Sega RPGs I Wish I Played
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
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► Thanks for watching the video! What are some other Sega RPGs that I should really play?
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If you only play Lunar 1 & 2 once, then make it the PS1 versions. There, problem solved.
Complete.
Bro, its time for you to come back more to YT!
I would normally ignore game ads (thank you Raid), I might look into Infinity Knights. Cool Sponsorship Jerd
if you need any recommendation, i would say shining force 1(maybe 2, didnt play it much but it doesnt quite have the same feel from what i have played so not sure) is definitely a must either on the genesis or the updated GBA version, while i cant say much about the original lunar game i know there was that lunar legend version on the GBA, its pretty good but i dont know if its better then the original version, golden sun and golden sun 2 are definite must if you looking at GBA games tho
@@twitchsopamanxx you do know he uploads almost daily on pro jared plays and projared vods right?
Anyone even just mentioning "Skies of Arcadia", even in passing, creates a near uncontestable urge in me to play through the GC Legends port again.
So it wasn't just me!
Nintendo need to get Skies on Switch.
@@UltimateGamerCC That's up to Sega not Nintendo, but ya, they need to get off their asses and port that game to newer systems.
Play Skies of Arcadia....give Into the temptation young Skywalker....hahahahahahahaha
It's taken me awhile to get through my play through on my Dreamcast,(I keep getting too busy to play), but Skies of Arcadia quickly became one of my favorite games of all time. The characters, world, and technical feats accomplished on the original hardware just sucked me in 20 years after the game's initial release. I'm sad I missed out on it growing up, but I'm so happy I could experience it with all the awe and wonder I would've had.
Fun fact: When Sega released Phantasy Star II, they were so concerned it might be too hard for western gamers that they decided to include a hint book with it for free. This apparently insulted reviewers so badly that they docked the game points for it. For something they threw in for free that you can literally just completely ignore if you want to.
Just another reason Game Journalism has always been trash
To paraphrase Jared: Reviewers made no sense at the time.
Think it's funny that now that sorta thing is expected and not an insult. How often do you see Full guides sold along side games now?
Sega always seemed to be just slightly to ahead of the curve of the trends that we'd take for granted.
Isn't that right Nomad... I mean Switch.
@@ReikuYin Yeah but nobody buys those guides, especially now that the internet exists and you can get any information that book tells you for free. Hell if you want you could get a scan of the guide...for free
I mean if the game was better designed it wouldn't be needed. The grinding, mazes and how you lose your sense of direction after battle is really tedious in that game
Jared's "Gah, I heard you already!" video 🤣
Where is Beyond Oasis (The Story of Thor in EU)? A MUST-PLAY! The interaction with every element (water, fire, plant and shadow) of the environment for summoning the spirits was MIND-BLOWING in 1994.
Yup. He totally spaced on that one. And the Saturn sequel.
Loved Beyond Oasis. Back then I managed to acquire that infinite sword after completing the 100 levels challenge.
He definitely needs to add it to the list if he hasn't played it yet. Also, haven't played it myself, but there's a sequel on Saturn called Legend of Oasis. May be worth looking into that as well.
@@willisfrkz Yes, me too. You had to go behind a particular tree to fall into this 100 levels dungeon. I remember that the reward was a fire imbued sword with infinite charges. This is the kind of charm that I miss in most of today's games.
@@GuardianEnzoMatrix I completed Legend of Oasis years later thanks to the Saturn emulators, not as good as Beyond Oasis (by the way Legend of Oasis acts as a prequel to Beyond Oasis)
"Sword of Vermilion" being more ambitious than it is good is a good summary. i think that's also what makes it one of the most valuable games for designers to study for the basis of new games. the combination of traditional jrpg elements, dungeon crawling, and 2 different action rpg systems for field and boss battles could make for a brilliant modern rpg
The artwork for the bosses in sword of vermillion is absolutely fantastic though.
Truly gorgeous spritework (albeit repeated palettes)
Agreed more interesting to study than play. I played the heck out of this game, and still love it, but my recollection is for all the interesting things the devs did, it becomes a bit sloggy, especially on the back end (which is justified in-game, but mostly results in running away from now-repetitive encounters to save time/resources in the looong maps). I do think the game's got pleasant surprises in there even for a modern player, especially the very evocative music. And the progression of difficulty in hazards/exploration is paced well, introducing gradually more complex maps to explore, monsters variants with tweaked move sets, while also giving players spells that can open up different options for travel and combat.
@@Ruthac i started a replay and the main combat is Ys-like. combat mechanics do open up a bit with more spells and monster projectiles / new patterns. the game definitely suffers from repetition and lack of variety. reskinned monsters and the only overworld textures i've encountered so far are trees and what appears to be... giant corn, lol. which is reskinned gray for caves.
i do think it holds up reasonably well as long as the player is accustomed to some of the typical rough around the edges elements of older rpgs, some modest grinding here and there. and the ost is cool!
i hope some modern game comes along inspired by the elements of vermilion tho, i think it's potentially a great blueprint to be polished. with more variety / points of interests in the dungeons, better plot / town dialogue, and polishing up those arpg combat systems to be less clunky could have made for one of the best rpgs of this generation. the core gameplay loop is excellent and unique
Landstalker is my favorite game of the ones here, I played it and ALMOST beat it while I was in the military back in the day. I look forward to your eventual playthrough of this game.
its my favourite 16-bit RPG, such a charming game. honestly rate it above a link to the past even
What I could never get behind was the controls. In a game about precision platforming and often pretty unforgiving timing, it was infuriating you have to press a face button and a diagonal direction if you want to turn 90 degrees. I also had a glitch in the last dungeon where a key just wouldn't spawn and I couldn't finish the game.
Apparantely, the issue with Popful Mail is that that screen is supposed to be the copy protection thing, so your segaCD thinks your copy is a pirated copy, not entirely sure if your copy is considered a pirated version and you didn't know or if your SegaCD is messed up. Cause it could be an issue with corrupted internal memory in your SegaCD. So you could try testing your copy on someone else's Saturn to check if your copy is legit and then see what you can do to fix your SegaCD.
