One of the Original RPGS, this game definitely helped set the genre for many video games to come.
Phantasy Star starts you off as Alis. You're brother has been visciously murdered by agents of the government ruled by King Lassic. While all of this is ocurring, there are reports of monsters appearing and the high taxes enforced by the tyrannical rule of the government only feed into the suspicion that something is wrong with Lassic. As the sister, you want to find out what your brother was getting close to and then you embark on a journey meeting friends and foes alike.
Though it is a fairly conventional turn based game, there are things in this game that are unique. One example, is the dungeons in the game. For an 8-bit game, the visuals are simply magnificent because in each dungeon, there is a 3-D view. You walk forward and the walls show as such. You can turn left or right and you will meet many random monsters along the way. The problem with the maps are they are comepletely narrow. It's square by square and there's no open areas but it's hard not to admire the attempt that works fairly well.
The sprites are colourful with a top-down view everywhere except in the dungeons. You can go into the shops and buy weapons and armor and talk to various townspeople to get information. Going outside on the world map, you face many random encounters to level up your characters. The enemies are very clear and their attack animations are fun to watch. The problem with the fighting system, is the inability to choose your targets for the same stack of enemies. For example, if there are 2 bees and 3 skeletons, then you can only target the bees, or the skeletons but not the individual bee or the individual skeleton. This can be immensely frustrating when there are 5 mastodons, and one is on the brink of death, and you can't target it to kill it. Some of this can be alleviated by some weapon types that hit the entire stack of enemies but being able to target would have made the game more strategically sound.
The sounds of the game are all there. When enemies attack, you can hear the swing and the dungeon music is quite memorable. A few of the tracks are somewhat techno like and can be annoying especially if you're getting your butt kicked in a dungeon and want to get out of there as fast as you can.
The world map is unique because there are three different worlds to visit and also different vehicles to use like the ice digger that can destory some otherwise immovable objects.
The game will take you probably 20 hours to complete and though that may not seem that long, for a game made in 1988, that was an immense adventure.
Phantasy Star is a remarkable game even to this day. When you think about the story of Phantasy Star and how unique the game was and still is, it's hard not to like this game simply because of those reasons. If you ever get a chance to pick uip this game, I entirely recommend you give it a spin and you shouldn't be disappointed.