RF Generation Message Board

Overview:
One of the earliest story-based games with a large play time, and one of the earliest RPGs to have a female protagonist. Combining a mix of overhead and first person perspectives, Phantasy Star was ahead of it's time for graphics and pioneered many staples in the RPG genre.

Playthrough Notes:
This game has a fairly high difficulty level and a long play-time (up to around 30 hours roughly). I highly encourage trying to play without any walkthroughs or maps, but I expect we'll need them at some point or other. If you're stuck try to ask help here first and we can figure it out together, let's leave the walkthroughs as a last resort! I recommend graphing paper to hand-draw the dungeon maps like it's 1987 again.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection DO NOT USE THE ORIGINAL IN-GAME SAVE FEATURE. It doesn't work, you have to press select to bring up the compilation disc menu (where you can "reset" game and other options), and select "save game" from there instead, which saves to your actual PS3 or 360 hard drive. If you try to save with the in-game option it'll work while the system is on, but as soon as you turn it off it'll forget everything you saved. Whenever you die or restart your system you need to use the same select button method of loading the file, and it'll bring you right back to where you last saved.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL:
For those playing on one of the compilation releases or who don't have a manual for their SMS copy, this will be extremely useful. Download it from the link below by clicking on the blue arrow next to where it says download. Requires Adobe Reader (.pdf).
http://replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.3240

Platforms:
 - Sega Master System
 - Nintendo Gameboy Advance - "The Phantasy Star Collection" (I'm not sure how much might differ on this one compared to the original and later releases as it's on a handheld, not recommended just in case but is still an option)
 - Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox 360 - "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" (unlocked by beating the first boss of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with 2 players. Turn on a second controller and select the 1 player option, then beat the boss. Second player doesn't have to participate for it to work, just has to be there.)

Checkpoints:
Week 1 - Add Noah to your party (~7 hours)
Week 2 - Find and get the Hovercraft and Flute (~6 - 8  hours if you don't branch too far off the clearest path)
Week 3 - Finish Medusa's Tower (optional - get the Laconian Sword and Frad Mantle if you don't already have them)
Week 4 - Complete the game!

Participants:

• techwizard
• douglie007
• JerryGreenwood
• EngineerMike
• ericeskapade
• singlebanana
• Addicted
• Disposed Hero
• h1ghw1nd

Hosted by Techwizard

Has the game been decided? March is less than a week away. I'd like to know if I already own it, I need to scramble to find it, or if it doesn't interest me.

I've submitted the front page article for this month and I'm waiting for it to be reviewed by a staff member.

All I can say is that it's a Master System game.

I'm for phantasy star

I see it now, Fleach. I'm in.

I hope that people who have never played Phantasy Star can appreciate how advanced it was for it's time.

Paging techwizard, your car is parked in a no parking zone. Please report to the Phantasy Star playthrough thread.

sorry for the delay guys, first post is now up to date! first checkpoint will go up March 1st. ignore that it says Fleach posted, as i modified it with my content so it's essentially my post now ;)

Sign me up

I am in! Never played a P. Star before and looking forward to get my rarely used Master system out of the box. I am not sure now: has the Master System region-lock? I will play a Pal-Version, that was a little to expensive, but i want to participate in this experience this month.

i'm not sure how region locking is on the master system, someone else will have to answer that one

ok, i found this on several-game-sites: Master System games are region free between the US and the UK. I looked up the US and UK prices: it seems at 40 €/ 55 $ i didn't overpay to much for a CIB here in Germany.

I need to find my graph paper note book that I used to draw up every map... before the days of the interweb

The Banana is in of course and very excited to play this one. SO excited, in fact, that I started a few weeks ago. Hey, someone has to play ahead to help with checkpoints for you wastoids! :)  Anyway, I am taking notes so that I can discuss the game with you guys and not throw in any spoilers. As I've told the playthrough guys, I was a Nintendo kid growing up and never knew anyone with a Sega console, SMS or otherwise. Sega consoles are like having a completely new library for me in my late 30's, which is AWESOME! I actually purchased Dragon Warrior (NES) at release and absolutely loved it (insert geeky D&D paper background here)! I'm really excited to see how this compares and looking forward to discussing it with all of you. Happy Gaming!

I won't be playing along on this one, but have played through it before. I'll be curious to see what everyone thinks, and I'll be chiming in a bit as things move on. No spoilers though...

Count me in. I'll pick up from where I left the game though as my gaming time is very limited due to parental duties.

I'm in.  Now I finally have some motivation to play the SMS that GrayGhost sent me  :)

Agreed. A walkthrough will ruin your experience. It is harder ("puzzle"-wise) than Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. I expect all new comers to be stumped at least once.

Drawing your own maps are a must near the end of the game and probably useful as early as the second cave.

I've never played the GBA version, but I've heard it's much easier grinding-wise. Also, the graphics are different so the animations of the monsters are probably different and that was one of the more charming things about Phantasy Star. Furthermore, if you play the GBA version, you will be missing out on some of the greatest sound effects in video game history. I'd STRONGLY recommend NOT playing this version.

If only i had my FM mod in my SMS already for the play through.. is it ok to play it on the Xbox 360 genesis collection? I will play my original but I thought I would ask for others that doesn't have the SMS

douglie, you should be fine playing the Genesis Collection version. It doesn't offer any major differences.

@douglie i'm playing on the PS3 genesis collection, like shadow said i don't know of any major differences.

for everyone who's playing the "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" take note in the original post of the red text "Important note", you'll regret it if you didn't already know it.

right on time: the postman just delivered my copy of "Phantasy Star", a free friday afternoon, the flat is already cleaned, coffee is served..I think I'll gonna check in on the Algol Star System now :) Have fun lads!

Sounds like a great way to spend the day. The first checkpoint should be up soon.

first checkpoint will be up at midnight my time tonight, PST (GMT -0800). feel free to get started early though :)

Just thinking about tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be Fun :)

First checkpoint is up! remember to save often especially in the early game when you can't handle much fighting. You could get away without graph paper on the first dungeon (Medusa's Cave) but from the second and later you'll definitely need it unless you have an extremely good sense of direction.