Edit- SEGACD NOT SATURN LOL fixed it
Interesting! What the heck. I appreciate the info!
@@projaredI also heard there was a batch of defective Popful Mail copies many years back. I have a defective variant that had this issue. A bypass is to run the disc on an emulator that utilizes the BIOs and have the emulator run the physical game disc via a CD ROM - Provided you still have one... I believe a portable one does the trick.
You keep saying Saturn, but it's for the Sega CD lol
@@8BitAlchemy oh right lmao I think I had rewatched the video again and Jared was talking about a game on the Saturn while I was typing this out and for some reason that stuck in my head.
@@AsuraDandy haha all good!!
Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Sega Saturn is another absolute masterpiece... but unfortunately incredibly rare, expensive and without re-releases.
Essentially, they took the world they did for the Panzer Dragoon Rail Shooters, fleshed it out and made a fully 3D RPG which is almost fully voice acted as well on a 32-bit platform.
Ah. The sad reality that the price to own one has skyrocketed. Still, the Japanese version is still worth it if you get it. But otherwise, if a pirated version is the only way to play it, unless borrowed ?, I'd say go for it. It's on Sega for not re-releasing that masterpiece.
@@TheSliderW If the company is not offering any way to make their games accessible then it's okay to pirate their games.
Even if you did blow 1000 dollars on a copy on eBay it's not like Sega would even see a cent, so it's not like it would support them.
@@RegalPixelKing Agreed. If there is no legal way to procure it from the copyright owners then downloading a copy should be fine.
I'm a proud owner
@@bud9450 "...of an iso" ; )
So glad people ripped this before the disks rot and were lost to time.
I would watch a full playthrough of Jared playing literally any of these RPGs
I hear he's great at "Sex Pest: The RPG"
I absolutely would as well
@@gregorysgetaway6168 true
@@gregorysgetaway6168 you are really obsessed with calling him that, aren’t you?
@@gregorysgetaway6168 lmao
Dragon. Force.
Obscure as hell. But absolutely AMAZING.
I was searching if someone would suggest this! An excellent game!
Sadly we never got the sequel.😢
Wish I could upvote this more.
@@gjergjaurelius9798 You can find translations if you know where to look.
I remember seeing ads for this with the huge armies of sprites fighting each other. If I had a Saturn I'd definitely would've wanted to play this.
Shining Force 1 and 2 are masterpieces.
This.
One big RPG I think you missed on Saturn is Panzer Dragoon Saga. It's one of the best RPGs.
To clear something up about Shining.
Shining is the name of the series, the very first game being called Shining in the Darkness.
Shining Force is just the most recognized titles in the series so people commonly mistaken the series name as being Shining Force but that's not the case. The series is just called Shining.
It's a great series, if only more of its releases actually got released outside Japan. Especially the fighting game spinoff.
I know Shining is a series in itself, but now I'm imagining The Shining as a SNES-era horror-RPG. And honestly, it'd probably be a hybrid of Clock Tower and Sweet Home, which I would absolutely be on-board with.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if someone made something similar in RPGMaker, since RPGMaker Horror is a genre all in itself.
@@GmodPlusWoW Get Square Enix to make it. They already made a Ton Sawyer RPG. Why not have them adapt another book.
Also, Shining the Holy Ark is similar to Shining in the Darkness gameplay-wise.
@@aetherspoon Yeah I need to play that one.
And also got an artist who can at least TRY to crib the Camelot Art Style.
And a Series Leader who would actually do more things with it beyond basic ass RPGs with only human and elf party members (One of the biggest appeals to me of the Shining games are all the weirdos you can recruit.).
My top 5 Sega RPG-like games:
- Phantasy Star IV
- Shining Force
- Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
- Shenmue
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
Got into Sega RPGS around 2009 through the Ultimate Genesis Collection, quickly fell in love with Phantasy Star 4, Shining Force 2 and Beyond Oasis.
One of my favorite Sega RPG's is Elemental Gimmick Gear for the Dreamcast, and it's also been going up in price due to it's obscurity, plus the fact that it's a hidden gem and is exclusive to the system.
2D sprite based Action RPG's are not really a thing on Dreamcast, but this game is one of those, and it turns 3D every boss battle.
It's a really cool game that I wish got more attention, and I was hoping that it would be in here, but alas, you should cover it in a follow up video.
Ah yes , EGG!! I think it was supposed to be for Sega Saturn.
@@gjergjaurelius9798 That would make sense, considering the sprite based graphics, as there really isn't many games that were made for the Dreamcast that use sprite based graphics.
I just looked up the price for it as I haven't in years. Boy am I glad I picked it up when I did.
@@chaospoet Yup. Obscurity and being a hidden gem tends to make things more expensive than they should be. I've seen many games shoot up in value because of this, and it is very annoying when a game was like 5-10 bucks like 5+ years ago goes to 70-100 dollars now.
For example, Yakuza Dead Souls was a very cheap game when I got it, as it was like $10 in 2013-2014, and it didn't get favorable reviews at the time, but now it goes for like $70 complete now due to the series gaining popularity in the west, and the fact that it was a obscure release.
It's ridiculous, tbh.
@@NipplesTheEnchilada2323 I actually forgot about Yakuza Dead Souls. That was one I wanted for my collection, but kept forgetting to get it until I forgot about it entirely. Looks like that ship has sailed.
Phantasy Star II is awesome, but it's also awesomely archaic and rather ruthlessly designed.
It was sold with a hint book on purpose, not just cause JRPGs were a novelty, but also cause the dungeons are insanely long winded, filled with dead ends, while your group is stuck with the walking speed of a paraplegic. The first dungeon when you don't already know what you're doing is easily an hour long if you try your best.
One midgame dungeon is infamous for having a whole main path that leads to absolutely nowhere for easily a dozen minutes, and the real path is behind the entrance door where you have to walk in the black void space and walk along.
The hint book has the map of every dungeon and item location within. I have to imagine the game was designed that way to discourage the used & rental market.
