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The single best game on the Genesis
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
8.9
9.3
9.5
8.8
7
8.8
5.8
12-17-13 06:47 AM
TetraDigm is Offline
| ID: 942952 | 1404 Words
| ID: 942952 | 1404 Words
TetraDigm
Level: 24
POSTS: 57/107
POST EXP: 24659
LVL EXP: 75411
CP: 1972.2
VIZ: 13635
POSTS: 57/107
POST EXP: 24659
LVL EXP: 75411
CP: 1972.2
VIZ: 13635
Likes: 1 Dislikes: 0
Phantasy Star 4. One of the single greatest games of all time, with a well written story, perfect battle sequences, beautiful maps and soundtrack, and a level of character development rivaled only(at the time) by the final fantasy games. A decently long game, expect to sink at least 30-40 hours into it while never getting bored. The game sucks you in from the very start with a marvelous opening cut scene accompanied by title music that amps you up for the oncoming struggles, and a simple menu system that makes navigation of inventory, stats, abilities, etc. Nearly effortless. But enough of the preamble, onto the game!
WARNING. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. READ NO FURTHER IF YOU WISH TO AVOID THEM. Graphics: beginning with non battle sprites, the character animations and designs are wonderful. For being sprites of people in real form, they have amazing detail for the age, and be it npc or pc, all of them look pleasing to the eye and are generally filled with coloring that doesn't seem off like many games have. The scenes themselves are also well done, with buildings that are made to fit into the environment, except the occasional techno-dungeon coming around to remind you that you are NOT just on some dying desert planet. Most buildings only use a few colors, but they are used very well. Never do you see awkward color clashes, pieces of buildings being cut off for no reason, and they even correspond to their placement on the map. Take the town of mile. situated on the edge of quicksand, the eastern side of the town is fenced off and consists of nothing but sand. Best of all, the thumbnail like images of the towns on the world map? They are almost a complete downsized model of the city, except on dezolis. the battle scenes are even better. Well animated enemies AND characters, coupled with some nice looking attack effects that, along with the sound effects, vary depending on if you hit or miss your target, and some attack effects which just look awesome. Excellent backdrops which correspond wonderfully to the tiles you found the monsters on. Sound: the music and sound effects are very diverse. You have different sound effects for each characters attacks, most techs/skills, and even items, though they use the same sounds as the spell that the item replicates. The sound effects are also pleasant, in that it does not grate on your nerves to get in a fight because you're dreading hearing them again. Personally, I look forward to them. the music is well composed. You will not find a single song on here that makes you want to stop playing, but in fact will generally find yourself looking forward to boss battles and certain areas simply for the music that you know is going to accompany them. There are a lot of musical scores, and they vary from slow paced and solemn, slow and heart wrenching, fast and energetic, and steady pounding beats that just amp you up for the next killing blow. There are a few silly sounding songs, but they aren't so silly that you want to avoid them, and they always convey the mood perfectly. Addictiveness: personally, I have played through this game at least 100-200 times. Everything about it is so well put together that its just one of those games you'll always look fondly on. The battle systems "macros" are an amazing addition that help speed up the grind by bypassing the whole attack Story: this is where the game shines. You begin knowing very little. You're a hunter and so is alys, but not much else is known. You are on a mission, and that mission turns out to be a cover up by the guy who hired you. After extracting information out of him with threats, you find out you're going to have to kill some guy named Zio, and that he can turn people into stone. You wander around a bit, picking up new characters and dropping off old ones along the way, and as you progress each characters personality is made clear. As you progress further, the personalities are expanded upon even further. chaz goes from a cocky new hunter, to a kid who's had life pushed n him too soon and had to man up and deal with it. Rune goes from a snarky little punk who just happens to have a reason for his arrogance, to a man who knows he will one day be responsible for saving the universe, and offers his life willingly to reach that end. rika goes from a naive little cat girl who seems to know very little other then happiness, into a young woman watching terrible things be done to a world she finally got introduced to, and is compelled to help those around her, and fight off the evil. Eventually you reach Zio, lay the smack down, and fly off into space on your stolen spaceship. From here you meet with various plot twists, a few more characters, and several new worlds each with a history expanded upon from the previous games. The entire time you are met with character development left and right, important plot scenes all day long, and never once is the story overly convoluted or just plain silly. In most key scenes, you get a nice little anime picture or 5 to accompany the text and give you a good idea of what's taking place. It all leads to the enemy of the previous games, with 1 giant twist. Turns out dark force is nothing but a pawn. That's right, the ancient evil who has plagued the algo star system for an unknown amount of time, is actually just a small piece of what has really been doing all the evil. The profound darkness makes its debut in a wonderful manner, in which you are the only thing standing in its way from entering reality. Depth: meh. Its an average game as far a depth goes. There are a couple of side quests, but they are all set out in plain "go here, do this" manner, from the