Staff Blog: Pretty BaD - Phantasy Star 2

Pretty BaD - Phantasy Star 2

On 02/27/2019 at 02:26 PM by Matt Snee

I missed my BaD yesterday, so I'm doing two today.

Phantasy Star 2 is a difficult game. It's so difficult, that when you bought it back in the day, it came with a strategy guide with maps of the first two dungeons. It's insanely grindy, obtuse, and not terrible fun. But I didn't realize that when I was a kid.

I never beat it, only getting about halfway through the game to the second planet, but I remember my childhood friend Dan who did beat it regal me with tales of his Phantasy Star 2 prowess and the awesome ending.

The Genesis never had the RPG's like the SNES, but I will always remember the Phantasy Star games and how they captured my imagination. They may have been tough, but they had great stories, and unlike Square games, had cut scenes with great art to inform the player what has happened.

Unfortunately, like I said, Phantasy Star 2 is really difficult, and apparently the third game is even worse. Sega ultimately perfected the formula with Phantasy Star 4, which is a great game, but one I never played as a kid.

goaztecs

02/27/2019 at 02:41 PM

I never played Phantasy Star but I remember there was a Dreamcast version that was onlinne and my friends were talking about how awesome it was because it was online.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/27/2019 at 02:44 PM

I remember EGM praising that game a lot as well.

I wish RPGs still came with strategy guides.

02/27/2019 at 02:48 PM

I wish games still came with instruction books/info on characters, weapons, etc.

02/27/2019 at 02:51 PM

Oh yeah. Physical games feel incomplete without that part of the packaging.

KnightDriver

02/27/2019 at 10:38 PM

I remember playing the Phantasy Star games back to back. I would get a little father before frustration set in with each game until 4. I wouldn't much like to revisit 1-3 but 4, yes.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

03/19/2019 at 10:53 AM

I've never beaten 4, but I'd like to.

daftman

02/28/2019 at 04:07 PM

I'd have zero qualms about using a guide to play through the Phantasy Star games. Too bad Sega seems to have forgotten that franchise exists.

03/19/2019 at 10:52 AM

yeah it seems ripe for rebirth.

Cary Woodham

03/01/2019 at 11:53 AM

When I first played the original Phantasy Star, I was pretty impressed with it, visually. It looked MUCH better than Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the NES. Unfortunately I didn't like the first person dungeons.

I was a SNES kid and didn't have a Genesis, so I didn't play Phantasy Star 2 and 3 back in the day. When I finally did play them, I wasn't much impressed. But Phantasy Star 4 blew me away. If I did have a Genesis as a kid, I probably would've been into Phantasy Star 4 as much as I was into FF6!

yeah, Phantasy Star 4 is great!

avidacridjam

03/19/2019 at 05:37 AM

I haven't finished Phantasy Star 2 no matter how many times I played it in the past for all of the obvious reasons. Yet I credit this game for kick-starting a love for RPGs. I got into the genre a little too late (26-27?) and while there's a lot of infuriating things about the game (the grindiest; no way to know what gear/weapons work with which player without a guide), its presentation and easy-to-learn battle system was my gateway. This and World of Warcraft, of course.

03/19/2019 at 10:51 AM

you know, I had the same experience. Phantasy Star 2 was kind of tortuous, but it was my first RPG too, and I've had a lifelong love ever since.

PixlBit