Questionable ethics - Living Memory

[Colt47]

My favorite part of this entire part of the MSQ was turning on the fountains, because burning more innocent souls so people could have fountains and a fireworks display before we shut everything down makes perfect sense. But again, the problems are mostly ignoring everything that came before this when writing the story. We could literally have cured levin sickness via the same methods we handled the light sickness, we have ultima thule to prove we don't need living aether to keep the memories of someone alive, we have the knowledge to seal a soul in a crystal without destroying it since we made the journey with our allies back from the first, so we could have just trapped Sphene harmlessly to prevent her memory erasure or to simply stop her from doing something, yet somehow we decided to take the most unnecessary and risky method for the sake of an epic fight.

[OMGJesuis66]

My favorite part of this entire part of the MSQ was turning on the fountains, because burning more innocent souls so people could have fountains and a fireworks display before we shut everything down makes perfect sense. But again, the problems are mostly ignoring everything that came before this when writing the story. We could literally have cured levin sickness via the same methods we handled the light sickness, we have ultima thule to prove we don't need living aether to keep the memories of someone alive, we have the knowledge to seal a soul in a crystal without destroying it since we made the journey with our allies back from the first, so we could have just trapped Sphene harmlessly to prevent her memory erasure or to simply stop her from doing something, yet somehow we decided to take the most unnecessary and risky method for the sake of an epic fight.

Cure tempering shouldn't have ever been a thing, that was a dreadful MSQ choice that trivialized one of the biggest issues in the narrative reality, and yet it was done and somehow only one person has this now miraculous cure. The presence of dynamis is what preserves Ultima Thule nature, how to apply that to an actual world is still akin to a mystery. Living Memory is still part of the world, while dynamis has spoken to be only extraterrestrial energy. It's still an untouched territory, and yeah, Dynamis could solve a lot of the narrative problems. Again, god-like tools. The knowledge of putting people inside a crystal comes from the pursuit of White Auracite, a resource that only a few actually have in hand and it is not exactly a reliable effort, as one can tap into the memories within and pull the memories out at any time. A more reliable method would be the contramemoria method. One which wasn't spoken to us how to make it and also a method that set the 13th on their path for the Flood of Darkness.

It's awful that the MSQ kept giving answers for all the problems in existence precisely because of that, now no threat is relevant because we have the answers for everything. It's removed the weight of so many problems, it is one thing to give them methods that can tend to those issues, but finding a complete and absolute cure is bad if you plan to keep the story consistent of this still being an issue. But well, what do I know?

[Bright-Flower]

My favorite part of this entire part of the MSQ was turning on the fountains, because burning more innocent souls so people could have fountains and a fireworks display before we shut everything down makes perfect sense. But again, the problems are mostly ignoring everything that came before this when writing the story. We could literally have cured levin sickness via the same methods we handled the light sickness, we have ultima thule to prove we don't need living aether to keep the memories of someone alive, we have the knowledge to seal a soul in a crystal without destroying it since we made the journey with our allies back from the first, so we could have just trapped Sphene harmlessly to prevent her memory erasure or to simply stop her from doing something, yet somehow we decided to take the most unnecessary and risky method for the sake of an epic fight.

We should have been able to mention something about the levin sickness. However, we can't really hold up ultima thule as an example of anything. The laws of reality literally work differently there.

Cure tempering shouldn't have ever been a thing, that was a dreadful MSQ choice that trivialized one of the biggest issues in the narrative reality, and yet it was done and somehow only one person has this now miraculous cure.

I personally feel like the tempering cure was earned narratively. Plus it came at a time when primals were no longer really a focus of the story anyway. Just because something like tempering is a problem at the start of a story doesn't mean it has to stay that way the whole time and that the world shouldn't find solutions to its problems. And while Alisae was the one to sprearhead the development there's no 'one person' that can do it now because that knowledge has been shared.

[Magikazam]

Y'all are still missing the point.

If your existence only depends on sucking other peoples' lives

You mean like the voidsent, that we did consider as people? Also don't forget everyone that eat, just feed on ''life''

[CVXIV]

You mean like the voidsent, that we did consider as people? Also don't forget everyone that eat, just feed on ''life''

If you want to bring up the voidsent I can mention that we showed Zero several times that consuming others isn't the only way to recover her aether, as she has been shown to enjoy a variety of food that is sufficient along with being on the source. You could say that it's one voidsent, and that it doesn't solve the issue their realm faces but her and Golbez together seem to be searching for a way to fix things. What that entails remains to be seen.