hunters guild. On top of that, they only unlock after hitting certain parts of the game. Outside the guild, there's nothing to do except kill monsters, go to the next plot area, and search for one of the like 3 items that are actually hidden in their own little area, with no one ever telling you where they are(this is how this kind of stuff should always be handled). It takes a while to finish, but mostly because you have to grind enemies hardcore to level up, because they give hardly any experience. Difficulty: there hardly is any. This is truly the games low point. The game was designed so that you could easily finish the game at level 45. In fact, it was made in a way that your level hardly means anything at all. Your equipment makes all of the difference, and the stats gained from leveling hardly add any damage or defense. The extremely low experience enemies give makes it take a while to level up, and the only real benefit to doing so is more tp(mp), more hp, and new attacks. The enemies are all relatively weak in comparison to you at most stages of the game, except for a few here areas here and there that have strong enemies leading to your new equipment. Enemies are easy to predict, and the color of the enemy will generally tell you what kind of spell to use. Oh this monsters blue? You had better not use any ice/water based magics. the boss battles are the only place where difficulty comes into play. Often times you'll find that no matter what you do, the bosses will simply wipe out your characters with the quickness. This is, once again, entirely because of the equipment. You can level up 15 times after getting beat horribly by a boss, and you'll barely be any stronger and take nearly the same damage as before, but now you'll have new attacks which do a higher base damage. Some of the boss attacks seem unfair, in that they deal huge amounts of damage or completely remove all your buffs, but the fact that those attacks usually wont outright kill anyone, or they give you a free turn where you don't have to heal, they really are quite fair. WARNING. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. READ NO FURTHER IF YOU WISH TO AVOID THEM. Graphics: beginning with non battle sprites, the character animations and designs are wonderful. For being sprites of people in real form, they have amazing detail for the age, and be it npc or pc, all of them look pleasing to the eye and are generally filled with coloring that doesn't seem off like many games have. The scenes themselves are also well done, with buildings that are made to fit into the environment, except the occasional techno-dungeon coming around to remind you that you are NOT just on some dying desert planet. Most buildings only use a few colors, but they are used very well. Never do you see awkward color clashes, pieces of buildings being cut off for no reason, and they even correspond to their placement on the map. Take the town of mile. situated on the edge of quicksand, the eastern side of the town is fenced off and consists of nothing but sand. Best of all, the thumbnail like images of the towns on the world map? They are almost a complete downsized model of the city, except on dezolis. the battle scenes are even better. Well animated enemies AND characters, coupled with some nice looking attack effects that, along with the sound effects, vary depending on if you hit or miss your target, and some attack effects which just look awesome. Excellent backdrops which correspond wonderfully to the tiles you found the monsters on. Sound: the music and sound effects are very diverse. You have different sound effects for each characters attacks, most techs/skills, and even items, though they use the same sounds as the spell that the item replicates. The sound effects are also pleasant, in that it does not grate on your nerves to get in a fight because you're dreading hearing them again. Personally, I look forward to them. the music is well composed. You will not find a single song on here that makes you want to stop playing, but in fact will generally find yourself looking forward to boss battles and certain areas simply for the music that you know is going to accompany them. There are a lot of musical scores, and they vary from slow paced and solemn, slow and heart wrenching, fast and energetic, and steady pounding beats that just amp you up for the next killing blow. There are a few silly sounding songs, but they aren't so silly that you want to avoid them, and they always convey the mood perfectly. Addictiveness: personally, I have played through this game at least 100-200 times. Everything about it is so well put together that its just one of those games you'll always look fondly on. The battle systems "macros" are an amazing addition that help speed up the grind by bypassing the whole attack Story: this is where the game shines. You begin knowing very little. You're a hunter and so is alys, but not much else is known. You are on a mission, and that mission turns out to be a cover up by the guy who hired you. After extracting information out of him with threats, you find out you're going to have to kill some guy named Zio, and that he can turn people into stone. You wander around a bit, picking up new characters and dropping off old ones along the way, and as you progress each characters personality is made clear. As you progress further, the personalities are expanded upon even further. chaz goes from a cocky new hunter, to a kid who's had life pushed n him too soon and had to man up and deal with it. Rune goes from a snarky little punk who just happens to have a reason for his arrogance, to a man who knows he will one day be responsible for saving the universe, and offers his life willingly to reach that end. rika goes from a naive little cat girl who seems to know very little other then happiness, into a young woman watching terrible things be done to a world she finally got introduced to, and is compelled to help those around her, and fight off the evil. Eventually you reach Zio, lay the smack down, and fly off into space on your stolen spaceship. From here you meet