PSO2 Story Guide Episodes 4-5
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The story of PSO2 has many chapters & is very 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. This section is for Chapters 4 and 5 ONLY. For all the plot before this, see the Story Hub. Because the game is divided up over these sections, the plot will be as well. |
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Character Guide Planets/Areas Guide Special Quest Mission Write Ups |
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 Dates & Times (Story is time travel related) Purple Text |
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At 1540 Now, Hitsugi is still in her water area. At 1550 1550 / A Co-occurance She unsheathe the sword, spins, and gets a very fancy red outfit with a big fake braid added to her hair. It’s white and woven in at the bottom of her usual ponytail. There are white fins all around the tail. The outfit has heels for the knee-high boots, a floral theme, and big wide sleeves. The katana she makes has changed too, the blade is a pinkish and it has a long handle. The scabbard is wound in floaty ribbons and is white. Mother had wanted to destroy the ship, but said that time’s against them, so she tells Ophiel to activate the shield. Kohri protests that Hitsugi will be left, but Mother says worry later. Kohri promises to come back and get her, but leaves along side Mother. Matoi and you arrive, asking is everyone ok. It Must Have Been Painful If you say It Must Have Been Painful Hitsugi says it was, but it’s over so it doesn’t matter now. She’s sorry because she was hesitant they took Aru. She’ll save everyone, not just him, that’s what she’s chosen. No matter how selfish she will be because she’s decided. After all, it’s big sisters’ job to save little brother, so just wait Aru, she’s coming. The chapter ends. Not a terrible chapter at all. Reunion With Matoi It’s Thanks To Hitsugi What is the first option? What’s thanks to her? That one doesn’t make sense. If you say You Did A Good Job , she says she did her best and we made it because everyone worked together, you & Hitsugi too, she’s glad to see you all back. She wanted to encourage Hitsugi but it seems to have backfired so she was worried. But she came back and now has determination in her eyes, so from now on we’ll have to properly support her so she won’t handle everything alone. You hand on hip, seem to contemplate this, so Matoi says you looked her way, and thought about the old her? She promises not to get lost again, if something happens, she’ll rely on you. She’ll never forget she’s not alone any more. Aru’s True Identity Are You Really Ok? If you ask Shouldn’t You Still Rest? She says no no its ok, Xiera can move again. And this isn’t the situation where she can just lie in bed. Hitsugi thinks for a little bit, then apologizes for causing so much trouble. Xiera says no, she didn’t do anything wrong, the ones causing all the destruction are the ones to blame. She still thinks its her fault it happened, so she wants to apologize properly to Aru… This reminds Xiera though, so she wants to inform everyone of the damage caused by the recent attacks. The ship only was temporarily taken control over, so all systems are back to normal now. It also returned to being near Earth. They finished all countermeasures against it ever happening again. Casualties though…it’s a relatively small number. Because the limiter was also exploited, the majority of ARKS were unable to fight intruders so it was a good call to evacuate instead of battling. But Aru was… Hitsugi now is the one with some good news, saying to not let it worry her, she knows because she was connected to him, that he was absorbed by Mother. Yes…he was the one by her side cheering her on every time she was down, but the connection is now very weak. But, it hasn’t vanished so that’s why she’ll take him back from Mother no matter what. Enga now appears to ask why she would do that?(How did he get to the ship? He was stranded in her dorm room when last we saw him. Maybe the ship being back near Earth made...whatever anyone does to 'go there', to work again? There's no explanation.) AND HE WOULD ASK WHY SAVE A FREIND? Then NO Enga has learned NOTHING this entire time. What is Enga, even? He doesn't know why someone would want to save their friend? Has he ever had a friend? Does he know what empathy is? This is just bad writing for him. Make him ask something at least a teensy bit logical.... Xiera says the best place to start is by defining what Aru & Mother really are. It ended up arriving on Earth and became Mother. That’s why Ether and Photons are so similar, they were originally the same thing. Ardem says to not let the chain of events bother you, ARKS. (Let’s let it bother everyone here then: bring forth the Devils Trailer semi-truck to drive though the plot hole created by “oh it just ended up on Earth”. How’s that for the world’s largest hand-wave? She might as well have said “It went there because I said so”. Cross