Phantasy Star 1 and 2 remade similar to PSIV

Hello all,

I have been playing Phantasy Star Generation 1 for a while now and I have been watching Walkthroughs of Generation 2 and Phantasy Star 4 on Youtube. (I am planning to play PSIV once I have finished Generation 1)

I love the graphic overhaul and some of the gameplay changes SEGA's hired developers put into Generation 1 to make it more friendlier to players today and to have the cast talk outside cutscenes (giving them more personality).
This also seems to have been done to Generation 2 though I have not played that game yet because there is no English translation.

But a few issues of the original games were also transferred to their updated versions that could not be changed as it is not so much gameplay but rather design that comes into play.
For example PS1 being rather free roaming to the point that the player sometimes wonders what to do next.
I had no idea I sometimes have to talk to some characters repeatedly in order to make progress, and having to travel between two different locations sometimes to make the game progress is not always fun.

The second game has issues such as the necessary grinding if you really want to get to another location without being slaughters, or the layout of the dungeons which though updated have not been changed. (I read in an interview that the dungeons were originally designed by a new employee, and the team leaders did not have to heart to tell him that they were to long and confusing).
Also I personally find it a little unimaginative on how the player recruits new party members, not actively looking them up as in PS1 or meeting them along the way like in PS4.

I feel that this could have been done in a more appealing way such as meeting Amy Sage in Arima, the town that was attacked by bandits where she is helping people, or Rudo in a town that is under attack by bio monsters (and so on).
Also have more of an in-game background story rather than having to find out through text adventures and perhaps have this play a role in personal quests.

And speaking of quests, perhaps have more side quests like in PS4 in order to improve experience and gear and get to know more of the world.

Would people here have objected if rather than just updating the games the remakes had their campaigns redesigned from the ground up to include more of these elements?

Also: the remade music sucks.

We're not talking about Vaccum caliber here though. Think: black hole audio suckage.

Hello Parma Ham

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I'm all for more background / setting info in PS2. I think the setting could use a bit more fleshing out. I'm not sure about "personal quests", though. Funny as it sounds, while I want more characterization in PS2, I think the story is really the star of that particular game, so I'd hate to see the individual characters steal the spotlight. I like Rolf, for example, but I think his actions and reactions in the main story are more interesting than his background and personal life.

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I think that could make sense in PS1, but not so much in PS2. I see PS2 as having a fairly "urgent" narrative. I think having side quests would dilute that sense of needing to press on and unravel Algol's problems.

I have played games that combine a large over quest (if you will) and personal quests very well without the last 'taking' over from the main game.
That sense of urgency you mentioned would be maintained, or at least at the first third part of the game, but when things start to relax you can focus on side quests.

Also it would be possible to 'put' these personal quests into the main quest without disrupting it. While carrying it out you come across a person, an object, or a situation that triggers the personal quest and can perhaps be resolved locally while revealing more about a party member.

The same would apply for the side quests.
While the player is on the way to the bio lab he/she comes across these other settlements that require the player's/agent's help with a problem which ties into the larger problems that are going on. (bandits as mentioned in the game for example)

And again, once the game starts to calm down after most of the urgent problems have been resolved the player can carry out these side quests in order to gain experience, money, and additional items.

Similar ideas could also be implemented in Phantasy Star 1 without breaking it.
(I am a little inspired by Chono Trigger and the hunter quests in PS4 regarding this as well as PC RPGs)

Stuff I really would like to see being changed in for example PS2 other than the focus on grinding over adventuring, and more player friendly dungeons, is how the player reaches the Noah.

Personally I think something better could have been done with that than being teleported to it by Lutz as it seems to imply he knows about the ship.
Rather the player going through perhaps previously locked of parts of Motavian places to find a trail that leads to the ship.

You know I could've sworn I made a comment here yesterday, but I'm not seeing it now in this thread.
But anyway, my take on this is that we should be glad that we didn't receive a remake of Phantasy Star IV, for the sole reason alone being the remakes that were made of Phantasy Star 1 and 2. While Phantasy Star Generations 1 may get away with it, there's no way that Phantasy Star Generations 2 can get a free pass for the uninspiring poppy music arrangements, different direction of the character art, and it's altogether cheerful happy-go-lucky theme.

But if that was bad enough, I'm just glad the games are not remade currently to suit PSO or PSU: I can't imagine seeing Rolf as HUMar or Wren as a CAST, or the magic of Espers become degraded and attributed to Photon arts.

Zio_Falz, if you knew how many times I have read such reference on a PSO forum regarding the original PS games.
Androids like Wren, Demi, Mieu who are constantly referred to as CASTs for example.
It was almost enough to make me want to sign up just to say to these people "They are androids, not bloody CASTs!"

And regarding Generation 2 art, as others pointed out; Nei's design is terrible.
The ears but also the outfit, making her now look like Eusis' personal sex slave.

And trust me Parma Ham, how I would have personal quests and additional quests in mind would not disrupt the flow of PS2, just expand it to give a larger world to the player to get to know it better.

Well to be fair, I think even 1988 Nei and her one-piece nighty or teddy or whatever it's called, would have won Rolf the creepy stepbrother award long before PS Generations 2.

Come to think of it, even Seed didn't do that good of a job of providing Rika with adequate clothing. In the cut scenes after a certain party member departs your party in PSIV, you can clearly see that underneath the cape that Rika wears isn't much at all, just another one-piece, so no wonder she cheers Chaz up by the end of the cut scene.

But yes, we can all agree about the general consensus of Phantasy Star Generations 2 and its artwork.

Mieu and Wren are not android, they are cyborgs.

According to PSIII anyways.

Also: Casts are awesome. Respect.

Aeroprism wrote:

Mieu and Wren are not android, they are cyborgs.

According to PSIII anyways.

According to the English version of PSIII. In the Japanese, they are referred to as androids.

I do however like how they revised the city graphics a little, making the buildings look much larger than the characters. (when I look at the original graphics I find it silly how the characters are almost as big as the buildings, I know this is done to give players a better overview but still).
The character art might be average sometimes but the background art is still very nice looking and I do praise the artist(s) for that.

I also like how the designers in Generation 1 and 2 showed how equipment updated the various stats of players such as Atck, Def, Agl, and so on, making it clear for me what gear I needed to buy.

And of course the chat function, I liked that as well as otherwise you barely hear anything from the characters.

Stuff I would have liked to have seen added was, well a small info screen.
I am playing PSIV now and sometimes it is really confusing to know what technique or skill does what.
I had to print out a list to see which skills were heals, attacks, stat boosters, or other type of support.
Just a little info text that gives a basic explanation what a technique does, and perhaps what element type it is.

And last, I really really want an item that restores technique points.
Going through some dungeons you really run out of technique fast as some of the enemies are only decently damaged through them than regular attacks, but it leaves you with little points when you reach a boss.


Edit; regarding the issue of Wren, Demi, and Mieu being androids or cyborgs.
From a sci-fi fan point of view the lines start to blur a little at some point, they are clearly not fully synthetic like say a CAST, as parts of them do seem to be organic.
So I would be open for the idea that that they are a synthesis or both cybernetic parts (machine) and grown organic parts such as their skin (and perhaps parts of their neural network).
Think the Terminator approach, a cybernetic skeleton covered with artificial but living flesh.


Aeroprism, nothing against the later PS games but these mentioned characters are not CASTs and should not be called as such, same goes retro actively changing people types like Palmans, Numans etc.

For my own home-made PS tabletop system, I wrote a whole lot of stuff about Casts. This is perhaps why I like them so much, I tend to lose the fine line between "true" PS content and the huge world I have adapted from it.