It's supposedly going to be dropping here soon (it was supposed to drop this summer, but apparently they needed more time to cook). I went to their Twitter page, and it only has 120 followers, so I'm feeling a little nervous. Worst case scenario, I can pinch off lore that they've promised to include if they completely butcher the actual game mechanics and shoehorn things into a better system if I have to. I hope I don't. Anyone familiar with Skydawn games, or are they a "literally who" of the TTG scene?
>>96308554I was but as soon as they announced it didnt they make it clear it was just going to be based on that scifi 5e hack?
>>96308578>scifi 5e hackYep, that's all it will end up being. A level 1-20 generic 5e hack like so many other games are doing.
>>96308595Welcome to the early 2000s where every game was just a d20 OGL game BUT it has *GIMMICK*!Honestly, just grab a generic system you like and flavor that bitch how you want. It's the only way you are escaping d20 based games.
>>96308578That's how I understand it. It's a reconfiguration of a reconfiguration of 5E. I haven't played Esper Genesis, but it doesn't look bad, and it has some cool ideas; it's just not a world I'm dying to jump into. Phantasy Star, on the other hand, I'm more familiar with (Particularly PSO). There are a lot of interesting ideas packed into that universe that I WANT to explore. That's why, if the system is absolute dogshit, I might just pick up the book for the lore they packed in re-tool it via GURPs or some Pathfinder derivative. There are other Si-Fi systems that you could probably use as well that I'm not familiar with. >>96308595Is there a comprehensive breakdown/review of the Skydawn cawntent catalog? I'd seen a few reviews on youtube, but I don't know much about the devs or their culture. Unlike a Pondsmith, they don't have a real figurehead that I'm familiar with. Rich Lescouflair looks like a fucking bean, I don't know anything about him.
>>96308554i like phantasy star, and i do like 5e, but i dont think 5e hack will be good, but i'll take a look at it when its out
>>96308554>opens thread>stares at OP art>sees “5e”>closes thread
>>96308622I'm not particularly pro or anti 5E. When it comes to D&D specifically, it can be argued that a lot of spells in that system break the game post-level 15 or so. In terms of facilitating "laws" for how the world works and what players can do, it's sufficient. The big thing about 5E (particularly D&D) is that everyone is familiar with it. Between multiple TTG podcasts, shows, and games, even people who haven't touched a pair of dice before have probably been exposed to some media featuring D&D content. On one hand, I'm happy that TTG has permeated the culture to that extent. On the other hand, the barrier to entry is still pretty high. If a person cannot indulge in mental theatre, their ability to enjoy any TTG is going to be hindered. > Visualize an apple in your head Right now, I'm getting into Cyberpunk, and it's been alright so far. Skill checks seem more harsh in CP compared to 5E, but it's servicable. I could look into GURPs and such, but I'd prefer if everything "just worked", so I could send my friends a convenient pdf and tell them to read x,y, & z pages to create a character and know how to do shit, be it 5E or whatever.
>>96308554Real Phantasy Star or the PSO2 gookslop?
>>96308554First I hear of it.>Story tabletop, not miniatures tabletop>No 28mm Numan line>No 28mm Mechs lineWell I hope everyone has a good time
>>96308691Apparently, it'll take lore from the original Sega games, PSO, and some PSO2 as well. I'm fine as long as all the universes get a decent sprinkling of lore and such. That way I can pick and choose, mix and match, and (in all likelyhood) craft my own shit based on the other works so it feels at home in the universe I'm aping.>"This is Pioneer 4, (not to be confused with Pioneer 1 and 2). Pioneer 3 arrived ahead of us, now we're going to arrive after them and help colonize this planet." >>96308702It's 2025 choom, use AI to craft your own character portraits, fold them down or crimp them into tokens. >I want figurines, though!Make your own.>https://eldritch-foundry.com/downloads/>https://www.heroforge.com/If all else fails, you could pay an artist to make custom art and figurines. I'm fine with theatre of the mind, but I also like to draw my own stuff from time to time if I want a more human touch.
>>96308578>>96308595Considering that Phantasy Star is a class and race based Science Fantasy dungeon crawling JRPG series, being a hack of D&D that adds the scifi elements isn't a bad idea. It being a 5e hack does annoy me though.>>96308618>There are other Si-Fi systems that you could probably use as well that I'm not familiar with.Fantasy systems are likely to be a better fit for Phantasy Star than ones designed for Sci-Fi. While the aesthetics are slightly different, the games are still about parties of adventures hunting down dragons, demons and other monsters.Hunters are pretty much Fighters with laser swords, Rangers are armed with rifles and cannons rather than bows, Forces are wizards while Techters are clerics, etc.
>>96308840If I were more familiar with more systems, I'd be able to suggest some. Of course, if I knew, I'd know. Whatever system I end up choosing, whether it's an Esper Genesis remix, a GURP, or something I don't even know yet, if the book is good, I can bend it to whatever system I need to. I'm hoping Skydawn makes the system fairly intuitive so first-time players don't struggle to figure out how to create characters and interact with the world. I read the first part of the EG corebook, and the method for calculating HP and its growth via leveling was confusing for me.
>>96308554That Phantasy star NES game was just translated by fans this year. Maybe that's why no hype from English fans yet
>>963089744/10, got me to reply.
>>96308554>made by crackersDropped. Also why do western RPG publishers always try to ape anime but hires artists who can only do westoid how to draw anime art instead of someone who actually can ape Japanese styles well? It's not like westoids can't draw convincing "manga"-esque art nowadays. They could even try to emulate the retro art of 1 - 4, if they wanna stick to westoid slop they could just rip the classic western fantasy aesthetics the American covers had.
