InFAMOUS (series)/Fridge

Fridge Horror

• In the good timeline, which according to Word of God is canon, Cole and all other conduits are killed. At the end, however, the lightning forms a question mark, implying he may still be alive. What's to stop other, less heroic conduits like Sasha, with no confirmed death, to survive the blast? Better yet, what's to stop the conduit gene to merely reemerge, just starting the cycle back over again?
  • Bouncing off that and the horror down below, It's entirely possible Sasha could exist in any of the three timelines, escaping capture by Moya with no confirmed death. The destruction of Empire City was probably caused by him creating new conduits, being a living ray sphere, and she could have lived beneath the sewers as she always did, unaffected by the blast or destruction of the city, or the plague due to being a conduit. Thus, she can exist in any timeline, having likely lived into the events of inFAMOUS 2. In the good, explained above. In the evil, all conduits live while humanity dwindles to extinction due to the plague. She lives unless some other conduit kills her, unlikely, and would probably not be stopped by beast!cole due to him being evil and in New Marais, or other southern cities. In Kessler's timeline, if he didn't create the ray sphere yet, then you can get powers naturally, once again by the beast. She would be weaker, but still possessing the conduit gene, she might get caught in the blast and still gain powers. You are never safe from Sasha, and neither is the world, even with time travel.
• The Dust Men are a gang/cult of personality, and so are the First Sons. The Reapers, however, are all either drug dealers or ordinary, mind-controlled citizens. And you slaughter them by the dozen.
  • Only if you're evil. If you're good you have the option of chaining them down and letting them live. You are far more likely to kill them lots either way though, since you don't take negative karma for killing bad guys. Sucker Punch might have netted some fridge brilliance on that point if you got more infamous for killing Reapers...
  • Karma represents your reputation among the population. How they hail you as either hero or villain is judged by them, which depends on your actions. You could say that you don't get bad karma for killing them because the population doesn't know they're normal humans, but then Fridge Logic is invoked when some of Cole's actions that net him good/bad karma aren't even seen by people.
• In the second game, John/The Beast has to suck energy out of a few dozen people to awaken a Conduit. So... were the Conduits, besides the main four, in the first game created the same way, somehow?
  • In a way, yes. Those conduits were affected by the Ray Sphere energy, but weren't in the center like Cole or Bertrand. Like Nix, they were in the proximities, and probably absorbed the energy that people around emitted.
• It's specified in the dead drops of the second game that blast cores are used ray sphere cores. When I got this dead drop on my second playthrough, it hit me: Cole absorbs seven blast cores over the course of the game. Oh, shit...
  • Worse yet, Wolfe's dead drops account for two more. He discovered the blast core's potential after a lab animal accidentally absorbed one, and it's implied that another gave Bertrand powers beyond his "maggot" transformation, presumably the Corrupted-making powers.
• In the second game, it's revealed that Joseph Bertrand is the one creating the swamp creatures, and they come in several varieties: human-sized, Ravager, Hive Lord, and such...but there's also a tiny version that can be taken out in one hit, doesn't do much damage, and is overall inferior to all the rest. So...where did that type come from? Simple. No one said that adults were the only ones Bertrand was transforming...
  • We know where they come from. We see the Hive Lords spawn them.

Fridge Brilliance

Evil Cole: Because of me, Empire City is a wasteland. I've taken this place down notch by notch, and it's never getting up again. Kessler thought he was preparing me to face some "Beast", that I'd be using my powers for the greater good. What an idiot. These powers are only good for one thing, letting me take what I want, when I want. In a place with no law, the strong take what they want, and the weak are their slaves, their playthings. And no one is stronger than me!

