Phantasy Star II on XBLA

[Losfer]

Then again, I own so many versions of PSII that I've lost count. ._.

Eight.  We own eight legitimate copies of Phantasy Star II.

[Dizzy]

When I read the topic title, I was kinda hoping you meant the Playstation 2 remake version of it. :P

Ah well, it's still good news. Though, I think I am fine just playing it on the Ultimate Genesis Collection.

[Parn]

Phantasy Star II isn't worth playing IMO.  It has more grinding involved than your typical MMO, for little snippets of poorly written dialogue.  Has not even remotely stood the test of time.

[Dincrest]

Ahh, Phantasy Star II.  The RPG I first cut my teeth on.  I spent 92 hours on that game, and I think 90 of them were grinding/dungeon crawling and 2 were for plot.  At one point I said to heck with playing it "virgin," and went through two Dezo dungeons and the final dungeon with a Game Genie and maps. 

Would I play it again?  No.  I don't have the patience to grind like that any more.  Music's good, though.  <3 the battle theme.

[Buddy]

I never have played it, but it's on the Sonic collection I bought. I tried playing the early PS games, but just couldn't get into any of them on that disc. Like the person said above, I pretty much can't stand level grinding anymore. Used to...

[Aeolus]

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[John]

Probably won't buy the individual download for this - it's on SGC after all.  HOWEVER, the much more relevant news is that HOLY SHIT GUNSTAR HEROES FOR $5?!

[Ryos]

Phantasy Star II isn't worth playing IMO.  It has more grinding involved than your typical MMO, for little snippets of poorly written dialogue.  Has not even remotely stood the test of time.

At least you don't have competition for enemies in PS II!


...

[MeshGearFox]

PS2 is a pain but I'd say PS1 and 4 are definitely still worth playing. Sure, PS1 has tricky dungeons and grinding, but the dungeons are definitely doable without mapping (I did it, so I mean) and the grinding seriously tapers off after a certain point, and you're pretty likely to hit the level max without any grinding in the second half of the game well before the end anyway.

And Baya Malay is STILL hard.

The EPIC DUNGEON them from PS1 is so damn love.

[jphussey]

I beat PSII when I was 8 years old. PSI was way harder for me.

7th Saga trumps them both by light years.

JP

[Aeolus]

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[Rudo]

I completely agree with Neal.  As evidenced by my username and picture, I'm a big Phantasy Star fan and to be honest I would never replay PSII.  As enjoyable as it was back then and as much as it's a classic, I also know that it's way too time-consuming and frustrating to play through.  When I got the game, it came with a hint book included with maps of every dungeons, etc.  I don't know how anybody could get through some of those dungeons without a map... there was one dungeon in particular, the Control Tower, where there's a ton of stairs going up and down with dead-ends everywhere and you have to find your way through this freakin' labyrinth.  Even with a map, it was tough to navigate through it!! Here's the map:

http://www.land-of-kain.de/phantasystar2/dungeon/dungn07.htm

Keep in mind that every square with a little circle in it is a staircase so I can't imagine the hell of doing this without a map!

As some have said, this game is ALL about grinding.  As soon as you've leveled up for a few hours in order to be able to beat the enemies in a new dungeon, as soon as you finish the dungeon, you end up in a new village where the price of new weapons and armor are so expensive that you have to level up for hours again to afford it and you have no choice because without those upgrades you don't stand a chance to beat the new enemies coming up in the next dungeon!

My advice for people who have never played the Phantasy Star games is to play a bit of the first and second to get a taste of them but then jump right to Phantasy Star IV because that one is still a great game to play to this day.  More storyline, little anime cut-scenes, not too much grinding (compared to the other PS games), etc.

I would highly suggest printing yourself some maps of the dungeons or else you'll go crazy.

I think nowadays we don't have as much patience for games like Phantasy Star II because we have so many RPGs to play.  When I played PSII back in 1990 we'd be lucky to play 1 or 2 RPG per year so when an RPG came out we didn't care if we had to spend a TON of time playing it because we were so starved for some RPG goodness and we really sank our teeth into those RPGs.

Anyway, here's a good place for maps of PS2:

http://www.land-of-kain.de/phantasystar2/dungeon/index.html

[Blace]

Thanks for the link Eric! I was getting confused in the first dungeon...

[Eusis]

I think nowadays we don't have as much patience for games like Phantasy Star II because we have so many RPGs to play.  When I played PSII back in 1990 we'd be lucky to play 1 or 2 RPG per year so when an RPG came out we didn't care if we had to spend a TON of time playing it because we were so starved for some RPG goodness and we really sank our teeth into those RPGs.

I also think that if it got a treatment similar to the DQ remakes where it's sped up and the balance is tweaked to be fairer but STILL a good challenge it'd be great. Especially if they could keep that same feel, but I think that'd probably be messed up in a remake, the art style of the PS2 ones was pretty much completely different and I'd expect either those would be kept or it'd happen again in a newer portable/downloadable remake.

[GrimReality]

I remember devoting ridiculous amounts of time to this game when I played it. I studied that damn guide book in between play sessions. Back then, I freakin loved it. It was hard, but I was happy to indulge.
It is entirely unplayable now. I no longer have the patience or the time for such monsters.
I still love the setting, though, and wish someone would do a futuristic jrpg RIGHT(note the j, please).
The game had some good tunes that I can still hum to this day. loved the Dezoris song and the battle theme. Heck, the opening theme(to any PS game) gets me crazy nostalgiac.
I agree with the others, though. PSIV is where its at. *mumbles something about the last level*