Phantasy Star I, II, & IV - Q&A

[CaptainPlanet]

I Want to make all the fans happy, or at least as many as possible, with these films, but considering the weapons are currently being made, I will keep the PSIII theory as a possible selection before we actually start shooting. Steel swords can be easily bought.

It's funny, because I learned of that particular PSIII ending and watched the video of it on YouTube the other night and all I could say in response was, "Oh... snap... that is awesome." It was from that point on that my head began spinning with possible ways to work the worldship arriving in orbit around the Earth into the second film (before the movie heroes leave the Earth). I feel like I really want to implement that particular arc into the films in some way. I figure, as long as I'm telling the classic saga from Earth's perspective, I might as well include that feature as well. It has a lot of potential. I'm still trying to work it around how their arrival will affect the old man's vendetta against the Algol system and how it would affect the departure of the starship Noah, bound for the Algol system.

I can't help but grin whenever I think about how I want to portray one scene in the fourth and final film that the fans would particularly appreciate. I haven't thought it out thoroughly yet, but at some point, Noah will be in the Algol system, relatively close to Palm (I'm going to stick with the planet names from PSI, even when reenacting scenes from PSII, like the controversial cliffhanger, which I can't WAIT to film! I have such an epic idea for it while still leaving you wanting more! Would fans hate me for keeping the planet names that way? I just want to keep them consistent). Anyway, the blader/hunter class (if you will, though it's not specified as such a detail in the films) hero of the films, Neon, is in a control room with the old man (aka 'leader of the Earthmen'). The old man (project codenamed, 'John Q. Beardman'. Don't worry, it's just a placeholder name until we think of a fitting name for the character. We just thought it was hilarious.)has been sitting back and enjoying watching what the Mother Brain has been doing on Palma and Motavia, but Neon interrupts at some point. As a last ditch effort to take his revenge before possibly being killed (though he escapes this scene), he punches a few commands into a console and a vid screen turns on, showing a satellite beginning to plummet to Palma. The old man makes a comment about taking care of two birds with one stone. Neon asks him what he means and the old man manages to escape. Now, only people who have played the games would understand what the old man was referring to, but it's not enough to entirely confuse the general audience. They would probably just shrug it off.

By the way, on a side note, I just checked out your impressive classic collection! Phantasy Star III was my first game too. The dungeon theme was always the most catchy jingle that stuck with me. I have it on a CD in my car, as well as the opening theme to PSIII (both in their original 16-bit forms). I did it so that I could think of ideas for the PS movies while on the go. I've decided to implement the opening theme to PSIII in a funeral scene in the first film and the PSIII dungeon theme, revamped to sound slightly more militarized, for a scene in the second film where a CEO named Klaudya animates one of the fruits of her company's labor, and entire army of CASTs. (in these films, the CASTs are another form of technology taken from the post PSIV Algolians. Who's to say they don't create them eventually? :P Plus, the CAST concept is a bit too fargone. After I wrote the script for the first movie, there are two characters in particular that I instantly fell in love with. One being Arc the bounty hunter, and the other being the man-made prototype CAST, Epsilon. In the second film, they will be spending a great deal of time together, and I can't wait for those two to interact! They will become crowd favorites, I know it. :P

Also, I have that PSIII hint book too. (The first one with the standard black checkered SEGA pattern and features full color screenshots, art, and charts)

[Drac_Mazoku]

You sure seem to have grand project for those films, and it's really great to see someone with so much passion for the series and want to learn every info he can get to make a better story

About my collection, yes, I'm really a phanatic collector. Back then I was also collecting "everything" Phantasy Star related. I still own many soundtrack, artbook, japanese/american players guides, figures, and of course games for the Online, Universe, Zero and Portable (the same as Universe series, but anyway) series. But really, ever since Phantasy Star IV, I was only on board because of my love for the classic series. Everytime there was something "Phantasy Star" related, I was buying it, even though I was not loving at all the online iterations. To me, the Phantasy Star games needed to have a good story and unfortunately, it was never the case....And finally, after vomiting the pathetic excuse for a story that was Phantasy Star Portable 2, I just totally gave up any hope for the future. Add to that the stupid Sakai comment about linking the Universe saga and Online saga (believe me, it will be a total train wreck), I finally opened my eyes to the true. Phantasy Star was just about mindless grinding and repetition, and was dead since Phantasy Star Online was created...maybe it took me too much time to realize it, maybe I was still trying to believe, but at one point, I was tired of wasting money on boring games like those. So I removed a lot of my collection from my collection page, and now I only keep anything "classic saga" related.

