The Thread of Sci-Fi RPGs & Video Games

The Cosmic Solider games are easy to forget about, despite the fact that one of them somehow had a Western release. 

The single most revealing this I've read about PS2 is this:
"(Kotaro) Hayashida: Another issue was related to the dungeons, which were created by a new employee. Because he was new, he put a ton of effort into the maps and kind of overdid it… the game became more about the complex dungeons than anything else. I think you really see that on the Dezolis dungeons. They were really well done, and when Chieko Aoki saw them she didn’t want all the new employee’s work to be for naught, so we ended up using those maps… albeit with some mixed feelings. They contributed to the latter half of the game being unbalanced."

I'd like the game a ton more if the dungeons were more reasonable. It has a lot of charm, made some big strides in terms of story (you have to remember that this game was released in 1989, and competed with the like of Final Fantasy 2 and Dragon Quest 3), has some great world-building, great music and graphics, and is generally the closest to PS4 in spirit... but damn, those dungeons. When I played through it, I would do them in two parts each; figure them out, use an Escapipe, and come back to finish them. For the most part, you didn't actually have to do too much grinding if you did it that way. I still caved in an used a map for Spaceship Noah because it's so damn complex for nothing, with dozens of staircases leading back and forth between the two levels.

My biggest problem with PS3 now, other than the undeveloped script which was my biggest problem initially, is just how much backtracking it has you doing. You're constantly going back and forth through those damn tunnels between "worlds", over and over, and it's a pain. And of course the slow walking speed. I would have liked more proper boss fights, too, but PS1 & 2 didn't have that many, either (it still wasn't the norm to have a boss in every dungeon at the time). PS4 is the first truly great 16-bit RPG - it came out in late '93, while all the SNES classics came out in '94-'95.

Looking at the list you pointed out, I guess my definition of sci-fi is more restrictive, and I probably need a better term, because I'm not thinking of games like Megami Tensei (which is more into demonic and religious stuff), Front Mission (military setting + mechas), or Metal Max (post-apocalyptic, technological regression, etc. - though MM Returns is great). Cyber Knight counts, but it's dreck, with horribly slow and frequent battles. Illusion City seems great, and I'd definitely play Shadowrun SEGA CD, too. I like both 16-bit games, but I'm among the few to prefer to Genesis game. More gritty, more freedom, I enjoy doing runs, and the Matrix is a lot more developed. It's a bit rougher, though, and it's really easy to get killed when you're starting out.

I guess I'm most interested in JRPGs that feature travel between multiple planets, laser guns and stuff of that nature, but I don't know enough about sci-fi literature to know what that's called. Science-Fantasy? Space Opera? The Star Cruiser games definitely count, now that I think about it.

bonesnapdeez Cosmic Soldier seem to fit, too. I remember reading about it on the HG101 blog, back when they had one. I like the art style.

Yeah, Rogue Galaxy is on my "one day" list since forever. Infinite Space caught my interest at the time but it seemed kind of weird in a way that I didn't find too attractive. I would have been all over it if it'd had walking around and stuff. I'd completely missed the Ai Senshi Nicol translation until now, by the way. It doesn't seem to be on romhacking.net at all. I'll check it out.

Re: Phantasy Star 3, you probably found it too easy because you were used to do a lot of level grinding. It actually cuts down on that aspect a fair deal, which is nice, and the dungeons are smaller. That and the fact that the few bosses are a complete joke. One thing I like about PS4 is that the bosses can actually be pretty tough - you have to use buffers and be on your toes.