Phantasy Star Online Story Discussion (Lore nerds unite!)

[Zipzo]

Had an interesting back and forth in another thread but thought I'd just make a new thread to centralize it.

All the way back to good ol'e PSO we have our precious Pioneer 2, awaiting colonization of Ragol over government issues (and the renegade Arkz). We were able to explore most of the planet and uncover a lot of dirty secrets such as the remains of the lost Pioneer (Ruins) & the parasitic gene which took Flowen and presumably Rico as well (I've heard debate on whether Dark Falz was the actual manifestation of Dark Force keeping Rico contained or if it was just another genetic mutation such as Olga Flow).

I'm just hazarding a guess that we are to presume that the Phantasy Star canon does span across all of the games, even though the stories are all relatively unrelated (save for the presence of Dark Force). In RPG's like the Final Fantasy series...the stories are crafted to be in a different world every time. In Phantasy Star, we have a constantly reoccurring theme here, and I have never believed it to be a coincidence, or that SEGA is too lazy to think up a new bad guy. PSU has touched a bit on the connection to the other games with its virtual reality missions to old PSO areas based on data found on Rykros (the planet that passes through every so many years and causes turmoil in the form of Dark Force). The races have generally shared presence as well.

Before you unlock the ruins you go in to a very brief and small room where you open the door by unlocking a seal after activating all three totems in Forest, Caves, and Mines. This seal is presented in the form of 3 colored circles, green, red, and blue. The seal is also marked if you interact with it with the words "MUTT DITTS POUMN". This is a solid reference to the original 3 planets that make up the areas of the first few Phantasy Star games...the Algo systems planets : Motavia, Dezoris, and Palma. A character in PS4 makes a note that the Algo system serves as a "cell" for the Dark Force (Dark Falz, Profound darkness, whatever)...so this seal thing is almost everything but empirical evidence that an Algo civilization locked him up here, connecting PSO canon to all the previous PS canons.

I believe the Gurhal system to be a further future version of the Algol system. Aside from the names of the planets being quite similar, the presence of Rykros at all is p-much the only evidence we need that he's just doing his normal round through his normal choice of planetary system to harass.

The names of the planets have changed through a long game of telephone essentially, but for the most part are easy to tell the similarities between the games (Palma/Palm/Parma/Parum).

A lot of rares in PSO have a date on them in the form of "AUW *numbers here*". In the earlier phantasy stars the only reference to anything similar you get is the year "AW", and it's explained that this refers to "After War". This is presumably the great divine war between the goddess of light and Dark Falz that led to the creation of the Algol system (PS1) as a vessel for sealing the bad guy up.

I used to have the PSO art book that referred to "AUW" as the same thing. Except the U is sort of lost in translation and it's anyones guess what it stands for, I suppose. I've heard many theories. Some of the weapons like the Sange and Yasha have really old dates, going back as far as AUW1900s. These swords were crafted to be pretty much real world swords, so we must assume that photon weaponry was not created as of yet during these years. There is a small period in the 2nd (3rd?) game where technology is on the low side of publicity, and the AUW3000s (for example, Flowen's true sword was crafted in AUW3084) see much in the way of photon weapon advancement. The crafting dates would place those weapons firmly in the universe of the older PS games. Simple easter eggs? Possibly.

So now we're in PSO2. Gamerx on this site has suggested that the year that constantly flashes on the loading screen with "AP" stands for "After Pioneer". Which would place PSO2 hundreds of years after the events of PSO. He points out that in the concept art for our next possible planet (Ragol) contains the old totems, mossified and old, suggesting that Ragol is indeed our next travel point, and that much time has passed.

So the question is...what's going on in PSO2? Why was Ragol not colonized as planned after Ep3? Was there a cataclysmic event with Pioneer 2 that led to the rebirth of the government/coral army, in which they even started a new calender dating system in order to signify the beginning of a new era (AW > AUW > AP)? How much in the future are we exactly? So many questions! My brain is tingling!

[Sinue_v2]

I believe the Gurhal system to be a further future version of the Algol system. Aside from the names of the planets being quite similar, the presence of Rykros at all is p-much the only evidence we need that he's just doing his normal round through his normal choice of planetary system to harass.

I found a slight hole in your theory...

http://www.pscave.com/ps2/images/palm.gif

Also, PS Rykros was a crystaline planet which was always a part of the Algol solar system (though not part of it's dimensional seal) which was hidden by a magical barrier that could only be detected by use of the AeroPrism. It was a signal, when it transited close to Dezolis (and caused the Laconium in the planet to glow during the eclipse it caused), to the protectors of Algol that the time of the dimensional seal's weakening was at hand. PSU's Rykros was a super-massive SEED Hive which nanotranced completely out of another dimension. It had no thousand year highly elliptical orbit, and the previous breech of their dimensional seal occurred like 10,000~12,000 years before PSU's time.

There's also absolutely NO evidence of the Ancients within PSP2/i being in any way descended from Algolians/Motavians/Dezolians. If anything, they seem to be a (very loose) reference to the race of spirit beings which constituted the Great Light - sealing away the darkness and then disappearing without a trace.

Sa-Lews (PSIV)
[spoiler-box]http://lparchive.org/Phantasy-Star-4/Update%2028/33-Phantasy-Star-4065.jpg[/spoiler-box]

Wynarl (PSP2i)
[spoiler-box]http://bumped.org/psublog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/wynarl-2.jpg[/spoiler-box]

Not much similarity there. You might be able to make kind of a case for Kumahn, but he's more of a special exception as the "king" (or tyrant) of the Ancients. In a way, he's the "Light Falz", an aggregate of multiple ancients consciousnesses/power to form a central core which seeks to be released from their subspace hiding place/prison once the SEED were gone. Once accomplished, they planned to evict the souls of everyone living in Gurhal and inhabit their bodies to once more have physical from. Humans in PSU were specifically created by the ancients to be vessels for their eventual return. Beasts and Newmans were created by humans later as modifications on themselves. In contrast, the Great Light in the original series created Humans, Motavians, and Dezolians as completely separate species... and tasked them with watching over and defending the seal while it went off and played the dead-beat dad that gods are want to do.

I just don't see there being a connection between PSU or either PSO or PS. Any similarities and fanservice additions are just that... running themes and fanservice. It's no secret that PSU's plot has HEAVY similarities and references to the classic games... but they're random "hey remember a scene like this" moments. PSO and PS can fit nicely together almost perfectly... but trying to round out the three into a cohesive whole just invites too many plot holes and leaps of faith.

Perhaps there's something to be said of Algol and Gurhal being "sister" system within different dimensions, with perhaps their close universal proximity to the dimension Dark Falz/the Profound Darkness being able to explain some of the similarities and crossovers as the same cosmic threads of fate (or whatever) run through them both. Who's to say the Darkness's dimensional prison only has one entrance into one universe? But that destroys any linear or direct plotline directly connecting the events of the games.

[Zipzo]

In the beginning of PSO, like the cut scene, it states that Pioneer was created and that they left because of 'imminent' destruction...we know of this planet as Coral...but it also uses the term "worlds". As in, multiple worlds. It also depicts a planet changing color, I'm assuming that's relating to the planet degrading somehow.

Could that possibly be a hint what happened after mother brain was defeated? That might be a large distance to jump but, I'm just convinced there's a little more than fan service going on here!

What about the idea that the planet was renamed over generations...? And the planet was slowly descending in to rubble without mother brain...this planet was what we eventually came to know as coral...but what was originally known as...Motavia.

[Kirukia]

Phantasy Star has a story?


Anyway, I'd like to believe they are at least SOMEWHAT connected but there are too many loopholes in most theories that I've seen.

