Loving Phantasy Star III Despite Its Flaws: A Retrospective (+ Interview with PSIII's Composer)

Phantasy Star III (Sega Genesis) retrospective going over all the things I love and didn't love about the game. Drawing on a retrospective I wrote earlier along with an interview with the game's composer. Link to both below.
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[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

With her music, she changed my perspective on the world. The passion and confidence of that theme song, set against the stars in the alien sky, made me feel very small yet very connected to dreamers both far away and gone. Holding on to that feeling led me far from the small town I lived in, to find love and adventure that wasn't limited by videogame restrictions. I wish I could thank her for it. Beyond what it did for me personally, for years, it was the song I used to show non-gamers the possibilities of the new medium.

[@TieryasXu]

Wow, that's incredible. Thank you for sharing. If you're okay with it, I'll screen grab this message and send to her.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@TieryasXu I'd be honored. Thank you.

[@TieryasXu]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I shared and she was very happy. Thank you again for sharing! 🙏

[@RwnEsper]

This was my first Phantasy Star and one of the most important games of my pre-teen life. Thanks for covering it without the hate. 💙 Edit: IPPO is one of my favorite composers, would love to get an update on PSIV!

[@TieryasXu]

Thank you! And okay, will do!

[@torenwikberg]

The score is certainly the most memorable part of PSIII. That and the fever dream feel. Good work.

[@mmpsp693]

I will need to watch this video with my full attention, but any PS cover is good. Such an under appreciated series.

[@RPGFort]

Thank you so much for this, another great video. Love to see passionate fans still talking about this series. And it was awesome seeing the interview segments with Ippo, PSIV is my favourite soundtrack. Her insight on PSIII was a treat to read.

[@TieryasXu]

Thank you so much!

[@awfpunisher]

I've said since the day I first played PS3 way back when that it needs a remake. The game was chock full of good ideas. Just not enough time to flesh them out. Great character designs and world building. Some more work into character backgrounds, and development would make this a bonafide classic.

[@TieryasXu]

Totally agree!

[@bluespaceman7937]

I would absolutely play a PS3 remake. Someone should go convince Sega!

[@freakyzed8467]

Good friens of mine in high school was a Genesis kid. I had the Super Nintendo. We woukd trade consoles and games over long weekends. This one one of the first ones i played, and one of my first real jrpg's. Love it, and still do!

[@TieryasXu]

That sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[@whylde7834]

Cool! Like you, I swapped consoles with a friend. Except I was the Genesis guy. My story is very similar as my friend loaned me Final Fantasy 2 on SNES and I became hooked on jrpgs. When I got my Genesis back, I immediately bought PS2, then PS3 later on. The feels when I see this game....

[@japanimationman4442]

Wow, someone else who knows that the world map music changes if the main character is dead. I have never heard anyone else mention this before, and thought it was a shame considering how great that track is. The game is definitely a step down from PS2, but it still holds a special place in my heart, so it's always nice to hear someone have a positive opinion of it.

[@TieryasXu]

It's a great track!

[@Mingodough]

I played all 4 games a couple years ago for the first time. I played, and beat PS 3. While the “weakest” in the mainline, I still really love it. I wish it had more time to be worked on but hey what we got is still really good, the atmosphere this game gives isnt seen anywhere else

[@MrVariant]

Romancing saga 2 remake did much better with inheritance and intuitive gameplay. It is a shame a lot of other bad games don't get revamped and we're stuck with censorship or other changes like dq3 or ff7. Phantasy star 3 on sega genesis collection at least lets you rewind out of ambush as poison is cheap. Fast forward helps the slow speed, and Sari is probably the best inverse of broken character who is a crappy boss fight lol just gotta Equip her. People have done fan rpgs to improve ps3.

[@RedWizard0]

I've played all four of the OG Phantasy Star games, and I can safely say I enjoyed III the most.

[@TieryasXu]

👍

[@andreiulyanov9241]

I love the town theme so much. I have a guitar arrangement of it, so one day I will record it. Yeah, and the plot twist is one of my favourites.

[@TieryasXu]

Awesome. Look forward to it. Just checked your Lunar covers and they're really great!

[@PSIIIRProject]

Love coming accross new Retrospectives for PSIII. I have watched this one three times now :). This retrospective does a great looks at the games highlights and flaws as well as an insight into why and how the game feels different from the other games in the series. I would love to read over the authors notes.