I checked my save and it works. Now to figure out where I am in the game.

On my way to:

Spoiler (hover to show)

find the gas shield and the flute

I spoke with Miki about Sega games....  ;)

are you playing on the original or Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection? the save issue i noted was only for the Collection version, the original cartridge should have no problems saving

Sounds like your about halfway through the game Addicted.

@techwizard: The original. I wasn't sure the battery in my SMS cart was still good.

@singlebanana: That's good to know. I'm currently after an axe for Odin.

You're cruising, Addicted!

I'm going to start tonight, but I'd like to point out a few subtle things that  help make Phantasy Star probably my favorite game of all time.

- The overworld/dungeon BGM continues to play on mute during a battle. It fades, then the battle theme starts, then after the fight the overworld/dungeon BGM fades in again, not from the beginning, but from where the track is as if it never faded in the first place. A very MINOR detail that I can't think of any other game doing. In an early RPG where multiple battles can occur within a few steps, I think this is a positive to help keep the song fresh, rather than replaying it from the start after every encounter.

- Fleach pointed out that this is one of the first games that had a female protagonist. It's also one of the first games with cut scenes and it might be THE first home console game to have them. I can't think of anything on SMS, NES, Atari, etc that came before it.

- As far as I know (I haven't played many PC RPG's), this game invented 2 common RPG mainstays. (If you've played 10 minutes on Motavia, you can view spoiler).

Spoiler (hover to show)

1 - talk to the game person multiple times for different results & 2 - The "undefeatable" boss

I'd be interested if anyone can think of an earlier game with cut scenes or an earlier game regarding my spoiler.

- Nearly every NPC has something useful to say. Whether it's a clue, a description of what's going on in the world, or something that adds to the atmosphere, there are very few NPC's have meaningless info like "I like pizza!" or "I'm a dancer!"

- The enemy animation. It's unbelievable. Aside from other Phantasy Star's, when is the next time an RPG enemy has any sort of movement? 8 years later in Chrono Trigger is my best guess.

Just some food for thought  :)

Wow, I didn't realize that about the music. That's really neat.  The NPCs do give good information in this game and really help drive it. I also noticed  the animations and think it really adds a  nice touch to the game. I've started keeping a small notebook and pen in my game room so that I can write down things I notice while playing. I suggest everyone do this so that we can  a good discussion after the playthrough is over.

I also want to mention that the beginning of the game can be a little frustrating for those who may of not played it before. If you get stuck, please, PLEASE, send one of us a PM for help or look at a walkthrough. We want everyone to enjoy their experience this month and don't want anyone to put the game down in frustration. Try to keep up if you can, since getting behind in a 30 hour game can be tough to make up. Enjoy!

This is my first time EVER with this game, and so far it's reputation hasn't let me down. At first, the difficulty seemed very high, but I got over that and spent a good chunk of time playing. It definitely has a lot of appeal and is very good for an 8-bit/SMS RPG. I am going to try and keep up as I have been struggling to finish with the last few Community Playthroughs. 

Since the game allows for four saves I would highly recommend that you use:

One save for your main game
One save before you enter a dungeon,cave etc
One save for the start of each floor. That way if you get turned around/lost you can reset to the start of the floor

I also highly recommend

Spoiler (hover to show)

Picking up an extra wand as it can be used as an item for 100% escape rate.

Does anyone know what max level is for this game?

Nevermind. Max Level is 30.

Grinding levels before I

Spoiler (hover to show)

Go after the crystal

After playing for almost 3 hours yesterday, I am:

Spoiler (hover to show)

about to enter the cave north of Scion

lots of great points/info Jerry! i agree this game was pretty revolutionary for the time.

i took my first 90 minutes in the game last friday- had a look at the menues, the villages and some little fights on the over-world-map. now I am unsure what to do exactly:

the task at the beginning, is to find that ODIN somewhere and for that you have to interview all that people standing around to get clues? right???

@ericeskapade: By talking with the townsfolk you should find out that:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Odin left for the cave to the south of the starting town to fight Medusa.

Here's some art:

[img width=700 height=560]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AZlonkQd-4Q/UQtNPNSDtiI/AAAAAAAABb8/NzOjLkfnwYU/s1600/VMPHS3.png[/img]

[img width=520 height=473]http://e-shuushuu.net/images/2010-10-27-338467.jpeg[/img]

[img width=700 height=495]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3y1rxayuQ1rtpi34o1_1280.jpg[/img]

Try this as well, since I think this may be where you are stuck.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Before entering Medusa's cave to the south, you need to have your second party member who is found on another planet. If you do have this party member, you need to go to the town to the east of the start and bug the salesman until he sells you the "SECRET" (just keep trying to buy it) after he sells it to you, check your inventory to see what the "secret" is. That should give you a good idea about what to do next.

I made it up to checkpoint 1 over the weekend.  I've never really played a Phantasy Star game before, so I pretty much went into this one blind.  The game felt impossibly hard at first, with me barely being able to make it through a single battle without dying.  However, I persevered, and after leveling up, earning money, and buying better equipment, I was tearing through the enemies. 

I have had to resort to a walkthrough once or twice to figure out where to go next.  And even with graph paper I still tend to get a little lost in the dungeons.  I wonder if there is any software out there now that would be good for mapping out these dungeons....

Anyway, I'm really enjoying this one so far, much more so than I thought I would  :)

I have a very small tip and I'm not sure it has any validity, but in my long history of playing this game I've found the following to be true. The spoiler won't spoil the game in any way, it'll just save a little frustration.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I find that it's very hard to run away from Wing Eye's, Owl Bear's, and Golden Lens's (the enemies that are eye balls with wings). They often come in large packs and their attacks are a little slow and monotonous. Even at a high level, I'll just fight them rather than trying to run away. Again, there is no proof of this, but I've played this game a ton and those particular enemies stick out in my head. The Green, Red, and Blue Slimes (guess which planet has which) might be hard to run away from too.

