Episode 6 Story Discussion

[Tymek]

The excitement for EPISODE6 is very much real.

In the meantime:
[spoiler-box]pso2ep6.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/80900839538962432/567057401887457316/unknown.png[/spoiler-box]

[Ransu]

Lets hope the story goes in a good direction this time. The climax of Ep5 was good and I'm hoping the plot for Ep6 ends up being akin to Ep1-3 and stretches over the course of multiple episodes.

[Dark Mits]

What role will Ludmilla play? It says Research Department, but what will she be researching?

[XrosBlader821]

What role will Ludmilla play? It says Research Department, but what will she be researching?

Space combat research department. Her baggy pants are reminiscent of Mechanics so I assume she's the one who designed the AIS Vega

[Poyonche]

Still wondering how MC and Matoi will manage to lend a hit on Shiva and Mitra/Varuna (if they can absorb attacks too).
Other question : is Xiao going to die ? _(:3

Also Mitra is so kind, she says that as a false god she wants to kill us

[EspeonageTieler]

Still wondering how MC and Matoi will manage to lend a hit on Shiva and Mitra/Varuna (if they can absorb attacks too).
Other question : is Xiao going to die ? _(:3

Also Mitra is so kind, she says that as a false god she wants to kill us

Is she saying she is a false god or that the player character is?

[Poyonche]

Is she saying she is a false god or that the player character is?

She says she is a false god, or will become a false god because she wants to kill us.
(I used Google Translate so it is not really accurate)

[Kintama]

Still wondering how MC and Matoi will manage to lend a hit on Shiva and Mitra/Varuna (if they can absorb attacks too).
Other question : is Xiao going to die ? _(:3

Also Mitra is so kind, she says that as a false god she wants to kill us

From the various teasers Lisa hinted that the arks rely too much on photon while shiva absorbs them, so either we're gonna develop a new energy throughout the episode or the pure photons we've been collecting since ep3 will serve as both plot devices and 16* materials for end-endgame genesis weapons

[Mega Ultra Chicken]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the plot develops. I guess I'm partial to learning about the ARKS' other nemeses besides the franchise's staple eldritch abomination. I actually really like Mother, for example. Shiva reminds me a bit of her since both wanted to take the Dark Falzs' combined power for themselves... except Shiva succeeded.

[Meteor Weapon]

Every encounter ARKS had faced against so far was because the Photoner's fucking up and leaving their descendants(ARKS) to finish the job lol. kinda wish there was an outside force that is unrelated to the photoners being a threat.

[Mega Ultra Chicken]

True. I guess there might be Ardem, but was he changed by Mother's arrival or was he just some strange immortal being?

Trying to remember if Kumhan from PSP2 turned out to be a Dark Falz. They're the only other non-DF main antagonist I can remember.

[Anduril]

True. I guess there might be Ardem, but was he changed by Mother's arrival or was he just some strange immortal being?

Trying to remember if Kumhan from PSP2 turned out to be a Dark Falz. They're the only other non-DF main antagonist I can remember.
Ardem was essentially an immortal who was the basis for/was actually the biblical Adam (in fact, his name is Adam in Episode 4's end credits); his plan was always to evolve humanity, but Mother's power basically gave him a way to reduce the timetable, so still kinda the Photoners' fault.

[Mega Ultra Chicken]

Ardem was essentially an immortal who was the basis for/was actually the biblical Adam (in fact, his name is Adam in Episode 4's end credits); his plan was always to evolve humanity, but Mother's power basically gave him a way to reduce the timetable, so still kinda the Photoners' fault.

Eh, it was a bit too indirect for me to blame the Photoners all that much. Ardem was gonna be his opportunistic self regardless of who presented him with tools to hijack.

Also; who is that tiny girl, anyway? Did we ever see an Omega counterpart of her like the others?

[Tymek]

From the various teasers Lisa hinted that the arks rely too much on photon while shiva absorbs them, so either we're gonna develop a new energy throughout the episode or the pure photons we've been collecting since ep3 will serve as both plot devices and 16* materials for end-endgame genesis weapons

This would be an excellent opportunity to tie Nova in with the main plot and introduce Gran to the main game.

[XrosBlader821]

This would be an excellent opportunity to tie Nova in with the main plot and introduce Gran to the main game.

Will probably never happen. PS Nova had less impact on the PSO2 story than the shitty anime did with Itsuki. we didn't even get a scene of them returning to the Oracle, nothing.

[the_importer_]

This would be an excellent opportunity to tie Nova in with the main plot and introduce Gran to the main game.

There's a reason why this game was not mentioned since it's released, it was boring as hell. Every field felt the same, no music in the fields except for the battle ones, the same enemies over and over, Gigantes battles were terrible and boring bosses. The worst part is not that the Vita couldn't handle more, I mean PSO2 for the Vita was a thing back when Nova was released.

[silo1991]

i just ask for 3 things in the story

1 the villians dont die too soon
2 the story must have an objective of where to go , what acomplish with it (the lack of an objective hurted EP4 at most and EP5 at the begining)
3 give us witty , creative and crazy asthetics for anything they introduce in the season

[Saelix]

Eh, it was a bit too indirect for me to blame the Photoners all that much. Ardem was gonna be his opportunistic self regardless of who presented him with tools to hijack.

Also; who is that tiny girl, anyway? Did we ever see an Omega counterpart of her like the others?

Harriett had a female Cuent knight with her sometimes,I imagine the helmet she wore reflects the hood

[Maninbluejumpsuit]

"Only the soul was swapped with the vessel. The dream of the Akashic Record was true, after all?"

Do I just suck at following the logic of the body and soul swapping stuff through the end of ep5, or does the meaning of Shiva's line have yet to be revealed? Could someone explain this if I just sucked at understanding?

[DrCatco]

"Only the soul was swapped with the vessel. The dream of the Akashic Record was true, after all?"

One explanation could be that Harriet was once a Photoner and Lisa was a Genesis Weapon, cruel and ruthless. And then they swapped? Somehow?

[mickbis]

I still think Lisa's "Sickly child" backstory contain some hint... .
maybe they know each other during Photoner era?
I still remember Lisa personality swap and talk sensible thing regards the contrast between
Photoner and Arks action toward saving one girl in EP3

[PrinceBrightstar]

I'll throw my hat into the ring here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sguIrMNjYI

[XrosBlader821]

I'll throw my hat into the ring here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sguIrMNjYI

I don't think this is really that far fetched. I remember someone mentioning back in episode 3 that they planned for at least 6 episodes (which would be in line for the Lisa retcon if that's really true) but if EP4 was supposed to be some sort of prelude to the Photoner Saga (it was clearly supposed to start a new trilogy based on how much they hyped that thing) then it or EP5 must have changed drastically from what they originally planned. Mothers hate boner for Photoners does seem like a good prelude to a Photoner Era story but since she doesn't appear in EP5, like i hoped she'd do, EP4 ends up feeling like pointless filler. Maybe that was the original plan but was changed mid EP4, the realization Track is from Early EP4 after all. Don't forget about Borderless I don't think I need to tell you what that song is about. Time and Space aren't borders for Arks. No other episode exemplifies it better than when we literally stop time so that we can safely enter a black hole. I do however think that the PSP2i reference to a black hole isn't talking about Omega specifically, just a random black hole unless PSP2i takes place at the same time as PSO2 EP5 which i doubt.

That being said a lot of what was planned in this new "trillogy" (if we're gonna count the filler ep4) was unfortunately cut due to plans changing. I heard EP4 changed in one way or another due to VA unavailability (although I don't have the details on that) and EP5 had to completely shifts gears after Sega realized that their original plan with Advanced classes, Buster Quests etc didn't work out since a lot of the players hated it. Forcing them to reduce EP5 to the barest of bare bones resolving nothing but the main story beat of Harriet and Omega Persona, which completely killed the pacing of the story between chapter 3 and 5. So yeah unless Sega really ignores EP4, this new trillogy so far is build on very rocky foundation. I really do hope that there won't be any more complications though. Despite a lot of the players not liking it I thought both EP4 and 5 had a lot of potential and Chapter 6 of EP5 was really well made so I hope EP6 will finish this trillogy and tie everything together well (unless they cut EP4 out of the trillogy, in which case apply my last sentence to EP7)

[PrinceBrightstar]

I do however think that the PSP2i reference to a black hole isn't talking about Omega specifically, just a random black hole unless PSP2i takes place at the same time as PSO2 EP5 which i doubt.


I do need to note that Emilia and Vivienne are in contact with the ARKS. It's a shame they didn't make an appearance in Episode 5, but considering they actually spoke in their own cutscenes rather than just text like most events, it gives their appearance being more than just a non-canon thing.

[Dugs]

VA unavailability (although I don't have the details on that)

It was a pretty massive one and can explain a number of things just by saying who it is.

Taneda Risa (Hitsugi) had to take unknown medical leave, and a good number of her other roles had to be replaced, as the time was rather long. Guess she managed to get in the rest of EP4 before that, as she only came back last year.

[Tymek]

[spoiler-box]Xiao died, but not really because nobody in PSO2 can die.[/spoiler-box]

[Altrius Véurr]

[spoiler-box]Xiao died, but not really because nobody in PSO2 can die.[/spoiler-box]

Except for Xion, and Melfonseana.

And Xiao didn't really die, he's just going to 'sleep' for a little while (like Alma disappearing into the Akashic Record or wherever to regain her strength), and NPC dialogue after that chapter from Matoi had her hopeful that they will see Xiao again.

[DrCatco]

... Okay, that was fast.

Does this means that Sara is the most important person to ARKS right now?

Also, Kyou-kun is a certified chuunibyou.

[Meteor Weapon]

This EP had the best first chapter of all EP so far lmao.

[silo1991]

this EP definily begin with something intense for sure , the luminmechs give me the impresion that positions are a key against them , the boss its cool ,

also working on a first impressions video along with a theory about the future outside of the game .

[landman]

And I was thinking Amduscia had yet a few question marks, maybe they will be addressed next time.

[Golgotha]

Sure Shiva let me just ditch the huge planetary sized ball of energy and pack all of it into one person . Why did we cling to it all this time anyway?

Now its a good time to befriend/merge with darkers, so the resulting hybrid wouldn't fit into photoners' vacuum cleaner.

[Meteor Weapon]

Sure Shiva let me just ditch the huge planetary sized ball of energy and pack all of it into one person . Why did we cling to it all this time anyway?


Why should we not cling to it? Xiao is just as important as Xion was as it did back then. ARKS purpose of protecting the Oracle(even if Xiao being the replacement) still persist to this day even after they whooped Loser's ass. Even so Xion's legacy carry on with ARKS still existing.

[Golgotha]

But uhhh I mean, the oracle frame itself. We don't have it anymore, and now its suddenly sort of alright, as long as its packed in someone. How does it work, would you not do it before?
How would df persona eqs look like now?

[landman]

But right now is just a... backup? if he was conscious Sara's body couldn't handle it. I don't know how Ro Kamits will help Xiao... maybe reincarnate him in a huge dragon :wacko:

[Golgotha]

We kinda found Xiao on amduscia initially, so there surely going to be some related deus ex machina

I keep wondering whats the planet in the background of space battle, isnt it actually Amduscia without floating parts?

[silo1991]

We kinda found Xiao on amduscia initially, so there surely going to be some related deus ex machina

I keep wondering whats the planet in the background of space battle, isnt it actually Amduscia without floating parts?

i believe it will be a civilized planet which oposed to shiva domain i think

IMO this season its the perfect chance to parody many scify things , like startrek , the tiberium saga of C&C , the protoss and zerg (even the primal too) from starcraft , warhammer etc

hell now that i think im sure shiva will come out with something like the beast planet of shadow raiders , after this chapter how not to think in that

[oratank]

I still think Lisa's "Sickly child" backstory contain some hint... .
maybe they know each other during Photoner era?
I still remember Lisa personality swap and talk sensible thing regards the contrast between
Photoner and Arks action toward saving one girl in EP3


all those lisa back story is kinda lie i think in ep6 she told us that she was experiment to create a suitable body for photon basically she is the first cast that why she was cranky all the time because she was unstable for being it frst line of experiment her soul was unstable until combine with Harreit didn't said when it happen just a long time but the sane Lisa talked back then was Harreit. she was fully awake after event of omega.

[Tymek]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYec8SkLXWk

[PrinceBrightstar]

Now that I'm finally caught up to the story, I'll be posting my let's play here as well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W30oUEV-_0

[mickbis]

Yeah... I post that before EP6
but it turn out she might be lie all this time..
but considering the fact that Photoner experiment on life
maybe she is indeed former Photoner that got push into Cast body not because of her own freewill?

[PrinceBrightstar]

The invasion begins.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShMCvfWyrrE

I'm so glad both points ended up being true in the end. We'll see what's on Amduscia soon.

[Dark Mits]

Wow, this episode starts with a bang. Even more interesting than the end of Episode 2. It even made me/us think of how inferior we consider regular enemies and darkers to be, with their comment about having a point competition..
Some points that I am waiting answers for in next episodes:
1) Lisa says some people do not rely on Photons, with herself and Sara being two. Do we know of others? Claris Claes maybe? Wasn't there some cutscene in Episode 3 (now part of Omnibus Episode 2 I think) in the Facility, that had to do about experiments on Sara and Claris Claes? (we fought a Nepto Cassadora there I think, and Maria and Huey were nearby listening)
2) Mitra mentions 20 goddesses or something. So will we fight 20 such enemies in the course of the Episode?
Luther was of interest to Shiva. Did I miss something during the opening scene about the scientist who did experiments?
And finally, we go to Amduscia, but UH will be on Lillipa. Will we be getting a new episode in 2 weeks?

[Kintama]

Wow, this episode starts with a bang. Even more interesting than the end of Episode 2. It even made me/us think of how inferior we consider regular enemies and darkers to be, with their comment about having a point competition..
Some points that I am waiting answers for in next episodes:
1) Lisa says some people do not rely on Photons, with herself and Sara being two. Do we know of others? Claris Claes maybe? Wasn't there some cutscene in Episode 3 (now part of Omnibus Episode 2 I think) in the Facility, that had to do about experiments on Sara and Claris Claes? (we fought a Nepto Cassadora there I think, and Maria and Huey were nearby listening)
2) Mitra mentions 20 goddesses or something. So will we fight 20 such enemies in the course of the Episode?
Luther was of interest to Shiva. Did I miss something during the opening scene about the scientist who did experiments?
And finally, we go to Amduscia, but UH will be on Lillipa. Will we be getting a new episode in 2 weeks?


