Summary
Talking cats, swords and spaceships mark the dawn of a great genre
The Good
Japanese RPGs began their life in the late eighties as a modest and not very demanding branch of the leading (and only) RPG kind of that time: Western (PC-style) one. Now, no one who compares Japanese RPGs to their Western counterparts will find any difficulty in pointing out the differences between them: Japanese RPGs focus more on emotions, are more epic, more story-driven, and rely more on simple, linear gameplay mechanics with various enhancements than on true exploration and role-playing. Yet the first Japanese RPG,
Dragon Warrior, didn't possess any of the aforementioned qualities that would make it radically different from PC-style RPGs. If anything, it was a toned-down copy of a simple, generic medieval RPG, without own personality and style. But less than a year later, "Phantasy Star" was released for Sega Master System, and this was the
true pioneer of the genre.
Even a superficial comparison between the two games will clearly show that "Phantasy Star" is the winner in every category: story, setting, atmosphere, gameplay. Even the first
Final Fantasy was unable to beat this game; with all its fine qualities, "Final Fantasy" was still firmly rooted in a Western RPG template, unable to break new ground. I can't stress enough the importance of "Phantasy Star" as the game that
defined the genre. "Phantasy Star" paved the way for other Japanese RPGs, it was a game that already contained in a nutshell all the main stylistic elements that would later help Japanese RPGs develop into a full-fledged genre.
The game's story was a completely new word back then. Before "Phantasy Star", RPGs depicted heroes who were chosen for their mission either without any reason (being nameless adventurers who just happened to be in the mood for saving the world), or because of their legacy (they were descendants of great heroes, the promised ones, or anything of the kind). No one yet thought of telling a world-saving, evil-slaying story based on
personal motives. Even at present time, when games become more and more story-oriented, Western RPGs often prefer to omit any personal involvement from the side of the hero. Japanese RPG, on the other hand, cannot be imagined without such personal involvement. And the first game that defined this cardinal concept of the genre was "Phantasy Star". Alys, the young heroine of the game, is not a fighter or an adventurer by nature. Her quest is neither a mission nor a following of a knight's oath. Her motive is entirely
personal - a quest for revenge. Her brother is killed, and she swears to hunt down the murderers. Of course, later the quest smoothly turns into a traditional world-saving tale, but the premise is what matters here. The foundation stone was set. Alys is a revolution in character creation, the first true Japanese RPG character in history.
Also, this story introduced for the first time two fundamental clichés of Japanese RPG storytelling: fighting an evil ruler and being controlled by an evil power.
Ultima V introduced the same themes for the PC stage at approximately the same time, but their importance for Japanese RPG development was much more evident. Fighting an evil tyrant/emperor, who is controlled by an even greater evil is a pattern that was repeated, copied, and cloned countless times afterwards.
One of the most (if not
the most) important aspects of Japanese RPGs is character cast. A great character cast can single-handedly save a Japanese RPG from obscurity, same way as a weak one can ruin it. "Phantasy Star" was the first RPG with a distinctly Japanese character cast. Western RPGs either put you in charge of a bunch of nameless adventurers, sent you on a solo quest, or gave you companions that had virtually no personality. "Dragon Warrior" and "Final Fantasy" weren't any different (
Final Fantasy II was another story, but it came out a little later). "Phantasy Star" allowed you to control the first colorful, typically Japanese party in history. You had an innocent girl, a talking cat, a strong warrior, and an effeminate wizard. The talking cat Myau deserves special attention, because it started two traditions at the same time: that of non-human party members, and of "cute" ones. Myau is the prototype of many future Japanese RPG characters. Of course, the personalities of those four were rudimentary, but already their
appearance made them totally different from anything RPG scene had scene until then.
The setting of "Phantasy Star" was also a defining moment in the history of the genre. Breaking free from the ever-present medieval cliché, "Phantasy Star" created its own world. Largely based on Star Wars setting, the world of Phantasy Star is a mixture of space-traveling science fiction and medieval/magical elements. In fact, Star Wars was a chief inspiration for Phantasy Star in general (story-wise, it definitely had an influence on the whole evil ruler/dark power theme), and it was a brilliant move to transfer some of the movies' interesting aspects onto a game. Phantasy Star managed to create its own unique world, which was also the home for its sequels, complete with its own history, geography, style, races, recurrent characters, and so on. Phantasy Star universe is considered until now one of the most detailed and interesting Japanese RPG worlds of all times, on par with those of
Suikoden and
Tengai Makyou. The game was unbelievably unique and stylish at the time it was released; the semi-sci-fi, semi-medieval setting was fresh and charming. You fought evil bees and slimes together with robotic guards; within the same battle, you slashed the enemy with Alys' sword and fired at it with Odin's laser gun. You equipped leather shields and armor, but healed with coke and burgers. You were wandering wilderness areas and descending into caves, while returning to ultra-modern cities and traveling to other planets. The game gained so much personality and appeal because of its setting.
Many people who think now of "Phantasy Star" recall first of all its truly outstanding production values. The musical score contained upbeat modern-sounding tunes, melancholy town and world map themes, and weird, menacing dungeon melodies. Of course, the technical quality of the music was very low at that time, but the actual score was very good (although still unable to beat
Final Fantasy II in my eyes). But what really amazed players at that time were the graphics. Other RPGs of that generation paled in comparison with "Phantasy Star" (except the gorgeous
Tengai Makyou: Ziria). Detailed towns and lovingly crafted world map were perhaps not enough to blow the players away; what did were absolutely fantastic battle graphics. The monsters' attacks looked incredibly realistic for the time, and the battles were decorated by wonderful backgrounds. The smooth-scrolling pseudo-3D dungeons were also quite impressive. And whenever you talked to a character, the scene switched to a first-person view with a large, detailed character sprite in front of you. All that was technically ground-breaking, but the real greatness of the game's graphics was in its style: "Phantasy Star" is undeniably the first
animé role-playing game in history. With all the limitations of the epoch, its graphics looked like animé. You felt immediately it was a Japanese game just by looking at it, you couldn't confuse it with any Western RPG. This is yet another reason for "Phantasy Star" being the true founder of the genre.
The gameplay of "Phantasy Star" was perhaps not as revolutionary as its other aspects, but was excellently crafted as well. You had a balanced party with paladin-like character, a physical attacker who could use some spells (Alys), a kind of a fighter/berserker (Odin), an all-around support character (Myau), and a mage (Noah). Clever usage of spells, good planning and co-operation between the party members were required in order to emerge successfully from a battle. It made "Dragon Warrior" with its one-on-one battles look ridiculous. There was a surprising variety of weapons and armor to equip. Shops were selling a lot of stuff, and there was also some booty to find in the dungeons. "Phantasy Star" also had a very good balance between exploration and linear story-progressing. You could go to places you weren't "supposed" to visit, and if you were brave enough, you could explore the continent you were on, searching for caves and other points of interest. And you also had vehicles: landrover, hovercraft, and ice digger! How cool is that?
The Bad
Japanese RPG is a genre that developed steadily and gradually, unlike Western RPGs, which started with their greatest series,
Ultima, very soon achieved one of their highest points in
Ultima IV, but with the degradation of Ultima into action-oriented, straightforward gameplay at the expense of characterization (
Ultima VIII), had to suffer a creativity break until
Bioware nearly single-handedly brought life back into the genre. You could argue whether Western RPGs have really gone far since the classic Ultimas defined the high principles of the genre, as opposed to the impersonal, hack-and-slash road which other PC-style RPG followed and which led nowhere. But Japanese RPGs had a different history, they were progressing all the time, with various installments of
Final Fantasy,
Megaten,
Suikoden and other great franchises helping to break new ground for the genre continuously. Since Japanese RPG was initially only a sub-genre of PC-style RPG, its first independent attempts were quite modest compared to later standards. While PC-style RPGs had a "golden age" to look upon, classic games that set standards long time ago and were regarded as models for newer games (like
Wasteland for
Fallout or Ultima games for Bioware's RPGs), Japanese RPGs didn't exactly have that kind of legacy. I'm saying all that to show "Phantasy Star" may have set the foundation stone, but it was only a beginning, not a cult classic to imitate.
