PSI's story: am I missing something? (contains spoilers)

[Kenbog]

Ok first of all there is notting wrong with this game at all, gameplay, exploring, leveling and battle system is really fun I recommend it for every RPG fan... but then there is the story...

Where is it?

lets make a full story recap:

Spoiler!

Alis "brother" Nero was killed by Lasics robotcops, Alis want revenge.
You seek help by a strong guy named Odin, wich has a travel companion Myau a smart Ragolian cat
Odin has turned to stone by Medusa, Myau have the antidote around her neck.
You come across the governor he invites you in and say he knows an other guy who could help named Noah and write him a letter, and let you stay the night, where you get a nightmare (dark falz?).
You find Noah and he joins your party aswel.
Then you travel around the world gathering all best equipments until you could take on Lasic.
You come across Noahs master and defeats him for his best armor.
After getting the best gear, Myau eats a nut and transforms in giant flying cat and you fight Lassic
Then when you return to the Governor and he is possessed by dark falz.
After you defeat him he turns to normal and say that Alis was the daughter of the King of Algol and ask if she could revive his legacy.

Groupshot The end

K what do we know about the characters?

Spoiler!

Alis wants revenge is is the daughter of the king of Algol
Myau travels with Odin
Odin is strong
Noah focuses allot on training and has a master called Tajim
Lassic is an evil emperor
Governor is possessed by dark falz.
And NPCs are only giving hints where to go and things that doesn't make sense like: "Do you like SEGA games?"(this is hilarious tho xD)

Am I missing out something big? It looks so empty.
I am curious what else is going on.
Or should I really play the rest of the series to know the whole story of the first game?

[Drac_Mazoku]

eh...are you expecting a "melodrama with 30 hours of storyline alone " RPG??? This is a console RPG from the 80. Story were pretty barebone back then. And yet Phantasy Star went above and beyond for its time. Compare it to others RPG story of its generation. Like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. You'll see that the first Phantasy Star was really stellar in its storyline, even if its pretty basic compared to today RPG. I think you were expecting WAY too much.

[Kenbog]

eh...are you expecting a "melodrama with 30 hours of storyline alone " RPG??? This is a console RPG from the 80. Story were pretty barebone back then. And yet Phantasy Star went above and beyond for its time. Compare it to others RPG story of its generation. Like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. You'll see that the first Phantasy Star was really stellar in its storyline, even if its pretty basic compared to today RPG. I think you were expecting WAY too much.

Well I was expecting more details like, how was the governor possessed, what did Nero found out about Lassic that made him kill him, why does everyone want a Laconian Pot, where are the rest of the Algolian cats?
Small things like that.

I did found a PS time-line what explained the most important events there tho, its all pretty interesting, to bad they couldn't tell it in the game itself.

[JesMaz]

Phantasy Star was made during a time when plot in video games was not as developed or considered as important as it is today.

However, gamers back then didn't look at it that way. Instead of 'wow this storyline is dry' they'd be filling in all the blanks with their own imaginations. I still do that when I'm gaming often. If something seems strange I'll come up with possible and interesting explanations within the context of the game.

If that seems to hard, try looking at it from Alys's perspective. She was a young princess who didn't know too much about the world either. She simply wanted to get revenge for her beloved brother. She was lucky enough to enlist the help of someone strong enough to assist her on her quest.

One of the coolest things about Phantasy Star is that it provided not just a planet but a solar system that could actually be explored. This provided a lot of excitement and intrigue for gamers at that time, and it was even moreso exciting and intriguing for Alys.

I guess what I'm trying to say is Phantasy Star is more than a movie or a story modeled with your standard dramatic structure ( exposition, rising-drama, climax, falling action, resolution ). Every original Phantasy Star game, and many games made during those early years, came with manuals that included notes sections and maps that you had to fill our yourself as you played the game. Off the top of your head of all the games that have come out in the last 10 years, how many can you name that came with maps you had to fill out yourself?

Exploration and adventure was much more important than plot during the time Phantasy Star was made, and if you can change your perspective just to take that into account, it might be easier to understand why Phantasy Star was so popular and groundbreaking and enjoyable for its time.

[Jinketsu]

Very well put, Jes!

Also keep in mind that PS1 was created for the SMS, not the Genesis like the three sequels after it. Memory was pretty limited, and I'm sure certain sentence structures had to be restructured to fit it all into the game without breaking it. I'm also sure some story must have been taken out as the development process went on.

Though I'm pretty sure they cover anything you might be confused about in Phantasy Star II. Stick with it! If you can follow Jes' advice, you'll come to terms and start to love them

[Kenbog]

So SEGA didn't wanted to deliver a story but more a situation and universe where you control characters to help them achieve there goal and the rest is up to you to fill, gotcha

Also I must say exploration was pretty fun in this game, I totally went to the places I shouldn't be going yet or thought I was totally wrong; after visiting the same dungeon 5 times I accidentally ran trough a wall I where I had to go to get the item I needed o.o;
After that I started running against each wall xD

Gives out an emotion new games don't give, frustration followed by huge relieve and satisfaction :d

Also being able to talk to your enemies is a nice touch, you don't see that often in a battle system.

Off the top of your head of all the games that have come out in the last 10 years, how many can you name that came with maps you had to fill out yourself?

Well most games these days are way to linear and in point of direction way to easy. But it was indeed pretty common in the SNES/Megadrive era.

[Immovable One]

Not to make a new thread about it, but I heard the PS2 remake actually expanded on the storyline.
I haven't played the remakes, but for those who did, what new details did they add to the story?

[landman]

I've played them but I don't understand Japanese, so the only noticeable chance is tons of tons of new dialogues in towns and some extra missions.