Newest Memories

At this page you will find testimonies to the influence the Phantasy Star games have had on people around the world. Nostalgia, happiness, regret, and fulfillment are but a few of the emotions that will perhaps be stirred within you as you read these comments. Perhaps you will even be moved to write your own. If so, email it to me, and I'll place it on this page. New additions will be added to the top of the page as they come in, so stop by every once in a while to check things out. If you aren't moved to write your own, just relax and envelop yourself in these, the Phantasy Star Memories.

From: Michael (penelolover@aol.com)
When I first started playing RPG's, the very first one that I played was Final Fantasy 7. Awesome game, it was one of my favorite games and still is. Then, a friend gave me Final Fantasy 8. Not as good as 7, but still excellent. Next, I got a new copy of Final Fantasy 9 at half price. Solid game, good way to return the Final Fantasy series back to its 2D roots.Then, when I got a PS2, Final Fantasy 10 was the game I bought with it. Even better than FF7 in pretty much everything. 2 years later, got Final Fantasy 10-2, its non-linear game structure seperated this RPG from others. When the greatest videogame of all-time came out, Final Fantasy 12, I was amazed by everything. Now onto Phantasy Star. The first Phantasy Star game that I played was Phantasy Star 2. It was so awesome. I really liked pretty much every character from the game. Nei was the character that really touched my heart and gave me the interest to play other Phantasy Star games, so then after completing Phantasy Star 2 (at Level 33!), I was playing Phantasy Star 4. Excellent game, the hunter missions were fun, especially the one that gives 80000 meseta for completing it. Which character really touched my heart from that game? It was another Numan, only this time, it was Rika. She was so cute, and not only was she a great fighter, but also a great healer as well. Then, when I got Phantasy Star Collection for my Game Boy Advance, the moment I put it in my Game Boy Advance, the first one that I played was Phantasy Star 1. Awesome game, even though there's only 4 characters that you could play as. Completed it at level 26-27. The Phantasy Star 1 character that touched my heart was the lead character! Yes, Alis! Now, I'm playing Phantasy Star 3. Over halfway done with the first generation, hopefully will manage to beat all 4 of the old-school Phantasy Star Games soon!

From: Allan Scott (locke11@hotmail.com)
First of all, I am a Nintendo fan. During the Genesis and Super Nintendo era (What I call the Golden Age of Video games) my family owned a SNES. In fact, the first and only SEGA system we own is the ill fated Dreamcast. The only experience I've had with the Genesis was through a friend of mine, and then all I can really remember is playing a bit of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. My experience with RPGs is even more interesting. The first RPG we owned was Dragon Warrior (AKA Dragon Quest) which I never played because I was too young and didn't understand what was going on. Then, later in my life a friend of my brother came over with Final Fantasy II (Here after refered as FFIV), still too young to full grasp what was going on but I was interested. Then my brother got Final Fantasy III (Here after refered as FFVI) for his birthday and this was the first RPG that I played and since then RPGs have dominated my life and my collection.

Never having a Master System or Genesis Phantasy Star was to me a ghost game. I've often hear of it but never have seen much less played it. Hell, I didn't even know that they spelt Fantasy with a PH. Time pasted on and after awhile I've almost forgot that Phantasy Star exists until a friend of my brother (different brother, different friend) came over to our house with a floppy disk. On that disk was his entire Rom collection including Emulaters for the SNES, NES, and Genesis. He copied all of this on to our computer and so every time the computer was free and I was bored I'd started playing on the emulaters. Until one day I was electronicly shifting through the Genesis Roms until I came accross Phantasy Star IV. I loaded it and started playing it. It was Amazing, I loved the Comic book style cutscene. Dispite a few saving problems early on I eventually was able to beat the game and what an ending. Being a huge sucker for happy ending I always seem to replay the moment Rika jumped out of the Landale into Chaz's Arms in my mind.

A few months have passed and then it happened. I wanted to play PS IV again. And not just a fleeting, bored 'want to play' I mean a real urge, like I MUST play it again. Replaying it, I still got the same feeling I did when I played it the first time. And guess what? As I'm writing this I am once again replaying PS IV.

I may not be as big as a Fantic as the rest of you (Or is that Phantic?) but I was exited when I heard that SEGA made a remake of Phantasy Star I and II for the Play Station 2 (PSII for the PS2?) and was psyched when I read that it was going to be release along with a Phantasy Star IV remake in the USA as a Trilogy. And I was PISSED when I read that PSIV was canned and PSI and II was not going to be released in the US. I'm right now considering creating an Online Petition to at least get the remakes of the first two games release in the US.

But at least I still have PSIV.

From: A Finnish Man
I was an old man (38) when I bought Phantasy Star 1. It was a breathtaking moment. I was jealous; never ever could even dream about that kind of experience in my childhood. It took about half an year to beat that game. But it was worth of it. After that I was waiting for the next one. In that time I ordered some game magazines from USA to Finland! So I knew that they was releasing Phantasy Star 2. I loved also that game. But Phantasy Star 3 was a mind-blowing game. You could choose different person in the middle of the game. I loved that game more then the second one. I have never understand why people are thinking that this game was not good enough. Phantasy Star 4 was really a dissapointment. You have to walk from point a to point b. In the beginning you couldn´t choose your own path to solve the problems. The storyline was too straight. Phantasy Star Online and Univers: you cannot talk about the same game. They are really boring games. Nowadays there are too much explanations in the games. They telling everything and you dont have to use any more your own imagination. I have played since 1988 all kinds of role playing games and Phantasy Star 1 is still the best one!

From: Rika Tanashia (rikastashia@hotmail.com):
I remember Phantasy Star 4 from 199something (can't recall for the life of me) and remember sega having a hotline for game tips but by the time I FOUND this out Phantasy Star was off the list and Vector Man and some other game were being pushed on their Z

I remember playing the game, having to rent from blockbuster since that was all I could afford (not going to go into why) But would return it and rent again to find someone else had gotten to a higher level and play of that game yes I know totally wrong, and I realized that and also realized that I missed parts of the story line. I did this for about a month before blockbuster sold the game to make room for N64 and higher platforms (BOOOO)

the later when I was 18 I came across this page and read the storyline for Phantasy Star 1, 2 and three. But I loved 4 so much I took my current Role Playing name from Rika, not wanting copy right infrigment lawsuits I made it Rikastashia much longer that four letters Rika for short and when asked I proudly say Because I PLAY PHANTASY STAR! To tell with Final Fantasy!

From: Deborah Ann (kat_moondancer@sbcglobal.net):
I did not start off with the first Phantasy Star, but I could if I had known about it when I was a kid. My parents had bought a Sega Genesis for me and my two sisters when I was in jr. high because the eye doctor said it would be good for my youngest sister's eye hand coordination (she is legally blind, and even with glasses is not up to 20/20 vision). The version they had bought was an older model, which to my suprise and shock, had a port on the side where you could plug in older games from the Master System. I did not find this out until 2002, after I had moved out and taken it with me to my new home with my husband.

I had played a ton of the old Final Fantasy's on my hubby's PSX, but went to a flea market and found PS2. I thought that if I liked it, good, and if not, one buck wasn't that much of a waste. I was floored. This game came out during the samed time as the FF for SNES, but had better graphics and music.... AND unlike FF, the story line was continuous from one game to the next.

Sadly, my Genesis finally went to the console collection in the sky, but I kept every single one of my original cartriges, and even went out of my way to buy more (I now have all of the American PS cartridges for the Genesis, and most of the Japanese ones, along with a jap/eng dictionary!), just so I could keep the ROMs legally on my computer!

I have not played PSO yet, mainly for the same reason that I have not played FF11... I hate to pay for the game and then PAY TO PLAY THE GAME. With that said, I do hope that they come out with a new single-player PS eventually (or at least before I die!)

LONG LIVE PHANTASY STAR!!!!!

From: Rage:
As the characters marched to the beat of the new age music in futuristic Phanasy Star I (Palma music.) I knew from then that this was not just another game, it was an epic adventure full of blood, sweat, work, and bitter sweetness. The music had a strange yet very clear feel to it. The graphics were mind blowing (words can't describe how groundbreaking they really are compartively speaking to today's games.) Partnerships would be formed, alliances only a true family could have to help defeat one impossibly evil villian, Dark Falz! I remember I started playing in Kindergarten and I thought why this game was so hard. I took me more then 6 years to beat the game without any strategy guides and I shed a tear when I finally finished it. This is my favorite RPG next to Final Fantasy 2.

From: RocK M (rock_m74@yahoo.com):
Wow! What can i say about the game that in more ways than one shaped the gamer that i am today ^^

Sure i was into video games back then but mostly just playing the odd game or too that caught my fancy. Mostly platformers...unfortunately i never got to play PSI to PSIII. I was a NES player till i swapped to the Sega and at that time i was still oblivous to RPGs. Then whilst reading a copy of Gamepro that i bought i saw this guide to quite an interesting game...it had stats, items, spells maps and some nice animated scenes! I was like wow! wish they had this game here....obviously i'm talking about Phantasy Star IV!...and then i saw it at the video rental place! THE ACTUAL GAME! Needless to say i borrowed it for the usual 1 week rental period!

I was "blown away" for lack of better words ^^ sure at the time i was using the guide and barely knew what i was doing (It was like ack! Monster run! run! run! instead of fighting and lvl'ing! ^^ And i was like gah! lost where's the map?) and then came the point of Zio's Fort which was where the guide i had ended...i was like Nooo! WHOA! and What do i do?! All in one! ^^

..needless to say i was severely hooked on the game. It's amazing how much overdue fees i racked up renting the game! I'd borrow it again and again even tho i've already had save files in there right before the Edge ^^ Just checking if the save game i had was still there!

Today i'm a HUGE fan of RPG games. Just recently i finally got my hands on PSO and now trying to clear it! If you checked my games today about 50-60% would be RPG's! All because of one game ^^

From: jbernierjr@gwi.net:
Unlike many of the new additions here I was much older the when PSI came out on the Master System. Like most though PSI was the first RPG I had played with such depth. The first adventure I played was Oregon Trail in school on a trs80, while not a RPG you still had to manage supplies, health and ammo. Atari's Pittfall was probably the next pinnacle game to me, introducing the concept of non-linear goals. When I was 12 my Dad bought a Commodore 64 and the game Zork, the infamous text adventure from Infocom. I was hooked and played all waking hours for days at a time. That was the first time I had to draw maps for a game and loved it. My D&D friends were never very good at getting me into the games mainly caused they killed my characters off before I could build them up, so this was a huge deal to me. I was able to play a real adventure for as long as I wanted and I was in control. Well I eventually got Temple of Apshai and Adventure Construction Set which had a pretty decent game included but they were more rogue-like than RPG and I played them for hours on end but I was still hungry for the real RPG experience my so-called friends kept so alien to me. It was a few years and several adventure games later that I bought a SMS with my allowances because of a little title called, Wonder Boy in Monsterland. I quickly graduated to The Dragon's Trap and was heavily addicted to the multi-layered combination of action and puzzle game play. My curiosity with RPG however was not going away and I needed something more like those games my jerk friends had not let me play, then I found Phantasy Star.

I had never played anything like PS before, I was finally playing a real RPG. At the time I had no idea I was playing one of the best RPG's that I would ever play. The game was so huge and the dungeons so confusing that a friend of mine and I would take turns playing or being the dungeon mapper/navigator. I can't remember how long it took us to get to the end, but we did it without maps or hints and it was very, very awesome. Well needless to say I was eager for the release of PSII and bought it as soon as it came out. This is without a doubt the best of the series and the best RPG I've ever played. Little did I know at the time that this would be the last RPG I really enjoyed. The depth of story is unmatched and the combat system is pretty much perfect. It has been said over and over again on these pages so I won't go into the details of just how great these games are, just play them if you haven't. I do need to say that PSIII was a step back for the series as far as non-linear game play is concerned but I remember enjoying just the same albeit to a lesser degree. The game directs the player far to simply which is disappointing but manages to make up for it with the multi-generational story line.

Sure I've played the Final Fantasy, Might and Magic, A Bard's Tale, D&D and other various RPG series but none have had the character development or impact that PS delivers. In fact the closest experience I've had since is with Crono Trigger on SNES which incorporates a time traveling concept that is pretty cool indeed. And as far as replay value is concerned, I am currently playing PSI again and plan to work my way through the series 17 years later.