I extend a hearty gauntlet applause to those of you who are braving Phantasy Star without a walkthrough or the use of dungeon maps. I'll be the first to admit that while I am not using a walkthrough, I have been using dungeon maps for this game. Being a full time employee, husband, and dad really limits my free time and I'm trying despirately to avoid the frustration of a dungeon crawler and using graph paper. Were I younger, I would concede to that "punishment" as I did in days of yore, but alas, the sands of time and this commitment will not allow it to be so. The main purpose of these playthroughs is to enjoy the games as a group and discuss them, so for those of you looking for good dungeon maps, here they be:

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/sms/ps1/dungeons.shtml

Yes, the beginning of the game is very hard. I grind in the 3 block area right outside the city wall and heal at Suelo's house after nearly every fight. On level 1 encountering a Scorpion will probably result in death.

Please ask us where to go next. We'll lead you in the right direction rather than blurting it out where to go like a walkthrough does. It'll be more satisfying. As for the maps, it is difficult. As a kid, I didn't draw maps because I couldn't grasp the concept that each step would equal one block on grid paper. As a result, later dungeons took me forever to figure out but I got a lot of EXP and it saved me from grinding later on.

To help map making less tedious, I don't do it block by block, step by step. If I walk down a long hall, I just draw a long line as an estimate. If I make a right turn and walk 4 places and run into a staircase, I'll just draw a short line and my staircase symbol. As long as you are halfway decent at estimating, this method should work. It's sloppier and less accurate, but much faster.

Glad you're enjoying it!

Punishment? I imagine that's what Heaven is like!

I don't have kids yet, so I have much more time to mess around in a cave. I understand work and family must come first, but I wish you had the chance to get completely frustrated tooling around the same corridor for hours, then finally seeing a doorway and as you approach it, you get such joy because you know you finally found your way.

I have a HUGE warning to people using online maps. DO NOT use a map near the very end of the game. It will definitely spoil something. It's hard for me to explain when you should stop using the maps because my explaination will spoil it. I guess, when you think you're near the end, stop using them. Or better yet, try exploring dungeons without a map at first until you get disoriented.

I tried exploring for quite some time in one of the dungeons before going to the maps. To my amusement??, when I looked at the map and noticed how simple it was, I almost slapped myself. I have no orientation when it comes to things like this, but ironically, you can put me in some complex mall or overwhelming parking lot and I always come out on top. It's the damnedest thing!

Good to know about the end. Thanks.

I found that using the

Spoiler (hover to show)

compass

helped me get my bearings in the dungeons.

I thought about asking here for some direction before consulting a walkthrough, but this forum isn't a 24/7 help hotline, and I didn't want to be stuck wandering aimlessly for hours before getting a tip on where to go next.  I might have had time for that when I was a kid, but not anymore.  :)

I'm definitely not going to be using any maps for the dungeons.  That just doesn't even sound appealing to me.  I think I'll use your advice about not drawing the whole thing block by block.  One of the biggest problems I have while mapping out the dungeons is the long hallways will often cause me to run out of room on the page.


I didn't even know you could do that.  I'll have to try it.

i didn't know that about the compass either Addicted! will have to give it a try.

i agree about the difficulty, it's very high for the first few levels at least but once you gain more party members, level up, and get better weapons/armour things will go much smoother. for anyone that's getting a bit confused about where to go next i find it really helps to be writing down bullet points of what tips you've received from townspeople. that way you can refer back to your notes when you're not sure where to go next instead of having to revisit every town to hear the same tips again. also make sure you talk to literally everyone in each town, so many of them give useful tips.

@ banana - yes, when you're in a cave it's hard to figure out. Then you look at a map online and it looks like a maze on a Denny's placemat.

@ Disposed - I've run out of room on paper too. When I do, I'll mark it with an A or whatever and start a new map on a different slice of paper with an A, indicating that those are linked. Also, l will try and be your 24/7 hotline :) 

@ techwizard/all - re: townspeople info. In most cases, people in blue houses give more important info than people in yellow houses.

You guys should just try something like Virtual Graph Paper: http://www.garrettbartley.com/graphpaper.html

Do I need the magic lamp? And what does it do?

Yes. It is

Spoiler (hover to show)

a permanent flash. In other words it's a lantern allowing you to see in unlit dungeons.

The lamp allows you to see in dungeons without having to use Flash. Pretty useful, but not essential if you don't mind buying/farming Flash. Be sure to check out the instruction book which has good descriptions of all the items. There is a link to it in the initial post if you do not have a physical copy.

@ Douglie - I highly recommend buying the Magic Lamp. It's a hassle if you forget a Flash before entering a cave. Also, I think some towns don't sell Flashes, so if you forget you'll have to back track even further.

@ All - About to get my 4th party member. This is usually the last cave I don't make maps for. It's difficult, but doable.

- Another MINOR detail that most people don't notice. In the real world, people from hot, desert climates have brown/black hair. Everyone on Motavia has brown/black hair, no blondes on the planet.

Thanks, I will save up and get it, also for the maps, I downloaded mosaic builder for my phone. It lets you save it as a png after your done making it if you want. Here's one[img width=700 height=437]http://i.imgur.com/Yy47p9P.jpg[/img]

Wow! That's really awesome douglie. Never thought about using a phone app. Perhaps someone should create this type of dungeon crawler app if there is a niche for it. I assume tabletop players could use it too.

WARNING: Last night while playing, I had difficulty locating an item that I knew was in a certain area. It turns out that the only way to "activate" it so that it is searchable, is to talk to an NPC and answer a question a specific way. My advice is to everyone is to talk to EVERY NPC and answer EVERY question with each option. That way you will be sure to unlock items without having to backtrack.

I forgot about that. It's so tricky that it stumped me the first time I replayed this game.

What item was it?

Was it the

Spoiler (hover to show)

Dungeon Key?

Actually, it was the......

Spoiler (hover to show)

HOVERCRAFT.... I had to make my way through the Casba dungeon again and say "Yes" to the guy who talked about the hovercraft. Apparently saying, "No," meaning you haven't heard of it and letting him tell you about it, is not enough to make it available when you search for it.

