Not understanding the story....

[SATatami]

Kay. So I just watched moving comic.

... It was really cool and all, but does it mean episode 3 is between 1 and 2? I've only played up to chapter 5 of chapter 2, but it seems to be before... So the main question is... Where exactly does episode 3 take place on the timeline?

[Chuck_Norris]

Episode 3 takes place about 6 months after the end of episode 2. The moving comic is what happened betwine episode 1 and 2.

[bahk]

So you're saying Lumia joined us in ep 3 and then just disappeared for the rest of ep 2, where you start out as a newbie as Laia insinuates at the beginning, even though she treated you as an equal in ep 3?

[Chuck_Norris]

On 2008-01-20 18:43, bahk wrote:
So you're saying Lumia joined us in ep 3 and then just disappeared for the rest of ep 2, where you start out as a newbie as Laia insinuates at the beginning, even though she treated you as an equal in ep 3?



And i guess laia is really dallgun who went down in the ship..but then there's another laia later on..and...Snype kills Dumbledor?

[Laranas]

Events in the last chapter of the moving comic seem to be the same events at the end of Episode II. I think the moving comic starts before Episode II and moves somewhere in between.

[EspioKaos]

Officially, Shadow of the Arkguard begins a bit before Episode 2, then runs side-by-side with it. Here's SonicTeam's timeline (http://illuminus.phantasystaruniverse.jp/about/story.html) stating such. Where there are two arrows together, the longer of them is Shadow of the Arkguard, the shorter one is Episode 2.

[SATatami]

then what's that other arrow?

[pikachief]

first arrow is episode 1

the 2 second arrows are episode 2 and shadow of the arkgaurd

Episode 3 is the last line

[PSU_Castor]

... Episode 3? Or Episode 1? Both have labels.

[EspioKaos]

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/EspioKaos/timeline.png

Woo! Crappy MSPaint translation. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_lol.gif

[SATatami]

Thanks, Espio. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[cel]

IMHO, and pardon me for saying this, but from what I have seen so far this story is kinda crud. I mean, compared to how awesome Phantasy Star 2 and PS4 stories were... and those games were out in 1990 and 1994 (roughly).

The game's strength is in its user interface, cool graphical effects, and community. In my humble opinion, of course. So it can afford to have a crap story in my eyes.

This game is far too childish at times, and such a notion becomes prevalent in the story. Maybe that's why I liked PS4's story far better than PSU's. It had a somewhat darker and more mature theme than this game.

[Laranas]

The story was written in an hour. But you might as well try and understand it if you're going to have a character live in the same universe.

[Chuck_Norris]

On 2008-01-20 20:35, cel wrote:
IMHO, and pardon me for saying this, but from what I have seen so far this story is kinda crud. I mean, compared to how awesome Phantasy Star 2 and PS4 stories were... and those games were out in 1990 and 1994 (roughly).

The game's strength is in its user interface, cool graphical effects, and community. In my humble opinion, of course. So it can afford to have a crap story in my eyes.

This game is far too childish at times, and such a notion becomes prevalent in the story. Maybe that's why I liked PS4's story far better than PSU's. It had a somewhat darker and more mature theme than this game.



"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?

[Anduril]

On 2008-01-20 20:39, Chuck_Norris wrote:

On 2008-01-20 20:35, cel wrote:
IMHO, and pardon me for saying this, but from what I have seen so far this story is kinda crud. I mean, compared to how awesome Phantasy Star 2 and PS4 stories were... and those games were out in 1990 and 1994 (roughly).

The game's strength is in its user interface, cool graphical effects, and community. In my humble opinion, of course. So it can afford to have a crap story in my eyes.

This game is far too childish at times, and such a notion becomes prevalent in the story. Maybe that's why I liked PS4's story far better than PSU's. It had a somewhat darker and more mature theme than this game.



"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?

Let's not forget the race riots that broke out and the fact that a large chunk of Parum has become a wasteland with people reverting to a more anamalistic nature to survive in the refugee camps.

[Laranas]

On 2008-01-20 20:39, Chuck_Norris wrote:

On 2008-01-20 20:35, cel wrote:
IMHO, and pardon me for saying this, but from what I have seen so far this story is kinda crud. I mean, compared to how awesome Phantasy Star 2 and PS4 stories were... and those games were out in 1990 and 1994 (roughly).

The game's strength is in its user interface, cool graphical effects, and community. In my humble opinion, of course. So it can afford to have a crap story in my eyes.

This game is far too childish at times, and such a notion becomes prevalent in the story. Maybe that's why I liked PS4's story far better than PSU's. It had a somewhat darker and more mature theme than this game.



"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?


