of the poorhouse. Blame it on poor marketing, blame it on a lack of variety of genres, say what you wish, but whatever happened, Sega had to stop production of the system, and to get rid of stock the prices were slashed. So there I was, in my typical wannabe game collector fashion, counting my cash hoping to have enough to get a brand new Dreamcast before I lost my chance. A couple weeks before doing so, a friend mentions something that catches my attention. ''Huh? Smash Pack? 12 games for only 20 bucks more? Awesome.'' So my decision was made. Not only would I get a nice shiny new system, but I'd see what I was missing back in those long forgotten Genesis days.
After fumbling with a A/V cable and my VCR for about an hour and swearing like a sailor the whole time, I finally got the system to work, and I put in my Smash Pack disc and started to form some first impressions. I thought Columns seemed like an addicting, though very difficult, puzzle game, I liked the speed in Sonic the Hedgehog, Vectorman had excellent graphics, Shining Force seemed like great strategy RPG, and then there was Phantasy Star II... My initial impressions? The graphics are ugly, the music is irritating, and the battle system is completely lackluster. But the final opinions one forms after spending a lot of time on a game are most important, right? That's what this review is for. I'll keep in mind the time when this game was originally released, but time cannot always be an excuse.
Not so surprising (and not so interesting) plot twists...
So what exactly is Phantasy Star II about you may ask? Well, imagine every RPG cliche you see nowadays, and you got this game. Of course, I can't go spoiling the story here, but let's just say that after seeing Phantasy Star II, Square went a little nuts with Final Fantasy 4. But can you really hold starting a cliche against a game? I mean, back in 1989 the story of Phantasy Star II was unique. But, hey, I don't tend to get impressed by RPG stories anyway. ; )
For those of you who must know about the premise, Phantasy Star II is about a solar system consisting of three planets called Algo. On the planet Motavia lives an orphaned young man named Rolf (you actually have to name him yourself. I imagine in the Genesis manual they called him Rolf since that's what I see on the internet, but the Smash Pack manual sucks and doesn't include such information.) He works as an agent for the government, which at the beginning of the game sends him out to find out why the once peaceful and beautiful planet (controlled by a computer system called Mother Brain [how original *cough**cough*]) is now overrun with monsters and plagued with weather problems. Surprise, surprise, this is the main character. While leaving, his companion, a part human/part monster woman called Nei, forces him to take her along. They explore the planet travelling through tedious, er... treacherous dungeons, and they meet lots of senile old men and two sets of long-lost twins! Well, not really, but they do meet six other characters who will join the party.
Laziness thy name is Phantasy Star II
The meat and potatoes of any video game is the gameplay, which is the battle system for RPGs. I could sum up my opinions on the Phantasy Star II battle system in one word: ''Eh...'' Okay, that's not really a word, but you get the idea. In Phantasy Star II you control as many as four characters at a time. You get the standard ''attack'', ''magic'', ''item'', ''defend'', and ''run away'' options. And how shocking, you have HP and the equivalent of MP, TP (toilet paper? Probably not, but it wouldn't be that inappropriate for this game *evil grin*).
What makes Phantasy Star II special, or rather, unspecial, is the way it's handled. Instead of giving each character orders, you give each a strategy, and as long as you don't press any buttons during the battles, they will continue to do those moves until the battle is over, or you die. And honestly, that's all you're going to be doing for 3/4 of the game. Set everyone to attack, and go get a cookie while the characters and monsters beat the snot out of each other. The majority of the battles in the game are easy enough that you won't actually have to heal during battle, nor do you need to use magic attacks. The game doesn't make you very inclined to either since you're given such little TP.
And then there's the fact that the magic spells are given such moronic names that it's impossible to figure them out unless you read up on them. I'm not saying that a developer should be uncreative and name a fire spell ''fire'', but come on, how about ''blaze'', ''eruption'', ''flare'', ''explosion'', ''volcano'', etc.? Something, anything that would indicate what the spell is. Instead you got to rack your brains trying to figure out what the heck ''foi'', ''zan'', ''rimit'', ''nathu'', ''sak'', etc. are. I still don't know what half of them do. ''Res'' heals, ''rever'' revives a character, ''anti'' heals poison, and ''foi'' attacks, but that's about the extent of my knowledge of the spells. Oh, sure, I've read a FAQ about them, but the names are so unforgettable that none of it stuck in my memory. I do recall, though, both from experience and from the FAQ, that a lot of the spells only do things randomly to the enemies. Sometimes a spell will work, sometimes it won't. That doesn't help in the struggle to actually tell heads from tails out of all of them.
