Nei (Phantasy Star)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nei | |
|---|---|
| Phantasy Star character | |
 Nei in Phantasy Star II | |
| First game | Phantasy Star II (1989) |
| Designed by | Toru Yoshida |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Numan |
Nei (Japanese: ネイ) is a character in the 1989 video game Phantasy Star II. She is a companion to the protagonist Rolf, who joins him early in the game. She was created through the combination of DNA from humans and creatures called "bio-monsters", and she is linked with another of her kind called Neifirst. She was designed by Toru Yoshida, who gave her feline features early in development before scrapping them. She also served as the basis for the character Rika in Phantasy Star IV. She also stars in a text adventure based on Phantasy Star II.
She has received generally positive reception, particularly due to the impact of her death in Phantasy Star II. It was regarded as a particularly shocking death due to her significance to the plot, with critics finding it unprecedented that such an important character be killed off at the time. The circumstances of Nei's life have also contributed to the impact behind her death. Her death has been compared to the death of Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII, with some critics believing that Nei's death was more impactful.
Nei was designed by Toru Yoshida.[1] She has pointy ears and wears a purple leotard. Early sketches show her with more feline features.[2] She was originally going to have a tail, though Yoshida noted that he was unsure whether to keep it since her battle sprite did not have a tail. Despite the battle graphics designers gave him the okay, he ultimately chose to remove the tail. He remarked that Nei was the closest character to him in the game.[2] She is a mutant girl, having been created using human and "bio-monster" genes", the latter which caused her to age from a child into a woman over the span of months.[3] Yuji Naka noted how shocking her death was for players, stating that they received criticism from players over it. He felt that it would be better to handle it this way due to thinking the story needed more rhythm, adding that he understood why the players were so upset after playing Final Fantasy VII.[4] Nei's design was considered for use in Phantasy Star IV for Rika by Yoshida, but the staff members, including Rieko Kodama, were reticent to accept that idea. They managed to work things out, and Rika was given similar ears to Nei's.[2]