The following is a translation of the Phantasy Star III "FAQ" up on PS3 character designer Toyo Ozaki's website. The address: http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/9586/faq2.html If the dialogue seems occasionally choppy - well, hey, that's the way Orakio and Rulakir speak. *************************************************************************** BGM ("Father, You Were Strong" [No, I don't know which tune this is.]) Orakio (henceforth "O"): From right off the bat, a lot of questions have been left unanswered about PS3! Rulakir (henceforth "R"): Is there really a _need_ for this FAQ? O: But put yourself in the shoes of all the big fans who've wanted to research the game and have had no place to turn to! R: Oh, I feel relieved _already_. I've had _enough_ of this game! Let's just forget about it! Q1. The stone in which Orakio's sword is sheathed is... R: It looks like it's a white Megadrive. O: I'm sure that was a mock-up! R: Or maybe it's gray. Anyhow, when your cohorts take the sword out of it, it looks like a tissue box. O: There are people who think that it looks like a phone. I suppose that's a possibility - it could be a push-button-type phone...part of the receiver... R: And it will annihilate you ALL without mercy... O: Now, a good-hearted person doesn't aggravate a situation. Incidentally, the fellow who first pointed out the phone theory was the sound guy... (heh heh...) Q2. Are there sunsets on a domed spaceship? O: It's said that the light that illuminates the roofs of all the domes takes the place of the sun! R: That story was just made up on the quick. There actually isn't any explanation other than that. Q3. The character sprites shown on the map are reused, aren't they? O: ...Yes. Ruin's [Aron's] is the only one out of all the heroes' which isn't. R: Yeah, because it looks like no one knew what was going on near the end. O: The color palettes of Mieu and Shirren [Wren], who're always with the party, stayed basically the same but varied slightly as they were passed from person to person. R: Fin's [Adan's] ain't pretty! O: But Lune, like my big brother, doesn't have one. An overworld character sprite, that is. (A prince-type, reused overworld character sprite, I mean.) R: ...With me, they found out that they had to scrimp on cel space and... heh...suddenly decided that I'd be a good guy to start with. My character was just scribbled down. O: At least you didn't have to suffer the indignity of the "speed walking" mode on the Saturn version. R: They say with that, for every one person you see, you miss about thirty! [Note: I'm a bit shaky about this next part (specifically, Rulakir's first sentence). If anyone can offer any input, please e-mail me.] Q4. About the PSIII sound title... O: Well, we've got a note right here from the appropriate sound man on the bulletin board; let's look at it, shall we? R: He heard that part of the opening that plays when the title comes on was used in an SST band ballad, but... O: SST!! R: Right, SST. O: SST...wow...... (faraway look in eyes) R: Yes, _SST_.......... (teardrop) Q5. Q&A Battle Royale O: Here, I thought we were going to settle and answer our readers' general questions, but... R: "General"? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY "GENERAL"?? WA HA HA HA HA. HOW MANY QUESTIONS DID THEY SEND IN? JUST _TRY_ TO TELL ME!!! O: Uh-uh. It's such a comfort that big bro hasn't changed in all these years... "The 'Alisa III' is an old model of spaceship, but I guess it's durable, huh? Could Orakio be the hero because, like me, he's the second of two sons?" **The Alisa III R: WHAT THE-----?! O: It's durable. OK, next question! **second son R: O-_hoooooo_... My brother, the hero. He's not so great! O: My brother's the big bad guy, so I guess it's a kind of reciprocality thing. "This's a rudimentary question. Which party member was Luise [Alair] scheduled to replace in the preliminary settei, Dan [Ryan] or Laia [Laya]? (I just can't help really really liking her because of that slicer!)" **Luise O: There were never any plans to include Luise in the party in the first place. (At least not in the project production sheets.) She was just a marriage prospect in the settei. R: There is a picture of her with a slicer. That's the source of the problem. It's confusing. O: So, to explain...? R: So, to explain... O & R: IT'S *TOYO OZAKI'S* FAULT... "*If Kein [Rhys] knew nothing about Lyle's transformation powers, then how on earth did Lyle explain to Kein how he was going to take Ayn and the others over from Cape Dragon Spine? (I've had this question on my mind for eight years; I had the idea that 'he flew them across on his own by sheer willpower', but since Shirren weighs too much...