Growing up as a kid, I have never played the Phantasy Star series.  I was such as a Squaresoft fanboy back in those days.  Now with my Wii and the release of Phantasy Star for the virtual console, I decided to pick up and play this game.  So far, my $5 is paying off.
 
Let's cut to the chase,  I am having a far better time playing Phantasy Star for the first then playing final fantasy now.  However, I feel my love for Phantasy Star is weird.  There all sorts of features that make Final Fantasy obviously superior to Phantasy Star.
 

Combat

No Maps

Lack of Direction

While in the extreme minority, you're allowed to have a different opinion.

" While in the extreme minority, you're allowed to have a different opinion. "

Wow, I think you successfully scared me off of Phantasy Star with that lack of direction point... >.>
 
I'll still give it a shot at some point though.

" Wow, I think you successfully scared me off of Phantasy Star with that lack of direction point... >.>  I'll still give it a shot at some point though. "

Oh my Phantasy Star, how I love thee. In all thy forms excluding your last. I actually didn't play the 360 incarnation of PSO (PSU) so maybe I shouldn't be passing judgement. But I have heard from several reliable sources that it was complete trash. But oh how I love them oldies + PSO.

"

Oh my Phantasy Star, how I love thee. In all thy forms excluding your last. I actually didn't play the 360 incarnation of PSO (PSU) so maybe I shouldn't be passing judgement. But I have heard from several reliable sources that it was complete trash. But oh how I love them oldies + PSO.

"

Well, I think you're crazy. I've always considered the Phantasy Star games to be either not very good, or second rate with the exception of Phantasy Star Online. I don't know why you like Phantasy Star over Final Fantasy. Maybe it's just because we are all over saturated with Final Fantasy at this point and there aren't that many Phantasy Star games in comparison. I mean, come on there are 13 numbered Final Fantasy games out there now with the 14th in development and that's not counting the mountain of spin offs. When it comes to Phantasy Star there are 4 numbered games I think. Then you get into Phantasy Star Online and it's spin offs. So there are much less Phantasy Star games than Final Fantasy games. Also, I'm willing to bet that the original Phantasy Star games being new to you has a lot to do with it.

I played the original in 1989 when the genre on consoles was still it's it's infancy, I haven't played it since, but I do remember that nonsense at the start of the game, and elsewhere. The developers of RPG's of the time tried to squeeze as much gameplay time out of the most simple of tasks, Phantasy Star was one that achieved this by borrowing heavily from the mechanics found in PC RPGs of that era.
 
Despite the flaws, and what it game lacks in comparison to FF, the game still manages to create an ambiance which is very appealing, and it's for that reason why I have good memories of it.. Maybe you find the overall ambience more appealing than the one FF creates. 
 
I recall inviting half my school friends over to witness my epic battle with Darkfalz.. You should really hunt down the GBA collection, or the Saturn collection if you end up getting one.

" I played the original in 1989 when the genre on consoles was still it's it's infancy, I haven't played it since, but I do remember that nonsense at the start of the game, and elsewhere. The developers of RPG's of the time tried to squeeze as much gameplay time out of the most simple of tasks, Phantasy Star was one that achieved this by borrowing heavily from the mechanics found in PC RPGs of that era. Despite the flaws, and what it game lacks in comparison to FF, the game still manages to create an ambiance which is very appealing, and it's for that reason why I have good memories of it.. Maybe you find the overall ambience more appealing than the one FF creates.  I recall inviting half my school friends over to witness my epic battle with Darkfalz.. You should really hunt down the GBA collection, or the Saturn collection if you end up getting one. "

I was going to write something very similar but I took a look at the forums and found this topic. I am also enjoying this game for the first time and I agree with everything the OP says.

I was a fool to think I could play this without a guide. Maybe if I played it when I was in highschool when I had all the time in the world MAYBE I could at least beat this.

After getting the first two party members Odin and Myau I just kept saying: "How the devil was I supposed to figure this out?!?".

Anyways I think there are several reasons we enjoy this game. One thing is the graphics. They are just so colorful and so detailed. The enemy sprites look like early Genesis games and the 3D effect the dungeons have is just so fluid and great to look at. The music is fantastic very catchy and never gets old. Yet in my opinion what draws me to this game series is the setting. The merging of Science Fiction and Fantasy is a very original and fresh take on the RPG genre and this was one of the first ones! Way ahead of its time. On top of all this the main character is female. This game just couldn't get any more different than the rest of the other RPGs at the time and if not ever. It's mostly Fantasy setting with a male lead with other RPGs. Not to say thats a bad thing but it's so fresh to see something different.