Not to mention, you can only save in town... unless you hire the thief character at some point, and have her steal an item in a specific town that allows you to save anywhere. It's that obscure and sadistic. And whenever she steals an item, she defects from your party, and you have to go back to your home in the starting town to find her again... even if it's from a shop on a different planet. Don't ask questions.
It's also pretty damn tough in battles. Since dungeons are so long, you have to save up on ressources, and items to refill your TP are extremely rare, same for ressurection. Each dungeon is a survival test.
Is it worth playing though? Yes, absolutely. All of what I mentioned is part of the fun, although I would perhaps pull a map of each dungeon if I were a bit less patient.
Phantasy Star III is the one that's a bit more contentious because of its change in setting, and quite frankly I could not stomach the aesthetic for an hour. Maybe it would pass better with CRT filters or on OG hardware.
I read somewhere that the guy responsible for the dungeons was an enthusiastic new hire and sometime through development they realized how difficult his designs were but they thought it would be a waste to scrap his dungeon designs
I think PS3 is highly underrated,back in 1996 when I got my hands on this masterpiece, I sank about 100 hours into it ,in like a month, weird to start but it's bloody heroin if you let yourself get into it. At least I certainly did.
In one dungeon, there is a monster called Blaster, which shows up in groups of three. They can do an attack that hits your entire party for massive damage. If they surprise your party and all do the attack, your party is pretty much gone, and there's nothing you can do about it. Fun times.
I never thought about the idea that they were trying to possibly discourage the rental and used markets. I rented this game with my allowance many times and never was able to get too, too far until I had a copy of my own.
Me and my grandmother played the shit out of ps3 back in the day, I love it but I know it's rough, it was one of the first games (that I had played) to be translated to my language and I still have the manual with me. I don't think it was underrated, but it had some good ideas behind it. If only they were better executed...
Great video! And great choice of the Phantasy Star 3 overworld theme for your intro music. Fun fact: the overland theme actually gains layers and complexity as you add members to your party. It goes from this sad, almost lonely dirge as you wander by yourself, and builds to a rousing, triumphal march as your complete party marches to the end! It was a really cool idea and I wish more game soundtracks would do that.
yo I see that "edited by Dylan" in the description. hell yeah, now that's a name we now in the 90's fans like to see!
Fruck Yea
🙂↕️
Editor Dylan. Hell yeah!
Watched more for Editor Dylan than for Jared…
@@knghtbrd can we put them both as tied for first? Lol
I was also a Nintendo kid growing up but I played several Saturn RPGs since the N64 was sadly lacking in that arena: Magic Knight Rayearth, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Samurai Shodown RPG, Genso Suikoden, Vandal Hearts, and Terra Phantastica, to name a few
Soleil (Crusader of Centy) is one of my favourites, picked up a copy at a convention near mint for a great price and quickly fell in love.
OMG pure trash. I played it for hours and hours and like nothing happened. So, so boring. The stupid hedge killing mechanic is pointless and infuriating. Awful twee style. Hated it.
I make a point to play through once a year. Definitely an all time favorite for me.
@@iwanttocomplain You have just proven opinions can objectively be wrong. Great game.
Can I just say to the channel owner I very much appreciate how none of my posts have been deleted. Not like Retro Comparisons channel 'All Sega Genesis Vs SNES Games Compared Side By Side' where every technical correction (respectfully, to young commenters) I made last night was deleted. Pure engineering speak. Totally not allowed.
Phantasy Star's roots are anything but humble. Out of the iconic JRPGs released in 87 Phantasy Star 1 was by far the most ahead of its time. Leagues and bounds ahead of FF1, for example. I like Phantasy Star 4 the best of the original games, but 1 isn't far behind!
Phantasy Star 1 is one of my all-time favorite RPGs! It may not be as technically strong as other games, but something about it is just so delightful to me!
If Phantasy Star 1 was a NES title then it would have become a regular sight on peoples' top 10 lists for the system. Even if its color palette had to be simplified to make it possible. It's that good.
Having never played a SEGA RPG, my list includes all of them.
Lol
Never played Yakuza or Persona?
@@Franco-ty3yd Nope!
@@HPRshredder damn, give them a try! I'm sure you'll like them.
@@HPRshredder I never even played the Phantasy Star series and I heard they are some of the best of all-time.
A few more Sega RPG's of the top of my head worth checking out would be
- Shining in the Darkness
- Light Crusader
- Soleil
Soleil is shown in the video , though (Crusader of Centy).
@@GodShiru You're absolutely right. That's what I get for doing it quickly off the top of my head :')
I guess Light Crusader is an RPG; never thought of it as one but if Landstalker can be then sure. Great game! Fun combat, neat puzzles, lovely sprite work, rich atmosphere, banger soundtrack, just fun to play! 👍
@@scottevensen2615 Yea, just like Landstalker, It's an action platformer masquerading as an RPG 🤫
Phantasy Star 1 is one of my all-time favorite RPGs! And I only first played it a couple years ago, so it's not a "nostalgia goggles" situation.
Sure, it's not as technically advanced as later games, but when I played it, it was SO satisfying! It really scratched that RPG itch I was suffering at the time. And it's got this fantasy + retro sci-fi aesthetic that I LOVE!
And at the time, I was only vaguely aware that the Sega Master System was even a thing, believe it or not. I was under the vague assumption that it was basically Sega's NES. But I was surprised at what it was capable of-- multi-colored sprites, large animated enemies, and when you go into a dungeon, the walls move astonishingly smoothly if you're expecting parallax sprite-based blocks that look kind of okay if you don't look too closely.
And speaking of the dungeons, I really liked breaking out the ol' graph paper and drawing out the maps as I went! Okay, maybe I'm kind of a weirdo who likes drawing dungeon maps on a grid, but I thought it was fun.
My only complaint is that it is a little grind-y. Not for experience, but for money. Specifically, there are a couple of times when you're expected to buy a key item from a shop, and they can get really expensive! Luckily, I found the combat fun enough that even then it was only a bit of an inconvenience rather than an absolute slog, but still.
The version on the Switch does solve the grind problem by adjusting some of the prices and how much gold you find, so that's good. Unfortunately, it also makes map-making unnecessary by giving you a mini-map. Or maybe that's just also a good thing to most people? Again, I'm an insane person who things that drawing grid maps and studying architecture is fun, so maybe I'm an outlier.
