Review cover Retro Review: Phantasy Star II (Retro)
User Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): March 1, 1990
  • Release Date (EU): November 30, 1990
  • Release Date (JP): March 21, 1989
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Developer: Sega
  • Genres: Console Role Playing Game
  • Also For: Computer, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

Review Approach:

So if you read my other review, (See "Retro Review: Beyond Oasis") I mentioned discovering that game on a compilation collection disc known as sonic ultimate genesis collection. Well here is another review from that same collection which may seem harsher than necessary but again, is my opinion and impression for the experience of the game. While you may be wondering why i didn't use the International box art, in this review is cause the Japanese one has more interest than the international ones such as the anime look as apposed to the realistic fantasy fairy tale book looks. So i went with the more interesting choice. But I will include the international one as well.
Phantasy Star II is a role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It was released in Japan in 1989, and in North America and Europe in 1990. It was later ported to a variety of different platforms. An updated remake, Phantasy Star Generation 2, was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2005 in Japan.
HYSTORICAL FACTS
Phantasy Star II is the second game in the 4 part series of games. Starting out on the newly made Sega MegaDrive/Genesis. The first game on sega master system was probably sega's first attempt at a rpg game to rival Square enix Final fantasy and dragon quest games that was on nes at the time. Most of the stuff included in this game is pretty much based off of those games. Instead of using a middle ages theme kinda like king authur, this game uses a science fiction theme.... which probably somehow involves bad name of "Phantasy star" This cart was the genesis first 6 Mega bits... According to the box it was necessary to notify the player of that data capacity. Not only was the bits important, but it also included a 110 page manual on how to even get from start to finish of the game. Consider it a version of nintendo power dedicated to just that one phantasy star game. Of course stuff like strategy guides still exist today, they aren't sold with games anymore and only aquired as seperate purchaes. Of course games are more common to play without one, but this is one you do not wish to play without. I mean it! Fun fact, as i said previously the boxart from japanese game differes from international, also there some censorship during localization but won't be discussed here. Below is the North American Box art USA and the one used for the review is the Japanese JAP. You can see why i made that choice..... Your welcome!

Phantasy_Star_II.jpg


STORY
If you turn the game on and let it sit for awhile, you are greated with the title screen that shows the name of the game "Phantasy star II"... with two giant red women on each side of the screen. After a few seconds, your given a short history about the planet as the camera pan and scrolls on the over world displaying random areas and cities (Represented by a small building) It is appaerently about the planet Mota, who has been making advances in various things such as enviromental control, climate control, breeding and creating hybrid speices and even automated robots using a Dominant Artifical intelegence. The artifical intelegence was created to maintain all the things within the algo star system. It was known as mother brain. (No relation to Metroid) the responsibility is to preserve and maintain life as protector, but suddenly began to malfunction and needs investigation.

When you start the game, your allowed to name your character (Using only four letters, very disappointing) But by default is the character named rolf, who is a government agent. The story begins with him waking up from his sleep as he dreams of a woman batteling a feirce monster. (Spoilers, is ALIS and the Dark force from the previous game in the series) as he narriates the current status of the world he lives in, 1000 years after the events of the previous game. After getting out of bed, he goes to work only to discover his boss the general wants him to start investigating mother brain's malfunction. His first assignment is to gather information. There been reports of Biomonsters (No relation to resident evil) Which are biologically mutated animal life and tell him to start there. Rolf goes home to prepare for his journey, only to be stopped by his adopted sister, Nei. A human-animal hybrid with cat like features probably sound "SO ANIME" now huh? Nei (Who shall appropriately be called a humanoid) demands rolf take her with him and so they both leave to start the journey. You start the journey in the city of paseo on plantet mota.

