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[Orikon]

I found this lore gem on the wiki today....and I don't think I'll be picking Destroy anytime soon.

 

 

Virtual Aliens

 

From the wiki:

 

"The virtual aliens are a race of some one billion individuals who downloaded their minds into a virtual world aboard a starship long ago to avoid the destruction of their civilization. As of 2185 CE, the virtual aliens have established diplomatic contact with the Citadel Council in order to secure a new power source for the systems that maintain their virtual world. The aliens' name for themselves is currently unknown."

 

Biology

 

"The biological characteristics of the virtual aliens are unknown. All virtual aliens do not currently have physical bodies of their own. To facilitate communication with the Citadel Council, the virtual aliens showed that they are capable of swapping consciousnesses with other sentient beings and can control their bodies."

 

History

 

"Approximately 8,000 years ago, the virtual aliens faced an imminent crisis: their homeworld's star was about to go supernova. To survive, the virtual aliens built a starship equipped with a network of supercomputers. One billion virtual aliens transferred their consciousnesses into the supercomputers, which contained an entire virtual world for them to inhabit for the duration of the crisis. With a purpose-built AI piloting the ship and maintaining the virtual world, the virtual aliens departed their home system and began a millennia-long sojourn across the galaxy."

 

There's more history on the wiki.

 

So alongside the Geth,EDI,and any other AI in the Galaxy,you'll be completely wiping out another civilization,who have stored their entire race in a virtual world maintained by an AI.

 

I think I'll rather pick Refuse or Control over this.

[themikefest]

 I still pick destroy

[spockjedi]

This talk about the Virtual Alien is just a foreshadowing for the scrapped "Dark Energy" plot. It is essentially what reapers were supposed to be in that plot: a civilization that uploaded its minds into a ship in order to escape a imminent natural catastrophe. That's why they never came back in ME3.

Anyway, if you want to save the Virtual Alien, download MEHEM.

[Flaine1996]

Uhm... why have i never noticed this race? or atleast met them once? thanks for the info though... But still gonna choose destroy

[angol fear]

This talk about the Virtual Alien is just a foreshadowing for the scrapped "Dark Energy" plot. It is essentially what reapers were supposed to be in that plot: a civilization that uploaded its minds into a ship in order to escape a imminent natural catastrophe. That's why they never came back in ME3.

Anyway, if you want to save the Virtual Alien, download MEHEM.

You will have to explain because I didn't see anything related with the reapers. That civilisation has contact with the council. Sorry but I don't see anything with the reapers or the dark energy (how could this new form save them from the dark energy problem ?) I don't think it was related to the dark energy plot. I can this more like a new step to that civilisation, a new form that ignore death. Here there is something about the difference between organics and synthetics : death.

Edit : ok I saw the part you have interpreted this way. My mistake, sorry.

[elrofrost]

I've often used the Geth as a reason not to choose destroy. In play-though, if I choose to save the Geth (with or without the Quarians) - I don't pick destroy. Usually I choose control.

 

If the Geth are saved - destroy.

 

These other aliens - I mean so what? 1 billion is nothing compared to the trillions that will die if the Repears win.

 

EDI I feel would gladly give her life to save us all. So she's a non-issue.

[spockjedi]

@angol fear

No problem! What I was talking about is the concept of an organic civilization uploading its individual minds into a massive vessel in order to escape from an astronomical disaster. In that respect, Virtual Aliens are just like the Reapers in the Dark Energy plot.

"The Reapers as a whole were 'nations' of people who had fused together in the most horrific way possible to help find a way to stop the spread of the Dark Energy," Karpyshyn said. "The real reason for the Human Reaper was supposed to be the Reapers saving throw because they had run out of time. Humanity in Mass Effect is supposedly unique because of its genetic diversity and represented the universe's best chance at stopping Dark Energy's spread."

Source

Maybe, had they developed the Dark Energy plot in ME3, we would get a chance to see the Virtual Alien and find out that their star was exploding thanks to the Dark Energy buildup, just like Haestrom's star in Tali's recruitment.

[dorktainian]

OP.  so you didn't pick destroy because a 'virtual alien' or something or other?

 

 

 

"Choose, but only from the choices you give us... don't you see this is wrong?"  

Delenn.  Babylon 5.  Into The Fire.

[Vanilka]

I think this is all exciting and absolutely fascinating and I want to know more (Preferably, you know, from the damn game.), but my reasons for destroying the Reapers still stand.

 

Moreover, I don't really buy the Catalyst's "And all synthetics die, too. Probably even you." Oh, really? How are you going to make that happen? Does your space magic lock on to everything made of metal and plastic? Because it all sounds like bullshit to me.

