Oh no! Does Phantasy Star 3 SUCK!?!?

[@malkavthemad4249]

It doesn't suck as much as living in Memphis, TN.

[@Lwilibert]

try Argentina, not fun here haha

[@ZacHawkins42]

Howdy, neighbor. North of ATL, GA here, where the cops will ruin your life over a single roach.

[@malkavthemad4249]

@@ZacHawkins42 I literally had a drug dealer light up my apartment with handgun fire, and most people in my inner circle have been robbed, my dad being beaten with a golf club in a robbery.

[@ZacHawkins42]

@@malkavthemad4249 I hope you and yours have considered, or do now, carry a handgun for self-defense. Good luck out there 🤞

[@malkavthemad4249]

@@ZacHawkins42 Already do. Pretty much all of my family does.

[@zersch.]

It's always 1000 years because that's how long it takes the Profound Darkness to come back in each game.

[@donstarlancer]

I think he’s speaking of a lot of media from the time in general actually

[@otakubullfrog1665]

I had a friend who had a Genesis before I had an SNES and this happened to be the first 16-bit RPG I ever played. I thought the music and visuals were great and I really enjoyed the synthesis of medieval fantasy and technology (which the Final Fantasy games would also lean into, so clearly they were onto something). This one will always have a place in my heart, so I can't really rate it objectively.

[@FreakyLynx]

Your comment regarding Laya’s appearance remaining the same, don’t forget that it’s explained in the game. After being rejected for marriage she’s depressed and decides to go back into suspended animation… so of course she doesn’t change physically (or even mentally). They could have done more with the concept but it’s not a mistake tgat she doesn’t age.

[@colefitzpatrick8431]

This seems more like a workaround to allow the devs the laziness of not changing her, or even removing her, than a silver lining or a saving grace

[@DezorianGuy]

The soundtrack had some of the catchiest tunes ever. Thats a good thing about it I'd say. 👍🏻

[@GTSN38]

I have to turn off the sound because it's so annoying. The soundtrack sucks ass

[@CeramicShot]

3:30 If you're the type of person who married Lena first instead of Maia, do you really have any business reviewing or even commenting on this game, though?

[@truehare]

To be fair, I did the same... Because I wanted to take the wrong option out of the way first and save the best for last, of course.

[@CeramicShot]

@@truehare You know what, that's actually forgivable. Thank you - this has been a teaching moment for me.

[@pyrotictiger9930]

I mean, three of the four grandsons are related to both Lena and Rhys. Besides, she's a pretty good sport for helping Rhys off after he ditched their marriage to run off after Maia.

[@MaxAbramson3]

No, no you don't.

[@charlene2400]

I've always said 4, was the best game, but my fave to play, was 3.I've gotten all 4 endings. There is a difference for the 3rd gen character. You can have 4 potential grandkids, two will have roughly the same strength vs techniques, while the other two go more 1-sided. So, for the most challenge of the game, either go all Layan in marriages, or all humans.

[@Sherkel]

Its washed-out natural environments have a place in this world of overflowing streetlights and concrete.

[@JannPoo]

All Orakians is impossible. While in the other 2 marriage scenes you have a Layan and an Orakian choice, Nial must choose either Laya or Alair, who are both Layans. In the end it is required for the 3rd generation Hero to be able to cast Megiddo, so he must have some Layan Blood. Ironically in order to get the Hero with the most Orakian blood and least Layan blood on the 3rd generation, you need to choose Maya (a Layan) as your first spouse choice.

[@qmchale5130]

The third generation will have at least 1/4th of Layan blood because of the Megido technique.

[@qmchale5130]

@JannPoo The one you're talking about is probably Crys. I was thinking Sean, but he's the most Layan of the four 3rd-Gen heroes. Rhys has to marry Maya, then Ayn has to marry Sari.

[@pyrotictiger9930]

Can't go all human. You'll always be a hybrid breed in the third generation. As an aside there's only one grandson that's not related to both Rhys and Lena.