Not to mention we still don't know why the eq happens, the enemy mothership hasn't been shown either

[silo1991]

to dark mits : i just hope the villains dont die to quick thats all i ask , they are to good for leave so soon

we hadnt a good villain since EP3 with double . EP4 villains were a shame and Emir from EP5 i felt he was a hechman before the last chapter

[Ransu]

Not to mention we still don't know why the eq happens, the enemy mothership hasn't been shown either

Shiva told Valna to give chase so perhaps he's the one that leads the assault in that EQ but could be wrong there because no idea what that huge boss is in the EQ's trailer (Luminmech PD maybe?)

[Kintama]

Shiva told Valna to give chase so perhaps he's the one that leads the assault in that EQ but could be wrong there because no idea what that huge boss is in the EQ's trailer (Luminmech PD maybe?)

I was thinking Luminmech Anga, not to mention Luminmechs look an awful lot like anga anyway.

[Renvalt]

I was thinking Luminmech Anga, not to mention Luminmechs look an awful lot like anga anyway.

There's also the fact that Mitra's ability is essentially akin to Double's, but with the "clone" E-Code that you only ever see if you get abducted - which, given the Klotho nerfs and the fact that you need to spam Time Attack to even have a chance of being abducted, makes me think they're going to rework that particular mechaic.

I mean, we've essentially confirmed that Mitra (who looks an awful lot like the fusion of Claris Claes and Double) can actually transform into other ARKS - the only thing we don't know is how her ability works (I have a theory that she may need to actually physically touch someone to be able to assume their visage - she's only assumed the forms of Maria and Zeno thus far, and we know she got a good clean hit on Maria at the end of EP5, so assuming that form makes sense there).


And while I'm here, I may as well mention that Sara told us to head to Amduscia - if memory serves me, we still have one area on that planet that we have not visited in the story itself. Said area happens to be Ultimate Amduscia, which was only mentioned in passing in EP4 - we never actually set foot into that area proper within the confines of the story. So my theory is that that's where EP6-2 takes place.

Finally, would like to note that Sara has now officially had something to do with all three generations of Claris Claes (in a "Father, Son, Ghost of the Holy Spirit" type of interaction): she was saved by Matoi (2nd Gen), used to create clones of which one is the current Claris Claes (3rd Gen); now she is able to actually see Alma (1st Gen). As for what that might mean for Sara's fate... who knows?

[silo1991]

There's also the fact that Mitra's ability is essentially akin to Double's, but with the "clone" E-Code that you only ever see if you get abducted - which, given the Klotho nerfs and the fact that you need to spam Time Attack to even have a chance of being abducted, makes me think they're going to rework that particular mechaic.

maybe we will see Shiva cloning dark falzes and who knows , maybe she will clone scheleger the original Elder and finally fight his omega version . if it happen i just hope he dont end up being weak against dark for no reason just like Loser.

also i wonder how they will rework the cloning mechanic , hell i still want my attack of clones event :<

i think RO Kamitsu will be a greuzoras drago and all the golden dragons we saw so far are from RO clan (dragon EX , the rare versions of vol dragon and gorozan )

also i think UQ ambducia its the planet it self in the past before the crash of the meteor which divided the planet . i think ambducia surface used to had frequent storms , reason why the AB dragons are weak to lightning also its the reason why we see lightning rods along the whole skyscape (hell i even predicted their weakness back in EP3)

to be mention i believe Kamitsu has lived since those times

[Renvalt]

maybe we will see Shiva cloning dark falzes and who knows , maybe she will clone scheleger the original Elder and finally fight his omega version . if it happen i just hope he dont end up being weak against dark for no reason just like Loser.

also i wonder how they will rework the cloning mechanic , hell i still want my attack of clones event :<

i think RO Kamitsu will be a greuzoras drago and all the golden dragons we saw so far are from RO clan (dragon EX , the rare versions of vol dragon and gorozan )

also i think UQ ambducia its the planet it self in the past before the crash of the meteor which divided the planet . i think ambducia surface used to had frequent storms , reason why the AB dragons are weak to lightning also its the reason why we see lightning rods along the whole skyscape (hell i even predicted their weakness back in EP3)

to be mention i believe Kamitsu has lived since those times

Ro-Kamitsu actually is present in Episode 2 as the tablet-like existence that Xiao is found sitting on during our escapades into the Sanctum in Amduscia. And she sounds absolutely nothing like Gruezoras.

The problem with your theory of UQ Amduscia is that Amduscia itself is a planet with two different layers - the more volcanic core at the heart of the planet (Volcano), and then the outer crust layer of which there don't really exist any bodies of water (if they are, they'd have to be mere lakes within a greater landmass upon the planet itself - which I haven't exactly seen too much of).

Also, Dragonkin in Skyscape and Sanctum are weak to Dark - the reason the lightning rod pillars work the way they do happens to be because A)its the area's gameplay gimmick (it isn't reused in Sanctum or UQ Amduscia), and B)because Amduscia itself is a geomagnetic anomaly - this particular bit being the reason places like Skyscape and Sanctum can even theoretically geologically exist. That said, if UQ Amduscia is the strongest point of geomagnetism on the whole planet, it'd explain easily why they traded their Dark weakness for Lightning.

Regarding Dragon Ex, we actually fight one in a since-removed Story Quest where we accompany Aki (black haired Ranger girl you see in the Volcano SQ in Episode 1) and Quna to the Sanctum and Aki has her whole "reflecting on my shitty soulless nature" deal (particularly because she was directly involved with the group that did all those experiments on Quna and Hadred).

While we're on the subject of Hadred (who happens to be one particular Chrome Dragon, btw), this makes me wonder if they're going to possibly expand on why Apostlo Dragon is what he is (especially since Chrome Dragon wasn't a native Amduscian - the removed Aki/Quna SQ highlights this in fact), or if they're going to sidestep that in favor of the hot newness or whatever.

[silo1991]

Ro-Kamitsu actually is present in Episode 2 as the tablet-like existence that Xiao is found sitting on during our escapades into the Sanctum in Amduscia. And she sounds absolutely nothing like Gruezoras.

The problem with your theory of UQ Amduscia is that Amduscia itself is a planet with two different layers - the more volcanic core at the heart of the planet (Volcano), and then the outer crust layer of which there don't really exist any bodies of water (if they are, they'd have to be mere lakes within a greater landmass upon the planet itself - which I haven't exactly seen too much of).

Also, Dragonkin in Skyscape and Sanctum are weak to Dark - the reason the lightning rod pillars work the way they do happens to be because A)its the area's gameplay gimmick (it isn't reused in Sanctum or UQ Amduscia), and B)because Amduscia itself is a geomagnetic anomaly - this particular bit being the reason places like Skyscape and Sanctum can even theoretically geologically exist. That said, if UQ Amduscia is the strongest point of geomagnetism on the whole planet, it'd explain easily why they traded their Dark weakness for Lightning.

Regarding Dragon Ex, we actually fight one in a since-removed Story Quest where we accompany Aki (black haired Ranger girl you see in the Volcano SQ in Episode 1) and Quna to the Sanctum and Aki has her whole "reflecting on my shitty soulless nature" deal (particularly because she was directly involved with the group that did all those experiments on Quna and Hadred).

While we're on the subject of Hadred (who happens to be one particular Chrome Dragon, btw), this makes me wonder if they're going to possibly expand on why Apostlo Dragon is what he is (especially since Chrome Dragon wasn't a native Amduscian - the removed Aki/Quna SQ highlights this in fact), or if they're going to sidestep that in favor of the hot newness or whatever.

1 i trought Kamitsu didnt show up in person due to cautions/security measures also have you forgot KO rera its a quartz dragon with a little girl voice so thats why i made my theory of what apperance Kamitsu might have
2 the meteor which divided the planet into the volcanic area and the skyscape/sactum millions of years ago its a fact , there is a record message that says it in the skyscape (unless they remove it)
3 i trought their weakness to dark its because they get their heat from the sun and the volcanic dragons are weak to ice due to the fact they get their heat from the lava . also about the UQ dragons i said they are weak to lightning due to my theory about how the planet used to be before the meteor crash . i didnt count the geomagnetism post meteor crash for that
4 i didnt forgot that story , and my point was : i think the RO clan have gold skin like the dragons i mention ; i mean they must have any physical quality that define them as a RO members the elite of elite . in a natural or artificial way
5 an argument for apostolo dragon in the story? , who knows maybe these will result zombies or chrome dragons who lived long enougth

[Shear]

I just had a thought but I think the Eyes of the Scientist Girl are kinda off, Instead of being Normal Eyes they have a white Spot in the Middle.
It remotely resembles the Eyes of our new Enemies though those also have some kind of grid in them too.

[Meteor Weapon]

I just had a thought but I think the Eyes of the Scientist Girl are kinda off, Instead of being Normal Eyes they have a white Spot in the Middle.
It remotely resembles the Eyes of our new Enemies though those also have some kind of grid in them too.

She's a Cast and not even worth theorycrafting any further lol. Nearly all cast has those eyes.

Also anyone here expecting Ko Rera in loli form later in game lol. Because that's what japanese usually do.

[landman]

I though of Ro-Kamitsu as some kind of "Xion" but being the "database" of the Dragonkin soul reincarnation mechanic, so that tower thing where Xiao was is some kind of super computer or magic thing.

[Meteor Weapon]

Ro-Kamitsu is probably the entire planet itself. Like....the soul of a planet.

[Kintama]

So i just noticed there's a patch coming with today's maintenance (although is it only 40MB), maaayyyybe we'll get some context for armada tomorrow?

[Dark Mits]

So i just noticed there's a patch coming with today's maintenance (although is it only 40MB), maaayyyybe we'll get some context for armada tomorrow?Most likely it will be some minor bug fixes. Or maybe an update with new weapons from PSO2es (eg. next Aletheia series weapon in case it hasn't been implemented in PSO2 yet).

[silo1991]

Ro-Kamitsu is probably the entire planet itself. Like....the soul of a planet.

or maybe she is the meteor which crashed on ambducia in the past

[oratank]

or maybe she is the meteor which crashed on ambducia in the past

or maybe that meteor is a another failed xion copy lol

[LtZetarn]

or maybe that meteor is a another failed xion copy lol

wait a minute....

[Renvalt]

1 i trought Kamitsu didnt show up in person due to cautions/security measures also have you forgot KO rera its a quartz dragon with a little girl voice so thats why i made my theory of what apperance Kamitsu might have
2 the meteor which divided the planet into the volcanic area and the skyscape/sactum millions of years ago its a fact , there is a record message that says it in the skyscape (unless they remove it)
3 i trought their weakness to dark its because they get their heat from the sun and the volcanic dragons are weak to ice due to the fact they get their heat from the lava . also about the UQ dragons i said they are weak to lightning due to my theory about how the planet used to be before the meteor crash . i didnt count the geomagnetism post meteor crash for that
4 i didnt forgot that story , and my point was : i think the RO clan have gold skin like the dragons i mention ; i mean they must have any physical quality that define them as a RO members the elite of elite . in a natural or artificial way
5 an argument for apostolo dragon in the story? , who knows maybe these will result zombies or chrome dragons who lived long enougth

Have you not played any of Episode 2 or 3? In the Sanctum story quest (not Skyscape, you can tell the difference because Sanctum is essentially a floating temple of metamorphic rock), you go with Sara to meet with someone (whom she proceeds to belitte the whole trip, something that person takes note of because his mind and hers are linked) who'll help you thwart Luther's ambitions (keep in mind we're talking Episode 2 Luther here - not the Omega/Cuent variant).

Said person happens to be Xiao, who had arranged with Ro Kamitsu (essentially a big hunk of glowing rocks akin to the ones you see in Sanctum) to have you and Xiao meet. This is where Xiao really helps you realize that you have time travel powers and can make events change to where they influence history for the better (this power is also how you save Matoi from death later on).

Another thing you may have gotten wrong: Lightning is both Light and Heat in one singular elemental combo - and Lightning is caused by the conflicting polarization in the currents in the air and earth. It's one of the reasons why Amduscia as a planet is so weird - normally you wouldn't have entire slabs of land just floating in mid-air, but due to Amduscia's really wacky geomagnetic state, it works the way it does.

Finally, I would like to point out that, other than Kamitsu, there have been no other confirmed members of the Ro Clan, and we haven't even seen so much as a single member of the Ti clan. Meanwhile, we've seen two Hi clan members (Hi Roga and Hi En) and two Ko members (Ko Rera and Ko Riu). If they were going to reveal more members of Ro, Episode 2 would have been the most ideal place to do so - yet they just made the Dragonkin there generic beasts incapable of comprehensible speech (all four named Dragons I mentioned earlier can at least speak in a manner we can comprehend, even if it's only in chunks due to the translator).


or maybe that meteor is a another failed xion copy lol

I know you're being sarcastic, but if this was true then she's at least done somewhat better than Mother due to doing everything opposite of what Mother did - Amduscia's residents are stuck in the Stone Age with some kind of crazy mythology helping keep them in check (at least as far as rules and regulations go).

Also, the entire soul of a planet stuck in a chamber that high up out in the open? She must be very confident if she's willing to expose herself that much.


She's a Cast and not even worth theorycrafting any further lol. Nearly all cast has those eyes.

Also anyone here expecting Ko Rera in loli form later in game lol. Because that's what japanese usually do.

I mean, we have a fatass Lilipan named Lien that somehow speaks fluent ARKS (Japanese/English/etc.), I wouldn't put it past SEGA to give us a Ko Rera/Ko Riu/Hi En set of Partner Cards as some sort of crazy event/shtick/what have you.

And no wonder Ludmilla seemed so loony and gray - she IS loony and gray. I swear, why are almost all the story CAST females such wackos? XD

[silo1991]

Have you not played any of Episode 2 or 3? In the Sanctum story quest (not Skyscape, you can tell the difference because Sanctum is essentially a floating temple of metamorphic rock), you go with Sara to meet with someone (whom she proceeds to belitte the whole trip, something that person takes note of because his mind and hers are linked) who'll help you thwart Luther's ambitions (keep in mind we're talking Episode 2 Luther here - not the Omega/Cuent variant).

Said person happens to be Xiao, who had arranged with Ro Kamitsu (essentially a big hunk of glowing rocks akin to the ones you see in Sanctum) to have you and Xiao meet. This is where Xiao really helps you realize that you have time travel powers and can make events change to where they influence history for the better (this power is also how you save Matoi from death later on).

Another thing you may have gotten wrong: Lightning is both Light and Heat in one singular elemental combo - and Lightning is caused by the conflicting polarization in the currents in the air and earth. It's one of the reasons why Amduscia as a planet is so weird - normally you wouldn't have entire slabs of land just floating in mid-air, but due to Amduscia's really wacky geomagnetic state, it works the way it does.

