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Post by Nemonus on Jul 26, 2010 6:35:16 GMT 1
To what extent is ME2 Shepard a cyborg?
I'm doing a fic that I would like to be techspeak-heavy, but I'm not sure how much we know, canonically, about what the Lazarus project did to Shepard. I seem to recall reading a fic or two where EDI could actually see through Shepard's eyes, but have no idea if that is canon or not. There's obviously a mechanical clamp put around Shep's spine (or something) in the cutscene, but what does it do?
Apologies if this is in the Codex or the Wiki and I just haven't been able to find it.
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Jul 26, 2010 9:34:28 GMT 1
I think its pretty open to interpretation. Mr. Buch started a fac that said the magical blue liquid was Tupari, which sounds about right. Especially considering BioWare's current trends regarding their lore.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Jul 26, 2010 10:50:59 GMT 1
Well, I think it's stated that most of Shepard's organs were replaced with synthetic duplicates, and as you can see by going renegade, Cerberus put some kind of metal in her face. Hell, the skin weave upgrades you can buy would suggest Shepard has artificially strengthened bones, or even ceramic or metal grafts.
I think it's safe to say Shepard may be more machine now than (wo)man.
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Post by jklinders on Jul 26, 2010 13:32:20 GMT 1
The eyes were replaced seeing as they turn red when renegade. There is significant bone and skin reconstruction. The rest is kind of up to interpretation. They could have re-grown Shep's organs through cloning, or just flat out transplanted new ones in. Only thing I will not accept as having been replaced is the brain. If Shep really is still Shep, it must be the original brain, and brain death must not have happened. Otherwise as far as I am concerned Shep is nothing more than a VI
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Jul 26, 2010 14:44:00 GMT 1
Hmm... this is a hard question to answer since as the others said before, it's all open interpretation.
However, I can add one thing to this, that you might to take an account for.
According to the mutiple interviews with Casey Hudson, he mentions the theme that empathises about the nature of organic and machines. Also he mentions about the issues of being a hybrid organic/machines, I think. So I think to say that Shepard is a hybrid at best. Also 10 cent bet there will be another breaking revelation in ME3 about the truth behind Shepard's reconstruction. I just had a bad feeling that BioWare will do another ass pull in this.
So yeah, you might want to think about that.
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Post by jklinders on Jul 26, 2010 15:40:19 GMT 1
Hmm... this is a hard question to answer since as the others said before, it's all open interpretation. However, I can add one thing to this, that you might to take an account for. According to the mutiple interviews with Casey Hudson, he mentions the theme that empathises about the nature of organic and machines. Also he mentions about the issues of being a hybrid organic/machines, I think. So I think to say that Shepard is a hybrid at best. Also 10 cent bet there will be another breaking revelation in ME3 about the truth behind Shepard's reconstruction. I just had a bad feeling that BioWare will do another ass pull in this. So yeah, you might want to think about that. Bah, I have already entertained the idea that reaper tech was involved in Shep's reconstruction. If they do a "Assuming Direct Control" shtick on Shepard, I'm out. Seriously. Same goes for EDI(definately based on reaper tech) I am so close to throwing in the towel on Bioware's writing as it is, it's not even funny.
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Post by Nemonus on Jul 26, 2010 16:56:08 GMT 1
10 cent bet there will be another breaking revelation in ME3 about the truth behind Shepard's reconstruction. Yeah, probably. As much as everyone might have seen it coming, a Collector-controlled Shepard would be kinda interesting though. Thanks for the help, guys!
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Post by Mr. Glow on Jul 26, 2010 21:08:16 GMT 1
Actually, one of Miranda's logs on Lazarus station pretty much states Shepard's brain was massively damaged, due to oxygen deprivation. I also believe his/her helmet was knocked off during entry to the moon's atmosphere, considering no one bothered to pick it up when they were recovering the body. Because of this, we can likely assume physical damage to the brain as well.
It doesn't make sense that Cerberus were able to bring Shepard back exactly as they were. I have a feeling this was an aspect of the plot that BioWare did not want us to concentrate on, despite the amount of questions it brings up.
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Post by jklinders on Jul 26, 2010 22:02:35 GMT 1
Actually, one of Miranda's logs on Lazarus station pretty much states Shepard's brain was massively damaged, due to oxygen deprivation. I also believe his/her helmet was knocked off during entry to the moon's atmosphere, considering no one bothered to pick it up when they were recovering the body. Because of this, we can likely assume physical damage to the brain as well. It doesn't make sense that Cerberus were able to bring Shepard back exactly as they were. I have a feeling this was an aspect of the plot that BioWare did not want us to concentrate on, despite the amount of questions it brings up. Brain was not mentioned directly in Miranda's logs. I am totally against straight up resurrection in a Sci-fi setting. I would be more comfortable with the idea that he somehow was sustained in a stasis like state in his suit and then retrieved before full brain death. Then he could have been in an induced coma until the rest of the body was reconstructed. Sure you can clone a brain, but can you imprint the lost memories exactly as they were? Too many things do not add up. The obsession with getting Shep back exactly as (s)he was only makes sense if the brain was not destroyed. otherwise we have a Shepard VI and the control chip would have made perfect sense.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Jul 26, 2010 23:41:34 GMT 1
Whoops, sorry. It's actually been a while since I played the opening, I must've remembered it wrong.
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Post by jklinders on Jul 27, 2010 0:02:22 GMT 1
Glow I am just grasping at straws for something sensible instead of "a space wizard did it", There are a couple of vitriolic threads on just this subject in the Bioware forums right now. This story hook really ticks me off, because the universe does not act like Shep died, maybe Shep was asleep but not dead. If that is the case I would rather go with the 2 years in a coma angle. Makes Citadel security not hauling Shep off to a cell pending a full medical and psych eval make much more sense to me.
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Post by Nemonus on Jul 27, 2010 7:47:18 GMT 1
This is giving me a lot of ideas already. Personally it did annoy me that there wasn't much explanation, but it as sortof like there wasn't much explanation of what Shep did on her time off--it was just wasn't something the writers wanted to focus on. However, the "asleep but non dead" bit did annoy me. No one had a freakout over their zombie commander! I'd like to write something about each crewmember's response to Shep's rebirth--more dramatic responses than the emotionlessness we got in the game a lot of the time.
Despite all evidence to the contrary I can't help picturing that Cerberus arranged for Shep's death, General Grievous-style. I know that it wasn't that way; the Collectors ambushed the Normany unexpectedly. But then how did Cerberus (or it was the Shadow Broker's people that got there first, right?) know to get to Alchera so fast?
Also, Tupari is the answer. Yes.
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Post by Mister Buch on Jul 27, 2010 11:40:58 GMT 1
It brings your ancestors back from the grave.
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Post by jklinders on Jul 27, 2010 13:46:21 GMT 1
It brings your ancestors back from the grave. Nine out of 10 people polled prefer Tupari. the last one is on my list
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renegadepoint
Lieutenant
Lets all take a step back from the weird alien impaling devices...
Posts: 188
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Post by renegadepoint on Jul 28, 2010 6:23:23 GMT 1
Only LOSERS drink Paragade
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