My play through of Phantasy Star 3

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My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby DarkMyau » Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:07 am

I had to, I couldn't help myself - Ernie McCracken (Kingpin)

After playing Phantasy Star 1 and 2, I had to break this classic out.

I honestly have no idea how this is the black sheep of the series. True, its unfinished as the team was pulled off it to make Sonic the Hedgehog. But what they made was still great. The sound track is incredible and the generations theme works amazingly.

Phantasy Star 3 goes into the "what if" category for me. Just like Star Wars KOTOR 2, what could we have played if it was finished? lol what could have fit on the cartridge? Judging by Phantasy Star 4, a lot.

So will I remember everything and rush through it? Or is it a lot harder than I remembered like 2? Lets find out.
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Re: My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby DarkMyau » Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:14 pm

Rhys is underway. I pick a short sword and out I go. Mieu is easily recruited and into the cave to grind to lvl 5 before getting the sapphire from Lyle.

In hindsight, I should have equipped Rhys with 2 knives as the short sword sucks damage wise. Rhys quickly falls behind Mieu in damage dealt and honestly stays there the whole run. Two attacks are better than one and Rhys just doesn't hit hard enough. Rhys + Sword < Rolf + sword.
Mieu's techs work better than I remember and she is curing poison and even reviving herself quickly. Only once in the playthrough does she fail to revive anyone.

ISLAND CAVE - We own this place! Rhys and Mieu walk everywhere and gain the first 5 levels very quickly. Not even close to a death yet.

TO AQUATICA - Again no real challenge here and two levels each to boot. I'm nervous that things seem to be going a bit too well...

Well here I am in Rysel and yup, not enough money to buy everything I need so outside for grinding. Wow Buzzgulls are tough, but the exp is there. Lvl 9 comes before I have the Meseeta. But I finally move on.

TO ARIDIA - Pretty straight forward, Rhys is lvl 10 now and I hate his short sword. Mieu is carrying the team hard.

GIants seem tough, but arn't and we reach Hazatack without issue. Finally a Sword and better armour for both. But I dont have enough for a hunting shot for Wren. Do I grind up for it or get impatient? Yup, impatience wins and after a little grinding I decide the weather control tower would be better to grind in so wander west to get Wren.

WESTERN CAVE - I brought 2 monomates and an antidote each for Rhys and Mieu. But we burn through those and all of Mieus MP just as we reach Wren...who doesnt have a weapon.. Luckily he has an escapepipe and I boldly flee. (I had an escapepipe already so it was just a bonus) The trip back to Hazatack is annoying as Wrens tech's are useless.

A little grinding to get Wrens armour and again I decide it would be better to grind in the control tower.

WEATHER CONTROL TOWER - Hi ya Lyle...With one staff and no where around to get a second one...And a garment too...so no armour. Well he's there and at least he chips in damage wise...Not much. The monsters rap up massively in here and I decide to grind for meseeta. The best fight in the generation is here! 4 back row Fearmoo's and 4 front row Clusters. 200 Mst and a lot of damage as they love to spam zan!!! Sadly the fight is rare but over 100 per fight from other enemies is doable. I again run low on medicine and MP and have to bail out and head back. Mieu dies within sight of the entrance, and I have to run back to town without her.

Back in Hazatack I see that I made over 1000 mst! All the armour for Lyle and Wren is bought and I decide that its time to upgrade to dimate. Monomate just isn't cutting it anymore and I am using Mieus res too much. Now the smart move would have been to go back to the tower and grind for more mst as I will need loads of it for the next area. But I wonder how much I will get from Shursoren and decide to press on. Exp still isnt an issue as I feel at lvl 13 I am over leveled for this point in the game.

Agoe offeres better armour and weapons but wow! Are they expensive. Shursoren isnt any better and I cant afford anything.. Time to grind.

SHURSOREN - The levels keep coming but the money is taking a long time. I just buy a steel sword for Rhys and again wonder if grinding will be better in Cille.

VS LYLE - First boss fight. He hits hard with foi but is down in 3 rounds. Who was he kidding? Anyway moving on and with Lena we are finally a five!