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of app I was looking for.

"Alis's hope can not overcome the power of Lassic...." :) read that a lot, but now with the cat by my side i think i get a feeling how to go on with the game.

@douglie007

thanks for the app-hint. before i read it, i draw an own map...now i nearly have an exact overlay :)

@all
100 mesetas for a spaceride...nice!
it reminds me of a friend telling me today, he would relive Felix Baumgartner's Stratos Space Jump by opening a can of Red Bull Energy Drink and than zooming in on google maps as fast as he can :)

Yep, it's easy to die in this game. Fortunately, you can save anywhere. I think it was techwizard who suggested keeping a few different files. It's very easy to stray too far from a town and then realize that you might not make it back.

When you're low on HP, it can be a very tough decision whether you should fight a battle and hope to come out alive or to run from the battle and risk being blocked, which would screw you even harder.

@All - Speaking of getting out of a battle, have you guys figured out some enemies you can Talk with?

I discovered that you can Talk with the farmer enemies on Motavia, but it just ends the battle.  Is there ever a reward (money, items, etc.) for talking with certain types of enemies?

I noticed some of the things the farmers say seem to be hints, but not always. otherwise I think it's just a safer way to run if you know it's an enemy you can talk to. the manual also mentions something about Myau eventually getting the ability to talk to some creatures that Alis can't.

edit: just gave this one a try that was mentioned earlier, http://www.garrettbartley.com/graphpaper.html , and it's great! so much faster than the pencil and paper method I had been using before. my only problem is I have no laptop, just a desktop PC which is across the room from my TV. so that could be a problem but I really want to use this so i'll make it work

I

Spoiler (hover to show)

climbed a tower where I found a magic orb and key.

At the top of the tower I

Spoiler (hover to show)

 found a castle in the sky

I

Spoiler (hover to show)

fought my way past a Golden Dragon

and ended up

Spoiler (hover to show)

facing Lassic

After which I decided to vist

Spoiler (hover to show)

the governor who had become an evil entity called Darkfalz

Thus

Spoiler (hover to show)

saving the day and ending the story of Phantasy Star 1

I'm glad I had a chance to play this game. Thanks for the RFGEN community playthoughs!  8)

Special thanks for Duke for recommending I track down a copy of Phantasy Star.

So I got Noah! Woot ! Got lost in his maze a few times trying to get out :)

congrats...will be there at the weekend, too.

@ Addicted - I'll admit, there was something in this game that stumped me for 10 years and I wouldn't have figured it without the internet. I'm curious if you figured it out by yourself....

Spoiler (hover to show)

Actually 2 things, I had no idea Myau's trap spell could disarm dungeon traps, but I think it says that in the manual so I must've just forgot. The real trick which I think is near impossible is the false wall/door near the very end.

@JerryGreenwood: I had to look it up as

Spoiler (hover to show)

I barely used any of the spells in the game until the very end. It's the grind it out mentality I have to LRPGS/JRPGS since I played the original Dragon Warrior. By the time I reached the Baya Malay tower I was able to steamroll my way through.

Spoiler (hover to show)

If you are talking about the door on the side of the wall at the end of the Governor's mansion I had to look that one up as well. The entire game teaches you to look for doors in alcoves, not on right there on a wall. If you don't turn exactly to that spot you'll miss it.

There were three minor things that annoyed me about this game:

1. Having to decide whether or not to open a treasure chest at the end of every battle. I found that if I hit the B button it defaulted to open and I didn't have to choose.

2. Not being able to sort my items. I realize this is probably to early for a game like this to have this option.

3. Having important game items in the same spot as consumables. Again I realize this is probably to early for a game like this to have this option.

Again a great game for it's time with some minor flaws.

@singlebanana: If you've already obtained

Spoiler (hover to show)

the hovercraft

you're plowing trough the game. Nice work!

Nice work douglie! Keep plugging ericeskapade. ;)

I agree, but I won't admit it because this game is perfect in every way  :)

But seriously,

1 - I can see that, but I'm so used to it that it doesn't bother me. Obviously they give you the option because of the traps, but I don't think I've ever declined opening a chest. I guess you might want to if you are low on HP and are worried about a trap.

I don't know if this is what they were going for, but in my mind I think they used the traps in chests in lieu of having enemies that poison you. They probably weren't thinking this way, but if they were, then bravo, because I hate being poisoned.

I understand that chest traps don't have that big of an impact on the game and it could save a few seconds if they just gave you Meseta's in the text after the experience points. But I like the visual of seeing a treasure chest in a field or in the woods or in dungeons. I'd like to hear others opinions on this because I KNOW I'm too much of a fan boy for this game. 

2 & 3 - You're right. I think it's natural to compare this game to Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. Dragon Warrior came out in May 1986 and Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star came out in Decemeber 1987 (all JP dates). All of them have game items in consumable spots, however I think you can sort your items in FF, I can't remember.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

wow addicted! 5 days to beat it, you know you love a game when LOL congrats though! glad you enjoyed it :)

if anyone has trouble with the cave at the end of the week 1 checkpoint feel free to use this map that i drew myself: http://i.imgur.com/KrkqSsg.jpg

not everything on the legend applies to that cave, i used one legend for everything.

@Addicted: Glad you enjoyed it, and wow that was a quick play through.

Spoiler (hover to show)

The trap spell thing for the floor traps in the last dungeon stumped me for a while back when I played this. The game didn't really require you to do that at any point, so it had just slipped my mind.

Also, did you grind enough early in the game so that you could beat Dark Phallus?

@Duke & techwizard: Something that happens once in a lifetime occurred this past weekend. My wife and son were visiting grandma & grandpa and I had a little over 48 hours to do what I wanted.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I originally thought I needed the diamond armor for Noah, Odin and Alis so by the time I hit endgame I was overleveled.

Managed to get Noah. Back in Camimeet until the next checkpoint :)

Nice Mike, I'm around the same place. What weapons/armor do you have? I'm lightly equipped for the area we're at.

