Phantasy Star is still an AWESOME game 35+ years later!

patreon: patreon.com/jasongravesposer
chat gpt description:
"Journey back to the RPG roots with my Phantasy Star (1987) review! Experience gaming history as you follow Alis on her quest for vengeance against the tyrannical Dark Falz. Marvel at groundbreaking graphics, immersive sci-fi worlds, and a captivating turn-based combat system. A trailblazing gem that laid the foundation for RPG greatness."
don't worry this is the worst video of the month, it's all uphill from here!
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[@hemangchauhan2864]

Let us not forget (like most of games industry) about Reiko Kodama, main artist behind Phantasy Star. Lot of aesthetics of PS comes from her fusing Asian/Japanese settings with western and Star Wars to create something wholly new. Along with a female protag back in '87. Her contribution(s) to gaming are immense, yet not remembered as much. She died in 2022 yet little tributes were given in mainstream media.

[@noaht2005]

I absolutely love the style of the early phantasy star games. It's a cool mix of both western and eastern sci-fi and medievel fantasy

[@Neon002121]

Love the setting of Phantasy Star games and how they span an entire solar system with both high tech and high magic. Dense is the right word for the setting.

[@yessopie]

What I find most interesting is the undercurrent of "space horror" in 1, 2, and 4. There are these ephemeral beings that can travel between galaxies or dimensions, and possess people... none of it is ever really explained.

[@stefanswiss3760]

@@yessopie true and this is also what I like best about the adventure, the world is not tamed and you get to go on an adventure. It is a blessing that the 1st episode could borrow from so much elements sometimes making it a patchwork of greek mythology, star wars, horror, B science fiction monsters, heroic fantasy, it is oddly a balanced result. Thinking about it, Phanta II had it not been linked would have stayed with a scenario of a typical blade runner cyber punk inspired scenario that would have gotten forgotten by now like most of the medias from this era (think about Zillion for instance) (it still had its unique elements that makes it stand out la clone lab, Nei and mother brain) Phanta IV despite being the peak of the serie with such a great gameplay, looking at it, we can be happy that there was so much lore already because it could borrow from it but had there not been PS1, I think there is a high probablility that the monsters and bosses would have been generic too (like grandia or the monsters from skies of arcadia), nicely designed flies, nicely designed scorpion but not much to remember in the end. It is the force of the serie to have been able to build upon each episode and to have a 1st ep that had such a large base of inspiration

[@mongoose1billion]

Fun fact: The dungeons in this game were coded by none other than Sonic the Hedgehog creator and convicted felon Yuji Naka!

[@EatDrinkAndTravel]

Why don't you fun fact something that isn't common knowledge.

[@geoffertainment]

Not indicating secrets on the wall unless you turn to face them is positively devilish! Cool detail with DARKFALZ not having visible HP.

[@HHog]

Fun thing about Darkfalz: Since the enemy Hit Points cap out at 255 HP, and they wanted the final boss to have considerably more HP than that, they actually made it a 2-monster encounter, and hid the HP box to obscure that workaround from the player.

[@analogmoz]

Now *this* is real RPG stuff

[@digitaljanus]

Bless the algorithm that brought me to this nostalgia trip! I started the series with PS 3, the supposed bad one, but that multigenerational concept was something no game did before and few do today. I eventually played the rest of the original SMS/Genesis series--so ahead of their time. Thanks for the look back!

[@peosea]

When I was a kid Phantasy Star was the one game that almost made me want a Sega Master instead of a NES.

[@joncarroll2040]

Speaking as someone who had a Master System, it was the only game that favorably compared to its NES counterparts...and I would still rather play Final Fantasy again... Though it is still worth one playthrough.

[@nihilisticnerd]

I'd kill for a proper remake of the mainline series.

[@peosea]

2,3 and 4 are available on mobile

[@kathleendelcourt8136]

PSI and II have each a remake on Playstation 2. They were Japan only but they are fully playable thanks to unofficial translation patches. PSIV could use a pixel remaster like the 8/16 bit Final Fantasy games. PSIII however would really need a full on remake/rewrite to turn its promising core idea into an actual fully fleshed game.

[@nihilisticnerd]

@@kathleendelcourt8136 Yeah but those remakes look cheap. I would want a full series remake in a more modernized engine. whether it's pixel remaster style or something else.

[@donstarlancer]

Playing the Switch version now. I grew up with this game and it was so formative for me. I really would love to see a proper, non budget, remake. It can still be 2D and all.

