So I was just replaying Mass Effect 1 and...
- Thread starter Indecipherable
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Interesting idea. I don't remember the VI having any part in operating the relay. The codex said the relays were self contained and operated by the starship's own comm signals. Granted the VI might be able to tell the relay to open on his side, but the doesn't mean someone else on the citadel can't open it from that end.ChipSandwich said:
Vigil pointed you to the Conduit. I think Saren and Soverign activated it when they got there.
And yes, there was a warning. The first VI you encounter on Ilos is broken and yer squad members talk to you about not understanding it, but Shepard does. It's a broken message about the invasion going on and how it can't be stopped. Vigil was yer other warning left behind... although not the best.
And yes, there was a warning. The first VI you encounter on Ilos is broken and yer squad members talk to you about not understanding it, but Shepard does. It's a broken message about the invasion going on and how it can't be stopped. Vigil was yer other warning left behind... although not the best.
Liara says straight out that the scarce evidence makes it seem as though all evidence has been systematically erased, and she's got fifty ears of research backing her up (as she reminds you several times after you rescue her).
After they wiped out the Protheans (and turned them into the Collectors) Nazara aka Sovereign was left behind as a Reaper agent to restart the cycle in 50,000 years. He stayed behind, dormant, until the time was right.
The Prothean beacons, the barely functional Vigil AI on Ilos, these are the only remnants Sovereign wasn't able to erase entirely.
As you find out in ME2, ordinarily the Keepers are supposed to reactivate the Citadel to let the Reapers through, but the Protheans managed to modify them so they became harmless caretakers instead of Reaper agents. This is why Sovereign had to recruit Saren and find the Conduit on Ilos to seize control of the Citadel directly.
After they wiped out the Protheans (and turned them into the Collectors) Nazara aka Sovereign was left behind as a Reaper agent to restart the cycle in 50,000 years. He stayed behind, dormant, until the time was right.
The Prothean beacons, the barely functional Vigil AI on Ilos, these are the only remnants Sovereign wasn't able to erase entirely.
As you find out in ME2, ordinarily the Keepers are supposed to reactivate the Citadel to let the Reapers through, but the Protheans managed to modify them so they became harmless caretakers instead of Reaper agents. This is why Sovereign had to recruit Saren and find the Conduit on Ilos to seize control of the Citadel directly.
I haven't just replayed it and was going from books and wiki's.Indecipherable said:
So your original point is they didn't leave messages, now you agree they did. So what is your actual point?
I thought that that was explained; as far as i was aware, Sovereign was used as a propaganda piece, and was cited to simply be a "Geth Flagship".Indecipherable said:
It is highly improbable that there would be major similarities between the Prothean's language and the the languages spoken by younger species, so the Protheans would have been unable to write any warning down. They couldn't have simply scribbled a crude drawing onto a rock, either; if you were out climbing, say, and you found a rock with a race of sentient machines destroying all life in the Galaxy on it, would you think "Cool story, bro" or genuinely believe that a race of sentient machines will destroy all life in the Galaxy?
Mass Effect 2 spoilers ahoy!
Also, I thought that the Collectors were Protheans? If that's the case, then maybe the Protheans/Collectors went back and removed any warnings left behind while they were under the control of the Reapers, but that's just a theory.
Edit: I've probably already been Ninja'd.
Presumably because its very, very difficult to communicate with someone if you share have no linguistic, cultural or biological similarities. The AI presumably learned a little something of humans (and all the other aliens) in his 50,000 years of chill time, but transmitting a concrete (or even abstract) message to an alien race in mind-bendingly difficult.
Consider: modern scientists are currently tasked with trying to create effective warning labels on radioactive waste that will prevent humans from tampering with the stuff for +10,0000 years. The problem? Whole civilizations could rise and fall by then, and human culture could be vastly different. So how do tell people not to touch the stuff?
Any human language could (and probably will) be dead in that time frame, so written messages are worthless. Pictures might be a better option, until you realize that pictoral elements that we might consider "universal," like an "X" or skull and cross-bones have different meanings than the ones we know in other, current cultures on earth.
Moreover, simply making the waste hard to get to while giving vague warnings of danger might have an unintended consequence. Think about it: if you stumbled across the entrance to a mine shaft from an ancient civilization, with a warning about terrible dangers that lurked within, what would you assume was inside? Buried treasure? Ancient mystical secrets? Either way, you or your local Indiana Jones would be down that hole in a heartbeat.
If its that hard to get something across to future versions of your own species, imagine trying to formulate a communication to an unknown set of species from unknown worlds across a geological timescale. I think they ended up doing a pretty decent job.
Consider: modern scientists are currently tasked with trying to create effective warning labels on radioactive waste that will prevent humans from tampering with the stuff for +10,0000 years. The problem? Whole civilizations could rise and fall by then, and human culture could be vastly different. So how do tell people not to touch the stuff?
Any human language could (and probably will) be dead in that time frame, so written messages are worthless. Pictures might be a better option, until you realize that pictoral elements that we might consider "universal," like an "X" or skull and cross-bones have different meanings than the ones we know in other, current cultures on earth.
Moreover, simply making the waste hard to get to while giving vague warnings of danger might have an unintended consequence. Think about it: if you stumbled across the entrance to a mine shaft from an ancient civilization, with a warning about terrible dangers that lurked within, what would you assume was inside? Buried treasure? Ancient mystical secrets? Either way, you or your local Indiana Jones would be down that hole in a heartbeat.
If its that hard to get something across to future versions of your own species, imagine trying to formulate a communication to an unknown set of species from unknown worlds across a geological timescale. I think they ended up doing a pretty decent job.
Bara_no_Hime said:
Except that the control consoles was smack in the middle of the most guarded room in the whole Citadel, and Bioware made that clear by having Wrex, or Ashley, or both (it's been a while) wonder where the hidden snipers are, because they must be there. And people would indeed question what he was doing in the council chamber, messing with stuff no one else knew about.
With the conduit he can invade the citadel with a bigger force and kill everyone in the normal control room before activating the main control console.
The thing about the keepers was made clear in ME1 as well.Kermi said:
