History Fridge / PhantasyStarOnline2

* Players may wonder why the Omega storyline seems to gloss over the fates of Weyland and Ys Artia's governing structure after The Guardian's intervention. Ys Artia is easy enough to explain, being completely barren would leave a power vacuum that Harriet would fill by instinct and soon cede to Margareta. But Weyland, a country that runs on AsskickingEqualsAuthority? Remember who struck down the previous Emperor? That's right! The Guardian became the Emperor of Weyland, and the citizens had no clue how to contact you.

* If this was not enough, the fact that the [=PSO2=] Universe has multiple StableTimeLoop meant that in many outcomes in the event any of the [=PSO2=] villains manage to win, especially the Falspawn, Dark Falz, and the Profound Darkness, everything will either fall into the darkness and be absorbed into the Profound Darkness itself to make it more powerful before being sealed away in the Akashic Record by a different party, or they will find a different dimension or a different universe and infest everything in it, making the threat of the Profound Darkness even scarier and it's defeat absolutely necessary to prevent its spread into other universes. But with the StableTimeLoop going on, it might not be possible anymore with the Profound Darkness's constant return from destruction in the UQ quests...

* An encounter with regular ARKS troops being ''obliterated'' by Shiva effortlessly brings to mind the very first episode of ''Anime/PhantasyStarOnline2EpisodeOracle'', where even [[TheGoomba basic Dagan]] Falspawn were able to wipe out an entire rookie ARKS squad, because of an abnormal ZergRush. The only characters that seriously stick around fighting on outside worlds are usually Class Trainers, or major recurring characters. Combine this with the casual destruction of at least one ARKS Ship by Elder, which was also expanded in the anime to be much more drastic a large scale battle and excess of casualties, and it becomes very obvious that the Guardian and recurring cast combatants really are the best of the best.. because most other ARKS members are often either dying or having to be rescued, as they are ''not'' prepared for even a fraction of the shit that the Falspawn and other major threats throw around.

* If this was not enough, the fact that the [=PSO2=] Universe has multiple StableTimeLoop meant that in many outcomes in the event any of the [=PSO2=] villains manage to win, especially the Falspawn, Dark Falz, and the Profound Darkness, everything will either fall into the darkness and be absorbed into the Profound Darkness itself to make it more powerful before being sealed away in the Akashic Record by a different party, or they will find a different dimension or a different universe and infest everything in it, making the threat of the Profound Darkness even scarier and it's defeat absolutely necessary to prevent its spread into other universes. But with the StableTimeLoop going on, it might not be possible anymore with the Profound Darkness's constant return from destruction in the UQ quests...

* If this was not enough, the fact that the PSO2 Universe has multiple StableTimeLoop meant that in many outcomes in the event any of the PSO2 villains manage to win, especially the Falspawn, Dark Falz, and the Profound Darkness, everything will either fall into the darkness and be absorbed into the Profound Darkness itself to make it more powerful before being sealed away in the Akashic Record by a different party, or they will find a different dimension or a different universe and infest everything in it, making the threat of the Profound Darkness even scarier and it's defeat absolutely necessary to prevent its spread into other universes. But with the StableTimeLoop going on, it might not be possible anymore with the Profound Darkness's constant return from destruction in the UQ quests...

* While it may seem counter-intuitive that the Nightfallers are weak to darkness, the weakness makes more sense after Chapter 3, Episode 5. Why do the have this weakness? The Nightfallers [[DarkIsNotEvil were not always evil]]. The Nightfallers you are fighting across Harukotan are actually clones created by Gemini. The Nightfallers were not so different from the the Daybreakers prior to Gemini's influence; their leader (another copy made by Gemini) asks Sukunahime to run before Gemini eats him and apologizes for letting that out. And from a practical standpoint, Gemini could use some minions that lack a weakness to Light.

* [[AllThereInTheManual Official concept art]] shows that all Dark Falzes have the same three-point pattern on the soles of their shoes, except for Matoi and Apprentice. While the former only stayed a Dark Falz for about one in-story hour, the latter makes sense later on when its revealed that Apprentice was never a Dark Falz to begin with.

* A bit of fridge brilliance. The Monomate Kouta is given by Aika causes him terrible stomach problems. Aika is using her actual [=PSO2=] Avatar, so effectively gave Kouta one of her real Monomates, which are pretty much medicinal photons, not something that would agree with a normal person's digestive system...
* Luther and Xiao both wonder why Xion, who effectively was a BigGood while she was alive, did seemingly nothing to stop the Profound Darkness as the former attributes it to loneliness. However with the implications throughout the original story before the Matter Board got scrapped, the factors involved with Ash in the anime, and the big revelations in Episode 6 of Xion personally having made the player character, it becomes blisteringly obvious in hindsight exactly ''what'' she was doing the whole time - preparing a direct vessel and inheritor of her responsibility for stopping the Profound Darkness once and for all, and keeping it subtle so not even potential forces beyond Luther could see it coming.

