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Phantasy Star IV The End of The Millennium: A 30th Anniversary Retrospective Gaming Documentary

I mean, Phantasy Star 4 is nearly a perfect ending. They killed the profound darkness, source of all the past Dark Force. There will be no more dark energy. There is not much to talk about unless it is prequel, Sidestory with worldship, timetravel to earth etc. Chaz got the hot girl, Hahn will finally get his wedding fund. The end.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Trying hard to remember which characters I picked as my party back then. But looking at the roster set online, I think I had this:

Chaz, Alys, Wren, Gryz, Hahn or Raja.
 

ChazAshley

Gold Member
nPPSdTg.png


Prove me wrong bros
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
nPPSdTg.png


Prove me wrong bros
Alys is A tier by personality.

Kyra is C tier. She’s borderline D tier, frankly. You could remove her and little would be lost in the game, she’s honestly just kinda there in the way Demi is.

Hahn is B tier, remove him and you’d notice quickly. He’s an important part of the character dynamics early in the game, and his techs are very important to the party during that time.
 

cireza

Member
PS, found this video on YT, it's 4 years old but still should be a good source of info for anyone looking to get into the original 4 games today.









I would put Alys higher, but agree with pretty much the rest.

Much better video indeed. Already watched years ago of course haha ^^

I personally love the entire cast. Of course some characters are simply stronger than others, but since they manage to build their personalities quite well, you get attached even to weaker characters. Personally I love Gryz, Demi and Hahn.

Demi also has a missable skill (which sucks and is maybe the only missable in the entire game) that of course happens to be her most powerful attack and is used in one of the fifteen combination attacks. Don't miss. To be sure to not miss it, speak to the man near the eastern exit of the town called Monsen. It leads to a secondary dungeon that has a ton of great items for Demi as well.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Still would look better than the Sega Ages PS2 Remakes. Can't deny that.

But the Ages versions of 1 and 2 *are* HD 2D remakes :p

edit: Speaking of which, I am going to dabble into them for the first time. Thankfully the translations for both are feature-complete already.
 
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Svejk

Member
But the Ages versions of 1 and 2 *are* HD 2D remakes :p

edit: Speaking of which, I am going to dabble into them for the first time. Thankfully the translations for both are feature-complete already.
Been playing these from time to time on my phone (via DamonSX2 emu). Fan translation patch works great and save states work well on it too. Very minimal stuttering, if at all.

As much as the art work is questionable, PS2's battles are much more engaging with the power meter for attacks and timed blocks/parries.
 

Drake

Member
Hell yeah. My favorite RPG of all time. I still have the box/game (actually I still own PS 2-4, just don't have the heart to sell them ). Did you guys know it was $100 when it launched in the US. I remember reading an article about 10 months before the game came out which revealed the price. I saved money from my birthday and Christmas so I could afford this. Had just enough saved up and got it on launch day.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You don't get to decide. You can only choose your fifth character for the final dungeon.
Ah, must had forgot.

Looking at the character roster, those are the ones I remember the most, especially Gryz. Lead character and robot dude I remembered too. Some of the characters I dont remember at all.
 

gunstarhero

Member
I remember being a bit disappointed with how quick and easy this game was compared to 1, 2 and 3 at the time. (for context, i played all of them at release, starting at the age of 14).

But as others have said, the production was amazing, and the throw backs to the past games were well appreciated. Without the rose colored glasses on, 4 is probably the better game in the series, but i still love 2 the best, with 1 close behind.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I remember being a bit disappointed with how quick and easy this game was compared to 1, 2 and 3 at the time. (for context, i played all of them at release, starting at the age of 14).

But as others have said, the production was amazing, and the throw backs to 1 were well appreciated. Without the rose colored glasses on, 4 is probably the better game in the series, but i still love 2 the best, with 1 close behind.
I only played 2 and 4. Never had a Master System and was turned off by PS3's cruddy visuals. Never bothered playing either through emulators when the net came about.