dimension how? Learn about other dimension even existing how? Able to still exist in other dimension….and not be a planet….how??? You can’t even ask questions at this point because it’s all so much piles of contrived nonsense and hand-waves to get this stupid thing to happen at all. Regardless of how Mother was born, she still led Earth civilization to a new evolution of technology. The series of events is something the people of Earth must overcome, this wall is now blocking our evolution. (They are mis-using the term evolution here, they mean advancement of society) More importantly though, we should focus on Aru. Xiera has some info on that though. We gained enough data during the recovery of Hitsugi and during Aru’s absorbtion to reveal what he really is. In accordance with your character awakening, (after the big Matoi battle) a mass of darkness was trying to regain form. He’s a Falz! (So THAT’s why his outfit was so Falz-ey when he auto-generated it out of nothing on the bridge.) Hitsugi is shocked, a Dark Falz is the absolute enemy of ARKS! Yes, Xiera confirms a fragment of PD, and an entity that controls darkers, it’s a Dark Falz by its very definition. A DF is a powerful darker, it chooses a host to attempt to take over, and then materialize. (As you saw with Afin's sister, Gettemhart & Loser too) This causes Hitsugi to remember the time when she had Aru as a character in the game and a sudden weird darkness came over it (right-right at the very start of this episode you can page back to the event) and ‘wrecked her game’. Xiera says that it was a new DF that tried to capture Hitsugi as its host. (Because anything in the PSO dimension is fair game-----aaaaaand nobody ever explains how PSO2 works!) The host was instead an avatar made of Ether, Hitsugi was forced to log out and the influence of your character’s power (Remember, you tried to save the Aru-avatar thing thinking it was a person when it wasn’t.) With all the factors miraculously overlapping, Aru didn’t take form as a Dark Falz, but as Aru, a person. When Mother confronted him (on the bridge) she called him “A Fusion of Ether & Photons.” He was born from your own photons, and Hitsugi’s ether. Enga feels it’s too much to be a coincidence, is it even possible? Aru did say that the people who guided him through the darkness were you & Hitsugi. If the ‘darkness’ means DF, that’s got to be what he meant. Enga thinks its an absurd hybrid, but Xiera thinks that since it was a DF, the only reason it became a hybrid was because your char repressed the darkness. The situation will get worse though, because the darker elements in Aru were always kept in check by your char photons being near by. But Mother absorbed him, went far away, and both connections to Aru are now very weak. Once the photons run out…what’s left inside of Aru? Suddenly, a red alarm screen pops up in front of Xiera. An interesting bit. Dark Phantoms They’re Darkers… If you make her say They’re Darkers (It’s the Gachas (Dagash), (Bonta Bearatus)Bonta Bearadda, Decol Malluze (Decol Malluda), Vido Luze (Vidoluda) & Lanzune (Ranca Varaze) enemies, all of which are ‘phantom recolors’ of the regular darkers, Enga says Darkers? They finally showed up. Hitsugi says the color and form is a little different like darkers but also phantoms. Xiera confirms they’re hybrids. Enga says they’re using ether to create embodied darkers, they’re really off their rocker now. This leads you into a fight with the various Ether-Darkers. Several groups of thse have appeared, so Xiera will point them out on the map and drop you catapult jumper pads so you can reach each one. (They are on rooftops & etc) Of course, nobody notices this all going on, and nobody responds to any of the fires, which don't actually seem to do any damage and also Las Vegas had no people in it at that time because GARME GUD RITE?? The problem remains that the ARKS sheild field of secrecy can 'keep people out and damage in' but it does nothing for the 1000s of people who are at home or in the massive 1000 room hotels at the time of all this. They sure weren't transported out of there whilest in the shower just so some stupid magic blue birds could flop around. Nobody ever thought this through and it rubs it in your face every 5 minutes. At the final catapult is the Decol Malluze. 