[@digitaljanus]

I had a Genesis and this was the first Phantasy Star game I every played, and it blew me away. I had heard the name Phantasy Star before but kind of assumed it was just Sega's version of Final Fantasy I--basic medieval fantasy. I had no idea about the sci-fi angle, so entering that first plexiglass dungeon had my jaw on the floor. Then the multiple generations thing was amazing to me. Later, I tried PSII and then IV and realized III was indeed the series low point but I'll still always have that nostalgia.

[@roguerifter9724]

"Even when everyone admits this is the worst Phantasy Star..." I don't I personally think Phantasy Star II is much worse then this. None of the four are bad IMO mind you but I hate the dungeons in the second game, and like being able to play a game multiple times with decisions I make actually determining the path the story follows.

[@phyrr2]

Not to mention the only way to play PS2 is with an emulator or a re-release where the TIME it takes to simply start combat gets cut short.

[@tatertots3337]

Yes, but we love it anyway.

[@indifferentone8991]

Exactly

[@Chaz4543]

@@indifferentone8991 Because we played it when we were really young and didnt notice all the flaws.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

My favourite part of this game is Lyle giving his blessings for your wedding despite being fucking dead.

[@fraudulein]

believe it or not, that's somehow a localization error.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

Yeah, I believe that. Also, aren't Ayn and Thea cousins? Lyle is related to King Cille, who is the father of Maia...

[@fraudulein]

@@blackdragoncyrus King Cille refers to Lyle as a nephew, which would make him and Maia cousins, and Ayn and Thea second cousins, yeah. Honestly not as scandalous as some people make it out to be; they're royal families, surely they could do worse.

[@blackdragoncyrus]

@@fraudulein Oh, yeah. That's true - I always thought it was just that the devs couldn't find another lady for Ayn as a marriage candidate, so they just picked Thea, lol.

[@ryanc5572]

I played that scene last night and died of laughter 😂

[@marywallace3620]

So here's something interesting, so you know the music on the overworld? Well as you gain more party members the music gains more depth and base or something like that.

[@juanelorriaga2840]

I noticed that wayyy back in the summer of 1990 i new bar of music would start I like lil stuff like that

[@RiotDarkside]

It gains an extra layer of instrumentation every time your party increases by 1. It's a cool touch!

[@DracoSuave]

That's why the music composer was brought back for PS4.

[@jakecarlstad6192]

Hey dude, just want to say I love your content! Just found you out through Red Cow! Great stuff

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Awesome, thank you! RC rocks

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

Who red cow? What they do?

[@JasonGravesPoser]

@@KCUFyoufordoxingme kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZuoeWmvqMeHbJo&ab_channel=RedCowArcade They're a podcast, I was on for this one

[@docwhiskey996]

I like that they're on world ships from Palma. Thats kinda cool.

[@xinyyc]

Thank goodness you said it. I thought I was living in a crazy-town for how much Genesis fans were pressuring me to stick with Phantasy Star III despite how much the game itself was telling me to stop playing it while I tried to stick with it. Even in the collection on the GBA, I'd rather play the grind of Phantasy Star II's battles over and over, listening to Rise and Fall nonstop, than revisit III for even a minute. Everything about 3 seems lazily implemented after II, like they knew they weren't going to top it with by music, pacing, looks, or writing, so they just didn't bother.

[@RiotDarkside]

PS3 was a hugely creative game that inspired many games down the line. It was made by a different team (mostly) than ps2 and was so grand for its time that a lot of narrative content was cut to save on memory. It definitely suffered in some respects and nearly always due to memory constraints. The review is a bit of a whine fest but this game was more important for what came after. They weren't afraid to try new ideas and thats what made it great. Most modern rpgs are guilty of reusing the same old tired concepts. Theres no excuse for that battle music though...

[@armorvil]

I like the different battle musics haha

[@Sherkel]

I agree with your criticisms and this is a minor nitpick, but PSIII's reputation as ambitious largely comes from the cut/shortened story elements which the original text boxes had much more space to explain. When it was translated into English in uniform-width font, there was no choice but to cut half of it, and the arbitrary choice of a smaller ROM chip probably didn't help. In case you still "want to like the game", though, I recommend looking at the character pages in the Wiki(a)!

