Palma's destruction marked a dramatic turning point for the Phantasy Star universe. Dark Force, no longer confined to the Algo System, could spread its evil influence through every corner of the galaxy. Just the slightest hint of its presence was enough to spark conflicts that'd last centuries. Not long after the Palmaians escaped their annihilated planet, Dark Force had managed to infiltrate their ships, destroying them from within. Aboard the Alisa III, a couple of great heroes managed to defeat the embodiment of darkness, sealing it in a sunken temple with a sword that only their descendants were capable of lifting. Yet, as it's been drilled into our heads for many an RPG, all seals were made to be broken. A war between the Layans and Orakioans had decimated not just society but almost all knowledge of Alisa III and Dark Force. A thousand years have passed, and all that remains is the bitter hatred. Would you be at all surprised if I told you that a mysterious woman's appearance and subsequent kidnapping was part of a carefully orchestrated series of events that'd lead to Dark Force's revival? Well, maybe a little. Trying to cram a millennium's worth of lore into a game that received neither time nor resources is bound to cause confusion.
Even after all these years, I'm still caught in the space between respecting Phantasy Star 3's unrealized ambition and wanting to poke fun at its incomparable weirdness. The development team swung for the fences with a foam bat. The Alisa III makes an admirable attempt of resembling a habitable colony ship. It's composed of seven regions, all with their own implied history. Aquatica and Frigidia's freezing climates are the result of climate stations falling into disrepair. Multiple airstrips indicate that air travel was once common, likely via Wren-type androids. Of course, the Wren you take in as a companion is the only one that survived the wars. Much of the spaceship is dilapidated; its connecting corridors on the verge of crumbling to pieces. Royalty dresses in abundance, but that's only because the fancy clothes are some of the only pre-war stuffs that survived. Houses are made of wood or stone, and everyone locks their doors with plain metal keys. At one time, Palma's technology was so advanced that it could successfully evacuate millions of its inhabitants in minutes. Nowadays, people can't even get paint for their homes. There are plenty of beds at least.
To Sword of Vermilion's credit, quite a bit of work was put towards making towns feel like actual livable places. Unless the plot called for it, homes were never left abandoned, and businesses were sometimes occupied by more than just merchants. I've never gotten the urge to do a headcount, but I wouldn't be surprised if one restaurant in this game housed more people than three generations' worth of Phantasy Star 3. More to the point, if it isn't Dark Force or a collision course with the sun, Alisa III is doomed by its complete inability to repopulate. After the initial somewhat-populated set of towns, don't be surprised to find 2 to 0 citizens wandering about. Luckily for players, the single non-shopkeeper milling about usually says exactly what needs to be done to further the story. Good thing too, because I can't imagine anyone would chance retracing their steps just to find another NPC to get information from. Pretty much everything I mentioned in the first paragraph is related to players in the game's final hours by the five old men of exposition.
There is not a single dungeon in Phantasy Star 3 that's larger than two floors. Perhaps it makes sense that the Alisa III would have its functions placed in convenient locations. Nobody is climbing 10 flights of stairs and walking through countless mazes to adjust the weather. Still, I figure most experienced RPG goers are going to notice just how artificial these labyrinths can get. The late game especially plays home to some copy-pasted layouts with a few broken floor tiles. The developers had time to do the bare minimum, which is to prevent the player from walking straight to their destination, and little else. The most "complex" dungeon is where Laia obtains her teleportation pendant. It's a series of small rooms connected by many staircases, almost like a teleporter dungeon. The only problem is that it has maybe one fork. I've been through that damn place four times and always guessed right, so it might not be a fork at all. Well, whatever.
The simplistic dungeons are paired with strategically nonexistent battles. In my very first playthrough, I spent more time trying to figure out why combat wouldn't start than ever issuing orders. Yeah, I probably should've guessed that the thing that looks like a turnkey would begin a turn. Once that obstacle was finally hurdled, all I had to for the vast majority of the adventure was tell everyone to fight. Grinding is required to get anywhere, yet it's also enough to overcome everything just shy of Dark Force. The final boss has a couple of gimmicks. Destroy his hands to reduce damage output and healing capability. Afterwards, all he does is spam an ice tech that hits everyone. Counteract it with the party-wide heal tech. That's it. None of the other bosses put up much of a fight. Oddly enough, the most stress-inducing random encounter is a dinosaur that occasionally appears in Aridia during the third generation. It has an instant death attack: the only one in the entire game.
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| I ran into a pair of these dinosaurs, and they killed 3 of my 4 characters in two rounds. WTF |
If you're intent on cramming most of the Phantasy Star 3 experience into a single playthrough, then I suggest marrying Maia. Ayn's story is the closest the game gets to being interesting, as his family is forced to escape their kingdom after a robot invasion. Nial, on the other hand, proceeds directly to Elysium to collect the sub-parts for Wren, setting up the "recruit Laia and obtain her pendant" section. I'm pretty sure that neither Nial nor his offspring ever have a reason to visit Draconia. At least with Ayn you'll have something to do in all seven worlds. None of the possible routes diverge as heavily, leaving the generation system very half-baked. Having multiple main characters is neat, but hammering through several hours of random encounters to see slightly different endings is ridiculous.
Also, there's no reasonable explanation for Terminus, the game's final world. Clearly, the developers had plans. Terminus is a whole mass of land, sea, forest, and mountains. However, there's nothing to do except the final dungeon. Well, I did see a cave in my last playthrough, but I was already past the "I just want to be done with this mess." mark. The finale is almost hilariously truncated when compared to the likes of Phantasy Star 2. Collecting the Nei weapons required surviving some of the toughest dungeons of the 16-bit RPG era. How can I possibly sum up the PS3's Nei weapon hunt? Oh, I can just use a picture.
I think that's everything... hopefully.
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