A lore friendly explanation for the Sole Survivors ability to kill any opposition.

[Nope]

Now I don't have an explanation for the female character (Nora) and thats not to be sexist but I just dont know if you guys do then plz tell me.
(Im also aware that it wasnt Bethesda's original intention to make you a killing machine)
but I think this will perhaps clarify and make more sense to something that seemed a bit ridiculous at least to me which is:

How can one man freaking kill like hundreds of trained opposition in the wastelands from legendary factions like the brotherhood or extremely deadly mutants?

Well from what I can gather that it is confirmed up and down that the male Sole Survivor was in the army during the war against China and judging by the default un altered character from his scars on his face he may have seen some action.

This technically makes him the deadliest man in the wastes that we know of in theory since assuming he had actual formaal training from the military which most likely Pre War americas military had the capability and training to be the best faction force on the planet only to be matched by China.
(even the Enclave since they are just whats left of the military passed down by inbreeding).

It would also explain why he doesnt need the "power armor training perk" like in the other games becuase in his speech of "war never changes" you can see he operated in a unit with power armor which most likely meant he was trained how to use it. With all of this and depending if hes seen some action (perhaps even in Alaska) he could be one of the most gifted fighter simply due to his pre war education and training in the military.(also explains why with low intellegence you dont have extremely dumb and silly diologue options like in New Vegas.)

Also if you really think about it logically like ive somewhat stated before in post war world of Fallout no real faction has any real training most of it is basic and based on expierence rather then like pre great war America where soldiers(depending on what field their in can get training that would be leagues above advanced for anyone in the commonwealth or in the whole series)

Now depending on how powerfull he was thats up to you since it was never stated what he was by the end of his military career. He couldve been an expert in power armor a medic a marine or perhaps military police,spec ops. Thats up to you to roleplay.

***These are just my thoughts and Id love to see people counter this or add to this thoery cause imo its an intresting theory. ***

[Solomon Hawk]

Indeed the person was already a Veteran when the Great War began as the Veteran, the spouse and child entered the vault.
Another legendary faction in this case is also the Raiders since they existed before the war began. The Gunners are a militaristic, mecenary offshoot of the Raiders.

[Frozenkhan]

Thats what a synth would say, the sole survivor is a SYNTH!

[Plays In Traffic]

If your look at the terminal in "Fraternal Post 115" you'll find out the male sole surviver is a highly decorated vet. Thats where you were suppsed to give the speech you & your spouse were talking about at the very begainning of the game.

[Nope]

Originally posted by Kaiser:

Thats what a synth would say, the sole survivor is a SYNTH!

Actually no I thought about this theory and its debunked very easily Synths cant be sick and in survival mode sickness is a very common thing for your character.

[Nope]

A thing I dont understand in the lore is how quickly your character translates to the mutated world of the commonwealth apart from "Giant roaches... what the hell" and some dialogue options he pretty much very quickly accepts the world as it is. Could he be tied to the enclave? Im not sure but I believe its stated in the lore that the enclave and vault tec had predictions on what the world would be like after a nuclear holocaust. I dont know tho.(the SPECIAL videos im not sure are cannon or just a clever ADD for the game)

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by TehFrostyGuy:

A thing I dont understand in the lore is how quickly your character translates to the mutated world of the commonwealth apart from "Giant roaches... what the hell" and some dialogue options he pretty much very quickly accepts the world as it is. Could he be tied to the enclave? Im not sure but I believe its stated in the lore that the enclave and vault tec had predictions on what the world would be like after a nuclear holocaust. I dont know tho.(the SPECIAL videos im not sure are cannon or just a clever ADD for the game)

It could be that the trauma of encountering the changed world is getting whitewashed by the more personal trauma of losing their spouse and child. Depending on how they take it, being able to fight against a hostile world could even be cathartic for them. Alternatively, it may be that it seems so different that they relate to it more like visiting a foreign land, or they could just be very adaptable as an individual.

[MaximumEffort]

Because its a sandbox open world game...

You can't really make a weak character that only learns upon finding mystic videos (holos?) and reading books about fighting.

Imagine the nightmare of building a character with 4-5 different behaviour sets depending on your level of play.

You'd also need to make seperate levels for crafting, talking and fighting, something a kin to Skyrim, so you don't level your 'survival fighting skills' by crafting silencers.

And since its a non linear experience you can't really program character growth, emotions and adaption. Imagine if you code that the SS 'adapts' somewhere around MQ #4, but before you do said quest, you have already explored 72 dungeons, killed 241 gunners, 591 super mutants and 2173 ghouls, but in the MQ you kill a lousy super mutant and the SS goes 'phew that was a tough enemy, almsot got me there, I'll need to watch myself in the future'.

If it was a linear BioShock type of game, yes, sure, bring in some indepth character development. But this is sandbox action adventure game, you're supposed to become a godlike killing machine of no remorse and no breaks.

[Nope]

Originally posted by sjrekis:

Because its a sandbox open world game...

You can't really make a weak character that only learns upon finding mystic videos (holos?) and reading books about fighting.

Imagine the nightmare of building a character with 4-5 different behaviour sets depending on your level of play.

You'd also need to make seperate levels for crafting, talking and fighting, something a kin to Skyrim, so you don't level your 'survival fighting skills' by crafting silencers.

