Project Codename "AUW 3095"

[tlbww]

Hello everyone.

I'll keep the introduction as brief as possible. I have been busily working on a fan film series of the Phantasy Star Online series. My objective was to [better] bridge the story gap between PSO EP 4 and EP 3. It's been a little over 2 years of brain storming and story writing, however this project has something I've planned ever since EP 3 was released. EP 3 heavily inspires the story since EP 3 established the most lore of any of the previous PSO episodes along with the lack of character presence from quest story characters in PSO 124 even mentioned in EP 3. PSO 124 doesn't do the best job telling a story either. For the most part if I'm referencing PSO 124, I'm mainly using the landscape of P2 and mentioning the key events involving Dark Falz, Olga Flow, and the crater.

I plan to stick as close to canon possible. The research involved in this endeavor is nothing short of monumental especially considering that I am doing the bulk of the work solo. It's a path much more easily traversed given the existing information about the series. I have so far enjoyed every moment discovering something or developing a new explanation for existing systems.

At present, I am still forming the story. I have an outline of some things I want to happen, namely the core events that make up for the series. Characters have been designed and are being fleshed out as I write. I do not plan and using any of the visibly established characters in the series as part of my project (in terms of casting them. I think I have a few cameos).

However this is where I want to factor in the fans.

Whilst I believe I have a pretty good grip on the PSO Lore, I would like to consider what the other player's opinions are regarding the series. Because I want this to be something that can be enjoyed by the fans, I want to consider content outside of my current lens. I will put a my 2.0 synopsis of my story a bit later, but I can current give you this much information.

-The series will take place during AUW 3095 and span a few years beyond that. This project focused on the initial meteor investigation, the shifts in P2's governing system, and the initial development of CARD technology. As a right now, I am not currently considering having this series expand on the actual development of CARD)

-I have a possible second series that will most likely be individual a few mini-series that spans years after this initial project that will better serve as an explanation of CARD technology. However, this is extremely secondary. I will have a better idea on how this will look once I fully develop the initial story.

-AUW 3095 is divided into 4 stages currently. These stages are the larger plot events that take place. There are 3 'factions' sort to speak. These factions split the story's view between the government, the laboratory/research department, and the population of P2. Each faction has 2 groups as well. These 6 lens will be used to shape how the story is seen, which is typical fair for story-writing.

-While this is obviously an artist's interpretation, I am trying to stick as close to the establish lore as possible. I'm using it to frame an obviously non-canon environment. Currently, most of the story takes place on different areas of P2 (including the lab).

-I'm planning on scripting this in a quest editor to give this more of a personable experience. I was considering this being a questline you could play. I am open to considering having playable subplots. However, this is a HUGE project and I need to make sure I have the main story established to move forward with anything else.

-Again, no main characters will be used (as in part of the cast) in this series. I will have some mentions along with employing relatives for the sake of character identifying and story expansion.

-I'm not currently planning on expanding on any of the story characters in PSO Ep 1-2 outside of 2 (which will not be seen, just referenced). I'm considering EP 4, but as of right now, I'm not using any of them.

-MOST of the characters currently referenced were in no way used based on favoritism. I personally enjoy K.C. Rio, Relmitos, Guykild, and Gluster. Rio is the only one that I'm currently using based on the fact that outside of really liking her, her story really needed expanding. K.C. does too, but at best he inspires another character, but has no background development. As for Relmitos, there really isn't going to be a successful story doing what I'm doing that won't mention him.


-Current story characters that are being referenced moderately referenced (these are characters that heavily inspire an existing cast member): Endu, Rio, Creinu, Relmitos, Black Paper (not conclusive), Dol Grisen

-Current story characters that are referenced based on history/background: Break, Orland, Saligun, Rufina (subject to change), Hyze (subject to change), Bernie (subject to change to mention or unused), Healthcliff Flowen, Red Ring Rico, Han Walt, The Player hero (one's character in PSO EP1-2

------ (below this point, these characters will have no character expansion)------

-Current characters that are mentioned only (barely used): Ino'lis, Peko, Pentaglass (WIP), Red (considering), Dr Natasha Milarose, Principal Tyrell (considering), Viviana and Memoru (subject to change), Leo Garhart, Rupika (WIP as a character allusion), Dr Osto (potentially), Jean Carlo Montague (possibly)

-Characters I'm NOT referencing: Kranz, Teifu, Kylria, Stella, Lura

-Characters that I'm not currently using: All the staff from EP 3 and 4, no quest story characters from EP 124, Glustar, K.C., Reiz, Ohgun, Guykild, any character that I have not listed

------

This project is shaping up to becoming a great ride for me. It is my 5th fan fiction and the 1st I'm planning on filming and considering for use in my professional portfolio.