>>96309243I mean, in the case of rpg art, it's because they got someone who they could afford, who could deliver something close to what they wanted on time.
>>96309297They could have easily hired somone of Twitter for cents who'd make art that doesn't look like an ameritoid comicbook (ugly).
>>96308753Also, I misspoke; it will not contain any PSO2 stuff. >>96309243Would I like original Japanese/manga art? Sure. That's not going to be a dealbreaker for me. From what I've seen, the artwork is servicable. If nothing else, they're not using AI to create it (so they claim).https://skydawngames.com/phantasystar/faq/>They could have easily hired somone of Twitter for cents who'd make art that doesn't look like an ameritoid comicbook (ugly).Horses for courses. I think the artwork looks fine.On an unrelated note, somebody fucked up the HTTP or something for the website, because the text/background is complete dogwater at the moment. FIX YOUR SHIT SKYDAWN.
>>96309324>I think the artwork looks fine.American comic book art looks like shite 99% of the time.
>>96309324It says the lore guide covers lore from everything, but the RPG rules take from only the games listed. So PSO2 lore probably will be sprinkled in, but you won't get like, rules to play as a PSO2 style Photoner or anything.
>>96309637There ya go. As long as they explore the Phantasy Star Zero and PSO lore with a good degree of detail, that'll be good for me. I don't mind reading up on the other games either. I already put together a module of sorts. It's a skeleton right now, but once the core book drops, I can fluff up details and add more mechanical stuff to it. >https://files.catbox.moe/w8zr0a.pdfPie in the sky, I have ideas for different factions and NPCs. A lot of the narrative heavy lifting I can offload from the corebook to supplement my own stuff.
>>96308554>5EInstantly wrote it off.
>>96308691I randomly ran into the devs as they were walking the Gen Con floor (wearing shirts to advertise the game; I had to ask them about it as I'd never heard of this being developed and have always love FS) and they said their overwhelming inspiration sources were the first four games.Not interested if it's just a 5e hack: I didn't ask about the game engine itself.
>>96309324>...from the from the...Lack of proofreading like that does not bode well for the overall quality of this thing.
>>96308840>Considering that Phantasy Star is a class and race based Science Fantasy dungeon crawling JRPG series, being a hack of D&D that adds the scifi elements isn't a bad idea.I would argue it is, while there are some elements of phantsy star that will fit into D&D's mold I would expect playing D&D with a phantasy star dressing to feel way more like playing D&D than exploring the world of phantasy star. There isnt really room in D&D for PP or the tech system, and no vancian casting would not emulate techs well, and I would also argue that the classes would be better served by trying to do a skill tree or something similar rather than BAB+saves+health+class features per level. It should have been its own system from the ground up plain and simple, I'd even prefer it being stapled to a storyteller system if it had to be ported to something because those at least would do a good job of letting you explore elements of the world the games mechanically couldn't.
>>96311728The website is a mess, too. I hope the book is getting a lot more care than the website is.>>96311729As I understand, the PSTTG isn't based on D&D directly. It's aping Esper Genesis, which is aping D&D. A sort of 2nd-generation homebrew mixture. As long as it works, I don't care what they recycle. 5E isn't my favorite system, but it's one of the only systems I'm familiar with. Better the devil you know, I think. Until it's released, I can only speculate. I hope it turns out good, though.
>>96308554>This game (Phantasy Star) is powered by Esper Genesis, a comprehensive sci-fi roleplaying rules system you can use to build, customize, and expand your game, with the only limit being your imagination.>(on a different website) Esper Genesis is a science-fiction RPG powered by the D&D 5E rules and inspired by the legendary works of sci-fi greats. Any interest I had evaporated upon learning this. Unless Esper Genesis is a REALLY COMPREHENSIVE 5e strip-down and rebuild of 5e, and it doesn't seem that it is, I see no fucking reason to bother with either of these games.
>>96311729>There isnt really room in D&D for PP or the tech systemI think you are confusing the PSO games for the entire series. In the original game it was a MP based Spell system. The second game renamed Spells to Techs and Mp to Tp to give a more sci-fi feel. A spell point system that uses the standard techl names for the spells pretty much covers everything the tech system should need.
>>96312948I'm sure once the PDF gets shared around, a clearer verdict will emerge. I'm cautiously optimistic. I think art looks nice, and I'm curious how they're going to implement Phantasy Star lore and mechanics into a TT setting.
>>96314709In a recent stream they did, they said the game would feature "combo" attacks. I'm curious how this will turn out. If they can somehow implement or otherwise callback to PSO-style timed attacks, that'd be pretty cool.
>>96308554I like colorful science fantasy and I can tolerate 5e, but I've never even heard of this franchise. Can anyone tell me about any cool stuff it has going on?
>>96322628High fantasy sci-fi. Space travel and energy rifles mixed with sword and board and wizards.
>>96322955So kinda like Starfinder?
>>96323267It's kinda like Star Ocean if you're familiar with that, albeit I think Phantasy Star tends to be a little more whimsical, whereas Star Ocean is more like "What if Star Trek but anime?" In either case, the foundation is in place where I think you could have a Star Ocean-style story.>Highly advanced space explorers land on an underdeveloped planet and have to deal with their problem.I love that fish out of water setup.Starfinder looks to be more like pathfinder/DnD in space. Not exactly what I'm looking for, but there's nothing stopping players from incorporating elements from it into Phantasy Star.
>>96323267Maybe if you're talking about the Phantasy Star Online and it's related sequels and spin-offs since they go harder on the sci-fi aesthetic. The original rpgs for the Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis go way harder on the high fantasy with space travel look like you see on the OP image.
