Phantasy Star II

[Anonymous No.8385563]

What do you think about Phantasy Star II?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCifBNvRLgI

[Anonymous No.8385810]

>>8385563
The intro song makes me feel like I'm drowning or being strangled for some reason. I liked it, but the grind was hardcore. I feel PSIV was the best in the series because it minimized grind.

[Anonymous No.8385829]

>>8385563
I love the dark and claustrophobic vibe of it, and the OST, but actually playing it past the first dungeon is miserable.

[Anonymous No.8385853]

>>8385829
What's the issue with it, in your opinion? The amount of encounters is annoying, but I feel just how bad it is is a little exaggerated.

[Anonymous No.8386491]

>>8385853
The dungeons are of course rough, with the length of them, the amount of stairs/teleporters and just how wide corridors are (making it hard to keep your bearings).

Also not knowing the properties of gear before you buy them can screw you over.

Final boss is WTF difficult too.

[Anonymous No.8386515]

>>8385563
I don't know anything about it other than recognizing this character. How would it hold up playing today?

[Anonymous No.8387489]

>>8386515
It has a decent story, HOWEVER...
The dungeons are absolutely ridiculous, and critically, the official strategy guide has many inaccuracies with its maps, so you will be spending a lot of time scouring the internet for maps, maps of maps, teleporter connects, drawing lines from teleporter to teleporter... I'd rather eat a bullet than play it ever again.

[Anonymous No.8387492]

I love this game. The dungeons are hardcore.
The cool aesthetic keeps it interesting. Not something I'd replay often, because it is quite a task with the manual mapping, but really unlike anything else.

[Anonymous No.8388058]

>>8385563
Inferior to PS3 but purple Aerith is cool.

[Anonymous No.8388149]

>>8387489
There are patches that speed up the game, makes it a LOT more tolerable.

[Anonymous No.8388160]

Are these games actually worth checking out? I rather like JRPGs and the Phantasy Star name isn’t exactly obscure.

[Anonymous No.8388173]

>>8388149
Please name them! I want to replay PSII but I don't have the time to dungeon dive like I used to

[Anonymous No.8388176]

>>8388160
1 is quite outdated but might be good as a novelty. 2 can be annoying but is good. 3 is the black sheep of the series and people seem to hate it for deviating from the story and theme, but I don't remember it being bad. 4 is great, the best in the series. Play 4, and if you like it, consider playing 2 and 3.

[Anonymous No.8388302]

>>8388173
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/925/
Several QOL improvements, bug fixes, Shir no longer steals on Dezo, some translation errors fixes, decapping, faster walking, and red flash reduction/removal. Optional XP/Meseta double. Enjoy

[Anonymous No.8388351]

>>8388176
Its not so much PS3 deviates, it's that it looks oddly ugly, is even slower than 1 and 2, and sounds like absolute dogshit.

[Anonymous No.8388441]

>>8388351
Christ. I just looked at the sprites for the first time in about a decade. They're so rough and badly animated compared to the fourth and even second games. How's the gameplay, though? I can't remember hating it as a kid, except for the very start of it.

[Anonymous No.8388880]

>>8388441
The game's difficulty is rock bottom, but it did have a rather amusing magic system where you adjusted the "priorities" of four spells at the expense of the others. The multiple generations thing was pretty neat too, though it was little more than "pick your character".

It's a great example of massively wasted potential.

[Anonymous No.8388907]

>>8388880
The game has 3 themes for easy, normal, and hard battle. After the initial part of the game, I exclusively heard the easy theme.

[Anonymous No.8389152]

>>8388302
>Optional XP/Meseta double.

should be the standard, vanilla PS2 is an awful grind
the pace is so much better when doubled

[Anonymous No.8389721]

>>8385563
I tried to play the game since the cat girl was my first waifu before A-ko. I again was widowed so I got another waifu and then widowed again. . .
So anyway I played it and hated it, I don't like any of those type of JRPGs, as they need to be more anime BUT NOT CURRENT ANIME for me to play them. Tales of Vesperia was kinda the most anime I can take in my JRPGs, but the least is something like Langrisser or Robotron.

