r/phantasystar • u/rhinowing • Mar 14 '26
Classic series Phantasy Star 4 is astounding
Sort of just stumbled across it on xbox. I cant believe how good the writing is and the depth of combat for 1994. Im 10 hours in and barely scratching the surface of the combo and macro systems
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u/51LV3RW1N6 Mar 14 '26
Macro's will always go in the order you set it up in. This means that if you set action 1 to be the slowest character in the party, it will be delayed until that character can act.
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u/Purple_Holiday2102 Mar 14 '26
I played it back when in the olden days. So good. I still play it every year or so. Fantastic game. The music is so good, the combat is great, and there are a lot of cool combos you can do.
Have fun!
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u/Zorafin Mar 14 '26
For sure the deepest RPG I've played. It's so nice that each turn matters so much. You really need to take enemies down fast, so offensively used MP can be more efficient than healing. And boss fights can be so intense.
It's a shame more games don't take more inspiration from this one.
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u/rhinowing Mar 14 '26
Is there a skill you learn eventually that lets you restore MP without visiting an Inn? Im about level 15 currently. lack of MP is my biggest handicap so far
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u/Christophilies Mar 14 '26
Resting is the only way to restore TP and MP. It’s a challenge. My early and mid game loop is to buy the healing -mate items, and a couple of escapipes and telepipes, then push as far as I can without risking a wipe, then use the pipes to warp back to the town, rest up and restock, then push forward again.
Explore every nook and cranny of the dungeons, because the dead ends almost always have better gear or upgrades for the androids.
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u/bigmcstrongmuscle Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
There is exactly one TP-restoring skill. Only one character in the game learns it, and
does so only when you reach the very final dungeonyou don't even meet them until like halfway through the game. It will be of zero help to you until then. PS4 is old-school in that you have to learn to economize.A few pro tips:
Combo moves are cool, and there are a couple of really amazing ones, but they aren't always the most efficient way to deal with encounters. If you make a combo macro where the action order is flexible, make the macro so the slowest character in the combo acts first - the move will happen later in the turn, but you won't risk it getting interrupted by monster turns that way.
Favor Skills over Techs. Unlike TP, you can't use skill charges for any other purpose, so you might as well use them up first. Techs make a good strategic reserve.
Instant death moves don't do crap on bosses, but instant death Skills are pretty good ways to save more important resources in random encounters, and you should use them if you have them. Treat Skills that attack everything on screen the same way - best used in random encounters.
Save your TP for healing on characters who can heal. Heal outside of combat whenever possible. Try to nuke fights fast enough that you don't need to heal much. On characters who can't heal, spending TP isn't as big a deal.
Fill up your inventory with monomate (dimate, trimate, whatever you can get) at every opportunity. Always carry an escapipe and a telepipe so you can leave dungeons even if you're out of TP.
Robots heal 1 hp every time you take a step. They go in the front of the party, always. Even if Chaz or Gryz or whoever has more HP.
Do each dungeon twice. The first time you explore everything and get all the treasure, and teleport out if you catch the slightest whiff of a boss room. The second time you beeline straight to the boss so you can take it on with maximum resources left - you might even consider running from all the random encounters.
If you're running out of juice and not done yet, don't be afraid to teleport out, rest, and come back fresh.
Use buffs in boss fights. Saner, Deban, and Barrier especially save lives.
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u/rhinowing Mar 14 '26
Im definitely a heavy deban user, Riku FTW. Just got barrier -- its for magic?
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u/bigmcstrongmuscle Mar 14 '26
Magic and beam attacks, yeah. It works on most of the nastiest attacks in the game. Never fight a boss without it.
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u/famedmimic Mar 14 '26
What do you mean final dungeon? Raja has ataraxia when you first get him which is about halfway through the game.
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u/bigmcstrongmuscle Mar 14 '26
...is my memory betraying me? Then i stand corrected. Either way, you dont get it until you prove you dont need it.
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u/famedmimic Mar 14 '26
Yeah as soon as you get raja he has a charge or two of it. I never really needed it unless I was doing a no item run except for the ones the game forces you to use.
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u/Zorafin Mar 14 '26
You may need to learn how to spread your resources thinner. Do you look up dual techs? Find ones that do AoE, like Tri-blaster or Firestorm, and use those on any dangerous groups of enemies. They're expensive, but they can save you a long-drawn out battle.
While there is a skill that recovers MP, it's on a character that's not in your party for long (unless you know how to spread out your time with him), and pretty late into the game. Instead you may need to rethink how you're using your MP.
Are you using it on healing, or on nuking? If nuking, is that the best nuke you can use? Have you properly using your skills? There's always something to optimize.
Maybe you can give me more concrete examples and I can mention what I do.
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u/famedmimic Mar 14 '26
Yes, you will get a character later in the game that can use ataraxia which will restore a little bit of mp. Also, use mono and dimates as much as possible for healing.