Alis - Titanium Sword, Light Armor, Leather Shield
Myau - Iron Fang, Thick Fur
Odin - Needle Gun, Iron Armor
Noah - Wood Cane, White Mantle

I'll be honest. I'm one of these guys who plays an RPG and will not leave an area until I have the best gear available. This is probably why I am having no problems in dungeons (good gear/overleveled). I had the diamond armor before I even picked up Noah. If you are looking for a good place to grind for coin early on....

Spoiler (hover to show)

The forest around Parolit, the town south of Camineet (the starting town), is full of vampires. If you can catch them in groups of 4, you can get 200+ in coin in one battle.

CHECKPOINT!

what irritated my a little bit, is that you can't choose which enemy you attack when there are multiple. so there is no "taking down one after another" like in so many other RPG's.
And the trap doors suck... they made my loose my way, even i already tried to map it.

But overall i have to say: i like this game. it still can catch you, no matter the graphics and stuff. so that is what defines a game for the ages. playing it, sets me back in that "summer holdidays-beverages by the side-just play and discover"mood i dig about retro-gaming

@ Jerry Greenwood: i have nearly the same gear: but no "Iron Fang" , and for Alis and Odin Ceramic sword and shields .

@singlebanana: I'm the same way, and I used the same method.

That annoys me too.  I always like to allocate my attacks to try and take down enemies as efficiently as possible, but it can't be done in this game.  I just have to shake my head when my strongest attacker (Alis) wastes her attack on an enemy with almost no health left, when they could have been taken down by one of my weaker attackers.  It hasn't caused me much of a problem though in this game, just a minor gripe really.

I had the same problem about falling through trap doors.  At that point, I just set my maps aside, say 'screw it', and charge on blind.  Fortunately I've always still been able to find my way, although I may not be so lucky in the more complex dungeons later on.  Can't really fault the game on that one since it's obviously a design choice.  They want you to feel disoriented after falling through the floor.

As far as equipment, I believe I currently have all of the best gear available to me right now with the exception of the diamond armor.  I didn't feel like doing the amount of grinding required to be able to afford it, and I feel like I'm already a little over prepared as it is.

I couldn't disagree more about the battles. I love that you can't choose who want to attack. I like hitting Attack and letting the chips fall where they may. It's a gamble, it's rolling the dice (figuratively and literally). I think it makes the battles much more exciting. I find myself rooting for certain members of my team to hit certain enemies. When it works out the way I want it to, it's THAT much more satisfying. If you could choose who you wanted to hit, I think it would hurt the game a lot. It would make the battles very dry and too calculated. But I understand that most people probably don't feel this way. I much prefer this method than whiffing an attack an already dead enemy, a la Final Fantasy.

Speaking of battles, there is very little in video games that satisfies me more than landing 4 (or more if you use a gun) hits in a row to finish the battle. The speed of the strikes and the sound effects really tickle my fancy.

The traps can be frustrating, but it's part of the challenge of the maze. They aren't random and they drop you in the same place every time, so if you're drawing your own maps, you can make a note of where they are.

(I've been doing all mazes without maps so far. Again, I'm pretty experienced in this game so I vaguely remember the layouts the earlier dungeons, but I might need to start drawing my own soon. I'm going to try and beat the game without maps, but that is VERY hard near the end)

@ ericeskapade - I'll give you a tiny hint. You can get Myau's Iron Fang now, but it's not in stores. PM me if you want a little more info on that.

@ banana - I can't believe you grinded THAT hard to get the Diamond Armor. You're a maniac!  :) I usually get that when I naturally accrue 15,000 mesetas. Also.........

Spoiler (hover to show)

Did you mean the forest town of Eppi instead of the forest east of Parolit? There might be Vampires east of Parolit, but I think there are more Owl Bears. Near Eppi, the Vampire population is more abundant. Another good spot in the shore near Scion. Fishmen give a lot of experience and mesetas and usually travel in large packs.

I'm not a big fan of not being able to choose the enemies either. However, you have to remember that this game was released very early on and was one of the first (if not the first) to have multiple enemies; Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) only allowed you to battle one enemy at a time. I think it works fine and is a great example of sort the natural progression of fine tuning RPG's.

I didn't grind that hard to get the diamond armor (maybe 30-45 minutes) with a full party. The town I was referring to in my earlier spoiler was the one directly south of the starting town and below Medusa's Cave. I may have gotten the incorrect name off of a website. You may be correct.

Eric, I'd suggest finding the Iron Fang. It's a slight aggrevation, but will really help you progress better in the game.

 I have Zirconian Armour I believe, for Odin and Alis, but the rest is the same

Iron fang is semi-ridiculous to acquire but SO worth it. Makes Myau on par with Alis with the damage done.
 

Just out of curiosity. Did anyone fight the

Spoiler (hover to show)

optional boss in the cave south of Scion (Iron Fang cave)

?

i haven't actually done much in that cave yet, i started exploring it then died and realized i hadn't saved for a while, so i haven't been back yet...really should as i'm well past there now.

week 2 checkpoint is up! this week has a lot of possibility for exploring and doing non-essential things, so the time estimate and checkpoint are extremely rough estimates.

I got the Hovercraft, LandRover and Flute 2 days ago, and I have been running around trying to find the next thing to do, any help.. do I go to the Medusa's tower now ?

I would try

Spoiler (hover to show)

searching for something that will allow you pass through the gas fields of Sopia.

That's a very good recommendation Addicted. You'll need a certain something before going to Medusa's Tower douglie.

Not yet. In fact, there are a few things you can do before that. The below is not much of a spoiler, but a slight nudge in the right direction...

Spoiler (hover to show)

You can do 2 things on Palma before Medusa's Tower. One of them you can do before or after Medusa's Tower, one of them you must do before Medusa's Tower. You have access to these things, you just need to explore the planet a little more.

Spoiler (hover to show)

You can do 4 things on Motavia before Medusa's Tower. Two of them you can do before or after Medusa's Tower, two of them you must do before Medusa's Tower. You have access to these things, you just need to explore the planet a little more.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I would start with the Palma thing you must do.

