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63-610: The first four games in the series are set in or related to the fictional planetary system of Algol, and are single-player turn-based role-playing games . Later games in the series are chiefly action role-playing games , and some contain massively multiplayer online game elements. There are currently four distinct Phantasy Star subseries, each set in their own universe. Cameos or nods to other subseries may appear, and there are concepts and terminology shared across them, similarly to Suikoden , Breath of Fire , Dragon Quest , and Final Fantasy . The original series takes place in

126-414: A first-person mode. Phantasy Star , along with Dragon Quest , and Final Fantasy , distinguished itself as a pioneer of what came to be defined as console role-playing. The first four games take place in the same universe , as opposed to many RPG series such as Final Fantasy , wherein successive game settings are unrelated, or, at most, superficially related. Each major Phantasy Star game adds onto

189-533: A strategy-based battle system. The game's strong characterization, and use of self-discovery as a motivating factor for the characters and the player, was a major departure from previous RPGs and had a major influence on subsequent RPGs such as the Final Fantasy series. Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom featured an innovative and original branching storyline , which spans three generations of characters and can be altered depending on which character

252-455: A few editorial sections like "The Way Games Ought To Be" (originally written every month by game designer Chris Crawford ) that would attempt to provide constructive criticism on standard practices in the video game industry . The magazine's construction and design was decidedly simple and clean, its back cover having no advertising on it initially, a departure from most other gaming magazines. The first several years of Next Generation had

315-530: A low relative velocity . Population II , or metal-poor stars , are those with relatively low metallicity which can have hundreds (e.g. BD +17° 3248 ) or thousands (e.g. Sneden's Star ) times less metallicity than the Sun. These objects formed during an earlier time of the universe. Intermediate population II stars are common in the bulge near the center of the Milky Way , whereas Population II stars found in

378-790: A planetary system, although such systems may also consist of bodies such as dwarf planets , asteroids , natural satellites , meteoroids , comets , planetesimals and circumstellar disks . For example, the Sun together with the planetary system revolving around it, including Earth , form the Solar System . The term exoplanetary system is sometimes used in reference to other planetary systems. As of 24 July 2024, there are 7,026 confirmed exoplanets in 4,949 planetary systems, with 1007 systems having more than one planet . Debris disks are known to be common while other objects are more difficult to observe. Of particular interest to astrobiology

441-416: A prequel to that game's "Episode 4" storyline; and Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode Oracle , a retelling of the events of the first three "Episodes" of the game (known as the "Oracle" arc in the game). As the official Phantasy Star series has not seen a new entry in recent years, dedicated fans have taken it upon themselves to keep the legacy alive through the creation of fan games. These projects aim to honor

504-836: A star where a terrestrial planet would have runaway greenhouse conditions like Venus , but not so near the star that the atmosphere completely escapes. As with the habitable zone, the location of the Venus zone depends on several factors, including the type of star and properties of the planets such as mass, rotation rate, and atmospheric clouds. Studies of the Kepler spacecraft data indicate that 32% of red dwarfs have potentially Venus-like planets based on planet size and distance from star, increasing to 45% for K-type and G-type stars. Several candidates have been identified, but spectroscopic follow-up studies of their atmospheres are required to determine whether they are like Venus. The Milky Way

567-474: A system is 16 Cygni . The mutual inclination between two planets is the angle between their orbital planes . Many compact systems with multiple close-in planets interior to the equivalent orbit of Venus are expected to have very low mutual inclinations, so the system (at least the close-in part) would be even flatter than the Solar System. Captured planets could be captured into any arbitrary angle to

630-438: A system, much material is gravitationally-scattered into distant orbits, and some planets are ejected completely from the system, becoming rogue planets . Planets orbiting pulsars have been discovered. Pulsars are the remnants of the supernova explosions of high-mass stars, but a planetary system that existed before the supernova would likely be mostly destroyed. Planets would either evaporate, be pushed off of their orbits by

