History VideoGame / PhantasyStarIV

* GameBreakingBug: The game would screw up a character's stats if they reached level 99.

The tech for the game did require a very expensive cart. The game was first sold at ''double'' the average for games at the time. Fortunately, the game has since been released on several compilations, and is available on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, the ''SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics'' collection on Platform/{{Steam}}, and the Sega Genesis Mini, each at a fraction of that price.

* ButtMonkey: Hahn, TheSmartGuy, is this for the first part of the game.

* Cap: Damage caps to 999. [[spoiler: The 4-way combo spell, DESTRUCT, which combines DEBAN + LEGEON + POSIBOLT + MEGID, always does 999 damage]].

* CurbStompBattle: Chaz vs Re-Faze, and it's a beatdown for the ages.

* EnemySummoner: Some enemies can do this.

* GuestStarPartyMember: Seth; Rune during his first stint with the party arguably also qualifies.

* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Rika in the ending.]]

* MagicKnight: Chaz eventually evolves into one; Kyra can be one too.

* MegaNeko: [[spoiler: Myau.]]

* OminousFloatingCastle: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly-named]] Air Castle.

* RecurringBoss: [[spoiler: Dark Force and Lassic/[=LaShiec=].]]

* RobotGirl: Demi, though her behavior is quite human-like.
* SaintlyChurch: The Dezorian churches, as a contrast to Zio's cult.

* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler: The Profound Darkness ... and the Algo System is the seal.]]

* ShouldersOfDoom: Zio. Also Juza [[spoiler: and Lashiec]].
* SideQuest: The Bounty missions.

* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: [[spoiler: Elsydeon]], which doubles as the game's InfinityPlusOneSword.

* TalkingAnimal: The Musk Cats.

* VerbalTic: The Musk Cats, meow.

* WombLevel: The Garuberk Tower.

* GenreDeconstruction: Of early 16-bit JRPGs of the era, although the distinction didn't mean as much at the time of release. The most typical genre-defining tropes, such as the conflict between light and darkness, the idea of chosen heroes, technology and magic coexisting, and even sidequests, are all built into the world and story in a way that justifies them in the text, and some of those tropes [[PlayerPunch leave stinging wounds]] in players' hearts even now. [[GuideDangIt You gotta do some research for some of it]], though.

The tech for the game did require a very expensive cart. The game was first sold at ''double'' the average for games at the time. Fortunately, the game has since been released on several compilations, and is available on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, the ''SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics'' collection on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and the Sega Genesis Mini, each at a fraction of that price.

* AngerIsHealthyAesop: Megid, the Forbidden Technique that harnesses the user's anger and hatred sound like an evil technique. However after the SecretTestOfCharacter in the Anger Tower, where [[spoiler:Re-Faze does a pretty nasty thing by separating Chaz from his party, then forcing Chaz to fight a copy of Alys, his dead mentor. When Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz Megid after all that happens, the correct option is for Chaz to refuse. If Chaz refuses, he'll point out that Chaz that anger and hatred are natural human emotions, so as long as he remains true to himself, he won't be corrupted by Megid's power. In contrast, Chaz refusing to acknowledge his anger and accepting Re-Faze's offer causes him to fail the test, with Re-Faze killing him in response.]] This is also dealt with subtly over the course of the game, as Chaz's temper nearly rushes the party into danger a number of times, requiring the cooler heads in the team to overrule him in order to stay on task, but no one gives him any grief over it beyond telling him to get it together.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** If you don't clear the Wreckage dungeon until Demi joins the party (which requires you to skip a lucrative dungeon run and backtrack to it after you have access to better stuff), she'll comment on how impressive the surviving technology is. If you wait until Rune joins the party, he'll be the one to say so.

* YouDontLookLikeYou: As usual, the Western box art redesigns the characters borderline unrecognizable.

* StatusBuff: Several characters have skills to increase resistence, magic resistence or agility of your party, as well as attack and critical hit rate. In later boss battles, the former skills are pretty much the difference between a balanced fight and a CurbStompBattle.

* TinMan: Wren. He starts out as TheSpock who has severe difficulty comprehending the logic behind the behavior of his humanoid travelling companions. (particularly the arguments between Chaz and Rune) In the end though, when he [[spoiler: takes Rika back to Motavia to be with Chaz]], he shows signs that he has gained some understanding of human emotion, despite not engaging in it himself. Even before that, he has an insightful discussion with another AI about the role of AI's in the human's lives.

%%* WolverineClaws: Rika's .

