Rambling about NGS Chapter 6 - PSOpinion
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Video is a bit late but oh well~
Better late than never!
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i actually quite liked this story arc, even if it feels like filler, its important that not just our character, but also the side characters, encounter their own problems and experience their own growth. this is how we develop the memorable cast we had in base pso2, and realistically it cant be built up in a single update
This was a really good time to release a video like this, actually. Was talking about it for quite a while on official the other night. I've been trying to figure out for a long time why I'm not all that drawn to this storyline so far, and I think this overview helped narrow down the reasons a lot.
I think the biggest factors might be related to the game's presentation; specifically how the game's story is represented onscreen and in gameplay. Back when we had the headline before this chapter, Hiro described the upcoming chapter, and I think what we got was spot-on for his description. All the events were what I expected to see, but at the same time, saying it 'met' expectations feels like too strong a word somehow, and I would more likely say it 'aligned' with expectations. It did what the description said it would, basically.
Likewise, comparing notes with your description here (which sounded great :) ) I would also say of the scenes in the story that it did those things 'more or less'; 'kinda sorta'. That's where I think I find myself at a loss in this case. I agree they were on a solid track with their ideas, but I feel like they didn't really do much beyond the basics in order to convey those ideas.
When the characters start having you run around to quell Starless incursions, they just tag a small number and that's it. They ask you to take care of these new imminent and unknown threats like they're asking you to pick up some milk at the grocery store. I think it'd be far better if they added a simple combat mission where you go to the entrance of a combat sector, then load in with some of the local characters and team up to fight a few Starless and one of the new bosses, having some chatter boxes from them along the way. During Aina's big moment in the story with Halvaldi it felt like they went pretty basic with her actions and had your character override her stand against Halvaldi, having you down it while all she did was fire some normal rifle shots. I feel like they do this to Aina a lot, where it feels like her actions in the cutscenes don't live up to the praise she gets from other characters. I don't know why. They did pretty well with some action shots like against Nils.
However, Manon I agree on. A lot of people may not understand it, but depressive feelings and harmful thoughts can absolutely continue to sink in like that after what seems like a resolution. That said, there are other patterns people can follow with that kind of thing, and I think a pattern that would have added up with more onscreen representation would be the cases where a person shows unusually positive and relaxed demeanor prior to this kind of event. That happens some times too, and with what happened in Chapter 5, Manon suddenly enthusiastically using her power (and again, with the action, really sell the impact instead of just having her hit an enemy normally and one-shot it for no visible reason) show her going crazy like daggers are known to do, and have her seem like she's got a new lease on life only for the later development to contrast it later. That's just an alternate idea though.
I think we all agree that there should've been at least 1 extra story quest to deal with starless a bit more. maybe instead of running chores for Ilma you'd help him out observing and researching them or smth maybe even let the entire quintuplet family tag along and treat it like a fieldtrip where it starts out wholesome with everyone sharing something from their life but then the next day you're surrounded and need to flee the area.
I REALLY like the story of this game so far cause when they're introduced Zephetto and the Starless it gave me huge Gurren Lagann vibes!
Now we just need to jump into our AIS and pierce the heavens!
something i said in my story videos its : the 1st two parts was huge revelations , the other 3, was more like doing the unfinished job by giving Aina and Manon the so needed character development.
since something we must never forget its the 1st 4 chapters of the main story didnt do a thing about that, considering it had ¨6 months¨ between each chapter... , i mean common thats a lot of time to plan the things , and chapter 3 (Kvaris) was the lowest point. and all i been writing was before the mini episodes even became part of the equation.
and to finish im 99% sure that the whole last year 2023 was a transition period between HMZK work and new director (whoever is)work. just consider NGS before Stia lived the same pattern of EP5 and im sure the new director work started since Stia release. :)
I definitely agree that Chapter 3 is the worst one so far.
In my latest Melody vid it's the only chapter (ignoring 6) that I didn't pull cutscenes from and that's simply because it was nothing but exposition. I suspect that the devs originally wanted the game to ship with 3 chapters but due to covid and/or other factors, work was lagging behind but the higher ups didn't want to delay the game any further.
