So, should the SS have been a Synth or not?

[CT Phipps]

Storytelling wise, which is better?

The SS being a android who doesn't know it or being a human popsicle from before the war?

Give your reasons why.

 

[Crni Vuk]

WW2 had no androids dude.

 

[Dr Fallout]

No, because him not being a synth allows me to wish away the rest of Fallout 4.

 

[Big No]

Couldn't you wish it away even if they were?

 

[CT Phipps]

I originally thought the Sole Survivor being a Synth would have been a terrible idea since I don't want to play a "fake" person. However, the fact is the Synth storyline was such an integral part of the game that it seems like it needed some major payoff which we never get from the main game.

Either the Sole Survivor should have been a Synth or their Spouse could have come back as one.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

No.

Or rather 'kinda'.

The option should be left to the player, to decide his/her backstory.

 

[Hassknecht]

The game should have decided randomly on start-up wether the SS was a synth or not, with the only option being to kill your maybe-synth-clone in the end to find out.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

The game should have decided randomly on start-up wether the SS was a synth or not, with the only option being to kill your maybe-synth-clone in the end to find out.

Hmm, that'd be nice for a game which isn't an RPG, a REALLY nice idea to be frank.

But shouldn't we let the player decide?

 

[Hassknecht]

Hmm, that'd be nice for a game which isn't an RPG, a REALLY nice idea to be frank.

But shouldn't we let the player decide?

Usually I'd agree, but it would make for a nice change and add a sort of "meta" level. The game would react to what you're doing, and with your "clone" working against you in the background unseen. You could collect clues on wether you are a synth or not, and have to decide in the end what the difference is, really.
This whole "the game reacts to how you behave and confronts you with how much of a monster you are" has already been done in Deus Ex, of course. Would be fun to have it in a Bethesda game, where the normal mode of gameplay is "genocide", and where in the end you meet "yourself" who is very sad that you, the player, became a mass murderer.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

Usually I'd agree, but it would make for a nice change and add a sort of "meta" level. The game would react to what you're doing, and with your "clone" working against you in the background unseen. You could collect clues on wether you are a synth or not, and have to decide in the end what the difference is, really.
This whole "the game reacts to how you behave and confronts you with how much of a monster you are" has already been done in Deus Ex, of course. Would be fun to have it in a Bethesda game, where the normal mode of gameplay is "genocide", and where in the end you meet "yourself" who is very sad that you, the player, became a mass murderer.

Hmmm, yes, I'd be all for that. ;D

 

[CT Phipps]

Amusingly, John dies at the End had a cool bit in the novelization.

Spoiler

The main character dies halfway through the book with only a single chapter break in his perspective as it switched to his clone who now has to realize he's a fake at the end.

 

[AlphaSlayerZX]

No, I think it should be up to the player to decide, really.

Also it's because I don't like the idea of Synths and how they we're portrayed in 4. They just seemed way too high tech by Fallout standards I guess.

 

[CT Phipps]

No, I think it should be up to the player to decide, really.

Also it's because I don't like the idea of Synths and how they we're portrayed in 4. They just seemed way too high tech by Fallout standards I guess.

Well, technology advancing in Fallout 4 is something I don't have a problem with. The Enclave managed to continue to increase their technological knowledge over the past 200 years and I have no problem with the Institute being able to do the same given they're supposed to be every bit if not more advanced. However, I think they could have tweaked things a bit.

For example, they could have done the metal skeleton thing ala Terminator and reveal human flesh over metal chasises.

It would have made it more fun with people trying to chop each other open to determine if they're Synths.

 

[AlphaSlayerZX]

Well, technology advancing in Fallout 4 is something I don't have a problem with. The Enclave managed to continue to increase their technological knowledge over the past 200 years and I have no problem with the Institute being able to do the same given they're supposed to be every bit if not more advanced. However, I think they could have tweaked things a bit.

For example, they could have done the metal skeleton thing ala Terminator and reveal human flesh over metal chasises.

It would have made it more fun with people trying to chop each other open to determine if they're Synths.

Yeah I think that's the problem I have with them, they look like way too advanced and don't have a Fallouty vibe to them. They look they're from Star Wars, Mass Effect, and I guess Bladerunner and not something that would look like belong in Fallout. I agree that they should've done the metal skeleton for how Synths should look like, basically make them cyborgs and androids with metallic parts inside.