In PSZ Mother Trinity was created to heal the ailing environment on Coral after the Pioneers left. She ended up becoming infected by Dark Falz and took her job to the extreme (by naming people as the cause), and creating a Trinity of weapons and ultimately wiping out most of the planet's population and damaging the planet. Her weapons included a virus that infected newmans, a disrupter that shut down CASTs, and a photon eraser which she used to destroy the remnants. She ends up defeated at the end, as does the Dark Falz infecting her. There is nothing that suggests Coral itself dies afterwards. It WAS in a state of decay but it's probably safe to say that Coral is still fine after PSZ, which is long after the Pioneers left. Of course, nobody really has memories of that.

I did wonder about the VR in PSU/PSP though. In PSP2 they mention that the VR data containing Forest and Caves from PSO was found in Rykros. I know that Rykros is not Ragol, but I still wonder about the connection. I feel like they wouldn't point out that they found data about Ragol on Rykros if it wasn't significant.

I'm also curious as to if they'll do anything about sub-space. Since the Gurhal System now has the technology to travel to different dimensions, I wonder if they'll connect the Gurhal system to the other storylines through subspace.

Jokes on us though, there probably is no connection and they plant these little seeds to troll us.

[Sinue_v2]

In the beginning of PSO, like the cut scene, it states that Pioneer was created and that they left because of 'imminent' destruction...we know of this planet as Coral...but it also uses the term "worlds". As in, multiple worlds. It also depicts a planet changing color, I'm assuming that's relating to the planet degrading somehow.

It might have been that at one time in development, they intended the Coralian home system to have multiple worlds. It tripped me up too, because at first I thought that "Coral" might be a corruption of "Copto" from PS Gaiden, and that "worlds" might suggest Algol + the Copto colony. However, that was officially put to rest with PSZero for the DS which is the official prequel/sequel to the original PSO series. It takes place on Coral 200 years after "The Great Blank" - a period of destructive war against "Mother" which occurred a few years after Pioneer 2/3 launched. Humans were nearly extinguished, casts were deactivated, and Neumans were totally wiped out - and later cloned/recreated by Mother to serve as foot soldiers in case invasion of Coral was necessary. It didn't contain any of the necessary links or hints to Algol that were needed to make the theory work.

It's true that Coral is strikingly similar to Earth, sharing roughly the same sized single moon - as seen in the opening cinematic.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sAXlqIPlZg

It's may be possible to link Coral to Phantasy Star II, since PSZero's characters refer to their planet as "Earth"... which would make them "Earthlings" - and "Mother Brain" an extension of the "Mother Project". However, they only refer to themselves as "Earthlings" post-Great Blank/post-PSO era. Any ships leaving before the Great Blank would have used the term "Coral" to describe their home planet (like they do in PSO), and would call themselves Coralians. Since Mother was defeated and the environment already well on the recovery, you would basically need to invent a second genesis of the Mother Project, a second global destruction, and a second exodus. It would also require a massive cultural shift, a second genocide of Numans, and a second recreation of Numans as biosoldiers under the auspices of Mother Brain.

It may be possible to just "ignore" that the protagonists of PSII call themselves Earthlings, or brush it off as a convention of language. That would make the "Earthlings" and their ship (and mother brain) from another ship escaping Coral... perhaps the fabled lost Pioneer 3? Probably not, considering the Earthling's ship was named "Noah", and Noah is an obvious reference to our specific cultural stories (Noah's Ark).

At any rate, that theory would be in conflict with one of PSIII's endings in which the Alisa III lands on Earth after being contacted by the "London Communications Center on Earth of the Sol system". That's pretty explicit. While it's true that none of the endings are (technically) canonical, that's been pretty much the standard ending used in explaining how Earthlings got to Algol in the first place. Noah was built from the technologies and data discovered from the Alisa III's wreckage, and the Dark Force aboard the Noah in PSII may be the same Dark Force aboard the Alisa III in PSIII. It's influence would explain the corrupted nature of the Earthlings (greedily and shortsightedly destroying their environment by trying to control it; then turning it on Algol in a clandestine campaign of genocide and conquest. Annihilating their most prospective planet to colonize as a show of force, because it was the seat of power in the system... etc) Their arrival in Algol and the initiation of plans were several hundred years in the making; far too early to be influenced by the releasing of a Dark Force around 1284AW on the millennial cycle.

So far, the least conflicting theory I've been able to come up with is the multiple-ship hypothesis, which suggests that multiple Dark Forces escaped on multiple world-ships at the end of PSII. Most of the world-ships were destroyed, but some survived - and a few of those ended up migrating out of the solar system. They also carried multiple Dark Forces (released from the newly rended tear in the seal Palma's destruction caused). Sean's ending indicated that the people of the Neo Palm (another world ship) knew about Dark Force, and suspected it was behind the Alisa III's troubles. Since Dark Force's presence wasn't widely known except to a select group of high ranking Espers, it's possible they found out about it in their own fight with their own Dark Force.

None of the endings of PSIII are canonical, but each may hold a grain of truth to a real ending. Crys and Adan's endings are similar, ending with the Alisa III landing on a "green planet" third one out from the sun (Earth). Aron's ending takes place explicitly on Earth in the past (but our future, after passing through a black hole). Sean's ending is the only one that doesn't really "fit" the paradigm, and may indicate a future of the Neo Palm surviving Dark Force and eventually landing on a planet... which may well be Ragol from PSO. Since they would have no more ability to truly "defeat" Dark Force than the Alisa III did... they could well have tried to seal him away (badly), and failed to survive much longer after that. The only special leap that takes is the necessity to have an Esper on board both ships (plausible, since Espers have cryogenic technology and tend to keep a very low profile. Besides, the Alisa III had Nei weapons which the Espers created. Why put them all on one ship, and not others?) - and a blending of PSIII's multiple endings.


Could that possibly be a hint what happened after mother brain was defeated?

It's pretty explicit what happened after Mother Brain was defeated. When PSO/PSZ/PSU talks about a planet being destroyed, they're talking about the environment being wrecked beyond habitation. When I talk about Palma being destoryed in PSII, I'm talking about it's complete and total annihilation.

http://gamehall.uol.com.br/galerias/_megadrive_ps4/algolmap.gif

That asteroid belt you see near the center? That's what's left of Palma by PSIV's time. That's after the debris settled down into a stable orbit, but just after the event it caused enormous chunks of rock to rain down on Dezolis and Motavia causing untold devastation. Over 90% of the system's population died as a result of the double-whammy of having all of their society sustaining technology turn off shortly after (and during) a heavy bombardment of planetary debris. Palma is gone. So it can't be a future Parum.

Edit: Oh, and about the AW/AUW calendars...


A lot of rares in PSO have a date on them in the form of "AUW *numbers here*". In the earlier phantasy stars the only reference to anything similar you get is the year "AW", and it's explained that this refers to "After War". This is presumably the great divine war between the goddess of light and Dark Falz that led to the creation of the Algol system (PS1) as a vessel for sealing the bad guy up. I used to have the PSO art book that referred to "AUW" as the same thing. Except the U is sort of lost in translation and it's anyones guess what it stands for, I suppose.

AW stands for "After Waizz", and marks the successful conquest of all of Palma by Waizz Landale, bringing the entire planet under a single and unified monarchy. The war between the divines occurred several million years before the Landale conquests and, depending on the localization, was a single god-head which split into two parts (light and dark) and fought each other or was a cosmic civil war among a spiritual race in which there were no good or bad dichotomies. It was simply the defeated who were sealed away, and it was their eons upon eons of imprisonment that eventually drove them mad and filled them with hatred and a lust for revenge - twisting them into the Profound Darkness.

AUW stands for "After Unification War", but I don't know what the details are for what the "Unification War" event is referring to. Obviously Coral did not stay unified, as it was their constant warring over resources which helped to destroy their planet's environment. They eventually had to convene a 10 nation alliance council in order to come up with solutions, of which the Pioneer Project was born. At any rate, since Coral does not draw it's heritage or civilization from Algol, it can't be referring to the Waizz campaign.

[Zorafim]

I've seen a large number of fan theories trying to put together the PS series. Frankly, the only thing it does is make Falz standing there make even less sense. As far as I can tell, the atmosphere of the game is created first, and the story afterwards. Newmans aren't there because genetic manipulation was necessary. They're there because they're famous Phantasy Star staples. Same with many other connections.

