Sorry if this thread already exists somewhere; I'm surprised to say that I can't find a similar thread via the search bar...

Basically, here's what we know: in Fallout 4, we're dealing heavily with the androids of the Institute. We also know form Harkness in Fallout 3 that some androids are indistinguishable from humans without even knowing that they're an android, complete with false identities and memories etc.

To me, this smells a lot like a twist/reveal that the player character is an android with fake memories and so forth. Especially with the knowledge of some place called "the Memory Den" (where perhaps androids can be given false memories).

I'm personally not a fan of this possibility, and please hear me out as to why. I feel like it's counter-intuitive to allow the player to spend so much time creating and developing a unique character if he/she is inevitably revealed to be an android. YES, previous Bethesda games & Fallout games have had protagonists with predetermined backgrounds. But a twist that's this extreme eliminates the premise upon which the player has built their character, thereby negating the character that the player has tried to create. For me personally, it would really hinder my ability to "be who I want to be", which is a hallmark in Fallout and BGS games in general. Being an android is a really defining feature, and thereby seriously limits character freedom.

It also seems that a character revelation like this would make it very difficult to differentiate the protagonist in second/third playthroughs.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Is the rest of the Fallout community so unconcerned with the whole "be who you want to be" element that being an android just sounds fine and dandy?

Last but not least; can anyone provide a strong argument that this theory is just plain dumb? Obviously, I'm really hoping that this theory is completely misconceived.

Simple answer, because they couldn't hide the twist anyway because the instant you took a rocket to the face or anything the gibs you, the player would see in the 3rd person "you are dead cam" if you where a android.

So yeah, cryogenics theory is the way to go.

The twist that just about everyone would see coming? Yea, no.

I seriously hope that's true... cryogenic freezing in the vault was "confirmed" in Gameinformer (or so I've heard), but if they were going for a twist, wouldn't it make sense to just call the false memories truth? In any case, I hope you're right.

Haha, good point. I really hope you're right.

i don't see it happening

the whole false memories angle seems too... much

one, theres no evidence at all of it yet, and two... just seems too much work to hide a twist that everyone would see coming

its probably just simple... it is what it is

we go in the vault and get cryopod'd because that just actually happens, not because thats what false memories tell us

the whole false memories and android protagonist craze that kind of died out a while ago kind of reminds me of the indoctrination theory that a bunch of Internet philosophers had about mass effect 3s ending. Whole lot of speculation and broad strokes, but in the end it was just something simple... a large-scale game that just had a somewhat lackluster finish that could have been designed better, no need for deep theories about never making it past the marker and imagining the entire adventure

Call it bad writing, overdone, predictable, etc.... believe me, I agree. But it seems silly to say there's no evidence for it, when so many of the confirmed details about Fallout 4 were foreshadowed by Fallout 3's "Replicated Man" quest, which dealt specifically with an Android from the Institute who had false memories and didn't know he was an android. Obviously, if they want it to be a twist, they're not going to outwardly hint at it before the game is even out. In any case, I hope you're right.

Harkness was one of a kind, the only android from the institute to pass for human completely. Which is why they were so hard up to get him back. As we've seen in not just concept art, but in game play... the synths we'll be fighting are humanoid in appearance but not to the extreme that harkness is. Our player character isn't an android.

I'm not trying to undermine you, but I think some lore fact checking might be necessary there, but perhaps I'm the mistaken one. In any case, I think that's moot. If the lore accommodates for Harkness, then there's really no argument that there absolutely couldn't be another one made like him at some point, perhaps even secretly, in a manner that the sources in Fallout 3 would be unaware of. Again-- I'm playing devil's advocate here. I'm not trying to prove that the protagonist IS an android, and believe me, I'm hoping he/she is not.

Fact check the lore all you like, but everything not said in past games, is pure speculation or head cannon. Unless the devs speak it, or the game shows it.... it's all up in the air. You're not the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth person to bring this up. There's at least 3 people who've had the bright idea that the pc is an android, in every comment section of vids on youtube and on the official fallout facebook.... as well as at least 3 threads made about it here. That's a pretty well known twist for bethesda to do, and we've seen less than 1% of the story. I don't mean to come off as an ass, but this theory has been hashed and rehashed. The arguments for and against said and done. We're all just going in circles, with no road map to guide us because we know very little about the events in Fallout 4.

i meant WE (the character) have shown no evidence of being a memory wiped android, not that the concept of androids thinking theyre humans in FO is completely missing

'confirmed details about fallout 4' that you mentioned in fallout 3 is not the same thing as 'confirmed details about the protagonist in fallout 4'

and the fact that you know that theres no evidence to point to us being an android at this time, but still made a post about it is also a bit silly

if you are worried that the protagonist could be an android, but respond with ' of course they wouldn't give away any story twists' when people tell you there is no evidence of it, why even ask?

maybe our character was secretly exposed to the fev while in service and hasnt manifested any mutations, theres no evidence for it but theres none AGAINST it so it must be possible right???? because theres evidence of long mutation periods in other distant characters, so totally possible. time to worry... no

you seem to be jumping at shadows you KNOW are shadows

if there was a leak of a script with the pc questioning if they were a droid or not, that'd be one thing, but theres simply no evidence like that

and ill say it again, when i say 'no evidence' i mean 'no evidence that WE are an android,' not 'no evidence we wont find some that think theyre humans' in the game

