The great collapse...

[Eleah]

I'm trying to remember well about this particular gap on the series (I'm considering setting a fanfic on it), but I can't remember any data from it! Can you help this amnesiac? Yes, I know that there's a timeline available, and I'll check it later, as well, but I wanted to listen to some other bells.

The Great Collapse would take place between Mother Brain's demise and... that's my gap, my question. It was the time when people had to get used to live without Mather Brain, and started to loose their knowledge on technical things (and that way, we get to the countrified PS4 Motavia), but it was also a time when the remaining scientist made desperate efforts to replace Mother Brain (Daughter, and Wren). So, how much time do you think it could have taken?

Thanks!

[Edge]

It started in AW 1288... This was happening from the time Phantasy Star 2 ended, through the entire Phantasy Star III game, I do believe... And keep in mind, Phantasy Star 3 started in AW 2292... I THINK this is correct...

[Eleah]

Wait, the Great Collapse didn't take place in PS III, but on Motavia. The Alisa III was having its own mess at that time

Checked all the timelines I could find... now I'm more confused than before. According to the PS4 script, we learn that:

-A thousand years ago, our society was thrown into confusion by the
destruction of Mother Brain. After that, Motavia sustained a
direct hit by a fragment of the exploding planet Parma. Our
civilization was almost destroyed. We call this 'The Great
Collapse.' ...Oh. I didn't realize you weren't students.

-Once, there were three planets in the Algo solar system, but during
The Great Collapse, the planet Parma was lost. Now only Dezolis
and this planet remain.

-From the prologue:

"Then a series of disasters struck.
The system-wide managment system, 'Mother Brain,' was destroyed.
So was the first planet, Parma.
Over 90% of the system's population died, and the advanced technological
culture was lost.

Society declined, spiralling downward until at last only a few scattered
groups even remembered there once were better times."

So... my guess would be that the Great Collapse starts with Mother Brain's fall, and spans for an uncertain ammount of time. I would say it would take 50 years or less for all the survivors to die and leave the following generations clueless about the past knowledge. Or less if we consider that most of the scientists and technicians died during it. However, some capable people had to survive, as Daughter and Wren were made. Alright, Daughter could have been built while Mother Brain was "alive", but since Wren's 998 years old, that tells us that he was made during the Collapse...

Any other ideas?

PS: Edge, I don't think the Collapse spanned through PS3 because we still don't know when it really takes place, and if we consider AW 2292 correct, it would include PS4, which happens at AW 2284, according to its script

[Edge]

I'm starting to think PS4 happened during PS3... So, if it happened a thousand years ago, and PS2 started AW 1284, which SHOULD be when it started, seeing as Mother Brain was killed, wouldn't that make it 1284-2284? I dunno... I'm confused too... I'ma bout to play every game over again just to dig as much info as possible.

[Nate556]

You also gotta understand that the people on Alisa 3 were also fairly clueless. They all didn't really seem to know they were living in an enormous space station.

Think of the Great Collapse as the Dark Ages. The historians now don't know exactly what all happened then, some don't even know the exact time it began, what caused it, ect. ect. They got some pretty good ideas, but because of it's nature, few hardcore facts.

I would say the Great Collapse happened during PS2, not really after. See, something like that isn't just something that's heralded by 1 event, but cumulated events. Mota was already a pretty messed up place, with the bio monsters running amuck, robo-guards clamping down on everything, people turning wild and attacking cities in big gangs.

as for timelines. I'm pretty sure it was about 800-1000 years long. And you can simple do a little research on "the carnage of a collapsed state" to find the kind of information about the kinds of things that happened on mota during this time. Summing it up.. massive starvation, rampant gangs, people grouping into small, isolated, and very violent towards outsiders of their communities due to the breakdown in communications. Ohh yeah, add rampaging monsters to that mix! No Agents to fight them, no robo-guards to set up safe-zones. All that's left are freelance hunters, like Rudo and Anna, and remember what i said about these little societies being violent towards outsiders ?

Eventually though, things get better. Populations grow, communication starts to open up as Trade starts to happen between these communities, people start working together again, and pop-zing, someone comes up withthe great idea, "Hey, lets form a guild for freelance Hunters, and bring some organization to this world!"

And there you go. hope this mini-book of mine helps some.

[Tanith]

If the SPEC stories are ever translated, we might find out what happens in the time between PS2 and PS4. At least one of the stories takes place in AW1483. That is, if the stories are actually taking place in Algo. There appears to still be a lot of technology used at that point.

I sent SPEC 7 to a translation service and got an estimate of near $1,000USD, so if I do get it professionally translated, I'll have to do it in smaller chunks (sorry, I don't have a spare grand sitting around).

[skymandr]

You're thinking of this one? http://pixelkiss.com/ps/?page_id=1782
It was sadly never concluded (there are two or so more pages, if I recall correctly, but that's it).

It is odd that it is set in AW 1432, since it is explicitly about Rudy (Chaz in JP) meeting Nei-third, an encounter of which an alternative version exists in the Audio-drama:
http://pixelkiss.com/ps/?page_id=3

My guess is that, since SPEC7 was released 3 years before PSIV, it is either an alternative storyline to PSIV, or the character Rudy was reused in the game. The latter seems more probable to me, but in either case, I think the canonicity of the work is questionable, though one could ostensibly assume that this is another Rudy, who just happens to look the same (sans the odd Layanesque gem on his forehead).

If this is true, then the period 200 years after II is still quite technologically advanced, though perhaps less civilised. Most of the decay must have happened after this. Further, a Nei-type is maybe not odd enough to arouse too much suspicion (though I for one don't think this means that there are many -- or indeed any -- more of them running around...), and there are perhaps people subscribing to the "Layan" philosophy...

[Tanith]

Woops, got the date wrong for the story. I had no idea it had already been translated. And yes, it does seem like an alternate drama CD story. It's most likely a different Rudy. PSIV was huge into character recycling, anyway.

It seems to fit with some of what's going on in PSIV, such as at some point after PSII what was left of the government tried to build Daughter, so technology didn't just cease to exist or be used by civilians. What I think happened was that technology use was a slow decline as Motavia ran out of resources to provide the necessary power to use them, and scientists and researchers were no longer being replaced as people went back to working the land in order to survive. By the time of PSIV, people had finally found enough of a balance, I guess, with maintaining an existence on Motavia that they returned to studies and established the academy in Piata.

I also think that the government collapse was probably more sudden, as you mention and from the SPEC story.