Trinixx's Comments on the Weaknesses of Phantasy
Star II (Yeah right!)
The first few are mostly a few default
comments, applicable to 99% of RPGs; the rest are probably an issue only to
hard-core Phantasy Star II fans. :)
1. Give us something to do with our money other than buy medical
supplies, even mid-way through the game!
2. It follows: give us more 'out-of-the-way' towns to
visit in later stages of the game, that we couldn't have gotten to otherwise. (Final
Fantasy-esque towns accessed via airship, etc. springs to mind.)
3. The latter dungeons on Dezo I think are poor, in that they are
not conducive to return trips to earn experience,
in the fashion the ones on Mota are; if a dungeon is far
off and it is a long trek to get to them, players are unlikely to return to them after all the treasure is looted. While Dezo is more
remote, to my experience the party's levels suffer a relative sharp decline in advancement in the later stages
of the game, because the player is
encouraged to move on to the next dungeon, and more
treasure. The result is that the dungeons are done
in one trip, and then forgotten. Ikuto is the best example of a long distance trek, followed by
the
structure of Guaron. Menobe however is the best "Motan style" dungeon on Dezo, due
to its proximity to Aukba. Perhaps the Esper's Crystal could have
been used to transport back and forth. The Dezoan stage of the game to me, as a result, feels rushed compared
to Mota. They run out of production time?
4. There is a poor distribution of spells across
levels, and there wasn't enough spells at the upper levels to reward those that
play to the extra-high levels. For
example, what
the purpose of Anna learning Zan
at level 30? Some of the spells are learned too late to be as useful as they could have been at lower levels;
in my opinion, it
should have been structured so that the spells were acquired based on where the party would be at
their
level (i.e., it should have been based on utility.) Megid is acquired at level 35 by Rolf,
and thereafter, no techniques are learned; this could have been buttressed through introducing more powerful spells at even
highest levels,
to encourage continual playing, instead of relatively rewardless levels after level 35+.
5. Why doesn't Star Mist recharge
technique points? (Too powerful?)
6. Could have used some additional
personalities and enemy NPCs with greater characterization...