* Shiva's ability to nullify photonic armaments seems to be a contrivance to create a villainess with higher threat and tension than all that came before, but there are reasons behind it all. You are introduced after she used the residual energies of the black hole linking the Oracle universe to Omega to emerge from between dimensions; anyone who can handle that raw amount of power could turn aside other powerful armaments as well. More importantly, however, bear in mind she was an artificial Photoner that was created as a sacrificial vessel for the Profound Darkness; anyone explicitly designed to cage such intense F-factor concentrations would need to be able to handle equally intense photon energy to counteract and shackle its power. Of course, given her omnicidal hatred of ARKS, she doesn't have to waste any power binding the Profound Darkness, unlike Persona the Masked... of course, given Persona the Masked, aka the Guardian, was also an artificial Photoner built along the same lines by Xion, that also explains why the Profound Darkness was trapped in the timestream for as long as it was. The Guardian versus Shiva is basically Discipline versus Harmony... except Discipline is meant to cage omnicidal destruction while Harmony wants to push it along and destroy everything.

*** During the scene where the human race of the Omega Dimension rallies together for the climax battle you could see seevral Weyland citizens standing side-by-side along the soldiers of Cuento outside of the barrier, so it's safe to assume they likely did get taken in.
* Luster being a class without a Trainer seems strange, especially seeing as the method to getting its details come entirely from the counter girl Kofi that usually gives the player their license unlocks. But look at how it works: its visuals and style bring to mind multiple design traits of the Photoners from ''EPISODE 6'', while fusing together elements of various classes into one, even effectively outstripping the Hero class in overall capability and damage output. The class doesn't ''need'' a trainer; the Guardian is essentially compiling all of their class experience and battle knowledge together as an ultimate culmination of their work with ARKS, and Kofi's involvement is akin to giving the Guardian permission to go more and more all-out.

** Even worse? ''This is the best case scenario.'' Without the Guardian's intervention, Shiva outright points out that Omega was doomed either due to Harriet's fall or Elmir's plans going unopposed. With said intervention, it instead becomes a repeat of the Photoner civilization being wiped out - and ARKS being the only thing left standing in its wake. Thank god Margareta's actually a good person instead of Luther being left in charge again.
* While some of the wackier or more out-there missions are arguably not canon, the plot still very much expects the PlayerCharacter and surrounding cast to constantly be doing their standard ARKS missions off-screen. If the various contents of these missions are also in-universe, the Guardian in particular has effectively slayed entire ecosystem's worth of enemies and those corrupted by Falspawn, and fought copies of the Dark Falz on potentially every other world. Before the canonical story end, ''the entire known system'' would have to be utterly infested with more and more Falspawn to an absurd degree, and this isn't even touching on the raw destruction of potentially immeasurable solar systems by the Omega blackhole or Shiva's forces attacking planets all around. The defeat of the Profound Darkness was tantamount to preventing everything from being corrupted and wiped out soon enough.

* While it may seem counter-intuitive that the Nightfallers are weak to darkness, the weakness makes more sense after Chapter 3, Episode 5. Why do the have this weakness? The Nightfallers [[DarkIsNotEvil were not always evil]]. The Nightfallers you are fighting across Harukotan are actually clones created by Gemini. The Nightfallers were NotSoDifferent from the the Daybreakers prior to Gemini's influence; their leader (another copy made by Gemini) asks Sukunahime to run before Gemini eats him and apologizes for letting that out. And from a practical standpoint, Gemini could use some minions that lack a weakness to Light.

** Speaking of Euclyta as Apprentice, how did she manage to emulate the mindset, mannerisms and actions of the original insanely accurately through just {{Brainwashing}} alone? It's because Gemini did it, a child that can replicate whatever they consumed to such a degree that some of their original consciousness can bleed in despite the Dark Falz's control over them. They had Apprentice's power, memories and very essence of being, and could effectively replicate her into Euclyta's mind- and because it was from such a young age but without Apprentice's vain origins as Margareta, Euclyta effectively became a more JadeColoredGlasses version of the woman, as evidenced by both of them being NotSoDifferent in a variety of ways (chief among them as being a {{Tsundere}}).

** It might also double as a shout-out to the only noteworthy Gunblade user in the story: Zeno, who was initially the Guardian's mentor figure as a Hunter before his Council of Six position gave him a Gunblade Cosmogenic Arm and entirely unique fighting style. The Guardian likely took pointers from him like he did from them years prior, making use of an underutilized weapon altogether.

* Luster being a class without a Trainer seems strange, especially seeing as the method to getting its details come entirely from the counter girl Kofi that usually gives the player their license unlocks. But look at how it works: its visuals and style bring to mind multiple design traits of the Photoners from 'EPISODE 6'', while fusing together elements of various classes into one, even effectively outstripping the Hero class in overall capability and damage output. The class doesn't ''need'' a trainer; the Guardian is essentially compiling all of their class experience and battle knowledge together as an ultimate culmination of their work with ARKS, and Kofi's involvement is akin to giving the Guardian permission to go more and more all-out.