Also, the consumption of food is a natural cycle of life, and we were told many times that the cycle of Endless is not natural and goes against the very principle of it. They hammer it in a lot in the last zone that what Sphene is doing is not natural and is not right. Granted, as far as we know, they had no say in being one of the endless, but we still had to put a stop to Sphene's machinations otherwise life would end completely.

[CidHeiral]

Shutting down the Endless struck me as no different than wiping a hard drive. It's interesting that so many people are wracked by some kind of moral panic about it, but if that bit of the story has everyone talking this much I'd say it was a success. Better to have a thought provoking and divisive story than something boring, IMO.

[Magikazam]

If you want to bring up the voidsent I can mention that we showed Zero several times that consuming others isn't the only way to recover her aether, as she has been shown to enjoy a variety of food

Alright, good to know all Sphene had to do was turn us into meatball to solve the issue. Beside the reason you can consume food to recover Aether is cause, you know, whatever you cooked to do a meal used to be alive (or part of something alive in case of fruits), that Aether still come from consuming others in the end. The only point im trying to make here is that technically in lore everyone consume living Aether and as such you can't really blame the Endless for that.

The moral issue here is more about the fact Sphene just decide to ''canibalise'' the entire world and it shards rather to try and find a more resonable solution.

And that where most story telling complain come from. They tried to do a ''Ancient 2.0'' situation but did an horrible job at it. They wanted to tell a story about the circle of life and how breaking it is bad, but forgot we're in a universe where Primals and dragon exist. They wrote the Endless as Data, forgetting that Omnicron (and Omega) are sentient AI/data. In fact, want me to solve the whole Endless moral issue? Omnicron used to be non robot being that uploaded their mind into a computer, turning them into robots and AI. so you know, We could just have turned them into new omnicron at that point.


Like, I can even think of a way to keep the story similar to how it is with the same conclusion while solving all the lore and moral issues.

[Magikazam]

Shutting down the Endless struck me as no different than wiping a hard drive. It's interesting that so many people are wracked by some kind of moral panic about it, but if that bit of the story has everyone talking this much I'd say it was a success. Better to have a thought provoking and divisive story than something boring, IMO.

The issue here is that due to Omnicron and Ultima thule being. We know that data is/can be alive in lore. I'm not denying the meme people keep bringing that ''They are just a Sims 4 save file'', my point is that it canon in lore that your Sism 4 save file can potentially be alive.

Yea if we apply real life logic the whole argument is silly.

[Ayche]

Omicrons were never able to completely Ship of Theseus their souls away. It was a tiny tiny fraction that was left rattling somewhere deep inside their consciousness, but that was what responded when they were confronted by Meteion and it is something that Omega on its dying moments also grasped deep within itself.

[OMGJesuis66]

-snip-

The theme of the expansion is Legacy.
It is all about knowing that the cycle of nature must be respected, the living must carry on the legacy of those who passed before us while knowing that one day, we will pass too and we will pass this legacy to others.
Altering the cycle is harmful since it builds stagnancy. The Ea and Omnicron got erased by stagnancy and lack of meaningful purpose.
There is no reason for them to move forward, there is no reason for them to even feel like they should pass their legacy to someone else as they rest.
Everything within Primals, Dragons, and such still respects the cycle of life, and those outside of the cycle of life straight up were consumed by Meteion and the despair it brought.
It is simply a story to learn the weight people have on their shoulders, even Zoraal Ja as simple of a villain as he was, turned into his whole situation due to the inability to be worthy of his father's legacy, as the populace, in general, kept putting pressure onto him.
Learning about the culture, the entire conversation where the Newest Hanu Hanu is forgetting about old rites, how every single bit of the culture was being diluted or not being able to be fulfilled was also the theme of legacy.
The only race that truly respected its legacy where the Giants as they were so attached to their past, and those teachings were taken by Sphene, learned differently since they are from another reflection and twisted due to the inability to move on and know that everything has an end.