[Anonymous No.8389793]

>>8385563
I still haven't recovered from this.
Aerith ain't shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAUTxHqXUJk
Haters will hate, but I think the Ps2 PS2 remake is pretty good. Not as much soul as the original but worth a play if you don't feel like looking at Master System graphics/hearing those sounds all day.

[Anonymous No.8389804]

Phantasy Star is shitty Jap knockoff Star Wars.

[Anonymous No.8389818]

>>8389804
I don't recall any vampires in Star Wars.

[Anonymous No.8389826]

>>8387489
Most of the problem I noticed with the maps is that items straight up aren’t labeled right.

[Anonymous No.8389842]

>>8389818
Palpatine. Watto in the Prequels.

[Anonymous No.8390049]

I thought it was good, not as good as the first or fourth mainline game, but still pretty decent. I really liked the story and depressing atmosphere the game creates, I liked the art style, I thought the Nei and Rolf were developed well and while I prefer the first person dungeons in the first game, the new overhead ones were alright, I also thought the music was pretty good. But the immense amount of grinding was from mid to late game was really obnoxious and by the time I got to the snow planet I was hoping the game would end already and I normally enjoy grinding.

[Anonymous No.8391474]

[Anonymous No.8392582]

>>8385563
I love it.

[Anonymous No.8392598]

>>8389804
Star wars is a shitty mutt knockoff of the Hidden Fortress.
The only thing PS and SW have in common is that they're sci fi, faggot.

[Anonymous No.8392923]

>>8385563
The story sucks, the UI is awful, and the dungeon design is absolutely horrendous. 95% of the game's play time is just random battles.
The remake made the combat system better but unfortunately making it more involved ends up actually being a drawback when the encounter rate is still the same so it still has just as many battles but now they take three times longer. Can't fault the remake for most elements but of course the new character portraits are awful.
t. played 1 and 2 and then the remakes in that order for the first time this year

[Anonymous No.8393080]

>>8392923
Yeah you'd expect a game that came after Hydlide 3 would be somewhat good, but it isn't. I have no idea what they were thinking in these.

[Anonymous No.8393430]

>>8392923
>Naming your character HOMO
>Poster has faggot opinions
Really projecting, huh anon?

[Anonymous No.8393446]

>>8393430
>your character
You should probably play the game first. I called that guy a homo because he looked like a homo.

[Anonymous No.8393610]

>>8392923
>HOMO

[Anonymous No.8393883]

>>8385563

[Anonymous No.8393889]

>>8393883
virgin

[Anonymous No.8396018]

>>8393883
What are we supposed to be looking at?

[Anonymous No.8396187]

>>8396018
>

[Anonymous No.8397080]

>>8385563
There are things I like about it, but it's a stretch to say that I actually like it.

[Anonymous No.8398973]

>>8397080
So you don't really like it.

[Anonymous No.8399190]

Actually navigating the dungeons was pretty cool in my opinion, some had a feeling like baya malay from good old ps1
But it sucks that the chests in those dungeons usually have worthless shit in them, like a piece of armor worse than what the shops sell.

Nei is cute.

[Anonymous No.8400194]

I had more fun playing the visual novel sidestories

[Anonymous No.8400286]

>>8385563
I only played the first one but I liked it, mostly because I played on an emulator and could fast forward though. Also drawing my own maps is fun.
What I'm reading from the thread it seems like 2 is a mixed bag but I think I'll be fine if I don't have to memorize town and dungeon names. That was the only thing I hated about the first game because I'm terrible with names.
Or should I just skip straight to IV and be done with the series? I'm only interested in all of Phantasy Star because of this song, anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao2LP75E7ac
But then again I'd ideally like to understand the events of the game.

[Anonymous No.8400802]

>>8400286
Try 2 and see if you like it. You can play and enjoy 4 without it, but there are little callbacks and significant references to its plot. Most of which are partially explained in some way.

[Anonymous No.8402579]

>>8400286
Most of the references in 4 are to 1 anyway, so you'll get almost the 'full experience' as is but you might as well try 2 to see if you like it. The dungeons are a bit wonky but it's perfectly possible to just blunder through them except for this absolute cunt. (trigger warning).

[Anonymous No.8402620]

>>8389793
The fuck, there was a remake?

[Anonymous No.8402639]

>>8402620
It's better if you live in a world where there wasn't one. Forget about it and be happy.