Finally, I would like to point out that, other than Kamitsu, there have been no other confirmed members of the Ro Clan, and we haven't even seen so much as a single member of the Ti clan. Meanwhile, we've seen two Hi clan members (Hi Roga and Hi En) and two Ko members (Ko Rera and Ko Riu). If they were going to reveal more members of Ro, Episode 2 would have been the most ideal place to do so - yet they just made the Dragonkin there generic beasts incapable of comprehensible speech (all four named Dragons I mentioned earlier can at least speak in a manner we can comprehend, even if it's only in chunks due to the translator).

dude calm down , i dont know why you need to touch EP2 lore , maybe i wasnt clear in something then sorry .
of course i played EP1 to 3 thats why i have very strong reasons to hate EP4.

the sactum of course i know its in middle of the skyscape thats why i put it in that side when i talked about the ecosystem division and also i know its why the skyscape and sactum dragons share their weakness to darkness. (because the sun its their heat source)

the lightning rods were there before or after the meteor crash? , if were before then (saying my point again) ambducia used to have constant electric storms before the meteor crash (like thunder plains from final fantasy 10)forcing all life to live underground; but its just a theory , i never said it was cannon.

but i will admit that i never understood if Kamitsu was a real dragon (but hidden somewhere) or just a concience ; im confuse now :/

[XrosBlader821]

Or the lightning rods are defensive mechanisms againstall those oceanic darkers roaming around the area.

[Renvalt]

dude calm down , i dont know why you need to touch EP2 lore , maybe i wasnt clear in something then sorry .
of course i played EP1 to 3 thats why i have very strong reasons to hate EP4.

the sactum of course i know its in middle of the skyscape thats why i put it in that side when i talked about the ecosystem division and also i know its why the skyscape and sactum dragons share their weakness to darkness. (because the sun its their heat source)

the lightning rods were there before or after the meteor crash? , if were before then (saying my point again) ambducia used to have constant electric storms before the meteor crash (like thunder plains from final fantasy 10)forcing all life to live underground; but its just a theory , i never said it was cannon.

but i will admit that i never understood if Kamitsu was a real dragon (but hidden somewhere) or just a concience ; im confuse now :/

The events of every Episode tie together in some form or another. Even the Episodes you don't like.

There wasn't a meteor crash in Amduscia if my memory serves me right. I mean, a meteor wouldn't explain the fragmented nature of the planet or how it got all geomagnetically twisted.

AFAIK, Kamitsu doesn't exactly have a Dragon form, she's merely a ball of light trapped in a giant stone slab. As for why this is... I'm not quite sure. But I know this: when an Amduscian Dragonkin dies, its soul returns to the Sanctum to await a new vessel of sorts. So the Dragonkin can't quite "die", but it's weird how they haven't been infected yet (then again, they DO seem to be battle-hungry lizardmen, soooo.... *shrugs*)


Or the lightning rods are defensive mechanisms against all those oceanic darkers roaming around the area.

Kinda makes me wonder what determines which group of Darkers surfaces where. Not that it matters in the long run.

[silo1991]

The events of every Episode tie together in some form or another. Even the Episodes you don't like.

There wasn't a meteor crash in Amduscia if my memory serves me right. I mean, a meteor wouldn't explain the fragmented nature of the planet or how it got all geomagnetically twisted.

AFAIK, Kamitsu doesn't exactly have a Dragon form, she's merely a ball of light trapped in a giant stone slab. As for why this is... I'm not quite sure. But I know this: when an Amduscian Dragonkin dies, its soul returns to the Sanctum to await a new vessel of sorts. So the Dragonkin can't quite "die", but it's weird how they haven't been infected yet (then again, they DO seem to be battle-hungry lizardmen, soooo.... *shrugs*).

once again the meteor crash was not stated directly in the story it was mention in a record message in skyscape arks quest/free field , as soon as i have a chance im gonna look for that message and take a screenshot and show that i didnt had the mandela effect on that point .

[Batty]

Aparently we are going to revisit old planets in ep 6. i been thinking, if we re visit earth, it wouldnt be good idea to try and recruit Phaleg? remember she does not use Aether/Photons, so right now that makes her the most powerfull person to stand up to Shiva

[XrosBlader821]

Aparently we are going to revisit old planets in ep 6. i been thinking, if we re visit earth, it wouldnt be good idea to try and recruit Phaleg? remember she does not use Aether/Photons, so right now that makes her the most powerfull person to stand up to Shiva

Earth isnt a planet, its a different universe. I doubt The photoners have an interest in that. If we get something earth related itll be as barebones as the ep5 scene with Hitsugis brother

[Renvalt]

Earth isnt a planet, its a different universe. I doubt The photoners have an interest in that. If we get something earth related itll be as barebones as the ep5 scene with Hitsugis brother

Mother was a discarded Xion replica. That was something the Photoners made, if you recall. So yes, the Photoners would have a reason to take interest, no matter how small that reason.

That said, Lilipa and Amduscia seem to be the biggest targets for EP6 revisiting; perhaps even Wopal and Harukotan too - the former was made by a Photoner, and the latter had a resistance/immunity to Darker infection via their local goddess.

Lilipa's a big target because of the fact that we still don't know who built all that mechanical bullshit, and for what purpose - or even what keeps it running (if it's basically a Male Version of Mother in the form of a Vardha Super AI, I'mma flip my shit because that was something they could've run with in EP1), and Amduscia is one because we don't know 100% what Ro Kamitsu is or how she came to essentially rule over every last Dragonkin on Amduscia (because they ALL seem to respect her, no matter their tribe). Not to mention what possible relationship she may have had with the Photoners.

Heck, there's even the ruins of Naberius - what did they look like before they ended up in that sorry state? And did the battle with Elder take place on the planet itself, or in space perhaps? I mean, I seem to recall somewhere that Alma took part in that fight before Luther basically zoinked her.

[Meteor Weapon]

The ruins are just basically ARKS Ships that crashed landed from Elder's assault iirc.

Also, anyone remembered how much of an asshole the Photoners for trying to invade Planet Machia in which Machians were basically forced to commit suicide by creating Giganits Nova to negate photons and stop Photoners from keep invading?

Also unrelated but where does IDOLA even take place in the oracle universe? Future? Present? Or parallel universe?

[Tymek]

The ruins are just basically ARKS Ships that crashed landed from Elder's assault iirc.

Also, anyone remembered how much of an asshole the Photoners for trying to invade Planet Machia in which Machians were basically forced to commit suicide by creating Giganits Nova to negate photons and stop Photoners from keep invading?

Also unrelated but where does IDOLA even take place in the oracle universe? Future? Present? Or parallel universe?

This would be the perfect opportunity to make NOVA relevant to the main plot. But they won't do that of course. :')

IDOLA likely takes place in a very faraway future.

[Flatflyer]

The ruins are just basically ARKS Ships that crashed landed from Elder's assault iirc.


so then whats the huge tree-like structure in the center? I don't think I've seen any explanation for what that was at all.

[silo1991]

so then whats the huge tree-like structure in the center? I don't think I've seen any explanation for what that was at all.

the ruins tree its Elder body , it was seen in EP2 when we go back in time . why we can still see the tree up today , its a mistery to me

[LinkEP]

that's Alma's seal for Elder, correct me if im wrong.

[Renvalt]

that's Alma's seal for Elder, correct me if im wrong.

Having just finished EP5 today, I'd like to comment.

Alma mentioned she'd wrapped, squeezed and squished together photons to make a seal, though she had considered using her own body as the "lock" for the seal.

So this begs the question: is the tree colored the way it is because Elder's negative photons are trying to push out of the seal, even from within? Or did the seal become a part of the planet itself? ... Or perhaps whenever we visit Free Field Ruins, we're doing so at the point in time in which Elder was still sealed in the planet?

That having been said, I'd like to make a joke: Elder's the leader of the Aquatic Darkers, so basically Alma....

Turned Elder into Extraterrestrial Sushi.

[PrinceBrightstar]

Vandol's place in the universe is a very interesting discussion. We know it is related to the ARKS due to the downed ship in the catacombs as well as the appearance of characters such as Quna, Gene, and such. as for where it takes place, the two leading theories place it either back on Coral (whoops the planet's name changed again and this is actually Phantasy Star Zero 2) or Palma (during the age of Weiss or perhaps sometime before) due to the local fauna that appears on the planet. This leans more to Palma because Coral doesn't have living skeletons or centaurs. Of course we don't have enough data yet to say for certain but different relics that keep appearing are definitely trying to say something.

[Touka]

So after watching Oceanic's translation vids of ep 6 I thought of something.Stratos and Kyokuya represent the two new advanced classes and Stratos said there were three of them.....so does that mean that the next advanced class is their revived dead friend or something?It sounds crazy but this is PSO 2 crazier things have happened.

[Kintama]

So after watching Oceanic's translation vids of ep 6 I thought of something.Stratos and Kyokuya represent the two new advanced classes and Stratos said there were three of them.....so does that mean that the next advanced class is their revived dead friend or something?It sounds crazy but this is PSO 2 crazier things have happened.

Not crazy at all, thought the same as it checks out, fully expecting an onee-san figure as their left for dead friend and the third and last advanced class npc

[LinkEP]

Vandol's place in the universe is a very interesting discussion. We know it is related to the ARKS due to the downed ship in the catacombs as well as the appearance of characters such as Quna, Gene, and such. as for where it takes place, the two leading theories place it either back on Coral (whoops the planet's name changed again and this is actually Phantasy Star Zero 2) or Palma (during the age of Weiss or perhaps sometime before) due to the local fauna that appears on the planet. This leans more to Palma because Coral doesn't have living skeletons or centaurs. Of course we don't have enough data yet to say for certain but different relics that keep appearing are definitely trying to say something.

Vandor has two moons, while Palma has none (in Phantasy Star Generation 1, there is one).
For me, it might be Ragol or the planet in Phantasy Star 3 where Noin's (Crys) ending took place. Both of them has two moons and probably the same world. Otherwise, somewhere new.

EDIT:
iirc, after the PSZ ending, there was a side quest mentioned that Earth is Coral.

EDIT2:
I found the script for the side quest: https://phantasystar.fandom.com/wiki/Mother%27s_Memory

[landman]

Question: Is Idola translated in any way? never cared with it, and was actually expecting it to be another of Omega's dreams.


(because they ALL seem to respect her, no matter their tribe)
When you are in charge of saving the soul / memories and putting them into new bodies, it's only natural that every sentient being affected by that respects you :wacko:


the ruins tree its Elder body , it was seen in EP2 when we go back in time . why we can still see the tree up today , its a mistery to me
The same mystery why the ruins and provably tundra are there when we saw colossus emerging from the planet's crust, rubble and dust included. And the story takes us there again, so they "are" there.

[Kondibon]

I think my biggest disappointment for the start of this episode is the ludonarative dissonance with the characters talking about how tough the new enemies are, as I stomp my way through them without even really paying attention to what they're doing. I get that story quests shouldn't be too hard or anything, especially right at the start of an episode, but it didn't really sell the threat.

I'm excited to see where the story goes though.


So after watching Oceanic's translation vids of ep 6 I thought of something.Stratos and Kyokuya represent the two new advanced classes and Stratos said there were three of them.....so does that mean that the next advanced class is their revived dead friend or something?It sounds crazy but this is PSO 2 crazier things have happened.I don't think she ever said their other friend died.

[Renvalt]

I think my biggest disappointment for the start of this episode is the ludonarative dissonance with the characters talking about how tough the new enemies are, as I stomp my way through them without even really paying attention to what they're doing. I get that story quests shouldn't be too hard or anything, especially right at the start of an episode, but it didn't really sell the threat.

I'm excited to see where the story goes though.

I don't think she ever said their other friend died.

Weird, I actually saw damage reduction on my end every time I didn't attack their core. Then again, Story Mode Normal has an actual difficulty cap on it, irregardless of where your current level actually puts you (that, and I imagine you're kitted out for last episode's endgame, so that probably plays a factor).

Yeah, at this point Story Mode could use a Hard Mode or some shit. Mere suggestion though. Oh, and an AI upgrade, because the AI in this game is still not aggro enough for my (or anyone else's) liking - then again, if they did that they'd make every non-EQ quest a graveyard anyways.

[Kondibon]

Weird, I actually saw damage reduction on my end every time I didn't attack their core.That's exactly what I mean though. The fact that I was rolling through them without even having to think despite the damage reduction is pretty telling. I'm sure the ones in UH will actually be more of a threat, it's just the contrast between what was going on in the story and what was going on in the gameplay that was getting me. It's just a nitpick.

In terms of AI, while a lot of older mobs could probably stand to be more aggressive, in general I think a lot of enemies are plenty aggressive. I think I can live without every single enemy being apostolo dragon.

[Renvalt]

That's exactly what I mean though. The fact that I was rolling through them without even having to think despite the damage reduction is pretty telling. I'm sure the ones in UH will actually be more of a threat, it's just the contrast between what was going on in the story and what was going on in the gameplay that was getting me. It's just a nitpick.

In terms of AI, while a lot of older mobs could probably stand to be more aggressive, in general I think a lot of enemies are plenty aggressive. I think I can live without every single enemy being apostolo dragon.

Regarding the second quote: I was referring to the Partner Card AI, not the enemies. But since you mentioned the enemies, I'd be okay if the enemies had their aggressiveness bumped up JUST a tad in all difficulties. Not that much, mind you, but enough to actually make fights somewhat interesting.

That being said, I'm fine with how things are. I don't want to punish the newbies TOO hard, especially since Fang Banshee took Rockbear's place (which makes me wonder why Ragne hasn't taken Gwanahda's place yet).

[Kondibon]

Oh, I wouldn't mind updates for partner character AI, but I don't think it's super important, and I doubt they'd be able to get them to work as well as something like the AI partners in God Eater or whatever. As long as I get my shifta, deband and megiverse from the techers I'm good. :wacko:

[Touka]

I don't think she ever said their other friend died.

Well I just assumed so since Stratos was mind broken for a while but we'll see.

[Dark Mits]

On enemy difficulty: I'd say enemy aggressiveness isn't the problem but their mobility. Enemies like Omega Hunar, Double and Apostolo aren't annoying because of their outgoing damage, but because we have to chase them a lot while they move around. Apostolo is the exception in that his outgoing damage is sometimes in the order of our max hp.

Has it been datamined (or mentioned) how much healing reduction UH will impose? If it is just 10%, that's not even a slap on the wrist. I'd say that even 50% is not enough to make us consider what we are going to let it hit us than play safe. If it is Phaleg levels of healing reduction, then we'll pretty much have to either avoid absolutely everything, or have a dedicated Megiverse caster.

