Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Hi,
Part of the reason I started posting a bit lately is because I was intending on doing a challenge play over my Christmas break, and though I mainly post at GameFAQs the Phantasy Star IV boards are super dead there again lately. I was thinking of doing this community-based challenge with this community as well, but I've decided that cross-posting might be a bit of a hassle (it's more work, and it could get tricky if people are users on both boards).

So... I'd like to welcome you to this challenge idea and to view my progress via GameFAQs and if you're a GameFAQs user I'd love for you to join in. The GameFAQs thread is at gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-sta ... v/72995901.

The core idea is that all obtainable equipment, techs and skills are locked until someone says I can use it, but each poster can only unlock one equip and one ability for each planet I visit. My success - and the characters and strategies I'm able to use effectively - are very dependent on what the other posters contribute.

As I said, the PS4 board on GameFAQs is pretty quiet lately, so at this point I would have to beat Motavia using only Hunt-Knifes, Crbn-Suits, a StruggleAx, Wat, Hewn and War Cry. Hm... It's probably possible - Gryz would be the MVP - but it doesn't really get me excited.

Please check it out. If there's a lot of interest maybe dialogue will continue here or I'll end up cross-posting anyway.

I started tonight. So far I'm only at Zema but it was pretty time-consuming with no armor (until Crbn-Suits), and only Hunt-Knifes and Wat on the offense.
gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-sta ... /839815537

I'm not on gameFAQs, but I did read your first post. I'm interested to see how this goes for you. Interesting challenge.

Somehow I missed this post. This seems like a fun challenge so I'll log into my GameFAQs account and give you a nice little treat to help you out.

Thanks very much, Atlinsmere. Crmcshields are turning out to be a huge asset.
Odd, I pretty much never use them in normal play. I guess that's sort of the point of this challenge (although people have been very generous with a lot of things, too).

Not a problem. I'm glad I could help. I'm contemplating what I should give you when you reach Dezolis. I haven't decided if I want to give you something helpful for your playthrough or not.

The last fellow who gave me gifts was, in my opinion, perhaps too generous. I'm honestly not sure I need more gifts. Well, I'll be pretty weak defensively in the late game; things will get tough come Air Castle. But having Gires and (eventually) Gisar solves a ton of potential problems, and Torndagger makes just about anyone capable on the offense for most enemies.

I was sort of thinking from the outset that I'd get more gifts that could have practical applications but are overshadowed, like Titnslashr, Broad-Axe, Grptshield, Silv-Rod, Phantarobe, Gelun, Earth, Seals, Rimit, Illusion, Bindwa, Vision, Telele, Arows, Spark, Stasis Bm, etc. The things that could have a home if better options weren't almost always available. Even Guardsword qualifies, I guess.

The other thing that could happen is people forcing my party to behave in certain ways; I kind of thought I'd get Psyco-Wand and no shields so that I'd have a melee Rune, and that people would tempt me to have an endgame Gryz or Demi. So far everyone seems to want an endgame Hahn!

Here's a mirror of my current unlock list (with my regular updates at gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-phantasy-sta ... v/72995901):

Motavia
Equipment:

• Hunt-Knife (Elrick75)
• Crbn-Suit (Jeremy3eb)
• Struggl-Ax (ZomBULL)
• Crmcshield (trenzer1)
• Lasr-Sword (boonoob)
• Stun-Shot (Theysaidit)

Techniques:

• Foi (boonoob)
• Wat (Elrick75)
• Ryuka (trenzer1)
• Gires (Theysaidit)

Skills:

• Hewn (Jeremy3eb)
• War Cry (ZomBULL)

Dezolis
Equipment:

• PlsmDagger (Elrick75)
• Silvshield (boonoob)
• Silv-Crown (Theysaidit)
• Silvr-Tusk (Jeremy3eb)
• Elst-Armor (ZomBULL)

Techs:

• Githu (boonoob)
• Nazan (Theysaidit)

Skills:

• Flare (ZomBULL)
• Rayblade (Elrick75)
• Burstroc (Jeremy3eb)

Rykros
Equipment:

• Torndagger (Theysaidit)
• Swift-Helm (Jeremy3eb)
• Genocyclaw (boonoob)
• MahlayMail (Elrick75)

Techs:

• Deban (boonoob)
• Gisar (Theysaidit)

Skills:

• Barrier (Jeremy3eb)
• Astral (Elrick75)

Merry Christmas to all!

It turns out I was wrong about the last set of gifts being too generous: Gy-Laguiah was tough and Zio is a showstopper. I've got a pretty reasonable offense, I would say (well, Rune is using Hewn and Foi), but it's darn tough facing Zio with naked Demi and Rune.
<insert fanfic here>

My levels are all 24+ now and I haven't left Motavia.

Well, things have progressed a great deal. There are 60 posts on GameFAQs and I've been gradually doing this for about two months.

The eventual defeat of Zio (defeat image/status image) felt really fantastic: it was the most exciting Zio defeat I've had since my first time, and one of the best video game-related feelings I can remember.

I'm well into Dezolis now... in fact, in the Air Castle! I thought it would be very dramatic when I got to Dezolis but besides having a super defensive Rika - and finally some gear for Rune - it really wasn't such a big deal. I had to level up like crazy to beat the Xe-A-Thouls (sorry admin?) with the gear and abilities I have access to, and I did (image), but I am nowhere close to able to beat Lashiec. I've pounded on him and survived a couple of rounds, but I never got as far as him using Reinforce. And I don't think I've lasted more than 4 or five rounds, with Wren seldom surviving round 2.

It's intense... but I just got some nice new gratitude gifts and I think I'll be able to pull it off soon.

Eventually, I ended up not updating here. Apologies for that. Managing multiple community sites is hard.
The topic is all wrapped up, including beating the final boss with all possible party members (and no additional party member).

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/563334-p ... v/72995901

Looks like I finished on April 26th. The very end of my final battle was rather epic.
I played another challenge play (different game) since this one and streamed the whole thing. If I do another Phantasy Star IV challenge I'll definitely be streaming it, too.

Although there wasn't a ton of evident buy-in in this thread, it's got a lot of views, so thanks for your interest!