Do not read below unless you're past Medusa's tower

Spoiler (hover to show)

The second time I played through this game, I did not get the Gas Mask. My memory was positive that the Gas Mask was in Scion somewhere and I had to embark from one of the docks in town. So I never got it, bought a bunch of Burgers, and eked my way through the poison gas. You don't have to get it, but it's part of the game so that's why I implied that douglie MUST get it.

thanks to all of you, I think Im going to keep grinding for now, I still dont have enough for the Diamond Armor Im at 8000. @Addicted I think I found that already. 

@ Douglie - If you found the thing Addicted was talking about, did you find out how/where to use it?

It's been a little quiet in the last few days on this thread. How are we progressing gents?

I think I'll reach the checkpoint 2 in 3-4 hours of playing-time. I got the Iron Fang (as you suggested), and had them "upgraded" now into the Silver Fang. I did explore Palma a little bit more, and now have the Spaceship...I think I will expolore a little more to get the flute and the hovercraft.
I played on an older tube-tv with better colours, which made the game even more fun.
And the Manticor-enemies for example "chat".

Did you find any other already?

I'm playing on an older tube tv too, but the other night my TV (hopefully not my SMS) started flickering and making a bad sound so I quickly turned the game off. I've been too scared to turn it on again, but tonight I'll summon the courage.

***OT - I've been meaning to ask this for a while. I've had a problem with either my systems or my TVs lately. I used to play my Genesis on a big flat screen and sometimes after 20 minutes or so the screen would dim and it would eventually be unplayable. I assumed it was my Genesis because no other systems did this. Then my other systems had the same problem so I switched TVs. I went to a old tube flat screen and it worked great, but then my PlayStation started having the same problem. I was able to "fix" this by slapping the side of my PlayStation, but still, I shouldn't have to smack my PlayStation every time I want to play. And as I've said above, I've been using a CRT with Phantasy Star and now this is having issues. Is it all my TVs or all my systems or a combination?***

I think the only enemies you can TALK with are the North Farmers, East Farmers, and Barbarians.

You can CHAT with Manitcors,  Sphinx' (plural of Sphinx?) and Tarantulas. Off the top of my head, I don't think you can CHAT with Ant Lions, but you shouldn't be fighting them on purpose anyway.

I'm assuming you have TELE for Noah and this is not a spoiler. With TELE you can communicate with 3 different enemy types. I'll let you figure it out :)

I'm still plugging away at this one.  I forgot that we actually had checkpoints that we were supposed to stop at, so I'm way ahead right now.  I'm actually pretty close to the end of the game.  Specifically

Spoiler (hover to show)

I just finished Medusa's Tower and am currently in Baya Malay.

Yeah, you seem to be nearing the end Disposed. Good luck!

I actually finished the game last night. :)  A very enjoyable playthrough if I say so myself. Very glad that I had a chance to play this classic.

@ Disposed - Prepare for an extreme challenge.

working on sorting out a week 3 checkpoint so i've been playing ahead, really enjoying this game! so much going for it with only a few negative points i can think of. i'm scared of the challenge singlebanana and jerry mentioned up ahead but everyone is at least level 22 or 23, and he said he finished the game at 25 so i'm not too worried.

Week 3 and 4 checkpoints are up!

Haven't played in a few days. I will hopefully try and catch up to finish.

keeping the forum-noise alive:

i went to checkpoint 2 last saturday and will test out the ice planet before entering Medusas Tower. The Laconian sword and Frad Mantle are already in my inventory and i needed some extra grinding to finally get them. The Marauder-Magic and "Nessie/Giant Snake"enemies with the fire-attack against my people have been proven to be to strong in my first tries.

Do you guys still have fun and found the litte SEGA easter egg?

I think that because this game is so non-linear, it's a bit of a challenge to set checkpoints in which everyone will have the same gear and will have finished the same dungeons. The ice planet has several dungeons and will take up a lot of your time, plus the final dungeons are very difficult to navigate.  Luckily, we have a few more days during this month to beat the game, so I hope that everyone will buckle down and finish.


I don't think that tackling the ice planet before Medusa's Tower would be a problem, but you're not going to find the item you need for Medusa's Tower there. If you don't have this item, shoot me a PM and I can help you obtain it rather quickly if you're interested. Good luck!

marauders have given me the most trouble of any enemy yet, with androcops being a close second. that multi-hit magic of the marauder is pretty devastating, and on both them and androcops the magic barriers that noah and myau use never seem to last.

i think i found the easter egg you're referring to

Spoiler (hover to show)

is that the woman that talks about how great SEGA games are?

also i'm sure it wouldn't hurt to go to the ice planet but it's definitely not needed for Medusa's Tower, i finished that without ever visiting the ice planet

Yeah, I thought this might be the Easter egg he was talking about. Talk about breaking the 4th wall.

yes, finished Medusas Tower...the boss fight seemed easier than all the Androcops and Marauders before.


yes that is what i had in mind. It reminded my of the funny localizations Nintendo did for example with the german Version of SNES- Secret of Evermore, where the game starts in "Großostheim" (the HQ of Nintendo,Germany back then) and not in "Podunk" like in the engl. versions.

So all the time left to get from checkpoint 3 to finish the game...looking forward to it!

I finished Phantasy Star a couple of days ago.  Overall I enjoyed the game quite a bit.  Now I'm interested in checking out the sequels on the Genesis  :)

Awesome! Great to see people finishing up and moving toward the end.

