[spoilers] So what's the actual story here?

[Malidictus]

I just finished the game and had read some spoilers ahead of time so I have some rough idea of what just happened, but I still don't have a complete picture of it and a lot of events really confuse me. Here's what I THINK I know:

Around the time Warren is getting his rig installed, someone sends the eponymous "Surge" through the neural net in Creo's facility. I don't know what that Surge actually is, however. At first I thought this somehow scrambled people's neural links and drove them insane, but after meeting the Rogue Process, I'm starting to suspect that the Surge was actually that AI entity trying to "hack" people's heads. Those who can still think report hearing other people's thoughts and voices in their head, and the AI tends to manifest as a cacophony of voices recorded from the comms. That's just a guess, however.

I know the board was either about to vote on the launch of Utopia or else was in the process of doing so when the Surge hit. Initially, I thought Dr. Evil (I forget his name) was responsible, but finding the Board Members dead and crudely hooked up to machines makes me think it was actually the AI - the Rogue Process. Besides, Dr. Evil doesn't seem to know what's going on, as he mistakes Warren for a security inspector sent by the Board, who've been mostly dead for several days. What's the deal with that?

I'm pretty sure whatshername - the woman with the South African accent... Let's call her "the hologram." I'm pretty sure she's not a real person and I'm also pretty sure she's actually the Rogue Process. If that's the case, however, why does she need Warren to drop the security lockdown on the board room? When Warren finally reaches there, the last of the board members dies, which she's very distraught about. However, his death causes the Utopia launch vote to pass, so if she were the Rogue Process, wouldn't that be a good thing for her? Supposedly, she's been recruiting lots of people and running them through the same gantlet of obstacles trying to reach the board, but WHY? What's her end goal there?

What exactly happened in the time since Warren blacked out? The game's opening is staged as though no time had passed, but we know it's been four days both from various logs and from the ending. How did he end up in Abandoned Production? Why did he wake up just as a drone was trying to cut off his leg? Did the hologram wake him up somehow, or did she just seize the opportunity when he walked up to the Abandoned Production OPS? How did Dr. Evil manage to spend four days with no contact with the outside world and not notice everyone was dead? Is he not on the board himself?

What's up with security? It's clear... Well, it seems like not everyone has gone insane. Cryo security still seem perfectly human and are dilligently guarding to board members and other executives, but... How did THEY not sense something was wrong? It's been four days of no contact with the board, no orders, no anything. What exactly did the two Cerberus guards at the board room think they were guarding? Or have they been corrupted as well, just in a different way? The berserk workers still carry on a facsimile of their day-to-day duties, so perhaps the guards do as well? I mean, we have Irina the named character who starts out normal but gradually seems to have her memories overwritten to act like security, so could perhaps others have had the same done to them? I know people have theories about how she's not human, but I'm not convinced.

Basically, does anyone know what the hell is going on? I played through the game, and I learned very little.

[Pupe =D]

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[Axel]

You raise some good points. I put it down to Rogue process for the most part. If you followed (Irana? Her name is something like that) and her side quest you'll notice she starts friendly and fully aware as an engineer scavenging from parts to being part of the security force and forgetting most of her interactions with you seeming confused with who she is. I think somehow the neural interface in people's minds has messed with their heads and possibly rogue process is choosing people to be part of the new utopia it's making?

That's my guess. But like you said it's flimsy.

[LoboFH]

Sally, the "hologram" girl is an A.I., you can find the processor in the room in executive plant where you overcharge a device to stop the security lockdown.

[Aigle1705]

the server room actually has 10 named servers.

left side in the back: SALL aka sally ( there also is a yellow postit = archivment )
right side in the back: JG aka john guthenberg

n 8 in the middle ( the directors board )
HA / .L - aka - leonard hayes
FR / .A - aka - aaron freeman
FO / .J - aka - james fox
GR / .T - aka - tobias greene
BO / .H - aka - howard bonham
IT / .H - aka - hinata ito
NA / .S - aka - salah navabi
VA / .S - aka - steven j vanderbilt

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by LoboFH:

Sally, the "hologram" girl is an A.I., you can find the processor in the room in executive plant where you overcharge a device to stop the security lockdown.

