Phantasy Star

Phantasy Star is a video game that consists of 1 release

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Phantasy Star is an 8-Bit console RPG released for the Sega Master System. Featuring hours of story-driven dialog, first person dungeon exploring and an epic quest, Phantasy Star spawned numerous sequels and spinoffs.

Overview

Title Screen

Phantasy Star is an 8-bit console RPG released for the SEGA Master System in 1988. It was released in the same general time period as Square's Final Fantasy and Enix's Dragon Warrior, giving birth to the Japanese RPG genre. Phantasy Star featured many of the genre's staples such as a four member party, turn-based combat, and several standard fantasy archetypes such as the warrior and the magic user. Phantasy Star differed from its contemporaries in two distinct ways: dungeons were displayed in a first person perspective and the main character was a female.

Phantasy Star was released in the U.S. as the most expensive home game to date, with a retail price of $80. Although it was technically released in the U.S. prior to Final Fantasy, the latter went on to enjoy much greater success due to the penetration rate of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Plot

Palma

Phantasy Star takes place in the Algol star system, which is composed of three planets, Palma, Motavia and Dezoris. The game starts on Palma, which is a green planet with large oceans, mountain ranges and forests. Motavia and Dezoris, which are traveled to later in the game, are a desert and ice planet respectively. The Algol system is currently ruled by King Lassic, who resides in a floating castle above Palma.

Alis Landale

Players are placed in the role of Alis Landale, a teenage girl who watches the murder of her brother Nero by King Lassic's guards. Prior to his death, Nero tells Alis to find Odin, a legendary warrior who can help her in her quest for revenge. From there the player engages in quests that eventually bring Odin, a feline creature named Myau, and the Esper Noah together in an effort to overthrow King Lassic. Later in the game, foreshadowing leads you to believe there may be even more to the story. Players eventually build a starship, a hovercraft, a land-rover and an ice drill to traverse the different environments.

Characters

Alis, Noah, Odin and Myau

The main characters in Phantasy Star are:

Alis: Female lead character, sister to the murdered Nero, and party leader. Alis uses a sword as her primary weapon and has access to healing magic.
Odin: Warrior archetype, uses a wide range of weapons for combat, and has no magic abilities. Odin's ability to use guns sets him apart from the other characters.
Myau: Feline creature that is rescued from a pet store by Alis and Odin. Myau scratches at enemies and has stronger healing magic. Myau also has a history with Odin and a secret ability that is revealed near the end of the game.
Noah: An esper (mage) living underground in Motavia. Noah joins you only after you present him with a letter from the Governor of Motavia. He is a powerful spell caster.
King Lassic: The main antagonist for most of the game, King Lassic is responsible for the murder of Alis' brother. He, like the Governor of Motavia, seems to be acting weird...
Dark Force: A mysterious and unexplained evil in the game that serves as the final antagonist. Dark Force appears early on in a dream sequence, and can eventually be found in a hidden dungeon beneath the Governor's mansion on Motavia. Dark Force would later become Dark Falz in subsequent Phantasy Star games.

Gameplay

Exploring a Planet

Gameplay in Phantasy Star contains most of the common staples of the genre. Overworld exploration is done via a top-down viewpoint, and random battles are engaged while moving across the map. Battles take place in a first person perspective, with only the monster and battle interface visible. Visual cues such as laser beams, magic streaks or weapon slashes indicate the player is attacking, and the player's foe shows a small amount of animation to indicate their actions. Phantasy Star limits your battle to a single monster type, with multiple monsters (of the same type) being represented by a single animated representation. A menu in the upper right corner of the screen shows the player how many foes they are facing as well as their respective hit points.

A Dungeon

Dungeons are presented in a first-person perspective in a grid-like fashion. Movement in a dungeon is done one step at a time, with a chance of engaging in battle on each step. Dungeons feature trapdoors that can drop you multiple floors, and no indicators for direction or floor are available, leaving the player to handle mapping dungeons outside of the game itself. Combat within a dungeon is similar to combat on the overworld.

Sequels

Phantasy Star for the Master System was the first in the franchise, and was followed by a direct sequel on the Sega Mega Drive (a.k.a. Genesis). Events in the first game are not a part of the sequel's main story until the end. Events in the first Phantasy Star game are directly mentioned in Phantasy Star IV, where a town has erected a statue to the hero Alis and her cat Myau.

General Information Edit

Game Name	Phantasy Star
Platform(s)	Sega Master System Genesis
Publisher(s)	Sega
Developer(s)
Genres	Add a new genre Role-Playing (RPG)
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy Sci-Fi
Original US Release	need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases

Trivia

In what game is a cat-like creature named Myau unable to save its friend Odin from being turned to stone due to it not being able to open the bottle containing the antidote? (Cats don't have hands, see.)