Phantasy Star Series

[GaijinPunch]

That was actually a great read, and about all the time I want to spend on this abomination. I think including pics from previous installments is borderline heresy.

Rie Kodama still works at Sega. I hope she takes a shit on the desk of whomever okayed this.

[Bananamatic]

wasn't pso2 already waifu dressup
why are you surprised

[Sumez]

I'm pretty sure no one is surprised.

Is it possible that "Idola" is just a really horrible romanization of what is meant to be "Hydra"?

[FinalBaton]

snip

that was a good, fun post. agreed that it's not made for any real people, absolutely nobody's asking for this.
tweener in t-short might be the most bland/depressing RPG character I've ever seen. Lol @ Sam Swordguy


yeah newer "Shining" games are full-on waifu simulators.

That series died after SF3

[Xyga]

That series died after SF3

Yeah SF franchise has to be the most baffling case, since that time: 20 years, about 20 different games, not a single one responding to the fans expectations.

[ryu]

lmao everyone and their mother is reviving dead rpg ips in hopes to magically make billions like fgo

breath of fire is next

[Blinge]

oh so it's not actually PSV ?

[BryanM]

PS4 may have a vapid videogame story that's just there for garnish, but one unique feature it had was that Chaz had an active mother figure in Alys. It's a great foundation for comedy and drama. Which is nearly unprecedented, as other famous jRPG parents aren't nearly as active:

* Distant mysterious authority figure that sits in an Abrams Box for the entire game. At the end, he'll get eaten by a hydra, sic the last boss on you, give you a worthless and vague motivational speech, or not show up at all.

* Lady you talk to, in order to save 50 gold on inn fees.

* Guy you call up to save the game.

* Lady who complains about all the damn cats you keep sending home.

In a boarder sense, this is an example of the lack of attachment jRPG player characters have to the world they're in. Why would they care about the world if they're not attached to it? And if they don't care, why should we care?

Example: If some random building gets blown up, who cares whatever. But if that place that sells those delicious tacos you love so much gets blown up, it's a Shakespearean tragedy. Right?

why are you surprised

We keep expecting to be completely disappointed, and they somehow manage to disappoint us beyond the level of disappointment we've been conditioned to expect. (At the bare minimum I was expecting one of the characters shown to be a robot or a kitty. And a freakin' laser rifle.)

That is a very unique ability that few soulless money vampires can match.

oh so it's not actually PSV ?

Nah, four was the end of the franchise. And SEGA is going to continue being SEGA.

It's a bit interesting that a few other RPGs back then (Dragon Quest, Megami Tensei) had multi-game long story arcs. I guess they were pumping out games fast enough back then for that to work.

Yeah SF franchise has to be the most baffling case, since that time: 20 years, about 20 different games, not a single one responding to the fans expectations.

Spoiler

[GaijinPunch]

wasn't pso2 already waifu dressup
why are you surprised

PSO2 is actually very good. Yeah it's got loads of tangential shit catering to visitors of maid cafes, but it has a great battle system.

[BIL]

Yeah SF franchise has to be the most baffling case, since that time: 20 years, about 20 different games, not a single one responding to the fans expectations.

Spoiler

How dare you turn this forum into a house of blarms. Chris Chan went to jail over that shit.

[BrianC]

wasn't pso2 already waifu dressup
why are you surprised

PSO2 is actually very good. Yeah it's got loads of tangential shit catering to visitors of maid cafes, but it has a great battle system.

Too bad SEGA absolutely failed at bringing it to the west.

[bottino]

A new Phantasy Star made by Atlus and directed by Rieko Kodama - it's not like she works at Sega and Atuls is owned by them or anything...

That's way too much to expect, I know.

It's sad how this works: these companies owns the IPs of these franchises, so they can basically do anything with it, ranging from using the Phantasy Star name on this new gacha RPG/waifu simulator/boy fantasy game, turning it into a pachinko machine, a hentai game or simply sitting on top of it only to release absolute nothing through the years, effectively preventing anyone with the talent and the desire to do so.

[GaijinPunch]

Too bad SEGA absolutely failed at bringing it to the west.

Miserably...

[BryanM]

A new Phantasy Star made by Atlus and directed by Rieko Kodama - it's not like she works at Sega and Atuls is owned by them or anything...

That's way too much to expect, I know.

It's really great that ownership in this case is more nominal than something impactful. The power structure at ATLUS remains the same, the company keeps making games that humans want to play. We should be thankful our worry that ATLUS was gonna catch the SEGA aids hasn't happened so far.

