Are LV-1201 Aliens sentient?

[MadassAlex]

Only because she's got a great big #6 on her head and recognises her from before.

As for the other Aliens, they do as they do. We never see them pre-escape except briefly in their harnesses. Given the time-frame of the studies, we can't ever say for sure that they ever left those except for Six.

Claiming that Six is special beyond a shadow of a doubt doesn't take into account a limited control group and anomalous data, especially since there's no reason given for her being special. Given that the Queen is sending commands via psychic communication, it could be any Alien that actually has freedom of movement.

[Xenomrph]

I guess I'm just looking at it from a narrative perspective - within the scope of the game's story, it goes out of its way on multiple occasions to demonstrate (and mention in-dialogue) that Six is special and unique. Meanwhile, all the other Aliens shown in the game get shot and die.

[MadassAlex]

It depends on your gameplay experience.

For me, other Aliens in the game ended up causing me a lot of grief, killing a lot of marines or both. You know the first Predator mission, where you can set Aliens on a squad of marines in that outpost? That battle's gone both ways for me, but I've seen as little as one Alien take down three marines or so. Hell, in the first Alien mission, I rarely have to touch the synthetics at the end, because my two Alien amigos get there before I do and take them down.

There were no battle cutscenes, either, so the game never went out of its way to depict conflict outside of gameplay, implicitly telling us that the in-gameplay experience is what counts as narrative intention.

As for being narrative, there's still Weyland's argument about an Alien meritocracy and the vagueness of Six's exceptional attributes. As far as I saw it, the game told you that Six was exceptional once or twice and then made the rest of the Aliens kick ass or be generally difficult to fight effectively.

[Xenomrph]

Yeah, but the point is that Six butchers anything in her path, while all the other Aliens get killed (be it mostly by the player-character Marine and Predator, and by other NPCs on occasion). By the game's logic, if Six ran across the Rookie, the Rookie would have been likely murdered. And yet the Rookie kills Aliens by the dozens. So either the Rookie is an exceptional badass whose abilities exceed those of all other Marines on the planet since he can take on dozens of Aliens and survive, or Six is something special (which is, you know, stated in-dialogue).

I'm not saying all Aliens are retards except for Six, I'm confident there could be other Alien "individual" badasses out there. Hell, I can name several in the games and comics and whatnot, not to mention Grid from the first AvP movie.

[MadassAlex]

By game logic, if Six came across Rookie, we'd all turn our games off and go make a cup of tea because game logic dictates that the player character is the ultimately superior warrior.

I agree that Six was exceptional, but not by anything inherent; my argument is that her superiority comes from experience and exposure to her adversaries. Or, basically, there's nothing Six can do that any other Alien couldn't. You just have to prove to the Alien that the action in question is rational and effective.

[Xenomrph]

But even from birth, they demonstrate that Six is noteworthy - she makes an escape attempt when she's mere seconds old. All the other Aliens had the same opportunity, only Six took it.

Sure all Aliens may be physically identical, but mentally maybe they aren't.
I mean yeah the common line of thought is that all Aliens are identical and act as a hive-mind without individuality, but even with Alien telepathy any wacky plan that Six came up with should have been communicated to all the other Aliens (or at least to the Queen, who could broadcast it to the other Aliens) so they should have acted at least somewhat similarly. Instead, Six was exceptional and most of the other Aliens got shot.
Point is, just because the Aliens work towards a common goal without regard for the individual and all Aliens are equal doesn't mean some Aliens aren't more equal than others.

[Kimarhi]

I just figured that six was ultimate space ninja because she was prequeen.

[Xenomrph]

I dunno, that revelation only comes to light in the last 2 minutes of the game, other than that she seems to be a "normal" Alien (physically, at least) throughout the entire game.

[MadassAlex]

But even from birth, they demonstrate that Six is noteworthy - she makes an escape attempt when she's mere seconds old. All the other Aliens had the same opportunity, only Six took it.

No they didn't -- we don't even know if any of them were removed from their harnesses.

Besides, Six is also the oldest, most experienced Alien sans the ancient Queen. She's the first to be let out of her harness, the first to escape and among the first to fight enemies that have the means to kill her -- it stands to reason that she'd butcher their asses. She's a living deathmachine that's got enough experience to know what to avoid.

