Is the PC an experimental Courser?

[Foky]

There is even more evidence you are not who you think you are. Right from the start you have to ask where Concord is? It's around the bloody corner and you used to go shopping there because there are no shops in sanctuary hills. Never having heard of the Freedom trail in Boston, never recognizing or commenting on any of the major landmarks? It's all a bit weird, you should know some things at least about the area even if you just moved there. In both FO3 and NV we had tons of background on the characters from the start, here we have litarely nothing, either, owww i was a soldier or owww i was a lawyer, have a baby run to vault and that's it, nothing more. Just a holotape, not even a single family picture in your old house, you can safely assume Codsworth would have preserved it even if just out of programmed nostalgia? Just a single line when you see shauns bed.

 

There simply has to be more to it, in NV we had the Lonesome Road dlc adding even more background to the courier.

 

Well, that was most likely put in by Bethesda to give the player more background information for those not familiar with the US (which was unnecessary if you ask me) and it could have been done by terminals, not every inconsistency is intentional. The background of the character in Fallout 3 you experience the most firsthand and he grow up in a Vault, so there's not much background to begin with. The only background information the character from Fallout New Vegas mentions after being shot in the head (that I remember from memory) is the mention of visiting New Reno, which is rather vague, but that was Obsidian writing. Bethesda on the other hand likes to give you trivial information and/or hold your hand with dialogue information, for example asking questions that a resident of the Area would most likely know.

[k361]

Yes, while no matter it would add more fun twists into the game, the main characters are what they are said to be. Pre-war relics according to Piper.

Edited April 5, 2016 by k361

[snapper69]

Wow, you guys really put some thought into this game. Until I started reading these forums, I thought that I was playing a post-apocalypse game where I got to kill lots of people/things. I didn't consider the depth of the game nor the back story.

[Gilibran]

 

There is even more evidence you are not who you think you are. Right from the start you have to ask where Concord is? It's around the bloody corner and you used to go shopping there because there are no shops in sanctuary hills. Never having heard of the Freedom trail in Boston, never recognizing or commenting on any of the major landmarks? It's all a bit weird, you should know some things at least about the area even if you just moved there. In both FO3 and NV we had tons of background on the characters from the start, here we have litarely nothing, either, owww i was a soldier or owww i was a lawyer, have a baby run to vault and that's it, nothing more. Just a holotape, not even a single family picture in your old house, you can safely assume Codsworth would have preserved it even if just out of programmed nostalgia? Just a single line when you see shauns bed.

There simply has to be more to it, in NV we had the Lonesome Road dlc adding even more background to the courier.

 

Well, that was most likely put in by Bethesda to give the player more background information for those not familiar with the US (which was unnecessary if you ask me) and it could have been done by terminals, not every inconsistency is intentional. The background of the character in Fallout 3 you experience the most firsthand and he grow up in a Vault, so there's not much background to begin with. The only background information the character from Fallout New Vegas mentions after being shot in the head (that I remember from memory) is the mention of visiting New Reno, which is rather vague, but that was Obsidian writing. Bethesda on the other hand likes to give you trivial information and/or hold your hand with dialogue information, for example asking questions that a resident of the Area would most likely know.

Well, yes and no in both previous games you learned alot about your past eventually by doing the MQ. Here we have nothing but the Vault tec rep recognizing you and some parking robot dressed up like a pirate (btw i checked my inventory no drivers license on me? Did he use facial recognision software?)

 

There are just to many huge gaps which hopefully they reserved for some DLC. It all just feels to unfinished so far, but that does provide a nice base for discussion and ideas.

 

Still leaning towards there has to be a whole lot more about the sole survivors background and how they ended up in the vault, what else happened there and if the institute / Shaun didnot simply play around with you making you believe it all for some kind off experiment.

[k361]

Maybe cause there is not much to learn apart from pre-war era? PC Character was frozen and sealed within the vault so not much of a post-war history,

[ddavies10693]

While I guess it is technically possible, there is little to no in game evidence to support this theory. As said previously, much of the things mentioned in the OP are a result of design decisions within the game, NOT decisions made within the lore. It's like saying the PC in every Fallout game thus far is a synth because you can theoretically get through the whole game and go weeks and months without eating, drinking or sleeping, which is an absurd theory.

