Episode 4 Story Discussion

[Sp-24]

Phantoms might be popping up due to PD crossing dimensions and winding up on Earth, which in turn caught the interest of ESC-A and made them run experiments on it, just like how it was with Falz on Coral.

Though I wonder how fast they've set it all (the internet, PSO2, Mother system) up, since there's only about a year gap between us defeating Profound Darkness and the anime starting. PD can always just arrive and ruin everything instead of being the cause, though.

[JoycieC]

I have never seen a franchise so expertly self destruct. But then again, y'know, this is SEGA. There's a minimum quota of paint huffing required to work there.

Send in the ambulance, I'm dying. 10/10

[aryayudhaprakasa2]

If only "us" and Matoi can absorb D-arker energy? Why are there many cryonic freezer beside us?
Are all ARKS can absord darker energy now? considering this as story mission

And where's matoi?

[Dark Emerald EXE]

If only "us" and Matoi can absorb D-arker energy? Why are there many cryonic freezer beside us?
Are all ARKS can absord darker energy now? considering this as story mission

And where's matoi?

I mean......they could of had the Cryonic freezer for the "what if" scenario.

As far as matoi guess we'll see once more chapter are revealed.

Was it ever mentioned in dialogue "Why" the character and matoi was frozen?

[yoshiblue]

Probably something standard on all ships if PS Nova is anything to go by. Also, the Type 15 is a pretty cool looking tank. Would be funny if they released specs that compared it to the Type 10.

[oratank]

i think ESC-A made phantom before pd come to earth. when pd cross dimension to earth it make phantom Influence with dark energy and gone rouge

[TaigaUC]

If only "us" and Matoi can absorb D-arker energy? Why are there many cryonic freezer beside us?
Are all ARKS can absord darker energy now? considering this as story mission

And where's matoi?

They're all Matois and Personas from other timelines.

[Shiikii]

O-3 node - Wut is dat, why can't play it?



I want to go inside my monitor and play...

[Tymek]

So I haven't gotten too far, and I don't understand Japanese well enough to understand all of what Ciela said, but here's the gist of what I got based on what I COULD make out (spoilers though I guess? so read at your discretion):

Spoiler!

During our time in cryostasis, the ARKS underwent a massive hierarchical structure revamp.

Basically, Ulc's the boss of all ARKS, with Theodore directly under her, and then the Six Pillars have been completely dismantled and restructured into four divisions, with the former members of the Six becoming the heads of these divisions (in order, Huey and Claris are Div 1 Leads, Maria and Sara are Div 2, Regius and Zeno head up Div 3, and Casra and Quna head up Div 4).

Our character and Matoi take up what was basically Quna's old spot in the system - the "Guardians". We basically don't necessarily answer to any one particular group, but are subordinated as the situation calls for it (basically, Guardians are free-agents).

With that now covered, we move on to Chapter 1's plot (or what I could make of it, for that matter). Note that the following is extremely tl;dr, so don't open unless you like reading long explanations.

Spoiler!

Ciela sends us on what is basically a "rehabilitation mission" to get us used to doing work in the field again (since she apparently thinks we need it). Our "mission" as it were is the training of one "Hitsugi" (the blonde shota ARKS that we see, more on this later). Routine patrol, although Darkers show up so we do what must needs be done.

However, at the end of the line, a DF-tier "presence" appears, and due to our recklessness (or lack of classification of the threat, more rather), we almost get infected.

"Hitsugi" shoots the DF-Ghost, saving our hides, but they let their guard down, causing the presence to attempt infection. However, with one of the "powers" gifted to us by Xiao when he left to go calculate how to unravel the Madoka-tier time loop we all made, we purify our naive ARKS friend of the Darker taint.

In the aftermath of all that BS, "Hitsugi" undergoes a panic attack, and in a facepalm-worthy moment of Laharlian fourth-wall breaking, they "log-out". Yeah, I'm not making this up. They log-out. They were "playing the game".

We find out that "Hitsugi" is actually a generic anime waifu that looks like the long-lost twin of Azanami, and that, in her carelessness during the situation, her "logging-out" had the unforeseen side-effect of "creating" our blonde friend in her dimension (complete with its own Matoi-grade cluelessness - and with an extra bonus of being in the buff in a JS-girl's bedroom).

Hitsugi freaks out, thinking this is some weird delusion or dream or whatever, but it's not, and she continues to freak (for more reasons than one, naturally - considering who else is in the room). However, suddenly, space zombie attacks. Our blonde friend "Aru" shields Hitsugi from the attack, and then her pleas cause us (in another four-wall breaking moment) to come out of the computer in her room to deal with these space-zombies.

We do our stuff, get the hell out of there, and Hitsugi wakes up, thinking it's a dream, but blondie's presence reminds her that shit just happened, and now she has to deal with her own Laharlian screw-ups (which, need I remind you, were her fault because she logged out before the photons we gave her cooled down).

tl;dr version: ARKS got a cabinet rework, a stupid high school girl playing a vidya logged out during a Deus Ex invocation, the whole thing created life and gave rise to space zombies on Earth, and now Ciela demands that we fix this shit. Because reasons.

AMAZING

[MightyHarken]

Everyone say good bye to a serious sci fi story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kyRrIvdImA