The End of the Millennium and an Era

Phantasy Star IV is my first foray into the franchise and the Sega Genesis as a whole (outside of a few games of Boogerman on my cousin's system). And I absolutely loved it! It has a lot of amazing things going for it that holds up nearly thirty tears later. All of the characters were fun and worthwhile, the music was enjoyable, the twists, while somewhat trite, were interesting. I'm not usually into sci-fi, and I'm not sure if PSIV will change that, but I can see why so many people hold this game and franchise in such high regard.

But, of course, it's not without its faults.
There's a lot of Deus Ex stuff going on. We need a car that travels through snow? Good thing our robot has one on his space station. I feel like all "airships" and spaceports felt shoehorned in, just popping out of nowhere. There wasn't any great search or trials and tribulations needed to get one, which is far less annoying, but it makes the sci-fi aspects feel forced. Especially since we're on a medieval type of planet. There aren't any guns, fancy technology, cars, boats, or anything that feels steampunk/futuristic. What is there is hidden from the view of players and NPCs. No one knows about the spaceports, Demi's place, or the high tech facilities. Robots are a foreign idea to them, being called Silver Soldiers. Why is there such a difference in settings, even if the fancy areas are just outside of town? I know it's 1993, so there's only so much plot you can toss into a game now, but I didn't like it. It makes me wonder if civilization regressed through the ages.

The difficulty levels are not even. They actually felt somewhat artificial and dependent on your party members. The Garuberk Tower with Krya was tougher than it needed to be because she's not very good. We just lost Raja for a borderline inane reason, and Krya is not the replacement we need. Why did Raja get sick but not us? I know it's good to get different characters and personalities into a game world, but, again, it felt forced. It's as though gameplay wasn't thought out.

And with that, what makes a lot of the characters feel special? What's Hahn's thing? How is Gryz different than Chaz or Rika? The five I used at the end have unique qualities, but why would anyone pick someone else unless they wanted an unfair challenge run at the final boss?

Some of those things are nit-picky, so I won't hold them against anything, but the only thing that actually makes me hate is the game is how I had no idea what most of my spells and techs do? I'm pretty sure Foi and Wat are fire and water spells, but what was Zan? Was Hewn wind damage? What did Arros do? There is no in game description of anything, and I was so confused. I kept using a move that I thought buffed physical attack, but I looked it up and found it removed paralysis.

And along with that, what's the deal with spell combinations? Why did they so rarely work? Grand Cross, the only one I remembered, went off about fifty percent of the time. And the one time I accidentally got Alys, Chaz, and Rika to perform their three way, I couldn't replicate it. A lot of the good combos have limited usages, so have them work more often! If there's ever a remake, add some descriptions or a codex for these things. And since we're here, why does Gryz not have any combinations? That's another reason to not use him.

Ya know, that's a lot of negatives. I enjoyed the heck out of this game, so I'm hoping the positives are frequent and overpowering.

The music is fantastic. I loved the Motavia Overworld theme, and the Dungeon song may be one of the best in the genre. I wasn't that big of a fan of the Dezolis, though I did enjoy it, but Motavia gave me everything I crave. The, aforementioned, Dungeon theme was surprisingly calm and down to earth, giving the Temple of Chaos from FFI a run for its money. The battle theme was exciting, and the main menu track was perfect. It got you pumped up to play a grand epic that takes you through space, relives ancient memories, and kill a galaxy eater.

Every character has their own personality. Their in battle functions can be lacking, but in cutscenes, they shine. I know who Chaz is as a person and that Rune is a cocky know-it-all. Rika is a young girl who's unsure of her feelings, thrust into a world she's only seen in books. I didn't see the big sister aspect of Krya, but Raja is a slacker, which is a very different archtype for a healer. Some are a bit one dimensional at times. Gryz loves his sister, and Alys is a veteran fighter, but I can see why people would grow attached to them. I really liked the different aspects of how Demi and Wren upgraded themselves. Everyone grows, develops, and changes better than any FF character until VI. Kyre learns she's not a badass, Rika learns to love, I didn't totally understand Chaz's overreaction to being the hero, but the devs tried their best.