[@nihilisticnerd]

@@donstarlancer Oh yeah I don't mind a 2D remake provided it doesn't look like a cheap flash game.

[@Marc_Araujo]

Play it on a Power Base Converter with a pencil and some graph paper...like a true OG. P.S. PSIV > PS > PSII > PSIII

[@ManillaHeep]

PS1: Innovative PS2: Infamous PS3: Underachieving PS4: Evolved

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

Phantasy star 2 they genuinely did not know yet how big was too big to make top down dungeons, and how to reward instead of punish exploration. Someone had to be the first to make every mistake. You could walk way off of the path to the exit and get a first town helmet or an antidote in a dungeon without poison. Phantasy star 1 had that just right feel of battle background art, creature sprites and animation, strength progression of characters that felt right and relevant and measured versus the stats of the enemies, where I could just spend a day just wandering around and being in that world of perfect abnegation.

[@Warmaker01]

This was my favorite game on the Sega Master System. The prize title. The dungeons were brutal, I'd get lost so much that I started to use graph paper. You get lost and start losing your supplies and MP from the unending fights, you'd be screwed. Me and my friends would take turns playing and watch each other plow through the game. My dad liked to play this game, too. He liked RPGs and later on RTS games too (especially Herzog Zwei and Dune on the Genesis).

[@adamnapolitano432]

How was this on an 8-bit system? This looks fucking gorgeous.

[@MistyKathrine]

It's widely considered to be the best 8-bit RPG, it was absolutely impressive for it's time.

[@BenjaminGlatt]

The SMS just has nicer graphics than other 8-bit consoles. It's got a bright palette and uses huge sprites, so everything pops.

[@popixel]

By the way, the Church I do not think is linked to the religion that Lassic is tied to. I could be wrong, but I always took the churches to be part of the old way of things, with the new religion being the thing that twists people and turns Algol to what it now is.

[@MyMomSaysImKeen]

Jason Graves is the closest thing to a father I've ever had.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

I'll be home with milk and cigs soon!

[@Spillpolitiet]

@@JasonGravesPoser dude what brand of cigs

[@JasonGravesPoser]

@@Spillpolitiet Newport smooth and Byrne Dairy milk

[@colefitzpatrick8431]

​@@SpillpolitietDid he ever come home yet?

[@Spillpolitiet]

@@colefitzpatrick8431 no

[@jhudsu1]

That automap carried a lot of fucking weight for you in Baya Malay. As a kid I remember ending up at the room of that guy who gives you a crystal like a dozen times.

[@RPGFort]

Fight against those increased taxes!

[@ExaltedDuck]

So... Dark Falz hitpoints... health pools in Phantasy Star are stored as 8-bit unsigned integers which means the maximum value (11111111) is 255. One more would 'wrap around' back to zero. (A similar situation exists in SMB1 with lives count stored as a signed 8-bit integer, so 127 + 1 = -127 which causes a game over). But Dark Falz has 400 hp and this is probably why the health amount is hidden. To be able to exceed 255, it is encountered as a party of 2, each with 200. It can be advantageous to equip Odin's laser gun instead of the Laconian Axe. The axe will do more than a single laser bolt but the laser gets to attack both entities in the fight and 2 laser bolts do more damage than a single axe slash.

[@kisayne]

Favourite game ever. Dungeons were the real deal as a young kid, we'd be lost for hours often dying. .

[@planexshifter]

🤔Never played any of the Phantasy Star games except 4. And it was awesome! I purchased it out of a magazine and paid $80 for it! Man, I have such fond memories of that game. I actually just started a replay of it from the genesis/mega drive classics collection.

[@ExaltedDuck]

I completely forgot about buying games out of the back of the magazines. Thanks for restoring that memory. =D

[@JamesSturges]

I really don’t think I could’ve played through this game if it weren’t for the Ages release. The party stats, speed-up button, and auto-map are just too good. I agree with you that easy mode wasn’t necessary.

[@donstarlancer]

OMFGi can’t believe I never thought to make a reference from the churches in the first game and the Earthmen at the end of 2

[@fargoretro]

They legalized Ganja in Minnesota today, AND Jason Graves is reviewing the Phantasy Star series? I died right??

[@fargoretro]

Great vid, wild how much was in that game considering how old it is. I never even knew about the Master System until I was already an adult, but glad I got to dabble in the Genesis RPGs. Looking forward to the rest of Phantasy Month!