[Anonymous No.8402643]

>>8402579

[Anonymous No.8402667]

>>8402620
>The fuck, there was a remake?
there was an attempt
frankly, I think they could have done better

>>8402639
>It's better if you live in a world where there wasn't one. Forget about it and be happy.
a people who forget about the past are doomed to repeat it

Like the first's remake it was an admiral try, but they adhered a little too strongly to certain gameplay hangups the originals had and contributed nothing to resolve them.

In G:1 it was Dezoris becoming an absolute slog that required dual healing accessories on every character just to mitigate all the damage inflicted by randoms as you explore the world. Also giving your party members combination attacks ala PS4 but relegating them to purchasing expensive accessories to enable them, with a high chance of them breaking after use.

In G:2 it's the stupid battle system addition of low/mid/high attacks requiring you to hold the confirm button down every time you choose to melee an enemy. Low attacks do shit damage but you're next turn comes up faster and rarely misses, high attacks are the inverse. Considering how much you battle in this game it just completely mucks up the pacing. And every character has a "Limit" attack that's offensive or supportive, but you need to defend several times IN THE SAME BATTLE to store enough meter to use them. Fucking. Bullshit.

[Anonymous No.8402676]

>>8402667
>In G:1 it was Dezoris becoming an absolute slog that required dual healing accessories on every character just to mitigate all the damage inflicted by randoms as you explore the world. Also giving your party members combination attacks ala PS4 but relegating them to purchasing expensive accessories to enable them, with a high chance of them breaking after use.
Those weren't hangups of the original and by far the biggest problem with 1's remake was how it completely redesigned the game to be 100% linear. They also turned Dezoris into a massive difficulty spike that required a shitload of grinding despite this which wasn't an issue in the original.

[Anonymous No.8402759]

>>8402676
It's really too bad, since I liked some of the updated imagery and battle updates. G:1 let Alis and co. use different weapon types (reminding me of DQ8), too bad they didn't go further and let them learn skills depending on what weapon types they favored. Didn't get very far in G:2 before I gave up in disgust but at least they gave players the option to turn off that stupid foreground layer in dungeons.

SEGA needs to follow Square-Enix's example and rerelease each classic PS as a Pixel Remaster, only actually go further and improve on the parts that suck balls.

[Anonymous No.8404351]

What are your thoughts on the Japanese version having louder / harder drums?
Step Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prckx9tgUfU
Pleasure Stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-fMv4ZJvVM
Rise or Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAIxpgDjC44
Advanced Position
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7oVcSW3Hwc

[Anonymous No.8405135]

I'm currently typesetting an ancient translation onto this ancient book, but the scan quality is really meh. Fortunately it has stock art and screenshots, so I've been basically remaking each page rather than try to clean up shitty scans. The tedious part is trying to find the exact screenshots to replace them with, so if any anons are feeling generous, it'd be helpful if you can (You) me with screenshots that are on the pages that I can use to replace the scans with. I have a few sources for the artwork itself already, unless someone happened to have scanned an artbook recently.
https://e-hentai.org/g/1493574/e66e3639ec/

[Anonymous No.8405254]

>>8393446
I played the game. You still have faggot opinions.

[Anonymous No.8405439]

>>8392923
What shader, anon?

[Anonymous No.8405542]

>>8404351
Gaijin can't handle those drums.

[Anonymous No.8405739]

>>8405135
Hope to get the read the finished product one day. As for screenshots, I have one or two on-hand that you could probably use.

[Anonymous No.8405745]

>>8405739
not sure if these scans are actually any better than what you've already got, but sharing is caring

[Anonymous No.8405749]

>>8405745

[Anonymous No.8405802]

>>8405749

[Anonymous No.8405807]

>>8405802

[Anonymous No.8405816]

>>8405807

[Anonymous No.8405820]

>>8405816

[Anonymous No.8405827]

>>8405820

[Anonymous No.8405834]

>>8405827

[Anonymous No.8405839]

>>8405834

[Anonymous No.8405852]

>>8405839

[Anonymous No.8405858]

>>8405852

[Anonymous No.8405860]

>>8405749
Yeah I'm going to straight up screenshots rather than other magazine scans. I assume you're dumping these in order, but if not please put a page number so I can sort them. Thanks anon.

[Anonymous No.8405862]

>>8405858

[Anonymous No.8405869]

>>8405862

[Anonymous No.8405873]

>>8405869

[Anonymous No.8405898]

>>8405860
When I saw screenshots, I'm generally referring to these gameplay screenshots in the book.

[Anonymous No.8408081]

>>8405542
Why the fuck not?

[Anonymous No.8408731]

>>8385563
I've tried to play it twice. First on the PS2 Megadrive collection - remember really enjoying it, but dropping it for some reason. Picked it up again for the Switch Megadrive collection - really enjoying it, just taking my time levelling up, a bit of a slog at times but feeling like I'm ahead of the curve and it'll be worth it for story. Then I turn the wrong corner in one of the early dungeons and get absolutely rinsed by Pulsars (or whatever the purple eye clouds are).

Out of curiosity, checked the old PS2 save file - dropped it at EXACTLY the same point. It just immediately didn't feel worth the extra effort, even though I loved PS1 &4.

[Anonymous No.8410269]

>>8408731
Blasters really are the worst, just one alone is guaranteed a bad time but a group will annihilate your party before they can blink.

[Anonymous No.8410275]

>>8385563
When I was a kid I never got far in it because I didn’t realize you could dual wield

Would smash Nei

Battle theme is 11/10

[Anonymous No.8410317]

>>8410269
Yeah, that's the fella! So, are they indicative of how difficult the game is from that point on, or are they a rare, nasty surprise, designed to waken you up a bit? Might pick up where I left off if it's the latter.

[Anonymous No.8412215]

>>8410317
To be honest, I think it's a bug or just a bad design choice that they can inflict so much damage at the point where they start to appear (upper floors of Nido Tower). By the time you make it to the Biolab you'd have a full team, more levels and better equipment (or should, anyway) and they're much easier to handle there.

After Nido Tower, the game difficulty starts to back off a bit:
- Amy joins your team as your main healer after you visit the next town
- Nei gets new weapon upgrades and starts pulling her weight again

But yeah, Blasters were kind of a one-off thing. You won't have to worry about random mooks completely mogging you so long as you keep your gear updated.

[Anonymous No.8412238]

>>8388351
I honestly can't think of a worse battle theme although the dynamic aspect is a cool idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7AbFYuOIaQ

[Anonymous No.8412250]

>>8393883
Cringe attempt at "humor".

[Anonymous No.8412253]

>>8410275
>Would smash Nei
SHE'S A 2-YEAR-OLD CHILD/BIOMONSTER HYBRID YOU SICK FUCK

[Anonymous No.8412301]

>>8412253
What's the origin of that meme, anyway?

[Anonymous No.8412608]

>>8402620
>The fuck, there was a remake?
Fun fact: not only Sega killed Nei ages before Square killed Aerith, they also resurrected Nei in the remake ages before Square will resurrect Aerith it FFVIIR2.

[Anonymous No.8413951]

>>8412301
Puritanism.

[Anonymous No.8413978]

>>8393883
I chuckled. Still, Nei being half-biomonster, anything is possible concerning her anatomy.

[Anonymous No.8414356]

I don't remember where this scene is from at all in PS II. Anyone know?

[Anonymous No.8414536]

>>8412215
So when they appear, just leg it for the time being? Sounds good to me. Cheers pal! Genuinely thought there was just a level of competencey/skill/grinding needed to play PSII that I just didn't have.

I mean, it's probably that too, but it helps to be able to blame something else.

[Anonymous No.8414538]

>>8404351
Not good. That's why they changed it.

[Anonymous No.8414773]

>>8405135
Does Pscave or Archive not have better scans of some of these? Anyways, if it helps I could try and take pics of certain pages if you want since I own this from the re-release they had a few years back. I could try scanning it once I get my scanner set up but it probably won't be the best since I don't want to unbind the book (unless I'm able to get another copy somehow).
Also I was finally able to get top left book from imports a while back, which is a fan book made for PS1's 31st anni and has new interviews with the devs in it. An anon told me they'd be up for translating whenever I got it so if you're somehow still around let me know at [e-mail]

[Anonymous No.8414781]

>>8414773
PScave is using the same scans as me, which is by the Brazillian fan site. And you don't have to worry about scanning anymore, the book is nothing but stock art so far so I'm just remaking each page. Bottom left is that cosplay fan book right? I uploaded a partial scan.
https://exhentai.org/g/1475326/66c2f11664/

[Anonymous No.8414785]

>>8414781
right*

[Anonymous No.8414813]

>>8414781
Oh ok. And yeah, I remember there were some scans of the cosplay book online as well, though iirc it was just the English translation part.

