Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

Now.. without looking at the japanese game, we have some basic info about Skure and Dezo.

1) Palmans came to the planet to mine Laconian Ore at Skure.
2) A gas leak erupted which was fatal to the palmans and they left 3 years prior. The gas leak was a accident or so theorized..
3) The poison gas is everywhere you walk on Dezo.
4) A musk cat says that the pets and animals on Dezo mutated because of the poison gas. Thus you have the mtated Rabbits and such..
5) Esper mansion people never leave the mansion so the gas might not hurt them.
6) Last of the rescue ships took off on Aug 11th and the survivors are desperate. That is August 11th 3 years prior to PS 2..
7) Zoosa was settled by Dezorians after palmans left.
The Gas leak was impossible to stop

Then we have PS IV which states that some worldships landed on Dezo and Mota..

Now to live on Dezo, the gas would have to be gotten rid of or sealed off.

So I gather that the palmans sealed off Skure and buried it. Then most of the Dezo towns were relocated. The town of Tyler might have been the forefront to bury Skure to stop the gas leak. That might explain the Dezoris Climate Control system.

The Compendium backs up the gas leak and Palmans leaving Dezo. The survivors mutated... Maybe that explains the Mesomen and Sakhoffs?

That makes a lot of sense. It never occurred to me that the gas was all over Dezo in PSII but not in PSIV. The leak must have been stopped in some manner. Burying Skure entirely might just be the easiest way to do that. Then, installing a climate control system to purify the air for Palman habitation would explain the technologically advanced facilities that weren't present in PSII and around in PSIV.

Nice theory, Rick.

It might explain why Wren thought the Dezo climate control center could control the snowstorm. It wasn't malfunctionin so I think it was used to purify the air and get rid of the gas.

Eh, I disagree. By the time of PSII, Dezo is obviously once again inhabitable by Palmans, since we're able to go there without ill effects or the need for protective gear. Given the nature of gas, and the fact that the incident occurred three years before the game, it's entirely possible that the gas had dispersed through the atmosphere and become inert by the time of Eusis/Rolf and co.'s visit to the planet. Also, we don't really know what kind of zone of alienation would need to have been established had the Palmans decided to remain (I was always under the impression that they fled immediately out of fear and didn't really determine the severity of the leak or means of containment). Obviously the entire planet wasn't subject to high exposure levels since the Esper faction was able to remain safely on the planet.

By the time Tyler established his town on Dezo, I believe the environment was completely safe (or as safe as Dezo would be for Palmans). I believe the Climate Control was designed to control the weather patterns, as Wren believed since...well, he was directly interfaced with the system. Not to mention, surely upon examining the system he would have noticed, "Oh, it's meant to purify the atmosphere."

As for where Skure is...it's entirely possible that geological changes buried it or any other number of explanations, including the one you gave. I just don't think the entire theory is bullet-proof.

I never thought the clouds all over Dezolis were poisonous gas. They were just... clouds. Fog. To give the place an air of mystery. I also believe that the Palman settlers left prematurely. (OMG! Gas! RUN! Meanwhile the Dezolisians are like, "What's their problem? Hey look, a free city!") The Mesoman family of monsters are part of the supernatural/magic group of enemies (Kain's techs work on Mesomen), unlike the Rabbitguts, etc. which were just gross animals (Kain's techs don't work on them).

I think what happened to Skure is that because it was a man-made structure that fell into centuries of disuse, it crumbled and became buried over time.

It could be that the settlers were forced to leave - Mother Brain had already restricted space travel, so remaining might not have been an option her military robots allowed. There's an old topic around here somewhere that theorizes that the severity of the gas leak might have been exaggerated, as a way to get those Palmans off Dezo because Mother Brain had little influence, compared to Mota, on the planet.

PSP wrote:By the time of PSII, Dezo is obviously once again inhabitable by Palmans, since we're able to go there without ill effects or the need for protective gear.

That's a good point. If the poison gas is still floating around, tt would make sense for one of the Musk Cats to at least say, "Hey, why are you guys breathing that poison gas?"