I’d like to make something clear; when the review form asks me “Recommended,” I listed my answer as “Yes,” simply because I did have a good time playing this. Purists would think this is essentially a cheating patch, and that’s kind of what it is. All it does is increase the exp and meseta you get from battles, though I’m not sure where the 4x multiplier is, because the great majority of the figures are definitely not multiples of four. I might just be missing some bit of technical minutiae here, but I digress.

This patch changes the pace of the game. When I first beat PSII (on the GBA Phantasy Star Collection), I actually noticed that it wasn’t very long by the standards of better-known 40+ hour JRPGs; the fact becomes even more glaringly obvious when you’re using this patch. You will blaze through the game in a very short time, especially if you’re using a walkthrough.

If you want the original experience, pass on this; if you’re more accustomed to the pace of something like Final Fantasy IV, then you might find the game more palatable this way.