>>96324181Some of those original games have cyborg/android characters along with runaway AI mother brain-style supercomputers that try to kill everyone. The earlier games have a really unique blend of elements for sure.
>>96324228Makes me hope that one day Sega will do anything with the original setting. I do love the Online games and their aesthetic but there's nothing similar to those original 4 games nowadays.
The silliest thing about the 4th game was when Chaz could throw a fireball but got really excited when Rune threw a different kind of fireball.
>>96322628Sci-fi fantasy space opera JRPG series by SEGA. It started in 1987 as a quadrilogy across the Master System and Genesis consoles (the first game was notable for its female lead Alis), all taking place in the Algol star system. Then there was Phantasy Star Online in 2000, the first console online RPG, telling an entirely new set of stories in a new system. The series stays relevant nowadays with Phantasy Star Online 2. In short, Phantasy Star is SEGA's sci-fi fantasy answer to Final Fantasy.
>>96324568While introduced in PS1 and elaborated in PS2, PS4 makes it very clear that psionic Techniques and real magic are two different things. Real magic is, in the grand scheme of things, very rare, not least of which the reason being that magic potential is genetic and must be passed down a family line. Lutz, the original wizard from PS1 (you can see him in the OP and >>96328258), designed techniques - technics or techs, for short - as a more accessible form of magic that any organics can learn. So Chaz seeing a real magician using real magic is, as far as he's concerned, a big fucking deal.
>>96328362>Lutz, the original wizard from PS1 (you can see him in the OP and >>96328258(You)), designed techniques - technics or techs, for short - as a more accessible form of magic that any organics can learn.For the record, there is a gap of one millenium between each entry in the original Phantasy Star quadrilogy, meaning it's been 3000 years since Lutz was around and developed techniques from magic, and Chaz seeing a real magician.
>>96328258PSO2 lore is a ride. I miss the animated intros for new episodes. I love that each one was an actual boss fight you can do in-game. I do not miss fighting JAMADA and his motion sickness inducing moves.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAa7M1D5nD4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkCtBS-sHOghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVbJTftWJqUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM6pvGoaAW0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZEfHDVWBwQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWb3CRv-pyohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0acQz4-IPI
>>96308554Pointless cash grab. I love Phantasy Star, but I don't anyone touching in the current year and beyond, and lo and behold, it's already 5e vomit in the very beginning.In addition, setting is obscure and unfleshed, with very few bits of actual lore to have. So it's going to be asspull after asspulls.I sincerely hope it will flop badly and kikes and normies will leave it in peace.
>>96330874>In addition, setting is obscure and unfleshed, with very few bits of actual lore to have. So it's going to be asspull after asspulls.Depending on how much attention you pay to the dialogue in-game, the story is pretty engrossing. In PSO, a lot of the narrative was delivered in side quests and woven into the larger mystery of the world. For the early 2000's it was pretty slick. The earlier games had some pretty decent stories as well, from what I've heard. The games were a littel too clunky for me to enjoy, though. I hope the book will do well because I like Phantasy Star and I want more media featuring it.
>>96308554I will buy it just to type fuck you to the devs.Phantasy Star HAS a stat system, go off that you shitters!
>>96335562>The earlier games had some pretty decent stories as well, from what I've heard.Before Aerith, there was Mieu.
>>96308554>69.99Holy fucking shit.
>>96336132To be fair, I don't typically purchase core books unless I can get them on sale. Everything else I sale the high seas for. I'll probably peek in the book for free and maybe purchase it afterward if I like what I see. >>96336081Why would you have to buy it to do that? Also>Phantasy Star HAS a stat system, go off that you shitters!You build a TTG based on Phantasy Star from the ground up if you're so great.>>96336119Was it Nei or whatever who you had to kill after killing her sister?>>96336132It's 2025. Adjust for inflation, that's...still too much, but people gotta make money, I guess.
>>96336396Yeah, I meant Nei.
>>96335562I said the setting, not the story. Story is fine. But you don't have much of information about the world itself, and will have to pull things up. Such as who the fuck are Desolians.Things on the planets are actually relatively stable and besides killing mutants, I'd struggle to think up what to do for a quest even. It's will get worse quickly.And if setting is modern enough, then there there's no Algo anymore.You will have to basically invent too much stuff and I'm too picky to touch it myself or tolerate some faggotry.
>>96336119Mieu is a cat, my man.
>>96338543do you know where you are?
>>96338550Bold of you to assume I wouldn't do a cat.
>>96338539>besides killing mutants, I'd struggle to think up what to do for a quest even.Every Phantasy Star story is "the demonic power Dark Falz/Force is corrupting galactic society, and we need to stop it."
>>96309683>You will have to basically invent too much stuff and I'm too picky to touch it myself or tolerate some faggotry.I don't mind doing that. You don't need to have 100% original ideas. My little starter module would work okay for an open world where you could fill in secrets as you go >>96309683>conspiracy with one faction of the colony hiding technology they found that's causing fuckery across the planet.>Ancient ruins that are leaking out weird shit that the colony is trying to investigate.>Some AI megacomputer is secretly trying to resurrect an evil due to some flaw such as it being a "Well-Intentioned Extremist" or creating a "Logic-Driven Catastrophe", and you gradually realize it's been manipulating the colony to that end.These are le motifs of Phantasy Star, but you can remix and switch things up for fresh stories if you spend a little creative juice crafting a narrative.>>96340881Don't forget, sometimes there's a supercomputer that tries to kill everyone. Of course, it's often linked to DF in some way because they have to cram that baddie into every PS game like Ganondorf for Zelda
>>96341190meant to quote >>96338539you. Double quoted myself.