[@fourstarman1]

Lol, i love how crazy harsh this review is, and how basically every comment is about how great the game is. To be clear, i absolutely love ps3. I love it the most for its place in the series which i believe many people misunderstand. I understand, and believe, that ps3 takes place at the exact same time as ps4. I feel like ps3 is kind of like a dlc for ps2. Its amazing to learn that some people made it off parma. I understand it that as the parmanians made a last ditch effort to bail off the planet, PD got a dark force onto one of the ships, to hopefully destroy them all. I then believe, that a battle ensued on the ship and as typical, DF almost destroys the ship and just barely, orakio and laya managed to subdue him. The few remaining people on board struggle in almost a dystopian type story, barely survivng in a medieval way. Also as typical DF tries to break his bonds a thousand years later when his strength peaks, and the story of ps3 takes place far away in space... a thousand years after parma explodes, at the same point in time that DF and PD attack the weakend system back at algo. The music of ps3 is top notch, and actually changes and develops as your party does. The marriage system i believe, works far better than you give it credit here for. The way the different stories battle against humanoids or cyborgs differently, yet also show you that all timelines end with a battle against DF. I think 3 holds it own extremely well. i think when you realize how it fits in the storyline and how cool it is for the characters to realize where they actually come from, an earned respect emerges.

[@ryangraff102]

One of the old Genesis compilations, the one for the PS2 I think, included an interview with one of the developers of Phantasy Star III. If you read between the lines, he basically says they planned too much for the amount of cartridge space they had available, and had to make huge cuts because of it.

[@The_Game_Juggler_ME]

Got happy memories watching a high school buddy completing this game at his pad after ditching school during lunch.

[@crawdkenny]

If you did Nial, you missed the "longer" paths through the game. What they do is Nial and Ayn have different generations, but if you do Ayn, Nial's quest is tacked onto the beginning of the third generation. If you do Nial on generation 2, Ayn's content is just skipped.

[@tatertots3337]

You know what's really tragic? How badly the lack of CRT fuzz damages the pixel art.

[@KurtHectic97]

The game have issues but still my favorite.

[@sandwichsteen]

It's a strange one to pick as a fave but I respect that.

[@truehare]

It'll always have a special place in my heart as well, being the first RPG I ever played, and it's honestly not as bad as everyone says; I still prefer it over II. But IV is still my favorite, no doubt about it. As much as I like to stand up for the underdog, there's no way I can deny how frigging awesome Phantasy Star IV was - and how much it still holds up today. In fact, I'm playing it right now on my PS4.

[@MerkhVision]

13:43 a "monochrome" of sense? Surely you mean "modicum!" Lol but you still made a good point there.

[@FuriousACTIONGamer]

Yeah but the intro to that battle theme is a banger

[@JasonGravesPoser]

do do do do dododododo DANANAANNANANANANANANNANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANANA

[@millgiass]

@@JasonGravesPoser Probably were referencing the ones where you're either way more powerful than the enemies or way weaker than the enemies rather than the neutral one. That said, I believe that the triumphant theme was re-used/re-tooled as the Chao Race music in Sonic Adventure. Part of the melody anyway. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXnMZoKVf6eDodE kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4iXhp6jlreMh8U

[@FuriousACTIONGamer]

@@millgiass Oh heavens no. It was the goofy intro. I appreciate that you have full control over its progression. But it's terrible. I hate PS3

[@gameboylad]

I wonder why they just up and got a whole new team for the third game. So random to do that for a trilogy that seems pretty planned out. It's been a treat to watch these videos as someone who's only experience with Phantasy star is through their MMO's

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Sonic. They took half the staff to make sonic

[@gameboylad]

@@JasonGravesPoser damn on one hand that sucks but on the other that probably was a life changing call to make 💀

[@Sherkel]

Draw 7 cards from the deck.

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

@@JasonGravesPoser Sonic was actually made later. Most of the staff instead worked on the Sorcerian port at the same time.