From: Ely (kitty_mizu@hotmail.com):
Me: Hi, well, my name is Elaine and i'm a Phantasy Star (maniatic) Fan the whole group: Hi Elaine, we love you and accept you for who you are! now find a 4 letters name or get the hell out of here
Me (scared): Er... Elys
The group: No, we have enough troubles with the Alys-Alis thing...
Me: Er... Ely
The Group: that's fine.. Hi Ely!
This is my story. I got a CD of sega genesis games from a friend of mine (I didn't want it, I own her a favour). Well, the days passed since I found a pretty good game called phantasy Star 4, end of the millenium (yeah.. it was written like that). Well I played but I couldn't save it so every time I played I start from level 1. Of course, my favourite charac. was Alys Brangwin (i kinda tought she was xena or something). I'm from Argentina so, my friends didn't get me when I did some stupid jokes about me playin a RPG, I don't blame them.. Imagine me, at 7AM before a maths test telling her friends she couldn't study but she raised somebody named Alys(maybe her idol or imaginary friend?) to her next level.. yes, that's me. Well, a whole summer passed and I finally defeated Juza.. and It happened... WHY ALYS?? WHY YOU??? NOT!! YOU! PLEASE DEAR GOD TAKE CHAZ!! HE'S USELESS! but Alys died and I was kinda sad (no, I lie, I was completly obsceced with Alys, I even dreamed about it, why couldn't she do the "sleeping beauty" thing till they defeat the PD, i don't know but in my mind, Alys revived..). And then It happened(again??) I realized I was a PS IV fan. but I couldn't save the ******** game!! So I started lookin for the genesis cartdrige. Couldn't. My mother bought me a playstation and I thought any other RPG would make me forget about PS, but did it?? DID IT?? NO!! I'm still in love with PS and I'll keep lookin for the ****** PS IV. Or I'll woke up very early and play it till the computer hard drive explote... Then I'll be satisficed. I have kicked zio's ass, but that's nooooooooottttt enough. I.... MUST..... PLAY.... PHANTASY..... STAR..... It's not the end of the millenium, it's the end of my social life.(I imagine Sonic Team.... HAHAHA poor idiot!! WE laugh at your pain!!!! Now get your little hands on that board and do not leave that chair since you have destroy the PD!). Well I guess I'm not the only one at a help program of 12 steps "how to forget Phantasy Star" or "you know Alys is dead, accept it and get a life" or "how to live a real life instead of a RPG in 12 steps"... (did you know that the L and the R are the same letter in japanesse?? now I get the Parma Palma thing. But I think it's Algol, coz Algo means "something" in Spanish... what the hell I like it anyway)

Bob Anderson (boba@Princeton.edu):
I was born in 1980, so i was only 8 or 9 when my older brother got Phantasy Star. It took me over 8 years to beat that game. I actually beat PSII before PSI just because of the guide/hint book that came with PSII. Anytime I made any progress in PSI, my brother would erase my game. I had to hide the game after every time I used it. During the summer when I was 17, I really got into the game again. I couldn't find the mirror shield to beat medusa. I was pissed. I had made maps of every dungeon and written down everything anyone said, but no mirror shield. At this point, genesis had long gained approval over the master system. I then remembered a phone number... 1-900-usa-sega. The number still worked. I was amazed that the guy on the phone had any idea what I was talking about when I asked him for "the location of the mirror shield so I can beat medusa" from a game that was 8 years old. Anyhow, I got my info, and eventually beat the game. I think the biggest adv antage was my brother being away at college.

From: Nate Collier (nateycee2001@yahoo.com):
Squirrel222Sk8er: NOT ALYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Squirrel222Sk8er: NOOOO
(me talking to my friend who just witnessed Zio hitting Alys with the Black Wave while playing PS4)

It's funny how this game is so different from any other RPG out there. The character's personalities are so vividly portrayed to you. You think you actually know them personally, and actually like the characters. The drawings show exactly what the characters are thinking..the one that sticks out in my mind perfectly is the scene with Le Roof on Rykros when Chaz doesn't want the responsibility of Algo on his shoulders.

I remember the great times I experienced when I was young; the first time beating the game. The story was entrancing when I was about 10 or 11 and at 15, it's still amazing, if not more so. I never played PS1, didn't really like PS3, and unfortunately my PS2 file was deleted before I could finish the game. Either way, I still liked PS4 the best. It's a great game and at my web page I tagged it as the #3 video game of all time, though with a bit more challenge and length I would have easily given it #1.

From: Keith Elder (moqra@cox.net):
June 1988, Terra Haute, Indiana. I was with a friend of mine at an electronics store while we were waiting for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to start at the local theater across the street. My frind walked up to me in the store and said: "Hey, Keith! Check this out!" So I did. What he showed me was the new Sega Master System with Altered Beast playing on the TV screen. As we started to fumble around on it, my eyes crossed over that little bit of gold known as Phantasy Star. I didn't really care at the time. I wasn't into RPG's and there was no way my dad would ever buy me a Master System.

Jump ahead to March, 2000. I was 26 and living on my own. I go to my favorate used game store and find the much maligned Phantasy Star III. I take the game home and play it...and play it...and play it. Instantly, I was hooked (and this wasn't even the best of the games). Anyway, over time I came across the other game cartridges. III, II, IV, and then I. One was the hardest to find, I had to buy it on e-bay for fifty bucks! I didn't realize how good they were. The characters were so deep and the worlds and missions so big that you could play these games for hours and not get bored. And everyone wanted them.

I've beaten all four of the cartridge games and am now working on PSO. How little did I know that that chance encounter 15 years ago would have such an effect on me.

From: Charlie LaPlante (laplanck@muohio.edu):
I never was a big fan of RPGs. My younger brother and I shared a Genesis (how we actually managed to work that out, I'll never know), but the games were our own. I had wiped the floor with Tecmo Super Bowl 2, Streets of Rage 2, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter 2. I was beginning to get bored. Then my brother's birthday rolled around.

I'm not sure why, but he always was enchanted by RPGs. For his birthday one year, he got PSIV. So, being bored, I decided that I'd watch Tom play for a while: after all, the graphics on the back of the box looked to be top-notch. Tom was hooked by the game from the start. So was I.

It became a nightly ritual. Tom would play and I'd eat popcorn and watch. (I think my parents began to worry about the fact that I was a high school freshman who spent his weekends watching his sixth-grade brother play video games, but that's another matter.) It was as if we were living the story along with the characters. When Alys fell before Zio, we felt a growing emptiness. When she died, we were on the verge of tears. The game was so enveloping, so absorbing, that we wanted to destroy Zio, Dark Force, and the Profound Darkness--not just to beat the game, but because we had an emotional stake in doing so.

As powerful as Alys's death was, though, my fondest memory of the game has always been the revelation of Rune as the fifth Lutz. I still remember my awe. From a more technical viewpoint, I was able to appreciate the sheer brilliance of the game's designers, while as someone who felt he truly knew the characters, I was amazed by this new facet of Rune that was kept hidden for so long. The combination of the old Esper saying "Rune Walsh is the fifth generation Lutz" with the beautiful comic-book cutscene in the background is probably my favorite memory in my long history of playing video games, and the first time I saw it, I wasn't even at the controls.

From: Adam Brown (viktormadiganx@yahoo.com):
I first encountered Phantasy Star at a young age, I was six years old when my brother got PS III for his birthday. At first, it looked boring, it didn't have flashy colors, or cartoon characters, but as I sat and watched my 16 year old brother play, I was completely engrossed, it was like watching a movie! I spent the next few days on the playground pretending I was Wren (my favorite character), gunning down the Layans with my shotgun. Every evening, I would sit and watch my brother play, unfolding more and more of the story. When I found out that the Layans weren't the bad guys, I cried my little eyes out that I had beat them up. I eventually watched my brother battle against Dark Force, and my playground fantasies went from gunning down Layans, to pulverizing Dark Force with my Neishot. I had such great memories of that time, that as I grew older, I felt drawn to play the Phantasy Star games myself. I started with PS II, sneaking it out of my brother's room to play it late at night when I should have been in bed. I never got very far, and eventually, my brother started hiding it, so that made it difficult to play anymore. A few years later, I found PS IV at Blockbuster, and had to try it out. I played that entire night, never taking my eyes off the action. The next morning, I ran straight for the game, playing that entire day. Took me a week or two to beat the game, but it was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. I've grown up a lot since those days on the playground, but I still have this deep connection to Phantasy Star. I recently purchased Phantasy Star Collection for my game boy advance, and am reliving the good times all over again. In some way, I think that I grew up far, far away, in a cosmic speck we all know and love. The Algol Solar System.

Keep up the great work.

From: Drew Richardson (sonofdischord@yahoo.com):
I remember when I came over to my best friend's house one day and saw him playing Final Fantasy VI (III back then). It was the second RPG I had seen in my life. The first being Dragon Warrior for NES. I fell in love with the concept of characters with emotion and ties to a strong story. Not too long after that he and I began our quest for RPGs. His mom was a big help in this, and brought home Phantasy Star IV, to see if we liked it. We figured out that we loved the game about the same time our eyes widened and tears began rolling down our cheeks when Alys was struck. We began to yell at Zio and push buttons in a fury to avenge her...hey we were like...13... So from then on...we actually began to note each time our emotions would overcome us. We'd also figure out just who liked to use which characters the most and who was the best at figuring out exactly what they should do during battle given the current situation. Yeah...we were deep. After we had experienced that game like three or four times he mentioned to me that he had once played Phantasy Star III and just didn't really realize it for it's potential. So we rented it, and in all honesty. I could...probably still can watch him play it all day...but I'm not that ino it. Then one day his mom stumbled across Phantasy Star II. He played it a bit, and eventually got the jet scooter and gave up...I mean really...who enjoys that freakin' muera leaf hunt anyway. I played it andcouldn't figure out shure...mainly 'cause I thought I was in the biosystems lab looking for the tape recorder. So we let that one go too. When, many years down the road, we were given the option of dreamcast vs. playstation, we chose playstation. Naturally, because our two all time favorite RPG series were Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star...but we thought Sega had given up. So, of course, when Phantasy Star Online came out....we were unhappy little gamers. Now, I have discovered the joy of emulators, and I have tracked down PSO Version 2. I've been playing all the old Phantasy Star games. I've reminisced with IV and found out what an awesome game II is, except my save file was erased while in Climatrol so I'm a little downhearted that I gotta start over. I've examined III again, but still can't figure out it's purpose. And I've stared longingly at my game on PSI, but can't get over the difficulty...*sigh* Regardless, with the possibility of Phantasy Star 3D Ages, and a reliable way to save my games instead of via the computer which is open to the household, maybe I can finally beat all the games that inspired so many dreams when I was little. Did anyone else go into the backyard with their best friend and kill biomonsters with the Flaeli skill? I did.

From: Markiss McLemore (phazttraxx@hotmail.com):
I'm a "Old School" PS fan. I was 8 when I got a Sega Master System. My mom got it for $30 in Mexico. Only thing is that she forgot to get us games (And if anyone owned a SMS, Hang-on and Snail Maze gets boring pretty quick). At the store, I passed by the Psycho Foxes, Alex Kidd, and any other "platform" games. Then I noticed "Phantasy Star." What caught my attention first was how the word "fantasy" was spelled. I thought that was the coolest thing. Surveying the back, what next caught my attention was that the main character was female. As a guy growing up with a single mom, She-Ra, and syndicated Charlie's Angels, this was the ultimate in "women power." As far as the game, it is the same story like anyone else: "Oh, this is the best game ever." "Nothing can touch PS." " Final Fantasy totally bit off of PS."

Phantasy Star will always be a definitive mark in my childhood memories. And has continued to inspire myself to see the complete picture. It has even influenced my adult career. I'm a DJ parties and dances. I created a couple of PS dance remixes on my album. Even my DJ name, Phazttraxx, came from Phantasy Star. It not just a game. Within PS lies life lesson of strength, honor, and hope. From the old to the new player, I hope each one will experience Phantasy Star like I have.

From: Hashim Il Khoobiz (buheshma@hotmail.com):
My first memory of PS is probably like most. I was maybe 7 years old, and in the local rental store and saw the cover of PSII, and it looked really cool so I rented it. Well, at that point the rental store still gave you the manuals and everything, so I had the hint book, maps, and manual with the game. Anyway, when I got home, I started it the game and was amazed that I was this guy that could go into houses. I was stunned actually. I figured that much out but I'm not sure if i ever figured out how to save that afternoon so needless to say I didn't make any progress.

