RPGs, like any other game genre, can be very formulaic. It's become something of an RPG constant to have the enemy you thought to be the ultimate evil in the world turn out to be nothing more than a pawn of an even greater villain. Phantasy Star IV takes this stereotype to the extreme but ends up with something fairly original. With a futuristic yet high-fantasy setting, a team combo system, and a seemingly endless amount of "final bosses", Phantasy Star IV offers something familiar, yet original to fans of old-school RPGs.

Phantasy Star IV's official subtitle is "The End of the Millennium", which is a fitting name considering how the game concludes the original Phantasy Star saga with varying degrees of references to the three games before it. The game begins with Chaz Ashley, a rookie hunter, and his mentor Alys responding to a monster infestation in the basement of an academy. It's not long before Chaz and Alys discover that the monsters are being bred in a lab operated by a planetary computer system that's losing control. They also learn that this computer system is to blame for their planet's rapidly declining environment. What began as a routine mission escalates into a journey to save the planet, but things are more complicated than they first appear. When Chaz and his companions invade the fortress of a powerful cult leader, they discover that their planet's decline is only one small part of a greater scheme to wipe out the entire galaxy. Even Dark Force, the main antagonist behind the entire series, is nothing more than a stepping stone to the ultimate evil that Chaz will face.

Battles can be simple and quick but often provide a surprising level of depth.

For a game released in the earlier half of the ‘90s, Phantasy Star IV does an excellent job of telling its story. Instead of using simple sprites that struggle to express emotion due to limited animations, the game's pivotal scenes are told through panels of detailed art like in a comic book. In addition to this, the plot always appears to be fairly straightforward, but the party can never seem to put an end to the threats facing their galaxy, even after defeating the bosses which appear to be the evil masterminds at the time. This makes for an enjoyable story that is fairly simple yet not routine. One of the plot's greatest attributes is how party members come and go as they should. In many RPGs, people will join your party with the flimsiest of excuses and never leave again, even after their small slice of the plot has been resolved. In Phantasy Star IV, party members have actual purpose and motivation.

Take Gryz, the strange bird-like native of the desert planet Motavia, for example. He strives to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of a powerful enemy and will often suggest that the party go after him right then and there, despite their current objective or the enemy's superior strength. He expresses disappointment when the party decides to pursue other objectives first, but when his revenge is finally accomplished, he takes his leave. It may not be what the player wants gameplay-wise, as you can always use an extra warrior to help out in battle, but it's satisfying to see characters with actual purpose in a game like this. Gryz isn't the only party member to offer temporary assistance, and even the ones who stick around for the long haul have their doubts about remaining with the group, rather than being boring, selfless zealots who each resolve to sacrifice themselves for others.

With party members coming and going, you'll never have quite the same game plan in battle throughout the adventure. As in most RPGs, each of your party members will play their own unique roles in battle. Unlike other RPGs, though, Phantasy Star IV has a unique way of making these roles abundantly clear. You can select individual actions for each party member, leaving them to act in order of their speed, or you can use macros: a predetermined series of actions in a specific order. You can save up to ten macros, more than enough to have your party prepared for any situation.

Aside from speeding up random battles, macros also allow you to set up combos with ease. Most characters learn techs as they level up, which are abilities that assist in and out of battle and function just like spells in other RPGs. Characters also learn skills which are often incredibly potent, but limited to a certain number of uses until you rest at a hotel. Using certain abilities in the same turn can result in powerful combos. None of these combos are spelled out for you: they either require experimentation or a quick internet search to figure out. Unfortunately, combos occasionally fail due to various factors; the most common of which is the differing speeds of the characters involved. It definitely takes some getting used to, but you'll hardly ever use the combos outside of the occasional boss battle.

Dungeons in the first half of Phantasy Star IV are fairly simple and often devoid of boss fights, but in the latter half of the game, quite the opposite is true. The layouts begin to look the same and feature cheap dead-ends and empty chests, presumably in an attempt to trigger more random battles against palette-swapped enemies from earlier dungeons. It can become frustrating at times, but Phantasy Star IV never asks for much more from the player other than conquering a dungeon and reaching the next.

There's a very light-hearted RPG feel to the game, reminiscent of the original Final Fantasy. Characters equip swords, shields, and wands and journey to small villages filled with modest people. There are short side-quests you can take at the hunter's guild, but Phantasy Star IV never tries to get complicated, both in plot and in gameplay. It's a refreshing vacation from ridiculously contrived storylines and demanding character customization that used to be commonplace in the genre.

The game's weakest feature is its incredibly outdated method of minimizing the length of item names. For example, a Titanium Slasher is referred to as a TITNSLASHR. Combined with a lack of description on what the items actually do, buying new equipment can sometimes be a risky business. You can blame the limitations on the technology at the time, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating when you accidentally buy weaker equipment. PSIV's bizarre tech names can also be a bit confusing at first. Rather than a typical name like Fire or Flame, Phantasy Star IV uses the root Foi for its fire spells. More powerful versions of spells add on the prefixes Gi- and Na-. It can take a while to memorize what each tech does, but fortunately, the Virtual Console release of Phantasy Star IV features a description of each tech on the last page of the in-game manual.

It looks and sounds simple, but that's not a problem for Phantasy Star IV.

The only other significant flaw in PSIV's gameplay is the relatively low HP of your party members. Several characters learn varying levels of healing techniques, but it can sometimes become a chore to heal so often in a dungeon. Thankfully, more magic-based characters possess loads of TP, allowing them to both heal and wield offensive spells with relative ease.

Music in Phantasy Star IV begins as typical, bass-heavy Sega fare, but you'll hear a few gems occasionally that really fit the science-fiction theme quite well. The graphics are adequate all around and even feature a few interesting effects here and there. In the higher levels of certain dungeons, the lower levels below pass by at a staggered speed, giving off an effective illusion of height. The sights and sounds of Phantasy Star IV won't have you in awe, but they fit the themes quite well. They are a modest treatment for a modest game.

With only a few outdated speed-bumps along the way, Phantasy Star IV is a surprisingly innovative game with simple presentation and execution. RPG fans looking for an escape from complicated customization, overly-involved battle systems, and nonsensical yet clichéd plotlines should take a break with Phantasy Star IV. The game finds a happy balance between the soulless grind of text and numbers and the confusing blur of melodramatic plot-twists.