Enter the Algol Solar System

When asked to think of classic RPG series, undoubtedly for me the first two I would think of would be Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. Both debuted on the NES and are still running today. I’m ashamed to say that, until recently, I might not have considered Phantasy Star to be a part of the classic RPG list. After playing through the original Phantasy Star as part of the Phantasy Star Collection on GBA, I can’t imagine leaving out Phantasy Star.

That being said, I understand why it wasn’t until many years later that I found out about the original Phantasy Star games. Not unlike so many others, I didn’t really show any interest in RPG’s until Final Fantasy VII. Even that I didn’t play when it was brand new, so really the first time I heard the name, “Phantasy Star” was with “Phantasy Star Online.” I played the gamecube version offline with some friends, and it was fun, but I never really thought of it as an RPG as I was fairly unfamiliar with the concept of an action RPG at the time.

Now that “Grandpa’s” done reminiscing for a bit, let’s talk about the
“grampa game” at hand here… that being Phantasy Star. Graphically, Phantasy Star is pretty impressive considering it’s 22 years old. Where it really stands out is in the enemy sprites and… *gasp* ANIMATIONS! Yeah yeah, I guess 22 years have made enemy animations seem slightly less impressive, but remember the other 2 classic series I mentioned, Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. At the time, neither series had enemy animations.

The game also features “cut-scenes” for each of the character introductions and at one or two important events in the game. Now, I put cut-scenes in quotes because generally these cut-scenes consist of one or maybe two still images, but it still adds something to the experience. The fact that the characters have introductions and names actually adds something as well. It’s certainly still a very basic plot, but it’s nice to have the characters come in to play through events instead of simply naming them all at the beginning. It was also nice to see a female in an old RPG that’s not only capable of doing more than just healing, but actually plays the lead role. Kudos to Sega.

In addition to the graphics, Phantasy Star also has some very catchy and memorable tunes. This is always a major plus since old RPG’s always have you wandering around in fields grinding levels for long periods of time. Another small thing that made a big difference to me is that themes continue after the interruption of a battle. It may not sound like much, but these old RPG’s had such high encounter rates that a map or dungeon theme will almost never be uninterrupted by a battle unless you stay put. I remember this bugging me as I was playing through the final dungeon in the original NES Final Fantasy. My favorite part of the song kicks in about 15 seconds into the loop. If you’re constantly moving, it’s likely you’ll get into a battle within 15 seconds… which… further proves my point about high encounter rates in old games. The tower theme in Phantasy Star is excellent and clocks in at a whopping 52 seconds. Okay, so that’s still not long, but you’re going to run into an enemy before the loop finishes if you keep moving, so it’s nice the theme picks up where it left off upon completing a battle.

It should be clear that I enjoyed the game, but there’s one major problem I had with it. It’s difficult to consider it a “flaw,” especially since it was advanced for the time, but I really didn’t enjoy the pseudo-3D dungeons. It seemed really cool at first, but as soon as I got into some more involved dungeons, I realized what I had gotten myself into. You really can only see about 3 steps in front of you, and many things are invisible until you come directly upon it. For example, one dungeon has a boss you have to fight at the end of a hallway. Because this boss isn’t behind a door or anything, you may come literally ONE STEP in front of the boss, look its direction and see nothing but a dead end of a hallway. Before I realized how complicated these dungeons were going to get, I tried to beat them without any help from guides or maps, so I looked down the hallway, saw a dead-end, and continued to aimlessly explore. That’s my biggest issue with the game. It’s nearly impossible to complete without the help of a guide and maps. I always try very hard to never use guides or maps if they aren’t provided with the game, but Phantasy Star simply asks too much. Early on I tried to map a dungeon, but after realizing some hallways lead to traps which make you fall through the floor and are invisible… I decided I’d get help for this one.

With the help of a guide and maps, the game was still enjoyable, but having to use a guide is such a curse. You’re forever lost without it, but if you use it, it’s boring and just following directions. Still, an 8-floor dungeon with branching paths and all kinds of dead-ends isn’t exactly my idea of fun, certainly not with such a disorienting perspective. After finding a balance of looking when I needed to and avoiding it when I didn’t, it still proved to be an enjoyable experience. I just would strongly urge anyone serious about completing this game to understand how difficult it would be without help. Also, I would recommend playing it on the Wii’s VC or the actual Master System if possible. All the sound and everything came out pretty well in this GBA version, but it had a pesky saving glitch. I’ve looked around and it does, unfortunately, seem to be a bug with the GBA game. On occasion, when you attempt to save your progress, the game will crash. It’s a very distressing thought to realize that the next time you save, you may be unable to save, losing all progress since your last successful save. I was able to beat the game on the GBA cartridge, and it only happened 2 or 3 times, but it DID happen 2 or 3 times, so you always know it COULD happen. I’ve begun to play a little Phantasy Star 2 on this collection and have yet to encounter the saving glitch, but I’m always a little nervous when it comes time to save. All in all, I’m glad I played the game and am definitely interested in looking more into the rest of the series.