Later that night, my older sister and I started adventuring in PSII's vast overworld (I think on someone else's file probably). I think she would play and I would tell her where to go using the map (probably because I had only spent a year in the US and couldn't figure out what all the words meant maybe...) Anyway after we returned it I would every now and again (when I had extra allowance somehow) blow all my money on renting three games at once. I remember I had at some point rented Sword of Virmillion, PSII and PSIII all at once. I remember trying SoV first, and couldn't find my father or whatever I had to do at first because I didn't realize that what looked like a cabinet was actually a stair to level two of the house. Then I played PSIII and I think I remembered it being way too hard so I stopped. Then I played PSII, and what do you know, the save file I started was at the point that I was supposed to escape Mota, and somehow, someway, AND without aid of the map, I managed to complete the green dam and get captured. Anyway I remember I didn't save and died in skure shortly after Parma was destroyed and I got really pissed because I couldn't repeat my progress. Anyway during the following few years as I gained experiance with games, I vowed to figure out how to play PSII, PSIII, and SoV. I figured out how to play SoV, then I would occasionally rent PSII and make progress, but stopped after my saved games repeatedly got erased (I'm from a strict family and was only allowed to play/rent games on weekends). Anyway one day in the 6th grade I saw PSIV and I was "Sweet, a new PS game!" so I rented it. I played throught the game and was amazed by it. The graphics were beutiful, the music inspiring (to a 6th grader). I got up to zio and never knew how to beat him, and had to return it. I never rented it again because I thought why waste my money when I HAD to but it. Anyway the next year I recieved a $100 gift from my uncle, and I saw PSIV at KMart. I convinced my mom to let me spend the $82 on it, and for an entire week I waited until I could go back and buy it before anyone else did. Well, I got my PSIV, and the rest is history.

Fast forward a few years: I'm nineteen now, and got a dreamcast. Somehow, someway I also found a hacked emulator for the DC that lets it play genesis roms. I finally can complete the only video game that ruled my imagination during those whimsical yester years...

From: Michael Jackson (mj311007@hotmail.com):
This may sound like one of the weirdest stories yet, but I'm one for telling unique stories (and I'm not ashamed to do so), so here goes. I'm not exactly sure which Phantasy Star game I played first, but in any case, I played it on the Sega Channel years ago. I was around 12 years old at the time, and I wasn't really good at RPGs, so it wasn't often that I'd play them. I think I played PS II and III first... and I didn't do much in either of them. I got further in PS III than I did in II, but that was nothing compared to when I first played Phantasy Star 4. Immediately, the music had me attached, and I was amazed at the idea of a female main character (Alys). After that, though, I became quite fond of the "Alys and Chaz" duo at the beginning of the game. Also, I thpught, "Wow, Alys starts out at level 7! She's so strong!" Keep in mind that I was only around 12 at the time... but after that, I was hooked... I never made it very far in that game (Not even to Zio's Fort), But years later (not too long ago, about a month) I stumbled upon some Genesis emulators, and some games. Instantly my mind reverted to the games I played on Sega Channel... not the least of which was PS 4.At once the familiar music and memories filled my mind. When I found a rom file for the game (I feel so cheap, but oh well), I started all over again from the little that I remembered. But I was in for a big surprise after conquering Zio's Fort. As Alys lay in her bed, I could almost feel Chaz's pain... being the fan of the game that I was, since 12 years of age, I couldn't help myself. I thought, "Don't worry, Chaz, everything's going to be alright! Alys will get better! By the way, I am 19 right now... it's been a long 7 years, but nothing much has changed. Anyway, I played the game more to find out what happened next. But contrary to my greatest hope, Alys died shortly after. I was stunned. One of my favorite RPG characters of all time was now just a "fantasy memory." The tears coming down Chaz's face at Alys's grave almost became my own. But I didn't lose hope. I continued on, and realized that, after all, Chaz was the actual main character of the game. Not too long after, I beat the game, but I was far from finished. It wasn't enough, so I beat it again with a different approach. And finally, I started a third time, of which I am still working on now. But a part of me always wondered what Alys's full potential could have been... so I started another unique game, where I made the decision to try to fight with only Alys. I had to kill all the other characters, but it was just an experiment, so it wasn't all that bad. Alys is currently Level 51 at Zio's Fort. I intend for her to reach 98 eventually (Even I have heard about the Level 99 glitch by now!) And so, as things stand now, I am not yet finished. My ultimate goal is to some day make my own Phantasy Star game... and with the RPG Maker 2000 that I downloaded, that is very possible. Of course, my intent is almost predictable: I will make sure that Alys is alive once again. Here is my idea, if anyone should be interested. I base these ideas on certain events from PS 4. For one, why was the Great Light in another galaxy? What was he (or it) doing? And also, PS III occurs 9 years after PS 4, so I get the impression that's it's possible for the Algo Solar System to be attacked by an evil from another galaxy. As for my idea about the return of Alys, here goes. Alys's spirit was always in the sword Elsydeon, just as the spirits of Alis and the other Protectors of Algo had always been. My idea is that, through the power of Elsydeon, Alys's spirit, and a new technique that I have yet to create, Alys's spirit will take possession of her body once again, and this time, she won't die! At the very least, I hope my game can be a fan game on a Phantasy Star website someday. Well, that's mostly all I have to say. I can say that this site is awesome with the fan art and fan fiction (especially the latter). And I'm amazed at the awesome work. I know that this entry might be a bit long, and different at that, but I just want other people to know about my ideas... I've held them in for too long. Well, as a final statement, I can say this: Alys will return in the new millennium! - Michael Jackson (Not the singer) P.S.: If anyone wants to help me with my idea for my Phantasy Star game, I'd really appreciate the help... It may be a shot in the dark, but I'm convinced that I can do it. email all comments to mj311007@hotmail.com I'm thankful for any responses... and as a true Phantasy Star fan, my testimony is ended... for now...

From: Kris Taylor (monkeeshrines@yahoo.com):
Yes, I am a PS Junkie. It has extended to myself hunting down and buying a Master System (yahoo auctions, $22 inc. s&h) just so I could play the original Phantasy Star (eBay $39.10 inc s&h). It all started many moons ago (not red or blue, just the same silver one many times)...

Speaking of PS3, that was the game, in fact. I think my mother had actually bought it for my brother - 2 yrs older than me, I think he was 15 at the time - one Christmas. We have all had an infatuation with RPG's, spawned from The Legend of Zelda and the original Final Fantasy for 8 bit NES. (It's gotten to the point where I have an urge to spell that with a "Ph"...) My brother - let's give him a name: Andy (which also happens to be his real name, what a coincidence) - popped it in and started to play. One of our pastimes in my family is to sit and watch other people play video games, which either contributed to or resulted from the RPG infatuation. My sister and I watched him as he directed Rhys through the wedding, on to the other reaches of Landen's dome. I distinctly remember him, upon reading the Ilanian's dialog "I saw one of Laya's people near a lake in the northwest. I swear the woman never blinked." saying, "That would be a cyborg." This is what gives me the impression that he thought the game was kind of predictable. He got to meet Lyle, but I don't know if he even made it to Aridia; I know he gave up before he met Wren.

The poor game lay on the shelf and forgotten for about a year. That's when I got bored one summer and popped it in myself. I knew how to get to Mieu, seeing Andy have done it, but I had forgotten about all else. By the time I was fixing the weather, I was hooked. Andy, by this time begun to have more important things to do with the first of his 6 garage bands, but my sister - Heather, watched the plot unfold as I played.

Sean was my first baby, and it was only recently, when I handed the game over to Heth (to have a 4-letter soubriquet - that's a big, fancy word for "name") to allow her to play, that I had mustered up the heart to delete that game (which made saving other characters a bit difficult seeing as that there are only 2 slots to save games in.)

The very first time I played, I didn't realize that I had to equip my knife, and (I read that someone else had done this, too... so whoever you are, you're not alone) was killed by a chirper that I couldn't run away from. Then I figured it out, after I had read the instruction manual... ("If all else fails, read directions") I thought it was a shame that, after all he had gone through to find her, Rhys would end up marrying someone else. I also completely flipped when, at the end of Ayn's adventure, we discovered that we were on a spaceship. It was pretty cool. I didn't let Heather play at all until after I had been Sean at least 2ce and everyone else once. Then I threatened her with mortal peril if she erased my first Sean game (which hadn't been played since.) I recently gave it to her.

After all of this, it had only really occurred to me once or twice, and quickly dismissed, that "Phantasy Star III" meant that there were at least two others.

Most of us eighties children remember when Nintendo and Sega put poster inserts in the boxes with games, advertising other current games available. It was about five years later, while my parents were packing up to move to Clearwater (I had already found an establishment for myself, but still occasionally came back to veg and get a free meal... uh... a meal prepared with love and care and the company of my dear parents and sister and occasionally my brother... yeah, that's it...) that I found one of these posters - no clue whatsoever which game it had come with - that had a blurb about Phantasy Star 2. It blew my mind to finally come to a realization beyond brief suspicion that there were more of these games. My first impression was that it was the story of the war between Laya and Orakio. It had mentioned something about Alis, and I automatically assumed that she was the heroine of the 1st PS (the only assumption from this discovery that was true). I had to have it, but where to look?

Online, of course. I searched Yahoo! for anything that might be useful in my quest. Much to my surprise, I found there was a following for this. The first site was camineet.net, and this (The Phantasy Star Pages) was the second. I frequently visit both for images and hints and fan fic.

I found that PS2 was NOT about Laya and Orakio, but about the planetary system that the Alissa III had come from. OK. I still had to have it. Enter Zelda Jones.

Zelda is a pseudonym I had made for a series of daydreams involving absolutely nothing of PS. (I occasionally do that: create new characters for existing plots. OK, so I'm weird, but it helps me create a plethora of characters that I can later use in stories or screenplays of my own design.) She is important because she was registered on Yahoo Auctions. I got PS2 and PS4 in the same day, and I had to bid on PS1 three times before I was able to win it (I cheated with "Buy it now").

I work overnights, and anyone who works overnights can tell you that there is NOTHING open or good on TV after about 2 am to occupy your mind on your days off. PS2 and -4 were mind-savers for this purpose. It took me about four months, even so with maps (the strategy guide, graciously marked on most dungeons) I had downloaded from .... (you know who you are, and thank you) and just about that without the maps, but with the walkthrough found here for PS4. Unfortunately, I had a nasty habit of - even though I told myself not to ruin the surprise - looking ahead. It definitely took away from the whole game experience (word of warning to those who haven't played and want to use the walkthroughs.)

Still, I like Phantasy Star 4 the best - it's got the best characters, the best plot, the best screenshots. It reads like a comic book, or even an anime show. (I got a little trippy when I saw the background for "The Edge", though.) However, there will always be a place in my heart for PS3 (even though, of the three, it's the one I least like.)

May the Great Light protect you from the Profound Darkness (if he decides to hang around, that is...)

From: Jason Cervantes (CERVANTESJ2@calumet.purdue.edu):
I remember Sega Channel introduced me to PS 4 I fell in love with it. Then they had PS 2 and 3 on it. At first I thought that PS 1 was hard to get a hold of. I did not knew that there was a system before Genesis and so now I have an emulated version of that system and ps 1 and the two Japenesr Game Gear games. I had and still play these games for many hours. I can't stand not making some kind of reference to them (a lighter side case). Well I got to leave my life and depart from Algo(l) and go back to the Solar System (should I use the Landale?).

From: james w (jamesw.7@eudoramail.com):
I was young maybe 7 to 10 years old. My mom got me PSIV one day. The box looked cool, so I popped it in. WOW! It was used and had one game at level 48 Chaz. I very quickly figured that I had to use the Hydrofoil to get Seth and the aeroprism. Then I went to Rycross not understanding it. After the towers it said too go back Motavia. I knew where to go. I finished the game. (By the way, I leveled that game to lv 99 :) But I'm not done. I went to Start. I had a girl called Ayls? I was surpised to see Alys die when the wave was aimed at Chaz. I taught zio a lesson with the psycho wand (why didn't he just recast barrior?) So I beat it again understanding it. By the way ReFaze (The megid thing) when beaten on an emulator gives !!!!!! 1 ex. and 1 mesta !!!!!! And you dont see him again just as if you got megid.

