02-20-2021, 08:04 PM
I'll continue exploring themes in small pieces for the whole series, beginning with the theme of the "Dark Force" and those who serve it. Later, if I make that big write-up about the story of Phantasy Star III, it can go in another thread.
As mentioned in a previous post, nihilistic hatred is at the core of the heart of darkness in the "metaphysics" of Phantasy Star. The masses never directly serve the demon of destruction, and the few who do usually have a self-centered aim of their own beyond the ultimate looming annihilation. And those few, after seemingly having been willingly possessed, have their inner worlds twisted into extreme shapes of negativity, by something using them to maximize the chances of the largest-scale destruction and loss of life possible.
In the first Phantasy Star, it was a great king in an age of early space colonization, hungry for both knowledge and power, who was also a great student of ancient mysteries, who turned to Dark Force and then closed an iron fist around the people of his high-technological society. But the grim future which may have followed was averted, as a small group rose up and defeated him.
In the story of PS II, it isn't as clear how far the direct control of Dark Force reached. The far more technically sophisticated civilization of that story had its secret architects from elsewhere, conquerors who, after arriving in the Algol system, somehow changed and lost their former "weakness", apparently going mad and ending up using their technology to blow up a planet.
In the story of PS III, which takes place on an enormous artificial world on a journey through space for a new home, an ancient great age was brought to an end as the deceitful Dark Force fooled two leaders into waging an all-consuming war, at the end of which they both died. Following the ancient disaster, a collective amnesia reduced life to medieval conditions.
The brother of one of the two ancient leaders fell into a deep nihilistic despair at the loss of his family, wishing for all that exists to come to an end, and eventually turned to the demon. A thousand years later, rumor has it that he has somehow stayed alive through the force of his hatred. His followers covertly take various actions which shape the course of history, on the one hand leading the world towards ultimate doom, and on the other hand sparking a journey of rediscovery which ultimately eclipses the hidden dark plans and instead results in the defeat of evil. The truth about the past uncovered, the ancient divide heals and the two sides together confront that which deceived them in the ancient past.
In the story of PS IV, back in the Algol system during a later and simpler age, Dark Force takes shape in several ways. First, through Zio the Black Magician, a cult leader who hypnotizes his followers and promises them that he will lead them to a new world order in which the worthiest will rule and the unworthy will be eliminated. Directing his followers to burn little villages and kill their inhabitants like a senseless mob, his secret ideology is pure nihilism, and he doesn't care if the success of his demonic master in annihilating all life would mean the end of his own.
Dark Force has no further human servants of that age, but appears in several other guises. Ancient technical systems malfunction, organic matter takes the form of a grotesque structure from which a zombie plague spreads, and a seemingly normal person turns out to be an elaborate disguise. The barrier between realms is thinning and a portal into a pure radiance of a force of annihilation ultimately opens, and threatens to grow and end all life unless an interdimensional quest to deal with the root of all evil in the Algol system is successful.
The man who is not a man is worth a further look. Claiming to be an archaeologist on his way to explore some old ruins, Seth accompanies the protagonists for a while, until an opportune moment for an ambush presents itself. Suddenly, they are accompanied not by a man, but by a nightmarish monster.
As mentioned in a previous post, nihilistic hatred is at the core of the heart of darkness in the "metaphysics" of Phantasy Star. The masses never directly serve the demon of destruction, and the few who do usually have a self-centered aim of their own beyond the ultimate looming annihilation. And those few, after seemingly having been willingly possessed, have their inner worlds twisted into extreme shapes of negativity, by something using them to maximize the chances of the largest-scale destruction and loss of life possible.
In the first Phantasy Star, it was a great king in an age of early space colonization, hungry for both knowledge and power, who was also a great student of ancient mysteries, who turned to Dark Force and then closed an iron fist around the people of his high-technological society. But the grim future which may have followed was averted, as a small group rose up and defeated him.
In the story of PS II, it isn't as clear how far the direct control of Dark Force reached. The far more technically sophisticated civilization of that story had its secret architects from elsewhere, conquerors who, after arriving in the Algol system, somehow changed and lost their former "weakness", apparently going mad and ending up using their technology to blow up a planet.
In the story of PS III, which takes place on an enormous artificial world on a journey through space for a new home, an ancient great age was brought to an end as the deceitful Dark Force fooled two leaders into waging an all-consuming war, at the end of which they both died. Following the ancient disaster, a collective amnesia reduced life to medieval conditions.
The brother of one of the two ancient leaders fell into a deep nihilistic despair at the loss of his family, wishing for all that exists to come to an end, and eventually turned to the demon. A thousand years later, rumor has it that he has somehow stayed alive through the force of his hatred. His followers covertly take various actions which shape the course of history, on the one hand leading the world towards ultimate doom, and on the other hand sparking a journey of rediscovery which ultimately eclipses the hidden dark plans and instead results in the defeat of evil. The truth about the past uncovered, the ancient divide heals and the two sides together confront that which deceived them in the ancient past.
In the story of PS IV, back in the Algol system during a later and simpler age, Dark Force takes shape in several ways. First, through Zio the Black Magician, a cult leader who hypnotizes his followers and promises them that he will lead them to a new world order in which the worthiest will rule and the unworthy will be eliminated. Directing his followers to burn little villages and kill their inhabitants like a senseless mob, his secret ideology is pure nihilism, and he doesn't care if the success of his demonic master in annihilating all life would mean the end of his own.
Dark Force has no further human servants of that age, but appears in several other guises. Ancient technical systems malfunction, organic matter takes the form of a grotesque structure from which a zombie plague spreads, and a seemingly normal person turns out to be an elaborate disguise. The barrier between realms is thinning and a portal into a pure radiance of a force of annihilation ultimately opens, and threatens to grow and end all life unless an interdimensional quest to deal with the root of all evil in the Algol system is successful.
The man who is not a man is worth a further look. Claiming to be an archaeologist on his way to explore some old ruins, Seth accompanies the protagonists for a while, until an opportune moment for an ambush presents itself. Suddenly, they are accompanied not by a man, but by a nightmarish monster.