Now this is how you make a sequel!

Started playing Phantasy Star IV today, and right from the first sound effect it's clear that it's much better than III. Sega took everything that worked in the first two games and greatly improved them, so just how II was an upgrade to the first this looks like a direct upgrade from II. The only thing I could tell so far that's from III is the 5 party member system, everything else from that game was left behind. Some of the things from I and II carried over are:
-Narrow small character sprites while walking
-Party members displayed on screen during fights
-Backgrounds of fights change with the location
-Well animated monster attacks (and idle animations too now)
-Same anime art style for cut scenes (but much more detailed and full screen)
-Great music and sound
-Good use of the limited color pallet (no purple everywhere!)
-Great writing and dialogue (and not limited to a sentience at a time)

Also they finally made it so the A button triggers talking and looking at things while the X button brings up the menu, though I got so use to the backwasrs controlls that I still hit X now and then to talk to people... Plus they redid the menu and inventory system to make it much easier to navigate and use, and they added a option to talk to the current arty to get information on the next objective.

The story takes place 1000 years after PSII and after the loss of Mother brain and the destruction of one of the planets, life on the planet is in a downwards spiral. Now monster attacks are on the rise and some shady guy named Zio claiming to be a magician is starting a cult and turing people into stone. So the monster hunter Alys and her young partner Chaz is hired to check out the increase in monsters, along the way they team up with the researcher Hahn and the mage Rune and folow the trail of Zio.

I didn't play for too long today since I did some boxing day shopping and picked up 9 new games for cheap. I tested them out a little to get a feel for them, normally to the first achievement (which was often on finishing the tutorial)
Red Dead Redemption: Changes the mood a bit running around in his sharp poker suit.
GTA IV Complete Edition: Virtual Ricky Gervais!
Batman Arkham Asylum: Just like the demo so far.
Assassin's Creed 2: Looks nicer than the first one so far.
Fallout New Vegas: Back to the familiar wasteland.
Alan Wake: Came with a free card for the first DLC, which I already bought for 2.50$...
Final Fantasy XIII: Eh, it was 20$ and far from the worst JRPG for the 360.
Dead Rising 2: Digital watch! Also, Chuck's kid is adorable.
Crack Down 2: Fastest achievement, got one when first booting from playing the demo before.

Also I got all the Mass Effect 2 DLC on sale for 7.50$ so I'll be returning to that at some point.