THE PS SERIES ROCKS AND SO DOES THE PS PAGES!!!

From: Brandon Evans (esquire134@aol.com):
You know, I'm not really sure when I got into the Phantasy Star series. All I know is that it was a long time ago. I am 17 now. I remember sitting down and playing whichever Phantasy Star game I'd grab for hours. On school days, I'd get up at three in the morning just to play them. I have never gotten up that early for anything else in my life. Phantasy Star I is the only game I haven't beaten of the series. In 1 however, I did get to Dezolis so I managed to immerse myself into the game quite a bit. PSII was the greatest RPG that has ever come out. The only thing that I didn't like about the game, was that your friend, Nei, dies. No matter how many times I played the game, that part always and still does make me misty. I remember the first time I lost Nei, I went to the clone labs and was like, You have to bring her back! You always did before, why not now? But they didn't. So naturally, I continued the game to see what surprises the rest of the game had in store for me. Anyways, while PSII had the best battle graphics to me, PSIII had the best town and facial graphics. I was a little disappointed in the battles, I really wanted to see what everyone looked like when they were kicking butt. PSIV was a really fun game too. I liked the whole game there too. I especially liked Rune. He has cool music when you meet him in the charred town, not to mention that he is a very powerful magician. PSII, PSIII, and PSIV all had one constant when I played them. There was one point in the game where I wanted to see how strong I could make my people before I had to continue. In PSII, I would fight Blastoids in a long continuous battle dozens of times because they could reproduce in battle. I'd end up getting like 15,000 experience and 20,000 mesetas because I'd fight them until I had no magic points left except enough for Hinas and Ryuka. I wanted to see how long Nei would last fighting Neifirst. Actually, once I even missed the bus in the morning because I was in one of those battles, my dad wasn't too thrilled about that. In PSIII I have Rhys in the last dungeon before he wins constantly fighting and then going to heal and save. He is I think level 32 right now. I have the Planar sword, the Planar claw, and like 40,000 mesetas. In PSIV I didn't like losing Alys before I could see her full potential, so I'm in Zio's tower just fighting. I'm like level 36 or something, and the cool thing is that Rune gains the experience that you're gaining there. So instead of being the usual 18th level I'd normally get him at, he's like level 34. I wish that they had kept doing Phantasy Stars. I mean they have like 10 or 11 Final Fantasies out, and the only good one was the first one for NES. That game keeps coming, so why doesn't Phantasy Star keep coming? Phantasy Star games kept getting better as they came out, but Final Fantasy doesn't seem to. Well not to me anyway. The only RPG that comes close to being as cool as PS was the Legend of Dragoon.

From: Andrew Crown (ninevoltyoda@yahoo.com):
This series brings back so many memories for me. Im 15 years old and ever since I can remember there has been Phantasy Star. My parents were very into video games when I was younger and therefore, We had a Master System. There were great games for this great system but one game sticks out in my mind. Phantasy Star. I remember my parents playing this game all the time when I was around 3 years old. They beat the game and sold the system a year or two later but then quickly got The Megadrive. Thus, Phantasy Star 2 came into my life. I remember seeing the Esper Mansion and being like "Wow...that looks cool". As soon as I was old enough to have at least an hour long attention span, I was into PS I. I played the game for hours at a time and at the age of 8 I beat the game and quickly wanted the next one for my own. I downloaded an emulator off of an old link of this very page (Oh yeah, Im a long time fan of the site too), and got only one ROM. PS 2. My parents had long since traded the game away. The Emulator was EVER so slow so I had to wait for better technology. A year later we started renting PS 4. My and My parents got so entralled in the game that we rented it 4 times which covered a span of 2 months (heh heh). The game beaten we retired the seiries for a while. Recently however, I managed to find a great emulator and downloaded all the games again. I just beat PS4 again today and got so nostalgic that I had to vist the page. The character depth, the graphics, Whats not to love?

Alys/Alis Lives!

From: Rick (robot303@hotmail.com):
I stumbled upon your website and have to say thankyou. I am 23 now and don't play video games at all anymore but back in the day it was different. One game sticks out at me more than any other game ever and that is phantasy star 2. Quite simply i love this game and the world it brought me to. I still use it as the role playing game in which all others are judged. The modern role playing games (final fantasy?? for play station is as modern as i get with these) lack something and that is imagination required to play them. Everything is set like watching a movie or something. I just wanted to say thanks for bringing back those happy memories with those screen shots.

From: Dark Child (dark_child000@hotmail.com):
i first got into gameing in the eairy 90s when I was about 6 starting out with a mega drive and then a psx it wasnt until i had a dreamcast and pso came out that i had even heard of the phantasy star serirs, i bought pso because i liked the idea of having an online rpg and so did my cousin, he loved it and has since bout pso version 2 and basicaly plays it a lot but i was dissapointed by the abcence of a story and the fact that you could get all the rare weopons online thru ppl with cheat cartrages so i decided to try the original games.

I got them on my computer since I no longer have my megadrive^Å^Å.. the first 2 are far too hard and not worth bothering with unless you can get into them but the 3rd and 4h games.

.........well they have got to be some of the best games i have ever played, the great story, the amazing visuals and the metaphore at the start of the 4th game are unforgetable, i am currantly working my whay thru the 3rd game, the way that the people have lots of legends about things like dark force, laya and orcario and the race that traveled between the starts at the start and by the 3rd generation people know that they are the race that travels between the stars, and that orkano and laya actualy fort side by side is realy smart.

When i was little i wouldplay games all day every day when i first got then but havent been intrested enough in games to do that recently, but ps 3-4 have had me hooked for days, they are amazing! And the only game i have played (from recent times) that eve compares to all these good things in ps3-4 is skys of arcadia on dreamcast.

i am lucky to have got hold of these titles when i did because i wil be at colege next year and wouldnt have had time for them, and they realy are something that no rpg fan wants to miss out on, especialy the 4th one, dont bother with the first 2 but if you get the chage to play the other especialy the 4th grab it when you can.

From: Nick Mizer (nick.mizer@teenmania.org):
Man. Phantasy Star. I was looking through different rom sites the other day, and all the sudden it hit me, a half submerged memory brought to the surface: PS1 was the first game that I remember buying. I must have been seven or eight, and it was between that and some action game. I'd never even heard of an RPG before, but the monsters on the back looked cool, and the 3d dungeon was inviting. I went home slid in the cartridge, and never thought about games the same again. It was such a completely new experience, and I was completely immersed. It was late one night when my dad was playing and got Myau. I can remember how excited I was. It was nuts! A cat! And it talked! I barely slept that night. Anyways, I made really slow progress through the game, in constant amazement. I must have played it for a year, or maybe it just felt like it. My sister, who couldn't read, would watch me play, and make me read it to her. I'm not even sure I fully understood the story line or what was going on. Eventually I got to where I was going to have to fight Lassic, and my family let our pastor borrow the master system. When I got the game back, my saved games were gone. I wasn't ready to go through all that again, and I put the game away. Later, I sold my system and all the games, probably to buy a genesis game. But PS was always in the back of my mind, and I when I think of an RPG, the image I have is PS1. I've never even played the other ones, except that I think I rented PSII one time. I'm definitely going to be playing through the whole series now that I've remembered.

From: Gi-Le-Farg (MrbidAngl@aol.com):
My story doesn't start out like most. By the time I had heard of PS in the middle to late nineties, I was already hooked on RPG's. It all started with Final Fantasy for the NES for me. But after beating nearly every RPG I could find, I longed for something better. Enter my best friend at the time Evan. I went to his house where I not only saw him playing PSIV, but his dad as well. The only thing I can remember at from my first encounter was that they were on Dezolis and looking for the Eclipse Torch, with no luck.

Skip ahead a few months, not cause I don't feel like writing, but because that's how long it took to get back to his house. I learned that they never found the Eclipse Torch(duh...) and had sent out for the strategy guide and already received it. As with all of my friends when I'm not playing, I became the unofficial guide guy. I read everything there was in that book, and I was pretty amazed, but the one thing that really got my curiousity up was this combo thing. I kept asking to see such combos as Black Hole, Destruction, Holocaust and Firestorm. Unfortunately, the book has the wrong instructions for Black Hole, so I never saw that, but the others were perfect. Stupid reason to get into the best RPG ever, right? For some reason after that, I could stop watching him play it, and finally, I needed it. So I scrounged up some money and went to the local v-game store, but nothing. It was too late, all Genesis games were done. So my search stopped for a while until one fateful Sunday morning I went to a flea market with my mom and sister with $8 in my wallet. I found a booth with tons of video games in it, so I checked and oh my god, they have it, and it's only...$9. I ran around frantically to find my mom to bum a dollar off her. She gave it to me, I bought it and since haven't taken it out of my Genesis, literally. I've beaten it more then any other game I've ever played, and yet I'm still drawn to it at least every month to play it, in fact, I'm getting offline right now to go into Birth Valley to get Rika. Later everyone!

From: Bus . (busbuzz@hotmail.com):
my memories are jus fascinating.

I was 4 when i saw phantasy star for the first time, i was really amazed by the 3dimencional dungeons, and with the talking monsters,and and a fighter cat, i live in mexico, and my cousin worked for sega, when sega just arrived to mexico, he had a lot of games, then for christamas, santa gave me a mastersystem! and after some days i managed to get phantasy star ( it wasnt famous here in mexico ) there was only a little problem, my age, and my leanguage, but i played a lot, and i understood what was going on, i played, and played and played. so one day, i was home from school and i tried to play, alis in the main screen had a lot of little colored squares everywhere, so i tried to play, and i never played the game again, some time later, i bought a genesis, and i managed to get the phantasy star 2, i was really amazed by the details, and battle mode. so i played and played. I actually learned english thanks to phatasy star 2, trying to find out what does a laser knife was, firs, wizard, and i finished learning english faster than any kid here, i beat the game about 7 times with diferent characters, i managed to get megid, and everytime i started the game again i learned more and more, and i liked it more and more, i was really upset when nei died, i never understood why that idiot granny of the clonelab couldnt get a copy of nei!, i made my friends start to act like different chatactes, and some of them (the bad guys) were slayed by my sword (a piece of wood) .I never played ps3 and im glad, cos now that i played it, i didnt like it, and i played then ps4 incredible game! i played, and discovered every secret of the game, every character was my favorite, and it had the best storyline ever made. preety cool! i learned everything because of phantasy star, i learned english, i learned to fight, i actualy fought with every kid talking about nintendo,

From: S. Daniel Wilson (Sith_Wizard@msn.com):
Well, here it is, 2002. Nearly ten years after the last Genesis PS game. I've played through the Final Fantasy series, many other excellent RPG's on SNES and Playstation. And still, the Phantasy Star series managed to creep into my hands... Better late than never, eh?

September 2000, a crisp autumn afternoon. A local video store is getting rid of it's Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Genesis games to make room for Dreamcast, Playstation 2, and eventually Gamecube games. Although I had a Genesis at the time, I'd only really played the Sonic games, so Sega wasn't too interesting to me. I opted to buy a copy of Dragon Warrior IV for $4.00. I took the Nintendo game home, tried to play it on both of my NES decks, but no luck. Upon further examination (taking the cartridge apart!), I found that the game had, at some point, been immersed in water. The battery had burst, the components were corroded -- in short, the game was dead. So I took it back the next day, in hopes of trading it for another NES game, when HOLY CRAP!!!!! Some guy had been in the night before and talked the manager into selling him the entire stock of NES/SNES games for $50 (Including Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG, Crono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3, and about 20 other SNES and 25 NES games -- I almost cried, me, having seventy bucks in my wallet!)

They told me I could trade it for one of the Genesis games they had left. Well, they didn't have much in the way of Sega games. Toe Jam and Earl, some sports games, and Phantasy Star IV. I'd never played the PS games, but I remembered my best friend in the 5th grade nearly wetting himself when he got a Master System and Phantasy Star for Christmas. Being a Nintendophile, I'd had no exposure to Sega like my other friends, and I had no idea what Phantasy Star was. But I did remember the high regard in which they all held the game. And here was the fourth one in the series, on Genesis no less -- maybe it's good? If not, I could always put it on Tradedemon.com, right?

So I got PSIV for $4.00.

Needless to say, I was hooked. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't the most incredible game I'd ever seen, it was... different. That's what I like most about PS. It's not like anything else.

