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ahoodedfigure

I guess it's sunk cost. No need to torture myself over what are effectively phantasms.

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Thorian Theory for Mass Effect (spoilers, por supuesto)

 

Anyone who wants to play Mass Effect still shouldn't read this blog entry, as I go into detail about a specific moment in the midgame. People who have finished it, or at least cleared Feros, though, don't have to worry about it even if you haven't cleared the whole thing yet.

 
 
 

So, I've been checking out Mass Effect as though it were a movie, completely detached from any decision making and just trying to enjoy it for what it presents the passive viewer.  There's one scene, because I was watching it like it was a movie, that felt framed oddly to me.  When I watched the cinematic again, I wondered if it MIGHT have been on purpose.
 
On Feros, after you've destroyed the Thorian, you find an Asari who goes into exposition mode about Saren and his fantabulous ship.  She gets ejected from some pustule that the Thorian grew to contain her, using her as a translator and a source of cloned warriors.  As she was talking, though, I noticed more of those creature holders.  Here are some pics:
 
Shep's eyes look a little wonky, but that's not why I'm showing you this :)
Shep's eyes look a little wonky, but that's not why I'm showing you this :)
In the upper left, there's the curiously off-center shot of the Asari, with another one of those glowing pustules hanging out in the background.  The upper right has another picture of what appears to be the same one.  The lower right has the main character, with two more in the background, and the last picture is when the Asari first emerges from her own little sack of happy.
 
Thing is, since these bags are used to encapsulate humans, I wonder if there are more people still there, possibly to help the Thorian (or perhaps some young form of it that could later be planted somewhere else) return?  The fact that it was unique means that it was either there for the game and gone when you were done with it, or maybe it was to reduce suspicion, so they could bring it in later as a sort of returning nemesis.  
 
I guess some other theories could be that they were used to fully transform the unwitting into the acid barf zombie things to protect its nest, or that they were developed for further victims but wound up unused.  Another thing that springs to mind is that with video games, things in the background are often a lot easier to set up than they are in film.  In film you often get used to things being on purpose if they're in the background, or perhaps being the artifact of a lucky shot, while as video game usually have a lot more controlled an environment, so they could have just been really proud of the blob texture and wanted to use it again elsewhere, thinking it a nice, throwaway detail to help liven up the background.
 
So, while I'm guessing they may not have had any future plans for it, I thought it was interesting enough that I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention, in case someone found the idea interesting.
 
 

Anyway, back to less spoilery blogs for me, I think. 

5 Comments

5 Comments

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ahoodedfigure

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Edited By ahoodedfigure

 

Anyone who wants to play Mass Effect still shouldn't read this blog entry, as I go into detail about a specific moment in the midgame. People who have finished it, or at least cleared Feros, though, don't have to worry about it even if you haven't cleared the whole thing yet.

 
 
 

So, I've been checking out Mass Effect as though it were a movie, completely detached from any decision making and just trying to enjoy it for what it presents the passive viewer.  There's one scene, because I was watching it like it was a movie, that felt framed oddly to me.  When I watched the cinematic again, I wondered if it MIGHT have been on purpose.
 
On Feros, after you've destroyed the Thorian, you find an Asari who goes into exposition mode about Saren and his fantabulous ship.  She gets ejected from some pustule that the Thorian grew to contain her, using her as a translator and a source of cloned warriors.  As she was talking, though, I noticed more of those creature holders.  Here are some pics:
 
Shep's eyes look a little wonky, but that's not why I'm showing you this :)
Shep's eyes look a little wonky, but that's not why I'm showing you this :)
In the upper left, there's the curiously off-center shot of the Asari, with another one of those glowing pustules hanging out in the background.  The upper right has another picture of what appears to be the same one.  The lower right has the main character, with two more in the background, and the last picture is when the Asari first emerges from her own little sack of happy.
 
Thing is, since these bags are used to encapsulate humans, I wonder if there are more people still there, possibly to help the Thorian (or perhaps some young form of it that could later be planted somewhere else) return?  The fact that it was unique means that it was either there for the game and gone when you were done with it, or maybe it was to reduce suspicion, so they could bring it in later as a sort of returning nemesis.  
 
I guess some other theories could be that they were used to fully transform the unwitting into the acid barf zombie things to protect its nest, or that they were developed for further victims but wound up unused.  Another thing that springs to mind is that with video games, things in the background are often a lot easier to set up than they are in film.  In film you often get used to things being on purpose if they're in the background, or perhaps being the artifact of a lucky shot, while as video game usually have a lot more controlled an environment, so they could have just been really proud of the blob texture and wanted to use it again elsewhere, thinking it a nice, throwaway detail to help liven up the background.
 
So, while I'm guessing they may not have had any future plans for it, I thought it was interesting enough that I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention, in case someone found the idea interesting.
 
 

Anyway, back to less spoilery blogs for me, I think. 

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Geno

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Edited By Geno

Aren't those like the weak points of the Thorian or something? I remember you had to shoot a bunch of them in order to get up to the Asari in the first place. 

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mracoon

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Edited By mracoon

Interesting theory but as the Thorian is killed I would assume all the things in the pod would die too.

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ahoodedfigure

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@Geno: those are the big, dark, cable-like things.  I think they look different, like huge vines sticking out of the wall with a bunch of veins or branches coming out of them.  
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ahoodedfigure

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@mracoon: Well, all is possible in science fantasy, but I was thinking that the Thorian could have a very, very long life cycle, where it implants its "seeds" in one or more hosts as an insurance policy.  Once it dies, they slowly release (once the apparent danger has died down, perhaps).  They're programmed, as the Thorian programs everyone, to find a new, safe place to grow the seeds to create a new, or reconstituted old, Thorian.