[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
I'll say again, I also believe that the Reapers are aware of some of the details about the Crucible. Otherwise, the Citadel wouldn't be able to interface with the Crucible so well that it can tap into the Crucible's energy to allow an external player to control the Reapers. Alternately, the first cycle that started on the Crucible may have designed the interfacing systems, and the details of its origins and functions were lost over the cycles. There are a few explanations on the origin of this interface, but the important part is that the interface is there. However, the nature of the Citadel's interface with the Crucible is different from your interpretation. I'll give my interpretation here.
Let's take a look at some known facts:
- The Crucible will not fire without some kind of activation on the Citadel[/quote]
Not true. When initiating Destroy you don't activate anything. You blow something up.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
- The Crucible can be turned off at the Catalyst's discretion[/quote]
Not true. If this was possible Destroy would not be a possibility. After a billion years of unwavering commitment to the cycles, why would the Kid suddenly roll over and let you Destroy the Reapers when it has the capability to stop you?
Are you going to play the "Crucible changed me" card? The Crucible is either "just a crude battery" or a device capable of rewriting/shackling the collective intellect of all Reapers. If it has rewritten and/or shackled the collective intellect of all Reapers and is not "just a crude battery" why are we unable to simply demand the Reapers stand down? Why is it lying and claiming the Crucible is just a battery?
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
About the last point. I personally think that the shutdown of the synthesis beam is indicative of the Catalyst turning off the Crucible. Otherwise, why would all the ending options be removed from the player if he so much as shoots at the Catalyst's hologram?[/quote]
It's another means of initiating the Refusal ending. And the Refusal ending involves Shepard deciding not to use the Crucible. Control and Synthesis are (perhaps) removed. There is nothing physically preventing Shepard from shooting the power conduits and allowing the Crucible to arm.
Real answer: It's an expression of the writers' inability to handle legitimate criticism. It is an FU to players who posted on the forums about shooting the Kid out of frustration with the endings. Refusal as a whole is an FU to players who were critical of the original endings. Especially those who wanted the option to fight the Reapers conventionally.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Before you tell me that he only turns off the synthesis beam, what other in-game evidence do you have to disprove my assertion?[/quote]
The very nature of the events following the destruction of the power conduits to your right.
It isn't a switch. You are destroying something on the Citadel that is not a part of the Crucible. This action results in the Crucible firing. Ergo, the Crucible therefore fires of its own accord. Shepard never interacts with the Crucible itself to initiated Destroy. Destroy is therefore the Crucible's automatic (default) action.
You can't "turn off" the act of destroying something. In this case, "something" being the Crucible Suppression Device (or a component of it).
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
If he only turns off the synthesis beam, then why can't you change your mind?[/quote]
You're making my case for me. Only Destroy allows Shepard to back down and pick another (fourth shot seals the deal). Refusal is an indoctrinated choice. Shepard's will to fight has been broken. Your question is silly as asking why a player can't change their minds after touching the control console or why they can't change their mind after moving close enough to the synthesis beam.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Is it because Bioware wants to intentionally removes your ability to change your mind in the game, or is it that the Catalyst really does turn off the Crucible? I personally find the latter to be more compelling, but if you believe in the former, then so be it; it's a difference of opinions. This is one example of the fundamental differences between your interpretation and mine, as I have a different idea of Catalyst's level of influence and capabilities. [/quote]
Your opinion can be discredited (as I've already done in this post and others). My so-called "opinion" cannot.
Just because you decide to believe something doesn't make it a valid, narratively sound or rational belief.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
The Citadel is interfaced with the Crucible in a manner such that the Citadel taps into the Crucible's energy supply with three different devices, a Control console on the left, a mysterious pipe on the right, and a circulating beam of energy in the middle. Any one of these three devices is a valid trigger for the Crucible.[/quote]
Accept you don't destroy triggers and switches. You pull and flip them. It is not the "mysterious pipe" that triggers the Crucible. It is the removal of the object that results in the Crucible firing.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Shooting the mysterious pipe will violently release the energy of the Crucible. It is unknown what this pipe is. What is known is that it taps into the energy of the Crucible somehow.[/quote]
How is this known? Elaborate.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Destroying the pipe would then cause a catastrophic energy containment breach that violently discharges the energy of the Crucible and Citadel in a highly destructive form. Based on your EMS, which is essentially a measure of the condition of the Crucible, this energy can either be partially filtered so that it only overloads Synthetic life, or be completely rampant as a wave of indiscriminating, entropic destruction. Compare this to releasing the energy of the Crucible in a more controlled form by using the Control console.[/quote]
So by indiscriminately blowing up something that is not part of the Crucible, the Crucible releases a catastrophic wave of energy (a "containment breach" as you put it) that violently targets only synthetic intelligences? You compared this to a propane tank explosion earlier, right? Do I really have to explain to you the problems with this theory of yours?
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Do I trust the Catalyst? Without meta-gaming, definitely not. For one, I would be suspicious if the collective intelligence of the Reapers is telling me that it's in my power to destroy them, and how to do so. For the same reasons, I would also be even more suspicious when he introduces Control and Synthesis. However, in the situation, I was backed into a corner. I can either take a leap of faith and take his words face-value, or I can idly sit there and watch as the Reapers gradually obliterate my fleets. Destroy appears to be the least risky, hence why I chose it.