Crap. I already beat the Rogue Process so I'm back to the start of the game. For a future playthrough, though - what exactly am I looking for? I looked through that server room and found nothing I could interact with. What's her purpose in the story? What was she trying to achieve? There was a voice log about a woman being sent through the same trials as Warren was, who was initially healed but then that healing started reversing apparently. What's that about? The problem with Sally is her story simply stops. The last board member dies and she just vanishes, never to be mentioned again. I can't even ask Hobbs about it.

Speaking of which, wasn't there supposed to be some kind of epilogue for the survivors? Did Jo manage to kill Hobbs? Did, uh... The dude with the robot daughter make it out alive? I've seen people around the forums talking about finding Hobbs dead with Jo's hammer next to him, but in my playthrough he sat in Assembly OPS right until I went to fight the Rogue Process. I specifically went back to check on him and he was still there.

Originally posted by Aigle1705 GER:

the server room actually has 10 named servers.

left side in the back: SALL aka sally ( there also is a yellow postit = archivment )
right side in the back: JG aka john guthenberg

n 8 in the middle ( the directors board )
HA / .L - aka - leonard hayes
FR / .A - aka - aaron freeman
FO / .J - aka - james fox
GR / .T - aka - tobias greene
BO / .H - aka - howard bonham
IT / .H - aka - hinata ito
NA / .S - aka - salah navabi
VA / .S - aka - steven j vanderbilt

I really should have paid more attention to the board room, possibly checked who voted for and against Utopia. I'm guessing the two Dr. Chaves mentions (Howard Bonham and one other) that she trusts voted against, but I did that bit very late at night yesterday. Still don't know why they were violently attached to cybernetics or even whether Jonah Guttenberg was even among them. Why were they voting? What happened?

Incidentally, what are the various video monitors drawing video from? Initially I thought these were being recorded Live as events in the complex unfolded, with the Security Wing protected and the people unaware. But then I found the Indian guy hanged (how did he reach that truss 10 meters straight up?) and all the board members dead since before Warren even blacked out. So who's playing those videos, and why are they arranged so that Warren progresses through them as Jonah Guttenberg seems to come under more and more pressure?

[LoboFH]

It's an easy as hell to miss trigger. Right behind the nano box to overcharge there is some microscopic spot that prompts an action message. Near a wall with the word S.A.L.L.

No idea about what happens to her, it's really a cliffhanger. I suppose the processor is broken, so Sally is over.

yes, Jobbs dies, there is a corpse near Production MedBay with a heavy weapon, called Equalizer. For this you need to talk with Jo three times and don't loot anything in her hideout.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by LoboFH:

yes, Jobbs dies, there is a corpse near Production MedBay with a heavy weapon, called Equalizer. For this you need to talk with Jo three times and don't loot anything in her hideout.

When is that supposed to happen? Does stelaing her hammer, not returning it but paying her 15 000 Credits make a difference?

[LoboFH]

I think she has not weapon to kill Jobbs, that's the reason he survives.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

Originally posted by LoboFH:

yes, Jobbs dies, there is a corpse near Production MedBay with a heavy weapon, called Equalizer. For this you need to talk with Jo three times and don't loot anything in her hideout.

When is that supposed to happen? Does stelaing her hammer, not returning it but paying her 15 000 Credits make a difference?

Another way to "save" Hobbs is to never help Jo in the first place, in which case you will find the "helmet" sunglasses instead of the equalizer (and unlock one of her two mutually exclusive per run achievement).

[Ping Pirate]

Didn't sally say that she initiated some sort of "reboot" when she was frantically dismaying over the dying Mr.Greene in the boardroom? If so, then Sally probably cased "the surge" in the first place.

Soooo we have 5 major story threads here to piece together.

1. The surge itself. what is it, who caused it, and what did it do?

2. The robo-zombies and their role in the events. Somehow, several people (Warren included) escaped being "zombified" while others didn't.

3. the seemingly lucid security force. They seem to have their heads on, but are also very creepily aloof about whatever's going on. Plus there's Irina's story arc where she is being "overwritten" with a security guard's personality.

4. The Rogue process. Was it the cause? Maybe it was just "unleashed" too soon and wasn't the real antagonist here.

5. Resolve before utopia. Was it actually meant to poison the overpopulated world, or was it really trying to fix the atmosphere?

