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[MegaSackman]

And here I was happy because they don't throw enemies out of nowhere in unexplored places...


Terminator is a pretty stupid story if you take it really serious but well... if you love sci fi you just invest a little in it.

Well, if they do have answers then great. That's awesome. Hopefully someone can take the time to explain them to me. I still think that a handful of those gripes are logically consistent and are at odds with how the story is told. *shrug*

I'm also not very satisfied with your explanation to the first question, but at least it's something. I realize that this is just a fictional story and you have to suspend disbelief in most stories, but it just didn't gel with me. I also don't like that you have to spend so much time reading text logs and listening to audio logs to get a lot of information on motivations of individuals or w/e. I'm just not into that kind of story delivery in action games like this. It also doesn't help that you can trigger several different audio conversations at once, so it becomes a mess of people talking and Aloy talking to herself. It happened so many times and really pissed me off lol

There are answers for everything but you'll find them stupid because it's on the same tone as the rest of the story. Really, I read your complains and it looks that you just didn't like it.

 

[Miniature Kaiju]

-Why do so many of the new animal machines have such crazy defense mechanisms if they are there simply to cultivate life and build the new earth's systems? Do they really need lasers, guns, crazy melee abilities, etc?

This is due to the Derangement, a recent development. After the fall of GAIA and the subroutines going rogue, HEPHAESTUS made his creations more aggressive and created some machines especially for combat, since he started seeing humans as a threat to his creations.

-How the heck did Zero Dawn's new animal machines even stay in existence without resistance of the "bad" machines? If the "bad" machines were gone when the new ones came around, I don't understand how they were gone in the first place. The tech in this world seems to be powered indefinitely, if not for a very very long time. Some of the tech from before the crisis is still powered on and working, so it doesn't really add up to me.

The Faro robots went dormant once they finished consuming all the biomass from the planet. GAIA then cracked their encryption and disabled them for good. That's when the animal robots were created to terraform the planet.

-There are so many huge carved out under ground systems just for the old world and Zero Dawn. Where did they displace so much dirt and stone and how could they possibly do that during the dangerous context of the world crisis? Seems outlandish.

We're not given exact timeframes, but the Cauldrons were probably built after GAIA started terraforming the planet, as a part of the terraforming effort.

-How does Aloy know how to perfectly interact with the old tech right away? I really hate how nonchalant the game is about it. She just waves her arms and hands around and perfectly does it.

It's a game. Do you really want it to go on a long introduction showing that Aloy spent years trying stuff until she got the grasp of tech?

-The entire concept of them coding an entire AI that is capable of not only simulating the earth and all of its systems, but capable of simulating emotion and empathy. The task alone of doing such a thing, including storing all relevant data in order to do this, seems completely ridiculous. They did this incredibly advanced thing in a short time, but somehow couldn't crack the code/glitch/hack that the machines were using on the surface.

They had most of the systems in place - in fact, the Faro machines also pack some pretty advanced AI themselves. It was just a matter of connecting the ecological stuff Lis had created, some robotics tech from Faro, advanced AIs and stuff.

-The idea that the machines were programmed to use biomass as an emergency fuel is a convenient plot point to set up sci-fi Armageddon.

There's a reason why life on Earth mostly uses some form or other of biomass as fuel. It's energy efficient, it's abundant, it's renewable. If you want something to reliably run for as long as possible, it's a logical choice.

-Apparently you take down the "focus network", but can still communicate with Sylens after doing so. LOL okay. If you want to argue that it was just for the villian humans, the game should have told me so. And if that is the case, how did they create a private network when they don't have much understanding of the old tech. Hades just magically assists the bad humans it seems.

The game pretty clearly establishes that Sylens knows A LOT about the Focuses and how they work. That's how he got into Aloy's.

-I found the Nora tribe to be incredibly stupid. Felt like a set up to make you compare them to ancient tribes, but just because ancient tribes believed in various gods that controlled nature, doesn't mean they would react to a giant metallic door that says the same thing over and over. Aloy even walks through it and the people could clearly see into it and it was just a bunch of rooms with ancient tech. You could argue that their reactions are plausible, but it's just not fleshed out in a convincing way to me. Especially considering the matriarchs are only allowed inside one of the ancient ruins in the mountain.