On story: I just watched the cutscene with Kyo and Stratos again. There was no mention of their friend dying. So unless Sega pulls a plot twist, their friend is the 3rd successor class instructor.

[vantpers]

Our friend Ash managed to trigger halfline during his part in the trailer, it healed him for about 35% hp and took a trimate from his inventory.

[Flatflyer]

if they're going to keep on nerfing healing effects then can they please atleast give hunter another survivability option that isnt a random 1/4 chance of just not working please? trying to do anything with Wired Lances without automate working properly is just painful to do, and I really dont want my main screwed over yet again because sega refuses to do any other solutions to making things harder than just "lol make their healing suck"

[Dark Mits]

...because sega refuses to do any other solutions to making things harder than just "lol make their healing suck"Healing reduction hasn't been applied as often as other "solutions" for making harder content. In fact, this is the first time I remember it in multiplayer content since Odin 3 years ago. It has only been employed in "cutting edge" solo content, with the exception of some XQ floors.

So far we just had enemies instakill, knockdown or move real fast to make us change the way we approach content. I think it will be a nice change of pace to have players pay attention to the green bar. It will also "kill" the concept of "i'll just take the hit, lifesteal is OP anyway".

It would be a great QoL change to allow us to stock up to 99 of each mate and atomizer. This should help with melees running out of heal options. If we are going to use them anyway, why spend time going back to campship.

[XrosBlader821]

if they're going to keep on nerfing healing effects then can they please atleast give hunter another survivability option that isnt a random 1/4 chance of just not working please? trying to do anything with Wired Lances without automate working properly is just painful to do, and I really dont want my main screwed over yet again because sega refuses to do any other solutions to making things harder than just "lol make their healing suck"

You have a 360° block button and 1,4s invulnerability when charging PA on Sword and Partizan. Unless UH explorations are different from XQ healing penalty then Lifesteal abilities won't be nerfed so you could make a Atlas Weapon ready.

[silo1991]

You have a 360° block button and 1,4s invulnerability when charging PA on Sword and Partizan. Unless UH explorations are different from XQ healing penalty then Lifesteal abilities won't be nerfed so you could make a Atlas Weapon ready.

maybe the healing nerf might be only during emergency trials or even an unknow enemy that cause it

[Stormwalker]

Our friend Ash managed to trigger halfline during his part in the trailer, it healed him for about 35% hp and took a trimate from his inventory.

I wasn't commenting on this before because I didn't want to derail the thread, but it seems thoroughly derailed already now.

If this is a straight 65% healing reduction, all it's going to do is make mates (and Automate Halfline) useless while Resta is still OK and Megiverse is still OP. I fail to see how this accomplishes anything for the game, unless this is another attempt to push us all into the "successor classes".

Also XQ healing nerfs DO affect lifesteal weapons. I get 4 HP per hit on Phanatic Phantoms stage 1 with the healing reduction in place, as opposed to 30 without it.

[Flatflyer]

You have a 360° block button and 1,4s invulnerability when charging PA on Sword and Partizan. Unless UH explorations are different from XQ healing penalty then Lifesteal abilities won't be nerfed so you could make a Atlas Weapon ready.

WL doesnt have charge invuln, and also I really dont want to have to be spamming constant guard to survive instead of doing anything else meaningful.
I had to do that for solo XQ and it sucked sooo much, I'd rather not have to revisit content where that has to happen.

anyways, just to bring this thread back on track, I find it weird the story is pointing us towards amduscia when all of the UH content appears to take place on purely lilipa, are we just going to be at amduscia for only a short time then just leave right away?

[Renvalt]

WL doesnt have charge invuln, and also I really dont want to have to be spamming constant guard to survive instead of doing anything else meaningful.
I had to do that for solo XQ and it sucked sooo much, I'd rather not have to revisit content where that has to happen.

anyways, just to bring this thread back on track, I find it weird the story is pointing us towards amduscia when all of the UH content appears to take place on purely lilipa, are we just going to be at amduscia for only a short time then just leave right away?

In terms of all present fields in the game (save for the Enchanted Forest), only Ultimate Amduscia is remaining in terms of locations we haven't been to in the story proper. We went to both Ult Nab and Ult Lili during the end of Episode 3, so it sorta makes sense to round out the trinity, since we never actually had a real reason to go in EP4 (Matoi only seems to mention it in passing).

If anything, it makes me somewhat hopeful that we may eventually get a fourth field area for Wopal, or even finish off the remaining areas of Harukotan. Especially since they can sort of salvage some of the assets from EP5's canyon areas (more specifically the canyon/tunnel area used for the tank escorting part of the Omega Apprentice fight) for the so-called "Ei-Namida River" that is somehow supposed to be the place that separates the Shironians and Kuronites (not as much the latter now since they were all gobbled up by Double).

Wopal was a planet made by Luther if I'm remembering right, and since the story seems to imply he was behind Shiva's creation, we may go there to find out more about our insurmountable foe. And perhaps while we're there, we'll get ambushed by Varuna - since in Hindu mythology, Varuna is the god of the oceans, who was originally a King of the Asuras before becoming a Deva.


.... Also, can I just point out how similar Varuna is to Theodore? I mean, in EP5, he keeps trying WAY too hard to get Harriet to make like a chicken and run for it; Theodore didn't like fighting initially in EP1 and only joined ARKS because he wanted to impress Ulc. Whereas in EP6, Varuna has this stoic, almost robotic loyalty to Shiva in contrast to Theo and Ulc's relationship where they seem a bit more emotionally open.

Is it possible Varuna is going to be Theodore fight 2.0? Where he catches us offguard with how hard he is?

[PrinceBrightstar]

.... Also, can I just point out how similar Varuna is to Theodore? I mean, in EP5, he keeps trying WAY too hard to get Harriet to make like a chicken and run for it; Theodore didn't like fighting initially in EP1 and only joined ARKS because he wanted to impress Ulc. Whereas in EP6, Varuna has this stoic, almost robotic loyalty to Shiva in contrast to Theo and Ulc's relationship where they seem a bit more emotionally open.

Is it possible Varuna is going to be Theodore fight 2.0? Where he catches us offguard with how hard he is?

Personally I didn't have any problems with Theodore. However Varuna has something else very iconic attached to him already which pretty much tells us what he's capable of, the thing attached being a very specific name. Varuna La Siek. La Siek is the name of an antagonist from the original Algol series. Given Alisa and Lutz's appearance on Omega I'm watching this guy very carefully. It's impossible to ignore this.

[spoiler-box]42100[/spoiler-box]

[Renvalt]

Personally I didn't have any problems with Theodore. However Varuna has something else very iconic attached to him already which pretty much tells us what he's capable of, the thing attached being a very specific name. Varuna La Siek. La Siek is the name of an antagonist from the original Algol series. Given Alisa and Lutz's appearance on Omega I'm watching this guy very carefully. It's impossible to ignore this.



I actually believe Varuna's "LaShiec" surname is just a reference. No more, no less. He won't be turning on Shiva, because she's essentially all but the new host of the Profound Darkness (and if I saw it correctly, his loyalty could actually be a reference to LaShiec's dying words: "I must serve Him!", with Him in this case referring to the Dark Falz).

[Flatflyer]

I do wonder if the story related thing about "not using photons to fight them" will actually be put to play in actual game play at all, I have no idea how that'd even work if it was.

[Tymek]

I always wondered why Ulc didn't get any combat training for first hand experience.

[RefrainDP]

I always wondered why Ulc didn't get any combat training for first hand experience.

Luther's machinations. She was never supposed to be an ARKS because she can't use photons. Luther got her in just to get her killed and manipulate Theodore.

[silo1991]

Luther's machinations. She was never supposed to be an ARKS because she can't use photons. Luther got her in just to get her killed and manipulate Theodore.

after that scene of Ulc using an AIS makes me believe people without photon afinity might join the battle now (mostly piloting AIS i think) .

hell they should carry a limited charge gunblade to hang on while they wait in case they need to be rescue

[RibbonSoft]

Has anyone translated the sub-stories for this last patch yet? That Oceanic pso2 person on Youtube deleted their account for whatever reason so there's no good story translation that I know of right now unless someone can direct me to a good channel.

[silo1991]

i checked the new cinematics , and these are not translated yet , its the new translator available ?

i want to know Luther relation with shiva and the chat Harriet had with Zieg ( i can just asume some points)

[RibbonSoft]

bump.

[Kintama]

tldr; Luther does admit to have been the one working on Harriet during the Photoner era, but denies being involved with Shiva as he was discharged of Harriet after the photoners decided to use her as PD bait.

[エリュシオン]

With the reveal of étoile and how strikingly similar it's colors are to Deus Esca and how the attack effects are visually similar as well, perhaps this means étoile would be using something other than just photons, like Ether, since Shiva and her servants are all able to absorb the photons we use. Maybe we will be seeing other ether users in Ep6 as well.

[silo1991]

With the reveal of étoile and how strikingly similar it's colors are to Deus Esca and how the attack effects are visually similar as well, perhaps this means étoile would be using something other than just photons, like Ether, since Shiva and her servants are all able to absorb the photons we use. Maybe we will be seeing other ether users in Ep6 as well.

speaking of ether , i wonder if the earth got swallow by the black hole at the end of EP5 , i mean if it happen i has potential for a filler story like:

moment why the earth is in oracle-verse? we better check how its everybody .

when arks arrive earthlings seems to act like nothing without worrying by the fact planet earth its not in the same position anymore?

meanwhile in the moon interior we check a computer and we find out the earth truly was swallow by the black hole and everybody are dead but what are we seeing then?

alma notice the source of this ilussion its aru , he survived the swallow of the black hole because he is a dark falz , due to his relation with ether he recreated the earth manipulating the ether

and the rest takes a vibe like 2000s justice league cartoon : 2 parts chapter called: legends

watch that chapter to fully understand my point :)

[Zorak000]

tbqh I was expecting us to like, go find the Delta Variant and unlock the Buster class and dowse shiva in Gran leftover from the remains of planet machina

[Meteor Weapon]

speaking of ether , i wonder if the earth got swallow by the black hole at the end of EP5 , i mean if it happen i has potential for a filler story like:

moment why the earth is in oracle-verse? we better check how its everybody .

when arks arrive earthlings seems to act like nothing without worrying by the fact planet earth its not in the same position anymore?

meanwhile in the moon interior we check a computer and we find out the earth truly was swallow by the black hole and everybody are dead but what are we seeing then?

alma notice the source of this ilussion its aru , he survived the swallow of the black hole because he is a dark falz , due to his relation with ether he recreated the earth manipulating the ether

and the rest takes a vibe like 2000s justice league cartoon : 2 parts chapter called: legends

watch that chapter to fully understand my point :)

Blackhole in earthverse dissapeared the same time as it did in Oracleverse. No damage is done. Confirmed by Xiera herself. I dont want Earth involved anymore. EP4 and its ether shenanigans is the reason PD almost ate the entire universe in an instant if it wasnt for Alma stopping it by synchronizing the time within Omega with Oracleverse. But then again that's just bad story explaining to begin with. EP4's story introduced nothing new other than being a filler, sidetrack and a mcguffin. EP5 was the result of that mcguffin.

[Zorak000]

also there's this:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/592492101477072897/613220418261745666/thethree.png

[DatFox]

Yeah, you know what that means. Loli Caseal repping Étoile confirmed. Maybe the big incident involved her getting caught up in something and being converted into a Caseal to save her life. Maybe she was one all along. Either way, another Successor Class... another sassy lost child. :-(

[Meteor Weapon]

inb4 its the ARA ARA type

[Great Pan]

No. We need a fabulous flamboyant guy to represent this class, because Frenchman=Flamboyant.

[Dark Mits]

No. We need a fabulous flamboyant guy to represent this class, because Frenchman=Flamboyant.Wasn't Pietro enough?

[Tymek]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ECadMtfUYAA4Hl3.jpg

Ludmilla is a High Cast, just like Xiera.

[oratank]

so big boob don't effect desk work anymore expected to see Upgraded Xierra soon

[silo1991]

Blackhole in earthverse dissapeared the same time as it did in Oracleverse. No damage is done. Confirmed by Xiera herself. I dont want Earth involved anymore. EP4 and its ether shenanigans is the reason PD almost ate the entire universe in an instant if it wasnt for Alma stopping it by synchronizing the time within Omega with Oracleverse. But then again that's just bad story explaining to begin with. EP4's story introduced nothing new other than being a filler, sidetrack and a mcguffin. EP5 was the result of that mcguffin.

3 reasons why i created that story

1 the ether idiots mention the black hole was nearby of our solar system , i dont know IRL how long might take to swallow it
2 alma just delay the black hole activities only in the oracleverse , i highly doubt that force field impacted in any other universe
3 i really wish an excuse for not involve those characters ever again


Ludmilla is a High Cast, just like Xiera.

what is difference between a normal cast and a high cast , did they used the cast technology on babies ? :S

im asking because i never undestood Xiera origins at all

[Meteor Weapon]

Its like Copy Cast in PSU, having multiple bodies but are the same mind....probably.

[Anduril]

what is difference between a normal cast and a high cast , did they used the cast technology on babies ? :S

im asking because i never undestood Xiera origins at all

High CASTs are androids, normal CASTs are cyborgs.

[silo1991]

High CASTs are androids, normal CASTs are cyborgs.

thanks for the info

[Poyonche]

Apparently the next story boss is Varuna.
Can't wait for the context

[silo1991]

Apparently the next story boss is Varuna.
Can't wait for the context

i hope that character dont get kill that fast , it would be a shame :(

i like these villains, they are to good to be killed

[Meteor Weapon]

So, Amduscia's origin is yet another product of Photoner's(goddamnit experiment. Ro Kamitsu is the Skyscape Conciousness, Kashina is the Lower Layer Conciousness who is still sleeping underneath. Gonna need more translation tho.

[Hanabira.Kage]

So, Amduscia's origin is yet another product of Photoner's(goddamnit experiment. Ro Kamitsu is the Skyscape Conciousness, Kashina is the Lower Layer Conciousness who is still sleeping underneath. Gonna need more translation tho.

I'm not going to translate the story line by line, but I'll relay what I remember (just did it).

