- Or, with A. Pointman, Abel.
Think about it, he fits nearly all the criteria: Born of a virgin (Fettel was conceived by artificial insemination of a 15-year-old who had never been out of the sight of Harlan Wade's scientists), allowed himself to be killed by the servant of a powerful government, was reborn within three days, and now exhibits godlike powers.
FEAR 2 showed us what a battle between two powerful psychics looks like (essentially a firefight on a weird Mind Screw psychic plane). FEAR 3 shows the Pointman taking part in one of these against The Creep, a powerful psychic manifestation, and a bunch of Psychic Commanders (unless those are apparitions created by and linked to the creep; unlikely as they were established as being enemies). With Fettel's help, he comes out victorious. The only way he could have done anything at all in that fight is if he was in some form a psychic.
- I thought this was common knowledge.
- Fear 3 shows that the Pointman was initially considered a failure for his utter lack of psychic ability. In the first game, Alma couldn't even connect to him like she did with Fettel. So there's some ambiguity there.
- And after the credits of the first, that is reversed. Besides, your "slo-mo" is actually the super speed the most irritating foes in the game have.
In F.E.A.R. Alma existed mostly as a force of destruction, tormented by her pain and anguish, and lashing out at whatever she comes across, possibly without even realising exactly what she's doing. The only one's that seem even remotely safe are her sons, but even that's a stretchHowever, in a recent trailer/interview for F.E.A.R 2, Alma says "I know who I am", indicating she realizes her current state, as well as just what she's capable of. Exactly how this effects her actions has yet to be seen.
- Project Origin indicates that this is less about becoming self-aware and more about realizing she is an adult now, with certain adult desires. Like wanting to shag Becket.
Using Becket as the father so she can bear the child.
- Unlikely, as the voice that says 'mommy' sounds distinctly female.
- Not that unlikely.
- While Fettel is all but absent in Project Origin (he is dead, remember?), the incoming DLC Reborn heavily imply that he is back and bent on destroying Alma. It's like they were reintegrating elements of Extraction point in the canon...
- Jossed by the Reborn DLC: Fettel is back without Alma's help. He's taken possession of a Replica soldier's body. Also made clear in the trailers for F.3.A.R.
- Except that Alma was already released, and physical obstacles hardly seem to be a problem for her. Also, the first game reveals that one of the reasons that Point Man is unique is because Alma can't get into his mind, although she can cause hallucinations, she can't synchronize with him like she can/could with Fettel.
- Admittedly, this theory was first made before I realized the time discrepancies, and had to tweak to accommodate.
- Maybe not so wild, seeing as the text logs indicate Arestide's goons were aparently looking for the Point Man during the events of the second game.
- This has been confirmed, but with some differences: Fettel is PM's battle partner, and the DC digital comic shows us that Holiday and PM disappeared from the helicopter crash site before Jin woke up, and then Alma appeared and melted the pilot. Holiday and Jin's whereabouts and activities are unknown at the moment, but the cinematic trailer shows PM being hunted by ATC forces and he doesn't appear to have any backup (of the human kind).
- You're half right, Point Man is one playable character, Fettel is the other. No news on Beckett in F3 yet.
- Jossed. Beckett is an important character, but not a playable character.
- Paxton is the second, but he's not really resurrected. Looks like being able to function after death runs in the family.
- One of Point Man's unique attributes is that he is not psychically powerful like his brother or mother, which is why he couldn't be used like Fettel as a psychic commander. Although he has enhanced physical capabilities, his only psychic abilities seem to be passive (i.e. can feel/see certain events, Alma can't synchronize with him, and he has some odd talent for surviving explosions that should kill him and then standing back up for another round of marathon killing).
- You were half right. Which of the Wade brothers will die depends on what ending you get. Either Point Man kills Fettel or vice versa.
- To take it one step further, all of Monolith's games take place in the same continuity. Armacham is a tie to Shogo, obvious enough, Fairport uses the same subways that the non-specific city in Condemned uses... Only issue is where Blood fits in, other than in a spiritual successor kinda way.