(that's probably why he died). In any case, were they aware of Lyle's transformative powers?) *Have there ever been any arguments between Mieu and Shirren concerning something other than 'does Shirren have any emotions or not'? (If they were, I get the feeling they'd be like the argumemts between Kein and Lyle!...) **Lyle O: Kein definitely didn't know anything, so.... It's like how nobody knew that he left the cave. Marlena [Maia] was probably the only one who knew. R: But they surely would've seen something fighting amidst the flames... (the mystery of whether or not they saw the dragon shape) O: They probably thought it was summoning magic or something, that would've sufficed.... And if he happened to be seen changing back to human form in an out-of-the-way place... Kein: "Where'd you go, Lyle?! A cooool dragon just came along and wiped out all our enemies!" Lyle: "Uhhh...no, I didn't...I fainted... Yeah, I didn't see a thing--" He probably got by with a cover story like that... R: If Kein was _your_ descendant, he would've fallen for that completely. I'm sure of it. **Mieu and Shirren O: Well, for instance, Mieu wouldn't sell (edible) Rappys when she was low on money, but Shirren would take them and sell them behind her back. Maybe that's what you're talking about. R: I don't get that example - I don't get it at all. O: The Mieu-type's emotional parts lead it to lure away men's hearts and be flighty and unreasonably sulky, so its programming takes precendence over its feelings. R: So, it acts just like a woman, doesn't it? >its programmed expressions of emotion O: (Big brother, you have problems with women, don't you... (seriously)) "What's so 'glorious' about 'Glorious Grandirecta'? [I suppose they're talking about Divisia Castle from the context below, but I'm not sure... Divisia Castle captured Luise/Alair, but Aerone is the home of the pilots....] (They were frightened when they kidnapped Luise and frightened when she escaped...) Is the fortuneteller in Riik [Landen] in the first generation from Lashute? What happened to Marlena [Maia] after she was jilted by Kein? What do you suppose the 'Laia's Treasure' that Lune is looking for is?" **Grandirecta O: Grandirecta is indeed grand.... It's the pilots' town. R: They were proud of the fact that they controlled and piloted the Alisa III, and the title they accorded themselves stuck. O: Dan came from here, so he knew about the Alisa III (this world) being a giant spaceship. The people of this dome are probably the only ones who know about that fact... The passages between the domes were sealed by me and Laia, and... R: ...you went off to investigate some enemy that had appeared during the battle with Lune... O: Where do you think that came from? R: The dust chute, obviously. O: Oh. (Maybe that's how Luise came down?) **The Fortuneteller O: That fortuneteller's function was to roughly plot out the route of the journey each generation would follow in the game, but... ...it was decided for some reason that she'd appear in Kein's generation...in the plans, each generation's fortune is predicted... **Jilted Marlena R: What, she didn't marry Lyle? O: Judging from her character (?), I don't think it's likely she became a shrine maiden--. In the name of Goddess Laia, the living deity, Amen. R: You have to be a virgin to become a shrine maiden, so she'd probably be perfec...hold on, did they wait--? O: ...A virgin...?? R: Well, he was _your_ descendant!.... Kein......had a quick hand, didn't he? Word on the street is that Laia II isn't Laia's little sister, but the offspring of you and her! O: ...... (*^_^*) *smile* R: WHAT?!! _SERIOUSLY_?? DAMMIT--!! WHY IS _HE_ THE ONE WHO HAS ALL THE LUCK--!!!! **Laia's Treasure O: Probably something weird, knowing that guy. R: Probably "a love letter that Laia addressed to me but never sent"... heh! (<-a poison-tipped arrow shoots by) *gaah*... O: ...Laia's name is on this arrow...... *************************************************************************** Translation by RACapowski@sceneryrecalled.com; please don't repost this document without permission. Phantasy Star 3 is the property of Sega, Toyo Ozaki and its creators, and the original, untranslated version of the FAQ is the property of Toyo Ozaki; the translator and translation are unaffiliated with the above entities.