Phantasy Star IV

Alternately, I can have computer issues and watch my college football team lose to homophobes... I wonder who sucks more: my computer or BYU?

I've read a lot about the Phantasy Star series, but I've never played them. And how could I? I never had a Sega Genesis as a kid, and none of the games were ever released for modern consoles. It wasn't until I found out about the SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics bundle on Steam that got me thinking about playing it. Unlike most of the games I have from that library, I actually bought PSIV! I wanted to experience more classics at the time, so I thought it would be perfect. I got a few hours into my first playthrough and then stopped for, as you'd expect, reasons I can't remember. It might have been because I was running it via the game room HUD, which runs games at 30 FPS instead of 60. I liked the music a lot more at 30, but it moved so slow. Sadly, the save didn't transfer, so I had to restart, which I probably didn't do. But I'm here now, so unless my computer burns down in the coming weeks, I'm calling all of October Genesis month. With a name like that, I should have waited for December...oh well.

A blond hair boy comes out of his room and sees a brunette woman waiting for him. She tells us we have a mission we need to attend to in the university town, so she guides us there. As we get to the world map, the scene shifts to a FFI style shot after we just crossed the bridge. We, the player, learn about the world. It's becoming more and more of a desert by the day, monsters are appearing more often, and Hunters, us, are becoming ever important to keep the peace.

We then shift to the university, and we've gotten ourselves separated from Alys. I'm sure the devs would have spelled it "Alice" if they could have crammed another character into the box. Regardless, Alys, a world renowned Hunter, is just around the corner., so she yells at us, Chaz, a rookie but full fledged Hunter, for betting lost. We gain movement for the first time, so let's talk about the menu. It's old school, alright. Only one button does anything, so it's like any other game from that time. The only difference is there's an ability to talk to your team, but I've only seen it used as a reminder of where to go. To speak to NPCs, though, you have to use the R1 button. I've never seen a game so that before, but I guess it works. Use it to speak to the various NPCs to learn about the world and backstory from, I assume, the other three games.

Go north to talk to the Principal, and we see the next interesting thing about SSIV: the art. Cutscenes look like manga or comic books, and I'm a big fan of it. It makes characters come to life in an 8bit game that would otherwise be bland. As much as I love FF, imagine if we could see our characters' faces during pivotal parts? It's why I prefer the DS version of FFIV. But, the story starts here. The Principal informs us that he hired us because monsters have invaded the basement. He sealed off the place to make sure no one would get hurt but fears about the future. Alys, showing that she's a no nonsense leader, grills him for further information. "Do you have any idea how thy monsters got down here," I think was the exact quote. He gets upset and defensive and shoos us out to do our job. Alys thinks something is fishy. A few students and faculty agree with this sentiment, but we head down to the basement. We can go to town, but there are no equipment shops, and you shouldn't need to use potions in this dungeon. Just as we're about to reach the stairs, a student is pacing in a narrow path before us. This is Hahn, a student in the college. He's heard rumors about the monsters and has connected them to his missing teacher. Three months ago, Prof. Holt went on an expedition to a place called Birth Valley, but he never came back. Around this time, strange things started happening, and Hahn beliefs they all might be related. Alys, not wanting a scrawny student to join the elite Hunter group, makes him pay 100 gold to join, which I think he does.

The dungeon music is amazing, BTDubs. But this is our first fight. All of the monsters die in a round or two and aren't terribly strong. The gameplay is very generic, not that that's bad. All characters have access to magic and techniques, which both cost MP. I have no idea what most of these do, though, since they're all brand new terms to me. Rez heals people; it's not a revive. Other attacks make sense if you think about them, but I don't know HOW they work. Every time I used them, they didn't do anything. And there's a scene later that leads us to think that magic is rare and unknown, so I'm just confused. Wander around the small basement, collect the treasure, and follow the alien blob.