[Anonymous No.8415325]

>>8414356
It's just Rolf casting a technique, probably GiThu/NaThu.

[Anonymous No.8415353]

>>8414536
Yeah, just run. The XP/MST from winning the battle is absolutely not worth the risk of being completely annihilated. Techs like SaShu and Deban would probably help by buffing your defense but you won't be getting those for quite a while yet.

Protip: Much later on enemy groups will radically change and you'll be fighting mechanical enemies who will sometimes have high defense, regular melee attacks will do pitiful damage. That's when you start to rely on your gun-wielders (guns ignore defense and do set damage), mages and tech-casting equipment to see you through (you'll start finding those once you're exploring the dams).

[Anonymous No.8416158]

>>8414781
lol at the comments, looks like you could have avoided some internet anger by uploading to non-h instead

[Anonymous No.8416179]

>>8416158
the 1 star is pretty amusing

[Anonymous No.8417081]

>>8385563
I'm actually playing it right now. I chose it as the game i'd lose my JRPG virginity to and so far i like it well enough, the two biggest complaints are: the sheer amount of grinding the game expects you to do, not helped by the fact every new member of the team starts at level 1, and also the somewhat cryptic nature of progression. You're really not even given the general directions of where you're supposed to go, so that kinda sucks.
Nei a cute tho sad thing she dies
Also, did anyone play the japan exclusive ps2 remake? How is that?

[Anonymous No.8417120]

>>8385563
love PSI but never played PSII

[Anonymous No.8417153]

>>8417081
If you end up liking the setting, check out spin-off text adventures too.

[Anonymous No.8417197]

>>8417081
>Also, did anyone play the japan exclusive ps2 remake? How is that?
Read the thread

[Anonymous No.8417203]

>>8417081
That's like losing your virginity to an old college dropout whore and getting herpes in the process.

[Anonymous No.8417231]

>>8417081
>Also, did anyone play the japan exclusive ps2 remake?
There is a fan translation. Hugh/Huey is made useful. Nei can be resurrected, but no one knows how. The leading theory is that you must have a completed save of PSG1 and witness every single line of dialogue that is available before Climatrol.

[Anonymous No.8417251]

>>8417203
Conside the market at the time. The game was the top of its genre.

[Anonymous No.8417264]

>>8417231
I heard that you had to have the clear data from 1 and also clear data of 2 followed on from that that you then start a new game on; do you not actually need 2's clear data to save her?

[Anonymous No.8417271]

>>8417231
>>8417264
http://www.gamer-seven.com/ps2/nei.html

[Anonymous No.8417283]

>>8417271

[Anonymous No.8417420]

>>8417283
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/916725-sega-ages-2500-series-vol-17-phantasy-star-generation2/faqs/75415
According to this, both games must be cleared, the the dialogue collecting starts.
Imagine what would they come up with to revive Alys is Generation 4 were made.

[Anonymous No.8417427]

>>8417420
>Imagine what would they come up with to revive Alys is Generation 4 were made.
Thanks for the spoiler bro.

[Anonymous No.8418624]

>>8417427
>Needing spoilers for a 26 years old English version to an 1993 JRPG

[Anonymous No.8418784]

>>8417427
Sorry, forgot to tag. To be fair, it's not as uncalled for as Nei's death. Frem the get-go you can see Alys is an Obi-wan type of character.

[Anonymous No.8420519]

>>8418784
Who is Frem?

[Anonymous No.8420946]

This thread has given me the urge to replay the game. I don't remember it being as grindy as you describe it, though. Granted, I used savestates a lot when I played it back then.

[Anonymous No.8420950]

>>8420519
*From
The letter are a bit too clese to each other.

[Anonymous No.8421096]

getting rid of the first person dungeons was a mistake. how do you even map them?

