In this final installment of the famous Phantasy Star saga, our protagonist, while out on a routine assignment, uncovers evidence pointing to a sinister threat to the entire solar system. One thing leads to another and he and the rest of his party eventually find themselves fighting the root of all evil.
However, during his quest, Chaz realizes that evil has been around for quite some time. In fact, he even learns about those who, for the past 2000 years, fought evil. He even finds one of these warriors!
- Emulator used : Gens 11a
- Completion of all sidequests
- Entertainment trade-offs
- Manipulation of luck
Yet another submission of Phantasy Star IV. This one stands out from the others as it's not about pure speed but rather about entertainment. Indeed, in this run, I show every imaginable reference to Phantasy Star I and II. Although they are show are subtitles on Youtube, here there are (from regular gameplay and from the ones I added)
- In Motavia Academy, professors talk about the destruction of Parma, which happened 1000 years before the events of PS IV; it caused the Great Collapse, the quasi end of civilization in Algol.
- The bust right before the dungeon is that of Dr Luveno/Lubetz, who helped Alis in her quest 2000 years ago
- In Zema, Alys talks about Ashline, the same medecine that cured Odin in PS 1
- The Bio-Plant is actually the Biosystems Lab from PS II (can't figure out how it moved to Zema, though). The music inside is a remix from a dungeon music in PS I
- Rika is a genetic improvment of Nei in PS II
- The wreckage is one of the caspules that escaped before Parma exploded in PS II
- On the computer, it says that some capsules espace the Algol system, making an indirect link to PS III
- DUring the fight with Zio, he casts Nightmare, the same one Alis fights (Succubus) in PS I when she first sleeps in the Governor'S mansion on Motavia
- Demi mentions a Landrover, which Alis used in PS I
- In the library, there is a biography of Dr Lubetz. There are also references to a few Genesis games : Golden Axe, Ecco the Dolphin and Sonic the Hedgehog
- In the weapon shop of Termi, people talk about a spellbinder. It's Lutz, who fought in PS I and who is a NPC in PS II
- The heroine people discuss about is Alis
- Her statue is in the village, along with Myau
- Rune stared at the statue, for some reason...
- The music for the Ladea tower is another remix from PS I
- The treasure I get is the Frademant, Lutz' best armour in PS I
- The old man in Tyler talks about the origins of his town. It was founded by Tyler, the space pirate who helped Rolf et al. escape from Gaira in PS II
- The ship is named after Alis Landale
- After the battle with Dark Force, Rune says he has seen it before...
- After getting out of Zelan, the team can now use the Icedigger, another vehicule used by Alis
- Inside Myst Valley, the team meets musk cats, who have seen "us" already.
- Further inside the cave, one claims he can finally open the (Ashline) bottle (from PS I)
- The big cat is Myau, from Phantasy Star I. He gives away his best weapon from PS I, the silver tusk, and claims to have seen "us" before...
- After saving her from the carnivorous trees forest, Kyra claims Lutz can help the team. Yes, the same one from PS I
- Esper Mansion is where Rolf meets Lutz in PS II, next to the same crevisse.
- The man inside the mansion talks about Elsydeon, a sword that has been passed down for millenia. Strange it was never talked about before...
- The statue is another one of Alis.
- The guards let Kyra pass because he's famous...
- Actually, he is the 5th descendant/heir to Lutz
- He talks about the explosion of Parma, that created great disbalance in Algol
- After the speech, the team must retrieve the Eclispe Torch, the same one Alis used in PS I
- The priest in Gumbious talks about the Corona Tower, where Alis obtained the Eclipse Torch in PS I
- The 3 priests who steal the torch go back to the Air Castle, where Alis fought Lassic in PS I. Someone will be waiting there...
- The weapon plant was built by Mother Brain 1000 years ago
- The second part of the Air Castle is, according to many, the exact same layout of Lassic's Castle in PS I
- The big boss is Lashiec/Lassic from PS I. He uses pretty much the same attack
- In the destructed Gumbious temple, the elder talks about Profound Darkness, which caused all the evil in Algol. Dark Force is merely its puppet.
- The team must now get the Aero-prism, the same one Alis and Rolf used long ago to complete their quests
- The team will need the hydrofoil, yet another vehicule from PS I
- The second last hunter mission deals with Daughter, an AI created by Mother Brain to control all AI of Algol
- When the team arrives on Rykros, they learn that the planet comes every 1000 years in Algo to warn people of imminent danger (it's not mentionned in previous games, though)
- After beating the bosses on RYkros, the team learns all about the story of Algol
- When he gets Elsydeon, Chaz gets to see the people who fought in PS I, PS II and also Alis' ghost
- Inside the Edge, I fought Propallus, Dark Force/Falz from PS I. It uses pretty much the same attack It was necessary in order to get Rune to level 35 and give him legeon
Despite my doing all sidequests (hunter missions, robot upgrades, the climate tower on Dezoris and the Anger Tower on Rykros), I still aim for some speed.
