''Phantasie'' is the first video game in the '' Phantasie'' series.

Gameplay

Based 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 Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

, Fighter, Ranger,

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, and Wizard) and could also choose between the races of

Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

, Dwarf,

Halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy novels and games. They are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the ...

, Elf, or Gnome. By selecting "Random" one could also choose from

ogre An ogre ( feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the wor ...

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...

pixie A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas ar ...

, 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 A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a " dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games ...

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 In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...

combat segments. After a combat, experience was awarded, but the players would have to return to town to purchase their levels if they qualified.

Reception

With more than 50,000 copies sold in North America, ''Phantasie'' was very successful for SSI. It was the company's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Game reviewers Hartley and Pattie Lesser in 1987 complimented the Atari ST version of ''Phantasie'' in their "The Role of Computers" column in '' Dragon'' #120 (1987), recommending that Atari ST owners should "consider ''Phantasie'' as a game well-worth their attention." ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'' in 1988 called ''Phantasie'' and its sequel the best fantasy role-playing games for the

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. In 1991 and 1993 ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through t ...

''s

Scorpia ''Alex Rider'' is a series of spy novels written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenage spy named Alex Rider and is primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises thirteen novels, as w ...

called ''Phantasie'' "a surprisingly good little game, with many interesting features".

Reviews

* ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one ...

'' #30 (Jan 1986)

Legacy

''Phantasie I'', '' Phantasie III'', and ''

Questron II ''Questron II'' a 1988 role-playing video game published by Strategic Simulations for the Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Amiga. It is the sequel to 1984's ''Questron''. The story and original design is credited to Ques ...

'' were later re-released together, and reviewed in 1994 in '' Dragon'' #203 by

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of '' RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Cal ...

in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the compilation 2 out of 5 stars.

References

{{reflist

External links

Review
in ''

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Review
in ''

Family Computing ''Family Computing'' was a U.S. computer magazine published during the 1980s by Scholastic It covered all the major home computer platforms of the day including the Apple II, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, as well as the IBM PC and M ...

''
Review
in ''

Compute!'s Gazette ''Compute!'s Gazette'' (), stylized as ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette'', was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at users of Commodore's 8-bit home computers. Announced as ''The Commodore Gazette'', it was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of t ...

''
Review
in ''

Info Info is shorthand for "information". It may also refer to: Computing * .info, a generic top-level domain * info:, a URI scheme for information assets with identifiers in public namespaces * info (Unix), a command used to view documentation produ ...

'' 1985 video games Amiga games Apple II games Atari 8-bit family games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games FM-7 games MSX2 games NEC PC-9801 games Role-playing video games Sharp X1 games Single-player video games Strategic Simulations games Video games developed in the United States