Phantasy Star II

"The best RPG of the 80s."

There are three big RPG series that were popular in the 80s. Dragon Quest got 3 games released on the Nes during this decade, as did the first two games of the very popular Final Fantasy series. While these two series took places in similar worlds to the Dungeon and Dragons games, there was another series which took place in a world which took place in a solarsystem far far away. Phantasy Star stood out in not only that it was really different from DQ and FF but it was also released on Sega's own systems instead of the Nintendo.

People who played Phantasy Star might remember how Alis fought Dark Flaz (His name is Dark Force in this game) to save Algol from evil. Now 1000 years later, Motavia (Mota in the first game) has gone through some big changes. A big computer called the Mother Brain has now taken care of the climate and instead of the old desert planet that Motavia has now become a planet that should remind every player about how Palma looked like in the first game. Everything is green and Motavia has become a much more populated planet with much more humans. To keep the citizens of Motavia away from danger, Mother Brain has forbidden sea travels and space travels. In other words, the motavians have become so dependent on Mother Brain to run the water systems and everything else, that they can't survive without her.

Our hero Rolf, a young swordsman who lives with his adoptive sister Nei, keeps having nightmares about how a girl fight against a mysterious dark power of evil. Rolf works as an agent for the commander on Motavia, who asks him to find out why there are biomonsters all over Motavia except in the cities. When Rolf takes of for his mission, his adoptive sister Nei forces him to take her with him, even if he knows that it will be a dangerous quest. Later in the game the two will find more companions who will waiting for them outside of their house. (So for anyone who wants a real challenge, don't just ever return to Rolf's house.)

As I said before it's hard to believe how much Motavia has changed since the first Phantasy Star game. There are no such thing as a desert, and very few mountains. There are many cities, and many factories and dungeons that our heroes must explore to find out where all the biomonsters come from. Unlike the first Phantasy Star game, you don't see the dungeons in first person view, which makes it much easier to know where you are in a dungeon, however a map is almost a must in the final dungeons.

Another big change is the battle system. The animations of the enemies looks much better and now you see your party members during the whole battle and not just a sword animation when they attack. Also all members in your party is set to attack from the start of each turn, and by simply pressing one button is all you need to do in easy battles and the game will keep on playing until you press a button again, which is really neat. However if you think that t will be hard battle, then it's still possible to plan a strategy and use items, techniques or just defend.

The graphic isn't really everything stunning, but this game was released when the Megadrive just was one years old, so I guess many thought it looked great when I came out. The music however is just as excellent as any other Phantasy Star game, and while you don't get to see much of the story except in the beginning and in the ending, this game has many interesting unexpected plot twists that I won't spoil here. Some people complains about the colour switches, but does anyone really care if there are three enemies that look similar with different colours?

So why does this masterpiece not get a 10 you might ask? While it's one of the best RPGs that exist it is almost impossible in the final dungeons to beat it without maps, but that's it. If you think the battles are hard, then you either haven't got the best equipment or need gain a few levels. The ending however is one of the best I've seen in any game on any system. If you're one of those who loves to PLAY RPGs and see our characters getting stronger, then this is a game for you. If you are one who only wants to watch an RPG because of the story, then maybe you should look somewhere else.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/06