Reasons for Infected Mutation?

[MJ12]

I suppose I am looking to deeply into this, but I do this with all valve games, thinking about explanations for... unexplained stuff.
So I am wondering, are my conclusions obvious?

For example,
The Smoker: I have a feeling that the Smoker's Tongue is actually a mutation of it's intestinal track, which explains it's length and texture.
The smoke is a more obvious explanation, like an octopus releasing ink when attacked or in danger so it can cloak itself.


The Witch: Since the infected appear to becoming their own predatory species, the witch is similar to a spider, in that she tricks and waits for her prey.
Essentially she is like a predatory animal that mimics another species of prey. In this case, she mimics a crying woman in order to lure humans to see what's wrong, and once you are close enough you become subject to her attack.

I think the boomer and the Tank are very self explained however.
The boomer covering you in some sort of pheromone like an insect to attract the rest of the hive, and the tank well.... just a mutated muscular dude.


Has there been any confirmation that L4D will actually have an explained story? If so, I am guessing it will be explained in Valve's usual way of storytelling? (AKA, people who are super observant are the people who will understand the story more)

 

[63]

I'm approving funding for more research. Good work.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

AFAIK the official story pretty much goes "uh...it's the zombie apocalypse that you can play with your friends"... in other words they haven't really bothered too much with the story elements.

 

[Ennui]

So I am wondering, are my conclusions obvious?

So far

 

[kineaesth]

AFAIK the official story pretty much goes "uh...it's the zombie apocalypse that you can play with your friends"... in other words they haven't really bothered too much with the story elements.

I disagree. It's Valve, and I think that although there might not be a clear explanation or any explanation at all that's presented to us about the outbreak, they will have a rationale and a theory behind everything they do.

 

[FishBulb]

Didn't Valve say in an interview that the backstory was in the survivors' dialogue? And that there's hundreds of lines of dialogue? So to get the backstory, you have to keep playing over and over... or was that just about the survivors' backstory and not about the actual outbreak?

 

[Eejit]

Zombies don't make sense. Dead people mutating especially doesn't make sense.

 

[MJ12]

Of course it does, I saw it in a movie once.

 

[Duracell]

Didn't Valve say in an interview that the backstory was in the survivors' dialogue? And that there's hundreds of lines of dialogue? So to get the backstory, you have to keep playing over and over... or was that just about the survivors' backstory and not about the actual outbreak?

I seem to remember something like this, looking at what people have already unearthed and from the saferoom walls, it looks like you'll learn a lot from the conversations other survivors have had, which is just about the most coolest thing ever. :thumbs:

 

[Druckles]

I keep thinking about this as I play it, actually. I wonder what evolutionary advantage it is to have so-and-so, or how on earth one suddenly and spontaneously develops muscles the size of taxis or why the hunter is as he is. What gave that one previous human the ability to mutate to such a level.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Steroids mate...steroids.




*da-dum tsh*

 

[TwwIX]

Poor hygiene!?

 

[CyberPitz]

The story is also explained on the walls. Through scribbling of the other humans to posters and the like, along with dialog. I've been having so much fun just going around and reading the walls and posters. I can't wait to see how the story came about to now.

 

[CyberPitz]

Orange Box Juice gave me a whole lot of lawls.

 

[Eejit]

Beyond that, I think that the reasoning behind some of it can't really be explained beyond IT'S A GAME OKAY JUST GO WITH IT

Almost 100% this.

 

[Druckles]

When you think about evolutionary advantage, don't think about it in terms of humans, but rather in terms of the virus. That is, what can the virus do to survive in the host long enough to propagate itself, and how will it do so? First, you must keep the host alive, and second, you have to find some way to pass the virus from one host to another.

I wasn't taking about human evolution, necessarily. Survival of the fittest still applies here.

but certainly some people are immune; not only do we have our four survivors who come into direct contact with the infected and get by unscathed (Bill even touches an infected corpse without thinking twice about it in the intro video), but you also see two unaffected corpses in the No Mercy demo.

I didn't actually think about this. I often wondered why they were infected, and pondered whether they simply hadn't had an opportunity to become infected or the virus had stopped spreading for an unknown reason.

Beyond that, I think that the reasoning behind some of it can't really be explained beyond IT'S A GAME OKAY JUST GO WITH IT, like the Smoker. The Tank might've had some pre-existing medical condition that, when mixed with the effects of the virus, caused a surge of naturally-produced anabolic steroids. Et cetera.

I would have been all "it's a game" at first, but now you've got me thinking about it. So it's now fascinating.

 

[Eejit]

Yet ludicrous.

Evolution like that in the space of two weeks?

Uh huh.

 

[MJ12]

Yet ludicrous.

Evolution like that in the space of two weeks?

Uh huh.

Happens in Rickard Dawsons book of Evolotion.

Read it fag.

 

[Eejit]

but RIKKY IS THE ANTICHRIST!!

