Trivia / IDOLA: Phantasy Star Saga

• Bad Export for You: The Global release lacks the connectivity function that allows players to link to Phantasy Star Online 2 and earn Idola Points to buy, among other things, Star Gems (a resource that PSO2EN is sorely lacking), frustrating a lot of potential players. Publisher Boltrend Games suggests that this may be a case of Executive Meddling from SEGA.
• Creator-Driven Successor: IDOLA shares quite a few similarities with the other Phantasy Star mobile game, Phantasy Star Online 2es, which can be attributed to the director of IDOLA previously directing es. This includes the Idola Battle mode, which uses many of the mechanics from PSO2es's Emergency Quest system, and the Bond Gauge being functionally similar to the Gaiden Gauge.
• Milestone Celebration: IDOLA was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Phantasy Star series.
• Release Date Change: EPISODE 2 was meant to release sometime in mid-April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic it ended up getting pushed back to late May, with events being extended accordingly.
• Screwed by the Network: Many fans point the finger at SEGA (and SEGA's upper management in particular) for everything that went wrong with EPISODE 2, mainly the monetization changes that drove a lot of players away and caused the gradual death of the game throughout its second and third years. Despite developer Appci attempting to Win Back the Crowd with a variety of updates that greatly improved player experience compared to when SEGA ran the game, it was not enough as the game was unceremoniously shut down right after its 3rd Anniversary, and evidence pointing to the developers being just as surprised at the announcement as the fans were lead to players once again criticizing SEGA for killing a perfectly good product because it wasn't profitable enough despite effectively being a problem of their own making.
• Shrug of God: When asked if IDOLA's story was connected to Phantasy Star Online 2, Word of God responded with a resounding "maybe". Later subverted, as the game strongly hints that it takes place in some version of the PSO2 continuity, justifying the canon appearances of various PSO2 characters, although the actual connection between the two games has yet to be revealed.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Prior to the game's release, it was stated that the game's plot would delve into the history and truth of Dark Falz more deeply than other entries in the series. This seems to have not come up as of Episode 2 (where Dark Falz is still treated mostly as a walking force of nature) and given the game's premature cancellation, it might never come up again.
  • An artbook in the vein of PSO2's and PSO2es' "Material Collection" books was planned for release in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak severely complicating production, the book was ultimately cancelled and the concept art meant to be included was instead released through the game's official Twitter account.
  • It's painfully obvious that at the time the game was cancelled more characters were planned to be implemented, most prominently Crowell (who has both a 3D model and his own Elemental Blast) and an EP2 version of Jasper, given his updated artwork and new story role.