What would you change in PS1 or PS2?

[rafael_esper]

Hi. First, let me introduce myself. I'm a big PS fan and I started working with PS fan games (based on the Verge engine) 10 years ago. The projects were suspended because of studying and working, and now I'm starting working on them again. I have 50% of my PS1 remake done, even though the other 50% are somewhat critic (the battlesystem, first person dungeons...).

I'm going to list the changes I've made (or plan to make) , and I would like to know your opinion about them, and what the other changes you would make if you could.

Phantasy Star 1
- Hapsby as a playable character. It can use the pistols as a weapon.
- Odin is now stronger (as in PS Generation), at level 30 he has more than 400 HP, the Laconian Axe is more powerful and he shouldn't use pistols.
- All monsters appear in battle, not only one in the middle of the screen.
- Fly magic let you choose the city you can go.
- The Ant Lion guarding the Mirror Shield is a boss.
- Tajima, master of Noah (Lutz) teachs him the 'Open' spell. (So he is essential part of the story, now).
- Dezorian monsters more powerful (as in PS Generation, they are able to petrify the characters).
- Seconday missions.

Phantasy Star 2
- The characters visit the planet Palma, before its destruction. Lots of things happen there!
- The characters join the party in their own city, not in Paseo (Rolf's home).
- As in PS4, the characters joins and unjoins the party based on the story. Amy is a permanent character, and so is Anna after Nei is gone. The player will choose among Hugh, Kain and Shir in the end to fight the ultimate boss.
- Less boring dungeons.


Thanks for any opinion.

[Tanith]

- Hapsby as a playable character. It can use the pistols as a weapon.
Not a bad idea if you're making this a five-party team. Seems like the most logical choice, and the game already borrows so much from Star Wars; might as well add R2-D2 to the mix.

- Odin is now stronger (as in PS Generation), at level 30 he has more than 400 HP, the Laconian Axe is more powerful and he shouldn't use pistols.
This is the first change I'd make, actually. Odin should be a tank and his ax attacks should deal more damage than Alis's swords. 15 year-old girl vs. 28 year old hulk? Yeah, he should pwn her.

- All monsters appear in battle, not only one in the middle of the screen.
Sounds like another logical update.

- Fly magic let you choose the city you can go.
Also good.

- The Ant Lion guarding the Mirror Shield is a boss.
Fun!

- Tajima, master of Noah (Lutz) teachs him the 'Open' spell. (So he is essential part of the story, now).
Another fine update.

- Dezorian monsters more powerful (as in PS Generation, they are able to petrify the characters).
I'd have to see this in action to know if it's a good update or not. As long as it's not too hard, as in, the petrification rate (weird phrase) isn't too high and the battles aren't next to impossible, then it sounds compelling.

- Seconday missions.
Examples? I already feel like Alis's adventure is one giant detour to her ultimate goal.

Phantasy Star 2
- The characters visit the planet Palma, before its destruction. Lots of things happen there!
Sure, why not? As long as it doesn't prolong the game too much, since it's already a fairly long game.

- The characters join the party in their own city, not in Paseo (Rolf's home).
By "own city" do you mean the cities that triggered them showing up at Rolf's house in the original? A lot of the characters are actually from Paseo, that's why I ask. Some of them are from cities that got wiped out by biomonsters, too. I think this is a fine idea, though.

Amy is a permanent character, and so is Anna after Nei is gone. The player will choose among Hugh, Kain and Shir in the end to fight the ultimate boss.
Meh to Amy and Anna being permanent characters, and where is Rudo? Rudo was the only swappable character I always had in my party. Amy's techs are less useful when you get the snow crown and other healing items, and Anna's slashers are great, but Kain's techs make him more useful. Hugh and Shir I almost don't use at all. Fix Shir's laconian daggers and I'd use her more. Give Hugh better armor and maybe I'd be compelled to take him along more, too. Also, let Kain equip better guns.

- Less boring dungeons.
I didn't think the dungeons were boring, but okay. Changes can be good. Do you mean making the dungeons tiles unique, rather than palette swaps?

Other suggestions:
Fix Amy's agility. It's redonk low, to the point of infuriating.

Fix Rudo's defense. It should be higher than everyone else's in the game when he's wearing the Nei Armor, except, perhaps, if someone actually equips the Nei Shield (I never used it).

Slashers should slash through all enemies on screen. Tone down their attack power, though. They were a bit high in PSII.

As mentioned, fix the laconian dagger bug.

As also mentioned, let Kain equip better guns.

Make swords more useful than their knife counterparts.

Give Hugh more healing techs than Rolf.

Add skills, like in PSIV. That way Rudo can at least use a skill every now and then, like, say, he can equip an add-on to his gun, much the way Wren equipped stuff to himself. Thus, his M16 becomes an M203 for a couple of uses, or he can throw a grenade or two.

Backgrounds during battles.

Vehicles.

[Shadowcaster]

Phantasy Star 2.

- Increase the power of one-handed guns. In PS2, Rolf can dual-equip 2 Sonic Guns (badass) but that's more expensive and even weaker in terms of attack power than just equipping him with a Sword.

- Fix Hugh's techniques. This I'd consider a very important thing to do. About half of his biomonster techs are status afflicting things that do little good even in the rare event that they happen to work.

- Character development. Well, who doesn't want this?

- Whole OST listenable at Ustvestia's, instead of just a handful.

- Laconian Dagger needs to be fixed. (repeated, I know.)


Those are a few that come to mind, aside from what's already been said.

- As in PS4, the characters joins and unjoins the party based on the story. Amy is a permanent character, and so is Anna after Nei is gone. The player will choose among Hugh, Kain and Shir in the end to fight the ultimate boss.

Absolutely NOT. Completely deciding your own party is one of the strong points in PS2. I, like many people, hate when party members in JRPGs leave the party with a stupid excuse.

[Zucca]

Fix the Laconian Dagger buuuuuuug!

[HTD]

Love your ideas.

PS1:

Have a prologue that features NERO but doesn't give too much away of the plot.

PS2:

Id add more depth to the cities, give them better graphics to make it seem like say blade runner. Have more events within cities and also totally revamp the graphics, probably to match with PS4.

This is also another point, Id redo the sprites to look like PS4.