Phantasy Star... 20 Years Past
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Hello. Xeneder here, one of the composers. Some people used Sega Genesis style sound-fonts or VSTs for modern DAWs, but I personally used trackers (namely DefleMask) to created authentic chiptune music. I ripped some of the instruments straight out of the game, some emulators let you do that. I did some analyzing as to what were the "signature" components of the soundtrack, just muted channels one-by-one and deconstructed it from there.
There was also a huge archive that had a ton of instruments ripped from different games, including PSIV, you will have to look hard if you want to find it though.
BTW, the PCM samples can be just ripped from the ROM itself using a tool like Audacity, just open the file as RAW audio. You might have to play with the sample rate though.
I found this on the PSCave website. Just completed the game. Thoughts:
I am super happy that others fans of classic Phantasy Star have this level of enthusiasm. While nintendo titles like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound still get tons of fan creator love to this day, Phantasy Star seems sadly forgotten.
While the english script is a litle janky, it's not so bad that it takes me out of things. Phantasy Star IV's original american english script had a few weird quirks and strange translation choices and this sort of preserves the same feel.
Asia is an irritating character. The tone in general is much goofier than PS4, and Asia in particular ruins basically every cutscene. This is a shame because the scenes are otherwise well done with an appreciable level of effort put into them. I don't find her funny and she's overused.
The entire game production-wise is incredible. Music, custom spritework, cutscene panels, everything shows a very professional level of quality. I expect the lack of animated tiles in dungeon designs and in battle scenes is an RPGmaker limitation and not a lack of effort on the devs' part.
The music is lovely. Motavia Field is excellent and could fit nicely into any collection of Tokuhiko Uwabo's work. Props and appreciation to the musicians.
There is an excellent balance between new characters and returning old ones from PS4. It neither feels like Mary Sueing the new characters nor too much reliance on the originals.
The game difficulty balance is spot-on. I never once had to grind to get through to the end, but the fights are very challenging throughout and I always felt the need to actually use my skills, techs and buffs. PS4 failed hard in this regard, the game simply became too easy very early and there was no need to rely on Gelun or Saner or Shift.
The ending is unfortunately unsatisfying. It leaves a lot of plot points unresolved, including what exactly the Zio cult remnants were up to and how exactly the final villain acquired what he did.
It took me about a week to finish this game. I am generally satisifed with the time I spent.
So far I've been lucky. I just beat the boss of the Tonoe Mines (no spoilers lol) and had no issues with the font or with my Dual Shock 4.
The game is pretty straightforward for me, and I've had no trouble progressing the story. Perhaps because I'm playing it right after a Phantasy Star 4 replay.
I hope your game is complete so that I'm not disappointed at the end, but I'm very happy so far.
Thanks for the game :) If Sega is Lutz, then you are Rune.
Unfortunately, I found a minor bug: there were two instances in which my party was healed but my skills were not restored. I had a plot party heal, and I took a free rest at the tent in Zema. Not having my skills restored made the underwater power plant boss more difficult, but I still barely managed.
I suspect that your skills do not restore unless you rest at an Inn.
Also, I just beat the Blind Sandworm, but I have no idea who in Tonoe will make me my special armor :(
Wow! Victory!? Congratulations!
Hahaha thank you very much, that sounds cute!
It's nice to know that you are carefully exploring the game, and not just going along the main line of the plot. You can make armor at Hann in a furnace in the city of Piata. I hope this works and I remember correctly.
Also thanks for finding a small bug. I am glad that he is not critical, and you can continue the game. If I understand the problem correctly, you can eat cakes for recovery.
Yes, it would be great if Sega approved this game ... but that's just a dream.
I just had a go at the installer version and the text works!
I played through till I got out of the cave with the crawlers, the good news for you is, I only stopped because I have work to do! I actually wanted to just keep playing! xD
This is quite an in depth game you got yourself here, is this a solo project? Very Impressive!
The only thing I really felt like the game needed was a way to go full screen. Also, does the game work with an Xbox controller? I haven't got to try, but I'll go find mine if it does.
I will give you more in depth feedback if you like, but I feel like I haven't played enough into the game yet to give make informed opinions.
Is there some things in specific you wanted feedback on? I'll do my best to help you out.
If you would like to help me with my game by giving feedback on it would be much appreciated as well :)
https://thesneak.itch.io/roopit-n-boopit
Its Co-Op but works single player just fine as well.
I am a little shocked as to the quality of this game, I've played a fair few for other devs on here to help them out with feedback, this is head and shoulders above the rest! You should be proud! :)
It's cool that finally everything works!
Thanks so much for the test. It's great that you liked our game!
No, this is not a solo project. Yes, basically the truth was developed by one person. But there was a good support team. At different times, 4 composers, 4 programmers, and 3 translators worked on the game. Yes, this is unbelievable, but the game began to be developed in 2008. Yes, we have been making this game for a very long time as we have free time on enthusiasm. Now we can say that the game is almost over.
I do not know if the game works with the Xbox controller. It will be great if anyone can verify this. To switch to full screen mode, press Alt + Enter
First of all, I am concerned about the quality of translation into English, it has been tested very little, because I have almost no friends who are native speakers. It also worries me that there is little attention to our game. After all, we tried very hard.
Of course, I am grateful to you, so I gladly played your game and also wrote a review! Hope it will be helpful.
Here! I have the first video up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgoYxYhRa-M
What do you think? Did I behave the way you expected a new player would?
I noticed a few spelling mistakes as well, but I was expecting that with the translation.
I think I lost some progress by game overing, lol! xD
Thank you for the first video! Yes, this is definitely not a very good experience! xD I hope you will be more lucky next time.
In the beginning everything went perfectly, I was pleasantly surprised how carefully you explored everything around. And then, when more freedom appeared on the world map, problems began. You wandered far from where the story continues)) If you click on "Talk" in menu, there will be clues in which direction you need to go.
Please, if you find serious errors in the text that interfere, let me know about it!
And please - save as often as possible! The game allows you to save at any time except the battle! ^_^