Phantasy Star play order

[PurpleMage_Claire]

I've been curious to try out the Phantasy Star series recently and was wondering where would be the best place to start. I've heard that IV is the best of the series, but I'm also worried about missing out on story by skipping the games ahead of it. Would I maybe be best to track down the first game in the series?

[Kail]

I really like the original game, but PS2 does start with a little recap cinematic in case you never played it. Obviously if you want the complete story, starting with the first game is probably the most authentic way to play, but things drag on a bit at times (there's a lot of grinding in the first three games) so there's the worry that you might get bored and stop playing before you get to PS4, which is probably the high point of the series. So I'd say it depends on your patience for older, slower RPGs and if you think you can make it all the way through to the end.

I heard PS4 described as a "love letter to the fans of the series" and the game definitely has a lot of references and explains a lot of plot stuff that ties in to the earlier games, so I suspect it's better if you've played the earlier games, but it does make sense on it's own, too, you just won't know some of the references.

[Panda o' Mobius]

Yep, the first three PS games are quite old-school. I recommend you to use pen and paper to enjoy some mapping out dungeons and writing down random info and shop selection, it is much more enjoyable to go through the grind this way than when you are just using guides or already made maps.

There is 1000 years difference in plot between each of main PS game, so playing previous games isn't required. But yes, PS4 is love letter for fan and story closure, so references are everywhere.


Let's see, order I would say is:

PS1 - Too charming. The beggining is blah, where you are too weak to explore yet and have to grind few levels. After that, it's an adventure.

PS: Gaiden (for Game Gear) - Japan only, got fan-translated. Actually was released after PS3, but seems to be most related to PS1. Kinda random lite spinoff. Skippable. Probably not even canon. Has zero bearing on main line.

PS2 - Pretty nice story premise for it's time, ableit grindy as hell and mazes got crazy. Being able to make your own party out of few heroes is nice. Not sure if you will survive this one unless you like old-school grindy jRPGs to begin with.

PS2 Text Adventure games - were Japan only, got fan-translated. Pretty short, fancy, sorta pre-stories for each hero in PS2. I liked to play corresponding character's text adventure once I met them in PS2.

PS Adventure (for Game Gear) - it's like a single PS2 Text Adventure, but with a bit more budget but same lenght. Just random hero. Set around PS2 era as well. Has zero bearing on main line.

PS3 - doesn't take place in Algo System, but plot is still related to main line. Albeit the only thing you will need to know is main premise. Kinda way too slow. Has multiple paths/endings, but it's generally not worth it, not enough differences.

PS4 - Yep, love letter. And awesome. And totally worth it. Delivery of in-game stories in previous games was fairly spartan by today's standard, but in PS4 they finally get a much more frequent individial dialogs, you can inspect random things, more individual drama for each hero. They even got comic-like cutscenes. A LOT! Dungeon and grind was streamlined.


There is also remakes of PS1 and PS2 for PlayStation 2, called Phantasy Star Generation. Japan only, but got fan-translated by now, I think. I heard that those have nifty options such as easy mode and double walk speed, so can try those instead if you find that grind is too much for you to handle.

Then again, I think that somebody on Steam Workshop already made a mod for PS2 that rebalances to be like easy mode from that remake, I think?
Or maybe it was from some of the collection. I haven't tried those or remakes, so can't help.

None the less, after PS4, the Phantasy Star Online came and gameplay-wise it changed to MMORPG-Action and such. And plot-wise it's Phantasy Star were unrelated to previous jRPG games ever since. I think? Haven't beat those either.

[PurpleMage_Claire]

I do have a pretty good level of patience when it comes to old 16 bit jrpg's. The 8 bit era ones I find harder to get into as rpg's from that era seem to be way too difficult to figure things out due to system limitations. I have gotten through the 8-bit Final Fantasy a couple times, but the first playthrough of that was with very heavy use of an faq. I'm wondering if I might consider that route for the first PS game just to get through it. I feel like I could beat it with help.

[Panda o' Mobius]

Try to do it without faq, if you mean Phantasy Star 1. Though, PS1 is the only game in the main old PS series where the dungeons are in first-person, instead of top-down, so I would recommend pen and paper (or any other way to map) there for sure since there are no landmarks in those.

Just don't forget to check the manuals on segaretro site, these games don't explain who can equip what unless you try to buy the item and what this "shu" magic means and such.

[PurpleMage_Claire]

Now that I think about it, I feel like the 3ds would be a great home for a Phantasy Star 1 remake. I would love to see that game done with a touchscreen map system a la Etrian Odyssey

[Ikagura]

I've done PSI, PSO, PS zero, PSPortable 1 and 2 and soon PSIV.

But the story of PSII doesn't tell very much about PSI except in the first cinematic

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Klayr_Pie:

Now that I think about it, I feel like the 3ds would be a great home for a Phantasy Star 1 remake. I would love to see that game done with a touchscreen map system a la Etrian Odyssey

Well i hope to have the complete collection on PC PS4 XBO (and even on PSVita!) (including the SMS PSI).

But i also wished to have Phantasy Star Zero 2 on 3DS as well