PSO2 Story Guide Header Banner
PSO2 NGS Story Guide
The story of PSO2 NGS will likely be complex and long.
This isn't meant to be a substitute for the game, or as a transcript of the entire script/plot, but rather a way to understand, read-up-on, speculate, analyze & get a really good idea of what's going on in the game.
Color key
Green Text: Speculation or opinions
What You Do/The official "Party Line" appears in RED TEXT
Bold Text: Important information
Choice Options: Blue Text
NGS Hub Page
NGS Story Guide Page 1
NGS Story Guide Page 2
NGS Story Guide Page 3
NGS Story Guide Page 5
NGS Story Guide Page 6
NGS Story Guide Page 8
NGS Story Guide Page 9

Aina in: Aina’s Winter Clothes
You can find Aina near the top of Mt. Ihana, and she remarks about Kvaris being so pretty. But, the view was a result of the Falz fight, so she’s not sure how to feel. This is insightful. She gets cold though, and credits the clothing with being able to come up here for the view. Manon talked about dealing with the cold her own way by ‘stimulating her internal photons’…but she’s not too sure about that being for real. *Her attitude and the way she says it, is full of doubts.

Where Did You Get The Clothes?
I Haven’t Seen Those Clothes Before

If you ask Where Did You Get The Clothes? She says Crawford gave it to her, but really her dad had it set aside at HQ with him. He made arrangements with Crawford, in case anything ever happened to him. She feels like she understands more about him, and that he set aside the warm clothes means he predicted she’d come here at some point. He didn’t teach her much about fighting but wonder if he really was planning to get to it at some point. But you always where whatever you like, don’t you get cold?

Nope!
I Will Tough It Out

Now here’s another 2 ‘bad answers’. This is probably in there because of all the goofy “waifu” tutus and lingerie that everyone jams their poor sap characters into before throwing them into the glaciers. In PSU and also PSO2 there was a Plot Excuse which was that the armor pieces you wore protected you from the elements all over, even though the visible armor bits were not everywhere on the body. (So, like a force field that was projected from the visible armor pieces) However, you CAN dress the character warmly in here (and always could—Kvaris released with fun snow outfits on purpose to lure people into buying—which is good) Where’s the 3rd answer to use when YOU DID put on fun winter gear to play around? Maybe this Manon’s excuse is now the current plot excuse for Halpha/Meteorn people instead of ‘the armor helps you’, like previous times.

Either way…if you choose
Nope! She asks if it’s a Meteorn thing? That’s very strange, but she wants to look around more at the top of the mountain, and the scene ends.

There is actual very good developer thought going into the clothing for Kvaris. It looks culturally related to Aelio’s stuff, but for winter. Many of the colors carry over (on other characters too, not just what her dad picked for her) and the style is clear that while it is diverging it does fit into the planet and does make sense and is NOT a knockoff of somewhere on earth.  Kudos to whoever is clearly thinking hard about this. You can see it in the names of the places as well, they have a sort of almost Hawaiian language tilt to them, and regardless of the region the names seem to fit/have been named by the same linguistic type of people.

Meri
You can find Meri near the lodge entrance with a tilting pompom bird. She says welcome back, what are you doing today?
Is Everything Going Well?
Are All Of Your Siblings Fine?

If you ask Is Everything Going Well? She’ll say yes it is, Ilma is devoted to his research, Taivas & Tuuli compete over who defeats the most enemies, and Kukka will help her too. None of that has changed…but some things have changed like Kukka going out with his brothers to fight enemies along with helping Ilma investigate. Taivas and Tuuli go out together more…before if one went east, the other went west..but now they’re even more helpful to her. She tries to help too, but Ilma is too complicated. She then mentions she chats with Aina and Manon as well, Aina tells her about the journey and Aelio Town. Meri sympathizes with the disaster, and will talk to her about it because they’re both survivors. She’s happy about being included. Manon tells her about the other environments and creatures, but sometimes like Ilma, she gets too complicated. BTW, do you have some time? Can you tell me some stories too?

I’d Be Happy To
Maybe Just a Few…

If you say I’d Be Happy To, she’s happy and wants to go into the lodge to talk. This ends the scene.

