How will people in the wasteland react to someone who lived through the world before the bombs?

The Sole Survivor is pretty exceptional, so far every the other pre-war entities aren't exactly approachable - House, ghouls, disembodied brains, etc. I can see a couple of possible reactions:

1. Amazement - some people are probably interested in history and want to know every detail. Imagine the conversation the survivor could have with Abraham Washington.
2. Curiosity - some people don't care about history, but might want to know specific things - how to operate particular machinery, what locations might have notable loot.
3. Apathy - raiders probably don't spend any time thinking about "before," and maybe other characters too. The world is the way it is, deal with it.
4. Pity - some might look down on you as a relic, outdated and useless. No interest in the world before, but might want to help you adapt
5. Hostility - a particular faction might have an agenda that relies on propaganda, like the Enclave. These factions might not take kindly to a newcomer with uncomfortable knowledge.

I'm hoping that our pre-war experience will come into play heavily in terms of how we fit into the world - after all, Bethesda chose this origin story for a reason. My character will probably be disappointed if anyone reacts without at least some enthusiasm. What else should we expect from wastelanders upon learning what we are?

I would suspect most would assume you're lying or crazy.

I imagine most wouldn't ask or care, actually. I don't want everyone I meet to mention it.

Probably lots of mixed reactions would be my guess. Myself, I'm likely to maybe try not to go around telling everyone about it, either.

However NPCs react to us, I'm almost certain that those who get to know us will refer to us as "one-eleven".

"I come from a time when the world wasn't a nuclear wasteland. KNEEL BEFORE ME!!"

Yeah, not really buying any of that.

1 Amazement - I doubt it. Sure some few more scholarly types might have that reaction. But the majority would be far more interested in their own daily life.

2 Curiosity - Again I doubt it. Oh so you were part of that amazing civilization that rained hell on the rest of us? Thanks so much.

3 Apathy - Raiders going to raid. Whats more to say?

4 Pity - Its the wasteland. I am sure there are people that have had a far worse time of it, then a guy that napped through the bombs dropping and the chaos that followed.

5 Hostility - Why would anyone care by now? Heck, as part the armed forces, you could argue that you are closer to either the BoS or Enclave then anyone alive.

And all this also begs the question of what the memory den does. If it is able to give pre-war memories to people, they would likely be even more non-pulsed by the survivor.

Make sure you don't run into the super mutant master...

The same way they deal with the many non-feral ghouls who are also pre-war.

Unless you run into a history nut they probably won't care.

Why would anyone know unless you're walking around telling people? Or more importantly, why would they care?

They will always mention the "Sole Survivor of the Great War" but they will never acknowledge you as him/her.

2-Caps slicks back his hair.

Smiling he states "Ladies have you ever dated a 232 year old man, you sure don't know what your missing."

After the round of laughter he receives, He slowly hangs his head and slinks back to the table. Dean, Raul,Charon and Desmond all look up sympathetically, and state nearly in unison " Don't feel bad smooth skin didn't work for us either!"

Lol!

I figure there will probably be folks who don't believe you and those that just don't care. Others might find you interesting just because you were alive back then, like the ol' WW2/Korea/Vietnam veteran who likes to tell his war stories (we have one that visits my place of employment regularly).

Just like past Fallout games, I really don't think they'll have put time, effort, or thought into reactions to the character or his/her past or origin. This IS Bethesda we're talking about.

Consider the only way you know he's pre war is if he/she tells people I don't expect much reactions, because our character won't have much reason to tell people that.

As long as you dont mention it to every npc you meet and remind them constantly why would they care.

I consider myself fairly well versed in Fallout lore but something that's always eluded me is how gouls are hundreds of years old. What's the explanation in the lore about this?

They'll want to capture you and play around with your pure non-mutated dna.

I remember in an interview Todd Howard spoke about how the next big thing for open world games will be how NPCs react to the PC. I'd really like to see this start to come to fruition in Fallout 4.

Radiation causes some sort of healing and regenerative process in ghouls, and apparently disrupts natural cellular decay.

The exact "mechanism" behind it is left up to speculation. But SCIENCE is undoubtedly behind it.

Unless you run around telling people about it, they shouldn't know. If someone came up to me and told me they just woke up after 200 years, some guy saying he was Thomas Jefferson I guess, I would probably think they were insane, so odds are the Survivor doesn't run around telling people. Of course there may be a few "I'm The Chosen One" type lines we can dish out, which may be funny.

The wasteland is a rough place where the overwhelming majority of people are probably more concerned with where their next meal is coming from rather than in someone's interesting history. As such, most people would probably react with disbelief or apathy. Some people may react with amazement, curiosity, or pity at first, but they have more important things on their mind so it would be a brief reaction that is quickly ignored. Some very few who have the luxury of not worrying about their own survival may react with more pronounced and longer lasting amazement, curiosity, or pity and may engage you in related dialogue. For plot purposes, a hostile reaction could certainly be used depending on what factions are in the game and what their goals are.

Agreed that most people shouldn't know, unless you tell them.

If the option is there to tell people, a wide spectrum of different reactions would be rad.

How cool would it be if there was a scientist looking for prime normals to experiment on, and if you blab you get abducted and have to find/talk/fight your way out of their lab complex?

Ghouls, I could see reminiscing with us. Or being super pissed that there is a damned smooth skin (with their smooth skin and all of their hair and a voice that doesn't sound like they gargle scotch and broken glass) that's as old as they are.

It is my hope we run into a ghoul or two who recognize us from before the Great War.

Some will think you're crazy or simply won't care.

Some may see you as super smart and follow you. Aside from those slimy ghoul bastards that can't be trusted to not eat your children, you're the only one with any actual schooling in the wastes.*



*yes,I know, the institute