The Last best day (pandora institute)

[Donald Trump]

do the patients actually live "their best day of their life"? (or last week)?

i think that it would waste way too much money that can be used for science...

so yeah, i think that:
1. patients arrive
2. instantly get experimented on (and die)
3. PR team writes some social media post on "how much fun it is to live their last best day of their lives"
4. everything seems in order, fine and good

[Donald Trump]

Originally posted by ⸸SEVENTEAM⸸:

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

This means that the drone operator CANNOT be Horizon, because only someone who knew what Emerson's mission was could send the first message, someone who knew his role within TF27, yet Horizon very clearly don't know who Emerson works for. It's impossible.

The drone also appeared after the demonstration of a nuclear bomb on TF27 base.

And in general, why show a nuclear bomb to a “tame” soldier from captivity? He may have become unstable after the brainwashing attempt at Site 14. (At least from a security standpoint, this would be something to consider.)

And the events on Pandora were enough to convince 106 at least for the first time.

seemed really really weird to me as well, they instantly show us the nuke that could destroy their entire legacy....

i guess they thought/knew/had some intel that said that maybe.... horizon possibly knew of their location? idk

[DreadLurker]

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

I'm actually in the process of making a Youtube video about this game, one of those really long video analysis types which includes the gameplay, lore, music etc. so I've been taking a load of notes and making multiple playthroughs to be a thorough as possible (I've completed every mission on Extreme, collected every intel doc and killed all but 1 HVT which I am working on lol). I'm taking physical notes of everything and right now I'm going through the lore and doing my best to be as accurate as possible, your thread just popped up while I was listening to the soundtrack and going through Pandora Institute again.

The cycles are EXTREMELY specific. Anton's was almost certainly to create Horizon as a transport and logistics arm for The Syndicate. During the Incineration cutscene we hear Anton lamenting over the fact "they" want him to throw it all away for an unknown purpose, which is when he rejects the cycle and takes Horizon down the anomalous sciences path rather than PMC. Emerson's role was to infiltrate Pandora, release the Mothman (which TF27 know about because they were the ones who initially captured it) and die to it. I haven't actually delved too deep into the Patriarch yet so his motives are unclear but I am almost convinced that he's broken from the cycle due to this hidden faction because his entire motif is to "break the cycle". The Cabal are The Syndicate. Having a cycle be as monstrous as Mothman and its goal simply be "cause chaos" doesn't line up with the Syndicate/TF27 and how they operate. They go in quietly, stealthily, preferring subterfuge and black ops to just unleashing monsters. If that was their approach they could just make a hundred 107s and let them loose, you know? I have a suspicion that 105 is going to be the focus of the upcoming story and sword DLC so I guess we'll learn more there.

The Crash Site is very interesting but I haven't got to that part of my lore hunt yet. I remember the intel doc being the flight manifest and it includes weapons but also a lot of maintenance equipment for somewhere. I'm working on it lol

It's kind of sad because every review I've watched has said the story is the weakest aspect, with many outright saying they started ignoring it, yet to me it's so compelling and there is obviously a lot of thought behind it all because this stuff lines up so well. I hope my future video will do it justice.

my guess for the whole mothman cycle thing (if it actually is a cycle) is that it was a cycle turned into a flesh golem (flesh golem share VERY similar appearances and even use some of the same sound effects) and is the result of that happening which would explain why there are 2 of them it could also be the original mothman survived as in the bridge intel it said they blew it up but we see when we blow it up in the game it still survives but is vulnerable it's also said pandorium has a healing ability so it's possible it just regenerated over time or syndicate brought it back for some reason in the barn

[DreadLurker]

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

Originally posted by Yiffy the furry LGBT Cat:

that just gives us more questions.... maybe another secret organization like the syndicate? maybe they are pulling some strings as well?

there was another drone saying that "sending 106 to the patriarch is ill advised" most likely since he might... turn 106 into another rogue cycle..... mh idk

There is 110% another faction that is against The Syndicate. We don't know anything about them other than they are sending the drones and trying to break the cycle.

Regarding breaking the cycle; part of my dive into the lore is to try and figure out when 106 is implanted with the concept of breaking the cycle. The typical thing I've heard said is "the video Horizon showed at the start of the game made him want to blow up the nuke in the bunker" but this is simply wrong. It has to be.

Site 14, the first level, has nothing to do with indoctrination. In fact, the site's purpose is WBE: Whole Brain Emulation. Their job is to be able to perfectly recreate a human brain digitally (though for what purpose I don't know yet). They bring 106 to this site and FAIL every interrogation method. Physical, psychological and medical all fail, so they try transplanting his memories to other people. All they get out of this, beyond a lot of bodies, is "completing the cycle". This means 106 MUST want to complete the cycle at the beginning, and because the Site itself literally doesn't know anything about 106 (as shown by the intel docs) they don't know about TF27, they absolutely don't know about the cloning facility OR THE CYCLES, and they cannot know about the nuke beneath it. So my biggest question so far is this:

Just what was that video?