I only played a little bit of Phantasy Star 2, and I haven't played the later ones at all, but it seems to me that the games, while not DIRECT sequels, DO reference each other, so it probably is best to play them in order if you can.
I'm super glad Landstalker got a shout out, I hope you play it cause its certainly a hidden gem. Sure its not as rpg as the others, but it does have qualities that make it an rpg. Dungeons to go through, bosses to fight, secrets to discover, equipment to upgrade your current stuff, the different elemental swords to get, that was a cool feature to me. The story is quite great too with alot of comedic essence to it, its pretty anime to say the least lol. The music is great too, the overworld music has always been in my head and I never get sick of it, this game has some great music.
I really want to play that one, the only thing that stops me are the controls, i'm afraid i will have to play it on original hardware or buy a Mega Drive controller compatible with pc because no other controller seems to get the diagonals right to play that game
I believe there is a rom hack on steam that fixes the controls. I love Landstalker.
In no way is that game an rpg.
@@iwanttocomplain Yeah it is. It's just an action rpg
@@thesilentcoda Nothing wrong with the Landstalker controls. How would you improve them?
There are SO many worth mentioning but for a starter ~in Sega's consoles / handheld game library~ a good start point would be : Defender of Oasis, Ax Battler, Ultima IV (Master System / Game Gear) || Panzer Dragoon Saga , Albert Odyssey, Shining Force 3 (Saturn) || Shining Force II, Lunar 1-2, Rings of Power (Genesis & Mega CD) || Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, Silver (Dreamcast) .
I loved seeing so many RPGs I’m unfamiliar with! Hopefully there’s a workaround for that Popful Mail error because that 90s anime aesthetic is fantastic. Great video!
🙂↕️
OMG I completely forgot about Landstalker until I saw the footage you posted. I have very vague memories of playing it on the Sega Channel as a kid. Thank you for the memory reminder!
Shining Force II is one of my most favorite retro games ever! It makes me so happy to see it still getting love.
The advice you got about LUNAR is rock solid. PS1 is the best version, but just because they're solid remakes. Same game, better presentation. Also, the intro to LUNAR 1 on PS1 is one of the best intro cinematics to any game, ever, period. They wouldn't have gotten remakes if they weren't already great games on the Sega CD though. The PSP versions are like a bad Square remake. They took way too many liberties with the scripts to "modernize" them and added a ton of filler to perfectly good stories that didn't need it. And yes, you _should_ play them in order. LUNAR 2 isn't a _direct_ sequel with the same cast, but it _is_ set in the same universe and builds on the lore established in LUNAR 1 and even directly references events from 1. Plus, this isn't a Sonic 1 to Sonic 2 situation, more like Portal 1 to Portal 2. The original still holds up!
I would like to support and emphasize everything said here.
Agreed as well, and would like to add one other point that makes it better to play the PS port, item descriptions. I had so many things in the Sega CD version that I had no clue what use they where until I replayed it on the PlayStation. This is more for the first game then the second, but it helps in the newer versions overall.
I actually had a lot of difficulty playing the PS1 version after playing it on PSP, and better opening presentation is kinda debatable, I preferred the PSP opening theme (granted played the PSP one first so...)
I would have to disagree with this. They changed too much on the PS1 remake. It doesn't make sense for Luna to go with Alex to Meribia, Royce and Phacia are unnecessary, the dragons are enslaved instead of killed, Nall can turn into a fully-grown dragon at will because reasons... It's just a mess. The original has a... interesting... translation and there are some quality of life absences, but I still believe it's the best version they've released. They just keep trying to recapture the magic of the original and it gets worse and worse each time they make another one.
Shining force and Shining in the Darkness/Holy Ark are basically the Japanese equivalent of the Might & Magic series, one being a dungeon crawler and the other, more popular, one a strategy game. And they are both great :)
It's nice seeing My childhood's side of the RPG world
The PSP version of Lunar is very pretty, with a new translation. Working Designs did the originals. Working Designs intentionally made the games harder. As a result, the PSP port is super easy compared to the Sega CD/PS1 versions
Not harder, as much as they cut the amount of XP and Silver you got per battle, which was BS.
The PSP version also cut the over world and a few other things when you play... still I enjoyed it..
Always though the "Dragon Diamond" was a WD Joke, turns out it was an authentic translation.
Keep in mind the difficulty of games being toyed around with between regions was a pretty common practice across the industry. There's one editor on the cutting room floor who won't shut up about it like it's something unique to Working Designs but it's all over the place. Capcom did it, Square did it, Rare did it, Working designs did it. Usually the given reason as to why is that game rentals are illegal in Japan where as they are legal in the USA so they wanted to make sure you wouldn't finish the game on a weekend rental. Though sometimes changes were just to try to sell a less popular genre in one region, or the developers using a later release as an opportunity to make revisions.
It's very sad to me one person, who wasn't even a game player at the time of release, has managed to damage WD' image so much just because they edit a popular Wiki a lot compared to fan-sites like Lunar-Net having been formed since the games were brand new with much of the same information available.
@@Furluge Oh, people bring up all the difference between regions all the time.
Companies did it regularly, to combat rentals in the 90s and used game sales later on, other changes were made just because companies thought America just liked it hard. (Other times, America got the easier version, like Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy 2/3 (4/6), etc etc)
The issue with Working Designs was that they were notorious for it, modifying their games until they were unplayable, or the mechanics were broken.
Sure this happened a few times with other companies as well, Capcom did it with DMC3's original release and Onimusha 4's release. Nintendo made the Japanese Hard mode the Normal mode for 6th gen Fire Emblems. But Working Designs did it regularly.
Off the top of my head, 4 games were massively changed. Exile: Wicked Phenomenon was so modified that many consider it impossible, it became one of the truly hardest games on the TGCD. Lunar: Eternal Blue made it so you had to buy your saves with skill point currency. Elemental Gearbolt was made significantly harder, where "training" would be their hard. Finally Silhouette Mirage added ammo to strategic run and gun shooter that went against all the mechanics of the game. Working Designs didn't just make games harder, they screwed with the actually mechanics in many cases.