[@MrNoobed]

I really was struck at how empty the game is. It seemed so much like a game that just wasn't finished, like everything was left on the cutting room floor on accident.

[@robertparrott7068]

They took the phantasy star crew and put them on sonic. Then they gave this job to the golden axe people and didn’t give them much time to complete it. So it is basically an unfinished game

[@looking4themountain]

This game wasn't grand, but it reminds me of Friday trips to Blockbuster Video with my Dad. It took several rentals before I moved on :)

[@hughjazz44]

No mention of the music? The music is wildly different than all the other entries.

[@qmchale5130]

It just comes off as underwhelming off the heels of Phantasy Star 2. The generational branching is neat, though.

[@phyrr2]

Izuho "IPPO" Numata made the PERFECT soundtrack. The motorola sound chip on the Genesis was flexed well in PS3. One thing I enjoyed about PS3 was it's seeming medieval fantasy world until you realize the circular maps aren't just laziness - it's because each 'world' is a domed world spaceship. But each world being preserved in time is like the show The Starlost.

[@fabiomgm1293]

The concept is a fun idea, but this was developed by the dudes that developed Sword of Vermillion.

[@ericb8205]

I think the craziest part of the Phantasy Star series is that at least for 2 and 3 the development from beginning to end was like 6 months that's insanely short

[@digitaljanus]

There is one place I did some grinding in this game. The second-best claw Mieu can get is in the last town before the first generation boss fight, and since Mieu and Wren keep their stats and gear when they timeskip, she can tear apart enemies for the rest of the game with that. So I grinded until I could buy it.

[@robertparrott7068]

Oh I remember that town. You have to make the bridge to get there. They entice you with that even though you don’t need it… i can’t believe you grinded on 1st gen enemies to get that lol that must have taken hours!

[@digitaljanus]

​@@robertparrott7068 I was 12 years old and had nothing better to do, so I figured why not? 😅

[@BlitzKreigur]

I remembered playing PS3 as a kid, and the only things that stuck with me were the concepts and ideas, which left a rosy view of it. I started a playthrough this year, some 25 years later and my I felt a sense of deja-vu, not towards my time with it as a kid; but towards the countless minimal-effort RPG Maker games that are circulating online.

[@patrickmcathey7081]

Most memorable parts Wren turn into a cool airplane. You get to ride a dragon briefly. The wack NPCs that stop you from going into the other generation story areas. Escapepipe shenanigans

[@nottiredofwinning3736]

12:47 You really channeled your inner James Rolfe with that 'yeah'

[@stevesteve0521]

My issues with the game is it didn’t follow up on 2s cliffhanger ending. Graphically it also seemed like it took a step down from 2 and the combat system is kind of a drag. I like the generation’s concept and I like the music in the game but it’s definitely the weakest game of the Genesis trilogy

[@FreakyLynx]

I agree with the combat system, it resembles the first game more - I really prefer 2 & 4 where you actually see the character perform their attack.

[@thaneros]

Outside the battles, 3 is graphically superior.

[@TheHiobs]

I prefer my Opinion over yours. Great Game.

[@xreev0x]

But you forgot it’s one redeeming quality: the music changes based on how many characters you have. That alone makes up for it being a boring, uninspired, pseudo-sequel.

[@SusieUndertale]

Nothing I love to hear more than some seriously impassioned bad video game hate Great video, earned a sub

[@fisherdotogg]

This game really needed to not be on a 512KB cart. They didn't get to give locales unique tilesets or make the presentation of the game systems and story anything worth experiencing

[@Jukeboxster]

I've never played PSIII because of its poor reputation. After listening to this, it seems like it suffered from too many ideas and not enough execution, like the production meeting was everyone throwing in ideas and the lead engineer said, " Yeah, we'll put that in too." Not a lot of thought went into adding depth or interconnecting a lot of their ideas.

[@AussieArcade]

No it doesn't "suck" at all, in fact I had far more fun playing 3 that the tedious grind fest that is 2. 3 only gets it's reputation from the sheeple because it deviated from the previous games in story. 3 is one of the few games I played multiple times to get all the endings.

