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Phantasy Star IV – 1993 Developer Interviews

115 points by speckx

by falsaberN1

0 subcomment

Raise your hand if you got Megid without a guide.
I love Phantasy Star I-IV (except III, mostly everyone agrees it's too flawed and wacky despite some good ideas). I never got into Phantasy Star Online, which is the only game people today seem to be familiar with, though. Is it even related to the original RPGs? I heard 2 has Dark Force as a boss but the events of IV make it...strange. That shouldn't be possible in-universe.
Still, Phantasy Star IV is my favorite and most likely the best RPG on the Megadrive by a long shot. It had good combat, good music, it stayed away from medieval fantasy and generally speaking was full of good vibes (except after the first battle with Zio. If you know you know.).
If you want to replay it there is a randomizer called Profound Distortion that allows to mix things up and I believe it's still in active development.
Anyway, I really loved some of the things it did with enemies like the witches using combined attacks or monsters fusing together like the Dualblade and the Life Deleter. Even today that stuff is rare to see, last game I remember with enemy fusions is Etrian Odyssey V.
I never managed to find the game in a normal shop, but when the local Blockbuster closed up, they happened to have a rental copy that I managed to get. It's still with me.

by xphos

6 subcomments

The OG phantasy Star was a little before my time but the GameCube version of Phantasy Star online was so good. They even have community servers for it today as Phantasy Star Blue burst. The game is now dated but honestly I could still play it because it had a good grind formula
https://www.phantasystaronline.net/

by AdmiralAsshat

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Reiko Kodama did some incredible work for Sega, Skies of Arcadia probably being her most notable after Phantasy Star. She unfortunately passed away in 2022, and it took some months before anyone was even aware of it due to her family's desire for privacy.

by functionmouse

3 subcomments

Awesome game, highly recommended. It's fine if it's your first PS game

by kinow

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Phantasy Star I was the first RPG I played when child. I remember my father showing us the basic commands, and then my brothers and I taking notes of items, magic, and drawing cave maps.

by izzydata

1 subcomments

I like Phantasy Star IV, but my main love of the franchise is still Phantasy Star Online 1. From my understand during the planning phase of PSO it hadn't been decided to be a Phantasy Star game. It wasn't until later that they decided to skin the game to Phantasy Star. Funny how you can be well into development on the fundamentals of a game and not know what it will be called or exactly what it will look like.

by tosh

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one of the best RPGs on Mega Drive
I wish like for Sonic (Mania) there would be additional Phantasy Star entries in the IV formula

by saejox

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This part fires me up to create art for arts sake:
Kodama: That’s also partly why this development was a lot of fun, I think: we (the developers) started the project on our own initiative, and many people on the team had worked on PSII and were able to address the shortcomings and unfinished ideas they had from that game in PSIV.

by mghackerlady

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Phantasy Star is such an underrated series. They're all far before my time, I was exposed via a sega genesis collection on the xbox 360. I've played a lot of I, II, and IV. I've also played and enjoyed phantasy star zero on the ds and got some enjoyment out of it

by ZeroClickOk

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By far one of the best games I have played.

by throw_m239339

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Fantastic game, and the only PS game I actually finished! Unfortunately Rieko Kodama passed away not too long ago, fantastic game director and artist she was...
I really like the Manga style cut scenes in the game, it really added to the production value, and the plot is once again, full of twists and turns.
This is a JRPG that did age well and it's still engaging to play today, so it's a classic... like Breath of Fire III, Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger,... they have well crafted stories & characters and they are not too hard to play or too grindy... and they all have a certain care for presentation.

by musha68k

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Phoenix Rie <3

by theologan

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This game was ahead of its time, and had a most excellent sound track.

by mwkaufma

1 subcomments

RIP Rieko Kodama

by sylware

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Proud player of phantasy star I on sega master system here (I was a really, really, young kid when I played it)
Yeah, and I don't want to play more phantasy star games, and you know why? I am klinging to those amazing positive emotions I can still remember, namely I don't want to ruin them.