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The Protectors

    Chaz Ashley 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chaziv425.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Daisuke Sakaguchi

JOB: HUNTER
AGE: 16


A young hunter who just graduated from his apprenticeship with Alys Brangwin as the game begins, Chaz was a child of the streets, headed for a rough future until Alys took him under her wing. The mission to investigate the goings on at the Academy of Motavia is his first. While he begins the story as Alys' sidekick he eventually becomes the main protagonist of the story. While good-hearted and generally idealistic, he has quite a temper.
  • All There in the Manual: His Dark and Troubled Past detailed below is only very vaguely hinted at in the game itself, with the Phantasy Star Compendium offering the full story. Notably, the town Chaz was originally from, Tiria, is not even in the final game.
  • Can't Drop the Hero: The only character who remains in the party from the beginning of the game to the end.
  • Combination Attack: Befitting his position as the game's eventual main character, he's one of the most combo friendly characters to join the party, tying with Kyra and just behind Rune. He lends his powers to seven different combos:
    • Fantastic Nuke: His Megid technique is 1/4th of the game's strongest combination attack, Destruct. Sadly, while it inflicts 999 damage on all onscreen enemies, having the involved characters cast their skills and techniques individually usually produces more damage than a use of Destruct, making it Awesome, but Impractical.
    • Fire, Ice, Lightning: He contributes the lightning (or just the light in this case) in the early-game combination technique Triblaster, which will be invaluable early on.
    • Gale-Force Sound: Combining his Airslash skill with Demi's Phonon skill produces Silent Wave, which is essentially just a stronger Airslash. Though not as flashy as the other combos, it'll still come in handy at Nurvus.
    • Spell Blade: He gets two of these. The first, and easily the more used, is the combination of his Crosscut with Rune's Efess to create the multi-target holy attack Grand Cross. The second combines his Rayblade with Hahn's 11th-Hour Superpower skill Astral to create the single-strike Paladin (misspelled 'Paradin') Blow.
    • Weather Manipulation: Via using one of his Zan techniques with someone else's Foi or Wat technique to create either a Fire Storm or a Blizzard.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: His parents died when he was young and he spent his childhood as a homeless orphan, eventually coming to lead a gang of child thieves. Alys was hired to capture him, but she ended up taking him in as her apprentice instead.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: He's the only character to learn one of these: Megid, the traditional Last Disc Magic of Phantasy Star games, is in this game an optional technique Chaz can acquire via an optional quest near the end of the game. It's even dubbed "The Forbidden Technique" by it's guardian, Re-Faze.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, his full name is Rudy Ashleigh.
  • Elemental Powers: Chaz possesses several of these.
    • Blow You Away: Via the "Zan" technique series, a multitarget technique that suffocates enemies by turning the surrounding area into a vacuum. He also learns the multitarget skill "Airslash", which combines his wind technique with his swordsmanship to strike all onscreen enemies.
    • Dishing Out Dirt: Via his starting akill, "Earth", which uses energy drawn up from the ground to stun the victim.
    • Light 'em Up: Via the "Tsu" technique series, a single-target technique which fires an arrow of light at the enemy. Notably, Chaz is the only character who can learn this technique series.
  • Happy Ending Override: The game itself ends with Chaz returning to Motavia with Rika to live out the rest of their days together, but the Phantasy Star Compendium offers an addendum to that that reveals that their happy ending would be brief, with Chaz dying of unexplained causes before he turned thirty and Rika raising their half-Numan child together alone. As horrifyingly bleak as that addendum is, the PSO games seem to canonize it, or at the very least present very strong evidence of it being canon.
  • Healing Hands: Chaz can use "res" technique set which heals HP along with "anti" and "rimpa" which heals gpoison and paralysis respectively.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: They most certainly do, and unlike in past Phantasy Star games he's the only character in the game who can use them, actually.
  • It's Personal: With Zio, after he kills Alys.
  • Jack of All Stats: Unsurprisingly for the main character of the game. The androids and Gryz beat him out in weapon strength, and the Espers and Hahn beat him out in technique strength, but when it comes to being all-rounded Chaz is a champ. He's also got a technique for every occasion, learning the two staple "travel" techniques (Hinas and Ryuka, which only he and Rune learn) along with all the basic healing techniques.
  • Kid Hero: At just sixteen years old he's on the outskirts of this trope in terms of age, though in terms of attitude he fits to a tee.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: Averted; if you attempt to make him search drawers/cabinets in peoples' homes, he'll remark that it's not very nice to look through peoples' belongings without their permission. He'll look in the cabinets in Inns, or in houses if he doesn't have to open a closed container, though. Apparently, Motavians are into orange soda, and one of the Inns on Motavia provides Game Gears for its guests. (And possibly hookers.) This is particularly amusing given his past as a child thief and speaks volumes to how well Alys reformed him.
  • Magic Knight: Eventually gets both the most powerful physical attacks and the most powerful offensive magic in the game.
  • Lightning Bruiser: His Skill list is mostly just variations on the idea of "swing sword, but faster than last time".
  • One-Hit Kill: He learns two: the first, "Brose", is a multitarget technique that expands enemy body mass to cause Ludicrous Gibs (when it works, which is rare). The second, "Explode", is his final skill and while being only a single-target spell, is rather more accurate and effective.
  • Personality Powers: Literally. He has a naturally hot temper, and once he learns to control it, he can weaponize it as the devastating Megid technique.
  • The Power of Hate: A very rare positive example, as he can learn how to harness his anger and hatred to cast the immensely powerful Megid technique. Ironically, he only learns this technique by rejecting it, as his initial refusal of Megid's power convinces Re-Faze he can be trusted with it. Despite his own doubts, Re-Faze assures him that anger and hatred are human emotions, and that as long as he stays true to himself he won't be corrupted by Megid's power.
  • Red Oni: To Rune's Blue.
  • Red Is Heroic: He and Alys share a predominantly red color scheme in their outfits and are the game's starting heroes.
  • Refusal of the Call: On Rykros, he initially flat out refuses to go along with the Great Light's plan in maintaining the seal that is the Algo star system; he reconsiders when he thinks of the people of Algo he'd be fighting to save.
  • Repressed Memories: According to the Sealed Memories Japanese drama CD, Chaz/Rudy has repressed memories of an incident three years before the events of PSIV, which Rune "helpfully" helps him work out before they depart for Rykros.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Pretty much everything Chaz does is based on his feelings, and although he's constantly bewildered (and sometimes frightened) by the technology popping up all over the place, he understands people better than anyone else in the party...while Rune is an insensitive jerk.
  • Shields Are Useless: He can equip shields, but as swords are a two-handed weapon, equipping him with one cuts his damage-dealing ability considerably. While he can equip a knife with his shield to at least attack for some damage (unlike Gryz, who is completely neutered by a shield), it's still more efficient to just keep Chaz with a sword in hand.
  • Space Master: Via the Hinas and Ryuka techniques, which allow Chaz to teleport out of dungeons or instantly teleport to any town of the caster's choice.
  • Sword Beam: His skill Rayblade (which he learns at Level 27) is pretty much exactly the image depicted on the page.
  • Took a Level in Badass: At the outset of the story, pretty much all Chaz can do is swing a sword (and even then Alys berates him for his swing being too slow). By the end, he can teleport, fire lightning from his hand, create vacuums by sweeping his sword through the air, and weaponize his anger.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Rune develop this relationship as the story progresses. When they first meet Chaz can't stay him, but by the end he trusts Rune implicitly (and it's only Rune's encouragement that convinces him to continue their mission, not for the Great Light's sake but for the people of Algo).
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Rune gives Chaz a very gentle one after he flips out when he's told of The Great Light and the delegation of its fight against the Profound Darkness to the sentient people of Algo. He rejects the whole thing on the basis that mindlessly obeying orders to kill complete strangers would make the heroes no better than Zio, stemming largely from his guilt over the death of Alys and blaming it on this very cause. Rune does help him see past this soon enough, but it says a lot that no one actually antagonizes Chaz over his opinion.

    Alys Brangwin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alysiv282.png
JOB: HUNTER
AGE: ??


A veteran hunter, Alys is Chaz' mentor and surrogate parent. She's the main character of the early part of the game, but this changes after she is incapacitated by, and later dies due to, an attack from Zio, the first of the game's villains. Brash and supremely confident, Alys is not above threatening people for money and/or information if it makes her job easier. Her prowess as a Hunter has made her famous throughout Motavia, and while not much is known of her past, bits of it seem to keep popping up at odd moments...
  • Action Girl: The first of these to join the party, and even by the game's end she remains the toughest of them.
  • Berserk Button: Don't talk about her measurements while she's in earshot.
  • Combination Attack: Like most of the game's characters, she can team up with her allies to create them.
  • Crutch Character: Initially, she's far more powerful than anyone else on your team, but she gains levels, stat increases, and abilities far more slowly than everyone else does, so they quickly catch up.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally.
  • Decoy Protagonist: You'd be forgiven for thinking she's the main character, given that her name and appearance are so similar to those of the heroine of the first game in the series. She's not, though.
  • Does Not Like Men: Excepting Chaz, her trainee, Rune, her fellow student and childhood friend, and the bartender at the Guild, she doesn't seem to think very highly of dudes in general. But that may be because she's the top hunter in a highly competitive, male-dominated profession, and most of the men she knows are either putting her down, trying to suck up to her to get an advantage, or hitting on her.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, her first name is Lyla.
  • Elemental Powers: She can use the game's basic fire and wind techniques.
    • Blow You Away: Via the "Zan" technique series, a multitarget technique that suffocates enemies by turning the surrounding area into a vacuum.
    • Playing with Fire: Via the "Foi" technique series, a single-target technique that blasts the enemy with a bolt of flame.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Right as the player is introduced to Alys, she is immediately giving her partner Chaz orders and is also chastising him for slacking behind when he momentarily separates from her, showing she is no-nonsense and strict towards her partner. During his first mission briefing however, she is also quick to remind her client that Chaz is not an 'assistant' but a full-fledged partner, which shows that Alys has enough confidence in Chaz's abilities as a hunter that she wants everyone to give him the respect he deserves.
  • Fatal Flaw: Her overconfidence. She goes after Zio and even infiltrates his domain to rescue his hostage, in spite of Rune's warning her crew that they are no match for his immense power. They are quickly overwhelmed by Zio's powers, and Alys ends up taking a fatal blow intended for Chaz.
  • Go-Getter Girl: She's very proactive in getting work, and puts a grousing rival Hunter in his place when he complains about her taking all the jobs:
    Alys: Don't talk rubbish! Work is not something that gets sent to you. You have to go out and get it!
  • Heroic Sacrifice: She saves Chaz's life by leaping in front of Zio's "Black Wave" attack, at the cost of her own.
  • Killed Off for Real: Well before it happened to a certain flower girl, hence she's one of the first example of a major character being killed off in a JRPG.
  • Magic Enhancement: She can boost the speed of the whole party via her "Saner" technique or boost one party member's attack via the technique "Shift".
  • Miser Advisor: She helps Hahn unravel the mystery of Birth Valley... for an ever-increasing fee of meseta.
  • Mysterious Past: She's one of two player characters to have their age listed as "??" (the other is Rune) and references to her mysterious past (specifically with Rune) are alluded to throughout the first fourth of the game. Her past with Rune is fleshed out in the Phantasy Star Compendium, which reveals that she traveled with Rune in her youth but was abandoned by him after the death of their mentor Galf.
  • Only in It for the Money: Early on, she continues along with the mission objectives only so long as Hahn keeps paying.
    • Subverted: After her death, Rune points this out to Chaz, asking if he really thinks Alys only fought for money; also serves as foreshadowing.
  • Plotline Death: There's no avoiding her death at the hands of Zio, and it is necessary for the plot to continue. Even when hacking her in the game acts as though she died, since for all intents and purposes she did.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang: Her weapon, and she's easily the most talented boomerang user in the game. She's developed a few specialty techniques with it, including:
    • Blinded by the Light: Via her "Moonshade" skill, which reflects light that mesmerizes and paralyzes enemies.
    • One-Hit Kill: Via her "Death" skill, which instantly kills a single enemy with an inimpaired slicer slash to their vitals.
    • Razor Wind: Via her "Vortex" skill, which surrounds the enemy with a whirlwind of slashing blades.
  • Red Baron: Alys "The Eight-Stroke Warrior" (or, more accurately translated, "Rip-Their-Guts-Out Lyla").
  • Red Is Heroic: She and Chaz share a predominantly red color scheme in their outfits and are the game's starting heroes.
  • Status Buff: She has two of these as techniques, Shift (which increases the attack strength of one targeted character), and Saner (which increases the reaction speed of all active characters).
  • Statuesque Stunner: She's the tallest of the female party members at about 5'8 and can't take two steps in Aiedo without being harassed for her looks. When Rika joins the party, Alys practically towers over her.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is one of the most feared bounty hunters on Motavia, but an elderly neighbor mentions that Alys likes poetry and regularly cooks for her.