The cutting room floor person is someone who has extensively gone into the games and figured out the difference between the US and Japanese versions.
I thank them for this, I personally enjoy learning these differences, no matter the dev/publisher.
While I still love Working Designs, it explains why some mechanics felt off when I played their games as a kid and teen, and that's because said mechanics were added BY WD, not the original game developers.
Indeed, has its issues but it can be played
I like to think that the PS1 version is the "definitive" edition in a way (despite the combat being far better in the later versions for some apparently).
Crusader of Centy, Shining Force 2 and especially Landstalker are my favorite Genesis games. I'd love to see playthroughs of these from you.
Panzer Dragoon Saga is sega’s masterpiece.
The biggest crime is the video not featuring Shining Force III (which has a ongoing community and a fanmade translation patch) and also no mention of Magic Knight Rayearth. Both are from the sega Saturn:). Love your content!!!
Lunar 2 takes place about 1000 years after Lunar 1, so there isn't much you really miss if you start with 2. But you will have a much better understanding of certain characters and the game world if you play them in the correct order
To be fair, they are connected since there are multiple reference to Lunar 1 in Lunar 2. It would be way better for him to start with 1 and then play 2, both of them are great games after all.
Lunar one is better IMHO ...
I've never played Lunar 2, but I have played Lunar 1 on the GBA and it was absolutely top tier amazing. I replayed it several times, and I think it's by far the best version with the graphics and even the GBA sound chip.
@@rebaxbayushi577 Nall's entire character loses out on so much meaning if you skip Lunar 1, as well as spoiling the entirety of the first game
@@psychogurl Yep, that is the most important thing, but there are many references to the plot and characters of Lunar 1 throughout the game too and, if some are just flavorful, some are actually important to the plot too. That's why 1 is really important.
It’s so great to have you back here, Jerd!😄 Welcome back!
Now you mentioned Shining Force 2, the first game was my first ever RPG game on Sega Genesis I played as a kid. Though, it wasn’t on the Genesis, it was in this CD Rom that has seven games called Sega Smash Pack. I remember having such a fun time playing it and go for it all the way to the end. The gameplay was so engaging and even the story as well. They do have a remake version of it on the GameBoy Advance called Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon where they updated and pushed the gameplay and story more. I did played the second game you mentioned and yes….THAT, I recommend it so much.😃
Landstalker was a constant when I was growing up, and by extension (although not Sega) Alundra on PS1 was a great spiritual sequel. Would recommend.
Phantasy Star 2 is absolutely worth playing. The issue is that it's EXTREMELY grindy, the difficulty curve is all over the place (once you go on the last trek to retrieve some items, before the final dungeon, you will meet enemy parties that, if you're unlucky, can wipe out your party in a single hit) and there's some wonky translation issues.
My suggestion would be downloading the modernization hack, which fixed the translation issues and adjusted level curve and a lot of stats. (Also turned some useless items into something better)
Oh, and definitely use maps for the dungeons. The Western release came with a guidebook that included maps, for a reason.
While we're at it, base PS1 is fine, but the SMSPower! Retranslation is SO much better. I highly recommend that.
*YES!! New Pro Jared Vid* ❤
I would heavily recommend checking out DESPIRIA for the Dreamcast. It's a horror JRPG on the Dreamcast that involves fighting disturbing creatures likes mutants and cyborgs in a surreal apocalyptic future setting. It's also made and published by Atlus themselves, the same company that made the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series. Even the development team for DESPIRIA would go on to make a remaster of the first Shin Megami Tensei game on the PS1.
That thumbnail though. I immediately got the reference
I'm surprised you didn't mention Beyond Oasis! I figured you'd be interested in that one just based on the graphics. I guess it might not really be an RPG but it is kind of a zelda clone.
While I was totally alive at the time, somehow I knew nothing about the Master System until I was an adult. I was mind blown the first time I found out there was a different version of the first two sonics XD
Same! I was only vaguely aware that it was a thing until I played Phantasy Star 1 a couple of years ago. Maybe thinking that the Master System was just Sega's NES set my expectations so low (in terms of technical specs) is what made me so impressed by the game when I actually played it.
Same here. I owned a Genesis, but never knew the Master System existed until I was an adult.
Were you mind blown that it had a 16bit graphics chip that roundly stonked the NES and why was it hidden from you?
OMG not the Sonic games though. 60 - 1fps changeable at _any time!_
@@iwanttocomplain Likely because Sega's marketing in North America was total dogwater before the Genesis/Mega Drive came along. If you were in Europe or South America you probably knew of the Master System MORE than the NES, but in NA the Master System was simply a non-entity.
You can play both Lunars in any order but canonically they come after each other so you may miss some references or not understand some context if you play the sequel first.
Phantasy Star 3 was clearly rushed and im amazed to this day it was released in the undercooked shape its in, but Phantasy Star 2 is worth playing, its just especially hard, grindy and easy to get lost in dungeons....like really lost. Fantastic video man, you always make these JRPG videos so enjoyable.
Phantasy Star 3 could've definitely benefited from spending more time in development, and being more thoroughly tested. Not because it's buggy, or anything. Rather, because a lot of its gameplay elements feel more ambitious than fun. The game had a lot of really cool ideas, but few if any of them really amount to anything truly worth experiencing. I feel like it's very similar to a game like Final Fantasy 2, or as Jared described Sword of Vermilion (which I've never played for more than five minutes). In that it's a game that needed the developers to take a step back, and ask themselves, "Is this actually fun? Or just different."
An example being the magic system, which has a really cool and interesting customization mechanic. Or, at least it would be interesting, if magic aside from healing was actually worth using 95% of the time. Instead, what you wind up with is magic that you can customize, but aside from maybe with one or two characters, is completely outperformed by your basic attacks and isn't worth using regardless of how you customize it. Making the customization mechanic feel like a waste of time, more than anything else.