Recently, I lost out on an Ebay bid to accquire Phantasy Star III. My maximum bid was $18.00, but at, literally, the last minute, some guy bid $30.00. When the smoke finally cleared, I walked away from the computer, sad. BUT.... two days later, I went down to California, and found a copy, in better shape and including the case and manual for $13.00. I'm currently searching for a cyborg near a lake :)

And, just the other day, I got Phantasy Star II off Ebay for.... six bucks. Six freekin dollars. Can't wait to get it in the mail.

I'm not only fortunate to have picked up the entire Genesis trilogy for less than $25 (many people have paid much more for a single game), I'm very fortunate to be able to play these great games that many before me have loved.

From: Matt Kipper (mkipps@hotmail.com):
I remember when I got my Genisis was Chrismas when I was 6. I was so excited because I usually had nothing to do and that was about the time that they had released Sega Channel so my parents got me that. I was surfing around the games the first time that I was on there and I went into the RPGs section (even though I had no idea what an RPG was.) This is what got me hooked. I looked through the games and PSIV jumped out at me so I played it. Well after about 20 minutes of playing I was hooked like it contained and addictive substance. It was too bad for me that this was near the time that the Genisis was staring its downfall to Nintendo and Sony so I only got Sega Channel for a little whille and the farthest I got was defeating Zio before either they switched or the last time when they took my Sega Channel away.

Around that time I started looking for the games and I didn't find any. THen we got the internet and I found Roms and Emulators and I played the games over and over beating them in different ways each time I played. Then my nightmares started when my computer crashed and I could get my PS fix until we got a new one. Well we got that new comp. and I got the Roms again and it was so much better. THen I heard about the Dreamcast. I immediatly bought one thinking that there had to be a PS game to come out for it. I was relieved to find out that PSO was coming to the US in 2001. When I bought it it was heaven on Earth to play it. I thought that the graphics were awesome and that I would never get enough and hoped for a new game. Not just version 2 but a totally new game. Unfortuneatley that will never happen for the dreamcast and we are forced to go out and buy a GAmecube or X-Box to satisfy our needs. We can all hope that sooner or later Sega will come back to Console and produce more PS games exclusive to sega. Until then we will just have to play The other consoles I guess.

From: Dylan Schmidt
Ah yes. Phantasy Star. THE RPG series for Genesis. If only I had become such a Final Fantasy die-hard, I'd probably would've maybe owned one of these games by now. RPGs are my favorite genre of games, and it all started on that one faithful day...

Enter Final Fantasy & The PSX

I got my Sony PlayStation for Christmas in 1997. I got a few games along with it. One of them was Final Fantasy VII. I mentally thought "Big deal, FF sucks." I watched my step-brother play it, it looked KINDA cool. The next morning (12-26-97) at approximately 10:30 - 11:30 (somewhere along that timeframe) I thought to myself "Maybe I should try that game out." I put the first disc in, and after about five to ten minutes of play, I was addicted. The amount of customization was just amazing to me!

Luckily for me, Square decide to release a demo of FFVIII with copies of Brave Fencer Musashi. It helped my intense pain of waiting for FFVIII a lot better. I got it for Christmas 1998, and played it non-stop. I waited an excrutiating 1 year 9 month+ for FFVIII (Day of Dreamcast, September 9, 1999). I got it, played it to death. Took me a good sixty-eight hours (FFVII only takes me thirty) to complete FFIX (November 2000), again, was a great game. Took me forty-five hours to complete. Better than VIII but not as good as VII or IV.

I joined the staff at my favorite RPG site (rpgchannel.xrs.net, my name is Cloud121) RPG Channel. My good friend Pedro had written a review for PSIV. He gave it a 95% rating. Now that got me interested. I downloaded the ROM and played a bit of it. It was alright. I deleted about a week later, because I wasn't playing it.

Enter Saturn

I got my Sega Saturn in August of 2000. I played it for months and months on end. It had turned me from a Sony fanboy to a Sega fanboy (I take pride in that :)). Sega Saturn is just the best console there is. I loved playing my favorite arcade games at home. That was why I bought my Saturn in the first place. I wouldn't need to pump a ton of quarters into VF2 at my arcade, now that I had it at home. I loved having my N64 and Saturn. However..... one thing was missing. A good RPG. All my Square games were at my dad's along with my PSX. So I didn't have any good RPGs to plaat my mom's. I wanted an RPG so badly. I could only play my beloved Square games at two week intervals.

Enter Dreamcast

Now with DC (January 2002) I can play RPGs on the emulators that're released for it. Due to my Sega fandom, I talked to Pedro about good Genesis RPGs. He said Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force II were his favorites. I played PSIV yet again, and I started to grow on it. I liked it enough to download the PSII and PSIII ROMs. PSII was awesome! It took me awhile to get used to PSIII, and how the battle music will just switch at any given moment. I fell in love with the PS games, and decided to screw the ROMs, and go straight for the carts. That would be no easy feat. I found only one place that had a PS game, and that was PSIII for $30.00. I didn't buy it. I don't know why I didn't. However, one of my fellow SegaXtremers (http://www.litespeedcomputers.com/sx) was selling ALL his Sega stuff. He said he had a MINT PSIV. And he would sell it to me for $25! I jumped at the chance.

Currently, I am trying to get my hands on a copy of PSII along with PSIV, while fighting off the urge to skip PSII and just get some more Saturn games, along with PSIV. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting PSIV in a month, along with PSII hopefully soon after. I play PSII, III, and IV every now and then a little bit. I make sure not to go too far, or else, I'll REALLY have to work to reach that point in the carts. I regularly visit The Phantasy Star Pages, to read about the Genesis PS games. I just hope the stories are as good as they say they are!

From: Jared Davis (jdawgcc@yahoo.com):
Well it all started when my family got a Sega Genesis. I remember the weekend we got it, my mom took me and my brothers to Toys R Us to look for new games(this is when I was in 3rd grade, I'm a senior now:-). If I remember correctly, there was a deal like if you bought two games on a list, you get a free game on another list. I can't remember the games we bought, but I remember getting Phantasy Star 3 because the cover of the box looked sweet. Either way, we all really forgot about getting that game, then one day it came in the mail. I guess my mom was so excitied, she tried it out before we got home from school. She had no idea what she was doing, and forgot to equip her knife at the beginning of the game, and got killed by a chirper. HAHAHA. Me and my older brother understood RPG's because we played Dragon Warrior religiously. (we never did get into the sequels though)

Well, at the time, I can say I wasn't too obsessed yet. But me and my older brother did play it a lot. After school was the "time" he got to play it, not me. Well, with him being older, he was obviously better than me, and moved along faster, so I would watch him play so I knew how to play on my own file. It's funny because my dad and my older brother both played that first file together, and if one of them got far, they would tell the other exactly what happened. It always brings a smile to my face though. Either way, my brother went to 6th grade camp that May, and we was in generation 3 with Adan and Gwen. And he always told me to NEVER play his game or else. Well with him gone, I played it, but I didn't save, so anything I did didnt matter. So that summer I finally figured out what to do in my Generation2, because my game was diff. because I married someone else. Either way, the first person I finished it with was Crys, my favorite character of the whole PS series. I don't know why, I'm guessing because I felt his plight the most??? And I was younger too, so I was way more immersive than I am now. Either way, my brother and I had our gen. 3 guys. I was Adan and Crys, he was Sean and Aaron. Well, I beat that game like 12 times before I got sick of it. Now that was obsession. I wanted to figure out all the secrets, and listen to the great music.

My PS love faded and I never even thought about PS4 because of the price, and for 4 years I never touched a PS game. Then, lo and behold, my friend had PS2. I was like OMG, there was one before 3. I was so excited. So somehow he let me borrow it for nothing, but when I popped it in, the music annoyed me, and the graphics weren't nearly as good in my opinion. I was actually disgusted. So I turned it off, and never thought about it again. Then, a few months later,when I was in 8th grade, I think I had a day off of school because of snow, and I was bored so I popped it in, and gave it another go. This time, I got sucked in. I felt Rolf's plight, and I was hooked this time. I think I made it to the land rover before I got sick of it again, and never gave it a thought, because I lost the landrover somewhere. LOL. So time came and went. Then sometime last year, my friend had a dreamcast, and I saw my beloved Phantasy Star Online trailer, and I was amazed. I love ONLINE RPGS, and I couldn't wait for this to come out. That was fall 2000. So I kind of forget about it until I read on the internet after x-mas, that Phantasy Star Online was released. I got so excited, and I went to my video game store to trade in all my old systems and games for a dreamcast. So, I did get the dreamcast, and I got Phantasy Star Online. I remember I couldn't play it for a week because I had a faulty dreamcast that didn't read the GDs right, but eventually I figured out how to work it so I could play. I loved every minute of that game, and it totally re-immersed me in my love for Phantasy Star. I downloaded the emu's and roms for all the games, PS 1-4. I beat 1 in no time, it was a breeze. I skipped 2, beat 3 like 5 times for nostalgia, tried 4 and I didn't like it at all, so I thought I would find a story faq for it, but I never got to that. So this past summer I got ambitious again with PS series, and decided to bear through 2, and I'm glad I did, it has an excellent story, and made PS3 even more fullfilling to know I was on a ship from Palm. It gave me more meaning. So I beat 1-3, and once again I tried 4 earlier this past fall, and I got to Birth Valley, but then my save game wasn't there, so I got pissed and forgot about it. Then, recently, I somehow got re-immersed in the series again, in part of my science class talking about space. And right now,I'm playing through PS4, and I am going to play until I beat it, thats a promise I made myself.

On another note, I am kicking myself for trading in my Dreamcast for a Playstation2 this past summer, for the reason of not being able to play Phantasy Star Online or Version2. I am hoping they come on PC, otherwise, I might result in finding a dreamcast to play it again. I hate myself for that.

Well, that was the history of my obsession. I could tell you so many memories about the series, but I would be taking up so much space, and this is getting really long. So far at this point, my favorite event in the whole series has to be and you have all the weapons of legend in PS3, and you have to go to Skyhaven to have the weapons blessed with the word of power. I have never felt so determined to fufill my destiny in any game like that, and the only game to ever come close is Xenogears, which is tied with Phantasy Star in my greatest games/series of all time.

From: Kristopher Swearingen (erik_of_riken@hotmail.com):
The thing I remember most about the PS series is the ending to 4. I was like six when I finally finished it and I remember starting to cry when everyone was saying their good-byes. It was so touching I couldn't controle myself. And even to this day (at the age of 14) when I see that ending sequence I start to well up in tears.

Another thing I remember a lot is watching my brother play PS3. The game was really cool and i admired the way be played it blowing away creatures like they were dust. I made a vow that the day I learned to read I would play that game. Sadly when I finally did learn how to read The game was nowhere to befound in stores, gaming places, nowhere. Then there it was. Sitting on the rental shelf of blockbuster. Not #3, but 4. I had remembered watching my brother play this one as well, but only untill he found wren. PSIV was my salvation. It made me the medival, sci-fi, futuristic man i am today.

I still wanted to find PS3 because I was so interested in my first love. This was a couple years later when the N64s and Saturns were coming out. Then one day Blockbuster took all their Sega games off the shelf and all my hopes of ever finding PS3 went with them. Sure I had PSIV now, but I had beaten it three times over allready. I needed new knowledge of the PS universe. Then one Christmas I opened my present and there it was. PS3, previously played, but PS3 none the less. I was so excited I ran straight to my room after everything was opened and played it till my fingers hurt. It was different then I could remember and I never got the chance to finish it (I never even got passed Rhys' generation) but that was the day my PS life came back. And now I sit at my computer telling you about my memories of PS3 & 4. All because of that one game, that one christmas, that one year.

From: Laurie Styslinger (lauriesty@peoplepc.com):
All I have to say is other than shining force 1, phantasy star 4 is with out a doubt one of the greatest games ever, I dont know how they did it, and I encourage evreyone who was sad when Aly's died, to go on Napster, Winmx, BearShare, whatever you have, and look for the acoustic gutiar version of Her last breath, the music that played when Alys' died, its just a great ending to a great game...

