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Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom is a traditional console role-playing game that was released for the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in the United States) in 1990. It was also released in three different compilations known as The Phantasy Star Collection for the Sega Saturn and Game Boy Advance, and The Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, and later re-released on April 21, 2008 for the Virtual Console. It is a sequel to the previous game in the series, Phantasy Star II, although the connections to other games in the Phantasy Star series are not immediately obvious at the outset.

Plot

The world of Phantasy Star III appears at first to be a traditional medieval-type setting, with kings, knights, castles, and two warring nations. A thousand years prior to the start of the game, the two factions, led by Orakio on one side and Laya on the other, waged bitter and bloody war against each other, until the two leaders met for a parlay and mysteriously vanished. Since that time, the Orakians and Layans have shared an uneasy cohabitation.

As the game begins, you play the part of Rhys, Crown Prince of the Orakian kingdom of Landen, on the day of his wedding to Maia, a mysterious amnesiac girl who washed up on Landen's shore two months ago. During the ceremony, a winged demon — identified as a Layan — suddenly appears and snatches Maia, vowing "Filthy Orakians! Maia shall never be yours!" Rhys is determined to rush off and retrieve his bride, but his father the King feels he's being overly rash, and orders him to "cool off" in the castle dungeon. The game begins when Lena, a girl from Landen who has a crush on Rhys from afar, and actually his betrothed from the neighboring kingdom of Satera, helps the Prince to escape from the dungeon and set off on his quest.

It soon becomes apparent that all is not as it first seems in this world, both as it relates to Layans, and to the world itself. Despite the setting, several anachronisms are in evidence, such as android characters, clearly artificial (and high tech) "caves," and abandoned airfields. The fact there is only a limited amount of terrain to explore in each of the three worlds (later revealed to be seven) is also a clue. Also, when you finally do encounter Layans, they do not at first appear to be demonic or even hostile — they are simply "Technique"-using humans (this being the standard Phantasy Star terminology for what in other console RPGs would be called "magic"). One of them, Prince Lyle of Shusoran, even joins your party as an ally. Ultimately, it is revealed that Maia, the girl you set out to save, is herself Layan — indeed, she is a Princess of a Layan kingdom — and that her "kidnapping" at the game's beginning was viewed by the Layans as a rescue attempt to free their Princess from "hostile" Orakians (who are likely perceived as such because they make up for their lack of magical skill by generally being physically stronger then Layans).

At this point, the player is given a crucial option: Rhys can choose to marry either Maia, despite her Layan heritage, or the Orakian girl Lena. There is no "right" or "wrong" decision here, but it will drastically affect how the game develops, as well as the character of the next part of the game. If the player weds Maia, the resulting offspring (Ayn) will be half-Layan, and be able to use Techniques; if Lena is chosen, the plot will take another track entirely with a different, pure-blooded Orakian son (Nial) as the central character. Eventually, either Ayn or Nial will have their own marriage decisions to make as well, leading to one of four possible third-generation characters for the game's final stages.

Depending on which path the player takes through the game, it is eventually revealed that the world of Phantasy Star III is in fact a "worldship" containing seven inhabitable "domes," each with a different climate to simulate different ecologies on an actual planet. This particular ship, dubbed the Alisa III, was one of several that fled the planet Palma/Palm/Parma just prior to its destruction in Phantasy Star II; the Orakians and Layans are the descendants of the survivors of that cataclysm. The player also learns at this time that Dark Force, the evil entity that was one of the final bosses of the other Phantasy Star games, also exists on the Alisa III and that it was its evil influence that caused the war between the Layans and Orakians; Laya and Orakio were actually allies, who went off to fight Dark Force together, but never returned.

What remains unclear is what exactly occurs, with regards to canon, given the four separate endings. http://www.phantasy-star.net Offers full text of each possible ending.

    * Sean's ending is lackluster - the party discovers the Neo Palm (which in other generations, happens earlier) and continues floating through space in search of a new home.

    * Crys's ending sees the Alisa III approaching a possible new home...the third planet from the nearest star - a blue world with two moons.

Adan and Aron's ending (coincidentally, both half-layan, half-orakian descendants of Rhys) are the only two which bear any similarity.

    * In Adan's timeline, the Alisa III manages to maneuver away from the black hole. The game concludes with Aerone, the town of Alisa III's pilots heading towards the "brightest star up ahead" - intending to settle on the third world from the star...

    * While Aron's ending features the Alisa III passing through the black hole after defeating the Dark Force - only to arrive in orbit around a new world. The final text is a hailing message from the London Communication's Center on our Earth to the Alisa III. Wren clearly states they were transported across space and time.

Now things get confusing. PSIII is supposed to happen concurrently, or in the Japanese version, after PSIV - yet by the final battle of PSII Earth has been destroyed by its people - the survivors of which escaped on the dungeon/spaceship Noah where the battle with Dark Force and Motherbrain take place. The earthmen that are revealed after Motherbrain's defeat claim to have destroyed Palma and be Motherbrain's creators. It is possible, however, that the wormhole had brought the Alisa III backward in time, as stated by Wren.