Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The latest issue of Nintendo Power has a two page interview with Rieko Kodama. The question that will interest folks here the most is:

Why was there never a Phantasy Star V? It seems to have been a popular and successful series. Was there ever a point at which a sequel was in the design stage?
Actually, when IV was finished, we did talk about what the story of Phantasy Star V would be if we ever made it. It was more of a rough concept than a detailed story. We were discussing things like "Is Dark Force really evil?" "Are there gods in the Phantasy Star universe?" "What is the Light Force in the work that opposes Dark Force? Is it justice?" If we had made a Phantasy Star V, I think we would have tried to tie up the entire series, the whole Phantasy Star universe.

I thought Phantasy Star IV wrapped-up the series perfectly so it's interesting that they at least considered doing more. Any dreams of some early Phantasy Star V code or ROMs being uncovered are dead though.

Anyway - let the Phantasy Star V speculation begin...

Wow, that's like a list of the most heated fan debates I've seen. It's nice to know that the creators were considering some of those same questions. It would have been nice to see what more they could have wrapped up that wasn't covered by PSIV, though. That really did take care of most of it.

Say, do you happen to know the issue number on this book?

Awesome, Hughes, that is good to know. It would have been epic if a Phantasy Star IV was made; perhaps some questions regarding the characters would have been answered, as well (such as whether Rune and Alys had a romantic past - which they most likely DID, but details would be nice.)

Thoul wrote:Say, do you happen to know the issue number on this book?

251 - NBA Jam is on the cover.

Rune_Walsh wrote:It would have been epic if a Phantasy Star IV was made

Well if this true R_W, what did we play with Alys, Rune, Chaz & Rika?

In all seriousness, I was sad to see the series wrap up with IV [I do agree that it did wrap everything up], but it would be nice to see what the characters were up to now and see the next generation take up the mantle. Who knows maybe they found the ships from PSIII and there was a war with the ships inhabitants...ah well one can dream, no?

Yes the original series did wrap up quite nicely . But I still think another addition to the classic series could be created if Sega wanted. The Algo Universe PS games have a kind of expansive concept to them. What I mean is even though the full storyline was summed up PS IV it wouldn’t be to hard for another great evil to come around and another set of characters to take the role as playing hero and the gods on the planet Rykros could be looked into more because only three of them were revealed in PS IV. I think they could be a driving theme for another PS game. I’m sure with a bit of thought and fan feedback. Sega could make a really nice PS V that shares its roots with the classic series. But it won't happen though

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that PS4 didn't tie up everything well... I always thought that a PS5 was inevitable. There were too many things that didn't get finished up.

For one, what became of Rika? She was the only one of her kind and Seed explicitly stated that she was the culmination of 2000 years of research. I doubt Chaz was up to sharing, know what I mean? The Adam & Eve of a new species with inbreeding being the only option to maintain that gene pool?

Also, I've heard this argued several times, but what about the climatrol system? Demi/Wren were going to shut it down and then restart the entire thing to get Motavia back on track. Do you really think people wouldn't be poking around those facilities? Or even the wreckage of the fallen PS3 spacecraft? What would they have done with what they found?

That's why I tried writing my own PS5... there's a lot of story left to tell... I still want to write it... but I know I can't do it on my own.

You'd have thought that the success of FF7 and FF Tactics would have given Sega an excuse to continue the traditional Phantasy Star and Shining Force games, no?

Darkil wrote:

Rune_Walsh wrote:It would have been epic if a Phantasy Star IV was made

Well if this true R_W, what did we play with Alys, Rune, Chaz & Rika?

In all seriousness, I was sad to see the series wrap up with IV [I do agree that it did wrap everything up], but it would be nice to see what the characters were up to now and see the next generation take up the mantle. Who knows maybe they found the ships from PSIII and there was a war with the ships inhabitants...ah well one can dream, no?

Yeah, well, you know what I mean!

I'm sick so I am not thinking clearly...

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that PS4 didn't tie up everything well... I always thought that a PS5 was inevitable. There were too many things that didn't get finished up.

I am with you on that. PSIV had some loose ends that weren't tied up, but it was implied that the people would adapt to the climate changes. And, I always presumed that Rika's blood would mix with the Palmans, which means her bloodline would inevitably thin out over time.

Abominae wrote:That's why I tried writing my own PS5... there's a lot of story left to tell... I still want to write it... but I know I can't do it on my own.

I've known a few different people who wanted to write their own PSV (including myself at some point), but I find it to be interesting with how different each story/setting is. Personally, I'd like to see at least one PSV attempt be finished and not have ideas that I find myself disagreeing with. >_>