I think I get it (Ending Spoilers)

[-CSM- Abamor]

I think I get it (ending spoilers)

So, just got done with the game after a single 150+ hour playthrough, where I've done, collected and read everything there is.

It's going to be a long one, but if you've felt confused/upset/backstabbed by the ending in question - I promise you this will be worth your time.

I went for the Skif/Faust ending, was shocked as much as everyone else by that "Doc was actually Faust all along" reveal, but the more I thought about it - the more it made sense to me.


Faust.


Let's start from the beginning - Faust is a human turned sentient controller. He is not deformed, mentally impaired or hostile as all the other controllers are and has, as mentioned by his creator Dvupvalov, one more crucial and defining feature - free will. During that dialogue with Skif on top of Duga he mentioned being a "stalker looking for adventure long time ago", but he "took one awkward step" and his "world plunged into darkness". I believe it's safe to assume that he was a stalker before the Zone, as we know it in the games, even existed (between 1986 and 2006, so still a radioactive exclusion zone, still all the horrible Project X shenanigans going on, but no noosphere kaboom yet), got caught trespassing on Duga (I presume) and subsequently used in the "Controller" program as a test subject. As for the "world plunged into darkness" part - we all know he can actually see (his pistol's name, the fact that he even uses a pistol, the ending reveal scene where he clearly has normal eyes, all other controllers having functional eyes, and so on), so I assume that this is in reference to the horrors he had to endure while in captivity (and his blindness was a trick intended to instill religious belief and awe in people around him).

On the topic of that "free will" thing - he operated as the Monolith's "voice" (while it was controlled by C - Consciousness) not because he was conditioned to do so, quite the opposite, he was so good at this precisely because he chose to do it (as mentioned by Dvupvalov). He was the perfect religious leader for those poor bastards, cared for them and whole-hartedly believed in the Monolith. His specific version of it (wink-wink). More on this later - but when you confront him with the whole "You are just a controller, the Monolith is just a device used by those green-tube eggheads" thing, his answer is something like "Yeah, sure you would think that".


The Doctor.


So, he is not in the game. At all. The first time you see him in that psi-dome-thing - it's Faust. Let's brake it down.

Strelok (by his own words) did not see Kaymanov in years (no wonder he doesn't know about the switch).

The mercs that Strelok sent after him - didn't see/fight Strider, the only survivor in that house mentions that this (the mercs looking like they found themselves on the wrong side of a blender) was all done by THE DOCTOR himself. That same survivor says that the guy was going through Geiger-counter-melting radiation zones like it was nothing without even a gasmask, and when he put two bullets in him - the man just shrugged it off, got close and incapacitated him. Hmmm. I know those mercs probably don't actually know exactly what the good Doctor looks like, but you'd think they could tell him apart from a middle-aged Monolith commander in full uniform, right?

The very next mission he gives you is to infiltrate the Monolith hospital near by and, without killing anyone (what a good man), steal a regeneration device to "save" Strider. But when you bring the device back to his house - Strider is so back that he almost kills you, only for the good Doctor to step in at the very last moment and, not without regret (what a drama), save your life by killing the poor thing (what a guy).

More over - I don't think that THIS Strider is real either. Think I got too close to the Brain Scorcher while it was still active? Think again.

What do we know about the house? It's surrounded by a bunch of psi-emitters. If you go to that place before you are tasked with finding the Doctor - you can enter it, but the dome will only contain an empty field and a healthy dose of psi-damage for your gray friend. So this field makes your brain go boo-boo and messes up your perception of reality via a psi-field. Our "Doctor" gets blasted with an emission while we are still under it's effect (and then just hangs around there like nothing happened in the last cutscene), but Richter reaches us like the entrance to the basement did not get buried in rubble. Also - do you remember when Faust reveals himself in that ending? That's right - exactly when he crosses the border.

"But we know Strider is dead. We saw and talked to his ghost-noosphere-imprint-thingy when we went to the Orbita station!". Did ya now? Could someone explain to me how plucking a board from a machine that creates ILLUSIONS (from X3 on Cordon) and putting it into a one-way noosphere TV costitutes talking to the dead? Not convinced - you can find an audio recording while at Orbita, where Scar convinces Professor Ozersky to join him by tricking him into thinking that he can speak to the deceased member of the original Spark group (Ozersky blames himself for this dude's death. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?). And we all know how Scar and his illusion are.

"But why tho?", right?


The Zone.


Here is where this gets real speculative. I am 100% open for your own opinions and suggestions on this topic, but this is what I've gathered.

Listen to the way Faust describes the Zone while pretending to be Kaymanov. The OG Doctor gave off this "I messed up, I need to seclude myself from the world and make amends by healing everything that suffers because of me" feel. He did not want Strelok to go North and "fix" his wrongdoings. He just wanted his "son" to be well. Faust, while wearing his disguise, describes the Zone as a living being that suffers due to how it was brought on and how it is being treated by all humans (he even shows it to you the way he sees it while on Duga). He wants to set it free. This is his Monolith.

