does the player realize that the evil behind Lassic in the first adventure is also the being behind the problems in Phantasy Star II.

Phantasy Star II‘s major advances are in the technological side of the game design. Yuji Naka programs a great game with the new 16-bit Genesis. The still shots at the beginning and end of the game when a story is being told are wonderful. They clearly demonstrate the Genesis’s superior graphics capabilities. Character detail improved with the better quality system, and so did detail in the fight scenes. In caves or tunnels one can also see a new feature of the Genesis-two independent scrolling backgrounds. The party walks as in the outside view, but in the front of the screen there is a slower scrollingnetwork of pipes that obstruct some of the players view. This feature was certainly brand new to RPGs.

Phantasy Star III was an unfortunate mess. Released in 1991, Sega decided not to have Yuji Naka and Rieko Kodama plan and design this game (Click to see a full list of credits). Consequently the game hardly resembles either of the first two. Many people disliked the game for its departure from the series. Others found it unoriginal and uninspiring. Seeing that it was designed for the Genesis very shortly after the first game, little advancement had been made in the use of the Genesis system. The graphics were not any better, and unfortunately the story was lacking. The only saving grace for Phantasy Star III was its feature that allowed