What are you playing?

[noiseredux]

dude, Phantasy Star has a cat. It is obviously the best 8bit RPG.

@Exum: I definitely want to play PSIII. I actually think some of the weird stuff that people complain about sounds interesting, really.

[Sarge]

I can't remember if I said it here or somewhere else, but I actually think that Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star are rather comparable, and I prefer FF because the combat is more interesting. Really, it's the combat that drags Phantasy Star down for me, everything else is top shelf.

[Xeogred]

Phantasy Star IV seemed fine but didn't really pull me in. Not sure what else to make of the series. But I put 90 hours into PSO offline on the Gamecube.

I think Shining Force might be the only JRPG I've beaten on the Genesis.

[Sarge]

Before someone accuses me of hating on Phantasy Star, PSIV is one of my favorite 16-bit RPGs. It's very much sci-fi Dragon Quest by way of Sega, and I love 'em for it.

[Xeogred]

Everything about it should have been a home run for me. The kickass music, Suikoden styled tall sprites, cool anime aesthetics, and sci-fi... but yeah I don't know. I think I recall the combat not doing much for me. Never been a huge fan of the POV angle either, so that's my biggest fear going into Dragon Quest haha. Guess Final Fantasy is in my blood, though I don't really care for the NES versions of 1-2. 3 was awesome though.

[noiseredux]

PSO rules so hard.

[Segata]

PSO is awesome but I don't count it as the main PS series. No arguments here the first PS is amazing and still holds up. Really don't think DQ 1 and FF1 hold up very well at all. Not terrible just meh at this point.

[pierrot]

I don't agree with Pierrot's opinions on PSIV, but then again he has very unique tastes.

I like to think of my 'video game palate' as highly discriminating. >_>

I remember when I was in Japan I sat down with my Japanese dictionary, my incomplete language skills, and Saturn Grandia and decided to try to translate my way through the game, and it was kind of awesome, up until I ran out of time and energy. I learned some neat grammar having to figure out what some stuff being said was. But being able to engage with the game in its native language was an incredibly special experience. Even the best English localizations we get here are filtered though translators and localizers. So while we often do have a comparative experience, something inevitably changes. On rare occasions a localization will get more love and attention than the original writing, which is awesome. But if you have enough cross-cultural experience to understand the original cultural context and language of a Japanese game, it can really change the experience of that game quite dramatically.

Sorry, I know that was kind of a random aside, but I wanted to share a thought.

It was a nice thought, and one of the major reasons I play the versions of games that I tend to. Price also tends to be a factor, but all things equal, I would rather play with the original script.

PSO rules so hard.

Pretty much, yeah.

I don't dislike Phantasy Star IV at all; I'm mostly just finding it a bit predictable. In any case, I'm finding that the thing I like most about Phantasy Star, as a series, is the universe, and story continuity. PS II and PS III have some clear issues, but PS and PS IV are definitely solid. The problem is probably in PSO being my introduction to the series. I've pretty much always thought of them as very separate, but I'm realizing now that there is still a lot of continuity between the original series, and PSO. Which is great, but there's probably just something ingrained in me that will never allow me to completely separate the experience of playing PSO from the experiences of playing PS I - IV.

Also, I might be a heathen who prefers Dragon Quest, overall.

[Exhuminator]

I think Shining Force might be the only JRPG I've beaten on the Genesis.

There are plenty of Genesis SRPGs/JRPGs/action-RPGs I haven't played yet, but aside from the PS series I enjoyed these:

I like to think of my 'video game palate' as highly discriminating.

Discriminating is an apt term, yes.

Also, I might be a heathen who prefers Dragon Quest, overall.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that!

[noiseredux]

I love Fatal Labyrinth. It's a rogue like basically. So cool.