Phantasie

Phantasie is the first video game in the "Phantasie" series.
Gameplay.
Based on the Isle of Gelnor, "Phantasie" allows a group of six characters to adventure the countryside and try to defeat the evil Black Knights and their sorcerer leader, Nikademus. Players could choose to be one of six character classes (Thief, Fighter, Ranger, Monk, Priest, and Wizard) and could also choose between the races of Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Elf, or Gnome. By selecting "Random" one could also choose from ogre, troll, pixie, gnoll, orc, lizard man, minotaur, and other races.
The game was notable for taking advantage of a broad mix of styles for the game: a town window which allowed purchasing in various shops, a top-down style dungeon crawl view, a top-down world map, and a separate combat window. Each character class had unique fighting styles and options and all characters could choose their strategy for a particular round in the turn-based combat segments. After a combat, experience was awarded, but the players would have to return to town to purchase their levels if they qualified.
Reception.
With more than 50,000 copies sold in North America, "Phantasie" was very successful for SSI. It was the company's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Game reviewers Hartley and Pattie Lesser in 1987 complimented the Atari ST version of "Phantasie" in their "The Role of Computers" column in "Dragon" #120 (1987), recommending that Atari ST owners should "consider "Phantasie" as a game well-worth their attention." "ANALOG Computing" in 1988 called "Phantasie" and its sequel the best fantasy role-playing games for the Atari 8-bit. In 1991 and 1993 "Computer Gaming World"s Scorpia called "Phantasie" "a surprisingly good little game, with many interesting features".
Legacy.
"Phantasie I", "Phantasie III", and "Questron II" were later re-released together, and reviewed in 1994 in "Dragon" #203 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the compilation 2 out of 5 stars.