Enjoyed 2 more. And harder too, which I liked. But 4 does have an overall better package with better graphics, audio and cut scene boxes. Just having proper battle backgrounds instead of the grid was a good boost right away.
 
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gunstarhero

Member
I only played 2 and 4. Never had a Master System and was turned off by PS3's cruddy visuals. Never bothered playing either through emulators when the net came about.

Enjoyed 2 more. And harder too, which I liked. But 4 does have an overall better package with better graphics, audio and cut scene boxes. Just having proper battle backgrounds instead of the grid was a good boost right away.
3 was definitely an ugly game - but the story was good enough for me to play it multiple times to see all the endings. Especially once you realize that it ties directly into 2’s cliffhanger.

PS1 was life changing for me since it was my first RPG, but 2 is definitely my favorite of all time. Everything from the characters, the story, the secrets (the Megid technique, Shir can steal a data recorder, etc.) and the finale was completely mind blowing at the time.

But yeah, that blue grid…lol.
 
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StereoVsn

Member
These games are available on a lot of modern devices. On Switch, PS4/5 or Xbox One/Series, you can play 2, 3 and 4 with the Sega Genesis Classics.

I am not sure if any collection has the first game, there was a PS2 HD/2D remake, which is pretty easy to emulate on PCSX2 and has an English translation patch, but you already said you don't do PC stuff so that might be out of question.

-

This thread is really making me want to get into them again.
Switch has a nice port of the first game done by M2 for like $7. And that has some nice QoL improvements. Wish they did the same for the other games, but no cigar.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Switch has a nice port of the first game done by M2 for like $7. And that has some nice QoL improvements. Wish they did the same for the other games, but no cigar.

I have since found that there was a PS2 Japan only collection with all 4 games, and other QoL options like speed up and different difficulties for all 4 games, the best part is that it also includes the native US versions of all 4 games on it as well.
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
I have since found that there was a PS2 Japan only collection with all 4 games, and other QoL options like speed up and different difficulties for all 4 games, the best part is that it also includes the native US versions of all 4 games on it as well.
There was a collection on the Sega Saturn as well. Was expensive to import, I think I paid $80 at the time. It had a lot of cool bonus features including commercials that aired in Japan, scans of artwork made during development, and more.

Even more obscure was that there were arrangements of the game’s music made in the 90s.



I unfortunately couldn’t obtain a legit copy of it. You had to buy it secondhand used, and the prices were absurd.
 
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StereoVsn

Member
Sega also had some interesting ports of the games to PS2, but I don’t think they were ever released in the West. There maybe fan patches though.
I have since found that there was a PS2 Japan only collection with all 4 games, and other QoL options like speed up and different difficulties for all 4 games, the best part is that it also includes the native US versions of all 4 games on it as well.
Yep. The one I was talking about didn't get English translations but did get updated graphics. It's all quite confusing.
 

gunstarhero

Member
Am I missing something here ? Megid is simply learnt by Rolf at level 30 or 35 if I remember correctly. You might be mixing it with PS4 where there is a dedicated dungeon ?
IIRC, it was learned at a really high level - higher than you normally would be around the end of the game, requiring a lot of grinding with no real gains until you learned it.

I could be wrong though - it’s been a while.
 

cireza

Member
IIRC, it was learned at a really high level - higher than you normally would be around the end of the game, requiring a lot of grinding with no real gains until you learned it.

I could be wrong though - it’s been a while.
I have completed the game this year another time. Megid is indeed pretty late. For anyone who wants to enjoy the game, I recommend using the Improvement Hack by the way. It does not alter the story or the text. It fixes some bugs, makes equipment more logical and balances the characters to make some of them more useful.

I managed to complete the game with a team of Rolf, Hugh, Kain and Shir, which is the first time I even attempt at doing so.

(it seems that the site has an issue right now)
 
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