While every poor stalker that was indoctrinated by the device was turned into a human automaton and only heard commands from it - Faust, being it's willing and mentally enhanced servant, heard and understood more via that connection to the Noosphere. He heard the Zone itself. And when the Monolith fell silent - he was distraught and looking for a way to "reconnect" to it again. And he did. At the Swamp. Remember that recording? He's not talking to the Monolith. He's talking to the Zone.


Skif.


Now, to sum things up and provide a full picture.

How does Skif tie into all of this (I'll be skipping over a lot of plot points here, this post is long enough).

He was the Zone's agent since the moment he touched that artifact in his apartment. See those flashing moments from the future in the ending cutscene? They are not just a recap of your decisions - they are instructions that Skif was implanted with.

So, our protagonist is now acting on the Zone's behalf. He heads in, gets ambushed by Faust's Monolith loyalists that got tipped off by Hermann and looses the Alfa artifact.

Faust uses the Alfa to establish connection on the Clear Sky's base in the Swamps, receives his "orders" from the Zone, but... and this is an important "but" - those orders are not what he expected. I imagine it going something along the lines of "Hey, stop messing with Skif and let him do the thing. Better yet - aid him. He's my chosen conduit". Faust, at this point in time, still yearns for the good ol' days under the Monolith. Him, his god and his brothers being a single entity with a common greater purpose.

So, what does he do? He defies his "God". Remember the thing about his free will? He starts using the X network to locate all ex-Monolith stalkers and plans to reconnect them all to it, and later, using the Duga, all the stalkers in the Zone too.

He hands over the scanner with the Alfa inside to Skif, but does not kill him (I bet he could), tasks his loyalists with building a network of those good ol' Monolith psi-antennas (those are capable of reaching the Monolith in CNPP by themselves, see CoP for reference) and activates them just when the Alfa establishes connection with the Generators.

He needed Duga and Alfa to convert all people in the Zone, but we foil his plans. This is where he starts to see the error of his ways. What did he refer to Skif as during that talk on Duga? "Envoy of the Monolith". "You stood by His side, carrying out His will, and now you've come for me. I have angered Him and that is why you are here - seeking revenge and the reward."

*Note - if you don't accept his hand while climbing onto Duga - you'll get up yourself and have that dialogue. If you do accept his hand - he'll let you go and you will fall to your death. I think it's his way of seeing for himself if you are up for the task the Zone bestowed upon you. You'll have to turn away every faction that has it sites on the Zone to carry it's will (Spark, Ward and Strelok). Trust no one but yourself (or your programming).

After that - you get through all of his gaslighting in that psi-funhouse of his, and you are ready to go. He trusts you with the keys to his God's future.

As Skif said to Richter (If I'm not mistaken) - "I now understand that this artifact in my kitchen was not a random event - it was a cry for help".



So, what do you guys and girls think? Did I hit the nail on the head? Or did that anomalous moonshine from Dvupalov + activated Brain Scorcher combo hit ME on the head a little too hard?

Glory to the Monolith.

Update:

You, my brothers and sisters are awesome! This is exactly what I wanted from this post - a discourse around the game's ending that will eventually bring us closer to the truth.

After reading your comments I'm currently gravitating towards a slightly different Interpretation that I will share below. As for the original post - I'll leave it as is.

So, I now believe that almost all that we see In this ending's cutscene (besides the moment Skif enters the pod and the Doctor/Faust reveal) takes place in the past.

1. Skif's apartment, the anomaly and the alfa artefact (with the addition of implanted commands).

2. The scientists are performing the sabotaged Second Carribean Experiment, during which anomalies (not new Zones) pop up all over the world (similar to Skif's apartment, but without the alfa). Perhaps they are a kind of a diversion by the Zone itself to get the thing out there into the world but without powers-that-be being able to know where it ended up (and if it did at all). Don't quote me on that last part.

3. The globe at Kaymanov's basement (self explanatory and ties into 2).

So, that just leaves us with the Doctor/Faust scene. Now the line about all hidden things coming out to the light makes a whole lot more sense. Skif now knows how everything started. But this also means (since that globe/scientists part was all it the past) that we don't actually know what exactly happened (to the Zone/World) after Skif entered the pod! We just know that Faust felt this change. So this - is an open ending! Which means (for me, at least) that it is indeed the canon one, since it's the only one that leaves us guessing what happened next, allowing the authors to continue the story.

[Serg Freeman]

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

No Zone create agents.
C-Cognition was doing that using special devices that they (or their collegues) developed during in the project Х.
If assume it was Zone, it woud not need to put them under monitors.

The fact that they were C-Con agents does not exclude the possibility of being ‘agents of the zone’.
Kaymanov's note hints at this:
Draft of a Speech to an Unknown Audience
You are capable of more than you think – enough to take on the hardships that will inevitably befall us in the New World. You will need something more, however, to face the unknown. Much more!
May the Zone aid us if we find ourselves lacking courage in our future trials!
You were all courageous enough to get here – every single one of you! You had the will and the faith to make it through, and you are now worthy to become liberators.
Now go to the Mainland. Wait for the right time.
Something beautiful is about to happen.