Sorry to be a negative nancy, but if I can find anything to tie the series, it's very loose and doesn't really add anything. Easy game takes place with a different civilization, and each game's Falz has a different set of rules.

[sugarFO]

I know people lol about PSO's story, but I really liked the subtlety of how they presented little tidbits of information. Following Red Ring Rico through her journey on Ragol had a sort of creepy feel about it the second time when you already know she was mutated into Dark Falz. Like, who built these facilities, and why? I liked the whole idea that there's some bad apples in the governing bodies of us hunters/Arks.

[Squall179]

Not to throw a wrench at all of this discussion, but something I observed.

THe PSO hostiles related to Dark Falz, all had the same basic visual effect and appearance....as the SEED.

Meanwhile, these hostiles being encountered of the Darker variety in PSO2, ESPECIALLY those found in the TUndra, bear to me, a striking resemblance to those found infesting Arca in PSZ, which in turn, appear akin to up-armored versions of PS1 Dark Falz/PS4 Prophallus

WHat if there IS a key tie in, but it isn't so much a matter of the different civilizations coming into contact with one another or one becoming one of the others, but instead....like someone said, the Profound Darkness didn't have to just have ONE exit from its dimentional prison, other holes could exist. And think about this too....Rykros, PSU variety, had...Ragol Data that was extensively analyzed in the storyline and used for Max Attack G.

What is the SEED were not so muchjust say...PSU's version of Dark Falz with a more specific name or anything, than perhaps what was left of SOmething ELse that was Altered by it, or...a particularly Adaptable species, that began to evolve in a twisted manner once it was exposed to Dark Falz?

What if the DImeniens you fight.....were what the Ancients fought in PSU's past, banished, what if that COnfincement System mentioned just SHoved them somewhere else and Ragol happened to be the hole in the wall they ended up, a Shadow Moses Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility of the ancient space civilization. Afterall...the SEED forms were mutated bioforms in Gurhal, what if that same species simply became a host form for one of the versions of Dark Falz?

And so that DF banished by the Ancients ended up seething on Ragol, and then Seedified Rico, FLowen...so on and so forth?

Maybe THAT is the connection between those two, OTHERWISE UNRELATED timelines, connected by the Ancient's lack of caution or frantic urgency, and meanwhile the Darkers are basically just, the same things lurking in the Arca Plant, variations of a standard Dark Falz, and the body you fight in PSZ.....quadripedal, what if that were a small scale Form of Ragne? Maybe each of those, IS A Dark Falz Quadripedal type? DARK RAGNE, afterall.....some form of Main Assault Unit Falz could be fielding based off of one of its own body configurations mm?

Maybe that...is what the tie in is, maybe it all connects via the fact that there really are just different holes in space/time that the Profound Darkness has been, or IS exploring as a way to either pass the time out of boredom, or as a way of probing the defences of its prison in a bid to escape.

THat is my take on all of that.

And in the case of Gurhal...what if TEEECHNICALLY it is just an alt timeline of Algol, and the whole time it isn't so much the MASS of Parma that helped to sustain the seal but the living bioenergy of everything on the planet perhaps, and with it being...well, the way Parum is, the seal was weak enough in that case perhaps it was able to push through what defences the Ancients DID have in place, with a sort of PMC it already had set up in advance in the form of the SEED.

Divergent Paths in space/time, allowing for similar universes following the same general set of rules but....otherwise seperate, each with a plauge that in each one seems to have its own way of working, due to it finding Different Methods of obtaining what it is seeking.

[GoldenFalcon]

The Casts kinda built Parum, didn't they?

[Zipzo]

First I'd like to say thank you Sinue, you demonstrate an awesome knowledge of Phantasy Star so it's great to have you for this discussion.

AUW stands for "After Unification War", but I don't know what the details are for what the "Unification War" event is referring to.
Well, do you not seemingly answer your own question with...

AW stands for "After Waizz", and marks the successful conquest of all of Palma by Waizz Landale, bringing the entire planet under a single and unified monarchy.
Perhaps it's a direct reference to Palma within PSO's timeline, with the calender format changed as a simple token/sign of time passed.

I have also considered, Squall, the alternate space & time evolutions of the algol system being the answer here, especially concerning PSU, you may not be too far off the mark.

My main question here is the date and happenstance of PSO. A part of me wants there to be a gloriously webbed back story to everything that happens in PSO. I'm also still infinitely curious about the failure to colonize Ragol, and also the life span of the Pioneer 1.

The Casts kinda built Parum, didn't they?
If by built you mean they constructed the entire planet, well that'd be quite a hole filled, but it seems unlikely. It's probably referring to just the active civilization of Parum (cities and colonization).

Also...I am not filled in on PSP2i's story and how it relates to PSO. Can someone fill me? I have not played it.

[Squall179]

Indeed, and....the endgame phase of PSP2I involved going to RAGOL if I remember correctly, via subspace yes? Or something along thosel ines....and given the Ancients of Gurhal had VERY ADvanced SUbspace tech..The Profound Darkness could even simply be exploiting the end results of space/time barrier damage caused by the Ancient's own, early tests into such technology. THey themselves may have brought that whole mess on Everyone in PSU and PSO both, from the start.


NOT TO MENTION.....the psychological issues Kumhan was exhibiting.

Narcisistic, gradure delusions and a strict adhearance t a beleif that he was in the right, for taking the lives of others....

He and many Ancients may have already been influenced by a Dark Falz form while subspace experiments were going on, or perhaps during their time in subspace, exposed to the main bulk of the nightmare itself? That...thing, no matter its origin, essentially represents the darknest, most selfish, base desires imaginable, violence, death, slaughter for amusement, not even for a reason.....Just because its "fun."
Look at what the PS3 form SAID to them, even,

My apologies for the plethora of typos, haven't slept in two days, crazy roommate. Lol. I swear the guy is channeling a bit of the Sun King or something. ANyway....yeah.

[Neith]

The Casts kinda built Parum, didn't they?

From what I remember, most of Parum was artifically created. I'm sure one of the games mentions that the meadows were all created by the CASTs but I can't remember for the life of me where it was said.

As for whether PSO2 is connected; my guess is it'll never be confirmed but the similarities are there for sure.

Zanba in PSO2 has an ability on it which I think translates as something like 'Another Story'. I forget the exact wording of it as I'm not on PSO2 at the minute but I thought it was interesting (but also odd that none of the other PSO weapons have that ability).

[Zipzo]

From what I remember, most of Parum was artifically created. I'm sure one of the games mentions that the meadows were all created by the CASTs but I can't remember for the life of me where it was said.

As for whether PSO2 is connected; my guess is it'll never be confirmed but the similarities are there for sure.

Zanba in PSO2 has an ability on it which I think translates as something like 'Another Story'. I forget the exact wording of it as I'm not on PSO2 at the minute but I thought it was interesting (but also odd that none of the other PSO weapons have that ability).
Well this certainly is not about whether PSO2 is connected canonically to PSO or not, that is just a given fact that they are. PSO2 is the direct sequel to PSO.

I can't remember a lot of this dialogue...but it is indeed interesting...the idea that Parum was a rebuilt Palma.

Look at this article from http://allahweh.wordpress.com/2011/04/04/phantasy-star-timeline-theories-and-connections/


Having recently discussed the fact that “Phantasy Star Portable 2 – Infinity” provides some crossovers between the periods of “Phantasy Star Online” and “Phantasy Star Universe,” I wanted to examine this in a bit more depth and discuss how some of these games might fit together.

First, I should note that back in 2006, when “Phantasy Star Universe” was released, Sega made it clear that this new MMORPG series within the Phantasy Star realms had no real connection to the “Phantasy Star Online” titles. The game (and subsequent expansions and follow-ups) took place in the Gurhal System, which, if not in a different universe altogether, was very far away from Ragol or the Algol System. Moreover, the titles within the Universe series use a completely different calendar system.