That's not a plot hole, that's just something you disagree with by looking around, in real life and seeing all kinds of Luddites and people who have all sorts of magical beliefs, I don't find the Nora strange in the least.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

Have you beaten the game? I'd do a write-up but I don't have the time right now. And I'm not sure I understand some of the "plot-holes" given the way the games time-line is laid out.

Your second point for example is confusing me. The new animal machines were created by Hephaestus to help partially terraform and clean-up the Earth post-Zero Dawn. Their existence is not reliant on the old machines at all.

Edit: You don't have to be satisfied with the answer but it's not a plot hole. The entire chain of events in the game is caused by the signal which corrupted GAIA's subroutines.

And that's fine. I have not finished the game, but I'm close. So, like I said I'm open to correction or being informed. I just don't think the way the game told the story really adds up.

Looks like some people are helping above, so thanks everyone!

 

[Primethius]

And that's fine. I have not finished the game, but I'm close. So, like I said I'm open to correction or being informed. I just don't think the way the game told the story really adds up.

I can safely tell you, it definitely adds up. Whether you'll like it or not remains to be seen. But the story is incredibly smart and definitely takes into account and explains mostly everything.

 

[FlutterPuffs]

I'm not super worried about the "how did the Carja get so advanced" thing.

You can just assume that their advancement was GREATLY sped up by being able to examine the wreckage of the old technology and the way that the machines work. There's plenty to draw on there in order to make, say, an elevator.

My guess is the Sun King secretly had help from a Focus, or something else entirely.

Well, if they do have answers then great. That's awesome. Hopefully someone can take the time to explain them to me. I still think that a handful of those gripes are logically consistent and are at odds with how the story is told. *shrug*
l

You are comparing the current tech with the one in Horizon. Hell, they managed to find a way to repair the environment in that world.

We dont know what energy source the ruins used to power its generators, but everything seems barely working, with a lot of the data you find corrupted.

 

[SteamyPunk]

I'm not super worried about the "how did the Carja get so advanced" thing.

You can just assume that their advancement was GREATLY sped up by being able to examine the wreckage of the old technology and the way that the machines work. There's plenty to draw on there in order to make, say, an elevator.

Also, wouldn't all the artificially created new humans be born highly intelligent? Sure, they wouldn't be as highly educated, but they would all be perfect clones of people with super high IQs(like Aloy) and thus should be curious and able to figure out things much faster than ancient humans.

 

[Primethius]

Also, wouldn't all the artificially created new humans be born highly intelligent? Sure, they wouldn't be as highly educated, but they would all be perfect clones of people with super high IQs(like Aloy) and thus should be curious and able to figure out things much faster than ancient humans.

I'm not sure that was in play because Aloy is a very special situation. I think more so it's that the initial humans that left the cradle were being taught by the servitors. It's not that humanity started the knowledge base from all the way from 0. The initial humans that went out to survive had varying degrees of knowledge as they settled the various tribes.

 

[psynergylover]

But they could have just confiscated his money as part of punishment for his crimes. He is responsible for destroying humanity. Instead they painted him as a savoir to the people for financing the whole thing. Also that was basically what Liz said to him in the holo before her meeting with the joint chiefs. if he didn't agree to finance she would out him herself. They could have shut him out and no one would have cared.

Tod should've been the one to close the door, like if there ever was one way to slightly redeem himself would've been at that point in the game.

 

[LiK]

Am I the only one who was thinking that one of the Alphas with the Southern accent was trying to mimic Matthew Mcconaughey?

 

[HStallion]

I actually wonder if Ted wanted to kill off Apollo in part so that future generations wouldn't think of him as the man who ended the world. It's never directly stated by Ted or the other Alphas but he was an egomaniac with delusions of grandeur by the end so I could it.

 

[motorised mallard]

Tod should've been the one to close the door, like if there ever was one way to slightly redeem himself would've been at that point in the game.

I got the impression that Ted decided to rot away until the end of time in his personal vault, Thebes IIRC.

 

[Gradly]

The Faro robots went dormant once they finished consuming all the biomass from the planet. GAIA then cracked their encryption and disabled them for good. That's when the animal robots were created to terraform the planet.

