Random Gaming Discourse in Discords (Phantasy Star edition)

First, lemme say I LOVE that over the last couple years PSIV is finally getting the reverence it missed out on during it's original run as it was up against FFVI and Chrono Trigger (which both justly deserve the praise heaped on them!) and on the Genesis, a system not known for JRPGs like the SNES.

But the worst part of PSO is that it was CLEARLY planned to be a direct sequel to 2&3's time travel/space exodus shenanigans. In fact, so much so that the initial art and trailers had Wren and Lutz in them. Sadly, halfway through development they opted to shy away from it being a true sequel.

Which, honestly, even then I got - between PSIV and PSO's original release we had already put 6 years and 2 console generations, but there's a lot of "I get that reference" in the design queues and the like (Hunter/Ranger uniforms are CLEARLY PS2's design style, a lot of the monsters are series regulars, etc), some of the music is from the older games (especially in E4 and of course that the first half of the opening CGI theme is literally the same as PSII's). It's not until E2 and E4/BB that they really torpedo'd the connection.

I love the original series to death, but I didn't hate what PSO did - I always thought that it was in the spirit of the franchise -- each game took place in such desperate timespans that the connections were always just connective world building tissue anyways, and had no bearing on the individual stories aside from IV wrapping everything up and bringing a lot of it back to do so. I felt like PSO kept that up.. same universe, same "rules", but so far in the future the old stuff had faded into mythology. But with the art style and "feel" being right, and the ARPG loop being so damn good for it's time (yeah, parts of that game haven't aged well, I'll readily agree), it just really worked for me. 

Then PSU was like "nah, totally new storyline, new races, new art direction, awful gameplay!" and I was all set. One of these days I'll get around to giving PSO2 a try but from what I've read, I feel like I probably won't love it.