[Malidictus]

Well, we know that both Warren and that other lady whom Sally had led before you were apparently having their implants installed when the Surge hit. In fact, on NG+, there's a bloody trail leading from the install chambers out to a vent in the wall, which I don't know what that means. Is that a reference to the previous playthough, or to other people to whom this had happened just before Warren arrived?

I mean think about it. Security is unaffected by the Surge, at least superficially so. When Warren arrives by train, Security is all he meets, so it could be that the Surge had already hit before he even got to the chair, and that other people had been having the same horrible experience, and I think what that blood trail is alluding to. Consider, additionally, that the Creo central system notes that the entire facility is 100% understaffed and its reaction is to post extra job listings. So it's possible that a bunch of people arrived on a train AFTER the Surge hit and had a similar fate to Warren.

That explains Warren and the woman. It doesn't explain Hobbs, Davey, Irina and Jo. With Irina and Jo, we can argue they're both messed in the head. It's possible they were just as affected as the berserk workers, but in a different way. Jo became irrational and Irina started losing her memory. Davey we can probably excuse because he seems to have been ♥♥♥♥♥♥ in the head even before the Surge, Hobbs... Well, not so sure about him. There's the allusion that he murdered a man, but I personally trust him. Chances are some people just managed to ride out the psychological damage.

Security I can't explain. They have the same neural links as the workers so the Surge would have harmed them, too... Except it doesn't seem to have. Maybe their systems just had better protections because they're more valued employees, maybe they got hacked a different way. After all, Irina lived through the Surge and seemed completely coheret, except she started acting like security. Chances are all the living Security guards have had their brains fried and their memories re-written in the same way. But to what end?

Sally wants the Executive Forum unlocked which Security don't, so she wouldn't have done it. The Rogue Process could have, but to what end? It hasn't shown either the ability or the desire for this much subterfuge. It corrupts people with nanomachines, not brain-tampering. There are several audio logs from someone observing foreign growths on his own body.

Then there are the reports of people "using" (meaning relying on some kind of neural implant to avoid sleep or fatigue) and eventually developing mental instability. Some guy kept talking about how these thoughts are not his own, and that's from much earlier than the Surge. Chances are, then that Creo itself was already using the implants to control people's minds and was in the process of re-writing their memories. Security could just be a failsafe. We know Dr. Evil's ultimate plan was to move people's brains into cybernetic bodies, so it could have been him. He's cartoonishly evil enough to do that.

In the absence of new information, though, we're crossing over into the realm of fan fiction.

[Ping Pirate]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

In the absence of new information, though, we're crossing over into the realm of fan fiction.

Ohhhhhh don't stop now! Seriously though, nice job on putting together the clues.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

I mean think about it. Security is unaffected by the Surge, at least superficially so. When Warren arrives by train, Security is all he meets, so it could be that the Surge had already hit before he even got to the chair, and that other people had been having the same horrible experience, and I think what that blood trail is alluding to. Consider, additionally, that the Creo central system notes that the entire facility is 100% understaffed and its reaction is to post extra job listings. So it's possible that a bunch of people arrived on a train AFTER the Surge hit and had a similar fate to Warren.

I don't think the surge happened way before, as both Davey and Hobbs tell you that it happened just as you joined CREO.

That explains Warren and the woman. It doesn't explain Hobbs, Davey, Irina and Jo. With Irina and Jo, we can argue they're both messed in the head. It's possible they were just as affected as the berserk workers, but in a different way. Jo became irrational and Irina started losing her memory. Davey we can probably excuse because he seems to have been ♥♥♥♥♥♥ in the head even before the Surge, Hobbs... Well, not so sure about him. There's the allusion that he murdered a man, but I personally trust him. Chances are some people just managed to ride out the psychological damage.

Irina should have been effected by the nanites, has her memories were continuously mixing over time due to it; nobody aside Warren and Mallory (the lady as you called her) and someone else Sally potentially chosen were immune to it, as only they had the botched surgery. Jo is UNAFFECTED by it, as she just INFILTRATED the facility, in order to take revenge for her brother; the different audiologs you can find through the game referring to a guy who found a job at CREO and her family missing him so much, are pointing to Jo's brother.

