Looking back on it now, my history as a gamer is kind of embarrassing. I bought into the hype of every bad game, and some how missed most of the awesome ones. So I'm trying to make amends by playing those sweet games I missed, while I was busy playing the likes of Sewer Shark.

I've never played a Phantasy Star game. In fact the only RPG I played before this past year was Miracle Warrior for the Master System. A friend let me borrow it one summer (maybe 1993) when my family had a huge road trip and I played it on my Game Gear using the MasterGear Converter. I've since added Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey to my list of RPGs played. And I'm also currently playing The World Ends With You. But thats it those are the only RPGs I've ever played. That lets you know a little of where I'm coming from when I talk about Phantasy Star II.

I am playing PSII on my DS using the Phantasy Star compilation GBA game. I think the game is awesome so far. I love how old school it is. I love the music, the funny stuff all of the villagers say. I'm not very far at all into the game I think ROLF is a level 7. I'm on my way to get the daughter of the guy who won't let me cross the tunnel/bridge thing. While I am loving PSII so far I think that this first mission/task is poorly designed. It may be a limitation of some port but basically all I need to do is cross this bridge, but I can't cause this guy won't let me. So in order to cross the bridge I need the guys daughter, but in order to get the daughter I need the dynamite. It just seems like I'm running back and forth between the same places. Which brings me to the random encounters. There are so many random encounters! I didn't mind at first but when I'm lost in the tower trying to find the dynamite before my team dies, knowing that all of the leveling up I've done since I've saved will be gone, because I didn't bring enough Monomite. I just want to walk around the tower and find the dynamite but these things keep attacking me. The Armorants are the worst. I'm pretty much screwed anytime 3 of them pop up.

This is a total side note but all modern hand held games should have a 'save at any time' feature. I mostly play while I'm at work waiting for files to open on my computer. And while I know the PSII was obviously not designed to be a hand held RPG, its safe function makes it all the more frustrating. Multiple times I had to leave the tower when looking for the dynamite because I needed to save. So it feels like I've spent so much time looking through that tower because I get most of the way through and then have to teleport out to go save. PSII isn't the easiest game to play in small chunks, it wasn't meant to be, but still its kind of a pain in the butt.

Other than a few annoyances, that I think are mostly me being unaccustomed to this type of game, and more specifically this type of game from that era, I am really enjoying PSII. I can't wait to get across that bridge and see what is to the west.