Why is the calendar significant? Well, the original quadrilogy and the Online titles use a calendar system with dates of either BW (Before Waizz) or AW (After Waizz), based on the unification of Palma under King Waizz. The Universe titles, on the other hand, use a system of dating of either BA (Before the Alliance) or AC (Allied Century).

There are many resources out there (official and fan-based) that give you good breakdowns of the calendar system, but this post here does a good job of showing you the chronology of the older, single-player RPGs (“Phantasy Star” through “Phantasy Star IV”). Likewise, this article shows the history of the Gurhal System.

IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ALGOL CALENDAR AND THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR?:

No, not officially. The best we can do is make estimates of when some of these events take place. Some sources come up with completely arbitrary dates to assign to AW 1, but I don’t really like that.

We do know that these events are relatively far into the future, however, and in the next section I will discuss the role Earth and the “Earthmen” play in the story.

Based on what you will soon read, I tend to believe that AW 1 correlates with 2001 AD.

This makes calculating dates much easier, but it also makes sense. Humans arrive in the Algol System in 846 AW, after their planet was destroyed and made unlivable about 200 years in the past. If this occurred in the mid-2600s AD, it is likely by then that space travel to distant systems would be much more possible (even without faster-than-light capabilities). Moreover, Humans had the ability to manage the climate of Earth, something we are quite far away from today.

WHERE DO THE EARTHMEN FIT INTO THE STORY?:

Around the year 846 AW, Humans from the planet Earth arrive in the Algol Star System after a 200-year journey aboard Noah. It is apparent in “Phantasy Star II” that the reason for their departure from their home was that their planet was deemed unlivable (and in some translations completely destroyed!) due to their efforts to control the planet’s climate.

This makes sense, because sometime in the centuries between their arrival and the year AW 1284 (the events of “Phantasy Star II”), the Earthmen have taken over much of the Algol System’s worlds and have implemented a computer system known as the Mother Brain, which essentially rules the planets and makes everyone complacent. It is likely that this has much to do with what happened to their home world.

After all, after the destruction of the Mother Brain later that year, a series of environmental disasters strike the worlds of the system, which does lead to the destruction of Palma, which plays a role in our story later on.


WHY ARE THE EARTHMEN EVIL?:

There is a lot of speculation on this topic, but in my mind “Phantasy Star III” provides us with a good answer.

The game has different endings, but in one of the endings (the one believed to be canon), one of the world-ships, the Alisa III, travels through a black hole and ends up in the Sol System very far into the past, having traversed both space and time. It is uncertain of when they arrived, but we know that it must have been before AW 646, which was when the planet was destroyed and Humans fled elsewhere.

The ship had been invaded by Dark Force, and he was temporarily sealed away therein. Thus, by traveling back into the past, it is very possible (and this seems to be implied by Sega) that Dark Force subsequently was brought to Earth. It is speculated that the ship they use, Noah, was likely based on the designs of the Alisa III, so perhaps in their interactions with the people of the ship, Dark Force was later released and corrupted their minds.

Since this must be prior to AW 646, a date of AW 284 makes sense, because that would be 1,000 years prior to the events of “Phantasy Star II,” and would coincide with Dark Force’s appearance in “Phantasy Star” (since Dark Force manifests every 1,000 years). This would make sense, too, because the Dark Force from the “future” would be awakened in parallel with the one in Algol in AW 284.

A rather vicious cycle, no?

WHERE DOES PHANTASY STAR ONLINE FIT INTO THE STORY?:

While at one point these titles were thought to be unrelated, sort of like most Final Fantasy games are unrelated, there are many facts that point to the contrary.

First, evidence in the game itself shows that the game takes place in AW 3084, about 800 years after the events of “Phantasy Star IV.” The very use of the Algol Calendar seems to point to the fact that the people aboard the Pioneer ships came from Algol in the past. This isn’t even to mention the fact that in the ruins on Ragol, the symbols that represent the three worlds of the Algol System can be found around the seal that contained Dark Force!

Now, let’s look at this timeline of the game, which is based on official dates. This is a great timeline because it helps us to tie the events of the Online games with those of “Phantasy Star Zero” on the DS.

Apparently, after many years of war and destruction on Coral, the planet was becoming unlivable. Thus, in AW 3060, the Alliance of Nations sent out probes to find a suitable homeworld for their people, and in AW 3068 one was found, which they named Ragol. Pioneer 1 was sent to the world in AW 3066, arriving in 3077 (which leads us to believe it’s a relatively far distance, though not nearly as far as the distance between Earth and Algol), and in 3082 the people of Pioneer 1 finish construction of the initial colony and alert the people on Coral that they may send Pioneer 2. Yet, in 3083, animals begin to attack the people, and it was for this reason that the Hunters were established by Rico Tyrell (important later), and when the Pioneer 2 arrives in 3084, an explosion on the surface sets off the events of the first “Phantasy Star Online” title.

So, we know that there were people living on a world called Coral that became unlivable a couple decades before the events of the Online games, and we know that these people use the Algol Calendar, and thus must be of some sort of Algolian descent. Yet, where does Coral fit into the story of the Algol System?

There’s a lot of speculation on this, too, here are two equally possible theories, none of which cause any issues in the series. First, some think that Coral was colonized after AW 86, when the people of the Algol System achieved the ability to travel efficiently in space. The second possibility is that it was established with the sole purpose of becoming a new home for the people of Palma after its destruction in AW 1284.

In either case, the idea that the world was settled eventually by Palmans makes a lot of sense, and completely explains their usage of things from the Algol System in the Online period.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO CORAL BETWEEN THE EVENTS OF PHANTASY STAR II AND PHANTASY STAR ONLINE?:

This is another good question, and one that seems to be answered by “Phantasy Star Zero” on the DS.

This was another game that people thought existed within its own place in the story, but later on in the game’s Story Mode, it is revealed that the world the game takes place on was once known as Coral. More importantly, it is revealed that after centuries of warfare, a devastating event known as the “Great Blank” takes place, rendering much of the world very hospitable and unlivable due to radiation and an overall destruction of the world’s climate system. Much of the population is destroyed, too, and what technology exists in the ‘present’ is found in the ruins of the old society.

It is later revealed that a computerized being known as the Mother Trinity was responsible for this great cataclysm, seemingly as a way to ‘reset’ the world and thus stop the conflict that had been raging on for centuries. Newmans (a race which later appear in the Online and Universe titles) are revealed to have been created long ago by the Mother Trinity, and during the time of “Phantasy Star Zero” they are charged with destroying the Humans to ensure that such a war never happens again. However, Newmans as a group existed long before these events, as Nei of “Phantasy Star II” suggests. Therefore, it’s more likely that the Mother Trinity genetically engineered the Newmans that are referred to as “her children,” either based on Newmans that may have traveled with the Palmans to Coral long ago, or based on DNA data and other materials stored in her database.

So, this seems to fit well. It seems like the wars referred to in the background of Online refer to this series of wars that was fought on Coral in Zero.

Yet, many wonder why Zero takes place on Coral, after these wars. There are a couple easily possible solutions to that.

First, it has been suggested that the Alliance of Nations knew that the Mother Trinity would soon do what she did, and thus around AW 3060 they began to look for a new home world. Pioneer 1 and 2 (and maybe others, but this is not confirmed) made it off of Coral in time, but others did not make it off before the Great Blank happened. As such, Zero is set 200 years later, sometime around AW 3284 (which interestingly is about when “Phantasy Star III” takes place according to the Japanese timeline, though all other timelines date PS3 to being concurrent with PS4).

Another possibility is that the Great Blank was sometime between about AW 1284 (though most certainly not this early, but this date is listed to provide a time range) and AW 2860, and it was sometime after this event that people left Coral.

Personally, I believe more in the first possibility, and that the moniker “Zero” refers to the fact that the game explains why people left Coral to head to Ragol.

