Phantasy Star Marathon!

[beach1]

I love the music and graphics in PS1. PS2 was cool, but yeah the grinding and the dungeons are really bad. 4 was good technically, but I felt like it wasn't as captivating as 1 and 2 for some reason. Maybe I should give it another try.

[daschrier]

For those looking for these games, you can get 1 through 4 on the sega genesis collection for the 360 and PS3.

[Hoshino_Kid]

You can play Phantasy 1-4 from the Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PS360.

I only finished 4 and loved it. 1-3 are kind of slow for me, especially 3. 1 seems ok but it's too "old-school" for me (dungeons are technically just mazes) whereas 2 is too grindy for me.

[Archendrus]

Yeah, for those of you playing along at home, you'll probably want one of the various compilations out there.  I got all the original cartridges because there's nothing like playing on the original console, on an old crappy TV =D

[Sagacious-T]

I know it does for combat..

Not even for combat really. From a quick glance without much thought, perhaps, but you see your characters when battle starts and you're putting in commands, and you see them when they're using abilities. It's definitely an over the shoulders angle, just that characters unnecessary duck out of sight.

Wow this is actually really badass.

[MeshGearFox]

BTW. PS1 and PS2 both have grind. The difference is that PS1 stops being grindy at level 6 or so, because then you get Odin and Sir Mewington and decent spells and it's pretty much smooth' sailin after that.

PS2 is ALWAYS grindy. Forever.

PSIV's main flaws, iirc, is that it swings sort of the opposite direction and nothing can kill you, ever, although I played it when I was like twirth of twelteen and I think I was grinding anyway so maybe it's fine balanced and I just easied it with by having grund.

I still frequently PS1 on occasion. It's pretty neat if you like the advenxploration aspect of it.

[Archendrus]

BTW. PS1 and PS2 both have grind. The difference is that PS1 stops being grindy at level 6 or so, because then you get Odin and Sir Mewington and decent spells and it's pretty much smooth' sailin after that.

PS2 is ALWAYS grindy. Forever.

PSIV's main flaws, iirc, is that it swings sort of the opposite direction and nothing can kill you, ever, although I played it when I was like twirth of twelteen and I think I was grinding anyway so maybe it's fine balanced and I just easied it with by having grund.

I still frequently PS1 on occasion. It's pretty neat if you like the advenxploration aspect of it.

Yeah PS1 does have a little grind. The last game I played through was Dragon Warrior 1, so I was expecting a huge grind but I was pleasently surprised with PS1.  It's kinda weird how they went backwards with II though.

I also think I've more than satisfied my curiosity of the old school practice of mapping out dungeons with graph paper.  I'm up to 8 pages of maps with PS1, front and back.  I don't think I'll do that again for awhile lol

I think I'm almost at the end, then it's on to PSII. And from what I've read, on to fits of rage, controller throwing, wtf moments as well XD

[Parn]

Phantasy Star 2 is fucking awful.

[MeshGearFox]

You don't really need to do maps for PS1 except for a few dungeons where the right-hand trick doesn't work. Which is like... The... Lacan... Lahan.. Vlassic... Larma... The damn sword dungeon near the end and the thing where you get Catbastard's second weapon.

baya malay is easier if you don't map it.

[Prime Mover]

I'm starting PS4 on the Wii. I haven't gotten much into it before (I went in about 2 hours about a year ago). It's just been so long since I played a really old school game. But for some reason, it feels like the right now... and I'm in a total lull for present day games. We'll see how far I get into it.

[Archendrus]

You don't really need to do maps for PS1 except for a few dungeons where the right-hand trick doesn't work. Which is like... The... Lacan... Lahan.. Vlassic... Larma... The damn sword dungeon near the end and the thing where you get Catbastard's second weapon.

baya malay is easier if you don't map it.

Haha! =D  You might be right, but I get really disoriented with old school dungeons like this.  I can't stand getting lost, in games or real life, and I used to avoid any games that used these type of dungeons like the plague.  You're right on though, the sword dungeon was definitely the most challenging.  I've had a few beers and I can't stop laughing at the search for the name of the sword and the various names you come up with for Myau XD

I'm starting PS4 on the Wii. I haven't gotten much into it before (I went in about 2 hours about a year ago). It's just been so long since I played a really old school game. But for some reason, it feels like the right now... and I'm in a total lull for present day games. We'll see how far I get into it.

I hear ya.  I don't know if it's just that I'm not playing the good new games, or I'm gettin' old (just turned 28, that's not old right? lol)  but there's just something lacking in a lot of new games I've played that makes me want to go digging into the old school.  I haven't even touched my PS3 in so long that these old games are starting to feel like the norm for me, and not outdated at all.

[MeshGearFox]

I feel that PS4 and CT were the first 32-bit RPGs. I mean, not literally, but...

[Aeolus]

I feel that PS4 and CT were the first 32-bit RPGs. I mean, not literally, but...

I felt that Secret of Mana beat them to it, IMHO.

[GrimReality]

Phantasy Star 1 - Me and my three brothers played this collectively back when it first came out. I loved the hell out of it, but never beat it. Got stuck in the last dungeon. I still mean to play all the way through ti someday. I bought the gameboy collection when it came out to do that.

PS2 - This was hard as hell, and totally grindy. I remember spending all sorts of time with the game guide that came with it, attempting to figure out the dungeons. Graphics and music were great, and the story was prety "dark" for it's time. Nostalgia tells me I liked it, but I know I couldn't do it again.

PS3 - This one was just weird. It seemed like a step down from the first 2. Especially in the music department. The generation thing was clever, but overall the game was just blah.

PS4 - I enjoyed it immensely until the end. I hated everything to do with the final dungeon. The graphics, layout, godawful music. Ugh.
I also remember the game going by way too fast. Plus, it was too easy. Coming from a guy who likes things easy, that's saying something.

PS5 -This game was...
Oh wait.

[Archendrus]

PS5 -This game was...
Oh wait.

Haha! Yeah I wonder if Sega will ever will ever return to the original series and make a PS5.  I'm only at the end of the first one so far, and I've been trying to avoid spoilers, but I read that IV pretty much wraps the whole thing up.  I haven't played either PS Online or PS Universe.  Though I have PS Online on my computer set up with the SCHTHACK private server, I haven't gotten around to taking it for a spin.