Where the fans come in is general critique. I'm open to suggestions for characters people would like to have expounded upon in my series. This is supposed to bridge the gap between 4 and 3 while not stepping on any toes of what is established. I'm not currently considering designing new characters as I currently have over 20 with a solid 10 or so being core characters. This is a serious venture, but I am flavoring it with some humor as my beginnings as a film director is in comedy, though my initial written works have always been fantasy or non-fiction.

If anyone had any tidbits of lore to share about the game that you think I might not have found, feel free to share. I'll post my synopsis a little later (I'm tired and I don't want to copy and paste my current one without giving you some graphics).

Hope this gives people some renewed interest in PSO.

[tlbww]

-Reserved for synopsis-

[fighgunners]

Good luck to you. The most difficulty I had with connecting canon story line in mine was in relation to Episode IV. Despite Phantasy Star Online's grandeur; Episode IV is quite the mess. The only canonical connection that really exists are the inital Principal Government coup by Dol Grisen, the declaration of Pioneer 2 as a separate nation state, and the OPSS incident; and all of that I would say is more of a connection from Episode II to III.

[fighgunners]

Oh by the way, one of the main perpetrators and man connected to the OPSS Incident that Orland arrested is Han Walt. It is heavily implied in Episode III that Dol Grisen staged the OPSS Incident.

[tlbww]

I'm going to give EP 4 a go as I haven't played through the quests. I've heard that they were a mixed bag of nonsense and as I was playing it long time ago, it didn't interest me.

Forgot to list Han Walt, but he's in there. I am expounding upon the OPSS incident for sure, but my story takes place before then. I have the timeline for it ready to go, but I want to add some more information to help people wrap their minds around the gap and my story.

edit

After having played these quest, I think we seriously need an explanation... as we really didn't get one. EP 4 quests are such a waste of time...

[fighgunners]

I'm going to give EP 4 a go as I haven't played through the quests. I've heard that they were a mixed bag of nonsense and as I was playing it long time ago, it didn't interest me.

Forgot to list Han Walt, but he's in there. I am expounding upon the OPSS incident for sure, but my story takes place before then. I have the timeline for it ready to go, but I want to add some more information to help people wrap their minds around the gap and my story.

edit

After having played these quest, I think we seriously need an explanation... as we really didn't get one. EP 4 quests are such a waste of time...

From what I gathered from the mess that is Episode IV; the main story takes place first whereas the side story takes place directly after. The biggest problem with Episode IV is its heart, and that is Rupika. She has almost no backstory and no character development or official connection to Black Paper or WORKS. WORKS just ends up being the general villain organization like they have been in the past; the difference is that they seem to have a more structured and less powerful approach. Not to mention the connection with Karen Grahart and Gilliam isn't really built on nor to Karen and her father Leo. Then there is the fact that Rupika is somehow connected to D-Factor which has no official origin other than that it connects to Dark Falz somehow. Doesn't explain why the meteor that landed on Coral came from Ragol but then a meteor of the same type happens to pass by Ragol as well. I mean, where does that meteor come from? And why does Rupika connect with the meteor and form a space worm? It clearly looks like a dark form, but it doesn't directly behave or label itself as Dark Falz.

Personally, I think it is really hard to even make canonical connections within Episode IV itself, let alone the rest of the franchise.

