We Now Approach the Reverse World of PSII That Never Made It into the Game. If There's One Must-Read Corner in This Book, This Is It
To tell the truth, the main reason why this book was planned was to bring to light to fans the events left out of II.
When PSII was released, there was much back-and-forth debate over the ending or the degree of difficulty of the dungeons on Dezolis. Within the project settei of I, however, lies an extremely well-rendered story. Whether they ran the project over-spec or whether the development window was too short is unknown, but there were many ideas beyond those which were able to make it into the game that designer Chieko Aoki wanted to include. Perhaps some of the current game - and perhaps some of IV too - was derived from these ideas.
In any case, let us introduce you to the game's initial flow of events and the deleted scenarios.
When one reads the flow of events as described in the project settei text, one discovers that the hero of the story is Lutz. The following is the shape this story takes.
CHAPTER 1: LUTZ'S AWAKENING
Lutz, the distinguished hero of Phantasy Star, has entered into cold sleep in Naval Tower due to a crisis that had befallen Algol.
Lutz awakens once again. In a world 1,000 years after that of I, he senses Alisa's will and, endowed with new powers from Alisa, a different personality emerges within him. (This probably was the basis for the game's opening dream sequence with Eusis.)
What the awakened Lutz discovers is that the world of Algol is now managed by a computer called Motherbrain. Motherbrain manages the energy resources and mechanized irrigation systems, manipulates the weather, and preserves the public peace.
When Lutz awoke, however, an accident with the Motherbrain occured. Someone seems to have gotten close to the Motherbrain system and is trying to drive it mad.
In his mind, Lutz senses that he has been entrusted with the mission of preventing this catastrophe.
CHAPTER 2: SPACE COLONY EKKEN
In the Algol of II, Parma is the system's governmental and economic hub. Motabia is a grain-farming area. Dezolis has been develped as a supplier of metal ores.
The first place Lutz heads for is the space colony of Ekken, the place most similar to the environment that existed when Lutz was last awake. Since Algol has undergone a great transformation in the thousand years since Lutz has last been awake, Motherbrain sends him to Ekken, the place closest to the world of the days of I.
Ekken is a residential district inhabited by the people who work on the nuclear satellite Ryuon, with an atmosphere much like the Camineet and Patorino [Parolit] of old.
Since Ryuon is experiencing sharp employee layoffs, the computer system the employment office uses for hiring is filled with people waiting to be placed in a job. Lutz selects three from among these candidates. From talking to his comrades, Lutz learns of rumors of an accident of unknown origin within the power plant and of Ryuon being closed off to the public. "Could this not be the reason for the employee layoffs?" they wonder. In any case, Lutz, with his companions in tow, heads off for the Energy System.
CHAPTER 3: NUCLEAR SATELLITE RYUON
Lutz and his party arrive at Ryuon and hear the sound of a giant explosion. Indeed something is going on at Ryuon.
If Ryuon collides with Parma, Parma will be completely covered in radiation from the destruction of the nuclear reactors, and the whole planet will be destroyed.
To prevent this, the propulsion systems must resume operation and Ryuon's orbit must be restored. Only six hours remain. The party also must escape within that time.
Robots lie along Lutz's path. Althought they manage to weather the robots, Ryuon is protected by a tight security system, and each block must be accessed with a different card.
At long last, they reach and manually override the propulsion system. But they are unable to make to system operational again. Even worse, a second explosion occurs immediately afterward.
Lutz and his friends barely escape. From the windows of their spaceship, they witness the destruction of Parma.
CHAPTER 4: MOTABIA'S PLANT CRISIS
Lutz and his party visit the planet of Motabia. The entire planet is no longer the expanse of desert it once was in days past; through climate control and land reclamation, Motherbrain has transformed Motabia into a lush planet.
It is now a meticulously planned and calculated man-made reclaimed land of systematically-divided farmland and a network of canals that seems to extend as far as the eye can see. Lutz and company, however, get an uneasy feeling of something strange at the heart of this Motabia.
The buildings in the capital of Paseo are overgrown - indeed, choked - with a strange ivy-like botanical lifeform. Moreover, they seem to be coming from the direction of the plant-lifeform species-improvement laboratory. This second crisis somehow seems to be the product of a revolt by the Plant System.
The Plant System has wound up producing sentient, ambulatory botanical lifeforms. It is thought that the mutated lifeforms were biologically engineered from the Killer Plants which once lived on Parma. These Killer Plants with wills of their own have become monsters and have started to overrun the reclaimed land. Worst of all is that the ivy-like plants are corroding the water pipelines, so the area's food supply is dwindling.
These ills begin to come to public notice from the politically weak districts, where the flow of irrigation has been interrupted. A famine unlike any seen in hundreds of years grips the backwater villages. To prevent disaster and restore the proper flow of water, it is necessary to destroy the Plant System.
