/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/


Re: Are there even timelines at all?
Posted By: PhiltronDate: 1/5/21 5:12 p.m.

In Response To: Re: Are there even timelines at all? (Durandal_1707)

: Well I mean, we don't know that it's the only thing it can do, but it's
: definitely a thing it can do, since we can do it. As far as the plot
: goes, that's, quite obviously, its purpose.

It's role in the plot is to merge Durandal with a S'pht AI. But there is no indication that this was the purpose it was built for, as you suggested in your post.

: Here you go again with the condescension. If you'd knock that off, I think
: you'd find you'd get a lot less pushback on your theories.

Well, if I didn't have to waste my time arguing about really basic stuff that I've already explained then I wouldn't get frustrated with certain people and let a little condescension slip through now and again. When people make spurious arguments that waste my time, then you can imagine my patience wearing real thin, real fast.

: Yrro and Pthia in M2. Durandal and Thoth in this game.

There is no mention of the ancient Jjaro merging Durandal and Thoth. For all you know Durandal and the S'pht AI merged because they were in the same computer system and did it through their own power. You don't know that the machine made them do it, or whatever.

As for Yrro and Pthia, show me where it actually says the Jjaro merged them in M2. I'm tired of wasting my time going through old terminal text to check to see if you have any idea about what you're talking about.

: Thoth is software. There is no "Thoth's Core." The things we turn
: on are simply old S'pht computers. Of course they look similar to the
: ones that originally contained Thoth's software. The same people built
: them.

There are literally cores for Thoth's AI. They are referenced, and we see them, in M2. Being software isn't magic. It needs to be housed somewhere. Not only that, but in Infinity we literally see Thoth's core (as it's referred to by Tycho) in Chapter 1: Despair. What we see in Strange Aeons is clearly meant to be read as being the cores of a S'pht AI. This is really obvious. It is having to waste my time on really obvious stuff like this that wears me out and lets my frustration creep into my responses.

But, anyway. If you want to claim that the cores are meant to be read as, lol, SIMPLY old computers, by all means prove it. Show us the evidence that this is the case.

: I find it somewhat amusing how you use details of the map design as evidence
: for your theory, and then in the very next breath claim that a different
: detail of the map design is non-diagetic just because you want it to be.

Learn to spell diegetically properly, at least. Then understand that the existence of a single item in a map is not map design, so your entire argument here is nonsense. And I think you know it's nonsense which, again, makes this another example of the type of arguments that waste my time and result in me letting my condescension slip through.

: Anyway, I can't remember if the chip is set to beam in on the map, but
: regardless of whether Thoth beamed it there before you arrived or
: afterward, it's not hard to figure out how it got there.

The chip is at the bottom of a pool of water. It does not beam in. It's weird how you admit you can't remember this simple thing, and yet later get sassy at the suggestion that you should look things up before arguing about them.

But do explain to us, if you think Thoth beamed the chip into Strange Aeons, why? Seriously? What for? And read the next few paragraphs before you do.

: Yes, that's why when I want to transfer data from my cell phone to my
: computer, I simply mash the phone straight into the computer's USB port
: instead of using a cable or a MicroSD card or something.

This argument of yours is hilariously bad because it applies to your own theory as well, including your above suggestion that Thoth sends us the chip for some reason. I can just as easily be sarcastic just like you and say, "Yes, that's why when I want to transfer data from my CD-ROM to my SSD card, I simply mash the wet, soggy CD against the SSD card until the data is transferred."

I literally said that your own argument regarding the chip contradicts itself. How are you not following along?

: Yeah, if the human builders had had a particularly incredible leap of
: foresight, they could have built a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection into the
: battleroid brain, but these weren't even a "thing" yet in the
: 90s when this game was made. At the time, the way people, including the
: game devs, were familiar with passing software around was typically via
: media like CDs and floppy disks.

: Who said anything about keeping the chip from Hang Brain? That chip is used
: to transfer Durandal's pattern into the player's brain. That chip is then
: confiscated, but it's served its purpose. The other chip on Strange Aeons
: then does the same thing, in the other direction, interfacing with the
: S'pht computer.

How? Literally explain how this happens, keeping in mind your own arguments in the previously paragraphs. Does the Security Officer take Durandal's chip, and what?, slide it into his mouth and uploaded the data through his sinuses? Does he do the same thing for a completely different type of alien hardware, or does he have to use a different body part for the S'pht chip?

: Look up what? It's a plot to a video game that everyone on this board has
: played like a billion times.

And yet you don't remember a lot of key points. So, look up the things you're claiming before arguing about them.

: Where did you get that? There's no reason Durandal has to stay in one place
: while the player is running around as long as he comes by to pick him up
: once he's done.

And yet he does stay in one place waiting for the main character to finish exploring. There are clearly limits to how and when and where Durandal can teleport you. He states some of those limitations in M2. That's where I got that from. From the game you claim you have played a million times and therefore don't need to look back on.

: And in all the versions of the battle we get any kind of detail on in
: Infinity, where the situation is different, Durandal loses every time.

CONTEXT.

Literally learn to pay attention to context in a story to understand what actually is happening in it. Why does Durandal lose in every battle in Infinity except for Ne Cede Malis? Literally pay attention to what's happening in the story. (And don't worry, I answer this for you soon.)

: What? Where did you get that? According to the terminal, Tycho was there,
: trying to talk Tfear out of using the star buster, and he's still in the
: area immediately following the battle.

