Iokath question

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Why in the blue hell does the purifier droid just decide to do Vaylin a MASSIVE favour and reset the GEMINI droids when it was trying to kill her literally 2 seconds before that? It's the most illogical plot point EVER. She smashes him around a bunch of times in anger and he decides oh shes lovely why not help her out. Seems strange that theres zero explanation for WHY this droid just starts being incredibly helpful. And it's kind of a major freaking plot point when Vaylin regains full control of the fleet. Badly done.

[Lordgrimley]

the driod has a mind of its own, maybe it thought vaylin would spare him if he did what she wanted, that's how I took it

[TjhScorch]

My theory is that Vaylin might be close personality wise to the original inhabitants of Iokath, who from the lore entries and such, seemed to be rather crazy and bloodthirsty before they were wiped out.

[TrueBritannia]

The GEMINIs and the Purification Droid are all part of the 'Iokath system' which appears to be self-maintaining as a base directive. So if part of the system exhibits corruption or whatever then the rest steps in to repair that. The GEMINIs were corrupted and once exposed to that the droid's repair directives activated, simply 'resetting' the GEMINIs.

 

That's my take on it anyway; it would be necessary for such a large droid system to function long-term.

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

The GEMINIs and the Purification Droid are all part of the 'Iokath system' which appears to be self-maintaining as a base directive. So if part of the system exhibits corruption or whatever then the rest steps in to repair that. The GEMINIs were corrupted and once exposed to that the droid's repair directives activated, simply 'resetting' the GEMINIs.

 

That's my take on it anyway; it would be necessary for such a large droid system to function long-term.

 

Then why did it ask Vaylin if she WANTED it to do it?

[TrueBritannia]

Then why did it ask Vaylin if she WANTED it to do it?

 

The droid saw that Vaylin was the 'master' of the GEMINIs, who afterall were designed solely as servants. So the droid requested her permission.

 

In essence they're different branches of the same system, designed to self-maintain. So although the GEMINIs served Vaylin the droid still sought to repair the system. It doesn't sit uneasily in my mind.

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

The droid saw that Vaylin was the 'master' of the GEMINIs, who afterall were designed solely as servants. So the droid requested her permission.

 

In essence they're different branches of the same system, designed to self-maintain. So although the GEMINIs served Vaylin the droid still sought to repair the system. It doesn't sit uneasily in my mind.

 

But then if it saw her as a "master" why did it try to kill her?? Your telling me in its head it could try to kill her no problem but needs permission to overwrite "her" droids? No defending that part in my eyes it just makes no sense whatsoever the droid goes from being a killbot to the most helpful thing ever in 2 seconds. It's dumb. They should have never bothered with the whole "free will for geminis" thing it was so pointless. It has basically no effect on the story then gets reversed no matter what so its kinda a redundant plot point. I was half hoping if you let scorpio live she would have blocked the droid from resetting all the Geminis with some "I'm inside the network" crap. At least then the choice to spare or kill her would have had some ramifications. She does say after all that if you let her go she could help against Vaylin then she does precisely squat for the rest of the story.

 

I was really unimpressed with much of the storytelling and the "choices" which were advertised to be "galaxy changing" but totally weren't in both KOTFE and KOTET really. They have some high points but was overall unimpressed. I miss the class stories when it was just Republic versus Empire that was so much better than all this allying with the other side full time crap...

Edited December 11, 2016 by uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Eshvara]

I was curious about this as well. Seems kind of vague.

[stoopicus]

My disbelief-unsuspension in this case was even simpler. Why was the trashmob droid able to do this *at all*? It's basically like if they proposed giving the strategic missile launch codes to all the clerks and supply sergeants in the army.

[Maeklos]

The droid resetting the GEMINIs back to factory defaults was, as was pointed out, what ARIES and the creators would have wanted. They wanted the Eternal Fleet to be used as a weapon to conduct 'war games' against planets in order to observe the results, not have each ship being commanded by a sentient AI with free will.

 

Therefore, in my rationale, at least, it was ARIES' choice, through the droid, to allow the resetting.

 

...Of course, this is just me trying to rationalize a really big, stupid plot hole that obviously didn't get a lot of thought from the BioWare department. But then again, this is the same company that makes a choice to unleash a plague on the galaxy and kill trillions a Light Side choice (Athiss). So it's not like they've ever been the most coherent writers.

[JediAkemi]

But then again, this is the same company that makes a choice to unleash a plague on the galaxy and kill trillions a Light Side choice (Athiss). So it's not like they've ever been the most coherent writers.

 

Saving the corrupted researchers on Athiss wasn't unleashing a plague... was it? I'll have to do that flashpoint again, but I always thought it was a choice between letting the Jedi try to cure them or leaving them to suffer. I don't recall any mention of a plague.

[Maeklos]

Yeah, that choice actively mentions that if the researchers get off the planet, they will spread the infection throughout the galaxy. Not 'might', but 'will'. And as is mentioned, the plague can and will affect anyone and everyone and it has no cure.

 

A similar thing happens in Kaon Under Siege, when the guard captain gets infected by a rakghoul and asks you to kill him before he turns. Mercy killing him is a Dark Side choice, while letting him go through the agonizing change into a rakghoul (and THEN killing him in combat) is a Light Side choice.