As to what group specifically located and/or settled on Coral? It’s possible that it might be one of the other worldships like the Neopalm, seen in “Phantasy Star III,” eventually settled on Coral. Yet, it is also possible that it was an unseen worldship (one of the 400 or so sent from Palma in AW 1284) that did so, which makes a bit more chronological sense.


IS RYKROS CORAL?:

This is an interesting theory that has circled the Internet for some time now.

Rykros is the fourth planet (pictured on the chart above) in the Algol System, though it has a massive orbit that takes 1,000 years to complete. In fact, the planet seems to enter the Algol System around the time of Dark Force’s revival every 1,000 years.

Yet, the planet remains invisible during each visit until the year AW 2284, when the Aero-Prism is used to see through its cloaking device. The planet is also uninhabited, save for spiritual beings who train the guardians of the system in order to fight Dark Force.

So, considering that the Palmans left the system beginning in 1284, and Rykros was invisible during this time, it’s much more likely, as stated earlier, that Coral is simply a world that was colonized sometime after AW 86, as is suggested here.

As to why Rykros appears in the Gurhal System around the time of the Universe games, well, that’s simple: The Gurhal System must fall within its massive orbit.

It’s somewhat unclear as to why Rykros has a VR simulation of Ragol on it, though my guess is that perhaps Rykros was in orbit of the system back when Parum was called Ragol, and perhaps the Hunters of Pioneer 1 (under Rico), visited the planet and set up the program as a way to train future Pioneers, particularly the ones coming on Pioneer 2.

Some have suggested that Coral might be Motavia, due to the fact that after AW 1284, the planet began to tear itself apart (reverting to a desert after Mother Brain’s destruction), but this, too, seems unfeasible. If this was true, why not simply call their world “Motavia,” instead of “Coral?” Also, Motavia still exists in the era of “Phantasy Star IV,” and there isn’t any reference to them having the resources to send probes or worldships outside their system.


IS COPTO CORAL?

Ah, now this is a better theory!

In Japan, there was a side-story game released on the Sega Game-Gear called “Phantasy Star Gaiden” that discusses some of the events in Alis Landale’s life after “Phantasy Star.” Particularly of relevance, though, is that she left the Algol System and traveled a distance of 1 light-year to the Copto System, where she and those Palmans that accompanied her founded a colony nicknamed “AlisWorld” sometime around AW 290.

It has been suggested that just as the names of various planets have changed over the years (Mota = Motavia = Motav, for example), Copta may have eventually come to be known as Coral. As a colony of the Palmans, it’s very likely that they came to know of the Earthmen and perhaps eventually also had a Mother Brain-like system governing their own world, which may have eventually prompted some of the events that led into “Phantasy Star Online” and “Phantasy Star Zero.”

Add to the facts that “Copto” can be transliterated as “Coral” between Japanese and English and…Well…We have a good possibility!

A good breakdown of these ideas can be found on this thread over at PSO-World.



SO, WHAT ABOUT PHANTASY STAR UNIVERSE?:

Before information about “Phantasy Star Portable 2 – Infinity” surfaced, I believed Sega when they said that the games in the Universe storyline had nothing to do with those of the Online storyline.

Yet, in PSP2i, two characters from the Online games (including the famed “Red Ring” Rico Tyrell) and one of the Pioneer ships make appearances.

Since the series started in 2006, fans have speculated that the planet Parum might actually be Ragol, due to the similarities in ruins found there, geographical locations, and even the terrain and climate. This seems to now be backed up by the fact that one of the Pioneer ships (possibly Pioneer 1 or 2) rises from somewhere below the surface of Parum during the events of PSP2i.

If this is true, it may very well be that the ‘Ancients’ spoken of in the backstory of the Universe games are the settlers from Palma, which is easily feasible since somewhere between 6,000 and 11,000 years have passed between the time of the Ancients and the events of the Universe titles – more than enough time for Ragol’s name to eventually become Parum.

This seems further backed up by the presence of the planet Rykros, which has virtual-reality simulations of events and places from the Online story. Moreover, Rykros appears as the fourth planet of the Algol System, but it has a very elongated orbit, only appearing within the system once every 1,000 years. Could it be, then, that in the timeframe of the Universe titles that Rykros happens to be within their system’s orbit? If so, then while Gurhal is likely a very long ways away from Algol, it is close enough to fall within Rykros’ orbital ring, which would mean it was close enough for the Palmans to eventually settle.

If that is true (and I now think it is), then that would mean that the Universe games take place anywhere between approximately AW 9084 and AW 14084.

IS PHANTASY STAR UNIVERSE JUST A V.R. SIMULATION ON PIONEER 2?:

This is an interesting theory, as some believe that the V.R. simulations on Rykros may point to Gurhal being a simulation, perhaps to train the Hunters of Pioneer 2. Some use the fact that it was said that the Ancients can possess the bodies of the people of Gurhal to take part in major events.

Is it possible? Sure, anything is possible. It’s been done, after all (see: The Matrix or “Star Ocean: Till the End of Time”)

Do I think this is the case? No, I really don’t quite buy into it. *shrugs*


A FINAL NOTE ON DATES:

“Phantasy Star” is dated to “Space Century 342″ in the non-Japanese version of the game, whereas the Japanese version dates it to AW 342. No other games use the “Space Century” dating system. Some sites claim that it is an actual system, and that SC 342.00 correlates with AW 284, but the very fact that the Japanese game uses AW 342 seems to contradict that.

While AW 342 may have been the canon date of the game at the time, this seems to have been retconned with the release of “Phantasy Star II,” which claimed to be 1,000 years after the events of “Phantasy Star,” giving a date of AW 1284. The English-language version has various hints throughout (such as the image above) that hint that the game is after AW 1284, most likely AW 1286. Would that mean that the English version of PS1 took place in AW 286? And regardless, if the game was 1,000 years later, wouldn’t that mean it had to be AW 1342?

To answer that, I stick with the Japanese date in this case, and assume that AW 342 was retconned back (regardless of the date given in “Phantasy Star: Gaiden” or any re-releases) to AW 284, and the continued use of AW 342 and AW 813 (in “Gaiden,” which was 471 years after PS1) is now in error.

So, thus, it makes more sense to date PS1 to AW 284 and PS2 to AW 1284, keeping “Phantasy Star IV” in AW 2284 (a date agreed on in both Japanese and English versions).

“Phantasy Star III” is listed as AW 3284 in the Japanese version, which is 1,000 years after PS4, but the English date of AW 2284 makes more sense, as that would be 1,000 years after Palma’s destruction and the exodus of their people.

THE TIMELINE OF EVENTS (only major events, based on English-version dates):

BW 13: Waizz Landel, one of Palma’s Kings, begins a war to unite the people of Palma under one government.

AW 1/AD 2001: Waizz succeeds.

AW 86: Space Flight perfected in the Algol System by Palma.

AW 86-284: Dezoris and Motavia are colonized by Palmans.

AW 284/AD 2284: Events of “Phantasy Star.” Alisa III arrives at Earth from the era of “Phantasy Star III.”

AW 290: Alis Landale founds a colony on the planet Copto (nicknamed “AlisWorld”), approximately 1 LY from Algol. Alis brings Lars, her Robotcops, a cryochamber, and the sacred Laconian items (approximation).

AW 295: After years of fighting, King Kaburon of Copto is defeated and sealed away. Sensing his return in the future, Alis goes into cryogenic sleep (approximation).

AW 646/AD 2646: Humans have rendered Earth unlivable and depart on on Noah, possibly based on Alisa III’s designs.

AW 755: 471 years after the events of “Phantasy Star,” Alis is awoken from cryogenic sleep on Copto and the events of “Phantasy Star Gaiden” take place. After defeating Kaburon, Alis returns to the Algol System to deal with a new, unknown threat that she senses, presumably bringing the Laconian treasures with her.

AW 846/AD 2846: Humans from Earth (the “Earthmen”) arrive in the Algol System.