Lutz and his comrades incinerate the monster plants that continue to mutate and propagate and, climbing over their remains, destroy the Plant System. But the monster plants are repeating their cellular division at an abnormal rate, enhacing their botanical traits and multiplying by means of seeds and spores independent of the Plant System.
CHAPTER 5: THE OCEANIC SYSTEM AND THE WEATHER SYSTEM
The only way to quell the plants is to strike at their roots. It is general knowledge that in the Plant System's process of infusing the plants with the memory of Motabia once being a desert planet, the Monster Plants created by the system possess characteristics suited to life in the desert.
Lutz and his friends come up with the idea to use those traits against the plants and wipe them all out using a sort of water torture. In short, destroying Motabia's dams and manipulating the Weather System would cause a grand-scale flood.
Anyway, Lutz and his party infiltrate the four towers of the central lake which control the water level and open the dams' water locks. The water rushes forth from the dams and floods the waterways. But this method only floods the area around the canals and does not suffice to destroy the monster plants. Lutz and his friends agree that the only thing that will create a flood is a concentrated downpour.
Control over the amount of rainfall, climate, humidity, and when the sun shines is maintained by the underground Weather System beneath the lake. The only way to infiltrate the system is to travel through a passageway in the ocean.
Lutz and company plunge under the waves with a vehicle that can move through water.
In the sea are enemies similar to the monster plants developed by the Plant System. These monsters were created by the ocean floor-farming Marine Biosystem and have now begin to wander about. What's more, Lutz has to deal with the perils of shifts in the underwater current and tides and eruptions of underwater volcanoes.
CHAPTER 6, PART 1: INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS & FRAME-UPS
In response to Lutz and his party infiltrating the Weather System and causing a flood, the monster plants marshal the energy used for their sentience to begin to grow bigger and bigger.
When Lutz and company use an energy-absorption gun to stop the growth of the final plant, the monsters' evil onslaught is at an end. All that remains afterwards is the deep, vast ocean.
Some of Lutz's comrades have been wounded, but the battle appears to be over. But, having gone to visit a wounded ally, the party sees a special news bulletin on TV and learns of an event they never dreamed would take place - the floods and eradication of the monster plants orchestrated by Lutz's party, the news reports, have been attributed to the native Motabians. Does this not mean that the Motabians will be hunted down and in every part of the planet? Lutz's deeds have been twisted around by the news reports, and the blameless Motabians have been framed.
Lutz and his companions confer and decide to bring the truth to light, clear the Motabians' names, and stop the genocide. But, in so doing, the situation takes a sudden turn - the Motabians putting up a resistance to the genocide have formed a guerrilla faction and are counterattacking. In response, the Motabian government has decided to send out the Public Peace System to suppress the revolt.
CHAPTER 6, PART 2: THE MOTABIAN HIDEOUT
The Public Peace System uses satellites for social surveillance and to help surpress insurgent elements; the system was originally created to prevent coups d'état.
Now, as Motherbrain continues to malfunction, there is nothing to ensure that the system will work properly. What's worse, with the system running amok, it won't understand the kind of damage it is doing. To somehow pursuade the Motabians to stop this senseless war, Lutz and party head for the Motabian hideout to try to meet with the Motabian leader.
Because the Motabians have switched around the route they themselves take to the hideout, Lutz's journey is an intensely miserable affair.
The Motabians were originally of an agreeable temperament. But now that relations with the Parmans have broken down, the Motabians view the Parmans as their complete and utter enemies.
Evenutally, Lutz's path is impeded by the ragged Motabian army. But, since their objective is to clear the Motabians' names, Lutz and his party do not fight them - which makes for a trying, dilemma-ridden journey.
At last, Lutz and company arrive at the Motabian hideout, meet with the chieftain, and are able to get through to him. The chieftain promises to quell the rebellion.
Afterward, the party should find the satellite controlling the Public Peace System surveilling the Motabians and destroy it.
CHAPTER 7, PART 1: A MAN CALLED NEW
Having destroyed the Public Peace Systemand cleared the Motabians' names, Lutz and his comrades head for the planet Dezolis to learn the truth.
Through a story they hear from the Motabian governor-general concerning the events at hand, Lutz and company get a picture of a figure behind the chain of events up to now. Somehow, a character called New seems to be in some way connected to these events.
There is a new system, recently added, which was not in existence when the Motherbrain system was instituted.
The Mind Control System, which regulates thought and education. The ones who created the Motherbrain have already passed on, but the sole creator of the Mind Control System still lives. His name is New. Moreover, isn't New the only one who possesses the ability to enter Motherbrain?
New, the only one still alive from the time of Motherbrain's inception, seems to be on Dezolis, a planet encased in ice and snow.
CHAPTER 7, PART 2: TO DEZOLIS...
Due to the great success of metal-ore mining on Dezolis, there are deep tunnels in the center of the planet created by the mining.