[KaiserShep]

My Shepard's not going to let the end of the reaper war be determined by the digital mausoleum of an alien race. I already knew that Destroy would kill all synthetics, so why would they tip the scale?

[von uber]

Does destroy target the software to the hardware? I mean, what happens to poor Avina?
If she survives because she is software then so are the Geth (well, pre i-want-to-be-a-boy).

It's all bollocks you know, Ill thought out bollocks that doesn't stand up to any scrutiny without a lot of mental gymnastics and headcanon.

Oh, and calling people too stupid to understand.

[Vanilka]

Does destroy target the software to the hardware? I mean, what happens to poor Avina?
If she survives because she is software then so are the Geth (well, pre i-want-to-be-a-boy).

It's all bollocks you know, Ill thought out bollocks that doesn't stand up to any scrutiny without a lot of mental gymnastics and headcanon.

Oh, and calling people too stupid to understand.

 

This. This is my problem with the Catalyst's babbling, among many other things. It seems to misunderstand what synthetics even are. It tells Shepard she/he is partly synthetic, so it sounds like it should target hardware. Which doesn't explain why Kaidan, Tali or Garrus weren't affected despite all having implants and cybernetic enhancements. Or other technology. If it targets software, then it can't hurt Shepard. But how do you even achieve any of those things? The wave would have to somehow be capable of distinguishing between synthetics of all kinds and other software and other technology. That's quite a feat for a device that's "largely intact" and "little more than a power source".

 

To me, it seems that the writer brutally struggled with understanding what synthetics are in the first place... among other things. In MEU it is introduced to us as "artificial intelligence" (software) and presented as such in the entirety of the franchise, so Shepard's implants should then hardly be an issue. Telling Shepard, "Even you are partly synthetic," is bull in the context of the franchise.

 

For all we know, the geth can still live anyway. They didn't even bother showing us the geth going down. Or EDI, for that matter. One of our own and she supposedly dies off screen and her nameplate in the memorial scene, which wasn't even present in the original ending, is the only proof she's gone. So very moving.   Whatever emotions I might have had about EDI's death, I don't even have time and space for during the ending. It's so non-existent that it's hard to believe and easy to forget it happens at all.

 

I am unable to take any part of the ending seriously any more. The more I think about it, the more nonsensical it gets. Got to the point where I simply stopped caring.

[Excella Gionne]

Dark Energy plot... I would have loved to have seen it to the very end. It was an interesting plot, and the subtle hints in 2 made it intriguing. Sadly, it gets thrown out the window in 3 and is never mentioned of again. ME is full of plotholes, and some of 'em are just too big to ignore despite small references. 

[gothpunkboy89]

Dark Energy plot... I would have loved to have seen it to the very end. It was an interesting plot, and the subtle hints in 2 made it intriguing. Sadly, it gets thrown out the window in 3 and is never mentioned of again. ME is full of plotholes, and some of 'em are just too big to ignore despite small references. 

 

 

Always though the dark energy issue in ME2 was caused by Reapers. Basically how they recharge themselves each cycle. Something in the stars they siphon out replacing it with dark matter creating the issue on Halstrom.

[General TSAR]

Every war has its casualties, nuke the Reapers!

[straykat]

Every war has its casualties, nuke the Reapers!

[Whitering]

I always destroy the Geth, because Legion was not enough to get me over my dislike of them, so Destroy is not a big deal to me, and I think it would only destroy EDI's traveling around body, not her AI on the ship, as that is just a computer program, but either way, ya Destroy is the way to go for me. I think the Reapers have mostly had some level of self control, I mean were Sovereing and Harbinger being controlled by Star Child? I didn't think so, which means the Reapers deserve to be destroyed for being such dicks.

 

Also, some society I never knew anything about can't affect my character's decision making, not too mention, this big fleet of virtual people ships did not bother to help us against the Reapers, so screw them.

[Valmar]

Or, another way to look at it, the virtual aliens are another example of why you should accept synthesis or reaperization in general.

 

Still, my Shepard only destroys. I'd prefer control, in retrospec, but I don't like having my Shepard make decisions based on meta-game knowledge. I, as the player, know the brat's telling the truth. Shepard has no reason to believe it though - so destroy it is.

 

 

Also, some society I never knew anything about can't affect my character's decision making, not too mention, this big fleet of virtual people ships did not bother to help us against the Reapers, so screw them.

 

Big fleet? The virtual aliens had one ship, if I recall correctly. A ship that was drastically running out of power to keep its inhabitants alive. It's why the AI piloting it sought help from the council in the first place - to get some energy so it can, you know, not kill the civilization living inside its servers. The council didn't seem to give a ****, though. Apparently they too don't let some society they never knew anything about affect their decisions either.