AW 1284/AD 3284: Events of “Phantasy Star II.” Palma is destroyed, which sparks the exodus of her people to find a new home. War breaks out between two rival factions, one led by the swordsman Orakio and the other by the sorceress Laya, and the conflict lasts for 1,000 years.

AW 1284-2860: Palman worldships arrive at Copto, a known settlement 1 LY from Algol, and soon it becomes known as “Coral.” Mother Trinity is created, along with Newmans referred to as “her children.”

AW 2284: The events of the First Generation of “Phantasy Star III” (on the Alisa-III). Events of “Phantasy Star IV” (in the Algol System).

AW 2304: The events of the Second Generation of “Phantasy Star III.”

AW 2324: The events of the Third Generation of “Phantasy Star III.” The Alisa-III is drawn through a black hole via Dark Force’s power and transverses space and time, ending up near Earth 2040 years in the past.

AW 3060: Alliance of Nations on Coral sends out probes to find a new home after centuries of warfare have nearly destroyed Coral.

AW 3068: Ragol is discovered by probes.

AW 3076: Pioneer 1 is sent from Coral to Ragol.

AW 3077: Pioneer 1 arrives on Ragol.

AW 3082: Colony is finished by Pioneer 1 on Ragol. Pioneer 2 begins its journey to Ragol.

AW 3083: Monsters attack colonists on Ragol’s surface. Hunters founded by “Red Ring” Rico Tyrell.

AW 3084: The “Great Blank” occurs on Coral (approximation).

AW 3084-3105: Events of the “Phantasy Star Online” games. The government on the Pioneer 2 breaks relations with any remaining forces on Coral.

AW 3284: Events of “Phantasy Star Zero” on Coral.

AW XXXX: Events of “Phantasy Star Online 2,” presumably after the “Phantasy Star Online” entries, but before “Phantasy Star Universe.”

AW 9084-14084/AC 0100: Events of the “Phantasy Star Universe” titles in the Gurhal System (in which Ragol has since been renamed Parum).

CONCLUSION:

So, there you have it. That was a very long article, but it was great to get all of these things finally down and out there, and to clear my mind a bit.

While I do think this timeline and explanation makes the most sense, it’s not without holes. But, for that matter, neither is the storyline as presented to us by Sega.

I’m still waiting to see what role Rico plays in PSP2i, and maybe once we know for sure, some of our questions will be answered.

In the meantime, 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the original “Phantasy Star Online” (makes you feel old, doesn’t it?), and this likely explains these efforts for crossovers, and I firmly believe that “Phantasy Star Online 2″ (due out in late-2011) will answer even more of these questions for us!

I hope you all enjoyed it, and will look forward to your thoughts on all this!
Lots of great stuff in that article!

[GCoffee]

Sakai stated in his recent interview that they for quite some time discussed whether to call the game PSO2 or PSU2, you know.
Kinda like the story is not connected to past entries in a way that made the choice process redundant.

[Zipzo]

Sakai stated in his recent interview that they for quite some time discussed whether to call the game PSO2 or PSU2, you know.
Kinda like the story is not connected to past entries in a way that made the choice process redundant.
That was very early on in the discussion of the game, likely even before the development of the games story at all. You couldn't just swap the name now, it is empirically tied in to PSO's canon already by many factors. They discussed it being PSU2 during whatever conversation they had over what the next Phantasy Star game would be many years ago...PSO2 was developed specifically to be a sequel to PSO, it isn't an a-sexual game with the PSO2 title tacked on.

[Omega-z]

The Casts kinda built Parum, didn't they?

lol, actually - This is what it is, coming straight from the game's history found on PSUPedia :

Parum was once a planet rich in natural abundance, it was driven to desolation over time due to human settlement, CAST production (by Human's at the time), and a war that lasted 500 years. Much of the nature found today has been artificially created. Tarcus City, the site where the Tripartite Treaty was signed, is the planet's capital. The economic center, however, is Holtes City, where the Alliance Council building is located. Alliance Military headquarters and the head offices of GRM, one of the largest manufacturers of GUARDIANS and Alliance Military equipment and CAST parts, are both found in Holtes City. CASTs make up only 5% of Parum's population. However, most of the important positions in politics, administration, and management are filled by CASTs.

[Zipzo]

lol, actually - This is what it is, coming straight from the game's history found on PSUPedia :

Parum was once a planet rich in natural abundance, it was driven to desolation over time due to human settlement, CAST production (by Human's at the time), and a war that lasted 500 years. Much of the nature found today has been artificially created. Tarcus City, the site where the Tripartite Treaty was signed, is the planet's capital. The economic center, however, is Holtes City, where the Alliance Council building is located. Alliance Military headquarters and the head offices of GRM, one of the largest manufacturers of GUARDIANS and Alliance Military equipment and CAST parts, are both found in Holtes City. CASTs make up only 5% of Parum's population. However, most of the important positions in politics, administration, and management are filled by CASTs.
That description still does not outline that the whole entire planet itself was crafted from the ground up by CASTs.

[Kirukia]

@Zipzo: I'm currently reading the storyline of PSP2i, since I haven't played it.
I'm about halfway through. Nagisa seems to be absorbing Dark Falz fragments into herself to contain them.

You can read the translated storyline from the English PSP2i Guide.

[Omega-z]

The planet was not crafted by Cast's, sense Human's had settled the planet before there Production. And all that was mentioned in the series was done because of the after math of all that happened before to the planet after the war's end ..etc. They helped the planet to restore it's natural look just artificiality faster then having the planet do it itself, similar to the classic's with Climate System's. They even had a Motherbrain system to help with it, If they needed to. But even with all this work most of them left Gurhal looking for resources. The Above statement was very clear on that.

The only planet I know of that is built by Scratch is Rykros and that was done by the Ancients (Great Light).

[RocSage]

The "Ancients" or "Great Light" and the "Profound Darkness" are the same civilization, but they are in the midsts of a civil war. The Great Light sealed the Profound Darkness away. Beyond that information we have very little information on what their capabilities are or why they are at war with each other. All we know is that when the Profound Darkness tries to escape it mutates and attacks those around it. It is possible that the Profound Darkness are the good guys, the mutations are something they can't help, and any foul things being said by the profound Darkenss is simply due to the repeated attacks and prevention of their escape.

So really Phantasy Star is the story of civilizations caught up in a war between forces that they know nothing about.

[Zipzo]

The "Ancients" or "Great Light" and the "Profound Darkness" are the same civilization, but they are in the midsts of a civil war. The Great Light sealed the Profound Darkness away. Beyond that information we have very little information on what their capabilities are or why they are at war with each other. All we know is that when the Profound Darkness tries to escape it mutates and attacks those around it. It is possible that the Profound Darkness are the good guys, the mutations are something they can't help, and any foul things being said by the profound Darkenss is simply due to the repeated attacks and prevention of their escape.

So really Phantasy Star is the story of civilizations caught up in a war between forces that they know nothing about.
I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that most of what Dark Force does is unethical by any means, and can be considered evil.

It has does donenothing to help us gather that is has any intention of doing anything good as long as it exists.

[RocSage]

I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that most of what Dark Force does is unethical by any means, and can be considered evil.

It has does donenothing to help us gather that is has any intention of doing anything good as long as it exists.

From your stand point.
You have no idea how long they have been trying to escape nor how many time they have been stopped by those who worship their enemies or at the very least views their enemies as good guys for no known reason.
The fact is you don't know nor can you assume anything about a group that is so outside the knowledge of those declaring them as evil.

That's saying nothing of the Great Light. It is possible that both of them could be evil d-bags.

[Zipzo]

From your stand point.
You have no idea how long they have been trying to escape nor how many time they have been stopped by those who worship their enemies or at the very least views their enemies as good guys for no known reason.
The fact is you don't know nor can you assume anything about a group that is so outside the knowledge of those declaring them as evil.