    Hahn Mahlay 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hahniv260.png
JOB: SCHOLAR
AGE: 24


Hahn hails from the village of Krup and is the son of an armorer. Bored with the monotonous work of forging weapons and determined to make his mark in the world, he greatly upset his father by going off to become a scholar at the Motavian Academy. He tags along after the Principal of Motavia Academy hires Alys and Chaz to look into the monster infestation in the Academy basement, and when it turns out there's more to the situation than meets the eye, Alys squeezes him for cash to accompany him on his way to try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
  • 11th-Hour Superpower: When he rejoins the party at the end of the game, he's truly a force to be reckoned with, boasting two new skills and a grab bag of powerful new techniques. While not the easiest character to take into the final battle, he's easily the most versatile.
  • All There in the Manual: Played with, as his surname is attached to the late game dagger and shield he's carrying when he returns to the party, but only by reading the Phantasy Star Compendium (or being especially acute) will a player make the connection.
  • Astral Projection: Via his late-game skill "Astral", which blasts the enemy with the concentrated totality of his astral essence.
  • Badass Normal: He's the only party member who's actually got an ordinary civilian life and a mundane job. Alys, Chaz, and Gryz are professional combatants, Rune, Raja, and Kyra are all spiritualists trained to fight evil, and Wren, Demi, and Rika were literally built for combat. Hahn really is just an ordinary young man doing his best, and part of the reason he leaves the party is because he's too overwhelmed to keep up. Then he has his secret training, so that when he returns for the final battle, he's able to meet even the Espers as peers.
  • The Blacksmith: It's his family's business; toward the end of the game he forges a powerful dagger and shield which only he can equip.
  • Butt-Monkey: During the first part of the game. By the game's end he's the resident Badass Teacher of Piata.
  • Character Development: He starts off as a bit of a weenie and is easily bullied by Alys, but by the game's end he's grown into his own as both scholar and warrior.
  • Combination Attack: He's one of the most combo-friendly characters in the game (ranking #4 behind Rune, Chaz and Kyra), lending his skills and techniques to six different combos:
    • Final Solution: Combining his Savol technique with Rune's Diem skill produces Holocaust, which inflicts a highly accurate One-Hit Kill on biological enemies and is the strongest contender in the game for Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
    • Fire, Ice, Lightning: He contributes the ice in the early-game combination technique Triblaster, which will be invaluable early on.
    • Spell Blade: He can project his Astral skill into Chaz's Rayblade skill to create the single-strike Paladin (misspelled 'Paradin') Blow.
    • Weather Manipulation: He can contribute either the weather or the element, as he can combine his Wat technique with someone's else Zan technique or Hewn skill to create a Blizzard; or combine one of his Zan techniques with someone else's Foi technique or Flaeli skill to create a Fire Storm.
    • Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: He can combine his Nawat technique with Rune or Kyra's Tandle skill to create Conduct Thunder, a multi-target electric spell that hits mechanical enemies with blue lightning for massive damage.
  • Defector from Decadence: Played with after Hahn leaves the party, as he returns to the Academy and attempts to convince them to come up with a plan of action for dealing with the Biomonster crisis they unwittingly helped spread, only to be shut down by the principal and most of the professors who refuse to take action. His disgust with their cowardice is what drives Hahn to start secretly training, but after the game's end he is shown as having returned to the Academy, resolving to transform his negative feelings for the Academy's leadership to inner strength.
  • Devious Daggers: He gradually evolves into an extremely rare example of not just a lawful knife nut, but a lawful good one, choosing to make up for his weakness by developing surgical precision instead. He starts out using knives and daggers as his weapon, not having the physical strength to wield any of the heavier weapons, but by the time he's maxed his Skill set out, he's probably the finest assassin on Motavia.
  • Elemental Powers: He can use the game's basic ice and wind techniques.
    • An Ice Person: Via the "Wat" technique series, a single-target technique which freezes the enemy.
    • Blow You Away: Via the "Zan" technique series, a multitarget technique that suffocates enemies by turning the surrounding area into a vacuum.
  • Elemental Weapon: His Mahlay Dagger is imbued with powerful fire magic, as it can be used as an item to mimic the Nafoi technique.
  • Expy: He's a Weak, but Skilled intellectual and magic user whose techniques are most effective against Biomonsters, just like Hugh from Phantasy Star II.
  • Follow in My Footsteps: His father really wants him to inherit his family's blacksmith Business but Hahn refused by studying in Piata.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: He left after Alyz was struck by Zio's black wave. However, he rejoined after Chaz obtains Elsydeon near the final dungeon as one of 5 available members to fill the 5th slot.
  • Healing Hands: Hahn can use "Res" technique series which heals HP along with "Anti" and "Rimpa" which heal poison and paralysis respectively.
  • Lethal Joke Character: After acquiring Vol. A great way to level up early in the game is to take him into the tunnel between Aiedo and Kadary, look for Zol Slugs and kill of all but two to have them fuse into a powerful Meta Slug, then kill it instantly with Vol. Rake in the exp, rinse, repeat.
  • Loved I Not Honor More: Despite his love for his fiancee Saya, Hahn decides that his duties at the Academy are more important and returns to Piata in the game's end rather than going home to Krup.
  • My Girl Back Home: He has a fiancee in the village of Krup, his impending wedding to whom he mentions frequently. Subverted, however in that he doesn't die.
  • One-Hit Kill: He's got no less than three abilities which can do this: the first two are the "Vol" duo of techniques which disintegrates enemy molecular structure, while the third is the "Eliminate" skill which introduces his knife/dagger to the enemy's vital organs up close and personal. Savol, however, is easily the most effective of the trio, being one of the few multi-target insta-kills as well as one of the most accurate.
  • Only Sane Man: He's the only faculty member of the Piata Academy who doesn't shove his head in the sand after the Zio mess. He returns to the Academy and tries to convince them to take action, only to be stonewalled.
  • The Smart Guy: Averted; he's probably the most intelligent (non-android) person in the party, but being a student, he doesn't actually know much more about what's happening than anyone else.
  • Squishy Wizard: He has mediocre HP and isn't very good at physical combat, but his techniques and skills pack a wallop.
  • Status Effects: He's got two of these as techniques, "Gelun" and "Doran" which weaken enemy attack and agility respectively. Neither is particularly useful since they don't work on bosses.
  • Super-Senses: Via his "Vision" skill, which imbued all active party members with Super-Vision and increases their dexterity.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Before the final battle, he claims to have been secretly training. He ends up having offensive magic second in power only to Rune, plus a few more instant death techniques (including one that targets all enemies).
  • Useless Useful Spell: He has debuffs much like his Phantasy Star II counterpart, and they're just as useless.

    Rune Walsh 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/runeiv467.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Kazuhiko Inoue

JOB: WIZARD (Esper)
AGE: ??


An old friend of Alys', Rune is a snarky, blue-haired wizard who possesses a gift rarely seen in Algo these days - the ability to perform true magic. Initially, he only accompanies the party briefly, but after Alys' incapacitation he joins up for good.
  • Anti-Magic: His Seals technique locks down the spellcasting abilities of any enemies it hits. Seeing Tech users raise their staffs and try futilely to heal themselves is always a delight.
  • Black Mage: His moveset is filled mostly with attack techniques and skills. Coupled with staff and robe to equp as armor, he strongly plays this trope.
  • Break Her Heart to Save Her: The reason why he abandoned Alys in the past, as he didn't want her to become reliant on him and wanted to "hasten her independence".
  • The Chosen One: He's the fifth reincarnation of Lutz from the first game
  • Combination Attack: He's by far the combo-friendly character in the game, lending his powers to a whopping eleven of the game's fifteen different combination attacks:
    • Fantastic Nuke: His Legeon skill is 1/4th of the game's strongest combination attack, Destruct. Sadly, while it inflicts 999 damage on all onscreen enemies, having the involved characters cast their skills and techniques individually usually produces more damage than a use of Destruct, making it Awesome, but Impractical.
    • Final Solution: Combining his Diem skill with Hahn's Savol technique produces Holocaust, which inflicts a highly accurate One-Hit Kill on biological enemies and is the strongest contender in the game for Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
    • Fire, Ice, Lightning: He can contribute either the fire or the ice in the early-game combination technique Triblaster, which is quite effective early on.
    • Flaming Meteor: Lending either his Flaeli skill or one of his Foi techniques to Wren's Burst Rocket produces Shooting Star, which rains flaming rockets down on all enemies for fire damage.
    • Holy Burns Evil: He can combine his Effess skill with Raja's Holyword skill to create Purifying Light, which has a chance of being a One-Hit Kill on all Dark enemies (sadly, it has no effect on bosses, even the darkest ones).
    • Spell Blade: He can cast his Efess skill into Chaz's Crosscut to create the multi-target Grand Cross, arguably the combination attack of the game.
    • Shock and Awe: He can combine his Tandle skill with Hahn's Nawat technique to create Conduct Thunder, a multi-target electric spell that hits mechanical enemies for massive damage. A second combo, combining his Tandle with Wren's Hijammer skill, produces Circuit Breaker, which acts as a One-Hit Kill to all mechanical enemies onscreen.
    • Unrealistic Black Hole: He can combine his Negatis skill with one of Kyra's Gra-series techniques to summon a Black Hole, which sucks up all vulnerable enemies.
    • Weather Manipulation: He can contribute either the weather or the element, as he can combine his Wat or Foi techniques with someone's else Zan-series technique or Hewn skill to create a Fire Storm or Blizzard, or combine his Hewn skill with someone else's Foi or Wat technique to create the same two combos an alternate way.
  • Crutch Character / Guest-Star Party Member: The first time he joins up, anyway. His level and stats are likely significantly higher than your current characters', and he has several spells that can wipe out entire enemy parties. Savvy players can abuse this to grind for a bit before he leaves. Once he joins up for good later on, the other characters have probably caught up with him stat-wise.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, his first name is Thray.
  • Eccentric Mentor: He's a snarky magician who knows a lot more than he's letting on at first, who mercilessly teases Chaz, and who is secretly grooming Chaz to be The Chosen One.
  • Elemental Powers: Befitting his lineage, he can use several elemental techniques with great skill. These include:
    • An Ice Person: Via the "Wat" technique series, a single-target technique which freezes the enemy.
    • Blow You Away: Via the "Hewn" skill, a multi-target attack which hurls cyclones of magical energy at enemies.
    • Casting a Shadow: Via the "Diem" skill, which will cause an enemy's body to cease all function if it connects, effectively acting as a One-Hit Kill.
    • Gravity Master: Via the "Gra" techniques, a multi-target technique series which crushes enemies inside a powerful gravity well. A later skill, "Negatis", also falls under this banner, but is a One-Hit Kill on any enemies it hits.
    • Holy Hand Grenade: Via the "Effess" skill, which calls down a Pillar of Light on all onscreen enemies but is only effective against Dark-type enemies, doing 1 damage to all others. Fortunately there's no shortage of Dark enemies in this game.
    • Light 'em Up: Via the "Legeon" skill, which inflicts generates multiple bursts of light energy that damages all onscreen enemies.
    • Playing with Fire: Via both the "Foi" technique series and the "Flaeli" skill, both of which inflict fire damage on the victim.
    • Shock and Awe: Via the "Tandle" skill, a multi-target attack which blasts enemies with lightning.
  • Expy: Of Lutz from Phantasy Star. Justified in that he actually is Lutz, reincarnated.
  • Healing Hands: Among his Black Magic Technique set, he learns "rever" which revives dead party member and "arows" which cures party from sleep status.
  • Glass Cannon: While his spells are certianly very powerful, he has the lowest HP and defence of the party.
  • Good Is Not Nice: As the heir of Lutz's will and memories he's one of the chief forces of good in the Algo solar system. This doesn't mean he is particularly nice, as Chaz and Alys can both attest to.
  • Jerkass: During his first stint in the party, he's quite rude and condescending to Chaz. As the game goes on and he becomes more familiar with the party he starts to show his true colors as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Inverted; during his first stint in the party, Rune is of a much higher level than your other party members, and can pretty much nuke any enemies you encounter on his own. When he later rejoins, he's still powerful, but not noticeably moreso than the other characters.
  • Mysterious Past: Like Alys, his age is mysteriously unknown, and when they meet it's revealed that they know each other, though the specifics are never made clear. Turns out they met as teens when Rune traveled to Motavia as part of his training to become Lutz, and along with Alys's mentor Galf the three of them formed a trio for a little while. Rune "knew he had to leave sometime" and abandoned Alys abruptly, with the two not meeting again until their reunion in Molculm.
  • One-Hit Kill: His "Diem" and "Negatis" skills mentioned above.
  • BlueOni: To Chaz's Red.
  • Space Master: Via the Hinas and Ryuka techniques, which allow Rune to teleport out of dungeons or instantly teleport to any town of the caster's choice.
  • Squishy Wizard: The squishiest in the game. However, with the aforementioned Dual Wielding of Silver Shields, he takes surprisingly little damage from magical attacks late in the game. Wren, of all characters, is in worse danger from the final boss' onslaught than a properly shielded-out Rune.
  • Telepathy: While not a skill revealed during the course of the game, the Sealed Memories Japanese drama CD reveals that Rune/Thray has this ability.
  • Useless Useful Spell: His Arows technique, which wakes up any and all party members that have been put to sleep. While this sounds useful, particularly in the battles with Dark Force 2 and 3, sleep is such a weak ailment in this game that the character will usually wake up on their own in a turn or two and the turn is better spent on an attack spell.

