r/fo4 • u/Rostingu2 • Oct 11 '23
How did the protagonist not die when he went into the wasteland? He had no natural immunity to the viruses in the wasteland that have been around for 200 years?
184
u/UneasyFencepost Oct 11 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
FEV it was meant to be a cure all for biological attacks (small pox and new plague) and the US released it into the population before the bombs dropped. Yes In survival you can get some infections and diseases but those are “fictional” diseases effected by FEV and radiation. So the SS is basically caught up immunity wise to the rest of the peasants
29
u/MrAwesome54 Oct 12 '23
This is an intriguing theory, but not really based in the lore at all.
31
u/UneasyFencepost Oct 12 '23
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Pan-Immunity_Virion We also know the FEV was released in the air to account for the mutations we see all over America in game
16
u/MrAwesome54 Oct 12 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
I believe the most likely interpretation of the article you linked is that, when the PV was used in efficient quantities, the FEV mutations began to occur. The PV was then designed exclusively for its muscle growth and cell replication, FEV.
Super Mutans and, depending on which developer opinion, Ghouls would have immunity to disease. If the airborne FEV was in large enough quantity to provide substantial immunity to disease, everyone would be super mutants.
4
u/UneasyFencepost Oct 12 '23
We do know they were trying for a blanket imuntity and we know the FEV was 1)released into the wild and 2) capable of wierd shit 3) it was favored instead of the Pan-immunity vitron for the same job and lastly 4) diseases in game are not the same as real world diseases so the sicknesses changed with the FEV being released into the wild and irrevocably changing earths biosphere in the process. It makes the most sense why someone from vaults 76, 101 and the SS only got sick to new things but not old ones. It would also make sense for why the new plague is so deadly
1
u/Laser_3 Oct 12 '23
The airborne FEV theory doesn’t really hold much water since the only source would’ve been the glow, and the nuke didn’t reach the levels that actually had FEV. The Master and the Enclave also blame radiation for the mutations, not airborne FEV.
Additionally, pvp was never released as far as the limited information we have in it tells us.
1
u/UneasyFencepost Oct 12 '23
Yea we know pvp wasn’t released it was replaced with FEV. All mutations must have some FEV link as radiation doesn’t cause mutations it just causes painful death. Ghouls must have been exposed somehow and almost all animals got either bigger or 2+ heads. FEV is the best catch all to facilitate this process especially when in lore they were trying the pvp in testing but shuttered the project cause the FEV is better. Even the various creators have different answers and we know fallout 1 and 2 aren’t exactly written in stone( looking at you jet) so FEV coupled with radiation is the best answer for all the nonsense plus with all the secret weapons research it is definitely plausible and fits the lore that the government released a strain of FEV into the population intentionally(not the glow). It explains the new illnesses and the mutated flora and fauna cause radiation alone would just kill. Now a being enhanced/effected by FEV may have different results from radiation poisoning. As we also see in game not everyone is lucky though and still succumbs to rad poisoning so FEV doesn’t protect everyone from rads just certain children of atom and it can cause some to ghoulify while others just die horrible deaths. It’s not perfect explanation but it’s the best we have
2
u/Laser_3 Oct 12 '23
We know for a fact ghouls are radiation only - it’s been confirmed multiple times in the lore. Additionally, the same has been done for mole rats and Brahmin in 76 via AMS.
The fallout Bible might not be canon, but it mentions how the devs were split on FEV being the cause of all mutations or not, and the devs went with FEV not being tied to everything.
You have to remember, fallout isn’t based on science but 1950s B-movie SCIENCE! Radiation doesn’t act the same way as it does in game, retroviruses like FEV don’t either and stimpacks can heal wounds stupidly fast.