[@ezg8448]

There were a few good things about PS3. The main theme is excellent, so good it's actually one of my favorite Phantasy Star tracks. Overall, the BGM was pretty good IMO.

[@XyNoST]

WOOHOO a new episode ! I will finally be able to have a good retrospective of a game I will never have the patience to play (the walk cycle so slow). It was my first Phantasy Star but it is the one I played the less for sure but the system of the "family tree" in it always fascinate me !

[@TieryasXu]

Thank you! Hope you enjoy it!

[@XyNoST]

@@TieryasXu Just finished it and I did enjoyed it for sure ! As a guy who loves to make music on oldschool consoles and microcomputers, I really love interviews like this that focused around the OST of games and stuff (aka before we got all those fancy trackers and sequencers to make it)

[@TieryasXu]

@@XyNoST That's awesome you make music on old school consoles and microcomputers. And thank you!

[@bluespaceman7937]

I've always been intrigued by Phantasy Star III, so this video absolutely speaks to me. As mentioned, the plot was full of potential, but it needed to be fleshed out with a stronger focus on the characters. In the end, I'd like to recommend Dragon Quest V's generational storytelling for how it developed a similar idea into a more dramatic narrative and, slightly later on, we also had Romancing Saga 2 experimenting with the imperial succession mechanic as a much bigger part of its core gameplay.

[@TieryasXu]

I love Dragon Quest V! Haven't played Romancing Saga 2 though but have wanted to check it out.

[@bluespaceman7937]

@@TieryasXu There is a remake of RS2 coming out very soon, so that might be of interest as well.

[@michaeljedlowski4227]

Again great music! Great vid also! I wish Sega would have re-made PSIII, not only PSI and II. Even before Sega cancelled that series they were gonna skip PSIII. I would also like to see a prequel with Orakio and Laya.... A man can dream. Some ppl do love PSIII interestingly.I seem to recall Morgan Webb loved this game.If anyone remembers that old VG show she was on. There is a fan made re-translation that is I enjoyed.

[@TieryasXu]

a prequel with Orakio and Laya would be amazing!

[@michaeljedlowski4227]

@@TieryasXu I happen to like PSIII myself. It was one of the first Genesis/MD games I bought.

[@Fauntleroy.]

I love this game, too. It is the weakest of the four main titles but that doesn't mean it's without charm. I think they just set out to do way too much. The three generations, four endings, seven worlds, massive but mostly empty maps, extra weapons like the needle guns, technique balancing, even how the music changes. My advice would've been, cut the ambition in half, pack the remaining half with meaty content, and stick with the basic systems from II. I think a more focused approach would've led to a better result considering the small cartridge size and short production schedule. With all that said, I'm really enjoying your content. Keep it up! I also released a patch for this game you might find interesting: PSIII General Improvement.

[@TieryasXu]

Agreed! And thank you so much! What's in your patch?

[@jindmand]

PS III was my very first rpg ever. Every video that talks about, I say it's one of my favorite stories that was never fully told. It was epic, even in it's sparcity and I would love if some develope out there could remake it and fully flesh the story out

[@marcovarius]

Great video. I love all the PS games.

[@vain_x]

I hope you'd go more into the story in a future ocassion, I'd love to know all the paths characters, who they are and what they did in the story. I played this eons ago and I can't remember much, but I did clear 1 path at least, fun game!

[@capitalistpigsa1]

Honestly this one is probably my second favorite classic Phantasy star game behind 4.

[@CYI3ERPUNK]

100% agreed , 3 is easily seen as a step down from 2 but it was still creative/imaginative ; would luv to see a modern remake that keeps what was unique and understands the games

[@TieryasXu]

A modern remake would be wonderful, but I'd take a spiritual successor too!

[@CYI3ERPUNK]

@@TieryasXu yes , agreed =] games like Hollow Knight are here becuz we had SotN and they are their own unique thing =] and not just a remake , the world is big enough for both imho

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

This was a great concept hampered by hardware limitations. A remake could turn this game into a masterpiece.