    Gryz 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gryziv319.png
JOB: MOTAVIAN (Warrior)
AGE: 19


A native Motavian warrior, Gryz lives to avenge his parents, who were killed when the dark wizard Zio destroyed the village of Molculm. The only other surviving member of his family is his little sister Pana, who he is guarding in the town of Tonoe. He is instructed to join the party by Grandfather Dorin to help them procure the magical elixir Alshline, and tags along afterward in hopes of avenging his family and friends. He hits hard, but is slow, misses a lot, and has few magical abilities.
  • 11th-Hour Superpower: Which highlights his limited repertoire compared to the rest of the cast, as while characters like Hahn and Raja come back to the party at the end of the game with plenty of fancy new techniques and skills, Gryz comes back with... Sweeping, a variant of a skill Chaz learned way back in the first quarter of the game.
  • Badass Normal: His only technique is Brose, which is a One-Hit Kill that only affects biological enemies, and he only learns three skills (a Sweeping attack that hits all enemies, a War Cry that increases his own attack power, and another One-Hit Kill attack called Crash). Other than that, he's just a very hardy warrior.
  • Battle Cry: One of his skills, "War Cry", is this. It unsurprisingly strengthens his attack.
  • The Big Guy: Certainly he is physically; he lacks the lively personality most examples of this character type have however.
  • Combination Attack: Averted. He's one of only two characters in the game who cannot contribute to any combination attacks.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: He's good at one thing and one thing only: hitting enemies with an axe. Accordingly, he's by far the most limited of the five options available to the player, and those who take him along to fight the final boss are almost always doing so for Bragging Rights.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: He succeeds in his goal of avenging the destruction of his hometown at the hands of Zio and is shown returning to his little sister Pana's side at the game's end.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: He left after the party defeats Zio. However, he rejoins after Chaz obtained Elsydeon near the final dungeon as one of 5 available members to fill the 5th slot.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: His motivation is to protect his little sister Pana and avenge the deaths of their parents, who died at the hands of Zio.
  • Magically Inept Fighter: Outside of the androids who can't even use magic and Seth, he's by far the most magically-inept player character in the game. He gets exactly one spell throughout the entire course of the game, and it's far from useful.
  • Mighty Glacier: He has the fastest strength growth of any character in the game but lacks more than a little in agility.
  • My Greatest Failure: When he returns at the end of the game, he confesses in a roundabout way to feeling guilt for leaving the party after their victory against Zio, asking if he can "make amends" to Chaz by coming along for the final battle.
  • One-Hit Kill: He has two, the skill "Crash" (in which he introduced a single enemy to his axe) and "Brose" (his only technique, which has a chance to discorporating any biological enemies. Sadly, neither technique is particularly effective.
  • Revenge: His motivation for going after Zio.
  • Shields Are Useless: He can equip shields, but as axes are a two-handed weapon, equipping him with them essentially neuters his damage-dealing capability completely.
  • Token Nonhuman: Despite the Motavians being part of the mythos since the first game, he's the only Motavian character that ever joins a party across any of the original four games.

    Rika 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rikaiv416.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Yukana

JOB: NUMAN
AGE: 1


Rika is a Numan, a genetically engineered being created in an underground laboratory by the computer Seed. Though she's only a year old, she looks like a young adult woman. She possesses an optimistic, friendly personality, and all the curiosity you'd expect of an intelligent being that's never seen the outside world.
  • Action Girl: Despite having no formal combat training, she's a fast learner and in no time at all is kicking butt with the rest of the party.
  • All There in the Manual: The supplemental materials indicate that Rika was developed to add to the gene pool on Motavia, intended to breed future generations that could comfortably survive the deteriorating environment. When Wren tells her that her choice to live out her life with Chaz will be hard, he's referring to her choice to join humanity, knowing there's a good chance it won't work out for her.
  • Artificial Human: She's one of an artificial breed of half-human, half-Biomonsters who made their first series appearance in Phantasy Star II.
  • Barrier Warrior: She's the only character in the game who can learn the "Deban" technique, which encompasses the whole party and reduces physical damage dealt to them.
  • Combat Medic: She possesses some of the best healing magic of any of the characters (she learns all the healing techniques except the two resurrection abilities, Rever and Regen), and can also kick plenty of butt in physical combat.
  • Combination Attack: She's one of the more limited characters in this regard, only being able to contribute her skills and techniques to two combos, and of those one is only usable during the first quarter of the game.
    • Fantastic Nuke: Her Deban technique is 1/4th of the game's strongest combination attack, Destruct. Sadly, while it inflicts 999 damage on all onscreen enemies, having the involved characters cast their skills and techniques individually usually produces more damage than a use of Destruct, making it Awesome, but Impractical.
    • Your Mind Makes It Real: She can combine her Illusion skill with Alys's One-Hit Kill skill Death to create the Lethal Image attack, which kills all vulnerable onscreen enemies.
  • Covers Always Lie: The Japanese Phantasy Star IV cover art featured Rika (or rather Fal) wearing some sort of giant mechanical arm that looks like it would have been a case of Plug 'n' Play Prosthetics: In the game itself she gets no weapon even remotely like that as all of her weapons are claws.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Like all Numans, she possesses some traits indicating her monstrous heritage, in her case her ears.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, her name is Fal.
  • Expy: Of Nei from Phantasy Star II. Originally, she was actually supposed to be Nei, but this was changed in development.
  • Improbable Age: As mentioned above, she's all of a single year old.
  • Instant Expert: Thanks to her Numan heritage she gains experience much more quickly than any other member of the party and despite starting at Level 1 very quickly catches up. In fact, she just keeps going, to the point where unless players deliberately let her die (often) so everyone else can catch up she'll outstrip everyone else to have the highest level by the game's end.
  • Jack of All Stats: Deals decent melee damage, is a decent healer, takes a reasonable amount of damage and has some useful buffs.
  • Leotard of Power: Worn under her armor.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The fastest of all the characters, she hits quite hard to boot.
  • Magic Enhancement: She can enhance the party's physical defense via her Deban technique or their speed via "Saner", which only she and Alys can learn.
  • Master of Illusion: Via her "Illusion" skill, which creates a psychic series of afterimages that reduces the agility of affected enemies.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Like Rune and Raja, she's sensitive to the Darkness and events connected with it, such as when Alys's condition takes a turn for the worse.
  • One-Hit Kill: Via her "Eliminate" skill.
  • Pink Means Feminine: She's got pink hair and is a lady through and through.
  • Running Gag: While Raja is with the party, he's constantly teasing Rika about her "horns", always getting her to fume and correct him: they're her ears, thank you!
  • Skilled, but Naive: Despite being among the most powerful characters you can get in your party, she's not very worldly, as you might expect of someone who's spent the only year of her life in an underground laboratory.
  • Unlimited Wardrobe: Averted. Originally she was going to have multiple outfits, including a dress and sensible winter gear for the Dezolis arc, but the winter gear was rejected "to have her outfit in the events mesh with her battle outfit", and no explanation is offered for why her dress was cut.
  • Wolverine Claws: Dual wielded, of course.
  • The World Is Just Awesome: Having spent her only year of life so far living underground, she's amazed the first time she gets to see things like flowers, trees, and the sky. While she had been taught about such things, she had never been able to actually experience them.

    Demi 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/demiiv314.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Junko Iwao

