Episode 2 Questions (Yes, spoilers)

[Getintothegame]

Hey everyone, just a few questions about the Story Mode from Episode 2. Please, as much as possible, don't spoil Episode 3, but do let me know if it is answered in the next chapter. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[spoiler-box]1. They advertised and promoted Ep2 by showing a clip of Ethan and Laila fighting in a huge burning environment. What happened to that scene?

2. Parum was empty, Moatoob is destroyed, and the Guardians colony is gone as well. Nobody cared about Neudaiz?

3. Speaking of which, what happened to Parum? Or is everything okay?

4. In Episode 1, we activated something to eliminate the seed. Did they just decide that was a bad idea to keep it running and shut it off? I mean, they came back... even the people affected by the seed should have been taken care of, right?[/spoiler-box]

I have more, but I'm pretty sure they'll be answered by Ep3's opening.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Getintothegame on 2007-11-18 22:29 ]</font>

[Jonathan_F]

1 and 3 all i can say is play episode 3. those 2 questions should be answered by the time you're done with chapter 1.

[Getintothegame]

Hm, alright.

Thank you Jon. I'm now even more super excited for AoI. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Zoamel_Gustav]

On 2007-11-18 21:13, Getintothegame wrote:
[spoiler-box]In Episode 1, we activated something to eliminate the seed. Did they just decide that was a bad idea to keep it running and shut it off? I mean, they came back... even the people affected by the seed should have been taken care of, right?[/spoiler-box]
From "PSU Script: Chapter 10: Rite of Divination (Spoilers)" (http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=155296&forum=22&2) :[spoiler-box](Scene: Ethan, Lou, Dallgun)
--Ethan: Can you explain something to me? What's the deal with the unification point and the confinement system? I haven't really understood what my missions were for lately.
--Lou: ...
--Dallgun: Go ahead, Lou.
--Lou: All right, I will explain. Doctor Tomrain has been under protection by the GUARDIANS ever since the Mellvore Explosion eighteen years ago. During that time, he has been studying RELICS and A-Photons. Using the data gathered from the RELICS sites in the past few months, we have been able to piece together what happened eons ago. The ancient civilization and the SEED fought what we are calling the "Confinement War". The ancient civilization's heavy reliance on A-Photons attracted so many SEED, they knew they were in horrible danger. Their trump card in repelling the SEED was the confinement system. The confinement system is basically a giant nano transformer. It has the ability to send all surrounding SEED-Forms into a distorted space. If the three confinement systems on each planet are simultaneously activated, a huge pocket of distorted space will form and every SEED-Form in the solar system will be locked away. But this is only a possibility if the distance between each planet is exactly the same. In other words, this can only happen when the planets are perfectly aligned.
--Ethan: And that's... the unification point?
--Lou: Correct, and it's only a month away.
--Ethan: What if we can't find all three confinement systems by then?
--Lou: Then the next unification point won't take place during our lifetimes. [/spoiler-box]
The Unification Point was a "once in our lifetimes" event. At that moment, the combined confinement systems could send all surrounding SEED-Forms into a distorted space. Those SEED-Forms have not come back. However:

From " PSU Script: Chapter 11: Unification Point (Spoilers)" (http://www.pso-world.com/viewtopic.php?topic=155394&forum=22&2) : [spoiler-box]--Hyuga: We landed right on the small satellite, but it turned out to be a SEED nest!
--Ethan: What?!
--Maya: It's awful. More SEED are being born every moment!
--Dr. Tomrain: You mean there's more SEED left?!
--Maya: The satellite's orbit is outside that of the three planets, so it wasn't affected by the field.
--Leo: Damn, they're just going to keep coming back! [/spoiler-box]

[Getintothegame]

Ahh, that makes sense. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Thanks for refreshing my memory.

[Sinue_v2]

I don't think that's entirely correct. Remember that in Chapter 8, In Mellvore's Wake, that the confinement system was activated on Parum several months before the Unification Point - and it still had the ability to seal away SEED-forms. This is never really explained in the storyline, how SEED can continue to exist around even just the Mellvore area, well after the Confinement Tower's activation.

A kind of shockwave is shown ripping through the ruined city as the tower is activated. It could be possible that that form of confinement was extremely localized and an activation-only event. Possibly a safety feature built into the Confinement System Towers to help prevent SEED in the immediate area from interrupting the activation of the system during a critical time. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in Moatoob during Chapter 11, as you're tasked with personally protecting the Confinement System in conjunction with the AMF.

Perhaps the towers had to activated at the right time, rather than just being "active" during the Unification Point. This doesn't seem to be the case judging by the fact that the Mellvore Confinement System doesn't seem to have been "shut down" to be reactivated (as it's still active in online mode) - and that the Moatoob Confinement system was shown as already activated when the Unification Point occurred. (Not to mention the Neudaiz system from the Divination flashback)

I would consider it a plothole, but since the story isn't fully done yet we'd have to give them the leeway to explain it later.

[Zoamel_Gustav]

My point was that the confinement system isn't constantly active. The system sent the targets away, but doesn't continually keep searching for new targets. The new SEED-forms entering Gurhal are thus not effected by the field created during the Unification Point.

Each confinement system could still be activated individually but the effect caused by them all being simultaneously activated would no longer be a possibility. I interpreted the scene from Chapter 8 as just a test run. Each tower by itself probably lacks the range or power to be used on a hive.

[Sinue_v2]

The entire Confinement System collectively, even at the Unification Point, lacks the power to wipe out the HIVES since it's effect doesn't extend much beyond the orbits of the three planets. So satellites and extra-solar planets aren't covered, which is why you have to destroy the HIVES individually both in Ep 1 Ch 12 and Ep 2 Ch 3. The SEED that are in Gurhal now aren't new arrivals, but were missed in the Confinement because they were out of range.