Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium - Review [Worth Playing Today?] 

The game was awarded. It deserves the praise it often gets. Here is why : 1) it is normal phantasy star, the same game we've played on the Master System and Mega Drive since 1987, but set in the future, centuries after the Gaïa spaceship crashed (at the end of Phantasy Star 2). If you've played one, you've played them all. These games are very rich. There is a lot to explore and you can do a lot. In PS4, there is a guild where you are paid to do missions. The characters remain oh so nice. The story is not as convoluted as it seems at first glance. The plot is rather simple, which is a good thing. All in all, nothing pops out of the ordinary in the final episode of the legendary series before the Dreamcast took it to WTF land :/ 2) However, number 4 does everything better. It's not as hard as 1 and 2. While 1 and 2 focused heavily on dungeon crawling, here you don't really have to draw maps. The dungeons are fairly straight-forward. There are now plenty of boss battles, some of which can get super hard in the end, especially if you're not levelled up or geared up as you should. PS2 looked good overall. I really liked the layers. You can tell they were experimenting the new Mega Drive hardware. PS4 looks better. There are backgrounds in battles and more details in general. So, PS4 is a better PS2. 3) Now, what makes this game stand out from a good game to a great game is the cutscenes. The story-telling, the cinematic, the whole artwork is next level. It feels so rewarding to receive a nice 16bit cutscene after grinding. The artist who drew this passed away in 2022. It really is one of the best game you can find on the Mega Drive. Let's be honest, there is one game that does everything better than Phantasy Star IV and that game is the wonderful Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue on the CD add-on, by Gamearts. I believe Lunar 2 raised the standard for RPGs to the levels of greatness of Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II. Is Phantasy Star worth your time? Absolutely so. I know how frustrating the genre can be, it is also great to progress through a long beautiful adventure. You have never played the Mega Drive if you haven't played Phantasy Star. I still haven't played number 3 though. Here is my recommandation, start with 1 and 2 (with an easy patch). Get some help on line, you don't want to enter a dungeon without a map ! Go as far as you can. It might take you a few months. Then take a break and start fresh with 4. You'll love it.

I want to add that this game also had a ‘Talk’ menu command, this option allows you to see the characters engage in a small conversation and they tell you were to head to and which direction, most RPG that even came after PS4 never had such feature, with this you can’t get lost, the game reminds you of your objectives and destination That’s why a map isn’t needed Also any town you visited you can teleport to them by using the Ryuko tech to revisit towns making navigation much easier

I still keep my genesis cart, that I won in 1995. For me, those flaws were sooooo minimal and don't bother the gameplay at all. It is a divine masterpiece. And I'm playing again, to honor Phoenix Rie legacy

I'd personally love a remake of the series. 2 and 3 can feel a little dated in their own way. Phantasy Star 1 Sega ages version plays really well in my opinion though.

I like how this game tricks you more than once into thinking it's about to end soon only for you to discover there's still a lot more to experience.

Regarding the lack of skill descriptions, remember that not only was this game the fourth in the series and the third one on the Genesis/Megadrive, it was also originally packaged with a manual that explained what all the skills did.

Nice review of my favorite game ever. Nostalgia definitely plays a role in my love here, so I understand the complaints even though I barely register the "flaws" when I play it. Also, playing PS4 on a PS4: priceless.

Should you play this? Short answer. Yes. Long answer. Oh hell yeah! Love this game. Easily in the top five JRPGs for me.

All the sepll descriptions were in the manual, which unfortunately doesn't come with the classics collections. Though it should. Would've been easy enough to include a pdf version of the manual with the game.

I played it back in 2016 and I was surprised how well it held up. It has brisk pace and menu navigation is such a joy. The combat is therefore really fun.

This is my brothers favorite game of all time. I did a play though of it in November and I got to say you summed up my feelings on it perfectly. We had the same pluses and minuses. Great video! I'm glad this came across my feed!

"As a first time player" Well you see alot of of people back in the day read the instruction manual. it has spell descriptions maps etc

I was a SNES kid but Phantasy Star 4 is one of my favorite rpgs.

You made it personal, Zio. You made it real, real, personal..... 😢😢😢😢😢😢

I first played Phantasy Star 4 during quarantine. I was recently laid-off and looking for a new game. At first, I didn’t like it that much. It felt pretty difficult and the tech/skill names were very confusing. It was hard to get into. Then, about a year-and-a-half later, I gave it another try and absolutely loved it. I learned the tech/skill names and mastered the macro system. I found out that it is one of the best RPGs ever and routinely play through it to this day.

Those flaws aren't even really flaws. The vehicle combat, in particular, is great fun. Play with a guide, no problem. The same can be said of almost all old RPGs.

This game has held up very well. I often have a hard time playing old RPGs that I did when I was a kid, but not this one.

