PHANTASY STAR IV

... is my second favorite game in the history of ever
That's right! :] This rpg is so rad it hurts!... in SPADES !!!
Some people went the way of Final Fantasy other people went the way of ...um...other rpg games that Ishi can't think of...
but ME?... Phantasy Star IV

STORY... IF YOU WANT:
Now without gushing like a fanboy _{as I often do with these uploads...} I first got this game WAY back in the day when I was in elementary school! (Third Grade if I'm not mistaken...) My neighbor (Mr.Todd) was getting rid of his genesis and he kindly gave me ALL his games! This included:
Battle Axe, Streets of RAGE, X-Men, ...a baseball game of which I cannot recall the title... and PHANTASY STAR IV

Without a doubt, it was my first rpg experience and due to my young age... I had NO clue what I was doing! I was used to games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Land ... this was a whole new thing for me. But regardless... it was still fun! So I played and played and of course I never read what the characters were saying... I just tapped through the dialog and obviously got stuck because I didn't get there was a developing plot unfolding before me!
I just knew... start level -> get coins -> end level haha! ya know... Platformers~ :}

ANYWAY, I grew older and clung to my SEGA genesis as if it was a family member itself and would occasionally give it breaks when I got my playstation and playstation 2! But I'd ALWAYS, ALWAYS come back to my genesis! One day I decided to pick it back up and continue to play! (At this point I was in high school and had played numerous RPG's.) I thought I could finally figure out WHY I couldn't defeat that DAMNED Zio! Just didn't get it! Still couldn't figure it out... SO. In the spirit of nostalgia I started a new game on a completely separate file! See I wanted to show my buddy *Livewire42V how beautiful the game was ( and needless to say I made a fan out of him too XD ) but anyway, I played, payed attention, really learned about the characters, story, plot and BAM! I figured out what was keeping me from progressing! (In short... I simply had to use a special wand against a big boss to lower his evil barrier so I could actually cause him damage...lol) but once I figured that out... I stopped the game and went back to my ORIGINAL file! My friend *Livewire42V stopped and asked, "Dude! What are you doing!?!?" all I said was... "You'll see..."

Opening up that original file... My characters were still stuck at the early part in the game where I couldn't defeat Zio!...BUT... you guys...think about this. I had been playing on the file, wandering around, trying to figure this and that out and all the while I was fighting monsters and leveling up my characters... so the EXP the team had was RIDICULOUS! I believe they were all like lv.58! (This would be the equivalent of... going up against Misty, the water gym leader in the original Pokemon game with a fully evolved Blastoise @ lv 60 or something!)

So after practice, I used the wand, destroyed Zio and FINALLY got to continue the rest of my original game from when I was still a runt!...In short, that game gave me just about...if not more....8 YEARS!!!!! Of amazing memories and fun game play! When I finally beat it...My heart sang and broke all at once because that part was over! The mystery was all revealed to me and all I have left now is the fondness! I go back and play it all the time and I'm actually in the middle of beating it again...

PHINAL THOUGHTS:
I love Phantasy Star IV from the bottom of my heart! It's style, visuals, characters, music, story... I love it dearly! This is the feeling you are supposed to get from a truly great video game. Something I rarely feel from games that are made nowadays. ( Not to say that DON'T exist anymore...) But I'd recommend to anyone who wants to play something new that has the style of the 1994 gaming world that kicked ass way back when! Before all of this first person shooters and free indie video games that you just download for free and play for a week ... ya ya I know! lol Rant rant!

anyway...
Love what you love and let NO one tell you others wise!

I sincerely hoped you enjoyed sharing one of my fondness memories with me!
...Also Rune is my favorite character! He's the bad ass magician in the white cloak and teal blue hair! Smirking like a jerk :}


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FOR FUN...
here are some other rpg titles I like :}
Saga Frontier II
Final Fantasy 9 (Call me a hipster if you will... but this one is the best one to me! Because all the ff7 freaks usually call it "forgettable" proves to me that it's the gem of the herd! Just my opinion though, no worries!)
Pokemon Red/Blue
Disgaea 3 special thanks to ~TheNekoStar for showing this series to me! (GO PRISM RANGERS! ) lol
Phantom Brave


Other Video Game fan art by Ishi -