Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Incline Phantasy Star 4

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
Surprised that this superb JRPG doesn't get more of a mention on here. Strongly urge anyone who hasn't played it to do so asap, as it's simply one of the best JRPGs, and RPGs for that matter, out there still IMO.

In fact the series as a whole is pretty decent, PS3 has a real charm and is something different, but PS4 takes it to another level.

Also, JRPGs seem to be (rightly) labelled as "cheesy/fluffy/cutesy/childish" nowadays, as if they always were. But there's been loads with dark under/overtones such as PS4, Shadow Hearts:Covenant, the SMT games. It's a different debate all together, but PS4 certainly falls into the darker category for me. The aesthetics may be a bit fluffy, but the story & plot itself have some real grounded moments.

And it also serves a great example of how leaving a gap between player & game for the imagination to fill in the blanks (so no voiceovers etc.) allow the player to set a certain amount of the tone of the game themselves.

Join us & share your love of this excellent RPG.




361885fd45fc30b45875c942e09530f9.jpg


77158016f2038d7dc413f699fd360cd4.jpg


f2e0c3cee92e7ef85156beaf85be5643.jpg


453fb114f74090b3be8327dde9f95305.jpg


22723c75ca1cc8123102f1da63402c42.jpg


hqdefault.jpg


2335M.png


PhantasyStarIV-02-740x275.jpg


images
 
Last edited:

Swigen

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,014
Alright. Bought Genesis Classics just for this game. Downloading it now. It better be as good as you say or I’m coming back and giving you what fer.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
Alright. Bought Genesis Classics just for this game. Downloading it now. It better be as good as you say or I’m coming back and giving you what fer.

Fine purchase all round chap. Some great games on there, including the Shining Force series. Any others which you are looking forward too?
 

Swigen

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,014
Alright. Bought Genesis Classics just for this game. Downloading it now. It better be as good as you say or I’m coming back and giving you what fer.

Fine purchase all round chap. Some great games on there, including the Shining Force series. Any others which you are looking forward too?


Yeah, I played it on Xbox 360 awhile back and there’s a rogue-like on there I can’t remember the name of and there’s a first person dungeon crawler I can’t remember the name of that I’m anxious to revisit. Also Kid Chameleon for nostalgia, I had that on genesis back in the day.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
Alright. Bought Genesis Classics just for this game. Downloading it now. It better be as good as you say or I’m coming back and giving you what fer.

Fine purchase all round chap. Some great games on there, including the Shining Force series. Any others which you are looking forward too?


Yeah, I played it on Xbox 360 awhile back and there’s a rogue-like on there I can’t remember the name of and there’s a first person dungeon crawler I can’t remember the name of that I’m anxious to revisit. Also Kid Chameleon for nostalgia, I had that on genesis back in the day.

Think there's a few key additions to the 360 version which make it an even better package. In fact let me have a Google..........

Yeah, the new version also includes:

Alien Soldier
Crack Down
Gunstar Heroes
Landstalker
Light Crusader
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Space Harrier II
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
ToeJam& Earl
Wonder Boy in Monster World


That's a pretty shit-hot list of additions, with a few genuine classics in there. Think I'm gonna return to Landstalker soon. Remember loving it as a kid, but I wonder if those isometric jumps hold up as tolerable nowadays?
 

Disciple

Savant
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Messages
269
Yeah, I played it on Xbox 360 awhile back and there’s a rogue-like on there I can’t remember the name of and there’s a first person dungeon crawler I can’t remember the name of that I’m anxious to revisit. Also Kid Chameleon for nostalgia, I had that on genesis back in the day.

The games you're thinking of are 'Fatal Labyrinth' and 'Shining In the Darkness', I'd wager.
 
Last edited:

Swigen

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,014
Alright. Bought Genesis Classics just for this game. Downloading it now. It better be as good as you say or I’m coming back and giving you what fer.

Fine purchase all round chap. Some great games on there, including the Shining Force series. Any others which you are looking forward too?


Yeah, I played it on Xbox 360 awhile back and there’s a rogue-like on there I can’t remember the name of and there’s a first person dungeon crawler I can’t remember the name of that I’m anxious to revisit. Also Kid Chameleon for nostalgia, I had that on genesis back in the day.

Think there's a few key additions to the 360 version which make it an even better package. In fact let me have a Google..........

Yeah, the new version also includes:

Alien Soldier
Crack Down
Gunstar Heroes
Landstalker
Light Crusader
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Space Harrier II
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
ToeJam& Earl
Wonder Boy in Monster World


That's a pretty shit-hot list of additions, with a few genuine classics in there. Think I'm gonna return to Landstalker soon. Remember loving it as a kid, but I wonder if those isometric jumps hold up as tolerable nowadays?


Fatal Labyrinth is the rogue-like and Shining in the Darkness was the blobber I remember. Just looked at Landstalker and the beginning cinematic shows those isometric jumps you mentioned, haha I dunno those look like they’ll be frustrating.