The first Phantasy Star game is widely considered to be the best RPG of the 8-bit era and was the killer app on the Master System. If you've never played it, that one is highly recommended. If you play it on original hardware, definitely bring your graph paper for the dungeons. Of all of the games in this video, that's the one I recommend the most.
Really happy we have a new video!
7:29 Oh hey Sonic. Nice casual appearance LOL
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday is another one to look at. Turn-based Tactical combat with a team and ship to ship. It's never talked about, maybe because It's a little thin on story, but worth playing at least once.
That one is a port of a PC game and it's unfortunately missing a few features like races, classes, skills and other stuff. Plus the sequel was never ported
This has to be one of the only sponsored segments out there made to catch MY attention. Thanks Jared.
Glad it was worthy enough to catch your attention! ☺
Phantasy Star 2 is good, but SUPER grindy. Definitely get a romhack that increases xp and money gain or something. PS3 is considered the black sheep, but even then it's still worth playing. Also get the SEGA AGES version of Phantasy Star 1. It's got some QOL features like mapping dungeons for you as you explore
All good info for Jerd here. The only thing I would add is that all 4 Phantasy Star games are deeply connected lore wise, even the 3rd one, which isn't obvious until the end. I think the elapsed time between the 1st and 4th games is several thousand years.
@@joshgreever7678 yeah, 3 just seems to be off doing it's own thing until the plot bomb at the end. Maybe if I had played 2 all the way through it would have given more a clue?
@henryhunter9643 it's been so long since my playthrough of 2 (roughly 2002 or so) that there could be something I'm forgetting that connects 2 to 3, but I can't remember anything explicit. I think like you said, the end of 3 was a plot bomb with little to no hint until then that it connects directly to the rest of the series.
Never got the dislike for 3. I liked that generational thing.
@@joshgreever7678 I mean, the 'scaffold' like areas between main maps is sort of a hint? But when you play through the game it just seems really out of place.
It's amazing you're checking all of these out! Hoping you make some let's play series around any of them, would love to watch :D
Shining the Holy Ark made me think of Etrian Odyssey.
I've not played any of the EO games but I've seen LPs of Shining the Holy Ark and the Persona Q games; that comparison is probably justified if the PQ games play similarly to EO.
@@tempestfennac9687
Persona Q are just Persona styled Etrian Odyssey games, yes
6:03 You just gotta love old localisation.
"YOU HAVE LIFE."
Shining Force 1 AND 2 are both amazing games I could play over and over.
1:59 - There were also remakes for Phantasy Star 1 and 2 that were only released in Japan called Phantasy Star Generations1 and 2 that were never translated into English. There are translation patches for them though.
As for why we didn't get them, they were part of a budget release line and Sony didn't want to release them separately but as a collection with Phantasy Star 4. And that remake got cancelled, so the US release got cancelled. :(
I remember looking forward to those way back in the day. Especially since it was at the height of my time spent playing Phantasy Star Online (I never played it much on Dreamcast, but spent tons of hours playing the local multiplayer of the Gamecube version with my brother and friends). Only for the fourth game to get cancelled, and the first two to never come out here.
@gurvmlk Yeah, it really hurt.
They're also really not good.
@@vladv5126 They're definitely strange. Especially some of the changes made to the battle systems. However, the option to remove the foreground pipes in the Phantasy Star 2 dungeons was a godsend.
I was a Sega kid, and I've played a fair few of these. If "made by the same guys as Golden Sun" is a plus for you, the Shining series and Landstalker were actually made by the same people. Climax rebranded to Camelot later on. And I would argue that when you're playing it, it's clear that Landstalker is absolutely an action RPG, and its story, characters, and progression aren't left on the sidelines. Of the games on this list, I'd most highly rate Landstalker and Shining Force II (though Golden Axe Warrior has a special place in my heart, too).
Also consider looking at Shining in the Darkness for another Climax/Camelot first-person dungeon-crawling RPG.
Oh, also also: The Story of Thor (I think it was called Beyond Oasis over there) was also a very solid action RPG.
I am so happy that you're still doing main channel stuff. I love your streams and Now in the 90s, so it's good to go back to the old format here and there as well. Thanks for everything, Jared.
RE: Lunar
As someone who owns every single Lunar game created, the PlayStation 1 versons of Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue are the most definitive versions.
Lunar for the Sega CD's story, while identical, is drastically changed from beginning to end as far as character development, mid plot etc. Lunar 2 for the Sega CD is identical to the PS1 version so you can skip that one.
I do recommend playing the Sega CD version first and then going right to the PS1 version. You'll see it has come a long way.
I kind of disagree. I think the PSP version of Lunar: Silver Star is best version of the first game. However I think the PlayStation 1 versions of Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue are the Definitive experience to play through since they share the same console and art style.
The Sega CD version is worth it just for the intro music alone.
"On through the night! Keep marching on! Fighting through the darkness. All that's evil. So we must press on!"
I'm also going to advocate for the PSP version of Silver Star Harmony here. It's functionally and aesthetically fantastic if you're diving in for the very first time and complete unconcerned with being faithful to the original experience you would've had in 1993. But absolutely no shade to someone who wants that OG experience. I just don't agree with people who have the "betraying the original" guilt over playing quality of life touched up ports.
@@thecorrectoification My opinion is, if you have access to it as it's expensive, play the original first as it's the most simplified, straight forward version & if you like it play one of the expanded ports because you'll know you want to put the time in to get more lore. However, that being said, there really isn't a bad way to experience it. Even the GBA port is perfectly fine. There's variations between them all for sure, but overall plot wise they all tell the same story & have the same charm. That's what's important. Whatever version you can get, play it. They're all worth it.
Phantasy Star is still "phantastic"! ♥
Please, for the love of everything good and sacred, get on those Lunar games. I like the PS1 versions the best. They have a number of QoL changes such as no random battles and a few story tweaks here and there. But I thought the Sega CD versions were good, too, for different reasons. While it isn't entirely necessary to play them in order, I would say you'll have a better experience playing 1(SS) and then 2(EB).
For Popful Mail, it's actually better to emulate it with the patch to remove the difficulty changes from working designs. It's a fun game (very 90's) but ... yeah ... WD did some stuff to it that I didn't like.
