The traditional Phantasy Star died with Genesis but Sega gave it a second life with the Online games which were ported to other consoles after the Dreamcast died - specifically the GameCube.

I am in the same boat as you, I loved Phantasy Star but no one I know has a clue what it is so buying something like this would be pointless, outside the lore as I figure this is going to be canon. Unfortunately, Sega is wishy washy with this stuff, almost like the Star Wars stuff over the years - canon today, trash tomorrow.