2028 4/19 at 1330 Hitsugi says the fusion is a new type of phantom, the ESC-A Darkers. Enga says we saw them ourselves, and proved the theory true. But if they have the same properties as Darkers, then this is really bad, he scowls. There was a previous secret incident where Darkers DID appear on earth, and we (the EG) dealt with it, alsongside ARKS but they caused a lot of fuss. They infect everything, now becoming phantoms which can endlessly appear… Don’t Get Too Worked Up If you say Don’t Get Too Worked Up (Because both of these mean something very similar) She’ll ask did you hear that just now? It was nothing geez. Enga says it’s not nothing you idiot, we’re in such a bad situationthis current situation is all because of you keeping everything to yourself (No it isn't) so don’t go mumbling along, just tell us when you feel something. After all, he’s still her big brother. At this, he claps her on the shoulder. She thinks about this for a bit, then walks a bit away, explaining. She says it’s painful and frustrating end everything up till now is self loathing and disgust. But she’ll never stop, she’ll not lose anything ever again. Enga says she has a strong heart, but nothing will change if you continue to carry burdens alone, so rely on others more. She says if only she had a reliable person to stand by her side… Enga (semi mocks? What is this?) Yes…if only… But now, both of you are with her so all is ok. No, she did have someone before, but she was too blind to see it. She then looks up and says isn’t that right Kohri? Just in time for her to drop out of the sky with Gram. Hitsugi is only juuuust able to block her. Kohri says she’s here to pick her up, so it’s time to go see MOTHER with her, and go back to normal, this time, for sure. Kohri is sad to see you. She sees you and blames you for Hitsugi acting strange. If it wasn’t for you Hitsugi would be with her now. She pants, and swings Gram at you. Now, you have to fight her. She will laugh, cough, generate pink crystals, and swing Gram around. This is a fairly normal duel type fight, where you and the NPCs are battling against her and her unusual tricks. If you can beat her…she says Hitsugi is lively, better than the doll like state from before. She holds gram and staggers, saying it’s fun fun! Being with Hitsugi is always so much fun. Enga says he suspects she knows, but there’s something really creepy about her. Yeah, here he goes again showing how much disregard he has for her, and her friends. As if seeing your best pal turn insane/possessed by a known evil isn’t traumatic at all. And calling her ‘some girl’ even after Hitsugi has repeatedly said “her best friend” and almost sacrificed her own life trying to save her/not kill her. Hitsugi says she’s always talked like that. But a Bonta Bearatus rushes at Kohri (So, these ESC-A darkers don't pick a side, they just attack everyone, that's probably important to note for something later) and Hitsugi pushes her away and chops it. However, it doesn’t look like she’ll chop it in time, so Enga rushes at the scene…only to discover that she has, in fact, dispelled it into the ether cubes that all ESC-A stuff becomes when wrecked. Kohri is shocked. But why? She’s supposed to be manipulated. Kohri says it’s because they’re friends, of course. Kohri starts to remember promising to be at her side, and that they were friends. She appears to start really thinking about things, now that she's had a big scare. But Ophiels voice appears. No sooner than you hear him, you see him. He cubes in right behind her and says No need to think, open your heart, close your eyes. If we lose you, mother will be sad. He puts his hand over her face and she stares at the blue cubes there. No one would be able to save her friend…. He then disappears her in his cubes, and looks to your party. He knows he is lying because he openly confessed earlier to just using Kohri. The “Kohri Would…” that gets interrupted was probably to be followed by ‘to cry, to get upset, or to panic’ , had she been allowed to finish the sentence. Kohri probably actually CAN be fine. Enga is still really insufferable? Out Of Control Watching her screen are Aratron, Ophiel, and Kohri. The screen shows images of the ESCA Darkers. Aratron says something different is beginning to appear. Earth Guide called them ESCA Darkers. She says he’s right, if there’s any difference though, its that the new phantoms are under her control. He asks if it is her will that they commit destructive behavior on earth. She thinks about it, and says she’s not used to it. The fusion of ether and photons, she’s taken in Aru, but she’s not used to him. Because of that, though they come from her will, a part of them still isn’t on her control yet. Aratron asks why she hasn’t yet gotten used to it. Aratron’s a real tough cookie here. Ophiel says yes, that’s the only real way to save her. He begins to circle Kohri. He explains with his usual mess of lies like “Her brainwashing is rooted so deep, even with surgery he couldn’t do anything. That’s why, all we can do is kill her, reset her, resurrect her. You understand, right Kohri?” He pats her shoulder and she stares at the floor. She asks if we do that, she’ll return to normal? We can return to those days of school, the council, and clothes? An idle conversation? She looks up, asking right, right? Ophiel leans in and says of course, of course. In a long hall, later on, Aratron and Ophiel are walking. (It’s very similar to the time-repeater hall) Aratron says something’s wrong though. This stops Ophiel. Ophiel asks if it’s Kohri, we just look at her goals and desires we can’t even help it that she’s unhinged. Aratron says that her instability is obvious, but something’s off about Mother