Topic: Why Can't Phantasy Star V happen?

After beating Phantasy Star IV, I just can't understand why on earth Phantasy Star V cannot happen or even more of that. The ending reveals so many possibilities for Phantasy Star V to happen? Is it because Phantasy Star IV didn't sell that well for the Genesis that they decided to end it? Or is it because it literally sums up the whole story?

If its the latter, Its done in such a way that Phantasy Star V can happen. Never has it concluded the whole thing nor have they made it so that V can't happen. Its for that reason that I'm a bit disappointed about the ending of IV. I thought it was suppose to sum up the entire thing.

Its kinda like another Zelda game can't happen once Ganon remains killed by Link.

In 2010 there was an article in Nintendo Power that interviewed Rieko Kodama that basically said they were coming up with concepts for V, right after IV, but the consensus was that the story was finished in IV and if they did V it was more going to answer questions about the game universe that hadn't been answered, like "are there gods in the PS universe?", "is the dark force really evil, and the light force really good?", and "What is the light force in the world that opposes Dark Force? Is it justice?". On top of that Sega didn't seem interested in continuing it, as they viewed the story as complete as well.

@Dankykong: What a load of crap!

I just beated Phantasy Star IV where Rune himself stated that he needed to train harder and has yet to learn more experience and that he has to lead the next lutz. Then there's the matter of the Algol Solar System now in more danger since Palma is destroyed. They can easily easily bring out people who survived from the explosion of Palma, have revenge because they prayed the second Lutz to save them and they can do something that can potentially bring back The Darkness through time travel or something since the series is known for sci fi.

I can go on here but seriously, its crap! That's like saying a brand new Metroid game cannot happen because Fusion ends it.

No one ever said it can't happen. They just decided that it wasn't going to happen. Any fictional story can always be continued, if the storytellers want it to continue. But sometimes storytellers choose to end their tales. Not sure what's so hard to comprehend about that.

The problem is that Phantasy Star is a franchise that still does so damn well.....so if SEGA knows about this, then surely they will know that bringing back a turn based RPG is what the community would want.

This is Phantasy Star we're talking about here....the one that put sci fi elements in an RPG. Its one of SEGA's well known IPs so why this has to be ignored is a lame excuse.

It's more then likely Sega doesn't want to invest the money in that series. You gotta realize, the main core of Phantasy Star fans are Sega fans, Not to many people have played the series or really know of it outside of Sega owners. Also JRPGS are a risky market now unless it's a Final Fantasy game and even then they receive some harsh criticism.

@Tasuki: So games like Pokemon, Mario RPGs, Shin Megami, Golden Sun, Valkyria Chronicles, Fire Emblem, Sakura Wars, Yokai-Watch and many more are JRPGs that sell well and yet its risky?

Phantasy Star is a more valuable IP than what Shin Megami will ever be. And if appealing to audiences is something that SEGA has to do to get Phantasy Star to sell, they have to do something about it like how Nintendo did with Fire Emblem.

At this point, there is no reason why SEGA has to abandon Phantasy Star and move it in the form of spin offs seeing as there is a lot of potential that they can do with the series.

Golden Sun Dark Dawn actually sold well and Camelot stated that they will make more sequels if Fans want more of Golden Sun.....and I don't know what is taking us so long to get another Golden Sun from Camelot seeing as how obvious it is to get another game.

it cant happen. it just cant.
i...i cant let it happen

Well Golden Sun had the DS release in 2010, seems plausible to still get one for the 3DS, but maybe in their eyes it's been to soon yet or they don't have the resources to make another at this moment. Ever since they dropped Shining, literally all they make is Mario Golf or Tennis, besides one non-mario Golf game for the Wii in 07. Maybe they're too busy making Golf or Tennis games again to do a Golden Sun.

@Socar: If you look at all those games you mention, they have a large fanbase, like Final Fantasy. Heck Pokémon is a multimedia juggernaut in terms of sales. Even if people never played a Pokémon game, they still know Pokemon.

Now Phantasy Star, how many people beside old retro gamers will know what that is let alone even played them. Trying to do a sequel now will be a huge risk. Yeah it will sell well among fans but, will that be enough to cover the cost of the game?

That's what it comes down to will it make enough money to justify the cost?

@DarthNocturnal: It sold well in US....also keep in mind that things that don't sell well in Japan doesn't mean that it won't sell well in US or UK.

Heck, why Nintendo still makes Metroid knowing that its not something that sells big in Japan? The same goes for Fire Emblem as it sells better in Japan than in US and yet FE games are now being localized for US ( except some games ).

