A few thoughts on PS3/social commentary

[etony33]

It seems to me that the Orakians and Layans hating each other was social commentary of some sort. It is possibly any - or all - of these things:

-The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys
-The feud between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and how they had an uneasy alliance at times in order to push back against the Ottoman Empire and Islam in general
-The uneasy relationship between Western countries, who, while having disparate interests and not liking each other very much, had to unite against communism and the Eastern Bloc

Do you guys think that PS3 channeled these things at all? Perhaps it was social commentary on something else? I'm curious to see what you think.

[MrStarbird]

Well, there were plenty of feuds that had happened between clans and states in Japan during the feudal era, so it is more likely that if it was trying to reference anything, it would be something more akin to the creators' own culture.

The Orakian/Layan War wasn't that well documented in the game. The only reason given as to why they were fighting in the first place is because they were tricked by Dark Force into fighting each other. Since Dark Force feeds off pain, suffering, and anguish, it would seem only natural that he would cause two seemingly, otherwise unimportant people, to create a war with each other that would divide the Alisa III apart in order to become stronger.

[etony33]

That is true, although communism would certainly hit close to home, as the Japanese had to contend with both China and North Korea.

[myau56]

I've always thought that it was "a shame" not having better explanations about the Orakio/Laya war : true that Dark Force is the main cause of their feud and then war, but did he trigger it ? I was always aware to know it :!

[MrStarbird]

I've always thought that it was "a shame" not having better explanations about the Orakio/Laya war : true that Dark Force is the main cause of their feud and then war, but did he trigger it ? I was always aware to know it :!

I have a pretty strong theory on what happened to cause the war that I posted a bit ago on here.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3605

Basically it just adds up to be more social commentary about what was going on by the time the game was made, basically environmental movements. Laya was a Biologist before moving to the Alisa III and Orakio was a Mechanic. Orakio believed in technology that would harm the environment, Laya wanted to protect it, so they had a bit of a feud going on even before boarding the Alisa III. One thing lead to another, they both ended up on the same escape ship after Dark Force destroyed Palma, Dark Force fed on the hatred Orakia and Laya had for each other. It is a rather long theory, one that I think would offer the best explanation of things.

[myau56]

MrStarbird : thank you for the link ! I'll read it as soon as possible I'll first print it and then read it and come back to comment about it, sure it's gonna be more efficient !

[MrStarbird]

After thinking of it more, I believe moreso that the social commentary was about nature vs. technology. The reason being is that there was another huge game that was produced around the same time as Phantasy Star III that provided the same commentary: Sonic the Hedgehog.

The only difference is that PStar3 left it up to you who you thought was in the wrong; Orakio or Laya. Sonic made it obvious who was in the wrong.

[etony33]

Nah, I disagree. The whole idea of nature/technology wasn't really explored that much, other than that Orakians used cyborgs and Layans used techniques. It was quite clear who was in the wrong...and that was both of them and neither of them. They had been hoodwinked.

[myau56]

About technology/environnment, I don't think it's really used in PSIII : maybe it was more in the second one as there was the earthman leaving their polluted planet and trying to take control of the Algol System !

[MrStarbird]

the commentary more or less could be more about the conflict of two different ideals. Much like the Gulf War that was going on at the time and the Cold War that was continuing during the development of this game (the Cold War may be a better comparison), you have two factions separated by their own ideals, even though they are very much the same people underneath and shouldn't have been separated to begin with. In the end, both sides realize that they are stronger should they work together and that there was always a bigger fish to fry.

[etony33]

If anything, it'd be more like the conflict between people of two different religions (e.g. Christianity and Islam and the conflicts taking place in the Middle East, which has been going on for centuries).

[Oresama]

Funny, I always thought Phantasy Star III itself was a social commentary about what happens when developers are underpaid, overworked and rushed beyond reason by a suit who couldn't program a random number generator. You get what you pay for, what goes around comes around, karma is a bitch, etc.

[etony33]

Lol...hey, PS3 wasn't bad. To some extent, I actually like the lack of details when it comes to different characters and their motivations, as it enables you to kind of fill in the blanks with whatever you want.

[BenoitRen]

(s)he's not saying that PSIII was bad, though, just that it was rushed. The game is obviously incomplete.