Idola Phantasy Star Saga Director And Producer Explains Why The Game Has A Different Setting

Idola Phantasy Star Saga, the Phantasy Star series 30th anniversary title recently announced for smartphones, got a feature in this week’s Famitsu where the director and producer of the game explain what the title means and why it doesn’t take place in the same setting.

Here are the highlights:

• Producer Shuntarou Tanaka thought that the Phantasy Star series wasn’t active enough for a series that had gone on for 30 years, so he and director Tomomasa Chin came up with a proposal for this game as well.

• ‘Idola’ is a term related to Dark Falz, and even music tracks in past games have had ‘Idola’ in their name. They used it in the title because the story is about people rising up against the minions of Dark Falz.

• In the world of Idola, the forces of “law” and “chaos” are always fighting, and as a part of that, players will be able to choose the destinies of the various characters in the game.

• The reason why Idola has a different setting and worldview from Phantasy Star Online 2 and Phantasy Star Online 2 es, is because it could become a hurdle for people who don’t play PSO2 if it were directly related. Although the game has been made to be easy to get into even for those new to the series, the common elements in the series still remain. Idola is also meant to bring back those who stopped playing PSO2 and PSO2 es, as something “Phantasy Star-like”. That said, there may be some smaller connections to the world of Oracle from PSO2.

• The gameplay consists of command-based battles where players defeat enemies and advance on the map. Tanaka states that they deliberately chose this to mirror the roots of the series.

• While the content is mostly single player, “Idola Battles” are special event battles where you can team up with other players. In Idola Battles, gimmicks such as destroying body parts and stunning the enemy comes into play, and this was directly taken from PSO2’s Dark Falz battle.

• Idola Phantasy Star Saga is free to play, but has gacha for characters and weapons. However, you can improve characters up to the highest rarity and keep using them until the end. Players start off with just Yuri, the main character, but can gain other characters through game events and other opportunities. Not every character requires gacha.

• Characters have different attributes to them, and as you attack, their “attribute points” increase, and their skills will also get stronger while in battle.

• Law classes will be more defensive, while Chaos classes are more offensive and high damage-oriented.

• Chin and Tanaka want to make this game a title that won’t let down the players expectations or the legacy of the series.

• Development on the game is around 70% complete.

Idola Phantasy Star Saga launches in Japan in 2018 for iOS and Android. Take a look at the main characters of the game and some screenshots in our previous report here.