Is the ghost in Fallout 2 considered canon?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Arin Matthews
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Arin Matthews said:
Walpknut said:
And they all consist of a single sentence. Isn't there a forum rule against that?
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No, when you are Arin Matthews you are cool thus meaning you don't need more than one sentence or the edit button.
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Stepping outside of my comfortable "nice guy" loafers and into my heavy black spike-toed mod boots for a second, I feel I should say that we don't make allowances for that sort of thing, regardless of coolness.

That said, as of current, there's no rule on the books against one-sentence thread topics. If they're found to be blatant spam and don't engender any real discussion, they'll be vatted, and repeated offenses will eventually lead to a heavy black spike-toed prostate exam.
 
Oppen said:
BigBoss said:
So then why does the quest require you bury the bones in a grave named "Anna Winslow"?
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Again, that only proves the real Anna Winslow is dead. I think that what is being suggested is that, yes, Anna Winslow is dead, yes, the "ghost" gives you her bones, but NO, the "ghost" is not the real Anna Winslow, but a random, crazy woman.

EDIT: Maybe even not a crazy woman, but someone trying to take advantage of goodie two shoes, supersticious people, and wanting the locket to sell or because it looks good.
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Well then she must have really, REALLY, wanted that locket to stand in the same house every fucking day wasting dozens of stealth boy's (that were no doubt worth WAY more than the locket) to pretend she was a ghost.
 
That's kind of metagame thinking, though, isn't it? It's sort of like saying that Hakunin must never leave his tent or that the Salvatores bartender spends his entire life behind the bar. It's not like the average Chosen One is going to see her more than two or three times in a playthrough, anyway. She's only there every night if you make it a point to be there to see her every night, in which case her presence there is no stranger or easier to explain than your own.

Besides, if we're assessing the game purely literally like that, Stealth Boys in the original games had a high number of charges and it only took one charge to turn the thing on and leave it on indefinitely. Maybe she's a crazy lady who happens to have other things to do during the day but constantly haunts (ha, ha) the place at midnight? Maybe she's just a reclusive drifter with a Stealth Boy and a wry sense of humor, trying to scare late-night junkies off her squat? Maybe she gets spooked when you confront her there at bedtime and runs off after she's done having to deal with you, which is why you never see her past the one designated hour? Maybe once discovered she eventually gives up any notion of dropping off the radar again and moves on, leaving you a sack of bones and a spook story so as to allay any leftover suspicions?

Taken together or individually, any one of those things could explain her away. Granted, they're all completely implausible and ridiculous, but then, so's "She's a ghost," so either way it falls to the player to choose which load of crap they want to believe.
 
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Or she is really a ghost and the Fo2 dev who added her to the game thought it's mystical and funny and didn't thought much more about it.
 
It's may be subjective, but i think you all answer to the wrong question. My issue is not if a ghost (seems more a polteigeist) could exist in real-life. I don't have that answer, but it is another debate. (if you ask my mom, she would be 100% certain that they exist) You are in a science fiction universe, with some bits of fantastic, and some clever fourth wall breaking elements. In this universe, it is ok to have ghosts, ghouls, brains in jars, real-life weapons, some intelligent talking animals, robots and computers still working after 200 years, pre-war food that you could still eat, mysterious strangers randomly helping you, aliens, and even cults based around radiation. Wheter this could happen in real-life is a bit irrelevant.

My questions would be : Does it make sense in context ? Is is contradicted by other facts in the same setting/universe ? Is it consistant with what has already happened, what was already explained to your character ? Would someone in the same situation would react like that ?

I am 100 % OK with a ghost ingame, as long as there is not something in the Fallout series that proves without a piece of doubt, that ghosts can't exist. On the other hand, i am less confortable with everyone in Reno celebrating your victory agains't the enclave, as they kept a low profile and i doubt anyone except Arroyo, Vault 13, the BOS and San Francisco are aware of their existence, at the moment you did it. Same doubts with Ethyl Wright managing to make everyone sober in New Reno, as the rest of the game made perfectly clear that she was unconvincing (no member in the union), naïve (no clues for Tully), and have a short temper, even with people that would help advertize her group (if you're a pornstar). [Fallout 3 is full of 100% human inconsistent behavior. (Lucy West, Sierra Petrovita, Moira Brown, Little Lamplight...)]

The ghost even make more sense that some of your explanations.

Matthews said:
Don't use my name in vain, mutant!