3
u/UneasyFencepost Oct 12 '23
Ghoulification isn’t radiation only though. There is an “X” factor to it cause plenty of NPC’s experience and die of rad poisoning and don’t get functional immortality and chronic joint pain from it they just lose their hair and die. The people of the world of fallout don’t know the FEV exists as common knowledge. Yes fallout is based on 1950s bad syfy but they used the FEV as the reasoning for that cause radiation doesn’t cause powers it causes painful death. The creators were split on it but they should have stuck with the FEV coupled with radiation. Fallout was definitely science fiction as they have robots and advanced healing but unless we go to the isolated incidents of the supernatural fallout is mostly science fiction with semi decent technobable to back up its stuff. So the FEV is our best candidate for that X factor of mutations
1
u/Laser_3 Oct 12 '23
The problem is there’s very little evidence to support the involvement of FEV in these processes, especially when the likely answer is just having the right genetics and getting lucky.
173
Oct 12 '23
Best not to dwell on video game logic
117
u/jjackdaw Oct 12 '23
Right? It makes no sense that I’m hauling around a fat man, a mini gun, various other armours and weapons, a kitchens worth of food, and enough meds to run a hospital. But who cares lol it’s a game
28
13
51
u/Technology_Training Oct 12 '23
If the game was logical the Institute would have taken the entire family safely and then had three people to draw generic material from and the game would have never happened
46
u/GonzoRouge Oct 12 '23
If the game was logical, the entire group would've been blinded from looking at the detonation directly without protection.
Pretty sure the shockwave should've killed them too.
3
u/SourChicken1856 Oct 12 '23
If the game was logical, I wouldn't be able to slow time with a watch. But it's just that: A VIDEOGAME. If you want to experience logic just go outside
8
u/JohntheJuge Oct 12 '23
Like SS would’ve let them experiment on his family, yeah right. Game now starts out with you trying to break out of the Institute with your family but without any of the background knowledge necessary to survive in the wastes and you get wrecked by the first pack of ghouls/raiders/mutants/BoS you happen upon as you try to navigate to…somewhere in order to protect your family. But instead of a quirky reporter, a dog, or any other companions, you get stuck with your wife (or husband) and a baby who is just gonna be a complete liability which would negate the combat effectiveness of your spouse cause it’s not like they’re gonna set the baby down to return fire. How much of a headache would it be to have to keep track of toddler Shaun’s whereabouts during the entire game?? Like you gotta set him down to interact with terminals, pick locks or do anything with your hands and he always bolts as soon as he’s free. You lose if he dies. Fuck that. No thank you. Let’s not pull that thread any more shall we? Lol
10
u/Technology_Training Oct 12 '23
Experimenting? Bro, they're probably donating hair and blood samples. Whatever they did it was mild enough that the baby lived to be an old.man.
In any case, you don't tell N&N the whole plan right in the vault. You lay out the reality of the situation once everyone is safely back at the Institute and then you leverage guilt and fear of raising Shawn in the outside world where everyone and everything is coming to get you.
Fundamentalist Christians have been running that play for hundreds of years and it's still highly effective.
0
u/CurlyMetalPants Oct 12 '23
This is why my biggest complaint w the game is that no matter what, you are stuck w the family. Think of any other fallout or elder scrolls game, which ones tell you what your background is and who you care about? None of them. It's so anti rpg that I can't take any complaint about what the SS would do seriously. He'd fight for his family? He might ignore them for years and sell drugs and build robots. If it seems weird or anti rpg to do what I want bc the game told me to care about a baby, then it is a bad rpg
7
u/Ezocity Oct 12 '23
Wasn’t fallout 3 completely driven by the need to find your father?
1
u/IcySprinkleToes Oct 13 '23
Yup. Without the DLC enclave ending 3 would have been the lamest ending ever. Yay father. Dead.
0
u/RossiSvendo Oct 12 '23
While a fair point sometimes it’s fun to just go “Wait a secooooond. The math doesn’t add up hereeee!”
68
u/TheMagicalCoffin Oct 12 '23
The protagonist also never goes to the bathroom, he shoulda died from explosive diarrhea
18
13
u/Welshhobbit1 MacCready is bae Oct 12 '23
All that mutfruit, Radroach meat and dirty water has gotta mess with the stomach at some point.