From: Corwin Atkins (xenophase@hotmail.com):
Wow. I don't really think this qualifies as a memory, but what the heck. I remember back when I played PS 4. Seems so long ago. How old was I at the time...12? *shrug* In any case, the part I remember the most is when Alys died. I remember sitting there in shock, and tears welling up in my eyes. Two other people in my household had played through the game, and hadn't had anywhere near the reaction I'd had to her death. So I felt like I was the only one who had felt like that. I just checked out the memories section of your website, and saw that almost every person who posted has that same memory of shock and loss when Alys died. I guess it just feels kind of uniting and comforting that so many other people felt the same way about that. That's my two meseta, I suppose. =)

From: Michael Fenna (mikefenna@mail.com):
I played Phantasy Star's I, II and III with a friend when I was pretty young (12-ish - I'm now 22) and had alot of enjoyment completing them, but my real story is with Phantasy Star IV. I moved to Hong Kong for 2 years when I was 14, and during that time, I visited Japan, and went to a console games shop. I saw a Phantasy Star game I'd not seen before - I assumed it was a sequel of some kind, so I bought it, having loved the other games so much. When I got back to Hong Kong, I started to play it. The problem was, I couldn't read or speak japanese at all, and the game had no english!

Somehow, over a period of months, I managed to complete the game, which I now know to be Phantasy Star IV. I got a great deal of enjoyment out of it, even though I didn't completely understand the story line. I learnt to recognise certain shapes as names of cities, characters and spells, which helped me through. I have vagues memories of, part way through the game, not having a clue of what to do next for the first time, and literally wandering around the landscape for about 3 weeks until I accidentally stumbled over the landrover(?), which led to the next stage of the game.

Fantastic memories - still can't believe I actually managed to complete it in Japanese....

Cheers,
Mike Fenna

From: Fernando Botelho:
Hi friends!

I have been reading these memories for a long time and always wanted to write about my story. I think the time has come. My very first memory about PS was in a newsletter of Master System I used to recieve. In every edition they used to describe the games. And once there was something like "Imagine a game that will take months for you to beat, a game where you can save your game and return after in the point you had stopped,a game in which you dont have to follow a determined path etc" I didn't even know what a RPG was, but I think that was all very cool. When I finally found the game in a store, I wanted it more than anything. I remember it was more expensive than the other games, but I managed to buy it (after all it was by birthday.. I dont remember my age, but I think I was around 12. Now I am 21, by the way).

Needless to say, I was completely hooked to the game and played it a lot. What is there in the game that you cannot enjoy ? The different songs for each city and caves, the free roaming, the 3d mazes (they are great until today!), the characters that join you, the story, the exotic items, the travel among the planets etc.. In which other game do you DREAM ? And dream you're fighting to a monster you'll end up meeting face to face!! In which other game , the game doesnt end when you kill the big boss?? There are a lot of details and a magic atmosphere in this game that makes it so special.

I remember I used to play with my cousin until very late at night through our vacations, and it was a lot of fun. Each day there is new progress: new cities, new people to talk to, new monsters, new clues, new weapons! It's the type of game you never get tired of. Some time later, a friend of mine also got the game, and since I often used to go to his house, we started playing the game from the beginning. Soon I was playing different stages of the game, depending on the companion hehehe Of course I played it alone too, for my cousin didn't live in my city. We had no hint books available (for our lucK!!) so we used to draw maps and find out all by ourselves. With a lot of patience we managed to succeed in everything, except.. The Baya Malay tower!! Oh my God, what a tough maze! It is SO hard that it's the only maze in the game , that, for some reason it seems impossible to draw a map!! Don't you believe? At that point of the game was something we stayed stuck inside for months! We did everything we could, but never found the damn exit in the roof (of course, the prism COULD NOT reveal Lassic's castle if not in the highest point of Palma.And the TRAPS !(that sound of falling from a trap does scare!!! eheheh) And those angry monsters! And that guy inside the tower advicing to come back "while there's still time" heeh (Rocks!)

Time passed and one day it happened! We were playing it all together (me and other 3 or 4 friends).. we were inside Baya Malay tower doing what we had already had been doing for months..without much hope.. and suddenly: we have that beautiful view of Palma from the top of the tower!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOWWWW!! I can remember it very well until today.. we started SCREAMING... and how we screamed!!!! It was too much happiness... (It seems reaching happiness is much easier for kids than for adults..) We used the prism and the castle was revealed (man, the music changes and it is so menacing!) After we reached the Lassic castle (after beating his guard "pet") we were again disappointed: the castle was a maze! We said "oh no it's going to begin all again". But fortunately it was like the other mazes, I mean, not like Baya Malay. After beating Lassic, another surprise: the game didn't end.

As simple as that!! We were like : "ok, what do we do now". We should have learned that PS is not a game like the others... We stayed some more months (perhaps years) to find out.. And it happened thanks to a hint book that my friend got later. (I will not spoil it , in the case you haven't played it yet!!!) Unfortunately we were not together when we beated the game, but anyway, it was very exciting. The ending sequences surprised once more. It is so nice! :D

Time passed and I have already beaten it 4 times (once in the emulator). I have already played PSII and beaten it once. This time I had to use the maps. I dont have freshness enough to make each one, by myself (yes, time passes, my friends ehehe) Once again they made an innovative story, for there's no evil enemy.. the mission is to investigate what's going wrong with the computer that controls Motavia!! that´s nice! I really enjoyed the game, but in my opinion it's not as good as the first.Perhaps it's because at that time I played with my friends..there was nothing to worry in life except advancing in PS.. yes, childhood is a great time.. After reading these memories I am looking forward to playing PSIV.. (I am sure I'm gonna love it..) And I will do it soon..(I also plan to play PSIII)

No other game comes close to PS series. I doubt there is any other game that would move so many ppl to share these memories with other fans. There's something magical in these games that makes them unforgettable. At least for the afternoons of my very youth.

A hug to everybody..

From: William Eisenberger (ffact27@yahoo.com):
well i started playing rpgs began when i was around 11 yrs old. my friend and i both had nes systems, and he came across a copy of final fantasy 1. neither of us had played rpgs before, so we spent awhile stumbling around the game blindly, when we realized, hey maybe if we leveled up the characters, we can beat it! well we eventually managed to get somewhere, but lost interest....it got kinda bland. i played only one rpg in the next 3 yrs{zelda for game boy}. i was spending my summer vacation at my aunts house, and my cousin & i went to rent a few games. he picked out some sports games, i think, but something on the bottom shelf, in the corner, caught my eye. hmmm "phantasy star IV". it looked interesting, so i picked up & popped it in later that evening. within an hour, i became consumed with the game.

over the next 2 days, i played psIV every possible chance i could get. i dont think the sega was turned off for more then 8 hours. my relatives were looking at me strange.i had begun creating spell charts, listing combination moves, and trying to find the best macros so i could level up quickly. my favorite memories of those 2 days are : those of alys & hahn -"300 Meseta!!!" ......"1000 meseta!" "...my wedding fund..." .i cursed that dopey little dog. i laughed when i finally figured it out, and returned him to his owners, and was rewarded with the dialogue, "Yahoo! Yahoo! Rocky's back! Hooray, Hooray! Chaz: No wonder he ran away. Rocky:- Woof Woof! Chaz: Do you like that kind of treatment?" i laughed at rajas jokes. most memorably, though, was my frustration when alys was hit by the black wave. my first thought was that of shock. second was,"Damn, i just bought new armor and weapons for her! shed better recover from this." eventually, my anguish over lost meseta was forgotten, as i became saddened when alys did in fact pass on. i had fallen in love with psIV. i had found the greatest game ever, and i was convinced i would beat it.

around 1:00 on the 3rd day, my uncle mentioned that he was bringing the games to blockbuster before dinner,as he wanted to rent some movies for that evening. i tried, and failed, to convince him that later was better, "cmon, therell be a much better selection of movies just before midnight.cant we go then?" i had made it to the soldiers temple. i realized i probably couldnt finish it before dinner.....in my own save file, that is. i had deleted the 3rd save file,which had had the least LV in it. the 2nd file, however, had chaz on lv 78. and was saved right in front of the demensional rift. heh heh heh.

well i made it to the final battle, 3rd incarnation. and lost. 4 times. after the 4th try, my uncle was ready to leave. i had given my best try, though. i left for home the next morning. and annoyed my friends with descriptions of the game.combination spells. alys's death. rajas jokes. none of us owned a sega, so they couldnt actually play it.

it had been four years since i played psIV. i finally found a rom of it. as of now, i have just defeated the 1st incarnation of dark force. ive been playing as much as possible for the past few days. i have bought a sega smash pack cdrom at a computer show. it includes phantasy star II. i found a rom of phantasy star III. i am wondering how many days i can forgoe sleep.

From: ies meh (iesmeh@yahoo.com):
Well, It was about 1990-1991 (I can't remember exactly) and I'd just been introduced into RPGs. The "young hero makes friends while traveling the world and striving to overcome a Great Evil" kind RPGs, not that dice-rolling crap some people get obsessed with. I knew I had to choose one to try on my own... At the time, I had two immediate choices: Final Fantasy II(IV) on the SNES, or Phantasy Star II on the Sega Genesis. I picked PSII because the people were tall and normal looking. Go figure.

I wasn't happy about picking up a storyline already in progress. I love sequels, and I wanted to see what happened first. So I asked around about Phantasy Star I. Of course, I found out it had come out on a system I'd never heard of, one from before I'd started playing games at home. Friends relayed the basic plot points to the point where I felt happy enough to delve into the game.

Wow. What a game!

I'm glad my first was a Phantasy Star... I can think of some other RPGs I've played since that would have soured me on the whole fantasy adventure game idea PERIOD. As it turned out, my experience with PSII gave rise to a lifetime of facination with this genre of video game, not to mention japanimation. I was entralled. Yes, I even cried when a certain female character died, and the stupid clone clown couldn't even clone her JUST like he'd done a MILLION other times before!!! Stupid clown... *sniff* ( ' ~ ';)

Anyway, I went on to play PSIII when I found it. It left me confused, but pleased. I wanted to know what exactly happened to Rolf and everybody at the end of PSII, but this new game didn't even mention them!!! Aaaaahhh! But, I really liked the multiple endings and timeline choices. Very inventive. I loved that it had, at least, *some* connection to the previous game, and that it wasn't just an entirely new game stealing thunder from a classic. That would have sucked.

The most memorable thing about the third game is it's opening title music. I've seen DOZENS of MIDI file versions of it, so lots of other people must thing so too. I love the sound of it!

The copy of PSIII that I have now, by the way, is MINT. A friend bought it for me a few years ago for my birthday. Except for my saved game that's still on it (possibly), it's perfectly new. I couldn't believe my luck! But that's nothing to what else I lucked into...

I worked for Funco a few years back. It all started when I walked in, saw a Phantasy Star II box on the wall, snatched it up, and went up the counter to buy it... They didn't have it. Well, I was mad. I told the manager I could find a way to keep only those boxes the store had games for up on the display wall. So he hired me.

During the couple of years that I worked there, I did happen into PSII. That's one of the great things about working in a used video game store! But what REALLY turned out to be lucky, is that a customer came in wanting to sell us a bunch of old games. Some of them were on systems we didn't carry anymore. So the store couldn't buy them...

...But what was this? (OoO) OMG! I slapped a twenty in his hand.

"But I'll give you twenty dollars for this one."

I walked home with my Phantasy Star and my Power Base converter, glowing with anticipation...

At last. The beginning. Alis. I would play HER adventure. It was like partaking in a legend. I loved EVERY LAST MINUTE of that game. It was old. It was 8bit. It was in mono. It had typos and translational anomalies. It was one of the greatest gaming experiences of my life!!!

It had the box, the game, and even (an unfortunately stained) instruction booklet. I made maps for everything on graph paper, and even finished the game all by myself with NO help. (That's always a matter of pride for me. I hate spoilers, and I HATE it when people say they beat an RPG when all they did was cheat their way through with a bleeping strategy guide... *Fakers*!

Anyway, I loved it. And when I beat it, I jumped right back into my old, trusty PSII. I love continuations... Sequels rock. And then I even played three again. And then... What's this? PSIV? I almost wet myself with glee at the mere sight of every pic that came out in the magazines, on which I think I spent more money than I did buying the actual game!

I still remember when I finally got my hands on one. I put it away for a my next day off. Once the day came, in my mind, it was Phantasy Star IV Day. I got chips. I got soda. I shut the blinds, turned off the ringer on the phone, and I actually put a DO NOT DISTURB sign on my door. I went to the trouble of moving my stereo and hooking it up to the TV. I'd been meaning to, but this made it well worth the while. I pulled up the easy chair, grabbed the controller, and pushed the little slider power switch to the left...

A heavy, urgent thrumming beat!