On another note, none of us can claim to know exactly what the Catalyst's motivations, goals, and thought processes are, or how he is "programmed," so to speak. The game has intentionally left it far too ambiguous for us to make any meaningful judgments other than the following facts:[/quote]
Well, the Kid blatantly lies on several occasions and the two options it presents were the political goals of indoctrinated sleeper agents in each cycle and those of Sovereign (and therefore the Reapers) conveyed by Saren. In Saren we've already seen what Synthesis does to self-determination. Deception, to me, indicates an ulterior motive other than just being a glorified option menu. What is that motive? We cannot be completely sure. It lies somewhere in Control and/or Synthesis; the options it adds to the table.
What we can surmise is that its motives involve anything that will allow it to continue whatever modus operandi facilitates its desired outcomes (whatever they may be). This has been presented to us as harvesting advanced civilizations. The obvious means to achieving this end, in simplistic terms, is Shepard's death or Shepard's compliance.
On to your "facts".
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
- He is the collective embodiment of all Reapers
- He is voluntarily giving you three options on how to end the cycle, including his destruction (the number of choices he gives you is the result of his judgment on the condition of the Crucible)
- He allows you to decide his, and by extension, the Reapers' fate, as long as you choose one of his three options
- He will not extort you to make any choice (provided that your EMS is high enough), he simply watches[/quote]
In order
- This isn't a fact. This is the Kid's assertion which is unproven by game's end. It is circular reasoning to take his assertion as fact.
- This isn't a fact and is partially incorrect. It voluntarily lists three possible actions that Shepard can take. Two of which it has introduced itself. One of which is the prior intent of the protagonist.
- This isn't a fact and is incorrect. It allows you to choose Synthesis. It allows you to choose Control. It has no capacity to prevent you from choosing to destroy the Reapers (other than successfully indoctrinating Shepard).
- This is incorrect. It extorts Shepard to use the Crucible by threat of continued violence against space-faring civilizations. As far as watching; it apparently has no choice but to watch.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
There, that's my interpretation and it doesn't involve indoctrination. Does it bear similarities to yours? Yes, in some aspects. Do I claim it to be superior? No; it's simply different. Is it really a surprise that not everyone interprets the decidedly vague endings the same way? And guess what, this post doesn't have any cocky gloating either. So is this interpretation invalid or inferior?[/quote]
Inferior.
The very foundation, the idea that the Kid can deactivate the Crucible, is flawed.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
As a side note, if the Catalyst and the Reapers can build a "Crucible Suppression Device" to prevent the Crucible triggering their destruction, then why would they allow the Citadel to interface with the Crucible at all? [/quote]
The CSD is a contingency in the event that the Crucible ever successfully docks. They did not allow it as there is a difference between the low EMS and high EMS Crucible docking scenes which accounts for how intact it is. The Reapers would prefer it never docked at all rather than risk total defeat if anyone ever made it to the docking chamber.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Why didn't they just make it mechanically impossible for this interfacing in the first place?[/quote]
Perhaps it isn't possible because the means by which it would interact with the Citadel involves something crucial to the performance of the Citadel's functions. You have to also consider that although they have had eyes on it in the past, they are unaware of the exact specifications of the current Crucible. It is a contingency after all. There could have been some alteration which negated the CSD and then they would have been destroyed as soon as it docked. Remember, they do not roll over and allow it to dock unmolested if Shepard has not gathered the necessary forces to hold them off.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote..
.
If your CSD exists, then why leave it accessible for tampering or disabling (by shooting, lol...)? If the Catalyst is smart, why can't he construct the suppression device in some obscure, inaccessible location, and place a completely inert pipe and fool you into thinking that shooting the pipe will disable the suppression device?[/quote]
It does exist. This has been proven by airtight logical reasoning. Reasoning that you could not, will not and cannot discredit.
To the rest of your statement: I have no clue as I don't have any technical schematics. I doubt Bioware went through the trouble of making schematic s that no one would ever see. Assuming the CSD needs to be in close proximity to the Crucible, its power has to come from somewhere and get to the device at some location. The power junction, in this scenario, happens to be that location. Theoretically, it could have been possibly to disable it by shooting the cantilevers encircling the synthesis beam, the solar panel looking parts or any one of the conduits running anywhere around the chamber. EDI may have even been able to hack into the Citadel and shunt the power to another system. But the specifics of how it works aren't revealed to the player.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
Hell, lets stretch this a bit. Suppose that the Catalyst is keen on making Synthesis happen. Then why can't he just place an inert pipe in the middle? He could then tell you that shooting the pipe will destroy the Reapers while in actuality, shooting it will cause the platform to rotate and drop you into the synthesis beam. Why didn't he opt for this instead?[/quote]
You'd have to take it up with Bioware. But my guess would be that making a series in which the protagonist never has any chance of defeating the antagonist would be a bad idea. But why stop at a rotating platform? Why not have a Doctor Octopus style tentacles that grab Shepard and forcibly pull him in? Why not build the whole room so that it collapses into a funnel leading right into the synthesis beam? Why not fill the room with a highly acidic gas? Why not collapse the mass effect fields and send any intruder into vacuum? I could go on and on. We could also ask why does the KId have no control over the ward arms, Citadel relay or relay network? Why can it not cut gravity, drop the Citadel's mass effect fields or cut life support?
As far as your particular query, I'd think it would have to anticipate the exact location that the shooter would be shooting from. There is no reason that Shepard has to walk up to the power junction to shoot it. That's just Bioware's choice of cinematic style. If it was me and I had a gun (a ranged weapon) I would just start shooting from the location where the conversation with the Kid ends.
[quote]RadicalDisconnect wrote...
If you're insisting that the Catalyst is trying to indoctrinate and deceive you, then it's probably the most transparent deception I've ever seen.[/quote]
And yet it has deceived plenty of players. Judging by the things I've read in this thread and others it apparently isn't transparent enough.