The second of the games on my New Year’s Resolution list I made it through this year was the original Phantasy Star – in this case going through the Sega Ages version of the game.
Phantasy Star was not the first science fiction (or science fantasy) themed RPG to be released. However, it is a game that I think treats it’s material in a way that handles the overworld/dungeon crawler dichotomy of play that the early Ultima games explored, and Dragon Quest attempted to adapt to consoles in a user friendly form, but not quite in the same way. Part of this is through carefully directing the player without dropping in too many side quests, and through including optional weapon upgrades through side dungeons that you come across through casual exploration.
Additionally, the game does a good job of basically doing the Metroid thing of providing semi-optional upgrades, either for leveling or purchase, that allow you to explore the map further, reach additional dungeons to get better weapons and armor, but like in Final Fantasy V, these can get off the beaten path and are absolutely missable.
The Sega Ages edition of the game helps streamline things further through two useful quality of life features. The first is a fast forward button that let’s you get through some of the required backtracking a little more quickly. The second is an automap that will not only map the dungeon for you (which is great for the Switch), but also will automatically mark pit traps. This makes dungeon exploration s lot less tedious.
There are still some significant problems – the limited inventory space means that by the end of the game you’re not going to have a lot of space for needed healing items, as about 3/4ths of your inventory will be made up of plot essential items. At no point does the game go, “You’ve solved this problem, you don’t need this thing anymore,” particularly when you get an upgrade to your magic key. On top of that, the game borrows the idea of monsters dropping trapped chests from Wizardry, but without the resource light methods for dealing with those traps from that game. You have one spell that is simultaneous trap detection and disarmament, and no items in the game that restore MP.
I’m glad I beat the game, and I look forward to moving to the Genesis games in the future, and I do recommend picking this up. I do wish the later Phantasy Star games (and Shining in the Darkness) had gotten a similar treatment.
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