Checking out the Phantasy Stars now. It’s a little too much like “back in the day” as there are no goddamn manuals for anything, gonna have to look up what items and abilities do.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
I've been pretty consistent in mentioning ps4 whenever the topic comes up

its the crown jewel of the genesis rpgs for sure
 

Silva

Arcane
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
4,778
Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
I love it but then I'm a Phantasy Star aficionado. Don't know what someone who never played the series would find, since part of the fun is finding the references to previous games.

I'm coincidently replaying it right now with a friend who only played PS1 on Master System back then, and having a blast.

Oh, and you missed the best pic of the team:

images
 

Latro

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Messages
7,345
Location
Vita umbratilis
I'll dissent and say I actually didn't care for P4 all that much. P1 is a fun blobber, and P2 despite the insane maps is pretty fun. P4 is just really straightforward and kinda boring in comparison.
 

Swigen

Arbiter
Joined
Dec 15, 2018
Messages
1,014
The artist for PS4 made that chick with the fox ears crotch like, way too long.
 

Ysaye

Arbiter
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
771
Location
Australia
I'll dissent and say I actually didn't care for P4 all that much. P1 is a fun blobber, and P2 despite the insane maps is pretty fun. P4 is just really straightforward and kinda boring in comparison.

I also prefer PS1 and 2 over PS4 but its not a bad game, just a bit of a let-down if you came from the earlier games which were less linear and obvious in general. The presentation of the comic scenes is a nice touch though (I wonder if that was an influence of the artist turned director Rieko Kodama?).
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
PS4 is a bit railroad but it's well-paced and there's little/ no grinding until you get to the end.

Of course the game is more meaningful if you've played the previous three games. I went nuts when Wren showed up, for example.
 

Eggs is eggs

Learned
Joined
Mar 12, 2015
Messages
256
The hero of PS1 is Alis, but PS4 has a character named Alys. I always thought that was needlessly confusing. And both the names are different in Japanese: Alisa and Lyla.
 

Silva

Arcane
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
4,778
Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
I'll dissent and say I actually didn't care for P4 all that much. P1 is a fun blobber, and P2 despite the insane maps is pretty fun. P4 is just really straightforward and kinda boring in comparison.
You're right about it being straightforward/railroady. But I find it more pleasant here than in say, Bioware stuff (at least it doesn't pretend to be some soap opera shit). And the story is really good if you know the previous entries in the saga.

Also, combat is the best in series and addicting as fuck.
 

Falksi

Arcane
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
10,538
Location
Nottingham
I'll dissent and say I actually didn't care for P4 all that much. P1 is a fun blobber, and P2 despite the insane maps is pretty fun. P4 is just really straightforward and kinda boring in comparison.
You're right about it being straightforward/railroady. But I find it more pleasant here than in say, Bioware stuff (at least it doesn't pretend to be some soap opera shit). And the story is really good if you know the previous entries in the saga.

Also, combat is the best in series and addicting as fuck.

See I like that old school format of linear until about half way, then opening up for exploration & side-quests. PS4 is linear at the start, but it soon offers a fair amount of said exploration & side-quests. I think it's got a great balance.

There were a lot of 90's games which seemed to nail the balance which I enjoy.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Yes. Phantasy Star 4 is one of the greatest JRPGs made, and it's the reason why it's so painful to look at what the Phantasy Star name devolved into with the Online shit. :(
 

Melcar

Arcane
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
35,222
Location
Merida, again
Yes. Phantasy Star 4 is one of the greatest JRPGs made, and it's the reason why it's so painful to look at what the Phantasy Star name devolved into with the Online shit. :(
I liked Phantasy Star Online. Nothing like grinding countless hours with my kid brother dungeon after dungeon full of waves and waves of tiresome enemies with carefully synchronized attack patterns.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk
 

Silva

Arcane
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
4,778
Location
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
See I like that old school format of linear until about half way, then opening up for exploration & side-quests. PS4 is linear at the start, but it soon offers a fair amount of said exploration & side-quests. I think it's got a great balance.

There were a lot of 90's games which seemed to nail the balance which I enjoy.
Yeah, it does open up more at some point, but I miss the relative calm of PS1 where you had this overarching goal but nothing really pressing you to hurry up.

I could never engage PS2 and 3 fully. Something in their vibe put me off, I don't know. Maybe it was their aesthetics, which departed from the nice balance of fantasy and sci-fi from PS1 (and which PS4 also nailed).
 
Joined
Nov 22, 2018
Messages
289
The older I get, the more I think PS4 is actually the best RPG of the 16-bit era. The Genesis RPG's seem to have a much more mature tone and presentation than the SNES games, and though at the time I played the shit out of Chrono Trigger, FFIII, Mario RPG, etc., I only plowed through the Genesis RPGs basically to say I finished them. Now, I wouldn't bother going back to Chrono or FF, but watching a video on PS4 had me emulate that shit and not stop until the end.

The only thing I really wish could be better is the music, because the Genesis sound chip is just not up to good music. The graphics, plot, and the presentation are sublime.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom