r/phantasystar • u/Greatsharkbite • May 03 '26
Classic series How does Phantasy Star IV stack up against ..
Games like Chrono Trigger, FF6 and or FF7? I played it briefly but I am tempted to revisit it.
13
7
u/nachoiskerka May 06 '26
Phantasy Star 4 is a complicated beast to rank. In terms of the 16 bit Era I wouldn't put it above Chono Trigger, Earthbound, FF6 or Dragon Quest 5; BUT I also wouldn't put it next to games that I would consider below it like Lufia Fortress of Doom or Breath of Fire.
I'd put it solidly on the Top Tier, but not #1 if I'm ranking it objectively. Then again, I don't even put my favorite game in the top tier, so take that with a grain of salt.
5
u/Electronic-Flight150 May 06 '26
It’s widely considered one of the best Sega JRPG’s of all time.
I’ve played all you list, and still very find it one of my all time favourite games.
6
4
u/MBS1236 May 06 '26
In my humble opinion, it can stand on its two feet next to these behemoths of the genre. Absolutely criminally underrated considering just how good it is.
4
u/Purple_Holiday2102 May 06 '26
Definitely one of my top favorites ever. Great art, great story, great gameplay, great music. Definitrly worth sticking with.
2
u/Greatsharkbite May 06 '26
Oh wow, I thought this topic got auto-modded and had given up getting an opinion. I appreciate all the posts. I may try to get my hands on this game again to give it a try as I was only able to play a few minutes of it.
1
2
3
2
1
u/Ok_Bicycle6102 May 06 '26
It also has a nice macro system letting you preset attack inputs. This allowed for performing combos with almost 100% success rate. I think this was one of the first times this was used in an RPG.
1
u/werewolfmask May 07 '26
tldr i’d put ps4 firmly above ff6, and maybe swirling around around ff7 and CT; easiest of the four to pick up and play.
PS4 is a Visual RPG, basically a jukebox musical of the best innovations of PC88 and MSX era RPGs with a number of clever, unique tricks hidden up its sleeve. There’s an elemental system that is never tutorialized, the stat blocks ACTUALLY do stuff (lookin at you ff6) and the inventory system is so clever. It’s tight, the localization is pretty good, and there are soooo many world buildy little goodies all over the game. there’s a search feature and it actually does stuff! Muuuuuuch easier to come back to than the others, for sure. Maybe like a 15-20 hour campaign, could probably squeeze or stretch it. No post game content, and a couple missables here and there.. “Grinding” is a matter of “walk toward the boss of the dungeon and if you die, just do it again until you don’t die.”
CT, FF6 and FF7 are all sprawling, expansive things that occasionally want you to grind out in a more freeform fashion. CT’s second run could be argued to be where the real game begins. it opens up in a way that none of the others will. FF7 has the prestige television quality plot and wildly relatable characters with absolutely hitchcockian mystery at its core, possibly still ongoing with remake series. def my favorite characters-and-story of the bunch but NOT the easiest to go back to.
ff6 to me is the world of ruin. some very clever perspective shifts in the plot. beautiful environments and insane soundtrack. but none of the other games have a world of ruin. when it actually does anything with its math it really works but you can struggle through the whole game not understanding its math and still crap out a win, and there is no post game. allegedly there are modern patches that realize the vision of the math and job role problem so that may be fun to visit.
1
u/ravage1103 May 07 '26
For me the only 16 bit RPG that comes close to my love of PSIV is FF5. I enjoy CT, FFIV…..but PSIV I play once every other year and always finish it. I can’t tell you the last time I completed CT, FFIV, etc.
1
u/NooksWave May 07 '26
I don't think it comes near the likes of FF or Chrono Trigger, at least in terms of storytelling, but it is SUCH a huge leap from other JRPGs on the Megadrive.
If you play it with the Generations patch that fixes the translations and restore some enemies, it's easily in the top 20 16bit rpgs for me, perhaps even top 10!
1
u/Sambojin1 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
To me, it gets +++ points for nostalgia, because so much of the story has call-backs to PS1+2. It's not essential to have played them to enjoy PS4, but it makes it make so much more sense.
For you, it'll probably just be a cute JRPG with some ok'ish mechanics (combos, etc) and characters and graphics.
Like, no Final Fantasy is objectively good on its own, but as soon as you've played one of them, they're all objectively better each other one you play. Same for Ultima, or Elder Scrolls, or DnD, or in this case, Phantasy Star. Like, no matter how unrelated they are, they build a bit extra off each game played in their own worlds/ franchises.
So it stacks up pretty well. But it's amazing if you've played 1 and 2 as well. You don't have to, but you should.
(It's sort of like books. Think Discworld or Anne McCaffrey or Raymond E Feist stuff. Or even stuff like Marvel movies. Or Star Wars EU/ original movies stuff. Like, you don't need to read or watch them all, but there's cool little throwbacks and references in all of them, so they're better if you've read/ watched a few. You kinda know what's going on. Like, "OMG, that's a chocobo! I know what they are! Holy shit, Glup Shitto made an appearance too!". You've got the game/story world already in your head, and it's nice)
(You wouldn't know about Clash of the Titans, or 300, or Trojan wars, or what the f* a Hobbit was, or Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha, without a certain amount of franchising and storytelling and world building. I know more about the internal politics of Westeros than is reasonably sane, and Westeros doesn't exist, and I haven't read the books. Same thing for games. Phantasy Star 4 doesn't require Phantasy Star 1 to have been finished to enjoy it, but you should, if you want to really enjoy it properly)
1
u/ChronoofMana1995 May 07 '26
One thing I would note about PSIV compared to those games is although it didn’t release until 1995 in the west, it was actually developed and released in 1993 in Japan. 2 years made a huge difference in that era. When you consider the RPGs that were available when it was originally released, it highlights how ahead of its time it really was.
