Phantasie is a fantasy role-playing video game series designed by Winston Douglas Wood and published by Strategic Simulations in 1985.[1] It was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and MSX.
| Phantasie | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Developer(s) | Winston Douglas Wood |
| Publisher(s) | Strategic Simulations |
Phantasie
editBased on the Isle of Gelnor, Phantasie allows 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.
Phantasie II
editIn 1986, SSI published the next part of the series, Phantasie II.[2] 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 III: The Wrath of Nikademus
editThe "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 IV: Birth of Heroes
editThis entry was a Japan-exclusive for the PC-9801 and MSX, with no English translation.
Reception
editWith more than 50,000 copies sold in North America, Phantasie was very successful for SSI.[3] It was the company's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987.[4] Phantasie II sold 30,100 copies,[3] while Phantasie III sold 46,113 copies.[3]
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.[5]
References
edit- ^ Barton, Matt (2007-02-23). "Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)". The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. Gamasutra. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ Barton, Matt (2007-02-23). "Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993)". The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ a b c Maher, Jimmy (2016-03-18). "Opening the Gold Box, Part 3: From Tabletop to Desktop". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ^ Ferrell, Keith (December 1987). "The Commodore Games That Live On And On". Compute's Gazette. pp. 18–22. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- ^ Petersen, Sandy (March 1994). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon (203): 59–62, 69.
External links
edit- Phantasie series at MobyGames
- The MS-DOS version of Phantasie can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive
- Interview with Winston Douglas Wood at RPG Codex
- Interview with Winston Douglas Wood on the Matt Chat YouTube Channel