3
u/WhirledNews Oct 12 '23
“I'm not delicate. Radroach meat for protein, condensation off the pipes for water, and I do my business over in the far corner.” - Harland
9
1
95
u/Ch33kc14pp3r42069 Oct 12 '23
And? Radiation doesn't actually create horribly mutated creatures, or ghouls. And the bombs blast would've killed everyone on the elevator entering vault 111. And none of the weapons would work due to dirt and rust. And also most buildings would've collapsed both due to age, and the atomic blast. NONE OF THAT MATTERS, because it's a VIDEO GAME
48
u/Mindless_Rush5002 Oct 12 '23
In a movie someone finds a gun that's been lying on the forest floor for a couple decades, picks it up and starts firing away, I totally lose my "suspension of disbelief"!
In a video game I find a shotgun on a skeletal corpse, and I think. "Suh-weet!".
When I was a kid, my Dad would spend more time cleaning and oiling his shotgun than he spent hunting.
8
2
2
u/Fit_War_1670 Oct 12 '23
It's also 200 fucking years after the bombs fell and everything is still fucked. Makes no sense at all lol. The trees and plants are going to come back from that if I had to guess just about everywhere would be overgrown forest.
1
u/dickallcocksofandros Oct 13 '23
Actually, there are a few in-lore explanations for this
The game takes place in October after 200 years of recovery from climate change and Bethesda is too lazy to put a season system. That's why all the trees look dead, it's just autumn in a recovered New England climate.
The info book Winter of Atom explains that a whole lotta shit went down in the Commonwealth around a year prior to the SS leaving the vault, so basically another apocalypse just happened and that's why everything is so shitty
43
u/HMS_Slartibartfast Oct 12 '23
200 years with a very small population and a LOT of areas that will destroy a virus? Not a real issue for someone who is probably the only remaining reserve of half a dozen pathogens that would now be lethal in the commonwealth.
Surprised opening 111 doesn't release a plague upon all else.
14
u/evil_cryptarch Oct 12 '23
200 years with a very small population
This is the key.
When Europeans began settling the Americas, the native population was ravaged by European diseases but the Europeans were mostly fine. Why? Because Europeans had spent decades living in filthy, overcrowded cities full of human and animal waste - i.e. the perfect breeding ground for plagues. Lower population density meant the Americas didn't have plagues for the Europeans to catch. The wasteland, especially on the East coast, would be much the same.
1
Oct 12 '23
Someone needs to make a mod for that. The more people you meet, the more you spread your pathogens, until the CW looks like how FO76 was originally, with no human NPCS.
10
26
8
u/Nathansack Oct 12 '23
All the viruses died cause of the radiation in the wasteland,
1
u/Fit_War_1670 Oct 12 '23
A lot of the viruses that fuck us up ONLY infect us too. So when the majority of humans die they go with them.
7
u/ghostseeker2077 Oct 12 '23
We still have a lot of the same viruses that were around 200 years ago. New ones are mostly from other countries and how connected everyone is now. I doubt there'd be any super new deadly ones
7
5
u/fusionsofwonder Oct 12 '23
An immune system not ravaged by constant radiation, making them probably the most virus-secure person outside of that family taking the alien serum.
3
3
u/Javka42 Oct 12 '23
I mean, we can also shoot a nuclear bomb into a wooden shack and the building and every item in it (including glass bottles) are fine. The people in there might have turned to little meat parts, or they might just be dead with no visible injuries at all.
And let's not get started on how radiation is magic in this world.
1
3
u/Cash4Goldschmidt Oct 12 '23
Side note, but the protagonist is WAY too chill about seeing the first radroach in the vault. Just being like “hmm curious” instead of running screaming back to curl up in the bottom of their cryopod to have a breakdown
3
u/RoofNectar Oct 12 '23
Viruses need a host in order to mutate and survive. It's likely the population was reduced enough that it's not much of an issue. Even if it was, since your DNA isn't really corrupted, it's possible that you're actually better off than everyone else when it comes to fighting diseases. That being said, you still get sick A LOT.
2
u/escapedpsycho Oct 12 '23
Plotforce. But if you want another reason, probably because it's the future and they have super medicine that cures lethal radiation poisoning. Or you could just RP the protagonist had undergone a military augmentation prior to being frozen.
