Up until


the 16-bit era, Phantasy Star was to Genesis was what Final Fantasy was to the
Nintendo as Super Nintendo. Both flagship produced offshoots; some were good
and popular (Final Fantasy Tactics), some were not so good (Final Fantasy
Legend), and some were downright terrible like Phantasy Star Gaiden.

Graphics: 7/10

The Game Gear has the color advantage over the Game Boy, which makes the games visually appealing. PS G was decent in that respect, with very distinguishable features like desert, plain and forest on the overworld map – it even influenced the background where you fight. There is also “flowing” water which was nice, and no two city looks alike.

Inside the cities you can see huge buildings with various shapes; the Gypsy camp even have Phantasy Star I like “tents”. Unlike PS I you can talk directly to citizens without propping a new window showing their whole body. But like that game, going into building just shows a person talking to you with one or two lines. And they are all pallet swaps. However the cut scenes are more elaborate; you don’t just see the dialogue with the characters’ portrait. You actually see a “scene” with the various characters involved. It’s no Phantasy Star IV, but it adds a nice touch.

 And unlike PS I, I found your characters’ sprites to be inferior. They all have the same height, their haircut is the same and you barely see the weapons they are carrying. Plus, the last character you get seems like she is cloaked in a purple robe; you barely see her eyes.

Also inferior are the battles. Sure, you see different backgrounds depending on where you fight. But the enemies (short of the final boss) are completely static. They come in single file (PS I could have groups of four of the same enemy). Also, like Earthbound there is absolutely no distinction between what the weapon animation looks like. Worse: there isn’t even an animation for the magic (for the little I used). At least PS I showed it better.

Music: 2/10

My “most significant” prior experience with the Game Gear was with Sonic games. Despite having an OK sound chip at best, the soundtrack was still enjoyable. But such sounds are not expected from an RPG.

These bleeps and boops are such a set back from the Master System. There are literally just three main tracks for the entire game: the town theme, the dungeon theme and the battle theme. Yes, there isn’t even a final boss fight which was quite a deception. In addition, the overworld theme lacked the characteristic epicness of such theme. The heavy drum track it had was quite annoying.

As for sound effects, they are just typical bleeps and boops too. Even though they got annoying in the end, at least Dragon Warrior had door opening sounds to break the monotony.

Addictiveness: 2/10

I had read about this game before playing it, about how high the enemy encounter frequency is. You have no idea; when making the final montage to publish the movie (yes, a single one) of the game I had to watch out very closely in order to make the transitions as smooth as possible. You literally have an encounter with every step you take. That was quite discouraging even though escaping is relatively easy.

In addition, the game is ridiculously short. I estimate my total gameplay (including grinding) to be at most five to six hours. When there is so little to do and explore – one villager even admits it: there are just seven cities on the planet – one loses interest quickly. There are “sidequests”, i.e. get the world map and the Laconia equipment, but they are so short that it’s not worth mentioning them.

Story: 6/10

"Long ago, the evil Cablon ravaged the planet Copto, one light-year distant from the Algol system.  In defeat, he was sealed on that colony planet, discovered by Alis, and nicknamed "Alisland".  Now, it's AW813, a time of growing unrest. 

Alec and Mina are two youths from Tedo Village, who revere the legend of Alis and Odin, as told by the elder who raised Mina, an orphan. One day, Mina found an old artefact…"

(From the introduction text)

The said artefact is something Alec’s father found in a treasure hunt. While you are looking at it, Taylor the couturier (how original…) comes, covered in blood, to tell you that Alec’s father has been captured by bandits. While both friends talk about their intention to save Morg, the elder notices the light pendant (the artefact). Old Rob then sends you to a cave west to retrieve a scroll of prophecy, as it reminds him of something… and indeed it does. The Scroll of Truth reveals that Alec and Mina are destined to face Cablon, an ancient evil sealed long ago.

It’s not the most original story there is, but at least its goal is stated more explicitly than PS I.

Depth: 2/10

But as I said above, the game is ridiculously short. You do learn about who created the scroll of truth, but that’s about it. You get to know nothing about how the planet was developed, where Cablon comes from (there was an intricate story about Lassic and Dark Falz in PS I) or how the different characters that join you lived their lives before. There aren’t even inside gags within the city; citizens just tell you at most two sentences per encounter.

Difficulty: 4/10

Despite a legendarily high encounter rate, PS G is actually pretty easy on that regard. The reason is simple: escaping is very easy even without using save states. So despite a high annoyance factor you will very often be able to go away.

However enemies get very strong very suddenly. Just in the first cave you will explore you will need at least level 3 or 4 weapons (at 300 mesetas each) in order to cause substantial damage. And once you reach a certain level, experience per monster decreases. So if you grind your levels, always keep an eye on how much they give you if you don’t want to waste your time.

In addition, unless you use a guide, there is little chance you will conquer the final boss. You need a very special accessory to keep it from completely healing its hit points, and you will likely miss it.

On the plus side, your bag of objects seems to be bottomless and your objects are grouped together. This is most convenient when hunting for treasures; you don’t have to always check if you hand are full like Earthbound or Final Fantasy II.

In short, Phantasy Star Gaiden is not a game that is worth your time. The music will make you want to pull your ears off, the high encounter rate (even if you can escape easily) will annoy you and the poorly-designed sprites will make you miss the Master System. Hell, after playing this game Final Fantasy Legend doesn’t seem like such a bad after all.