delta_vee wrote...
That's exactly my problem with the whole "true intelligence" bit. It turns interesting, difficult, alien intelligences into just another thrice-damned Pinocchio story. It transforms an alternate model of cognition into an insufficient or incomplete one.
Frankly, there's a part of me which thinks that was the real genocide of the geth, and the Red Space Magic of Doom was merely a formality.
Yep, it was a bit of a disappointment in the form given. I avoid thinking about that one too deeply and just focus on the idea it was a "happy" ending. Otherwise it all gets too grim.
Like you, I loved the diversity aspect. The one I would love to have explored further was the relationship between Drell and Hanar. That seemed ripe for further investigation as a new form of symbiosis, should the devs have pursued that line of thinking.
Another line of thinking that begs investigation are concepts Vernor Vinge raised in his novel "Fire Upon the Deep" His was another story predicated on AIs running amok, in this case they only arose at the fringes of the galaxy, due to some flummery about the "noise" at the centre preventing such existence. They then expanded inwards until they reached a boundary - their existance was also tied to FTL drive and destruction of one could not happen without losing the other.
One AI expanded rapidly after an accident at a facility, assimilating all thinking societies in a manner remarkably similar to synthesis. In this case though, the implications were horrifying. Vinge wrote little ethernet blurbs at the start of each chapter, messages form various civilisations fighting this assimilation. One in particular struck me, as it was so fiercely courageous and independant.
It went silent at one point, and when its broadcasts resumed the message was all about the wonders of the synthesis. Chilling stuff.
Why I raise the story is because I have a particular issue with the Reaper strategy of conventional war. To me it just doesnt seem likely to succeed. One Quarian colony ship on the run, one hidden base, or even one geth ship powered down might be enough to survive the holocaust and throw their plans into chaos. Niven's "known Space" series presents one such situation, when the puppeteers physically shift their homeworlds to avoid a catastrophe - something that is hinted as possible in ME1 regarding using Mass drives to shift a moon (although that time it was rejected as too expensive).
The devs need a conventional war and fair enough, it looked great and gave the war a visceral feel. However I have issues with its success due to the chance a small number of people would be enough to survive and prepare for the next cycle. I know the Ilos story presents a failed attempt to do so, but the Ilos base was not found by the reapers and failed over time -its people were killed by the VI while in coldsleep. In contrast, any small colony would have a head start on the cycle if it slipped under the radar, possibly by hiding in caves or taking to the trees
The key is, Vinge set up the means for civilisation to fall en masse, and while I accept the reaper strategy from a gameplay perspective, it feels like something is missing to explain the total destriuction of all intelligent races. Maybe if they had a method for detecting and ultimately overcoming all life, similar to indoctrination that kicks in once a critical cull level is reached?
What do folks think? I havent even touched on the obvious failure of Reaper logic - to utilise their paradigm shifting weapon revealed at the end, as this has been mentioned before.
Modifié par frypan, 29 mai 2012 - 04:55 .
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