I haven't seen anybody discuss this, and am genuinely wondering if I just missed something.

When you crash land on Habitat-7, your Ryder's helmet cracks but they are able to repair it with the omni-tool. At the end of that same mission, your helmet cracks again, but for some reason Papa Ryder has to sacrifice himself by giving his functional helmet over to kid Ryder.

Why couldn't they just use the omni-tool to repair the helmet again? Is this ever explained??

It was just a crack the first time and the second time I think it was shattered.

I just assumed that the damage was too severe the second time, but who knows could just be a plot hole.

@chrispaul92: I'll have to rewatch it. I could have sworn it was shattered (at least partially) the first time.

I just played this. The first time, it was just a crack. (A nasty one, but definitely not shattered.) The second time, it was completely gone. The game has a lot of bugs and cringe-y writing, but this isn't part of that.

There was a crack in the helmet the first time. The second time the glass was entirely gone. Imagine getting a crack in your car's windshield repaired as opposed to needing to replace the entire windshield. That was the difference. You wouldn't ask the source of the repair why they couldn't just repair the missing windshield with the same method as the repair for the crack. Its also interesting to consider whether or not the first patch job weakened the integrity of the helmet allowing for the fatal shattering to occur more easily. Either way, the state of the helmet in both cases was very different.

There was a hole the first time too but it was tiny, you lose the entire visor on the second break.

I just assumed that your omni tool was capable of mending minor damage but not creating a new visor out of nothing.

Yep, as already mentioned. A difference between the crack and then the shatter.

Ok, that makes some sense.

The main reason it stuck out is I'm pretty sure when someone whips out an omni-blade, it is being 3D printed on the spot by the omni-tool, so I completely bought that the visor was being reconstructed in that first scene.

Thanks all for the sanity check!

The better question is if the recuse shuttle was only two minuets away why could they not takes turns in putting the helmet on and then they could have both survived.

I don't.. I don't think that's how hostile atmospheres work?

Two minutes? Someone in decent shape can hold their breath that long pretty easily. Wouldn't even have to swap helmets. Unless the atmosphere was extraordinarily toxic or acidic or something, but then if it can kill you in two minutes, even swapping helmets would be incredibly dangerous. Sounds like a pretty lame contrivance a la Aeris not being able to use a Phoenix Down quality level of storytelling.

@sinusoidal: your Ryder is at the point of passing out within about ten seconds of exposure to the planet's atmosphere. It's nasty stuff. And they're on death's door by the time they get back to the Hyperion, though that's partly to do with some other story stuff that's going on.

Of course, you're right in saying that swapping helmets at all was a risky move - could've ended with them both dead - but I don't think a parent sacrificing their life for the sake of giving their kid even just a chance at survival is all that odd/unbelievable. (Oh, and it was four to six minutes, not two.)

All that said, I still think killing off DadRyder this early in the story was a mistake. Really, all it would've taken is a few more hours of getting to know him for his loss to have actually had some emotional resonance. It's like, when your first sibling dies in Dragon Age 2, it doesn't really feel meaningful 'cause you barely even know their name. But when shit goes down with your second sibling about ten hours in, after having had them in your party for a while, it hits much harder.

Now, I'm given to understand that there's some super interesting stuff in those memories you can access through SAM, so that might help recontextualise things and give Alec's death a little more weight... But I won't actually be seeing any of that for a long old while at this point.

I got the impression he died from exposure to radiation and not lack of oxygen. Scott/Sarah had a rough time in the medbay even though they got the helmet quickly and was able to breathe.

I want a flashback to the planning process where they talk about that they have a solution for a cracked visor and someone asks about a shatter

Phoenix Downs only cure characters that are knocked out. Aerith was not knocked out.

Well now, instead of her death being a contrivance, you have every other enemy in the game only ever knocking you out being a contrivance.

@mister_v: @sinusoidal: I doubt it's the same as being underwater where you can just take some breaths and pass. They were just in a heated combat scenario, blown off a mountain by a wave of force and debris, and Ryder was blacked out by the impact and asphyxiation. He had already inhaled some of the toxic air as well, so his lungs arent in the best state. He's not going to just be able to calmly breathe in a bit, hold his breath, and then hand it back to his dad for a few minutes. We also don't know what condition Alec was in. He was limping on his way over pretty badly, so while he has the rigorous training to likely be able to manage that kind of maneuver it's hard to say whether it was physically possible for him at that point. I'd say definitely not for Scott/Sara, and the whole point was to make sure they lived.