>>96341190>Don't forget, sometimes there's a supercomputer that tries to kill everyone.That was another Dark Falz plot in PS2. The supercomputer of the main planet, including climate control, was designed in a way to make humanity weak and complacent so that other humans (implied to be Earthlings) waiting just off planet and under Dark Falz's influence could invade and take over. You have to shut down the mother computer.
>Phantasy star ttrpg before Final fantasyWhen was the last game, PSO2?
>>96343649Yes. To be specific, the last Phantasy Star title was in 2021 with PS Online 2: New Genesis, the super update/soft reboot for PSO2.
>>96343649I could have sworn there was a Final Fantasy TTG licensed through someone. *quick googling*Apparently, there was something for FFXIV? >https://www.square-enix-shop.com/ffxivttrpg/en/product.html#deluxe-rule-bookIt looks like it's trying to larp as the MMO. I can understand some people's reservations about this product. Maybe you can retool it to make it work with other FF settings?
>>96343649>before final fantasyThere is a d6, a d20, and a d100 before an official version
What's the best video game to play for the classic Phantasy Star experience (and most setting lore)?
>>96345556In their original form? I can't recommend any. The graphics, music, and gameplay are kinda dogshit by today's standards. I watched someone replay through them, and I couldn't do it myself. Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Zero are pretty decent, and people still play both online.
>>96345556Games in the original Phantasy Star quadrilogy are set one millenium apart from each other, so each game covers major benchmarks in the story. That said, PS1 aged the least gracefully (it was a Sega Master System game, after all), and PS3 is the "we don't talk about that one" black sheep of the quadrilogy (it gets a token acknowledgment in PS4).
>>96336081>Phantasy Star HAS a stat system, go off that you shitters!Yeah, this. This is my personal autism peeve, tabletop RPGs based on a property that's already an RPG, that don't even TRY to copy the mechanics from the source material. Yes, I know whatever math they use in the console games is probably too much for tabletop, but they could at least use the same damn stat sheet.
>>96345556Phantasy Star 4 is the best game in the franchise by far, for every purpose. It's just one of the best console RPGs of any kind.
>>96346017>>96346528>>96346880Thank you.
DESU if nothing else I stil lwant it for the art since it looks nice.
>>96346528>it gets a token acknowledgment in PS4Is that when you explore a crashed ship on Motavia and they remark that there may be more ships still flying into interstellar space? Cool if true, I always thought PS4 was an alternate future.
>>96309243OP pic is absolutely an artist who's partly weeb and is attempting some anime influence, a western artist who has little to no anime influence would not draw like that. He's probably a millennial or gen x-er, so he still has a comic book style, this is the best you're gonna get. Personally as a long as the woman looks cute, I'm okay. That's a western artists hurdle.
>>96351221Pretty much. The whole thing about PS3 is that it takes place on a colony ship that left the Algol system at some point.
>>96330650What is PSO2 about? PSO1 was about the hunters of the colony ship Pioneer 2 figuring out what happened to Pioneer 1 on the planet Ragol when an explosion blows up the complex on the planet. You have to solve the mystery by following the steps of Red Ring Rico, a legendary hunter and daughter of Pioneer 2's chief who went missing during the initial investigation, a path that eventually leads to Dark Falz.
>>96308554Nah cause' I got into the series with PSO2. I've got some ideas for a TTRPG kicking around in my head but haven't done anything with it yet.
>>96356112>What is PSO2 about? It has lots of little "episodes". I tried to get into the game myself, but the UI and the way the story is told made it hard to absorb shit. As for New Genesis, I haven't touched it too much. All I know is Dark Falz is fucking around, and you're Arkz, who apparently are the bad dudes responsible for killing shit. Whenever I try to dig deeper into things, the PSO2 community usually tells me, "Don't worry, the story isn't that important anyway." PSO2 and NG never really hooked me with a quest the same way Black Paper, Soul of Steel, or From the Depths did in the original PSO. Part of the problem is the presentation. The game goes by too fast, and you're bombarded with EMERGENCY ALERT shit. If you only played the English version, it was even worse because they crammed (nearly) a decade of content into the launch, so there was lots of shit mixed together, and from an outsider looking in, it was a mess.What they should have done was not even bother releasing PSO2 and simply launch with New Genesis. NG kinda sucks though, so really all their decisions were dog shit. I'd rather go back and play PSO or PS0.
>>96356112>What is PSO2 about?Amnesia, conspiracy, time traveling, alternative universes, dealing with centuries old mistakes and fighting against a goddamn flying battleship Yamato with mechs.
>>96308578>didnt they make it clear it was just going to be based on that scifi 5e hack?Christ, if you're going to base it on D&D it would be easier to use 3e psionics and d20 modern and d20 future as a base.
>>96322260Hard to tell if they mean PSO style character chaining multiple attacks together or PSIV's multi-character super attacks. Both could be called combos.
>>96356946A Shame D20 system is steaming hot dogshit.
>>96356923The Armada UQ with the space AIS end was so much fun.
>>96356112Love PSO.>Starts out as a Saturday morning anime.>Becomes eldritch horror the deeper you go.