[@victoriarose3774]

Same thing here. It definitely gets more hate than it deserves.

[@jeanmarcdrapeau5421]

I've played all Phantasy Star from one to the fourth and all of them are excellent game in my heart. I spent so much time playing in my chilhood, I remember falling asleep with the music.

[@gregoryyeager4675]

All of the console RPGs we had access to back then were flawed. Imagine playing this after only having played Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior 3. It's another JRPG, and at the time that was enough to get really excited about. I played it through 3 of the 4 branches. I noticed the empty towns and the wide open spaces and the somewhat uninspired combat presentation, and those things bothered me even then, but we were starved for this kind of gaming experience and this kind of art style which has become ubiquitous but was at the time super rare.

[@targetplayer]

ty for mentioning the 2 save slots, which ensures several extra hours of boredom as you replay a generation to get all 4 endings. Even a 3rd save slot would have fixed that issue. Whole areas of the game are empty if you don't choose Maia. The rightmost dome and Satellite didn't seem to have been programmed for the Lena path and are full of the weakest enemy from the first generation.

[@goranisacson2502]

A game that gets mostly by on nostalgia and it's background story becoming known and creating reater sympathy for it. Phantasy Star III is a game made by a new team who had barely any time to get things done but gave it all they had anyway, with generations and a more refined auto-battle system. It's a game that people who played it back then look back on as what it felt like to them, and people nowdays look back on and go "man, what could have been"... because engaging with what it IS is mostly just a slog. I played it on emulator in my youth, and I barely even remember doing so- Phantasy Star II at least had Nei and dungeons so hard I still remember trying my best to get through them...

[@Gemquist]

I liked III. Keep in mind this game came out wayyy back when. Having things changed between the generations like towns and NPCs would have likely taken a lot of cartridge space and extra dev time... And Live-A-Live was definitely a superior game. It also came out 4 years later, which back then was nearly a console generation.

[@marklastname373]

This game deserves a legitimate reboot. The potential here was incredible, imagine if the PS4 team had made this one in the same style and with the same care.

[@loganhayse8771]

Shout out for Mr Gentleman. Wish he still did videos but it is what it is. He put his heart and soul into his videos and felt like a professor giving a lecture and I was there for it.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Well he is planning to do more videos, but it’s just taking a while.

[@loganhayse8771]

@@thomasffrench3639 it's been several years now but when he drops one, I'll be there

[@tedmax75]

How can you POSSIBLY not like part 2??? Two was AMAZING!

[@MacUser2-il2cx]

The game was passed to another team to develop it that had no knowledge of what the first two games were about while the main Phantasy Star team was working on Phantasy Star IV as a Sega CD game. The game is literal padding which is why it has no impact on the overall saga and has branching paths. It's FILLER.

[@hpdre7437]

This game deserves a complete redo that it'll never get.

[@sandwichsteen]

They did it! PSO:NGS is the PSIII of PSO.

[@fraudulein]

​@@sandwichsteen you take that back right now. that comparison is a completely undeserved insult to PSIII.

[@Capt_Ahab]

@@fraudulein I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who finds the PSO games a complete abomination. Sega should have based their online RPG on a completely new franchise instead of using Phantasy Star. I'm hoping that their recent announcement of reviving classic games for new consoles will open the door to PS5.

[@fraudulein]

@@Capt_Ahab Sorry for the confusion, but I don't actually hate the PSO games personally (rest assured though, I've seen plenty of people who agree with you on the internet), in fact I used to love PSO2. What I hate is NGS, because it's the culmination of the new, worse direction PSO2 was heading towards during the latter half of its lifetime. As for a PS5, I think PSIV was a fine conclusion to the original series, and I personally wouldn't want them to touch that story (except maybe remaking and actually making a finished product out of PSIII), so storywise I think the best thing they could do is what the PSO games have been doing; brand new story in a new, self-contained world, with only some vague callbacks and similar concepts.