I was too young to play it, but I recall Sword of Vermillion was so different from a lot of the games back then that it came with a "hint book" (basically a walkthrough). I feel like, if you want to try it, play for the first few towns and see how you like the gameplay loop, since that's basically the entire thing. I say this cuz I think it was a really long game.
Anyway, cool video. Wouldn't mind seeing you try out any of these.
You really owe it to yourself to play the first phantasy star, and i've always enjoyed the second one as well.
Phantasy Star 1 is very much of it's era though.
As a side note, is the final boss luck based, or am I bad, or did I maybe just go in underlevelled? Since when I played through the game, I fought the final boss quite a few times (some wins, some losses) and to me it felt like luck decided if I won or not.
@@henryhunter9643if you mean the REAL final boss, yeah, you need to luck out because defensive spells don't work AND it spams its strongest attack 2-5 times per turn iirc. Which means you either miraculously evade or get skipped each round.
@@JamesShowit's possible to beat the real boss without depending on luck but IDK to this day how you'd know how to do it without help. Translation issue?
Dude, that final boss was bogus! 1 party member down, Axe the only weapon doing damage, everyone else out of mp, how much health does it have left??? 😣
@@knghtbrd if so I have long forgotten and just keep giving burgers to Alis and her buffing herself. How is she both the tank and second best healer then your healer does no damage and has no armor? Lol.
If you want my recommendation for a good PC RPG series, Might and Magic is one of my favorites, 6-8 are sooo good and i would absolutely watch a full series of you stumbling about in those games, and 1-5 are apparently good if you like the more traditional blocky dungeon rpg games, but not my particular cup of tea
That Landstalker guy moves pretty much like the Alundra guy. That alone makes me wanna watch it.
And since Alundra = Zelda and Zelda is also not a typical HP/MP/EXP RPG, Landstalker is a must play. Am I making sense? Probably maybe.
But all in all, it looks like great times are before us!
The studio that developed Alundra, Matrix Software, were composed of former employees of Climax Entertainment (studio that made Landstalker), so in a way Alundra is a spiritual successor of sorts to Landstalker.
@@Kamakaz729 VERY interesting! It shows. Thanks a lot!
Ahh you mentioned Landstalker. Now its only a small step to Alundra. I'm still waiting for it. XD
Such a good game. I like it even more than most Zelda Games.
You definitely have to play panzer dragoon saga, too bad it’s almost impossible to play without emulation
A CIB of it does cost less than Crusader of Centy ($1.4k vs $2k for higher condition sales), but it still is way too expensive overall.
Phantasy Star II is actually pretty decent, especially for an 80s RPG. Some of those dungeons are really convoluted, there are lots of warps and pitfalls go through to get to your destination and they will take a long time complete. If you're fine with that kind of top down dungeon crawling, it's actually not too bad.
I'd say Phantasy Star III is a much weaker title.
PS3 is weaker just like Chrono Cross is weaker than Chrono Trigger. A game that isn't bad, but suffers next to what came before.
There is a GBA port of Lunar 1. Its called Lunar Legends, i had it before my dog thought it was chewy. It was pretty solid
Phantasy Star 2 is not bad at all (if you compare it to the 8bit rpgs of the time it was competing against). The only problem is that it is a bit grindy, fact that sega acknowledges constantly, since they have released an easy mode for the game a couple of time with more exp and money per battle. So I suggest playing it that way.
PSIII on the other hand is the ones that is bad, but it is quite easy so one can play just one line quite fast, specially with some fast forward feature.
Miss you dylan 😢
What happened to him?
is now in the 90s over?
@@Venkintus yea ;-;
@PhilipMarcYT He was killed in Home Depot by police while high on bath peppers.
@@lifespanofafry1534What the heck are you talking about?
I owned a dreamcast and collected for it like a mad man 2001-2005 before the collection was stollen from me, one of the games i played was EGG but had only put a few hours on it, today im working in the oil field for 12 hours a day and there is a TON of down time, im bladting my way through EGG 20 years later on my google Pixel 6a and JUST made it to the moon colony, such a beautiful looking game with its hand drawn art and Legend of Zelda-esqe game play. 😊
Phantasy Star is the one game i regret not playing as a sega kid. I had the master system and the genesis and i never played any of them. I played Adventure Warrior on the Master System. My first ever RPG.
$6 on Switch now for PS1
Maybe that's Miracle Warriors?
@@TheRPGChick thats the name of it
The Phantasy Star series are great, that's for sure! Great vid, ProJared!
*TIME TO PLAY 'EM ALL~*
So many great games from Sega. Are you kidding me? All of those deserve at least a try, if not finishing them all! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There's a fourth version of Lunar 1: a GBA demake called Lunar Legend. Despite being the worst version it's the only version I've played and I still loved it. Would love a modern Lunar 1+2 rerelease like the Grandia rerelease.
That GBA game actually impressed me a lot. I played it last out of all the other versions and to be honest was expecting it to be crap. But they way they were able to make everything work and do the cutscenes with in game sprites and tell the whole story was actually amazing. It's really not a bad version. And game only wise the cheapest way to experience it.
The Land Stalker is a great game with awesome music and style (if you don't mind isometric platforming)! I played it a lot back then. It's more of an isometric adventure game, but there is also progression - you get more health, better swords, equipment, and even items that unlock new areas like in metroidvanias. There's even an X-ray like item from Super Metroid - a bell that rings whenever you enter a room that has a treasure in it. There's a lot of backtracking, treasure hunting, and puzzles. It's a great game, highly recommend!
I missed out on all the Sega RPGs. I didn’t even know there were RPGs on Sega until I was will into my twenties.
Me too. I didn't know there were Zelda/LTTP-type clones by or for Sega.
What the hell dude? Yeah we had RPGs. Come on over and try some.😂💯🤟🏻
That segway to the sponsor got me good, but because it fit perfectly with the video... Or was it the other eay around 🤔 now I want to give it a try, thanks Jerd 😅
They're not RPGs, but as a Genesis kid, I highly recommend Gain Ground, and Kid Chameleon. They don't get nearly enough love!