>>96356112>>96356471To expand on >>96356923.Episode 1~3 - A new ARKs (militant arm of a space fleet built around a living planet super computer mothership named Xion) recruit (Protagonist) explores various planets investigating reappearance of entities known as Dark Falz. Recruit finds amnesic love interest (Matoi) given time travel powers from Xion and tries to find the perfect timeline for the best results. Evil alternate timeline version of Protagonist shows up, Xion sacrifices herself to stop a Dark Falz and Matoi gets corrupted becoming Profound Darkness. Episode 3 ends with alternate self becoming Profound Darkness to free Matoi and traps it in timeloop to get enough time to Arks to figure out how to permanently stop it.Episode 4 - While investigating an anomaly end up transported to modern day Earth and meet 2nd love interest (Hitsugi) and benevolent Dark Falz. Team up with someone who might be the first man (Adam) to stop Mother (clone living planet super computer) from destroying everything by merging with benevolent Dark Falz. (One of Mother's henchmen summons the battleship Yamato for a boss battle) After stopping Mother, Adam summons a god to remake reality in his image. Episode 5 - Profound Darkness stuck in a timeloop has turned into a blackhole gate to an alternate reality (Omega). Omega is a fantasy world that pretty much tells the story of how the Profound Darkness and Dark Falz came to be (turns out that it is actually another clone of Xion). Meet 3rd love interest (Harriette). Episode ends with the blackhole sealed and Profound Darkness freed in the form of a girl (Shiva).Episode 6 - ARKs fights Shiva's forces revisiting sites in all previous episodes. Once Shiva is defeated, Protagonist fights OG version of Profound Darkness Primordial Darkness. Protagonist barely wins, resets the timeline to the big bang in order to trap Primordial Darkness but gets trapped as well. If you S-rank all story events, the you manage to not get trapped.
>>96356113I've always thought that a PSO/PSO2 campaign would work really well with a west marches format given their instance-based nature.>>96357408Don't we find out that PD was a clone made by the Photoners by Episode 3?
Darkers or Falz Spawn?
>>9630855420 years too late.
>>96338539>>96340881The first game I ever ran back in the day was a straight up port of the PSO Episode 1 main story, which turns into a series of compelling problems if you don't assume all the brainwork is done offscreen by unnamed NPCs. I told the players the basic premise up to the point of that they were the second wave of colonists, and the Pioneer 1 explosion didn't happen until partway through session 1. At that point they were hooked: they are in orbit over a formerly presumed peaceful planet, their only beacon of civilization just exploded in their faces, they have limited time before their colony ship runs out of resources, going back is impossible and wouldn't be desirable anyways, and nobody knows what even happened. All the little worldbuilding that you'd normally get from recordings left lying around were clues they themselves had to put together. Rather than finding a Rico recording saying "the animals are all turning hostile for some reason", they'd find ecological data talking about how they're docile. So it turned into a combination of dungeon delve into the underground beneath Pioneer 1, and a forensic investigation to try and figure out what the fuck happened/is happening. Even throwaway enemies could be made memorable with a little scene dressing. They once made the mistake of staying on the surface after dark and the whole session turned into a horror movie about them being stalked by pack-coordinating reptilian wolves that like to sneak up on stragglers to jump them from behind.>>96311729>>96314709>no room for PP in D&DIt's literally Cordellian Psionics from 3.5. I've played more PP-based 'casters' than Vancian casters.
>>96361808>The first game I ever ran back in the day was a straight up port of the PSO Episode 1 main storyAssuming they weren't privy to the actual story of PSO1, that sounds like a lot of the work was done for you. Were the players going in blind, or were they genre aware from their time with PSO?As I'd proposed with my concept module >>96309683, I wouldn't want to retread PSO's narrative beat for beat, but I wouldn't mind exploring similar themes on a different planet.
>>96362502They'd never even heard of it before. I think at the time the newest Phantasy Star product was either PSO Episode 3 or the original Universe. And yeah, that was kind of the point, in that it gave me a scaffold I was familiar with but had tons of room to build events out so it wasn't just "kill everything in this room and then kill everything in the next". I'd never run a game before and had barely played in any, but wanted to capture the scale of the "oh fuck" situation the characters were in that the game kind of only paid lip service to.
>>96358003>Don't we find out that PD was a clone made by the Photoners by Episode 3?Yes, though the implication is that the PD got hijacked by the Primordial Darkness which is the eternal antithesis to all Photons and is in effect a universe-wide bootstrap paradox where it getting sealed at the Big Bang in EP6 results in it infesting the universe's framework and incarnation into the Profound Darkness when the Photoners attempted to replicate Xion.
>>96362502Your PDF link is a bum link.
>>96361808>No Red Ring Rico to breadcrumb the adventure path for the partyHow bold of you, though I suppose that's the most direct way to give more agency to the players. The original story is from 2000, so I'm willing to cut them some slack on that one.
>>96362683They did find the messages from Rico, they were just not so hand-holdy, and tailored to insinuate that she's in the (incomplete) process of figuring it out too, rather than just getting "so here's how things are" bullet points that are never wrong.
>>96361808Well I know zero about PSO, since I didn't play it early and got an aversion when I saw nothing familiar to console quartet.Perhaps PSO has better setting or something.
>>96362708PSO (and by extension PSO2) have a more digestible sci-fi fantasy setting for a modern audience while the og Phantasy Star is more of a pulp blend of both sci-fi and high fantasy aesthetics which is still great but not something we've seen much in the last 30+ years.
>>96362708The setting/premise of PSO is:Your homeworld has been wrung dry of resources and your people are desperately searching for a new one to migrate to. They find a lush jungle planet with unmanned probes and proceed to set up a massive exodus on colony ships. The first ship is Pioneer 1, which goes to the new world and starts setting up infrastructure, government, mines, etc. Once they're established, they send the second, larger ship, Pioneer 2, on which the players arrive. As you make contact with the surface city, an unnatural cataclysmic explosion kills everyone on the surface. You are now stranded between a now known to be dangerous planet and an impossible return journey with a dying planet on the other side anyways. Find out what happened to Pioneer 1 by exploring what's left of the city and what they disturbed far underground. Eldritch things meant to be left buried for all time may be involved.
