Phantasy Star II

"A true classic and an RPG for others to live up to."

Phantasy Star 2 is the Genesis sequel to the Master System classic Phantasy Star. It is the tale of eight characters and three planets within the Algo star system and the fate that surrounds them.

The story takes place around a thousand years after Alis defeated Lassic. A central nervous system called Mother Brain controls the planets and the life on them, peace is restored. Rolf is an agent employed by the Motavian government based in his hometown of Paseo, he is given a mission to recover a recorder from a laboratory that could help explain the sudden increase in bio-monsters across Mota. As you leave town with your partner Nei you start an adventure that introduces you to many friends and foes across two of Algo's planets. The game has a pretty serious tone, as one disaster after another passes by but the story constantly remains intriguing and makes you wonder what will happen next, there is even an event that can stand alongside the Aeris moment in Final Fantasy VII. The tale ends with you defeating dark force and deciding the future of the Algo star system, one of the best endings ever created awaits you.

Along the way you will get the help of seven other characters who appear at your home in Paseo whenever you visit a new town. Each new ally has their own characteristics which you must take advantage of before setting out into the wild. There is a hunter who is good with heavy weaponry especially cannons and vulcans which no one else can use. A doctor can use healing techniques that others can't but her fighting is poor. A biologist is and expert in bio-monsters and can use particularly strong techniques against them, but is weak against robots whereas a wrecker can handle robots with ease but is weaker than the others with bio-monsters. The remaining characters include a thief and a guardian each with their strengths and weaknesses, you will have to choose your team carefully to make sure their powers are being used to maximum effect.

The graphics are very colourful and look good with the top-down view, everything is clear and you can always define what you are doing. The game uses two scales depending on the area you are travelling around. When you are travelling around between towns and dungeon items on the landscape are smaller so you can see a larger amount of land, this makes it easier to see where you are going. When you enter a town or dungeon the view switches so everything is proportional to your character, the buildings and other scenery is the same scale as the characters. This system has been seen in many RPG's since because it works perfectly, this is a fine example.
Motavia itself is a beautiful emerald green isle bearing forests and domed farms specially built by Mother Brain. A sapphire blue lake sits in the middle of the island served by a multitude of canals. Towns sport a mixture of odd-looking characters all willing to share some gossip with you as they wander among the futuristic looking buildings. Tall metallic towers covered in lights connecting the town to the Mother Brain network give a technological contrast to the otherwise natural landscape. The dungeons on Mota are also different to their surroundings. The labyrinthine corridors are a twisted mass of flashing lights covered by pipes running overhead. As you walk through the dungeon the ceiling moves along in perspective but ends up obscuring the floor beneath.
Dezolis on the other hand is a bleak snow covered land surrounded by mountains. A few snow-covered trees break the monotony of the endless white. The center of the planet is host to a huge crevice holding a spaceport within its depth, a multi level maze that exits on all three parts of the planet. The towns look similar to their Motavian counterpart but the control towers are absent on Dezo. The residents are strange tall beings that speak a weird language. The dungeons trade the steel corridors on Mota for complicated towers of stone complete with gargoyle statues. A journey through the icy crevice completes the tour of Dezo and onto the final meeting with Mother Brain.

Characters are in the traditional anime style and look good as well as the monsters that are brilliantly designed and drawn.
The monsters are split between two types, bio-monsters and robots each having their own characteristics. Because of the large amount of monsters in the game too, you should always find yourself up against a new monster quite often, this stops you from becoming bored of the same kind. It is a pity that there could not of been any video to animate some of the more important parts of the storyline, but all things considered; the graphics are as good as they need to be.

The battles are of the classic turn based system favoured by such games like Final Fantasy and many others. The screen is laid out so you can see your enemies in front of you, when you attack there is an animation of your characters hitting the enemy. A menu is provided so you can choose how you would like to attack the enemy, each character can be assigned to attack, use a technique, use an item or defend. All of the enemies have their own animations to go with their attacks of which there are usually two or three. Battles do come pretty often in the game making it quite hard as the enemies always seem to be slightly harder than the group, this makes levelling up essential so a lot of time is spent fighting monsters. Even though there are scores of monsters in the game, there are only three bosses to contend with. They are pretty hard though and lead to some of the most critical moments in the game.

As with the rest of the game the sound is fantastic and gets better as the game progresses. The music on Mota is quite lively which works well with the bright colours that constantly surround you, the towns, wilderness and dungeons all have their own music which means you don't need to listen to the same samples over and over again. The mood changes completely when you get to Dezo and the music reflects the cold, snowy, peaceful atmosphere that surrounds the group. The eerie softer sounds compliment their surroundings perfectly and almost give the impression of a different game from planet Mota. The sound effects are few and far between and are mainly reserved for battle but work well with their animations adding to the enjoyment. The music is the one thing you have to hear yourself; the tunes are quite memorable.

One of the things that most people will dislike about the game is the difficulty level. In my opinion it is nice to get a game this hard but some people will dislike how much you have to level up between dungeons. There is quite a change from one dungeon to the next which means you will spend some time levelling up to have a chance of getting through. The items are also priced highly meaning again you will spend some time fighting monsters to earn the money to afford weapons and armour. This does not spoil the game in my opinion, it just means that some of the game is spent in the same location which some people won’t enjoy.

Phantasy Star 2 is quite simply one of the best games ever if you take the limitations of the Genesis into consideration, it really is way ahead of its time. RPG's that have a great story backed up by nice graphics, good sound and no other major faults what so ever are pretty hard to come by, especially on the Genesis, Phantasy Star 2 would shine on any system. This is a game that has rarely been bettered since and is an RPG for others to live up to.

Graphics - 8
Sound - 9
Gameplay - 10
Game Size - 9
Addiction - 9

Overall - 9 - One of the best RPG's ever, a true classic. PLAY IT NOW.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/20/01, Updated 03/23/02