Is this game a prequel?

[Link1275]

The plot in some aspects kind of reminded my of Phantasy Star 2, I'm thinking Sega might have lightly been trying to tie in some thing there.

Let's see, that was the one where everything that was atmospherically related was controlled by a robot that was corrupted, infected, and for all intents and purposes destroyed by Dark Falz, and you had to find a way to go and destroy it with Nei(who was almost like a sister to the main character in it). Correct?

[Mysterious-G]

We know that at one point in time Coral began to wither. There were people who fleed the planet and sought shelter in a new home. Thus the Pioneer project was born, resulting in the events of PSO. We know that at the end of PSO Episode III contact to Coral was still being maintained, though authorities pushed for independence.

At some point of all these events, some hopeful people that still clung to the thought that Coral could be saved created Mother Trinity in order to find a solution to the withering of the planet. Sadly, the AI was corrupted by Dark Falz and found the solution to the problem was the ridding of Coral of the higher races. The AI unleashed bio weapons unto the planet, and then, much, much later, PSZ takes place.

The connections PSZ makes to PSO may lay in the past, but the game itself is a sequel to the evens of PSO, at least.

[Xevioso]

If it's a sequel to PSO, then where would PSO2 take place?

And... where or what happened to colonizing Ragol?

[Link1275]

If it's a sequel to PSO, then where would PSO2 take place?

And... where or what happened to colonizing Ragol?

It's called Phantasy Star ZERO to imply that it comes before PSO, or another series/game.

[Gunbladelad]

I recall we discussed this quite a long time ago on the forum for the main Private server. I'll quote here what we (roughly) came up with.

1. Coral's ecosystem starts dying off. 2 projects get started up in tandem - Pioneer & Trinity. Trinity to save the ecosystem, Pioneer to find a new home if the worst happens.

2. Ragol gets discovered as a possible location for a new home by a probe. Initially the location got scouted due to a meteorite from the system impacting on Coral (Episode 3 intro mentions this) Pioneer 1 is sent out. It takes 2 years to travel there, then 5 years building - giving the 7 years between the probe discovering Ragol & Pioneer 2 arriving mentioned in PSO's intro. Pioneer 2 leaves Coral in the 5th year after Ragol gets discovered.)

3. Pioneer 2 arrives, and contact with Pioneer 1 is lost. It should be noted that in the Gallon's Shop quest, you get told by pagnani that "Pioneer 3 has already left". It may have been a scheduled launch to take place after Pioneer 2's departure. It should be noted that Pioneer 3 never arrives in Episodes 3 or 4, leading me to believe that something stopped it. The events of Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1, 2, 3 & 4 follow in the Ragol system.

4. Back on Coral, after Pioneer 2 has left, Mother Trinity goes berserk due to D-Cellular infection (due to the meteorite I mentioned in "2") & causes the "great blank", in the process, destroying what's left of the Pioneer project (including Pioneer 3), and setting up base on the Moon.

5. PS Zero happens 200 years later.

6. The Eternal tower activates as a backup system after Mother Trinity is defeated by the story mode hunters. The side-story quests where you re-fight Mother Trinity & Dark Falz is simply Mother Trinity's systems attempting to reboot. Humilas being "Reve's power" is basically a "metal gear"-style assault mech. It stands to reason that Mother Trinity manufactured more than one.

If anyone wants to question why Pioneer 2 never returned to Coral, remember that traditionally Colony ships are very much 1-way trips. They are almost never intended to return with their passengers. It simply would not have had the fuel to travel back to Coral.

[Omega-z]

PSZ is a "BIG" piece in the puzzle when connecting the time lines. Sakai did say that PSZ along with PSP2i would help to connect the Online series with the Universe Series. Actually, It look's like you can Link not just those two series's but also the Classic as well so far. PSZ is one of the Best when it comes to info not just game play.


So, far what I figured out: (Partial of the time line that's directly with the Online series)

Alisa III >>>Earth ----- Earth breaks out in a huge war over tech. --------War Stop's and a New age of Travel begin's(off of PSO2 history)/ Earth renamed as Coral and the start of the Calender AUW -------They build the Oracle Fleet --- they start colonizing other planet's ----- they get attacked by an unknown source ----- Tension's break out and colonies are lost ------ A Group of scientist's upset with the current condition's and the planet's demise disappear taking off with Falz which they fuse to there ship and a partial copy of the Tech of Alisia III* ----- The Government find's out about the attacker's and starts in making Photon based weapon's ----- They send the Oracle Fleet in the direction that the attacks are coming from----- Oracle Fleet leaves and start's the AP Calender (PSO2 and a possible connection to PSU/EP?) ------- On Coral they continue to fight the attacker's and reneged group's there and continue to develop more Photon Based weapon's and armor like the Agito ------- The planet is in a state of decline the Government builds Mother Trinity / MB ------The first half of PSZ's story begin's ---- Coral start's the Pioneer Project and sends 1,2, and 3 (3 went missing, couple of possible theories here which PSU is one); which 1 & 2 start's PSO on Ragol with a split paradox with PSP2i ------ On Coral the Great Blank happen's ------ the Second part of PSZ happen's/ The planet is recalled Earth again.