>>96362727Yu Suzuki and the PSO team being allowed to break away from the Algol system of the original quadrilogy and tell a story in a new setting allowed them to shift the aesthetic of the franchise. As mentioned earlier in the thread, PSO leans much more heavily on the sci-fi half of its genre compared to the original games featuring more obvious fantasy trappings.
>>96362761That's not to say the original setting wasn't techy as fuck. See: this key art for Phantasy Star 2.
>>96362708>>96362751The intro CG for episode 1 explains more or less everything you need.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rELCjBd-gfU
>>96362784>>96362761The whole premise being that "you're on a last ditch effort world-saving space-colony ship" also implies that PSO takes place in the most tech-heavy location in its own civilization. It would be like assuming the living condition of all of Earth based on life on the International Space Station. It could still be significantly more fantasy down there on the surface; we never really see that world.
>>96362556Nothing against cutting corners. No sense building a world if one is already built for you.>>96362607I'd used a temporary catbox. Please enjoy a more permanent one. >https://files.catbox.moe/rbzked.pdf>>96362807PSO definitely leans more toward the Si-Fi aspect in terms of the visuals, but you still have spell casting and ancient evil as more traditional fantasy tropes blended in. They got the mixture about perfect, as people still talk about the game to this day.
>>96362807Plus you still have androids and space elves/pseudo-beastkin (genetic alteration of humans) and psionic techniques and viable melee and shit like that.
>>96362805Massive colony ships with literal cities inside them is such a great concept.
>>96362959A colony ship should itself be as livable as possible, especially if you may convert the ship itself into a planetside city.
>>96362959>>96363123The PSO intro mentions a seven year gap between Pioneer 1 and 2 arriving at Ragol, so there's no demand for cryostasis either for such a relatively short trip.
>>96362761Aside: if it hasn't already been said, PSO is one of the apex examples/sources of the Y2K aesthetic.
>>96362912>>96362919You want proof PSO never forgot its fantasy side? The first major boss of PSO1 is literally a dragon in a cave. It's only ever referred to as "the Dragon."
>>96363214
images you can hear
>>96363130If you're referring to my pdf, I suppose so? Then again, for Pioneer 3~4, it could be argued that the planet they were going to was further away, and the trip took longer. There appears to be some FTL travel at play, going off that intro cinematic, so if I had to, I could rework the module not to include cryosleep. It was just a mechanism to have the PC "wake up" in that world. There's no reason they couldn't already be awake. >>96363214For sure. It's that blend, though. Just right.
>>96363258>If you're referring to my pdf, I suppose so?Not specifically. You're telling your own story, so cryostasis works for you. No need to comment on that.
Best cast + Raja
>>96362784It looks techy but in a early 20th century pulp way instead of the hi-tech look PSO has.
>>96368005I mean, obviously, it has that '90s anime sci-fi look indicative of, well, the '90s. PSO1 is full Y2K, by comparison.
>>96345556Play PSIV
>>96362761Goddamn I can *hear* this, some 20+ years later. I'd have to go digging, but I think I still have my disc of Episode 1&2+ for the GC floating around somewhere. Probably scratched to fuck, though.
>>96372180You could also grab PSO:Blue Burst, the PC version of the game, and find a private server. Ephinea seems to come highly regarded.https://ephinea.pioneer2.net/
Phantasy Star 0 isn't too bad. It was kinda designed more for "kids" with it coming out on the DS, but the story does touch on some adult themes. The character designs weren't too bad either. I'm kinda curious what content they'll pull from that title.
PSO is also when they introduced the Mag, a little floating option buddy who helps you out.
>>96362751>>96362805It's a classic "conquering a dangerous land" story. The land (the planet Ragol) we're moving to is shown to be more dangerous than expected, but we're already committed to a one-way trip forward. Come hell or high water, we must conquer this new land to make it our new home, and - in PSO1's case - that means solving the mystery of the Pioneer 1 disaster and purging the evil on the planet.
So, how 'bout that Phantasy Star Universe?
>>96380356It did introduce some new races, which is cool? I'm not familiar with the lore, but I'm sure you could homebrew whatever you needed with the corebook.
>>96385210My understanding is that Universe was Sega's first attempt at modernizing the formula of Online, and they didn't quite hit the mark.
>>96385210>It did introduce some new races, which is cool?I believe it introduced beasts - essentially space beastfolk.
>>96385684On one hand, PSU did a lot of new and cool things. On the other hand, PSO was still alive and well, so it effectively was splitting the player base at the time. Worse yet, JP PSU got a lot of cool items and exclusive content while NA PSU did not. NA PSU also shut down much earlier than its JP counterpart. That's the cliff notes. I'm sure a gamer more versed in the details can get into the nitty-gritty if you want to know more with some hour-long youtube rant. >>96385722I thought they added more than just the beastmen? Well, they added one race at least.
>>96372193For anyone who doesn't like Blue Burst and/or Ephinea (I've got a few complaints), you could also go grab the gamecube version. Some quality of life patches help make the gameplay a lot more tolerable and are widely accepted in the private servers. Sylverant and SCHThack are still active, and so is Ragol to my knowledge (they're content thieves, but if you don't give a fuck go ahead and try it out).
>>96346017The music is great across the series
>>96385804Phantasy Star PC races that I know of:>Humans - self-explanatory>CASTs - free-will androids>Newmans/numans (PS2) - genetically engineered evolved humans>Beasts (Universe) - genetically engineered human/monster hybrids for tough living, have the power to "nanoblast" (read: transform into a larger, more powerful state)>Deumans (Portable 2 Infinity/Online 2) - naturally mutated humans, can control photons in their body to powerful effectThere are also Motavians, but they are native to the planet Motavia and are pretty much not seen outside the original quadrilogy. Also Musk Cats, but those are cats. Also Dezorians, but see Motavians.
