Phantasy Star III Bugs & Glitches

Ayn asked Thea to be his wife and she accepted. Lyle and Rhys gave their blessings as well. That was very generous of Lyle, especially considering he's quite dead at this point in the game. Yup, just moments ago Lyle bid farewell to Thea and then he died..

By the way, is anybody else troubled by Ayn & Thea being cousins when they marry? Really, they are. Maia is the daughter of the King of Cille. The King of Cille refers to Lyle as his nephew, therefore Maia and Lyle are cousins. Ayn is the son of Maia, Thea is the daughter of Lyle, therefore they're second cousins. It's not a direct blood relation, but it's still a wee bit unsettling.

Then again, there are only about fifty people between all seven planets so I guess there's a pretty small dating pool to choose from in the first place. Besides, Sean is my favorite third generation character so I won't complain too much.

If Ayn tries to travel from Aquatica back to Landen he's stopped by one of Lune's soldiers who tells him You cannot enter. Lune forbids it!. Who's Lune and why the hell is he blocking this tunnel? Unless you've already played Nial's quest you have no way of knowing.

While compiling the script, this cryptic dialog came across:

"You used your escapipe! Normally a smart move, but now I'm afraid the game can't be continued. Please press the Reset Button and try again."

I had no idea how to get this message in the game. Fortunately, Tempest of Shadows knew exactly how to find it (thanks!). So here's a quick how to:

Start a new game. Go to the supply shop and sell your boots. You'll get 50 meseta for them. Use that money to buy an escapipe. Now go to the castle to marry Maia. Once you're thrown in the dungeon use the escapipe (must be done before Lena frees you). You'll end up by the entrance the guards brought you in through. Exit the dungeon, talk to the King and.. voila, there's the message.

The King's right, the game is pretty much over now. The old man is still blocking the way out of town. You're free to wander anywhere around the town, castle, and dungeon. Unfortunately, there's nothing around that will help you leave. Unless you can trimate the old man at the entrance into submission of course.

Luckily, it looks like you don't need to leave town after all. Maia has been safely returned to the castle. No need to go messing around with the moons and accidentally awaking evil. Sure, Ayn's quest will be excessively dull but he's a smart guy, maybe he'll find something to do.

Side note: The old NES game "Tombs & Treasure" (by Falcom & Infocom, my two all-time favorite game companies) had a very similar message telling the player to Press the reset button now if they did a certain puzzle in the wrong order.

Aron's ending is the only one that truly fits into the Phantasy Star timeline. Without completely spoiling the ending to Phantasy Star II, it is learned during PSII that the entire Phantasy Star storyline occurred well after the destruction of Earth. PSIII either begins immediately after PSII or 1000 years after PSII (damn inconsistent Sega translations). Therefore PSIII also must occur after Earth's demise. Again, without spoiling PSII, Aron's trip through a black hole and backwards in time pieces the entire series together nicely. Go check out the PS Timeline at The PS Pages or the Timeline in the Other section here at PS Cave for a better explanation of this theory.

Adan's and Crys' endings are basically the same. The heroes defeat Dark Force and then head for Earth. Well, according to PSII they won't find anything there... and will probably end up wandering for another 1000 years.

Sean's ending is the only one that doesn't involve a close encounter with Earth. Instead, the Alisa III and the Neo Palm seem to form an alliance. Over on the Neo Palm they know all about Dark Force... Did they just fight off Dark force on their ship too? Overall, Sean's allows the most room for a sequel - even if it leaves a gap in the larger PS picture.

Regardless of the planetary climate, all the towns are remarkably green. Even on Aridia, a desert planet inhabited by cyborgs, the only town is quite fertile... What the heck do cyborgs need plants for anyway? (screenshots coming soon)