Phantasy Star IV - Report 2
The emulator gets worse: after struggling with the 'full' version, I switched to the quick launch version, which is a lot more CPU/RAM-friendly and lets you get to your game quicker. However, I had to reconfigure my controller for some reason. It was dumb. Homebrew emulators from the 00s have more functions than this thing.
I'm now on my way to deliver the cure to those people who were turned to stone (a popular ailment in the 90s, it seems*). In game, I set everything to max speed and while the game still feels a bit clunky, it's definitely playable. I like the little 'cutscenes'. However, that's about the only thing that feels special right now. It's not bad, but... I hope I get to see some of the game's more innovative features soon. I've played plenty of other JRPGs from the early 90s and I'm curious where it fits in that context.
As for techs, I'm starting to remember some. Like Foi = fire (it both starts with an f), Wat = ice (frozen water) and Res = heal (restore). I'm having trouble with stuff like Doran, Gelun, Saner and other techs that affects stats. Maybe I should look up the Japanse names. I figure that atleast some of these weird ones are a result of shaky translation + limited characters.
BTW I do have some experience with Phantasy Star: I got about half way through the first one (on GBA) until deciding first person dungeons without proper maps are a terrible way to spend my time. Some names sound vaguely familiar, but... that's it.
*Various Final Fantasies, Tales of Phantasia and Destiny, Lunar, Grandia, Terranigma, Star Ocean - all the cool kids has either an important character or an entire town turned to stone (well, okay, or crystal, in the case of Terranigma). I do understand why it's was popular: it's like death, but you can fix it (well, usually anyway). It's the perfect level of drama for games aimed at young players.