>>96385722>essentially space beastfolk.WE ALREADY HAD FUCKING NATIVE MOTAVIANS
>>96390923Motavians never left the Algol system.
>>96390722Aren't CASTS cyborgs that were given mechanical bodies because their human bodies contained too much power for them to handle?
>>96390722>Deumans online 2I remember something about a dragon being sent back in time to the era of photoners so they retroactively exist.
>>96390991That's a PSO2 retcon. At least as early as PSO, CASTs famously could not use techniques, as they were an artificial race.>>96390998One of the wikis does mention something to the effect of requiring a temporal anomaly to rewrite deumans into existence, since they were originally (speculated to be) tied to the SEED incident of Universe.
>>96391030>CASTs famously could not use techniquesHardly needed them, they hit like goddamn freight trains in PSO
>>96390998>>96391030Deumans are essentially albino-adjacent humans with pale skin, horns (one for male, two for female), and heterochromia (a variant of the original idea of them needing eyepatches to limit their power).
>>96389160It may be a thing where "you had to be there." I have nostalgia for the "Cave" and "Tower" themes, but only because they were featured in PSO as remixes.
>>96376715Phantasy Star 0 also unironically has the best Dark Falz theme that isn't Strange Fruits:https://youtube.com/watch?v=k8ZrysDrJj8
>>96376715>nice booba
>>96392506There are a number of pieces in the game that would sound a lot better, but the audio through the 3DS speakers didn't do it any favors. >>96393410>boobaDon't forget robot tits. Speaking of robots, I'm hoping there's some interesting play in terms of mechanics for Casts/androids that really set them apart from the humans. Much the same way I hope Newmans, Beastman, and whatever other races on offer have some different dynamics so it's not just "palette swap humanoid #3"Even if there's not, I'd probably homebrew something like>Bots are more resilient and are immune to certain effects>Newmans have a higher MIND stat and bonuses to techsThat sort of thing.
>>96393683>Newmans have a higher MIND stat and bonuses to techsThat's kinda their thing, when they're not being assassin types. They are effectively space elves - they're either casters ("Force user" in PS parlance) or some form of striker, if you go back to the OGs Nei and Rika.
>>96389160This.
The mixture of feelings looking at the preorder screen. $70 (before taxes and shipping). I would like to support the thing, but that's a hefty pricetag for a humble pdf peddler like myself. That's what I get for being poor.
>>96391030>That's a PSO2 retcon. At least as early as PSO, CASTs famously could not use techniques, as they were an artificial race."CASTs" weren't a thing in PSO, that was an invention of Universe. They were Androids, whose class suffix was cast. It'd be like calling humans MARs.
>>96385684No, they didn't try and fall short, it was a series of catastrophically bad design decisions- like targeting the PS2 as their primary platform, because their deal with Microsoft was just to not make a PS3 version- from the start. AOTI was essentially an apology tour to reverse all of base PSU's design philosophy, but by that point the western playerbase was already in the low hundreds (a thing people could actually calculate in real time, because of another bad decision in how they handled blocks).
>>96401734"CAST" and "android" are more or less interchangeable at this point.
>>96308578>>96308595Jesus.
>>96401759There was also something about how the early days of the JP online scene were botched and had to be rolled back, so players lost a bunch of items, and that permanently killed the game's momentum.
>>96357408Special mention goes to Phaleg who is the first woman (Eve) and one of the strongest people in the setting without any science-fantasy magic bullshit... Man NGS is a fucking letdown.
>>96409317NGS made me realize that I prefer instance-based mmos over open world.
>>96308554I really hope it does well. To be honest, I missed PSO2 (DnD 5e broke the addiction to PSO2 in 2020) so much I began to attempt to port over the classes over into it. I made it my mission to try to port all of them into DnD 5e so I'm actually super hype for the Phantasy Star Roleplaying game (and it using 5e as it's foundation). I either just start porting all this over there and finally bring home. Here's some. Hero (I promise it's not as broken as OG hero was)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C3V6ggTsbNC-as78xeKDLRjhn2dywqLQZnwmJ_D-ltQEtolie (The first one I worked on actually)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UMcuwf2TJbfkN-WNPNiHTqjxmPr4pFaCdFaE3c5rGz0Wizard: Force (I think it's probably a little too strong)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GCaqolIL3ymxbt5BQqC3kbPweFK7ke3zS-bM04ocIQ8Ranger: Ranger (Probably overtuned)https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Mxbk4Ix0fk1QXGfWsvHOJ9KGLym2EnGTXzPg9pgAuEFighter: Slayer (I had a surprisingly easy time with this one.)https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CDoQejK86O6bxdtoHtUNj5lyZlOoPusKKzJLaj9Rgrc/edit?usp=sharing
>>96410098*and finally bring the rest of the Phantasy Star content home. I've been working on it for a while now, and I'm pretty sure it's not the most balanced, but it's not finished yet either. I'm probably gonna kick Summoner and Luster iand replace them with Slayer and Waker probably. Bouncer, Techer, Fighter are PSO2 subs I'm worried about working on, and I wanna try to do something from PSU, but I think just porting over the Diga and some of the photonic techs from those games will do... maybe the PSP2 Vanguard as it's own class if possible.>>96308753If it has worldbuilding, I really, really hope it works out and I'd love to run a game with all of that stuff. It'd be so wonderful to explore Ragol once more. >>96409317Eve is awesome. Though Stratos is best girl to me. She's just a beacon of happiness that makes me want to protect her smile.>>96392506 >>96380356PSZero was such a fun title. Same with Universe, hopefully they both aged well... I should try clementine again sometime...