Sure all Aliens may be physically identical, but mentally maybe they aren't.
I mean yeah the common line of thought is that all Aliens are identical and act as a hive-mind without individuality, but even with Alien telepathy any wacky plan that Six came up with should have been communicated to all the other Aliens (or at least to the Queen, who could broadcast it to the other Aliens) so they should have acted at least somewhat similarly. Instead, Six was exceptional and most of the other Aliens got shot.

As the game pretty neatly demonstrates  (at least in my experience), most other Aliens butchered a bunch of people and thrived in a living, breathing ecosystem ripe for the taking. Some got shot down by marines or Predators, but most allied marines in the game get killed in fairly short order. In fact, I think it's implied that Rookie and Tequila are just about the only surviving marines.

Point is, just because the Aliens work towards a common goal without regard for the individual and all Aliens are equal doesn't mean some Aliens aren't more equal than others.

Sure, but I'm arguing that under a meritocratic hive, the "more equal" Aliens aren't inherently superior, but superior through experience and learning. Otherwise it wouldn't be meritocratic.

[Xenomrph]

No they didn't -- we don't even know if any of them were removed from their harnesses.

At birth, Six tried to escape by burrowing through her host's corpse. Any of the other Aliens had the same opportunity and didn't do it.

Besides, Six is also the oldest, most experienced Alien sans the ancient Queen.

Not sure on that, wouldn't that distinction go to "One", assuming the Aliens were numbered in order of birth?

Sure, but I'm arguing that under a meritocratic hive, the "more equal" Aliens aren't inherently superior, but superior through experience and learning. Otherwise it wouldn't be meritocratic.

But they might be meritocratic based on the ability to learn and process information - not every Alien would necessarily learn exactly the same way. Is experience a big factor? Yes. But what I'm saying is, given the exact same opportunity we don't see other Aliens doing amazingly bright things like Six does, despite being able to share her experience because they're a hive organism. All the Aliens had the opportunity to burrow through their hosts to try and escape, but only Six did it. That right there demonstrates that Six's mind works differently than that of the other Aliens on some level, and it's not strictly experience-based.

Similarly in the first AvP movie, Grid actively dodges a plasmacaster shot while all the other Aliens (both before and after Grid is in the corridor) get shot. They all had the opportunity to see that their friends were getting blasted, only Grid took action and dodged.

[MadassAlex]

At birth, Six tried to escape by burrowing through her host's corpse. Any of the other Aliens had the same opportunity and didn't do it.

Yes -- right after she had an opportunity to observe that her siblings were trapped by something.

Not sure on that, wouldn't that distinction go to "One", assuming the Aliens were numbered in order of birth?

Good point on oldest, although Six remains more experienced.

But they might be meritocratic based on the ability to learn and process information - not every Alien would necessarily learn exactly the same way. Is experience a big factor? Yes. But what I'm saying is, given the exact same opportunity we don't see other Aliens doing amazingly bright things like Six does, despite being able to share her experience because they're a hive organism. All the Aliens had the opportunity to burrow through their hosts to try and escape, but only Six did it. That right there demonstrates that Six's mind works differently than that of the other Aliens on some level, and it's not strictly experience-based.

Unless -- as above -- we consider that she had the opportunity to observe her siblings being trapped.

And then, for the rest of the game, you don't do anything that other Aliens don't.

Similarly in the first AvP movie, Grid actively dodges a plasmacaster shot while all the other Aliens (both before and after Grid is in the corridor) get shot. They all had the opportunity to see that their friends were getting blasted, only Grid took action and dodged.

Right, but Grid was the only Alien with combat experience. She (for consistency) learned that projectiles that come from Predators hurt, whereas the others learned on the spot. And judging by the amount of plasma caster shots versus kills, it could be that other Aliens were dodging shots.

[Xenomrph]

Yes -- right after she had an opportunity to observe that her siblings were trapped by something.

So? They all had that same opportunity to observe it. She was the sixth one born, conceivably numbers 2 through 5 could have done the same thing Six did.

And then, for the rest of the game, you don't do anything that other Aliens don't.

Don't you butcher 2 Predators , while those same Predators murder your buddies alongside you?

The one thing the game tries to impress upon the player in all 3 campaigns is that your player character is special and more capable in some way. In all 3 campaigns you go up against crazy odds and prevail. The Rookie, the Predator, and Six are all shown as being badasses and superior to the other members of their race.

Right, but Grid was the only Alien with combat experience. She (for consistency) learned that projectiles that come from Predators hurt, whereas the others learned on the spot.

