The Phantasy Star Anniversary Project is Hardly Grand
Sega received justified criticism for largely skipping Phantasy Star’s 30th anniversary last year, which is why I made sure to mention it in last year’s Naughty/Nice Anniversaries entry for this blog. It was their biggest single-player RPG franchise in the Master System and Sega Genesis days of the late 80s and early 90s. Its best installments were on par with the better Final Fantasy titles, and included unique and memorable twists for their time. Even if Sega is focused more on the Online installments these days with Phantasy Star Online 2, which they’re still supporting (though not in the west, of course), the overall franchise deserved more than a passing mention.
As it turns out, Sega was merely waiting to celebrate the anniversary a little late. But given what the celebratory project is, perhaps it would have been best if they’d forgotten about it. Be careful what you wish for.
To be slightly fair, Sega was upfront about this anniversary title being a mobile project when they launched the teaser site. But mobile games can still be good, and it was still possible for them to create a game that pays homage to the old games. The new project is Idola: Phantasy Star Saga, a free-to-play turn-based mobile RPG that will include references to the franchise’s legacy. It will take place within the war-torn world of Vandoll, one awash with swords and sorcery. Here, people spend their lives fighting or avoiding mysterious monsters known as “Idola,” which are strong enough to threaten their livelihoods. Worse, the God of Destruction Dark Force has started the stages of resurrection. It’s up to a team of heroes to stop it, all of which appear to fit modern Japanese RPG archetypes.
(The name “Dark Force,” a reference to the old Phantasy Star franchise’s main antagonist, was mistranslated as “Dark Farce” in some corners. That name is getting some use among fans for good reasons.)
The main character is Yuri, a young man who lost both parents at a young age and was taken in and raised by a ship captain. He’s an improbably-aged leader of the Aries Knights’ commando unit, fitting the JRPG protagonist mold like a glove. Accompanying him is Stella, the also-improbably-aged leader of the Knights’ armed brigade who’s wearing a hilariously short dress. She wears a mask to hide her meek personality, and gains a surge of confidence while donning it. The other characters briefly shown in the trailer and screenshots will be introduced in the near future, and there’s a chance you could guess which archetypes they’ll represent.
Some well-known staffers are on board with this title. Shuntaro Tanaka is the producer, script writer, and world creator, who not only worked on the recent PSO2 but also directed older Sega titles like Valkyria Chronicles and Skies of Arcadia. Tomomasa Shin is directing the title, who worked on Valkyria Chronicles 2 and PSO2 in unspecified roles. Sho Mutsuura, meanwhile, will serve as the art director. If there are other known staffers involved with the project, they should be revealed soon.
Upon seeing the trailer (which has unsurprisingly been downvoted into oblivion), several were quick to note the game’s striking resemblance to Fate/Grand Order, which is undoubtedly intentional. It’s easily seen when comparing videos of that game to this one, with both games having the playable characters and enemies within the similar-though-reversed positions. They even use the same animation style. It’s hardly surprising to see a company desiring to rope in an audience by mimicking one of the most profitable “gacha” mobile games available in Japan; it’s performance in western territories has also been nothing to sneeze at. There are also wild-as-hell stories about how masochistic some of its fans are.
The act of making a title inspired by a popular mobile game is expected. The most perplexing aspect of Idola is how it’s intended to celebrate the series’ 30th anniversary while not resembling its predecessors in the least. There’s was nothing stopping Sega from simply making this another Phantasy Star spinoff, but it almost feels like this is an anniversary commemoration project just to piss of longtime fans. It’s about on par with Capcom’s Breath of Fire 6, a project so far removed from previous installments that it was strange how the branding was attached to it at all. Capcom, by the way, ended support for that game a year and a half after its release, so we’ll see if Idola fares better.
Idola is planned to launch sometime later this year in Japan, but it’s tough to tell whether Sega will release it in western territories. Several longtime Phantasy Star fans are clearly unhappy with this, so if you’re in the crowd hoping for Sega to commemorate anniversaries for other classic franchises, you might want to reconsider. It sure doesn’t look like Atlus will be handling any Sega franchises anytime soon, either, even though a game in an Atlus franchise developed by Sega just released.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
