Episode 4 Story Discussion

[Altiea]

I mean, this technically counts as fanfic material, but I wouldn't headcanon the player as basically unstoppable. I imagine him/her as a regular ARKS with regular abilities that just so happens to get swept up in a universe-ending plot.

[AutumnChronicle]

I mean, this technically counts as fanfic material, but I wouldn't headcanon the player as basically unstoppable. I imagine him/her as a regular ARKS with regular abilities that just so happens to get swept up in a universe-ending plot.

It is fanfic material written by the gameplay itself ; ;

I'm not so sure about that when the player can do things like time-travel/detect Quna/have everyone praise them for being strong #plotarmor

[Altiea]

It is fanfic material written by the gameplay itself ; ;

I'm not so sure about that when the player can do things like time-travel/detect Quna/have everyone praise them for being strong #plotarmor

Okay, so maybe a little stronger than your average joe. The time travel thing is Xiao's doing, though. I want to believe Player-chan is much weaker than what the story says he/she is! Is that so hard?

[AutumnChronicle]

Okay, so maybe a little stronger than your average joe. The time travel thing is Xiao's doing, though. I want to believe Player-chan is much weaker than what the story says he/she is! Is that so hard?

I'm just secretly salty at how they let me down with every storyboard update.

[loafhero]

I'd say that the Saitama descriptions tied to Playa-chan is kinda accurate:

- Normal, average person background with no special powers yet still managed to become absurdly strong through a series of repetitive yet questionably effective training method.

- Often treated like a side/background character due to more charismatic or just more talkative characters hogging the screen time.

- Has at least one companion who treats them with full attention, adoration and respect as well understanding them better than anyone else (Genos = Matoi).

- Said companion happens to be incredibly famous and is quite good-looking (Although, Matoi has never had her looks commented on by other characters so its hard to tell if she's considered pretty within PSO2's Story).

- Has at least one archnemesis who wears dark clothing constantly trying to kill them (Persona = Sonic)

- Only very few people know of their real power.

- Gets involved in weird problems but solves them in the end, earning the gratitude and friendship of the people involved.

[Tymek]

Her face just... looks really wrong (disproportionate) with her eyes closed all the time like that. It creeps me out.

I think her face looking creepy was the whole point of the eyes.

I'd say that the Saitama descriptions tied to Playa-chan is kinda accurate:

- Normal, average person background with no special powers yet still managed to become absurdly strong through a series of repetitive yet questionably effective training method.

- Often treated like a side/background character due to more charismatic or just more talkative characters hogging the screen time.

- Has at least one companion who treats them with full attention, adoration and respect as well understanding them better than anyone else (Genos = Matoi).

- Said companion happens to be incredibly famous and is quite good-looking (Although, Matoi has never had her looks commented on by other characters so its hard to tell if she's considered pretty within PSO2's Story).

- Has at least one archnemesis who wears dark clothing constantly trying to kill them (Persona = Sonic)

- Only very few people know of their real power.

- Gets involved in weird problems but solves them in the end, earning the gratitude and friendship of the people involved.

Haha, holy crap.

[Kondibon]

Don't forget Playa-chan can absorb negative photons like matoi, but... we never actually got an explanation of why. In Matoi's case she was specifically made for it... but what about us? Did we always have that ability? Did Xion give it to us?

And speaking of that. It's actually... kinda... why we can fight the falz... It's not because we're stronger, but because we made them WEAKER (elder even comments on it the first time you fight him, wondering what's going on). I'd say by the end of episode 3 we're about as strong in terms of raw power as the 6 pillars or whatever they're called, who are for all intents and purposes normal ARKS too.

Personally I like how the first two members of the Mother Cluster we fought were pushovers. It's kinda boring just having every enemy be stronger than the last. Having some weaker guys show up, even for a little while, kinda shows how far we've come. That said, I'm glad they're actually getting to characters who could actually pose a threat to us and would have been disappointed if that hadn't happened when it did.

I also think they're setting up the idea that mother cluster might come in contact with PD at some point. I thought they already had, but the source of their tech was actually accidentally discovering Oracle and reverse engineering ARKS tech. It's possible that those potential phantom darkers, and dark falz Al that were data-mined might become involved with them.

[AutumnChronicle]

Don't forget Playa-chan can absorb negative photons like matoi, but... we never actually got an explanation of why. In Matoi's case she was specifically made for it... but what about us? Did we always have that ability? Did Xion give it to us?

And speaking of that. It's actually... kinda... why we can fight the falz... It's not because we're stronger, but because we made them WEAKER (elder even comments on it the first time you fight him, wondering what's going on). I'd say by the end of episode 3 we're about as strong in terms of raw power as the 6 pillars or whatever they're called, who are for all intents and purposes normal ARKS too.

Well our ability to purify it was given by Xiao during our cryo-sleep... but our ability to steal their power is innate, not given by Xion or Xiao, which makes us even more of a walking plot device.

[loafhero]

There's nothing inherently wrong with weak and cowardly villains. Its only when their taken too seriously that it becomes really groan-inducing. Example being Hitsugi and Bethor's drawn out moral/philosophical debate.

I'd say by the end of episode 3 we're about as strong in terms of raw power as the 6 pillars or whatever they're called, who are for all intents and purposes normal ARKS too.

Well to be fair, Regius and Maria have decades of experience, Huey is a natural talent who trains hard, Claris Claes III was genetically made to be absurdly powerful, and Zeno is... okay, I guess? However, Quna and Casra are not that special in combat (they even admit this). The proof being that Casra's inclusion in the fight against Gettemhart in EP1 (before Elder hijacked his body) didn't really help much as Gettemhart wasn't beaten. For Quna, she couldn't beat Hadred on her own until she acquired Playa-chan's help.

I think her face looking creepy was the whole point of the eyes.

Agreed. Phaleg's the "Blood Knight" character archetype. Creepy faces and eyes are the norm for these types of characters.

[Kondibon]

Well our ability to purify it was given by Xiao during our cryo-sleep... but our ability to steal their power is innate, not given by Xion or Xiao, which makes us even more of a walking plot device.

I wish they'd explain why we can do it in the first place then. >_>

Huey is a natural talent who trains hard

Dosn't playa-chan fall into that category? Or are you guys saying you don't want playa-chan to be special at all in any way, and just be a rank and file ARKS mook like those dorks we beat up in the mothership?

I mean, isn't the idea that Playa-chan has basically be busting their ass pushing themselves more than the average ARKS member? The workaholic thing people keep talking about is canon isn't it?