@Tasuki: Having people getting into IPs that a company has is a mandatory thing because the western market is bigger than ever. SEGA knows this and yet they don't seem to care about the market one bit. Look at the amount of IPs that SEGA has and tell me, seeing as how they own Total War, Football Manager and Atlus games, why would it be so risky to develop another turn based Phantasy Star game?

Oh and for the record, Phantasy Star does have an audience outside of its fans.I believe Phantasy Star Nova and Online 2 are the biggest games that SEGA has ever made profit on....and yet, they don't see that happening better in the west.

@Artwark: Why would it be risky? Because you woukd have to compete against Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, that's why. Phantasy Star just doest have the following here that FF or DQ does at least with gamers of today.

@Tasuki: Have you seen what Phantasy Star has that neither Dragon Quest nor Final Fantasy have? Sci-fi.....duh?

Competition is mandatory for devs to make games. Saying that SEGA doesn't have RPGs to compete against SE's is admitting the fact that SEGA has nothing to offer outside of fans. Sonic is just as good as Mario (assuming we're talking about the real sonic games).

Fire Emblem despite doing better is in no way selling better than what Sakura Wars has sold (Another IP from SEGA).

And Shin Megami......a niche game series that falls flat in sales when comparing it to FF and DQ and yet, the games are still coming out as always...... So why not the same thing for Phantasy Star? Infact, Atlus if they do it right can make Phantasy Star V happen.

@DarthNocturnal: Oh really? Does Final Fantasy have cloning? Does it have actual spaceships where you fly from one planet to another? Does it have Aliens from a variety of planets? Does it have weapons that are made by science logic than fantasy logic?

I only played two games out of the whole bunch and I guess you can claim that Final Fantasy 6 onwards might have lots of sci-fi elements but I seriously doubt that its better than what Phantasy Star has.

@Socar: Two out of the whole Final Fantasy series? That's not a great sample size to judge them by.

@DarthNocturnal I was about ready to correct you on the Moon comment, but it seems you did it yourself!

Really though, Final Fantasy is no stranger to sci-fi.

@GrizzlyArctos: Like I said, Final Fantasy 6 and onward might be able to have some sci fi but I seriously doubt that's the reason why SEGA stopped Phantasy Star.

Seriously though, SEGA needs to just work harder and just make Phantasy Star even better than now. Its not like Final Fantasy is the ONLY thing that SE makes and its not the only way to experience true RPG's.

How on earth can SEGA the once known to ever come close to the like of Nintendo and bashed the SNES with the Genesis and has made huge leaps that neither Nintendo or SE can even get to and end up being lame barely even releasing their IPs which brought them to today?

If competition is the real reason why on earth Phantasy Star V can't happen.....I know I said that I won't say anything negative about them but if they seriously shy away from their IPs and like only use them to make patent trolling money and not actually making use of the IPs, then what's the point of them even standing out now?

I'll bet that when I say SEGA ought to make the next After Burner game or Outrun, you'd probably say the same thing which is competition that SEGA can't handle. Who needs outrun when Need for Speed is around right? Who needs Wonder Boy when we have countless Metroidvania games and the one that's a spiritual successor to Wonder Boy right?

Can we add Jenova to the list? Shape shifting alien life form that copies the appearance of a planets inhabitants to take over and destroy the planet. Fits both alien and clones.

And as well as that, while not really talked about in the games, I remember seeing that someone at Square-Enix said that FFVII is set in the same universe as X, where people from X inhabited VII's planet, so more space travel.

Airships are not the same as Spaceships. And going to the moon isn't exactly sci fi either.

Also the way Final Fantasy puts sci-fi isn't the same or doesn't feel like the Phantasy Star essence. Yeah some bigshots claiming that 7 was the first time a main character dies when Phantasy Star 2 did that already.

Still though, that and I repeat, THAT doesn't mean that another Phantasy Star should be ignored. Why oh why would you ever say that competition is something of a risk when its suppose to be about competition? Do you seriously think that devs don't want to compete to the likes of Pokemon? We now have Yokoi Watch and while it does its own thing, it still tries to compete over Pokemon.

What the hell is the matter of you guys? I thought you love the hell out of SEGA and now all of a sudden, you're like saying Phantasy Star is just a "weak" IP comparing to the likes of Final Fantasy.

@Artwark: Well I am done now, I pointed out why Sega probably has left the series to die and all you can counter with is fanboy logic. So as far as I concerned this conversation is over.

Point is.....

Sega probably feels there is no market for the Phantasy Star series, or cannot convince stockholders that there is. They are in a business to make money and Phantasy Star is too much of a gamble. Sonic games continue to make money even though they are bad games, reason being Sonic is an icon.

What you are asking, I can ask about Streets of Rage series for that matter. Just because you enjoy something, you want something doesn't mean it's good for business.

Now don't make me bring out Zoidberg.