It's good that everyone has diverse interests, and that Meri is making friends with Manon & Aina, because the general feel seems to be that Manon needs more socialization of some kind. It's a bit 'whoops' that Meri ends up being "the stereotypical single feeeeemale" in the group "the token female" who does the cooking, keeps up the lodge, doesn't understand the complicated guy and doesn't do the fighting. Yes, some people love and prefer to do this role, and that's great, but plunking the only girl into it smells a little stale here.

Hadi in: Investigating Lower Maqead (This VANISHES if you do Dozer and Hadi first????? It's a glitch, so Hadi Investigates will re-appear later/who knows if they will fix this or not. It's actually one of the important scenes too, so it is unfortunate that it is a victim of a glitch in the game.)

Dozer in: Dozer and Hadi
You can find him on top of Rwa Maqead, and he’s not seen you since the Renus Retem giant worm battle.
What Are You Doing Here?
Did Something Happen?

If you ask Did Something Happen? Hadi wanted some advice, but he’s done with that, so he’s up here taking a breather. He’s known Hadi for a long time, since a massive DOLLS attack where they first met. Dozer’s guys were hurt badly but Hadi’s squad was worse. He’d spread himself too thin, the dolls were going to attack again, but Dozer helped him out and that’s how they became friends. He feels they understand eachother, both being CASTS and so loyal to their leaders. When Retem was doing badly, no one could get away to help so they’d lost touch for a while, but now they can be close again like old times. But, it’s thanks to the trio. He’s grateful, and the scene ends.

Does Dozer seem to get stressed out about a lot of stuff? He's taking a break on the Aelio mountain top after training some new people, now advising Hadi on something and he gets up here. What was his advice?

Manon in: Manon’s Role
You can find Manon near Balflow Falls, but she’s a bit down.
Hi There
Is Something On Your Mind?

If you ask Is Something On Your Mind? She’s startled, and jumps a bit…she was so lost in thought she didn’t detect you, so she has to be more careful. She comes here when she needs to be alone. This shows you a lovely view of the scenic area. The waterfall sounds help her to relax.
Wow, Even You Need to Unwind Sometimes
Is Something Wrong?
To try and get more information, you can ask Is Something Wrong? If she says no…it wouldn’t be quite the truth. She wishes she’d done some things differently, like what she said or did—doing things she wishes she could take back. (But, does she realize EVERYbody literally everyone also has this as ‘a thing’ for them?) She knows Aina thinks she’s this amazing person, but it’s all book learning that’s meaningless if she can’t apply it. So…Aina is the real amazing one because she goes through so much but it never keeps her down. Others would shut down or succumb to rage…but not Aina, and she looks up to her as a role model so she absolutely can’t let her down. She has to do her best to put on a brave face, even if only in front of her. But what’s she doing? Why tell you all this? She can’t figure you out…you act like you’re not paying attention (really? The character looks attentive the whole time) but you’re actually taking in everything, but that’s maybe why Aina feels safe around you…but do me a favor and don’t tell Aina anything about this! Someday, she may tell her but not now…so promise me..ok?

Manon waves the distraction flag:
Did you notice? She made her issue be all about Her & Aina and how she feels unable to live up to the role-model role, but that’s 99% likely NOT the reason she was brooding about in the Balflow Falls area. It IS an issue on her mind, but it’s not the main one: that one is something she did in the past that she wishes she could do-over. Notice how she never gets to that on purpose AND it wasn't anything your NOR Aina had witnessed..
Realizing Aina needs a mentor figure that’s like her (example: Not an adult) and to swear you to secrecy about not feeling it is a very honest thing to do. She’s very sincere here and it really comes across. This whole interaction is very good.

Aina in: Life in the City
You can find Aina near the main screen and bar area. She says she didn’t know you’d come here too.
What Are You Doing?
Taking A Break, Aina?
If you ask Taking A Break, Aina? She got in a minute ago and she likes to sit and people-watch, because it’s so peaceful and everyone is having fun chatting. She loves Central, but in Aelio town she never had much a reason to come…maybe she was little at the time and it seemed big and scary here. But, she loves it here now with shops, operators…and names every profession. She’s heard that people in the underground factory makes the food and the weps, but she’s never seen it. It takes everybody to keep the city going, so she’ll do her best for everyone who lives here, defending them as an ARKS. She feels it’s her turn to start doing the protecting.
I Think You’re Doing Great
I’m Right Here With You
If you say I Think You’re Doing Great she’s glad, and it means a lot. But, the break is over so she’s got to go.
The scene ends. This is the slice-of-life-ey kind of stuff that you need to build characters and also show a bit of 'why do they fight', so it is a good scene to have even though nothing super signifigant happens in it.