That's saying nothing of the Great Light. It is possible that both of them could be evil d-bags.
Well you gotta pick a side, and which one has done the most evil shit between the two :P

[Kirukia]

I'm going to attempt to summarize PSP2i's storyline. I'm going to skip ahead to about chapter 3/4.

[spoiler-box]Nagisa is collecting Dark Falz Fragments, of which there are 108, and taking them into her body. When attempting to get her 107th fragment on the mountains, it's trace suddenly disappears after the defeat of the monster containing it. Wynarl convinces her to move on and she gains her 107th fragment in Clad 6. After feeling something "moving" inside of her, she believes she is the 108th fragment and that Dark Falz has already begun to revive. She starts attacking Clad 6 in order to goad the player into killing her. The story can diverge two ways:

Bad Ending (Defeating her in battle): After the fight she attempts to kill Emilia and the player kills her. The story ends.

However as with Shizuru surviving in PSP2, I'll assume the True Ending is the canon one.

Continued Story (Waiting the battle out): Emilia convinces her to stop fighting and after losing her resolve to convince the player to kill her and end the threat of Dark Falz, Wynarl reveals that he took the final fragment, which is why it disappeared suddenly in the mountains. He also reveals that once Nagisa collects all 108 fragments Dark Falz will be reborn. He takes them to "Holy Ark Crowley" which seems to be a ship built by the Ancients to contain Dark Falz that was underneath Parum's surface. Wynarl states that he needs Dark Falz resurrected in order to activate Crowley, and goads the player and Emilia into coming onto Crowley to save Nagisa if they can, and threatens to destroy Clad 6 if they refuse to come. The party reaches Crowley via the Landeel, and on their way to save Nagisa inside, SEED seem to be forming.

"Shizuru: What in the—!?
Emilia: Wha!? Isn’t this… SEED!? What’s it doing in a place like this!?
Shizuru: Astonishing… But this SEED is small and hasn’t matured yet."

-insert blurb about you finishing the mission and Wynarl arguing with Nagisa before your party arrives-

After refusing to kill Nagisa again, she can no longer contain Dark Falz and begins to release him. Magical plot twist that wasn't completely predictable (/sarcasm) Wynarl reveals that his true plan was to take Dark Falz into himself and free Nagisa from her "death-fate." Wynarl claims to have created Crowley to seal Dark Falz back when the Ancients were still alive. At any rate, Dark Falz battle ensues.

Normal Ending: Nagisa exhausts herself in the battle and ends up dying along with Wynarl.

True Ending, and I assume canon ending: Wynarl passes on and Nagisa survives. Dark Falz is sealed in Crowley and sent off into space.[/spoiler-box]

I kind of left out a lot of random talking and character interaction simply because it doesn't really relate to this thread. If you want the full story feel free to look it up.

I found it interesting that the SEED were being formed while Dark Falz was about to be reborn. It seems as though the SEED were being created in response to Dark Falz (seeing as how they were newly formed instead of being matured SEED, meaning they weren't simply attracted to Dark Falz and showed up). That would lead me to believe that what you fought in PSO would also be SEED. It would also make sense since some "SEED-forms" are the very same enemies you fought in PSO. It doesn't have to be simply for nostalgia. Simply put, I believe the PSO enemies and the SEED are of the same making.

As stated before, Emilia, Yourself, and Nagisa travel to Ragol using sub-space in a side-mission. At first they believe it's the VR simulation you trained with Lumia in (Forest data from Ragol). But concludes that it's reality. It seems to be during the time or in a dimension while Rico was exploring Ragol. She continually references Pioneer 1 and refers to your party as Hunters.

However it's hard to tell if Emilia and Nagisa are actively changing the past of the PSO universe, or if it's the same universe but in an alternate dimension and timeline. Example, Flowen and Rico surviving Dark Falz's vanquishing. If the former, then PSO's timeline would ultimately be altered and obviously very connected with PSU's. If the latter than it's purely fan-service anyway and irrelevant. However since Olga Flow was awaiting them at the bottom of the ruins instead of Dark Falz himself, it could likely just be the latter. Honestly, I think most of it is simply fan-service and there is no coherent storyline. The connections are purely for nostalgia's sake and the storylines can't coincide because they are all separate and only connect through fanservice, which makes a true timeline impossible.

[Omega-z]

I agree Kirukia about PSO it's broke. Now there a question about that, We know those two ended up changing things but how far did it go? What I'm getting at is that Rico had there tech work and study the Sub-space machine. And with the idea that "AP" stand for. It could stand for "After Pioneer's" (even tho it could be "Allied Planet's too since they have Ragol and other Galaxies behind them too being New Light Year 283) and PSO2 could be the after effect of that interaction with those two. So stating would case the timeline to change and the Arkz in both times to be different but coming from the same source. By doing so they end up bumping into the PSU group(since there traveling for resources too) during PSO2, reason why the have Deman's and Beast in the datamining.....Possibly. And the Darker's are the result of them messing around with Sub-space. Thought's

So far MAYBEC one timeline to base it's origin's (original PSO series) and the other for it's future (PSp2i) perhaps?

Edit: The EN version say's "OUR" Galaxy? the Milky Way? and the year 283 of the New Light? so 283 NL? Coral/Earth Maybec? maybe a 3 way meet up with a possible 4th or more?

Oh Kirukia, the SEED were being made because of Howser's Help with Falz by using the SEED Virus. That guy is Million's of year's old and he states that when you fight him for the first time, Meaning that he was there during the Ancient War between Light/Dark.

[Sinue_v2]

Some of you guys might not know this, but in regards to PSP2i's storyline, the entire thing has been translated - including the "after story" missions (which involve the whole subspace accident/transport to Ragol incident). DeviFoxx wrote up a superb pdf translation guide which has really helped out the PSP2i community.

If you want to read the story for yourself, you can download the file from his site: here (http://www.devimension.com/dona/psp2i_guide_download.html).

I don't know if there are any PSO/PSO Ep III scripts floating around, especially since a lot of the really useful information was contained in quests which came much later in PSO's life. Cranberry wrote up a pretty good synopsis of some of Ep III's main story points. You can read those here (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111944).

It should be noted that PSP2i's after story mission involving Ragol, and PSO Ep III's ending are contradictory. In PSP2i's after story mission, Red Ring Rico lives (and you can get her Partner Card, along with Flowen's card). Endu's ending in PSO Ep III, however, relies on Rico and Flowen both dying - as Endu is the "Spirit Child" of Rico and Flowen's souls which was created with Olga Flow and Dark Falz clashed - destroying each other and creating the GERM (which was used to make C.A.R.D technology). So PSP2i's after story mission is pretty much just non-canonical fanservice, or at best only represents yet another dimension which is almost identical (but completely separate) from PSO's universe.

For PSU, I wrote up a complete Ep I script which you can find here. (http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93419) It's also on PSUpedia, but I don't think I'm credited for it. :( That page should also have links to "video scripts" of PSU Ep II & III's storylines.

So far as I know there are not any scripts for PSZero, PSP, or PSP2 Episode I. I may at one point work on those later, or at least a PSZero script.

Complete scripts for Phantasy Star I - IV classic can be found at the Phantasy Star Pages website.
Phantasy Star I Script (http://www.phantasy-star.net/psi/psitalk.html)
Phantasy Star II Script (http://www.phantasy-star.net/psii/psiitalk.html)
Phantasy Star III Script (http://www.phantasy-star.net/psiii/psiiiscript1.html)
Phantasy Star IV Script (http://www.phantasy-star.net/psiv/psivtalk1.html)

Rebecca (I think?) Capowski has a site with a lot of good information as well, including a translation of the Phantasy Star Compendium which offers a lot of good canonical supplementary information which isn't contained in the games. You can find it here. (http://www.sceneryrecalled.com/trans/ps.htm)

Missagh Alami's Phantasy Star Cave is another invaluable resource for classic (and even some modern) Phantasy Star lore. He has a translation of Phantasy Star Adventure, as well as overviews/synopsis of the PSII character Adventure titles. You can find them here (http://www.pscave.com/psa/faq.shtml) and here (http://www.pscave.com/ps2adventures/) respectively.

