Is th PSU Sonic Team the same as the PSO Sonic Team?

[Fredrick]

Are the people at ST now the same people who were there 10 years ago? Or is it pretty much a whole new company with an old label?

I'm asking because PSU doesn't feel like PSO at all to me. I realize it's intended to be a whole new game, but usually game studios sort of put their unique touch on each game they make. Square-Enix games for example all have a similar vibe. You could tell if a game was made by them just by playing it.

But I don't really get that from PSU. I'm wondering if the original PSO creators had nothing to do with PSU.

[HFlowen]

It's made by the same guy (Yuji Naka) if that's what you're asking.

Other than that, I don't have the current Employee roster for Sega of Japan right now... >.>

[Sinue_v2]

The Sonic Teams which made Phantasy Star, Phantasy Star Online, and Phantasy Star Universe are all largely different. It's all the same company, but personnel shakeups are bound to happen over the course of 20 years. Although there are some people who have stayed with the series over the course of it's entire lifespan. The storyboard and CGI planner for the cutscenes in PSU was the same guy who did the planning and storyboarding for the PSIV:EotM comic-cutscenes.

However, Rieko and Tohru have moved on to another company, leaving Yuji Naka in charge of PSO. This time around, Yuji Naka was in the process of moving to a new company in the middle of PSU's development - and left it mostly in the hands of Takao Miyoshi.

[Rashiid]

ST is ST. so yes.

[landman]

The whole sega has changed a lot in 10 years

[mizukage]

Not sure if the ST of now is the same ST of the PSO era, but they do carry the same logo, so I assume its the same group.

[Kaloa]

Kind of disagree with you about the Square-Enix bit, but I guess that's beside the point.

[kyori]

Miyoshi directed both PSO and PSU I believe.

[A2K]

Phantasy Star Online originally came out in Japan on November 21, 2000. Sonic Team Japan gained quite a few members when United Game Artists (Space Channel 5, Rez) was merged with the team back in 2003. Apparently ten members left with Yuji Naka to form Prope in 2006.

I think it's still mostly the same people. Although the guy at top handling the project has changed.

The only way to really be sure, I suppose, is to compare the credits rolls for both games.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: A2K on 2007-10-18 14:30 ]</font>

[Serephim]

On 2007-10-18 09:54, HFlowen wrote:
It's made by the same guy (Yuji Naka) if that's what you're asking.

Other than that, I don't have the current Employee roster for Sega of Japan right now... >.>



LOL, Yuji Naka has absolutely NOTHING to do with Phantasy Star Online. He helped create i believe 1, 3 and 4, (it was either 2 or 3 that flopped because Reiko and Yuji diddnt work on them) but Phantasy Star ONLINE had absolutely nothing to do with him.

Hell, i dont believe even REIKO had anything to do with the Online series.


so no, they arent.

[DuRaL]

hmm, it's not only Sonic Team.. the style of Sega games in general has changed a lot after the failure of Dreamcast..
you know, in 2001 - 2004 Sega basically tried to re-release their Dreamcast-games to other plattforms, then they started focusing on the development of more.. commercial games, especially for the western market..

unfortunatelly, this made Sega's games pretty crappy and less attractive (at least for me..)

@ Sinue_v2: were the original Phantasy Star games really made by ST? i think it was Smilebit that made them.. though i'm not sure..

@ Serephim: not sure you know, but.. Yuji Naka was THE man behind PSO.. O_o
i doubt it was his idea alone to make an online-RPG out of Phantasy Star, but he was the producer of the entire PSO-series!
Yuji Naka is actually known as the "founder" of Phantasy Star Online..



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: DuRaL on 2007-10-18 15:02 ]</font>

[Parn]

Yuji Naka programmed Phantasy Star I and II. He had nothing to do with III or IV. He was the producer for Phantasy Star Online, but in reality didn't play much of a role with the game other than being a figurehead for Sonic Team. Takao Miyoshi directed Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe, and has basically controlled the direction of the franchise since Sonic Team came into control of it.

[Sinue_v2]

@ Sinue_v2: were the original Phantasy Star games really made by ST? i think it was Smilebit that made them.. though i'm not sure..

Yeah. Phantasy Star I started back when ST was still known as AM8. Rieko Kodama worked on character and level design for both Sonic I & II, and after Sonic came out - AM8 changed names to Sonic Team. The Phantasy Star team got split into "Team Phantasy Star" within Sonic Team. (PSIII was created by a completely different team, and PSIV was made by TPS). After the Genesis, Team Phantasy Star was spun off into their own development house (OverWorks) and picked up other members from various other development houses.

The Phantasy Star franchise stayed with Sonic Team though, and OverWorks continued working on other projects such as Sakura Taisen and Skies of Arcadia before being merged with Sega Wow after the Dreamcast's death. Sonic Team continued on the Phantasy Star franchise. The only involvement Rieko and Tohru have had on Phantasy Star since moving to Overworks were as consultation and supervision to the various remake projects like the Sega Ages remakes and the GBA Collection.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sinue_v2 on 2007-10-18 15:38 ]</font>

[ShinMaruku]

I don't think it's the same ST all the good dudes left. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ShinMaruku on 2007-10-18 21:54 ]</font>

[Serephim]

The Sonic Team of today is like the Rare of Today.

Same name, same franchises, HORRIBLE games.


Just like Rare has completely lost its reputation of insanely fun and orginal games (Jet Force Gemini, Goldeneye 64, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie ), Sonic Team has screwed up all their key franchises.

I think the only franchise they havent screwed at this point would BE phantasy star universe, but the lack of work ethic they had back in the time of Sonic Adventure 2 is apparent.

Nobody noticed just how much SHEER CONTENT Sonic Adventure 2 had? That game has clocked me well over 200+ hours thanks to the chao garden. Sonic Heroes and everything after that have gone down farther and farther in content, work ethic, and even graphics.


Ill go as far as saying Sonic Heroes was the last game aside from PSU that sonic team has actully WORKED on. Sonic Adventure 2 is the last game they perfected. That game was near perfect for its time peroid. The graphics, cutscenes, storyline, ect. was top notch back during that time. There hasnt been decent Sonic Voice acting/storylines/cutscenes since SA2. SA2 Sonic Team had the ability to make cutscenes be completely Real-Time and not suck. Sonic Heroes had CG cutscenes that were short AND sucked. Im not even going to go into Sonic the Hedgehog/ Shadow the Hedgehog.



So no, the team has disbanded a long time ago. Yuji Naka has nothing to do with the production of PSO/PSU. He was the PRODUCER, not the Director. Before that, Yuji held the title of Game Developer, but Phantasy Star mostly is the work of Reiko.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Serephim on 2007-10-19 14:40 ]</font>