JOB: ANDROID
AGE: 324


Demi is an android created as to act as system controller for the climate systems of Motavia, thus has access to Nurvus, an artificial system responsible for supplying energy for remaining systems in Motavia. However, she was captured and immobilized by Zio to prevent the shutdown of Nurvus.
  • Ace Pilot: She drives the Land Rover for the party.
  • Action Girl: Not at first, as the party has to rescue her and initially she's more or less just a healer. But after acquiring stronger gear and the Phonon skill, she holds her own with the rest of the party.
  • After-Combat Recovery: If the party wins a fight while she's defeated, she recovers from unconsciousness with 1 HP.
  • Barrier Warrior: She has access to the immensely useful "Barrier" skill which reduces magic damage.
  • Combat Medic: For players who wind up choosing her to take into the final battle, she'll most likely serve this role. Medic Power isn't as strong as some of Raja's healing techniques, but Demi can dish out damage more reliably than the priest.
  • Combination Attack: She can only contribute to one of these, combining her upgrade skill Phonon with Chaz's Airslash to create the multitarget atack Silent Wave. Though it's not as flashy as the other combos, it'll still come in handy at Nurvus.
  • Damsel in Distress: When you first encounter her, she's being held captive in Zio's tower.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, her name is Freyna.
  • Force and Finesse: The Finesse to Wren's Force. She's not as strong as doesn't have as much HP as her boss, but her dexterity is higher and she can contribute to the party as a healer with her Medic Power.
  • Glass Cannon: Unique example. She can dish good damage, but is completely unprotected from magic damage due to non-existent mental stat (Justified since she's an android). High mental enemy + no "barrier" skill used + underlevel = pretty much instant doom for her. Good thing she has higher HP than some party members.
  • Glacier Waif: Against enemies that rely strictly on physical attacks she is this, as she has higher HP than her humanoid allies and can soak up more damage than them.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: She stays behind after Nurvus was shut down to run it. However, she rejoins after Chaz obtained Elsydeon near the final dungeon as one of 5 available members to fill the 5th slot.
  • The Gunslinger: Like Wren, she uses guns in combat, and tends to favor Sonic Stunner-type guns.
  • Heal Thyself: In addition to her Healing Factor directly below, she can also recover health in battle via her aptly-named Recover skill.
  • Healing Factor: As an android, Demi is able to gradually regenerate health in every steps when not fighting without needing to rest in an inn like the organic characters.
  • Healing Hands: She has access to "medic power" skill which heals humanoid allies as well as revives them.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's the Tiny Girl to Wren's Huge Guy.
  • Lost in Translation: Her politeness in Japanese doesn't quite carry over in some places, and it makes a few of her exchanges a bit awkward.
  • Loud of War: Via her single upgrade skill, "Phonon" which installs the Phononmezer system to use sonic attacks.
  • The Medic: Can serve this role in a party with her Medic Power skill, which is between Sar and Gisar in terms of healing efficacy but also doubles as a full-party revive.
  • No-Sell: As an android, she's immune to the paralysis, sleep, and poison status effects, and by extension attacks that induce these effects.
  • Older Than They Look: She's 324 years old; justified since she's a robot.
  • One-Hit Kill: Via her Spark skill, which inflicts instant death (but only on mechanical enemies).
  • The Paralyzer: Via her Stasis Beam skill, which fires a beam of paralyzing light at one enemy.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's easily the shortest character in the game, but don't underestimate her worth for it.
  • Punny Name: Via the dub. Wanna know why she was named Demi? She's half as tall as Wren. Ha ha.
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: She's rather modest, an odd personality trait for a robot to have. To the point that she asks the male party members to turn around while she installs the Phonon system into herself.
  • Robot Girl: Though she's "no different from a human being" according to Alys, she is in fact a centuries-old android.
  • Upgrade Artifact: The Phononmezer parts in the Plate System function as this, allowing her to learn the Phonon skill (which she will never learn otherwise).

    Wren 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wreniv436.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Show Hayami

JOB: ANDROID
AGE: 998


Demi's master and Android placed in artificial satellite Zelan. After the party shut down Nurvus, Demi suggested them to meet him since she theorized that Zelan had been "issuing abnormal commands". He joins the party after suggesting that the problem lies in Kuran which made Zelan's power and communication shut down.
  • Ace Pilot: He takes over piloting duties upon joining the party, flying the Zelan space shuttle, the Landale spaceship, and the Ice Digger and Hydrofoil vehicles.
  • Agent Scully: He's usually dismissive of supernatural explanations (the Garuberk Tower causing the Dezolisian snowstorms, Lutz really being 2,000 years old) and prefers to rely on logic only. Sometimes this leads him to the correct conclusions and sometimes it doesn't.
  • After-Combat Recovery: Like Demi, he recovers from being defeated at the end of a battle.
  • Almighty Janitor: As the custodian of the environmental control systems, his position is analogous to a multi-planetary janitor, and while he could use that position to install himself as Algo's dictator if he really wanted (one comic in the Phantasy Star Compendium humorously lampshades this by having Wren use the systems to play Populous, with predictably disastrous results), he sees himself as nothing more than a janitor. In his discussion with Daughter, he chides her for her "excessive interference".
  • Barrier Warrior: He has access to the immensely useful "Barrier" skill which reduces magic damage.
  • Combination Attack: Joining the party in the second half of the game, he can't contribute to as many combos as early-comers like Hahn and Rune, but he still lends his skills to three powerful combos:
    • Fantastic Nuke: His Positron Bolt skill is 1/4th of the game's strongest combination attack, Destruct. Sadly, while it inflicts 999 damage on all onscreen enemies, having the involved characters cast their skills and techniques individually usually produces more damage than a use of Destruct, making it Awesome, but Impractical.
    • Flaming Meteor: Lending his Burstrock skill to either Rune's Flaeli or one of the Foi techniques used by Rune and Kyra creates Shooting Star, which rains flaming rockets down on all enemies for fire damage.
    • Shock and Awe: Combining his Hijammer skill with Rune's Tandle produces Circuit Breaker, which acts as a One-Hit Kill to all mechanical enemies onscreen.
  • Dub Name Change: In the original Japanese, his name is Forren/Fouren, and amusingly thanks to a translation goof he will still be called this once in-game (Daughter will moan his original name after being shut down).
  • Evil Counterpart Race: Long before Wren joins the party, they'll have to fight Wren-type androids (Warren 286 in the Wreckage, and then Siren 386 at Kuran and Browren 486 at the Vahal Fort after Wren joins). Luckily for the party these androids aren't advanced as the big lug they know and love, but they can still pack a punch.
  • Force and Finesse: The Force to Demi's Finesse. While far from clumsy or brutish, Wren still has more HP and strength than his subordinate, slightly lesser dexterity which makes him a mite less accurate, and aside from his Barrier skill is exclusively a damage-dealing machine.
  • Genius Bruiser: He's the single most educated character in the game and packs quite a wallop with his skills.
  • Gentle Giant: He's the tallest character in the party but has a gentle (if somewhat distant) personality.
  • Glass Cannon: Against spellcasting enemies he can fall prey to this, similar to Demi. Thankfully he has higher HP.
  • The Gunslinger: A position he shares with Demi, though owing to his larger size he can use stronger firearms she can't.
  • Heal Thyself: In addition to his Healing Factor directly below, he can also recover health in battle via his aptly-named Recover skill.
  • Healing Factor: As an android, Wren is able to gradually regenerate health when not fighting with needing to rest in an inn like the organic characters, in addition to the After-Combat Recovery mentioned above.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's the Huge Guy to Demi's Tiny Girl.
  • Identical Stranger: He looks remarkably similar to the Wren of Phantasy Star III but they are two completely different characters (indeed, the Wren of PSIII bears an identical model number to one of the generic enemy Wrens detailed above).
  • Large and in Charge: He's the head of the entire Algo control system and the tallest character to join the party.
  • Macross Missile Massacre: Via his Burst Rockets ("Burstroc" skill, which sees him fire a salvo of rockets at the victim(s). As the attack inflicts fire damage, it'll be quite useful on Dezolis.
  • Mighty Glacier: He falls somewhere between this and Lightning Bruiser, being on the higher end of the agility pool but beat out by Alys, Chaz, Rika, Demi and Seth. He'll get faster as he levels though, and no matter what level he's at his attacks will pack a punch.
  • Mysterious Past: He's been alive for almost an entire millennium, but very little of his life prior to Rika's birth is known. Notably, his age combined with Phantasy Star IV's in-game date of 2284 means he was first created in AW 1286, two years after the events of Phantasy Star II.
  • No-Sell: As an android, he's immune to the paralysis, sleep, and poison status effects, and by extension attacks which induce these effects.
  • Obstructive Code of Conduct: According to Wren, he was given "the minimum environmental control ability", though with his original creators long since gone it's highly likely he could exert greater control if he really wanted to. But he doesn't.
    • A comic in the Compendium shows him using the environmental controls like a game of Populous, trying to create a mountain and accidentally making a volcano instead. Cut to Motavia's surface, where the poor, unsuspecting citizens of a town are fleeing the eruption, then back to Wren. This seems to be the short answer on why Wren doesn't edit Algo more than he does.
  • Older Than They Look: Even more so than Demi
  • One-Hit Kill: His "spark" skill only works on mechanical enemies though.
  • Really 700 Years Old : Older than that, he's NINE HUNDRED NINETY EIGHT years old.
  • Scully Syndrome: Because he was created to monitor the climate control systems of Algo, he immediately jumps to the conclusion that malfunctioning control systems are behind the environmental problems on Dezolis, and because he is more educated than the crusty old fart Raja, the party goes with his explanation. As it turns out, he was wrong and Raja was right: the Dezolisian Climatrol system is functioning just fine, but the Garuberk Tower's dark magic is overriding it.
  • Sonic Stunner: Via his upgrade skill Hyper-Jammer ("Hijammer"), which emits EMP waves that paralyze mechanical enemies.
  • Spock Speak: Being an older model maintenance droid who rarely interacts with humanoids, he tends to talk like this.
  • The Spock: Unsurprisingly given that he's an android, he remains level-headed in even the most stressful situations.
  • Tin Man: Wren never lets himself get drawn into the emotional outbursts that the rest of the party often get mired in and his responses (or lack of response) seems to imply an aloof manner befitting an ancient android, but his defense of humans to Daughter and his choosing to let Rika choose her own future at the end both show that he clearly cares on some level about the people of Algo.
  • Upgrade Artifact: Befitting his status as the main android of the team, Wren encounters no fewer than three of these through the course of the game: Hyper-Jammer parts, which he acquires on the satellite Kuran; Burst Rocket parts, which he acquires at the Weapons Plant on Dezolis; and the Positron Bolt parts, which he acquires at the Vahal Fort on Motavia. Note that without these parts Wren will never learn these skills.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Via his ultimate skill Positron Bolt ("Posibolt"), a weapons system designed for attacking space stations.
  • You Didn't Ask: In the Drama CD, this is his reasoning for why he never mentioned meeting Chaz as a boy, or tried to update anyone about what became of the Nei clones.

    Su Raja 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rajaiv282.png
JOB: PRIEST
AGE: 85


A carefree priest in a remote temple in which the party's Emergency space shuttle crash landed on. He forced his way on the party as a consequence for destroying the very temple he's in.
  • All There in the Manual: His full name is only stated in the Phantasy Star Compendium.
  • Badass Preacher: He's older than dirt and he's as squishy as a wizard can be, but that has never stopped him. He's also the only character in the entire game to completely shake off the Black Wave disease.
  • Bald Mystic: An old wise bald man with healing and holy magical abilities
  • Barrier Warrior: His "Blessing" skill, which is essentially a Dezolisian skill version of Rika's "Deban" technique.
  • Cassandra Truth: Nobody believes him that Garuberk Tower is the source of snowstorms and Black Wave disease. The party insisted that artificial systems going haywire are the cause. But when they went to climate control with no results and went to Meese only to find one NPC to stated that the epidemy started shortly after Garuberk Tower appeared, he was finally proven correct.
  • Combination Attack: For all of Raja's utility, he can only contribute to one of these. Combining his Holyword with Rune's Efess will produce Puryfing Light ("Purifylight"), which inflicts a One-Hit Kill on any vulnerable Dark-type monsters. Sadly, Efess is more useful being saved to inflict damage on bosses, making this one of the Awesome, but Impractical combos.
  • Cool Old Guy: At 85 he's by far the oldest biological member of the party, but he's still got a good sense of humor.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Par excellence.
  • Dirty Old Man: Despite being a priest by profession.
  • Expy: Amusingly enough his Phantasy Star II counterpart is Hospital Hottie Amy, who is also the undisputed White Mage of the party over the course of the game.
  • Good Shepherd: He fulfills the trope's description to the letter, even taking it in grace he was Reassigned to Antarctica.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: He left after he fell victim to Black Wave disease but rejoined after Chaz obtained Elsydeon near the final dungeon as one of 5 available members to fill the 5th slot.
  • Heavenly Blue: His outfit is predominantly blue and he has the strongest connection to Light and light magic out of any character to join the party.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: His Saint Fire ("St. Fire") skill inflicts holy damage on all onscreen enemies.
  • Ignored Expert: He maintains all along that the Garuberk Tower is causing the lethal blizzard on Dezolis, but since he's an obnoxious old fart who doesn't know anything about the malfunctioning environmental control systems, nobody listens to him. Turns out the obnoxious old fart really is a highly skilled spiritualist, and when it comes to detecting evil, his abilities leave even Rune's in the dust. Which isn't surprising, since he has several decades of experience on the latter.
  • It Amused Me: He initially tags along with the party out of boredom, but soon finds a better motivation in stopping the spread of darkness across Dezolis.
  • Last-Name Basis: He's only ever called by his surname.
  • The Medic: Miracle is a full-party healing skill that's so powerful, it can even heal androids, who are otherwise unaffected by normal healing techniques and potions. He's the only character who learns all the healing and revival techniques (Res, Gires, Nares, Sar, Gisar, Nasar, Rever, and Regen, the last of which is learned by nobody else), has the only skill that restores TP (Ataraxia), and thanks to a high Mental stat, his heals are more powerful than anyone else's.
  • One-Hit Kill: His "Holyword" skill inflicts this on any single vulnerable Dark monster, and when combined with Rune's Efess it acts as this to all vulnerable Dark monsters/
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: According to Gyuna, his superiors at Gumbious dumped him in a backwater nowhere temple to get rid of him (and probably his sense of humor). It's also probably why he doesn't really care that the emergency shuttle crushes his temple: he never liked it there anyway.
  • Regenerating Mana: His "Ataraxia" skill is the only skill or technique in the entire game which produces an effect of this kind, restoring a number of Technique Points (TP) of all party members.
  • Required Party Member: Although most of the player characters throughout the game are this, Raja is a notable case since he is initially seen this way in-game: Chaz and company only let him tag along because their spaceship crashed on his temple, and they see him as a burden at best and annoying at worst. Over time, of course, he proves his worth to them, and his jovial personality grows on them.
  • Token Nonhuman: Despite the Dezolisians being part of the mythos since the first game, he's the only Dezolisian character that ever joins a party across any of the original four games.
  • White Mage: He's a healer in white and blue robes, wields a staff (unless you equip him with two shields), and he really is caring and compassionate, he's just bad at showing it.

