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Cool game in a classic series.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: August 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is an awesome game from a great series. Phantasy Star was kinda like the "Final Fantasy" of Sega, with some profound differences in style and setting.

The graphics on this game, though they are 16-bit, are actually quite good, drawn in stylish anime. The music is great, easily reflecting the technological setting of the series.

The gameplay is pretty good, although newer RPG gamers might be discouraged from playing this... it's most definitely "old school," which means typical, turn-based, random battles and dungeons that are long, maze-like, and very complicated to get through. I've been playing RPGs since Dragon Warrior, and even I can't really stand to go through these dungeons. Being "old school" also means that you'll have to spend some time just going out and fighting monsters in order to level up for the next coming areas.

Now, this game is quite good, but unfortunately, the tedium of level-building and the excessively long dungeons take a little bit away from the rating. Overall though, this game is pretty good, if you can still find it.

The best RPG of its generation

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Phantasy Star II was the best RPG of its generation. The seemingly simple game by Sega introduced complex, party-based combat to a generation of Genesis owners who missed the original Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System. PSII featured turn-based combat in which you could see your character carrying out the action you had ordered. This simple feature made combat extremely entertaining, and provided incentive to get new weapons and abilities. Watching Rolf, the protagonist, run up to a dragon and deliver a vicious slash with his laser sword is one of my favorite gaming memories.

In PSII you control a party of up to 4 characters. Players wander around a world map until they encounter one of the random battles that are extremely common. This game is combat heavy! Expect to spend most of your time wading through vicious battles and leveling your party.

While the combat is excellent, and holds up very well over time, the story is also extremely advanced for a Genesis game. PSII has a dark tone to it, and there is an excellent plot twist mid-way through the game. In some ways the plot mirrors that of Final Fantasy VII, despite the fact that PSII came out years earlier. I don't want to give anything away, but some aspects of those two games are VERY similar.

If you can get your hands on a copy of PSII (I'm not selling mine!) check it out. The graphics are surprisingly strong for a Genesis title, and the audio isn't bad either. Of course, this is one of my all-time favorites, so I'm a little biased.

The best Genesis RPG ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Phantasy Star 2, without a doubt a game ahead of its time when it was released on the Genesis years ago. While it may look simplistic now compared to the recent RPG's of late, but everything from the anime style graphics to the excessively long quest made Phantasy Star 2 worth playing. The final boss was one of the most memorable bosses in video game history, when I was younger it gave me nightmares. All in all, if you can find it now it may be a bit pricey, but next to Gunstar Heroes, this is the second best Genesis game ever.

A timeless classic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Only a year after Phantasy Star, through its relative obscurity, established itself as a landmark amongst RPGs of the era, its sequel accomplished much of the same. Phantasy Star II, set 1000 years after the first game, again proved that Sega was the company going that extra mile to provide gamers with quality entertainment.

The setting returned; the Algol star system with its three unique planets, three primary races, and mixture between the mystical and technological. The epic story added another layer as Rolf, descendant of the heroine Alis, finds himself pitted against an immeasurable threat in order to restore prosperity to Algo. Some time following the defeat of King Lassic, a technological marvel was created to supplement the struggling ecosystem on the World of Motavia. Previously little more than desert with a scattering of towns, the advent of the "Mother Brain" super computer transformed Motavia into a world bristling with vegetation and new wildlife. But something went wrong. The Biosystems lab, responsible for breeding animals suited to the new environment, suddenly began to produce dangerous monsters, complete departures from the engineering of normal animals.

Rolf, working as an agent out of the town of Paseo, is commissioned by the governor-general to retrieve the lab's data recorder, which would provide some insight as to what was causing this bizarre malfunction. Teaming up with Nei - a mysterious girl he met three months earlier who bears traits of both human and animal, Rudo - a Hunter who kills Biomonsters to avenge his slaughtered family, and Amy the Doctor, who in the name of science wants to determine the cause of the troubles as well, Rolf sets out to the Biosystems lab. What he discovers there only raises many more questions, and thus does his quest truly begin, as it seems the malfunction may very well stem from Mother Brain itself. Meeting several other characters along the way, each with their own stake in this fated quest, Rolf must uncover a dark secret, one which extends into the depths of history, and even beyond the Algol star system.

Phantasy Star II welcomed back the innovations of its predecessor, along with adding a few of its own. Whereas in the original Phantasy Star, ally attacks were represented by slashes and shots from a first person perspective, Phantasy Star II shows the characters fully animated on screen, delivering a variety of attacks; from sword slashes to shot gun blasts, slasher throwing to technique casting. Phantasy Star II also drastically increased the number of techniques at each character's disposal, presenting over 50 to the original Phantasy Star's 8.

With an interchangeable team of 8 characters, only 4 deployable at a time, players had to determine which to choose for each new situation. Unlike the RPGs of today, where there is little balance and all characters can be souped up to god-like strength if you have the patience, Phantasy Star II's characters had their strengths and weaknesses, proving useful under certain conditions, and useless in others. For example, Hugh the Biologist at higher levels can cast a wide array of techniques which can harm or cripple Biomonsters. However, these same techniques do absolutely nothing to machine-type enemies. This is where Kain the Wrecker comes in, utilizing his arsenal of techs which lay the mechanical minions to waste.

Phantasy Star II also still stands as one of the most challenging games ever created. It's dungeons were so massive, sprawling, and complex in fact, that the strategy guide was included. You would be hard pressed to find anyone today willing to tackle the game's labyrinthine dungeons without those convenient maps right beside them. Even with the maps, they took a good deal of labelling and figuring out in order to proceed.

Phantasy Star II also prevented the common strategy of "maxing out" your characters, for the maximum level was 50. While reaching this level did give you a much better chance at defeating the final boss, it did not make it so easy that the challenge was eliminated completely. Afterall, one of the bosses has abilities that prove terribly effective no matter how strong your characters are. We've all seen poison, paralysis, and sleep...but how many enemies have you seen crush a character with their own despair or instill greed within them, making them use their turn to steal other character's items? Once again Yuji Naka proved that quality gaming lie in innovation, presenting the world with another gem. Phantasy Star II managed to keep gamers enthralled, and in a high state of anticipation for its sequel, which would be released a mere 2 years later. It would be enough to establish a massive fan base in both the East and the West, for as the Genesis's first RPG, it quickly gained the recognition it deserved...

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