MISC.
Phantasy Star II was made for the freshly new developed Sega genesis/megadrive. It takes advantage of some improvements in visuals, sounds, and gameplay, while probably seem more impressive than the first game, there was kinda lots of other things that could have improved. Seeing as this was early when RPG Games like this at the time, the game followed suit of others already existing titles while adding a altered story and system of play different making it a distinguished exclusive to sega series of games for their consoles. I must add that in 2005 Sega did release a enhanced remake in japan only under the "Sega-ageS" Collection, titled appropriatly. "Sega Ages 2500 Phantasy star II" While i have never been able to play the game, it seems all four games in the series have been enhanced and probably would be nice if they were translated and put on a Compilation disc "Sega ages Phantasy star HD Collection" for Download seperatly on digital services or all in one disc. While thay may be a great idea, i dunno if that would happen, is something to note, perhaps the game would fix some problems and make it more enjoyable.... without necessity of strategy guides.

SCREEN SHOT TAKEN BY MYSELF USING ANDORID MD.EMU
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Verdict

What I Liked ...
  • Console's flag ship series continued on new system.
  • Includes Manual/strategy guide giving detailed walkthrough from beginning to end.
  • Unique battle system.
  • Interesting plot.
What I Didn't Like ...
  • Very poor map level design.
  • Catchy but un inspiring memorable music.
  • Unbalanced difficulty.
  • Very long and tedious.
  • Not recommended for repeat playthroughs.
  • Uninspired gameplay choices based on other existing games.
1
Gameplay
Okay..... this part. The game play.... Yeah. The game features a overhead view like the first game, and just like the first one, it sucks. First my main issue is how slow the character moves. I never found any way to make him move faster. Is so horrible. Of course not many rpg games at the time were fast moving characters like this but still is always bugs me. I'll explain more later. This game has a total of 8 playable characers, Rolf, Nei, Rudolf "Rudo" Steiner, Amy Sage, Anna, Hugh Thompson, Anna Zirski, Josh Kain, and Shir Gold. Unlike most rpg games where you progress through the story and they join your party, you can only find them when returnning home. After specific progress is made through the game, you can return home to find someone waiting for you there. Rudo is always first and Shir is always last, in the listed order above. Each character is classified as specific ranks. Rolf is agent, who is a normal human with balanced properties. Nei is "Numan" who uses unique gear and weapons, and for some reason levels up twice as fast as everyone else does. Rudo classed as hunter and power type doesn't use any TP (Technique Points) But can use heavy fire arms. (He is the only one) Amy, who is a doctor can use variety of healing techniques. Hugh who specialize in TP skills specificly targeted for destroying bio monsters. Anna who is a power type offensive, who can use support TP skills but dosen't learn that many. Kain who learns lots of Skills to defeat robots, as apposed to Hugh who learn skills to defeat biomonsters, and shir who is a thief who can steal items from shops by random chance. When you enter a shop with Shir in your party, there is a chance she can steal a item from there. It could be something you couldn't purchase. When she does, she leaves your party and you have to return to your home to get her and the item, useful but kinda dumb. Besides that she is a speed type character with high speed and decent TP skills. The items are very pricy, have bad names, no indication of what they do by name alone. You think in final fantasy a potion restores health but what about "Monomate" You wouldn't even know how much until you used it onces. In this case since you wouldn't know before you use it and only after, i file this under trial and error category. Not good. Of course if you bought this game for genesis in 1989 it should be in the manual or 110 page guide but i only played this on the collection disc which did not include the guide which would been nice to have in real time. But i doubt even with nintendo power, and final fantasy or dragon quest, you still wouldn't need it for to get far enough to finish. Some items cost a lot, and you don't get lots of money right away. It takes hours to get about 10000 and the items are very expensive just at the start of the game, it will take lots of griding to get everyone well equipped. There is a option to sell which you will be doing often since instead of having a pack or item container, each character can hold limited items including battle equipment and key item necessities. The only way to store your items is to visit the place where your boss assigned you the goal during the intro of the game. There is a room who has a person who manages your items and is only place in the game as i know to do that. In the previous game, there was first person view dunegons, If you played shining in the darkness, you know what i mean. There is none of that, and you should be glad. The game has cities where you can recouperate. Most games have a inn, there you can pay to recover your party, the faint or dead status, the poison and other status restored. All in one. But in phantasy star you have a cloning lab, where you recover dead party members which you must pay to use, and payment depends on current level of dead character. (If you die just clone a new one, Seem like shadow the hedgehog done ealier) You have a clinic which can pay to use, but payment varies between all characters current hp and TP compared to their maximum capacity which is crazy. You also need to pay seperatly for status removal