Revelations from Patch 6.1

[Iscah]

I dunno how I feel about

Omega just being a normal Omicron just given an upgraded body. It makes him feel less special, I guess? Ive never particularly cared for his character or storyline but even so I'm a bit iffy on this.

Yeah, it doesn't ring true to me either.

Omega's whole "thing" is that it is a created being with phenomenal powers but no concept of anything beyond its directive to learn and evolve. The Omicrons are this confusing junction of "we used to be living beings and we're aware of this, even though we discarded it" and it's not clear whether they're ultimately programmed AIs or genuine descendants of human-equivalent beings. Omega's origin as being created by such people is fine, but saying that it is one of those people sounds wrong.

I'm also not sure what we're supposed to make of the so-casual-I-missed-it-while-playing implication that M-017 from Ultima is (was, could have been) the same entity we now know as Omega. The Omicrons on Ultima seem to be a snapshot of Meteion's interaction with the real ones, recreated and left to think and act by themselves for some unknown amount of time, so presumably at some point after this "snapshot" the real M-017 was transferred-or-copied into Omega and the replicated one has independently developed its existential crisis. (I would have to go over the cutscenes again to figure out exactly how Sir might tie into the timing of it.)

So, are we supposed to learn from this that Omega is so particularly special in some way that it reached this thoughtful state from scratch in two separate "timelines" that put it in very different circumstances?

It all feels a little too connected up.

From this development I would guess we might be aiming for Omega learning that its other self already "developed a heart" itself and can do it again. I preferred my previous understanding that two Omicrons (well, one Omicron and one Omicron-built war machine) had both independently regained individuality and maybe more of them could too, especially now that they're out of Meteion's despair loop.

[EaraGrace]

Yeah, it doesn't ring true to me either.

Omega's whole "thing" is that it is a created being with phenomenal powers but no concept of anything beyond its directive to learn and evolve. The Omicrons are this confusing junction of "we used to be living beings and we're aware of this, even though we discarded it" and it's not clear whether they're ultimately programmed AIs or genuine descendants of human-equivalent beings. Omega's origin as being created by such people is fine, but saying that it is one of those people sounds wrong.

I'm also not sure what we're supposed to make of the so-casual-I-missed-it-while-playing implication that M-017 from Ultima is (was, could have been) the same entity we now know as Omega. The Omicrons on Ultima seem to be a snapshot of Meteion's interaction with the real ones, recreated and left to think and act by themselves for some unknown amount of time, so presumably at some point after this "snapshot" the real M-017 was transferred-or-copied into Omega and the replicated one has independently developed its existential crisis. (I would have to go over the cutscenes again to figure out exactly how Sir might tie into the timing of it.)

So, are we supposed to learn from this that Omega is so particularly special in some way that it reached this thoughtful state from scratch in two separate "timelines" that put it in very different circumstances?

It all feels a little too connected up.

From this development I would guess we might be aiming for Omega learning that its other self already "developed a heart" itself and can do it again. I preferred my previous understanding that two Omicrons (well, one Omicron and one Omicron-built war machine) had both independently regained individuality and maybe more of them could too, especially now that they're out of Meteion's despair loop.

I’m not sure if the assumption that

the souls in Ultima are simply recreations is true. Meteion mentions gathering their “shadowed hearts” and later on describes the dragons we find suffusing the Dynamis in Ulitma as “shadow and shade.” Thus the bodies and landmasses would be recreations, but not the Dynamis infused souls that inhabit them.

I also think the implication regarding M-017 is not that the mind controlling it in Ultima is another Omega, but rather Sir using a body that was vacant for its own purpose. This would’ve happened before he reached out to Meteion and would then be recreated by her.

Or that’s I least my interpretation.