Manon in: On That Day
You can find Manon in the ruins of Aelio town near a piece of fallen red cloth. She asks what you’re doing here.

I Could Ask You The Same Thing
Uh, I come Here Sometimes

If you make an excuse of I Come Here Sometimes to not offend her, she admits she does too. She’s still in disbelief over the destruction, but from your perspective it happened right away. It was such a nice place, everyone was so warm and kind…when she first arrived, there was a problem with her pod door and she was trapped in it. If it wasn’t for the town, she’d still be trapped, but everyone showed up and they got it off. Everyone was so welcoming…they were so happy a new friend was there, and wanted to teach her everything. Mid-size dolls were no match for anyone there. Garoa would go vs huge ones 5 at a time…and use his huge axe to win. She then gets really broken up about the destruction and his death.

I Understand.
We Can’t Stop Fighting.

If you encourage her with I Understand, she says she knows it affected you too…but she tries hard to not show any weakness but when it’s just you 2 she confesses to being broken up about it. But, she wants to be alone after that…she’ll go back to central later once she ‘gets it together’. The scene ends.

It’s not weak to be sad that the entire town was massacred by the dolls. Who taught her wrong?
For her pod being broken, would she have died in there, or just not been 'waked up' like everyone else?

Dozer in: Dozer & Garoa
Dozer is above the Aelio town ruins on a cliff, and wants to talk. He can’t believe it happened either, everything just all gone. It was responsible for defense all the way from south to west: the area that is cutoff from central by the mountains. Dolls come in from the sea, and they are hard to predict. Central didn’t face serious threats for a long time because of the Aelio Town defenders: they were tough. Garoa though, is a cut above the rest, his mind body and spirit in perfect balance at a high level. Aelio & Central would run practice drills sometimes, friendly stuff but it could get competitive. They’d match him & Garoa but Dozer had never beat him even a single time.

How Is That Even Possible?
Were You Going Easy On Him?

If you ask How Is That Possible? He confirms it, but he ‘left us’ before he could settle the score. Arks probably won’t have another like him: a force of nature when he fought, but easy to get along with otherwise. He was warm, and being around him makes your worries melt away. Everyone else was also kind hearted…so he can’t allow them to die in vain…let’s make sure it doesn’t happen.

The scene ends.

Manon in: Manon & Garoa
Manon visits Garoa’s makeshift grave that Aina set up on the cliff during the day. She confesses to the grave: She finally made it here, sorry to take so long…all her friends. She knew it was here since Aina called when you 2 were building it but she couldn’t answer because she didn’t want to face reality…she’s afraid she’s not facing it now directly anyway. Garoa asked her to keep an eye on Aina, and maybe he didn’t mean anything by it…it was probably because they were similar in age so maybe like a big sister. But now the responsibility is a huge weight upon her…she’s responsible for her now

I’m Here To Take Care of Aina Too
You’re Aina’s Big Sister

If you try to help her with I’m Here To Take Care of Aina Too, it means a lot to her…and she’s gotten so good at fighting mentally and physically, she moves through her grief so Manon feels she needs to keep the same positive attitude and grow up to set a good example for her. That’s why she came…to promise Garoa, you, and everyone to protect Aina no matter what. It’s the very least she can do. Manon is very sad here, and it is convincing.

Manon in: The Forgotten Knowledge
At Vanford Labs, you can find Manon on a cliff overlooking the ruin wall of the lab. She thinks hard about it and says she sees what it is.

What Are You Up To?
Are You Looking Into Something?

If you ask Are You Looking Into Something? Because clearly she is, you startle her again and she confirms it. She remembers you startled her earlier (at Balflow Falls) because enemies can’t sneak up on her, are you working on your stealth techniques? Aaanyway, she’s personally interested in the labs, it got it’s name from Crawfords’ grandfather. CONFIRMED. Before it was destroyed by the invasion, he was researching and developing new technology for ARKS here, because of his contributions they named it after him. Things he developed are still used today, but it was destroyed by the massive dolls invasion. When it happened, Vanford didn’t care about trying to save the facility he fought on the front lines so that his friends could all escape the lab…and that’s how he died. He was an amazing person—it’s hard to believe how Halpha just swallows up such great people. This place is so…but she doesn’t finish the sentence as she is too sad to do so. She now feels the incident here is what keeps Crawford so focused on defense rather than offense. (She is only partially right here, Crawford has another motivation that turns up later in Stia) He’s afraid of losing it all again, and she feels he’s making the right decision. He’s the reason the people of Central feel secure, and she wants to be a part of that.

