Thats right. I would assume each epitaph has a trade mark function as you described Innis and Magus. Perhaps Corbenik can restore ruined data? Its all up in the air right now as to what Corbenik will do. Since Ovan plays such a centralized role in the story, Corbenik being his avatar. The question is what fate is Ovan trying to avert by involving Haseo and Skeith, the terror of death?
AIDA infecting all of mankind?
If Ovan and Phyllo have the same problem and Haseo is Ovan's future, what will happen to Ovan in the real world and in the game? Where does Shino play into all this?
Phyllo was probably talking about how Ovan's AIDA works as a cancer in his PC, not an actual life threatening illness. As for Shino's role, she's basically the Orca/Kazu of the story. Motivation for Haseo and Ovan.
I'm thinking Ovan will die in real life and then reappear in 'the world'. Shino will then wake from her coma along with the other lost ones. Another distict possibility is that Ovan will simply die in real life leaving his avatar Corbenik data drained by Skeith. Shino would then wake up.
I'm thinking he won't. They already explored that plot thread with
Midori and .hack's philosophy is pretty adamant that it's not a good thing for a human to live in the network.
Then there is the question of Eina. They say she sits in a chair crying while Ovan comes to visit her and she opens her eyes. i know Eina might be the product of the failed R.A. plan, yet i'm also wondering about Shino actually being Eina. It would be a big secret until after Ovan dies. Somehow that would also fit with our theory of Shino being the new Aura. that might not be the case however, since Aura abandoned the individual, left to the wind, became null, so it is difficult to interpret accurately. Okay maybe if Shino is Eina. We still don't know enough about Eina to assume too much about her.
Why would Shino be Eina? They have nothing in common. They look different, seem to act different, and Eina is quite clearly an AI. On top of that, if Eina was Shino, she'd be smiling at Ovan's arrival.
anyone got a pretty good list of all the G.U. avatar's powers?
(especially skieth's.....evolution?!)
What do you mean by Skeith's evolution? He's only changing his appearance when Haseo does, like all the Avatars would if their owners were Multi-Weapons.
The only confirmed powers we have are Innis's mirages and Magus's propagation.
I have a theory - one I don't personally subscribe to, but still a possible theory on Ovan's overarching motivations.
There's a saying regarding drama that if there are dueling pistols over the mantelpiece in the first act, they should be fired in the third. Set up your plot elements early on so that when they do come to play, they aren't awkward surprises.
(a .hack example of dueling pistols might be the concept of Apoptosis - in Sign, Bear and Mimiru discuss the need for systems to selectively kill pieces of itself in order to successfully grow, and at the end of Quarantine, Wiseman picks up this idea to explain the "death" of Aura.)
Here's my thought: the Terminal Disc, although basically a Coles Notes summary of what happened in between games, feels the need to make some strong points about the motivations of its two main characters.
Jun Bansyoya has gone underground and hidden himself, and Amagi is apparently a vegetable - it's 90% certain they'll have no appearances to contribute within the actual G.U. games, and yet the writers felt a need to emphasize that in the R.A. Project, it was always Jyotaro Amagi's intentionto merge his consciousness with the new Ultimate AI and become a network god.
But Amagi's out of the picture now, right? He has no further bearing on the plot - why bother to give his character that extra, almost needless bit of data if he's thrown away so quickly?
Unless it's to throw that possibility out on the table - that a human mind could merge with an Aura-type being and trandscend. Just like they throw out the possiblity that AIDA could be a massive new Cubia.
So, dueling pistols on the mantlepiece. The idea is proposed in the files of the terminal disc, and so far it has had no bearing on the plot, but could an ascension to Godhood be the selfish masterplan Ovan has been working towards since before //Roots?
I'm normally inclined to believe you, but I think the only reason the whole Amagi-Godhood thing was involved was to explain why the RA Plan failed. Ovan doesn't seem to be that selfish, in my opinion. If he's been working to become a God all this time, he wouldn't be so adamant on getting Haseo to defeat him and strip him of all his powers.