Thanks for the review! It is nice to see someone review this game that doesn´t have the nostalgia -element to boost it up and thus maybe give a more objective view on it. BUT I will say also: Although good points, it seems you are exaggerating some of the flaws. The random encounters in this game are not nearly as bad as in, let´s say Phantasy star 2 or Shining in the darkness... and definitely not as bad as in Sword of Vermillion which is awful. I´d say PS4 did a pretty good job. Oh and the useless spells? Agree a bit, but just don´t use them lol. And it only takes one or two times to test out what a skill or a spell does. Printing out /googling info about those seems like a waste of time and takes away the exploration fun of it. That "There´s nothing interesting here" is a totally useless feature which only has flaws, agreed.

Absolutely love Phantasy star IV, and absolutely love every review for it!)

Since Square-Enix has a stranglehold on the Star Ocean IP and won't give tri-Ace a proper budget for the games, I wish Sega would contract tri-Ace for making a new single-player Phantasy Star game. They have the pedigree for sci-fi RPGs, and I think they could adapt it to a Phantasy Star game well. Let Atlus focus on their Shin Megami Tensei crap.

Better late than never I suppose. I always thought Phantasy Star was incredible ever since the original launched on the SMS, and while the MegaDrive/Genesis had three PS games, the second and fourth are the best, with the fourth being the best overall. Shame that we never got the original version though that was intended to be on the Sega CD. Sure, today, compared to all of the quality of life improvements that have been made in general with video games since its release it might feel too dated at times, but at the time of its actual release, it was up there with Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. edit: LOL. I printed a guide for Chrono Cross, but this was a decade ago. Also, a guide is not a "necessity" at all for Phantasy Stat IV. Many people finished it just fine at release without one. 🙂

I'm about to play through the Sonic Genesis Collection, and I've heard good things about Phantasy Star 4 so I'm planning on giving it a full play through. It's been good checking out reviews beforehand for the tips about guides. All in all, I'm pretty excited about playing it.

Love those combo attacks. If you discover some early on it's a blast. Here is one you might like/haven't tried, Robotrek. It's an odd one.

PS4 was the first rpg i ever played as a kid and it took me a long time to complete it. An unprepared rpg noob... this game slaughtered me for awhile haha. It holds the #1 spot for me as my favorite rpg of all time. I get the complaints for the game now, i guess back then it was more tolerable.

Worthy playing today?I will just answer this before watching the video. YES! I have been replaying this gem recently and it is really great! (However I am using a new hack that increases it's difficulty. Gotta say its by far the best hack this rom got) Edit: The name of the skills/techs comes since the first game and the cartridges came with guides. Macros are good but gives a penalty of speed.

My first JRPG was Phantasy Star 2. PS3 was a let-down. I played a borrowed copy of 3 and beat it quickly but 4 was going to be amazing. I was crestfallen when it came out costing $99.99. I could not afford it. I ended up finally finishing it nearly 20 years after it came out. Loved it.

I've only played this game of the Phantasy Star series. But i enjoyed thorougly. It still has one of the hardest hitting themes i've ever heard, and the first instance of what loss is in a videogame. To everyone who played, you know what this song means(Arranged Version, the best one imho) Dont click if you dont want spoilers: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QKjs818GURo.html

GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. -100-

Great game. Terranigma, ff 6 and Chrono Trigger are all contestants. 16 bit is amazing :D

I disagree that players going in blind would probably go through the game without seeing a combo attack. As someone who rented this game from the local video store when it came out, I stumbled on the firestorm combo completely by chance.

Be interested to see how you would feel about PSII. That one is loved by a lot of people but also a pain in the butt for various reasons.

A remake would indeed be rad. I tried getting into Phantasy Star a few times and just couldn't. Hellfire, thanks for reviewing these older titles, too. Always good to see even the "small stuff".

Part of not telling you about the spells was discovery some attacks only work on certain does, spark only works on mechanical ones and Holy wordd only on evil ones expectation was part of the game experience

The game is most amazing for taking a 4 (well 3) game narrative and decisively concluding it. You NEVER saw that in any other rpg title.

currently replaying this.

Favorite 16-bit rpg❤

I've played couple hours of PS2 on Mega Drive Collection, but I start something else,I will give another try.

Be glad you played this on the PS4. There was apparently a bug in the genesis game. That after character level 50. You start getting weaker. "Deleveling"

That macro setup sounds like an early version of something like the gambit system. They were really thinking ahead.

Rune had so much mana you could equip 2 plasma shields once you reached Palma and he would be one of the tankiest in the party.

Having recently played it on the Sega Genesis Classics on the Switch, (Haven't beaten it yet. Still just arrived Zio's fort) The only thing that really annoys me about the game as far as "showing it's age" is concerned is the lack of descriptions on the technique abilities. I do find myself often wondering things like "Wait! What does Saner do again?" or "I forgot what Foi does! Augh!" All of the time due to a lack of in-game descriptions as someone who often looks at item, skill, magic etc descriptions in RPGs all of the time. Other than that, I'm enjoying my time with it honestly.

