Phantasie series

[mondblut]

https://www.gog.com/game/phantasie_memorial_set?source=news

Wtf? Why did they have to use crappleII version when there is one for Atari ST?

 

[negator2vc]

Seriously???!!
9.75€ for such low effort!
They did even bother to have linux or macos versions!

 

[Lucas]

We waited SO long.....For this.

I'll gladly spare 8 bucks just to recognize the work of Winston Douglas Wood, but then it's back to the emulators for me.

 

[Francois424]

I was afraid that would happen. Barebone effort, and worse that what you can get yourself with emulation.
Sure took me a while to get good, uncracked and fully workable versions (had to create my own Phantasie3 disc using STEEM and my own original discs I still own (I dont even remember how I did it, it was like 7-9 years ago, back when I still had a floppy on my PC), but then I was fully set-up.
The only 2 reasons someone would get these would be 1- playing the old dos/apple versions because those are your favorite, without requiring an emulator. And 2- If you don't own the originals, for 12 bucks you can now be honest about it and say you do and supported the original creator, which is a very good thing in itself.

But we didn't get the Wizardry treatment, nor the Bard's Tale treatment, and not even the Unity Remake of the Final Fantasy Pixel remaster treatment.
In plain English, we got shafted.

At the very very least, they should've used graphics/sounds from the Atari Versions, and include full mouse/keyboard support with the P3 shortcuts/letting us customise keys (like "F" for fight, "L" for lunge then "1" thru "3" for rows).
Without changing anything else, this would have been the basic thing IMHO. Next would have been to use the third's game engine for better graphics all around and play the other 2 games in, but I get why some ppl would have hated that.

Darnit, Darnit, darnit.

 

[octavius]

What a rip-off.

 

[__scribbles__]

Very disappointing. What's the point of paying for this instead of just getting the games from an abandonware site?

 

[negator2vc]

Is there a fan made engine for these games that allow them to be played without resorting to emulators (including dosbox)?

 

[negator2vc]

Very disappointing. What's the point of paying for this instead of just getting the games from an abandonware site?

When a game is available for sale it's usually removed from the most popular abandonware sites (for ex. myabandonware).
In the past I considered moves like these (making old games available for sale in ready to play packages) a good thing, these days not so much

 

[Francois424]

Is there a fan made engine for these games that allow them to be played without resorting to emulators (including dosbox)?

Not that I know of, no. Basic games avalable from Abandonware website or other emulation, but I was hoping this would be like "Final Fantasy pixel remaster" which ported the game thru UNITY and no longer needs emulation to play on PC.

So not even using best version, and my money is on the bugs not being fixed (especially bad for Phantasie 2 tho never played the Apple2 version)

 

[__scribbles__]

In the past I considered moves like these (making old games available for sale in ready to play packages) a good thing, these days not so much

Agreed. If you know about Phantasie and are planning on playing it, it's very likely that you're already familiar with emulation.

They aren't really gaining anything by just putting the originals up for sale. By and large it's not emulation hassles that are keeping a wider audience from playing retro CRPGs.

 

[Francois424]

They aren't really gaining anything by just putting the originals up for sale. By and large it's not emulation hassles that are keeping a wider audience from playing retro CRPGs.

Well, back to waiting until we get a proper re-master of the original 3... with maybe games 4-5 later.
In times like this, this is when I felt I should've gone into computer game programming and stuff... Then I could do like that guy remaking FF1 (FF1 renaissance) and make my own port.
The only gain from this is ppl trying it out of curiosity, and maybe we gain a few more ppl curious about the series. Or just a tiny weenie chance that whomever in charge of this bad idea decides to actually make a proper version next time, assuming there is a next time.

 

[mediocrepoet]

The Phantasie Memorial Set is out now and apparently is just the DOS versions of 1 & 3, plus the Apple II version of 2... so there's absolutely no point in getting this.

God what a buzzkill.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Very disappointing. What's the point of paying for this instead of just getting the games from an abandonware site?

When a game is available for sale it's usually removed from the most popular abandonware sites (for ex. myabandonware).
In the past I considered moves like these (making old games available for sale in ready to play packages) a good thing, these days not so much

Ohhhhh…. You could still maybe do it in the high seasof Captain booty! Yarr harrr harrr. I have all the old roms and only a few I have failed to get running to satisfaction (mac, pc98, 88…. jap computers)

Yeah, huge huge disappointment.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Just casually searching my old emulator stomping grounds shows a lot of erased sites and content. Meh!