such as poison and others. There is a weapon shop, item shop, armor shop, also a teleportation station that allowes you to teleport to other cities you visited with teleportation stations, which cost money per use, and a save station. This is the equivilent to the church in dragon quest where is the only way to save your game and check how much exp required to reach next level. There is a item that shir can steal to allow save anywhere which you may want as soon as possible but it won't be easy to get at the very beginning of the game without shir so you need to progress. The overworld map looks like a maze, is very complex to find where you need to go and no one tells you where the destinations are you must visit, the dungeons or buildings you need to explore is also just as complex, it has multiple levels as well as requiring you to purposly fall down holes and even walk across floor tiles that damages player. Some buildings have up to 5 or more floors and there is no map system. Every place feel like a maze. There is treasure chest that have items you need to progress and sometimes just empty. "This treasure chest is filled with garbage." The radom encounter rates are very random, some frequent and some prolong. The battle system is very unique. Instead of imputting commands for each character independently, You first have to give them commands before using the battle option, when you press fight option, the battle process automatically until you press a button to cancel or the battle ends when enemies or players defeated. Is just as basic as the first game. This time you can see your characters battle enemies, on what look like a tron based grid. The animation is pretty well but only 2 varitey types of enemies at the same time can be fought an up to limit of 5. There is only 4 bosses in the whole game, I only ever beaten one, and once you do, you lose Nei which is probably why she levels up so much faster than the rest. It just as many as the last game so not much to discuss here except for one thing. There is a run option that allows you to run from fight. The flaw is it can also allow you to run from boss fights as well. But the chances are extremely low. Is possible to succeed but not often, and requires super luck and manipulation of running from battles. If you do run from a boss battle, the battle ends as if you defeated the enemy. Is very weird and probably a bug overlooked.
5
Presentation
The game starts with presenting you with the story of the game, this game is a follow up to a previous game in the series. Set 1000 years after the first game with Alis and her battle against Lassic, the game had a mix of middle ages fantasy and science fiction. This game has less phantasy and more Science and more.... fictionn. Either way it felt kinad cheapened. It did show off the new console capibilites, it has large detaiiled pictures, and some cut scenes or more like pictures with text to read although the pictures don't appear often. The places you visit are okay but you may get annoyed at most of the places since they mostly look alike. There some areas with special effects like clouds, water, Fog mist, some science labe experiments and others. It does animate well and the battles have detailed sprites. But could be done better and has already.
2
Lasting Appeal
The idea of playing this game again as lasting appeal is very low. Considering it sharing the same name as the more well known phantasy star online series, this game of the four has very low value to me. Of course for the sake of saying "I beat this game" is all i wanna be able to say but the truth is no one but you care and you still do it anyway. The game is long and tedious, difficult and very poorly coordinated. The characters move slow, dungeons are complex and probably require more memorization that someone has patience for. Improving skills take long time and dedication, only 4 bosses which means very minor characters involved. You get to travel between planets after a certain point. Also as the first part of the game is about biomonsters, after you defeat first boss, all monsters on same planet gets stronger and are now robots. So going back to starting point won't make monsters easier again. Which is bad if you were already having hard time raising levels, since you can't fight them often. The highest level in the game is 50. The first game was 30 and only 4 total characters, but now level cap is 50 and 8 total characters, that twice as much work for all of them to get that high. The game is long in the sense of how slow pace it is. With confusing dungeons and multilayered floors as well as necessary back tracking all combined with slow walk speed and even lots of cheap shots in your way, you will suffer a lot of losses like you did if you played battletoads. The trial and error process of the game is very unappealing and repetative and not satisfying. As far as story goes, i didn't progress much to know the full story so i can't tell you, since all i have done up to furthest point was defeat the first boss which took more than 2 months, but if you played patiently and vigilant, you should make more progress in shorter time than i did. But is only if you dedicate that time and energy to do so. I have a lack of patience i am aware of so perhaps someone else opinion will be different. In the long run, considering how much time it takes to complete the game, i do not recommend it for repeating playthrough. Playing it once for curiousity sake is fine i guess, but use a strategy guide, don't play it without one like i tried. The music and sounds aren't much to mention, is all bits and beeps and boops and such, like a game of that time was. It had catchy tunes sometimes but it just wasn't properly settled in the enviroment. There even a way to change the BGM to a preferred tune but you probably won't bother.
0.9
out of 10