I can't imagine any sensible person looked at Aelio patch and saying "yeah this is okay for the first 6 months" and the fact that we didn't have a "endgame exploration sector" till Kvaris shows.
Aina wasn’t my favorite prior to this chapter, but she is now. She’s great! I do hope Dozer gets a bigger role. Great vid!
Yeah, she unexpectedly went through everything without hesitation and managed to actuallly grow through by experience. Manon is even frailer despite her circumstances.
I love this we need more community members like you
Thank you! ❤️
I actually like this chapter. I can relate to Manon as I've been going through almost the same thing. Back when we saved Manon on Leciel, she states that she didn't care, as long as she's happy.
She protected everyone, by abusing her power. Manon was saved by us, Aina and everyone who knew her or were saved by her.
Aina asks why would she do something so stupid, she wasnt angry at Manon, she was actually scared or worried about her.
Manon was comforted by everyone, she did belong here, she just refused to realised it until in Chapter 6.
I kinda like the Manon collapses off-screen because it just *completely* robs the player of power. No matter what, you could never be "strong enough" to prevent it because you just weren't there.
Kinda like Superman being powerless to stop his dad's cancer. Really good take~
Honestly I had to take a long hiatus from the game. After the high of chapters 4-5, the theme of chapter 6 and the slow release felt like a slap in the face. Having come back after nearly a year and completing the chapter in its entirety, it felt okay. I just hope now we can finally move forward with the war against the starless now that our characters have overcome their personal battles.
Chapter 6 was exactly what characters needed. I already liked Manon, but this chapter got me to like her even more. Unlike Aina who I pretty much didn't like at all, this chapter got me to like her more as well. One of the biggest issues I had with chapters 1-4 was the pacing. Everything went on too fast, so having slower paced chapters with 5 & 6 was a huge plus. Hope they keep up this pace henceforth!
Noice Cathy hugs!
Looking at Back at Chapter 6. One thing i noticed for Manon and Aina is one thing in common: Their Progression in Trauma. Aina and Manon both had their own form of Trauma. Aina went her Own after loding her home and Father. Manon with dealing with Zeppitto and the leciel prohects and such. Both were Two extreme factors of what Trauma can do to a person. As Someone who went through personal life problems similar to Manon. I knew right away why she felt so much. Overall. I think this chapter while flawed was a good chapter. I hope they learn from this and develop better on the ride to next story
Mmm my personal opinion is that they could have made things happen in a more "impactful" and "natural" way on Chapter 6. However, since the Trio separated, I guess you are right about Manon's overuse of overboost having to happen offscreen, and the fact that 909 has been taking care of Dark Falzes on his own.... I think I will give it another shot. Thanks for this video. Made me think :)
Very nice video! Looking forward to rambles of future chapters!
I really welcomed the fact that we get to explore the characters more in the story. Chapter 6 being released piecemeal the way it was definitely impacts the enjoyment of it so I might replay through it and the rest of the story as something to do later.
I love Dozer and wish we got even more content with him, and the rest of the member of the Arks. A big big problem I had and still have is 0 showings of the Central City underneath the City. I was so excited when it sounded like we might get to see it but then the scene just changes. Was a bit let down personally but overall chapter 6's character growth was just so good to see.
Chapter 6 was good, I can relate to Manon as personally I got to experience myself those dark feelings of "you know what", but thankfully I always had friends at my side, in my case was pretty much the feeling of being the "deadweight" of my family, but then in my mind was like "if they consider me THAT, then at least for my friends is still worth the trouble of being alive", and slowly those dark feelings dissapeared, but I still have to keep myself on-check in that regard, as usually that feeling still happens when I'm at the worst possible emotional state, during the time I played that part, and it started with Manon's fall off-screen, I was thinking (because I had my suspicions) "No way... they didn't..." and when I got to progress the story I was like "gods... they REALLY did it", and I didn't expect to get veeeeery attached to Manon more in depth, I liked her earlier, but that struggle was kinda like the "tip of the iceberg".