As soon as Beckett steps into Genevive's trap and "goes green" as a telepath, Alma detects him and starts homing in on him. There are plenty of other men she runs into along the way, the most notable ones being the other members of Harbinger (Beckett's squad). However, those men don't interest her the same way Beckett does. Why? It's a basic survival instinct: pick the strongest mate available. To Alma, Beckett's strong psychic signature is a desirable trait in a man. And as the ghost of Harlan Wade [citation needed] is quick to point out: "She's a woman, and she doesn't even realize it."
However, because Alma has spent the majority of her life locked up in a tube underground she isn't socially adjusted or inhibited. When she wants something, she takes it; when something makes her angry, she destroys it. At the best of times she exhibits the low cunning associated with her base emotions, like her affection and defense of her sons.
Now, Alma's entire motivation in F.E.A.R. 2 is "Find Beckett; shag him." Most of the time she simply tries to exploit her overwhelmingly powerful brain powers, represented in the game by her trying to knock him down and put him on the rape train. However, Beckett is a sufficiently powerful telepath that these attempts are unsuccessful; he shoves her off him every time. This does not rebuff her. This just makes him more desirable. Who was the last person to mess with Alma who doesn't exist as a fine red mist?
Alma's strategy takes on subtler tones once Beckett's strength is made apparent. The first obvious indication of her interest is the adoption of her "sexy" form. She quite obviously presents herself to Beckett and changes his perception of her to something more pleasing, probably plucked from his own head and modified to her tastes. Once the "sexy" form is in place, she occasionally manifests images of herself to Beckett, sending him reminders that she still wants him. These images are sudden and fleeting. It isn't an accident that Alma shows up whenever there's a quiet moment: she's reminding Beckett that she's out there, she's available, ostensibly beautiful, and wants him.
Inadvertedly Beckett finds his way towards Alma, which is a bad idea on the grounds that she only gets more powerful the closer you are and she probably interpets this as returned interest. Still, he's just not interested enough. Why else would Beckett refuse Alma's advances, such as they are? So she attempts to use a time tested method of generating romantic interest: the Love Triangle.
The rest of the Harbinger team still have psychic potential. This is probably why Alma singles out the men of the squad but by and large leaves Stokes alone. The men on the Harbinger team all see images of Alma, and all of them empathize with her on some level. Jandowski is perhaps the least romantic example, simply feeling some of Alma's anguish about her situation and wanting to hug her and tell her it's all right. (He also attempts to pass this duty on to Beckett just before he dies.)
Alma tries to lure several members of Harbinger away from the group, with varying degrees of success. It should be noted that every time she tries this great pains are taken to inform Beckett of what is happening. We know just who they're following, and it's likely that over time Beckett guesses as well. The most obvious example is Keegan, who becomes a recurring vision. But Alma's interest is vested in Beckett, correct?
Correct. Alma presumes that Beckett is playing hard to get, so what is she thinking when she starts picking off members of Harbinger? That Beckett will get jealous.
While perhaps Beckett doesn't appreciate the effort Alma is making, the player can note that whenever Alma is off playing with other members of Harbinger, as well as for the remainder of the game once Keegan is subverted by Alma, she is completely absent from Beckett's path. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all. At this point, Beckett is heading straight for Alma, so it's possible that she's playing hard to get in return in a petty bid for revenge against Beckett's earlier refusals. After all, once you've reached the final chamber, Alma comes back to pull out all the stops and get the rape train on Beckett's rail.
Even at the end, when Beckett is strapped into the machine, Keegan is fighting to keep Alma. Both of them are fighting in a mindscape linked between Beckett and Alma. Keegan has staked out a claim and wants Beckett out of his goddamn girlfriend. Even though Keegan has effectively "won" (he has been absorbed by Alma and now exists only as a psychic ghost in her head) his victory is hollow because he realizes he was being manipulated by Alma to attract Beckett. Consumed with his rage, he tries to Murder the Hypotenuse. Sadly, he realizes what a mistake this whole adventure has been at the end, but it's too late. Keegan dies, and Alma gets her man.
Perhaps Alma thinks Beckett will grow fond of her over time. Perhaps she thinks he'll take responsibility of his child. Perhaps she believes sexual assault can be an act of love. Either way, Alma has her prize. She simply isn't mature enough to realize that it's a hollow and horrible victory and relationship.