My best guess is that it was another attempt to transplant 106's memories to another person because there is clearly something special about it. When 105 shoots the monitor 106 shakes his head as if in a daze, but this can't have been anything about breaking the cycle.

Also, the first mention of BREAKING the cycle comes from Jorvik Castle, the Patriarch's final speech. So when I get to dissecting Jorvik Castle I hope I'll find some answers.

no the serenity brainwash at the beginning is one of the reasons he breaks the cycle the devs said it themselves that and "People telling him the truth" probably refering to patriarch anton and drones

[Iron]

Originally posted by dredhedlurker:

no the serenity brainwash at the beginning is one of the reasons he breaks the cycle the devs said it themselves that and "People telling him the truth" probably refering to patriarch anton and drones

Wait, so what is said about the video? What exactly is it? Because all in-game evidence says that it has nothing to do with breaking the cycle. Is it more for pacification?

[DreadLurker]

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

Originally posted by dredhedlurker:

no the serenity brainwash at the beginning is one of the reasons he breaks the cycle the devs said it themselves that and "People telling him the truth" probably refering to patriarch anton and drones

Wait, so what is said about the video? What exactly is it? Because all in-game evidence says that it has nothing to do with breaking the cycle. Is it more for pacification?

it's unknown currently what the full affects of serenity are but from what the devs said it is what erased your memory and and undid the blind loyalty newer cycles have for the syndicate it also "calms" 106 down not sure what that means exactly and also it's possible if 105 didn't shoot the screen 106 would have been MK ultra'd to horizons side but most of that is speculation based on dev comments serenity is probably the most important thing lore wise as it has a reversed or normal version in ALMOST every song (reversed signaling 106 is undoing the brainwash these parts usually come on when fighting horizon or cultist which is what he was made to do and un-reversed parts signaling that 106 is starting to see the truth and being swayed away from syndicate)

[Iron]

Originally posted by dredhedlurker:

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

Wait, so what is said about the video? What exactly is it? Because all in-game evidence says that it has nothing to do with breaking the cycle. Is it more for pacification?

it's unknown currently what the full affects of serenity are but from what the devs said it is what erased your memory and and undid the blind loyalty newer cycles have for the syndicate it also "calms" 106 down not sure what that means exactly and also it's possible if 105 didn't shoot the screen 106 would have been MK ultra'd to horizons side but most of that is speculation based on dev comments serenity is probably the most important thing lore wise as it has a reversed or normal version in ALMOST every song (reversed signaling 106 is undoing the brainwash these parts usually come on when fighting horizon or cultist which is what he was made to do and un-reversed parts signaling that 106 is starting to see the truth and being swayed away from syndicate)

Do you have any links to where this has been said? I'd love to look into this some more but have no idea where to start because nobody outside of this thread seems to be mentioning the story. If a dev is offering clarity then I would like to be pointed in the right direction.

Regarding what you've said: it seems Serenity is some kind of pacification tool rather than a "brainwash fix-inator", which makes sense considering intel docs at Site 14 say 106 and even the memory transplant patients were incredibly violent and difficult to restrain.

A slight point to add seeing as you mentioned it: In the office lanes of Site 14 the stacks of paper are actually about MK Ultra.

[DreadLurker]

Originally posted by Iron Revenant:

Originally posted by dredhedlurker:

it's unknown currently what the full affects of serenity are but from what the devs said it is what erased your memory and and undid the blind loyalty newer cycles have for the syndicate it also "calms" 106 down not sure what that means exactly and also it's possible if 105 didn't shoot the screen 106 would have been MK ultra'd to horizons side but most of that is speculation based on dev comments serenity is probably the most important thing lore wise as it has a reversed or normal version in ALMOST every song (reversed signaling 106 is undoing the brainwash these parts usually come on when fighting horizon or cultist which is what he was made to do and un-reversed parts signaling that 106 is starting to see the truth and being swayed away from syndicate)

Do you have any links to where this has been said? I'd love to look into this some more but have no idea where to start because nobody outside of this thread seems to be mentioning the story. If a dev is offering clarity then I would like to be pointed in the right direction.

Regarding what you've said: it seems Serenity is some kind of pacification tool rather than a "brainwash fix-inator", which makes sense considering intel docs at Site 14 say 106 and even the memory transplant patients were incredibly violent and difficult to restrain.

A slight point to add seeing as you mentioned it: In the office lanes of Site 14 the stacks of paper are actually about MK Ultra.

most of this stuff has been said in the discord i would just join and go to the search bar then pcik "from:" then type brandon and then click brandons user then search serenity and every time he's brought it up should be there