But, anyway, back to the battle system itself. Late in the game you start discovering weapons and armor that will cast magic when used as an item. Sounds promising but all it means is that you use those over and over instead of your weapons. Ho-hum. The battles do get a bit more challenging late in the game, so you have to heal during the battle itself quite a bit. Trust me, it doesn't help end the monotony. You'll find yourself have to switch between using your weapon, magic, and items constantly. This means stopping the action every turn hitting ''order'' for each character, selecting him or her, selecting something from their individual menu, and then selecting yet another thing if you're using magic or an item. Granted, RPGs are all about menus, but the ones in Phantasy Star II just take too long to mess around with.
Phantasy Star II suffers from the fact that you're either simply viewing the battles or spending so long fumbling with uninspired menus that you lose all feeling of excitement and action. Throw in random encounters that occur far too often, regular enemies that show up in the same bunches over and over, and an almost complete lack of boss battles, and you got a RPG that literally puts you to sleep.
Can it get worse?
Oh, yes, it can. Okay, okay, I'll try to be lenient on such an old game's graphics. It looks pretty dang good compared to its NES relatives Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, but... the choice of colors and such at times is quite ugly. I guess the developers assumed the signs on shops weren't enough. They had to make them so bright red that they practically jump out of the screen and strangle your neck. The towns are also filled with buildings that you can't enter. Why? Other than to irritate the bejeezus out of the player, I don't know. Maybe the people in Phantasy Star II are smart enough to not let complete strangers enter their homes and fondle their stuff. That's a first. There are also lots of people with really good posture wandering around. It appears no one in Phantasy Star II is able to bend their limbs. The people are always willing to chat with you about how they don't have a job or that they love the smell of garbage. Be careful when talking to the senile old men, though. They startle easily, and then they'll shout at you. On the overworld there's lots of green and blue, oh, and there's some brownish-orange too. The second planet you visit in the game is covered with ice and snow.
Phantasy Star II has more pipes than a Mario game, and contrary to popular belief, that's not a good thing.
Phantasy Star II wins the award for ''most crap blocking your view in a video game''. I'm sure this is how the development went (in Japanese, of course):
Developer #1: Hey, dude, I figured out how to make layers!
Developer #2: Cool!
Developer #3: Let's put pipes and stuff in the high-tech places, so it's like you're looking down from the ceiling!
Developer #2: All right, man!
Unfortunately, the atmosphere soon turns to annoyance, when those pipes block your view of your characters, treasure chests, and the walls. The other layers in this game aren't much better. You want to see good layering? Check out Super Mario World, Super Castlevania IV, and Donkey Kong Country. Impressive and not a hindrance. Who would of thunk.
Too... many... palette... swaps... *dies*
I take it back, if Phantasy Star II wins any award, it would be for ''most palette swaps in a RPG ever''. It's used on the enemies, dungeons, non-playable characters, planets, you name it. Believe it or not, even the recruitable characters have palette swaps! Hugh and Kain have the exact same sprite, as do Amy and Shir. Now that is laziness. They couldn't have made two more unique looking characters? I think the dungeons and enemies are even worse, though. When almost every dungeon in the game looks exactly the same... I'm not a happy player. There aren't even any real puzzles to make the dungeons unique. Basically in 90% of them you wander around in a huge maze, either wasting hours drawing a map or printing one out (the latter being the wiser and more entertaining choice, in my opinion. The dungeons are boring as it is; I don't recommend you make the game even more slow-paced. I believe the Genesis manual came with maps of all the dungeons, so it's not really cheating if that means anything to you.), and you have to find one or more items that allow you to enter the next palette-swapped dungeon. As far as enemies go... well, Phantasy Star II has the habit of throwing three or so palette-swapped enemies at you all at once in an area, rather than spreading them through the whole game. I can't say that I like this much.
Decomposing rabbits
Rotting bunnies are fun. At least that's what the Phantasy Star II developers thought. The monsters in Phantasy Star II manage to be boring, unintentionally hilarious, and downright frightening all at the same time. First, the boring part. Phantasy Star II's monsters can be divided into three groups. Bugs, robots, and animals. That's it. For one large chunk of the game you're fighting pretty much nothing but bug-themed monsters, then just robot monsters, then just animals and some other assorted freaks. Each monster has their own unique animation (sans palette-swapped monsters...). That's pretty impressive for the time, so I got to give them that.