Both Kamitsu and Kasheena were Xion copies created around the middle of the period in which the Photoners were trying to create such copies. However, they were both considered failures: Kamitsu had poor computational ability, while Kasheena had poor processing ability. Figuring that they could create a perfect copy of Xion by combining the two, the Photoners smashed the two planets together forming the planet of Amduscia. Needless to say, it didn't go as they thought it would; the entities remained separate, with Kamitsu in the floating continent (more specifically, the dragon sanctum) and Kasheena buried deep below the planet's surface. Kasheena is currently, in Kamitsu's words, "sleeping a sleep that will never end", with her vessel beneath the ground essentially being a soulless husk. Thus Sara hatches a plan to transfer Xiao's consciousness into that empty vessel so he can return to them.

The final bit:
Though the physical vessel of Kasheena was destroyed, the essence of what she was (though not her consciousness) remained, and Xiao used that along with the energies in the surrounding area and the dragon crystals littering the caverns to forge a new physical form for himself. Due to using the crystals to create his new body, he's able to establish a remote link with Kamitsu, and through their combined prowess manage to predict and shut down every attack Valna attempts, prompting him to beat a hasty retreat.

[Kintama]

*Ruins 3 intensifies*

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/440578335291080707/623832945245028363/unknown.png

[Meteor Weapon]

*Revolution to The Origins Remastered intensifies*

[silo1991]

The final bit:
Though the physical vessel of Kasheena was destroyed, the essence of what she was (though not her consciousness) remained, and Xiao used that along with the energies in the surrounding area and the dragon crystals littering the caverns to forge a new physical form for himself. Due to using the crystals to create his new body, he's able to establish a remote link with Kamitsu, and through their combined prowess manage to predict and shut down every attack Valna attempts, prompting him to beat a hasty retreat.


i remember back in EP1 , the dragons used to refer kashina as the slumber hell dragon , now that i remember , what was terioto again ? it was some sort of colective soulstream if my memory dont fail me ?

again im starting to thing PSO2 will become war planets shadow raiders eventually XD

[TehCubey]

Gee, I sure did love the part where you easily beat Veruna's bitch face in and then the cutscene begins and it shows you struggling instead, and THEN the game has the gall to taunt you and ask if that's all the savior of Omega is capable of.

Keep wanking your shit tier antagonists, Sega.

[SPOILER-BOX]Also Xiao's new form is kinda silly but you do you, planet boy.[/SPOILER-BOX]

[ratatosk]

Valna's floating blades and spinning large blade's reminded me alot of etoile's attack animations which made me think if etoile is just a watered down way photoners would be able fight like. The area itself had the vibe in general but we all can guess they are gonna tie etoile most likely to stratos and edgey mc edgerston's friend.

Casually switched to Phantom now which surprised me since i thought we were gonna stay hero till etoile came out but nah we phantoms now which i question again when are we gonna get the Coat whatever weapon camo?

[SPOILER-BOX]Also who dressed this boy Xiao geez man. I blame Sara[/SPOILER-BOX]

[Meteor Weapon]

Gee, I sure did love the part where you easily beat Veruna's bitch face in and then the cutscene begins and it shows you struggling instead, and THEN the game has the gall to taunt you and ask if that's all the savior of Omega is capable of.

Keep wanking your shit tier antagonists, Sega.

[SPOILER-BOX]Also Xiao's new form is kinda silly but you do you, planet boy.[/SPOILER-BOX]

Dunno I find him hard first time as Hero, as a story Quest boss he is on an okay difficulty level. Put him in Ultimate difficulty level and he'll whoop our asses like Omega Masquerade did the first time.

[Reilet]

Dunno why some of you are refering him as Valna/Veruna or whatever other name being made when Varuna makes perfect sense seeing as all of the antagonists so far have hindu deity names.

[TehCubey]

I found him as hard as ep 4 human enemies - I don't mean Phaleg, but the mother cluster people and Ardem. In other words, not hard at all.


Dunno why some of you are refering him as Valna/Veruna or whatever other name being made when Varuna makes perfect sense seeing as all of the antagonists so far have hindu deity names.

Typo. No need to be nitpicky.

[XrosBlader821]

Not digging Xiaos new design tbh.

[Zorak000]

it was fun but yeah this is the version of the fight we're supposed to be able to beat easily; he'll likely be a bigger pain later in some Extreme Quest or Endless Quest

Xiao's outfit is just a little too busy I'd say; like individual parts are cool but having it all there in one place is, too much

[silo1991]

I found him as hard as ep 4 human enemies - I don't mean Phaleg, but the mother cluster people and Ardem. In other words, not hard at all.

Typo. No need to be nitpicky.

mother hechmens were lame except for Aratron, and maybe Kohri

i hate Ophiel(Dio) because , in the 2 runs i did back in EP4 he make my game crash at least once (i dont know if that problem was fix)

if i have to compare Varuna it will be with those characters and Ardem in matter of dificulty

[oratank]

[SPOILER-BOX]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/1/1e/FFXIV_G%27raha_Tia_Exarch.png/revision/latest?cb=20190711071632[/SPOILER-BOX]
coincidence?

p.s. character ages from animetion https://pso2.jp/anime_eporacle/character/18/

[Krystalwitch]

Gee, I sure did love the part where you easily beat Varuna's bitch face in and then the cutscene begins and it shows you struggling instead, and THEN the game has the gall to taunt you and ask if that's all the savior of Omega is capable of.

Keep wanking your shit tier antagonists, Sega.


As someone else said...

it was fun but yeah this is the version of the fight we're supposed to be able to beat easily; he'll likely be a bigger pain later in some Extreme Quest or Endless Quest

It's cool if you find him easy to beat gameplay-wise, but don't forget that lore-wise it's supposed to be another thing. No need to get that pissed because of that.


p.s. character ages from animetion https://pso2.jp/anime_eporacle/character/18/

Character ages have been a known fact for a while though.
https://pso2.jp/players/about/character/

Glad they didn't change a thing, though it's surprising they left Ash's age as unknown.

[rokkuman]

Xiao's new design looks kinda bad IMO. His baby face ruins it and it's too unfocused.

[TehCubey]

It's cool if you find him easy to beat gameplay-wise, but don't forget that lore-wise it's supposed to be another thing. No need to get that pissed because of that.

If Sega wants us to lose, then how about making it a fight you're supposed to lose. Or at the very least have Varuna power up in a cutscene or reveal his trap card or whatnot. But no, they went with a lazy switcheroo: the only way to progress through the fight and into the cutscene is to beat him, and then the cutscene itself shows that no, actually you didn't beat him at all and instead he's beating you.

This is garbage storytelling. It's even worse than when it happened in ep 1 - at least back then the player character is supposed to be a newbie. In ep 6, you're a badass who single-handedly defeated not only Primeval Darkness (multiple times even) but also a literal god. When the protagonist is so powerful, antagonists who are a credible threat must be introduced and played out with a level of finesse, or else it feels like a cheap copout where the bad guys are dangerous only because of a plot shield*.

Ep 6 totally fails in this regard. YSOK decided that since in ep 5 you were more or less effortlessly curbstomping all opposition, now the opposite should happen - like if nothing existed in the middle, only these two extremes. Both of which are bad but at least the former is a relaxing power fantasy. The latter is just infuriating.

* BTW, being immune to photon based weaponry because blah blah handwaved reason? That's also a plot shield. Few storytelling hacks are lazier than "make the villains dangerous by giving them a hard counter to the protagonists' powers".

[Krystalwitch]

If Sega wants us to lose, then how about making it a fight you're supposed to lose. Or at the very least have Varuna power up in a cutscene or reveal his trap card or whatnot. But no, they went with a lazy switcheroo: the only way to progress through the fight and into the cutscene is to beat him, and then the cutscene itself shows that no, actually you didn't beat him at all and instead he's beating you.

No, they don't want us to lose, just to keep him at bait because that's what we were doing. Plus it's still an MMORPG, where even if the story is nice and is used as a device to keep updates going on. There are tons of RPGs that make you lose fights and challenge you, MMORPGs work differently because if they want players to even care about the story, it should be beatable by most of the playerbase.


This is garbage storytelling. It's even worse than when it happened in ep 1 - at least back then the player character is supposed to be a newbie. In ep 6, you're a badass who single-handedly defeated not only Primeval Darkness (multiple times even) but also a literal god. When the protagonist is so powerful, antagonists who are a credible threat must be introduced and played out with a level of finesse, or else it feels like a cheap copout where the bad guys are dangerous only because of a plot shield*.

We never defeated Unfathomable Darkness single-handedly, lol. Even at the start of Episode 5, we went with Matoi and we weren't even aiming to defeat it - just get [Persona] back. And again, we weren't alone against Deus plus we had another entity (Mother) supporting us for that 'cause we were UNABLE to beat it. This is not garbage storytelling, imo you aren't paying attention to half of the story going on so of course it would seem that way.


Ep 6 totally fails in this regard. YSOK decided that since in ep 5 you were more or less effortlessly curbstomping all opposition, now the opposite should happen - like if nothing existed in the middle, only these two extremes. Both of which are bad but at least the former is a relaxing power fantasy. The latter is just infuriating.

* BTW, being immune to photon based weaponry because blah blah handwaved reason? That's also a plot shield. Few storytelling hacks are lazier than "make the villains dangerous by giving them a hard counter to the protagonists' powers".

In Episode 5 we were the HERO of the myth, the usual isekai trope, and even so we required a ton of assistance to get through (like it has been for all the story so far... heck, we even needed [Persona] to help us defeat Elmir, not even mentioning the rest of the falz, KK1st, Alisa...). Now we are facing and entity that has all the photons from the photoners... Obviously it wasn't going to be easy. That such entity may exist has been hinted since... EP3? (many people deduced what Shiva was (UD bait) even before Ep6 came out, no excuses there), and her being this strong is only logical. We are warriors that depend too much on the power of photons, which is actually a really nice plot point (if handled properly), because no organization should depend on a single resource - if it becomes useless, they are screwed.

[TehCubey]

I could've sworn the story quests have a solo PD fight before ep 5. No matter - freeing Persona, even with Matoi's help, is a much greater achievement than just beating PD normally.

I'm not buying the "we are warriors who depend too much on photons" explanation - even if that's what Sega intended as a message then you, as a player character, never get offered an alternative to using photons, so now it feels like you're being punished for a choice you never got to make. Unless Dark Blast counts, but for some reason ep 6 seems to forget you even have that ability to begin with.

There's also a difference between "it wasn't going to be easy" and "your actions are meaningless and don't matter". It's a serious problem of agency and disempowerment. I know it's hard to have player agency in a game like PSO2, with a linear story - but you can at least have character agency. Which is to say, are the actions of the player character impactful and do they make a difference?

Even as early as ep 1, there was player character agency. One of the very first things you do is take a detour to find Matoi, and I don't have to say how impactful in the long run that was. But in episode 6? All your actions were meaningless so far. If instead of participating the Guardian decided to stay home and take a nap, events would have unfolded in exactly the same way. Your presence doesn't matter, you're a passive observer. Sega tries to mask that fact by having the PC fight during cutscenes, but those fights are meaningless. You're fighting not to win but to hold the enemy off, yet the NPCs don't have any issues doing that by themselves. When Varuna retreats, it's not because of anything you did either. You fail to make a difference by getting to Sara in time - she has already failed to defend Kashina, but that also was meaningless because Xiao gets brought back anyway.

A good storytelling practice is to remove all elements that serve no purpose. When that element is the protagonist, you know your plot has problems.

[Krystalwitch]

I could've sworn the story quests have a solo PD fight before ep 5. No matter - freeing Persona, even with Matoi's help, is a much greater achievement than just beating PD normally.

That was added as part of the onmibus quest, which btw does that with every single boss.... and that doesn't mean you actually fight them alone, it's just because story quest is a solo quest. And if you check out the cutscene that follows that PD fight, you can see many Arks in the flower field in naberius while you talk with Xiao and Matoi - everyone was there (plus there's also that Arks level thing with the EQ version).
Freeing persona is a great achievement, yes, but it was a risky bet that "only" needed you to weaken it to use Hitsugi's katana. It's way easier than beating it because even both guardians can't achieve that (plus don't forget Persona has restrained themself in several other occasions).


I'm not buying the "we are warriors who depend too much on photons" explanation - even if that's what Sega intended as a message then you, as a player character, never get offered an alternative to using photons, so now it feels like you're being punished for a choice you never got to make. Unless Dark Blast counts, but for some reason ep 6 seems to forget you even have that ability to begin with.

An alternative to photons was never even considered because there was no need to, that's actually the point itself, lol. Also Dark Blast is also photon powered, no point in there - plus all the falz agreed to help us with fighting Elmir, if they aren't lending us their strength again there isn't much we can do about it. They may appear again to save us if we need it, who knows.


There's also a difference between "it wasn't going to be easy" and "your actions are meaningless and don't matter". It's a serious problem of agency and disempowerment. I know it's hard to have player agency in a game like PSO2, with a linear story - but you can at least have character agency. Which is to say, are the actions of the player character impactful and do they make a difference?

Even as early as ep 1, there was player character agency. One of the very first things you do is take a detour to find Matoi, and I don't have to say how impactful in the long run that was. But in episode 6? All your actions were meaningless so far. If instead of participating the Guardian decided to stay home and take a nap, events would have unfolded in exactly the same way. Your presence doesn't matter, you're a passive observer. Sega tries to mask that fact by having the PC fight during cutscenes, but those fights are meaningless. You're fighting not to win but to hold the enemy off, yet the NPCs don't have any issues doing that by themselves. When Varuna retreats, it's not because of anything you did either. You fail to make a difference by getting to Sara in time - she has already failed to defend Kashina, but that also was meaningless because Xiao gets brought back anyway.

A good storytelling practice is to remove all elements that serve no purpose. When that element is the protagonist, you know your plot has problems.

EP1-3 we were just following Xion's wishes, she even made the matterboards for us so we could save Matoi.

If we took a nap, let's see... Maybe the AIS wouldn't have get improved since we helped with that. Lisa wouldn't be that cooperative ('cause she is thanks to us deciding to and saving Matoi before), meaning that both Matoi and Zeno could have been killed in the mothership invasion by Mitra and who knows what else. Quna probably wouldn't have helped in Amduscia if we got to that, even if Sarah got to the core she would have got killed, or not have got the courage back to try to help Xiao...

Yeah, story would have unfolded pretty differently. It's not hard to see that our presence and actions are full of meaning and guide many other characters, because thats what we've achieved after all these struggles and bonds we've formed - no, it's not meaningless, it's just the opposite.

[TehCubey]

An alternative to photons was never even considered because there was no need to, that's actually the point itself, lol.

So the point is... that the player should get their shit kicked in for something they never considered, because it was a part of the plot's very premise that this thing works and is good.

