Phantasy Star III and Sweet Home are wildly different RPGs. Both of them are fairly unique when I compare them to the other RPGs I’ve played. There are a few similarities, but these games have far more differences.
Most of the differences are in the gameplay, story, and setting. This is a common occurrence when I compare any game to Sweet Home because it is a hybrid of genres. Comparing anything to Sweet Home is a lot of fun for me because of how strange it is.
Phantasy Star III is one of the games that I’ve changed my mind about in the last several years. It has a fun story, and I like the way that it is told. The gameplay is what you should expect from a console RPG, which is something I enjoy.
I won’t be focusing on graphics too much. While both games look great, I just don’t think it is fair to compare the graphics of an Famicom game with a Genesis game. I will be going over visual storytelling, because I think that is important. Let’s get into both games and see what they have to offer.
Game Descriptions/Overviews
These games offer something different from the other retro RPGs that I’ve compared. They both have some unique features while maintaining turn-based combat in their gameplay. I like both of them because of how different they are.
Phantasy Star III is a science fantasy RPG that takes place on a spaceship. The story is told across three generations, and the player has control over which path they take through the game. It ends with a final confrontation with Dark Force, the series protagonist.
Sweet Home is a horror RPG that includes a lot of gameplay mechanics that would be standard in survival horror games. The game takes place in a mansion, you control five characters, and you have to manage each of their inventories. There is a focus on solving puzzles instead of fighting bosses.
Those are the basics of each game. There is a lot to go over when it comes to the differences between these two games. While they have similar combat systems, almost everything else is different. Let’s get into the major differences between these games.
Main Differences
There are too many differences to go over in one section. I’ll be focusing on three or four of them here and go into more depth in the next section. For right now, I’ll go over the setting, gameplay, final boss fights, and the story.
Phantasy Star III takes place on a spaceship, where there are separate sections linked together by tunnels. Sweet Home takes place in a maze-like mansion where you have to solve puzzles to move to a new area. There are some similarities with the settings, as you don’t have a world to explore in either game.
The gameplay is very different once you get past the combat. Sweet Home has multiple parties for you to control, and there is more inventory management in Sweet Home. Phantasy Star III has and in game economy where you have to buy weapons, armor, and items. Sweet Home has you find weapons and items, but does not have armor for the characters.
The final bosses in these games are one of the major differences. Phantasy Star III has you fight the source of all evil, and Sweet Home has you fighting a malevolent spirit. The boss fight in Sweet Home is less straightforward, as you have to do specific actions at the right time. With Phantasy Star III, it is more like a traditional RPG boss fight.
The two stories are considerably different. Phantasy Star III has you take control of a group of people trapped on a spaceship. Sweet Home has the player trying to escape a haunted house.
Those are the main differences that I wanted to talk about. There are a few more of them that I think are minor, which I’ll cover in the next section. Let’s get into the core mechanics real quick.
Comparing Core Mechanics (Combat, Story, Visuals, etc)
I’ll get into the combat and the visual storytelling here. These are the areas where there are minor differences. I’ll try to keep this brief in an effort to not repeat myself too much.
Both of these games use turn-based combat, but that is where the similarities end. Phantasy Star has up to five characters in your party, and Sweet Home has three, but you can call on the other characters to come and help during battle. Magic and techniques are in both games, but Sweet Home’s prayer mechanic has more uses outside of combat, and you can get to the final boss without using it in battle.
These games have a similar way of telling their stories. They both use comic book cutscenes and in-game graphics. There are more cutscenes in Sweet Home, but they aren’t all necessary. The cutscenes in Sweet Home look better than most of those in Phantasy Star III.
Those are the other differences between the two games. The core mechanics are a little different between them, especially since Sweet Home is a hybrid game. Let’s get into what each game does better than the other.
What Does Phantasy Star III do Better?
There are several things that Phantasy Star III does better than Sweet Home. A few of these have to do with this game being a pure RPG instead of a hybrid of genres. I do like how the game explains its story more and how the characters are developed during the game.
There are more main characters in Phantasy Star III. A few appear across all three generations of the game, and I like how they’re developed over the course of the game. Sweet Home has five main characters, and while they’re developed well, I felt like Phantasy Star III did a better job.
The way that the story in Phantasy Star III is told was more enjoyable for me. I like that it was told across three generations, and that there are four endings. I’ve only seen two of those endings, so there is more of a reason to play this game again.
Phantasy Star III has more complex battles than Sweet Home. You fight more enemies, and you have a more complex magic system. Each of your party members plays a little differently because they have different stats and abilities. With Sweet Home, your party members largely play the same in combat.
