I'm going to to take another road and say you're an android who was programmed to be said character that actually died 200 years or so ago.

Either; A.) You have that character's brain inside an android body, or B.) You are full android and his memories were transferred to you. You were made by the Vault with the help of the institute, to defeat the original you, as the original character could still be out there as a mutant or some other twisted monstrosity and could be the main antagonist.

I'm gonna take a stab at this:

Your wife and child never made it. We never see them. Turns out they died in the blast and the whole 'customizing your spouse' thing was just a gimmicky way of explaining the male/female protagonists. The spouse and the baby were just a way to set the peaceful tone before everything went to hell hours later.

We learn that they're dead mid-way through and the rest of the game has us taking our anger out on the Institution/Enclave for not letting us die with them 200 years ago.

I think the devs have far bigger plans for our spouse and child than this.

Seems possible the brains at MIT would want young people to make more scientists to carry on for them, we know from F3 if they could have shiny young bodies he still chose to be an very old guy, though it does make you wonder why he came to Rivet city himself, it does imply Harkness was special somehow.

Frozen theory does seem pretty good, especially since we see androids using cryo weapons, perhaps to round up more 'bodies' for study? eek lol

I think cryogenics are all but confirmed considering the wife's name was Nora. As in Nora Fries, wife of Batman super villain Mr. Freeze.

Adding to the fact that there's apparently a cryogen, I think I'm actually going to RP as Mr. Freeze now. Will certainly fit the guy's mechanical voice acting.

Funny how different minds think: I thought Nora was a reference to the Boston "Tea Party" incident, as it is a short version of the name "Eleanor", which was the name of one of the British ships involved.

... once again, no matter how much "evidence" you use, you're basing it all on a HANDFUL of clips that each last a few seconds. We're not even sure if those clips are actually in chronological order either! All I've said, is that you're speculating... and yes gkk7z, you are claiming to be correct when you dismiss everyone else speculation.

Also, excellent response... to ignore actually having too respond to points that actually question one of your big points (IE the scientist who was NOT on shown to be on the platform when the blast happens).

The Vault-Tec scientist couldn't have been in a complete vacuum for 200 years or he'd still be intact. There's no way to decompose in a vacuum.

Moreover, if someone had sealed him in 200 years ago, the first people to leave the vault would've taken his Pip-Boy when THEY left. So he had to have died at some point between the most recent people leaving the vault and the Survivor leaving. Why wouldn't that group take his Pip-Boy? Vault Security probably had one as well, and wouldn't have needed two. It was probably the Enclave poking around who woke somebody up and ordered it opened in the first place, and the guard would've been the most likely to follow those orders. The scientist probably would've resisted, and been shot, then re-sealed the vault before anybody else could get in or out. The rest of the people must have left then, which is lucky since it means it's only been ~40 years tops since that happened. We wake up and find the murder scene.

Personally I think all the other Cryonic units FAILED because thats what they were designed to do? Why? No idea. Its going to be some weird Vaulttec reason. Perhaps it was simply just to discover how long the units would function before they started to fail. What they didnt expect was for one unit to actually work properly (Im guessing it was also designed for failure but didnt). Fallout is like that. I think its more than likely going to be recorded as a log on the overseers computer why Vaultec wanted the failure to occur. It would be a great way to actually study the effects of FEV on a Cryonically frozen person.

So the character IS the sole survivor because everyone else is dead. I think the vault was also breached at some point and his cryopod was inaccessible to the others that came to the vault. I mean you wouldnt use the word sole survivor unless it implied everyone in the vault was dead. I think it would be great to meet the descendants of your family though.

EDIT: Great idea. The Vault tech experiments were about the different forms of stress a victim (and to be honest anyone that was sealed away in a Vault WAS a Vaultec test victim). So it stands to reason the ultimate stressor would be to lose everyone you loved, wake up 200 years later in roughly the same location, coming out to see a horribly twisted yet familiar landscape and to go back to where you basically were just living (your most recent memories). The Vault tec experiment here might be just that. have ONE person survive in the only functional Cryopod.