The monsters are supposed to be taken seriously, but some of them are just way too goofy looking. For example, in the ultimate epitome of laziness, they stuck an old monster on another old monster's head and called it a new monster. WTF? The robots are by far the strangest. The Metal Man and all its palette swaps looks more like a metal kangaroo with a nervous twitch. Last I looked, I didn't have a tail. Then there's another that looks like a duck-billed platypus shaking its head ferociously at you. Maybe I just have too big of an imagination.
On the second planet I had the ice cream scared out of me by those aforementioned rotting rabbits. Their animation shows their guts falling out of their bellies, and they scoop the intestines up and shove them back in. If that wasn't bad enough, the bunnies attack you with their guts. Sometimes you're poisoned by them too... Ewww...
Blasted Blasters
Here's a tricky category for me to judge. Sound. It's well-known that the games on the Smash Pack are little more than ROMs playing on an emulator, and the sound wasn't emulated well at all. It even skips at times. But when looking purely at music composition, I'm not impressed. Most tracks are irritating. When someone was around while I was playing I would actually turn the sound down low because I was embarrassed by the annoying music. When others did hear it, they definitely didn't have anything positive to say about the music. In all honesty, some tracks aren't too bad, but those that I do somewhat like aren't fitting for their areas.
The sound effects are even worse than the music. Though they're great enemies to use for leveling up, I dreaded encounters with the Blasters because their shooting sound effect is so freakin' awful and much louder than the music. The sound your characters make when hit is just well... a sound. It doesn't have any sort of bad quality to it that would suggest injury and it doesn't sound like anything else. It just... is. That basically describes every sound effect. Pick a random sound, pick a random action, stick 'em together, boom, Phantasy Star II sound effects.
Show me the way to go home... I'm tired, and I want to go to bed...
I can honestly say that I don't plan on ever replaying Phantasy Star II, and I'm the type of person who usually replays every game I own eventually. It just has nothing to offer to me. Unless I'm mistaken, there are no secret items, characters, places, or anything else to get in subsequent playthroughs. You never acquire any items after battle, and for the most part, there are none to be acquired in towns. As long as you return to Rolf's house every now and then to switch characters, you should get every recruitable character. Visit every town and scour every dungeon, and you'll get everything easily. Shir randomly steals from stores, but that's hardly what I'd call bonus or secret stuff. I also wouldn't play through the game again for the fun of it because quite simply it isn't fun to begin with. Phantasy Star II is like a fancy version of Dragon Warrior. You spend all your time fighting random battles to level up and acquire enough Meseta (money) to buy stronger equipment.
For someone who cut their teeth on RPGs with Phantasy Star II, this game probably brings back a lot of fond memories, but sometimes nostalgia can blind someone of quality. At times it can be fun to see the beginnings of video game genres, but these games are usually rather unrefined. This is the case for the RPG genre, which didn't truly become great until a couple years into the '90s (with a few exceptions).
For those who haven't play Phantasy Star II, I don't recommend you purchase the Smash Pack for this game. Get it for the classics on the collection that are actually good. If you really want another RPG for your Dreamcast, and you don't mind old graphics and sound, get the Smash Pack for Shining Force. It's by far the better of the two RPGs on the Smash Pack. Shining Force alone isn't worth paying 40 bucks for (the Smash Pack's MSRP), but well... I'll leave that for another review. ; )
Objective review, my ass. And not because he doesn't like PSII.
"I was the one too busy with the NES and SNES to take notice of the Genesis." = Worthless opinion. Frankly, I'm a little tired of newbies playing Sega games years later and thinking they know what the hell they're talking about.
Why did you post that "review"? It was ignorant trash.
The Genesis fucking sucks. The SNES(yeah, DKC>Sonic), TG 16, Neo Geo, PC FX, and even the Jaguar are all superior to it in every way. The only good Genesis game was that HALO killer... Zero Tolerance. The Jag has the infinetely superior WOLF 3D.
If that's objective then it's incredibly ignorant and written by someone who knows jack shit about the genre at the time it was released.
But like Neo pointed out the guy just seems to be an idiot with old Nintendo leanings who never played these games until last year.
RPGs are incredibly hard to review retrospectively, and that's not just Phantasy Star. Most of the RPGs made before like 1994 are virtually unplayable now unless you're driven by immense nostalgia, or fascinated by some aspect of the game enough to overlook glaring and frustrating flaws.
Picking up diffusionx's slack, I see.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
I was just being facetous with that review up there.=\ It's a GameFaqs reader review.
