SwobyJ wrote...
Sadly I think they only way the Intelligence can be developed as a character after this is in a sequel. Seeing as how almost uniformly people are against that here, we can only see it happening if the writers/lead devs push for it regardless of its response.
However, I think the point of the Intelligence is that for all its power, it does NOT feel alive, let alone communicate that to us. Even EDI is illustrated as a far, far, far more alive 'person' than the Reaper God, and that is an irony I wish was more directly shown.
Hell, he 'loses' no matter what.
Synthesis - Personal defeat, even EDI can be more alive than he ever, ever, ever could be now; but not just EDI, but EVERYONE (though Synthesis is up for debate until any sequel ever happens, if ever)
Control - Ideological defeat, ShepReaper seems to be capable of managing the galaxy's advancement far more than he ever, ever, ever could
Defeat - Literal defeat, he is killed, possibly never to return, even if Reaper tech or other AI arrives again
In no way are we ever shown that he loses. Perhaps in part because he has taken the directive he's been given and understands it in a way none of us do.
He may not feel alive, but he does not care about the concept of being alive. He does not recognize a distinction between existing and alive. So uploading people's thoughts as data to us isn't being alive, but to him sort of really is. Fundamentally he does understand that we see a distinction-the death, ceasing of functions in our bodies that house our data he does understand is seen by us as death, and the whole operation that he's created to deal with organics creating killer synthetics has been aimed at controlling organics. The physical bodies are chaotic and cannot be controlled in the way that mind and consciousness data can be when moved to a databank inside a reaper. His creators were about control and that formed a basis for his framework-control was needed, control achieved. Physical death is subservient to "programming" or data existence and "life".
EDI was alreay alive. Not because a computer program and tech integrated with organics gave her life, but because she'd formed conclusions, achieved free will, and through relationships learned what it meant to care. Synthesis cannot form those pathways since they're earned. It is the kid's view of what alive means.
In synthesis and control, there's every indication he still exists. What says he's gone? In synthesis, synthetics are given understanding of organics. That's from some unknown point of view, but since the crucible acts upon the kid's programming, it is likely it is from his point of view, so EDI is alive as he believes it to be. The kid does not die in synthesis, as a synthetic being he gets just as much information and understanding as EDI does. If she supercedes him, it was only because she already had because she formed relationships with people based upon her desire to do so.
Control in no way indicates the kid is gone. As a logical being (supposedly) he would see the augmentation to his programming with data from Shepard as making sense, based upon how it's shown (not that I agree with it). Shepard clearly is not alone in there, the voice over shows there are many within the Shepard catalyst. The kid and the reapers have become one with the kid's programming being in control. Shepard becomes a part of them and the kid is still there. It is basically a status quo but with control of the future being under the guidance of new programming that Shepard's consciousness has helped form. The thing is there's nothing to suggest that the kid is gone, merely that he no longer has the ultimate say. He does not care what works toward his goal, as long as it works toward it-he does not care. Which leads to destroy.
Destroy. There is nothing to suggest the kid is gone. The reapers are destroyed. Ok. But he's not a reaper. He exists within the citadel. We aren't even told that all synthetics will die nor that all reaper tech will be destroyed. We are told all synthetics will be targeted, all tech damaged. And that the reapers will be destroyed. But the chaos will return. We see that EDI dies-ok we don't even know what that means for sure. Since we as organics (humans) have an understanding that death of a body means death of the person, and simply moving data such as our minds to some other construct will not result in the same person that was before, we don't know which EDI died-the physical or the data and memory housed within the Normandy. We get the idea that EDI the person died, but the EDI program was very much a part of the Normandy-so much so that it might not be that easy to get it to work right without that program. And it flies.
In Destroy, it is just as likely that all that is destroyed right now are the reapers themselves. The kid says there will be losses but no more than you've already experienced. What does that mean? Well, we don't know. It's likely that if synthetics do not die (synthetic bodies still exist and can be restarted if shut down, damaged tech repaired) then the kid too will survive. He does not have the same concept of deathe as we do. He may not understand that even lost data that has formed relationships (EDI) is not the same when retrieved and the databank rebooted. He sees numerical and formulaic relationships, not tangible physical ones.
He's not a physical being. He may also even see destroy as no big thing since it firmly solidifies as truth his idea that the conflict of synthetic vs. organic is inevitable and will always occur. Again, as a logical being this equation is the one that makes the most sense. It says that synthetics + organics = conflict and that is what he was programmed to "believe". Destroy most obviously sets this as always true. And even if all synthetics are destroyed this time, they will return, the infinite loop program starts again. He may even see or have been created to start up once these elements of the equation again exist. He may shut down until they do exist again. So, the cycle starts when synthetics are created and his program starts up. When the cycle ends, he stops running. Infinite loop.
Of course there's more to it, since destroy adds other complications, such as what tech is damaged and what does that mean to people. And why are the geth not in cutscenes or slides and all, but the absence of them is not proof they were destroyed.
I think this is just to say that there is nothing that says emphatically that in all endings the kid is destroyed. The only one where he may be is refuse, but even that's not certain. The only hint at it is that it's the one option that makes him angry. It may be the one ending that forces him to confront his own mortality and that stops his infinite loop. Or it might be the one thing that he sees as going against what he was programmed to do-and organics are meant to fully believe he's saving them and not chaotically fight against that.
Modifié par 3DandBeyond, 03 novembre 2013 - 03:04 .
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Some of parallels with Saren have always clicked with me too.
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