So... who are Kocos?

[diski_i_gogi]

I've completed the game (cleared the islands and listened to all diologues) and still don't fully understand what / who they are. According to Sage, Ancients used Kocos as lucky charms. Okay, but how did they gain their memories and became alive?

Also, did they even survive the last boss battle?

I'm really intrigued because because Kocos were mentioned as a big deal in the plot. So either I missed something or these ideas are not delivered (if that's so, it is a real shame). I could find the story interesting if the game wouldn't forget some of its themes along the way to the end

[Zuhan]

Knock off Chao. SEGA knew everyone wanted a new Chao Garden and decided to give us Kocos......

Game has plenty of open room, even places outside the map that are unused where they can add a Chao garden. Fingers crossed for DLC.

[SamethStarr]

The Ancients set up the Cyberspace initially to catalogue their history, memories, thoughts, feelings and the like. Basically it was like they were using it to make backups of their souls. This system was powered by the Chaos Emeralds. After the battle with "The End", Supreme sealed them in Cyberspace, and the survivors took the Chaos Emeralds to the Master Emerald, cutting the Cyberspace off from its power source and causing it to go dormant. The Chaos Emeralds were not meant to ever be brought back to the Starfall Islands and the Cyberspace system was meant to stay offline forever.

The Chaos Emeralds have a power that draws them together. By bringing one to Starfall Island, the rest would eventually show up as well. Sage mentions that Eggman used those properties in order to gather them there with the intent to activate the Ancient's tech to expand on his own knowledge, not realizing that the system was offline for a very important reason. With the system online, "The End" became active again too.

The Starfall Islands were meant to interface with Cyberspace, that's what allowed Sage to manifest in the real world even though she's an AI, and what allowed for Amy, Tails, and Knuckles to manifest without their bodies. But Cyberspace also contained the thoughts, hopes, and memories of the Ancients, all backed up on that system.

The Koco were used as lucky charms, but since the Ancients didn't have a solid form and all of them had Koco, that would have made them an expression of self identity. The Ancients' physical bodies died long ago, but their data wasn't able to find peace and manifested within their abandoned Koco when Cyberspace came back online. They're basically data ghosts seeking resolution.

After the credits we see Eggman interfacing with the Ancients' tech, which implies it is still active, which means there are likely still active Koco, although most of them would have passed on upon the defeat of "The End" as they would have found peace in that moment.

Eggman also theorized that the Ancients have similar properties to Chaos, and they might be distantly related. This would imply that the surviving Ancients who fled to Angel Island with the Chaos Emeralds eventually became the Chao.

[Cassie Gretch]

Chao+Koroks=bigmoney cute bois

[The Logic Captain]

I think the spirits of many of the ancients ended up trapped in the Kocos by lingering regrets which you help them with allowing them to pass on.

[Mez Koo]

Alien usb sticks

[Emerald Lance]

My take is that kocos are some sort of stone object created by the ancients, and are now animated because they are possessed by the lingering ghosts of the ancients. I feel like the watsonian reason for them resembling chao is because the ancients are the ancestors of Chaos, who himself is a fully grown and "mutated" chao, thus leading me to believe the chao are the larval state of the ancients.

[SteelHaru]

Originally posted by SamethStarr:

The Ancients set up the Cyberspace initially to catalogue their history, memories, thoughts, feelings and the like. Basically it was like they were using it to make backups of their souls. This system was powered by the Chaos Emeralds. After the battle with "The End", Supreme sealed them in Cyberspace, and the survivors took the Chaos Emeralds to the Master Emerald, cutting the Cyberspace off from its power source and causing it to go dormant. The Chaos Emeralds were not meant to ever be brought back to the Starfall Islands and the Cyberspace system was meant to stay offline forever.

The Chaos Emeralds have a power that draws them together. By bringing one to Starfall Island, the rest would eventually show up as well. Sage mentions that Eggman used those properties in order to gather them there with the intent to activate the Ancient's tech to expand on his own knowledge, not realizing that the system was offline for a very important reason. With the system online, "The End" became active again too.

The Starfall Islands were meant to interface with Cyberspace, that's what allowed Sage to manifest in the real world even though she's an AI, and what allowed for Amy, Tails, and Knuckles to manifest without their bodies. But Cyberspace also contained the thoughts, hopes, and memories of the Ancients, all backed up on that system.

The Koco were used as lucky charms, but since the Ancients didn't have a solid form and all of them had Koco, that would have made them an expression of self identity. The Ancients' physical bodies died long ago, but their data wasn't able to find peace and manifested within their abandoned Koco when Cyberspace came back online. They're basically data ghosts seeking resolution.