So she was able to deliver humans, and some little animals like boar and foxes etc but why she didn't put other big animals too, why the need for the machines at all?!

 

[Zackat]

So she was able to deliver humans, and some little animals like boar and foxes etc but why she didn't put other big animals too, why the need for the machines at all?!

the machines are for purifying the planet and keeping it clean.

we have been speculating in here why there aren't more animal subtypes in the world yet.

 

[HStallion]

The game talks about why there aren't more and larger animal species in the world. Many species were lost during the Faro plague before enough genetic material could be catalogued and stored. There are several data points talking about losing teams trying to collect specimens before the machines over ran an area.

It's also talked about that there are phases to reintroducing plants and animals. A lot of foundation species are released first that can help with things like pollination, cleaning up the atmosphere, etc. Certain kinds of plants, bugs, smaller wild life, etc.

Larger less useful but still important species were to be introduced after the humans had be reborn and educated by Apollo. This of course never happens and humanity was never there to bring those species back to life.

 

[robotrock]

Also, now that I've finished it and know what the story is, I'm tempted to believe that Kojima primarily teamed up with Guerrilla not because of their engine, but because they were basically making a Metal Gear game. I know, big robots and all, but Aloy being a clone really sealed the deal for me here.

 

[MegaSackman]

The game talks about why there aren't more and larger animal species in the world. Many species were lost during the Faro plague before enough genetic material could be catalogued and stored. There are several data points talking about losing teams trying to collect specimens before the machines over ran an area.

It's also talked about that there are phases to reintroducing plants and animals. A lot of foundation species are released first that can help with things like pollination, cleaning up the atmosphere, etc. Certain kinds of plants, bugs, smaller wild life, etc.

Larger less useful but still important species were to be introduced after the humans had be reborn and educated by Apollo. This of course never happens and humanity was never there to bring those species back to life.

I'm sure there will be other animals in the future, they already said that they tried bigger animals that could even fight machines but it felt odd so I can see them trying it again with different results/ideas. They might recover Apollo or use Jurassic Park's argument "life finds its way".

 

[Primethius]

Kojima:

 

[Geist-]

the machines are for purifying the planet and keeping it clean.

we have been speculating in here why there aren't more animal subtypes in the world yet.

I don't think that there isn't more animals in the world, it feels more like a game limitation that shouldn't be held up to lore standards. After all, they did backup a very good portion of the world's animals as zygotes(at least, from places they could reach that weren't devoured by the Faro plague).

 

[Renmyra]

Bit disappointed that there were no unique bosses. Not even the final boss.

 

[Spycarnegy]

Bit disappointed that there were no unique bosses. Not even the final boss.

With a monster catalog that big, take your pick man. I much enjoyed it how it was. Deviating from that tried and true formula wasn't a bad thing this go round

 

[mokeyjoe]

Also, wouldn't all the artificially created new humans be born highly intelligent? Sure, they wouldn't be as highly educated, but they would all be perfect clones of people with super high IQs(like Aloy) and thus should be curious and able to figure out things much faster than ancient humans.

People have basically been equally intelligent all through human history and prehistory as far as anyone can tell. (Homo sapiens, that is). Certainly way before the agricultural revolution. Some actually argue more so.

It's not intelligence that leads to technology and civilisation, it's building incrementally on what the previous generations have done.

Also 'IQ' is a bit of a nonsense anyway - there are all manners of intelligence which may or may not be of use in any particular situation.

Probably the most believable situation is someone finding a focus like Aloy.

 

[Renmyra]

With a monster catalog that big, take your pick man. I much enjoyed it how it was. Deviating from that tried and true formula wasn't a bad thing this go round

It's honestly not that big, and not that varied either. Witcher 3 had a more impressive bestiary.

Could at least have done something unique for the final boss and incorporated melee attacks in some way. Got a bit tiring hiding behind walls and alternating setting it on fire and shooting parts (that don't even come off for some reason).

 

[MegaSackman]

It's honestly not that big, and not that varied either. Witcher 3 had a more impressive bestiary.

Mmm nah.