Finally, Diana Montoya has a translated script for the Phantasy Star Memorial Drama CD on her site. I don't know if it's considered canonical, but it does shed some light on the original nature of the Numan project which wasn't all that well explained in PSII. You can find it here. (http://pixelkiss.com/phantasystar/translation.html)

Hope this helps you guys.

[Kirukia]

Thanks Omega, did not know that. I never did get around to finishing AotI's storyline.

@Sinue: Yup that's the one I used, and I figured as much about the side-mission. It could just as easily have been a separate dimension, otherwise the implications of Emilia and Nagisa rescuing Rico and Flowen would be huge, changing the story of multiple titles dramatically.

Thanks for the links! I'll look at them in a bit.

[Sinue_v2]

Oh Kirukia, the SEED were being made because of Howser's Help with Falz by using the SEED Virus. That guy is Million's of year's old and he states that when you fight him for the first time, Meaning that he was there during the Ancient War between Light/Dark.

I don't think he ever says that, though he does make some passing remarks about how death does not apply to him, and that as long as the SEED exist, so will he. He certainly wasn't around during the war between light and darkness.

He's probably much more analogous to either Zio or Lasheic - both of whom make claims to immortality (being beyond death) so long as Dark Force is still alive, and both of which serve Dark Force's will - which allows them to channel his power. All of whom started off as normal mortals who were seduced by the allure of power and immortality. The only real outlier is Rulakir. Zio, Lasheic, and Howzer all die loyal to Dark Falz, but Rulakir has a moment of clarity before the end. Even though he was probably immortal in the same sense as the others - he is the only one to be relieved to be freed from the darkness.

[Omega-z]

Howser states that he is much older and been around during that time a couple of times. the first time he states he's million's of year's old is in the 3-4 last sentence before the First fight. He even call's Oran Weber an ARK Guard???? possible connection???. About the other's, they stay pretty much within there time period's, except possibly Lassic the Zombie version.

I have found some scripts for the one's your missing, I didn't know about the last one on your list nice find:)

Yeah, about PSO I knew that they are not the same just try figure out if they were more base on there info and not there story meaning If so and so died you get more info on there Origin's but that most likley work with Endu part Hmmm. I'll Read through Canberries to see what can be done or not be done.

[Sinue_v2]

Howser states that he is much older and been around during that time a couple of times. the first time he states he's million's of year's old is in the 3-4 last sentence before the First fight.

I take it you're referring to this scene?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZi2XrPu3s&feature=player_embedded

(Howzer enters at about 5:30, and the video extends up to the start of combat)

I didn't see anything in there about being millions of years old, or anything about the ancients. At best, he eludes to himself being something "other than human", but it's probably more a case of him being so thralled by the darkness that he no longer distinguishes himself from it. He doesn't display any of the powers or design aesthetics that either Mika or Wynarl do, nor does he display the physical changes (like patterned lines on the face/body) that people possessed by a spirit of the ancients do when they take control of the body.

Mika (Emilia) vs. Kumhan (Shizuru) Fight 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IgJFgvaVkI

Also, from the sub-plot dialogs of "For Brighter Day" featuring Olsen Waber, it indicates that Olsen, Helga, and Howzer were originally all run of the mill human fundamentalists who were searching for a weapon to use against the "mongrel" races, and eventually found the SEED. Olsen eventually defected to the Guardians after Howzer hatched the plot to use him as a vessel for the return of Dark Falz, and his goals shifted away from human fundamentalism towards total annihilation of all life in Gurhal. That suggests to me that Howzer is a modern-(ish) mortal who was seduced by the darkness, and attained a status similar to Lasheic and Zio.




He even call's Oran Weber an ARK Guard???? possible connection???

If there's a connection in any "Arkz" name, my money would be on the Arkz in PSO2 being descended from the rebel group Arkz PSO Ep III. Though I have no idea whether or not PSO2's storyline would support that.


I have found some scripts for the one's your missing

Awesomeness. Post them here, especially if you've found some for Blue Star Memories or Soul of Steel. Any of the PSOBB quest scripts would be a huge help, since not nearly as many people have played or are familiar with PSO:BB's quests/story.

[Aether]

I have very basic time line of the games worked out.

Chronologically The Order is.

Phantasy Star Online Episode I - Phantasy Star Universe

Phantasy Star Online Episode II - Phantasy Star Universe Ambition of the Illuminis

Phantasy Star Online Episode IV Blue Burst - Phantasy Star Portable series

Phantasy Star Online Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution

Phantasy Star Zero

Phantasy Star Online 2

The time line is based upon my guesstimated chronology of the games. I have Phantasy Star Universe running concurrently with Online. Because I remember reading that Universe and Online take at the same time but in different region of the Multiverse. Going into detail i read i there on somewhere. That the Humans from GURHAL originally came from Coral, they are decedent from the Pioneer 3. Which got lost in sub-space and emerging physically and temporally off target in the GURHAL system. The ship crashes and the survivors have start their civilization over, forgetting their origin in the process.

[Aether]

The Ultimate time which incorporates the four original Phantasy Stars is partially based on an epic piece of Fan Fiction titled Phantasy Star Zero (http://www.phantasy-star.net/fanfics/cameron/pszero.html).


See there are multiple Time Lines in play.

TimeLINE-1
Begins in the 2XXX. Humans on earth discover a fifth fundamental force this is the medium by which all other forces Interact. It is also discovered that this exotic Fifth-Force is exhibits psycho-reactive properties resonating with the human mind/nervous system. This proves the existence of paranormal powers that have been by claimed and attributed to certain individuals through out history. Genetic modification is used to boost the human ability to resonate with this force. To the point where reliable and conscious control is possible. These enhanced people are nicknamed Forces,because they can control the forces of nature. Decades after the discovery of the Fifth-Force a device capable of harnessing it for power is devised; though devices was years away from being practical it potential could provided an infinite source of power. One of the most interesting properties of the Fifth-Force was it's ability readily bend space. The Mastery of this aspect of the Fifth-Force couldn't come soon enough because centuries of pollution and warfare had finally taken their toll. Earth was dying the environment was rapidly decaying and in a few centuries would be completely uninhabitable. The world government decided that humanity would leave earth for the stars. A fleet of Noah class colony ships were built each equipped with the experimental Warp drive. Each ship would be sent to the location of a likely location of a habitable planet. Their were of course several catches. The Warp Drives manipulation of space was very very volatile, their was a good chance that a ship would be damaged possibly even destroyed during activation or deactivation of the drive;perhaps even during transit .The other catch was the fact that Warp Drive couldn't bend space independently of time; the greater the distance a ship traveled the further back in time it would be propelled. Despite these problems the Noah fleet was launched. At least two ship survived but both were heavily damaged. Noah-5 dropped out of warp on target but crashed into a planet with oceans that were thick with Coral. Noah-9 suffered a navigational malfunction and flew right of the Milky-way galaxy and into the Andromeda; were the ship crash lands on the second of a four planet system. The Colonist from Noah-9 battle the Profound Darkness shortly after their arrival. And as a result of their Experiences name the system Ra's al Ghul(Demon's Head);which is eventually shortened to Algol. A natural disaster takes out the colonial data-archive and the humans eventually forget their earthly origin. And begin thinking of Plama as their home planet. Crown Prince Eusis Rolf Landale (http://www.ill-intent.com/PS2maintitle.htm) defeats the second major manifestation of the Profound Darkness in history. And presided over the launch of the deep space Exploration and Colonization fleet. Unfortunately not all of the Profound Darkness was sealed and Dark Forces infiltrate the Worldship fleet as they leave the system. The Dark Force is defeated(not destroyed) on board Alisa III. Do to the upheaval and chaos caused by the battle the worldship's navigational systems are temporarily disabled and it drifts into black hole. The Alisa III emerges from the black hole in the Sol System and is contacted by the London Communication Center.