Edit: I guess as a disclaimer I should point out that I'm a super noob when it comes to RPGs. The only ones I've completed are Grandia 1,2,3, Skies of Arcadia and I played most of FF4 and some of FF6.

Edit 2: I have played PSO a lot and loved it. I liked PSU a lot as well, it seems to get a bad rap but it's a ton of fun and has some very cool ideas like the Class combitations and the gameplay is fun as hell.

I played PS1 obsessively as a kid. It was my first JRPG. I think some of your comparisons are unfair.

FF1's combat might let you choose classes and target specific enemies, but it also makes you attack that empty space if said specific enemy happens to die before your attack rolls around. In the end, they both boil down to attack, attack, magic, heal. They're both quite primitive.

The dungeons in PS1 are much easier with graph paper. Something pretty common with RPGs back then. That first person perspective was AWESOME in the late 80s.

PS1 can be obtuse at times, but it's because the game wants you to explore. It's one of those games that you have to talk to every NPC and explore every nook and cranny to continue. There's not really a whole lot of people to talk to anyway. It's something I used to really love about the genre that it's lost now with its umpteen million NPCs that serve no purpose whatsoever and whose dialog I just want to skip.

it's really a great series, though it lost me when it went online. 2 is a bit of a grindfest and has incredibly mazelike dungeons you can easily get lost in for hours. IV holds up with the best of those 16-bit RPGs and is as good as if not better than FFIV and VI.

Some people might tell you there is a Phantasy Star 3 for the Genesis. They are blasphemous liars and should be shot.

lol for a second there I thought you ment Playstation 1.

I've heard of this Phantasy Star 3 you speak of. Their car crashed but this wound is like... someone shot them in the face...

I spoke of no Phantasy Star 3 ........

I mean, hey your tastes are your tastes just nothing about any of the phantasy star games ever captured me like Final Fantasy. It may have also influenced my choices that my first RPG was pretty much Final Fantasy VII. And that game was goddamn impressive as fuck back when it launched.

I love the shit outta FF1 for being so insanely basic and simple and I still like to pick it up and speedrun it and I'ma let you finish but Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium is the greatest 16 bit RPG of the lot. Doesn't drag on like a fanfic, doesn't lose itself, doesn't bother you with cutscenes that continue the lengthy fanfic deal and presents the cutscenes in a unique way even 20 years after its English release.

And it's sci-fi right from the start. And there's more to the stories than "What, you're an orphan too?!" + Crystals. In PS1 your brother bit it and you decided to do something about the corrupt regime, came upon some real nasty shit behind the scenes and saved everybody. In PS2 you went out on your job in figuring out why a very important computer system had gone down and ended up with the greatest post-lastboss encounter and ending in the history of gaming, it also flat out murdered the planet that PS1 started and ended on. PS3 did the Dark Souls 2 B-team thing before it was cool, but holy shiet the places the stories could go as you got hitched and generation upon generation of new players and characters were made, and then the feeling of taking on that final boss when you had already done it in PS1 and PS2, you knew it was time to wreck his shit. PS4 had the big Dee F messing things up and that single theme of the series continued but in ways never seen before.

Never did it go the route of being like a slow wordy bad fanfic like the FFs were to me even back in the early 90's. It delivered. It also kept character and was something one could and should take seriously. Characters died and the games let you know about it. Now imagine if we'd had a modern day JRPG with the same quality writing, scenario, combat and everything else, with not a single dumb cliche, instead only serious though Japanese-SciFi business.

Waiting for Phantasy Star V until the day I set a second foot into the grave as the MMO ones do not do it and neither does PS Nova.

Daaaamn this really is making me keep playing the games. I already wanted to of course but damn. So far I'm really liking PS1.

Final Fantasy. No contest.

I couldn't get into the Final Fantasy games, they looked so goofy. The characters looked like stuffed animals with big heads. Phantasy Star characters looked more real. Much better music too.

@somejerk: That’s bullcrap. FF5 for the snes is the greatest 16 bit RPG game of all time and FF doesn’t drag in fan fiction. What the fuck are you saying? PS drags into fanfiction a lot more than FF does. The Sega Genesis sucks while the Super Nintendo is way better. Deal with it.

@linkyshinks: The ambvience isn’t better in PS. It’s better in FF

@rob1billion: You’re wrong. Final Fantasy doesn’t look goofy and the character doesn’t look like stuffed animals with big heads. Phantasy Star characters don’t look real as it doesn’t have better music. Final fantasy has characters who look more real and it has WAY better music than what Phantasy star could dish out

@zezzy: 4 year old thread duder.

@rejizzle: I do not care