* Part is filler but it does happen with the Science vesicle disappearing; which is a good tie's in with PSII Earthmen which in turn their Ship crashes on Ragol at the end which is before PSO.

[Sinue_v2]

Sakai did say that PSZ along with PSP2i would help to connect the Online series with the Universe Series.

Can you provide a link, or a source, because I only ever remember hearing them say that all four game series (PS, PSO, PSU, and PSO2) all took place in totally different universes and were unconnected.

The first and most significant problem that I see is in the timing. The Dark Falz/Profound Darkness would have still been trapped behind the Algolian seal almost entirely by SC 347/AW 845 when the Earthlings invaded Algol and set up Mother Brain. Since they were the last of the Earthlings, our entire race was wiped out by AW 1284 when Rolf and his team confronted them after defeating Mother Brain. There simply was no Profound Darkness free in the universe at the point you're suggesting the Arks battle took place, and only one minor Dark Falz which was sent back aboard the Alissa III via a black-hole induced time travel.

As to the PSO bit in PSP2i, it doesn't actually mean anything canonically as far as I'm aware, since not only does it completely contradict PSO's storyline - Emilia's dialog seems to indicate that it was a sub-space reality created based off data from the VR simulation*. And even if not, you'd have to acquiesce that since we're dealing with multiple universes here - that it's most likely that the event happened in a very similar - but not the same - universe as what PSO took place in. It would have to, because Rico and Flowen have to die in order for Endu and Germ to be created. Since Ep III's entire storyline revolves around C.A.R.D technology based on the Germ, allowing them to be saved via PSP2i's side-mission would invalidate that entire entry.

* = It was Nagisa's memories. She's a duman, and as such - carries a portion of Dark Falz's "essence" which holds memories. Since Nagisa was piloting the Sub-Space vehicle, when it went awry, the reality created was from her/falz's memory.

Text taken from DeviFoxx's guide.

Emilia: Uh… Well, um…Roughly speaking, the Virtual Reality space is an “imaginary space” that doesn’t exist in reality. We've been here once before at a landscape in the Virtual Reality space that looks just like this one so we could do some combat training. Of course, since that space was virtually generated, all the stuff like the vegetation, native lifeforms and whatnot were all things that were streamed from the Data. But, everything in this place is REAL. For some reason or another, it seems we've come to a world in which the forest that was reproduced in the Virtual Reality space has actually come into existence.

Nagisa: So in other words... You're saying that we're in a place in which everything that was once virtual has now become real.

Emilia: Mm-*‐hmm. That’s what I’m saying.

... the "VR Data" Emilia references was originally introduced during the Max Attack G event in PSU where the "data" was supposedly recovered from a dimensional rift discovered within the Relics.

Also, it should be noted that "Earth" is a general term for soil, and not necessarily a proper name of the planet itself. If you were working a farm on a terraformed Mars, you'd still say you were tilling the "Earth". Similarly, "Earth" based attacks have long existed in fantasy games which happen on their own unique worlds. By contrast, The London Communication Center which hails the Alissa III in Aron's ending qualifies itself as being of "The Sol System".

While I'll grant you that Coral does resemble our own Earth, but so did Ragol at one point in PSO v.1 for the DC.

Spoiler!

Phantasy Star, if anything, is not a story of Algol, Gurhal, the Arks, or Ragol. It is the story of The Profound Darkness and it's continuing battle against the Great Light (as represented in the online series by photons & photon technology). The event's which lead to the creation of the PD definitely took place in "Our" universe, but it first manifest in a sub-dimensional space - so you could say that from it's inception, Dark Falz is a trans-dimensional being, and there's nothing to say that the Algolian seal was the only possible exit from it's prison... or that the Profound Darkness/Dark Falz (being the same essence as the Great Light) could not similarly manipulate or transcend dimensions. Dark Falz/the PD is the only real link between all four game series.

which is a good tie's in with PSII Earthmen which in turn their Ship crashes on Ragol at the end which is before PSO.

The Earthling's ship didn't crash on Ragol. It was destroyed in the Algol System at the end of PSII. It's rather heavily implied that there were no survivors, and that your party "went down fighting". Besides, the Dark Force aboard the Noah was already defeated using Esper-crafted Nei Weapons before the fight with Mother Brain even took place. If the spaceship on Ragol is anything, my guess is that it's probably the Neo-Palm.