As for the song of DF Dalion... no wonder why it got me as a cool one by mixing the Starless' theme with that song during the "Rescue Aina's team" quest, one filled with despair and the other one with hope, very well done to sign how it starts, and how we overcome the battle.
Oh I also realized that the music that plays during dalions fight and the chapter 6 action scene at the end definitely has elements of the apprentice descent theme from base ep 5 when you’re escorting that rail cannon into the depths
Worth noting that if you've read the Central Webcomic, you already KNOW that Dozer is THE **BEST BOY**
Agreed~
I may have to go back and play these again cause I remember thinking ch6 was really sudden and everyone's problems were solved instantly but hearing this made me think otherwise cx
2:51 🙋🙋🙋
personally i think this is one of the things that really hurts ngs' image as a successor to classic, as the high in scope and spectacle boss urgents that served as capstones to story chapters played a large part of classic pso2's legacy for me (and from my observations, many other people). though realistically, there isn't much that they could have done about it--as like you said in the video--the need to push out content should take priority in the game's current state and if they are unable to produce story content at a steady enough pace to accompany the release of game content, so be it. but it's such a shame, especially since they have shown that they can pull it off with things like df aegis and i can't help but think of how--for example--envious i'd be of new players who would first encounter halvadi in the context of chapter 6 (how the sudden appearance of an imposing new enemy could add to the sense of urgency) as opposed to a contextless duel quest (then again, it would make just as much contextual sense that 909 could have unceremoniously encountered halvadi prior to its appearance in ch6, given their role in that chapter essentialy being that of a "saviour" that expertly assisted in taking it down)
on the other hand, this really isn't that far off to how the repeating urgent quests were contextualized in classic, such as how df persona uq was "just another day in the omega wormhole border 🙄"
but on that note, one thing i would've liked to hear you talk more about (though not necessarily in this kind of video) is the synergy of gameplay/story. i had a friend come back to the game recently and they noted how obtuse the tasks to progress the story were, such as the "defeat starless enemy in x retem sectors" or the "go to task marker location". i could tell them that beside the surface level context of the guardian's inclination to offer support across halpha, the purpose of the starless elimination tasks was to indirectly inform the player of the new battle sector ranks, which newly include starless enemies and sovern capsule drops (similar to how a lot of the side tasks are made to indirectly point the player towards newly added content). but as for the marker location tasks, beside exposition/world building that you're given upon arrival, i couldn't really come up with a difinitve justification and wondered if i had simply missed something in my two playthroughs, but noted that it's kind of a shame they didn't use it to highlight the many changes/additions they've added to field sectors.
that aside, another banger video!! i especially appreciate the part about how you were able to resonate with manon's arc. i was initially a little thrown off by the fact that she felt that way so strongly in spite of all that's happened so far, but perhaps that just goes to show how good the chapter is at getting you into the shoes of someone in that situation xP
chapter 6, the only thing that was interesting was that Dozer mentioned Trinitas. Will the new area consequently be in the Trinitas instead of Leciel as atm is assumed (would explain why clarissa is seen as a tower of sorts in this area). If it were true that the new area would be in Trinitas, it will be ages before we go to Leciel. Or as Dozer mentioned in a mini-episode or Nadereth, that there is an island that is embattled. Would that be the new area??? There's definitely a spaceship in orbit, which Dozer also mentioned in a mini-episode. When we enter Leciel, the story will focus on the space that only Zephetto has access to and that's probably where the access to the spaceship will be.
Dalion and a further development of Solus? Possible, but how can something evolve that has been destroyed? It is also unclear what Dalion and Solus belong to. According to the story, they should still belong to the spear-head unit.
The thing is, with the recycling of Falspawn as Starless enemies it leads to the question of will the devs either a) hand wave it or b) actually tie in the starless to the profound darkness and actually properly link the two games.
I would also like them to include some of the personality Dozer gets in the Central comics, along with more screen time for the supporting cast to make it feel more alive.
The way I understand it, the Ruine enemies are enemies the starless have copied from the Leciel Databases. In various places it is loosely implied that they might have taken control of Leciel itself and are able to manipulate virtual matter, hence why we're getting a Starless Purple trigger soon.
I didnt mention it in the video because it is highly speculatory so far but I will as soon as the story aknowledges it directly.
If there is 1 thing I wish to happen in cutscene, I wish our MC would switch weapon from time to time lol. Like in OP MC switch from sword to rifle, wish they do that in some cutscene for variety. It didn't have to be a weapon from our current class, just change from sword to other.
Like in PSO2, MC use sword at 1st, then when Hero unlock, in cutscene MC use 3 hero weapon, then Ph, and ET. I found that very cool and wish our NGS MC would take that direction in the future.
Dozer was there. So story is good. 🎉
i think that chapter 6 would have worked a lot better if it swapped places with chapter 5. dealing with everyone's trauma is an important thing that stories often ignore, but the fact that it was put right after the starless started showing up really hurt it. i feel like kill dark falz --> aina deals with her dark falz based trauma --> manon decides that everyone else is better off if she's dead only once and goes off to leciel --> chapter 5 would have been better pacing.
This Video really does a good job giving me a new look and perspective of chapter 6. I, do like Manon and Aina and definitely felt their growth throughout the story.
I liked this video very well done you don't give yourself enough credit
Thank you! ♥️
I'm glad some others actually liked Chapter 6 since while it did have shortcomings it wasn't badly written in most regards. A lot of information was given to us that I feel was overlooked. Though I think some of it comes back to a lot of story beats being implied or based on the environment or even music. I'm pretty hopeful for the next chapter~
Good video as always.
For me, I have a love/hate relationship with this chapter, and it all ties back the the lack of focus on the Starless themselves. But as you said, we did necessitate some proper downtime to interact with everyone, and I'm glad it happened.
Still stings about the lack of story tie-in for Solus and Dalion, but hey, the fights are awesome, so 50/50 😅
Can't wait until I'll be able to play chapter 7
In this 5 part split it really feels like starless were only really relevant for part 1 and 5. Part 3 could've had some encounter with them, maybe like a story quest where we see Manon use overboost to fight them or something. I think even if it was short it'd have gone a long way to remind us that they are a constant threat. At least if they plan to continue releasing story in parts. If they released this chapter in full the lack of starless is less noticeable.
Let's remind ourselves that in PS4 Dark Falz... I'm sorry, Dark Force, turned into just a challenging boss rather than endgame threat (especially funny cause Dark Force from PS1 turned into random mob in The Edge).
Also, great catch on the Dalion music!
I agree with everything you said Cathy and I feel so silly as I just realized you are the same Cathy in my alliance... I'm CyberTrooper btw🖖🏾
Yep! Thats me!
Glad to see you around lately more often ♥️
@@Cathy5614 yeah late hours at work is draining my energy and I pass out as soon as I get home 😴😪😴 But you guys will definitely see me on more ✌🏾
ah yes, overboost- also known as compound techniques- a very useful skill
Its not compound techniques from what we've seen.
@@Cathy5614 I was mostly joking, but am curious is it perhaps more inline with photon flare but like it were pushed to the breaking point? Also now that I think about it compound techniques would make what she said of overboost counter intuitive if they were what she was referring to as we see her use the ice/light compound technique in chapter 5.
We see her use overboost a lot actually
In the prologue then defending against Dark Falzes blast, in chapter 4 when defending that random ARKS that later sacrafices himself for her and in chapter 5 when storming Leciel on her own.
Overboost is that weird shield she has. It seems to increase her power and defenses temporarily.
PSO2... story... since when?
PSO2 1 & 2+ imo had the best "story". It was a tragedy since the start but you as the player were mislead by the intro the music to think this was a mission with some hope of success.
As you go through the game piecing together clues from the previous expedition you realize you are working your way through effectively a horror game.
The only solace is in the true ending RRR's spirit is shown I guess that's some solace.