The story is as grand as anything that had ever come before. As I said at the start of the final dungeon: Phantasy Star IV takes us through two dozen dungeons, three-and-a-half planets, eleven characters, and a thirteen hour journey in a 16-bit game released in 1993! FFIV had seventeen across one planet and a moon. Dragon Quest V gives it a good run with twenty five. Breath of Fire has, I think, eighteen. Lufia has sixty two locations, but I don't know how many of them are dungeons. Doing all of this makes me reminisce unfondly of Final Fantasy IV, so I'm going to move on...

There are a lot of sidequests for a game of its time. Eight Hunter's Guild quests, many of which are different from one another. We're not always killing some great bad guy. Sometimes we're saving a kid from a basic mob or finding two girls in jail. Anger Tower is purely optional, as are finding Wren's Special Weapons.

A few characters have multiple builds. Many guides suggest putting your mages behind two shields. You can throw a weapon and a shield on Chaz, Rika, and Kyra. Do you want Wren and Demi to attack one target at a time or the whole group? For such a primitive game, there's a lot more to it than a one-to-one "job."

I didn't find the game all that hard. I tried to limit running from battles, did all the extra stuff, and I never felt weak. As I said, a few places were difficult due to questionable choices, but I never had to grind, walk around for a while, and I always had JUST enough money for gear. Maybe if I had bothered to learn what some of the Dews did sooner, I wouldn't have had any issue whatsoever, but I blame game developers of early the '90s. And that's as a whole, I'm not calling anyone out. Go back in time and show me weapons stats, you cowards!

There's a lot of foreshadowing going on. Every twist, no matter how small, can be experienced before it happens. Even the Guild Quests give a clue that we'll be back to this area. In a similar vein, everything has an explanation. Why was the bridge north if Mile taken down? Because Zio commanded it. But we won't learn that until after we need it. I've called this Deus Ex, but it really that crazy to think the main planetary satellite created to monitor the area wouldn't have a means to navigate the areas? 

The art style is phenomenal! It's just basic pixel sprites on a background during cutscenes, but well detailed manga panels capable of showing emotion in our characters. We know if they're happy because we see them smile. We witness their fear, sadness, and joy without any need to guess at a deeper meaning. We know what they meant because of facial cues that no other game has done at this time. Hell, even modern games don't do faces very well. It's either soulless or way too much that you wish you could burn them for real. There were a few scenes where characters changed their clothes to be casual or mournful. It helped bring these 1s and 0s to life, and I don't understand why no other game hasn't stolen this idea outside of dating sims. Some probably half, but none are popping into mind now.

And finally, the fact you actually get to choose your team for the final fight was oddly satisfying. I know the choice is between Raja and four others, but how many other games have a forced party for the entire game? I wish I could have replaced Edge with someone more important. It lets the player be a player and make a choice in their experience while offering a slightly different playthrough each time. Even if I don't usually care for them, challenge runs and alterable difficulties are a good thing to add to the media.

I really wish I had played the Phantasy Star games in order. I think I'd have loved all the callbacks had I actually experienced them before. Lashiec did nothing for me, and Dark Force was here too often. But if I'd seen the entire four part saga, I think I'd like the game even more. I like stories that are told over a long period of time, and Phantasy Star is told over thousands of years. I want to grow attached to places and people, and I wonder how I would have felt seeing the statue of Alis in that random town or the giant cat who gave me the Silver Horn. Maybe I will, but why is the first game so hard to find? Phantasy Star IV isn't perfect, at least in hindsight. It needs a few quality of life changes, but it's almost there. Anything that makes me want to keep playing, enjoy a sequel/prequel, or just gives my life a pip is marvelous. And this is all that and then some. I don't know if the Online games are related to these, but I am, for sure, going to go back to earlier entries at some point. Even if it's by default so far, I'm comfortable saying Phantasy Star IV is the best game on the Sega Genesis.