Anyone keen to summarise EP4's storyline for a return player?

[Altrius Véurr]

Well, I had heard many, many things about Episode 4, and so far, the negative feedback in regards to this is making me hesitate to read and watch the Story Board Quests like what I usually did for Episode 1-3. Is the storyline worth the couple of hours required for me to finish reading and watching, or should I just fast-forward everything and concentrate on the quest? I had just finished Episode 4-1, and I can say that so far, the focus on Earth rather than on ARKS is turning me off.

Like, where is Afin (PC's first partner and who I believed to be one of PC's closest friends judging by the amount of time they spent together, and what PC had done for him and Eucrita), Echo and Zeno (PC's seniors and mentor/disciple, and one of the first to welcome the PC to ARKS), I can get why Kressida or Klotho did not receive a cutscene since they are mostly EXP and Meseta contractors, but what about Matoi?

My PC did not spent the majority of Episode 3 trying to save her life, or Episode 2 (going into the past and whatnot) to have her disappear without a single word. Her conversations with PC back in Episode 1-3 is generally around "I will always be there" and "I will always be waiting for you", so why is there barely any mention of Matoi? Admittedly, I heard that she will return in Episode 4-5, but I am wondering why is her status not known to the PC? Judging by the amount of conversations PC have with Philia (Matoi's official caretaker) about her health, shouldn't she be the first to be informed in regards to Matoi's status due to the 'next-of-kin system'? Does ARKS have a next-of-kin system?

[Altiea]

Well, I had heard many, many things about Episode 4, and so far, the negative feedback in regards to this is making me hesitate to read and watch the Story Board Quests like what I usually did for Episode 1-3. Is the storyline worth the couple of hours required for me to finish reading and watching, or should I just fast-forward everything and concentrate on the quest? I had just finished Episode 4-1, and I can say that so far, the focus on Earth rather than on ARKS is turning me off.

Like, where is Afin (PC's first partner and who I believed to be one of PC's closest friends judging by the amount of time they spent together, and what PC had done for him and Eucrita), Echo and Zeno (PC's seniors and mentor/disciple, and one of the first to welcome the PC to ARKS), I can get why Kressida or Klotho did not receive a cutscene since they are mostly EXP and Meseta contractors, but what about Matoi?

My PC did not spent the majority of Episode 3 trying to save her life, or Episode 2 (going into the past and whatnot) to have her disappear without a single word. Her conversations with PC back in Episode 1-3 is generally around "I will always be there" and "I will always be waiting for you", so why is there barely any mention of Matoi? Admittedly, I heard that she will return in Episode 4-5, but I am wondering why is her status not known to the PC? Judging by the amount of conversations PC have with Philia (Matoi's official caretaker) about her health, shouldn't she be the first to be informed in regards to Matoi's status due to the 'next-of-kin system'? Does ARKS have a next-of-kin system?

Unfortunately, EP4 spends a lot of time focusing on the Earth characters, which many view as a major fault of its story.

The short answer: EP4 is basically kind of a mess of anime tropes. It's... not horribly terrible, but it's nothing original or exciting to watch. There is an improved focus on dynamic cutscenes this time around, with more actual fight scenes (and 4-7, which I personally consider one of the best in-engine cutscenes in the game), which is nice, but there are also quite a few long exposition scenes that tend to slow things down a lot. It also has quite possibly the most disappointing endings I've ever seen (with a very flimsy excuse as to why Deus ESC-A never dies). Most of the story focus is on Earth, so if you were hoping for an expanded look on Oracle, tough break. Most of the old characters are also taken out of the picture; anyone returning was usually popular to some degree in the past. Afin, Eucreta, Fourier, Echo, Zeno, and Xiao, for example, didn't make the cut for EP4, but Xiao is slated to return for EP5. While popular characters like Lisa, Io, Katori, and Saga return in some cutscenes (and Lisa even gets a little story focus, to boot).

Oh, and if you're wondering where Matoi went, Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation happened. At the end of the anime, Aika absorbed the essence of Dark Falz Apprentice to contain it. While you were asleep, it went out of control, and Matoi was forced to absorb it to save Aika, which sent Matoi into Cold Sleep for a spell. She comes back in... Chapter 4, I believe, and if you make it that far, you can get her Partner Card.

A little off topic, but I did enjoy EP4's actual Story Quests. The streamlined format they took definitely worked for the most part, as most Quests are condensed into short bursts of gameplay with some story in between. Most EP4 Story Quests can be finished in 5 to 10 minutes of actual gameplay, or 20 minutes if you include cutscenes (excluding 4-8, which can take up to a freaking hour if you don't skip cutscenes).

[Altrius Véurr]

Ah, thanks! I guess I'm skipping every cutscene that's Earth related that does not involve any ARKS character other than the PC and Xiera, and just playing the Story Quests.

[blkbox11]

I don't recommend going through EP4 at all if you're the type that believes it has no place in the game with the Earth stuff and are attached to EP 1~3 - that is, judging from the tone of your initial post. Or perhaps, yes, just fast forward through it and spare yourself the urge to rant about it, unlike some people around here.

[loafhero]

EP4's story is pretty bad and there are plenty of people here who think so but you should play EP4's Story solely for its new super streamlined Story Board which gives you the really good stuff like tri-boosts, star gems, decent early-level gear and Gold Bonus Quest keys much faster than the Matter Board. The Story Board just gives you the cutscenes and playable story missions without the need to go out and kill a specific enemy to eventually unlock the next cutscene or story mission. All you ever need to do to unlock a cutscene or mission is to simply watch cutscenes.

Most of the main story cutscenes have been translated but quite a few side cutscenes aren't (last I checked), so you can always go to this Youtube channel for subs. Just remember to turn the captions on.

If you want Matoi's EP4 partner card, you can get it by starting Chapter 6 in the Story and to watch cutscene [116-C]. Don't worry about any difficulty. Every EP4 story mission that isn't the final mission or the optional bonus boss at the end is really easy.

A few us suspect that the absence of old recurring characters is the result of the game not being able to secure the right voice actors in time so those recurring characters are either completely absent or take a suspiciously long time to appear again in the Story as a result.

[Great Pan]

A story of a generic schoolgirl trying to save the earth. That's all.

[TehCubey]

Here's a novel idea: play the game and judge whether you like ep4's plot or not by yourself. However it sounds like you already made up your mind without even experiencing it.

BTW Zeno and Echo are fucking terrible characters and I'm glad there's not a trace of them in ep 4. Hopefully ep 5 will follow suit.

[Meteor Weapon]

As how terrible as Zeno and Echo are, we don't really deal them with all the time in every chapter unlike EP4 earth characters.

[yoshiblue]

Poor Echo. Forced to have the worse character development in the game.

[TehCubey]

As how terrible as Zeno and Echo are, we don't really deal them with all the time in every chapter unlike EP4 earth characters.

True, that's Matoi's job.