I know my participation in both Playthroughs isn't obligatory, but I would have loved to play this game with you guys. I know I'll get to it some time and I know I'll really enjoy it.

congratulations! i still have yet to finish it myself but plan on pushing to have it done by sometime this weekend. Fleach i'm sure you'd love it, definitely one you should try someday.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cfc2sk0989vev2i/rITIBjqoUd

these are every map i've made up with the online graph paper site Duke linked to earlier, it covers everything up to the end of week 3 (that i've done). refer to the "Map Legend" file for what the colours mean, and also i forgot to include any of the traps so there's still an element of difficulty in using these but they should help anyone who gets lost.

it helps to use list view (the button with horizontal lines in the top right above the files), that way you know the proper order to view the graphs as each one is labelled and numbered in the filename.

so do I want to go up or down in the Medusa's Tower, I have been wondering around it for 2 days :)

@ Disposed - I hope you do! The general consensus is that Phantasy Star IV is the best one, but personally it's my least favorite. PSII is easily my favorite 16-bit RPG and in my opinion, it has the greatest soundtrack in video game history. However, some people don't think it aged very well and it requires A LOT of grinding. PSIII is clearly the black sheep. It barely has anything to do with the rest of the series. It is a HORRIBLE game on so many levels, but I still like it due to nostalgia. 


@ All - I'm looking forward to hearing some of the criticisms!

Put in some (catch-up) time yesterday, and made it a little further, but still doubting I will finish this game before April.

so how did everyone do with the week 3 checkpoint?

i think i must be getting near the end, finished with everything on Motavia and Dezoris, and everything on Palma except Scion Prison and Baya Malay. i have all the best equipment for everyone, and the Laerma Nuts. saved and stopped at the entrance to Scion Prison.

I will have it done tonight, just stocked up on Burgers and going through the Tower one last time.

finished Baya Malay tower, onto Lassic's Castle...first time i've had to look up maps, i'm not sure if i took a wrong turn or what but i somehow managed to get back to the first floor and leave the building when i thought i was making progress.

beat it! wooo!

loved this game, it wasn't anywhere on my radar as one i was interested in playing but i'm so happy i did. i have Phantasy Star Online (Ver. 2) for Dreamcast, makes me want to play other games in the series.

Awesome! Congrats on finishing.

If I had a nickel...

Glad you enjoyed it, Tech! Hope you get to try some of the Genesis games. I HIGHLY recommend PSII.

Sega Genesis Collection on 360/PS3 should net you most if not all of them, I think.

seems most of the participants reached the ending...nice! will catch up in maybe 5 hours of gaming. I am looking forward to check out my PS4 copy for Genesis, too. Maybe the PStar 2 will be played before... But in April it is first "Stick of Truth/ 360" time in my game room.

@ericeskapade - Keep it up! If you're going to play some Genesis games, I'd go with Phantasy Star II first, as it's a chronological sequel.   

@ All - It's possible to kill the Sacubus when you take a nap at the Governor's Mansion when you first get to Motavia. It could've been a nice achievement, but I forgot to mention it at the start. I've never done it and I think it would take 10-20 hours of grinding.

i had considered making that an achievement but i wasn't sure if it was possible! that's really cool. in the end i didn't feel like this was the sort of game that really needed achievements, just beating it was enough.

I'm boned, beat the guy in the palace and no magic for fly no transfers left and I saved after I got out ... Booo

I've done this before. It is a letdown, as there is no reward and it doesn't change the story at all. Wining or losing gets you to the same place.

feed Myau the nuts again, he'll fly you back down...i really hope you see this before giving up and going back to a previous save.

Mayu is dead. I my last other save was before I got the Armor and shield, so I have about 6 hours to get to the end, so I guess I will try and beat it before the 1st.

oh wow, that really sucks man. i'd suggest next time saving at a point where you know you have enough magic/items to completely escape from the dungeon, and then don't save again until you're safely back in a town on the ground.

Yeah, these old games are brutal. I ran about 4 different save accounts up near the end.

oh right i forgot to mention that when i beat the game everyone was at level 27, and that felt like the appropriate level. the difficulty wasn't too high or too low.

Yeah, I checked and initially said I was level 25. I was actually level 23.....the ending was a "squeeker" for me. :)

wow, i can't imagine beating it at that low of a level. were you running from most of the random encounters leading up to it to save health/magic?

Yes, I was running from about everything in the last "major" dungeon. With an inability to regen mana and the s@$tty health upgrade that burgers provided, it a total conservation effort. Luckily, it worked out without any major grinding on my part.

Also..........   I R LEET

ya even with a full page worth of burgers it was only good for fixing up everyone once to near full health. the only enemies i regularly attempted to run from were mammoths and reapers (reapers rarely blocked my escape)

Sorry, too easy..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdXfkkyI1nQ

have my party at around level 22-23 and have been to the end-fight with Lassic, but with nearly no Magic-points left i was no match...i will try to run a little bit more from fights like you suggested...think on sunday i am through with the game,too :)

Like I said, I really eeked through the game at that level. I would suggest running, or grinding a bit to get your levels up. My understanding is that the mammoths on the ice planet give the best XP.

finished

congrats!

Awesome Eric! Nice work.

And DONE :) with a day to spare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvUrHA5IFj4


my video of the finish ;)  I didnt know how to embed it in the post

Finished yesterday!

awesome mike and douglie! glad to see lots of people finishing it, the end can be pretty frustrating. also Douglie i fixed your link for you so it would embed properly, hope you don't mind me editing your post like that :) embedding doesn't like "https", make it http instead and it usually works

Really nice work in finishing the game douglie and mike. I'm happy to see so many of our participants getting through it. Can't wait to start talking about this and hearing everyone's thoughts on the game.

Some of you may know that this game (or PS II) is my favorite game of all-time. I fully believe that if the Master System was as popular as the NES or if Sega hadn't become an inept company in the mid 90's, that the Phantasy Star series would be the premiere RPG of all-time. I also believe that if you guys had the chance to play this game in 1989, you'd feel the same way. I have nostalgic ties to Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy too, and I think PS  beats them both.

I admit I'm blinded and I cannot think of too many negatives. If I had to pick the games weakest point, I'd say it's the lack of magic and it's effectiveness. In DW and FF, using magic was vital. I RARELY use magic in battle in PS, although Myau's HELP spell is super powerful.

Speaking of magic, what did you have Noah do against Lassic and Dark Falz? There's always been debate whether using Wind or Thunder is more effective. I can't say for sure, but I think Wind is actually better.

As for the good, I'll keep it short and sweet....
- 3 different planets with their own environments and music, awesome.