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por Serg Freeman:

The fact that they were C-Con agents does not exclude the possibility of being ‘agents of the zone

This does not exclude, this means it!
Zone is the territory. C-Con was its let call it "ruler". C-Con create agents of the Zone.
We have Imperium. Lords are its rulers. Lords create agent. Agents are Imperial agents.

[DEEXET]

Thank you very much for this clever analysis of the canon ending ! I now understand how all the pieces get together and I am mind blown by your interpretation of skif's ending, it truly seems to be correct on every point.

[BlackFunnyShark]

I'll join the discussion. I have great doubts that the events in the finale of Faust take place in the past. Because in the background of the globe, news reports are heard, where people are urged not to approach anomalous objects, announcing the president's address. Such events would clearly find their reflection in the Zone, ordinary stalkers would talk about them. In addition, from the plot dialogues, it seems that the case with the main character's apartment is unique, and not one of a number of similar ones. It seems to me that the developers want to change the setting in the sequel. That is why they created new zones around the world and killed most of the main characters with our hands.

[Joikax]

Publicado originalmente por -CSM- Abamor:

During that dialogue with Skif on top of Duga he mentioned being a "stalker looking for adventure long time ago", but he "took one awkward step" and his "world plunged into darkness". I believe it's safe to assume that he was a stalker before the Zone, as we know it in the games, even existed (between 1986 and 2006, so still a radioactive exclusion zone, still all the horrible Project X shenanigans going on, but no noosphere kaboom yet), got caught trespassing on Duga (I presume) and subsequently used in the "Controller" program as a test subject.

:

What you mentioned seems fair and all but in the lab/facility you go into where you discover Faust's origin they were clearly experimenting with children and not full fledged adults. (ignoring all the animal/mutant enclures and experiments going on nextroom). There's toys around, the rooms are cozy and small, there's drawings, the beds are small scale...

So already his mention about being a Stalker prior to taking a wrong step, given his implied origins and date of events, is a big question mark. Sure one could say those were all cute things to teach him empathy and all the procedures mentioned in the recordings found at the place but it seems weird that those were being used on fully grown brainwashed adults despite other controllers also clearly being adults. (And again, the event timeline makes very little sense)

I'm not convinced the "Duga Faust" was being honest and goody-two-shoes during the cutscene he suposelly shows you the noosphere. He's a controller known for the psi (PSY !!!!, not psi -.-) effects he induces on others... Who's to say he wasn't just manipulating Skif with words and visions as usual while he still drew breath? If you choose to take his hand in that same cutscene he even drops you to your death; He is not to be trusted at all.

As if all the previous deceptions weren't enough, he once again at the very end deceives the player by dropping the Kaymanov act and revealing himself to have been alive and well all along.

I would not trust a single word or induced vision coming out of him... and thus his lore, to me, remains a mistery and not something we can just assume to be apples to apples.

Nextup, if Faust was Kaymanov then what happened to the real Kaymanov? He was a scientist all along and worked around the same timeline Faust came into being as an experiment, he didn't just poof into existence midway through the X-Project despite the mentions that Faust was a prodigy.

Lastly, why would Faust ever help Strelok achieve the multitude of feats he did in the previous games while under the The Doctor's alias? Why even help Strelok obliterate the C-Con and get rid of the monolithian influence which he then goes to great lengths to re-establish?


I'm not sure the writters even understood the landmine they just stepped on by tampering with what little there was of The Doc's lore from the previous games, let alone to this scale involving Kaymanov and Faust all at once, but I digress.

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por Joikax:

...

As a guess: Faust was freed from lab after creation of Zone as all other mutants. He has nowhere to go, so he became a stalker. But he overestimated himself and make whrong step. coming close to monolith and became its part.
During his being as Monolith soldier he gain the sence of existance. And after liberation he has lost it, that is why he urges for Monolith recreation.

Faust could get rid of Kaymanov after Monolith rebirth or not long before it during preparations. And when he knew about Skiff looking for Doctor he decided to use him for his own aim.

[Joikax]

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

Publicado originalmente por Joikax:

...

As a guess: Faust was freed from lab after creation of Zone as all other mutants. He has nowhere to go, so he became a stalker. But he overestimated himself and make whrong step. coming close to monolith and became its part.
During his being as Monolith soldier he gain the sence of existance. And after liberation he has lost it, that is why he urges for Monolith recreation.

Faust could get rid of Kaymanov after Monolith rebirth or not long before it during preparations. And when he knew about Skiff looking for Doctor he decided to use him for his own aim.

Makes sense, though wouldn't a Controller like him be immune to any kind of brainwashing attempt?

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por Joikax:

Makes sense, though wouldn't a Controller like him be immune to any kind of brainwashing attempt?

Who knows? We only knew that he is a controller with his own will and is capable to create clones. What was Monolith power? Who said that controllers are psi-immuned?
And he was created to be used, so he was created to be influenced and brainwashed.

[GrailSeeker]

Your interpretation does make a lot of sense.

[Bomber Harris]

There is also a conversation between Scar and the Journalist, where scar mentions that there are more generators on the Mainland