>>96409317Maybe this is a specific flavor of autism, but the UI in both PSO2 and PSONG really put me off. i wanted to get into the game, but the text boxes and other information feel so small. Good fucking luck if you're playing this game on a couch and trying to navigate windows. PSO's quick menus were different from stuff I'd encountered before but you could learn them. I never gained that same level of mastery with PSO2 and such. >>96410098Think those can be reworked easily enough to the EG system they're crafting the game on, since it's based on the d20 system?>>96410174Soon. Here in September. I'm thinking about digging into EG to really get a a feel for those mechanics since it should translate pretty well to the PSTTG.
>>96338539>I'd struggle to think up what to do for a quest even. It's will get worse quickly.Some old classics:>My basement is full of monsters. Maybe my monster tubes are leaking? Can you fix it?>Please go to the deepest hole full of fire and demons to get me a cake.(Its best if the party is never told where the cake store is and all attempts to solve the problem does not work. No, they find the cake in a horrible place by accident)>Please go to the next bio-dome to find basically basic equipment to clear a path to a different biodome>We go to modern Japan for some reason>please rescue my lost alien child.
>>96362784I loved the mechanic where everytime you went home this was a chance a new party member would show up. Like, just knock on your door and join the quest like its Seinfeld or something.
>>96414273And because the active party limit is four characters, it's implied that all the benched party members just lounge in your house while you're out and about.
>>96328362Death to all boomers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTko9T6yT5wI was not aware there was a Playstation 2 remake of Phantasy Star 1 (or 2).
>>96422669Yeah, the Generation 1 & 2 remakes were breddy gud. You could even revive Nei in G2, but it was a fucking ballache.You needed a clear save of Generation 1, then needed to get 19/20 Nei points before the Cllimatrol fight with Neifirst. How did you know what gave you Nei points? Fuck you.If you're interested in trying it out though, there's this guide: https://github.com/1Dragoon/psgen2_hax/blob/main/psgen2_savenei.md#the-guideLooks like they came out with English translations for them on Phantasy Star Cave, though they don't have the original Japanese ISO available.
>>96312694>Better the devil you know, I think.There are dozens of systems that are proven to work with less problems than 5e and would be easier to modify. Hell, old WEG d6 Star Wars could probably be straight up reskinned and the only big flaw it had was a need for tighter balance between damage and toughness.
>>96422901Unfortunately this is at it's core a cash grab to bait Phantasy Star fans so they would never go with an original system or use an already existing one that isn't as popular as the biggest system on the market which is unarguably 5e.
This Rappy art isn't blowing me away. I think I drew a better one myself in highschool.
>>96422901Please go on... I've never played that system before. Sell me on it anon
>>96336119And Alys.
>>96427729The core is incredibly simple.You have stats and you have skills which are written as something like 3d+2 or 2d+1. It's exactly what you get. You roll Stat + Skill in d6 against difficulty or your opponent's Stat + Skill. If you do multiple actions in a round you remove one die from ALL of your actions in that round. So attack would be say Dexterity (3d) + Blaster (2d+1) for a total roll of 5d6+1. If you do 3 attacks you roll 3d6+1 three times. Considering that characters are expected to fight whole squads of mooks and even have Force Powers you would use this rule a lot and it adds a nice dimension to decision making when deciding which action you want to use, if you want to invest into better active defense (you roll an action roll and replace your default defense with it) and so on. It's on d6holocron if you want it.
>>96324568>The silliest thing about the 4th game was when Chaz could throw a fireball but got really excited when Rune threw a different kind of fireball.The best way I've heard that explained is, imagine if you're watching NASCAR and one of the drivers is Fred Flintstoning his car. Sure, he's going around the track like the rest of them, at about the same pace, but he's doing it in a way that's supposed to be impossible.
>>96425264It's cute that they gave them the play dead thing but Jesus even the book layout screams 5e.
>>96442553Weird-lookin' Rolf and Nei.
>>96442540There's a lot of nice art sealed away in old artbooks.>>96393813I have a good idea where you got this from. Sad panda enjoyer.
>>96445836I found it on Google image search, for the record.
>>96445836When Nei confronts Neifirst for the 1v1, it's supposed to be a scripted loss, but if you bust your balls hard enough, it's possible for Nei to win the duel and defeat Neifirst. Unfortunately, in the alternate cutscene that plays, Nei will still immediately die, revealing that she and Neifirst were soulbound and cannot live without each other.
>>96445902As I understand, there's a way to glitch and bring her back. Apparently, she was a lot of people's first waifu. Given her costume, I get it.
>>96452418Nei isn't even cast as Rolf's girlfriend. She's his adopted little sister, kept under his protection due to being a newman - a human/biomonster hybrid.
>>96452518I didn't say she was HIS waifu, I was talking about the players. The leotard with the high cut to showcase her hips and ASS is a pretty provocative piece.
>>96452935I gathered that much. When you're one of the biggest JRPGs on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, you tend to draw an audience.
>>96420096Wait, so it's not just og Phantasy Star? I'm pretty sure these guys come from PSO.
>>96458896They're pulling content from PS 1~4 as well as PS0 & PSOBB. I think you could probably bend and shape the content to fit PSO2 and other media as well if you wanted.PSO2 & NG are very fast-paced, though. Practically DMC-style combat. I don't know if you could translate that same feeling of frenetic action to a tabletop game. Compared to the slower and more methodical PSO & PS0 anyway.
>>96459191I see. I wouldn't really mind the system not trying to simulate PSO2's combat as long as it had cool rules for the classes and the monsters, especially for the Dark Falzs (Falzes?) and other bosses.
>>96458896>>96459191It would be a massive missed opportunity, if not outright disservice to the IP, if the game didn't acknowledge Online.