    Kyra Tierney 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kyraiv293.png
JOB: ESPER
AGE: 18


An Esper, along with her friends, stationed in Meese to help villagers infected by degenerative disease caused by The Black Wave Energy. Her hot-blooded nature made her go to forest of carnivorous trees alone to confront what everyone thought to be the cause.
  • Ascended Fanboy: As a member of the Esper society, she was raised on the legends of the heroes of yore such as Lutz and Alis, and by joining the party she earns her chance to stand among those Protectors. She even gets to work with Lutz, the figurehead of the Espers who she utterly reveres.
  • Barrier Warrior: Her "Warla" skill, which is essentially an Esper version of Rika's "Deban" technique.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Her outfit is predominantly blue and white, and her blues are of a darker shade than Raja's, indicating that her personality is more outgoing while his is more serene.
  • Broken Pedestal: Played for Laughs, as she utterly reveres Lutz but is disappointed to learn he is in fact the irreverent Rune. Eventually subverted, as Rune wins her respect and she acknowledges it when she leaves the party, even as she admits that he wasn't what she expected.
  • Combination Attack: As a member of the Esper Mansion's magic-practicing society, she is one of the most combo friendly characters in the game, tying with Chaz as second only to Rune and wielding her skills and techniques to seven different combos:
    • Fire, Ice, Lightning: She can contribute the fire via a Foi technique to the game's only triple combo attack, Triblaster, though sadly that combo will be old hat and have worn out its usefulness by the time Kyra joins.
    • Flaming Meteor: Lending either her Flaeli skill or one of her Foi techniques to Wren's Burst Rocket produces Shooting Star, which rains flaming rockets down on all enemies for fire damage. She is also
    • Shock and Awe: In two different combos, both of which make use of her Tandle skill. The first combines it with Wren's Hijammer skill to produce Circuit Breaker, which acts as a One-Hit Kill to all mechanical enemies onscreen. The second combo is with Rune or Hahn's Nawat technique (though she and Hahn will never be in the same party unless it is hacked) and creates Conduct Thunder, a multi-target electric spell that hits mechanical enemies for massive damage.
    • Unrealistic Black Hole: She can combine of of her Gra techniques with Rune's Negatis skill to summon a Black Hole, which sucks up all vulnerable enemies.
    • Weather Manipulation: She can contribute either the weather or the elements, as he can combine her Foi technique or Flaeli skill with someone's else Zan-series technique or Hewn skill to create a Fire Storm, or combine her Hewn skill with someone else's Foi or Wat technique to create a Fire Storm (again) or alternately a Blizzard.
  • Cool Big Sis: Views herself as this toward Chaz.
  • Damsel in Distress: You need to rescue her from a forest of carnivorous trees before you can get her in your party.
  • Elemental Powers: She's essentially a less experienced Rune, and wields a handful of the same elements he does.
    • Blow You Away: Kyra can use the "Hewn" skill, which inflicts wind damage on the victim.
    • Gravity Master: Kyra can use the "Gra" technique set, which inflicts damage on the victim by manipulating gravity.
    • Playing with Fire: Kara can use the "Foi" technique set and the "Flaeli" skill, both of which inflict fire damage on the victim
    • Shock and Awe: Kyra can use the "Tandle" skill, which inflicts lightning damage on the victim.
  • Foil: To Alys, on many levels; on most levels, they're alike, but also opposite.
    • They both wear uniforms but Alys is a serious, even-tempered hunter in a red-and-black dress; Kyra is a playful and hotblooded Esper in a white cape and sweater over blue pants.
    • They both live for their work, but Alys earns her living by fighting monsters professionally; Kyra is an ascetic who freely offers her magic to heal the sick.
    • They both decide to attack their enemy after seeing too many innocent people suffer, but Alys only decides to target Zio after gathering a party and having a reason to go to his fortress already; Kyra storms off alone to fight the source of the Black Wave that stands beyond the forest of carnivorous trees, whatever it may be.
    • They both use slashers, but Kyra's many special skills are all Esper magic, while Alys' are few and weapon-based.
    • They both have a surrogate family relation to Chaz, but Alys respects Chaz as a partner rather than a surrogate son and dies protecting him, while Kyra is excited to be Chaz's big sister despite having to be rescued by him.
    • They both have a prior connection to Rune, but Alys is bashful about it and never tells anyone how they know each other, while Kyra fangirls over the great wizard Lutz and has no idea he's standing right in front of her.
    • They even both use the Moonshade ability, but Alys learns it naturally where Kyra can only use it by obtaining a Moon Slicer, a weapon Alys has no opportunity to get.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: she left after defeating second Dark Force. However, she rejoins after Chaz obtained Elsydeon near the final dungeon as one of 5 available members to fill the 5th slot.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Inverted; she doesn't run off to Garuberk Tower because she doesn't want to work with others, but because she can't stand to see her friends suffer.
  • Jack of All Stats: Like Chaz, Kyra is a roughly average character, having a mental stat comparable to Hahn but making up for it with slower TP growth than him or Rune. She's also a Jack of All Trades skills wise, having a good mix of healing and attack techniques and skills.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: When you first meet her she's charged into the forest of carnivorous trees with no allies and no plan other than Attack! Attack! Attack! If the party hadn't arrived to save her, she'd have been evil tree mulch. Fortunately, she grows out of this during her time with the party.
  • Liquid Assets: Like her fellow Espers, she can transfer her life energy to others in a pinch. She and the other Espers were doing this in Meese since none of their traditional healing techniques were having any effect.
  • Magic Knight: She's an Esper trained in various magical skills but also knows how to use boomerangs.
  • The Paralyzer: Via her "Bindwa" skill, which inflicts paralysis on all vulnerable onscreen enemies.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang: Like Alys before her, she uses Boomerangs as her weapon. She doesn't seem as talented with them as Alys, however, since none of her skills require her to use one.
  • Tomboy: She described this way by her Esper colleagues.
  • True Blue Femininity: Her outfit is color-coded in this and white.
  • Useless Useful Spell: Her "Telele" skill decrease enemy's mental stat, but has little practical use whatsoever.

    Seth 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sethivportrait.jpg
JOB: SCHOLAR
AGE: 39


A traveling archaeologist who encounters the party on the Soldier's Temple island near Krup. He asks to tag along with the party, saying that the infestation of monsters in the caves has made it hard for him to continue his research. However, not all is as it seems with this Stepford Smiler...
  • 11th-Hour Ranger: He's the last character to join the party.
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: What he claims to be.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Whether Seth was Dark Force in disguise or possessed by him is never stated.
  • A Taste of Power: His brief tenure with the party marks the only time you'll be able to try out Dark-themed skills such as Corrosion and Deathspell.
  • Badasses Wear Bandanas: He wears a red headband and is reasonably useful during the brief period you have him around.
  • Body Horror: Assuming that he was not aware of his impending transformation into Dark Force.
  • Casting a Shadow: Seth possesses the skills "Shadow Bind" and "Corrosion". One enables him to reduce the victim's agility by manipulating their mind while the other one inflicts dark damage to the victim.
  • Combination Attack: Averted. He's one of only two characters in the game who cannot contribute to any combination attacks.
  • Developer's Foresight: If you hack the game to force Seth into a fight with Dark Force 3, you'll find that he's completely immune to dark-type status effects, a clever hinting to his true nature that most players will never witness since none of the Islandcave's monsters use these.
  • Foil: To Alys as a parent/mentor figure, to the point that it can serve as evidence that he's not a real person and never was.
  • Foreshadowing: Rune seems wary of him from the start, and if you use the TALK option after getting the Aero-Prism he'll stop Chaz from letting Seth inspect the relic. The correct decision.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Only accompanies the party for one dungeon.
  • Magically Inept Fighter: Sort of. He can use Dark magic skills, but he has no TP and never learns any techniques. This lends some credence to the theory that he was Dark Force all along, as the only other party characters who never learn any techniques at all are the androids Wren and Demi.
  • Mind Manipulation:
    • Seth possesses the "Mind Blast" skill, which paralyses the victim.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: He's the only Protector that does not get a profile in the game manual. Which, of course, is because he isn't really a Protector at all.
    • In the section of the strategy guide that lists off the techniques of all characters at either their maximum level (for characters that don't last to the end) or average level at the end (if they do), the description for Seth is Seth at level... Who cares, he's a bum.
  • Mysterious Past: It's not clear if he was Once A Man or if he really is just Dark Force in a human disguise. Returning to the university town of Piata with him is interesting, as former party member Hahn will say that he doesn't know Seth's face.
  • Naïve Newcomer: He affects this attitude in his conversations with the party through the Island Cave dungeon.
  • Obviously Evil: Hm, okay, this random archaeologist guy seems friendly enough, let's see what he can do... SHADOW, CORROSION, DEATHSPELL, all attacks used by enemies in the service of Darkness. That's not suspicious at all!
  • Palette Swap: Of Hahn, naturally.
  • So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear: Because he leaves the party after the Island Cave mission, it's advised to strip him of his gear before leaving the Soldier's Temple. Particularly since he's geared up in valuable Laconian equipment and wearing a unique Cyber Suit armor that can be found nowhere else in the game.
  • Stepford Smiler: He's just a little too polite.
  • The Mole: Though it's unclear if he's aware of it or not — his scream of horror as his body twists into Dark Force seems to be genuine.
  • Token Evil Teammate: He's the only villainous character that joins the party, or any party across the original four Phantasy Star games.
  • Vague Age: Subverted — his character bio states very clearly that he's 39, which lends some credence to the theory that he was Once A Man, since if Dark Force just whipped him up he'd have a very young age like Rika.
  • Walking Spoiler: He's so much this that the U.S. manual for the game doesn't even give him a profile.
  • Weakened by the Light: He shrieks in pain at the holy light of the Aero Prism, and that's when Dark Force comes bursting out of him. This moment leads some credence to the theory that he was Dark Force all along, as the Aero Prism is specifically stated to "illuminate everything", implying that it forced Dark Force to discard the Seth disguise and show its true self.
  • Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: He sure does have some fancy equipment for a traveling archaeologist. In addition to the items detailed above, he's also carrying a Reflect Shield.

