Phantasy Star II
The gameplay is similar to the original Phantasy Star, the first game in the series. The combat system is turn-based and allows the player to choose orders for his party of up to four characters. Each of the eight characters has different preferred weapons and armor, as well as techniques that fit their task. To advance in the game, the player must defeat enemies in the overworld and in dungeons. The game does away with the first-person perspective that was used in the first game for dungeons and battles. Phantasy Star II instead uses a top-down perspective for exploration and a third-person view for combat.
Story
Somewhere deep in the Andromeda galaxy lies the Algol star system. The parent star Algol (called "Algo" in the timeline) has three planets orbiting it. The first is Palm ("Palma"), the home of the government. Governors, treasurers and great thinkers live here in great ivory towers, far from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Next comes Mota ("Motavia"), the shining jewel. Once an arid desert planet infested with ant lions, Mota has been transformed into a blue-green tropical paradise. Crops are grown on domed farms, and water is regulated in dammed rivers. Life on Mota is sweet, peaceful and simple. People have everything they want and do not have to work. Farthest out is Dezo ("Dezoris"), the ice planet. Little is known about this mysterious and dark planet. A thousand years have passed since Alis and her friends freed Algo from the evil Lassic. Since then, Algo has thrived under the care of a giant computer called the Mother Brain. Motherbrain controls the climate tower, the biosystems lab, and everything else the people of Mota need. The game begins with Rolf remembering a strange recurring nightmare he had. In this dream, a young girl that Rolf doesn't recognize (but resembles Alis) is fighting a demon. Just before the demon kills her, Rolf wakes up. From his home in Paseo, the capital of Mota, Rolf goes to the central tower to meet with the commander, the head of Mota's government, to receive his latest assignment. The first threat is an increase in dangerous biomonsters (biologically modified animals). Rolf sets out with his companion Nei, a humanoid with cat-like features, to investigate, accompanied by six others who all have a different but same goal. Along the way, the group meets a human-biomonster hybrid named Neifirst, who reveals that Nei's origin is the same as their own. Because she is part biomonster, she is outcast from society, which causes her to loathe humans and therefore sabotage both Mota's climate control system and the biosystems lab. Nei confronts Neifirst and fights her in a duel, but is defeated and killed. Out of rage, Rolf and the remaining group defeat Neifirst, putting an end to the danger posed by Mota's biomonster. However, this sets off another incident: the exploding impact causes the central lake, Mota's living reservoir, to overflow with water. To prevent a massive flood, Rolf and his friends decide to open the four surrounding dams. After opening the last dam, they are captured by Mother Brain's security robots and sentenced to death on the Gaira satellite. However, the satellite malfunctions and collides with Palm, destroying them both. Rolf and co. are rescued at the last second by the space pirate Tyler. The group boards the last plane from Mota to Dezo. In a remote corner of the planet is the Esper Mansion. Once there, Rolf wakes the legendary Lutz from a long sleep. Lutz reveals the secrets of Rolf's past and also the dark secret of Mother Brain, which has to do with the fate and destruction of Algo. To save the system, the heroes try to find the powerful Nei Arsenal, which is located in four hidden dungeons and can be used against the enemies on the spaceship Noah, where Mother Brain resides. Eventually, it turns out that the Dark Force is behind every threat Rolf has faced, including Mother Brain herself. Rolf confronts the two evil beings and defeats them. After the final battle, Lutz alerts him to the fact that there are still people on the ship: the remaining survivors from Earth. They reveal that they created Mother Brain to satisfy their greedy lifestyle at the expense of Algo's resources, and a battle ensues between the heroes and the Earth people. The game ends with an open ending, although the outcome of the battle is not revealed.