head to head
vs
Phantasy Star IIvsThe Sinking City
Phantasy Star II leans Optimization (Systems & Chaos); The Sinking City leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Phantasy Star IIThe Sinking City
Axis by axis
Execution1 vs 2
The Sinking City leans harder on execution: Clunky combat is deliberately undemanding
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance4 vs 3
Phantasy Star II leans harder on variance: Brutal random encounters and drop rolls
Optimization6 vs 6
Even - both lean on optimization about the same.
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.