Anybody that has tried to get into Phantasy Stars I through III knows that it can be incredibly hard, as a modern gamer, to readjust to their rather archaic design characteristics. Phantasy Star IV, however, is a much more refined package than the first three games, and because of those refinements and the much improved storytelling and presentation, Phantasy Star IV easily stands the test of time, offering a classic JRPG experience with a unique sci-fi atmosphere, a likable cast, an enjoyable story that is presented in quite a snazzy way, and quick, slick gameplay with an noteworthy innovation called Macros that should have made its way into more modern JRPGs.
The first thing a player unfamiliar with Phantasy Star will notice is that the game's setting and atmosphere is very different from other RPGs of its era. Phantasy Star IV begins in a futuristic sci-fi desert planet called Motavia---this planet is very reminiscent of the setting in the science fiction classic Dune---which is just one of three planets in the Algo solar system. On Motavia, you'll visit a variety of locales: quaint villages filled with adobe structures and palm trees, dark abandoned basements, academies housing white-robed scholars, underground computer labs made out of flashing circuitry, winding caves, labyrinthian towers, etc. And the variety doesn't end there. After you finish the Motavia part of the story, the game really opens up, allowing you to board a space ship and visit other planets and satellites. Dezolis---the second planet in the Algo solar system---is covered in snow and you'll need an ice digger to break through the hard-packed ice. The ice digger is one of three awesome vehicles you'll get to pilot (and fight in) in Phantasy Star IV.
While it's true that the dwellings and buildings in town can look rather samey, the towns are given enough individual characteristics and are different enough in size and structure that they don't feel too repetitive. Plus, they are fairly well designed and have some interesting features in them, like a cultish church dedicated to worshiping one of the game's main baddies, a sandworm ranch, meteor damage sites, etc. The NPC designs, for their part, can get very repetitive, but even JRPGs as progressive as Chrono Trigger had this problem, so I don't hold that against it, especially considering that some of the NPCs have moderately interesting dialogue, which I found to be a pleasant surprise. Furthermore, Phantasy Star's detailed and beautifully drawn world map is large and chock full of towns, giving the game an epic scope that makes you feel like you really are on a grand adventure through a brutal desert world.
Phantasy Star IV may have a big wide open world to explore, but its structure is fairly linear. Most of the time you'll either be fighting monsters, traversing the world map, tracking down the next plot point in a town, purchasing new weapons and armor, watching one of the game's awesomely-presented story events, or making your way through thankfully streamlined dungeons. There is not much in the way of offbeat objectives, but what Phantasy Star IV does do it does extremely well. For instance, the combat. Combat can sometimes be a drag in older RPGs, but Phantasy Star IV is a notable exception. The combat is fast, fluid and can get very tense. The quickness and fluidity is in large part due to Macros, which are basically slots that allow you to program a set of actions that you can save and use at any time during battle. If you find yourself having to grind, macros are a huge time saver, and during battles requiring strategic play, you can use macros to control the order in which your characters perform actions. Macros are especially helpful in pulling off the game's combination attacks, which require you to perform two separate attacks in quick succession.
Some fights can be a great challenge, and many of them are nail-biters, but Phantasy Star IV is not an especially difficult game. Rather, its difficulty is pitch perfect, offering a healthy challenge in the fights---even regular enemies can deal out quite a bit of damage---but avoiding the headache-inducing mazes of Phantasy Star II in favor of dungeons that are more straight-forward and make a lot more sense. That doesn't mean that Phantasy Star IV's dungeons are completely linear however. You will have to figure out which way to go on your own and many of them do have labyrinthine characteristics. But unlike Phantasy Star II, they are quite reasonable and do not require a walkthrough to complete.
The interface is pretty well done overall, but one aspect of Phantasy Star IV that was not refined and modernized is the sometimes incomprehensible spell names and the lack of spell/item descriptions. Some people might think not having descriptions makes the game hardcore or endearingly old school, but for this gamer, it was quite frustrating to have to experiment with items and spells in order to find out what they do. I actually ended up getting a list of the spell descriptions online. Would it have killed Sega to put in a brief sentence about what each spell and item does? It's especially baffling considering that the developers made such an effort to refine the game in other areas.
One of those other areas is the storytelling. Phantasy Star IV is the story of a hunter named Chaz who, under the guidance of his mentor Alys, gets sent to deal with a monster outbreak at the Piata Academy. After destroying the monsters in the academy basement, the heroes find out the monsters are the product of an epic conspiracy involving a magician named Zio and an unstoppable dark force. The story doesn't sound like much from my hopefully spoiler-free description, but it has a number of interesting twists and turns and a charming cast of characters who interact with each other convincingly and have distinctive personalities. Chaz is headstrong; Alys is tough and slightly pushy; a scholar you meet along the way, named Hahn, is quiet and soft-spoken; Rika, a synthetic leather-wearing pink-haired chick with cat ears, is innocent and compassionate; the wizard Rune is brooding and mysterious, etc. These characters might sound like archetypes, but the way they interact with each other makes them seem quite human even though the events are almost entirely fantasy.
The story is well-paced and hits all the right notes that you would expect a JRPG story to (there's even a character death!), but what really makes the story pop is the game's cutscenes. To be accurate, these are not really cutscenes, but are comic panels that house manga-style drawings of the story events as they unfold.
Quite simply, I can't think of a better way to present a story back in 1994/95. The pictures are well drawn, bold, expressive, and always give the player a clear picture of what is happening. Like a well-illustrated comic book, they are simply awesome to look at. I found myself wanting to beat boss fights just to look at the next set of comic panels that I would inevitably be rewarded with.
Plot-wise, Phantasy Star IV is well-structured and eventful, but one slight weakness in the plot is that it sometimes relies too much on fetch quests to obtain yet another legendary and powerful item. I understand that Phantasy Star IV is hardly the only JRPG to fall back on this trope, but it came across as a bit contrived at times.
Like I mentioned earlier, Phantasy Star IV has a very unique atmosphere and that is in large part thanks to the excellent 16-bit visuals. Unlike Phantasy Star II, the sprites are not just lazy palette swaps, but are unique to their respective characters. Furthermore, the backgrounds are detailed and have plenty of visual texture, the world map is drawn in such a way that the geography seems natural and organic, the enemy designs are absolutely superb (they monsters look very nasty and formidable), and the animations are graceful and fluid. All things considered, Phantasy Star IV Is one of the better looking games on Genesis.
The sound effects in Phantasy Star IV are nothing to write home about, but the music is very memorable and well composed, ranging from hard electronica to wistful town melodies to world map music that is simultaneously cheerful and mysterious. It speaks quite well of the soundtrack that it is one of the essential pieces of shaping the game's distinctive atmosphere.
If you've been wanting to play a Phantasy Star game, but find it difficult to get past their oldness, you owe it to yourself to play Phantasy Star IV. With its slick exciting battles, its superbly presented story, and an atmosphere that still feels unique and fresh, Phantasy Star IV is well worth any modern RPG player's time and money.
GAMEPLAY: 4.5/5
DESIGN: 4.5/5
STORY: 4/5
VISUALS: 4/5
PLAYABILITY: 4.5/5
VALUE: 4/5