History VideoGame / PhantasyStarII

* GameBreakingBug: Somehow defeating the 3 Army Eyes boss. Each boss has 3000 HP, the highest in the game. You also have 3 turns to defeat it. At this time, your characters won't do enough damage in such a short span. After the 3rd turn, they perform a ring trap that traps your characters, sending you to the next location of the story. But what happens if you max out your stats and defeat all 3? You only gain 2 experience, but '''you won't progress through the game'''. If you saved afterwards, you cannot progress the game and have to start all the way over.

* AmazonianBeauty: Nei in the Japanese box art of the original. Averted in the game itself (where she looks less muscular, and is a FragileSpeedster) and the remake's box art.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Japanese box art foreshadows the fact that [[spoiler: the Earthmen are behind Mother Brain, as it shows a humanoid figure dressed in their garb ominously overlooking Rolf from the horizon. In turn it foreshadows the fact they had been corrupted by Dark Force, depicting said figure with a monstrous face reminiscent of him.]]

** Many places and elements have changed names or spellings in relation with the first game's localization. Most infamous of all is Lutz, who now keeps his Japanese name, leading to initial fan confusion as to whether or not he and Noah were supposed to be the same.

* FlatCharacter: As was the norm in contemporary [=RPGs=], the characters get little CharacterDevelopment throughout the story. ''Generation 2'' tries to reconcile this with more dialogue during plot events as well as a [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain party talk]] option.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The Earthmen, true human beings from Earth, are all presented as the {{Outside Context Problem}}s of the game. Though Dark Force was likely brainwashing them into the plan to destroy Algo, they still were forced to leave Earth because they destroyed its environment.

* ContemptibleCover: The Genesis version's North American box art turns Rolf into a middle-aged man while Nei becomes a pretty average-looking woman whose ears were somehow turned into ''horns''. Making matters worse, Mother Brain was depicted a brain with an eye, looking more like a rip-off of Metroid's Mother Brain.

* FlatCharacter: Pretty much all of the protagonists; the game was less concerned with CharacterDevelopment than it was with just having them witness events. ''Generation 2'' tries to reconcile this with more dialogue during plot events as well as a [[NowWhereWasIGoingAgain party talk]] option.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: The Earthmen, true human beings from Earth, are all presented as the {{Outside Context Problem}}s of the game. Though Darkforce was likely brainwashing them into the plan to destroy Algo, they still were forced to leave Earth because they destroyed its environment.

* ContemptibleCover: The Genesis version's North American box art turns Rolf into a middle-aged man while Nei becomes a pretty average-looking woman whose ears were somehow turned into ''horns''.

* DownerEnding: The party succeeds in saving the world by [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ushering it into a new technological dark age]], and has its own BolivianArmyEnding to boot. And shortly before the ending, the original game's main planet blows up, [[KillEmAll killing most of humanity]].

* InconsistentDub: Many places and elements have changed names or spellings in relation with the first game's localization. Most infamous of all is Lutz, who now keeps his Japanese name, leading to initial fan confusion as to whether or not he and Noah were supposed to be the same. And then there is the physical map included with the game, which uses a whole different translation from the game, resulting in most names not matching. For instance, Climatrol is called [[BlindIdiotTranslation Crimetorol]] in the map.

* CampGay: This was the reason Ustvestia gives men a discount on the Musik technique. If he meets a male character, he'll call him cute and give him a discount. This got [[HideYourLesbians removed]] in the translation, but he still gives male characters discounts, commenting that they look smart instead, which makes him come off more as a chauvinist.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Ah, Motavia. Once a dangerous desert planet crawling with monstrous antlions: now, an idyllic, lush, bountiful world where the average citizen doesn't even have to work for a living...just so long as they stay on Mother Brain's good side. [[spoiler:This was intentional on the part of the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Earthlings]] who created Mother Brain and dropped her on Motavia: if the populace was too docile and weak, conquest of the planet would be a trivial matter.]]

** Nearly all item names suffer from this. For example, Ceramic Sword became CERAM SWRD.

* FantasticRacism: Nei has to deal with this due to her being half human, half animal.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegation: Nei is supposed to age faster than humans thanks to her biomonster genes. This is reflected in the fact she gains levels almost twice as fast as the other characters.

* CampGay: There's a reason Ustvestia gives men a discount on the Musik technique... This got [[HideYourLesbians removed]] in the translation though, making him come off as a chauvinist. (Hey, he looks smart!)

* CatGirl: The "Cat Man" line of enemies are all visibly female.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Bizarrely enough, Nei's [[WolverineClaws claw weapons]] became ''bars'' in the localization.

* GuideDangIt: Amusingly, the game came with a strategy guide in the box. [[NintendoHard You'll need it.]]

* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: Early on you need to get past a character named Darum, who is blocking a tunnel and robbing anyone who tries to pass in order to pay the ransom for his daughter Teim, who has been kidnapped by bandits. After resucing Teim, you go to confront Darum, but instead of simply showing him his daughter is safe so he will no longer have a reason to rob anyone or block the path, Tiem suddenly walks up to him in disguise and refuses to comply with his robbery demands. Darum ends up killing Teim, and then blows himself up when he realizes he murdered his daughter. The final result is the tunnel is no longer blocked, but also two needless deaths that could have been easily avoided with a few sentences of dialog.

* TooDumbToLive: Teim rushing out to meet her father Darum while still veiled; would it have killed her to take it off? [[spoiler:Because it certainly killed her to leave it on. Worse yet, [[DrivenToSuicide Darum impales himself with his sword]] after he discovers this fact too late.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: The Japanese box art shows Nei with a {{BFG}}, while the American box art shows Rolf as the one with the gun. In-game, that's [[TheBigGuy Rudo's]] specialty. Nei uses [[WolverineClaws tiger claws]], while Rolf is a swordsman.[[note]]Rolf is able to use the Sonic Gun and Bow Gun, but these are not particularly strong options for him.[[/note]] The American cover also features a realistic western style that betrays the game's anime style, and makes it seem as though Rolf and Nei are middle-aged, in addition to turning the latter's ears into ''horns''.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The Japanese box art shows Nei with a {{BFG}}, while the American box art shows Rolf as the one with the gun. In-game, that's [[TheBigGuy Rudo's]] specialty. Nei uses [[WolverineClaws tiger claws]], while Rolf is a swordsman.[[note]]Rolf is able to use the Sonic Gun and Bow Gun, but these are not particularly strong options for him.[[/note]]

In 1990 and 1991, Sega produced a series of prequel [[InteractiveFiction text adventures]] centered around a different party member each, providing much needed backstory, Nei's in particular. A total of eight were produced, covering the entire playable cast. They were first distributed through the Sega Meganet service, and were included a few years later in the ''UsefulNotes/SegaCD'' compilations ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 1'' and ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 2''. Naturally, [[NoExportForYou none of these left Japan]], though FanTranslation patches exist.

In 1990 and 1991, Sega released a series of prequel [[InteractiveFiction text adventures]] through its Sega Meganet service. These were centered around a particular party member each, in addition to providing much needed backstory, Nei's in particular. A total of eight were produced, covering the entire playable cast. They were later rereleased in the copilations ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 1'', and ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 2'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD. Naturally, [[NoExportForYou none of these left Japan]], though FanTranslation patches exist.

* CampGay: There's a reason Ustvestia gives men a discount on the Musik technique... This got [[HideYourLesbians removed]] in the translation, though. He's just a chauvinist in the translated version. (Hey, he looks smart!)

In 1994, Sega released ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 1'', and ''Game no Kanzume Vol. 2'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD. These were [[CompilationRerelease compilations of]] various arcade ports to the console. Included in these were a series of prequel [[InteractiveFiction text adventures]] centering around a particular party member, in addition to providing much needed backstory, Nei's in particular. A total of eight were produced, covering the entire playable cast. Naturally, [[NoExportForYou none of these left Japan]], though FanTranslation patches exist.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The US box art makes Rolf and Nei look around 15-20 years older than in the game, and uses a realistic art style, clashing with the game's manga look and [[YouDontLookLikeYou rendering the characters basically unrecognizable.]]

* DifficultySpike: While the game is already hard enough, things suddenly become ''much'' more difficult once you start facing robots in battle after completing roughly one-third of the game. Most of them hit harder and are much more resistant to damage than the biomonsters you were (finally) destroying with ease due to being sufficiently geared / leveled. The shops don't sell anything new, and you won't be coming across any new ones for quite a while, which means that your only resort is to find better upgrades in the dams. If this wasn't bad enough, it comes right after you've lost your heaviest-hitting character. Good luck. Levelling up Kain helps, as he has machine specific techniques.
** And it further spikes once more when you first reach Dezoris about two-thirds through the game. The spaceport isn't too difficult, though rarely you may face a few powerful robot types there that you haven't previously. Once you step foot on the surface, you'll inevitably be confronted by biomonsters far higher in power than anything that was on Motavia. If you had swapped out Hugh because he was useless against the robots, he's now very underlevelled, and can't help you the way he did before. They are the ''easy'' ones... the dungeons have even ''more powerful'' biomonsters that are capable of decimating your party and often attack in groups, much like the Blaster example from very early in the game. Also, depending on where you are, robots may show up from time to time which have absurdly high HP and defense and can take a very long time to kill, but usually aren't as threatening as the biomonsters.