If anyone wants to question why Pioneer 2 never returned to Coral, remember that traditionally Colony ships are very much 1-way trips. They are almost never intended to return with their passengers. It simply would not have had the fuel to travel back to Coral.

That was a pretty good writeup of the basic plot connection between PSO & PSZero, and I don't have anything to really add to it. You're also pretty spot on with why Pioneer 2 never returned to Coral. Pioneer 2 only had the resources available for a one-way trip, since it was a population ship dedicated to shifting the civilian base. Pioneer 1 was the ship which had the extra resources for building habitation, but much of it's extra cargo was put to use building illegal weapon development facilities. So it wasn't available for commandeering a return trip. (IIRC, Pioneer 2 also had issues with resources mysteriously coming up short during transit, indicating that even Pioneer 2 was used as a cover for transporting personnel to the new development facilities).

"What should we do if Ragol isn't the place for us...? We can't go back, and we can't proceed. Where is home now?" ~ NPC Woman near the Principal's Teleporter, after Ruins are unlocked.

So yeah, whatever the reason, it's established that they couldn't go home. This problem was exacerbated in PSO Ep III where the dwindling resources aboard the ship caused the government to enact strict population control laws. As a result, Newmans became second class citizens and many Androids were slaughtered en-masse in a military operation known as the "OPSS Incident".

[gigawuts]

I too remember them saying PSU was in a wholly different universe, but with the way they toss that term around they seem to mean whether or not there's a direct connection at the start of the story - indirect connections and future connections notwithstanding.

Hell, maybe it's all part of the untold canon - PS takes place in a multiverse that the profound darkness leaks into, and the universes overlap somehow (possibly as a result of the PD). At the center of each universe's overlap would be Rykros' system, hence why it repeatedly shows up.

[landman]

I believe that the word "Zero" was not only put because of the origin of PSO (as in Coral being the beginning point for PSO) but also because of planet Earth being Coral, and I do believe this is the intention, because there are many possibilities to believe this is the Earth, and not just any other Earth, basically our moon is quite unique, and while it is poorly represented in the game (just like 99% of other media were it is represented) it's still very recognisable, and also the fauna is clearly an evolution of our current one (maybe natural, maybe artificial). And unlike Star Strek lore, I don't believe that human species can be born in many different places of the universe, with similar physiologies, so, at some point, Parmanians, Gurhalians and Arks need an origin on Earth (unless they really are alien but the games represent them as "humans")

The good thing about that is that there is not a problem to put thousand of years between games, so there is plenty of time for civilisations to expand, collapse and be rebuild, just like in EVE

[Sinue_v2]

and I do believe this is the intention, because there are many possibilities to believe this is the Earth, and not just any other Earth, basically our moon is quite unique, and while it is poorly represented in the game (just like 99% of other media were it is represented) it's still very recognisable

Our Earth's shorelines and geography are every bit as unique to our own planet as our Moon is, and yet (as shown above), Ragol shares that exact same configuration. And in greater detail, I might add, than in which PSZero represents the Moon. Even until PSO v.1, the texture of Ragol's surface as seen from Pioneer 2 was that of the eastern seaboard of N. America, with Florida clearly visible. By that time it had undergone some changes, but it was still clearly designed based on Earth as a template. (It was much easier to view with the Walk-Through-Walls code that allowed you to go underneath the cloud cover)

Yet Ragol is not Earth.

and also the fauna is clearly an evolution of our current one (maybe natural, maybe artificial).

You could make the exact same argument for the creatures on Naberius in PSO2. Plus, you could do an morphological comparison until you're blue in the face, but it's not going to get you anywhere because of the fact that this is still just a sci-fi fantasy series. You'd have to demonstrate intent on the part of the authors/designers, and for that, you'd have to ask them.

And unlike Star Strek lore, I don't believe that human species can be born in many different places of the universe, with similar physiologies, so, at some point, Parmanians, Gurhalians and Arks need an origin on Earth (unless they really are alien but the games represent them as "humans")

If this were reality, you'd be right. Although certain archetypes may well be universal, you would not find two phenotypically identical species derived independently of each other. But this is not reality, this is fantasy. Or, phantasy. Whatever. Besides, the official timeline of the original series clearly states that Palmans were specially created by the Great Light (along with Dezolians and Motavians) to serve as the protectors of the seal. For once, and in the realm of fantasy, special creation actually does trump evolution as an explanation.

The good thing about that is that there is not a problem to put thousand of years between games

Except for the fact that Earth, our Earth, definitively has already been in the Phantasy Star franchise and we were the villains. If you want to consider each series in the franchise as it's own seperate universe, then you are allowed to speculate on whether or not Earth has a central place in any or all of them. However, there is no way that I've seen which can connect each series in the same universe. The timelines and events just don't match up.