Also, seeing as the Chosen One comes from a tribe with hokey-dokey grass/drugsmoking crazy looney-popes (in my opinion), I wouldn't be one bit surprised if he saw ghosts/spirits now and then. Those with some spiritual power of sorts can sense ghosts or other spirits (which is noted in the RP when you talk to the shaman of Umbra Tribe), while the "civilized" people tend to not see/notice such themselves (or try to make a profit by stories of haunted houses). As for her being killable/loony woman with Stealth Boy, I can't say I ever did try to put her to rest other than the regular way from doing her quests, so I wouldn't know.
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Also this.
 
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naossano said:
It's may be subjective, but i think you all answer to the wrong question. My issue is not if a ghost (seems more a polteigeist) could exist in real-life. I don't have that answer, but it is another debate. (if you ask my mom, she would be 100% certain that they exist) You are in a science fiction universe, with some bits of fantastic, and some clever fourth wall breaking elements. In this universe, it is ok to have ghosts, ghouls, brains in jars, real-life weapons, some intelligent talking animals, robots and computers still working after 200 years, pre-war food that you could still eat, mysterious strangers randomly helping you, aliens, and even cults based around radiation. Wheter this could happen in real-life is a bit irrelevant.

My questions would be : Does it make sense in context ? Is is contradicted by other facts in the same setting/universe ? Is it consistant with what has already happened, what was already explained to your character ? Would someone in the same situation would react like that ?
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Eh? I think we all tried to answer that very same question. Personally, I stated I preferred to think it was a fake because (and this is exactly how I expressed it) IMO, ghosts don't fit in the setting, so, no, I didn't answer if that was plausible IRL (why would anyone try to answer that? we are talking a game which is implausible in the core aspects IRL, why would anyone think "would this minor detail be plausible IRL?" in that context?), but if I considered it appropriate for the setting. Which actually is the only question you can relate to the OP, as it's if it's considered canon.
 
It's just one of the many inkblots we have to dab onto Fallout 2's lore.

Just forget about it, it's probably about as canon as the TARDIS.
 
AlphaPromethean said:
It's just one of the many inkblots we have to dab onto Fallout 2's lore.

Just forget about it, it's probably about as canon as the TARDIS.
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I agree, although this is more arguable, as it's in a major town and a quest, not just an easter egg or a random encounter.
 
I really think that whatever dev created her though, didn't have in mind or didn't want/expect the player to attempt to decide whether it was canon or not.

I think it was just put there to add a little something extra/out of the ordinary, and purely for fun, as Fallout is notorious for.
 
When Fo2 was made, nobody gave a shit about real canon yet. This whole shebang started after it. And - that's my personal experience - no dev ever wonders if players will attempt to decide if a situation in their game will be canon at some point or not. It just doesn't matter to most people.
 
Anna Winslow is a metaphor for Tim Cain leaving Black Isle right at the time when Den was in design.
She represents his departure from the real, Fallout world (thus the grave), yet remains haunting the house and its surrounding, representing the omnipresent influence Tim Cain has had, and will have, on the world and lore of the game.
The ending of the quest is telling us how Tim gave/got a sack (of bones), thus retiring, how he was awarded with a golden locket (acknowledgement) for all his contributions to Fallout series, and how the bones were buried (therefore marking the end of one era in BIS).
 
Atomkilla said:
Anna Winslow is a metaphor for Tim Cain leaving Black Isle right at the time when Den was in design.
She represents his departure from the real, Fallout world (thus the grave), yet remains haunting the house and its surrounding, representing the omnipresent influence Tim Cain has had, and will have, on the world and lore of the game.
The ending of the quest is telling us how Tim gave/got a sack (of bones), thus retiring, how he was awarded with a golden locket (acknowledgement) for all his contributions to Fallout series, and how the bones were buried (therefore marking the end of one era in BIS).
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@naossano should add this to his thread.
 
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I'm not sure I'm following, Oppen.


edit: Oh. That thread is about FO3, though.
 
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What's the story with the Dunwich Building in Fallout 3? Or that creepy whispering at Graveyards in New Vegas?

Anyway like others I would say it is one of those maybe magic, maybe mundane things. She could be a crazy woman with a stealth boy or she could really be a ghost. You don't know for sure either way. Although personally I'd say it is the former.
 
As for the ghost/stealth boy dilemma, I've asked Sulik about it. He consulted the Grampy Bone promptly for me and any doubts about the authenticity of Anna's ghost disappeared. I don't dare to dispute the claim of Grampy Bone, guys!

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