I remember the Sega CD launch vividly. It was the first time a console felt legitimately elegant to me. Which makes sense, as it was expensive. It took way more begging for my parents to get it for me for Christmas than an average console would. And because of that, there was an agreement – Sega CD would be my only Christmas gift that year. I wouldn't even get any games with it.
Luckily for me, the launch Sega CD came bundled not with a pack-in game, but rather a whole stack of software. Off the top of my head... There was Sol-Feace, a horizontal shmup by Wolf Team that most people don't seem to remember, and those that do don't really like it. But I kind of loved it. It was probably the first shmup that really grabbed me. And I did play it again years later, and still thought it was pretty impressive. There was Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. This was a total FMV mystery game thing, and it came with some cool feelies like a fake newspaper. I never really got too into this one, though. There was also a straight up audio CD to show off the stereo on the hardware. And there was a CD+G with music videos to try to sell consumers on this format. (It never really took off). But then there was a disc of Genesis games. This was probably the highlight for me. Back then, it was mind-blowing. Here was a single disc that contained four new Genesis games. It seemed insane to me that a CD could hold that many games. Funny to think of now. It had Shinobi (I can't remember if it was the first one, or a sequel now), Golden Axe, Streets Of Rage, and Columns. Columns was of course, Sega's flagship puzzle game. Meant to compete with Tetris – it was never going to set the world on fire. I mean, it was fine. But it wasn't Tetris. Honestly, it meant sense as a pack-in with Game Gear, but it was never anything all that special. But it was cool to play Columns on Sega CD. I mean classical music streamed through redbook audio is pretty legit. Alright, so Columns is simple. You've got falling blocks, always in a columns of three. You can rotate the order of the three blocks, but they always make a vertical column. The goal is, of course, to match up three or more of the same color – be it up, down, or diagonally. It's fine. I used to play Columns so much. I mean, I was a big supporter of Sega CD for quite a while after it was released. And I was sad to see the console fail. There was some amazing stuff on there (Make My Video notwithstanding). Stuff like Sonic CD and the ports of NHL 94 and NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat were pretty up there for me. And my goodness, there was actually a console port of The Secret Of Monkey Island. It was a way better console than people give it credit for. But yeah, Columns was another staple for me back then. I can remember just zoning out to that classical music and really enjoying long sessions. But now (in 2022) as I replay Columns on the Sega Genesis Classics compilation, I'm less enthused. I can still see why I liked it as a kid, but it certainly doesn't hold up against peers like Tetris or Puyo Puyo. It feels like it runs too fast, and is too basic, and button inputs feel imprecise. I'm constantly dropping blocks in the wrong spot because of a slippery feeling controller. Columns was neat for what it was. But even back then there were better puzzle games. So playing it now, it's like playing a sloppy mobile game.
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In the great console wars, I often leaned towards the side of Sega. I mean really I was playing games on all kinds of consoles back then. But I just totally loved Sega. And over the years it's been Sega systems that have delivered the most nostalgia for me. I probably think of the Master System way more fondly than might be considered normal. I could enjoy all games by all publishers, but if I had to make some choices I'd go with Sonic over Mario. And when it comes to RPG's I have an adoration for Shining Force and Phantasy Star games that I just never quite felt for Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Don't get me wrong - those NES games were my introduction to the genre, but there was something extra cool about those Sega RPG's.
I didn't actually get to play the original Phantasy Star until maybe a decade ago, but I grew quickly in love. While it was a contemporary to the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games mentioned above, it immediately became my new favorite 8-bit RPG. Not only did the setting and art style (snatches of elements ripped from many a sci-fi works like some kind of futuristic mixtape) appeal to me hardcore, but it was also extremely ambitious. You think getting a boat is cool in an 8-bit RPG? Well this game gives you a spaceship! And you can travel to multiple planets! Not long after I also became insanely addicted to Phantasy Star Online. Like I mean super addicted. For years. I was playing with multiple groups on multiple servers spread out across both Dreamcast and PC versions. Even now, I'd probably rank the original Xbox version of Phantasy Star Online as my Most Wanted Backwards Compatible Game on Xbox One. Don't even get me started. I originally started playing Phantasy Star II like five years ago. I got a few hours in and was having a great time and then I happened upon a major plot spoiler that crushed me. I had a bit of a temper tantrum about it and stopped playing the game out of annoyance. But this month I decided to grow up and revisit this one. The results were fairly mixed for me. At first I felt warm and fuzzy. Even though I hadn't gotten all that far last time I played, there was this sense of nostalgia here all the sudden. It felt comforting to be revisiting something familiar like this. And honestly the game looks great. The visuals may be the one thing that the sequel has a leg up on over the original. Although the battle backgrounds are just blank here whereas in the first Phantasy Star they actually looked like the overworld terrain. Hmm. The music is good, but there's not really enough of it. Given that you'll be spending a lot of time grinding - more on that later - you'll grow tired of the music fairly quickly. My wife has commented a couple of times now at the monotony of the music. And she's not even the one playing the game. The skeleton of the game itself would be great. I love the setting, love the story, and love the characters. The overworld is nice and big and fun to explore. The battles are... pretty good. I mean I'm not a fan of the thing where you don't manually target each enemy. There is technically a way to do it, but actually doing it would be a lot of work really. But the battle system works fine here, and is really just a carry-over from the first Phantasy Star. Speaking of which, those really hard to figure out first person dungeons from the first game? Gone! And really that is the best thing about the sequel. Granted, each dungeon now uses weird layers so that you're like peeking through "the roof" or something. It's kind of distracting, but nothing to get upset about. Do you sense a "but" coming? There is one. It's the excessive grinding, you guys. It's just so much. It felt like for every hour of progress I might make, I'd need to then spend two hours grinding to either get characters leveled up so they could learn new techniques or for meseta to buy new gear. It just felt really bad for the pacing. And what's worse is that it turns an otherwise charming and playable game into a bit of a drag. Maybe I would have had more patience as a kid, before I had less free time and more options of games to play. But yeah, the grinding really started to wear on me. It's too bad because if the game were balanced differently I feel like I'd be able to keep at it. If battles gave out more experience and mesata for instance so that things could be sped up a bit then who knows. And it's not even like I hate this game. Quite the contrary. It just feels like a misstep after the original game. Some growing pains to be worked out. But I still really appreciate Phantasy Star II. Hell, I even want to finish it but I feel like it's something I'll have to take a break from and come back to later. |
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