Those are the things that I think are better in Phantasy Star III. It is hard to clearly point to anything that is significantly better in this game because of how Sweet Home plays. Let’s get into what Sweet Home does better.
What Does Sweet Home do Better?
Sweet Home does a few things better than Phantasy Star III. Many of these things have to do with how unique the game is and how it is a hybrid of two genres. There is also something that I prefer in this game, which is more of a personal preference.
Both games try new things, but I think Sweet Home does a better job of presenting something new to the player. There is more of a focus on the survival horror parts of the game, which are very fun. The player is also encouraged to explore more than any other retro game that I’ve played.
The multi-party system in Sweet Home is also something that I really enjoy. It adds a little more strategy to the game, as far as who you want to explore with. It makes combat a little interesting, even though you can call for help from the other party during combat.
I like the animations of the enemies in this game more. They simply look better in Sweet Home. You only fight one enemy at a time, so the developers probably had more time and space to work with.
Those are the things that I think Sweet Home does better. This is one of the games that can be hard to compare to other games. Because it is a hybrid of two genres, it won’t have many of the things you might expect or want from either an RPG or a survival Horror game. All of that put together is one of the biggest reasons that I enjoyed it as much as I did.
Which is Better Overall and Why?
Phantasy Star III is the better RPG. It is very close, but when I think of what an RPG is, I find that Phantasy Star III has more of that in it. The story, setting, and way the game tells its story are more enjoyable for me.
As much as I love horror games, I like science fiction more. Phantasy Star III is more of a science fantasy game, but it has a lot of robots, technology, and other elements of sci-fi in it. I also really like how it ties into the rest of the Phantasy Star series.
I like the way that Phantasy Star III tells its story. You play as three generations of heroes, and you have some control over who the main protagonist is. This isn’t something that you might see in other games, and it is one of the unique things that I really enjoy about the game.
The setting being on a spaceship in the far future, was intriguing to me. Having the events from the previous games in the series being reduced to an origin myth was pretty awesome. I wish the developers had been given another chance to make a Phantasy Star game. It would’ve been cool to see what they came up with.
This was a tough decision. I like both of these games, and I don’t think there is one clear-cut winner here. Phantasy Star III is part of my favorite series of retro RPGs, so that’s why I gave it the edge over Sweet Home. Now, let’s get into which one I would rather play.
Which Would I Rather Play?
In this case, I would rather play Sweet Home again. I had more fun with it than I did with Phantasy Star III. This game is a wonderful change of pace from the more traditional RPGs on the home console. It also has some mechanics that you won’t find in other retro RPGs from the 1980s.
The story and the setting are a lot of fun. As a horror story, being trapped in a mansion filled with monsters makes for a great setting. The developers did a great job of making this setting feel bigger than it is, and each section looks different.
Sweet Home’s gameplay stands out because of how different it is. I really liked how each character felt important because of the special tools they had. You need each of them to get through the game, and you can call on them for help when in battle. Because there isn’t an in-game economy, it cuts down on grinding.
Inventory management is a big part of this game. This game does an excellent job of doing this, and you have plenty of resources if you keep an eye on things. Some items are necessary to beat the game. Thankfully, Sweet Home has all the tools that the player needs to make it to the end and eventually beat the game.
The more that I think about this game, the more that I like it. Sweet Home is an excellent retro RPG and a very good survival horror game. It has great graphics, wonderful gameplay, and it is the one that I would rather play when compared to Phantasy Star III.
Conclusion
I really like comparing other RPGs to Sweet Home. It is one of the RPGs that I enjoy talking about because of how different it is. Each time I go back to play it as a refresher, I find something that I like about it. In that way, it isn’t too different from how I’ve changed my mind on Phantasy Star III.
Part of the reason I started writing about retro games was to revisit games I haven’t played in a while, or games that I hadn’t beaten before. Phantasy Star III was a game that I played as a kid, but I didn’t really give it a chance. I’ve grown to enjoy the game more now that I’ve actually tried to beat the game.
Both of these games have something that makes them unique. With Phantasy Star III, it is the way the story is told, and for Sweet Home, it is the joy of playing something that we didn’t get in the US when it was released. While I like Phantasy Star III more at this point, Sweet Home is the game that I would like to go back and play. There is something about it that I find very interesting.
If you liked this post, please check out the other posts in this series. Such as Final Fantasy vs Sweet Home or Phantasy Star vs Sweet Home.