- Random fights can be totally avoided. I just need not to press the directionnal button one frame before the next step is taken
- Macros can be used to pre-determine actions. However, they are only useful if they can be used more than once (except for making combination attacks or specific orders, like the psyco-wand macro against Zio). Many people have claimed that targets can be pre-determined when using a macro; I have yet to find evidence for that. Also, I accidentally created an extra macro to fight Profound Darkness. However, I failed to improve the run when I tried without it
- When useful, combination attacks use less frames than two individual attacks. It also adds entertainment and can sometimes kill instantly. I used Blizzard (wat spells+ hewn), shooting star (burstroc+foi spells), firestorm (foi spells+ hewn), grand cross (efess+crosscut), circuit breaker (hyperjammer+flaeli), silent wave (phonomizer+airslash) and destruction (deban+megid+legeon+positron bolt). This macro explains why Rune needed to have such a high level and why Chaz needed to gain some levels too (megid requires 30 tp)
- With luck manipulation, there is no need to hunt for treasures. Chaz only need 2 optional swords; I also shop only once for vital objects
- The target in front is most likely to get hit; it can save a few frames
- Having turbo A and B pressed is a (real)-time saver and an in-game saver. Since my characters leve-up during boss fights, they can gain quite a few levels at the time, as it is the case with Chaz against Propallus
- Thanks to Fresh Feeling, I found a way to make boss fights after Juza much quicker. In effect, in Zio's tower, an ennemy drops a shadowblade. It does reduce stats like dexterity and mental power... but it can't be negative. Instead, it goes back to 255. So, Although Chaz can only cast tsu 3 times, the damage it causes shortens the battles by quite a bit. Also, with 254 dexterity, he never misses his target AND hits critically 100% of the time.
And now, the bosses
- Iglanova 1 is a breeze, although I have to enter commands manually, since a macro attacks the farther left ennemy (and Alys is faster than Chaz). Igglanova 2 succumbs to instant death
- Juza : Thanks to the shadowblade, Chaz' two uses of tsu quickly kill him. Killing Gryz also saves time
- Zio 1 : escaping and failing is much quicker
- GY-Laguish 1 : tsu helped again, along with phonomizer. When I need him to kill someone, I let him use his physical attack. Otherwise, he spews fire
- Zio 2: I was able to fight him without the wave shot, which I used in previous runs.
- Chaos wizard : sensitive to instant death
- Dark Force I : evil creatures are very sensitive to tsu (in my trials, I was even able to reach 700 damage)
- Gy -Laguish II : he goes down much quicker with a boosted team
- D-Elm : weak against instant death
- Xe-La-Thoul : tsu and the silver tusk made all the difference. Blizzard also helped, once on is down, otherwise they use a very strong, attack-all spell
- Fake Torch : I needed Chaz to die to keep his level low
- Lashiec : since I needed so many people to die, I didn't cancel his reinforce. I also used a star-dew, which kept Rika and Rune from healing each other. In theory, I could use 2, but it would be too much manipulation to kill Kyra afterwards.
- Dark Force II : the silver tusk is so effective that I didn't need to heal
- Sandworm : ridiculously easy at level 20
- Frac ooze : a little harder, but very weak against fire
- King Rappy : hard. His single-target attack hits hard, so I had to watchout who remains alive
- Servants : I was able to get only one to attack.
- Destructors : I wasn't able to keep them from attacking. But I was still able to kill them instantly with circuit breaker. Inside the dungeon, I had to fight in order to give a little more experience to Rune.
- Dark Force III : much easier with the silver tusk and efess
- De-Vars : still hard, even though Rune is at higher levels.
- Sa-Lews : much easier with all those spells I have
- Prodound Darkness I : I needed it to target anyone but the androids
- Profound Darkness II : androids can withstdand the attack once
- Profound Darkness III : the repair-kit on Demi (plus the use of Medic Power) quickly gets the team back on its feet. The team was so strong that it only took 12 rounds of attack to defeat it. I finished in beauty with destruction, the ultimate macro.
Frame suggestion : 8345 (Lubetz' bust), 96335 (Alis' statue), 101446 (the Frademantl), 148994 (stating the name of the spaceship), 170118 (musk cat #1 who remembers Rune), 170633 (musk cat who can open a bottle), 170992 (Myau and the feeling of déjà vu), 230937 (Lashiec), 395326 (Propallus), 428794 (destruction)
DarkKobold: This run is pretty much the definition of an arbitrary goal. While well done, and many users appreciated it, it really doesn't fit into the content of the site. Rejecting for bad goal choice.
feos: This movie got quite a good feedback. Back when it was submitted it was even liked more than the any% run. The votes are rather positive as well. Accepting for Moons.