[@Capt_Ahab]

@@fraudulein I understand where you are coming from as far as the storyline goes. I just really liked the combat system of PS1, 2, and 4 and the lore. I was hoping to see some kind of Phantasy Star turned-based RPG with modern graphics on a next-gen console. Maybe Sega could make a game based in the same universe as PS but have it occur before the original PS or a nearby star system.

[@bjbegui]

Don't bother watching this video.. the guy sniffs glue

[@lukechills1842]

I hated the graphics for the fights. The monsters hardly have any animation, and you couldn't see your own characters like in PSII. Most of the music was terrible, with maybe a few exceptions. You can't get attached to any characters like you should in RPGs. I can still remember my dismay over a certain character in PSII. It was a huge letdown after playing PSI and PSII.

[@Viktir123]

Phantasy Star #2 and #4 were surprisingly good.

[@inkmage4084]

Laya looks the same, because she goes into cryogenic sleep, like Noah in PS2 which was awesome, PS4, the best though.

[@pg412]

"Blatantly plagiarize the Denny's kids' menu" is a far superior line to any dialogue in PSIII.

[@sandwichsteen]

PS3 basically sucks but it is still Phantasy Star. If it wasn't for the other 3 it would seem pretty good.

[@ryanc5572]

PS3 is a step back from even the first game. The ideas are there but it's just dull, tedious, and not fun. Clarent Saga Tactics did generations better and it's an indie game made by one guy.

[@jaydub7386]

I hated it. I went through it one time and after that I didn’t care about seeing the rest of the game.

[@Neon002121]

I played this through once as a kid. In hindsight all I can say is really cool ideas… but at the expense of solid fundamentals for gameplay and kind of an underwhelming story.

[@FreakyLynx]

I didn’t like PS3 when it first came out but that opinion softened when I replayed it on the Gameboy DS. It’s a lot of unused potential but by the time I was playing it again on the DS I was playing it in the context of PSO being it’s sequel and following either the same life ship or one of the others from 3. So maybe it was sparking something in my imagination? I dunno but I still find it cool seeing the different generations even though they did very little with the concept. I absolutely loved Phantasy Star 2, I can live with the grinding aspect. I’ll have to look through your videos, I’m assuming you did a review of PS4?

[@Vaporbomb]

I hated this one but loved the generation concept. The opening and world map were bangers too

[@KrystynSRL]

No it doesn’t

[@craigadderley5313]

Hey Jason, I’m a big fan…..of your channel not this game! In 89-90 I had a subscription to Video Games and Computer Entertainment. They had an expose on PS 3 which included a write up with loads of screen shots. As a 14 kid I poured over this issue for hours imagining playing this obvious masterpiece. The game was impossible to find were I lived and I never did play it until an adult andI agree entirely with your review! PS 2 is also my favourite, there’s just something about it that speaks to me…even though I felt like a rat in a maze for the entirety of the game!

[@ezg8448]

Phantasy 3 - Generations of Doh! This games was never properly finished, even the devs admitted to this.

[@lanceknightmare]

Phantasy Star 4 and Phantasy Star Online: Illuminati are my personal favorite two. If you want to attack any title. Feel free to go after Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Online 2 , and Phantasy Star Online 2 NGS. My problem with these games is based off of my experience playing them actually online. While I played Phantasy Star Online: Illuminati on my Playstation 2.

[@TheNintendhoe]

6:34 You misspelled 'refugees.'

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Holy shit yeah I wasn't even close!

[@TheNintendhoe]

@@JasonGravesPoser If you don't mind me asking, what is with the running gag of 'poser?'

[@JasonGravesPoser]

@@TheNintendhoe it's nothing that deep. Just a self insult, like I don't know what I'm talking about

[@rossdixonellis]

The funniest thing is that the text and portraits form a -__- emoji

[@freakyzed8467]

It was the first Phantasy Star game I played. Was a teen at the time, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Wouldn't want to go back and do it again when there is so much else out there to play.