Sorry for the rant...I know it's not my place to do so on a website dedicated to the online iterations, but that's why the only place I hang out now on PSO-World is the classic saga sub-section, and why everytime I see a post here, I try to answer the best I can

[Drac_Mazoku]

EDIT: I've finally read your synopsis. There's one part where it bothers me. This whole ware between the Earth and Algol. Granted it's an alternate universe and anything is possible, let's assume that the Algol who wage war is in the same continuity as the classic saga. Where exactly does it takes place? Are we talking thousand of years after PSIV?

Because there's only one time in the story where Algol had the technology to have spaceship that travels outside Algol, and it's in the era between PSI and PSII

Proof of that is found in Phantasy Star Gaiden, where Alis colonized Alisaland, in another Star System. And the other proof is Phantasy Star III itself, which we all know by now, was happening on spaceship fleeing Parma "during" Phantasy Star II.

Other than that, there was no "direct" war possible with the Earthmen. After the fall of Mother Brain, the Algolian lost pretty much all knowledge to build enough technology to wage an intergalactic war. At the end of PSIV, while some articial system were still functional to handle the environement and life on Motavia and Dezolis, it was not yet ready to go back to PSI and PSII level of technology...in the state it was, I can even speculate that it would takes thousands of years for Algol to have the technology to do a war this big

And well, if it really happens SO FAR in the future, what would be the point to link it with Algol? The time between each Phantasy Star was actually 1000 years. A long time, but not big enough that all trace connecting it to previous games might disapear. If we're talking 5000-10000 years, how will we find trace of the previous games "great" enough to make a significant impact on those having played the classic saga? The easy answer would be "Oh but Lutz descendant still exists"...but without the profound darkness existing, Algol is pretty much safe, so Lutz presence is not as required as before to keep Algol in check (In fact, does the Protector role even exists anymore? You talk about Rykros, but without the Profound Darkness, even this Planet goal is dead. The Seal has no more sense)

Now, I will leave you on the only note given by Rieko Kodama herself when she was asked about a possible Phantasy Star V back then. It was a question of knowing if Dark Force was really evil, and if the Great Light was really good. The only mystery left for us after Phantasy Star IV is: What happened with the Great Light. They are pretty vague and La Roof only tell us that it went somewhere else...now that would be a fun thing to explore.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that (now, it's only my pure imagination, nothing of it is a fact), without the Profound Darkness, the Seal have no meaning. Here's a crazy scenario, after thousands of years without any threat, the Algol Start System indeed build back their technology. But over the years, the star which was the focal point holding Profound Darkness begin to fall on itself. Without any energy to feed it (because of the lost of the primary goal of the Star System), it will collapse, thus destroying the entire system. At this point, this is where the Lutz descendant might step in, bringing the only mean possible to recover the system. Find the Great Light in the Universe, and ask him directly to create a new goal for Algol to exist. Is it possible, or is the only way to make Algol avoid destruction is to bring back a new destructive force and seal it...thus maybe repeating the old vicious circle.

This was my idea for many years after the end of Phantasy Star IV if we had to bring the Great Light back in action. And it would also bring inter-galactical travel.

Anyway, it was just a random idea, don't mind me.

[CaptainPlanet]

Sorry, I'm back. You kind of threw me for a loop there. Clearly your knowledge of the classic saga far exceeds my own, but then again, that's why I'm seeking help and doing research after all, so that we get this right and don't disappoint anyone. You have really helped us out a lot with your guidance so far. You have really helped me to iron out a lot of things that may have lead to inconsistencies in the future.

Your claim makes perfect sense when you think about it. However, in the alternate timeline from which the old man is from, humanity had long enough to colonize nearly the entire Milky Way before venturing out into the Andromeda Galaxy for further conquest. Chronologically speaking, one could assume that it dates far beyond PSIV, but then again, according to how events unfolded in the timeline we're speaking of, there could have never been a Great Collapse around the "PSII-paralleled" timeframe due to the fact that, in this alternate timeline, humanity was too busy conquering its own galaxy, thus giving the Algolians time to develop uninterrupted (save for interference by Dark Falz every 1000 years, but that won't necessarily be mentioned in any of the flashbacks/explanations of the backstory in the films because Dark Falz doesn't necessarily play a large role in the war.)