 

[DISKDOC]

Having just beaten all 5 versions of the game in the past year, and nothing new from this package, not even all the same machine to transfer toons across the first 3 games...I'm going to have to pass on giving them money for what we already had. If there isn't something new...new graphics, new coat of paint, a port. What they did with wizardry with original graphics in the corner and upped graphics to enhanced the gameplay on the main screen would have been worth $10. But not 3 games bound in a wrapper I can download myself in 2 mins time. Maybe we will get a proper one someday.

 

[Sotomonte]

What a shame, I was also hoping for a pack that would allow you to play different versions of the Phantasie games.

It's not worth paying €9 for this... I can spend that money on buying any of the other releases they've made.

For example, for €10 I can get Prophecy of the Shadow and Star Command

https://www.gog.com/game/prophecy_of_the_shadow?source=news
https://www.gog.com/game/star_command?source=news

 

[newtmonkey]

What a missed opportunity, and obviously the work of yet another garbage collector scooping up rights to games and bundling them with an emulator without any understanding of what they are doing (why the hideous DOS versions of I and III, and the Apple II version of II??? It breaks the ability to transfer your party through the trilogy). I wouldn't be surprised if they just downloaded this stuff off of an abandonware site, themselves.

 

[GaelicVigil]

Does GOG have some kind of contract or license where they are not allowed to do non DOS ports of old video games? I don't get why every version of their software cannot be the best version or at least include multiple platforms of the game.

 

[DISKDOC]

Does GOG have some kind of contract or license where they are not allowed to do non DOS ports of old video games? I don't get why every version of their software cannot be the best version or at least include multiple platforms of the game.

I think most of the emulators use disk images and rom/ram images taken from the actual machines, usually those have rights you have to pay to use. You are SUPPOSED to rip the required images from your own paid for working devices. The fact us as users just download someone else's ripped images to use and make the emulators work, doesn't make it legal, or resellable for a game platform. The DOS games with a dosbox free to use wouldn't cost GOG anything to put out. Also AFAIK, GOG just repackages games with update packs and typically removes the DRM. I thought like steam, GOG was just a hosting place to buy things, not the creators that put the game packages out.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Only true enthusiasts will give this old game the facelift it deserves fixing old issues, upgrading to an appealing interface and maybe adding QOL for modern players. But hey, I’d also go for the option to switch on the fly to any of the old versions (so long as certain bugs were addressed). Nothing is stopping someone from adapting this as a pet project. Considering Final Fantasy took a few cues from Phantasie; an RPG MAKER version could be constructed. Hell, I recall way back when I tried to make ultima 3 in FRUA but with the standard AD&D mobs provided.

 

[GaelicVigil]

Only true enthusiasts will give this old game the facelift it deserves fixing old issues, upgrading to an appealing interface and maybe adding QOL for modern players. But hey, I’d also go for the option to switch on the fly to any of the old versions (so long as certain bugs were addressed). Nothing is stopping someone from adapting this as a pet project. Considering Final Fantasy took a few cues from Phantasie; an RPG MAKER version could be constructed. Hell, I recall way back when I tried to make ultima 3 in FRUA but with the standard AD&D mobs provided.

What is wrong with the interface?

 

[Francois424]

What is wrong with the interface?

- In the AtariST version of Phantasie 1 and 2, you have mouse support, but no keyboard support (well, except for recording your character's name), you need to use the mouse for everything and anything which slows down combat tremendously, and make certain actions (such as Distributing loot in the Inn) easy to mess-up by misclicking.

- Also in P1/P2, the game loses memory of what your characters did each time you rest at an inn. Meaning you have to tell every characters, one by one, what to do again on that first encounter. During the course of the game, it adds up.
All of these issues were fixed in the Phantasie 3 game. So fixing and streamlining the performance of said interface.

- Also another good point of the 3rd game is you had basic papersheet of your character on the right-end side of the screen (With body part damage in said 3rd game). Back then it took lots of room and a "hide" button would've been great, but with the larger screens, I'd like to have that always on (with yes maybe the hiide button too) for all 3 games.