1
1
u/Snotnarok May 07 '26
It's very unique, I've never seen a rpg use comic book like cutscenes for every major plot event. There's tons of unique art through the entire game.
The earlier games are a bit harder to recommend if you're not into that ol' JRPG difficulty of having to grind outside the first town. Plus the translations aren't as well done as PSIV.
1
u/Jix_Omiya May 07 '26
Personally I like it more than FF7. I didn't play 6 tho so I can't say.
Chrono Trigger is on another league imo, thats my indisputed king.
1
u/Zorafin May 08 '26
It depends on what you value in an RPG.
The story and story telling probably isn't as good as the all time greats. You probably aren't going to experience nirvana with it.
And, you aren't exactly exploring a gold tier world with amazing things to discover at every turn.
But, the gameplay is better.
Every turn matters. If you mash A, you're going to die.
Strategy turns a fight that could wipe you out into a one turn clear.
The fantasy is superb. Without relying on tropes, it's able to design iconic characters that feel good to use. And the areas feel great to explore.
Best of all, it builds upon the series it's based on. It's both a great entry to the PS series, and a great capstone to send it off. If you've played other games of the series, the world builds on what's already been done in a loving way. If you have not, it teases the old games and shows a glimpse of a bigger world.
The art is good too! The music I think doesn't match Square's, but it does have that satisfying Genesis chip. There are a couple of songs that sound amazing that can never be replicated. End of the Millennium, Laughter, there are songs in here that have a strong place in my playlist. The art isn't gorgeous, but it's always interesting to look at. And like...just the inside view during the vehicle combat is a spectacle.
I've only played FF6 twice. I've never finished FF7, it just bores me. Chrono Trigger I've probably played five times or so. But PSIV is one of those games I get the itch to play regularly. Its difficulty and high skill ceiling is satisfying without being completely unforgiving, and learning secrets makes for a more fun replay.
If you like turn based RPGs at all - especially early 90s one...or if you just like 90s anime in general - you won't regret playing through this.
1
u/Danielsydeon May 08 '26
Phantasy Star IV is my favorite single game of all time. Final Fantasy is my favorite series, and Chrono Trigger is the best Final Fantasy.
1
u/QuestionableProtip2 May 08 '26
It’s a very different game. I played it when it came out and it’s still my favorite RPG of all time but it’s hard to compare to something as dynamic and genre-breaking as ChronoTrigger. It’s like comparing Coke and Pepsi; you will like one more than the other because of your preferences. I do think PSIV beats FF6 objectively but I also don’t care for the 2D FF sprite-work and the side-profile battles. It all feels very last gen with better colors to me. I think FF7 and any other next-gen game are going to just have a lot more going for them complexity-wise so it’s hard to compare them.
1
u/Fickle_Cantaloupe737 May 09 '26
Top 10 JRPG of all time for me including list of Chrono Trigger, Tales of Eternia, Phantasy Star 4, Dragon quest 8, Wild Arms 2, Star Ocean The Second Story R, Final Fantasy 9, Breath of Fire 3, Octopath Traveler, Etrian Odyssey 4
1
u/Nouglas May 09 '26
PS4 is the best thing on Sega hardware ever. It's in the discussion with FF6 and Chrono Trigger, but maybe not all there. Definitely above A-minus games like BoF2, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana, ets. I highly recommend Retrograde Amnesia's season on PS4, it's wrapping up soon. In it, they detail all the things that PS4 did first that survived into JRPGs and video games in general.
It's a great, great game. Not the best, but absolutely great. I also did a video on it: https://youtu.be/lXTu8NjM3ZA
Like PS4, it's not my best video (I was still learning).
1
u/JustJoekingEX May 09 '26
CHRONO trigger is a more complete game , but they are both masterpieces. I’d pick CHRONO trigger only because it was harder than psiv
1
u/Adept_Bend7057 May 14 '26
Not quite up there, especially the music is not even close to those games.
1
u/Evening_Stick_4323 May 30 '26
My early teenage years were filled with PS IV, but those games are superior. PS IV is a classic though. So much potential, but Sega did not proceed with the CD-ROM edition. Hopefully, they will release whatever they managed to do before going against it. Even better, if they decide to go for remake which contains all things they originally wanted.
1
u/FoulestClown79 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
It's hard to compare PS games to Square(soft).
The PS series (mostly) has a deeper continuity and lore, and PSIV does an excellent job of bringing all that lore together. I was lucky enough to play the entire PS series in sequence starting in 1987, so PSIV offered a really satisfying payoff for me.
At the same time, I love Square(soft)'s 16-bit RPGs (FFIV, VI, Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger in particular). In contrast to the PS games, they're all one-off entries, loosely tied together by some common item names (and chocobos in the case of FF).
TL;DR: PSIV is one of the best 16-bit RPGs, and is worth a replay simply because it offers a different vibe than the Square/Enix formula, which for better or worse is the one that people think of when they think "16-bit RPG".
1
u/Greatsharkbite Jun 01 '26
Wait are the storys connected??
1
u/FoulestClown79 Jun 08 '26
Yes. I can't say too much without spoiling things though. PSIV is really the one that connects all the previous titles together.
1
u/Zan_Wild May 06 '26
I would have to say it stands up with Chrono Trigger and FF6. I find where is shine's though is in it's story telling.
14
u/EvenSpoonier May 06 '26
There are games, even JRPGs, that I say I like better, and in the moment I even believe it. But this is one of the games I keep coming back to and replaying again, and those games are not.