There are a few elements that I feel should remain in order to shock and awe fans both new and old. I feel that I want to write the Alisa III into the films, as well as Dark Falz. At first, I considered the essence of Dark Falz being brought to Earth by the Alisa III, but then again, that wouldn't make sense, because he was just defeated, seeing as timeflow on the worldship would likely be unaffected after traveling through the black hole. So that explanation wouldn't make sense. The only other thing that I could think of is sticking to the plan with Rykros beginning as a rogue planet floating throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, ensnaring populations, and moving on, until it reaches Earth, where Dark Falz falls at the hands of the Earthborn heroes, and is destroyed, for at least 1000 years at least. Enraged at his first defeat by mere mortals, the consciousness of Dark Falz senses the Earthborn heroes aboard the Noah spacecraft and quickly projects where they are heading. Out of hatred for the heroes, he redirects the course of Rykros towards the Noah's destination, the Algol System, only he manages to beat them there 1000 years before.

Also, the little bit in PSII where they released Dark Falz and a voice mentioned that it was a gift from "our world to yours," I have a very interesting way of utilizing that line for the plot.

Does that seem to fit any better, or do I need to do more research into the business of Dark Falz being sealed away with the planets being used as nodes and rethink this? I'm willing to take as many attempts as possible with this until I get it 100% right. The mission of my group of filmmakers is to break the paradigm of bad video game movies and do one right to-the-letter for once. Your continued help is VERY appreciated!

Who knows, maybe when we can get this story right and we finally get the 4-part saga out on DVD's, you may want to add them to your classic collection. Maybe my group and I could even get a picture with you and your collection after this is all said and done someday.

[CaptainPlanet]

EDIT:

After a little more research, I feel kind of dumb for not exploring a few obvious questions for the films.

1) Approximately when did the seal take place? What's the story behind it?

2) Who is Alis' father? Azeur or (dare I say it) Lashiec?

I want to get this right, but it seems like for every answer I find, three more questions are raised as a result. If this keeps up, I fear it may result in one of two things. Either I wipe away the alternate timeline completely, thus eliminating the rich motivation I set forth for the old man, also warranting some rewrites (which I'm willing to do for the sake of doing the franchise justice) or... I just abandon the classic continuity altogether and start a new universe, which would sadden me greatly, because I had such epic ideas to add to the classic continuity.

[Drac_Mazoku]

Like I said, if you put an alternate timeline, then everything become possible. I just wanted to bring some point "just in case" the same timeline as the classic saga is brought up.

As for Dark Force, here's something interresting. Let's just take the JAPANESE timeline. In this timeline, Phantasy Star III happens 2000 years after the ship escaped from Parma, and not a mere 1000 Years like it was badly translated in our version. Why does it affect anything. Well Let's see.

1)Phantasy Star and the defeat of Dark Force controlling Lashiec
2)1000 Years passed
3)Phantasy Star II and the defeat of the Dark Force inside Earthmen Pandora Box
4)1000 Years passed
5)Phantasy Star IV, and the defeat of the last 3 Dark Force, and the source of all Dark Force: Profound Darkness
6)1000 Years passed
7)Phantasy Star III, outside the Algol Star System, and a Dark Force still living after the defeat of the Profound Darkness, inside another Pandora Box.

Now, this is once again another pure total speculation. But since the Profound Darkness is dead, why is Dark Force promise he will come back in 1000 years to haunt the descendant of the heroes??? Either he doesnt know that Profound Darkness is defeated, and thus he can't come back....or, he has evolved. Evolved to a point where he goes beyond other Dark Force, maybe becoming a Profound Darkness in itself. You know, for a long time, before Sega rejected all our theory, people were trying to link PSO to the classic Saga, and of course, the most possible theory was that the Spaceship ruins on Ragol might have been Alisa III in itself, which is why we still see the Pandora Box before Dark Falz (Dark Force) in PSO...he the fact that we could see through side-quest that Dark Falz wanted to break free and evolved.