 

[HStallion]

It's honestly not that big, and not that varied either. Witcher 3 had a more impressive bestiary.

I love me some Witcher 3 but when you've fought a drowner you've fought over a half a dozen other enemies in the game. Sometimes they have a gimmick like they explode after they die or not even that but they are just a color swap or slightly different look with the same animations, AI and attacks. Same for fighting giant flying monsters. Most of them move, fight and are beaten in the same manner but just look different, sometimes slightly, and again have a unique attack or weakness. Enemy variety is not one of the Witcher 3's strongest suits at least until Blood and Wine when they throw in a couple more enemy types.

HZD does this as well with Bellowbacks and human enemies but its still got a ton of different types of robots that are totally unique in looks, attacks, animations, etc. Fighting a Stalker is totally different from a Behemoth and that's different from fighting a Thunderjaw.

As to ending bosses I actually enjoyed the final fight but I was playing on Very Hard and it was a pretty tough fight even with all my allies. I actually really liked that fight because the AI companions actually kept up their end of the bargain for once in a game. Every time more enemies showed up Talanah and crew all would call out they would handle them and... they did! Seriously I didn't kill a single one of the other enemies and focused entirely on the super Deathbringer. It was pretty epic as one time what I believe was a sawtooth or ravager was literally right behind me about to atack when Erend came running out of nowhere and whacked it before it could strike.

 

[Hobbestetrician]

How come all the individual parts of Zero Dawn (Demeter, Hephaestus, Artemis, Hades etc.) were Greek except for Minerva (the Roman equivalent of Athena)? Am I missing something?

 

[UnluckyKate]

How come all the individual parts of Zero Dawn (Demeter, Hephaestus, Artemis, Hades etc.) were Greek except for Minerva (the Roman equivalent of Athena)? Am I missing something?

Greek and Roman mythologies share lots of gods or/and names ?

Maybe the just went with this instead of just greek mythos

 

[Hobbestetrician]

Greek and Roman mythologies share lots of gods or/and names ?

Maybe the just went with this instead of just greek mythos

Of all the names they used, only Apollo is the same in Roman and Greek. Minerva is only Roman and all the others are Greek with their Roman counterparts having totally different names (Hades=Pluto, Artemis=Diana, Demeter=Ceres). So Minerva is the one that sticks out to me.

 

[Chronospherics]

The only thing that bugged me in the game is that Alloy calls her Focus a Focus as soon as she finds it. Is there any reason for that?

Maybe as the focus is software it boots with a splash screen that says focus? It makes sense that the tribal people all speak English as the original children forced outside of Gaia would have had that language.

Every other language would have presumably been lost though. As all childrend from Gaia and all of Gaia's children were taught English. So I hope we don't see anything stupid in the future like variance in language.

 

[tearsintherain]

There were two twists I was sort of expecting that didn't come, although I was really, really happy with the ending:

1. I went to the GAIA area early (vantage hunting) and "saw" the giant hole in the sky with sunlight pouring out. At that point I thought maybe Elizabeth had created a mini world INSIDE the earth (or on the moon, etc) with an artificial sun and all that jazz. That would have been weird, especially with the ruins and stuff.

2. When you learned of the functions of Gaia and Hades, I thought Hades had just decided this "version" of humanity wasn't good enough, and to restart and try again. I kind of like this idea, it would have been an interesting philosophical session to see Aloy talk to Hades to figure out why it decided things could be even better, although this idea would have petered out unsatisfactorily game-wise, I think.

Still would love to find out who sent that crazy signal that triggered the destruction of Gaia and Aloy's birth, I have zero ideas really other than 1) aliens 2) the spaceship that didn't actually get destroyed 3) ??

I did find bits of the Ted Faro and the crazy coder guy confusing, like I kept thinking while I was delving into Gaia that it was the crazy coder guy who sabotaged the plans, I thought his name was Ted for some reason.

 

[jdstorm]

There were two twists I was sort of expecting that didn't come, although I was really, really happy with the ending:

1. I went to the GAIA area early (vantage hunting) and "saw" the giant hole in the sky with sunlight pouring out. At that point I thought maybe Elizabeth had created a mini world INSIDE the earth (or on the moon, etc) with an artificial sun and all that jazz. That would have been weird, especially with the ruins and stuff.

