#analyzing lmao

Again, I don't know anything about games before the newer ones, starting with RE2 remake onward, so I can't make judgments on the series as a whole, but here are some texts directly from game files which I'll follow with what I make of them all.

Sorry for not removing all the code remnants from quotes, there's a lot of it, and it's still readable, so...

In game files in ‘tipssummaryid’ and ‘activity’:

<string>Grace, a creation of Spencer's, is the only one who can retrieve Elpis. Many girls were created in an attempt to imitate her, but all failed.

And the note one person has been mentioning as to Grace being 29 is, I believe, this one, found if ‘file’ which is a compilation of text from notes to be interacted with:

<string>The State<lf>We heard the "key," Grace Ashcroft, has<lf>finally been found. It's been 28 years since<lf>we occupied ARK. Are you sure she's the one?<lf><lf>Z<lf>Without a doubt. There's no need to worry.

Couldn't find anything else mentioning Grace or years which can in any way, shape or form be tied to the mystery of her age. Might have missed somenthing since today is the first day I'm looking into this engine, but at least nothing else was in the msg (text) files. It doesn't explicitly indicate that she's 28, tho.

And then we’ve got Grace’s report from notes where she mentions ARK and the 80s:

<string>1980s <string>This is a crucial period for understanding the<lf>basis of what caused the incident and the<lf>truth behind the entire case. <string>Spencer's Influence and ARK's Establishment ... The underground facility known as ARK, which<lf>was discovered during recent events, originally<lf>served as the administrative center of<lf>Umbrella's research.<lf><lf>Several documents outlining Spencer's plan for<lf>ARK have also been discovered. ... <string>Excerpt from confiscated records:<lf>"Long-Term Strategic Review 1980_0422"<lf><lf>ARK-centric Integrated Research Roadmap<lf><lf>Step 1: Concentrated investment into Wesker's<lf>               plan and the T-Virus<lf>Step 2: Establishment of ARK as a central<lf>               command center<lf>Step 3: Development of Elpis<lf>Step 4: Memory transfer and forced evolution

And the 90s:

<string>1990s … <string>Yet despite the circumstances, Spencer was able<lf>to thoroughly protect and complete his research<lf>at ARK. The research—Elpis.<lf><lf>While most records regarding Elpis were lost with<lf>the destruction of ARK, a precious few remain. <string>Excerpt from confiscated records:<lf>"Spencer's Message 199... [DATA MISSING]"<lf><lf>Tricell, H.C.F., The Family, and Umbrella.<lf>Elpis shall bring it all to an end.<lf>[DATA CORRUPTED] <string>The only information leaked about Elpis was<lf>that it had the potential to upset the military<lf>balance of the entire world.<lf><lf>However, a strictly managed password known<lf>only to Spencer was needed to access it. <string>What is Elpis? <string>Elpis is a powerful antiviral drug.<lf><lf>However, this was unknown to those who sought it.<lf>The Connections, and other black-market groups,<lf>mistakenly thought it to be a powerful bioweapon<lf>with the potential to control human minds. <string>This confusion likely stemmed from the fierce<lf>competition surrounding bioweapon development.<lf>It was common knowledge that Spencer, the<lf>developer of Elpis, aimed for the evolution and<lf>control of humanity through viral technology. <string>Completion of Elpis <string>Based on data taken from the confiscated records<lf>and changes in Spencer's behavior, we believe<lf>Elpis was completed around the mid-1990s.<lf><lf>After this period, the records show a marked<lf>decrease in the number of public statements<lf>from Spencer.<lf><lf>A similar decrease in activity was also observed<lf>at the Raccoon City orphanage.<lf><lf>Disturbingly, it is suspected that the children<lf>at the orphanage had long been used for<lf>Umbrella experimentation.

And then finally what went on with seizing control of the Ark and onwards:

<string>Excerpts from confiscated records:<lf>"Access Log: First Assembly Minutes"<lf><lf>ARK has been secured. Commence the missile strike.<lf>The blame will fall solely on Spencer. With this,<lf>Umbrella will be dismantled and we'll seize<lf>their assets. <string>Their goal was the acquisition of Umbrella assets,<lf>particularly the thing they believed would disrupt<lf>the world's military balance—Elpis.<lf> … <string>Acquisition of ARK <string>The Connections and the government seized<lf>ARK during the Raccoon City Incident.<lf><lf>Thereafter, ARK served as a base for the research,<lf>development, and distribution of bioweapons. … <string>Remaining records about Spencer after the<lf>dissolution of Umbrella are scarce, but a new<lf>source of information has recently come to light:<lf>an interview conducted by Alyssa Ashcroft.<lf><lf>Despite being responsible for countless<lf>atrocities, Spencer showed some signs<lf>of remorse in this interview. <string>Having lost everything, he sought atonement.<lf><lf>While Elpis is a powerful instrument that can<lf>render viral weapons inert, it also has the<lf>potential as a panacea to be used for good.<lf><lf>It's possible that Spencer's true motivations<lf>behind Elpis were peace and redemption. ... Spencer died in 2006 at his secluded estate.<lf>His true intentions behind developing Elpis<lf>will forever remain unknown.

