Phantasy Star 3: Generations of Doom - Fun Game Friday

Okay folks, I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

The bad news: The hard drive on my laptop ceased up, and very little of the Super Immortal Role Playing Engine was backed up. This is sad, but I'll talk more about it tomorrow. I didn't call it immortal for nothing ;)

The good news: It's Fun Game Friday!

Today's game is very close to my heart. Let me tell you a story. When I was just a young chap of about 11 or 12, I used to have to spend a weekend or two at my grandma's house out in the country during the summer. This was always a drag for me because my grandma was boring and her house was scary. Until one day I stumbled upon my uncle's Sega Genesis, and a game in particular, Phantasy Star 3.



I was never able to make it very far in the span of a weekend, but the atmosphere--and particularly the music--have stayed with me to this day. (unfortunately the soundcard on this old beast of a computer I'm posting with today is so shitty, so you don't get a chance to hear the beautiful melodies)

The game is your standard RPG. It's basically Sega's answer to Nintendo's popular Final Fantasy. This means it's crappy. The graphics are terrible. Very repetitive and down right bland. Everything looks the same. Actually, in the video, I make a point of visiting 3 different towns, and they all look literally EXACTLY the same. The stores in these towns literally sell the same stuff for the same prices. So, if you're looking for variety, look somewhere else.

The story is awful. You take the role of a prince who is about to marry a mysterious woman who doesn't know where she's from. During the wedding, a winged monster steals her away. The prince pleads with his father, the king, to send the army to go find her. The king thinks it's such a terrible idea that he sends the prince to the castle's dungeon to cool off for a little bit. The game starts from here, as you try to escape this first dungeon. Later, you must find a cyborg because there's a man who owns a ship who's got a fetish for cyborgs (well, I'm sort of reading between the lines here. If the dialog wasn't so terrible, I wouldn't have to make this up.)

The combat is sort of interesting. Its auto-battle feature takes the tedium out of leveling up a little bit. And the monster graphics are one of the few good things about the game. For the average player, though, I don't think the monster graphics will pull enough weight to convince anybody that the game is actually fun.

I think everybody will agree that Phantasy Star 3: Generations of Doom is a completely sub-par, boring game--and they have the right. But it has a special place in my heart that saves it from oblivion.

Just seeing the logo come down and the music that starts brings me back to the days when even a game as simple and as boring as this fueled me with creative energy enough to want to explore the whole world. It's an indescribable feeling, and it's something I hope I can create with my games.

Give it a try, but only for the music. In fact, please go search youtube for Phantasy Star 3 music. But don't expect anything else exceptional from this game. Unless of course, you're stuck at your grandma's for the weekend.