I Feel The Same Way
Then You Need to Get Stronger

If you encourage her with I Feel The Same Way (why such a badgering other choice of dialogue? That one is pretty rude to come up with in this scenario.) she feels you might say that and hopes you’ll be by her side. The scene ends.

Meri & the Kvaris Advance Team
You can find Meri in Kvaris town, and she asks you if you’re also shopping.
I’m Preparing for a Battle
Is That What You’re Here For?

If you ask Is That What You’re Here For? To try and get more info, she’s trying to exchange leftover food, because it helps others to get ingredients they ddin’t have. It used to be silent and deserted here, but sometimes Aelio would do surveying/excavating but not often. More people have been coming, so it was unnerving at first because she’s never seen so many different people, and it wasn’t only her, it was her whole family & Ilma. Once it settled down, she was able to have conversations with various people who turned out to be nice, offering help and food. They’ve always been on their own, so the people taught her about taking care of one another…Grandpa said it but, she understands it better now. It’s more than superficial cooperation, it’s like noticing when someone is upset or worried and being able to actually ask for help when you need it. She’s happy to have this lesson from the trio, and the new people. Also thanks for helping rescue Ilma.

I’m Just Glad He’s Safe
We All Did It Together

If you say We All Did it Together, she’ll agree…but if that incident never happened, the 5 would still be doing their own thing, but now we know how to take care of each other, and the kind people in town too. So if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, they’re ready to help. The scene ends.

Aina & Meri
Aina is going to visit Meri, so you can find her on the way to the Siblings Lodge.
You 2 Became Fast Friends
About Some Kind of Assignment?

If you tell her You 2 Became Fast Friends, she agrees, and says she feels she knew her from when she first met her. She hardly knew any girls her own age until Manon appeared in Aelio Town. Despite being from different environments, she figured out something when she saw her break up an argument between the brothers. People got along ok in Aelio town but when they’d fight it would be over pride and status and they’d never back down…so she was always the one going in to try and make peace, so Meri seems similar in that regard (with her brothers), or like how she’s the one who made food when everyone else was tired from fighting. It’s good when people enjoy it, but hard when its always running out and people were always asking to make more, and Meri can relate. They love to talk because they have so much in common. Would you like to join?

I Wouldn’t Want to Bother You
Sorry, I’m A Little Busy

Another unfortunate anti-option. It would be good/smart to be able to weasel into their conversation and get Kvraris culture or learn more about the characters but you can’t. If you say I Wouldn’t Want To Bother You, she says it’s not a bother but she didn’t tell Meri someone else would come so maybe next time you can come. The scene ends
So it seems like they both work as 'peace-makers' to help others with arguments, they do food prep and aquisition, and both were the only girl of that age around for some time. It is no wonder they feel they have more in common with each other, so this scene makes sense too.Unknown if this is "Token-feeeeemale-ing" that both of them have this same role, or it's just a random thing to happen.

Manon in Laisas Last Wish
You can find Manon at Laisas’ grave site again. She tells you Laisas dedicated his life to the revival of Kvaris. He spent every waking moment going through snow and ice to find out what happened. The violent change of environment after the Falz battle here caused him to get vast amounts of data in the lodge study and lost central terminals. (Where Ilma went) There’s more at LC including plans for how to get it up and running again: the former glory of Original Central. She guesses that Ilma and the others will try to carry that torch for Laisas…but how long would it take?
There was data on its canon too, they used it to repel Falz…it had 100% capacity and stability and it was preserved. The incomplete file about Centrals’ was in the study too…Ilma finding it started it all. He shared it with Crawford so that started Crawford in his own research, and sent Ilma back for more data in LC. With all the data, we should be able to restore ours. She faces the grave, and says he really did put his whole heart and soul for building a better future for everyone here.

What An Amazing Person
We Will Carry On His Legacy

If you tell her What An Amazing Person, she agrees…there’s so many amazing people of Halpha. They give it their all, not just for themselves, but for everyone. She’s met so many amazing people with the trio that it inspires her to ask how else can she help? The scene ends. This seems like a rehash, but lets us know what Manon is thinking.