693-451: A very young A-type main-sequence star . There are now a total of 11 stars around which the presence of exocomets have been observed or suspected. All discovered exocometary systems ( Beta Pictoris , HR 10 , 51 Ophiuchi , HR 2174 , 49 Ceti , 5 Vulpeculae , 2 Andromedae , HD 21620 , HD 42111 , HD 110411 , and more recently HD 172555 ) are around very young A-type stars . Computer modelling of an impact in 2013 detected around

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756-495: A year. The brand was resurrected in 2005 by Future Publishing USA as an industry-led website, Next-Gen.biz. It carried much the same articles and editorial as the print magazine, and reprinted many articles from Edge , the UK-based sister magazine to Next-Gen. In July 2008, Next-Gen.biz was rebranded as Edge-Online.com. Next Generation ' s content did not focus on screenshots , walkthroughs , and cheat codes . Instead

819-435: Is 100,000 light-years across, but 90% of planets with known distances are within about 2000 light years of Earth, as of July 2014. One method that can detect planets much further away is microlensing . The upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could use microlensing to measure the relative frequency of planets in the galactic bulge versus the galactic disk . So far, the indications are that planets are more common in

882-567: Is estimated to be about 8 times less than the Sun. Different types of galaxies have different histories of star formation and hence planet formation . Planet formation is affected by the ages, metallicities, and orbits of stellar populations within a galaxy. Distribution of stellar populations within a galaxy varies between the different types of galaxies. Stars in elliptical galaxies are much older than stars in spiral galaxies . Most elliptical galaxies contain mainly low-mass stars , with minimal star-formation activity. The distribution of

945-402: Is from subsurface microbes, and temperature increases as depth underground increases, so the subsurface can be conducive for life when the surface is frozen; if this is considered, the habitable zone extends much further from the star. Studies in 2013 indicate that an estimated 22±8% of Sun-like stars have an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone. The Venus zone is the region around

1008-667: Is irrevocably tied to an ancient conflict. With the closure of Phantasy Star Universe servers in 2012, the online-only "Episode 3" can no longer be played at all, and "Episode 2" cannot be played on the Xbox 360 or PC versions. However, Episode 2 is still available through the PlayStation 2 version of Ambition of the Illuminus , which does not require a connection to the Universe servers to play. The plot, setting, and themes of

1071-524: Is no longer useful does Dark Force ever reveal itself. With each incarnation of Dark Force, a group of protectors arise to suppress it, ushering in a period of recovery and prosperity for the Algol system. This cycle of complacency and destruction continues every millennium . In Phantasy Star IV , the source of this being appears, known as the Profound Darkness. The original series takes place in

1134-402: Is the habitable zone of planetary systems where planets could have surface liquid water, and thus, the capacity to support Earth-like life. Heliocentrism is the doctrine that the Sun is at the centre of the universe, as opposed to geocentrism (placing Earth at the centre of the universe). The notion of a heliocentric Solar System with the Sun at its centre is possibly first suggested in

1197-470: The Dragon Quest / Dungeons & Dragons mold of generic Arthurian fantasy by introducing sci-fi elements. Among its many other accomplishments were the inclusion of characters with actual personalities, the introduction of event scenes, and the presentation of pseudo-3-D dungeons that were a technical marvel at the time." IGN writer Jeremy Conrad stated that "anyone who played video games through

1260-533: The Copernican theory that Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, put forward the view that the fixed stars are similar to the Sun and are likewise accompanied by planets. He was burned at the stake for his ideas by the Roman Inquisition . In the 18th century, the same possibility was mentioned by Sir Isaac Newton in the " General Scholium " that concludes his Principia . Making a comparison to