Overall

This is the second game in the series, the first one was probably the first attempt and in my opinion, wasn't any better than this, as the series got to the end, it got better making some good decisions and bad ones, Phantasy star III Generations of doom had a Generations system where there three senearios and after each one you choose a wife and have a child then continue the game, up to 2 times this choice is given making the game unique and require repeat play to see other endings. Phantasy star IV Feature fast movement of characters. (FINALLY) Not so complex dungeons, and a combination battle system and some interesting characters. The games have gotten easier to play with IV being more favored. The game could have benefitted from faster movement speed, less level and money building and a map system, as well as directions on how to get to specific places. Phantasy star II has improved on the previous game but introduced more problems along the way which is always bad thing, I may sound like i have lots of complaints about the game cause i do. But perhaps it's cause lack of knowledge of being able to play it. If i had the strategy guide when i played it, it might have been more positive, and i do admit that i probably should have, but i did not play it on a genesis, and wasn't gonna sit down with a second screen with a online guide to do this. Is not the same as a booklet. This look like a very poor review of the game and i admit to that, and sorry. I would recommend this game for cuirous and nostalgic purposes. PLEASE PLAY THIS WITH A GUIDE. If you beat this game once, there is no reason to play again unless you just want to.
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Reactions: Jackus
Fighting words there, though seeing your previous threads on the matter I did not expect anything else, and I stand by the remarks I made there http://gbatemp.net/threads/has-anyone-ever-beaten-the-classic-phantasy-star-series.432369/ . It seems old games might not be for you as their limitations and quirks might not be in line with the ultra streamlined stuff of today, I like some of the streamlined stuff but things do occasionally take it too far for my taste.
Also is it a mana potion or a health potion or a stamina potion? Proper nouns can be tricky to use but just because you already know the term potion for one game does not mean it is as obvious as health restore.

Also the last boxes are typically used for summaries rather than full discussions, you can play it how you like though.

"[condensed] No first person dungeons and you should be glad"? Eh OK. It is generally held a slightly different gameplay style (or genre if you reckon it is a useful term), though the distinctions can become harder to define as time goes on. Depending upon what you liked from previous ones it could be pretty jarring.

"but payment varies between all characters current hp and TP compared to their maximum capacity which is crazy."
More damage, more payment for repair is crazy?

On movement speed I usually found they moved at a fair clip. Guess we have a difference of opinion here.

"The overworld map looks like a maze, is very complex to find where you need to go and no one tells you where the destinations are you must visit"
The boss man tends to tell you where to go to advance the story, or some other important NPC in some cases from what I recall. On mazes then play it how you will, however having to make your own maps was a thing in various first person dungeon crawlers and things like dungeons and dragons/pen and paper/adventure books.

Assuming you are not doing a review as guide thing (often useful for games like this) I am curious as to why you would bring up the cloning labs.

"If you beat this game once, there is no reason to play again unless you just want to."
That is an odd way of saying no bonus modes, post game dungeon, new game+ or something similar. Unless you mean the RPG is a bit light on RP which tends to be a thing with a lot of Japanese games, the wizardry series it continues being the main exception until fairly recently.
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): March 1, 1990
  • Release Date (EU): November 30, 1990
  • Release Date (JP): March 21, 1989
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Developer: Sega
  • Genres: Console Role Playing Game
  • Also For: Computer, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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