SEGA

"The long, long struggle of ancient times finally ended...

The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens.

Four bells tolled. Four torches were lit.

And the world continued for thousands of years..."

And we all know how the rest goes...

It was like Christmas.

I'm still not sure what happened to Rolf and his friends. How did all the Nei Weapons end up on the World Ship in PSIII? Just WHERE did Dark Force come from? From Earth in a neverending time loop? Or from that weird "being splitting in two" thing? Is Noah really Lutz? (I like to think so.) ; )

Whatever the truth (or evident lack any definative version of the truth), they are the greatest RPGs I've ever played, despite the story that STRUGGLES to remain consistant. Final Fantasy is okay, too, but none of the stories jive with eachother. It's all new every time, except for Chocobos...

I have emulators for all of them now, and I'm excited to hear about game gear spinoffs I might be able to download! : D I've heard about PS Online, but it doesn't seem to continue from the main storyline, so I think I might give it a miss. But, who knows...

Well, that's my story. Um... Where's the link to get outta here? ...Er. Does anyone have an Escapipe on them? ...Uh. Anyone?...

iesmeh@yahoo.com

From: Joey (jcfancy@dunmac.com):
Well the first time I played a RPG was on the old Nintendo 8-bit it was Zelda and I loved it, but thinking back even farther I remember that I wanted a Sega Master System a little more than the Nintendo, at first, but then I discovered that nearly everyone had a Nintendo (as long as I could play Ghostbusters on it, it was ok with me). Dragon warrior by Enix for that old Nintendo was an other I liked, Zelda first won me over with that save game ability, but I liked the ability to go up levels with exp of the more true RPGs. Zelda II had a real cool feeling of adventure, but like many I was happy to see Zelda return to the original style for the 3rd game, but I found the new style of Zelda as it came to the Super Nintendo less interesting, in fact the game seemed uninteresting and slugish... A lot of Early Super Nintendo games turned me off Nintendo's new system, and Sega's Genesis was looking better and better, How could I leave Nintendo for Sega... Well once I had Atari and Coleco Vision, and it was time for a change again. I was quite happy with my Sega Genesis, and the powerbase converter I got it now I was able to play 16 and 8 bit Sega games, in fact Nintendo later actions made me quite glad I didn't spend more time with them, and after Zelda III I had little interest in RPGs. But as I saw new RPGs for the Sega CD and I started playing Arcana for the Super Nintendo gave me a few reasons to try new RPGs, The friend of mine who had Arcana later got the Illusion of Gaia (sequel to Soul Blazer) at first I though oh no an other Zelda, but after playing it a bit I discovered this game was a lot more grown up than Zelda... I wasn't the overly childish kind of game I expected to see on the Super Nintendo, Next was Chrono Trigger, Chrono Trigger was awesome too! I became interested in RPGs again! But Square Soft and Enix were only making games for Nintendo's systems at this time, and who else made RPGs... Well I tryed Light Crusader for the Genesis, and I thought it was broken, after returning the new copy was the same Light Crusade looked and played cool, but the save games don't really save, turn it off and there gone... I wasn't too impressed by Light Crusader. Then the Crusader of Centy now this was a damn good game, at first it looked like an other kiddy-zelda lame story cheep game type thing, but giving this game a chance I discovered it was a very good game with a very good story, it is an awesome game! Next was PHANTASY STAR IV, I was interested but I was thinking this wouldn't even be as good as Breath of Fire (not that Breath of Fire isn't good, it's just no Chrono), or Maybe it would be like Final Fantasy and I didn't find Final Fantasy games to be all that special... I was wrong... from the start that kick-@$$ music real cool art and damn good story that just keeps getting better and better... PHANTASY STAR IV became my favorite game ever! I didn't feel confused by the fact I missed the 1st 3 games, in fact the history of Algol was told out quite well, and didn't ruin the later games for me just made me more interested. The Characters were very easy to get attached to, the story was as good as any Graphic novel, book or movie... when it ended I wanted to see more of Chaz and Rika... I had to play the other games... where else to start Number 1, I found old articles on Phantasy Star games in my old game magazines, it was for the old SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, I could not find it anywhere... no mail order place no where... to this day I'm still searching... later I emulated it old game, but I still want to someday find a real copy for my old Powerbase converter. Any way after trying so hard to find PS1 I got PS2 from Funco, and I love it, there wasn't as much character development in the story and not as much art but it was all interesting, looked good, and played great! PHANTASY STAR II is one of my favorite games ever... I still never got PS3, I played it emulated, I saw it in a store I wanted to buy it but it was for rent only "damn" I hope to see for sale it in a video game store someday, but though I found PS3 quite interesting I didn't find it as good as the others, PS1, 2, and 4.

PHANTASY STAR GAIDEN interested me a little bit, it never had a North American release, and I don't understand Japanese (yet), but I'd like to have a copy of it to try in my gamegear, after all Japan's gamegear games work in our gamegears with out needing any type of converter. I plan to try the English fan translated rom version for emulators. I look quite interesting. I don't know much about Phantasy Star Adventure, but it's on my to do list... (Phantasy Star Gaiden looks interesting even with out the Dark Force)

As the years passed and so many RPGs i've loved Lunar the silver star for Sega CD, and Xenogears for the Playstaion come to mind as favorites of mine, then I finaly got an other dose of Phantasy Star...

I got PHANTASY STAR ONLINE for my Sega Dreamcast creating characters of my own allowing me to put my self in the game... a shorter story than other PS games but still an interesting one... Still it's never said if you are comming from Palma or Earth do the Newmen's have there own homeworld or are they just creations from Algol (remember Earth men were behind the creation of all those mosnters in PS2 maybe they was more behind Nei's creation in PS2?) In the title it speaks of Home Worlds not home world being destroyed... New loose ends but very cool! Real time interacting with other game players add to this game quite nicely but it's good playing offline too... I've spent a lot of time with PHANTASY STAR ONLINE, and now I'm waiting for PHANTASY STAR ONLINE VER.2

PHANTASY STAR FOREVER!!!!

From: ssdogbert22@hotmail.com:
It was 1995 when I first got my Sega Genesis, and immediately afterwards Sega Channel (Do you even remembe that service??? Probably not. It was pretty complex.) It was through that tha I got my first taste of Phantasy Star II. (I might add I spent literal YEARS looking for the original, to no success) However, in EVERY SINGLE ATTEMPT I MADE, I always got killed in the very first dungeon (the one past Arima) and never even managed to get anyone besides Rudo. Yet I still liked the game. Later, I found Phantasy Star III, where I never even FOUND the first dungeon, ironically. I immediately hated the game, and simply dropped it. I haven't seen or played that one since. The next month, Phantasy Star IV came along (they listed it as that over End of the Millenium) and I sarted playing it. (I didn't even realize I was obsessed with console RPGs from the start.) In my first hour of play, I had made it clear to molcum with all stops on the way (and running form 0 fights.) I took a liking to this one immediately and had soon reached Zio's fortress, where (not knowing how to break his shield) simply used every technique I could throw at him, figureing "he only has around 30 HP." So on Turn 6, he's not dead yet. "What???" Then came Black Wave. The first thought that came to my head was "RIGGED BATTLE!" (Something that has annoyed me ever since, esp. when it turns out it ISN'T, like Calamity in Xenogears.) soon afterwards, Alys died. Me being the kid voted 'most like Spock' at my school, I noted her passage and went on, thinking a line now made famous by Sideshow bob, albeit modified for my purposes. "How Ironic. My attempt at kicking butt and taking names has ended in a manner so frumulaic it cold come out of the Powerbook of the producer of the next low-rated 'B' movie." I'm NOT kidding. Soon afterwards, I went to Zio's fortress, adn this time I DID kick butt and take names. On the second try (I intentionally saved right before the control room.) When he cast black Wave again I thought "Oh crap. This one's rigged too." Then it somehow only dealt 30 damage to Chaz. I thought "So an attack that deals out around 30 damage killed Alys? What's up with that?" (NOTE: I had temporarily gotten into D&D at the time) "Is it like some form of Unholy Word, and Chaz is of Neutral Alignment?" (NOTE: Unholy word only affects thse of Good alignment in the D&D games.) He did, however, win the first time (barely) after ten straight castings of corrosion. The second time I knew all his attacks, kicked butt, and took names. After he exploded, I felt a twinge of sadness for the bastard. (In the words of Dr. Kokintz from The Mouse on the moon, "Humanity may do evil things, but they basically lean towards good, thus why the murderer will help a child over a fence and the soldier will visit the graves of the enemy he has slain.) I went on with the game, and at Dark Force, I thought "Here's the bastard to blame for Alys' death, not Zio." I promptly got the floor wiped with my remains. Before I had another chance to play, Sega Channel had switched to another group of games, and I lost all my progress. I looked all over for that game, but I couldn't even find it at Toys 'R' Us. (Which STILL has almost every NES game in existance, six years after the system's death.) I never did find the games, and my dad still won't let me download an emlator off of the internet. So I'm stuck with enjoying Phantasy Star as the biggest fan of the games who does not own a single piece of PS stuff. I got into double overdrive once looking for the game after finding a screnshot of the Dezolis Penguin (I was in a temporary penguin obsession at the time) but failed again. Such is life, or as French put it, C'est la Vee.

From: PamelaBFE@aol.com:
Well maybe my memory is slightly more of a grudge, but nevertheless PS1 changed how I played and thought about games. It was a few years after the release of it and I had recieved the MSX for Christmas and was given the choice of a game ( I was 7 or 8 then.) It was very much of a case that I picked the one which had the best looking box and I'm glad that I trusted my instincts. Being so young, a lot of the monsters scared me so much I didn't play it for ages! But I really loved the free roaming feeling and for a change it was a girl who was the lead character. It was my first ever RPG so I had no idea of what to expect. And I didn't expect to meet the Dark Falz. It really did frighten me and scared me even more so because after a whole year of working things out for myself this thing would just not budge despite what I threw at it and used all of the tricks I knew. Frustrated, I never played it again and deleted all of the saved games. That is until now I've started playing it, still using the original console I played it on. But now I have found a way to kill it on this site. I'm happy now.

From: Travis+Dickie (traviswd@telusplanet.net):
It all started back when I was6 or 7 years old (Im 16 now). I was spending a few weeks out at my Uncles house in Southern British Columbia with my sister and my dad. I always used to watch my dad and uncle fight through PHANTASY STAR 1, They would draw maps of the dungeons to attempt to progress in this seemingly impossible game. Like I said at the time I was young so I thought that this game was just another double dragon.. (plus, I wasn't allowed to touch it..) To this date I still have yet to play this game.. findin it aint easy either!

Over the years i saw ps2 and 3 being played, but again did not think much of those "WALKIN AROUND TYPE GAMES". It was not until I was around 9 years old that I borrowed these old dust collectors (PS2 & PS3) from my dad, along with his genisis (My first video game system other than Gameboy)

I at first plugged in PS2 (My first rpg) an fooled around on the previously saved quests buyin stuff, dying and whatever. Once I got into the game though, I enjoyed every bit of it! -The fact that I could name these charectors after my friends at school was the neatest thing I had EVER heard of!

it took me 1 1/2 years of on and off playing to finish this suprisingly lon and difficult game (with the hint book!) I remember the day that I did.. The earthmen, Nei, Motherbrain and Dark Force, all lingering memories. Ps2 has to be the game the most original vibe and feel from it. Whether it is the industrial/techno/digital/whatever music or the civilization in PHANTASY STAR 2 or the style of the charectors, their WAY PAST COOL armor or the mixture of a sci-fi/medevil universe, this game will remain ted with ps4 as best Role playing game/Eye opener ever.

WAIT!! Im not done yet! PS3, WELL.... ok PS3 i can sum up into a few sentences.. PHANTASY STAR 3 HAS ONE OF THE COOLEST MOST ORIGINAL SETTINGS FOR AN RPG! A GIANT FRICKEN SPACE SHIP!! ok... ok maybe not just a few sentences.. Sega made a bad choice on the battle engine here... OOHHH MAN.. DOES THE FIGHTING EVER SUCK.. BUT! the change to more of a medevil society in PS3 allowed for some change in the series, which was good. -WITH A BIT MORE DIALOUGE A REFINED FIGHT SYSTEM AND A TAD OF IPPO/GAKI CHAN MUSIC. SEGA.., yor\u could of had a gem..