1323-668: The Phantasy Star series vary dramatically from the franchise's early installments to the multiplayer titles of today. Phantasy Star , Phantasy Star II , and Phantasy Star IV all deal with the concept of evil as a living, sentient entity that takes an active interest in galactic events. A being known as "Dark Force" or "Dark Falz" (depending on the game) plagues the Algol planetary system every thousand years, resulting in mass destruction and loss of life. It begins its campaign of terror in subtle ways, usually subverting others to its will. Only once its pawn has either been eliminated or

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1386-582: The Vedic literature of ancient India , which often refers to the Sun as the "centre of spheres". Some interpret Aryabhatta 's writings in Āryabhaṭīya as implicitly heliocentric. The idea was first proposed in Western philosophy and Greek astronomy as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos , but received no support from most other ancient astronomers. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus , published in 1543, presented

1449-474: The accretion of metals. The Sun is an example of a metal-rich star. These are common in the spiral arms of the Milky Way . Generally, the youngest stars, the extreme population I, are found farther in and intermediate population I stars are farther out, etc. The Sun is considered an intermediate population I star. Population I stars have regular elliptical orbits around the Galactic Center , with

1512-451: The galactic halo are older and thus more metal-poor. Globular clusters also contain high numbers of population II stars. In 2014, the first planets around a halo star were announced around Kapteyn's star , the nearest halo star to Earth, around 13 light years away. However, later research suggests that Kapteyn b is just an artefact of stellar activity and that Kapteyn c needs more study to be confirmed. The metallicity of Kapteyn's star

1575-635: The main sequence . Interplanetary dust clouds have been studied in the Solar System and analogs are believed to be present in other planetary systems. Exozodiacal dust, an exoplanetary analog of zodiacal dust , the 1–100 micrometre-sized grains of amorphous carbon and silicate dust that fill the plane of the Solar System has been detected around the 51 Ophiuchi , Fomalhaut , Tau Ceti , and Vega systems. As of November 2014 there are 5,253 known Solar System comets and they are thought to be common components of planetary systems. The first exocomets were detected in 1987 around Beta Pictoris ,

1638-756: The radial-velocity method . Nevertheless, several tens of planets around red dwarfs have been discovered by the Kepler space telescope by the transit method , which can detect smaller planets. After planets, circumstellar disks are one of the most commonly-observed properties of planetary systems, particularly of young stars. The Solar System possesses at least four major circumstellar disks (the asteroid belt , Kuiper belt , scattered disc , and Oort cloud ) and clearly-observable disks have been detected around nearby solar analogs including Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti . Based on observations of numerous similar disks, they are assumed to be quite common attributes of stars on

1701-401: The search for extraterrestrial intelligence and has been a prevalent theme in fiction , particularly science fiction. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992, with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12 . The first confirmed detection of exoplanets of a main-sequence star was made in 1995, when a giant planet, 51 Pegasi b ,

1764-467: The 8 and 16-bit eras would know that name [ Phantasy Star ]" and called the first four main series games "epic". Many of the series' games, including Online Episodes I & II and Phantasy Star Zero , have generally favorable scores on Metacritic . Phantasy Star Online in particular is recognized as one of the most "revolutionary new games" of the past decade, for its impact in taking "consoles online" and defining "small-scale multiplayer RPGs," paving

1827-498: The Algol Solar System, which consists of four planets: Palma, a fertile agricultural world; Motavia, a desert planet ; Dezoris, an ice planet ; and the mysterious Rykros, whose elongated orbit brings it within visible range only once every thousand years. Players travel to all four planets throughout the series, interacting with each unique set of inhabitants and discovering the secrets to the solar system's genesis, which

1890-627: The Algol system, with three major planets: Palma, Motavia, and Dezolis. Palma is destroyed during the events of Phantasy Star II , when the prison satellite Gaira crashes into the planet. Several colony ships fled from the disaster, and one of those ships, the Alisa III, is the setting of Phantasy Star III . Other locations within the series include several artificial satellites and Rykros, a planet with an extremely elongated orbit. Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe take place in different planetary systems. Fictional races that re-occur in