Wondering what a 2DHD remake could look like?? I've made a little video on that!!

this game is the 16 bit platform RPG goat. I play it once every 2 years. Wish they did a remake on part 4

This has always been my all-time favorite RPG. I had to check myself when you started criticizing it because none of what you said even registered at first. I've just beaten it that many times. It's a veritable masterpiece; I love it to death.

I technically own all 4 of the original Phantasy Star games. They are on my PS3 Sonic Ultimate Collection. Been meaning to try them. I also own Phantasy Star Universe for the PS2 and I’ve been on the lookout for it’s sequel on PS2 as well.

I truly want Sega to do a Sega ages collection for modern consoles 😎 I played the first ages game on the switch liked that so much better than the original game ‼️

The Online is all fine and good....but this franchise critically needs a rebirth on the Single Player RPG side of things, lets go back to Algo a thousand years later and fight even more absurd subterranean dark force of doom! Post watch edit: I guess yours is more of a technical critique, but I think mentioning the killer soundtrack of this game would've been relevant :p

I'll never understand why PS3 is so underrated. The story is ok, OST is awesome and it ahs 4 different endings depending who you choose to marry in the three generations. I have very good memories of PS3. It was a great game for its times.

Have you tried shining in the darkness? It's also apart of the sega genesis collection. It's a 1st person dungeon crawler that will probably be hard for modern gamers to get into, and i believe it's made by the same people who made the shining force games

I LOVE this game ❤❤

Every time someone plays phantasy star 4 an angel gets it's wings

I mean, of course Earth causes paralysis but doens't do earth damage. Who doesn't know that one? :P I couldn't stop laughing at the spell descriptions section of your review. All so true. Great stuff! I also enjoyed this game but had the same gripes you did. Overall a very good game and unique setting not seen in too many jrpgs.

So your right about the debuff it doest work on bosses at all. The instant kill spells are all for different enemie types spark and holy word being the easiest to figure out. The seals tech is quite funny if you use it on the tech user or witch line but never on the dimension worm line. You neglected the combination foes which was a cool novelty of the time.

It is an amazing RPG. I always think it's damning with faint praise to call it the best RPG on the mega drive (Genesis) but I think it's up there on the 16 bit RPG front.

Don't know if you ever played the Shining Force line of games. Would be interested in you opinion on them.

Yes, end of the video.

You need a tablet my friend. An IPad or Droid one. I find PDFs of guides off the internet and download to that. Prevents me from printing out a 50 page manual. (I bought Tales of Legendia disc only not long ago and got the PDF instead of printing out its huge 50 page color manual). I play with my tablet beside me. It could help you out too.

I only played Phantasy Star series through the 'Phantasy Star' collection on Gameboy Advance. Sadly i think Phantasy Star 4 was missing on that. :(

Random encounters aren't too much of a problem since the sega genesis collection allows you to rewind time. They can still get pretty annoying

phantasy star 1 and 2 have remakes for the ps2 era with english fan translations. As for my story with them, phantasy star 1 on the master system was my first jrpg as it came out in portuguese (and I didnt know english back them) from there on I played , 2, 4, online and now pso2 (played the original and now enjoying new genesis) overall its a great series with a very specific scenario of fantasy sci fi that just fits, a shame the newest one(new genesis) is really poor storywise. . .. has a really awesome gameplay tho.

people crying when Aerith dies in FF7, Phantasy star 4: Hold my beer!

PS 4 is the best. replayed so much when i had it

Underrated AND Underapreciated series in the west, both the turn based games and the 3D games Phantasy Star 4 is easilly the best compared to the previous 3 who are super outdated(Even if there were a PS1 Remake exclusive in Japan and only on the PS2 and that made PS1 experience SOO much better, theres also a remake for PS2 on the same console but unfortunately that one is somehow worse than the original who was allready bad enough)

Recently played through this; the 1st half is more better than the 2nd half. Some of the music is really good , but will have you hitting the mute button often, because the rest is the worst crap! The dialog is short and to the point, not a lot of exposition. So no reading big long text boxes. The spells? You would need to know what they are from the other games or look them up and write them down. I looked up the combos, but did some on accident. A good game; not great.

Definitely going to pass on this one. Great and entertaining review. Your comment on printing a guide was funny :) I remethose days….or getting a guide from a store which were well done back then. This one doesn’t seem that great, Iw wish they would do a better updated version and fix the issues

I hate games that use f'd up names for spells just so you won't know what the spell does. What the heck is foi ? Or Ga Foi ?

Yeah, what abilities do not being clear is pretty bad and you can ignore for only so long