[@Wizardsleave69]

I love this game. It's just such a unique entry in the series. This is way to critical. If you actually played 1 & 2 without the internet in the 80s and experienced how impossible they were 3 was a refreshing change. I remember feeling a grand sense of accomplishment when I beat my first Phantasy Star game, it was this one

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

In 1991 it got a 32/40 from EGM. It was considered good back then. Although I agree. It was a step back in a lot of ways. I wonder if the animations had to go for all of the different characters and what story there was had to be changed for your choices. 🤷‍♂️

[@moomah5929]

Well, played through 2 to 4 in the 90's and didn't find 3 so bad. Mainly the graphics look low effort with everything feeling more or less empty, they felt like a downgrade from 2.

[@riggel8804]

Was there a thunder storm while you were recording? That was loud.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Summer rains, can never predict them!

[@riggel8804]

@@JasonGravesPoser gnar

[@PAINNN666]

This is my first JRPG. And I still fall in love in genre

[@MattsFreeChannel1]

You've proven it enough, for me.

[@robertparrott7068]

Great video, although it misses the reason why PS3 is loved. Just look at the part where he compares it to dragon quest 4. Sure, he makes great points about the story and gameplay - but the visuals are piss-poor compared to PS3! These two came out at the same time, but PS3 looks much more attractive. It also has intriguing music, just like all of the phantasy star games. I think the big thing here is perspective. If you came into PS3 as a hardened RPG player, then you aren’t gonna find a lot of innovation here. But if you were like me, and this was your introductory experience, then it was an incredible game. It wasn't too difficult, it had this awesome medieval to sci-fi story, the graphics were smooth and detailed compared to the boxy crap that was out at the time (case in point -> DQ4), and the music was catchy and immersive. I can replay any of the PS games from that era, but I cant stand the graphics and music from any of the early final fantasy, dragon warrior, or dragon quest games.

[@robertparrott7068]

Also, if Sega hadn’t pushed them so hard then this really could have been an all-around great game. They used the normal PS crew for sonic and then basically handed the job to the golden axe crew and said here, make a game in two weeks…

[@PoogiBear1]

I know it isn’t great but it’s still one of my favorites on a pure nostalgia. I would rather play PS3 over PS2 any day.

[@JelloFluoride]

I was with you until you said you'd rather play ps3. Take care of your crack addiction!

[@PoogiBear1]

@@JelloFluoridek

[@ccsuny2000]

I’ll have to play it again. As a kid I loved it, and played it through all three generations a few times.

[@Orion-rl7js]

I had the strategy guide, and was my first Phantasy Star game. Holds a special place in my heart, despite it's obvious flaws.

[@thebackyardairgunner8776]

I think the best part of that game was the art cover for the box. haha. Found it rad.

[@iCABALi]

I appreciated that it was a lot smoother ride than PS1/2 and by that I meant it played like a jRPG should with regards to grinding. If you explored a dungeon and got the treasures, and fought everything on the way you were pretty much done for grinding apart from maybe one spike. It wasn't an aesthetically please Phantasy Star, but the story was still enjoyable and the combat system was still there. I like it more than PS2, and about equal to PS1. Less than PS4.

[@allenmonroe4512]

I loved these as a kid, but you are right on 100%. I remember being disappointed (but still playing through to completion and enjoying) both 2 and especially 3 being disappointed except for the music.

[@JimmyBackbeat]

I like 2 a whole lot. I understand that 80's rpgs are hard to get into for players who came later into the hobby, but in its day it was something special. Hell, the Aerith death scene had jaws dropped in FFVII, but the same thing happened here in the late 80's. Phantasm Star III though? Naw, it's pretty rough... It's hard to like even for old farts like me.

[@Johnnybomb1]

It's a terrible game. The concept was ambitious, for sure but... that's about it.

[@Mia-dt3gl]

Considering Aron’s ending (i.e. finding Earth ending) has the highest chance of the being the canon ending to this game, you chose the right path for your playthrough.

