"The black sheep is actually pretty decent"

Most people dislike this title of the Phantasy Star series. This is because the story has very little to do with the other three Sega titles. I, however, couldn't find many things I disliked about the game. Once you get past the lack of relation to the other Phantasy Stars, this game is pretty good.

Storyline: 9/10 (31.5pts)
The story is very basic, but due to the time that it came out, I must give it decent credit. ''Save the kidnapped princess'' is a cliché today punishable by death, but in the early 90s, it wasn't so bad.

Control: 7/10 (14pts)
The controls are well-done, but some of the menus aren't very user-friendly and the main characters walk slow as all hell. Once you figure everything out, however, all you have to contend with is the slow walking speed.

Graphics: 7/10 (8.8pts)
The graphics in Phantasy Star 3 are nothing to marvel at. They aren't bad, but the animation totally destroys this part. I mean, each enemy has two, maybe three frames of animation, which consist of their regular moves and their attacks. Your attack is simply a line or related appearing on the enemy. I could program such a thing. Give me Visual Basic, about ten minutes, an enemy picture, and I could seriously give you a command that makes a line appear on the enemy. But wait, PS3 is a bit more complex. See, the line starts in one quadrant of the enemy and strikes to the opposing quadrant. Now that takes some work. Anyhow, let's get to the real point. Regular graphics and character sprites are A-ok. Enemy animation sucks.

Sound: 8/10 (10pts)
The sound in Phantasy Star III is not too bad at all, I'll tell you. Now I'll admit, the dungeon theme is very repetitive, as it repeats after about 35 seconds, but it's not that bad, and fits the theme pretty well. I don't think you can find this music in any other PS game. But, as is consistent with the others in the series, the music is very good.

Challenge: 8/10 (8pts)
This game is weird with the challenge factor. Generally, the farther you get in the game, the harder it is. In Phantasy Star III, the inverse is true. As you get to the later generations, the quest is much easier. On the last quest, you fight absolutely wimpy creatures who couldn't possibly harm you (except for the Lashute Dungeon, which is somewhat hard). On the first quest, however, you will usually face a few deaths unless you are like me and level up like crazy.

Dynamics: 9/10 (9pts)
Normally, a game from this era would be exempt from the dynamics rating, but PS3 was ahead of its time here. This game doesn't have just one single quest. To complete the game at all, there are three different quests, and there are many branches. The branches result in a similar storyline, but (significantly) different characters going through it.

Buy or Rent?
So far, I've recommended you to buy the game. I recommend the same here. Phantasy Star 3, while not going by the same lines as 1, 2, and 4, is still a very fun and enjoyable game. It would be kinda hard to rent these days, but I'm sure you could still find it to buy somewhere.

Final Rating: 81.3/100 (8)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/01, Updated 04/15/04