 

BioWare simply can't moral.

[LordGwaereon]

To the OP. The droid needed proximity access to the throne system. Vaylin being the current master of the system (and also having destroyed his arms and legs when smashing him around) was the only one who could give him access. Think of it like having a computer technician clean an infected corporate pc network. He first needs to be within operable distance to it (in his case wihin reaching distance of the hub pc/server), and most likely needs an administrator access password for him to run the necessary "cleaning" programs. Vaylin was the only one who could give the droid both, so he had to try and convince her to let him do it. As to why he would want to, well others have explained his directives as a "purifier" droid already so that's been said.

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

To the OP. The droid needed proximity access to the throne system. Vaylin being the current master of the system (and also having destroyed his arms and legs when smashing him around) was the only one who could give him access. Think of it like having a computer technician clean an infected corporate pc network. He first needs to be within operable distance to it (in his case wihin reaching distance of the hub pc/server), and most likely needs an administrator access password for him to run the necessary "cleaning" programs. Vaylin was the only one who could give the droid both, so he had to try and convince her to let him do it. As to why he would want to, well others have explained his directives as a "purifier" droid already so that's been said.

 

Still all speculation though. They really should have made it more clear what happened there because you can't deny it was odd. Goes from killing her to happy assistant in 2 seconds and none of that stuff you said gets referenced. Plays weird as a scene. Even if it did want to reset the droids all along that still doesn't explain why it tried killing her first. How is it planning to get near the throne without her? Even if it had succeeded and killed her with a shot and kept its arms and legs how does it plan on getting off Iokath and travelling to Zakuul infiltrating the palace and getting to the throne? Would have made a LOT more sense if it hadn't tried to kill her first.

[MollyDresden]

I agree that it doesn't make much sense. I'm not done with the story, but I expected that to come back, like the droid actually secretly did something other than purely what she told it to, to sabotage or something. But apparently not? If that never comes back, then yeah, makes no sense. I also think it makes no sense that freeing them to begin with was this huge big deal done by SCORPIO, a super unique special advanced droid, and just some random nobody droid can undo it in a moment? Lame.

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

I agree that it doesn't make much sense. I'm not done with the story, but I expected that to come back, like the droid actually secretly did something other than purely what she told it to, to sabotage or something. But apparently not? If that never comes back, then yeah, makes no sense. I also think it makes no sense that freeing them to begin with was this huge big deal done by SCORPIO, a super unique special advanced droid, and just some random nobody droid can undo it in a moment? Lame.

 

Nope never gets referenced again. To be fair tho the only thing "special" about Scorpio is that she's from Iokath thats why shes so advanced so I do buy that the droid could reverse what she did cos obviously its from Iokath too. But still incredibly dumb overall.

[Maeklos]

Honestly, the reason it happened is what, in the film industry, is called "Screenwriter's Disease", i.e., something happens just because the writers wanted it to be so, with little to no logical reasoning behind it. And, looking at the story as a whole, they'd written themselves into a corner: without the whole Eternal Fleet at her command, and with the GEMINI models that had elected to go rogue, she was no longer a threat. Rather than making the rest of the story about taking apart her power base on Zakuul (which part of the story is STILL about, and which makes me think the whole GEMINI thing might have been a last-minute script change) and removing her from power, they had to try to make her into a Big Bad again capable of being a threat to the Alliance in order to, theoretically, create tension and drama at the expense of a sensible plot.

 

Just my two credits, you mileage may vary.

[JediAkemi]

Yeah, that choice actively mentions that if the researchers get off the planet, they will spread the infection throughout the galaxy. Not 'might', but 'will'. And as is mentioned, the plague can and will affect anyone and everyone and it has no cure.

 

A similar thing happens in Kaon Under Siege, when the guard captain gets infected by a rakghoul and asks you to kill him before he turns. Mercy killing him is a Dark Side choice, while letting him go through the agonizing change into a rakghoul (and THEN killing him in combat) is a Light Side choice.

 

BioWare simply can't moral.

 

Ah, I see.

 

As for Kaon, if you choose Light, I'm sure a Jedi says something about getting him treatment to cure him before he turns... alas he turns before you can get him to the medics, but the point is that for the Republic it's a choice between trying to save him or just killing him right off the bat (and if you did the quests on Taris the Light Side way, which the game assumes you did, the Jedi do have access to a vaccine that works against regular Rakghouls even if it isn't 100% against Lorrick's ones)... whereas the Imperials don't seem to have access to any potential vaccine... or care enough so they get mercy kill (Light) or let him suffer.

[Canareth]

I agree that it doesn't make much sense. I'm not done with the story, but I expected that to come back, like the droid actually secretly did something other than purely what she told it to, to sabotage or something. But apparently not? If that never comes back, then yeah, makes no sense. I also think it makes no sense that freeing them to begin with was this huge big deal done by SCORPIO, a super unique special advanced droid, and just some random nobody droid can undo it in a moment? Lame.

 

The factory reset isn't just what Vaylin wants. If you've poked through Iokath's records you will have a pretty good idea what their programming is.