Chapter 4 has now started. See this link for the first post, as well as the hidden notes at the bottom of the post for some information to start with.
Chapter 4: Day 1.
Now, some more info:
When does chapter 4 take place?A few weeks following the beginning of chapter 3. Even though the characters in the space story were only gone for what felt like two days of in-character time, time dilation from their hyperspace travel actually caused weeks to pass at home. During this very short span of time, Dr. Eggman has effectively taken over the world.
Where was Sonic and the rest of the official character cast during all of this?Since the folks who planned Chapter 3b decided to incorporate elements of Sonic Chronicles, we decided to just go all the way, and say that Sonic Chronicles took place simultaneously. As such, the official characters will only now be returning from the Twilight Cage. If you haven't played Chronicles and have no idea what this means, don't worry about it. Just assume they were also on some crazy space adventure, and that Eggman took over the world while they were gone. You now have the general gist of it. (You're probably better off not slogging through that game, anyway.)
Does this mean I can start playing my official character RIGHT NOW?Eeehhh, wait until we actually introduce them. We don't want to drop an avalanche of characters in this first thread. We'll devote a whole thread to their return, probably, so just give it a little while.
What about my original character in Chapter 3a, the mystery story? Can I use it here now?We will probably not be seeing them until Chapter 3a finishes. There will be some time lapse in play; technically, even though 3a is still running right now, it is taking place in the past of chapter 4. If you want to abandon ship in chapter 3a and move on to chapter 4, you can, but the mystery story will be entering its final thread soon, anyway.
As for what we'll say happened to them... Chances are that they returned from their adventure in Cape Norden, and were present when the Eggman takeover happened. During that offscreen timegap, those characters will have either been living under Eggman's rule, rebelling against it, or imprisoned. It's your choice which.
If I'm a returning player who's been waiting to get involved, can I dive in RIGHT NOW?If you had a character who was present on ARK during our chapter 3b space story (even if unseen), then yes. That character is aboard one of the ships mentioned in the very first post of chapter 4
right now. If your character was not in 3b, it may benefit you to wait just a little while longer, until the characters are no longer stuck in Eggman's closed-off spaceport. (It shouldn't take long.)
I went inactive in Chapter 3b. What can I say my character did while I wasn't playing it?Sorry, but you don't really have options here. If you stopped playing a character in the space arc and didn't follow up on it, we decided for you. Your character was captured by the antagonist, was rescued at the end of the story arc, and returned to Earth with everyone else. Your character would not have been able to return to Earth by him- or herself by any other means.
More info to come. Please feel free to reply here if you have any questions at all.
