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Oni2:Slaves of War/Polylectiloquy: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 01:12, 15 October 2011
, 15 October 2011→Is "Imago" really Imago?
(→Is "Imago" really Imago?: adding some very demonstrative text to make a new point about how Muro is not the end-all and be-all) |
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:The word "Imago" occurs only once in Oni, in [[Quotes/Objectives#Chapter_14_:_DAWN_OF_THE_CHRYSALIS|the final mission objective]]: "Muro has achieved the next level of Daodan evolution: the Imago stage." "Imago" means the final, adult stage of an insect. Two interesting questions arise here: how does anyone, even Hasegawa, know what the final stage is (has anyone reached Imago stage yet? aren't Mai and Muro the "prime symbiotes"?), and is it significant that Bungie wrote "the next stage" instead of "the final stage"? | :The word "Imago" occurs only once in Oni, in [[Quotes/Objectives#Chapter_14_:_DAWN_OF_THE_CHRYSALIS|the final mission objective]]: "Muro has achieved the next level of Daodan evolution: the Imago stage." "Imago" means the final, adult stage of an insect. Two interesting questions arise here: how does anyone, even Hasegawa, know what the final stage is (has anyone reached Imago stage yet? aren't Mai and Muro the "prime symbiotes"?), and is it significant that Bungie wrote "the next stage" instead of "the final stage"? | ||
:Could it be that the so-called Imago stage is actually not the final stage at all? For what it's worth, a stage of life in an insect is called an "instar" -- and the emperor moth has at least ''five'' instars. Is it possible that Muro ends up in a form that is not even intended for the Daodan host (assuming the Daodan was designed)? Even if it was intended, could it be the equivalent of the teenage stage of life, gangly, awkward and temporary? | :Could it be that the so-called Imago stage is actually not the final stage at all? For what it's worth, a stage of life in an insect is called an "instar" -- and the emperor moth has at least ''five'' instars. Is it possible that Muro ends up in a form that is not even intended for the Daodan host (assuming the Daodan was designed)? Even if it was intended, could it be the equivalent of the teenage stage of human life, gangly, awkward and temporary? | ||
:To complicate things, the game goes on to state that "Muro's Daodan powers make him invulnerable, but having only just evolved he has limited energy reserves." This is one of those objective texts that seems to break the fourth wall; who is telling us that? How do they know? If it's coming directly from Bungie's mouth, then does that mean we can't contradict it? Even if they didn't say it was the "final" stage, they still claim that Muro is going to become "invulnerable". From a gameplay standpoint, becoming permanently invincible is pretty "final"! This would seem to indicate that Konoko cannot be allowed to reach Imago in a sequel, which is rather unpleasant to contemplate for both gameplay and logical reasons. | :To complicate things, the game goes on to state that "Muro's Daodan powers make him invulnerable, but having only just evolved he has limited energy reserves." This is one of those objective texts that seems to break the fourth wall; who is telling us that? How do they know? If it's coming directly from Bungie's mouth, then does that mean we can't contradict it? Even if they didn't say it was the "final" stage, they still claim that Muro is going to become "invulnerable". From a gameplay standpoint, becoming permanently invincible is pretty "final"! This would seem to indicate that Konoko cannot be allowed to reach Imago in a sequel, which is rather unpleasant to contemplate for both gameplay and logical reasons. | ||
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:However, we can look at that text another way. Note that the final mission objective refers to Muro having "limited energy reserves" because he has "just evolved". Perhaps a Daodan host can store <u>some</u> energy, but since one cannot store infinite energy, obviously the host needs to keep taking in energy faster than they expend it; this is a basic rule of life. So perhaps what Bungie's really saying is, "Muro is not yet drawing in energy as fast as he can expend it". Here "reserve" is defined as "throughput from the source", or "energy bandwidth" -- how big a reservoir of energy Muro can access from minute-to-minute, if you will. Think about Konoko: she never stops being Daodan-boosted (in terms of basic physical enhancements, not the Daodan overpower mode); one way to explain this is that ''Konoko's energy reserves never run out either, for her level of energy expenditure''. | :However, we can look at that text another way. Note that the final mission objective refers to Muro having "limited energy reserves" because he has "just evolved". Perhaps a Daodan host can store <u>some</u> energy, but since one cannot store infinite energy, obviously the host needs to keep taking in energy faster than they expend it; this is a basic rule of life. So perhaps what Bungie's really saying is, "Muro is not yet drawing in energy as fast as he can expend it". Here "reserve" is defined as "throughput from the source", or "energy bandwidth" -- how big a reservoir of energy Muro can access from minute-to-minute, if you will. Think about Konoko: she never stops being Daodan-boosted (in terms of basic physical enhancements, not the Daodan overpower mode); one way to explain this is that ''Konoko's energy reserves never run out either, for her level of energy expenditure''. | ||
:From that standpoint, we could then go on to say that Muro | :From that standpoint, we could then go on to say that Muro can only become "invulnerable" in <u>relative</u> terms; that is, there is nothing <u>Konoko</u> can do <u>at the moment</u> that can hurt him when his shield is up. But Muro is not going to become <u>absolutely</u> invincible -- the idea is silly if one considers it in those terms -- he has simply stepped up his energy usage to a new plateau that his intake cannot yet match. This interpretation allows us to say that there is still room for further development; that Muro has not reached the final stage yet. This ties back to Bungie calling it the "next" stage in the objective text, not the "final" one. Perhaps "Imago" was a misnomer after all (we'll just ignore that Bungie themselves call it that and [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HandWave hand-wave] it as "Hasegawa thought this was the Imago stage, but he was wrong")! | ||
===Wouldn't the Daodan make the host immortal?=== | ===Wouldn't the Daodan make the host immortal?=== | ||