Overall 8.9 Graphics 9.3 Sound 9.5 Addictive 8.8 Story 8.8 Depth 7 Difficulty 5.8
9
Phantasy Star 4 - Best RPG of its era. geeogree
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.
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 9 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 01-16-16
Review Replies: 3
7.2
The single best game on the Genesis TetraDigm
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 selection thing, and instead using attacks you selected before, in an order you specified before.
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.
Graphics 10 Sound 10 Addictive 7 Story 8 Depth 5 Difficulty 3
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 12-17-13
Review Replies: 3
9.1
Phantasy Star IV: the Spectacular Grand Finale of the Series janus
In this final episode of the trilogy (Phantasy I, II and IV are sequels of one another, separated by about 1000 years each), you play Chaz, a hunter. Your adventure begins when Alys Bragwin, your mentor, brings you on your first mission to Piata. When you meet the director of the Academy, he seems rather... secretive about the mission - getting of monsters in the basement - and what might have caused this invasion. Once you finish it, he spills the beans and talks about Zio, a black magician, who doesn't want anyone near Birth Valley, where the monsters originate from. Why were monsters brought from Birth Valley? What is this place, anyway? And why did Zio opposed to people going to Birth Valley?
Phantasy Star IV is by far the best RPG game on the Sega Genesis. The graphics, despite the severe colour limitation the Sega Genesis has, are astounding for the time. There are many skills and magic, and you can even combine two or more techniques and create an even more powerful spell (14 combinations in total). Monsters move and attack better than in games such as the Final Fantasys of the Dragon Quests for Super Nintendo, and are finely detailed. You will even see some monsters (and bosses) from the past...
Speaking of which, Phantasy Star geeks will be in heaven, as there are many, many references to past games. The plot is still in the Algol star system, with Dezolis and Motavia being the main planets where the story takes place. You get to see many references to past characters, mainly Alis Landale, the heroine of Phantasy Star I. One of the characters in your team, Rika, is actually an evolution of Nei in Phantasy Star II. She lives in the Bio-plant, the same one you had to go to in Phantasy Star II. *One* of the dungeons you will have to face is the exact replica of one from the past...
References to "the past" can also be found in the music. Two Phantasy Star IV music are remixes of Phantasy Star I dungeon music. However, to my ears, the Phantasy Star IV versions, with their techno-like remix, sound much better. Music in general is also excellent in the game. "Behind the circuit", "Organic Beat", "Laughter" and "Ooze" are still, to this day, among my favorite tracks of all time. If you have a good sound system (and lots of bass), try them on
As if linking to past games wasn't enough, there are numerous sidequest available, from the Hunter's Guild to visiting optional dungeons where you can get strong weapons. Some of these quests even let you fight strong foes that give you big chunks of Experience points.
In conclusion, if you like RPGs and don't mind playing 2-D games, then Phantasy Star IV is a must-have for you. The storyline is addictive, the graphics and music are out of this worl for the time, and the many quests will keep you in front of your computer for tens of hours. Unless, of course, you manage to "cheat" and get very lucky like I did for my speedrun of the game : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG5eJytC58c
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 8 Depth 7 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 06-11-13
Review Replies: 5
8.8
Phantasy Star IV: A timeless RPG justinfeena1
Phantasy Star IV the epic finale of the Phantasy Star saga!
Story: You start with Chaz Ashley who goes on his first assignment with his mentor Alys. And what starts out as a simple assignment is getting bigger and bigger. Chaz is travelling all around the planets of the solar system of Algol. Chaz learns more and more from his mentor and meets many people like Rika, Gryz, Wren and many more. And with his mentor Alys behind him he's confident but then all of a sudden he has to stand and fight all by himself without his mentor. He has to lead his people, stay strong and fight and beat "The Profound Darkness". The story of Phantasy Star IV is one of the best I've ever seen in an RPG. It has many twists, interesting characters and many interesting moments. And it's told with comic insertions which give you the feeling to watch a great anime.
Gameplay: The gameplay is typical RPG-like. You fight against all sorts of creatures in turn-based battles, get experience, your characters gain levels and learn new magic spells and skills.The difficulty of the dungeons and fights is perfect: it's never to hard but always challenging. There is also an overhead exploration which means you go on many different planets and satellites, go to cities and dungeons. Of course you have the armories in each city to buy new equipment, the item shops and the inns to heal your characters. The planets are huge, there are many different cities and secret dungeons. And the random encounter rate is good and never annoying. And as you progress in the game you get different vehicles to be faster and to overcome obstacles.
Graphic/Planets/Dungeons: The graphic of Phantasy Star IV is very good and you have some very good animations especially in the battles (probably one of the best looking games on genesis). The planets you can get to look all different and each one has its own charm, even there are some things which are just repeating. The dungeons are well designed. Of course there are not so many differences between them but each dungeon is different and has its own things to offer. And they have a good size and aren't to big and don't have hundreds of branches.
Sound: The tunes of Phantasy Star IV are very good, nothing very special but tunes which don't leave your mind.
Conclusion:
Phantasy Star IV is a timeless RPG! It has good graphics, dungeons and locations, one of the best stories I've ever seen in an RPG. And to it comes the great turn-based battles and the perfect pacing and difficulty. Definitely a game you should have played when you have anything to do with RPGs.
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 9 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.6/5
Submitted: 07-26-11
Review Replies: 1
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