[@jzblue345]

Sega definitely had a respectable line of RPGS . Phantasy Star IV End of the Millennium is one of the best of all time.

[@TheRumpletiltskin]

wow, a M̶e̶g̶a̶d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶ Master System. haven't seen one of those in forever.

[@stefanswiss3760]

So great to see reviews for the original 4 episodes. I wish people to get some help for these games because they often have hidden layers that help you enjoy the game more but they are not talked about by any NPC in game: In most of the games of the serie, using items like equipments can cast magics that are reliable in a fight (plus it is infinite usage) you can get a visiphone to save anywhere in the game. casting a protection shield is very beneficial even in normal fight in PSIV using your TP (mana) to attack and kill the monsters faster is actually a valid way to save on TP as you don't end up using it to heal the extra damages done by a longer fight Macros are a blessing, combo atk are super usefull, multi targeting is oh so reliable!

[@backupschmliff1156]

I know I COULD go through your channel and look but have of heard of Megami Tensei? It's like the third in the big JRPG trinity in Japan. The first game, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei came out like a few months before Final Fantasy I in Japan. It's the grandmother of the Monster Collecting genre as a whole. There's an English patch for the game, and it even got a SNES remake that included it's sequel, also with an English patch, called Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei. Those two games were loosely based off a book series by Aya Nishitani, and ATLUS went on to make their own version called Shin Megami Tensei, which eventually spawned the Persona series in 1996. I think it's a core series for any JRPG fan to play. There's a lot to love about its uniquely oppressive world and overcoming the hordes of demons. A lot of games in the series are like the second half of Final Fantasy VI tonally(except they did it first). My favorite of the SNES games is Shin Megami Tensei II, but the original Shin Megami Tensei is still among the best of SNES RPGs imo. I forgot to mention, but the soundtrack is also killer.

[@Fyala102]

Phantasy Star feels like it was released 3 years later than Final Fantasy instead of 2 days earlier. I picked it up last year through the Sega Ages version for the Switch and was seriously surpised just how good it aged (even though a better navigation/translation and a dungeon map in the original game would've greatly helped). Generally the whole Phantasy Star Series was revolutionary for its time and Phantasy Star 4 still remains one of my favorite 16 bit RPGs. I'm looking forward to your video for Phantasy Star 2 and especially 3 (I kinda hate this game), these games have a lot of flaws, but are pretty interesting.

[@FallicIdol]

1 and 4 are must plays. 2 is ok. 3 not so much

[@stefanswiss3760]

being a fan of the serie on megadrive I only had access to the master system episode once I turned 20 and on emulation, I thought that I had to do it just to know the game and it would be a shore but that would make me more kowledgeable about the serie. I would do out out of "fan obligation" I got surprised by the fact that the game grew rapidly on me and I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially because it was so open world (something that surprised me)

[@wariowario9739]

The sense of adventure in this game is great

[@charlene2400]

I remember saving my birthday and holiday $ through the year, to get the $75 I needed to buy Phantasy Star. No regrets, other than not much else worth playing on the system, far as Rpg's went.

[@retromegabitsegadude]

What?! What about Miracle Warriors!

[@grungedimi]

Ultima IV and Ys also.

[@kvrt_black]

The mystery box could be anything, it could even be a boat!

[@danielnicholson6174]

Chose this game back in 1988 for my birthday just by looking at the back of the box, easily my best blind buy of all time. Me and my friends played this for months, but we could never beat dark force. We only had to ring the Sega hotline here in Australia once.

[@KurtHectic97]

i remember someone checking the HP of Dark Falz and it's actually two HP bars with 255 each.

[@ViktorSarge]

I replayed this as an adult because I had a battery glitch on my cartridge as a kid that reset my progress after I got the prism. Still an awesome game.

[@joshthefunkdoc]

yeah i don't think there's a single "Best Master System Games" list that doesn't put this at #1 lol, you did a good job summing up why that is!

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Honestly, I'd probably have WB3 #1 and this #2. Wonderboy 3 is fantastic

[@DezorianGuy]

Nicely done. Greetings from dezolis.

[@diegoaespitia]

my biggest complaint about this game are the sound effects and the music, minus the dungeon song. because my fucking god do i HATE hearing these god dang buzzing sounds whenever something attacks me

[@Reigam4]

Bought this games in the Sega Ages version for switch. With the added maps in the dungeons, it was fun but still kind of cryptic on where to go etc. But i had a good time.