[tlbww]

From what I gathered from the mess that is Episode IV; the main story takes place first whereas the side story takes place directly after. The biggest problem with Episode IV is its heart, and that is Rupika. She has almost no backstory and no character development or official connection to Black Paper or WORKS. WORKS just ends up being the general villain organization like they have been in the past; the difference is that they seem to have a more structured and less powerful approach. Not to mention the connection with Karen Grahart and Gilliam isn't really built on nor to Karen and her father Leo. Then there is the fact that Rupika is somehow connected to D-Factor which has no official origin other than that it connects to Dark Falz somehow. Doesn't explain why the meteor that landed on Coral came from Ragol but then a meteor of the same type happens to pass by Ragol as well. I mean, where does that meteor come from? And why does Rupika connect with the meteor and form a space worm? It clearly looks like a dark form, but it doesn't directly behave or label itself as Dark Falz.

Personally, I think it is really hard to even make canonical connections within Episode IV itself, let alone the rest of the franchise.

Everything you've stated it true. The general theories about the source of the Meteor is:

1. Some Dark Force source that exists somewhere in the universe (can most likely target planets with living organisms.
2. Time flux... (not even going to tackle that one)

I think 1 is very plausible.

As for Rupika, after reading pages of information about her creation and history, I believe my story inadvertently addresses why she is capable to doing what she was capable of doing, without using Rupika at all.

The thing that seems really stupid is how little EP4 connects to EP 3. I'm trying to bring the gap, but the Great Shadow is NOT related to the Meteor. The Meteor and EP4 is really a stand alone patch expansion for the game. It did talk more about WORKs and P1, but the actual Meteor itself has no connection. I didn't want to believe this, but my research has not uncovered a connection at all outside of the D-factor found in the meteor. At least one source I found said the D-factor in the meteor was actually 'created' when Leo fired the laser at it (implying that the energy for this weapon had D-photons' which is most likely the case as Leo's father was the person of originated the plan from P1 and was already working with D-photons).

As of right now, I'm mostly using the government structure during EP 4 along with the information I have about WORKs and Black Paper to form the background. I really don't see using a single character from EP 4 at all. It's fine since my series is addressing the gap between EP 4 and 3.

I found a fan fiction that was explaining the events in EP 3. I was wondering if there were any fan works that would be of use in this project?

[fighgunners]

Well, I would say my fan fiction, but I haven't gotten up to Episode IV or III yet. Personally, I believe that The Great Shadow is The Profound Darkness. I mean in a game series filled with translation errors, the chances of it being similar are high, not to mention it is made up of the bosses and enemies you fought before hand in the previous two Episodes. The Profound Darkness wasn't destroyed at the end of Phantasy Star IV either, merely the seal that was broken in Algol was resealed for good. I was also with you with the meteor just being launched from some random place in space. I think it might be a possibility that the meteors of D-Factor can also be broken from the seal just like Dark Falz.

[tlbww]

Well, I would say my fan fiction, but I haven't gotten up to Episode IV or III yet. Personally, I believe that The Great Shadow is The Profound Darkness. I mean in a game series filled with translation errors, the chances of it being similar are high, not to mention it is made up of the bosses and enemies you fought before hand in the previous two Episodes. The Profound Darkness wasn't destroyed at the end of Phantasy Star IV either, merely the seal that was broken in Algol was resealed for good. I was also with you with the meteor just being launched from some random place in space. I think it might be a possibility that the meteors of D-Factor can also be broken from the seal just like Dark Falz.

(Been in the process of moving)

I'd like to read it. I've done some major revisions to the main plot and background. If even written out some future works. I do have to say my story is getting really gripping and is FINALLY starting to tie in EP3 to the rest of the game.

I'll update it later, but I will be including some characters from EP3 but they won't really appear in the traditional sense (so I won't have to be too concerned with how they would say or respond to things).

Trying to keep everything within the timeline is pretty strenuous, but the information I've uncovered along with my own hypotheses are really shaping up a solid explanatory interpretation. I think what I will do is put out some character bios and have the community judge their value at face. It was helpful for me to do that with a few core characters as it helped me get a better understanding on both character development and outside opinions.

My thing is... what was the function of the 'environmental bureau" that tyrell was sent to and who was Red before EP3? I won't be talking about Tyrell but Red may have a cameo in a side story I've created.

[fighgunners]

Red doesn't really have any background. He just exists. The only canon connection I can make to him is that Pollux and Castor are his daughters in some way, or the clones of which. I don't remember any bureau Tyrell had mentioned, but I do believe that Tyrell is actually Blitz. I'd be interested to see Red. I like him as a character compared to that douche Pentaglass.