Changes you would've made...

[Josiah Tobin]

Okay, I HAVE looked, and as far as I can see there's no other topic like this that I'm overlooking, but if there is and I somehow missed it, well... Damn. Bad luck for me. :p <br>Anyway, what are some things you would've changed about any of the phantasy star games? (1 to 4)<br>Personally I can only really comment on 4, as it's the only one I've beaten... But a few of the things I would've changed are...<p>1. The background in The Edge. It's a bit overdone and cheap, not to mention distracting... And some more visible path tiles would have been nice too. Also, the design was a bit simple... I have the design of the whole place memorized, and there's not really any variation except in the background color... Just two types of floor for the whole place.<p>2. A less 'rushed' first bit of the game-- As in, maybe you'd have to actually walk to the academy instead of automatically reaching it... And the sudden "oops, I've wandered around and now I've lost Alys" seems a bit... odd. (just doesn't really seem to fit, almost feels like a little chunk of the game was missing... I dunno)<p>3. Less use of "waaah." Dunno, that always kinda bugged me. It's a tiny thing, I know, but they could've at least used an exclamation mark. :p <p>Oh, and I'm not trying to criticize the games and say "they should've done this or that or...", I know that they didn't have all the time in the world to spend on the games, etc... This is just an interesting sort of look back at the games to see what COULD have been improved (in your opinions) had you been in charge of that aspect.

[LaconianShot]

This is certainly a good topic. Alright...<p>PSI: Nothing. It has it's flaws, yes, but it's a classic. Flaws lend beauty to a classic.<br>PSII: I find it slightly repetitive. If I was to go back and change it with today's technology, I would add graphic panels and smoother animations to battle, make the dungeon's graphics more interesting and add character dialogue (but not a lot... I still want it to retain it's heavy roleplaying elements).<br>PSIII: A lot. I love the character art and style, so that would remain, but I would add more dialogue to make the story more clear. I would add cutscenes. I would change the battle system... but not so much as you think. Instead of changing it to a PSII-esque system, I would retain it's PSI system, but make the weapon effects much more spectacular. Then, I would make the technique system actually <b>useful</b>.<br>PSIV: Though it's not perfect, I wouldn't change much, because nothing truly warrants a lot of change, though PSIV seems more mainstream then the rest of the PS saga. In other words, it stands out less.

[toee]

PSI: up until a year ago i had never even played PSI, tho i had looked for it. my complaint then, is its difficulty. i have the attention span of an infant and an even worse memory. the dungeons then, damn near impossible for me. i had to be too high level to compensate for the fact that i got lost at the first intersection. so for me i would change the 1st person dungeon perspective... im sure i am alone on that though. i would also add a quest log! maybe not possible at the time, but now, itd be great.<p>PS2: character interacton and story. i swear if someone starts quoting the compendium, im gonna smack em. what are the characters motivations? who are they? we dont get any of that in the game. we shouldnt need a seperate book to tell us whats goin on. <p>PS3: pretty much the same as PS2. more dialogue would have been awesome. i did understand the character motivations more though... except for maybe Lena at the time. PS3: Generatons of Silence.<p>PS4: i thought that while the first part of the game, up to defeating zio was great. i wanted nothing more than to kick zio's ass and i was willing to work hard and fast to get to that point. after that i felt that the game took a dive and started to get a little boring. afterwards a personal vendetta with the three xe-a-thouls kept me goin. lashiec/lassic has nothin on those three douchebags... so er yeah i would make game after zio more ... fluid? that is what felt rushed to me, just jumping around to stop one disaster after another.

[Monocromatico]

PS1 and 2: more dialogues for better character development.<br>PS3: more people in the houses, better battle animations, and make techniques useful.<br>PS4: in my version of the game Chaz would open every single cabinet he would find.

[ROMeo]

PS1: It was of the first RPGs, so it's really not fair to evaluate. Actually I still can't believe they did so much with so few.<p>PS2: If there's one, and only one thing I'd change... is THAT ANNOYINGGLY HIGH-PITCHED MIDI IN PASEO! My ears bleeded every time I played! My ears! The horror! The horror!<p>PS3: The combat music in PS3 can compete with the box cover of SNES' Phalanx in the most Out-of-Context thing in a videogame. Also I didn't like the graphic style in the least. The more detail you intend to put in something, the more detail it will need, and when you're working in old Genesis you must rather work with what you have instead of pretending to aspire to what you don't. The colors in characters and portraits alike looked too grainy because of their attemp at shadework, a thing I find completely unexcusable when Revenge of Shinobi was 2 years older, and the graphics, while not exactly simple, had included the necessary degree of simplicity for not needing anything else. Likewise, E-SWAT:City Under Siege does a magnificent work of shades with the simplest of sprites, and the game is even older... they could have learned from those 2 games I think.<p>PS4: Perhaps the only thing I would have added is more missions to the Hunters' Guild and perhaps more filler side-quests. The game is great, but painfully short, especially when you compare it to its contemporaries like Lunar, Secret of Mana, etc. (it's either that or perhaps 1994's games are a breeze for me already, wouldn't know).

[Lord Khyron]

I would add background info on Zio in PS IV.<p>History, how his hand became monsterized, etc.

[Josiah Tobin]

<blockquote><i>Originally posted by Lord Khyron</i><p>I would add background info on Zio in PS IV.<p>History, how his hand became monsterized, etc. <br></blockquote><br>His hand was 'monsterized'? Am I missing something?

[LegoMuskCat]

PS1 & PS2- Correct the names and retranslate it... The fact that Noah/Lutz is a he/she makes my head spin! !@#$<p>PS3- Finish the game itself. It was never truely completed, sadly... There's a huge chunk missing from Nial's quest, for example. <p>PS4- I don't see anything major worth changing...maybe if more was revealed about Zio, as others have already stated. I'd like to choose a party of any of the characters at the end of the game, instead of always having the same four people and another person of your choice.

