Phantasy Star 4 is by far one of the best RPG's of the 16-bit era. I have played and replayed this game multiple times over the years and writing this review makes me want to play the entire game all over again. Considering it is the fourth game in the series it is a surprise that it is the best of the four.

Graphics - 9/10

People might be surprised by this rating because the graphics weren't amazing during the game play. The graphics on the world map when the characters are moving are pretty average. A 5 or a 6 at best. It is the monster designs and the cut scene images that make me rate this one higher. The cut scenes are part of what make this game so much better than the average RPG. You don't get dialogue in the regular view but you get special cut scenes with each character properly drawn and designed. Makes for a much more inclusive experience into the story. Also, I did enjoy the special attack animations during the battles as well. Those were always neat.

Sound - 9/10

Again, a 16-bit game getting highly rated on sound is a bit strange. However, I loved the music from this game. Meeting Rune for the first time or the music when a certain character died were all really well done. They fit well with the character and what was happening in the story at the time. And there was enough variety in style that you never got tired of hearing the music. Obviously the battle music does become redundant but even that isn't bad. It's like the final fantasy victory song. It's always fun to hear at the end of a fight.

Addictiveness - 10/10

I have played this game beginning to end at least a dozen times over the years. The entire game brings me back into a fully developed world that I actually care about and want to help. Doesn't matter how many times I've played it before I seem to play it every year or so. It doesn't take me that long to beat anymore because I remember it so much better now but I never get tired of playing it.

Story - 9/10

The story to this game isn't unique by any stretch of the imagination. There is a bad/evil thing in the universe and the hero is a fairly regular guy that gets swept up into the events of what is going on and develops magic and fighting skills to help fight the evil. He meets people along the way that help him on that goal. So the general story is pretty generic. However, the characters within the story and fairly well fleshed out (at least most of them) and that makes it far more important when bad things happen to them than simply having characters with a "class" that you are controlling. Each character has a sort of "class" but it's not obvious in the same way it is in other games.

Depth - 7/10

I'll admit the game itself really isn't that deep. It is one of the most linear games I've played in spite of being an open-world RPG. You can go anywhere as long as you have the item you need but there is very little to do other than randomly battle monsters. Side quests are rare and not overly interesting. However, they are a little fun to do once you realize they are available and have a few humorous spots in them. The main story itself also isn't all the complex. Fight the big bad monster, realize he's not the biggest bad and go to fight the bigger bad, and so on. It also isn't too long of a game. I can beat the game easily in 3-4 hours. There are speed runs that push that to under 2 hours. However, I don't like to try and beat it as quickly as possible. The average first time through the game would expect to spend 7-10 hours playing because of not always knowing where to go or the best way to defeat bosses. Still, this game has more depth than other RPG's I have played.

Difficulty - 7/10

The game in and of itself is a pretty straightforward fight, level up, get new skills and spells and fight some more type of game. There are only a handful of moments that really test your skills as a gamer. The real difficulty I always found was figuring out what spells were and what monster they worked best against. Many of the spells were as descriptive as an 8 letter title allowed. Beyond that there was almost no help. Only since playing with access to the internet have I been able to understand what all the spells do and who they work on. It can be pretty confusing the first couple times through trying to figure out what each spell does. Once you do know what they do it makes the game much easier. The right spell against the right mob (or combination spell) kills monsters pretty quick.

That is one other thing to mention before I end the review - there are combination spells. If you use the right spell or technique in combination with other characters it can do a special attack that either does tons of damage to a boss or is instant death to regular mobs. These are pretty tough to make work though because the character order in a fight isn't always the same and can be confusing to work out. Thankfully they did put in a system where you could force the attacks into a certain order making it more likely to get the attack off the way you wanted.

Overall - 9/10

I know may ratings don't average out to a 9 out of 10 but after finally doing a review I realize why they shouldn't. I don't rate all these things equally. Difficulty being low doesn't make a game good/bad. Too hard or too easy would ruin a game but the right amount (4-8) makes the game fun but not boring or insanely challenging.

This is a game I would highly recommend to anyone looking for an older style RPG. Definitely worth the time you would have to put into it. And there are online guides and walkthroughs if you get lost which I didn't have the first couple times I played.

Wow, you write reviews? It must have been a while .

Anyway, it was a great review, much better than the one I made of the game. However the "ordinary" graphics should have at least deserved a 7; the characters' physical proportions were more realistic than the oversized heads in even Final Fantasy VI. It looks like we are both addicted to this game too . And your assessment of the game matches pretty much mine.

Another solid review! Great job geeo!

I loved the Phantasy Star series. Each game was great in it's own way and they all brought something new to the table.

This game in particular really made a lasting impression on me. The ending left me feeling unlike ANY game that I had ever played up until that point, and really still to this day. It really tugs at your heart strings.

Great job geeo! We should put you on the staff as a review writer!

geeogree :   I absolutely loved that game and it's one of my all time favorites.  It was really cool that you could combine spells to make them super lethal, and they went a different rout with the names, instead of plane old fire and ice.  I bought the Sega genesis collection disc on the Playstation just for Phantasy Star three and four.  I have yet to play three though