Of course something could of gone wrong in the experiment (ie there is no way to accurately gauge the responses now) but the Pipboy device could of been used to transmit the information somewhere.

Sure its dark and twisted but hey.. so was Vault tech. After every vault we have encounted in game, would you really expect anything less?

This is how I imagine you playing the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRH-Ywpz1_I

I'll be doing that too, but I was thinking of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5139qnQpk given I think the game's going to be trying to go for "tragic widower protagonist" with the story.

Probably going to have to use a Radiation Suit for his outfit.

That space outfit was pretty close in the demo.

I am actually quite sure that the clips are in fact in chronological order, although they do seem to have been edited. I'm guessing that the final tutorial we get to play will be somewhat longer than what we are shown here. And standing by my theory is not the same as claiming to be correct. As for me not answering all of your points, it was a bit of an onslaught. But in all fairness, I will perhaps answer one of them. In no. 6, you said:

Watching this segment of the video, we can see 3 males and 1 female above the vault. The female seems to be wearing a green dress, which matches up with one of the people we see above the vault in the trailer, as well as one of the skeletons we see in this area when we leave the vault. Also, if you pause the video and look at her feet, you can see that someone is actually standing behind her. Note as well the length of her hair, which seems to continue down past her shoulders. Now look at the very next scene. The woman we see here has short bobbed hair and is wearing completely different clothing, suggesting that there were most definitely 5 civilians waiting above the vault when we arrive. In addition to this, when we see our spouse and child from the protagonist's first person view, you can actually see the sleeve of the woman's green dress to your right, and the slightly balding chap with the checked shirt can no longer be seen, because he is standing to the left and is slightly out of the frame. Again this can be confirmed by comparing the exact same scene in the trailer.

As for the scientist, we know that he gets into the vault, and we also know he has a Pip-Boy, because we see our protagonist take it from his corpse as he leaves. If we go back to the trailer, in this exact same area (again, just before the blast) we see a vault security guard, a soldier in power armor and a scientist holding a clip-board. Even though the scientist is not wearing the Pip-Boy in this scene, it is most likely in one of the many nearby containers. He would then collect his Pip-Boy and put it on immediately before retrieving the huge red valve that has been placed on the elevator controls next to the silver lever that we see in this shot. This would have also been around the same time the bomb detonates. In the preceding shot with the dog above the vault during post-war, we can clearly see this valve above the vault, which I believe has been used to depressurize the elevator-shaft as suggested in my detailed theory post.

As I have quite clearly demonstrated here, there is a ton of information in the trailer and the E3 footage if you are patient enough to look for it. I have studied both of these, as well as other available material, literally frame by frame. And therefore my method for coming up with all of my 'theories' is actual rather scientific.

Half Life 3 confirmed?

*AHEM* anyway, they did cover this in the gameplay at E3, the robot says "You're 200 years late for dinner"

You should check the E3 showcase, there's 4 people when you arrive, two women and two men; one woman is wearing the green dress with the longish hair, the other is wearing a green blouse and a long skirt with flowery design on it and a bob haircut. Now in the trailer, there's actually something different scene shown, at https://youtu.be/GE2BkLqMef4?t=126 it's flashed you can see what I assume is a Vault-Tec guard, a scientist, and a soldier in power armor on top of the elevator, with a man and a woman (the woman with the bob cut), a man in a checkered shirt running towards the platform, what appears to be the woman with the green dress walking into the picture, and the top of a man's head. These sort of contradict each other, and makes me wonder if they changed things around to mess with our heads.

As for the scientist, no, we don't know if that's the SAME person or another one. We are never shown him getting a pipboy or putting one on, we are never shown him getting into the Vault. So this is PURE SPECULATION BASED ON YOUR OPINION!