[Benoit]

PSI: Nothing. It's perfect.<p>PSII: Take away those red flashes that flicker when an enemy hits you.<p>PSIII: Overhaul everything, and add more dialogue.<p>PSIV: Give Zio more background.<br><p>[size=small][Edit by Benoit on [TIME]1111958672[/TIME]][/size]

[Arkhan]

In PS1---I would fix the useage of Fly...I think it takes you to the last Clinic you USED......which for me was in Twintown......lame...........should just be the last one you entered.....<p>PS2-----Id just change the shops so that theyre not so gimpy....<p>PS3----Nothin bugged me about it......one of my favorites.....<p>PSIV--Yes, Chaz should open every cabinet...........to whoever said that.....and maybe make chaz less of a pansy?....if thats at all possible?<br>

[Erpy]

General: keep names consistent throughout the series.<p>PS1: <br>- Like PS3; show multiple enemies on the screen, so you can choose what foe to target. (more than one enemy type in battle would be neat too) It'd really increase the strategic factor.<p>- Maybe get the price of certain items down a teensy bit. Spending hours upon hours fighting for a single item (like the ice digger) crosses the line between fun and repetitive.<p>- Does anybody ever cast the disarm-spell on chests found in battle? No? Thought so. Save the traps for dungeon-chests.<p>- Make the party travel back to Palma's mainland automatically after Lashiec's defeat; avoiding the possibility of getting stuck up there with Alis and Myau floored in the Lashiec battle.<p>PS2:<br>- I understand that my characters' melee attacks occasionally missing the monster is nothing out of the ordinary in an RPG, but why give every critter in the game a 100% physical hit rate? When an ant's attacks always hit home even though it only has one eye and mine don't, I'm starting to feel a bit cheated.<p>- Talking about enemies' evade rate anyway; surely you'd expect a 100% hitrate to be included in Nathu's massive TP cost. Guess again.<p>- In PS4, spell damage was calculated by the casters' stats, which meant Rune's gra-spell remained quite useful throughout the game. This would have been neat to have in PS2 as well.<p>- The "verge of death"-idea in PS4 was better than the death+clone lab idea. Nei's death was pretty much the most tragic event in the series, why make the player keep the clone lab in mind and then simply tell him that numan's can't be cloned? Even the "Neifirst's dead"-theory could be challenged by the idea that someone could return to Climatrol, pick up Neifirsts body and then clone both of them. I'd be willing to settle for a "revive Nei"-compromise though. :p <p>- I guess the player is more inclined to try out different combinations of party members/strategies if the game doesn't require him to spend several hours levelling up/buying expensive equipment before trying that odd combo. I liked the fact that in PS4, a character was useful from the moment you got him/her.<p>- Most important; focus a bit more on the characters. That's what made PS4 so special for me.<p>PS3:<p>- I guess less hiking would be nice on occasion. Or better yet, a telepipe.<p>- Better battle animations. I think the giant's case has been ridiculed to death already, so I'll skip the sarcasm. Let's just say RPG's like Shining Force show that you can have realistic enemy animations without needing tons of frames. Getting killed is one thing. Getting killed by wiggling ears or squat excercises is completely another.<p>- Maybe make the techs more useful too.<p>- Again, more focus on the characters. Am I really supposed to marry a girl who said like...one line to me ever since I met her? Since PS3 didn't have PS2's dynamic party-thing going, this shouldn't be too hard.<p>PS4:<p>My favourite, so I'm going to resort to nit-picking.<p>- Some additional background on the characters is always cool. Not 100% necessary, but cool. Same for hunter jobs. I'm already glad they were there.<p>- I don't really need the possibility to build your own party near the end of the game. The Chaz, Rika, Rune and Wren-team is already pretty much the most effective team you can get and I don't think I'd drop any of the four.<p>- That said, some of the other characters could use some refinement skill-wise, IMHO:<br>1) Gryz' sweeping isn't useful, considering the fact he almost always gets to act last and quite a few enemies will have been downed by then. You take him along for the power, but near the end of the game, both Chaz and Rika outclass him physical damage-wise. A 2x-physical attack like crosscut/doubleslash would have been a great supplement for sweeping.<br>2) Kyra's nice as a jack-of-all-trades, but she learns lots of skills quite late. Pity.<br>3) The only thing that makes Demi unique to Wren is Medical Power. It would have been nice if her overall abilities were more deviant from Wren's.<p>- Yep, the edge-art could have been changed. That stuff was potentially dangerous for epileptics.<p>[size=small][Edit by Erpy on [TIME]1110656370[/TIME]][/size]<br><p>[size=small][Edit by Erpy on [TIME]1110656438[/TIME]][/size]

[ThePeaGuy]

I would like to see 3D dungeons instead of 2D on the rest of the PS series after the first. This potent element is what made the first Phantasy Star a classic, so what can't its sequels follow suit?

[Monocromatico]

<blockquote><i>Originally posted by Arkhan</i><p>In PS1---I would fix the useage of Fly...I think it takes you to the last Clinic you USED......which for me was in Twintown......lame...........should just be the last one you entered.....<p></blockquote><p> Why that when you vcan fly back to Camineet or Paseo and get healed for free?

[KexMex]

Zio as a playable character! Zio! Zio!!!! Zioooo the holy one!!!!

[LaconianShot]

Absolutely PeaGuy. I would've loved 3D dungeons... and in fact, they were even planned, but due to space issues they were dropped. I think that making 3D dungeons is an excellent idea... anybody up for remaking a classic?