Amazing. It's like I'm watching a mecha series where suddenly new antagonists totally obliterate the good guys with their much more pragmatic machines because "humanoid robots are unrealistic, lol". Or a magical girl series where the protagonist gets sniped mid-transformation sequence. The video game equivalent of trying to enjoy a wrestling match only for someone to keep asking me "you know this is all fake, right? you know they're not fighting for real, right?" Except it's not some random smartass asking me that, but the writer.


If we took a nap, let's see...
I really don't know how much the Guardian's help was, since you're not a trained professional unlike the Nu-Cast Lyudmila. Pretty sure the new and improved AIS will job in 2 weeks anyway - you know, even though they were supposed to be upgraded to get around the photon problem.

As for the other NPCs, I think they are better than to refuse to help just because their idol isn't there (okay, maybe Lisa would but then she's hardly alone, what with Harriet and all). That's who the Guardian is right now - an idol, a figurehead.

[Moffen]

Phantasy Star Nova was supposed to be set during the same timeframe as PSO2 and they didnt use photons, they used Gran Energy instead (GP), what are the odds of seeing that return?
I wanna be able to change the color of PA effects ;_;

[Zorak000]

the Delta Variant apparently split off from the main ARKS fleet during episode 1, which is why there's no dewmans around; that's about all I remember

[Altiea]

All the Gran also went away when they convinced Nova that its mission had been fulfilled. Which is unfortunate, since the Gigantes were developed specifically to fight the Photoners.

[Moffen]

All the Gran also went away when they convinced Nova that its mission had been fulfilled. Which is unfortunate, since the Gigantes were developed specifically to fight the Photoners.

Would have been such a good time to tie nova into pso2's current plot too
blech
missed opportunity ;__;

[silo1991]

Would have been such a good time to tie nova into pso2's current plot too
blech
missed opportunity ;__;

maybe a renegade Arks recover the blueprints and recreate them like: i dont think we can ever beat the luminmechs (which i doubt)

also this last chapter was a missed oportunity for tell us how Hi En , Hi Loga and Ko Ryu has been , hell we dont even know if they are still alive .

another point is: i think the direction the story might take its let the dragonkin , the shironians and maybe lilipan mechs(with them could be a chance to tie PSOes) become our allies,

[Saffran]

Don't forget, we're the vessel of this reality. We're the damsel in this episode. I really don't see how they will go through with this, actually.

[Moffen]

I'm surprised we havent asked for Phalegs help on any of this, She's the only Ep4 character i want to become more common and involved with the plot.

[silo1991]

I'm surprised we havent asked for Phalegs help on any of this, She's the only Ep4 character i want to become more common and involved with the plot.

no thanks , i just want to think all EP4 stuff died in the black hole of their universe ,

maybe put phaleg as the last survivor , mmm it could work that way

also your point of change PA colors its definily a great idea , im planning to do a corrupted magical girl outfit once etoile its release and the golden effects definilly break the atmosphere i want

[TehCubey]

no thanks , i just want to think all EP4 stuff died in the black hole of their universe ,

Like it or not, we're still getting ep 4 characters in seasonal events. It's actually them too, and not just photon/ether clones like Halloween Matoi.

Phaleg showing up would be cool but it's hard to prop up the new bad guys as some kind of dire threat if a character totally immune to Shiva's bullshit appears and starts kicking ass. It's better to conveniently forget she exists.

[silo1991]

Like it or not, we're still getting ep 4 characters in seasonal events. It's actually them too, and not just photon/ether clones like Halloween Matoi..

i dont mind them for seasonal events , in the main canon its where i got problems . they could add a Extra story in which Shiva goes to earth in plan of retrieve Aru (he still is a dark falz as far as i concern also could be a maternal instinct to do that , after all PD its the mother of the DFs ) , causes big mess , we repel her from the etherverse.

and the earth guides are like : take Aru out of this universe and never comeback here again ,Arks are not welcome anymore .

any excuse for not involve the EP4 stuff anymore is good for me

[ratatosk]

Would have been such a good time to tie nova into pso2's current plot too
blech
missed opportunity ;__;

They can still introduce something similar to the story still. If one civilization came up with a method others must have to.


Phaleg showing up would be cool but it's hard to prop up the new bad guys as some kind of dire threat if a character totally immune to Shiva's bullshit appears and starts kicking ass. It's better to conveniently forget she exists.

Did they ever actually explain/ say what she uses to fight IIRC they said it isn't ether but it also wasn't photons. And while she might be immune to Shiva's bs we still technically beat her so it she wouldn't be able to single highhandedly beat Shiva

[Dark Mits]

Currently we have PP (Photon Power) which powers up all our Photon Arts and Techs. This looked like a great opportunity to have ARKS do research and develop combat abilities that would be dependent on another resource. These abilities could be less effective either due to absolute power or resource cost on all other enemies (EP1 through EP5) but more effective on Luminmechs, which would add depth and more strategic decisions. Of course, we still have the problem of "Where would I put those on my bars???"

[vantpers]

This looked like a great opportunity to have ARKS do research and develop combat abilities that would be dependent on another resource.
Martial Arts? Are Lumnimechs even supposed to be resistant to photons? I thought it was just Shiva and her entourage having sensitive photon radar effectively serving as perfect precognition against Arks whose idea of learning how to fight is eating a disc with PA on it, with Shiva also having some kind of absorption power.

[TehCubey]

Did they ever actually explain/ say what she uses to fight IIRC they said it isn't ether but it also wasn't photons. And while she might be immune to Shiva's bs we still technically beat her so it she wouldn't be able to single highhandedly beat Shiva

To the best of my knowledge? Nothing. Phaleg doesn't have any kind of tech or super power, all she's got is millenia of fighting experience - while Ardem was a nerd and spent that time gaining knowledge and manipulating humanity, Phaleg spent it getting STRONG. She's like a Dragonball Z character, or perhaps Master Asia.

And we can't beat Shiva not because her powerlevel is higher than ours, but because she's immune to photons. We may have beaten Phaleg but she doesn't have the same limitation - and besides, if you beat her (I assume everyone in this thread did beat her), she swears to get even stronger. Now would be a good opportunity to show fruits of that.

[oratank]

siva isn't immune to photon she just absorb it in the story they talk about how to beat siva in theory if they can put photon more than she can absrob then they can hurt her but then agian siva has pd in her so her power lever is too high for that to happen

Lumnimech are made by photonner to fight against PD that why they are super strong and siva provide photon absorbtion to all her subject

[silo1991]

Martial Arts? Are Lumnimechs even supposed to be resistant to photons? I thought it was just Shiva and her entourage having sensitive photon radar effectively serving as perfect precognition against Arks whose idea of learning how to fight is eating a disc with PA on it, with Shiva also having some kind of absorption power.

didnt PSO crew said they have plans to ad more hand to hand PAs ?

[Dark Mits]

siva isn't immune to photon she just absorb it in the story they talk about how to beat siva in theory if they can put photon more than she can absrob then they can hurt her but then agian siva has pd in her so her power lever is too high for that to happenSo you're saying all we have to do is just hire some BMW drivers and have them flash their brights at her?

[Zorak000]

Martial Arts? Are Lumnimechs even supposed to be resistant to photons? I thought it was just Shiva and her entourage having sensitive photon radar effectively serving as perfect precognition against Arks whose idea of learning how to fight is eating a disc with PA on it, with Shiva also having some kind of absorption power.
Sara and Lisa were not using Photons in 6-1; the problem Sara quickly ran into is that while manually flinging the wired lances around was bypassing shiva's barriers, it just meant Shiva had to uh, actually try to defend herself. and well, just because we can't use photons against her doesn't mean she can't use her photons/darker energy against us!

We need to find a different source of power in order to both bypass her photon draining ability, and to actually hold a candle against her in combat

[silo1991]

what we need its actually tackyons , its hypothetical particle that travels faster than light (know in casual terms as the particle of time) , im sure the story will turn out that our character had this power since EP2 (when Xiao give us the time travel skill) but never learn how to use it in combat until now

[rokkuman]

So... We're already getting more story content on 02/10? Talk about weird time gaps. Regardless, I hope we see Sukuna-hime anytime soon.

[Zorak000]

yeah they seem to just not like doing main story chapters during limted quest events for some reason; so every time they take like 3 months for the new years carnival and anniversary content they just like, dont do any story, and it has always felt weird. people kept saying they forgot about the story in early ep4, people also kept saying they forgot about the story in early ep5, and I was starting to hear all that again for ep6 until a month or two ago

[Dark Mits]

Is it me or does Varuna have clearer and sharper textures than the rest? He appears to be crisper than everyone else in the same room.

[StreetFighter2242]

Sara and Lisa were not using Photons in 6-1; the problem Sara quickly ran into is that while manually flinging the wired lances around was bypassing shiva's barriers, it just meant Shiva had to uh, actually try to defend herself. and well, just because we can't use photons against her doesn't mean she can't use her photons/darker energy against us!

We need to find a different source of power in order to both bypass her photon draining ability, and to actually hold a candle against her in combat



How's that working out so far?

[Loyd Azakuya]

If we can't use Photons, then what about Ether?

[silo1991]

If we can't use Photons, then what about Ether?

dont mention the forbbiden word :U

ok now lets be serious , we have as alternative sources , the one from PS nova , the chips from PSO2es which are of common use in the story

hell even the technologie of the ezimaruth(from mention game) that allow them to control darkers could be of use at least for turn the darkers against shiva, causing a civil war

edit: talking about it , Yucrita can overcome her dark falz past if she learn to summon and command the darkers , hell she can be the founder of our long waited R-atk/T-atk class (equivalent of braver and bouncer)

[Agastya]

If we can't use Photons, then what about Ether?

ether is basically just photons that have been geared more for communication and "creation" rather than combat iirc

all the ether-themed weaponry we've seen has been laughable at best when compared to the arks' current technology level



like, we could throw the phantasmal battleship yamato at the armada of demise but i don't see it taking luster cannon fire very well

[Meteor Weapon]

Counterattack failed. Shiva's powerlevels are off the charts she alone took down a dozen of AIS Vega like it was nothing. They needed Sukunahime's help to seal/weaken Shiva's absurd level of negaphotons, just like how they tried to seal PD on Naberius back in EP3.

Inb4 it didnt work and we're back to going to Earth.

[Poyonche]

Well, if we're going back to Harkotan it might explain why Ultra Magatsu has been datamined. :wacko:

[Terrence]

Why do I like the new Xiao's outfit sooooo much ???
I hope it will be available in the future SG Scratch. ^^
In any case the EP6 Story is OK so far. I really like it.

[SPOILER-BOX]
http://nibelungen.orgfree.com/pso2/new_xiao.png[/SPOILER-BOX]

[mickbis]

I feel like we will need to trace back every of our steps,
Harukotan and Sukunahime for sealing technique
Earth and Mother for the characteristic of Ether and the possibility of it bring used to cover Photon weakness
and perhaps the power sleeping inside or what remain of Omega(?) and the disappearance of Persona

[RefrainDP]

Earth and Mother for the characteristic of Ether and the possibility of it bring used to cover Photon weakness

As fun as it would be to see the EP4 haters getting triggered if they do this, I don't think it would be a good idea. After all, things started to go from bad to worse precisely because they got Ether involved in this whole deal with PD.

[XrosBlader821]

I mean, we already know ultralized Earth mobs will be a thing. The story will go back to earth whenever we want it or not. his time however i hope RINA and Itsuki and Aika will be useful in some way. Not just Hitsugi, Lesbian yandere and barely legal femboy.

[silo1991]

i finally played the chapter , the scene of the AIS assault remind me many scenes from shadow raiders in which launched futile assaults against the beast planet

in mitra scene Regias was like , did you trought i wouldnt reconize my own sister

and gping back to harukotan : are they finally gonna explain why are we still fighting the kuronites despite they are all dead

also if we go back to earth , i hope it gets destroyed along with those blasfemous phantoms , that would be a perfect letter of apology

also Aru its tecnically Shiva son , i wouldnt be wonder why she goes for him , because maternal instinc

[Kondibon]

I mean, we already know ultralized Earth mobs will be a thing. The story will go back to earth whenever we want it or not. There's ultralized enemies for a bunch of areas that haven't been relevant to episode 6 at all. For all we know those mobs will be specifically for those barely canon event EQs.

[XrosBlader821]

There's ultralized enemies for a bunch of areas that haven't been relevant to episode 6 at all. For all we know those mobs will be specifically for those barely canon event EQs.
Could be both ways tbh.

[Kondibon]

Could be both ways tbh.

I know, you just seemed so certain about it.

[Touka]

Shiva powers are beyond ridiculous really.But just when all hope was lost mother effing Phaleg out of nowhere

[Meteor Weapon]

You know the situation is bad when even Mitra disguising as Shiva can stomp Sukunahine Magatsu with ease holyshit

[TehCubey]

Yawn. The chapter is called "Turning the tables", but all I'm seeing is "Boring invincible villain bodies everyone".

Of course ep 4 is the key to it all, something I expected as soon as Shiva appeared in ep 5's epilogue. Hopefully that will be the chance to redeem this snoozefest.

[Meteor Weapon]

I don't know why you still persist with everything other than EP4/Earth/Mcgufffin plot device is boring/insignificant.

[TehCubey]

Dude, I liked ep 3 and seeing all the ep 3 characters get bodied by YSOK's waifu was annoying. What's the point - like, if we didn't have this chapter happen at all, what would change in the story? All we managed is kill a personality-less villain who is more walking plot device than a real character, la dee dah.

The story really is spinning its wheels right now. We had the exact same thing - "characters try their best to create a cunning plan but it fails because Shiva is just TOO STRONG" happen what, 3 times in a row now? It's been like that ever since Xiao came back. Wake me up when the situation changes.

[loafhero]

TehCubey has a point.

The way Shiva is handled as a villain is kinda boring, bordering on Villain Sue. In the hands of a good writer, a villain that's powerful and scoring victories can add to the plot, not detract from it. A proper balance where the villain is dominating the heroes but also can struggle to do so at certain points has to be struck so that the audience is invested in what's going on rather than being disinterested. By making Shiva so damn invincible, the story kills off any tension that it could have because now players are expecting without any doubt for Shiva to either just no-sell whatever's thrown at her or pull off an UNO reverse card from nowhere. Like, I just watched the latest story patch waiting and expecting for Shiva to somehow undo whatever the heroes try to kill her with. I should be entertained, not apathetically waiting for the boring inevitable. Yeah, she's definitely going to lose by the end of this story arc but at this rate, when it happens, it'll likely require some big ass pull from the heroes at the last minute.

Even Thanos, as overpowered as he was (Infinity Stones or not), struggled to accomplish his goals.

Maybe this is some kind of reactionary response to how comically incompetent the previous villains from EP4 and 5 were. If it is, they overdid it.