Any expectations on Lena should be left at the door. She will never do decent damage, she can take a punch though and gets decent HP. And hey, five is better than four. Well back to Aridia

WEATHER CONTROL TOWER - Yay....back tracking. But this time I bring dimates and am planning to grind a lot. The exp and Mst is wayyyyyy better than Shursoren and I put together 2k which I mistakenly think is plenty... Not even close.... But With Rhys and Mieu dying and Mieu (with full MP) failing to cast Rever on either herself or Rhys, I limp back to town again. Yup the theme of this run so far is grass is greener on the other side lol and I decide to head for Cille instead of going back for more mst. *sigh*

Outside of Cille is actually great for mst, the dungeon on the other hand is good for exp but not money. There are chirpers here.... WHYYYYYYYY???

CILLE - Yup, no h, its Cille and I remember this dungeon completely. Its a leasurely walk to the King with only a few dimates used. But here we go!

VS KING Cille - Really? 3 rounds??? He's not even close to hurting anyone. I bought 5 dimates that don't get used at all for each party member that the next generation will get to enjoy I guess. His Dryad body guard meets Wrens Ceramic Shot and are reduced to a fine red mist in the first attack of the fight and he flails angrily at us doing very little damage with zan and is dog piled on by all five of us. Generation 1 complete!
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Re: My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby DarkMyau » Wed Feb 01, 2023 2:31 pm

So that's that. Rhys proves his point and beat up two Layans.... Who just wanted their family back.... But at least Aquatica is saved!!! Yeah...we meant to do that..... And the Androids still think we are all stupid.

Messing with the moon orbits though. Well what could possibly happen?

Heres how they Ended

RHYS - Good enough rather than good. I expected more damage out of him, but he did contribute and was the hardest hitter by the time he got the Steel Sword. I just wish I had gone for knives early on as the Short Sword sucked hard.
He finished at lvl 19

MIEU - The MVP of the team easily. She carried Rhys and Wren early on and was always a reliable damage dealer. Her healing was also vital.
She finished at lvl 18

WREN - Solid throughout, but once he was given the Ceram Shot, he rose to another level of damage.
He finished at lvl 17

LYLE - A great addition and with two steel staves he contributed a lot to the party. Still bitter about the backstab though..
He finished on lvl 5

LENA - Yeah!!! She was there too. Very little damage but she was tough and could take it.
She finished on lvl 13

So on to Generation 2 and the son of who ever I chose to marry.
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Re: My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby DarkMyau » Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:50 pm

It was Lena... I like Nial better ok. Also Ayns quest is pointless.

So we are underway and Nial is far better than Rhys was. Mieu and Wren were a few exp away so both level up in the first fight. Nothings too strong yet so I make my way south

TO ELYSUIM - Again, nothing too tough, I get a Laser shot, but want to keep the Ceramic shot as it kill's multiple enemies.

Divisia North is quaint enough and I'm happy that Nial is lvl 5 already.

DIVISIA DUNGEON - No real threat again and Nial is lvl 7 now. Alair is there and then she's gone. I cant help wondering if she could have escaped whenever she wanted. But we are out of there and moving on into South Divisia.

Great! I don't have enough mst...again! But I have everything soon enough and am on my way. I add 2 extra diamates to each party member to be safe as I remember the rebel cave being a bit rough.

REBEL CAVE - I got lost on the way here.... A bit tougher now as we are taking damage. But the monsters don't last long and nothings scary. Welcome Ryan (Love the sunglasses), with one staff. *sigh* again. Well lets begin the crazy long trip back to Aridia.

Well we are back in Divisia and I don't have enough for both of Ryan's staffs so more grinding for me. And lets move on. Back through the dungeon and up to the Landen cave. A long journey through Landen, only stopping to say hi to Rhys and Lena (Ryan must have been worried being the only Layan). I finally arrive at the Aridia cave.

TO ARIDIA - Some good gear in here and everyone is leveling nicely. Ryan is a great addition and I feel a bit over powered

We are here and after a short walk we arrive in Hazatack but I cant wait. Under Aridia we go! My favourite music in the game is here, so relaxing. And now we have Laya! Well a Laya. Not THE Laya. She's crazy weak early on but if I can get her leveled up, she will be amazing. Into the cave I go. Didn't even go to hazatack in the end.