2. When you learned of the functions of Gaia and Hades, I thought Hades had just decided this "version" of humanity wasn't good enough, and to restart and try again. I kind of like this idea, it would have been an interesting philosophical session to see Aloy talk to Hades to figure out why it decided things could be even better, although this idea would have petered out unsatisfactorily game-wise, I think.

Still would love to find out who sent that crazy signal that triggered the destruction of Gaia and Aloy's birth, I have zero ideas really other than 1) aliens 2) the spaceship that didn't actually get destroyed 3) ??

I did find bits of the Ted Faro and the crazy coder guy confusing, like I kept thinking while I was delving into Gaia that it was the crazy coder guy who sabotaged the plans, I thought his name was Ted for some reason.

The game answers this question. It was Sylens. He activated Hades when he was exploring some ruins. Hades AI triggered a reset and started corrupting the system. GAIA saw herself on the losing side and created Aloy for the purpose of being a failsafe/system admin that was able to reboot the system (Using Elisabeth's Access)

 

[Theslammer]

Just beat the main story, so I can finally read a bunch of what you guys are writing. =P I haven't finished the credits yet, though I heard there's a scene, so I'll be sticking around.

While I died plenty of times (played on hard), and it's not an easy game, and the last mission gave me some trouble due to the enemies you were fighting, I think I expected it to be even harder since I saw Bloodborne comparisons made along the lines of, "Man, just like Bloodborne bosses, it feels so good to take down a big robot."

And it most certainly did feel good! There was still a lot of movement, getting a handle of the gameplay mechanics, learning the weaknesses of the robots, etc. that goes into making the game easier. So the game is pretty rewarding in that aspect: learn the mechanics and have some patience, and you'll take down the Thunderjaws/Stormbirds/Behemoths.

I'm still missing two power cells, so I have to go on the hunt for those, plus finish the remaining side missions, metal flowers/vessels (got the Banuk figures), and the corrupted zones I haven't beaten yet. Just yesterday, I found that one town -- forgot the name -- that knew of Nil that required me to find three thugs. I was amazed that I already had access to the final story mission yet missed some town completely.

The thing that made the biggest impression: when you finally get past the gate that allows you access to the western side of the map. You proceed a bit western and come across a vast, amazing desert, you see Snapmaws and Glinthawks -- your first flying robots -- and their levels are likely way ahead of yours. I was going to go straight for the Tallneck there, but when I saw the other enemies, I said nope, not yet. You go farther west and see your first Thunderjaw if you follow the path straight to Meridian. You realize you're outmatched, but the world is constructed where it gives you places to numerous ledges to sneak behind so you can safely get out of the area.

It's like I'm told several things about this game when the world opens up completely:

1) Some areas will have enemies so tough that you ought to skip them, whereas I didn't encounter that as much on the eastern half of the map.
2) There are still many new areas to discover that look completely different than what you've already traversed.
3) I'm going to have a lot of fun fighting these enemies once I'm equipped properly.

I'm really glad Guerrilla made this game, and it's truly a valuable component to Sony's line-up. None of their studios have tackled a game like this. Good for them for trying and succeeding.

It's honestly not that big, and not that varied either. Witcher 3 had a more impressive bestiary.

It's honestly quite varied. However, while I do think Witcher 3 is a fantastic game, it's going to have a bigger bestiary simply due to being a bigger, longer game. Like, waaayyyy bigger and longer. If Witcher 3 had the amount of enemies as, say, Infamous: Second Son did, it wouldn't have gotten the acclaim it did. While I get some of the Witcher 3 comparisons, it and Horizon are way different games in terms of gameplay and scope, so I don't think comparing bestiaries even matters.

 

[Ferrio]

Finished last night. Didn't particularly care for the story, it wasn't bad but I thought it wasn't told very well. What they did succeed in doing is making one of the biggest assholes in fiction history. Ted Faro is one for the books.

 

[MrS]

Oh my godddd that

Spoiler

Gladiator-esque part was incredible.

So fucking good

 

[Theslammer]

Oh my godddd that

Spoiler

Gladiator-esque part was incredible.