Virtually every aspect of "Phantasy Star" has been worked on and improved already during the same generation of Japanese RPGs. True, it was ahead of its time and and it was the first game with the style and concepts of Japanese RPGs, but most of its elements were very rudimentary. The story, for example, starts really well, but it hardly ever develops over the time. Your quest is pretty much clear from the beginning to the end. Think of
Final Fantasy II which had plot twists, character deaths, sacrifice, and betrayal. In "Phantasy Star", you'll spend most of your time looking for weapons and armor in dungeons. Nothing really happens since the last party member joins you early in the game. At a certain point the story becomes nearly non-existent, as you wander around for hours, tackling the dungeons with the Laconian weapons. Your party members are colorful on the surface, but have next to no real personality, and don't talk at all (except when met for the first time). The dialogues with NPCs are short, abrupt, and mechanical. There is in fact no dialogues in the true sense of this word, as the only kind of conversation are bits of information delivered to you in one sentence by town inhabitants. Characterization and dialogue are the chief reasons for the superior quality of the
remake.
But the real problem with "Phantasy Star" was the gameplay. I'm not going into that "old vs. new" debate, but I refuse to acknowledge extensive fighting as challenge or fun. Of course, "Phantasy Star", unlike "Dragon Warrior", had real challenge, based on your decisions during battles and not on your levels. But level gaining and money-gathering still mattered more; the game was, like so many early Japanese RPGs, an exercise in patience, in which you would spend hours just running around a small area, afraid to stray from the path, fighting easy monsters who gave you ridiculous amounts of experience and money. You had to stop doing your quest and to accept the tedium of collecting enough money to buy that new piece of armor for Noah, without which she would die from one hit by a bee. Enemy attacks were widely inconsistent; even your levels and equipment didn't have the same weight as luck. Sometimes you were attacked by only a couple of enemies; another time you met eight of them and were killed before you could realize what was going on. Critical strikes from the monster's side could do more damage to a heavy armored, high level character, than regular blows to a lightly dressed beginner. A couple of misses from your side could screw the battle entirely. Every new companion joined at a low level, so you had to spend hours to train her/him as well. The characters never grew truly strong and were stuck at low levels for a very long time. You typically ran out of MP after just several battles. The dungeons on Dezoris or the last tower were real nightmares, especially because you were always so far away from towns where you could heal. Premature death was a normal thing, because there was nearly no way to survive during your first trip into a dungeon.
Which brings me to dungeon design. This is in my opinion the worst part of "Phantasy Star" and something that nearly ruined the whole experience for me. I hate maze-like dungeons when they are not mapped. I enjoyed the claustrophobic passages of
Shin Megami Tensei (which were much longer and more complex than those of "Phantasy Star") because of the automap feature. I hate getting lost, and I don't think drawing my own maps for the dungeons (all of which are pretty much alike in structure) is such a great fun. The dungeons and the Underworld locations in
Ultima V nearly drove me crazy, but they were much more interesting to explore than the boring, repetitive corridors in "Phantasy Star". And at least you had gems there which showed you the map. The remake adds a new item which makes an automap appear for 100 steps. I would probably enjoy the original "Phantasy Star" ten times more if it had this item.
The Bottom Line
"Phantasy Star",
Digital Devil Monogatari,
Final Fantasy II, and
Tengai Makyou: Ziria were the true foundation stones of the wonderful video game genre known as Japanese RPG. Those were the legendary pioneers that defined this genre and introduced, in a concise form, everything that made it unique and great. They brought
soul into a genre that started its life as a sub-par clone of PC-style RPGs. Among those four, "Phantasy Star" is the oldest, and probably the most perfectly crafted and important one. No fan of Japanese RPGs can ignore this game; this is the grandfather of so many great games to come, an object of deepest respect and admiration. It had gameplay-related problems, and nearly all of its aspects weren't as developed as in later Japanese RPGs, but its high value and historical importance are undeniable.
Be sure to check out the wonderful
remake, which maintains the classical outlines of the game, while enhancing it with characterization and lively dialogues, and making its gameplay much more comfortable and enjoyable.