[@MasterBelch]

i just tried Beyond oasis for Genesis this weekend for the first time. I only played for ten minutes but was pretty impressed by the controls and the fighting. thought the graphics were pretty cool too. i remember there being a huge promotional push for BO back when i was a kid. Glad i found your channel. been learning alot about games i didnt know. Look forward to getting a peek at phantasy Star games. will probably play them at some point.

[@JasonGravesPoser]

Beyond Oasis is on my future hit list for sure

[@snookers5123]

Congrats on finishing Phantasy Star! Sorry about Phantasy Star 2.

[@stefanswiss3760]

it depends, he can be one of the few that enjoys the OG experience (I've seen some streamers really getting into the story and the game), and also should he play it with the quality of life improvement (megadrive mini 2 for instance or others) it speeds up the game and make it much more fun. I hope he knows that you have so many hidden usage of the items and equipments in combats, without knowing that, the game is indeed difficult to enjoy.

[@davidmcelfresh3024]

I loved this game. Got it with the Master System I bought back in college for my little brother.

[@planexshifter]

Wizardry- had forgotten all about that game! Damn, subscribed, you tickle my nostalgia.

[@joxidearmageddonator882]

i played this on PS3 in the Sega classics compilation, it was an unlockable game, really enjoyed it

[@FrostWight]

This is so strange..: I watched his retrospective on the whole series and came away believing he didn’t really like them and that they aren’t worth my time. Now this!

[@metallicsnake.]

The played the ps3 version on the saga collection

[@SusieUndertale]

A little cheap to have it pointed out to you where the secret passages are, but if not, does that mean you'd have to turn and check every single wall yourself...? That's even worse D:

[@PKCoalTrain]

Just beat it for the First time about a month ago and i had a really good time with it. Granted I did played the Switch version cuz I dont have a lot of time to draw out maps but it was still a really good game

[@pikaporeon]

I rewatch this all the time and have a conclusive thought and a question Ice Cap Zone for Dezoris is absolutely perfect and Which takes more from Star Wars, Phantasy Star or Final Fantasy?

[@marcst3199]

Fuck, somehow youtube didn't notice me about your new vids. As great as ever!

[@Deus421]

Jason is cool.

[@Kakashi10ist]

Nice video, looking forward to the other videos this month.

[@JohnyRedcrow]

Idk. High taxes might be a fair tradeoff for free travel to another planet

[@mcnoodle365]

A boat's a boat...

[@Dariothehungry]

Phantasy Stat, such beauty

[@Nuka13]

Why is Odin trying to stop Bucky Lassic?

[@pausebreakreviews]

Eyy, it's Phantasy Star! If this is the worst video of the month, then I'm looking forward to what's next.

[@hughjazz44]

I've been waiting a long time for this!

[@clairereinhart1913]

FABTASY MOUNTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@willmistretta]

Playing the original version in a period accurate (no Internet) way is definitely a very different experience. Drafting a whole notebook's worth of maps alone made for a significantly longer playthrough and I wouldn't say a better one. Even though PS looks a whole generation ahead of its contemporaries Dragon Quest II and Final Fantasy, their deeper combat and more player friendly approach to dungeon design makes them more fun for me. I liked PS, but didn't love it.

[@JEFFALITY]

Continue? Would like a word with you

[@Vaporbomb]

Always hype for a drop from this channel. I can’t tell you how many times I started and never finished PS1. Beat PS2. Not worth all of the frustration

[@JasonGravesPoser]

And I'm hyped to see Castlevania porkchops!

[@rubyjones7151]

Remake first 3 on switch prints money 😮

[@recreant359]

Continue might have a bone to pick with you!

[@Alianger]

9:00 But can you actually finish sub objectives in any order?

[@dentstowel4230]

It’s not bad for a dungeon crawler. Nice video

[@BenjaminGlatt]

SMS is the best system from its generation. How dare you besmirch it as a "hunk of junk".

[@srkoenma2947]

Tito

[@Runedavid45]

This game sucks

[@Fyala102]

Give it a fair chance and play the Sega Ages version for the Switch. If you're stuck somewhere (which is very likely to happen), just look up a guide.

[@Runedavid45]

@@Fyala102 no

[@Runedavid45]

@@Fyala102 cant wait for Phantasy Star 2 video!

[@FallicIdol]

@@Fyala102i played the SA version with increased XP and money per fight. Definitely a better experience

[@maxinekanner5434]

I only played the online games like Phantasy Star Portable 2