Great sponsor! I checked out their Kickstarter. Looks very promising. I won't back their kickstarter, I'll instead follow them and wait for their official release and support them that way.
Appreciate it! ☺
8:57 The problem is, "the original way" would have to be the Japanese version, because the US release was made by Working Designs who... did what Working Designs does, and arbitrarily increased the difficulty in a way people don't really like. There is of course an "un-working designs" romhack that gives you the english version with all the stats and mechanics reset to what they originally were.
Stop acting like this is something unique to Working Designs. difficulty changes between regions were very normal. Capcom did it, Square did it, Rare did it, Working Designs did it. Pretty much everyone did this sort of thing. Devs were constantly trying to tweak difficulty for each market or use the later market releases as an opportunity to make revisions. It was very common. Final Fantasy 2/4, Mega Man 2, Battletoads, etc. they all had different difficulty changes between regions.
Also quite frankly, neither of the Lunar games that WD worked on are particular hard. In fact they're pretty easy by the standards of the time. The only real changes are to drops and the games already one you really don't have to grind for, especially compared to other RPGs of the time. If they'd be released as in the US market they'd likely have sold poorly because rentals are legal in the USA where as they are illegal in Japan.
I appreciate the under 40 crowd (Maybe 37 if your parents were lax. :3) who weren't old enough to play these games when they came out wantsto have an opinion, but it really sucks to hold one company in specific to the grindstone for a common industry practice everyone playing games was used to at the time, especially when said company was bringing us games we definitely would not have had brought over. Need I remind you just how many RPGs simply just did not get brought over at the time? The games market of 1993 is not the same as 2024.
@@Furluge First of all, I did not say this was unique to WD. There are plenty of other examples of games having their gameplay screwed up for the western release (e.g. Contra: Hard Corps). This is a very different situation from Mega Man 2 where you are at least given the option to play it the same way it was in Japan.
Second, you _majorly_ downplayed the changes at least to Lunar: Eternal Blue. It took me like 10 seconds to look it up on TCRF and see that it was much more than that. Yeah they were pretty easy on Silver Star it seems.
Third, you don't know me or how old I am, and your implication that I couldn't possibly disagree with you for any reason other than being too young is obnoxious. I had a genesis as a kid like most of my friends, and _didn't_ have a sega CD, also like most of my friends. It's not an age thing??
Also I'm baffled by your rental argument. It's a JRPG that takes at minimum 20+ hours to complete. I don't think anyone was beating it as a rental. And "would have sold poorly"? It did sell poorly in the US, like every other Sega CD game and the Sega CD itself. It was the later PlayStation version that sold well over here.
It is quite simple, it is very easy for someone who is knowledge, like me, to tell when someone is bullshitting and coming to this after the fact l, like you. I do not need you to tell me your age to tell you are too young. You drop hints all the time in what you say.
This video was, as you like to say,"....a TREAT!" I've played nearly ALL of them (with the exception of Centy.) and they're like the core of my gaming childhood. When it comes to the preferred version of Lunar 1, funny enough, the Sega CD version is my favorite despite it being considered the 'inferior' one by many. Call it nostalgia, but the color scheme, simpler story elements, omission of some goofy anime-isms and Sega-CD soundfont do it most for me. I'm glad you put this video out!
(And finally I can shut up about begging you to try more Sega RPGs lmao.)
Hi
Shining the Holy Ark is SO AWESOME.
It's deceptive, it is not a 1st person dungeon crawler, go I to it thinking it's the grandfather to Golden Sun, but entirely in First Person.
The dungeons are not even nearly as confusing. The map only becomes necessary when you're hunting fairies
As a Sega kid master system and beyond it started for me with Miracle Warriors:Seal of the Dark Lord because it was $10dollars cheaper than Phantasy Star... and I couldnt get my parents to get me that one... I fondly remember the moment I got to the end boss and could NOT believe she had boobies... Green boobies but boobies none the less.
😂 I remember that. Was surprised she was topless.
the CZcamsr outrage of price for Tears of the Kingdom is so cute when our 6meg cartridges were literally $100 in 1988 money.
@@NoSuRReNDeR001 Weird, my comment was taken out by CZcams. Good going CZcams 👏. Anyway yes I remember that boss.
Surprised me at such a young age when I saw her topless.
@@NoSuRReNDeR001 @NoSuRReNDeR001 Weird, my comment was taken out by CZcams. Good going CZcams 👏. Anyway yes I remember that boss.
Surprised me at such a young age when I saw her with nothing on top.
I loved Miracle Warriors. It was very grindy, but it was so inscrutable and mysterious that it kept me coming back for more many times. I also thought it had great music (for the Master System).
I miss watching Now in the '90s every Friday.
Also I hope you play some of those Sega RPGs, especially the Saturn ones.
Pro J please return to weekly videos. A new era is brewing!
Landstalker looks like an actual sequel to Rare’s Saberwolf.
No love for Fatal Labyrinth? For shame!
That game along with Toejam and Earl is what made me love roguelikes today.
Fatal Labyrinth was fun but brutal! I liked how the more money you had on you the better your gravestone 😁
Don't know if you've played it or not, but Panzer Dragoon Sagas is one of my favorite games of all time, and it deserves so much more recognition..
Dude, those American Sega Saturn boxes look gorgeous.
For me growing up, it was Crusader of Centy and Beyond Oasis. I played each of those games so many times, I was basically doing speed runs of them before I even knew that speed runs were actually a thing. I don't know if it's the rose-tinted glasses of my youth, or not, but I cannot recommend either of those games enough. Although, if you only had time to play one of them, I would recommend Crusader of Centy. From my (very limited) knowledge of what you might like based on the games that you play, I think you might like it better between the two. Either way, I hope you have a chance to play some great games that you missed out on. :D
Y'know? The isometric RPG's shown here have really struck a chord with me. I may try them out myself!
Also, it's nice to see that editor Dylan is still on board with you! The legacy of Now in the 90's lives strong in this video!
the little bit at the end with Hydilide next to it...
also "sorta rpg" Light Crusaders amazing