1953-486: The Phantasy Star aesthetic, and engaging gameplay. The game's development and success highlight the enduring passion for the Phantasy Star series, proving that its impact is still felt today. Planetary system A planetary system is a set of gravitationally bound non-stellar bodies in or out of orbit around a star or star system . Generally speaking, systems with one or more planets constitute

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2016-407: The Sun's planets, he wrote "And if the fixed stars are the centres of similar systems, they will all be constructed according to a similar design and subject to the dominion of One ." His theories gained popularity through the 19th and 20th centuries despite a lack of supporting evidence. Long before their confirmation by astronomers, conjecture on the nature of planetary systems had been a focus of

2079-468: The classic titles while introducing new narratives, mechanics, and reimagined worlds for a new generation of players. Among these, Phantasy Star: 20 Years Past stands out as a particularly notable example. This fan-made continuation reimagines the series' lore and mechanics, offering a deep, story-driven experience that pays homage to the original games while expanding on their universe. It has garnered praise for its attention to detail, faithful recreation of

2142-406: The cluster has dispersed some of the captured planets with orbits larger than 10 AU would be slowly disrupted by the galactic tide and likely become free-floating again through encounters with other field stars or giant molecular clouds . The habitable zone around a star is the region where the temperature range allows for liquid water to exist on a planet; that is, not too close to the star for

2205-493: The concept of fee-based services a reality for consoles," paving the way for the online gaming services later provided by all three of the seventh-generation consoles . Phantasy Star Online 2 became a commercial success for Sega as it has made over 900 million dollars since its release in 2012. Two anime series have been created around the Phantasy Star Online 2 world: Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation ,

2268-559: The conditions of their initial formation. Many systems with a hot Jupiter gas giant very close to the star have been found. Theories, such as planetary migration or scattering, have been proposed for the formation of large planets close to their parent stars. At present, few systems have been found to be analogous to the Solar System with terrestrial planets close to the parent star. More commonly, systems consisting of multiple Super-Earths have been detected. Planetary system architectures may be partitioned into four classes based on how

2331-522: The content was more focused on game development from an artistic perspective. Interviews with people in the video game industry often featured questions about gaming in general rather than about the details of the latest game or game system they were working on. Next Generation was first published prior to the North American launch of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation , and much of

2394-499: The different types of galaxies in the universe depends on their location within galaxy clusters , with elliptical galaxies found mostly close to their centers. Next Generation (magazine) Next Generation was a US video game magazine that was published by Imagine Media (now Future US ). It was affiliated to and shared content with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. It

2457-484: The disk than the bulge. Estimates of the distance of microlensing events is difficult: the first planet considered with high probability of being in the bulge is MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb at a distance of 7.7 kiloparsecs (about 25,000 light years). Population I , or metal-rich stars , are those young stars whose metallicity is highest. The high metallicity of population I stars makes them more likely to possess planetary systems than older populations, because planets form by

2520-492: The early content was in anticipation of those consoles. Apart from the regular columns , the magazine did not use bylines . The editors explained that they felt the magazine's entire staff should share the credit or responsibility for each article and review, even those written by individuals. The review ranking system was based on a number of stars (1 through 5) that ranked games based on their merits overall compared to what games were already out there. Next Generation had

2583-448: The existence of exomoons has not yet been confirmed. The star 1SWASP J140747.93-394542.6 , in the constellation Centaurus , is a strong candidate for a natural satellite. Indications suggest that the confirmed extrasolar planet WASP-12b also has at least one satellite. Unlike the Solar System, which has orbits that are nearly circular, many of the known planetary systems display much higher orbital eccentricity . An example of such

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2646-560: The first mathematically predictive heliocentric model of a planetary system. 17th-century successors Galileo Galilei , Johannes Kepler , and Sir Isaac Newton developed an understanding of physics which led to the gradual acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed Earth. In the 16th century the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno , an early supporter of