A SEGA that would commission ATLUS to make an RPG wouldn't need to. They'd just do it themselves.

Cats, robots, lasers, biomonsters, some fiddling with the battle system and leveling up embellishments that aren't identical to everything else on the market - it ain't hard.

Unless you're colorblind and can't tell the difference. In which case you'd have to fire and replace yourself.

It's sad how this works: these companies owns the IPs of these franchises, so they can basically do anything with it, ranging from using the Phantasy Star name on this new gacha RPG/waifu simulator/boy fantasy game, turning it into a pachinko machine, a hentai game or simply sitting on top of it only to release absolute nothing through the years, effectively preventing anyone with the talent and the desire to do so.

I hear a lot of people say this kind of thing a lot of the time about old games they miss, but I don't really get it.

People missed Final Fantasy, so we (eventually) got Bravely Default. People missed Star Trek: The Next Generation, so we got The Orville.

SEGA doesn't have a copyright on space, mutants, cats, lasers, laser tanks, tech mages, biomonsters, rpgs, numbers, dungeons. Anyone who wants to make Phantasy Star 5, or a game very heavily inspired by the franchise, is completely free to do so. A giant corporation, you, me, anyone. You just can't use any copyrighted names or likenesses.

Are we attached to a label, or to the games? Caring about a name, is to forever powerlessly mope about over how a cocaine fiend in a nice suit doesn't share the same interests as we do.

I like the attitude of those guys who were like "fuck it, we're making Mother 4." At worst, they never finish the marathon and embarrass themselves.

Although Kodama no longer draws art assets directly for her games, she does paint and make handcrafts and accessories in her free time. She is also a fan of Dungeons & Dragons and the character Raistlin Majere from the Dragonlance series. She plays the D&D table-top games and reads the novels. She enjoys the way dragons are portrayed with different personalities in western fantasy, which is different from dragons in Japanese culture.

Learning lots of stuff from Wiki today. This lady is a giant nerd who read the same novels I really liked as a kid.

Here's a bonus excerpt about SEGA's final game:

When the director of Segagaga, Tez Okano, first presented the game's concept to Sega management, it was misconstrued as a joke. When he requested funding a second time, Hitmaker president, Hisao Oguchi, gave Okano a development budget. Okano subsequently spent two years developing the game in secret, fearing that "anything could have happened" if it was revealed. When the finished game was presented, Sega, struggling economically, did not feel that it would cast a negative impression on the company and authorized its release.

The game's name was chosen instead of "Sega Sega" because it made the "Sega" name less intrusive. The initial version of Segagaga had 300 issues in need of attention, but Okano only addressed 100. Others, such as the copyright issues of including Segata Sanshiro and a Ferrari, caused them to be removed from the game entirely. Okano utilized a large number of freely available Sega franchises because of their popularity. Okano estimated the game's budget at "less than a hundredth" of Shenmue, with Toei Animation giving him a discount for animated footage.

Okano marketed the game himself, receiving a budget of about $200. He spent more than half of the money on a wrestling mask to hide his identity. Setting up signing events at four locations in Akihabara rewarding fans who visited all of them. He was assisted by public relations head Tadashi Takezaki, and Taku Sasahara of Sega AM3, who garnered a full-page newspaper story for the game and increased its popularity. Sales of the game online at Sega Direct were initially high, leading to a store release, and, later, a budget version.

Youtube makes it look horrible.

But there's also this soul crushing segment where the protagonist gets a pep talk from Alex Kidd: "I'm a video game character, and because there is no one to control me, I cannot move forward. But you - you don't move forward because you've chosen not to."

Okano is also responsible for the Final Re:Quest project that hasn't really led to much. Maybe it inspired a meta jRPG in Compile Heart's Death end re;Quest.

The meta gimmick is a really good one imo, really liked it in Nanashi no Game.

[Sumez]

[
I hear a lot of people say this kind of thing a lot of the time about old games they miss, but I don't really get it.

People missed Final Fantasy, so we (eventually) got Bravely Default. People missed Star Trek: The Next Generation, so we got The Orville.

SEGA doesn't have a copyright on space, mutants, cats, lasers, laser tanks, tech mages, biomonsters, rpgs, numbers, dungeons. Anyone who wants to make Phantasy Star 5, or a game very heavily inspired by the franchise, is completely free to do so. A giant corporation, you, me, anyone. You just can't use any copyrighted names or likenesses.

Are we attached to a label, or to the games? Caring about a name, is to forever powerlessly mope about over how a cocaine fiend in a nice suit doesn't share the same interests as we do.