These tunnels even now continue to expand all the way to the outlying areas. Because of this, the captial of Skure rests on platforms high above the land. The interiors of the deep tunnels of Dezolis are transportation lines linked by surrounding walls, all intricately interconnected. Because of this, it is said that it takes at least a year to be able to use the transportation lines without getting lost.
Near the openings of the lines, there once were buildings in which the needy had settled, but they've now transformed into slums which are the most dangerous place in Algol. Moreover, outside the tunnels, there are towns where the people and robots who conduct the mining operations and manage the facilities used to search for more ore live. The regions far away from the caves, though, beyond development's reach, seem to be dotted with Dezolian villages. It is in this Dezolis that New is spending his retirement from his government post.
And it is to search for New that Lutz and his party have set foot on Dezolis. But even in searching Skure and the other towns, no news of New can be learned. The only item in way of a clue is a report of a traveling Dezolian caravan protected by Mammoths. Lutz and his party decide to go ask them about New.
CHAPTER 7, PART 3: IN SEARCH OF A NEW COMRADE
Traveling across a steep mountain range, taken in by the lying Dezolians, Lutz and company continue their search for the caravan. And near the Altiplano Plateau, they encounter a curious-looking group.
They exhibit peculiar symptoms of being brainwashed, worshipping a tower rising high above the center of the Altiplano Plateau, lying prostrate on the frozen earth.
"Within this tower is the New who has made Motherbrain go mad!" Lutz and party intuit. New's associates, however, are under mind control and are dangerous enemies, and the likes of the battles the party has fought thus far have not prepared it for their onslaught. Lutz and his comrades retreat and decide to train for a new battle.
To counter the mind control, Espers, who hold strong spiritual power, are needed. Furthermore, they must undergo specific training to combat the mind control. At present, however, no one exists who holds ESP abilities.
In the 1,000 years before the battle between Alisa and La Shiec, anyone on the planets could wield supernatural powers freely. But after the war, supernatural powers seemed much more fearsome, and the poeple who held them grew the be hated.
Today, supernatural powers related to healing are acceptable, but those who hold supernatural powers used to inflict harm upon others, like those Lutz held long ago, are summarily sealed away. People are tested for all potential ESP-related abilities as soon as they are born, and those who possess ESP powers are made to wear special earrings, their powers suppressed.
Lutz must search out the ESP Suppression System and release the Espers from it.
CHAPTER 8: AND SO...
Having removed the ESP suppression equipment and gained a party member, Lutz and his party succeed in destroying the Mind Control System. New, however, is not there.
Disappointed, Lutz and company descend the tower, only to meet New at the entrance.
New says he was held captive by the people driven crazy by the Mind Control System.
In talking to New, it is learned that, at most, the only part of the Motherbrain system he can participate in is the Mind Control System, and even then, he was completely unaware of his actions - because he was under mind control himself. And even so, all New can manage to speak in is mere babble.
Could not the one who is causing the Motherbrain System to run amok be Motherbrain itself...?
Could Motherbrain have gained a will of its own and be trying to manipulate Algol?
To solve this riddle, Lutz and his party head toward the final adventure.
And so it continues, until the ending.
This is the clarified version of the story up to the point it was written in the project settei text.
Through reading this synopsis, we [editorial we] believe that the until-now widely-unknown backstory of II can be understood.
When you compare the project settei text to the game, not that much was changed from the first version to the final product.
The big changes that come to one's attention are Lutz being the hero and, in way of events, the Motabian incident, which ended up being omitted, and also the severely-diminished significance of Dezolis in the story and the riddles which unfolded there.
Why were such thoroughly-thought-out plans so altered? And could the events in the middle stages concerning Nei and Neifirst have been integrated into the game? Only the designed Chieko Aoki knows about these issues. But she has left Sega, so these mysteries will remain mysteries still. Even so, listen to the thoughts of the developers in this interview.
[Note: a larger interview primarily concerning the existing PSII follows. I've excerpted the two questions which are pertinent to the issue at hand and have posted them below.]
What was the reason for the hero being changed from Lutz to Eusis?
Editorial Staff: In the settei-text story, the hero was initially Lutz, but in the game, it was Eusis - why is that?
Tohoru Yoshida: It was indeed Lutz at first, wasn't it? But Naka-san [Yuuji Naka] was the first to say that he didn't like the idea of Lutz as the hero. I thought the reason why might have been because, in the settei from I, Lutz was a weak character, and that it'd be too weak if such a character was made the hero in II. So, it was changed from Lutz to Eusis.
Why was the story changed?
Yoshida: Also, I think that Aoki-san made the sharp changes she did at the same time that the "Lutz settei" were changed all together. There was also another story - the very first story - which had Lutz traveling through time to help I's Alisa. But the idea of returning to and rewriting the past was not well-liked, and it was at that point that I think Aoki-san felt she wanted to make sweeping changes to the story. And that's why I think that game's scenario was switched around. I recall that that's when the events like the Motabian scenario were taken out.