[@Geraki0n]

I played all four of the original Phantasy Star games for the first time this year (and back to back). I tend to hate 2 more than 3, but I think it's a matter of expectation setting. I was told over and over that PS3 sucks, and it does, so I had rock bottom expectations. Then the fact that it was at least... playable, I guess was more than I expected. PS2 however still has a lot of fans, and as much as I appreciated its production quality and world building/lore, the experience and gameplay were painful. I'm glad to have played PS2, and not glad to have played PS3. But if forced, I'd *re*play PS3 over PS2. Anyway, in abstract PS3 is a steamed turd. It's crazy how much better PS1 was in the 80s on the master system compared to its successors.

[@willmistretta]

Both are profoundly dull, both squander great ideas, only one frustrates.

[@ArtaiTakahashi]

The English translation was so bad that they destroyed the plot. PS3 was developed almost simultaneously with PS2 and came out 13 months after it, and PS3 was precisely conceived to be in a timeline succeeding the upcoming title of PS4. First of all the 1000years span comes from Christian theology and refers to millennialism. The events of PS4 happen almost 1000 years after the end of PS2. The starting point of your journey in PS3 is another millennium after the ending of PS4 and the defeat of the profound darkness: this is completely mistaken by the English release that mixes the Orakian war with the exodus from Palma. That being said PS3 serves the best plot of all classic Phantasy Stars, given that you play it from fan retranslations of JP script; the only title properly translated was PS4, so consider the other 3 to be messed up. Keep in mind that it's a 1990 game with technology limits that still looks better than its contemporary rivals. Your first choice of marriage drastically changes your reliance of the 2 foundation of combat system: technology or magic; your choice also has a political outcome that compromises one side of the cast's relationship with you. Also worth mentioning is the music concept as a dynamic gaming experience: the battle bgm has 3 themes depending on how well you're fighting your enemies. The world music changes with how many people you have in your company and it smartly increases with a hyping crescendo. This alone was an insane goal for 1990 home gaming. Edit: it also revolutionized the meaning of grinding, because your sons and grandsons will have considerably more stats than you ever had, but at much lower levels; you are always stronger than your parents could have ever been. This decision was so right that later rpg's should have learned from it.

[@ResilientNinja45]

I personally loved PS3 and have played it more than PS4. Guess I just have terrible taste 😤

[@poolboy22v]

I played through this game several times as a kid and liked it but as an adult I realize it's not a very good game

[@geoffertainment]

🌩 Real Florida Hours

[@jeremy-cb2nn]

Arguably the greatest idea for any video game ever. Arguably the worst execution for any video game ever.

[@CallistoRising2024]

I really enjoyed this one need to give this another play through

[@Alpacalypse8]

It WAS a good idea. It was pitched far too soon though. Genesis just...wasn't the system to make this work right.

[@theelephantintheroom1055]

I feel like, if they called this game something other than Phantasy Star III and changed a few things, it would have been just fine. It suffered from high expectations.

[@Sherkel]

Maybe they could call it something like...sword...of...vermilion? Or something?

[@theelephantintheroom1055]

@@Sherkel Man, that sounds like a great game concept. I would play the heck out of that.

[@fargoretro]

@@Sherkel rent a hero also looks like sword of vermilion

[@fraudulein]

Saying that PSIII was not ambitious because it had cool concepts like the generations and branching storylines but failed to really deliver on them is like saying that no man's sky wasn't ambitious because it didn't have half the features its devs promised when it first came out. "Ambitious" is not a word used to describe how well an end product actually delivers on said ambitions, it just means that the project had ambitions in the first place. And just because the developers (and in this game's case, the localizers doubly so) failed to make the game and its story as great as everyone hoped, that doesn't mean the developers didn't have any passion for what they were doing. P.S. everything you mentioned about the game being "too easy" is a welcome change of pace to me after the torture that was literally every moment of gameplay in PSII so honestly I dunno what you're complaining about

[@danielnorton9803]

Would you review the remakes of 1 and 2? They have english patches

[@JasonGravesPoser]

They look terrible from what I've seen. Not really a big remakes guy in general, don't appeal to me.

[@The24thWight]

I played a bit of Phantasy star 3. I kinda enjoyed it? But only because I basically went into it expecting a RPG maker level game.