We chase it down to several breeding tubes filled with more aliens looking things, and we come to the first boss. I think I ended up buffing my characters for the first round while our enemy just sat there, but I don't know. Either way, the boss summons adds the entire time. If there are two out, I think it'll do something else, but otherwise, it just brings in more friends. To get around this, use Alys to attack. Her weapon can hit the whole enemy party for good damage. Chaz and Hahn can focus on the same small fry, and one should defeat it. The other will damage the guy in charge. It's all a nice two-for-the-price-of-one bit, no matter who goes first. It's tedious, but you have no chance of losing. Afterwards, Hahn thinks this makes his idea correct, so we go to confront the Principal. Why'd we leave the other aliens in their tubes?

After a while, he spills the beans. A man in a black cloak named Xio, The Black Magician, once teleported into this office. Xio told him not to send anyone to Birth Valley and showed off a petrified man as proof of what he'd do to them if he disobeyed. That caused the Principal to block anyone from venturing there. But we're not students, so we can go. Hahn comes along after paying Alys 300 gold.
 
 Far to the northwest is our destination, but there's a small town, Mile, en route. It has a sandworm farm and is divided by quicksand we can't cross. We can buy new gear, which you should do. Buy two new Slasher boomerangs. Alys can duel wield them for a lot of damage, which is my chief strategy. I also equipped Chaz with the two handed sword because I'm in the mood for big deeps. Keep traveling, and you'll reach our destination. There's a town nearby, but everyone is petrified. The only survivors are two children who hid in their basement. We don't do anything to help them... Behind the town in Birth Valley. It's filled with more aliens and a few others, but there's no boss here. Make sure you get the treasures because there is good armor in them. I equipped them to Hahn because he's fragile. At the very back is a petrified Professor Holt. Hahn is upset but promises to restore him. Alys suggests that there's a way if we can find some Alshline. Fortunately, some is located in the nonhuman town, Molcum, just to the south.

When we get there... it's a ruined mess. Had we came here earlier, we wouldn't have been allowed in. We're human, and the guards think we're in league with Zio. Now, though, all we see in black earth as though several bombs went off. In the middle is a blue haired man who Alys knows. This is Rune, a fellow Hunter, and tells us it was Zio who attacked. Alys is inflamed because we keep hearing this guy's name and seeing his work. Rune and Chaz have a fun argument that makes me think about a possible Alys love interest. Rune is very cocky, and he even "invites himself" to join the party. He's a level 17 wizard that barely knows any spells. Hahn still wants to get some Alshline, and Rune tells us we can get some in the village of Tonne, a village north of another town called Krup. Hahn doesn't want us to go to Krup, so guess where I go?

Krup is the home of Mr. Hahn (not the DJ from Linkin Park), Here we learn his father kicked him out because he didn't want to be a blacksmith. That's the bad news, but there's some good news here, too. Hahn is engaged! His bride-to-be is a well loved school teacher named Saya. Besides that, there's nothing else here other than Hahn's dad has a great selection of armor. Continue north to Tonoe. It's blocked by a large rock that Rune uses magic to destroy, which causes everyone to be shocked. Rune says we wouldn't know because it's magic, and this was where I got confused about how magic works. The path is winding, but there's treasure in the offshoots, and none of the mobs are hard. In time, we'll get out just south of our destination.

Tonoe has very annoying music... Find the elder, Grandpa Dorin. Behind him are two survivors from Molcum. Dorin tells us we can have some Alshline if we can get it in the basement tent at the back of town. He asks Gryz, one of the survivors, to guide us. Rune tells Dorin that he's here to pick up something he left behind and leaves the party. As he does, he warns us not to fight Zio yet. Our powers are no match for him, and Chaz is confused. Does Rune think he's too weak?

But here's where I called it a night. The mobs took me out, so I'll need to rethink some strategy. Plus, I've written enough. I'm really enjoying the music so far. It's defiantly the best part of the game. The battle system seems a lot of fun. I'm really digging the auto attack idea called Macros. I haven't fiddled with it yet, but I'm sure I will once I get how magic works. I've read you can combine magic, but can you use them without combining them? Do they just have low accuracy? Anyway, day one is over. May day two be just as good!
 
Please pray for my computer!