Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes
NEC PC-9801 - Released - September 14, 1990
After the evil Nikademus was defeated, the land of Scandor enjoyed a time period of peace, which lasted twenty years. However, when a ship sent to the Skull Island disappeared without trace, Scandor's inhabitants realized a new threat was rising...
Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes is the fourth entry in the RPG series Phantasie, and the only one that was released exclusively for Japanese computers. Gameplay-wise and visually, the game is very similar to the previous installments. The player creates a party of adventurers (up to six active combatants, including the series' trademark "random creatures", such as ogres, minotaurs, lizardmen, etc.), which then roams the top-down world-map, descending into dungeons, and fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat. Battles allow specific commands such as "Thrust", "Parry", "Throw", etc., and - similarly to the third game - placement of the characters in rows on the battle screen.
A new feature is the possibility to choose parents for the characters the player creates. They can both belong to the same race, or produce an offspring in a mixed marriage - which, naturally, influences the newborn's parameters, affinities, etc. Theoretically, it is possible to create a party that consists entirely of children born to troll fathers and gnoll mothers; however, these "random creatures" (unlike the privileged races such as humans, dwarves, and elves) can only be either thieves or fighters.