[Dantriges]

Yeah read the stuff about the virtuals somewhere on the wiki. Seems that the council changed its position on the whole thing. Oh it seems that they lived with their ship AI (controlling everything) for 8000 years without it killing them to prove its superiority. Or it thought of them as kindred spirits because they are virtual now? Considering that we have mind upload, cybernetics and VIs it seems to me that galactic society was on the way to figure out a way to some kind of "synthesis" on its own.

[ImaginaryMatter]

This. This is my problem with the Catalyst's babbling, among many other things. It seems to misunderstand what synthetics even are. It tells Shepard she/he is partly synthetic, so it sounds like it should target hardware. Which doesn't explain why Kaidan, Tali or Garrus weren't affected despite all having implants and cybernetic enhancements. Or other technology. If it targets software, then it can't hurt Shepard. But how do you even achieve any of those things? The wave would have to somehow be capable of distinguishing between synthetics of all kinds and other software and other technology. That's quite a feat for a device that's "largely intact" and "little more than a power source".

 

To me, it seems that the writer brutally struggled with understanding what synthetics are in the first place... among other things. In MEU it is introduced to us as "artificial intelligence" (software) and presented as such in the entirety of the franchise, so Shepard's implants should then hardly be an issue. Telling Shepard, "Even you are partly synthetic," is bull in the context of the franchise.

 

The Catalyst can't even keep it's own definition of 'synthetic' straight. At one part of the conversation it seems to be referring to just AI and, in another part, technology in general. Maybe it's using two words: Synthetic the noun and synthetic the adjective, but either way it's really confusing.

[Vanilka]

The Catalyst can't even keep it's own definition of 'synthetic' straight. At one part of the conversation it seems to be referring to just AI and, in another part, technology in general. Maybe it's using two words: Synthetic the noun and synthetic the adjective, but either way it's really confusing.

 

I was also considering whether what it meant were "synthetic" parts as in "artificial", yes. Especially when talking about Shepard's "synthetics". But it does also talk about "synthetics" as in "AIs". That leads to all my confusion about what the hell I'm actually destroying and how the hell is that even possible the way it's described and the way it happens... I'd buy it if it targeted Reaper tech or something typical for Reaper programming. It would still be kind of a stretch, but it would be something and it might explain why some synthetics and some technology go down, too. But that's not what we are told. We're told that we'll take out the Reapers + all synthetics + Shepard's "synthetics". (In the high EMS ending anyway.) That makes no sense. (The franchise never talks about "synthetics" as implants or cybernetic enhancements, either, as far as I remember. That opens a whole new can of worms where you start wondering whether biotic implants, quarian implants, prosthetics, etc. are then also "synthetics". Where does the red wave end then? Wouldn't that then be all technology again? But then the ending shows us something completely different.) It's just as you say: The Catalyst is inconsistent and it keeps juggling with words like they're nothing, and if you pay attention to what you learn in the games and to what the Catalyst tries to tell you... ugh.

[Quarian Master Race]

Like I give a shіt about some idiots who decided to brain upload en-masse in order to survive a crisis that only affected one planet when they had the capability of interstellar travel. Then they didn't bother to show up for the war at all. If you can't be bothered to help, I can't be bothered to consider your interests.

Oh, and I hope the useless cheese eating surrender wuss Raloi got killed by the beam somehow too.

*shoots tube again*.

[Jeniva]

the more I replay ME's the more I can't see any other option than destroy. I love the geth and EDI. But...all the reapers are always trying to merge synthetics and organics into their weird reaper supreme d-bagness. So why would I be OKAY with SUDDENLY agreeing just because some stupid virtual kid tells me it will be alright? Also the control is exactly what TIM wanted. And if you think he ever has a good idea you got another thing coming - sorry but no way would I even consider control. 

[KaiserShep]

A control setting would be interesting. Underground fanatics would try to find ways to blow up reaper anything, including portions of the Citadel. The remaining husks, brutes, banshees and so forth would be shot on sight. No one in the universe would let those things continue to walk around. No one likes overlords, and while it's likely that any efforts to undermine the Shepardyst would be in vain, they won't lack for trying. 

[themikefest]

A control setting would be interesting. Underground fanatics would try to find ways to blow up reaper anything, including portions of the Citadel. The remaining husks, brutes, banshees and so forth would be shot on sight. No one in the universe would let those things continue to walk around. No one likes overlords, and while it's likely that any efforts to undermine the Shepardyst would be in vain, they won't lack for trying. 

Since it was mentioned by Hackett, after the coup, that its believed the crucible has enough energy to destroy the reapers, he and others would attempt to build another crucible hoping to destroy the reapers this time.