#skyhamrambles

Sept - Dec 2018 will be my final term at film / animation school. So far I’ve been doing requests slowly outside of the usual time period I’m supposed to take them (which only happened once since my inbox was still full around the 2nd time I was supposed to open requests) but starting today I’ll no longer be adding them to my long-term queue because I’ll have to focus on my short film project for graduation. I’m behind schedule and have to double-time because I have twice as many characters and environments than was recommended by my mentors. I’m also hand-painting all my textures so it’s taking even longer.

If you sent a request before today (Sept 1 my time, GMT+8 or Aug 31 for those in the West), I will still be making them and will be posting around mid-Sept during my last term break. After that will be full-stop until New Years’. I’ll still be posting art from time to time though since because I have WIPs queued in the burner. Thank you for being patient ^^

Been a while since I wrote something, but we’re going on lockdown soon so hey. For simplification this refers to the high EMS Destroy ending.

It occurred to me that the major thing holding people back from Destroy (myself included, back then) is the fact that you’re forced to lose EDI and the geth. Otherwise, Destroy is the most straightforward solution to the Reaper problem that offers the least amount of what-ifs when compared to the other choices. (I would also say it’s thematically and logically the ideal choice, but that would spawn more paragraphs that this post needs).

Here's the thing (do correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I've played) - the game doesn't go into specifics of what part of synthetics are actually destroyed. Synthetics, as we know, are composed of both hardware (the body) and software (the mind).

In the Destroy ending, the Reapers just stop dead in their tracks. The relays stop working, and fall apart - presumably from the momentum of their own motion. The Normandy and other ships shut down and drift in space or fall from the sky, but they don't explode. Based on that, we know that it’s not hardware - any physical damage taken is due to external factors. And any physical damage can be repaired easily - as Tali has already proven by bringing bits and bobs of geth and having to deal with them reactivating on her loyalty mission.

So it’s assumed that what is actually "destroyed" is the software - or code. Synthetic systems malfunction because any code being executed is going haywire. And this  "genocide", as people have called it, refers to losing the data that allow the geth and EDI to have memories and personality.

Now here's a question - how much of this data is actually being lost? The Catalyst itself says, “there will still be losses, but no more than what has already been lost”. 

To simplify terminology - let’s say “code” are instructions executed to define the behavior of a system, while “data” is stored information. You input data (numbers) into a calculator and its code tells it how to handle them to give you your desired results. Now on a larger scale - ships like the Normandy require data inputs to perform - some given by a pilot, and some already stored such as constants or specifications. Its complex network of codes process that data and make them behave as starships do.

If we assume all of the Normandy’s code was wiped or scrambled from the Crucible blast, it can all be written from scratch or corrected courtesy of Tali / Steve / Sam + the engineering team. So long as you are capable of logic, you will always be capable of creating/fixing code. However, that would literally take them months, if not years, not including extensive testing. Data is trickier - they are certainly great at tech, but even they can't memorize all the crucial numbers needed to keep a military frigate running. Data is everything important and optimal that has been noted down from years of experiments and research.

And yet somehow, your crewmates survived. That means not all code, and not all data was lost, because they got Normandy off the planet they crashed in. They probably limped back to civilization, but the fact remains that they didn’t lose substantially enough because they managed to get it back up. The same goes for all other ships knocked out by the blast, which we see are operational again in the ending cutscenes. It also implies that we did not lose every single bit of our history and science that’s been migrated and stored in digital form.

So what about the geth? We know for certain they can be rebuilt and repaired. Would it not mean just partial “amnesia” from data loss? Legion “died” by giving all of his personality data as a foundation for the geth consensus, but that was only after the conclusion on Rannoch. Would the geth have had enough time to form individual memories and personalities by the time you fire the Crucible? Do the geth not have external data banks and networks with multiple backups that they can rollback to?

What about EDI? Her consciousness is the Normandy, and the Normandy survives. We know she is built from Reaper Technology (Sovereign’s remains) so rebuilding is an option. If she contains Reaper Code (as well as the geth) we know it can be deconstructed by an asari war strategist in one of the ME3 side missions, so it’s really no different from any other code bar complexity, perhaps.

If your ems is high enough, you can break through the indoctrination and bring Shepard back to stop the cycle.

If your ems is too low, you have to stop Shepard. 

Permanently. 

me:

the production manager saying “guys, it’s 1am, go eat lunch” followed by mumbled words of agreement and everyone still glued to their art programs

prod manager and cinematographer going “that’s enough, we have deadlines, please send it to me now” followed by “give me 30 more mins I just wanna add an adjustment layer”

snacks all day

“what hex value is that”

groaning at the coffee machine / water dispenser

“dammit, I’ve lost my momentum” [bathroom break] “ok cool, let’s continue”

making weird noises every time work is started on a new piece

having more or less the same opinion on what looks good, which occasionally does not coincide with the boss’s idea of what looks good

power dips in the building earning a collective gasp followed by everyone yelling “SAVE!!!” and smashing ctrl+s

On another note, they’re all awesome. Every time I look up from my laptop and at their screens, it’s literal art goals. They’re miles ahead in this craft and I’m really hoping I can improve to their level someday. It’s super, super cool to see them take my rough sketches and transform them into fully rendered concept art.