• • Okay... But how does Evil Cole expect to rule supreme in a wasteland that will eventually lose all electricity? Bio Leech.
• Good Cole has Blue lightning, Evil Cole has red, Kessler has white. Why? Because white is The neutral colour, and it signifies Kessler being Above Good And Evil, willing to do hideous things for the sake of everyone. He is unspeakably evil, for good reasons, but morality isn't important to what amounts to a Physical God.
  • It may also have something to do with the fact that if Cole uses the Ray Sphere, his lightning gets black. Kessler is the antithesis of the selfish, murderous, psychotic Cole who used the Ray Sphere.
• Kessler as a usable skin for Cole in the sequel. Why would you ever want to make yourself look like the preceding game's villain... oh.
• Kessler's powers at the end of the first game are stronger versions of Cole's, but if he didn't have a ray sphere to amp him up how did he get them and his time travel power? Well: as of the sequel we learn that the beast that Kessler was trying to prepare Cole for was basically a living ray sphere...
• In the Good Ending of Infamous 2 he sacrifices himself and all conduits to destroy the beast. A few missions before hand he was able to absorb Lightning from the Storm that had moved into the city. In the very end of the game's good ending There is a lighting storm there.
• When Kessler shows Cole a vision of the future, Cole states that he knew he was responsible for the rampant destruction that would take place. Later, it is revealed that it's actually the Beast who causes it. Given how the Beast inadvertently comes about in Cole's timeline through Kessler's machinations, Cole was technically right.
  • On top of that, it's revealed that it's because of the Ray Sphere's creation that everything hit the fan in the first place: the plague, psychotic conduits, The Beast itself. And since Kessler went back in time to create the Ray Sphere early, he inadvertently not only caused all the bad shit to happen way earlier then expected, but also made things that much worse then in his timeline. He didn't know HOW The Beast was created of course so he can't be blamed, but it still presents the nauseating idea that if Kessler had simply gone back in time and made sure the Ray Sphere was never made, all of this could have been avoided...
  • Possibly. The Ray Sphere enhances/activates someone with the Conduit gene. It's hinted that Conduits develop powers naturally, which means that The Beast could have come about without the Ray Sphere, just much further down the timeline.
  • Kessler's ability involves giving people memories. So by this idea, he is actually giving Cole a memory of the destruction that happens in his own timeline. Since in his life he ran away from the Beast, he actually "caused" the destruction by running away from the Beast instead of stopping him before hand. Kessler did cause the death and destruction, just not directly.
    • We don't know how the Beast or Kessler got their powers in the original timeline, but the information given implies that the Beast was at least close to full power when he emerged. Even if Kessler was at the height of his powers then, he would have been destroyed if he tried to fight the Beast. Cole only survived his first encounter because the Beast didn't want to kill him. Kessler's claims of guilt ring hollow when you realize that there is nothing he could have done, and even after a lifetime of research in the second timeline, someone else created the thing that defeated the Beast.
  • At the end of inFamous, Kessler states that he could have defeated the beast back when it first emerged but chose to run away to protect his family. Hence why he kills Trish so Cole won't make the same mistake. By the time the beast caught up with Kessler, it was too powerful for him to handle.
• Trish dies, no matter which building you climb. Normally this would seem impossible if you've played both outcomes of this mission. That is, until you realize that Kessler is Cole from an alternate future. He knows which decision Cole would likely make (even if he never did it himself)., and plans her death accordingly.
• Kessler and the Beast are both considered Anti-Climax Bosses. Why? Kessler's entire plan was to make his past self Cole strong enough to defeat the Beast, which he was unable to. His plan succeeded.
  • The reason for the final fight against The Beast being the most ridiculous Curb Stomp Battle of the century is actually justified by more than just that. We see in the evil ending what happens when Nix uses the RFI against The Beast; it weakens him. The RFI isn't fully charged, and Nix is a weaker Conduit than Cole. In the good ending, the RFI is fully charged and being used by a stronger Conduit, so instead of just weakening The Beast, it straight up incapacitates him.
  • The RFI is the thing that ultimately defeats the Beast. It was made by someone other that Kessler, to clean up the plague created by Kessler. The Beast was also created by Kessler. The lesson? Kessler creates problems, not solutions.
• While Cole's relationship with Kuo in the sequel is purely professional, if the player chooses to be evil, his tone and behaviour with Nyx is flirtatious and innuendo laden. So soon after Trish dies? But then, while a good man would keep her memory with him always, if a person is following Nyx's questlines, they're not a good man, and are less likely to stay faithful.
• In New Marais, sometimes you'll get XP credit for takedowns accomplished by civilians throwing stones at enemies, if you have good Karma. A little thought reveals the logic: the civilians standing up against the Militia and other enemies is a direct result of Cole gaining their trust and inspiring them, so their small victories over the villains are, in a sense, Cole's victories as well. One more subtle way in which Evil pays off quick, but Good pays off big.
  • A prime example of this: i once saw a civilian single-handedly punch an ice soldier to death.
• A lot of fans were angry with Cole's new clothing in inFamous 2. He's headed south from the New York parallel to the warmer New Orleans parallel, it makes sense that he would shed a jacket.
• The plot of inFamous was all Kessler's plan to make Cole stronger so he can defeat the beast. At the beginning on inFamous 2, Cole defeats the beast losing all his powers and almost dying in the process. Kessler's training worked after all, the only problem is Kessler didn't account for the fact that the beast can put itself back together
• When you you're on the good ending you kill all people with the conduit gene, that means besides all the living people that die, the unborn children die as well.

Fridge Logic

• Word of God has declared that the hero endings are canon. At first, one would presume that this eliminates the evil endings completely, however, when Kessler's involvement is taken into consideration, there are really at least three timelines: the heroic Cole's, the infamous Cole's and Kessler's. Therefore, the bad endings could be considered "canon" as well.
  • Pretty sure they mean canon with iF2.