Phantasy Star II

Phantasy Star II is among the most ambitious RPG creations SEGA released for the Mega Drive as early as the late 1980s, at a time when the console RPG scene was still in its infancy and most attention was focused on computer and console titles from other manufacturers. The game abandons the fantasy setting of the first installment and moves the story a generation forward into the sci-fi universe of the planet Motavia, where a group of heroes gradually uncovers a dark conspiracy behind the facade of a seemingly perfect society. Battles use a turn-based system with random encounters, typical of the era, but with greater demands on managing the party, equipment, and individual characters' techniques.

The uncompromising difficulty of the dungeons is one of the game's most frequently cited traits – the vast, labyrinthine mazes without a map force the player to rely on their own notes and patience, which put off many players used to friendlier design both back then and today. This harshness was controversial at release, yet the combination of a dark sci-fi story, an elaborate world, and the courage to go against genre conventions still gives the game its reputation as one of the most significant early console RPGs. The music and visual style heighten the bleak atmosphere of a fading utopia that the player gradually uncovers.

Phantasy Star II thus remains an important milestone of the genre, though its demands on patience and navigating mapless mazes mean that today's player needs a good deal of determination.

Why play it: For fans of RPG history and players who don't crave comfort and want to experience an uncompromisingly hard, yet narratively ambitious, sci-fi adventure from the late 1980s.