I think, more than just a label, there is also a faint hope of wanting to see "the original creators" working on the next thing, thus sharing their personal touch from the classic people remember.
Of course, in truth most sequels are made by essentially completely new teams, at least when more than 10 years have passed, and most certainly when it's more than 20.
But this explains why those spiritual sequel kickstarters tend to get a ton of money. Too bad it rarely amounts to anything.

People do attach themselves to labels though. I just saw someone on Reddit lamenting that Final Fight got "sent off" with Streetwise, as opposed to Final Fight 3, as its last game.

[dunpeal2064]

wasn't pso2 already waifu dressup
why are you surprised

PSO2 is actually very good. Yeah it's got loads of tangential shit catering to visitors of maid cafes, but it has a great battle system.

Agreed, PSO2 is very fun. The dress up shit and gatcha for Nier outfits and shit is fine, it makes money, but the fighting and doing huge raid runs on cities full of bosses without a lame turn-based MMO combat is damn nice. It feels more like playing a DMC multiplayer, you even have quick dodges and parrys and shit, and instead of "the boss targeted you so you get hit", you have real time dodging through often bullet-hell esk boss patterns.

The only downside is the huge gate to get to actual endgame from the fake level cap, which is really tedious and stupid, but otherwise its a fine romp for a free game. Its also really easy to play in English now too.

[bottino]

I agree with you Bryan ( except for the "do it yourself" part; things aren't really that simple, but anyway that doesn't matter ), but it still bothers me to see the hard work done by very talented and dedicated people being transvested like that ( and like we've seen several times over the course of years ).

Of course, this goes much beyond the realm of games, but I prefer not to digress too much here

I think, more than just a label, there is also a faint hope of wanting to see "the original creators" working on the next thing, thus sharing their personal touch from the classic people remember.

There's a little more to it, but it's something along those lines, yes.

I can safely say that I don't have any attachment to 'labels' or brands and not seeing a new PS game ever again doens't really bother me ; in fact, I greatly prefer when there are different, original games being released instead of the usual endless milking of a franchise.

An Atlus take on Phantasy Star would still be pretty cool to see though hahaha.

But there's also this soul crushing segment where the protagonist gets a pep talk from Alex Kidd: "I'm a video game character, and because there is no one to control me, I cannot move forward. But you - you don't move forward because you've chosen not to."

Damn.

Wasn't there a translation project for Segagaga in the works ? I remember reading something about that.

[Squire Grooktook]

wasn't pso2 already waifu dressup
why are you surprised

PSO2 is actually very good. Yeah it's got loads of tangential shit catering to visitors of maid cafes, but it has a great battle system.

Same, PSO2's battle system is a joy, its boss fights are a riot, and there's overall a world between it and mobile gacha shit.

Honestly I think BIL would like the combat system. Reminds me of PS2 Shinobi. I have to wonder if maybe some of the same staff worked on it.

[dunpeal2064]

there's overall a world between it and mobile gacha shit.

Granted, it does have its own mobile gatcha shit in PSO2e, but if it pays the bills to keep PSO2 running, so be it. (Plus you can level your character in that silly app while at work, and feed yo mag!)

[GaijinPunch]

there's overall a world between it and mobile gacha shit.

Granted, it does have its own mobile gatcha shit in PSO2e, but if it pays the bills to keep PSO2 running, so be it. (Plus you can level your character in that silly app while at work, and feed yo mag!)

Guilty.

Its also really easy to play in English now too.

How useless of a company are you when you can't localize your own fucking game, but a bunch of nerds in a basement can (and do)?

[Squire Grooktook]

A popular theory is that since the western fanbase went ahead and localized it for them and jumped in en masse, they decided it wasn't worth the money to keep another version of the game running.

Their biggest mistake from the beginning was probably split Western / Eastern games/servers.

[dunpeal2064]

How useless of a company are you when you can't localize your own fucking game, but a bunch of nerds in a basement can (and do)?

Iirc, they even translated it themselves for an English-Asia release. They've also released it on PS4, Vita, and now Switch, so clearly they view it as a big game. The lack of a localization for a game they view as that important, thats already translated, is beyond me.

[FinalBaton]

Agreed Bryan that there is atleast hope : another project can act as a spiritual successor(like Bravely Default to Final Fantasy). So we may still get a classic "Phantasy Star" game after all.