Achievement Unlocked: These Are The Breaks

(This is how most gamers react when I start to talk about achievements.)

It's time I finally talked about something remotely relevant to current gaming. I know, achievements/trophies are nothing new, but they're a large part of what is apparently now the current standard in gaming. As someone who's predominantly stuck in the past when it comes to video games, trophy/achievement hunting was a new experience, one that left me feeling dirty, like a cheater, and ultimately unrewarded. I decided one of the only ways I could get myself to truly hunt for trophies would be with games from a time-period I'm more comfortable with, so I trophy-hunted in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3.

While I'm generally against resorting to walkthroughs or FAQ's right from the get-go, I figured the best way to get the full experience of trophy-whoring (or "trophy-hunting" if you prefer to use euphemisms) would be to load up a trophy guide and shoot down the list. Again, I already felt dirty by this point, but I was merely getting started. Let's talk about some "highlights." Ecco the Dolphin has one of the most pathetic trophies in the entire collection... "Talk to another dolphin." For those of you who don't know Ecco the Dolphin, this means in the first area of the game, you go up to a fellow dolphin (who's very close by) and press a button near him. DONE. Bronze trophy. "I got awarded for that?" I thought to myself. I wasn't anywhere close to done yet.

While that trophy was pathetic, I wouldn't call it game-breaking. I mean, you have to communicate with other dolphins in Ecco to play the game... you just also have to do a whole lot MORE than communicate with other dolphins to actually play through the game. There are plenty of trophies in the Genesis collection, however, that ARE game-breaking. In true trophy-hunting fashion, let's go down the list. Bonanza Brothers requires you to reach a certain amount of points in the first level. My goal? Complete the level as fast as possible collecting a big time bonus at the end. Pfft, what the hell was I thinking? I'm not PLAYING the game... I'm FARMING the game for TROPHIES! Silly me... beating the level quickly and efficiently simply wouldn't give me the points I needed. Clearly the pro way to play that would earn me a trophy would have me standing in the same place and repeatingly attacking someone I would simply avoid in normal gameplay. The point of Bonanza Brothers is to rob a place... that means get the stuff and get out of there. To get the trophy, I simply stood in one place and kept slamming a door on a guard over and over for points. Oh, and by the way, the trophy guide had NO strategy for that one. I guess among trophy-hunters, a strategy so convoluted and seemingly foolish is common knowledge. (Actually, the 360 achievement guide DOES mention my strategy. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if 360 owners have achievement hunting down better than PS3 owners.)

Next on the list we have Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, which is simply Puyo Puyo or Kirby's Avalanche. Uh-oh, this one's a gold trophy... Aww man... I have to complete the game? Trophy guide, say it ain't so! ... Oh, thank God... it ISN'T so. Look up the password for the last stage in the game, pop that in, beat the stage and congratulations! Gold trophy. (Admittedly, I didn't want to play that much M.B.M. but it felt cheap and dirty.)

Vectorman 2... let's see, what do I have to do to get this easy silver... REACH SCENE 11?!? But... but... that game's hard! *consults trophy guide* ... Ohh... Phew... *Puts in level cheat, skips to stage 11.* Silver trophy.

I think I've illustrated my point in how trophies/achievements can be game-breaking, but I've got one last issue to address before I stop bashing them. There's no standard in how difficult it should be to get an achievement/trophy, which leads to some hilariously stupid comparisons. For example, that bronze trophy I mentioned for Ecco? Apparently beating MvC2 with a team of Street Fighter characters and using no continues is considered to be the same level of difficulty as pressing a button once. Oh, and beating Mega Man 10 on hard difficulty is a bronze trophy as well. Not to mention, gold is clearly better than silver, right? Why then, is beating Mega Man 10 without ever getting hit a silver trophy, and collecting 100 rings with Tails in the first stage of Sonic 3 a gold trophy? Don't get me wrong, I realize some games have stupidly hard trophies and some have stupidly easy ones, but some players work so hard to up their "gamerscore" or their "trophy level" and for what? To prove their superiority over other gamers? Sorry, but I'm still going to consider the guy who can beat Mega Man 10 without getting hit a better player than the guy who sits through Terminator Salvation regardless of the fact that the trophies would argue otherwise.

I suppose I sound like a crotchety old man complaining about these newfangled video games, but I'm not here to say that achievements/trophies are all bad. Sometimes earning a trophy that actually takes work can feel satisfying. Trophies can also allow you to discover things about a game you might not have thought of or play the game in a new light (such as clearing an area of the game without using certain common items or only using a certain weapon). In these cases, I support achievements and think they are a welcome innovation in video games. However, it's all too often that you hear about people playing through terrible games just for easy trophies or breaking a game to crack it open and reveal the delicious easy-trophy center. I did my time, I got my "platinum" trophy, but it still doesn't compare to the rewarding feeling of simply beating a challenging game. I'm not entirely against trophies... but if there was a game called, "Trophy get!" and all you did was leave it on for a certain amount of hours on a blank screen and get trophies for it, it would probably sell... and that really scares me.