[Anonymous No.8421170]

>>8421096
I am not sure what you mean. It's with first person dungeons that had you resort to mapping. With an overhead view you always see what's around you.

[Anonymous No.8421195]

>>8421170
PS2 needs some mapping. the dungeons are complete mazes.

[Anonymous No.8422574]

>>8421170
>With an overhead view you always see what's around you.
That doesn't work anymore when the entire dungeon looks exactly the same and every dungeon is a multi-floor teleport maze.

[Anonymous No.8422625]

>>8421096
The problem isn't first person or top down, it's how they switched from tile based movement to free movement. This meant you had no clear way to measure distance in order to draw maps.

[Anonymous No.8422861]

>>8402759
>at least they gave players the option to turn off that stupid foreground layer in dungeons.
Fun fact: that layer is the precise reason why they switched from first-person to overhead view. They wanted to show off the capabilities of the new console, so 3D dungeons had to go.

[Anonymous No.8422940]

>>8422861
Ironically I thought the 3D dungeons from 1 looked much better. 2 could've easily improved on them, especially with stuff like making doors visible from the sides.
Incidentally, I really liked 1's credit sequence with the AI moving around a maze with the staff's names engraved in the walls.

[Anonymous No.8423346]

>>8420946
Got to Bioststem lab. Indeed, it required grinding for better gear, but after you gear up and Rolf learns teleportaton a dungeon can ve cleared in one go.

[Anonymous No.8423371]

>>8422861
i thought the game was just rushed

[Anonymous No.8423694]

>>8423346
Made one run through the lab. Probably would have cleared it if I stocked on dimates. So far it is balanced perfectly.
Replaying it now, after having played more console jrpgs, I can see its flaws, but it blows away everything that preceded it and holds well even against some games that would come later, like FFIV.
Overworld graphics: FFIV > PSII
Combat graphics: PSII > FFIV
Story presentation: FFIV > PSII (this Phantasy Star is an oldschool rpg with barely any cutscenes)
The plot/setting: PSII > FFIV (doesn't even compare)
Combat: PSII = FFIV (I almost gave the vote to FF due to sheer amount of shit they put into the system, but then remembered that PS invented some shit too, like manipulaing speed to affect turn order and thank god for autobattle)
Dungeon design: FFIV > PSII (easier to navigate and pit puzzles might not be everyone's cup of tea)
Would fuck Nei.

[Anonymous No.8423964]

>>8423694
>Would fuck Nei.
pls no that's Rolf's adoptive little sis/daughter/not really sure

>>8417153
in a just world PSII would be remade/re-released and these "text" adventures would be integrated into the main game as side content that allows you to explore each new party member's history, without the POV gameplay and dice-rolling shit.

[Anonymous No.8423990]

>>8423694
PSIV would take everything PSII did and make it better.

- better presentation
- better battle system
- better pacing
- better graphics
- better sound design
- better story that pays tribute to what came before it
- better Nei

[Anonymous No.8424216]

>>8423964
If that guide is true >>8417271 PS2 remake actually does reference the text adventures.

[Anonymous No.8425079]

>>8424216
I haven't played them myself yet but they do from what small bits I've seen on YouTube. The main thing I remember was Kain seeing the same type of computer he used in his adventure in Rolf's house saying it brought back memories.
>>8423990
>better Nei
I was about to argue you on that but technically that is what she is in the end so I'll conceded.

[Anonymous No.8425156]

>>8385563
I just started this game because of you faggots and that moment in the bridge were the Hunter is waiting was fucking awesome, only two hours in and this has left a huge impression on me.

[Anonymous No.8425214]

>>8425156
>that moment in the bridge were the Hunter is waiting was fucking awesome
I thought it was absurdly contrived and utterly ridiculous.

[Anonymous No.8425228]

>>8385563
Still pissed.

And Phantasy Star IV pissed me off even further.

[Anonymous No.8425940]

By th way, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis got a big update today, but it's still dead.

[Anonymous No.8427389]

>>8425940
How dead?

[Anonymous No.8428982]

>>8425228
Don't be such a fag.

[Anonymous No.8429341]

>>8425214
RPG story telling at its finest.

[Anonymous No.8429465]

Reminder that Chaz died some time after IV and Rika is a single mother.