Molcum

[etony33]

This is just a funny little thing...if you go to Molcum before going to Zema, the village is blocked off by two Motavian natives who say that Palmanians are not allowed in the village. But if you use the Debug menu to bypass them, you can talk to the two people walking around inside the village, who ask "aren't you guys agents of that guy Zio?". If you go further into the village, Rune is there, and you can talk to him (where he joins you the first time), but he doesn't actually join you, and the game freezes when you try talking to the two Motavians blocking the entrance from the back.

[The PS Logo]

Either there wasn't enough space on the cartridge for guard-responses-from-behind, or Sega genuinely believed people wouldn't do that to the game.

[etony33]

I'm going to guess it was the former.

I do find it really interesting that the two Motavian natives walking around the village actually have responses, as you normally can't talk to them.

[myau56]

I didn't know about it at all ! I've never tried to do that but I'm sure that in all the Phantasy Stars there is plenty of things like that to try out about blocked ways or other things !

[BenoitRen]

Obviously I don't know how the games are coded, but I'd think that the same code would be called when you talk to the guards from behind. Weird that it crashes.

[Doctor Hooves]

They probably didn't think it was worthy to create something for it, since it would be next to impossible to access the area without the debug mode.

Same with Raja Temple.

[etony33]

I would guess that the reason why it does that is because the Molcum guards likely don't have a back sprite at all, so it turns into a glitchy mess.

It's not unlike having Banon ride a chocobo in Final Fantasy VI (which can be done without hacking or any cheat codes at all. Games were just coded really sloppily back then)

[BenoitRen]

You had sloppily coded games, but also games that were coded well. Don't generalise. There was lots of great work done back then by brilliant programmers.

[etony33]

Sure, there were quite a few games that were coded very well. Phantasy Star (SMS) is an example of this. If there are any major bugs or glitches, I haven't come across them.

With that said, games today are almost always free of serious bugs or glitches...but then again, they have a lot more space to work with and they can patch games as needed.

[etony33]

The closest thing to a bug in the original Phantasy Star was probably due to an oversight by the programmers - and it wasn't a bug in the traditional sense, but just a way to screw yourself over.

After getting Hapsby, but before getting the Landrover/Hovercraft, use a TRANSER or the FLY spell. It brings you to the last church you visited: Paseo. Spaceport is closed. You are stuck in the Paseo prison, giving you access to Paseo, the spaceport, the Maharu cave, and the enclosed area of Motavia between these places.

I suppose you could go down the trap door in the Dezoris West cave, have no flute, no EXIT spell or MP to cast it, and save your game...but if you're that much of an idiot, you probably deserve it. It would be much easier to be stuck using the method above.

[Zucca]

I have distant memories glitching/soft locking PSII using Telepipe or Ryuka...

[BenoitRen]

With that said, games today are almost always free of serious bugs or glitches...but then again, they have a lot more space to work with and they can patch games as needed.

Um... no. Games today are buggier than ever due to being very complex and rushed to release.

[etony33]

Look at the amount of glitches in Pokémon R/B/Y versus the newer ones, for example. Not even close

[BenoitRen]

Those early Pokémon games are also some of the most studied games, and they often require very specific actions to trigger the glitches.

[zio_falz]

Whats funny about Molcum is that its burnt down you find Rune there. Then moments later, Rune show off impressive fire magic, to blow up boulders. Coincidence?