Here's an awesome SoTN review
With the Playstation, 3D gaming took the world by storm. Ignored were the Shinobi's, Guardian Heroes, and Darius Gaiden's on the Saturn. Battle Arena Toshinden, with its incredible 3D graphics, crushed all previous generations of gaming, leaving the ''HardCore'' gamers begging for mercy. Even Sega, the company that had originally envisioned the Saturn as a 2D behemoth, turned to the third dimension, focusing on Virtua Fighter and their own rendition of Toshinden.
The world had moved into a brighter, better age... or so believed the millions of new gamers who bought a Playstation and threw their SNES, Genesis, and NES in the closet. The HardCore yearned for a masterpiece - a 2D game that would prove to the world the superiority of the olden days.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was heralded, and still is spoken of, as that masterpiece. Unfortunately, it's actually a rather poor game that desecrates the hallowed name of Castlevania.
It all began on the PC Engine...
Dracula X: Rondo of Blood had long been spoken of as the holy grail of Castlevania, with complex levels, multiple player characters, and CD audio music. This game never saw the light of day in the United States (There was an SNES ''port'' though the levels and enemies are completely different). As the story goes, this was the final chapter in the Castlevania saga: the final death of Dracula.
Until Konami decided to ruin that sacred story by making SOTN.
Dracula has once again been resurrected along with his castle. Richter Belmont (the coolest hero ever) has vanished. When you find out what has happened to Richter -- it's such a disgraceful fate, that Konami should be ashamed of themselves for ruining the legendary ending from Rondo of Blood.
Not content just to make a mockery of the entire storyline of the Castlevania series, the game design itself is a travesty. Straight platform action has been thrown out the window, replaced with a giant mazelike castle/dungeon. Exploration is required, similar to Metroid. Items must be found, and your main character must ''level up''. Skill be damned - just earn enough experience and then you'll be able to fight any boss, taking only 1 damage (out of 900) per hit. How charming.
''It was humans who brought me here, to pay Konami money... er, tribute!''
Apparently the Belmonts had become too mundane for Konami's tastes, as this time around, you take control of Alucard, Dracula's son. Every single Castlevania game to date had featured a Belmont as the lead... until this travesty. Also, as anyone who has played Castlevania 3 knows, Alucard was supposed to have been gone. Forever.
But vampires are cooler nowadays than humans, so Konami said ''Screw tradition! Screw story! We want a vampire, dammit!'' Konami sold their soul for money, plain and simple.
''I demand you cease your bad voice acting!''
Dracula X (the PC Engine game) had incredible anime intermissions with excellent voice acting. The game was on CD - makes sense, right? Obviously the same would apply to SOTN. There should be cool intermissions and cool voice acting.
First off, there are no intermissions in sight. There is only straight, unfettered, gameplay. I'd have expected better from Konami (who brought us Metal Gear Solid, the perfect blend of cinematics with a bit of gameplay). This game should have been essentially a Castlevania movie: instead we're stuck with this exploration/kill/level-up nonsense.
Second, the voice acting is total garbage. From the prologue (the only good part of the game, since it's taken directly from PC Engine Dracula X) to the very end, all of the spoken lines vary from janitor-quality to sewer-alligator-quality. I swear, when the text box shows up onscreen with the words ''Why are you here?'' and Maria opens her mouth, it sounds more like ''Wahifgi sig osgirg gnrhisg?!'' Absolutely bloody awful.
Oh, and Konami also failed to include ''Vampire Killer'', the legendary Castlevania melody.
Gah. Well since Konami went the crappy gameplay route instead of cinematic, I might as well address that gameplay.
The gameplay sucks.
Not enough evidence to convince? Well imagine this. You run across a hallway, killing everything. In a normal Castlevania game, you would then open a door, keep going, and advance further in the game, and eventually fight a cool-looking boss. In SOTN, you run through a hallway and find a locked door. Which means you have to run allllllll the way back, through about four hallways that you've been through twenty times already, looking for items. If you find a boss, you need to run through the hallways fifty times just to kill enough (boring) enemies to level up enough to not die from a single swat of a boss's blade. (Speaking of the bosses, many of them are lame. One is a dorkel.. I mean, doppelganger, where Konami just re-used Alucard's sprite. How lazy.)
Castlevania: SOTN is one big clump of poo that you're better off not even touching. I'd hurl the game across the room (it's that bad!), but I don't want to get crap on my hands. So, I let my little brother have it. He'll break the CD eventually, and then all will be right with the world.
//Zig
Graphics: 4/10
Music: 2/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Replay: 1/10
stop dirtying this thread with your feces.Quote:
Originally Posted by xS
Isn't there a ROM hacked patch for PSII? Does anyone have any idea what it does?