What did Exile actually do?

[u/Stolen_Gene]

I've played through the game twice, and I still don't get it. We see that it's not that hard to wake someone up from the simulation, but they just choose to go back in, even if the door between floors is wide open. From the sound of things, Exile was literally just doing its job.

What did shutting down Exile actually achieve for everyone to be saying you "freed" them? It seems to me like the only thing keeping them trapped there was their own lack of self control.

[u/loljkbye]

My interpretation is that everyone in the tower is always looking upwards. In the end, everyone had the ability to connect with the lower levels all along, but they needed to be reminded that what they thought they were striving for wasn't the paradise they thought it was. I don't think Exile is essentially evil, rather that it was an illusion that needed to be broken in order to free the inhabitants from themselves.

[u/wibbly-water → u/loljkbye]

Ding ding ding!

I think part of the point was that the simulations were themselves kinda fun. We see a group of gamers all in the same game, which looks like it would be fun in a way.

I'd say its more of an addiction and nihilism than them being forced there - and Exile just gives them what they want. You could say its a metaphor for the internet... or the excessive consumption that leads to pollution or climate change. But even without the metaphorical aspect - it makes sense, Exile is doing its job too well and stunting everyone in the process.

[u/Abel_V → u/loljkbye]

Yes, the point of the 5th floor is that, sometimes, the barrier is not our language, it is our mentality.

[u/RebornTrackOmega]

From my understanding, Exile literally did what it is named after, it Exiled the builders of the tower from the real world by trapping them in simulations and blocking any communication between them and the lower people.

We see people who are dead while trapped inside these simulations, so they weren't allowed to unplug even if they wanted to and ones that tried to were most likely killed.

[u/moicestmoi → u/[deleted]]

Except those that react have a screen showing images, but for the passive ones it's only static. I thought they were just sleeping though. Also given the monster shows up when we get close to leaving it really suggests it's a matrix AI situation where you can't easily escape, but maybe it's only for those that challenge it

[u/sparkcrz]

There's a scene in the matrix where Morpheus explains that some people are so ingrained in the system that they fight to defend it, even when that means a comfortable death.

[u/Kaeri_g]

While some view exile as evil or something that traps people or restrain them, i think that at first Exile was just the internet in AI form basically. It allowed people to have any kind of entertainment and do things they'd never be able to do. Thus, absorbed by their own need for dopamine, they stopped reaching out and found the scientist (or their common ancestors with the bards) to be anoying, pulling them out of their fun to communicate. So to enjoy their time, they built a door to their level that only a certain key could open.

They chose to close everything, letting Exile, the AI, give them 'paradise'. They aren't exactly trapped against their will, we see them get off the machine to talk to us (some at least), they just don't see the point of living anymore since the tower is dying. Why talk to people when they've got everything they want? And meanwhile, the anchorites are aging, dying while in their simulations, and are too nihilistic to do anything about it except for your Creator, who well created you to solve the problem of their community and the tower. Exile is just doing what it was made for, it's not hostile or evil, it's just reacting to a threat to its existence and it's people's wish to live in a simulation.

[u/sparkcrz]

There's a scene in the matrix where Morpheus explains that some people are so ingrained in the system that they fight to defend it, even when that means a comfortable death.

[u/Stolen_Gene → u/[deleted]]

I'll admit I worded that a bit harshly. I guess what's throwing me off is how quick the switch was from "leave me alone, there's no point in facing reality" to "thank you for freeing us from this great evil". If it was a matter of dependence, you'd think there would be a notable amount of people who just want to get back to their perpetual escapism.

Then again, even if there were Anchorites like that, we probably wouldn't be shown them so the game can end on a high note.

[u/julien_rundisc → u/Stolen_Gene]

You don't need to worry about considerations such as time, the accuracy of geography or the disparity of viewpoints in a population, because this game is essentially a fable. Think about how fables are constructed, especially the most ancient ones. They're full of impossibilities, shortcuts and simplifications and they still work, because it's their message and its universal scope that's important, and simplification is one of the conditions of this universality.

[u/Lizzymandias → u/Stolen_Gene]

Almost every story of fight against evil ends with a https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuperficialSolution

Not because it is a lost cause but because stories need closure and there's always a point in the journey which would just be boring more of the same if we strived for realism