And how then do you explain the three individuals wearing trousers as we approach just before the close-up? Did one of the women quickly change clothes from one scene to the next? I doubt it. But this is besides the point. I find your tone more than a little offensive, and making personal insults is not the way to get your point across on this or any forum. And so I will not be responding to any more of your comments. I will continue to post my theories for those who enjoy reading and debating them in a fair way, even if they disagree with me. After all, we are here to discuss a fictional game, and differences of opinion are what makes the forum interesting. If we were all exactly the same it would be boring, but we are not. I think you should perhaps keep this in mind when responding to posts in the future.

I do like reading your theories, but no offense, that's all they are: just theories. Granted I think you were scarily close to how the tutorial would begin (thus convincing me that you work for Bethesda and are trying to cover it up. Admit it! )

Ever consider they aren't using just one play through? I'm not saying don't post your theories, I'm telling you to stop pretending your theories are based on anything other than your own opinion! Because that's all they are based on... what you believe. That's what I've been saying this entire time! You've just been ignoring it by saying over and over "I've done my research."

I'm gonna have to agree with Turkey here. Unless you worked on the game, you know no more than we do about the plot. I could just as well come up with an elaborate plot scenario for TES VI based on what I found in 'Skyrim', but that would just be my little theory. Nothing wrong with your theory, but I wouldn't put my hopes on betting that you've somehow gleaned the plot on what a scant few information we got of the game and the lore told you.

You know what I think the intro to fallout 4game will be a before the actuall story begins and we walk through the neighborhood in the pre war time I hope it will be as serene as the bioshock infinite intro when you first get to columbia. If thats how its being down anyway. "Will the circle be unbroken"

Well the fact that we spent several games looking at the wasteland and thinking what was, it would certainly be a grand experience.

I wouldn't say they're only based on his opinion. His theories are his opinions, which he formed by looking at the footage of the game. Bethesda released stuff, he looked at it, and interpreted in such a way as to lead to his theories.

Rescinded.

Why was theories in quotes?

Im not even sure what you all are on about now, but the theory (no quotes) of cryonic stasis seems more sound than any theory that has been put forward.
I was still holding out that we could potentially be an android, but am pretty convinced that we aren't.
Aside from a time machine, cryonic stasis is the most logical.

1. The trailer being based around actual gameplay elements
2. The pre-war assets not being created just for the trailer
3. The tutorial being set in and played during pre-war
4. The house we are shown at the start being the protagonist's home
5. The tutorial taking place on 23rd October 2077, the day the bombs fell
6. Being alerted by a member of the household about news of detonations
7. The vertibird in the trailer heading directly for the vault
8. The strong military presence in town shown during the tutorial
9. The tank further down from our player home blocking the road ahead
10. The main part of the game being played around 200 years after the tutorial
11. The family above the vault at time of blast surviving (one already confirmed)
12. The other civilians seen above the vault also being in the tutorial
13. The father at the start of the trailer ending up as a protagonist
14. Being able to choose to play as either the mother or the father
15. Being able to determine the final appearance of both parents
16. The physical appearance of the baby being based on both parents
17. Our son being heard crying from his bedroom
18. The protagonist being whoever who are still controlling at a specific point
19. Both male and female protagonists being fully voice acted
20. The male protagonist having a strong military background
21. Said military background being referenced during the tutorial
22. Near to the start, somebody with a clip-board asking us for information
23. Being then led into character creation, including choosing our name (vault-tec guy)
24. Utilising cryogenics to get from pre to post-war (as good as confirmed)
25. Emerging as the 'sole survivor' of vault 111 (family may still be alive)
26. The dog from the trailer playing a big part in the main game (companion/commands)
27. The path the dog follows being the same one our family take when going to the vault
28. The use of 'junk objects' when modifying weapons or armor
29. The inclusion of a combat system much closer to that of a full-blown FPS
30. Additional gameplay mechanics being introduced upon leaving the vault (vats)
31. The dog assisting us during 'vats training' as seen during the showcase