 

You never hug your dad in Fo3, so is the Lone Wanderer now a suspected synth too? Interesting theory I guess, but you guys are connecting made up dots with invisible lines.

[Moraelin]

Considering that you ARE compatible with a courser chip in FO3, in fact you can have one installed personally by Zimmer (you know, THE head of Synth Retention)... hmm, well, I'd think it's not entirely impossible that they replaced me some time after exitting the Vault.

 

And honestly, how would you know? The technology definitely is there to have a synth think they're someone else and not know they're one. See, Harkness from FO3, or Danse from FO4, both from the DC area. And Danse definitely replaced someone, which doesn't sound like Railroad handiwork.

 

But yes, it's a bit iffier than in FO4.

[ddavies10693]

There's no evidence to support either one was replaced by synth. Having a "Sixth Sense" moment in the game maybe would've added to the slightly lackluster narrative, but there just isn't any kind of actual proof, in any source.

 

The thing given to you by Zimmer in fallout 3 is NOT a courser chip, as it does not allow teleportation of any kind. It is most similar to what was given/done to Kellog, as it augments combat abilities in a human being, and in no way allows teleportation of a synth.

[Moraelin]

The chip you get from Zimmer increases accuracy. If you read the terminals in the Institute, it's an upgrade that was only ever installed in Coursers. So, yes, it's a courser chip.

 

It also has the same name as the component you receive if you kill any of the two coursers in FO3, although that doesn't necessarily mean much, as it's a generic name.

 

Also, it's not the courser chip that teleports you. It just allows you to signal the teleporter in the institute. There is no reason to assume that the range would be all the way to DC, especially since the carrier signal, which is the classic music station, has no reception in the DC area. Which is also consistent with the fact that Zimmer and his courser bodyguard also don't teleport out if you give them the component. And they obviously can't detect their missing courser that way either (the duties described by Harkness are bog-standard SR, i.e., courser duties.)

 

So lack of teleportation in DC really doesn't mean anything about your being or not being a synth.

 

The only thing that CAN be said is that the FO3 character is not a RUNAWAY synth, or presumably Zimmer would figure out when he's installing the courser upgrade in your brain. And, you know, you'd wake up from that operation mind-wiped and sweeping the floors in the Institute.

 

But you COULD be a synth that Zimmer knows about.

 

Also consider that Zimmer also has no problem essentially giving you top of the line Institute implant technology. I'm not under the impression that the Institute likes to share technology.

 

Also consider that, according to the terminals in the institute, Father pretty much explicitly forbade creating more cyborg humans like Kellogg and any relevant research was terminated. Yet Zimmer has no problem, either rules or technology, with installing a courser chip in the FO3 character.

 

Also, there is no mention of anyone else being cyborged like Kellogg, although if the FO3 character was also cyborged by Zimmer, you'd think that would make at least two.

[ddavies10693]

Like I said before, you're connecting made up dots with invisible lines. Maybe Zimmer doesn't say you're a synth because you're not a synth, and there is no elaborate conspiracy with no evidence?

 

You don't think Zimmer would've stopped the lone wanderer with the verbal command code (that all synths apparently have in case of malfunction) while you're beating him to death with your fists in the middle of Rivet City? because beating his head in is an event that can actually happen in the game, and is not based on pure speculation.

 

And Harkness would've been one of the first courser/gen 3's because they keep saying the gen 3's are new in fallout 4, which happens 10 years after fallout 3. So you don't think he maybe would've bent the rules a little to persuade someone to help him and offer a brain enhancing chip? I definitely agree that both Harkness and Zimmer's companion are coursers, that's fairly obvious. But what is also obvious is how valuable they would be to the Institue (who likely only recently created this technology) and therefore valuable to Zimmer, which is why he bends the rules to get Harkness back.