And since its a non linear experience you can't really program character growth, emotions and adaption. Imagine if you code that the SS 'adapts' somewhere around MQ #4, but before you do said quest, you have already explored 72 dungeons, killed 241 gunners, 591 super mutants and 2173 ghouls, but in the MQ you kill a lousy super mutant and the SS goes 'phew that was a tough enemy, almsot got me there, I'll need to watch myself in the future'.

If it was a linear BioShock type of game, yes, sure, bring in some indepth character development. But this is sandbox action adventure game, you're supposed to become a godlike killing machine of no remorse and no breaks.

i understand what you mean but in other bethesda titles focused more on choice to spare in kill where as in fallout 4 what troubled and annoyed a lot was the constant focus on killing yes it makes sense from a mechanical standpoint but Im offering w this something of a way to kind of digest the mechanic by using the own games lore as an explanation since most hardcore fans (at least I do) dont like killing for the sake of killing.Bethesda games like skyrim occasionally enemies would flee or there were more options then to just kill. Where as in this game its a shame you cant negotiate w the raiders attacking Garvey at the start of the game and come up with a truce instead you have to kill them it doesnt give it that bethesda feel. Although a few hidden side missions do like "Order Up" if more quests were like that then there wouldnt be much paying attention to you killing like 300000 super mutants.

[MaximumEffort]

Originally posted by TehFrostyGuy:

i understand what you mean but in other bethesda titles focused more on choice to spare in kill where as in fallout 4 what troubled and annoyed a lot was the constant focus on killing yes it makes sense from a mechanical standpoint but Im offering w this something of a way to kind of digest the mechanic by using the own games lore as an explanation since most hardcore fans (at least I do) dont like killing for the sake of killing.Bethesda games like skyrim occasionally enemies would flee or there were more options then to just kill. Where as in this game its a shame you cant negotiate w the raiders attacking Garvey at the start of the game and come up with a truce instead you have to kill them it doesnt give it that bethesda feel. Although a few hidden side missions do like "Order Up" if more quests were like that then there wouldnt be much paying attention to you killing like 300000 super mutants.

Thats another topic. I think the OP was talking about 'skill' to kill, not the need or ability to kill/spare/etc.

[Nope]

Originally posted by sjrekis:

Originally posted by TehFrostyGuy:

i understand what you mean but in other bethesda titles focused more on choice to spare in kill where as in fallout 4 what troubled and annoyed a lot was the constant focus on killing yes it makes sense from a mechanical standpoint but Im offering w this something of a way to kind of digest the mechanic by using the own games lore as an explanation since most hardcore fans (at least I do) dont like killing for the sake of killing.Bethesda games like skyrim occasionally enemies would flee or there were more options then to just kill. Where as in this game its a shame you cant negotiate w the raiders attacking Garvey at the start of the game and come up with a truce instead you have to kill them it doesnt give it that bethesda feel. Although a few hidden side missions do like "Order Up" if more quests were like that then there wouldnt be much paying attention to you killing like 300000 super mutants.

Thats another topic. I think the OP was talking about 'skill' to kill, not the need or ability to kill/spare/etc.

Ah my mistake xD

[MaximumEffort]

Originally posted by TehFrostyGuy:

Originally posted by sjrekis:

Thats another topic. I think the OP was talking about 'skill' to kill, not the need or ability to kill/spare/etc.

Ah my mistake xD

All these threads and topics get confusing as hell sometimes!

[Gamefever]

I think that the problem is that its not really clarriffied very well that for the most part every single American Citizen was expected to serve in the Armed Forces.

That wasnt optional, it was manditory service, and most everyone could expect to see some combat.

Now in Nora's case sure she was very likely serving as a Lawyer for the Armed Forces but even then she would have had basic training.

Now here's the next issue I take with what you are getting at....OP and a lot of people dont seem to understand that there is no standing educational system in the Wasteland. You all put too much faith in wastelanders knowledge of military tactics, which realistically would pale in consideration to what Nora would know about.

Even the Brotherhood of Steel would not have near the quality of Pre-War era anywhere and any country...They wouldnt be on par with any person pre-War....No one would....Except for the Sole Survivor.

PPl go on and on about the "Power Armor Perk" uh Nate was using Power Armor in the Armed Forces uh ya....


Edit, Oh sorry I see where you went with the thread now...

[Solomon Hawk]

Originally posted by Plays In Traffic:

If your look at the terminal in "Fraternal Post 115" you'll find out the male sole surviver is a highly decorated vet. Thats where you were suppsed to give the speech you & your spouse were talking about at the very begainning of the game.

Thank you for that information. It confirms what I suspected at the begining.
I'll make sure to pay a visit to Fraternal Post 115.

[wellsoul2]

Nora is a lawyer but she could also have been military. So that is possible.

[Foe]

How could Shepard from ME kill like million of species?
Or the heros from dragon age?
Or the dragonborn from skyrim?
Or any other main character who kills more than 10 people?

Because it is a game and it would be super boring without it.

If you start to question that, then you also have to ask yourself, how does your char survives a hit from a super heated laser beam, plasma or even mine and how can he heal himself with a item to full in 5 seconds?

Bottom line: don't question game lore or mechanics