too. She has a desire for revenge and hostility against the Photoners who reside in PSO2 Dimension, that, he knows. He knows this because she DIDN’T TELL HIM what she learned when she got Aru. Aratron doesn’t know the Photoners are extinct. Because she didn’t tell anyone. And that tells more about herwhich is that she IS unjustified in what she’s doing……….and she knows it…….because she’s keeping their extinction a secret to keep her apostles on board with her plan & respecting her ‘as a good person’. She knows revenging on the random ARKS people is wrong because while the Photoners might have gotten them started, they're really not that related. If a parent does something bad, you don't punish the child, and that's even more removed from what she's doing. However, to those of us on Earth, she’s treated everyone with nothing but kindness and compassion--He explains. But recently, attacks on the EG are more severe, and today she said to kill Hitsugi and another person. Ophiel reasons that sacrifices must be made for the greater good, after all, we’ve made many for the sake of MC. He thinks these decisions were difficult for her, so that doesn’t seem strange to him. There is no good context here for ‘how Mother was before’, you just have to believe Aratron when he says that she’s strange/different and that a kill order is so unheard of. Aratron says Ophiel is now strange too. He turns to him, asking why did you kill Bethor? Opheil claims it was Mother’s orders. Aratron doesn’t think it’s true, because if that’s the case, why leave Hagith alone? (Because Hagith wasn’t exploding all around in cities, causing meyhem and being blatantly obvious about supernatural kookoo powers--the thing that Mother is most against. He shook his phablet until the green boat man came out and sent it into the far ocean and was never heard from again. That is, in fact, a very different situation, but Aratron doesn’t seem to think so.) That was your own judgment (to kill him)…..he accuses. Why doesn’t Mother ever question you, Ophiel? Because of that, he’ll ask you himself… At this, he does a herculean feat, which is he actually raises his monster brows to reveal his eyes!- He then uses his ‘magic voice’ and piercing stare to ask “What do you see beyond the path you walk with Mother?” He lifts his eyebrows and stares him down. (Aratron’s eyes are blue, but very dull, without highlights) Ophiel annoys him by answering him with the question, “What do you think of the situation on earth now?” The future of the planet…he scratches his head, "he would’ve been better as a philosopher than a doctor", he laments. Aratron is not all bad. ESCA Darkers Emerge It is true that these ESCADarkers have more hp and are tougher but they tend to behave the exact same as what they are modeled on, except the ESCA Ragnus which will destroy things with much more ferocity than a regular one. Checking Security With: Casra Hitsugi asks if he refers to…us? Casra tells her that she shouldn’t be riled up, because we too checked all transmission records also. However, conversations without transmissions, a direct conversation isn’t out of scope. (Meaning, that if someone was just talking, without the ear phone thing) What do you think though, you were there? There’s No Need To Say Neither one of these is the ideal way to counter someone like this. The REAL answer is “Mother READS MINDS so ANY person is a suspect” To be followed with “She got here because two people went to the moon, it was me and Enga, she traced the transport & then pretended to be Xion” He apologizes for his ‘rude behaviour’, and for testing them, but that’s his duty. So, let’s meet again everyone. Then he leaves. Xiera says he’s always so aloof, it ticks her off just watching the guy. She scowls him out of the room, and as soon as the door shuts, Hitsugi asks how we were tested. Enga thinks he was watching our reactions while we spoke, his eyes were so serious, he was creepy. Xiera thinks his main problem is that he enjoys pitting people against his actions, as if he’s devouring them. But, you do need to enjoy yourself in order to keep doing an awful role…she shakes her head and says it was pretty rude so next time she’s going to file a complaint against the IU directly from management! The scene ends. Casra enjoys drama, and his own role. He KNOWS he’s the ‘damage sponge’ that’s meant to attract all the ill will / hate drama for his organization. He antagonizes people for the greater good but is unaffected by everyone getting offended at him--because he knows that offending them is the point. He’s actually really important, and probably the best sort for the job, really. But, once you know it’s all an act AND a job, he’s not nearly as offensive. His attacks aren't personal in the usual way, he riles up people and says outlandish things / gets rude to get his results. Xiera should be able to see through this, and not even aggravate at his ‘aloofness’ because it’s all part of the party. |
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