"Stone by stone" conversation in Zen/Sym... deleted

I recently re-started to extrapolate the game’s audio files to find any vocal Easter eggs, but I noticed something in the conversations between Symmetra and Zenyatta. for those who don’t know, in total there are two conversations from these two characters:

CONVERSATION 1

  • Zenyatta: Symmetra, you speak of law and of order, but you must know that life is chaotic by its very nature.
  • Symmetra: Hmph. To be lectured about chaos and disorder from a machine.

CONVERSATION 2

  • Symmetra: What can you know of life?
  • Zenyatta: Only that which I have observed, experienced and processed. All is one within the Iris.

you can imagine my “partial” disappointment to see that conversation 2 … is no longer in the game. And I absolutely know that it exists, it was introduced more exactly in October 2018. I know it thanks to the “tracking” of the YT Overwatch interactions channel, which I highly recommend, lovers of lore:

min 4:47

honestly I’m sad to see this retreat of this interaction. I think it reflects much better the evolution seen in Symmetra in the story Stone by Stone, of which we also had a challenge (november 2018). I think that this interaction should be absolutely active again to better describe what was the beginning of Symmetra’s curiosity about the meaning of omnic life, and which radically departs from what is conversation 1: a Symmetra indispensably critical of omnic logic … or even inclined to conflict against omnics.

I really hope there are intentions to restore this kind of relationship between Symmetra and Zenyatta in the game as well. :slight_smile:

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They do have a kind of connection in the lore for sure

Due to Vishkar’s machinery and presence in a certain village, ground tremors were created that destroyed the statue of Aurora,

the first omnic to gain sentience/consciousness who subsequently gave her life to share this with all of omnickind

She’s kind of a spiritual figure in the Iris “religion” similar to the Buddha.

Then Sym helped repair the statue and mend the relationship with the village locals, and by extension, all the omnics and zen who are invested in the Iris stuff

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I think this better captures the feeling that Symmetra really wants to do good to humanity, while wanting to (tacitly) ignore the methods of the Vishkar. She just thinks about the tangible solution, what is best for people about practice: a safe home, a functioning public service, a functioning protocol.

the conversation 2 I quote I think perfectly captures this aspect of Symmetra: starting to discuss the abstract essence of things like spirit, or the concept of life of omnics that is emphasized in the tale.

I don’t understand why between the two conversations they preferred to remove the n. 2. the first was also good, but it fits what we knew about symmetra in 2016. really, I’d like to see a lot of feedback in that sense, because it really enriches Symmetra a lot with a few words. I truly HOPE this withdrawal is only temporary, as they did for some incomplete Sigma voicelines some time ago.

Both of those interactions were insults from Sym to Zen. It makes sense that they would remove one to show her growth as a character, as we have had other lines removed in the past to show character development as well. I would not be surprised to see the other one go too.

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mmm I don’t know, I don’t think I see a real offense in the deleted conversation. rather it seems to me closer to the curiosity of Stone by stone. Between the two I would have eliminated the first.

I agree. If this is indeed in response to lore developments and not simply a mistake, it’s a nonsensical decision to remove that, but leave the first.

It was in the tone. The text alone doesn’t pass the same scorn that was in Symmetra’s tone. “What could you (a machine) [possibly] know of life [since you have no life?]”

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thinking about it maybe you are right …

I based myself on what I remembered about the conversation in my language (Italian) when it was in game, whose tone was less marked on contempt and more … “curious”?

but they may have withdrawn it for a possible “re-dubbing” of the tone, if you think about it. or at least, by Sym. :thinking: it has already happened in the past that some tones were redoubled (I think one between Torb and D.VA)