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Goes hand-in-hand with the LovecraftLite elements. [[spoiler: The Great Light and the Profound Darkness are presented in vague and allegorical ways, the manner in which they interact with the universe defies logic insofar as things we'd call their "emotions" and "thoughts" appear to have ''physical presence'' in our world, and they work on such a scale that the Great Light's lock on The Profound Darkness' dimensional prison is Algol solar system, which is literally constructed of the planets of the system, and with one planet destroyed, the lock is missing a key component...somehow. No one even tries to explain what's going on in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, and in the fight with The Profound Darkness, the thing (which first appears as a sinuous black blotch amidst the [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield psychadelic chaos]]) visibly disintegrates and reconstitutes itself several times over the course of the battle.]]
* YouDontLookLikeYou: As usual, the western box art redesigns the characters borderline unrecognizable.

* {{Expy}}: Rune (Lutz of ''Phantasy Star''), Rika (Nei of ''Phantasy Star II''), and Wren ([[NamesTheSame Wren]] of ''Phantasy Star III'') are all ''very'' similar to major characters from previous games in the franchise.

* KillEmAll: Implied late in the game [[spoiler:if Chaz accepts Re-Faze's offer to teach him Megid. Re-Faze nukes him like a cheap burrito... which leaves Rune without a champion and Elsydeon without a wielder.]]

* WolverineClaws: Rika's WeaponOfChoice.

* AngerIsHealthyAesop: Megid, the Forbidden Technique that harnesses the user's anger and hatred sound like an evil technique. However after the SecretTestOfCharacter in the Anger Tower, where [[spoiler:Re-Faze does a pretty nasty thing by separating Chaz from his party, then forcing Chaz to fight a copy of Alys, his dead mentor. When Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz Megid after all that happens, the correct option is for Chaz to refuse. If Chaz refuses, he'll point out that Chaz that anger and hatred are natural human emotions, so as long as he remains true to himself, he won't be corrupted by Megid's power. In contrast, Chaz refusing to acknowledge his anger and accepting Re-Faze's offer causes him to fail the test, with Re-Faze killing him in response.]] This is also dealt with subtly over the course of the game, as
Chaz's temper nearly rushes the party into danger a number of times, requiring the cooler heads in the team to overrule him in order to stay on task, but no one gives him any grief over it beyond telling him to get it together.

* BecomeARealBoy: Averted for Wren, Demi, and Seed. Their [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot remarkable human-like qualities]] have nothing to do with a sudden epiphany of human understanding, they're just ''hundreds of years old''. Their calm logic is also never compromised by their feelings. [[spoiler: Upon sending Rika into the world, Seed even self-destructs in order to end the monster outbreak without a moment's hesitation or a sliver of existential crisis.]]

* AllThereInTheManual: The Phantasy Star Compendium has notes from the creators about some of the things that the game doesn't address, like Zio's [[BodyHorror monsterized hand]], [[TheArtfulDodger Chaz's life before meeting Alys]], [[DeathByOriginStory how Alys became a hunter]], and [[ChildhoodFriends how she and]] [[AloofBigBrother Rune]] know each other.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps_ps4_2756.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[GrandFinale The explosive finale!]]]]

!!Provides Examples Of:

* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old God Out]]: Chaz gets this during Le Roof's ExpositionBreak. [[spoiler: When informed of the whole cosmological conflict between the Great Light and the Profound Darkness, Chaz [[{{Deconstruction}} points out]] the [[UnfortunateImplications less-than-optimal consequences]] of the Great Light's [[SealedEvilInACan imprisoning the Profound Darkness]] and then [[HaveYouSeenMyGod vanishing from the known universe]].]]

** After [[spoiler: Alys dies]], there's a basket of flowers on the countertop in her room at the inn. If you examine the countertop before that point, Chaz will note that nothing seems out of the ordinary.

* AngerIsHealthyAesop: Megid, the Forbidden Technique that harnesses the user's anger and hatred sound like an evil technique. However after the SecretTestOfCharacter in the Anger Tower, where [[spoiler:Re-Faze does a pretty nasty thing by separating Chaz from his party, then forcing Chaz to fight a copy of Alys, his dead mentor. When Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz Megid after all that happens, the correct option is for Chaz to refuse. If Chaz refuses, he'll point out that Chaz that anger and hatred are natural human emotions, so as long as he remains true to himself, he won't be corrupted by Megid's power. In contrast, Chaz refusing to acknowledge his anger and accepting Re-Faze's offer causes him to fail the test, with Re-Faze killing him in response.]]

* ArtificialHuman: Rika, the Numan successor to Nei from ''Phantasy Star II''.

** [[spoiler: The Profound Darkness]] would be a more traditional example, as its first and second forms are gigantic [[UpToEleven and even more nightmarish]] versions of the first two fights mentioned above, and its final form is a still-colossal, apparently female, and rather nubile humanoid with [[FlamingHair long, glowing tresses]].

The tech for the game did require a very expensive cart. The game was first sold at ''double'' the average for games at the time. Fortunately, the game has since been released on several compilations, and is available on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole and the Sega Genesis Mini, each at a fraction of that price.