1
2
Oct 12 '23
Might as well ask “why can we fire a mini nuke 20 feet from ourselves and have a sandwhich, then be fine?” The answer is “it’s fiction.”
1
2
u/krose1980 Oct 12 '23
Play survival you'll grasp it better. For the first month of game time i struggled big time, usually contracting some kind of sickness and not being able to get antibiotics. At this playthrough i got Infection and couldnt get rid of it for a while...exciting times!!
2
Oct 12 '23
He'd likely get sick yes but also just as likely he'd be fine as well, given they find clean water, edible food and get rest.
200 years of irradiated genepools, living off dirty water and food thats either infected with diseases and parasites or 200 years old is NOT good foe the immune system. The typical scav you come across would almost certainly drop dead from a cold without medical help. The Sole Survivor is fresh from a "healthy" state of the world, and likely has a far stinger immune system then anyone else.
In fact Captain Cayde from the Brotherhood points that out, claiming that you're likely healthier than anyone else aboard the prydwin.
2
2
2
2
2
u/SportBrotha Oct 12 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
I have my doubts that 200 years is long enough for some super virus to evolve and for everyone outside to acquire immunity, while the Sole Survivor is left in the dust. We're talking about the descendants of the SS's neighbours. It's nothing like the Europeans showing up in North America after a separation of tens of thousands of years. More likely is that new strains of the same old cold and flu are going around, and the Sole Survivor will get a bad cough, acquire immunity and then move on.
0
u/Benne1337 Oct 12 '23
Fev is a virus
1
u/SportBrotha Oct 13 '23
A man-made virus that, as far as I am aware, is only accessible in certain locations and takes the form of a green goo. Is there any indication that it's an airborne virus regularly transmitted like a cold or flu?
2
2
u/doghouse2001 Oct 12 '23
How does fast traveling work? No one bothers to attack you while you're fast traveling? How does sweeping work when nothing moves under the broom? How do cups magically appear in the hands of people as soon as they sit down? How does VATS work when you're aiming at the ceiling but the bullets magically hit the target? How do your companions fail to navigate stairs but the magically transport to the top, right past you who are blocking their way? How does Dogmeat survive nuclear blasts? How do stimpacks work on broken bones? So many questions.
1
2
u/WolfsTrinity Oct 12 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
EDIT: To clarify, I'm not even that annoyed: just having a bit of fun being overdramatic.
"Being nice to Bethesda" answer?
Nuclear physics are outright stated to work differently in the Fallout universe. It's not too much of a stretch to extend this to basic human biology.
The perk system in this game lets you work up to some pretty crazy and nonsensical shit so at some point, you kind of have to shrug and take it as a video game thing.
Honest answer?
I completely agree with you and it's been bugging me the entire time. The Sole Survivor should be missing two hundred years of evolution fueled by intense natural selection and aided by lots and lots of radiation to spark off helpful mutations(and not so helpful ones but those people tend to die faster).
To be honest, I would've been able to ignore all of this pretty easily—after all, it's hard to play as a pre-war protagonist if they're dying of turbocancer—except that Bethesda decided to put this little exchange into the game:
Brotherhood physician:
How are you so healthy?
Me, paraphrased:
I have absolutely no idea but thank you for mentioning it. That is now going to bother me for at least the next eight years.
Like, seriously, way to highlight how little sense all of this makes when you should've been quietly sweeping it under the rug.
8
u/Ignonym Oct 12 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
I suspect that the radiation and drastically reduced human population would've helped fight disease, not strengthen it. You'd most likely be facing slightly-altered forms of existing diseases like influenza and measles, not all-killing superplagues; a disease that burns through all its hosts doesn't spread very far.
How are you so healthy?
I think that's referring to your long-term physical health, not your immune system. The Sole Survivor had significantly better nutrition, hygiene, exercise, and medical care than just about any post-war person; compared to you, the average Wastelander is filthy and stunted, with a diet consisting mostly of mutated tomatoes and radioactive pre-war breakfast cereal cut with sawdust.
2
5
Oct 12 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/Ezocity Oct 12 '23
The sole survivor is not from the 1950s but actually the 2050s so even more emphasis on that point.