Ilma in: ilma’s remorse
Ilma has climebed up by an ice cave, and wonders what you’re doing all the way up there.

I Could Ask You the Same
I Thought I’d Go to Lost Central

If you Ask You The Same, he’s conducting an investigation… but don’t worry he wasn’t going all the way to LC…even though he’d like to go…Meri and everyone yelled at him to not go alone though. So by the way…thank you for rescuing him. He feels he never said a proper thanks, he had no idea what was going on outside, comms were jammed, there were all DOLLS…he had food, research materials, and he settled in waiting to escape when he had the chance. He apologizes for not leaving a note. He was reading grandpa’s reports in the lodge and he found Central Cannon notes. He thought it was cool, and went on his way. He realizes he loses sight of everything when he gets too interested in something…so he’s got work on it. But hey it go the central cannon on the road to repair…as well as exploring LC…so it does balance out in the end? Right?

Yup You Did Good
Uh I’ll go with a No on That One

Interestingly an area where you can totally agree or disagree with whoever. If you tell him No On That One (because he went into danger without help) He rather whines that it’s you too that agrees with the rest of his family. Meri yelled at him so much that he makes sure to let someone know when he’s going out. He calls if he’ll be late, and tries to not be by himself too much. He also mentions the 5 did their own thing most of the time, but now they check in often and stick together more—the incident changed how things work, so that’s good. He wants to help Aelio more too, and help with CC dev and support. And THEN the pros and cons will balance out…so better get going and thanks again. The scene ends.

This shows the progress of the relationship of the siblings pretty well. Everyone having the same story about the incident and learning to work together better. It’s also making it easy to see how the whole Ilma thing COULD happen anyway, like his behavior makes sense. You can see them all coming to the same conclusion that the Ilma Incident helped them to better the family by working together better.

Manon & the Belugana Ruins
She’s waiting near the ice bridge near it, and had a feeling that you might come there too..because you always creep up at times like this…so you’re interested in here too?

I Heard A Lot of People Used to Live Here
You Mean Belugana Ruins?

Since it’s pretty clear it’s what she means, you can mention I Heard A Lot Of People Lived Here. You knew? Who told you? Laisas mentioned it in his reports, Kvaris named the place and refurbished the larger ruins to be habitable. It had as many people as LC it was 2nd only to first Central…but 100 years ago it turned back into ruins during the Falz attack. Kvaris actually had better tech than Aelio or even Retem at that time. They made vehicles that would be advanced by today’s standards, and poured all their ingenuity into the DOLLS fight—so they were formidable, but that wasn’t enough and they were almost completely wiped out. Their ARKS defenders were sub-par, they relied on weapons and didn’t develop enough fighting ability. The foundation is always photons, because without ammo or energy all weps are worthless. You can only rely on your own photons and the ability to weild it, and they couldn’t, so they lost. That’s what Laisas’ data said, she’s only seen some but he kept mentioning it. He was also a ARKS defender. Everyone needs to excel in martial and scientific persuits, Retem feels the same.

Neither Aelio nor Retem could make the old Kvaris tech en masse so they’re making do with what they have…so each ARKS there knows how to fight because there’s no other choice. The scene ends.
She's parroting Laisas' conclusions about Kvaris: They had fancy tech, but guns don't work if there's no one to pull the trigger, and basically blames that for their loss. BUT you can easily see that there was more to it: Their cannon was fine and it worked great, but for some reason shooting DF at that time/making it "go away into spacetime once injured enough", somehow triggered it into freezing the whole area. This makes the Kvaris people out to be wimpy tech-nerds but that's not the case: they almost won if Ilma & Lost Central is to be believed.

The remaining mystery is what triggered the huge freeze?
Why didn't Falz just do it again? (After it came out over Central)

Ilma & Crawford
You can find Ilma around Mt. Ihana who is doing a favor for Crawford. He feels he should tell you about Crawford & him
I’d Love To Hear About It
Do You 2 Have Some Kind of Secret?