- Alma's been fairly insane in the series so far, that's why she sometimes acts in contradictory ways. The DC comic only showed the pilot dying, Holiday and PM were gone already, and it's not certain if Jin actually died in the DC comic, though it may be implied.
- Extraction Point does indeed seem to contain multiple elements to suggest it's a Jacobs' Ladder style Dying Dream, with the Point Man, Holiday, Jin, and Fettel traveling through an out-of-phase purgatory after Alma brings down the helicopter.
- Well, it's not like the first two games had happy endings...
- Multiple endings would be interesting, especially since it's not an RPG.
- Confirmed. Two endings based on which of the brothers did better statwise in the campaign.
- Multiple endings would be interesting, especially since it's not an RPG.
- When interviewed by Gamespot about F.3.A.R., a developer said there were five things he couldn't talk about, Becket was one of those.
- Confirmed.
- The F3 trailers definitely show Alma giving birth, and the pain of it is causing the equivalent of psychic shockwaves, so I'd say it's unlikely. Even though she was dead for a time, that is apparently not a problem for her—she's Alma.
- F3 indicates that there is some form of physical body, as the child was born and whichever brother survives picks it up and holds it, but the body looks like Alma. This implies that either Alma did create a physical body for herself, or that she may have possessed a body, and in doing so transformed said body to look like herself. Ultimately, it's not clear. As usual.
- (and at this point it wouldn't surprise me if Harlan Wade came back somehow too — the Wades don't seem to let a little thing like death hinder them much) - Amusingly, this one is right on the money. Harlan Wade is back, sort of, as the Creep.
That's when the Point Man and Fettel team up in F.E.A.R. 3, and why "the Creep" (aka Harlan) is trying to kill them as they fight their way to Alma. When they killed the Creep at the end of the game, they didn't kill "the memory" of Harlan Wade, they killed his consciousness. Alma then gave birth successfully, and died immediately afterward (Point Man ending) because she could no longer sustain her semi-corporeal form without Harlan's power bolstering hers, especially after the exhaustion of the birth.
Supporting evidence: Fettel claims that Alma was never the enemy, that she was merely the conduit for Harlan's evil. Implying that Harlan was, in some way, acting through her. The fact that apparitions of Harlan appear throughout the game, and the Creep voices things like "This power could have been yours, but now it'll be MINE!", imply that it isn't just a mere memory of Harlan given form through Alma's power. tl;dr: Harlan Wade was the true Big Bad all along, not Alma.
- This doesn't really jive with the character of Harlan Wade at the end of the first game. he doesn't act like some magnificent bastard who is manipulating events to his own ends. He is acting like a tired old man who is weighed down by guilt for his actions. Now, that said, the Creep probably is attempting to do exactly what you're suggesting.
Instead, they could make a clean break in the 4th game and explore another aspect of the F.E.A.R. universe, such as an alternate story with more focus on the First Encounter Assault Recon organization itself. They could still use elements of the universe (Armacham could still play a role, since it now seems to be a global megacorp with potentially multiple dirty projects on the payroll), but let's have a new protagonist and a new, original mystery to explore instead of dealing with Alma again. This approach would probably be for the best anyway, seeing as how the franchise has transferred to a new developer.
And she'll be the main protagonist of F.E.A.R. 4, where you finally get to play as FEAR herself.
Okay stick with me folks because this is a tricky one.
The long and short of it is that Paxton Fettle is actually Point Man's subconscious desires run amok rather than some sort of psychic after image of Paxton Fettle still influencing the real world. We know from the second game that despite Beckett supposedly being even more powerful than Fettle, only manifests his supposedly great psychic powers through being able to slow down those around him as opposed to being able to move things just by thinking about them or anything else out of the ordinary. Thus with that in mind, its entirely possible that the Point Man has some degree of psychic powers, they just haven't been properly manifested/trained.
Thus during the first game either when he has his run in with Alma or at some point in the nine months that followed it up, he begins to manifest his powers without even realizing it. The powers act on a primal subconscious level ("Gee, it sure would be nice if that gas tank lifted itself off the ground and and hurled itself against that Power Armor") and Point Man explains this away as believing that the psychic projection of his brother is helping him, when reality it's only his own base instincts combined with his psychic powers that are doing all the work.
