GAME CLEAR No. 41 -- SEGA AGES Phantasy Star

SEGA AGES Phantasy Star (2018, Switch)

Enhanced Port Of: Phantasy Star (1987, Master System)
Original Developer: SEGA
Original Publisher: SEGA
Port Developer: M2
Port Publisher: SEGA
Clear Date: 7/11/2021

SEGA AGES Phantasy Star marks my second long-standing Master System to-do item checked off! Like Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, this is an enhanced version. Interestingly, these games take two dramatically different approaches. Where Miracle World DX was satisfied with making largely the same game with pretty graphics and a remade soundtrack, SEGA AGES Phantasy Star (like other games in the SEGA AGES line) emulates the original game with a number of quality of life improvements.

The original Phantasy Star is a classic space fantasy JRPG for the 8-bit SEGA Master System. It features first-person, turn-based battles with fully animated enemy sprites. Enemies are found in the overworld as well as the countless dungeons the player must crawl through on the game’s three unique planets of the Algol Solar System. Said dungeons are rendered in 3D in a style similar to the classic Windows maze screensaver. The main protagonist is Alis, who is on a quest for revenge against the evil King Lassic, whose police killed her brother in the game’s opening scene. Through her adventures, she eventually forms a party of four. Among those who join her are a cat-like, talking creature named Myau, a warrior named Odin, and a wizard named Noah. The basic game loop involves visiting different towns and planets to meet helpful NPCs and learn of their troubles, traversing dungeons to fight bosses and earn key items, and rinsing and repeating. Standard RPG stuff.

The game’s world is pretty impressively fleshed-out for 1987, and I enjoyed traveling from town to town and planet to planet seeing how life under Lassic had affected the various residents of the Algol System and trying to pick up on what to do next. Enemies are creative, varied, and well-animated, and the battle system and party composition, while rudimentary by today’s standards, are still just sophisticated enough to be interesting. The soundtrack is pretty great, and the dungeon themes especially are certified bangers. All this makes for a pretty pleasant experience.

With one caveat. I leaned heavily on a guide for this game. Not in the “how do I beat this boss?” or “how do I build my party?” sort of sense, but more in the “where do I go next?” sense. It can often be pretty unclear what you ought to do next, and the world pretty much lets you do whatever you want at all times. This can be freeing, but I think the game could’ve used some more gating. It’s weird because the game definitely does drop helpful nuggets of information on what you might need to do in the form of NPC dialog (much like the original Dragon Quest, which I loved in that regard), but I sometimes found it difficult to keep it all in my head. Part of this is that some of these tidbits are told to you by NPCs in cities completely unrelated to and distant from where they may apply. Worse yet, some of the game’s helpful hints are given to you by using spells to communicate with enemies in random encounters. While I do like that feature of the game, hiding key information like that behind them is a bit much. In any case, my point is just that the guide helped me keep things moving along. It probably robbed me of the occasional fun feeling of figuring something out for myself, but I think the reduction in aimless wandering was a worthwhile tradeoff. Maybe in a few years when my memory of the game has faded, I’ll give it another shot without a guide.

Another major reason I used a guide: god damn empty chests. Dungeons, especially later in the game, are full of trap chests that contain nothing and damage your party. This is annoying as hell and just straight up bad design. Mimics are one thing, but at least those you can generally fight. These are just bombs that do heavy damage and strongly disincentivize exploration and chest opening. This means if your party is in rough shape, you might leave behind key items out of fear of a party member dying. Annoying! So especially later in the game, I frequently consulted a guide to see if a given chest was worth my time. Again, some may say that’s against the spirit of the game, but it made it more tolerable for me.

The final reason I used a guide was that there are places in the game where you can just get fuckin’ stuck! The game’s digital manual warns you about these, and the game has 5 save slots and a suspend save, but I was paranoid anyway. The most basic way you can get stuck is that the game simply doesn’t stop you from getting rid of key items, but there are also a couple other dumb ways you can make it impossible for your party to proceed. Again, these are mentioned pretty directly in the game’s manual, so definitely check them before you start if you’re interested in this game.

So despite three paragraphs of complaints, I want to be completely clear that I did like this game! It’s got a pretty expansive setting for the time, a fun party, and it’s bumping soundtrack and simple combat vibed with me. Traveling from planet to planet to meet new people, beat Lassic’s underlings, and acquire the items necessary to reach and defeat him is just highly palatable, classic RPG fun. “Comfy” is a term I often use to describe a game of its type.

It’s got a lot of warts, but I found it pretty easy to see past them. It’s also worth mentioning that it would have even more warts if not for the wonderful SEGA AGES additions. Among the additions are built-in weapon/armor/item descriptions (mostly absent from the original), a detailed and helpful bestiary, and a party status display in the top right of the screen. Most important of all, though, is the dungeon auto-mapper on the bottom right of the screen. In the original game, you either had to draw your own maps or try to keep everywhere you’ve been in a dungeon in your head somehow. Even more helpfully, the mapper indicates if you pass a false wall or are within one step trap, which had no visual indicators in the original game. A total boon that I can’t imagine playing the game without. Finally, the game features an “Ages Mode”, which is essentially just easy mode. It reduces the rate of encounters while increasing the XP and money you get from them. It honestly might have made the game a smidge too easy, but I didn’t really mind. That beats a grind-fest, which I understand the original game sort of was. Nevertheless, I do find myself with an itch to try the original at least once. Maybe I’ll do that alongside my guideless run for double the difficulty.

All in all, SEGA AGES Phantasy Star is probably the best way to play an officially localized version of the game in English. My understanding is that there was a PlayStation 2 version that was pretty great, but I don’t believe it was ever officially localized. If you’re into that sort of thing, feel free to seek out a ROM and a translation patch at your own peril. If not, this version ain’t bad. Give it a shot if you want to enjoy a classic RPG and are tired of the same old Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy fare.