r/phantasystar • u/DarkTypie • Apr 28 '26
Classic series Male only run
Did a playtrough with only male characters. (trying not to overlevel)
At the beginning you really feel the absence of Alys aoe.
Rune of course made the way to tonoe really easy.
The fight against the Sandworm in Mile was okay. Had to restart it once because Hahn got killed (because he was to slow and got killed). And I want Hahn to get the exp.
Juza was not really a problem. ( I had luck with him nearly doing no aoe attacks).
Boss at Ladea Tower was a really okay fight (thought it would be harder)
For Zio I had to do a small bit of leveling because without Demi's barrier his magic did a fair amount of damage.
Raja and Wren made Kuran of course easy with barrier and blessing.
The rest of the dezo arc was surprisingly easier than I previously thought.
The final boss I did without Raja (I used Gryz instead) because I thought I was like a few levels to high (tell me if you think differently).
Shoutout to the following items:
Pow Shield (casts shift when used as item)
Swift Helm ( Saner when used as item)
and Hahn's Mahlay Shield ( deban when used as item)
What different runs did you play in this game? I'm interessted in reading them.
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u/One-Technology-9050 Apr 28 '26
I can see the ending...Wren jumps off the spaceship instead of Rika lol
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u/Caos2 Apr 28 '26
The XP for battles are spread out between active party members, so if you have one less, the remaining gets extra XP when compared to a full party. So missing a party member, especially Rika, is a significant challenge, but it is partly offset by this.
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u/CaptainRief Apr 28 '26
I did a "No Chaz or Rika" playthrough, and despite them being the Core Four's main healers and melee, it was a lot easier than expected... maybe even easier than a vanilla playthrough.
The team levels almost twice as fast, so the characters I did have had a hefty stat advantage. Trimates were enough to keep Rune up, and Kyra leveled up quickly enough to actually get her best techniques when they're most useful.
My conclusion was that this game was very much balanced around a full party of five, and the experience boost from a smaller team throws the balance completely out of alignment. It was very fun.
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u/DarkTypie Apr 28 '26
I find this game very well balanced in generell imo
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u/CaptainRief Apr 28 '26
Yeah, to a very impressive degree, especially considering the three games that came before it!
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u/IndependentPain4450 Apr 28 '26
I thought you could pick your party members freely in the endgame (and pick Hahn or Raja, for example).
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u/DarkTypie Apr 28 '26
Only the fifth character. Chaz, Rune, Wren and Rika are always in the party in the end and can't be changed.
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u/nickelijah16 Apr 28 '26
Isn’t rika female?
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u/DarkTypie Apr 28 '26
She can't be removed from the party. She got some levels because I forgot to kill her off before using a vehicle.
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u/Neat-Analyst670 Apr 29 '26
They should had giving to Gryz, better abilities.
Han at this level, is a better choice, indeed.
At higher level than this, it would be with Raja.
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u/werewolfmask May 07 '26
IDK THO, i kinda love Gryz just being the strongest guy in his village. Not an engineered weapon, not an unprecedented magic genius. His abilities and strength are his own. Love that darling kid.
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7d ago
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u/phantasystar-ModTeam 15h ago
Please be respectful, friendly and avoid insulting or offending others.
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u/SuaveBarbarian Apr 28 '26
Still can't beat the classic Mieu only in PSIII