If you encourage him with I’d Love To Hear About It, he says his family never lived anywhere but Kvaris, so his only people he talked to was his family, but Aelio Arks would sometimes show up. They never did much but exchange a bit of news or supplies. His environment was always white…and the siblings are all enthusiastic about Grandpas’ dream (revive Kvaris) He always felt something was lacking about his life though…So while he was organizing things he came across a research forum, where some data caught his eye and when he looked into it, Crawford was the author. Ilma found mistakes in it though so he posted comments on the forum, and a big message came back, packed with questions so that was pretty exciting and that’s how he met him. But really…it was more like penpals.

Do You Mean You Never Met Him In Person?
Don’t Tell Me You Don’t Know What He Looks like?

To eliminate both questions with a single choice, it’s the first option: Met Him In Person? He never did, and confesses he’d not recognize him…and Crawford wouldn’t recognize him anyway…but what about the profile pictures? He admits his photo was old, but that was the one the Trio used in looking for him

That Picture Doesn’t Really Look Like You
I Confused Some of Your Siblings for You…

If you tell him The Picture Doesn’t Look Like you, he says really? You might confuse him for his siblings as he knows they look similar. They don’t actually, each one has distinctly colored hair, some of them even have different styles of eyes, and he’s the only one with glasses. Also, they never show you the photo in the plot so there’s no telling what opinions ought to be. He says if everyone wore the same clothes and hair color, even you couldn’t tell us apart.

But getting back to Crawford…even without seeing him, Ilma feels he can imagine how Crawford feels by reading his reports, how passionate, or how he struggled. He feels understanding even without meeting in person or talking on the phone. The relationship is between research partners and friends. He’s corresponded with others, but nobody’s as quick and accurate as Crawford, so he realizes how amazing he is. But don’t tell him! He might get a big head about it. Probably people would think they’re both weird, but he wanted to tell you anyway…and then he leaves. The scene ends.

Why was he suddenly compelled to tell you this? I mean, it’s nice to know…but it’s a bit odd to climb up on a mountain and tell some rando that you met the mayor of town while talking about science on an internet forum one day. What’s nice is that he mentions the kind of modern friendships that people have (today while writing about video games…on forums and websites) where they never see each other at all and yet are best pals over topics. It is not only nice but is also true.

However, it's a tad out of place because everything you actually see-see in the game is video chats/cut-in-chats in the mags, the big-screens in town projecting concerts, Crawfords' looking-globe in the Command Room and all that, it's kind of unfitting to imagine forums like old BBS boards or something (that's from the early ages of the Earth Internet) still being used in Ilma/Crawford time. (Probably the actual thing is when it comes to the game/graphics it's not interesting to just sit and read so they make everything visual to keep it more entertaining)

Hadi & Dozer
Right at the TP to Sagan Mt. Rd. West, you can find Hadi on the lookout, and it causes him to remember that day…when he first met the Trio. It’s the only route between Retem & Aelio, so he’s met all kinds of people here, including Dozer. There was a large Dolls attack, but people were patrolling to prevent problems. He & his squad were outnumbered, so he put his guys behind him to protect them but he got onto the edge of the fight which is where he noticed that others had showed up and it was Dozer & his squad too.
Dozer didn’t see a dolls (they call them units—in this case it avoids mentioning which dolls it was) At this point he was able to get Dozer out of the scrape by killing it…and so they’ve been friends since.

Hmm. That Isn’t How Dozer Tells It…
Maybe You Should Tell Dozer that Story

This is referencing the Dozer & Hadi part that you’d encountered earlier. Remember: In this, Dozer accuses Hadi’s forces of being spread too thin, so it was Dozer’s forces that helped Hadi’s not the other way around. There’s no way to know who is telling the truth here, so if you say That Isn’t How Dozer Tells it, he asks about Dozer. (You are basically trying to politely call him out about lying here, because in this instance it seems your character belives Dozer's story, maybe because he told the story first? You don't know either person well enough to judge which the liar would be) Hadi will accuse Dozer of panicing and remembering wrong. He then mentions the same thing where they lost touch for a while because everyone is too busy, and how it’s less busy now so they’re back in touch.
They used to only discuss military matters, but now they cover everyday topics too…but it’s all thanks to the Trio, and he’s grateful. He leaves.

They are CASTS…CAN they panic? They shouldn't actually be able to, because someone would have had to 'allow' them to have a panic response to a situation, and that is never helpful in the real world. Who is telling the truth? The actual question is ‘does it matter?’ which the answer seems to be ‘no’, other than possible character development.