But you gotta agree that the OG name, with some original staffers... that shit tugs at the heartstrings

[BryanM]

It's kind of shocking how many games get an english option just for the SEA region. It's kinda weird - yeah their ping is way better than the atrocity we get on the other side of the planet, but the customer service has to be just as nonexistent for them as it is for us, right?

I think, more than just a label, there is also a faint hope of wanting to see "the original creators" working on the next thing, thus sharing their personal touch from the classic people remember.

A good point.

except for the "do it yourself" part; things aren't really that simple

It's just a matter of how long and deeply you care about something. If you're not dedicated enough to put in the three to five thousand hours to generate the source, art and sound (or to make a team to lower the amount of work you have to do personally), there's always ASCii. Below that - design documents, or a novel. If an RPG can't make a compelling novel to nerds who really like RPGs, maybe it isn't that great an idea.

And of course, everything begins with playing a version of the game in your head.

[Mischief Maker]

People missed Final Fantasy, so we (eventually) got Bravely Default. People missed Star Trek: The Next Generation, so we got The Orville.

SEGA doesn't have a copyright on space, mutants, cats, lasers, laser tanks, tech mages, biomonsters, rpgs, numbers, dungeons. Anyone who wants to make Phantasy Star 5, or a game very heavily inspired by the franchise, is completely free to do so. A giant corporation, you, me, anyone. You just can't use any copyrighted names or likenesses.

If you miss Phantasy Star, you (eventually) got StarCrawlers.

It's got space, mutants, lasers, laser tanks, tech mages, biomonsters, rpgs, numbers, and dungeons. But it doesn't have the cats, instead it has a talking cybernetic dog named Barkleby.

It's really good, has lots of replay value with dozens of party combinations and multiple endings, and is easy to recommend.

[Squire Grooktook]

Also missed this:

Is it possible that "Idola" is just a really horrible romanization of what is meant to be "Hydra"?

Not sure if you're aware of "Idola" popping up as the name of all boss themes associated with Dark Falz over the past 20 years or not. Since that started with PSO1 on the Dreamcast.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... FDCDB857F8

A common consensus is that it's a horrible romanization of "Eidolon"

It fits and I've seen the term pop up in other rpg's. Even if it's not true I prefer the image.

[Sumez]

Not sure if you're aware of "Idola" popping up as the name of all boss themes associated with Dark Falz over the past 20 years or not. Since that started with PSO1 on the Dreamcast.

To be honest, I loathe MMO games, and have a hard time relating PSO to what I understand of "Phantasy Star" at all.

[Squire Grooktook]

Not sure if you're aware of "Idola" popping up as the name of all boss themes associated with Dark Falz over the past 20 years or not. Since that started with PSO1 on the Dreamcast.

To be honest, I loathe MMO games, and have a hard time relating PSO to what I understand of "Phantasy Star" at all.

PSO is a very different bag from most other mmo's. It doesn't really even share many mechanical similarities or genre conventions with them.

First game on Dreamcast was more like...co op gauntlet/diablo with a hub to join up with people? It's a little clunky if you pick it up today but even now it has some of the best art direction, music, and atmosphere in any game I've ever played. I played through a big chunk of it offline solo just for the sense of wilderness.

Second game is more like Devil May Cry co op with a hub to join people. It's pretty fun. Not for everyone. But I certainly hold the series in a completely different place then World of Warcraft or any of its ilk. PSO2 is a "real game" in the sense that if you tweaked its structure a bit it could function as a 100% satisfactory single player action rpg experience. I actually prefer to play PSO2 alone when I pick it up these days.

PSO1's a little clunky if you pick it up today but even now it has some of the best art direction, music, and atmosphere in any game I've ever played. I played through a big chunk of it offline solo just for the sense of wilderness.

[dunpeal2064]

I've played so much PSO its silly. I just restarted it a couple months ago on the Ephinea server and easily dumped a hundred hours into it, just grinding for one weapon

PSO2 is a vast improvement, but something about the original just keeps drawing me back in. I also don't categorize these games as MMOs, the way you interact with other players is basically the same as Diablo, Monster Hunter, etc. The hub is the only place you see more than 3 other people.

[Squire Grooktook]

For me all temptation towards PSO1 is definitely the atmosphere. That game is the one I'll always cite when claiming that art direction is all important and that even first/second generation 3d can outclass modern titles for sheer beauty when the vision behind it is that beautifully exotic and cleverly realized.

PSO2 is certainly uglier with some of the more ridiculous npc/enemy designs, and the vastly inferior soundtrack (though it still has some incredible standouts. Vharda/Quartz Dragon themes still get me hard), but some of the environments are still lovely to get lost in.