The start of recursion (spoiler)

[Spellbreak]

When you start the recursion instead of "Mr.Nobody" you hear Royce voice saying the same line: "Hey Red, we are not gonna get away with this are we?". Could this mean that Red's husband/boyfriend is actually Royce? In the ending sequence the hair of that man looks quite similiar.

[Cicirifu]

Someone needs to explain this... I could've sworn that was Royce's voice. Makes sense, seeing as how he's in the Transistor now, but...

Does that mean we end up with N Royces if we do N recursions :P?

[K'Daai]

It was Royce's voice, freaked me out a bit when I started recursion. If Royce is actually her man then how come she does not recognize him when you finally meet? Or why doesnt he recognize her if her memory went with her voice? But memory loss isnt implied anywhere though. Strange.

[SkyPuppies]

I don't believe this is an indicator of Royce being Red's beloved.

Rather, I think it's a hidden piece of context that you're not suppose to fully understand on your first playthrough. The voices are similar enough that you don't question it.

When you get around to your recursion - Boom, all the context shifts and the story itself gains replay value.

[Chus]

I think that as you defeat Royce, the transistor storage Royce's info. And I think that Royce would have said that, once red teleports away and the proccess starts formatting the city. In my opinion is nothing more than highlighting the fact that you start the game with the transistor loaded with the function (and thus the data) of Royce. It would have been a nice touch to get flood() only after finishing the game,as it's Royce's function.

[Fox]

I don't feel that it's indicative of Royce being Red's lover, either.

I think the game made it fairly clear that they're two different people. Neither Red, Royce, nor the Transistor drop any hints that Royce and the Transistor were one and the same.

When you begin a new game, the "Hey Red," is clearly the Transistor's normal voice (Logan Cunningham). I think that the change to Royce's voice for the beginning of Recursion mode is just a nod to the fact that the whole thing has started again from the beginning. It's meant to startle you and break the fourth wall a bit.

[SuperNewb]

"not gonna get away with this"...
But, shouldn't it be
"not gonna get away from this" ?

Such a strange thing to say within the context of the game. Saying that we get away with something has a strong connotation that we are the instigator of the events that are occuring. But Red and Mr. Unknown are victms, not the instigators, so that starting line, well, it is just doesn't make sense.

In a way, Royce saying that line makes a lot more sense, because Royce played a big part in the series of events leading up the start of the game, so he is in fact someone trying to get away with something, but in another way, it is even more confusing that Royce is addressing Red in that statement.

Unless... Red and Royce are, somehow, the actual instigators of the events that unfold in the game. Masking Royce as Mr. Unknown is just a shoddy coverup that doesn't even pass the smell test.

A story of a singer, out for revenge. She seeks those that killed her boyfriend, but only finds death and despair. Everything is destoryed around her, and she is unable to stop it before absoluteley everything is gone. With nothing left to live for, she decides it is best to join the rest of the world.

The story of a singer, striken with guilt. She was responsible for her boyfriend's death. She looks for answers to undo the consequences of her actions and find redeption. But she only finds death and destruction. Finding no redeption, she accepts her only possible recourse, and passes judgement on herself with her final act.

[SeaLions]

Originally posted by SuperNewb:

"not gonna get away with this"...
But, shouldn't it be
"not gonna get away from this" ?

Such a strange thing to say within the context of the game. Saying that we get away with something has a strong connotation that we are the instigator of the events that are occuring. But Red and Mr. Unknown are victms, not the instigators, so that starting line, well, it is just doesn't make sense.

In a way, Royce saying that line makes a lot more sense, because Royce played a big part in the series of events leading up the start of the game, so he is in fact someone trying to get away with something, but in another way, it is even more confusing that Royce is addressing Red in that statement.

Unless... Red and Royce are, somehow, the actual instigators of the events that unfold in the game. Masking Royce as Mr. Unknown is just a shoddy coverup that doesn't even pass the smell test.

A story of a singer, out for revenge. She seeks those that killed her boyfriend, but only finds death and despair. Everything is destoryed around her, and she is unable to stop it before absoluteley everything is gone. With nothing left to live for, she decides it is best to join the rest of the world.