[@Strider_Shinryu]

Pretty much lines up with my perspective as well. There's so many cool and interesting elements to PS3, including some elements like the Generations system that actually still hasn't been properly revisited even to this day. It's not uncommon for RPGs these days to have relationship systems but this still almost never actually results in children continued generations, instead just being essentially a coupling that happens at the end of the story. There were absolutely some failings in how all of this was executed, especially in a lack of depth in the specific characters and their individual stories/narratives, but the game just still feels actually ahead of it's time. I know the whole issue of "remakes" taking over the gamer industry is a hot topic these days, but PS3 could really use a modern remake as I can't help but wonder what a PS3 made today would actually be like. And as for the music, I still find myself listening to the title screen track on KZbin from time to time as it's still stuck in my head all these many years later.

[@Bigzig2]

I have beaten this game and thought it was not great but I appreciate the games ambition. I often struggled to figure out where to go.

[@larskrantz1463]

one of the best games. Loved it!

[@alexh2790]

It is the weekest in some regards but 2 was pretty sparse when you consider the amount of grinding in that game. I think both of these games are subtextually very interesting though, especially 2. I always felt that 2's world represented a subtlely opressive mundanity, like growing up in the ultra suburbs.

[@ViktarTheBarbarian]

Out of all of the OG phantasy star games i think this one had the most potential but sadly was created in a time that limited the scope of the story it was trying to tell.

[@espfusion]

PS3 was pretty clearly held back by only having 6Mbit to work with. It was trying to do a lot more than PS2 with no more ROM space. Bad idea given PS2 was arguably itself too constrained by lack of ROM space seeing how it was only 1.5x the space they had for PS1.

[@Migdo14]

I always like the game even though it's different than the others.

[@ColeslawVariant]

Probably better recieved had it not been released as a Phantasy Star game.

[@TieryasXu]

There's a strong argument to be made for that!

[@ThePageofRage]

Honestly, I'm gonna be that guy: 3 is the Best Phantasy Star.

[@TieryasXu]

👍

[@TevorTheThird]

PS3 is pretty rad but yeah, I think this is all pretty much right on the money with what it does right and wrong. The unique nature of the generational system helped alleviate the weaker characterization at the time but, especially looking backwards, never fully makes up for it. I only played it for the first time a few years ago though and still really loved it. I thought it punched well above it's reputation at least. On note though, just for historical sense, the idea of PS3 being a trend setter of "Oops this traditional fantasy setting is actually science fiction" is a little wrong. That's straight out of Ultima 1. Which is mostly noteworthy because of how wildly import Ultima was to the birth of the entire Japanese role playing game scene. So the blending of sci-fi and fantasy we see in JRPGs has really been there since minute one. I'd be surprised if PS3's handling of it wasn't directly inspired by the same reveal from Ultima all things considered.

[@TieryasXu]

Thanks for pointing it out and you're absolutely right. Love the Ultima series and I can totally see it being an inspiration. Sorry, I should have clarified I meant mainly for console RPGs. I know Might and Magic did it as well and that was fun too! 😃

[@TevorTheThird]

@@TieryasXu Naw it's fine, don't worry about it. It's a good video, I just wanted to point that bit out.

[@duhmez]

Ilove this game. Bought it with my own money when it was new. So I kind of had to love it. Hower ver, I really liked and stil t like the graphics, and this game has WAY simpler dungeons. SOme complain about the basic dungeons, but I disagree. E 1 and #2 and almlost imposible to play through as is, U need a guide or a map, or tons of graph paper bs to get through. This is the first Phatnatsy star ub can juast sit down and axctually get through with just u and controller. I been playing on my Mega Sd cart, and it has 109 save state slots! So I am saving ht egame at everyu marriage point, so I can finally see the whole game when I want! And if I want to replay in future, I can jump in at any marriage point. Awesome! A major downside though, the music in this # 3 is much worse than #2. The #2 music is legendary and totally holds up.

[@rvfiasco]

I played the shit out of it but it wasn't sandwiched between two way better games. Wait. It WAS WHAT IT COULD have been. 😅 I had to steal part IV from a Video Store...😅

[@diegojose4173]

If anything, the thing that screw over PS3 was the lack of budget and inexperience of the team.

[@bodhidaruma2824]

7:14 yo it's dr disrespect lol

[@michaeljedlowski4227]

Classic.

[@JamesShow]

It's a fun standalone game but so disappointing in how it fits into Phantasy Star. I also didn't like that only the men choose a wife to continue the story or that it's just a choice unlike, say, Final Fantasy 7 where your interactions determine the date at Gold Saucer... it should have been the same way. Also, the 4 or 5 endings are too much alike so it didn't feel like there were big differences. I think one ending has an exploding star, one has a meteor... just different disasters.