** Even worse? ''This is the best case scenario.'' Without the Guardian's intervention, Shiva outright points out that Omega was doomed either due to Harriet's fall or Elmir's plans going unopposed. With said intervention, it instead becomes a repeat of the Photoner civilization being wiped out - and ARKS being the only thing left standing in its wake. Thank god Margareta's actually a good person instead of Luther being left in charge again.

* In a throwaway line in Episode 4, Xiera can sometimes mention that the PlayerCharacter files their reports correctly and completely. This makes sense when remembering the Code: ABYSS incident in Episode 2, which was caused by a combination of incomplete and misleading information, some on purpose, but some perhaps not. The PlayerCharacter, seeing the effects of bad or missing information, wants to do their part to make sure that sort of thing doesn't happen again.

* In the climax of Episode 3, we see the birth of Persona and why they are set to kill Matoi - and then the story circles the StableTimeLoop so the player can immediately turn around to get the good ending. Sure, Matoi died with the Profound Darkness inside of her, but the story never actually confronts any potential problems that could've resulted from this, such as if Shiva could seemingly awaken like how she did when the entity supposedly died in Episode 5. If these timelines could be allowed to continue, it's entirely possible that every run that Persona completes their objective is an underprepared and ''inevitable'' DownerEnding.

* Omega as a dimension remains even after the end of ''EPISODE 5'' after the Guardian and ARKS helped save them from their troubles - but Schreger and Florent are both dead with the majority of Ys Artia having been genocided while Weyland was left deep in a dysfunctional mess to recover from, Epyk is still a desert wasteland that isn't getting any better with only the faith in the land's god keeping people around, and only Cuento remains in any stability. Stability that will likely be threatened by masses of refugees now that the borders are clear, not to mention Harriette's departure to aid Risa for a period of time while the next best thing in Varuna was actually a traitor the entire time. Margareta's got a lot of work to do filling Harriette's shoes...

** Speaking of Euclyta as Apprentice, how did she manage to emulate the mindset, mannerisms and actions of the original insanely accurately through just {{Brainwashing}} alone? It's because Gemini did it, a child that can replicate whatever they consumed to such a degree that some of their original consciousness can bleed in despite the Dark Falz's control over them. They had Apprentice's power, memories and very essence of being, and could effectively replicate her down to a T to implant into Euclyta's mind- and because it was from such a young age but without Apprentice's vain origins as Margareta, Euclyta effectively became a more JadeColoredGlasses version of the woman, as evidenced by both of them being quite a {{Tsundere}} around those they don't mind.

** It also adds another layer to ''why'' the Omega dimension works as a parallel universe with so many returning characters; they're distorted dream memories of the people that the protagonist had met, which is also why Omega Luther was able to gain his Oracle memories. The universes cross and interweave because Omega is an unintended creation of the dormant Akashic Records via the Profound Darkness trying to possess it, which is also likely why Shiva is able to awaken once it's sealed up again since the events probably awakened the equivalent soul of Harriet (and a retreating Profound Darkness entering her as its vessel again) within her back in Oracle.
* On a more [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Heartwarming]] note, Ulc's BigDamnHeroes moment in ''EPISODE 6'', Chapter 1 has her use Code: ABYSS again... but the Absolute Order's usual MindControlEyes never appear. It instead causes a mass recall of ARKS operatives using the same visual effect as when a Campship drops them off. Ulc has effectively inverted Code: ABYSS' function from a forcible "victory or death" order to a means of protecting her operatives' lives.

* Omega as a dimension remains even after the end of ''EPISODE 5'' after the Guardian and ARKS helped save them from their troubles - but Schreger and Florent are both dead with the majority of Ys Artia having been genocided while Weyland was left deep in a dysfunctional mess to recover from, Epyk is still a desert wasteland that isn't getting any better with only the faith in the land's god keeping people around, and only Cuento remains in any stability. Stability that will likely be threatened by masses of refugees now that the borders are clear, not to mention Harriet's departure to aid Risa for a period of time while the next best thing in Varuna was actually a traitor the entire time as Valna. It doesn't paint a pretty image of the political and social-economical future for the dimension even after the pair return.

* In the climax of Episode 3, we see the birth of Persona and why they are set to kill Matoi - and then the story circles the StableTimeLoop so the player can immediately turn around to get the good ending. Sure, Matoi died with the Profound Darkness inside of her, but the story never actually confronts any potential problems that could've resulted from this, such as if Shiva could seemingly awaken like how she did when the entity supposedly died in Episode 5. If these timelines could be allowed to continue, it's entirely possible that every run that Persona completes their objective is an underprepared and ''inevitable'' DownerEnding.