Meri in Meri’s Fresh Start
You can find Meri near Laisas Grave. She wants ‘a little more’ of something, but you interrupt her by accident by arriving and can ask

Are You Clearing Off The Grave Stone?
Are You Talking to Family Members?

If you ask her Clearing Off the Grave Stone? She’ll say yes because it gets buried in snow easily, but the truth is no one was laid to rest here. Not mom, dad nor grandpa. She doesn’t really remember her parents. The Disaster at Mt. Latva happened when she was too young, and nobody ever saw them again. So that’s why Grandpa raised all the siblings, how to live in the snow and all. One night he went out into a blizzard and never returned. Aelio helped look but never found any clues of what happened, so ever since they’ve been surviving all on their own. Aelio recommended everyone move to Central, but everybody wanted to carry out Grandpa’s dreams here so they stayed.
She then sadly admits things never went well for them, everyone working as hard as possible at what they were best at, but nobody meshed. They always fought over the goals and plans while never understanding what they were doing wrong for years. Nobody realized their own mistakes until Ilma accidentally disappeared & the Trio fixed things. She’s so glad things are different in the family and we can move forward without the mistakes of the past. So if you need help, just let us know, it’s our turn to help you! But…there’s not much she can do by herself, but with all 5 there’s nothing we can’t do. She’ll make a promise in front of grandpa & parents, she’ll support you in your battles in every way she can, so count on me!  The scene ends.

Ran in: Kvaris
Following the (apparent) tradition of climbing up to some most edge and inhospitable spot and then having something to say about it, Ran will appear on a high cliff in the Altolani Plains so she can look at Kvaris from afar. When you approach, you can ask

Are You Off Duty?
What Are You Up To?

Since she probably is off duty, that one’s redundant so What Are You Up To? She’s looking for a breath of fresh air as the command room gets stuffy. She was organizing reports of the Kvaris region so want to hear about it? The records show it was once more temperate, but now is all snow. It flourished better than Aelio or Retem then but the DF made it uninhabited and cold. The data on how long it took to get that cold is missing. Everyone was forced to relocate, so they fled to Aelio and started central here while others went to Retem. The Advance Team is the largest extened ops in the region since it happened, because self defense was all Aelio and Retem could do till now. With the Trio Help, we made inroads, so we appreciate what you’re doing, and feel free to ask the advance team anything. She wishes she could have tried out for it too, but her responsibility in ops prevents it…but could you tell her when you go? The scene ends.

This one just reiterates stuff from earlier, except that the 'cold progress data' is missing but even you can extrapolate it out with that "about 100 years ago the big DF battle went", so we know it's less than 100 years, and it was also fast enough to swamp buildings with snow and run people off pretty quick so you've got to think probably a year or less to do it. The inexplicable thing is all the cold-version animals which they say "are adapted to cold" well, unless each magic reindeer lives only about 3 days its whole life (born/reproduce/die) (which is obviously false) they sure didn't adapt through evolution that fast. And neither would anything else have in the region, if it obeyed normal laws of physics or nature or whatever.
Bet:
No one ever addresses the animal adaptations in the plot because having them there is a purely aesthetic thing to make the game look good so they're "Cold adapted animals because we want them to be" is the actual answer instead of anything that makes sense or is reasonable plot explanation.

Nadereh in Talking about Kvaris
You can find her near the oasis, and ask her

What Are You Doing Here?
Is It Safe to be All Alone?

The oasis is generally pretty safe, so the 2nd one doesn’t make much sense. If you ask What Are You Doing Here? She was ridding enemies while out for a stroll. But, she’d like to ask your help with the relationship building between Retem and Aelio. She’d like to learn more about Aelio ways, she doesn’t know about the culture and customs there. She wants to practice a culture exchange with you because you are an acquaintance. It’s nothing more difficult than a regular conversation, so what do you think

Of Course, as Much as You Like
I’m Happy to Talk To You About Anything

Well this sure is 2 ways to say yes. If you say Of Course, she’s happy, and tells you about talking with Manon about technology but she never talked to Aina much. There’s not many people in Retem with a temperament like that, so she’s at a loss to start a conversation, so how do you usually interact with her? Like what are her interests?

Aina Loves Your Singing
You Could Ask About Special Talents She Has

Singing isn’t about Aina, so if you suggest Ask About Special Talents, she thinks about her own like combat or singing…so she feels that’s useful…but if you’ve got a moment, what about you? When she tries to think of something though, the scene ends.