What does this mean. Well, forget the link about PSO, but believe in the fact that the Dark Force of PSIII has really break free of Profound Darkness. Since there's no seal protecting it, nothing could prevent him for trying to control the earthmen (in secrecy) as soon as he gets on Earth through the Dark Hole. Maybe not at full power, but by infiltrating governemental power little by little over the years...Anyway, forget once again what I'm saying...I'm just using my imagination to create crazy scenario.

Anyway, about your question

1)You mean the initial Seal by the Great Light on the Profound Darkness? According to the official Timeline, it happens 2 millions years ago.

2)Once again, according to the official timeline, his father, the king was called Aures Landeel. Lashiec was just a prime minister who took power after the king's death because Alis was way too young to govern (less than 1 year old according to the timeline).

Anyway, your passion seems real. We'll see if you go through the entire project, which seem kinda big. Most people put aside smaller project (like fan game for exemple) because of the sheer amount of works it takes...and you say your team want to do 4 MOVIES??? That's quite the contract...No matter if you suceed or not, it was still a good chance for me to talk a lot about the classic saga on PSO-World, and for that alone, it was worth it.

[Zorafim]

I want to join in this conversation, but I'd have to re-read everything to make my points. For now though, I did want to ask this. Why are you making Rykros a dark planet? Are you referencing the PSU Rykros, or the original? If you're talking about the original Rykros, which I think was first and last referenced in the fourth game, that was a planet made from either the Great Light, or by the civilization that it created, in order to warn Algol of the coming of Dark Force. In other words, it's the light's tool, not the darkness'. Are you aware of this and just taking artistic liberties?

[Drac_Mazoku]

I will quote what he wrote in his first post

As far as Rykros being a native of the Andromeda galaxy, that too will be clarified within the films. It is yet another detail I want to keep a mystery until the films are released.

Being an alternate timeline, I'm guessing Rykros have a different goal than in the Classic Saga. I'm sure he must know what he's doing. But since the question was raised, I will indeed confirm that the Rykros of Algol is aligned with the Great Light

Classic Saga Rykros: The fourth planet of Algol, only visible with the Aeroprism. Normally outside the system because of its weird rotation around the star, but every 1000 years, it come back as a sign that the seal is weakening, and that the Profound Darkness will try to let part of itself go free in the form of Dark Force. Rykros Gods will then select a group of Protector to defeat Dark Force and protect the Seal for another 1000 Years. Because of the lost of Parma in PSII, the Seal have weakened to a point that 1000 Years later, the Profound Darkness is about to go free. Chaz/Rudy and the rest of the gang are therefor the last groups of Protector ever chosen by Rykros' Gods (I call them Gods, but they might just be Rykros resident).

Universe Saga Rykros: A Dark Artificial planet. Back then it was build by the Ancients in their battle against Dark Falz. Ultimately, it was to be Dark Falz sealing point, but unknown to the Ancient, Dark Falz managed to survive by feeding on the A-Photon reactor inside Rykros. It will then become the main HIVE, that will only appear during Episode 3. He was re-discovered by an Illuminus group lead by Howzer if my memory serve me right (I don't care as much for others Saga, remember) before they were taken over by the SEED and start finding a way to find a suitable body for Dark Falz

So yes, the 2 Rykros are totally opposite to each others. But I'm sure CaptainPlanet knows about it And maybe created a third Rykros...or maybe it's something else

[CaptainPlanet]

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but as it turns out, I was wrong in assuming the nature of Rykros during the pre PSI era. When I first came up with the idea for the films, I began writing it under the pretense that all the games in the franchise were somehow connected in a chronological fashion *shot*. I was of the belief that the civilization migrated from Algol, to Coral, to Ragol, to Gurhal. I'm glad I started this thread, otherwise, I would have never learned otherwise. While it's true that my first foray into Phantasy Star was through Phantasy Star III, and then PSO, the first time I ever heard the name, 'Rykros' was at the end of Phantasy Star: Portable. That bit of information intrigued me, so I began doing research into Rykros. Later, while being out of the loop of the online game for some two years or so, I learned that Rykros played a major role in the Episode 3 story as the home of the essence of Dark Falz. Not long after, I stumbled upon evidence that Rykros was also featured in PSIV. As a knee-jerk reaction, my response was, 'Oh, hey! It's Rykros! It must be the same planet from PSU!' So naturally, I assumed that it was a dark planet. At this point in time, I had heard snippets of the Great Light and the Seal that held the Profound Darkness at bay, though I wasn't aware that Dark Force was merely a 'tool' per-say of the Profound Darkness, continuously trying to inch its way further out of its purgatory every 1000 years. I was under the belief that Dark Force became a threat to Algol every 1000 years because it was a dark planet, and that every time he was defeated, the core essence of his being that was tied to the planet was carried away upon the passing of Rykros' orbit.

