This is how you do a sequel

Successful games get sequels, and Phantasy Star was no different. Sega’s new hardware was out in 1989–the Sega Genesis or Sega Mega Drive, depending on your location–and in that year, Phantasy Star II released. Just like its predecessor, PSII was a technological achievement with punishing difficulty. Some names had been edited a bit–the planet Palma is now Palm, Motavia is Mota, Dezoris is Dezo, and the Algol System is the Algo System. Mota, which was a desert planet in the first title, is now a lush, green and thriving planet, and the home world of your main character, Rolf.

Rolf and Nei are shown battling a pair of Locusts here. Though the battle's backgrounds lost their detail, the emphasis on the characters and combat was increased.

Rolf and Nei are shown battling a pair of Locusts here. Though the battle's backgrounds lost their detail, the emphasis on the characters and combat was increased.

A lot of changes were made to both the gameplay and the appearance of the series. While it still had the same style, the enhanced graphics helped to hammer home the idea that this was a futuristic, sci-fi RPG. While in the original, a single enemy would appear on screen at once, with text letting you know more than one was present, PSII saw the appropriate number of enemies on screen at once. There were also battle animations that saw your characters move and slash at the enemies or use techniques, and character portraits were seen in battle instead of just the text boxes from the original. Instead of using just four characters, you now had the choice of using eight different characters. You could switch your party around at Rolf’s house, but you had to make sure to keep everyone leveled appropriately, given the difficulty level.

If you were familiar with the original, you would have an idea of what the opening storyboard means. Rolf is asleep, dreaming of a girl that looks a lot like Alis Landale fighting a demon–when she is about to die, Rolf awakes. This is some fine foreshadowing, given Dark Force is (unsurprisingly) causing trouble in the Algo System once again. Along the way you will also encounter Mother Brain, the super computer that is meant to control Algo’s climate, and another theme that will appear again in the series. Lutz also appears, and is supposedly the same Lutz from the original title, but since for whatever reason he was known as Noah in the non-Japanese versions of the first game, this is a reference that plenty of gamers did not get.

This is probably my second favorite game from the original series, as it has the Phantasy Star visual style I like the most (though obviously in a lesser form than later releases, like IV), punishing difficulty that requires level grinding, and a well-presented story. If you’ve never played this game–scratch that, even if you have–you are going to need the help of GameFAQs or a similar site in order to get through the dungeons. Sega knew they weren’t messing around when they released this game, and they included a giant booklet with maps of the dungeons in it for you. This was included because it was necessary, but since you can’t get your hands on that now via digital distribution, you will want the assistance of someone who has taken the time to chart out these locations.

1 2 3 4

About The Author

Marc Normandin was gaming editor of Blast from 2008 to mid-2010. You can reach him via e-mail at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @Marc_Normandin

2 Responses

Leave a Reply