Antagonists

    Juza 
JOB: Dark Priest
AGE: ??


https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/juza.png
Zio's high priest in his Religion of Evil, Juza acts as his guard and tries to prevent the party from reaching him in Zio's Fort. Despite packing a wallop with some of his attacks, he fails and is killed.
  • Dark Is Evil: Like his master he wears all black and is a villain through and through.
  • Degraded Boss: Later in the game you'll encounter Palette Swap versions of him as common (if strong) enemies. The Greneris enemy will be found later in Nurvus, while the Radhin enemy will be found in the Garuberk Tower.
  • The Dragon: Functions as this to Zio.
  • Elemental Powers: He can use the game's basic fire, ice, and wind techniques.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: He's on this page despite being a speed bump miniboss with so little development, we don't even know if he's human or not. The guild desk clerk and Mito the Fortuneteller have more screentime but don't tend to leave as much impact. He is Juza, he stops guys from bothering Zio, he dies on the job and nobody minds. In that regard he's no different to other one-off bosses like Gy-Laguiah.
  • Light 'em Up: Via his ultimate skill, Forceflash. It's strong and does quite a bit of damage, making it a strong contender for That One Attack early on.
  • Mysterious Past: It's not clear if Juza was like Zio, an ordinary man corrupted by darkness, or if he was a dark creature sent to work for Zio like the Xe-A-Thouls were with Lashiec.
  • Shoulders of Doom: He wears a slightly more conservative version of Zio's outfit.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: He's the first really seriously challenging boss and will blast an underleveled party to kingdom come if they don't know what they're doing.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: To contrast with Zio's black hair presumably, and of course their hearts are both as black as they come.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: He gets exactly one line of dialogue and is killed off in the same fight the party meets him in.

    Zio 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zioiv293.png
JOB: Dark Wizard
AGE: ??


The Heavy during the first quarter of the game, Zio is a Sinister Minister who leads a Religion of Evil. He is responsible for sealing off Birth Valley, turning the inhabitants of Zema to stone, massacring the Motavian village of Molculm and causing the climate control systems of Motavia to run amok. While all of this paints him as the game's Big Bad, ultimately he is revealed to be little more than a pawn of the game's true Big Bad.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent: Between his monochromatic wardrobe preference, environmental sabotage, penchant for making those who displease him Taken for Granite, and persecution of the native peoples of the world he is tyrannizing, Zio at times very much comes across as the Distaff Counterpart of C. S. Lewis's infamous villain Jadis. Even their sobriquets are similar — Black Magician, White Witch.
  • Barrier Warrior: His signature move Magic Barrier renders physical and magical damage useless unless it is neutralized by the Psycho Wand.
  • Blind Obedience: To Dark Force, to the point that he holds no illusions that all life in Algo will be destroyed, including himself, and he's comfortable with that. Part of what drives Chaz to reject the Great Light is the example Zio sets, when it comes to people willing to kill on a god's orders.
  • Complete Immortality: He believes that Dark Force has granted him this. He's wrong.
  • Dark Is Evil: He's the archetypal Black Mage in both dress and attitude; he's basically cosplaying his own deity.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The first quarter of the game sets him up as the Big Bad, but in reality he's a puppet for Dark Force.
  • Deal with the Devil: Made one with Dark Force.
  • Death Seeker: Played with, as the first time the party meets him he claims he has no problem with dying if that's what Dark Force wants. But when the moment actually comes after the second fight, he pleads for Dark Force not to abandon him, showing he's not so eager to face death after all.
  • Elemental Powers: He uses mid-range fire and wind techniques and high order dark techniques.
    • Blow You Away: Can use the Esper skill "Hewn", a full-party wind attack.
    • Casting a Shadow: His major element. He uses both Black Wave and Corrosion.
    • Playing with Fire: Can use Flaeli, a single-target fire attack, as well as an unnamed pillar of fire that's basically evil Nafoi.
  • Evil Counterpart: He's basically an evil Rune.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Transformed into one by Dark Force, previously he'd pretended to have magic but didn't really.
  • Freudian Excuse: Prior to being empowered by Dark Force he was a "downtrodden" fake magician.
  • Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Unlike the heroes, he has squinty, beady eyes.
  • Hero Killer: Kills Alys during the first encounter with a Black Wave.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: The first time you fight him.
  • I'm Melting!: After you defeat him in Nurvus, he melts into a black sludge.
  • Knight of Cerebus: The story wasn't exactly light-heated even before he shows up, but he's personally responsible for all the bad shit happening, and his meeting the party leads to what is undoubtedly the darkest and most depressing part of the whole game.
  • The Magic Versus Technology War: Interestingly played with with him, as he seems perfectly capable of and willing to use both magic and technology to bring about his goal of planetary destruction. This is particularly impressive because, unlike your resident tech expert Rika, he didn't grow up tutored by a sentient computer. Presumably servants of the Darkness taught him how to use the planet's lost technology and informed him of Demi's purpose and importance.
  • Mysterious Past: His past is never alluded to in game, with the only hint of it being when Alys derisively refers to him as a fake magician. The Phantasy Star Compendium offers a tiny bit more explanation, saying that he was a downtrodden and indeed fake magician before meeting Dark Force. Interestingly, an interview with Yoshida Tohru (Yoshibon) in PHANTA! Phantasy Star 30th Anniversary Cosplay Book revealed that he had a much more detailed backstory at one point, one in which he would have been a dropout from the Esper Mansion who competed against Rune for the right to inherit Lutz's legacy and lost. Supposedly this backstory was only dropped due to time constraints.
  • Near-Villain Victory: If he'd just finished the party off in the first encounter, there would have been no one to challenge him left except Rune, and even Rune couldn't take him all by himself.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: His character design is more than a little inspired by frontman Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. There's even mention on early Phantasy Star fan sites that Zio was brought up in old NIN discussions on Usenet.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Seriously, just pay attention to his dialogue the first time you meet him. He is downright gleeful over the idea of all life on Motavia being wiped out if that's what his god desires.
  • Path of Inspiration: His cult is basically this.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: In addition to toasting the village of Molculm, the party passes by two destroyed towns on their way to Kadary (so destroyed the player can't enter them). The unsubtle implication is that either Zio's followers, or more than likely Zio himself, destroyed these towns.
  • Powers Do the Fighting: During his boss fights, he only uses magic, and does not physically attack the party.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes turned red before battle.
  • Red Right Hand: As part of his Deal with the Devil with Dark Force, one of his hands has become "monsterfied" according to the Phantasy Star Compendium. He covers it up with a black gauntlet, and so it is not seen in the game itself.
  • Religion of Evil: Since his religion talk about extermination a lot and Zio himself worships Dark Force, this shouldn't be a question.
  • Sinister Minister: He leads his own Religion of Evil and is quite a sinister character.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Arguably a trope codifier. His shoulder pads are gigantic, putting even those of the Earthmen from Phantasy Star II to shame. Makes sense, since Zio's armor is designed to evoke the massive shoulders and clavicles of Dark Force itself.
  • Smug Snake: He acts like the game's Big Bad but he's little more than a pawn, and his eventual defeat is brought about entirely by his own overconfidence.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He pretends to be one to his followers who aren't totally corrupted yet, saying that he'll purge away the undesirables of Motavia and that Utopia Justifies the Means. Of course, he plans to purge everyone, and his only Utopia is a universe free from life.
  • Villain Ball: He carries it here and there for the sake of the plot. Why didn't he just finish off the party when he had the chance? Why not simply destroy Demi instead of hold her hostage? And why, if he knows the Psycho Wand is the only thing that can nullify his Magic Barrier, didn't he simply go to retrieve it himself instead of sending a Gy-Laguiah? It's not like he can't enter the Ladea Tower, since it's crawling with Dark monsters.

    Dark Force 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/darkforcef2iv320.jpg


The traditional Diabolus ex Nihilo of the Phantasy Star series, Dark Force is an incredibly powerful incarnation of evil that appears in times of great calamity. Initially appearing as the dark god Zio worships, the Protectors soon meet Dark Force face-to-face, and as the story progresses they have to face the malevolent being a number of times.
  • Ascended Extra: Despite being revealed to not be the ultimate evil in this game. In previous games his screen time would be limited to serving as a boss fight. This time he's an antagonist who wrecks havoc throughout the game.
  • Big Bad: The driving force behind the plot. While it's a representative of the Profound Darkness, before the latter breaks out, it's the dominant active force of evil and has been for millennia.
  • Bishōnen Line: A downplayed case, but of his three forms, the first is easily the most monstrous and inhuman, while the third is the most human (though still monstrous).
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: His third form has a ginormous biological blade where its hand should be on its left arm.
  • Blob Monster: The first form's shape is that of a giant, protoplasmic blob stuck to a wall of Kuran.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: His final form, the Prophallus, is encountered (very rarely) in the game's final dungeon. It's essentially an Elite Mook version of the Final Boss version of Dark Force from the very first Phantasy Star.
  • Breath Weapon: His second form has Shadowbreath, a high-damage single target attack.
  • The Corrupter: Its usual M.O. is to corrupt others to evil to arrange the destruction of the Algol system. In this game, it's behind Zio and his cult, which is a step down from its previous schemes. However, in this game it takes direct action much more often, since the Profound Darkness is nearly free.
  • Dark Is Evil: It's called "Dark Force." It doesn't get more basic than that.
  • Diabolus ex Nihilo: Averted in this game, where Dark Force's origins are finally revealed.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Is the evil behind Zio, but even after you beat him the game is far from over as he will come back for more. As it turns out, until the Profound Darkness is defeated he will never truely be gone.
  • Eldritch Abomination: He's an extradimensional manifestation of evil and more than looks the part.
  • Energy Weapon: The first form's attacks are all stronger variants of those used by the two heroic androids of your party, and the first is Flare Shot, a stronger version of Wren's Flare attack.
  • Evil Counterpart: The first form's attacks make it essentially a giant, monstrous version of your two android allies, Demi and Wren.
  • Evil Evolves: As detailed in the Bishonen Line example above. Wren even asks outright if Dark Force can evolve after it is revealed that the third form has been masquerading as and/or possessing a human to infiltrate the party.
  • Fighting a Shadow: This game reveals that Dark Force is merely the physical manifestation of the Profound Darkness' hatred, which is why it's able to keep coming back every time the seal containing it weakens despite being destroyed by the previous group of heroes. By this time, the seal is nearly broken, so Dark Force is able to manifest THREE TIMES before Chaz and his friends manage to take out the source.
  • Giant Spider: His second form's shape is that of a massive, demonic spider.
  • Hypnotic Eyes: His second form's dud attack is Evil Eye, which can induce sleep. But like most sleep inducing attacks in this game, it has a dismal success rate and even if it works, the afflicted character will usually just wake up in the very next turn.
  • Light 'em Up: His second form's strongest attack is Lightshower, a multi-target attack in which red lightning showers down on the party.
  • Mind Manipulation: His third form's dud attack is Mindblast, which is essentially a multi-target version of Evil Eye.
  • Recurring Boss: You actually fight this guy three times in this game alone, each time in different forms.
  • Shoulder Cannon: His first form has shoulder rockets which fire a variant of Wren's Burstroc attack.
  • Sonic Stunner: The first form also has a built-in variant of Demi's Phonon attack, dubbed Phonomasr.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: His third form is essentially a stronger, monstrous giant form of your former ally Seth, and fights with stronger versions of all his spells.

