I enjoyed Phantasy Star III for what it was, but I agree that it just didn't quite fit in with the series (even though PSIV retroactively tried to make the connection somewhat).

I'd take a XIV-PSO2 collabo in a second if it were a sign that PSO2 is finally coming stateside. So many people at Sega are fumbling away so many chances to gain back a fan base that was truly loyal to them over the years. Having played PSO on Dreamcast and Gamecube, I really anticipated playing PSO2 before XIV was released and was quite disappointed when the release dates kept getting pushed back.