 

[Walpknut]

It's a terrible idea and a cliched plot twist, but what they delivered instead was literally a bucket of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. So I guess the cliche would've at least give it some form and rythm.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

Well, technology advancing in Fallout 4 is something I don't have a problem with. The Enclave managed to continue to increase their technological knowledge over the past 200 years and I have no problem with the Institute being able to do the same given they're supposed to be every bit if not more advanced. However, I think they could have tweaked things a bit.

To be fair, the Enclave (made up of elements of the US government and corporate interests) evacuated to the Oil Rig before the bombs fell. They had prepared for the war and obviously had the resources and means to continue afterwards, so I don't find it that big a stretch they were able to come up with tech the rest of the world couldn't.

The Institute meanwhile hid in a basement when the bombs fell and kept digging more and somehow came up with technology even more advanced than the Enclave's? I know it's MIT (or CIT) but there's no way a science institute has the same capabilities as a government/corporate/military organization.

 

[CT Phipps]

To be fair, the Enclave (made up of elements of the US government and corporate interests) evacuated to the Oil Rig before the bombs fell. They had prepared for the war and obviously had the resources and means to continue afterwards, so I don't find it that big a stretch they were able to come up with tech the rest of the world couldn't.

Well, the Enclave isn't on the Oil Rig because they want to be. Assuming we take Van Buren canon, the Oil Rig is where they ended up when their initial plan fell through. In fact, it seems pretty central to the Enclave that while they have delusions of grandeur, they're just a bunch of tribals living on another piece of Pre-War technology. No different than the Boomers or Vault-Dwellers really.

The Institute meanwhile hid in a basement when the bombs fell and kept digging more and somehow came up with technology even more advanced than the Enclave's? I know it's MIT (or CIT) but there's no way a science institute has the same capabilities as a government/corporate/military organization.

Also, I don't the Institute literally hid when the bombs fell but made a basement for themselves in preparation for the war ala the Sierra Madre or Mister House. It would go a long way to explain its Raygun Gothic overtones.

"We're going to make a science paradise where we're served by robot slaves and sip martinis forever."

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

To me the institute is typical bethesda writing.

They have X series with Y tech.

But along comes X+1 game, and now we have Y+1 tech which comes out of nowhere, and makes no sense in canon.

By Fallout 7, we'll be using 20 foot tall power armour suits called the T89z, which was in commmon use pre-war, while a typical bandit will have 1.21 million HP.

 

[CT Phipps]

To me the institute is typical bethesda writing.

They have X series with Y tech.

But along comes X+1 game, and now we have Y+1 tech which comes out of nowhere, and makes no sense in canon.

By Fallout 7, we'll be using 20 foot tall power armour suits called the T89z, which was in commmon use pre-war, while a typical bandit will have 1.21 million HP.

I dunno, androids are a fairly common 50s sci-fi trope. It was also pre-established in Fallout 3 before they made the ridiculous idea they were indistinguishable from humans (which is not the case since they had mechanical parts in Fallout 3).

Albeit, the concept needed more expanding to work.

For example, they need a reason to MAKE androids as infiltration seems a trifle small to do it. I would have said they made androids because RoboBrains were the most advanced droid they could come up with due to the fact smaller bots were incredibly stupid--so making fake humans was the ultimate in AI for the technology.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

Well, the Enclave isn't on the Oil Rig because they want to be. Assuming we take Van Buren canon, the Oil Rig is where they ended up when their initial plan fell through. In fact, it seems pretty central to the Enclave that while they have delusions of grandeur, they're just a bunch of tribals living on another piece of Pre-War technology. No different than the Boomers or Vault-Dwellers really.

It's not. As much as some might want it to be, it isn't. Canon is the Enclave established themselves on the rig a few days before the bombs fell. My point is they were able to set up everything before the War and it makes sense they are able to carry out their own research and development. Even if you feel the Enclave is over-the-top for Fallout, you can at least look at them and see their existence as they are is plausible.

Also, I don't the Institute literally hid when the bombs fell but made a basement for themselves in preparation for the war ala the Sierra Madre or Mister House. It would go a long way to explain its Raygun Gothic overtones.

"We're going to make a science paradise where we're served by robot slaves and sip martinis forever."

But the Institute never mentions that. In fact:

The original survivors of the war, our progenitors, took refuge in the basement of the old Commonwealth Institute of Technology. Over time, their sons and daughters dug deeper into the earth and built increasingly sophisticated habitats and laboratories.

Surely if they had already prepared she'd say something like "The original survivors realized that global war was inevitable and secretly inititated a project that would provide shelter for them and their families, as well as kickstart our technological development." But no, they're just there and because they are scientists they can do anything.