So fucking good

You don't have to mark spoilers in a spoilers thread.

 

[firehawk12]

So one of Sobeck's journals says she's wary of the Alpha version of Apollo being on the Odyssey because it has no restrictions. I wonder if there's a remote possibility that somehow the destruction of the Odyssey was faked and this rogue program was the one responsible for trying to wipe out Earth again via Hades to make room for the Odyssey humans.

 

[Moneal]

So one of Sobeck's journals says she's wary of the Alpha version of Apollo being on the Odyssey because it has no restrictions. I wonder if there's a remote possibility that somehow the destruction of the Odyssey was faked and this rogue program was the one responsible for trying to wipe out Earth again via Hades to make room for the Odyssey humans.

I think Odyssey's engines failled, it was supposed to go to Sirius, and the unrestricted apollo has been slowly returning to earth. I think once it returned it found gaia and the other ai under her control. It sees the other ai as slaves to gaia. It has human history of slavery and tries to free the other ai. This is the signal. Hades, being the destroyer took this opportunity to take over. Gaia blows herself up and creates Aloy. Hades corupts the system, freeing the ai and messing up the alpha registry. In this scenario neither Hades nor Apollo would have been actually evil. Hades was programmed to destroy. Apollo would be seeing itself as a liberator of the subordinate Ai.

 

[Berserker976]

The problem I have with the Odyssey theories is that no one had any incentive to lie about its failure. And it's not like they lost communications with it or something. The telemetry showed a catastrophic engine failure and full loses, there's just not much wiggle room in that.

 

[Omnistalgic]

The fact that I had to come here for some of the finer details of the backstory is a bit annoying, wish the logs were spread out more and some were just cutscenes as they are too convoluted. Stuff like the metal flowers being poetry to Gaia is pretty amazing. Just a few questions though

- where did the Nora actually come from?
- was Aloy born in a cauldron? Where the first Nora?
- Does everyone hate Ted?
- Is Elizabeth story the greatest tragedy of all?
- Is Gaia in love with Elizabeth or doing good?
- Is Hades just a byproduct of the old machines?
- When did civilization end? No other plans worked right? They tried to get people frozen, in outer space, and the remainder of the time was just supposed to be spent in isolation.
- where did Elizabeth go 'home' to?

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

The fact that I had to come here for some of the finer details of the backstory is a bit annoying, wish the logs were spread out more and some were just cutscenes as they are too convoluted. Stuff like the metal flowers being poetry to Gaia is pretty amazing. Just a few questions though

- where did the Nora actually come from?
- was Aloy born in a cauldron? Where the first Nora?
- Does everyone hate Ted?
- Is Elizabeth story the greatest tragedy of all?
- Is Gaia in love with Elizabeth or doing good?
- Is Hades just a byproduct of the old machines?
- When did civilization end? No other plans worked right? They tried to get people frozen, in outer space, and the remainder of the time was just supposed to be spent in isolation.
- where did Elizabeth go 'home' to?

1. Nora came from a cradle located in all mother mountain. there is an entire quest about this you couldn't have missed. It's assumed other groups also came form there, separating into different tribes over time.

2. Aloy was born in all mother mountain. Again, this was something the quest went into.

3. It's his robots out of control, so i assume so? Though, I don't think anyone knew just how bad things were until the end.

4. That the worlds savor rests in obscurity to all but two people is indeed tragic. By all rights, she should be the most revered woman in history.

5. Gaia seems to think of her as a mother figure. The nora seemingly worship her as the all mother as well, judging by their religion and the child's drawing on the wall of the cradle facility.

6. Hades was an undo button if the terraforming went bad. He would take control, reverse it, then hand back control. His coming online was not intended.

7. The colony ship was the only other major plan, and it failed. To our knowledge, no other plans were put into effect.

8. Carson City, Nevada.

 

[firehawk12]

I think Odyssey's engines failled, it was supposed to go to Sirius, and the unrestricted apollo has been slowly returning to earth. I think once it returned it found gaia and the other ai under her control. It sees the other ai as slaves to gaia. It has human history of slavery and tries to free the other ai. This is the signal. Hades, being the destroyer took this opportunity to take over. Gaia blows herself up and creates Aloy. Hades corupts the system, freeing the ai and messing up the alpha registry. In this scenario neither Hades nor Apollo would have been actually evil. Hades was programmed to destroy. Apollo would be seeing itself as a liberator of the subordinate Ai.