Then of course there's this note that doesn't give us anything but the fact that in 2004, her medical records were lacking in certain areas, which neither fully supports nor disproves what I'm about to make from all of this I'm getting to my point I swear:

<string>November 30, 2004<lf><lf>My master's research has come to fruition.<lf><lf>And that child. She must be the final piece<lf>of the puzzle.<lf><lf>I need to get my hands on the child's data.<lf>I'm sure this will bring me closer to his vision. <string>December 8, 2004<lf><lf>The organization was able to get me<lf>the child's medical records.<lf><lf>It was lacking in certain areas, but did have<lf>her genetic information. I can use this.

So the undisputed facts are:

The Ark and Elpis were created in the 80s, with the clone experiments starting at max in 1983, since in 1990 there were already 7 yo clones dying (not quoted above, but 'Age: 7 years 2 months ... Date of Death: January 14, 1990 Comments: Discarded due to volatile symptoms'). Like, realistically, even if clones can age weirdly, at least some of them would age like humans normally do, and there were A LOT of clones.

Around mid-90s, Spencer has completed Elpis.

The Connectiones seized control of Ark and all the info it had 28 years ago, in 1998

By the end of 2004, Grace had lacking medical records aside from her genetic information, which, combined with what they learnt in the Ark, was enough for the members of the Connections to consider her a clone and the key

Now, if we go with those facts and all of the above, we've got two potential options:

Sucks narratively. Grace is just one of the many clones, born some time shortly before 2004/in 2004, who somehow turned out okay and there's nothing special about her, even tho Spencer separated her from the crowd of all the other clones. Cons of this: the game has been building up to revealing Grace's identity, and to reveal she's ordinary and Victor and Zeno were just stupidly chasing their own tails for years makes for an ehhh, whatever story. Plus, if Spencer started to distance himself from Elpis mid-90s, and lost control of the Ark to the Connections same years as the outbreak in 1998, how would he even get Grace, a miraculously normal NEW and shiny clone, if the Connections were in control of all the clone biz at the time? I'm not counting the slim chance of Grace NOT being a clone, they look too much alike. If you look at their first scene with Emily, when Grace looks closely at her, the resemblance in the closeups is too uncanny. And in the photo on her desk in the secret ending, too.

Grace truly is special, the original clone of someone or the original baby Spencer made from scratch, and the 'Many girls were created in an attempt to imitate her' in the summary is not misleading because it's earlier in the story, it's true. The one, the undeluded. She was created by Spencer when the Ark was created and the development on Elpis started. So, no later than in 1983. He then put her in stasis at some point, because the clones weren't working the way he intended, and he knew it might take years to succeed at whatever it is he actually intended Elpis to be. Grace is not sure whether his intentions were good or bad in the end, but Victor and Zeno surely had enough info to assume Elpis was a form of mind-control. So I think Spencer started developing it with those motives, and then, as the rift between him and Marcus grew in the next decade, opted to make it an antiviral in secret. To do good? To spite him? Your guess is as good as mine. Then, in early-00s, he brought Grace out of the stasis, whether his intentions were good or not at this point remains to be seen. Or we may never know.

You could argue that option 1. is actually good in a way that a chosen someone turns out to be ordinary, but option 2. doesn't actually take away from it, Grace is still special in the way she came into this world only, she doesn't have the shared memories with the clones or anything, yes, she's one of the kind while still turning out not to be some magical unicorn chosen one at all. And option one really, truly fucks up the timeline and makes Victor and Zeno's characters kinda... dumb? Like surely there was a ton of research at the Ark and they didn't pull the info they went on out of their 🍑

Option 2. also makes way for a potential Grace story going forward, for someone to try using her to make the originally intended mind control bioweapons, as you know... The one and only undeluded original created for this. Or not.

As for how old that makes Grace in the actual human years, then... Fuck knows? I'd still argue no less than 26, 27 even, since even if we do call her a teen in 2018, she looks the same 8 years later, so she'd have to be very late teens then for her face to not change at all in the 8 years to come. And google tells me teens range from 13 to 19, so 19 + 8... And in the actually existing in this world years, if we truly go with 'CREATED by Spencer' and my stasis theory which makes the timeline make sense, at least, then she'd be 43 at least, 46 at most, if we say that ARK and her was created in 1980 on the dot. But that's like. Nah. Who counts like that. xD So like yeah, early thirties seems like a stratch, but I firmly stand by mid to late 20s & Grace being like 27.

And I'm still not sure where the 'teen in 2018' is even coming from, if it has to do with the game files, then I'd quote myself from the other day:

Is it from how that model is called in the game files/on concepts or something? Because if it's that, I wouldn't really rely on that, I've digged through enough games to confidently say that how models are called oftentimes means nothing but the fact that it's how that asset started in development and might just never have been renamed because that would be too much hustle. The most recent example would be Gustave in Expedition 33, most of his assets and the whole folder is called Noah which is probably how the character was called in the early stages of development and they just never changed it. Needles to say, there's no Noah in the final version of the game. So keeping that in mind, and the fact that the game started development as a coop, asset names might not mean anything, since lots of things change during development.