Phantasie
Encyclopedia
Phantasie is a fantasy
computer role-playing game series designed by Winston Douglas Wood and published
by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
in 1985. It was developed for a variety of systems, including the Apple II
, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST
, Amiga
, Commodore 64
and DOS
.
With the popularity of the Ultima series of games catching on, Strategic Simulations, Inc. developed its own fantasy RPG series to compete in the market.
Based on the Isle of Gelnor, Phantasie allowed 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.
Phantasie II used the same graphics and fighting as the original Phantasie game, with one improvement to combat: the ability of any character class to target any enemy rank with a thrown rock. There were improvements in the complexity of quests, but little was done to innovate the series. One option which endeared many veterans was the ability to transfer characters from Phantasie I to this sequel.
The manual included in Phantasie II was identical to the one included with Phantasie, plus a small card explaining the differences. Computer Gaming World
noted this was advantageous in terms of how players of the original would have an easier time getting into the game, but disadvantageous as to some particularly tedious mechanisms of both games, particularly "the
infamous Distribution and Selling rigamarole." The review continued to note that characters imported from the original have their equipment removed as well as most of their gold and experience, affording only a slight head start
over newly created characters.
The "final" installment of the trilogy was based around fighting the evil Nikademus and finishing him for good. Released in 1987, this time Nikademus was attempting to take over the entire world and it was up to the party to stop him.
Phantasie III maintained the style of the original two and improved upon the graphics on all platforms except the DOS version. The combat engine also saw a few upgrades, adding specific wound locations, with characters now able to have their head, torso, or a limb specifically injured, broken, or removed. It was also now possible to have a more tactical battle line-up, with the ability to move characters to the front, middle, or rear of the party. The game also improved upon the spell list and added a larger variety of weapons and equipment. The game also had two possible endings depending on whether the characters chose to fight Nikademus or join him.
Computer Gaming World
felt the game was a bit smaller than the previous games, both in terms of world size and time to completion, but felt the improvements to combat and training made the game a worthwhile ending to the trilogy.
ese market release for the PC-9801
and MSX
with no English translations. However, the game maintains an English title and subtitle, and English appears throughout the game, notably in the end screen's incorrectly spelled "congraturation!"
#120 (1987), recommending that Atari ST owners should "consider Phantasie as a game well-worth their attention."
Phantasie III was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon
#130 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
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.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
computer role-playing game series designed by Winston Douglas Wood and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Strategic Simulations, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher with over 100 titles to its credit since its founding in 1979. It was especially noted for its numerous wargames, its official computer game adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons, and for the groundbreaking Panzer General...
in 1985. It was developed for a variety of systems, including the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
.
With the popularity of the Ultima series of games catching on, Strategic Simulations, Inc. developed its own fantasy RPG series to compete in the market.
Phantasie
Thief (character class)
The Thief or Rogue is a character class in many role-playing games, including Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft and many MMORPGs. Thieves are usually stealthy and dextrous characters able to disarm traps, pick locks, and perform backstabs from hiding...
, Fighter, Ranger
Ranger (character class)
A Ranger is a type of warrior appearing in fantasy fiction and role-playing games....
, Monk
Monk (character class)
The monk is a character class in a number of table-top role-playing and computer games. In those games which follow the Dungeons & Dragons traditions, monks are characters with martial arts skills and have very powerful strategies....
, Priest
Cleric (character class)
The Cleric, Priest, or Bishop is a character class in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games. The cleric is a healer, usually a priest and a holy warrior, originally modeled on or inspired by the Military Orders...
and Wizard
Wizard (character class)
The Wizard is a type of magical character class in certain role-playing games and computer role-playing games. Wizards are considered to be spellcasters who wield powerful spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. Wizards are commonly confused with similar offensive spellcasting...
) and could also choose between the races of Human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
, Dwarf, Halfling
Halfling
Halfling is another name for J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit which can be a fictional race sometimes found in fantasy novels and games. In many settings, they are similar to humans except about half the size. Dungeons & Dragons began using the name halfling as an alternative to hobbit for legal reasons...
, Elf or Gnome
Gnome
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
. By selecting "Random" one could also choose from ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...
, troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
, pixie
Pixie
Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
, 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
Dungeon crawl
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find...
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.
Phantasie II
In 1986, SSI published the next part of the series, Phantasie II. Again, the Dark Lord Nikademus was the nemesis. This time Nikademus had fashioned an evil orb, and with it he cast a curse on a beautiful island named Ferronrah and enslaved its people. The player's mission was to find and destroy the orb.Phantasie II used the same graphics and fighting as the original Phantasie game, with one improvement to combat: the ability of any character class to target any enemy rank with a thrown rock. There were improvements in the complexity of quests, but little was done to innovate the series. One option which endeared many veterans was the ability to transfer characters from Phantasie I to this sequel.
The manual included in Phantasie II was identical to the one included with Phantasie, plus a small card explaining the differences. Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
noted this was advantageous in terms of how players of the original would have an easier time getting into the game, but disadvantageous as to some particularly tedious mechanisms of both games, particularly "the
infamous Distribution and Selling rigamarole." The review continued to note that characters imported from the original have their equipment removed as well as most of their gold and experience, affording only a slight head start
Head start (positioning)
In positioning, a head start is a start in advance of the starting position of others in competition, or simply toward the finish line or desired outcome...
over newly created characters.
Phantasie III: Wrath of Nikademus
Phantasie III maintained the style of the original two and improved upon the graphics on all platforms except the DOS version. The combat engine also saw a few upgrades, adding specific wound locations, with characters now able to have their head, torso, or a limb specifically injured, broken, or removed. It was also now possible to have a more tactical battle line-up, with the ability to move characters to the front, middle, or rear of the party. The game also improved upon the spell list and added a larger variety of weapons and equipment. The game also had two possible endings depending on whether the characters chose to fight Nikademus or join him.
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
felt the game was a bit smaller than the previous games, both in terms of world size and time to completion, but felt the improvements to combat and training made the game a worthwhile ending to the trilogy.
Phantasie IV: Birth of Heroes
Phantasie IV was an exclusive JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese market release for the PC-9801
PC-9801
The NEC PC-9801, part of the PC-98 series, is a Japanese 16-bit microcomputer manufactured by NEC.- History :It first appeared in 1982, and employed an 8086 CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers , and shipped with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB...
and MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
with no English translations. However, the game maintains an English title and subtitle, and English appears throughout the game, notably in the end screen's incorrectly spelled "congraturation!"
Engrish
refers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...
Reception
Game reviewers Hartley and Pattie Lesser complimented the Atari ST version of the original game in their "The Role of Computers" column in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#120 (1987), recommending that Atari ST owners should "consider Phantasie as a game well-worth their attention."
Phantasie III was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#130 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
Phantasie I, Phantasie III, and Questron II were later re-released together, and reviewed in 1994 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#203 by Sandy Petersen
Sandy Petersen
Carl Sanford Joslyn Petersen is a game designer.Petersen was born in St. Louis, Missouri and attended University of California, Berkeley, majoring in zoology....
in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the compilation 2 out of 5 stars.