History YMMV / PhantasyStar

* ToughActToFollow: The story of ''Online'' is fondly remembered for being largely atmospheric and effectively using StoryBreadcrumbs to convey a CosmicHorrorStory plot with just enough left to the imagination. Many of the games afterwards feature more direct storytelling and a heavier lean into anime tropes, which while not necessarily bad, makes them significantly more contentious plots for long-time fans.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Phantasy Star, specially the first game, is still a cult classic among older Brazilian gamers. This is due SEGA's strong presence in the market, and that game was one of the very few to be fully translated to portuguese at the time very few were so.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Phantasy Star is still a cult classic among older Brazilian gamers. This is due SEGA's strong presence in the market, and that game was one of the very few to be fully translated to portuguese at the time very few were so.

* {{Fanon}}: Go ahead, ask some of the fans if [[spoiler:Lutz and Noah]] are the same person. Then read some of the long, long justifying fan-fiction. May also qualify as AlternateCharacterInterpretation. In the original Japanese and FanTranslation hacks, this is indeed the case.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: In this case, overlaps with PragmaticAdaptation and {{Macekre}}. Due to differences in language, a name in Japanese that easily fit in a short space ''can't'' when translated to a Western alphabet... and due to the hardware limitations of the era, simply making more room for "proper" English wasn't in the cards. As a result, localization teams often had to make new names for characters and items, but they often ''went out of their way'' to change the names into something entirely different--even for names that didn't ''need'' to be changed. They weren't consistent about the replacement names used, either. And then there's the mistranslation of Dark Force into "Dark Falz"... which ended up becoming the canonical name for the godlike cosmic horror that would debut in ''Online'' and have final boss roles in multiple games after that. Whether the name was the ''result'' of the mistranslation or just a coincidence is unknown, though it's still amusing in hindsight.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Many fans of the original tetralogy do not like the GenreShift from a single-player JRPG series to an [[ActionRPG action-based]] [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] series.

* FandomRivalry: Unsurprisingly, with Franchise/FinalFantasy, with some added heat of the famous [[ConsoleWars Genesis vs. SNES rivalry]].

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Many examples peppered throughout the series. Proof that yes, the Sega Master System and Genesis were capable of producing epic and emotional tunes suitable for an RPG.
* BrokenBase: There's one between fans of the original tetralogy and fans of the online series. The fact that it's almost a completely different storyline that goes for an ActionRPG approach compared with the EasternRPG of the original, and that Online has easily eclipsed the original games in popularity doesnt help. There's virtually zero crossover fans between the two franchises save for the truly diehard.

* ContestedSequel: ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' doesn't even look much like a ''Phantasy Star'' game given its radically different art style and its storyline separation from ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' It does however have its fair share of fans for it's branching mechanics that were perhaps a bit too far ahead of its time, the excellent music, and the ending of the game revealing some ties to the main story after all.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Nei from ''[[PhantasyStarII II]]'' is one of the most recognizable characters (if not '''the''' most recognizable) from the series as a whole. She has a lot of fans in part because of her {{Moe}} appeal and being most well known for her [[spoiler:death]], one of the earliest examples of a PlayerPunch. She was even considered to represent the series in ''VideoGame/SonicAndSEGAAllStarsRacing'' over characters like Alis! However, she didn't make the final cut.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Many examples peppered throughout the series. Proof that yes, the Sega Mater System and Genesis were capable of producing epic and emotional tunes suitable for an RPG.
* BrokenBase: There's one between fans of the original tetralogy and fans of the online series.
* ContestedSequel: ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' doesn't even look much like a ''Phantasy Star'' game given its radically different art style and its storyline separation from ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII''.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Nei from ''[[PhantasyStarII II]]'' has a lot of fans. She is also one of the most recognizable characters (if not '''the''' most recognizable) from the series as a whole.
** She was even considered to represent the series in ''VideoGame/SonicAndSEGAAllStarsRacing'' over characters like Alis! However, she didn't make the final cut.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Many examples peppered throughout the series. Proof that yes, the Sega Genesis was capable of producing epic and emotional tunes suitable for an RPG.

* BronkenBase: There's one between fans of the original tetralogy and fans of the online series.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''PSIV'' is generally regarded as the best game in the original series. ''PSIII'' is... [[ContestedSequel mixed]].

* ContestedSequel: PhantasyStarIII doesn't even look much like a ''PhantasyStar'' game given its radically different artstyle and its storyline separation from ''PhantasyStarII''.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Many examples peppered throughout the series. Proof that yes, the Sega Genesis was capable of producing epic and emotional tunes suitable for an rpg.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Nei from [[PhantasyStarII II]] has a lot of fans. She is also one of the most recognizable characters (if not '''the''' most recognizable) from the series as a whole.
** She was even considered to represent the series in ''SonicAndSEGAAllStarsRacing'' over characters like Alis! However, she didn't make the final cut.
* {{Fanon}}: Go ahead, ask some of the fans if [[spoiler: Lutz and Noah]] are the same person. Then read some of the long, long justifying fan-fiction. May also qualify as AlternateCharacterInterpretation. In the original Japanese and FanTranslation hacks, this is indeed the case.
** For that matter you might as well ask if [[spoiler: Rika and Nei]] are the same character, due to a case of WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''PSIV'' is generally regarded as the best game in the original series. ''PSIII'' is...[[{{ContestedSequel}} mixed]].

* ContestedSequel: PhantasyStarIII doesn't even look much like a ''PhantasyStar'' game given its radically different artstyle and its storyline separation from ''PhantasyStarII''.
* {{Fanon}}: Go ahead, ask some of the fans if [[spoiler: Lutz and Noah]] are the same person. Then read some of the long, long justifying fan-fiction. May also qualify as AlternateCharacterInterpretation.
** For that matter you might as well ask if [[spoiler: Rika and Nei]] are the same character, due to a case of WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''PSIV'' is generally regarded as the best game in the original series. ''PSIII'' is...[[{{ContestedSequel}} not]].

* CompleteMonster: Zio from IV.
** Lassic from I and IV.

** Heck, she was even considered to represent the series in ''SonicAndSEGAAllStarsRacing'' over characters like Alis! However, she didn't make the final cut.

** Heck, she was even considered to represent PhantasyStar in SonicAndSEGAAllStarsRacing. However, she didn't make the final cut.

** For that matter if [[spoiler: Rika and Nei]] are the same character, due to a case of WhatCouldHaveBeen.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Nei from [[PhantasyStarII II]] has a lot of fans. She is also one of the most recognizable characters from the series as a whole.