Got it. I wish they'd have addressed this a bit more clearly though, or maybe even pointed out how 9S didn't really seem to care too much about humanity's extinction. Not too long after, he just seemed to be fighting on to save 2B, whether out of love or hate. The fact that 2B was what he was fighting for by the end shows that there was something more than just humanity's cause for the androids to live for, which gives a whole sense of tragedy about the situation really. At least the main playable trio all survived at the end.
That is a thing the game explores. In most of the sidequests you see all sorts of androids and machines fighting, living and despairing for love, or another purpose. Ending D even shows the machines actually evolving beyond their main directive of defeating the enemy, and flew off to space just to get away from that cycle.
One of the real tragedies I think is that they didn't trust themeselves to find their own purpose in a way. Nihilism talks about lack of a grand purpose in the world but it also encourages you to find a path to live on your own even without something like a god to help you find meaning in life.
So I'm going to assume the original creators of the plan are all dead at this point? This cycle seems to have gone on forever, with Yorha only the latest iteration, which actually leads me to another question. Who was supposed to take over in the event of Yorha being wiped out? Is there another group of androids out there waiting to be activated/built? Surely the Bunker Commander could not have been the top dog on the android's side. There must be someone else out there to make sure the androids are always gonna be there to fight the machines. I feel like I'm asking the questions that would be addressed in the sequel at this point lol.
No idea really, I think they're dead but at what part of the cycle they're at, I don't really think it's needed to be answered. The story itself is the story.
