Dreams Undreamed, a story to remember ~ Aether Gazer

Honestly, one of the more mediocre aspect of Aether Gazer had been the story, which is why I still can't believe this story chapter (dreams undreamed) is a Aether Gazer story. The overall quality before this chapter was above average at best. They did always have a clear direction, theme, character conflict and motivation/growth but they never did resonate with me or make me question a different perspective too much.

That I believe is the difference between an average story and an exceptional story. Dreams undreamed is one I will remember.

(Spoiler warning if you haven't read this chapter yet. I highly recommend reading it spoiler free)

It all started when you the "administrator" stumbled upon a pink haired girl called "Skuld" during an investigation into an assailant targeting modifiers. Your partners in the investigation are Thor and Odin who are back at Aether Gazer for this special case.

From here on, the investigation progresses smoothly as the "administrator" is tasked by Odin to accompany Skuld around Ain Soph as you continue the investigation. Odin believes the pink haired girl is a vital piece of the mystery. While the story initially seems like a slice of life, dating story at this point, you start noticing weird things about Skuld.

This is when all of a sudden Aether Gazer gets dark!

The chapter story is broken into three parts:

"The dream" focuses on a multitude of what could be defined as alternate realities that all end poorly for the administrator within the Aether Gazer headquarters. "The amusement park" as the name suggests is an timeline where the administrator doesn't spend the day at the Aether Gazer headquarters but instead accompany Skuld to a amusement park. "The remembrance" is the timeline that to put it simply, ties everything "forward".

While I won't go full in-depth and do a complete summary of the story, what I want to highlight is that this chapter did a very good job of making the world of Aether Gazer more interesting for the player.

Skuld is an artificial life form made in a lab and grown to be subservient, with the ability to invoke "visions of dreams" to live through different timelines and reset back at a set marker. Eventually she breaks out of her lab and goes further than before in any of her visions which leads to the events of this story chapter.

Conceptually, the story of Skuld might not be entirely new. But I like this story because it uses the established elements and characters of Aether Gazer to the fullest to showcase their relationships, strength and motivations in a interesting way in addition to delivering a heart-wrenching story and introduce intriguing mysteries about the world! It also made you the "administrator" more interesting as well instead of being a self insert main character.

I can see that the writers are starting to get serious about the story and honestly I am so glad this chapter met all the hype it was getting. Even more so excited since I heard it keeps getting better since patch 1.6 and I can't wait to see the upcoming chapters on the global server.