Split Second – Phantasy Star SEGA AGES #26

Aged pretty well but game still needs some better hand holding…

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SEGA AGES Phantasy Star – Nintendo Switch – Released: 10/31/18 (Japan) – $7.99

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Split Second Review

I didn’t grow up playing Phantasy Star, it wasn’t until the Gamecube version of Phantasy Star Online that I started playing the series but then it ended there as well. Honestly I wasn’t even born to be able to play Phantasy Star when it came out and by the time I was born and understood enough to play something like that. No one would have sat with me to complete it even if I was enjoying it. Fast forward to today and yeah… I still needed to go online to find information on where to go and what to do.

Makes me wonder how people were able to do this 30 years ago without a guide. I guess it could have been a Metroid or Zelda situation where people talked to each other and shared secrets on the playground or had adult help. The instant I started up the game I was fairly lost… I never felt as though I knew where to go so I spent a good 2-3 hours just talking to random NPCs, running to the next town hopefully not dying while on my way, and then finding out there is nothing to learn in that town. Now the SEGA Ages has a few helpful information tabs like telling you what items do, spell list, weapon list, and armor list. But why not include a short guide in the menus as well? I know that would be some serious hand holding but having a tab that shows current mission and what town or area to go to would help greatly.

Once I started following a guide, I started to really like the game since it felt a lot like Final Fantasy which came out the same year. I would have likely enjoyed playing this game back in the day if I knew about it. Finishing the game is a serious journey as it took me around 25 hours to beat. So not a small game by a long shot, I spent a lot of time grinding but that is expected considering the age of the game. The AGES version includes the ability to move faster so that sped up some of the process as well.

Should you buy Phantasy Star for the Switch? Depends if you are willing to seek out the solutions on your own or read a guide for most of the adventure. Personally I don’t mind doing this but I do hope the other games come or at least bring the game stateside since this is a Japan exclusive game for the time being.

Trailer: