Matterboard

Matter Boards are a story mechanic in which the player is able to progress the Story. By unlocking Nodes on the Matter Boards, you can unlock new story elements that eventually lead into Story Quests, which can then be taken to progress the story further. By doing so, you can also receive special prizes and equipment.

Mechanics

Matter Boards are only available in EP1~3 Mode. Characters created before EPISODE 4 will have Matter Boards 1-1 and 3-1 unlocked; characters created after EPISODE 4 will only have 1-1 unlocked.

The Matter Board takes the form of a grid with various Nodes scattered on it. The player starts at the Node labelled "Start", which is open by default. Adjacent to any unlocked Nodes are Nodes with small cube-like designs within; these indicate that the Nodes can be unlocked. Nodes with a lock icon on them cannot be opened until the Nodes adjacent to them are opened.

There are two types of Nodes: Blue Nodes and Gold Nodes. Gold Nodes are required for story progression; unlocking Gold Nodes will unlock new Story Quests. Blue Nodes are not required to open Story Quests, but may be required to access new Gold Nodes.

Node types are then divided into two types of their own: Collect and Event Nodes.

• When highlighted, a Collect Node will display a reward item, as well as a target enemy. Defeating the target enemy will have a very high chance for that enemy to drop that item, which it will not drop otherwise. This item is signified by its gold coloring. Picking up this item will fulfill the requirement and unlock the Node. Note that for the purposes of Matter Board, rare variants are considered separate enemies and will not drop the target item if defeated in place of its normal counterpart, and vice versa.
• Event Nodes require you to find either an NPC or an Event Panel and trigger a cutscene. For NPCs, the NPC must be approached in the Lobby to trigger the cutscene. For Event Panels, you must find the Event Panel while participating in any Free Field or ARKS Quest. The target Event Panel will have a gold coloring and sparkle when it appears. Interacting with the Panel will trigger a cutscene, which will unlock the Node.

Episode 1

Plot summary

The player is new ARK recruit and teams up with another recruit, Elfin to go on training in Naberius however they are interrupted with sudden appearance of Darkers and able escape to safety with veteran ARKs, Xeno and Echo. The player will meet unfortunate ARK who saw a girl getting attacked by Darkers and fails to save her eventually. The player encounter Xion whom they can only see and she will hand them their first matterboard that sends back in time to save the girl, Matoi, and meets attacking mysterious figure, Persona, who seems to know them but saved by ARKS Six Pillars, Gilliam, searching for strong opponents to fight. The player will get used to ARKS daily operations and meet Rogio who reports unusual abnormalities in data of darkers behaviour, requests the player to assist him in obtaining and researching data. During the player exploration, a Darker moves on oppposite path searching for something and the player search yields nothing useful at the end of their exploration however the matterboard sends player back in time and instead decide to follow the darkers to see what they are looking for. The player finds an artifact and takes it with them however Persona appears and demands the artifact just before attacking. Xeno and Echo appears and protects the player in time and fends of Persona who retreats. The player will show the artifact to Zieg and his motivation returns, decide to assist the player in rebuilding the weapon and request the player to search for other parts. ARKS next operation takes the player to a planet called lillipa and with help of another ARK Fourier discover small inhabitants called lillipians willing assists the ARKS and finds the second artifacts, collecting it. ARKS move on to their next operation to planet, Amduscia, helps Aki and her assistant Light in improve the ARKS relationship with Dragonkins and fights Kelo to obtain the final artifact. Zieg completes the weapon but it disappears during the Darkers invasion on ARKS ship. With Ruins discovered on Naberius, the MC encounters Xeno and Echo during exploration eventually meeting Casra. During the exploration, they discover Gilliam has taken the artifact and using to unseal the ruins to fight a Dark Falz but in process get possesed and turned into Dark Falz Elder. The player and others fight but Elder turning stronger, Xeno and Casra remain behind to fight elder whilst MC retreats with wounded ARK and Echo campship. Whilst on campship, Elder turns into giant form, Dark Falz Elder and takes off from planet. Casra returns but the unknown fate of Xeno leaves Echo devastated. The player will encounter mysterious girl, Quna, who can cloak herself in pursuit of Hadred, eventually catching Quna unaware singing. Before she can explain, Darker appears behind and about to attack however a dragon teleports in and devour the darker. As the dragon about to leave, Quna reveals the dragon is Hadred and question why it saved her but Hadred leaves. The player joins up with Quna in pursuit Hadred and decided best lure Hardred with Quna singing, fighting and defeat Hadred. Afterwards on ARKS Ship, Quna thanks the player and will continue working as an idol.

Matterboards

There are total of 11 chapters in Episode 1, with 1-11 being a gaiden that is not necessary for the 観測者を知る者 and 観測者の使者 titles.

Episode 2

Plot summary

Continuing off from Episode 1, Luther appears whilst the player is talking to Xion and cannot see her but calls out to Xion as he is able to sense her. Whilst progressing through the ARKs missions and investigating the abnormalities, discover Luther plan to become omniessence involving Xion as well altering timeline save two important people. The player will travel to mothership with Matoi to save Xion however Luther has influence in whole ARKS organisation and has branded player as traitor which head of Six Pillars invokes Emergency Code: Abyss for all ARKS to stop the player. Battling though numbers of ARKs on the mothership, the player will eventually see friends whom he/she worked with and successfully defeat them but will not let the MC through until Matoi mysterious power bring them back to their senses. The player will encounter ARKS partner they have worked with previously and fight but wins the battle however refuses to let the player progress till Matoi power emanates and awakens them. As apologies, the ARKS partnet will fight the sudden apperance of Darkers whilst the player progresses through and meets up 3 members of Six Pillars who believes the player innocence. The player and allies will meet the head of Six Pillars and remaining two members which fights breaks out but ceased due to Quna providing intel on Luther, staying behind to hold off appearances of clones. The player and Matoi will reach the core but are too late in stopping Luther from merging with Xion however Luther is not able to obtain the powers and in his fury he will become a Dark Falz Luther and during the fight changes into Dark Falz Angel which the player defeats. Luther unable to accept defeats which summon Dark Photons spread across the mothership and becomes Dark Falz Loser. After defeating Dark Falz Loser, Xiao is curious by left over data from Xion and sends MC back in time to explore, encounter young Xeno and teaches him to become a good ARK. The player will encounter Second Claris Claes who mistake the player for a Darker due to Clarissa then runs off to search for more Darkers. The player will encounter Claris Claes often, seeing her defeat Dark Falz Apprentice at ease and Claris Claes who becomes interested in the player, makes a promise to meet up at her favourite place. Persona appears and informs Apprentice to attack ARKS Ship to lure Claris Claes and fight her which Claris Claes will go. Claris Claes will meet young girl and leaves Clarissa with the girl to protect her to look for help, heads deep into ship to look for Apprentice. The player arrives and encounter the young girl, taking Clarissa and runs towards location of Claris Claes battling Apprentice who is using ARKS as shield but manages to defeat her with the players appearance. The real player appears in time to see Claris Claes stabbed and player surprised to see themselves which reveals to be Persona. Before the player fights Persona, they will attend to Claris Claes who slowly turned into Profound Darkness and leaves Clarissa with her to slow down the Dark Photon. The battle does not last long and stops after seeing Claris Claes decide to use Clarissa to kill herself from turning into Profound Darkness.

Episode 3

Plot summary

New episode takes place in Kuron planet with ARKS assisting Shironians fight against Kuronians and Matoi joins ARKs, assisting the player on their mission. Through the story, the player is continously hounded by Persona to finish Matoi before she turns into profound darkness but the MC believes she will not turn. During the exploration of Shironia, the player and Matoi are attacked by Double and GGG but saved by Yukihime and befriends her. With ongoing battle between Shironians and Kuronians, Yukihime storms the Kuron stronghold with MC and Matoi in pursuit but reveals the Double is controlling Kuronians about to devour Yukihime however player and Matoi intervenes, enters another dimension in Double and meets Luther who explains how Double can create copies. Luther no longer desire to fight against player and Matoi due to disappearance of Xion and assist them with escaping the dimension. Yukihime is rejoiced to see the player and Matoi but wishing to stop the battle, goes to stopDdouble but does not have enough strength to fight and are saved by the playerand Matoi. Yukihime leaves with her attendant whilst the player and Matoi head back into stronghold and battle Double. After defeating double, it is revealed Matoi have absorbed Dark Falz powers and will eventually turn into profound darkness with Double power. The player absorbs the power being transferred to Matoi but Matoi fears Xiao suspicion of the player turning into Profound Darkness takes the power and leaves the player. The player recovers on the ship and is contacted by Persona to meet up at the favourite location known to Matoi, agreeing to fight together against Matoi. After defeating Matoi, the plater hesitates killing her and Persona appearing behind her, holding her giving the player chance to stab her. Persona disappears whilst Matoi thanks the MC before disappearing too, leaving the player feeling sad and Dark Photons appears in the player hands which changes the appearance to Persona. With the power of matterboard, the player refuses to not join Persona to kill Matoi and duel Persona, winning the battle. Persona walks aways, leaving MC to dwell on how to save Matoi but with ARKS assistance and Xiao plans how to save Matoi, ARKS locates Matoi on Naberius which Profound Darkness power has corrupt the natives and altered the land. The player goes down to Naberius and, with assistance of ARKS, battle through corrupted Natives and Darkers whilst the Six Pillars use their Genesis weapon power to confine and seal Matoi to one location. The player finally locates Matoi and battle her, winning the fight but could not finish her off and decide to let Matoi to kill them. This act brings Matoi back to her senses and tries to sacrifice herself with her own power but the player prevents this. Persona sees this and with Clarissa, saves Matoi and becomes Profound Darkness.

Episode 4

For story board, see Story Board. For full plot of episode 4, see Episode 4

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Creator's Emblems

By playing the Matter Board, you can receive Creator's Emblems that can be traded in at Zieg to receive a Genesis Weapon Weapon Camo. There are 9 Creator's Emblems in total.

• You may receive 1 Creator's Emblem for completing an Episode. This requires clearing Story Quest 1-10, 2-7, and 3-8. You receive an additional Creator's Emblem for clearing all three. These are received as Title Rewards.
• You may receive 1 Creator's Emblem for clearing all Matter Boards in an Episode with a 100% clear rate. You receive an additional Creator's Emblem for clearing all three Episodes. These are received as Title Rewards.
• You may receive 1 Creator's Emblem by clearing Story Quest 10-2 in Phantasy Star Online 2es. To send the Creator's Emblem to Phantasy Star Online 2, you must be playing on a Linked Character. These are distributed on a per-character basis.