Sega's Phantasy Star a Trendsetter
The Oldest Console Role Playing Game Series Beat Final Fantasy
When Sega released the first Phantasy Star game (beating Final Fantasy's release by a few days) they not only published a new type of game but started a trend.
Final Fantasy may be the best known and longest running console role playing video game series, but despite its popularity or longevity, Final Fantasy is not the oldest role playing series. The release of Final Fantasy X 2, and the movie Advent Children follows the events of Final Fantasy VII calls into question whether or not the game should be called a series as the plots from one game to the next are not connected.
The oldest console role playing game instead was a less well-known Sega title called Phantasy Star. Phantasy Star beat the release of the first Final Fantasy in Japan by a few days, and had a few features that had not been previously seen in any video game. The most important new feature was non-linear game play. Several sequels followed, although the story ended in the fourth Phantasy Star title that was released for the Sega Genesis.
The Plot of the Original Phantasy Star
The setting may of the original game may be the distant Algo Star System and it is necessary to travel between to planets, but the feel is that of a traditional sword and sorcery role playing game. The game begins as Alys watches her brother Nero die in a attempt to overthrow the governor Lassic. Alys's brother gives her his sword as he is dying and asks Alys to overthrow the Algo governor, Lassic. Lassic has been seduced by an ancient evil and has become an oppressive tiyrant.
The oldest console game then precedes through a third-person from the top perspective, except in dungeons, where it switches to first person perspective. Later Phantasy Star releases kept the character perspective constant throughout the game.
Phantasy Star's Sequels
Long before Final Fantasy VII, Phantasy Star II was considered to be one of the best video games of all time. The themes of FF VII and Phantasy Star II are roughly the same, but the settings are different. The sword and sorcery feel of the original Sega game was replaced with a high tech, almost cyberpunk, setting. Instead of casting magic, as Lutz did in the original Phantasy Star, the heroes in the more popular sequel used techniques.
The third and fourth games in the Phantasy Star series take place at the same time. The third game is often criticized for not feeling like Phantasy Star. The only connection between Phantasy Star II and III is that the Phantasy Star III told the tale of the survivors of Parma, a planet that is destroyed half-way through the second game. Phantasy Star IV, the last installment of the series, returns the gamer to the Algo star system and brought back the anime-style graphics that made the oldest console role playing game popular with its fans.
A few online versions of Phantasy Star were released for the Gamecube, and the earlier incarnations of Phantasy Star have been released as a Game Boy Advance Cartridge. The series continues in an mmorpg format similar to Final Fantasy XI, called the Phantasy Star Universe, although the title has a much smaller subscriber base than Square Enix's mmo.
Getting the Oldest Console Role Playing Game
Subscribers to Gametap can play many old console games on their computer, including all the console Phantasy Star titles, but a subscription to Gametap is not necessary as the roms can be downloaded by people who actually own a copy of the original game to play on their personal computers. (At least that is how it is supposed to work.) A player new to the series can check out the game this way to see why it attracted the fan base that it has. A warning about the dungeons in the second game though, the designers were sadistic.
Sources
Phantasy Star, Sega
Phantasy Star II, Sega
Phantasy Star III, Sega
Phantasy Star IV, Sega