2709-489: The genre. In 1996, the series was ranked as the 72nd top game of all time by Next Generation , even as "there really isn't anything especially innovative here - the titles just have good, solid gameplay." Phantasy Star is recognized as featuring one of the first female lead characters, Alis Landale, alongside Samus Aran of Metroid . It was also one of the first RPGs to feature animated monster encounters, and to allow inter-planetary travel between three planets. The game

2772-475: The industry itself rather than individual games. The magazine was first published by GP Publications up until May 1995 when the publisher rebranded as Imagine Media . In September 1999, Next Generation was redesigned, and its cover name shortened NextGen . A year later, in September 2000, the magazine's width was increased from its standard 8 inches to 9 inches. This wider format lasted less than

2835-572: The mass of the planets is distributed around the host star: Multiplanetary systems tend to be in a "peas in a pod" configuration meaning they tend to have the following factors: Most known exoplanets orbit stars roughly similar to the Sun : that is, main-sequence stars of spectral categories F, G, or K. One reason is that planet-search programs have tended to concentrate on such stars. In addition, statistical analyses indicate that lower-mass stars ( red dwarfs , of spectral category M) are less likely to have planets massive enough to be detected by

2898-482: The masses of gas from the exploding star, or the sudden loss of most of the mass of the central star would see them escape the gravitational hold of the star, or in some cases the supernova would kick the pulsar itself out of the system at high velocity so any planets that had survived the explosion would be left behind as free-floating objects. Planets found around pulsars may have formed as a result of pre-existing stellar companions that were almost entirely evaporated by

2961-479: The orbital periods of the planets are in integer ratios. The Kepler-223 system contains four planets in an 8:6:4:3 orbital resonance . Giant planets are found in mean-motion resonances more often than smaller planets. In interacting systems the planets' orbits are close enough together that they perturb the orbital parameters. The Solar System could be described as weakly interacting. In strongly interacting systems Kepler's laws do not hold. In hierarchical systems

3024-605: The planets are arranged so that the system can be gravitationally considered as a nested system of two-bodies, e.g. in a star with a close-in hot Jupiter with another gas giant much further out, the star and hot Jupiter form a pair that appears as a single object to another planet that is far enough out. Other, as yet unobserved, orbital possibilities include: double planets ; various co-orbital planets such as quasi-satellites, trojans and exchange orbits; and interlocking orbits maintained by precessing orbital planes . Free-floating planets in open clusters have similar velocities to

3087-459: The protagonist of each generation marries, leading to four possible endings. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium introduced the use of pre-programmable combat manoeuvers called 'macros', a means of setting up the player's party AI to deliver custom attack combos. Nintendo Power ' s staff has praised the original games, saying that Phantasy Star "was the first RPG to break out of

3150-482: The rest of the system. As of 2016 there are only a few systems where mutual inclinations have actually been measured One example is the Upsilon Andromedae system: the planets c and d have a mutual inclination of about 30 degrees. Planetary systems can be categorized according to their orbital dynamics as resonant, non-resonant-interacting, hierarchical, or some combination of these. In resonant systems

3213-659: The series include sentient androids created by humans, called CASTs in the spin-off series and portable games, and Newmans, previously called Numans, elf -like humanoids created by genetically engineering DNA from humans and other, genetically engineered "biomonsters". The original Phantasy Star was released for the Master System in Japan on December 20, 1987. It was one of the earliest cartridges to include battery backed RAM for saving game positions . The game featured 3D maze-like dungeons, which players traversed in

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3276-481: The series' overall story, culminating in Phantasy Star IV which ties all of the series' plot elements together. Both Phantasy Star Online and Phantasy Star Universe are their own series based on the original Phantasy Star games. They continue the theme of a persistent game universe, but are set in different planetary systems than the original games. There is a small misconception that Phantasy Star