TO FRIGIDIA - Just keep Laya alive, Just keep Laya alive. Annnnnnd she's down. Rez'd though so its ok. And she's down again.. Rez'd again so ok... Really 3 times??? Lucky I can still Rez her. Laya finally gained lvl 10 so she should be ok now? NO! She's down again and with no mp left...she watches us fight out way to Mystoke. Swear words were spoken. Meanwhile Nial is lvl 15. Wasn't that all I needed? Mieu still does not have 100hp and shes lvl 30! I am getting very unlucky on RNG. But Mieu still hits crazy hard so at least there is that.

I mistake New Mota for Mystoke and get annoyed. Where is this damn city??? This is one long treck and Laya is sill dead. everyone else is leveling though...yay. Finally! Laconian staff's are how much!!!???? 15k??? Well maybe if I go through the castle I will get the 30k mst I need.

MYSTOKE CASTLE - Why! Just why! 60 mst!!! What the heck and I supposed to do with that?? Does anything give good meseeta in here??? I'm not going to get 15k am I? Nials lvl 16 and Laya is leveling like crazy at least. She is over the hump and now doing a good amount of damage and her magic is fantastic. Laya doesn't seem to miscast. I am making no money at all in here. Going the long way is not helping... And we are here. Laya's final message about some ancient evil and joining Orakio. I wonder by ancient evil, does she mean the weapon shop merchant in Paseo from Phantasy Star 1. 15k for Diamond armour! He's still a thief

Well that's done and I have 15k mst. So one Staff for Ryan. *sigh* Nothing in there gave much money so I'll try outside. Four fights later... 1k mst. SO I'd need to have 60 more fights to get the 15k I need?? Ryan my friend, going without is sometimes a good thing so your only getting one laconian staff. Moving on!

No cave this time as we can now use the temples. I decide to wander around Elysium a bit for money and still get very little. Onto Aerone! And what a shock I cant afford anything. Maybe the hanger has some good grinding? Nope chump change again. Why Sega, just why?? Let go to the moon then.

DAHLIA - I do like the theme, but damn is it loud! I wander a bit and hope for some good money. Nope! Maybe in the dungeon? ..... There are no encounters down here. You know what?? Screw this I don't remember the 3rd gen having any money issues and Lune is right there. So let it be their problem!

VS LUNE - The only boss battle in the whole Nial run. His little minions are tougher than I expected but he's not doing too much damage. Laya has to cast Gires a few times but we are hanging in there. And he's down! Gen 2 over!!!
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Re: My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby DarkMyau » Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:02 pm

And that ends Gerneration2. Lune is angry, Nial smacks him, Lune is happy now. Those Rebels in the cave can go home now and Divisia seems to get away with abducting Alair. So all's well that ends well.

Hers how they ended.

NIAL - Tougher than Rhys and hit way harder too. Didnt die once, not even close.
He finished on lvl 16

MIEU - She didnt get to 100hp!! WTF??? Other than that she was great all the way through. No deaths for her either.
She finished on lvl 32

WREN - Big damage and a huge amount of HP. No death here as well. He was great throughout.
He finished on lvl 32

RYAN - Firstly, great look. Secondly his magic was useless. But great damage and very tanky. He didnt die once either.
He finished on lvl 5

LAYA - weak early on and died 4 times before I got to Mystoke. Died again in the castle, but then found her form. Amazing healing and chipped in nicely with damage.
She finished on lvl 27

All in all a great party. Far better than Rhys and co. Nial, Mieu, Wren and Ryan hit hard and could take a ton of damage. I never felt in any trouble. On to Generation 3!
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Re: My play through of Phantasy Star 3

Postby Cherok » Tue Apr 11, 2023 2:24 pm

I also really liked PS3, but you're right, so can't go in expecting the same experience that you had (or would have) with the shoulder titles.

One real knock against how likeable it is is the battle system. It's so so stupid - you don't see your party members beyond a name, the music box icon for battle (and a smaller one for... little battle?) are a strange choice, and as comical as it was, the little movements made by enemies are super dumb.

That said, the branching pathways, the difficulty curve and the general art style are all above average. And dare I say it -- the beat by beat story is an improvement on PS2.
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