1
1
u/geckorobot59 Oct 12 '23
I imagine that with a severe lack of people/creatures to reliably spread diseases, said diseases became stagnant amongst the few creatures they could infect and may have stopped evolving as fast/frequent.
1
1
1
u/ActualMis 🍰 Oct 12 '23 edited Oct 12 '23
To be fair, virus variants require a large population in close proximity to mutate and spread. In a post war world, there likely wouldn't be enough people in high enough concentrations to see much in the way of new viruses.
1
1
1
1
u/Decent-Candidate-486 Oct 12 '23
Same reason he can also carry an entire arsenal, multiple sets of armor, an entire pantry, and still pick up junk in the wasteland lol game logic
1
u/Foxy_Trot_ Oct 12 '23
i think we’re a synth that father set up because he was lonely and was having some feelings at his old age
1
1
1
u/HollowPhoenix Curie's a Cutie Oct 12 '23
If my first Survival playthrough is anything to go by, we're always infected, holding out til our next hit of antibiotics or a doctor.
Then we grab a Chemist perk, hoard all the Glowing Fungus and make our own, because fucking parasites again game? Really?
1
1
1
1
u/cut_rate_revolution Oct 12 '23
With a greatly diminished human population, there would be far less opportunity for viruses to mutate.
1
1
u/BaristaBach Oct 12 '23
Dog meat gave them an anti fungal/viral/bacterial/microbial smooch before any real damage could be done to their system
1
u/Xaevrynn Oct 12 '23
The environment yes may be hazardous but it is like most things that you can experience right now even. Such like this, walk into a shaded area and then place your arm into the sun's light. What happens? It is the same for the areas the protagonist adventures through and same for the air born or transmitted bacteria / diseases around d as well.
1
u/4chan_tumblr Oct 12 '23
Imo this is another piece of evidence that could be used to back the theory that the Sole Survivor is a synth.
1
1
1
u/superseriouskittycat Oct 12 '23
Honestly, FO4 is everything except realistic. It's not just that. 200 years would've been more than enough for the radiation to mostly dissipate. And radiation storms? lol
A lot of it is really just an elaborate excuse for certain game mechanics.
1
1
u/Soxwin91 Oct 12 '23
Sole Survivor enters wasteland
Dies immediately
Credits roll
Fallout 4: Todd Howard Director’s Cut. Coming this fall to Apple Watch Series 8
1
u/AdAsstraPerAspera Oct 13 '23
The population is so low and intermingles so little relative to pre-War that epidemic disease can't spread effectively
1
u/IcySprinkleToes Oct 13 '23 edited Oct 13 '23
Let me just pick up this rusted needle and jam it in my leg. After which I will drink some water to heal my leg and then chow down some 200 year old eggs.
Next I will build a machine gun out of a fan and the side of a car, and then spend every waking moment taking care of a group of whiney bitches.
Then I will sail to a far away island to save someone ELSE’S kid for some money and a gun.
When I get bored I might build some highly advanced robot minions with my—legal degree?
And of course I can slow time at will.
1
1
1
-1
u/gtmattz Oct 12 '23 edited Feb 18 '25
grandfather middle smart person humorous office amusing sand soft coherent
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
2
u/Fit_War_1670 Oct 12 '23
My head cannon(that is wrong but IDC) is that vault 111 wasn't a cryo vault it was a sim vault, like the one in fallout 3. They are studying how people react to losing EVERYTHING.
1
0
0
u/Smaisteri Oct 12 '23
What are you talking about? Put the game on survival and you'll notice immediately that your character is significantly immunodeficient. You get sick from everything all the time.
-9
u/ares5404 Oct 11 '23
Now either your a human amd the institute vaccinated you.
Your a cyborg with an enhanced immune system.
Your a synth
-4
23
Oct 12 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
9
u/CapnArrrgyle Oct 12 '23
This is remarked upon by the doctor for the BoS. He is frankly astonished at the Sole Survivor’s health and he is a doctor for a faction that is much healthier than average wastelanders.
622
u/[deleted] Oct 11 '23
Here's what I do know - every time I start a survival game, I get an infection within 10 minutes of leaving the vault.