- The 1st and 2nd game had larger maps (especially the 1st one) which you revealed as you explored, feature that was removed in the 3rd game, it should be added back.

- Using potions/spells only allowed one spell/potion. Meaning if you needed 4 casts of healing, you had to go thru "Cast Spell" > "Select Character" > "Select Spell" > "Select Target" > ("Target is healed" but without telling you how much, you had to get out of that part of interface to see how much HP).... Then often enough the spell that could heal from 1-100, healed for 20 and you start from begining again.

- The third game allowed to save all dungeon progress in the map. The 1/2nd game only kept your most recent dungeons. Meaning if you had to go back (as you usually did) to do other things later, you'd have to redo the entire dungeon to complete the sequence you later get sent back to do. You also got the CHOICE to load or not the map of a previously explored Dungeon when entering, and an option to save it when getting out. Need that in previous 2 games.

- A save/recall/reroll function for character creation would be sweet... As of now all three games are like the healing sequence... Select race, select class, get a roll, accept/refuse and start over. Oh you want a minotaur? Sucks to be you, select RANDOM at race selection until you get a minotaur (which can only be 2 class for w/e dumb reason, give all classes pls) and if said minotaur sucks, reroll 20 more times until you get your next minotaur.

- The level-up interface of the 3rd game (in town at trainers) is 100 times better than the previous 2 games, the Archery skill / archery weapon selection of the 3rd game is MUCH better than 2nd game and should be in all three, Spell learning interface is MUCH quicker and easier in the 3rd game.

- The 3rd game has a constitution bug where anything below 10 penalizes you, but anything above 10 gives you no bonuses (as opposed to the other 2 games). It also prevent your stat going above 22, 23 or 24 (I forget, I want to say 22, but it might be 24) even when getting the very limited quest rewards supposed to get your stats up. If the game hardcodes it to be impossible tro get above 22 (let's say) interface needs to warn you and not screw you over. It should be like 1-2, no cap.

- The 3rd game has improved bestiary graphics (like every graphics) of the previous 2, but lacks A LOT of monsters that never got brought over, they could/should get added back in the 3rd one (use all same bestiaries for consistencies) with better graphics too.
Also, races like Kobold and Orcs from the first 2 games got their racial graphics merged into one in the 3rd one and it's not really nice. Other races got HUGE graphical upgrades(Trolls, Gnolls, Pixies, etc)... But Orcs and Kobold got the short end of the stick, Much like missing monsters above (and Orc/Kobold are monster races too) they need their pixel art to be added back in their proper glory (edit: I think halfling/gnomes art got merged too, not sure tho)

- The last one is controversial as many hate it, but I want an option for bodyparts/hit location in all 3 games (it's only in the third game). Let me pick it from the menu.
On the same note as the previous, maybe an optional difficulty slider for 1st and 2nd games. P1 and P2 were much harder on Apple/C64 than Amiga and AtariST. I want the option to suffer more please :p

- Kindof on the subject of the interface too, but kindof optional... The tileset is much more gorgeous in the 3rd game, I even drew the map of the first game with the tileset of the third one for fun and it looks simply amazing. Would need additional town tiles if you want everyone to be unique but there's enough already to keep a good variety. We could use those tilesets for the map instead of a pre-painted background.

- Then comes the limit of 65'535xp limit per character per sortie, and the 65'535 gold limit per character in the bank. Both fixed in the 3rd game, so yeah, I want that too.

Stuff like that, making it quicker, more constent between games.
There's room for a lot of improvement without changing the core of the game, just making it better all around.

My 2 cents,
( oh and I have a TXT file of all improvement for such an endeavor I did a few years back, it's quite massive, but the basics I have listed above )

EDITED for clarity/spelling.

 

[mediocrepoet]

P3 location damage sucks ass. Otherwise 100%.

 

[Francois424]

P3 location damage sucks ass. Otherwise 100%.

Yeah I love it but I totally get that not everyone does. Which is why it should be optional in the difficulty settings menu

 

[mediocrepoet]

P3 location damage sucks ass. Otherwise 100%.

Yeah I love it but I totally get that not everyone does. Which is why it should be optional in the difficulty settings menu

Having a low level party of quadruple amputees is an acquired taste.