 

[Druckles]

In which case Star Trek is ludicrous!

 

[Eejit]

... yeah?

Certainly more at some times than others.

 

[Druckles]

Blasphemous.

 

[Eejit]

This is blasphemy. This is madness!

 

[nipples]

The posters! ORANGE BOX JUICE.
I also lol'd at the jab at zombies wearing flannel shirts.

Flannel is pretty much the greatest invention ever. Every time I kill a flannel wearing zombie I have to stop for a minute because I'm laughing too hard.

 

[MJ12]

How is the flannel thing a "jab" lol?

 

[CyberPitz]

How is the flannel thing a "jab" lol?

You must be too young to get it

 

[MJ12]

No way, if it's in reference to the original Dawn of The Dead, I never found zombies wearing flannel to be something prominent in the film.

 

[Sheepo]

Story:

1) There are other characters other than the four survivors and they have dialogue.
2) Intro movies.
3) Survivor dialogue.
4) Wall writing.

I everytime I see the "Give blood" posters.

 

[MJ12]

It's even cooler when you happen to get your ass beaten by a hunter and horde right next to one of the "Give Blood" posters, because then it is quite literally covered in blood which makes me

 

[Reginald]

I was going to make a thread about trying to tie up the story. What interests me is that there appears to be a poster in the safe room made by a company called LUCA or LECA or something which seems to have a neatly printed protocol for evacuation in the case of zombies.

Has this been going on for a while but it was 2 weeks ago that it got out of control?

I really hope we find out more stuff whilst escaping.

 

[Ren.182]

I was going to make a thread about trying to tie up the story. What interests me is that there appears to be a poster in the safe room made by a company called LUCA or LECA or something which seems to have a neatly printed protocol for evacuation in the case of zombies.

Has this been going on for a while but it was 2 weeks ago that it got out of control?

I really hope we find out more stuff whilst escaping.

I noticed those posters today. Looks like maybe some science/government lab might have been messing with something they shouldnt have been?

 

[Reginald]

That's what I was thinking. I'd like to think we'll visit the place where they were experimenting or something. I was thinking perhaps Mercy hospital may hold some answers.

 

[Sheepo]

I'm gonna make a thread in a day or two about the man in the wheelchair. Don't bother asking me what I'm talking about now. All I know right now is that he may be kind of the L4D equivalent of the GMan.

 

[chimpmunk]

Zombies don't make sense. Dead people mutating especially doesn't make sense.

Zombies do not have to be "dead". Did you ever see the movies "28 days later" and "the serpent and the rainbow"?
Both movies have "zombies" which are not undead. For all we know, the zombies of L4D could be under some kind of virus that makes them brain dead but keeps the cortex alive, hence, why they act like animals.

 

[Qhartb]

Zombies do not have to be "dead". Did you ever see the movies "28 days later" and "the serpent and the rainbow"?
Both movies have "zombies" which are not undead. For all we know, the zombies of L4D could be under some kind of virus that makes them brain dead but keeps the cortex alive, hence, why they act like animals.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure Valve have said that it's a new strain of rabies.

 

[Lobster]

Not knowing any of the specifics is quite fitting to the situation, when you look at the wall writing people argue about the facts of the outbreak, For example a poster tells people to seal their rooms with duct tape, but it has been crossed out and the words NOT AIRBORN written underneath it, another example is the increasingly conflicting reports of how long it takes a victim to go nuts, the time decreasing from days to hours to instantanious.

If you look at real life major disasters (like say 9/11) people on the ground have very poor infomation about what is going on, incorrect infomation and exageration spreads like wildfire.

 

[Eejit]

Zombies do not have to be "dead". Did you ever see the movies "28 days later" and "the serpent and the rainbow"?
Both movies have "zombies" which are not undead. For all we know, the zombies of L4D could be under some kind of virus that makes them brain dead but keeps the cortex alive, hence, why they act like animals.

And makes them mutate into 'boss' zombies. right.

 

[ríomhaire]

Bioweapon developement. It's always bioweapon development. The infected are living crazies like in 28 Days Latter, not classic zombies. The 5 bosses could well have been intentional test-subjects by the company who made them, and who Louis secretly worked for but will not admit. The boomer was designed as a targeting system, to attract the horde to critical locations. The smoker is an assassin for designated targets. The hunter for getting behind enemy lines to disrupt them and the witch was the nuke.

With the breakout a number of wild, unprogrammed beasts into the city and environs.

 

[Eejit]

Even as 'bioweapons' it's still completely implausible.


I'm fine with just labelling it as "impossible game fiction" and ignoring it, but it's too OTT to take seriously.

 

[chimpmunk]

And makes them mutate into 'boss' zombies. right.

So basically, you have nothing else to offer than "It's just a game." as for what fictional setting L4D takes place in? Are you trolling, playing dumb or just being dumb?

If you have no interest in the story of L4D (or want to prove your "intelligence" by arguing that zombies are "unrealistic"), you may leave.