That's why while when Alma projects herself from beyond the grave everyone can see her, nobody else in cut scenes at least can see or interact with Fettle, because he's not really there. Notice that as much as Fettle rants about how we're wasting time saving Jinn over and over again, he never does anything to harm her because it runs directly contrary to the Point Man's desires, with Beckkett, while Point Man needs to know what he knows about Alma, its not as if Beckett was a member of Point Man's squad so he subconsciously is okay with pulling the info right out of his head rather than trying to simply talk to him since time was of the essence and Beckett was clearly hardly in the mood to be forthcoming.
In the cut scene leading to the final level, we see the young Point Man join hands with young Alma after taking some time to think about it/notice she exists unlike Fettle. Symbolically this could stand for how while Point Man's psychic powers were weaker/buried at first, they've now grown/emerged to the point that he could be capable of synchronicity events with Alma just like Fettle was.
Also notice in the last level, all of the important flashbacks feature the Point Man or Point Man and Fettle. I think that point Man might not have been present for the flashback where Fettle is getting experimented on (need to replay level) but it wouldn't have been hard to get a general idea for what Fettle must have through given the machines present (and the fact that Point Man probably went through something similar at one point) but for Point Man we get a very personal memory of just him (him in the boxing ring) with an item to be destroyed that only Point Man could have possibly felt the significance of (the bucket) without something equally revealing for just Fettle.
That brings us to the final battle between the two of them, Fettle rather than being a ghost is really Point Man's subconscious, it's already see than he's willing to do some pretty nasty things to people who have no choice in the mater just to survive and faced with the decision between killing or saving Alma's child, Point Man is torn and his conscious mind is busy debating the issue so his subconscious strikes to try and take full control. If Point Man wins then he rallies and drives off his own primal evil and if he doesn't... then he doesn't.
Either way, Fettle himself could have nothing to do with it beyond being a cypher for Point Man's own darker side that he doesn't want to admit exists.
At least until the final cut scene where for the first time we see a lot of JUST Fettle in the cell whereas previously we'd typically seen both of them together or just Point Man by himself. One possible interpretation of this, is that the young child she just gave birth to is now the real Fettle's new host, for better or worse unlike the "fake Fettle" you've been dealing with the entire game.
- It's possible that Fettel possessing Foxtrot was waiting in the cell with Alma for Point Man (which would explain how he was killed by being shot; he had a physical body and now that that's been destroyed he's just as helpless as his was in 2). He might have been projecting himself like Alma does.
Fettel is not a ghost of the man that the Point Man killed. Rather, Fettel is a manfestation of all of the darker and twisted elements of the personality he possessed in life, given form by Alma's powers. In other words, exactly like the Creep. I don't think its coincidence that Fettel and the Creep manifested at roughly the same time and that both of them went after the Point Man. The difference is that the Creep is actively hostile because all of those memories and darker aspects of Harlan's personality were hostile toward the Point Man due to his perceived weaknesses, while Fettel desired a reunion of family members and was trying to "enlighten" his brother.
This helps explain the subtle but distinct differences between the Fettel in the first game and the Fettel in the third. He's not the same person, but rather just the ugliest parts of that person's personality given form and set loose.
By the time of Project Origin, we have some Variant VI Replicas (the ones from teh first game) who have been deactivated and no longer move, and lots of Variant VII Replicas, who have been (apparently unconsciounsly) activated by Alma. Fettel isn't able to control the VII Replicas, since they're already controlled by another psychic, so his only hope to have his own army of Replicas again is to reactivate the old VI Replicas, who won't obey anyone other than Fettel, the one who first activated.
But Fettel isn't able to control a batallion of Replicas merely as a ghost. He needs a physical body to do that. What does he do? He finds a VII Replica that he considers appropiate (Foxtrot 813) and possesses him, pretty much like he does all the time in F.E.A.R. 3. Once he has a body, he reactivates the VI Replicas, as it's shown in Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate.
However, all the remaining VI Replicas are exterminated, either by the Point Man, the Sergeant or the Nightcrawlers. Once there are no Replicas to command, Fettel doesn't need Foxtrot's body anymore, so he leaves the body, just as he does in F.E.A.R. 3. After that, he's again a mere ghost, just like he appaears in F.E.A.R. 3.
