Phantasy Star is a series that I’ve always really enjoyed the history of. The original was released as a means to cash in on the Japanese RPG craze which started with Dragon Quest, but it never quite reached those heights of popularity. Sega then tried their hand with a sequel which, while being a good game, also failed to light the sales charts on fire. They took a different route with the next game and handed it off to another team. It’s only loosely tied to the rest of the series and many refer to it as the black sheep. I can see why; it’s really not that good to be honest. With Phantasy Star IV Sega wanted to create a more traditional experience; a culmination of everything they’ve learned about the genre since this franchise’s inception. Unfortunately they also wanted to tie up all loose ends and end the story with one final game. Phantasy Star IV turned out to be an amazing title, and it can easily compete with most of the best offerings on the SNES.
This game picks up right where part II and (to a lesser extent) III left off. It has been a thousand years since Dark Force corrupted Mother Brain, and without the super computer’s guidance a significant amount of previous technology has been lost. Space travel is no longer a reality, and life on the desert planet Motavia is difficult due to the depleting natural resources. You play as a greenhorn mercenary who lives here named Chaz. The story begins as he and his mentor Alys are sent to investigate a rash of monster sightings at a university. This sets into motion the final story of Dark Force as the two make new friends, travel to the long forgotten ice planet of Dezolis, and beyond. What’s cool is that the game features anime still slides to convey the more important sequences and revelations. The story attempts to bridge all three games more closely together with references to all three of the previous iterations. Some of the tie-ins are actually pretty cool, but a few feel forced. The story references the original Phantasy Star the most, but it’s ripe with nods towards II and even III as well. While the story is enjoyable even without having experienced the past titles it’s still a lot of fun to catch all of the neat little references.
Gameplay is largely unchanged from the past games. You command a party of up to five characters and wander across a world map, within towns, and deep within dungeons. Battles occur at random, and when they break out you are whisked away to a separate screen with a view behind your characters with the enemies facing head-on. Combat is turn based and you fight by simply inputting commands from a menu. This is pretty standard fare, and the only major difference from the last games is the de-emphasis on auto-battle, but in my opinion this is for the best. Phantasy Star IV’s battle system is the best in the series. Your characters learn both techs and skills. Techs are your standard spells that include healing techniques as well as offensive spells and even ones that temporarily increase your character’s stats. Using these consumes TP, and this increases for each character as they gain levels. Skills are handled differently. These are unique to every character, and run off of ‘charges.’ They can only be used a certain number of times before restoring them by resting at an Inn. These are generally more useful even than techs.
Throughout most of the game your party is pre-determined by story events. You can have up to five characters in your convoy at once, and the cast is a very colorful crew who are all distinct from one another. They all vary in stats which makes some better with magic, offense, and others (such as the main character Chaz) are all rounders. As I mentioned dearlier they all learn different varieties of techs (though many of these are shared) and for the most part skills are exclusive to each individual character. One of the more interesting gameplay twists here is that there are some distinct differences between the human and android characters. Mechanical party members cannot be healed with normal techniques or even items. Instead you need specific repair kits to heal them as well as very specific skills. To make up for their limited healing capabilities androids automatically recover with every step you take outside of battle. It might sound like a small difference but it affects the flow of battle in some very significant ways. Another addition to this game is vehicular combat. You gain several different crafts by which to travel the world map faster or to get through obstacles. While inside these vehicles new and more powerful monsters will attack, and you can only battle using the craft’s onboard weapons and skills. This aspect of the game is actually really cool and is probably what inspired the later released Skies of Arcadia.
What makes Phantasy Star IV so enjoyable is that it fixes virtually every problem that the previous games suffered from. The dungeons are no longer large and labyrinthine like in the original and part II, the battle system flows smoothly and isn’t clunky like in III, and there’s just generally more direction than the past games offered. You’re never actually required to grind levels here because enemies are never cheap, and because the dungeons are significantly shorter (with an acceptable encounter rate at that) this game isn’t overly difficult by any means (one dungeon in particular is a little troublesome, but for the most part they’re easy to navigate). At the same time some of the bosses will give you trouble, but you have so many skills and techs at your disposal that there’s a lot of room for different strategies. Each character serves specific roles in combat, and it isn’t until the last leg of the game that you can pick your fifth member but one in particular, Raja, is above and beyond all of the other choices. This is a very polished piece of software.
Phantasy Star IV is by far the best looking RPG on the Sega Genesis. It could almost go toe to toe with many of the SNES’ greats in this regard, but what sets this one apart is that it’s just so darn colorful. The environments are highly detailed with great pixel art, and I really enjoy the style of each town and planet within the story. The character designs are the best in the entire series in my opinion. Past games have used simple palette swaps, but here each one uses separate graphics and is drawn with great attention to detail. The battle sequences in particular are extremely impressive with great animations for each attack, skill, and tech. A ton of work was put into these, and they’re all unique from one another. The enemy designs are really cool as well and though some of the creatures are carried over from Phantasy Star II, but they’ve all been re-drawn and serve only as a pleasant nod. As I mentioned earlier many of the story sequences are told through anime style stills, and this works amazingly well and they all look really nice. This is one of the best looking 16-bit RPGs ever, and although it doesn’t take advantage of the Genesis’ strengths it looks quite incredible especially with its unique science fiction anime art style.
The soundtrack is also exceptional which is saying a lot considering this is on the Sega Genesis with its limited audio hardware. The main themes for both Motavia and Dezolis are really well done and convey atmosphere into the scenery wonderfully. The battle theme (both normal and the boss themes) are also enjoyable. The cave music is also awesome. It’s worth noting that one theme in particular (I won’t say what it’s for so as not to spoil the story) is a re-arranged piece of music from the original title and it’s really enjoyable. My absolute favorite track in this soundtrack however is the theme that plays while you’re riding on any of the vehicles. This high tempo piece conveys a wonderful sense of adventure, and it’s beyond anything I thought the inferior sound hardware of the Sega Genesis was even capable of. The vehicular battle them is also really impressive, and stands out as one of my favorite 16-bit tracks overall. Phantasy Star IV features a truly memorable and excellent soundtrack that’s worth purchasing on its own in my opinion.
Phantasy Star IV is an incredible RPG. The battle system is incredible, the story is fun to follow, and it’s unique enough to stand out from the crowd. It’s unfortunate that most seem to have not played it because in my opinion it’s among the best Japanese role playing games released during the 16-bit era. Truth be told I prefer Phantasy Star II a slight bit more, but this is easily the more approachable game. It’s really unfortunate that this is the final mainline release in the series. Sure, the Phantasy Star Online games were fun, but a continuation of the original franchise would be simply incredible. If you are a fan of the genre then Phantasy Star IV is worth tracking down.
