Phantasy Star II: Rudger's Adventure

Wow, did I ever hate this one. A world map which is way too big and way too linear, meaning that backtracking is a nightmare, paired with WAY too many items, many of which are found long before they're ever needed, meaning backtracking happens often. You'll usually wind up needing to drop items regularly to make way for new ones, only to find out later that the ones you dropped are essential. The puzzles themselves are completely asinine too (e.g. baiting fish with a poisonous mushroom so you can harvest the jewel in its belly, or shooting a waterfall with a shotgun for no obvious reason), which might all be forgivable if the writing was decent. Too bad there's no characterization whatsoever, as the crux of the plot revolves around Rudger's wife and child dying on the fourth screen of the game, and his only reaction to this event is about two sentences long, with no further comment for the rest of the game - that is, until the very last scene after the final combat encounter, where he suddenly acts like his grief has turned him into a psychopath. It's frustrating and utterly nonsensical. By far the worst of these PSII adventures.