Do you mean the net? I don't think that counts, the plasma shots are pretty substantially different.
And even if other Aliens dodged the shots, it still remains that some Aliens got hosed and others didn't, despite being in the same situation. That sort of proves my point.

[MadassAlex]

Don't you butcher 2 Predators , while those same Predators murder your buddies alongside you?

The Predators kill the substantially weaker jungle Aliens. In any case, there are Predator corpses elsewhere in the game and they weren't killed by marines.

Of course, you also butcher an Elite Predator -- but you've just learned how to fight Predators from killing two of his buddies, so that could be experience speaking once more.

The one thing the game tries to impress upon the player in all 3 campaigns is that your player character is special and more capable in some way. In all 3 campaigns you go up against crazy odds and prevail. The Rookie, the Predator, and Six are all shown as being badasses and superior to the other members of their race.

Not necessarily. Rookie would've gotten hosed by Aliens if he was in the initial confrontation, and there's numerous instances of him missing out on major conflicts or being a small-priority target compared to others. And I don't see how Six's actions are at all exceptional for an Alien, taking into consideration film evidence. Lord is exceptional in that I doubt any Predator could kill that many Aliens going by film canon, but I don't see why others couldn't butcher that many marines or find ways to take down singular elite foes like Praetorians.

'Course, that doesn't explain when he walks into the Queen's chamber, guns down a bunch of Aliens and turns the Queen into a fine dinner. Or when he killed two Praetorians and a swarm of Aliens. But then again, Rookie's campaign is filled with ridiculously dangerous situations compared to the Alien and Predator ones.

Besides, if nothing else, Six doesn't seem any different from Kane's Son, Acheron Alien #Whatever, Spike or Auriga Alien #WhatHaveYou. Aliens from those films accomplish feats of about equal scale, but not one of them is presented as "special", "superior" or "destined". They're just Aliens being Aliens.

Do you mean the net? I don't think that counts, the plasma shots are pretty substantially different.

I don't see why it wouldn't count. If the last thing that was thrown at high speed from a Predator hurt, why wouldn't this substantially scarier ball of energy hurt, too?

And even if other Aliens dodged the shots, it still remains that some Aliens got hosed and others didn't, despite being in the same situation. That sort of proves my point.

All it proves is that some Aliens moved out of the way and some didn't. We don't know what reasons, but there's no evidence to suggest that there's some sort of advanced class of Alien that's quicker on the uptake. The more rational alternative is that the Aliens who get the opportunity to observe become superior through learning.

[Xenomrph]

Besides, if nothing else, Six doesn't seem any different from Kane's Son, Acheron Alien #Whatever, Spike or Auriga Alien #WhatHaveYou. Aliens from those films accomplish feats of about equal scale, but not one of them is presented as "special", "superior" or "destined". They're just Aliens being Aliens.

Well except that Six doesn't run headlong into gunfire. That automatically puts her above a bunch of the ones from 'Aliens'.

Point is, the game goes out of its way to demonstrate that Six is "special", both in the situations it puts you in and the ridiculous odds you face, and specific dialogue said by Weyland and the scientists. Like, I'm not sure the game could be more explicit about it.
If you don't see it, I really don't know what to say.

Like, that's what a meritocracy is, and it's a societal structure based on evolution at its purest form. Those with greater ability/intelligence succeed where others do not.

[MadassAlex]

Well except that Six doesn't run headlong into gunfire. That automatically puts her above a bunch of the ones from 'Aliens'.

In the hive battle, the Aliens didn't run into gunfire. They didn't during the operations battle, either, at least not intentionally. The plan was to wait until they were above the protagonists and drop down, ending the fight instantly. We only see them run towards armed enemies without cover in the vents, and only because there's no other way -- and yet, some still manage to get the drop on the protagonists.

Point is, the game goes out of its way to demonstrate that Six is "special", both in the situations it puts you in and the ridiculous odds you face, and specific dialogue said by Weyland and the scientists. Like, I'm not sure the game could be more explicit about it.
If you don't see it, I really don't know what to say.

I'll take direct observation -- from the perspective of all three species, no less -- over the ignorance of a handful of scientists who've studied the Aliens for a matter of hours. There just isn't sufficient enough data to call Six special, especially in the context of film canon -- which is the explicit major source of information the game designers tried to adhere to. 

Like, that's what a meritocracy is, and it's a societal structure based on evolution at its purest form. Those with greater ability/intelligence succeed where others do not.

Right, but that doesn't prove that the root of that ability/intelligence is inherent.