The story of a singer, striken with guilt. She was responsible for her boyfriend's death. She looks for answers to undo the consequences of her actions and find redeption. But she only finds death and destruction. Finding no redeption, she accepts her only possible recourse, and passes judgement on herself with her final act.

Uhm, ok. Or it means they aren't gonna get away with seeing the Camerata's faces and living to tell the tale.

[Turtle]

Royce mentions that, if you listen closely, you can hear the voices inside the Transistor, but only those you know well. Granted, while it's Royce's voice you hear at the start, it also seems different to how you hear him the rest of the game, of which I assume if Royce's voice and the Narrator / Red's Lover overlapped. Assuming she got to know Royce well enough during the Proxy up to the Royce vs Red fight, then it's possible that it's all a cycle? I don't know.

[KVD]

Royce's actions ended up destroying Cloudbank
Red's revenge and her killing Royce prevented the city from ever going back to normal
Nothing gets rebuilt and at the end they both die
They do not in fact get away with it

[Fox]

Originally posted by SuperNewb:

Saying that we get away with something has a strong connotation that we are the instigator of the events that are occuring. But Red and Mr. Unknown are victms, not the instigators, so that starting line, well, it is just doesn't make sense.

It makes perfect sense. Remember the line about how the Camerata stole Red's voice but that they had 'taken something of [the Camerata's]?" He's saying they aren't going to get away with the theft of the Transistor.

[Logos]

Actually, I think its even bigger than that.

Royce is stating that they aren't going to get away from the cycle of recursion. Only those trapped in the transistor are aware of the previous recursion, to everyone else the current recursion is essentially invisible and is just "now", Royce is aware enough to know what's going on: he and red and the rest of cloud bank (a virtual environment) are trapped in a recursion that the he and the Camerata caused but cannot stop. Royce's lament foreshadows an eternal cycle. Poignant. The many transistors ranging from massive size to tiny (each recursion is smaller than the last?) in the final battle underlie this message.

The only way to stop it is to allow the process to "free" the recursive state (dismantle the world) and meet the condition (allow Royce to win) required to unwind every recursion back to the original state. However, the only way this could every happen is for the player to never have played the game.

Now to complete the second recursion to see if anything changes ....

[SkyPuppies]

Having reflected on this more and confirming that it is not Royce's voice in the first playthrough, I think it's actually quite simple.

The use of Royce's voice is an attempt by Royce to reach out to Red to break the cycle, an indication that it is not the first time these events unfolded. Red, unfortunately, won't recognize this - Even if she did, she'd probably make the same choice anyway; her love takes precedence.

Of course, in its entirety, Transistor seems designed to be initially vague and up for interpretation.

[M1ster_G00d_Cat]

Nah, you guys are overcomplicating it too much.
First time it was boxer, saying:
"(these people wanted you dead. I won't leave you)
We (you and me) are not gonna get away with this"
In recursion, Royce is saying exact same words just to stress on that nothing may ever change. I get it like: (we killed your beloved and almost ruined the cloudbank for what we believe is greater good. this will keep happening)
We (Camerata) are not gonna get away with this"
Because he's an engeneer and knows exactly how this whole thing works, he knows that for some apparent reason all the stuff will happen again.

TL:DR - That "WE" that Royce mentions is not about Red and him, it's about Camerata

[fatalmaiden]

When Boxer says the line, he is acknowledging the fact that he and Red can't escape what the Process. Red knows this too, which is why she decides to face the Camerata instead of running away (i.e. turning left). Royce says the line in the recursion because he knows that "we" (the Camerata) aren't going to get away with what they've done. Which makes sense because we know what happens to them.

[Evilous]

Originally posted by Spellbreak:

When you start the recursion instead of "Mr.Nobody" you hear Royce voice saying the same line: "Hey Red, we are not gonna get away with this are we?". Could this mean that Red's husband/boyfriend is actually Royce? In the ending sequence the hair of that man looks quite similiar.

It's a nod to royce's last name which is bracket. It code everything begins and ends with a bracket.