    Daughter 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps4computer.png
AGE: Unknown, but close to Wren's age


An optional boss encountered in the Silver Soldier quest, Daughter is an abandoned prototype of a system originally intended to replace Mother Brain, the Master Computer Big Bad of Phantasy Star II. Abandoned at an early stage, Daughter was forgotten by the Neglectful Precursors, her systems kept in hibernation by an independent AI at Nurvus. When the party shuts down Nurvus, they unwittingly awaken Daughter. Operating from her incomplete information, Daughter deems the Protectors threats to her control, prompting the Silver Soldier quest where she is met and summarily shut down.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted. She's not rogue, but her programmed duty and incomplete knowledge of the situation drives her to attempt to take over Motavia.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: She believes she is doing the right thing and her shut down is a sad moment because she couldn't be reasoned with.
  • Benevolent A.I. She sees herself as this, and graciously welcomes the Protectors when they make it to her control center.
  • The Computer Is Your Friend: Despite her malevolent actions, her intentions are benevolent, as her "number one objective is peace and prosperity for Algo".
  • Evil Counterpart: To Seed. Like him, she's an immobile AI that controls a pre-Great Collapse facility, but wheras Seed is very informed and is willing to sacrifice his existence to help the party, Daughter is very ignorant and has to be shut down for the good of Motavia.
  • Flawed Prototype: She was designed to succeed Mother Brain, but was abandoned at an early stage and so has a number of flaws in her programming.
  • Legacy Character: She's the daughter of Mother Brain, or at least was intended to be by her creators.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Being an immobile environmental control system, Daughter has no power to fight on her own. She instead sends three of her strongest android enforcers, the Dominators, to subdue the party.
  • Obliviously Evil: Daughter doesn't know, and arguably is in too incomplete a stage to comprehend, the threat that her actions pose to the people of Algo.
  • Optional Boss: She is only encountered in the Silver Soldier quest at the end of the game, which a number of players may miss on their first playthrough.
  • Outside-Context Problem: She is not a follower of the Darkness, or even a dupe of it, unlike a majority of the game's other antagonists. She is also notably the only "evil AI" the Protectors have to face, as the others (Seed, Demi, and Wren) are all firm allies to the Protectors.
  • Poor Communication Kills: A major component of her story, and the reason why she is an antagonist. Because she is an incomplete stage, she does not understand that her network is not connected to any external systems, nor does she realize that a secondary network was constructed after her which actually does the job of managing the planetary control systems.
  • Skippable Boss: Since the game never gives any indication that Daughter is active unless they go back to check the Hunter's Guild (and specifically take the Silver Soldier quest), she can easily fall into this. Indeed, if you don't take the Silver Soldier before claiming Elsydeon, the quest will be closed, shutting off the player from Vahal Fort and Daughter (and Wren's strongest Upgrade Artifact).
  • Tragic Villain: It's not Daughter's fault that she was abandoned, and she truly does want what's best for Algo. Unfortunately, her control of the Vahal Fort makes her a threat to the Protectors, so Wren shuts her down.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: As mentioned above. She was created to stabilize the Algo control system, and when defeated laments that without her Algo's people may perish.

     *SPOILER WARNING* 

The Profound Darkness

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/profounddarkf1iv320.gif

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Chaz shows some Sympathy for the Devil once he hears about the Great Light and its mission. When it comes down to it, the Profound Darkness has been doing nothing but trying to seek its own freedom, it's not fair to either the heroes or the Profund Darkness to be placed in lethal opposition... but there's no way for them to coexist, and in order for the sentient races of Algo to live, the Profound Darkness has to die.
  • Big Bad: Responsible for all Dark Force appearances in Algo every 1,000 years due to the seal's weakening.
  • Bishōnen Line: Downplayed like Dark Force. It's second form is no less monsterous than the first one. It's final form is human shaped but still monsterous thanks to the jagged to the bizzare limbs coming out of its back.
  • Breath Weapon: Its first form attacks exclusively with breath attacks which include Firebreath, Raybreath, and Shadowbreath.
  • Cosmic Entity: Originally the Profound Darkness was part of a single all-powerful cosmic being, but that being split into two, resulting in the Great Light and it.
  • Dark Is Evil: It's called the "Profound Darkness." Even if it wasn't evil when it was first sealed away it definitely is now, with its only thoughts being an overpowering hatred for all life.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Oh, yes. If you thought Dark Force was bad, that was merely a piece of this thing.
  • Enemy to All Living Things: Even being in the vicinity of it is enough to kill off all life. A hole leading to its dimension appears near the village of Mile. If you stop by there after the hole appears, you'll find that everyone is dead.
  • Final Boss: Of the game and the series as a whole by extension.
  • Flaming Hair: Its final form has a flared up mane of pale green fire for hair.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: To Dark Force, for the entire series. While you do have to fight it, it's not really the plot driver; it's just too much of an Eldritch Abomination to do anything except destroy life.
  • Hidden Villain: It's older than the Algo solar system so almost nobody has any idea it exists.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Its third form is human-shaped.
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Like Dark Force 2, the Profound Darkness can use the sleep-inducing (and near-useless) Evil Eyes attack. Notably, it uses this skill in its final form, giving it one dud attack for the party to catch its breath on.
  • Light 'em Up: Its second form's standard attack is Lightshower, a multi-target attack in which red lightning showers down on the party.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Aside from the Guardians of Rykros, almost no one living knows this thing exists. Lutz didn't know, and even the Bishop of Gumbious knows about it only in the vaguest way, knowing just enough to point the party towards Rykros. Justified, as the Darkness far predates the Algo solar system, almost always acts through its agent Dark Force, and most likely killed or had killed anyone who found out about it.
  • More Deadly Than the Male: Though the Darkness is never referred to with pronouns, its final form is distinctly feminine, and is by far its most powerful of its incarnations.
  • One-Winged Angel: Goes through three forms when you fight it; oddly enough it's the last one that's the least monstrous.
  • The Power of Hate: The closest thing it has to thoughts are anger and hatred towards all living things, and its very existence is a massive Black Wave that kills off all life near it. It can also use the Megid technique, which is a manifestation of those emotions in a more explosive form.
  • Manipulative Bastard: To a literally galactic degree. The Profound Darkness is the intelligence behind Dark Force's violent influence in Algo, and with the destruction of Parma, she's able to get three separate Dark Forces to cause two different planetwide disasters in a last ditch effort to kill every living thing in Algo before the Protectors awaken to stop her.
  • Reality Warper: The second form's strongest attack is Distortion, in which it warps space around the party as an attack.
  • Retcon: In previous games in the series, Dark Force was portrayed as the ultimate evil in the Algo solar system. While this is true in a sense, PSIV reveals that it is in fact only a representative of the world's true Big Bad.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: The Reveal is that the Algo Solar System is the can in which this thing is sealed.
  • Sore Loser: It was defeated and sealed away by the Great Light millions of years ago, and has seethed over that defeat ever since.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: Its final form is the only monster in the game to have a spell of this type, which it typically uses right before unleashing a Megid blast on the party.
  • Time Abyss: While the exact age is unknown, it's known to be older than the Algo solar system.
  • Too Many Mouths: Its first form, combined with Fangs Are Evil.
  • The Voiceless: Has no dialogue. The main characters can only sense that its thoughts are nothing but overflowing hatred for all life.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifter: Implied. It first appears in the form of a Living Shadow when the players see it. It goes through three different forms in the boss fight with it.
  • Walking Spoiler: Its very existence isn't even hinted at until late in the game.
  • Written by the Winners: It was given the name 'Profound Darkness' by the Guardians of Rykros after its defeat, and the Guardians are servants of the victorious Great Light. Whether it thinks of itself by that name, or by any name at all, is unknown.

Other NPCs

    Professor Holt 
JOB: Scholar
AGE: Unknown but older than Hahn


Hahn's mentor, an Absent-Minded Professor who inadvertently kicks off the plot by leading an expedition into Birth Valley.
  • Absent-Minded Professor: He can't spare any thought for anything but his expedition, even after being turned to stone.
  • Boss's Unfavorite Employee: According to the Phantasy Star Compendium he's "on bad terms" with his superiors at the Academy. Frankly, it's not hard to see why.
  • Distressed Dude: He's turned to stone by Zio before the game starts, then has to be saved from Biomonsters by Rika.
  • Eccentric Mentor: He's Hahn's mentor but has a somewhat manchildish personality in spite of his advanced age.
  • Ignored Epiphany: He's right there in the room with the rest of the party when Seed tells them about the grave environmental dangers facing Motavia, and initially agrees with Hahn that something must be done, but if the party returns to the Academy later in the game they find that he's let the principal browbeat him into doing nothing, to the point where all he can offer are flimsy excuses.
  • Non-Action Guy: Unlike Hahn he has no combat ability at all.
  • Only One Name: Even in the Phantasy Star Compendium, the only name he's given is Holt.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in a couple of scenes but his investigation of Birth Valley leads to Biomonster breeding capsules being sent back to the Academy, causing the Principal to hire Alys and Chaz to do something when monsters start breeding in the basement, thus kicking off the entire rest of the game.
  • Taken for Granite: Zio turns him to stone to keep him out of Birth Valley. Undeterred, he heads right back in the moment he's transformed back.
  • Too Dumb to Live: After being returned to flesh by Alshline he immediately runs off deeper into Birth Valley, forcing the party to head back in there and rescue him a second time. Alys, at least, is none too pleased about this turn of events, pronouncing Holt "such a pain in the butt!"
  • Ungrateful Bastard: More like "Ungrateful Manchild" but he doesn't even think to thank any of the party when they revive him.

    Grandfather Dorin 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps4dorin.png
AGE: ??


A crusty old fart of a Motavian who lives in the village of Tonoe. The village's self-titled "information monger", he's acquainted with both Rune and Alys, the latter of whom's measurements he provides to any visitors he gets. After providing the party with the location of Alshline, he departs with Rune on a mysterious errand and upon returning, parks himself in his gaudy chair for the rest of the game.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's enough of a lech to have Alys's measurements memorized, but he's also knowledgable about useful items like Alshline.
  • Classified Information: Making Titanium is the pride of the Motavians, and if asked about it he'll sarcastically tell the party that it's referred to as a secret for a reason.
  • Cool Chair: Subverted, as if you examine the chair he sits in Chaz will groan at how gaudy it is and say that whoever owns it has awful taste.
  • Dirty Old Man: He found out Alys's measurements somehow and freely offers them to anyone who asks him for information.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's easy to dismiss him as just an old pervert but he did take in Gryz and Pana after they were orphaned. He also thanks the party for being good to Gryz if they come back and talk to him later in the game.
  • Knowledge Broker: It's his day job. Well, if we're being honest, his real job is to be Mr. Exposition.
  • Mysterious Past: Him and Rune have some history of working together, and Rune entrusted an item to his care.

    Seed 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps4computer.png
AGE: ??


The artificial intelligence in charge of managing the Bio-Plant facility, Seed is Rika's surrogate father figure, having raised and educated the Numan for the year she was alive before meeting the Protectors. Unfortunately Seed is a subordinate AI to Nurvus, so when Zio usurps control of Nurvus from Demi, Seed is powerless to stop his own facility from producing Biomonsters en masse. After telling the Protectors what he knows and entrusting Rika to their care, he self-destructs to stop any further Biomonster production.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted. Seed, like Wren and Demi, is a dependable caretaker capable of sound ethical judgement.
  • Benevolent A.I.: So benevolent that he is willing to make a Heroic Sacrifice for the people of Motavia.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Zig-zagged. Seed self-destructs in order to end the outbreak of a new type of monster, which turns out to be the Igglanova and its spawn, and the Bio-Plant has the Guilgenova, its next breed/evolution, and it's likely working on the next; with Seed's destruction, that production chain has ended... But since natural and engineered monsters are part of the ecosystem anyway, nothing changes for the player except they can't fight those specific monsters anymore.
  • Good Is Impotent: Seed's Evil Counterpart Daughter is proactive and as efficient as it is possible for a being with her limited information to be. Seed is utterly powerless to control his own facility, because he is subordinate to Nurvus and Nurvus has been usurped by Zio.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He self-destructs the moment the Protectors make it out of Birth Valley.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: He is Rika's mentor and, as mentioned, self-destructs to stop the spread of Biomonsters.
  • Mook Maker: His facility the Bio-Plant is the source of most of the game's early monsters.
  • Mr. Exposition: He exists to tell the Protectors about Rika and to dump exposition about Nurvus and Demi before self-destructing.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: His self-destruction prevents Rika from returning to the Bio-Plant, the only home she's ever known.