- NPC's with useful and interesting things to say, awesome.

- The end when you think it's all over and then you fall thru a trap and the (awesome) tower music starts up again and you scroll thru a dungeon with the credits on the wall, soooooo awesome. The first time I saw that I think I broke a beer bottle over my head and cheered at my TV.

- All of the "RPG things" this game invented. I think I listed a few on page 1.

- The "liar town" on Dezoris, so cool. And then if you go left in the Ice Cave and fall down all those traps. Oh man soooo freakin cool.
 
I got more, but I don't wanna blow it all at once.

Dezoris... Dezorian... wait a second.

fairly sure wind was the better attack for a single or small number of targets. it seems to do more damage per hit, but it only hits 3 times no matter the number of enemies (I think it was 3). thunder on the other hand is weaker per hit but always hits every enemy the same way Odin's guns do.

have to agree about the credits sequence, that was one of the most awesome credits sequences I've seen on an 8 bit game.

the only major negative for me is how every dungeon has the exact same look besides colour, there's not much variety. though it makes up for it with the amazing 3D visuals which were very well done.

Having that second wand in the inventory, sure was handy at the end.

Yeah, I too used wind over thunder and thought it was much better for the boss battles. I liked the credits sequence as well and is something you never saw in the high majority of NES games.

I hate dungeon crawlers and still do even after playing this game. For me they are just extremely disorienting and frustrating. However, I loved the overworld(s) experience and story of PS, but like most early RPG's (even my beloved Dragon Warrior) it's not a game I would come back to often.

I did like the helpfulness of the NPCs and thought that the game flowed pretty well, though there were a few trouble spots. Enemy battles were very fun and I very much enjoyed the animated action screen that you don't get with most early RPGs. Beautiful sprites and tight animations. Treasure chests were annoying and I thought were pretty time-consuming and useless. Do you want to open this? Well, duh.....

All in all, I'm super happy to have played this game and it really makes me appreciate what Sega was doing and how much effort they were putting into their games at that time. Nintendo definitely won the marketing war in the mid to late 80's and as such, the SMS is almost an ignored console. It's quite a shame and because of games like PS, I'm definitely going to be digging into and filling my SMS library.

Yup. Bland box art for most of the library (although I thought the plastic case idea was very innovative), letting Tonka (?) handle all the NA marketing, and lack of 3rd party titles really hurt the SMS. There are a few gems though if you look hard enough.

Yeah, the hard casing was a great idea. Is is just me, or is the SMS box art kind of awesome? I collect SMS CIB for that reason. I know it's "griddy" and generic looking, but the uniformity of it is kind of cool. So nostalgic for me.

I find it necessary to collect SMS CIB. Those loose carts look BORING.

I loved playing this game again, if you watch my video ( thanks for fixing it tech) I used help on then wind.  We need to do psii soon

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

i have could "copy and pasted" the art for the MS-gamecovers by gluing random comic characters into my math-notices :) but i like them,too. when i imagine how shining force had blown me away when i played it around 1994, i think if i had gotten my hands on Phantasy Star right in 1987 it would have immediately become my favorite game back then. The graphics still don't hurt your eyes nowadays Maybe it wold have been little bit to difficult, if you never ever have played these kind of games before. but you would have been sunk into this adventure-world as a kid completely, i am sure. so i fully understand how jerrygreenwood digs this game!

I don't have a problem with it, but I know a lot of people don't like it. If you look at Zillion (below), I can see what people mean. It's a very good game (Metroidesque), but looking at the cover, most people would probably be turned off because it doesn't make any sense or give any indication as to what the game is about.

I don't think I'm alone in saying the 2600 had the best art work and nothing will ever come close :)

Yeah, my primary enjoyment of the artwork is admittedly nostalgia. I know it's not spectacualar, but I love the quirkiness of it all the same. You are correct sir, the box artwork on the 2600 is hands down the best ever made! I mean, they could even make Chess look cool. I've always wondered who the artist was and where one might be able to track down some originals.

[img width=320 height=460]http://cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/3205635/atari_finalart2.jpg[/img]

[img width=545 height=475]http://www.hexanine.com/zeroside/wp-content/media/2010/10/atari_pkging_blog_02.jpg[/img]

[img width=320 height=460]http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3205643/atari_finalart.jpg[/img]

Speaking of 2600 artwork I would like to take a look at this book when it is finished:

http://www.edge-online.com/news/the-art-of-atari-the-masters-who-brought-early-games-to-life-by-filling-in-the-blanks/

That is amazing! I like the idea he has behind it in that these covers basically sell the game based on imagination due to limitation of graphics. I believe I even mentioned this in the Collectorcast episode. You would never get away with this today. If any of you hear of a release date for this book PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know.

You can see the artist's name on the left side of that Haunted House artwork. With a high res scan yo may be able to make it out.

@Eric - Yup. A lot of my love for PS is nostalgic, but I know it's a very good game. When I played this game in 1988, I felt like I was playing a game from the future. If Phantasy Star came out in 1992 for the Genesis or SNES, it would still be considered good.

@Banana - I think a lot of the appeal to the artwork is that there is so much going on in each picture. Looking at Missile Command, I never even noticed the city and farms in the bottom right-hand corner. I assumed the farm was more of the control panel and the city was more buttons. It's a smooth transition since the colors are similar. Very creative.

What game is that last pic? I thought it was Haunted House at first.

It is Haunted House, or at least a variation of the artwork for it. This artwork was not what was on the box and label, but something very similar was. I think that might have been the original concept sketch for the art, but I am unsure. See this link: http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/19/4716444/how-atari-box-art-turned-8-bit-games-into-virtual-wonderlands

Nice column. I saw the Slot Racers art in there. Love that one.

Yeah Slot Racers is sweet. Kinda glad that Super Breakout alternate cover didn't make the cut..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XcMbT9pGeo

That made me smile.

sound comparison between the NA/EU and JAP versions of the game. JAP sound starts around 2 minutes in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDPvSoiCAWg

The JAP version has more of an arcade feel to it.