Page 6: Final Justice

Now that I've personally observed the game for myself, I can see why everyone thought it sucked huevos.  I mean, the game has almost nothing in common with the other Phantasy Star games, aside from the whole "walk around and talk to idiots" concept.  The other Phantasy Stars had weapons and battles and magic and stuff to keep things interesting.  None of that is to be found in PS3.  It took a lot of balls for you to release this pile of shit, Sega.  The whole game is just a big exercise in deception, is what it is.  See, first you release a couple of great RPGs that are loved by all and purchased in plenty.  Then you figure, hey, since we're at the point where most people will buy a new Phantasy Star game based on name alone, let's save some money and development time and see what happens if we apply the following changes to the next game:

1) Instead of having to control several characters, each with their own motivations and personalities, let's make the player control a single prince who has all the charisma of a dead fish.

2) Instead of having an involved quest that lasts for several dozen hours, let's have the game arrive at a very unsatisfying end after around 15 minutes or so.

3) Instead of having battles, monsters, weapons, magic, or a plot, let's include none of those things.

And so, Phantasy Star 3 was born.

To be fair, this game does have some positive qualities.  It's always good to see an underrepresented segment of the world's population portrayed in a video game, so making the protagonist a perverse naked prince was a good move, I think.  I also can appreciate how the developers wanted to buck the trend on the bloated length of most RPGs.  Though they went a little overboard by making the game into a 15 minute affair, that's still preferable to the hours-long speeches and conversations that permeate more recent RPGs like, say, Xenogears.  Perhaps the best part of the game, though, is its keen sense of irony.  I've always appreciated a good touch of irony in a story, and PS3's ending could quite possibly be the best ironic twist I've yet seen in a video game.

All in all, it's yet another Genesis game that I'm glad to have played, and gladder for not having to pay for it.  I give it four thumbs up (out of a possible ten).

Rating:          

- Sardius


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