Phantasy Star IV/YMMV

• Main
• Characters
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Fridge
• Headscratchers
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

• Awesome Music: PS1 Dungeon Arrangement 2
• Complete Monster: Zio the black magician definately counts as one.
• Even Better Sequel: The first two games of the tetralogy were important as some of the earliest examples of JRPGs, however, they also have a lot of grinding, punishing difficulty and are quite light on story, making them difficult to get into. PSIII was rushed and became a Contested Sequel for multiple reasons. This game features much more story and character interaction, a lighter difficulty curve and faster pacing, such that it is still cited by many as one of the best JRPGs ever.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Rika. Helps that's she's an Expy of (or was actually supposed to be) another darkhorse of the series.
• Good Bad Bugs: It is possible to glitch the game into getting Alys back into your party toward the end of the game.
• Nausea Fuel: Garuberk Tower is disgusting, even by Womb Level standards. It's hard to imagine without seeing it yourself, but picture this: the tower is organic, apparently alive, and constantly pulsating. Strange green fluids run through clear tubes flowing out of the "floors" and "walls" of the place. The treasure chests are covered in the muck that makes up the place. "Elevators" open by muscular action with a nasty squelching sound, and while it's not shown how they move you from floor to floor, they're shaped roughly like an esophagus, so your mind fills in the details. And all of these things only get more prevalent as you get higher up in the tower. All this from sprite-based 16-bit graphics.
• Player Punch: Alys' death. This was long before a certain flower girl, and just as shocking to 16-bit players as the later 32-bit generation. It's made particularly heart-wrenching by the fact that you actually took steps to prevent it, including navigating a dungeon that sported a significant difficulty bump and fighting a boss who could be somewhat troublesome if you weren't ready for him. This was done with the expectation dangling in front of your face that you'd cure Alys AND get Rune back, and then the game jerks the rug out from under you and says "Just kidding, you suck." And, as is mentioned below, the way the death is portrayed, the music, and the characters' reactions really twist the knife, far more than Aeris' death did.
• Tear Jerker: Alys' death. When she is injured by Zio's Black Wave attack shortly before his death, she becomes seriously ill and the characters rush her to a Trauma Inn. It proves ineffective, and even after a significant amount of bed-rest Alys' condition deteriorates. She dies in what's perhaps one of the least flashy, most realistic and most sombre RPG deaths ever.