3339-485: The star NGC 2547 -ID8 by the Spitzer Space Telescope , and confirmed by ground observations, suggests the involvement of large asteroids or protoplanets similar to the events believed to have led to the formation of terrestrial planets like the Earth. Based on observations of the Solar System's large collection of natural satellites, they are believed common components of planetary systems; however,

3402-634: The star loses mass, planets that are not engulfed move further out from the star. If an evolved star is in a binary or multiple system, then the mass it loses can transfer to another star, forming new protoplanetary disks and second- and third-generation planets which may differ in composition from the original planets, which may also be affected by the mass transfer. The Solar System consists of an inner region of small rocky planets and outer region of large giant planets . However, other planetary systems can have quite different architectures. Studies suggest that architectures of planetary systems are dependent on

3465-402: The stars and so can be recaptured. They are typically captured into wide orbits between 100 and 10 AU. The capture efficiency decreases with increasing cluster size, and for a given cluster size it increases with the host/primary mass. It is almost independent of the planetary mass. Single and multiple planets could be captured into arbitrary unaligned orbits, non-coplanar with each other or with

3528-426: The stellar host spin, or pre-existing planetary system. Some planet–host metallicity correlation may still exist due to the common origin of the stars from the same cluster. Planets would be unlikely to be captured around neutron stars because these are likely to be ejected from the cluster by a pulsar kick when they form. Planets could even be captured around other planets to form free-floating planet binaries. After

3591-486: The supernova blast, leaving behind planet-sized bodies. Alternatively, planets may form in an accretion disk of fallback matter surrounding a pulsar. Fallback disks of matter that failed to escape orbit during a supernova may also form planets around black holes . As stars evolve and turn into red giants , asymptotic giant branch stars, and planetary nebulae they engulf the inner planets, evaporating or partially evaporating them depending on how massive they are. As

3654-509: The water to evaporate and not too far away from the star for the water to freeze. The heat produced by stars varies depending on the size and age of the star; this means the habitable zone will also vary accordingly. Also, the atmospheric conditions on the planet influence the planet's ability to retain heat so that the location of the habitable zone is also specific to each type of planet. Habitable zones have usually been defined in terms of surface temperature; however, over half of Earth's biomass

3717-478: The way for larger-scale MMORPG efforts such as Final Fantasy XI , setting the template for small-scale online RPGs such as Capcom 's Monster Hunter series and some of the later Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, and giving rise to "an entire pantheon of multiplayer dungeon crawlers that continue to dominate the Japanese sales charts." More generally, Phantasy Star Online made "both online gaming and

3780-522: Was created to rival Final Fantasy , due to their similar titles. This is highly unlikely, as the first entries of both series were released within two days of each other. Games in the Phantasy Star franchise have overall been well received by critics. The original four games in the series are typically regarded as classics for the RPG genre. Upon its initial release, the series was praised for its unique futuristic setting, something that had not been done yet in

3843-417: Was found in a four-day orbit around the nearby G-type star 51 Pegasi . The frequency of detections has increased since then, particularly through advancements in methods of detecting extrasolar planets and dedicated planet-finding programs such as the Kepler mission . Planetary systems come from protoplanetary disks that form around stars as part of the process of star formation . During formation of

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3906-583: Was inducted into the GameSpy Hall of Fame in 2000. James Fudge of GameSpy said of the game that "everything about Phantasy Star was uncommon, fun, and strange." Phantasy Star II was considered one of the best role-playing games of its time, and is regarded as "a game of many firsts" according to Nintendo Power . It is regarded by many as the forerunner for certain aspects of role-playing video games, such as an epic , dramatic, character-driven storyline dealing with serious themes and subject matter, and

3969-428: Was published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West. Other editors included Chris Charla, Tom Russo, and Blake Fischer. Next Generation initially covered the 32-bit consoles including 3DO , Atari Jaguar , and the then-still unreleased Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn . Unlike competitors GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly , the magazine was directed towards a different readership by focusing on

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