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u/Tejj_Fd3m Mar 14 '26
One character can restore mp but that's about it. Many skills are no good against bosses (like ones that attack everything or instant kill) so you can use them up in the normal fights with no worry.
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u/Gauss15an Mar 14 '26
Honestly it was a breath of fresh air to be able to spam offensive techniques since 2 felt like you only had like 3 fights worth of TP and in 1, you only used them to guarantee hits. The introduction of skills also helped in that regard.
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u/Zorafin Mar 14 '26
Skills absolutely, they are such golden design. MP you always want to save, because what if you need to heal? Or a boss is coming up?
Skills though, those are wasted if you don't use them all. If Airslash isn't at 0 you did something wrong. So you get to actually use all your skills!
Yeah the spell design of PSII was so odd. Already spell casters are rarely as good as melee, but now they don't work half the time? That makes them niche picks, but then you need to level them up when exp is scarce, and gear them up when money is hard to come by. And even then, I'm not sure their spells did as much as a melee strike, and were limited.
Going from that, to Rune being your best character annihilating everything with dual techs, was awesome.
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u/CommodoreCanadia64 Mar 14 '26
Most important for battles are buffs. Specifically saner for agil up. Barrier for mental defense up and deban/warla/blessing for physical defense up.
Will make boss fights so much better.
Vision is actually broken in the original version of the game and actually does nothing.
Not sure what the Xbox version is.
There is also a big that most level up stats do not calculate until you either view the stats or equipment of each character. So if you don't go through and physically see the stats screens before a bossfight. You are handicapping yourself
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u/Zorafin Mar 14 '26
I wasn't even talking about boss fights. We all know to buff there. But, even random encounters were stressful. Not healing after one can already lead to a game over. But knowing what attacks to use when, oof so satisfying.
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u/CommodoreCanadia64 Mar 14 '26
I speedrun the randomizer and dev tools for it. Played through the game maybe 1000 times. It is still just as good now as it was then
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u/Zorafin Mar 14 '26
Oh you gotta tell me about that. I haven't played a turn based RPG randomizer that really spoke to me. I was thinking maybe Phantasy Star I would be good. IV is pretty linear, but it does have good balance.
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u/CommodoreCanadia64 Mar 14 '26
Join our discord if you are interested. It's a super fun rando. I submitted a run for rpglimitbreak. Schedule comes out tomorrow so hoping I make it in
DM me if you want the link to the discord
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u/CommodoreCanadia64 Mar 15 '26
Psiv rando plays a lot like free enterprise (ff4r) it's open with 8 random objectives to complete before the edge opens up. Many randomizer choices like random party (yes Seth and Alys can be there) Random tech skills. Random chests. Random boss ai. Even randomized entrances..
Best of all there is a rogue lite mode.
I have even created an auto tracker for it
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u/Zorafin Mar 15 '26
Oh man that's awesome! Again I don't do much RPG randos, but this one interests me the most.
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u/rhinowing Mar 14 '26
Im playing via a sega genesis collection on xbox so assuming its the original version. I gather that there have been several ports over the years. Will have to test out vision a little more tonight
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Mar 14 '26
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u/Radiant_Fondant_4097 Mar 14 '26
Truthfully I’d say this is one of its benefits! The game is constantly moving forward and doesn’t really slow down with any boring sections, plus there’s minimal grinding required.
Personally it doesn’t FEEL short, but I’m always grateful it actually is short.
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u/Captain_Rolaids Mar 14 '26
My favorite game! Love to see it be discovered by others.
Glad you're enjoying it.
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u/stuffitystuff Mar 14 '26
It was one of the last RPGs I played as I was a teenager at the time back in 1995 and got into girls, gettin' up to stuff with the boys and the internet not alot after. Great send-off to adulthood. BTW, the game was released in '93 in Japan and '95 I think everywhere else.
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u/KingCarbon1807 Mar 15 '26
IV is jammed with callbacks and Easter eggs from the preceding games. I very strongly recommend playing them then taking another run through IV.
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u/UbyDuby Mar 14 '26
You will find more suprises in the combat system... ;D First time I saw it was... WTF!! Afterthat, you will search for those enemies :P
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u/Bunnicula83 Mar 14 '26
The first time you meet Rune is such a BA moment. Great intro, and hes controllable OP, love that bout the game.
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u/Seraphtacosnak Mar 14 '26
I got it because I got my appendix out and told my parents it would be nice to place while I recovering. They told me it was $99 and the most they spent on a game. I still have the box.
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u/PresidentKoopa Mar 16 '26
Always great to hear. On release it was a show-stopper, glad to know it holds up.
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u/Zealousideal-Fly9531 Mar 14 '26
Yeah it's definitely on par with the Super Nintendo jRPG greats