2020/4/18: Genesis: Herzog Zwei, Phantasy Star IV (Guest Review)

[VideoGameCritic]

And the hits just keep on coming! I'd like to hear your thoughts on these two new Genesis reviews.

[goldenband]

I have to admit that Herzog Zwei left me stymied when I tried to play it. It's held in such high esteem, I feel sure there has to be a rewarding game lurking in there. I seem to recall that, as with your friends, it just felt like an endless stalemate to me.

[Stalvern]

Typo at the end of the Herzog Zwei review: "I wish you lucking finding it."

[VicViper]

That B on Phantasy Star IV hurts me as someone who considers it about on par with Final Fantasy VI.

[Retro STrife]

Thanks for posting the PS IV review, Critic. As usual, my original draft was long and wordy, but the Critic's edit got it down to length. And big thanks to Matchstick too, who is a big fan of PSIV and gave a lot of good suggestions for the review. Glad to hear any feedback.

That B on Phantasy Star IV hurts me as someone who considers it about on par with Final Fantasy VI.

I had a feeling giving PS IV a B might turn some heads, considering its status. Its classic status was the main reason I played it, and I went into it hoping for an A+ experience. But I wavered a lot on the grade. I was always in the B range though, as I considered from a B+ to B- at different stages of my playthrough. But I wonder... remove the Phantasy Star name and stick this game on the SNES... would it still be considered a classic today? It's still a good game and I'm glad I gave it a playthrough; but I think the weaker RPG line-up on the Genesis helped its legacy.

To me, what holds PSIV back today is a weak storyline and a bunch of minor complaints that add up. The complaints are mentioned in the review, and those annoyances just piled up and nagged at me throughout the game, and could have been such easy fixes for the developers.

Like you mention, I also wanted to note the PS4 and FF6 comparison in my review, because I feel like it's been debated forever and it's hard to play PS4 without comparing it to FF6. The "console wars" subplot of those two games adds a little intrigue to reviewing PS4. But the two weren't as close as I hoped. PS4's story is less interesting, and its characters and villains are significantly weaker (in fact, one of PS4's big flaws is that it starts out with some good characters and villains and gradually rotates them out for boring characters by the midway point, making the plot worse the further you play). And when I played PSIV, most of my annoyances with it (nonsense spell names, awful inventory, difficulty buying weapons, etc.) didn't exist in FF6.. it made me feel like PSIV's quality-of-life mechanics were 5 years behind other top RPGs of its time.

[Gentlegamer]

You can't suplex a train in Phantasy Star IV. Nuff said.

[Retro STrife]

As for Herzog Zwei, I always heard of that game as an under-the-radar gem for the Genesis. I bought it like 10 years ago for that reason, but it's just sat on my shelf. After reading your review, I'm thinking it's best I leave it there... It sounds like a big initial investment just to get a basic grasp of the game. It's hard to justify putting that much time into a 30 year old game without knowing if it'll pay off.

I suspect Herzog Zwei is one of those games that was pretty amazing in 1990, which explains the nostalgia from Genesis fans, but maybe it just hasn't stood the test of time now that RTS games have evolved so much since then.

[Alucard1191]

While I haven't played PSIV, I have plenty of experience with ff6, and I actually don't feel that it is as good as it is held up today. Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG I feel have both held up more of the "big 3" RPGs that were released late in the system. Honestly, I think Chrono Trigger might be the best RPG of all time... but that is beside the point.

The review stating that you don't need to endlessly grind and the storyline moves along at a brisk pace makes me feel it might be better than FF6 today. Maybe not back then, but now. I've been stuck at the Magi Tower for close to a year of off and on play. I know all the tricks too. Wall Rings, Umaro, etc. I just am not strong enough for the higher level enemies and I get soooooo tired of grinding. A game that doesn't have those annoying stops to the gameplay and storage I appreciate much more than the grind heavy 80's and 90's RPGs that I've played through so many times in my youth.

[ActRaiser]

Thanks for posting the PS IV review, Critic. As usual, my original draft was long and wordy, but the Critic's edit got it down to length. Glad to hear any feedback.

That B on Phantasy Star IV hurts me as someone who considers it about on par with Final Fantasy VI.

I had a feeling giving PS IV a B might turn some heads, considering its status. Its classic status was the main reason I played it, and I went into it hoping for an A+ experience. But I wavered a lot on the grade. I was always in the B range though, as I considered from a B+ to B- at different stages of my playthrough. But I wonder... remove the Phantasy Star name and stick this game on the SNES... would it still be considered a classic today? It's still a good game and I'm glad I gave it a playthrough; but I think the weaker RPG line-up on the Genesis helped its legacy.

Question: Is it a B from an overall RPG experience on 16-bit consoles including SNES or is it a B compared to the overall Genesis library?

Not that it matters all that much but it helps when looking at the overall grade. Either way, great way review and I appreciate you taking the time to review it and share your experience with it.

[Retro STrife]

While I haven't played PSIV, I have plenty of experience with ff6, and I actually don't feel that it is as good as it is held up today.

I actually agree with you on that. When I played through FF6 (years after its release), I liked it, but I was pretty disappointed. Maybe I was spoiled by later FF games, or the game just didn't age well, but somehow it didn't live up to the hype for me. And like you point out, FF6 dragged on too long for me. But still, I could see why it was considered a classic and it felt worthy of that status. PS IV didn't give me that same feeling.

The review stating that you don't need to endlessly grind and the storyline moves along at a brisk pace makes me feel it might be better than FF6 today. Maybe not back then, but now.

One caveat to "no grinding required" is that the random battles are very excessive, which contributes to grinding not being needed. But yes, where PS IV beats FF6 today is with its faster pace, making it friendlier to play on our adult schedules. Objectively, head to head, I think FF6 comes out ahead pretty cleanly. But if someone was just like "what's a fun retro RPG that I can try out and finish in a month or two?" then PS IV is a great choice.

Question: Is it a B from an overall RPG experience on 16-bit consoles including SNES or is it a B compared to the overall Genesis library?
Not that it matters all that much but it helps when looking at the overall grade. Either way, great way review and I appreciate you taking the time to review it and share your experience with it.

Thanks. For the score, I used the VGC scale and compared it to the Genesis library. Looking at most of the Genesis games that the VGC has given an A or A-, I don't consider PS IV to be on their level. It's still arguably the best Genesis RPG, but it's a weak genre on the system and there's not a lot of top contenders. However, even if I was comparing it to overall 16-bit RPGs, I think it'd still fall somewhere in the B range.