I will make PS4 short and sweet I tried this years after ps3, Alys dying was way bigger than any ff7 thing, I was 11 years old and that was alot to take.. I could not understtant why one of my charectors was not with me anymore.. then the fight with her on rykros struck a nerve or somethin becaus that was one of the most meaningful moments in gaming history. This IS one the best rpgs of all time, and belongs to the best series of all time.

If you ask me, Phantasy star would not be as good without the wonderful musical composures and the sequels connecting in plot with each other. Oh and thanks Sega! now whenever I play other rpg's I hold a bias because they do not live up to this series greatness. My grammar and sentence structure is sloppy in this "article" HAHA because There are so many feelings i would like to share about this series but they can not all be put in to words.

Its too bad manga or somebody dosent make an anime on a ps game or the entire series. I would hold that as one of the greatest moments of my life (next to psv when it comes out!) even though it hasnt happened yet.

PS: SEGA! IF YOU EVER MESS UP THIS SERIES OR PU IT ON PLAYSTATION 2, I WILL NUKE YOUR HQ!

thnx heheh

From: Ruffin2000@aol.com:
one day i was at my local video game exchange and had a lil' bit of money...so...i was lookin' for some games to try out...next thing i know i see something called "phantasy star III"...and something moved me inside to get this game. was it a sixth sense? a calling? i don't know for sure...but once i got home and played the game, i was hooked. i remember when i found mieu for the first time...when i got wren...when i found lyle...i couldn't beat him for the longest...every time i got a new party member...i was excited...the generations changed...nial...ayn...orakio's sword...lune...dark force...lashute...skyhaven...just places and thoughts that brought back memories...

then i heard about ps IV...i had to have it...my friend let me borrow it...rune...zio...lashiec...rykros...the whole saga of ps, algo solar system in one game...yes i felt emotion when alys died as well...but i was blown away! i have yet to find ps 1 and 2...but when i do...i will play them extensively as well!!

From: Eli Gourley (apollyon_69_69@yahoo.com):
i rented this game once, and LOVED it, i got up to the part where i fight Zio, and lose Alys, and never got past that when i rented it, but last year for Christmas, my mom FINALLY got it for me, and i tell you, i play ALOT of RPGS, and this is the only one where i honestly liked the characters, its quite easily the BEST game EVER, i love my other games, but this PSIV is easily superior. and not only has this game just been my favorite, its affected me as well. Remember the part in the end when Chaz gets the Elsydeon, and says he refuses to fight for a god who would do that, thats me, only i would have different hair, a swear they time jumped to now, checked me out, went back, and wrote Chaz to be me, and did everyone else get Megid? i loved having an optional quest in a game like that, at the time, none of them had that, other than the Dragon Warrior games and the casinos, but this was a full on side QUEST, probably the first game to do that, but anyways, this is the only game to really affect me, and from the looks of it, lots of other people to, most games are just entertainment, this one is like a way of life. and the only one with really loveable characters.

From: smith bob (timber_wolf_123@yahoo.com):
I wanted to get a game for my Genises emulator. I was looking for Shining Force, because I heard it was cool. And then I saw Phantasy Star 4 on that page. I downloaded both. I played Shining Force 2, and I thought it was cool until I got to the first battle. Yes, the very first time you get into a battle. Since I suck at video games, I couldn't get past it. I tried and tried. But this story isn't about Shining Force 2. Anyway, I tried to play Phantasy Star 4. My emulator wouldn't play it! I searched for a better emulator. When I downloaded one, it played fine. I loved it and downloaded Master System emulator and the Phantasy Star ROM on it. I downloaded all the other phantasy star games. I loved Phantasy star series.

Then at school my friend asked me if I heard about Phantasy Star Online. I suddenly woke up, and said I had. He bought a Dreamcast and PSO recently. I bought a Dreamcast recently too, but I'm still saving up enough meseta *cough* money to buy Phantasy Star Online. I will get PSO soon.

From: Chaz (Chaz@AlgolX.net):
The first time I ever heard of Phantasy Star IV was when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I am 14 now, and back then I didn't really care much. I wasn't a very hard core gamer and I had just gotten my first issue of Sega....umm..I forget the name. It was the Sega magazine that had reviews and things, as well as Penn and Teller. I read it, and flipped on by. Then, at Blockbuster, I noticed it. I figured what did I have to lose but a few dollars, and rented it.

That was a turning point in my life. Some people take Phantasy Star so far as to make email addresses after it, or make websites. I made, and am still working on, a themed IRC server for Phantasy Star, AlgolXR, which is an RPG of itself, and AlgolX.net which will be about rpgs in general. All of this is still being worked on.

Anyway, Phantasy Star IV still amazes me to this day. The first time, I cried when Alys died, and I still get a little...'emotional' about it. Chaz's face really makes me sad, and then it makes me think of death, which is something that no one wants to think about. The fact that it can stir up so many thoughts and emotions inside anyone has to mean that Sega did the job right. Then I started playing the other games...PSIII,II,and then I. Now I own the complete collection, minus Gaiden and Adventure, and I still play them to this day. I collect all things PS that I can get my hands on. I just hope they can bring another game of Phantasy Star origin to the US.

From: John Echols (akintude@mail.rvi.net):
It was such a long time ago... Kind of hard to remember. I think Shining Force was really one of the first roleplaying games that truly drew me in, but Phantasy Star, well, if Shining Force hooked and lined me, Phantasy Star dragged me in. Phantasy Star Two and Three, though I liked, didn't effect me as much as PS4. I was hooked. When Alys died, I cried, I mean, come now, that was a very good scene. I laughed in FF7 when that one chick died (heh, I can remember PS4 but not the girl from FF7).. I'm kind of, not all there sometimes, but PS4 really affected me. I thought it is, and was, one of the best roleplaying games ever. Right about the time I got addicted my grandma died, so, it was something that helped me cope with it. Took me awhile to beat that game, I seriously developed a hatred for Zio (now I love the guy, he's so cool) But, than again, I was also like eleven at the time, so.. Didn't take much for me to hate the guy. But after a while, I killed him, than Dark Force... than, I finally beat the game, got really happy, than started over. Beat it again, and finding more stuff through it. Everytime I play the game, I swear something changes about it. But, enough of me rambling, i figured i'd just share my lil bit.

From: THERPGER@aol.com:
Let me start off, saying the Phantasy Star series were GREAT. They inspired me to do many things...I am 14, almost 15. When I was like 8 I think, Phantasy Star IV came out,I heard of it, and was dying to get it. I was out having a hair cut with my dad, and I saw it at the local toys r us, we went to the store since I begged, and the price was $81.99! I was begging my dad to get it for me, and we called my mom to see if it was ok, and she was like "NO". SO...later on, about a few weeks later, me and my mom were out to the local Fox Video's...And I SAW, a Phantasy Star IV game, that I could rent for about $4! I asked my mom if I could, she said yes. I was SO Happy I COULD FINALLY SEE PHANTASY STAR 4! When I got home, I grabbed a bag of popcorn, a few pepsi sodas, and decided to play all day and night.

I began out on my own game, there were no saved games which I was sort of unhappy about, but I figured I should start my own. So I started off, enjoying it, Alys the Hunter and Chaz, going out on a hunter's job. After I got Hahn, I went into the fighting area, it was GREAT!! I was the kind of person who enjoyed training his people, so, I trained my Chaz up to level 4, and my Hahn up to level 4.

Then we fought the Big Green monster...I forgot his name, but I did fight, and kill him! I was so proud of myself. I continued playing and playing...getting past everything, then finding Rune, which was GREAT, he was SO powerful, but I figured he was the kind of guy to take hero's spot light, so I wouldn't train him. Heh heh. Then I played MORE, all this took two days...

I finally got to the village of the bird people...but then... MY MOM SAID I HAD TO RETURN THE GAME! I almost fainted, I could not believe it, all my hard work, ruined! But I was forced to return it.

A few days later...I was getting washed, after I finished, my mom asked me if I wanted to go to the VIDEO STORE! I was jumping up and down, grabbed my blue wallet which had about $10 in it, and went to the video store with her. My luck ran out, when I saw someone else RENTED THE GAME! I almost fainted, and I just left with her later.

THEN, I came back on my own in the morning a few days later, rented the game, brought it home, my saved game was still alive, never touched! But there was another saved game, it also had Rune. I figured I would not touch it, but not delete it, I would share the space. I played it for two days...got past Aiedo and almost at Zio's tower, it was all unbelieveibly fun for me. Then I had to return the game. Then, back to my usual summer life..my parents said I was renting the game too much, and since it was grand new, other people wanted to rent it. So I did that.

A year later ,in a half I think, My mom, got me the SEGA CHANNEL, I was so HAPPY. Since there were many other games I liked for Sega Channel, I looked around...In each catergory...then I looked in the 'Dungeon' where RPGS were. I saw PHANTASY STAR WAS IN IT! I almost jumped up in the air, but then I saw something different... It did not say IV, it said III. I figured it was another game, so I looked into it. It was interesting, Rhys, and etc. It had a medieval spice in it, which I liked, like the nobles, princes, princesses, etc. I never got past fighting Lyle though, I was not too good at PSIII. Later on...I eventually played PSII, and PSIV again, but the Sega Channel, then went out of business. Now it was when I was 10...I had some genesis games, but no phantasy stars. Not even one. I never played Phantasy Star 1 back then.

Then, one night...I was playing Albert Odsessy I think or something...my parents came home...and surprised me, with my OWN, PERSONAL GAME OF PHANTASY STAR IV! I Was SOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY! I thanked them so many times, grabbed pop corn, and pepsi cans, ran upstairs to my room, and played all night. There were no saved games, but that was ok! I just started over, I LOVED IT! I trained my Chaz and Hahn to level 5 this time in the basement area. I trained them all, then later I met Rune, and etc...I was getting close to ALys, she was the best of the group I would say, and the Laser Slasher was a graet weapon! Extra damage! But...I got to Zio's tower, she was hit by the black wave! I almost fainted and cried when I saw her in that bed hurt. I was confused of why she got in the way of Chaz, Chaz had more HP and power than her, he would have survived it. She was not as strong though. "Will does not take away pain" I say... just can endure it for a certain ammount of time. Anyway, when I got Rune again I was sort of happy, then when they returned to see Alys, I almost choked, when she died.

For instance, I lost a great char like her, and a great battle person. It was an unfair kill of a character, and I blame phantasy star IV for that. Anyway, later on, I eventually got Demi, and etc etc etc, trying to make the long story short Since I figure I have already made this memory wayyy too long.

I eventually beat PSIV, always rememering Alys' presence. Right now, I am making a KUB Final DAtaset of the Phantasy Star Characters. KUB Is a AOL Chatroom Bot where you can play cahracters of a certain dataset, which someone who has KUb, me, hosts it. If you are interested in that, Talk to THE RPGER@aol.com. But, out of all the Phantasy Stars, I enjoyed PS3 the most since I got better at it. If anyone wants to hear my whole story, Email me at THE RPGER@aol.com. I have much more to tell.

From: John Kraly (jkraly@netsales.com):
What can i say about Phantasy Star that hasn't already been said? The series never saved my life, got me into college, or set me up on a dreram date. Nevertheless, Phantasy Star 1 is an experience that I will never forget. I have always been a hard core gamer and first played PS1 in 1988 at age 12. It blew the doors off the entire RPG genre in my opinion. There wasn't the typical lame "save the princess and save the kingdom" plot. I mean in the introductory sequence the herione's brother is murdered by a tyrannical government. From the first moment I read the words "protect and watch over me Nero." Alis's quest became mine. I was in 6th or 7th grade but getting up at 4 in the morning to play the game. That game owned my soul. I've enjoyed the entire PS series, but if there was a game made today that would captivate me the same way PS1 did, i would easily pay 200 or more dollars for it. Now i am 24 years old and through emulators play the PS series, but most of all PS1. Even now, as i did some 12 years ago, i enjoy loading up PS1 (on my computer) and staring at the introductory screen as Alis grasps her sword and the intro music (that is etched in my brain) plays. May the greatest of all videogames enjoy a long legacy. Thank you for the memories Phantasy Star.

From: Brandon K. (sinbad64@mechpilot.com):
Hey there, I've been waiting for a long time to add my tale of love for Phantasy Star to your archives and felt today was a good day to send it in.

It all began many years ago, when I was looking through my latest issue of Sega's magazine, Sega Visions, in my dad's car while