Awaken Test Subjects/Character Development

[OutlawEagle]

So I was playing as Nikolai in The Giant and from the start we know that our original crew is serious and is concentrating on their "mission" to activate the beacon. Once you do the Fly Trap Easter Egg and the Robot Easter Egg and progress to some rounds i noticed Nikolai changing. At First his quotes are serious,whenever he picks up a weapon he says something serious,but after Round 18 and so he is begining to act like the "old" Nikolai we know from WAW and BO1. Quotes like "I need a drink" "Hellhound lets play fetch with a grenade" and so on. He enjoys killing again and loses focus on the mission after some time. Does this mean something or is it just random? I was also playing with my friend and he was Richtofen and after round 20 he began to say some old quotes like the Twisted old Richtofen we know.

[Cheesegrater28]

Could just be them trying to recycle old lines into the map so high round players don't get annoyed by the same quotes over and over. Using the old lines is easier then writing new ones as filler.

But I'd say it is supposed to mean something. Especially if the repeated quotes are indeed re-recorded, which some have said is the case. Exactly what this means for the story, I'm not sure. This is because I'm not really sure of anything in the story anymore. We now know there is some kind of multiverse story arc going on but not sure exactly what kind of story. Is it an infinite universe story line or are there a certain number of versions? Have these different universes been a part of the story all along or did they spawn from an event in the past story? Like Maxis winning at Buried and trying to go back in time maybe caused all these paradoxes and different universes to spawn from that moment. Or maybe they spawned from a moment we haven't seen yet, like something happening before 1918 and the old WaW story is just a different universe from the new Origins characters and the two might meet up eventually.  

One example, this could all be a multiverse story much like the movie The One with Jet Li. In that type of story, there were 125 different versions of the same people in 125 different dimensions. One Jet Li was trying to kill the other 124 versions of himself. Each time Jet Li killed another Jet Li, he and all the other Jet Lis in different universes all got stronger since the power of the dead one was passed to each of the ones remaining. So perhaps in our zombie story, as the characters die or come to new dimensions, they might be gaining the energy and knowledge of different versions of themselves.

Another possibility, if the story line is about different universes spawning from a single moment, then its possible that all other timelines but one will be destroyed to balance everything out. This could be kind of like Rick and Morty's Season 2 premier, A Rickle in Time. All the different versions eventually funnel into the same version where the individual characters have the memories of all other versions. We know from Richtofen's note that some Earths have already been destroyed so perhaps the change in quotes is a reflection of those versions being absorbed. This could be another interpretation of what might be happening. 

Its hard to say exactly what's going on, but I do think that these quotes are purposely hinting at something like these examples. So I do think they are important and not just filler. 

[Tac]

To me, and some others, the quotes signify that for some reason, their memories are becoming clouded and personalities of the "old" characters are seeping into this timeline.  The personalities are bleeding from one to the other.  Why is the case?  Perhaps the dimensional convergence brought about by the Shadow Man in Shadows of Evil includes the original and Giant timelines (or perhaps all of them), and they are going to all bleed together.  That's my personal theory, at least.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Tac said:

To me, and some others, the quotes signify that for some reason, their memories are becoming clouded and personalities of the "old" characters are seeping into this timeline.  The personalities are bleeding from one to the other.  Why is the case?  Perhaps the dimensional convergence brought about by the Shadow Man in Shadows of Evil includes the original and Giant timelines (or perhaps all of them), and they are going to all bleed together.  That's my personal theory, at least.

I always thought that since all of these other worlds come from one world originally, their is a certain way the O4 always are so no matter what they do or try they will end up being amalgamations of all of their versions of themselves because in actuality they should only exist in one way and not all of these different versions. I don't think the Shadowman is the cause of this, I just think we have been going around in a loop for so long and time travel/ dimension hopping has caused it to happen over the course of two years.

[Stop Mocking Me0]

Round 1- Completely new lines. (Stinking german!)

Round 2- Still new lines: The war machine must be stopped....

Round 3- "Perhaps these machines will help fend off the wretched hordes: The same line said in Origins. 

This isn't unique to nikolai, Richtofen makes quotes from origins as well. Tank quotes things from the OLD maps. 

In fact, from my pathetic memory and please correct me if I'm wrong, Takeo is the only one who doesn't go on to quote himself from earlier maps. 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Stop Mocking Me0 said:

Round 1- Completely new lines. (Stinking german!)

Round 2- Still new lines: The war machine must be stopped....

Round 3- "Perhaps these machines will help fend off the wretched hordes: The same line said in Origins. 

This isn't unique to nikolai, Richtofen makes quotes from origins as well. Tank quotes things from the OLD maps. 

In fact, from my pathetic memory and please correct me if I'm wrong, Takeo is the only one who doesn't go on to quote himself from earlier maps. 

Actually the German war machine quote from Nikolai is another version of a quote from Origins. They all first make new quotes, then variations of Origins quotes, then Origins quotes, then throughout the game they say old quotes- mostly Moon. I think Takeo has, I would have to look into it but from what I know they all do.

[Pasta]

I really like your Jet Li theory however I believe in our zombie-verse, it is incorrect.  As Rictofen, usually near the beginning of the game, he will say "Even if a part of you dies, each and every time".  Instead of getting stronger, I believe he is getting weaker.  Where the possible ending to this story will end in one of two ways: Rictofen will successfully kill all versions of himself which in turn will kill him and possibly even stop the infection from happening.  Or, it could end where Rictofen somehow transcends into an incredible position of power but instead of misusing like we know he likes to do, he will just use it to end the infection.  Knowing Treyarch, I'm probably incredibly wrong because they are unpredictable schemers.