Wow, was I wrong!

But no, when we are as serious as this about getting the lore 100% correct for the films, I would never take artistic liberties with such a core entity of the lore. I wouldn't want to create two Rykros' because then it would feel too forced, unless I were to try to instill the belief that there were a Great Light and a Profound Darkness within EVERY galaxy, but then again, that would be taking artistic liberties, and as a writer aiming for accuracy, I feel it's not my place to do that.

I know you are a hardcore fan of the classics, and your support of the idea that an alternate timeline makes anything possible really does bring hope for this project, and I thank you for the support. However, since the Seal takes place so long before PSI (and Phantasy Star Prime, for sure), then I may change the script to not have any affiliation with Rykros and have the essence of Dark Falz be brought to Earth via the Alisa III, approximately 50-100 years from now, this continuing the support of the classic theory that the Earthmen got the coordinates of Algol from the Alisa III. Also, the reason that Dark Falz is resurrected so quickly would be due to genetic engineering (though I'm not quite sure how to work out exactly how they obtain the physical traces of Dark Falz yet since I have to rethink quite a few aspects of the script from the first film now, which I don't mind).

The way I see it, rather than having Rykros heading for the Earth, the Alisa III could arrive near the beginning of the film, and Dark Falz would become manifested toward the end.

Also, is there a taboo in referencing the physical traces of Dark Falz as 'D-Cells' (like they did in PSO)? In the second film, the rival company run by Klaudya was going to obtain leftover traces of these D-Cells and synthesize them/'perfect' them, and inject them into a host, thus creating a "Dark Falz 2.0" if you will. It was my original plan that he be sealed away into Pandora's Box and stashed aboard the starship Noah en route to the Algol System, thus explaining the appearance in PSII (this whole name thing between Dark Force and Dark Falz is really becoming a headache. I guess maybe I should just stick with Dark Force, or the purists, even though the entity aboard the Alisa III is named Dark Falz? Is there really a difference?)

[Drac_Mazoku]

Sorry then, I guess I made false assumption about your knowledge of Rykros. Yes, if you want to play with core material, you're walking on a thin line if you don't know the basic. As much, I would suggest to at least play Phantasy Star IV once. It's a quick RPG, easy enough, that involve no grinding and that summarize everything you need to know about Algol in one game.

As for the others game, key element to know

Phantasy Star: Lashiec is evil, Alis kill him, he was controlled by Dark Falz (yes he was called that in the original game translation...if you want to know, Dark Force and Dark Falz are just litteral translation maybe of what the Japanese say for him...heck, in one of my book, the Japanese are spelling it "Darth Phallus"), Dark Falz is defeated, Alis is in fact the daughter of the now dead King of Algol, and become (depending on your final choice) the Queen of Algol.

Phantasy Star II: Rolf is on a governement mission to discover the cause of the malfunction of Mother-Brain. Key scene will involve death of her companion Nei (one of the most tragic scene ever created back then, in 1989), destruction of the planet Parma by the satellite Gaila, our group accused of all that, discover that Lutz/Noah of PSI is still alive, and finally that Mother Brain was inside a giant space ship called Noah controlled by the Earthmen. No one know if our group survived after the final battle against the earthmen

Phantasy Star III: Our world is a giant spaceship that fled Parma destruction...that's pretty much it.

As for the D-Cell...well its your call. Sure enough, there was never any kind of genetic experiment using Dark Force in the classic saga. Only the Online Saga did that. Universe, it was all about the SEED and infusing Dark Falz into a new body, and Zero, well it was once again an entity possessing other things/persons (in this case, Mother Trinity).