[vantpers]

Oh I really miss all those previous villains that basically either evaporated or tactfully retreated from everyone encounter with our character before. If anything Shiva is disappointing because while being the nearly first thing Arks just can't overpower easily by throwing their all star team, she manages to do absolutely no irrecoverable damage. We had nameless AIS and ships getting destroyed, but every named character successfully pulled back after encountering her. She didn't destroy Oracle but merely hijacked it so we know she did absolutely nothing worthwhile. Encounters with her are if anything boring not because we know she won't perish mid chapter to completely flip story progression, but rather because then it's back to status quo. Shiva already in this chapter struggled because in the end she has killed not Sukunahime nor anything named, but merely lost a named character herself.

The only way to get high stakes encounter is to just let Shiva delete a bunch of named Arks but that would make players cry about their favouring character being dead, even if that character hasn't been plot relevant since a while. But hey we're at the point where we brought back all the major villains from EP1-3 just for fanservice.

[Touka]

On the other hand the Photoners considered everything a game up to this point.With Mithra's "death" it looks like Shiva took off the kiddy gloves.

I find this refreshing so far because I was sick of the player being the mary sue because they could solve any situation by simply existing lol.Shiva will get hers just wait for it guys.

[Shear]

... In one of the Sub Stories, did Io imitate Kyouka only to remember after the fact that she's in the middle of the Shopping Area? Poor Girl.
On a side note I really want to know what Kyoukas deals is by now, I mean aside from being a total Chuuni. From what I understand even Quna is starting to question him about things but my Moonspeak is too weak to make things out properly. I understand some things but not all.

[XrosBlader821]

Even Thanos, as overpowered as he was (Infinity Stones or not), struggled to accomplish his goals.
This is a funny comparison because Thanos only struggled to get one infinity stone (unless u refer to the comics which i doubt).
Power Stone - He got it effortlessly by obliterating Xandar offscreen.
Space Stone - He got it effortlessly by beating the shit out of Thor. He beat up Hulk so bad he was too scared to come out for the rest of the movie.
Reality Stone - He got it effortlessly by obliterating Knowhere. He even toyed with Starlord and Gamora like if he knew they can't touch him.
Soul Stone - He killed the only thing he truly loved to obtain it, despite this he didn't hesitate.
Time Stone - He had to beat up Ironman and co. in a one sided fight. The avengers only nearly won due to Mantis sleeping ability.
Mind Stone - His Minions struggled but as soon as Thanos showed up on Earth it was over.

I think what ya'll are trying to say here is that Shiva lacks a sympathetic side to her character. She's Evil just because and that's pretty boring. Thanos wasn't fun to watch because he struggled. As soon as he took matter into his own hands he didn't struggle. Thanos had a sympathetic side to him. He wasn't wrong in his theory to save the universe, he was just a extremist in his ideas. Despite this he was a loving father (at least from his perspective).

What's Shivas backstory? Everything we know that makes her Human is attributed to Harriet, who ironically is a gun, not a human.

[Meteor Weapon]

Killing off a couple of goofy irrelevent characters like Kyokuya, Io, Katori and etc would be a start lol.

Would probably not change anything but some simply exist for existing, Io is an example of that...just a Kouhai trope character that they forcefully want us to get attached to. Her dewman trait could make her relevant but she'd end up being a background character that still gets a spotlight and have cutscene until now for some reason. Pietro getting sacked by his pets is more enjoyable to watch.

[Zorak000]

eh, it hasn't be quite like yall are making it out to be; 6-1 was us getting stomped yeah, 6-2 was really just us getting xiao back, 6-3-1 was us thinking we could try to strike back but realizing we didn't really have much of a plan so of course it was doomed, and 6-3-2 here was us trying to leverage a connection we used before when we needed to attempt to seal away the rogue dark falz amalgamation profound darkness.

but now I imagine we're finally getting to addressing the thing they've been saying since the end of episode 5: "dang its like photons dont work on her, I guess we'll have to try something else..."

[Sirius-91]

What's Shivas backstory? Everything we know that makes her Human is attributed to Harriet, who ironically is a gun, not a human.

A pure soul that is tainted by the profound darkness, thus becoming it in the process. It's lazy and boring, which is what I expect from sega these days.

And speaking of lazy and boring, check out every other event with a certain character appearing in the shop area. Most of the time it ends up like this:
[SPOILER-BOX]https://i.imgur.com/cBKycFY.png[/SPOILER-BOX]

[XrosBlader821]

but now I imagine we're finally getting to addressing the thing they've been saying since the end of episode 5: "dang its like photons dont work on her, I guess we'll have to try something else..."

I'm glad we've spent an entire episode just to contextualize a mc guffin.
And i highly doubt Sega will go all in and invent Ether Arts, It's just gonna be a story-only BS. But hey at least EP4 finally will start feeling less pointless.

[Kondibon]

On a whole it feels like a lot of what's going on is why I actually think "show don't tell" has its limits. They're basically just establishing what does and doesn't work on Shiva, which I think is important to get out of the way, but it feels a bit drawn out because by this point it would be easier to establish what does. It's not like there hasn't been any meaningful pushback, just that it's going slowly. Combine that with Shiva being a lot more proactive than characters like her usually are, and it kinda gets to the point of "yeah, we get it". If there's any problem with Shiva it's that she shows up too often. It's not that characters who nosell everything until you find a good solution can't work, but those kinds of characters work best when you see them do that maybe once or twice.

It kinda gives me the impression that they're just trying to get everything out of the way (and explain why space magatsu happened), so there isn't any but "but why don't they try X?". There's just so many things to try that it's ending up long in the tooth, and a lot of it probably could have been skipped. I'm still waiting to see where this goes, because, despite people saying the characters would have to pull something out of their ass, pretty much everything that's worked somewhat has been stuff that's already established as existing. And it's not like Tsukihime's plan didn't work, it just missed its mark.

I'm pretty sure Alma is going to end up being the solution though. They went out of their way to point out that her powers are explicitly not photon based, and might actually be literal magic, which is something the phantasy star games have been missing for a while, so I'd like to see that come back.


A pure soul that is tainted by the profound darkness, thus becoming it in the process. It's lazy and boring, which is what I expect from sega these days.I mean, it's easy to call something lazy and boring when you oversimplify it, get it wrong, and leave out all the important parts. She isn't a "pure soul" that got corrupted, she's literally got no soul at all, because the photoners removed it to make her an empty shell as a trap for the PD. Shiva's "pure soul" is Hariette. Shiva's backstory is actually pretty interesting conceptually, even if the character herself is pretty bland. Granted, I genuinely find the setting and lore interesting despite the story, so maybe that's just me.


Killing off a couple of goofy irrelevent characters like Kyokuya, Io, Katori and etc would be a start lol.

Would probably not change anything but some simply exist for existing, Io is an example of that...just a Kouhai trope character that they forcefully want us to get attached to. Her dewman trait could make her relevant but she'd end up being a background character that still gets a spotlight and have cutscene until now for some reason. Pietro getting sacked by his pets is more enjoyable to watch.I don't think killing off class trainers that aren't really tied into the story overall would have much impact. Io is just around because she's popular. If they were going to kill off a character I think it would need to be someone actually relevant. I've personally never been a fan of "kill character for tension" as a plot device unless it has a lot of weight, but I do agree that Shiva kinda feels like she has no fangs with how distant everything she's done feels from what we're doing. It's something the game kinda struggled with in general, and I think the new anime really highlights it, because I feel the stakes a LOT higher there, than I do ingame, and they're literally just killing off random nameless people.

[Suirano]

It doesn't really help that everything Shiva has done is kind of something a Dark Falz already did. Possessing the Mothership was something Luther did already and attacking Harukotan was something Double already did when they ate the entire Black tribe. I mean, even when she first showed up and fought us, it could be like how it was when Elder first came up. Shiva hasn't done anything that stands out and really brings home the tension other than kick our ass for the 3rd time. They really gotta do something more with Shiva.

I can't say exactly what that something could be though as what is deemed tense or more could vary from person to person.

[DrCatco]

Changing the subject a bit, to rest and regain strength ...

ルコ?

By the way, and if you don't know it, "ruco" in Spanish is a derogatory way of calling someone "old man." If you are going to translate that name, I would suggest changing it to "Luco", which has no special meaning in Spanish.

[Meteor Weapon]

I'm not sure if Sega wanted to have Shiva being the kind of villain who wants to be stopped before she gets bored and destroy everything instantly. They've been implying that PD's full resurrection would instantly destroy the universe. Since Shiva is PD itself I'm wondering if she's just holding back and just waiting, giving chance for the main cast to find a way and stop her , even if it means her tampering their plans just to see how far they'd struggle to stop her. I'm not sure if Mother's involvement would even put a dent on Shiva considering Ether itself is implied to be another variant of Photon.

[Meteor Weapon]

Changing the subject a bit, to rest and regain strength ...

ルコ?

By the way, and if you don't know it, "ruco" in Spanish is a derogatory way of calling someone "old man." If you are going to translate that name, I would suggest changing it to "Luco", which has no special meaning in Spanish.

I'm pretty sure Luco is her, Lucotte
http://www.bumped.org/psublog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Etoile-Class-Trainer-768x432.jpg

[loafhero]

This is a funny comparison because Thanos only struggled to get one infinity stone (unless u refer to the comics which i doubt).
I think what ya'll are trying to say here is that Shiva lacks a sympathetic side to her character. She's Evil just because and that's pretty boring. Thanos wasn't fun to watch because he struggled. As soon as he took matter into his own hands he didn't struggle. Thanos had a sympathetic side to him. He wasn't wrong in his theory to save the universe, he was just a extremist in his ideas. Despite this he was a loving father (at least from his perspective).


That's not it, at least for me. It doesn't matter if she's sympathetic or not. You can do a villain with no sympathetic qualities and still make them fun to watch. Hell, the game itself pulled this off years ago with Shiva's "brother", Luther. Flawed as EP2 was, at least I was entertained with how unrepentantly evil he was. And, though I don't want to derail this conversation too much with the MCU again, the best example of Shiva done right there is Hela, a goddess of "demise" herself. No sympathetic qualities and wrecks the heroes with relative ease through sheer brute force yet its not boring to watch her.

As everyone else said, the other factor to why Shiva and the plot to beat her is bland right now is because the audience is already aware of what doesn't work against Shiva but the plot insists on drawing out the conflict until a solution is introduced without doing anything interesting in-between beyond reminding us that Shiva is just too OP... again. Even seemingly obvious solutions like siccing Phaleg on Shiva is rendered null, even though Phaleg should be a very hard counter to Shiva.

[DrCatco]

I'm pretty sure Luco is her, Lucotte
http://www.bumped.org/psublog/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Etoile-Class-Trainer-768x432.jpg

Ah, thank godness. I didn't know about that, sorry :-)

[Dark Mits]

I'm still waiting for Reda, the cornerstone of ARKS, to awaken and lead us to victory.

[Shear]

:EDIT: Woops someone explained it already. Reading everything helps.

While i admit Shiva isn't my favorite PSO2 Villain I don't think it's as bad as people say here. I mean yeah she seems invincible right now but we actually haven't tried that much and the recent plan would have even worked if Shiva didn't anticipate it and we did at least get one of them. Other people already said everything else so I leave it at that.

On a side note it seems Stratos actually explained this time what happened between her and Kyouka. Can anybody actually explain what she said and why Kyouka is semmingly so angry? I understand something happened with their other Friend but not what. Also I agree that it's probably the Caseal Trainer going by how Stratos shortened her name.

[loafhero]

While i admit Shiva isn't my favorite PSO2 Villain I don't think it's as bad as people say here. I mean yeah she seems invincible right now but we actually haven't tried that much and the recent plan would have even worked if Shiva didn't anticipate it and we did at least get one of them. Other people already said everything else so I leave it at that.

You have to understand. People have to wait months for an update to the story so to wait that long only for the latest update to ultimately have no meaningful progress and being right back to square one is frustrating.

[XrosBlader821]

That's not it, at least for me. It doesn't matter if she's sympathetic or not. You can do a villain with no sympathetic qualities and still make them fun to watch. Hell, the game itself pulled this off years ago with Shiva's "brother", Luther. Flawed as EP2 was, at least I was entertained with how unrepentantly evil he was. And, though I don't want to derail this conversation too much with the MCU again, the best example of Shiva done right there is Hela, a goddess of "demise" herself. No sympathetic qualities and wrecks the heroes with relative ease through sheer brute force yet its not boring to watch her.

As everyone else said, the other factor to why Shiva and the plot to beat her is bland right now is because the audience is already aware of what doesn't work against Shiva but the plot insists on drawing out the conflict until a solution is introduced without doing anything interesting in-between beyond reminding us that Shiva is just too OP... again. Even seemingly obvious solutions like siccing Phaleg on Shiva is rendered null, even though Phaleg should be a very hard counter to Shiva.
Dunno. Hela was hella boring of a villain and most of the movie was about Thor and Loki not interacting with her but instead going on a whacky adventure. I dont think EP6 would be better if Shiva was torturing arks while MC is on a whacky adventure with matoi, finding mother on the way who refuses to leave her Falz form while tagging up with Aika, a fallen valkyrie.

Plus it's really selling the story short by saying we're back to square one. Xiao's new form completely countered that sword guy in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 we managed to kill off shape shifter girl. We're just now introducing EP4 characters into the story which seem to have a advantage due to Ether which does fit the "turning the tides" title of this chapter. I understand that the time period between story updates kills the pacing but this is true for almost every episode thus far.

[Shear]

You have to understand. People have to wait months for an update to the story so to wait that long only for the latest update to ultimately have no meaningful progress and being right back to square one is frustrating.

That's actually a very good point.
From what I understand we aren't atleast not fully at Square one. The end had the Squatters in our head actually seriously discuss the situation (after getting slapped around like cannon fodder) and even Shiva decided to stop being passive so I assume a lot of movement will happen now. The Episodes usually had a point where shit hit the Photon Fan so I guess we are close to that point now.

... on a side note I can't be the only one thinking that the Falz actually being able to properly manifest and fight is ... well technically a big deal?

[Ezodagrom]

... on a side note I can't be the only one thinking that the Falz actually being able to properly manifest and fight is ... well technically a big deal?
It's something that also happened in Omega, but until now we didn't know it could happen outside of Omega.
A bigger deal would be Persona, I think. Before this chapter there were only small traces of Persona's presence.

[Shear]

Yeah ... and only Shiva knows that happened because everyone else was knocked out including our Mind Squatters.