After the credits we see Eggman interfacing with the Ancients' tech, which implies it is still active, which means there are likely still active Koco, although most of them would have passed on upon the defeat of "The End" as they would have found peace in that moment.

Eggman also theorized that the Ancients have similar properties to Chaos, and they might be distantly related. This would imply that the surviving Ancients who fled to Angel Island with the Chaos Emeralds eventually became the Chao.

Thank you for an actual, helpful reply in this thread.

[diski_i_gogi]

Originally posted by SamethStarr:

The Ancients set up the Cyberspace initially to catalogue their history, memories, thoughts, feelings and the like. Basically it was like they were using it to make backups of their souls. This system was powered by the Chaos Emeralds. After the battle with "The End", Supreme sealed them in Cyberspace, and the survivors took the Chaos Emeralds to the Master Emerald, cutting the Cyberspace off from its power source and causing it to go dormant. The Chaos Emeralds were not meant to ever be brought back to the Starfall Islands and the Cyberspace system was meant to stay offline forever.

The Chaos Emeralds have a power that draws them together. By bringing one to Starfall Island, the rest would eventually show up as well. Sage mentions that Eggman used those properties in order to gather them there with the intent to activate the Ancient's tech to expand on his own knowledge, not realizing that the system was offline for a very important reason. With the system online, "The End" became active again too.

The Starfall Islands were meant to interface with Cyberspace, that's what allowed Sage to manifest in the real world even though she's an AI, and what allowed for Amy, Tails, and Knuckles to manifest without their bodies. But Cyberspace also contained the thoughts, hopes, and memories of the Ancients, all backed up on that system.

The Koco were used as lucky charms, but since the Ancients didn't have a solid form and all of them had Koco, that would have made them an expression of self identity. The Ancients' physical bodies died long ago, but their data wasn't able to find peace and manifested within their abandoned Koco when Cyberspace came back online. They're basically data ghosts seeking resolution.

After the credits we see Eggman interfacing with the Ancients' tech, which implies it is still active, which means there are likely still active Koco, although most of them would have passed on upon the defeat of "The End" as they would have found peace in that moment.

Eggman also theorized that the Ancients have similar properties to Chaos, and they might be distantly related. This would imply that the surviving Ancients who fled to Angel Island with the Chaos Emeralds eventually became the Chao.

That reply is so awesome. Thank you! Is this your theory based on all the lore the player's given? Are there any other resources? I'm asking because I'd love to read more about it.

Do you have any thoughts on the sign in the sky that shows after Kocos' will relief? I get that it symbolizes them finding peace, but maybe there is a more accurate "meaning" to it? It is also shown in the after-credits scene so I find it significant

[SamethStarr]

Originally posted by FabZed:

That reply is so awesome. Thank you! Is this your theory based on all the lore the player's given? Are there any other resources? I'm asking because I'd love to read more about it.

Do you have any thoughts on the sign in the sky that shows after Kocos' will relief? I get that it symbolizes them finding peace, but maybe there is a more accurate "meaning" to it? It is also shown in the after-credits scene so I find it significant

My main theory is based on information I got within the game only. The only things I said that were speculation was that the Ancients never intended cyberspace to be reactivated, and that the Ancients used Koco as a means of expression, as there is no evidence that the Ancients only had one Koco, or that they even carried the same one day to day. The information about the Ancients becoming Chao is based on one of the Eggman logs combined with information about Chaos from the first Sonic Adventure.

The Sonic fandom wiki has a lot of information put together so if you want to know more details on lore quickly that's a good starting point. I actually don't like platformers very much so I skip most Sonic games and learn about them through other means because I love the characters and lore.

As for the symbol, the loop on it shares the design with the "O" in "Frontiers" in the game's title, which I believe is supposed to represent a portal gear which is used to activate portals between cyberspace and reality. The symbol does appear at other points in the game, but during my first playthrough I was more focused on finishing the game than studying it so I did miss cutscenes and I wasn't really focused on exploring. Second playthrough will get more attention since I'll be focusing on completion, but I do want to take a break before then so I don't burn out. My inner graphic designer is telling me that the symbol isn't just random lines though, it is that way by intent. We also might just be lacking context at the moment and will learn more in future media.

[lieutenantkirtar]

The symbol appears in the sky during multiple cutscenes.

I got the impression that we were in another layer of cyberspace but that doesn't seem to be their intention since it never gets mentioned in game.