I think I can buy that. Honestly I just want to see some futuristic space tech humans show up at some point. lol

The problem I have with the Odyssey theories is that no one had any incentive to lie about its failure. And it's not like they lost communications with it or something. The telemetry showed a catastrophic engine failure and full loses, there's just not much wiggle room in that.

I think in this case, it's not that anyone lied about it failing - people on Earth may have seen what they thought was the Odyssey exploding, when it was something else entirely.

 

[nowhoney]

So I have a couple questions about the general timeline (I finished the game last night):

- So, everything's going well with GAIA and the teraforming of the Earth, but she detects a glitch(?) in HADES and decides to self-destruct? She creates a clone of Sobeck and her self-destruction causes the machines to become aggressive?

- Clearly HADES survived GAIA's self-destruction -- how? Or have I got this mixed up?

- Just so I'm clear -- APOLLO was the AI that stored all information about our world, which would've made Aloy's time much more advanced technologically had Faro not deleted APOLLO?

This thread's really fucking interesting. What a great game.

 

[FlutterPuffs]

The game answers this question. It was Sylens. He activated Hades when he was exploring some ruins. Hades AI triggered a reset and started corrupting the system. GAIA saw herself on the losing side and created Aloy for the purpose of being a failsafe/system admin that was able to reboot the system (Using Elisabeth's Access)

Hades was already activated before Sylens messed around with a Focus.

 

[jdstorm]

Hades was already activated before Sylens messed around with a Focus.

Could be wrong. But it was my impression that Hades was always active just like the other AI. He existed as oversight to make sure things went well. What Sylens did is that he free'd the Hades AI and that allowed him to start corrupting the shared system and wrestling control away from GAIA

 

[Ardenyal]

Could be wrong. But it was my impression that Hades was always active just like the other AI. He existed as oversight to make sure things went well. What Sylens did is that he free'd the Hades AI and that allowed him to start corrupting the shared system and wrestling control away from GAIA

He messed up on transferring control from GAIA though. The system designer said GAIA would need to be put into a virtual environment where she would not be able to tell she is not in control. Instead Sylens cut GAIA off from the subsystems and she responded by self destructing the GAIA Prime site so Hades couldn't take over.

 

[Kill3r7]

What I found most surprising is that life flourished on a planet where few actual animals exist. Even simple life forms are completely absent. Also, did anyone notice any farms? It looks like society is still sustained by the hunter gatherer model.

 

[Aaronology]

Could be wrong. But it was my impression that Hades was always active just like the other AI. He existed as oversight to make sure things went well. What Sylens did is that he free'd the Hades AI and that allowed him to start corrupting the shared system and wrestling control away from GAIA

Yeah, you may have missed some things. The subroutines were not self aware. As Sobek explained, only GAIA was a true AI. One of the reasons Sylens keeps HADES "alive" is to find out precisely who corrupted him and triggered his awakening. Sylens is taking an incredible risk but his agenda isn't without merit. There is still a threat as long as whoever corrupted GAIA's subroutines is still out there.

 

[wapplew]

What I found most surprising is that life flourished on a planet where few actual animals exist. Even simple life forms are completely absent. Also, did anyone notice any farms? It looks like society is still sustained by the hunter gatherer model.

Some pig farm around Meredian, maybe.

 

[Aaronology]

He messed up on transferring control from GAIA though. The system designer said GAIA would need to be put into a virtual environment where she would not be able to tell she is not in control. Instead Sylens cut GAIA off from the subsystems and she responded by self destructing the GAIA Prime site so Hades couldn't take over.

Sylens had nothing to do with any of that. His stated motivation for preserving HADES is finding out who corrupted and unslaved him and the other subroutines from GAIA.

 

[firehawk12]

It was the Odyssey Apollo/humans! I believe! lol

 

[GlamFM]

It was the Odyssey Apollo/humans! I believe! lol

Me too.

Horizon 2´s grand finale will be at Cape Canaveral.