Security I can't explain. They have the same neural links as the workers so the Surge would have harmed them, too... Except it doesn't seem to have. Maybe their systems just had better protections because they're more valued employees, maybe they got hacked a different way. After all, Irina lived through the Surge and seemed completely coheret, except she started acting like security. Chances are all the living Security guards have had their brains fried and their memories re-written in the same way. But to what end?

I'm almost sure they are on a different network than CREO workers. Irina is NOT a security agent. The nanities messed with her head due how how they absorb and mix everything into one giant hivemind. You can clearly see how she really was a common CREO worker, but later on she forget many thing, about herself too (and you in the end, even though she was trying her best to not hurt you, due to her efforts to remember who you were).

I'm mostly sure security knows everything that it's going on. This is hinted by Black Cerberus audio log which you can find after beating him, in which he was trying to advice humanity about it. If I have to guess, CREO was put in a quarantine zone, with only security knowing the thruth about it. This would also explain why the two security guards just before the board contacted somebody when they saw Warren (the player) approacching them (and they realized that you weren't affected by the surge, as they continously gave you the time to drop your weapon and the like, instead of attacking you with no regard).

Sally wants the Executive Forum unlocked which Security don't, so she wouldn't have done it. The Rogue Process could have, but to what end? It hasn't shown either the ability or the desire for this much subterfuge. It corrupts people with nanomachines, not brain-tampering. There are several audio logs from someone observing foreign growths on his own body.

I think this is one of the most enigmatic scenes of all the game. You can clearly see how she tried to AVOID the launch of utopia project (albeit we don't know her true reasons for that), but her actions lead to its launch. I can only speculate that she was corrupted by the surge, to think that what she was doing was the right think, while in reality she was following the nanities instructions (which could explain why the security guards were stopping anyone for entering the board, thus preventing utopia's launch).

Then there are the reports of people "using" (meaning relying on some kind of neural implant to avoid sleep or fatigue) and eventually developing mental instability. Some guy kept talking about how these thoughts are not his own, and that's from much earlier than the Surge. Chances are, then that Creo itself was already using the implants to control people's minds and was in the process of re-writing their memories. Security could just be a failsafe. We know Dr. Evil's ultimate plan was to move people's brains into cybernetic bodies, so it could have been him. He's cartoonishly evil enough to do that.

In the absence of new information, though, we're crossing over into the realm of fan fiction.

How do you figure out that that was much earlier than the surge? That is never stated. If this is not enough, Davey's needs of "his" medicine is even caused by the surge, as Sally already said you that when she read his classified information in the database, she was unable to find any information realted to the administration of this medicine to him. Again, this hints to how the nanities have mixed everyone's minds.

The only difference between the survivors and the people already gone crazy is that those few who survived had only more resistance to the surge than the others.

With that said, these were my two cents (a little more than that, but oh well :P ) .

[♤ S p a d e Ƨ ♤]

I think the researchers each had personal projects that ended up being consumed by. Resolve was the first project, and then Utopia was concieved as a better solution which apparently involved nanotech.

From audio logs said nanotech started developing outside the expected box and evolving itself. Now, something to note here is that Barret, or Banner the researcher dude that is still alive there and talking about Utopia is very visibly convinced that humans have outlived their time and will be gone anyway, so the only way to secure something wil remain is to fuse our conscious to the nanobots.

I am convinced he is responsible for the nanobots being sentient, the rogue process, as well as the surge, as I believe he made himself effectively the creator, and initiator of a next level life form to survive what humans won't.

The nanobots also reportedly feed on other lifeforms, at which point you may argue that the undead are carcasses crawling with parasitic nanobots, and you and every other alive looking armored person are Androids sharing memories of others that have been consumed by the surge that all is connected to. Since no actual human is around anymore to tell them how to stop lagging, or that their memories are scrambled and their reality makes no sense, they are looping around the same incidents (making sense for NG+)

Maybe the only human minds that remained are the Androids infused with the memories carried through the neural links to the omni-server n back, and the rogue process is keeping their selfish asses in this hell of a mindset and environment for what they did.

[♤ S p a d e Ƨ ♤]

Also, that reasercher dude seems like the kind of guy that would test his adroids in such manner, and put them through hell to see if they can keep prevailing. That topped with the fact that you, Mallory and possibly most others were never sedated during the surgery. I really loved that scene and everything it says about the game