Harkness's little identity crisis has zero bearing on the PC. it can clearly hint at things in the fallout 4 area itself, but to link that quest directly to our character specifically at this time as reasonable evidence that we could be an android with false memories is a bit much. if that's the case, then heck, it's reasonable evidence that every single freaking person we come across can an android with false memories. some? sure. But definitely not something to try to apply to every single person you find in the wasteland. Ive been led into ambushes a few times by NPC's in past fallout games, but I don't assume every single person asking me to follow them is going to lead me into another ambush. Bethesda is pretty heavy-handed with their writing, so it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on beforehand. I suspect you'll be able to figure out if someone is an android a good bit before they reveal it to you or find it out themselves simply because of the writing style

And like other people and you have already stated, being an android would damage any replayability, and I doubt Bethesda would go that route. Plus, we've seen radiation in play, and I really doubt androids would suffer from that.

just don't even concern yourself with it unless we end up seeing a screenshot of our character tearing the skin off of his mechanical face or something

pretty much what oldtimekiller told you: its been done to death and we've all moved on, so just let it die

I always speculated that there was a chance the protagonist could end up being an android if we were in Boston. Though... I was hoping more along the lines of I knew I was an android, not the whole Blade Runner back drop.

But honestly, I prefer, and hope that, the protagonist is human, and not a copy of some former human who lived in that Vault. It's just really lazy and very obvious writing if the protagonist turns out to be an android. Than if you find out that you're actually an android, you'd probably feel pushed too make certain choices that you'd otherwise choose not to make.

I have no evidence or proof that the protagonist is just a human. But there's nothing that supports the idea that he's an android either. Just pure speculation.

On a side note, ME3 ending really killed the game. It wasn't just anti-climatic, it was one of the worst endings I've seen for a game series that was pretty good story wise up to that point.

I don't get why people keep saying that your pre-built head canon past is somehow obviated if it turns out you're an android. Why? Especially in comparison to a regular human protagonist, they still might contradict what you made up in your head. How is it different if you wind up being an android with human memories? You can still choose how your android self takes it no? You can choose if your android self rejects this and embraces their inhuman nature or clings to this fake history as the only thing they have or any of the myriad interpretations you can imagine up. Just like you would with the fact that your human protag is married and has a child.

This is something that has been discussed in old FO Speculation threads, what we called the possibility of FO Blade Runner. Just about everyone agrees this would be a bad idea. I don't think they are going to do it. Now, will there be some android replicant of your spouse or child? Maybe, I sure hope they don't do any of it .

They better not make us a filthy android.

I hope Bethesda doesn't make "androids are almost human/have feelings/are dangerous" a central plot point as tempting as it may be. It was already touched upon in in FO3, Mass Effect, I Robot and a bunch of other games and movies. Nothing wrong with touching upon the theme as a side thing but I don't want the entire plot to revolve around it.

Androids are people too!!

Androids are samich makers and dog walkers. Not people. Get back to your railroad

Just out of curiosity what would you like the central theme to be about? I don't want the central plot to be about muh familee. ~shrug~

There has to be a central theme somewhere and someone is gonna be disappointed.

No. Boring. Hope not.

I'd be very surprised if Bethesda didn't use your son (Shawn I think was his name) as some kind of plot device or element. Why would they put effort, and correct me if I'm wrong, into making his face dependent on how you customized his parents (your character and their spouse). So it probably is one of the main aspects of the game's central plot.

I want them to surprise me, personally I don't see anything wrong with family being an important pillar of the plot as long as it's not cliché and well done (most games screw this up very badly because they can't get me to care about these family members, so any kind of emotional investment or interest is basically dead). I'm hoping one if the main driving points will be factions and how you can influence their relations and eventually their outcome because it creates a very interesting web of choice and consequence and it makes the game very replayable. Not to mention that it lets you find the characters you like yourself instead of trying hard to make one character likable because he's important to the plot.

Looking at Skyrim there's almost 0 choice and consequence, civil war questline had great potential but it ended up being a bland boring mess due to them running out of time. I'm never going to play through that questline again. There's really no point in replaying through the quests in Skyrim, they always play out the same. It's fun to mod it, explore, experience the sandbox feel with different character builds but replayability due to quests is basically non-existent.

By comparison looking at New Vegas it's mindblowing to see to which extent Obsidian went to give you choices on who you want to support, who do you want to kill off, who do you want to protect etc. Not to mention the great writing that makes the whole deal that much more interesting to explore from a different perspective.

IIRC It was implied that they went with the more "restrictive" character (voiced, military background) to give the story more focus. I'm fine with that but it better be a good story and not "middle aged guy"-tier writing again otherwise what's the point? Writing hasn't been Bethesda's strong point with their last games (they have improved from FO3 to Skyrim IMO) so it's one of the things I'm most worried about.

It's fun to explore their worlds, they pull off the sandbox "go where you want, do what you want" world very well, very few other development studios come even close to competing with them in that aspect but I would be awesome to have a strong engaging narrative in addition to that.

Almost certainly because it's an easy feature, and it's expected of a child. It would lead to [most probably unwanted, and unsupported] questions of infidelity otherwise.

Didn't they say that the actual face was influenced? Not color, color is easy, it's a very minor feature. To me it sounded like you'll be able to see the kid grown up and then that would be a major plot element I believe.

God I hope not, the android thing will disappoint me if it's a main part of the quest line. Should just be a side quest chain.

Personally, I have no problem with being an android. It feels limiting at first brush, so that might be a tactile thing. I prefer the clone or cryostasis theories better. Mostly, I just want to play.

My theory is we are an android(probably very advanced) and that we will get upgrades down the line
I believe the salesman we see at our front door is tied to the storyline and theres is ton of important stuff related to our son and why we are in the starting town. Our reaction to the world/hunger with codsworth also seems odd