with various plot twists, a few more characters, and several new worlds each with a history expanded upon from the previous games. The entire time you are met with character development left and right, important plot scenes all day long, and never once is the story overly convoluted or just plain silly. In most key scenes, you get a nice little anime picture or 5 to accompany the text and give you a good idea of what's taking place. It all leads to the enemy of the previous games, with 1 giant twist. Turns out dark force is nothing but a pawn. That's right, the ancient evil who has plagued the algo star system for an unknown amount of time, is actually just a small piece of what has really been doing all the evil. The profound darkness makes its debut in a wonderful manner, in which you are the only thing standing in its way from entering reality. Depth: meh. Its an average game as far a depth goes. There are a couple of side quests, but they are all set out in plain "go here, do this" manner, from the hunters guild. On top of that, they only unlock after hitting certain parts of the game. Outside the guild, there's nothing to do except kill monsters, go to the next plot area, and search for one of the like 3 items that are actually hidden in their own little area, with no one ever telling you where they are(this is how this kind of stuff should always be handled). It takes a while to finish, but mostly because you have to grind enemies hardcore to level up, because they give hardly any experience. Difficulty: there hardly is any. This is truly the games low point. The game was designed so that you could easily finish the game at level 45. In fact, it was made in a way that your level hardly means anything at all. Your equipment makes all of the difference, and the stats gained from leveling hardly add any damage or defense. The extremely low experience enemies give makes it take a while to level up, and the only real benefit to doing so is more tp(mp), more hp, and new attacks. The enemies are all relatively weak in comparison to you at most stages of the game, except for a few here areas here and there that have strong enemies leading to your new equipment. Enemies are easy to predict, and the color of the enemy will generally tell you what kind of spell to use. Oh this monsters blue? You had better not use any ice/water based magics. the boss battles are the only place where difficulty comes into play. Often times you'll find that no matter what you do, the bosses will simply wipe out your characters with the quickness. This is, once again, entirely because of the equipment. You can level up 15 times after getting beat horribly by a boss, and you'll barely be any stronger and take nearly the same damage as before, but now you'll have new attacks which do a higher base damage. Some of the boss attacks seem unfair, in that they deal huge amounts of damage or completely remove all your buffs, but the fact that those attacks usually wont outright kill anyone, or they give you a free turn where you don't have to heal, they really are quite fair. |
Member
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 08-26-11
Last Post: 2895 days
Last Active: 1065 days
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 08-26-11
Last Post: 2895 days
Last Active: 1065 days
Post Rating: 1 Liked By: jnisol,
09-01-14 07:56 PM
gamerforlifeforever is Offline
| ID: 1074508 | 19 Words
| ID: 1074508 | 19 Words
gamerforlifeforever2
Level: 172
POSTS: 78/10186
POST EXP: 560803
LVL EXP: 67640320
CP: 98006.2
VIZ: 3384714
POSTS: 78/10186
POST EXP: 560803
LVL EXP: 67640320
CP: 98006.2
VIZ: 3384714
Likes: 0 Dislikes: 0
Vizzed Elite
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 07-04-12
Location: Somewhere in Ohio
Last Post: 285 days
Last Active: 283 days
| Ultimate Pokemon Fanboy, Member of the Year 2016, and Vizzed's #1 My Hero Academia fan |
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 07-04-12
Location: Somewhere in Ohio
Last Post: 285 days
Last Active: 283 days
(edited by gamerforlifeforever2 on 09-01-14 07:56 PM)
09-02-14 03:40 PM
supernerd117 is Offline
| ID: 1074825 | 43 Words
| ID: 1074825 | 43 Words
supernerd117
Level: 143
POSTS: 3611/6187
POST EXP: 404633
LVL EXP: 34974879
CP: 17926.3
VIZ: 12818
POSTS: 3611/6187
POST EXP: 404633
LVL EXP: 34974879
CP: 17926.3
VIZ: 12818
Likes: 0 Dislikes: 0
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO everyone knows the best game on the Genesis is Shining Force II! jk jk  But that really is my opinion. I couldn't really get into Phantasy Star much...it just didn't really click with me. But the gameplay was solid, at least. But that really is my opinion. I couldn't really get into Phantasy Star much...it just didn't really click with me. But the gameplay was solid, at least. |
Vizzed Elite
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 03-21-10
Location: Location
Last Post: 1624 days
Last Active: 103 days
| WOOOOOOOO |
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 03-21-10
Location: Location
Last Post: 1624 days
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09-03-14 04:53 AM
TetraDigm is Offline
| ID: 1075039 | 90 Words
| ID: 1075039 | 90 Words
TetraDigm
Level: 24
POSTS: 101/107
POST EXP: 24659
LVL EXP: 75411
CP: 1972.2
VIZ: 13635
POSTS: 101/107
POST EXP: 24659
LVL EXP: 75411
CP: 1972.2
VIZ: 13635
Likes: 0 Dislikes: 0
gamerforlifeforever2 : for my ratings here, i use an average of all my scores that this site requires us to grade by, and seeing as there is almost no difficulty, it drops the overall quality of the game significantly. while still being one of my favorite games of all time, and in my opinion the best pre ps2 game made, there is overall nothing to do except play the game (fight and move to the next area) and no difficulty, so gotta give it a low score on depth and difficulty. |
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Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 08-26-11
Last Post: 2895 days
Last Active: 1065 days
Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'
Registered: 08-26-11
Last Post: 2895 days
Last Active: 1065 days