Tycho did not participate in the battle as he did in M2 and in every single other chapter of Infinity. Durandal is uncertain of his presence which suggests that they did not have direct contact during the battle and therefore the edge Tycho normally gives the Pfhor was not there. Tycho also isn't there to make Duranda's S'pht go rampant as he does in Infinity. THAT'S the kind of stuff which is the answer to your "Look Up What?"

: As you're so fond of saying, there's nothing in the text to suggest that.

Yes there is, you just don't understand how to interpret the Text of a storytelling medium. What suggests that Durandal ambushed the Pfhor is that 1) he didn't explore Lh'owon, so what could he have been doing in outer space, 2) he defeats the Pfhor fleet, 3) we've been primed to think about ambushes thanks to the manual story. THAT'S the Text which suggests Durandal may have ambushed the Pfhor in Ne Cede Malis.

: That's a huge stretch. Durandal may be a great tactician, but one scoutship
: vs. a massive elite battlefleet is still a really lopsided battle.

I already explained this. While at a sever disadvantage he decimates half the Pfhor fleet before he crash lands his ship on a moon. So, what would happen if he was at the advantage? He would do even better.

: Why do you keep randomly capitalizing words like that?

So you pay attention to them. Do you understand the difference between text and Text? Do you know what a close reading is? I'm drawing your attention to the fact that these words mean something different from what you're used to. Kind of how certain elements of Marathon's story are drawing your attention towards certain conclusions.

: The Ne Cede Malis terminal is just one terminal, and it's not the beginning
: and end of the events leading to this timeline. If the "Durandan,
: Durandal, Durandana" terminal was the one entry point we had into
: M2's timeline, you'd determine that the S'pht weren't present there
: either, by this logic.

It is one terminal, but not one terminal among hundreds across an entire timeline/game. It is 100% of the terminals that communicate what is happening in the story of Ne Cede Malis' timeline. It is all that we have to go on. It is this kind of obvious, basic crap that I have to waste my time explaining that makes me slip into being condescending.

Like, you already know that this one terminal in Ne Cede Malis is the only one with concrete story for this timeline. You already know that comparing it to one terminal among hundreds in M2 isn't relevant here and why. And yet you make this argument that you obviously must know is wrong just to... what?... to waste my time apparently.

: Durandal's main interest in the S'pht is in feeding his messiah complex. In
: this catastrophic failure of his ambitions, they're not going to be on the
: top of his mind.

It isn't, as someone already explained to you. For someone who just got snarky about not wanting to look up anything about the story because you've played the game a million times, you sure don't understand some very basic aspects of the characters you're talking about.

Literally, Durandal simultaneously empathizes with the S'pht due to their slavery (this is a HUGE part of his character) AND he sees them as a useful tool that will gain him access to better technology.

: Who says any such forcing is necessary? If the player just communicates the
: information that Durandal is looking for, Durandal suddenly has no need to
: look for that information.

Is this sature? I'm just picturing the Security Officer revealing arcane secrets to Durandal about a planet neither of them have visited, regarding the activation of an ancient AI that neither of them should know exists yet, and Durandal just being like, "Yeah, seems legit" and just does what the Security Officer tells him. Who do you think these characters are, exactly?

Aside from the absurdity of that scenario, the Text of the game, again, suggests Durandal engages the Pfhor in battle before ever exploring Lh'owon.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Infinity: the Story: Chapt 2, Part 1/2Philtron 12/16/20 2:21 p.m.
     Re: Infinity: the Story: Chapt 2, Part 1/2Philtron 12/16/20 6:45 p.m.
     Re: Infinity: the Story: Chapt 2, Part 1/2Godot 12/16/20 11:33 p.m.
           Re: Infinity: the Story: Chapt 2, Part 1/2Philtron 12/17/20 3:38 p.m.
     Re: Infinity: the Story: Chapt 2, Part 1/2HamburgerBoy 1/2/21 8:26 p.m.
           Are there even timelines at all?Durandal_1707 1/2/21 11:07 p.m.
                 Re: Are there even timelines at all?General-RADIX 1/2/21 11:54 p.m.
                       Re: Are there even timelines at all?Durandal_1707 1/3/21 6:41 a.m.
                             Re: Are there even timelines at all?Godot 1/3/21 7:39 a.m.
                 Re: Are there even timelines at all?Philtron 1/3/21 12:02 p.m.
                       Re: Are there even timelines at all?Forrest of B.org 1/4/21 1:01 a.m.
                             Re: Are there even timelines at all?Durandal_1707 1/4/21 7:27 a.m.
                                   Re: map layoutsDocument 1/4/21 9:22 a.m.
                                         Re: map layoutsVikingBoyBilly 1/4/21 10:15 a.m.
                                   Re: Are there even timelines at all?Philtron 1/4/21 4:15 p.m.
                                         Re: Are there even timelines at all?Durandal_1707 1/4/21 7:26 p.m.
                                               Re: Are there even timelines at all?General-RADIX 1/5/21 6:13 a.m.
                                                     Re: Are there even timelines at all?Philtron 1/5/21 5:17 p.m.
                                               Re: Are there even timelines at all?Philtron 1/5/21 5:12 p.m.
                                               Re: Are there even timelines at all?VikingBoyBilly 1/6/21 8:05 a.m.
                                         Re: Are there even timelines at all?VikingBoyBilly 1/5/21 5:48 a.m.
                                               Re: Are there even timelines at all?Philtron 1/5/21 5:25 p.m.
                                                     Re: Are there even timelines at all?VikingBoyBilly 1/6/21 8:42 a.m.
                                                           Re: Are there even timelines at all?Forrest of B.org 1/6/21 9:59 p.m.
                                                                 Re: Are there even timelines at all?Godot 1/8/21 5:21 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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