Fallout 4 Effect There’s no shortage of fascinating and complex characters, from the companions who choose to travel with the Sole Survivor to the NPCs encountered during missions. One particularly interesting character is Dr. Brian Virgil, a former scientist at the Institute who can be encountered as part of the main quest during the journey to find Shaun. Although Virgil is instrumental in helping the Sole Survivor locate the Institute, his personal quest poses a moral dilemma that could have a tragic outcome.
This article contains mentions of suicide and self-harm.
After hunting down Kellogg at Fort Hagen the sole survivor learns of an Institute scientist who escaped the grizzled mercenary was supposed to locate. This begins the search “The Shining Sea” and leads the Sole Survivor to a rocky cave in the southwest corner of the map. Talking to Virgil will set the next objective on the journey to reach Shaun, and will also start the side quest”Virgil’s cure”, which may seem simple at first glance, but has many ethical implications.
Who is Brian Virgil in Fallout 4?
Why is a former scientist at the institute so important?
When considering whether to help Virgílio, it is important to understand who he is and how he got into this situation. When the Sole Survivor enters the cave in the Shining Sea expecting to find a shy scientist from the Institute instead, they encounter a huge Super Mutant. Speaking to him, he reveals that Virgil’s plan to leave the Institute and hide in an area where the Coursers couldn’t get to him was to willingly transform into one of the gigantic abominations.
Either way, Virgil’s plan is extreme and immediately makes people wonder why he went so far. The answer can be found within the Institute’s Biosciences division, in an abandoned laboratory where Virgil and other scientists were studying the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). The studies were originally carried out as part of the process of creating what would become the Gen 3 Synthesizers. However, they continued for decades afterward, with Commonwealth citizens being kidnapped for over a century.
When Virgil became the new head of the project in 2286, he initially continued with the experiments. However, just a year later he was complaining to his Father as the experiments were producing no new results and only causing harm to the Commonwealth. When his father refused to end the project, Virgil decided to take matters into his own hands, transforming into a Super Mutant so he can escapeand destroying the Institute’s FEV laboratory in the process.
What will happen if Virgílio is not cured?
Without a cure, Virgílio will make an obscure request
When talking to Virgílio, he will ask the Sole Survivor to find a cure he made for yourself. It can be found inside the old FEV laboratory inside the Institute and is on a table in the room with the Super Mutants in tanks, labeled Experimental Serum. However, given his involvement with the Institute’s FEV project for so long, it would be reasonable in the eyes of many to deny Virgilio’s cure. After all, he had been experimenting on kidnapped Commonwealth residents for years and apparently would have continued to do so if it had produced better results.
Virgil’s logs could be interpreted to assume that he would have been able to justify the cost of living if the Institute was learning something or there was a scientific advance. And depending on which Fallout 4 Effect faction that the Sole Survivor is planning to side with, not healing Virgil may be the only logical choice. If he plans not to give Virgil the cure, the Sole Survivor may not get it when he is at the Institute, say he has no intention of curing him, or lie about finding it.
If the Sole Survivor goes back on his word to find the cure, Virgil will become hostile. However, if he was lied to, there are two options for dealing with the situation. Virgil will express that he does not want to continue living as a Super Mutantand request that the Sole Survivor kill him. However, there is also the option of convincing Virgílio to commit suicide, which is one of the most perverse choices in the world. Fallout 4 Effect and only available if Swan’s Pond has been visited and the story of Edgar Swann has been known.
If Virgil is not cured, he will die immediately at the hands of the Sole Survivor, or if the cave is returned later after convincing him to take his own life, then Virgil will be dead. Either way, the contents of the cave can be looted, along with Virgil’s personal weapon. Virgil’s Rifle is a decent weapon if we look at the situation from a purely game mechanics/rewards perspective, which deals 50% more damage to Super Mutants.
What will happen if Virgilio receives the cure?
Helping Virgílio gives him a second chance to change things
However, there is also an argument to be made for helping Virgil and delivering him the cure. Virgil is nothing but helpful to the Sole Survivornot only telling them that the Institute uses teleportation, but also designing the Molecular Relay’s schematics. He also seems genuinely remorseful for his past actions, as can be heard in his last log, which can be found in the FEV lab.
Virgil realized that what he was doing at the Institute was wrong and made repeated requests for the lab to be closed because he didn’t want to hurt people. Although he participated in the experiments, Once he was in a position of power to stop him, Virgilio made every attempt to do so.. Ultimately, Virgil is completely dependent on the player to heal him, so his fate comes down to how sympathetic they find him.
Saving Virgil does not offer any extra rewards other than allowing the Sole Survivor to loot and use the equipment in his cave. However, healing him is the right thing to do and gives Virgil the opportunity to fully make amends for his past actions. Virgil’s cure will only work on his specific strain of FEV, but he will say that he intends to continue working to find a cure for the other Super Mutants in the Commonwealth. This has potentially huge consequences for Fallout 4 Effect tradition on the East Coast, which would be exciting to see in future editions.