Can someone explain how does Io know about the Provisional Government Center?

[AsuraBG]

So title.... Also spoilers.... For those who haven't reached this level, seriously, I didn't know about this too, until I actually started playing the game myself.

If you take Io as an A.I. Companion in the Provisional Government Center, she will say some lines like "I remember this place".
Is it me or is this a plot hole? How?
I finished the best ending in the game (restored the vestiges of all Successors + the attendants' vestiges that Io asked to do during my first playthrought), however it makes no sense as to how can Io "remember" the Provisional Government Center stage?

Am I the only one who is noticing this? At the very beginning of the game, Io has supposedly lost all of her memories (because she was looking for us for literally years, she was dying and resurrecting over and over again, thus loosing her memories) and none of the vestiges (including the one involving Cruz's vestige that gets dropped during the Queen's Knight fight) has actually shown the stage in question.

For the protocol, the Queen's Knight boss that you fight during the Protagonist's Memory is the same guy that you fight during the Provisional Government Outskirts's level, thus they drop the same Ishtar (Cruz's blood code) vestige. It's just that it's been a good amount of years between the Queenslayer's memory and in-game events.

[7FOUR]

I think it's safe to assume that she had been there at some point in her life, even in absence of a personal memory to contextualize her presence there. I would find it even stranger if she didn't recognize the location at all, given that the Queen was slain on the outskirts of the government center, and likely parted out into relics within the facility itself. If the Attendants were spawned from the Queen's will, it is likely that Io first appeared in the same area.

[AsuraBG]

Originally posted by Seven Four:

I think it's safe to assume that she had been there at some point in her life, even in absence of a personal memory to contextualize her presence there. I would find it even stranger if she didn't recognize the location at all, given that the Queen was slain on the outskirts of the government center, and likely parted out into relics within the facility itself. If the Attendants were spawned from the Queen's will, it is likely that Io first appeared in the same area.

Okay, that's fair point. But can you explain how does she know about the horses thing? If you guve her the bugarally doll early-ish in the game, she'll make a radom comment about how the head of the doll looks like a horse (and how humans used to ride them before the Great Collapse) when there is no way for none in Vein to know about this in order to tell her. (Edit: And I'm pretty sure that horses all extincted because of the horrors.... You know what I mean)
I don't think that even Cruz could possibly have known about this.

[7FOUR]

Originally posted by AsuraBG:

Originally posted by Seven Four:

I think it's safe to assume that she had been there at some point in her life, even in absence of a personal memory to contextualize her presence there. I would find it even stranger if she didn't recognize the location at all, given that the Queen was slain on the outskirts of the government center, and likely parted out into relics within the facility itself. If the Attendants were spawned from the Queen's will, it is likely that Io first appeared in the same area.

Okay, that's fair point. But can you explain how does she know about the horses thing? If you guve her the bugarally doll early-ish in the game, she'll make a radom comment about how the head of the doll looks like a horse (and how humans used to ride them before the Great Collapse) when there is no way for none in Vein to know about this in order to tell her. (Edit: And I'm pretty sure that horses all extincted because of the horrors.... You know what I mean)
I don't think that even Cruz could possibly have known about this.

Just tried this, and she doesn't mention horses specifically.
"What an odd-looking figurine. But its face looks pleasant. Did people once ride these creatures on their journeys in the world outside? I would like to try riding one someday."
You might be misremembering, but I got this line at endgame so the line could have changed as her character developed for all I know. If she does know specifically about horses though, there are many sources from which she could have learned, be it literature or other media.

[AsuraBG]

Originally posted by Seven Four:

Originally posted by AsuraBG:

Okay, that's fair point. But can you explain how does she know about the horses thing? If you guve her the bugarally doll early-ish in the game, she'll make a radom comment about how the head of the doll looks like a horse (and how humans used to ride them before the Great Collapse) when there is no way for none in Vein to know about this in order to tell her. (Edit: And I'm pretty sure that horses all extincted because of the horrors.... You know what I mean)
I don't think that even Cruz could possibly have known about this.

Just tried this, and she doesn't mention horses specifically.
"What an odd-looking figurine. But its face looks pleasant. Did people once ride these creatures on their journeys in the world outside? I would like to try riding one someday."
You might be misremembering, but I got this line at endgame so the line could have changed as her character developed for all I know. If she does know specifically about horses though, there are many sources from which she could have learned, be it literature or other media.

No, it is the same line, she doesn't call them outright "horses" per se but it's kind implied? I mean isn't it extremely weird that this is what she says when she sees the doll? I literally went like "Oh, you mean horses?? Tough luck buddy, they probably have extincted by now.... Because of the Great Collapse and all".

As for the whole media/literature stuff.... I feel like this is a bit of far fetched but then again.... Considering the gifts we give and receive from everyone (I mean Rin literally gives us video games as presents), it shouldn't be surprising me. I mean what are the chances of any media featuring horses surviving the post-apocalypse and actually somehow reaching their way to Io (especially when considering that by the time the game starts off, Vein has been completely cut off from the rest of the world for years, probably decades too)?

[Artorian]

Io likely knows these things, or recognizes them faintly because she's a clone of Karen. So while she doesn't know everything about them, they may be familiar to some extent. Like remembering a smell or detailing a feeling, not an exact 1-to-1 but close enough to recall it.

[AsuraBG]

Originally posted by Artorian:

Io likely knows these things, or recognizes them faintly because she's a clone of Karen. So while she doesn't know everything about them, they may be familiar to some extent. Like remembering a smell or detailing a feeling, not an exact 1-to-1 but close enough to recall it.

No, when Cruz created the attendants, she just borrowed Karen's looks and nurse personality, she didn't borrow her memories.
That being said, even if we say that what you are saying is true, this should give Io even bigger incentive to talk about the Bugarally TV show (just like the rest of the crew.... Louis, Yakumo, Mia and Rin all talk about the Bugarally show when you give them the doll.... Idk if Coco and Davis do that tho) and not about horses, even tho there is no way for her to know what those are (this is the reason why I'm so confused about this).
Although this theory could potentially explain how Io knows about the Provisional Goverment Center stage as it is very likely that Karen herself was there as it is shown in the Player's memories.
Heck, as stated before, Louis himself talks about the Bugarally TV show when he sees the doll, so there is a very high chance that Karen has probably heard of it too, due to them being siblings.

Edit: Now this is a bit of crackpot explaination from me as to why Io knows about the horses and why her line is different but.... I think that it was us, the players, who told her about it. It makes sense because the description of the Bugarally doll straight up mentions the word "horse", which implies that our character knows what that is. How is it possible for our character to know that, despite having being dead for years before the events of the game and having all of our memories being lost.... Idk. I suspect that the whole story is either an isekai story in disguise or there is some 4th wall interactions going on here.