    Le Roof 
JOB: Custodian of the Planet Rykros


A Cosmic Entity that dwells on Rykros, the secret fourth planet in the Algo solar system. He and his siblings were created millions of years ago as a failsafe by The Great Light, to enlighten Algo's protectors to the secret genesis of everything they know and to help them to defeat their ultimate enemy.
  • Achievement Test of Destiny: He sets the Protectors on one, to fight his siblings Sa-Lews and De-Vars as proof that they are indeed the Protectors of Algo.
  • Big Good: With the Great Light absent (and indifferent besides), Le Roof serves this role as a guide to the Protectors.
  • Cosmic Entity: He's not a flesh-and-blood creature, but instead some sort of being made of space and light.
  • Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: He's friendly and even at points affectionate with the Protectors, referring to them as 'beloved ones' and apologizing for putting them through the test that they have to pass.
  • Genius Loci: Unlike its sibling entities Sa-Lews and De-Vars, Le Roof isn't so much as a being as he is a place.
  • Healing Checkpoint: He acts as the Rykros equivalent of a space station, including providing an area that heals and recharges all the party members.
  • Mr. Exposition: He exists to tell the Protectors about the secret genesis of the Algo solar system.
  • Time Abyss: His age and the age of his siblings are never specified, but they are heavily implied to be as old as the Algo solar system itself.

    Guardians of Rykros 
JOB: Guards of the Towers of Rykros


A duo (actually trio) of Energy Beings who guard the Towers of Rykros from any who might make off with their sacred treasures. Chaz and friends have to face two of them to prove themselves to Le Roof, and a third awaits for any players intrepid enough to do a little exploring.
  • Achievement Test of Destiny: The first two guardians, Sa-Lews and De-Vars, are mandatory battles the party must face as proof that they are indeed the Protectors of Algo.
  • Black Mage: Sa-Lews is essentially like fighting a cosmic Rune, as all its attacks are Skills that he can use. These range from the now-laughable Flaeli to the less-amusing Tandle and Legeon.
  • Cosmic Entity: They're not flesh-and-blood creatures, but instead beings made of fire and light.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Chaz vs Re-Faze, and it's a beatdown for the ages.
  • Detachment Combat: De-Vars only has two attacks: firing off one of its arms, or firing off all of its arms with the "Disruptarm" attack.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Being holy beings themselves, they're all immune to Holy-type skills such as Efess and St. Fire.
  • Good Is Not Nice: The third guardian, Re-Faze, forces Chaz to fight an illusion of his deceased mentor Alys.
  • Good Is Not Soft: They're all polite like Le Roof and happily give their treasures up once the Protectors have proven themselves, but they also don't hold anything back. In fact, when you meet the first two, you see them each trash waves of powerful Dark monsters before fighting them yourselves.
  • Hard Truth Aesop: The message of Re-Faze: Anger and hatred are not evil. They're natural human emotions and can be channeled toward good ends.
  • Honor Before Reason: If Chaz is unworthy of Megid, Re-Faze will kill him, even if that means that there's no champion left who can wield Elsydeon and fight the Profound Darkness. His duty to prevent an out-of-control Dangerous Forbidden Technique apparently trumps his duty to not see Algo destroyed by another force that already has it.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: There is no way to win the Re-Faze fight. It has twice as much HP as any other enemy in the game, is faster than Chaz, and does nothing but spam Megid endlessly.
  • Optional Boss: The third guardian, Re-Faze, is an optional encounter that will either give Chaz some nifty Last Disc Magic or deep-fry his ass with said magic.
  • Secret Test of Character: Unlike the first two guardians which are upfront upon testing the Protectors, Re-Faze gives Chaz alone a nastier test where he has to fight and kill an illusion of Alys. Then Re-Faze offers to teach Chaz Megid, and if Chaz agrees, Re-Faze will kill him. Refusing Re-Faze's offer, ironically, is the only way to accept it, as that'll convince it that Chaz can be trusted with the technique.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: De-Vars is a bulky, masculine being who uses nothing but physical attacks, while its sibling Sa-Lews is a slender, feminine being who uses nothing but magic.
  • Time Abyss: Their age is never specified, but they are heavily implied to be as old as the Algo solar system itself.

Sealed Memories Characters

    NM- 1153 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nm1153.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Kotono Mitsuishi

JOB: HUNTER
AGE: 2


The "ultimate masterpiece of the NM-1000 Series", NM-1153 is an upgraded clone of Nei from Phantasy Star II. Having inherited some of Nei's memories because Lamarck Was Right, she calls herself Nei, and after venturing out into the world and acquiring Easy Amnesia she meets a 13-year old Chaz.
  • Action Girl: Seems to be a Numan thing. After leaving the Bio-Dome, she got a job as a hunter and acquired considerable meseta funds before meeting Chaz.
  • Clone Degeneration: The NM-Series are clones of Nei, with a natural lifespan of about four years if they're lucky.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Like all Numans, she possesses some traits indicating her monstrous heritage, in her case her ears.
  • Doom Magnet: She wears a ring around her neck that tracks her location and causes Biomonsters to follow her wherever she goes.
  • Easy Amnesia: According to Gene the "shock from seeing the outside world" caused NM-1153 to lose her memories.
  • Fling a Light into the Future: She tragically has to fight and kill her twin sister just like the original Nei, but she is able to survive that fight, assist in the destruction of Gene, and convince Wren to let the other neitypes be destroyed. When Wren tells her he is unwilling to terminate the whole Numan project, she agrees to go back with him to make sure that the next Numan doesn't repeat her tragic history, and that Numan — Rika — is ultimately able to escape the Nei curse.
  • Generation Xerox: She's not even an Expy, she's a outright clone of Nei, with an identical appearance and disposition.
  • History Repeats: Like Nei, she's forced into a death battle with her twin sister, but unlike Nei she survived and is able to pass "her will" to the next generation Numan, i.e. Rika.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Although she is a Nei clone, her physical abilities are improved upon. She actually wins her fight with NM-2011, unlike Nei with Neifirst.
  • Monster Lord: Gene made her to command Biomonsters like Neifirst could, but she defiantly rejects this ability.
  • Posthumous Character: She's passed away by the time of the game proper, having a much shorter lifespan than the likes of Rika.
  • Recurring Dreams: Having inherited Nei's memories genetically, she has recurring dreams of Nei's life, most usually her death.
  • Wolverine Claws: Like the original Nei and Rika, she uses these as her weapons of choice.

    NM- 2011 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nm2011.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Sakura Tange

JOB: NUMAN
AGE: ??


The "next level of Numan research", NM-2011 was made to Kill All Humans and surpass her sister NM-1153. Gene awakens her to execute the rebellious 1153, but she fails and is killed.
  • Affably Evil: Her first words are to politely greet her "big sister" NM-1153.
  • Anti-Villain: Being younger than Neifirst, she's not as bitter yet. She is gleefully homicidal, unfortunately, but like Neifirst she never had a chance to be anything else.
  • Blood Knight: Unlike NM-1153 she embraces being a weapon of war and says that just being able to fight strong opponents makes her happy.
  • Clone Degeneration: The NM-Series are clones of Nei, with a natural lifespan of about four years if they're lucky.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She knows her lifespan will only be 3-4 years and so seeks out a purpose in life through battle.
  • Fair-Play Villain: When she realizes Nei only has one claw, she discards one of her claws so that the fight will be fair.
  • Generation Xerox: If NM-1153 is a Xerox of Nei, NM-2011 is most certainly a Xerox of Neifirst.
  • History Repeats: Sadly, her life was just as brief and tragic as that of Neifirst.
  • Might Makes Right: She believes the value of a neitype to be based completely on strength alone.
  • Posthumous Character: Gene forced her into a death battle with her sister, and she's been dead for 3 years by the time of the drama CD that introduces her.
  • Super-Soldier: Gene intended for her to kill NM-1153 and then be a One-Man Army slaughtering all Parman life on Motavia.
  • Superior Successor: She's got increased power and speed compared to NM-1153, but her big sister is still able to defeat her.
  • Wolverine Claws: All the better to fight her sister in a battle to the death with!
  • You Are Number 6: Unlike her sister who appropriates the Nei name, NM-2011 has no name other than her numerical designation. Fans often refer to her as "Neithird".

    Gene 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps4computer.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Ryouko Kinomiya

AGE: ??


A Master Computer like Seed and Daughter, Gene oversees a facility called the Bio-Dome. Originally created to research Numans, at some point it went crazy and decided to Kill All Humans.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Played completely straight, which is fair enough since most of the A.I.s in the game itself subvert this trope.
  • Benevolent A.I.: Averted. Unlike Seed or even Daughter, Gene doesn't care one bit for the well-being of Parmans, and in fact intends for its Numan creations to wipe all Parmanians out of existence. It's never made clear if this hostility is only for Parmans, or if Gene intended to exterminate the native Motavians as well.
  • Defiant to the End: When cornered by Wren who demands an accounting for its behavior Gene defiantly refuses to stand down or explain itself.
  • Expy: To the unseen scientists from Phantasy Star II who created Nei and Neifirst. Satisfyingly, Gene isn't a Karma Houdini like them, and gets comeuppance for its evil deeds.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Gene is a male name, but NM-2011 refers to it as 'Mother'. Of course as a machine Gene has no gender per se.
  • Killer Robot: It creates the two NM neitypes to "eliminate those archaic humans" and severs its link to Nurvus, forcing Wren to blast his way into the Bio-Dome to shut Gene down.
  • Master Computer: Like Seed and Daughter, Gene is a subordinate AI that oversees a Motavian facility from the days of Phantasy Star II.
  • Murderous Malfunctioning Machine: Gene is even worse than Daughter in this regard. Daughter at least believed her actions were for the good of Algo's people, but Gene wants to Kill All Humans and replace them with Numans. Wren calls its condition "abnormal" and wants to reset it, but Gene refuses, resulting in...
  • Posthumous Character: Gene and the facility he once oversaw have been destroyed for three years by the time of the drama CD that introduces them.
  • Taking You with Me: Gene detonates the Bio-Dome to prevent Wren from shutting down and reprogramming its systems.

    Roy Raogree 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ps4roy.png

Voiced by (Drama CD): Ichirō Nagai

AGE: ??


An information monger much like Grandfather Dorin, Roy Raogree (usually referred to as just "Old Man Roy") was an aged merchant and adventurer who was on friendly terms with a younger Chaz. He helped guide Chaz and his companion "Nei", but succumbs to the Mentor Occupational Hazard not long after.
  • Adventurer Archaeologist: Although he's more about selling the artifacts he finds than just studying them.
  • Ancestral Weapon: His distant ancestor was entrusted with the Nei Claw by Rolf/Eusis. Amazingly, his family held on to it for almost 1000 years.
  • Blue Is Heroic: Wears a long blue vest and is trustworthy enough for an orphaned Chaz to come to him for advice.
  • Continuity Nod: A very subtle one, as he tells Chaz to "meet him by the north gate" at one point. Since there are only two cities on Motavia with north gates and we know Roy's hometown is close to the site of the Motavian spaceport, the line is a subtle way of telling listeners that Roy's hometown is Kadary.
  • Foreshadowing: He's considerate enough to warn Chaz that "some highly skilled hunter named Alys" has been hired to capture him.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: He's more familiar with the Lost Technology on Motavia than most Parmanians.
  • History Repeats: Like Nero from the original Phantasy Star, he's an innocent bystander killed by Mooks for being too close to the heroes.
  • Knowledge Broker: He's the Parmanian equivalent of Grandfather Dorin and Gyuna.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Robots chasing NM-1153 and Chaz show up on his door because he removed the tracker around the former's neck. By the time the duo gets back in town, it's too late.
  • Miser Advisor: Like Alys, he expects compensation for the aid he dispenses.
  • Posthumous Character: As with the neitypes and Gene, Roy's been deceased for three years by the time the game begins.


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