In F.E.A.R., Alma's only motivation was to get Fettel to the Vault so that he could free her.
Once she's been released and this objective has been fulfilled, she has more things to deal. First is the Point Man, who is caught in the middle of a war against Replicas. Being her son, she obviously has to do something about it. Then there's Fettel, who has a plan to reborn involving Foxtrot 813, and Alma apparently doesn't like it, seeing as she repeatedly tries to kill Foxtrot. Then there's Becket, to whom she has some sexual desire. And finally, there's her want of revenge against Armacham, and that involves killing ATC guys, and also the Nightcrawlers, who are too much involved in Armacham's subjects now to just get out of it.
With all these things in priority, the Sergeant is just a secondary issue. Alma has more important things to deal. All of Alma's attacks in Perseus Mandate are just to try to get him off of subjects aren't about him. If she actually wanted him dead, he wouldn't have survived more than five minutes. Those visions about Chen are just a way Chen has to tell him to get out of there because Alma decides to deal about him.
- Perseus Mandate and FEAR 2 and onward are in separate continuities.
Please allow me to explain.
Perseus Mandate is the easiest of the three to canonize, because very little (if anything) that occurs is contradicted by a later game. There's the matter of the sample of the Replica/Fettel's DNA that was given to the Senator, but that remains in government hands and is likely being saved for a rainy day.
Extraction Point features a strong contradiction to canon by including Jin's death. However, one has to remember that the amount of hallucinations the Point Man was experiencing throughout Extraction Point. It could be that Alma decided to further demoralize him by showing a random corpse as that of Jin's. The real Jin was likely trapped somewhere nearby or wounded. Eventually, Jin was rescued and returned to active duty in FEAR, while the Point Man was eventually restrained and captured by Armacham soldiers, setting up the plot of the F 3 AR.
- Another possibility is that while Jin's body is indeed an illusion (her body's mostly intact state doesn't fit Alma's murder MO, and neither does the constant flashing camera. However, I'd suspect Fettel being behind the illusion rather than Alma, since he'd already shown the weird vision of Jin being implied to be murdered earlier in the game, and is the one who seems to have a personal beef with Point Man.), she actually evacuated before the Point Man did. There's a whole host of Delta Force and a few civilian bodies piled en route to the helicopter landing site on the roof, which indicates that at least one evacuation attempt was made prior to the Point Man's failed one. If that evacuation had failed (rather than succeeded at heavy cost), Betters would have given Point Man a warning on approaching the roof that the replica had taken the position.
The Reborn DLC shows another contradiction by showing Fettel's psychic spirit possessing the body of Replica soldier Foxtrot 813, which does not make a reappearance in F 3 AR. This can be explained by examining Fettel's state of power since his initial death. After the Point Man killed Fettel at the end of the first game, he lived on as a psychic spirit that had enough power to appear in the flesh during Extraction Point and reactivate the Replica soldiers again. However, this drained Fettel's power considerably to the point where he could not interact with the mortal world as before. To this end, he began to lead Foxtrot 813 to him and eventually possessed his body at the end of the DLC. This allowed Fettel to interact with the world again and to regain his strength to the point where he became a spirit again to help the Point Man in F 3 AR. He may have also used Foxtrot 813's body to gather intel as to where the Point Man was being captured and to help him rescue his brother, before discarding it when it had served its purpose.
And as for Norton Mapes, well, all those layers of fat could have easily stopped a bullet wound from doing any major damage. After patching himself up, he left the Vault and fled into the Auburn subway system. After narrowly escaping from the Point Man again, he either was viciously murdered by a Replica patrol or is on a tropical beach somewhere, sipping cocktails.
The Amplifier on Still Island was supposed to boost Beckett's own psychic power to be able to fight Alma. It managed to actually work, to some degree, as when Beckett fully powered it up, Alma disappeared into a cloud of red light much like she did at the end of FEAR 3 when she "died." Most likely, Beckett did manage to attack Alma while she was... using him, and this damaged her to a substantial degree, enough so that by the events of FEAR 3, she's been effectively immobilized and weakened. When she finally gives birth, she either disappears or is unable to fight Fettel because of how badly Beckett's psychic counter-attack weakened her.
