Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

I came across these fan games last night in search of RPG creation tools for creating a PS game of my own, and seeming as they weren't listed here, I thought I might as well post links to them:

A RPG Maker game that follows Chaz's younger years.
http://pscave.com/fan/chaz/chaz.html

Another RPG Maker game made by the same guy, and looks remarkably better, as he imported actual PS series graphics, and follows Raja's earlier life.
http://www.phanxgames.com/pxg/projects/view.asp?id=65

I can't vouch for the quality of either, but Raja's Adventure looks interesting.

If my writing doesn't become all consuming after the PSII hack, (which I'll start in a week or two after my next round of guests come and go) I'm looking at using one of those create your own RPG editors. I can't use RPG Maker since I downloaded a corrupted copy and fused itself to my registry, so I'm looking at Game Maker to either make PSV, or do full remakes of PSI-III, or all of the above, but starting with full remakes. I probably won't ever get to these projects due to increasing career commitment as I finish my book, but it's something I'd like to get around to eventually in case the PSIV editor never gets made.

If I do these, I'll import all the graphics from the PS series to stay as true as possible to the series, but do some sprite editing off those bases, probably mostly from PSIV since they're the best. The combat engine would be PSIV's applied to the other three and a fifth, so that someone like Myau would have the Skill Doubleslash. (I think GM will allow me to capture PSIV's combat style well enough to be a clone of it.) I'd also expand the story and make the games longer, approximately as many locations as PSIV. I'm thinking of contacting the OCRemix creators to see if they'd allow me to import their remix tracks for some new music, and I know I can import the old tunes. Of course, all this would be tentative upon Sega not ever releasing the PS2 remakes in English, and if I do get to them, it'll take me a lot longer to create them than hacks as I'll have to learn how to create in a new medium.

So... what do you all think? Anyone interested in full remakes, or are the hacks enough? I think I already know the answer to a PSV.

PSV huh, i always thought a prequal to the series would be good, i mean we see every other planet but know so little about palma/parma, i always had that idea on my mind but never could fully grasp it since at the time the only PS's i played were maybe 3hrs worth of PSII and all of PSIV when i was younger.

I think the idea's good, but I imagine that fleshing out PSI-III's stories would take awhile.

The Komrade wrote:If I do these, I'll import all the graphics from the PS series to stay as true as possible to the series, but do some sprite editing off those bases, probably mostly from PSIV since they're the best.

What about the battle sprites? I think many of the characters would need their own custom sprites rather than bases to work off of.

The combat engine would be PSIV's applied to the other three and a fifth, so that someone like Myau would have the Skill Doubleslash. (I think GM will allow me to capture PSIV's combat style well enough to be a clone of it.)

I always thought that PSIII had a great battle system. Graphically, PSIII needs a makeover for the way the battle looked, but the rest was fine in my opinion.

So... what do you all think? Anyone interested in full remakes, or are the hacks enough? I think I already know the answer to a PSV.

PSV? I'm all for that. I think finding room for continuity would be hard with how PSIV ended, though.

My suggestion would be that if you make a PSV, don't actually call it PSV. Take PSIV's example and don't use a number in the name. I've seen so many "PSV" games that it's kind of silly.

Anyway, remakes would be great. There's a lot of work involved in creating a full game like that, especially if you give it a lot of extra story.

Kaloes wrote: i always thought a prequal to the series would be good, i mean we see every other planet but know so little about palma/parma

I actually had a great idea along those lines just the other day. The Medusa subplot in PSI would make a great basis for a prequel. It even comes with a ready-made hero in Perseus and source material from the Greek myths that could fill in some of the game.

I think a game that takes place on Palma around the time of Phantasy Star 2 would be interesting.

hmm around the time of PSII, nah i dont think it be a good idea, maybe 100 or 200 years before PSII, cuz if you looked at it when the person made the ending of the game you'd know how it ended... <BOOM>

Well, having the main characters escape Palma could always be part of the plot. Maybe they would escape on the Neo Palm and have to fight Dark Force at some point.

Yeah, those are all some great ideas. I hadn't thought about a prequel to the series, but there's definitely some room for many of those! Last night I thought of an excellent tie-in for a plausible sequel.... of course I'm not telling!

Thoul wrote:My suggestion would be that if you make a PSV, don't actually call it PSV. Take PSIV's example and don't use a number in the name. I've seen so many "PSV" games that it's kind of silly.

That's good advice! I certainly don't have a title in mind right now for it though.

kaloes wrote:i always thought a prequal to the series would be good, i mean we see every other planet but know so little about palma/parma

That's a fine idea. PSI was so limited that we don't know that much about it at all. I do agree with Shinuzzo that that a game on Palma close to the explosion would be a pretty awesome premise too. Geez, there's a ton of great ideas!

Thoul wrote:I actually had a great idea along those lines just the other day. The Medusa subplot in PSI would make a great basis for a prequel. It even comes with a ready-made hero in Perseus and source material from the Greek myths that could fill in some of the game.

Wow. I really like that one! It sounds like we all need that PSIV Editor since so many of you have great ideas for games! I'd definitely like to play that game.

Tsunami wrote:I think the idea's good, but I imagine that fleshing out PSI-III's stories would take awhile.

Yeah, that is very daunting to even think about. I think for now I should focus in one on title, because expanding three and making a new fourth isn't realistic on my time schedule right now. I'd still love to do them all though.

Tsunami wrote:What about the battle sprites? I think many of the characters would need their own custom sprites rather than bases to work off of.

For sure. I'd need some original work, but I was thinking as a first step to use the current battle sprites as a base, and do some editing off of them; more than just palette changes. Though some of the palette changes on that Hahn Fan Game "Fade to Gray" look alright. Character portraits... I think I would make entirely from scratch. Going one tile at a time certainly can be tedious though. That's the only part I really dread.

Well, thanks for the input! Like I said, I'll embark on the PSII hack, which will probably take a couple of weeks, maybe three, then it's on to something bigger. For the scope of all the projects involved it sounds to me like focusing on the one sequel rather than a remake first would be the best choice. I may not be able to commit more time than that. With that in mind, I'd rather work on new content.

Wow!

It all sounds so... brilliant!

I'm still hoping for that Zio game..