The residential block of the colony was disconnected before the crash, and since there's refugees I'd imagine the people on Parum evacuated as well. And everyone's happy again at the end of Chapter 1 of Ep3.

[Chuck_Norris]

On 2008-01-20 20:42, Anduril wrote:

On 2008-01-20 20:39, Chuck_Norris wrote:

On 2008-01-20 20:35, cel wrote:
IMHO, and pardon me for saying this, but from what I have seen so far this story is kinda crud. I mean, compared to how awesome Phantasy Star 2 and PS4 stories were... and those games were out in 1990 and 1994 (roughly).

The game's strength is in its user interface, cool graphical effects, and community. In my humble opinion, of course. So it can afford to have a crap story in my eyes.

This game is far too childish at times, and such a notion becomes prevalent in the story. Maybe that's why I liked PS4's story far better than PSU's. It had a somewhat darker and more mature theme than this game.



"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?

Let's not forget the race riots that broke out and the fact that a large chunk of Parum has become a wasteland with people reverting to a more anamalistic nature to survive in the refugee camps.



Also, the whole "90% of Beasts killed off by SEED"

[Fafnir]

On 2008-01-20 20:39, Chuck_Norris wrote:

"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?



It's all in the presentation. I'm sure even '1984' would look cheery if presented in the fashion that PSU is. The story itself may not be the greatest, but it's the presentation that really kills it.

If they want a dark story, they should talk to the guys at Atlus who did SMT... now that would be fucking awsome.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Fafnir on 2008-01-20 20:56 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Fafnir on 2008-01-20 20:57 ]</font>

[Anduril]

Neon makes everything seem happier and more childish than it really is. Look at Batman & Robin....-_-

[cel]

On 2008-01-20 20:47, Fafnir wrote:

On 2008-01-20 20:39, Chuck_Norris wrote:

"more mature theme"? PSU has all kinds of death, blackmail, A whole freakin' space colony full of people crashed and blew up. That ain't dark?



It's all in the presentation. I'm sure 1984 would even look brighter if presented in the fashion that PSU is. The story itself may not be the greatest, but it's the presentation that really kills it.



lol. you guys PWNED me on my "not so dark" comment. Nice =D. I tender my defeat to you, my good people.

That aside, yeah, Fafnir basically said what I should have said. The presentation *could* be a lot better.

As for "mature" I can recall a certain moment when a certain Parminian divulged Alys's measurements to anyone interested. And then later something happened to her which sitll makes me sad 12 years later when I play it every now and then. I know, it's not all THAT 'mature' but... nevermind, I think I am digging myself into a hole.

[Sinue_v2]

Exactly, it's all in the atmosphere and presentation. For example, watch the Ep III Chapter 1 opening movie and note how bubbily and inanely happy Hal is as she describes the race riots and devastation to Parum. Nobody care about the tragedy in this game because it's all glossed over in a CandyLand fu-fu innocence and Toonami childrens anime cliches about working together to overcome anything!. Believe it! And judging by the supposedly "hacked" ending cinemas that were posted awhile ago - it won't get much better.

It's a far cry from PSII's and PSO's tragic atmospheres and bittersweet endings.

[Fafnir]

Even when the story tried to be dark, like with prez's death at the end of ep. II, it was just so badly pulled off throughout the rest of the story, that you just don't care. The characters never really make you care for them. Most of the feeling I got while watching them was 'OMG! FINISH TALKING SO I CAN PLAY THE FUCKING GAME!!11!shift!!1.'

PSO may not have told you much, but it made you want to dig deeper. It also didn't sugar coat things nearly as much, even though there was alot of neon going around 0_0

[cel]

On 2008-01-20 21:37, Fafnir wrote:
...The characters never really make you care for them. Most of the feeling I got while watching them was 'OMG! FINISH TALKING SO I CAN PLAY THE FUCKING GAME!!11!shift!!1.'


Quoted For Absolute Positively Irrefutable Truth

QFT just wouldn't suffice for this one. I feel very strongly about how I cant skip the crummy dialogue and get right into the action.

Usually I hate my wireless controller (aka battery devourer) but I have grown to love it in story mission's because I can just spam the button to proceed while I'm on the can (easily the most useful feature), getting a drink, watching po- pottery infotainnment, etc.

[Fafnir]

Lucky you. I just end up mashing the confirm button on my controller. Sometimes just reading forum posts inbetween messages. The cutscenes are easily the worst part of the game. Even the halfassed story could be completely excused if we were atleast allowed to skip through it.

Instead, ST decided to bog you down with it and make that huge flaw even more apparent. Which it really, really does not need.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Fafnir on 2008-01-20 21:53 ]</font>