[Meteor Weapon]

Plus it's really selling the story short by saying we're back to square one. Xiao's new form completely countered that sword guy in chapter 2

Only reason he countered Varuna is because he was fighting Xiao's new home turf which is loaded with Dragonkin crystals.

[XrosBlader821]

Only reason he countered Varuna is because he was fighting Xiao's new home turf which is loaded with Dragonkin crystals.

inb4 mining base defense: Amduskia

[starwind75043]

Dan Backslide is way more intimidating then Shiva...

[Zulastar]

On a side note it seems Stratos actually explained this time what happened between her and Kyouka. Can anybody actually explain what she said and why Kyouka is semmingly so angry? I understand something happened with their other Friend but not what. Also I agree that it's probably the Caseal Trainer going by how Stratos shortened her name.

The story of "Next Generation" ARKS seems pretty moving.
I think that missing friend of Stratos and Kyokuya indeed was turned into the CAST and will be a trainer of Etoile class.

UPD: All these speculations about Light/Dark and Justice/Evil smells pretty chuunibyou to me >_<

[Shear]

The story of "Next Generation" ARKS seems pretty moving.
I think that missing friend of Stratos and Kyokuya indeed was turned into the CAST and will be a trainer of Etoile class.

Oh? So you can understand it?

... can you give me a brief summary what happened? I'm so goddamn curious but my Moonspeak is too weak :( I only know that whatever happened made Stratos go depressed, Kyouka going emo and chuuni while trying to help her (and us invalidating all his work by simply being awesome at the right time and place :p )

[loafhero]

I dont think EP6 would be better if Shiva was torturing arks while MC is on a whacky adventure with matoi, finding mother on the way who refuses to leave her Falz form while tagging up with Aika, a fallen valkyrie.

And a Vopal Shellhead voiced by Taika Waititi... Damn, why couldn't this be EP6?


Plus it's really selling the story short by saying we're back to square one. Xiao's new form completely countered that sword guy in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 we managed to kill off shape shifter girl. We're just now introducing EP4 characters into the story which seem to have a advantage due to Ether which does fit the "turning the tides" title of this chapter. I understand that the time period between story updates kills the pacing but this is true for almost every episode thus far.


That's actually a very good point.
From what I understand we aren't atleast not fully at Square one. The end had the Squatters in our head actually seriously discuss the situation (after getting slapped around like cannon fodder) and even Shiva decided to stop being passive so I assume a lot of movement will happen now. The Episodes usually had a point where shit hit the Photon Fan so I guess we are close to that point now.

... on a side note I can't be the only one thinking that the Falz actually being able to properly manifest and fight is ... well technically a big deal?

None of that really changes the situation in any meaningful way and the villains are hardly bothered by it. Its just back to theorizing on what they can do rather than what they have done that's actually worked. Its setup and setups with no satisfying payoff as of yet.

[Shear]

I don't quite agree on that, while she didn't seem to act much different at first unlike all the other times Shiva went straight for the kill, no playing around, after Mithras death. Also while I don't fully understand it (Lack of JPN Knowledge) it seems Shiva is changing tactics. And while the Plan failed thanks to Mithras sacrifice we know it would have worked and can build on that.

[Tymek]

They sure are doing an excellent job at keeping Risa and Harriet relevant to the story. /s

[oratank]

The story of "Next Generation" ARKS seems pretty moving.
I think that missing friend of Stratos and Kyokuya indeed was turned into the CAST and will be a trainer of Etoile class.


Stratos said Ruco was already a cast at that time that why she believe her friend still alive at somepoint but that also mean Ruco is a kid cast? atleast she has friends to help her to not going to be a crazy like Risa

[Meteor Weapon]

So what exactly pissed Kyo so much to the point of being ultra edgy chunni lol? Someone really needs to knock some sense into him lol. Not even Quna's questioning could put a dent to him. Maria probably would but...eh. Inb4 shes the one who trained him

[silo1991]

i finally played the new chapter and man i have a lot of questions

1 did in this chapter finally explain how harukotan has been without any single kuronite , did they at least said the kuronites are darker clones ?
2 why Xiera was spying on Hagito (AKA the military nerd/fool)
3 the shironians will act like a resistanse now ? also do they live in a city ship now ?(i skipped the sub stories)
4 where is our next destination Earth or Omega ? i didnt understood that point

my observations:
1 Magatsu turn out to be a half of Sukuna , or its still a separate entity , one way or another she its gonna lose the control
2 in the cinematic after the fight Shiva was like : are you using my children against me ?
3 im sure Phaleg didnt fight Shiva because : Phaleg: its she a force of nature , then nope n_n
4 Persona said Shiva won because PD its the perfect copy of Xion, so she can predict anything just like her

[Kiboune]

In side story, Luther talks how "world without photons" is the only way to defeat Shiva. Is this a hint to Phantasy Star Nova and Machia?

[XrosBlader821]

In side story, Luther talks how "world without photons" is the only way to defeat Shiva. Is this a hint to Phantasy Star Nova and Machia?

Or Earth.

[Kondibon]

In side story, Luther talks how "world without photons" is the only way to defeat Shiva. Is this a hint to Phantasy Star Nova and Machia?I doubt it, I think he was just expressing how dire the situation was. I don't even know if they want to even acknowledge the existence of Nova in PSO2. That would be an interesting solution though.


Or Earth.

Photons still work and exist on earth though, it's just that their technology is based on Ether instead. We're still probably going to earth though.

[Meteor Weapon]

Machia is already purified of Gran after Nova's demise I believe so there really isnt any point in making it relevant.


Photons still work and exist on earth though, it's just that their technology is based on Ether instead. We're still probably going to earth though.

Don't forget Ether is what caused PD to escape the timeloop and almost seconds away in wiping out everything in an instant if Alma didnt bother to show up.

[Kondibon]

Don't forget Ether is what caused PD to escape the timeloop and almost seconds away in wiping out everything in an instant if Alma didnt bother to show up.I was just pointing out that Earth isn't "a world without photons". I thought the problems with PD and Omega had more to do with the aftermath of trying to use Ether to separate PD from Persona it causing the ether to attempt to manifest an entire universe, rather than PD getting "free".

[silo1991]

i hate to say this maybe earth might be a nice place to fight Shiva/PD because if you remember deus esca , didnt had power against MC because it was from another universe .

so applying this logic upside down , if Shiva is outside of the oracleverse she might get weak greatly

[oratank]

PD from PSIV was sealed by three planet so we have Xiao/RoKami,Mother,Sukuna in pso2 maybe they're going to do something like that

[Meteor Weapon]

I'd really be disappointed if PSO2 being a prequel to the classics tbh.

[silo1991]

I'd really be disappointed if PSO2 being a prequel to the classics tbh.

specially if the personal cannon of many around here its that our characters are decendants of the ones of previous games XD

example my first 2 characters are decendants of my PSO1 character and my PSZ character ancestor was his cousin :P

[Kondibon]

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up going for something similar to the 3 planet concept from the classic games, but I doubt it'll be an outright prequel.

[StreetFighter2242]

Why the disappointment? (Although that's unlikely but then again it's modern Sega so it's wouldn't be surprising.)

[XrosBlader821]

I wouldn't be surprised if they end up going for something similar to the 3 planet concept from the classic games, but I doubt it'll be an outright prequel.

Wont stop the community to interpret it that way and insist their headcanon is real canon. :eyeroll:

[Meteor Weapon]

My hate for PSO2 Earth is intensified, the latest chapter is such a complete waste of time and there wasn't any other point of it other than "HEY REMEMBER ANIMATION!??!, HEY REMEMBER EPISODE EARTH!?!?!" Mother wasnt even relevant.

[Kintama]

That was....bad, they sacrified an entire chapter to showcase characters globally hated, literally nothing happened, hyped over omega next though.

[silo1991]

My hate for PSO2 Earth is intensified, the latest chapter is such a complete waste of time and there wasn't any other point of it other than "HEY REMEMBER ANIMATION!??!, HEY REMEMBER EPISODE EARTH!?!?!" Mother wasnt even relevant.

like dewey memes would say : i wasnt expecting anything and still disapoint me

i mean , they had 1 job , 1 job and was redemm Mother and/or Aru dammit , make them the targets of the invasion instead of a silly revenge on Phaleg,

also where was the phantoms or the pirate darkers (reminding Aru) to help against the invasion?

and why they still bother with elements that the team itself are ashame ? i have no clue U_U

[Poyonche]

A whole chapter just to show that Earth doesn't need our help.
Kind of a wasted chapter imo.

Also isn't Shiva kind of overreacting ? "You took my preys away from me ? Okay I'm getting rid of your planet then."

[TehCubey]

The story has been spinning its wheels since Xiao returned. There was no progress, only "people try different things but then Shiva wrecks them".

Except this time it's Shiva's forces that get wrecked instead. I laughed in glee when the Yamato appeared, and when Phaleg started mowing down fools left and right. Unlike ep 3 which was trampled over and disrespected, ep 4 shows that Mary Sue villains have no place on Earth.


That was....bad, they sacrified an entire chapter to showcase characters globally hated, literally nothing happened, hyped over omega next though.

Lol. Only the western fanbase hates ep 4, but then the western fanbase also thinks its tastes are shared by the whole world.

The salt in this thread nourishes me.

[Meteor Weapon]

You missed the point that they could done something more meaningful with Earth like reviving Mother, but they completely wasted it with just showing off these characters. This entire chapter is so tunnel visioned towards those characters its stupid on a whole new level, you have a fleet of alien ships invading Earth and they made it look like a mini skirmish on Tokyo, no pedestrian scream, no chaos, no panic, as if other humans dont even exist. Dont give me that quantum stealth bullshit,, they can't do that on something already happening worldwide without a massive panic.

Them showing Earth having EDF level of defense by using ether powered weaponary wouldve made things a lot better.

I don't care if you like EP4 crap but being completely bias as if its better than other EP story stuff and then diss others for hating it is just being absolutely delusional.

Oh and im asian who lives in asia so your argument about western fanbase hating it fell flat.

[TehCubey]

Western fanbase is less about your physical location and more the circlejerks you're in. Such as pso-w. And reviving Mom? Please, if that happened this forum would be complaining how the story is unrealistic because there are no stakes and characters can't even stay dead.

Also, there are no crowds because everyone is under quarantine.

[landman]

there are no crowds because everyone is under quarantine.
LOL


For me the concept of killing Xion or Mother is still too strange, the only clear one was Xiao, since Shiva took the mothership and corrupted it, but how was Xion, THE PLANET, killed in Episode 2? and Mother? the Moon is still there, why did she die?

[Meteor Weapon]

We pretty much killed Xion's consciousness through Luther, how Luther even survived that I have no idea. Due to her connection with Clarissa rod some of her remnants did survived in it, quietly until Persona called her out.

I'm assuming Mother only went to deep slumber.

[PrinceBrightstar]

Mother was effectively bleeding out after the battle with Deus thanks to his sword beam that hit her (the moon)

[Meteor Weapon]

And...the moon went back to normal after the battle lol

[Suirano]

This new story chapter was the definition of meaningless. I don't really hate Episode 4 that much, it was a bit bland for me but I could do with it. But this story chapter offered absolutely nothing. You would think there would be mention of Mother or even ether and how it connects with Photons and Shiva commenting on it or something. Or even trying to see how effective it could be against Mother ( even if it is a branch of photons). Instead it was just a case of " Remember these characters guys!" It's even more pointless considering none of them will probably be relevant to the ending plot making this chapter even more redundant.

This could have been a sub story, there was no reason to make it a main story chapter.

[landman]

We pretty much killed Xion's consciousness through Luther, how Luther even survived that I have no idea. Due to her connection with Clarissa rod some of her remnants did survived in it, quietly until Persona called her out.
The concept of "the planet consciousness" separated from the planet as "a living organism" is what makes it more confusing to me, I guess, and Sukunahime/Magatsu being the same doesn't make it clearer, they seem closer to the concept of a Phantom, "imagined" by all living things in the planet, instead of the planet forming a whole life.

[silo1991]

This new story chapter was the definition of meaningless. I don't really hate Episode 4 that much, it was a bit bland for me but I could do with it. But this story chapter offered absolutely nothing. You would think there would be mention of Mother or even ether and how it connects with Photons and Shiva commenting on it or something. Or even trying to see how effective it could be against Mother ( even if it is a branch of photons). Instead it was just a case of " Remember these characters guys!" It's even more pointless considering none of them will probably be relevant to the ending plot making this chapter even more redundant.

This could have been a sub story, there was no reason to make it a main story chapter.

i still wonder if they even tried redeem those characters .

Aru and Mother could be the objectives:

Mother because any copy of Xion its a potential threat to Shiva .

Aru because he is a Dark Falz and could have this drama with Shiva .

Shiva: look at my boy what this band of useless have done to you , dont worry i know what you need , ( then she kiss Aru in the front ) .

and boom we could have a Hunar boss there and maybe a new dark blast form . as for his boss concept he could be shadow labrys from Persona arena , by using shadow versions of the other falz hunars as his assist ; i have spoken 8B

video for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moyjNuXRdJw

just watch how the shadow works and tell me its not a bad idea :O

[CrossOmega]

The concept of "the planet consciousness" separated from the planet as "a living organism" is what makes it more confusing to me, I guess, and Sukunahime/Magatsu being the same doesn't make it clearer, they seem closer to the concept of a Phantom, "imagined" by all living things in the planet, instead of the planet forming a whole life.

Think of it like the Greek Myth of Ouranus, the embodiment of the sky. His avatar was sliced and diced by Cronos and is in all essence dead but the sky is still there. Xion's current state is akin to that.

[landman]

Well of course all makes sense if we put divinity and magic in the formula, but I like to look at Phantasy Star with the scy-fi eye :wacko:

[StreetFighter2242]

Episode is a disappointing venture.

[loafhero]

Stop trying to make Star Gazer a thing. Its never gonna be a thing.

Also, I may be indifferent to the EP4 characters but it is nice to hear that Risa Taneda recovered and can work again.

EDIT: Yes, I'm well aware she recovered 3 years ago but I don't watch that many anime or invested enough to follow any VAs.

[Ransu]

So whenever we get back to Omega is the key going to finally be them acknowledging Magic in PSO2's canon since it was only vaguely mentioned by Alma. Or at least explaining where it came from since that's definitely not Photon based at all.

[TehCubey]

Predictably, Varuna bites the dust. Got him on first try, though not S rank (yet). Without flunkies left to kill, it's Shiva's time next. Whenever next is.

Also Maru-san is great as usual. Second best ep 5 character, and the most entertaining.

[Meteor Weapon]

I guess we all can agree Maru is one of the best EP5 character lmao.